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.

February 18, 1983

The Hockey News February 18, 1983

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02408/4599630-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>He&rsquo;s often called The Magic Man, but there are those who would suggest that only refers his disappearing acts every so often. Anyway you look at it, Calgary Flame center Kent Nilsson is one of the most talented players in the National Hockey League.He&rsquo;s almost as well known for his inconsistency as he is for his magnificent puckhandling skills. Last week, though, he was front and center, scoring six goals&mdash;including two back-to-back three-goal performances&mdash;and adding one assist to earn THE HOCKEY NEWS Player of the Week honors.After 56 games, Nilsson led the Flames in scoring with 27 goals and 44 assists for 71 points. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Player Of The Week

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02792/4599341-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="713" height="621"></div><h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01967/4599348-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="145" height="146"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03634/4599334-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="137" height="139"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04496/4599327-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="715" height="616"></div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05387/4599320-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="164" height="142"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06323/4599313-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="715" height="616"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACK HAWKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07297/4599306-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="155" height="135"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08277/4599299-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="711" height="668"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09253/4599292-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="170" height="118"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-10231/4599285-1-eng-US/f0016-102.jpg" title="f0016-10" width="711" height="557"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-11217/4599278-1-eng-US/f0016-112.jpg" title="f0016-11" width="141" height="137"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-12199/4599271-1-eng-US/f0016-122.jpg" title="f0016-12" width="712" height="558"></div><h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-13184/4599264-1-eng-US/f0016-132.jpg" title="f0016-13" width="141" height="138"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-14176/4599257-1-eng-US/f0016-142.jpg" title="f0016-14" width="711" height="618"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-15166/4599250-1-eng-US/f0016-152.jpg" title="f0016-15" width="217" height="133"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-16162/4599243-1-eng-US/f0016-162.jpg" title="f0016-16" width="711" height="616"></div><h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-17154/4599236-1-eng-US/f0016-172.jpg" title="f0016-17" width="156" height="135"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-18147/4599229-1-eng-US/f0016-182.jpg" title="f0016-18" width="708" height="618"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-19138/4599222-1-eng-US/f0016-192.jpg" title="f0016-19" width="161" height="109"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-20118/4599215-1-eng-US/f0016-202.jpg" title="f0016-20" width="709" height="642"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-21112/4599208-1-eng-US/f0016-212.jpg" title="f0016-21" width="118" height="112"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-22110/4599201-1-eng-US/f0016-222.jpg" title="f0016-22" width="716" height="650"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-23107/4599194-1-eng-US/f0016-232.jpg" title="f0016-23" width="157" height="149"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-24105/4599187-1-eng-US/f0016-242.jpg" title="f0016-24" width="709" height="648"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-25100/4599180-1-eng-US/f0016-252.jpg" title="f0016-25" width="145" height="145"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2697/4599173-1-eng-US/f0016-262.jpg" title="f0016-26" width="709" height="641"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2788/4599166-1-eng-US/f0016-272.jpg" title="f0016-27" width="168" height="122"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2886/4599159-1-eng-US/f0016-282.jpg" title="f0016-28" width="713" height="582"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2979/4599152-1-eng-US/f0016-292.jpg" title="f0016-29" width="158" height="151"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3079/4599145-1-eng-US/f0016-302.jpg" title="f0016-30" width="707" height="556"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3179/4599138-1-eng-US/f0016-312.jpg" title="f0016-31" width="142" height="141"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3273/4599131-1-eng-US/f0016-322.jpg" title="f0016-32" width="717" height="618"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3373/4599124-1-eng-US/f0016-332.jpg" title="f0016-33" width="138" height="137"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3469/4599117-1-eng-US/f0016-342.jpg" title="f0016-34" width="720" height="683"></div><h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3555/4599110-1-eng-US/f0016-352.jpg" title="f0016-35" width="164" height="165"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3647/4599103-1-eng-US/f0016-362.jpg" title="f0016-36" width="718" height="563"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3747/4599096-1-eng-US/f0016-372.jpg" title="f0016-37" width="113" height="117"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3824/4599089-1-eng-US/f0016-382.jpg" title="f0016-38" width="715" height="615"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3923/4599082-1-eng-US/f0016-392.jpg" title="f0016-39" width="189" height="106"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-4023/4599075-1-eng-US/f0016-402.jpg" title="f0016-40" width="715" height="620"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01856/4599068-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="143" height="143"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02712/4599061-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="660" height="678"></div><h2>GOALTENDING STATISTICS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03550/4599054-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="573" height="2976"></div><h2>NHL LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04418/4599047-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="508" height="627"></div> &#9632;

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Departments

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div>TORONTO&mdash;The elongated, deceivingly frail-looking body, the narrow shoulders, the high cheekbones crowned by a new wavish hairstyle, the ubiquitous icebag tied to a portion of the anatomy&mdash;sometimes to a knee, ankle or elbow&mdash;would not appear to be able to withstand the rigors. Yet their owner keeps bringing them back for more.For more than 700 National Hockey League contests, Anders Borje Salming. the first Swede to gain star status in the NHL. has been performing his magic for the Maple Leafs. This is Salming&rsquo;s 10th season on this side of the Atlantic and during that decade, there have been many ups and downs along the way.On the positive side, there have been the upset of the Islanders in the 1977-78 playoffs and six selections to the NHL all-star squad. On the negative side, there have been numerous injuries&mdash;namely sinus woes&mdash;and the uproar of playing in Toronto as the Leafs joined the dregs of the league.For some people, playing for the Leafs today is nowhere near the attraction it once was, when the team was a consistent contender. But in talking with Salming, you get the impression that he is really enjoying his role as the team&rsquo;s elder statesman (31) and that playing for the team is genuinely fun.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re making progress and we have more young kids who are going to help us in the future,&rdquo; Salming said. &ldquo;We have shown that we can beat the best in the league.&rdquo;Victories over Boston, Buffalo, Montreal and Minnesota support that claim.The Leafs have also shown they are perfectly miserable without Salming. He missed 10 games by the all-star break because of a deep charley horse and a skate cut above his knee. The Leafs failed to win a game in his absence.&ldquo;Sometimes you have years where you are going to get hurt,&rdquo; Salming said. &ldquo;Other times you make it through untouched. You&rsquo;ve just got to accept it, there&rsquo;s nothing you can do. It is frustrating, though, when the team is losing and you&rsquo;re not in the lineup to try and help.&rdquo;Salming has always had leadership qualities that have evolved over his years with the Leafs. He&rsquo;s had confidence from the beginning, especially after his rookie year when he proved he could play with the big boys. Now he feels the game is still fun and he believes that his coaches help keep it that way.&ldquo;The team has a good attitude.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Mike (Nykoluk) and Satch (assistant coach Dan Maloney) know that it doesn&rsquo;t help to be screaming. They&rsquo;ve done a good job under a lot of pressure. People expect too much; they forget that it takes time to put everything together.&rdquo;Salming feels the Leafs really began to improve when they changed to a different forechecking system. Instead of sending two or sometimes three men in, only one or two players advance in the other team&rsquo;s zone, keeping a man back to aid with the checking should the other team launch an attack.&ldquo;Take care of your own end of the ice first,&rdquo; Salming said, &ldquo;that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve been doing and the confidence of our players is growing. They&rsquo;re realizing that the system can work.&rdquo;Fortunately, especially from an aesthetic point of view, the system hasn&rsquo;t cramped Salming&rsquo;s style. Fans are still treated to his winding dashes up the ice, his deft stickhandling and his erratic but always dangerous shot.&ldquo;Sometimes I guess I stay back a little more,&rdquo; Salming said. &ldquo;But I try to play my game. When our wings are coming back into the play, you can afford to be more aggressive.&rdquo;Salming, despite all of the punishment he has taken, has to be considered a young 31. Leaf general manager Gerry McNamara recently said he wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised to see Salming play for four or five more years in Toronto.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got three more years on my contract. I can&rsquo;t look beyond that,&rdquo; Salming said. &ldquo;Who knows what&rsquo;s going to happen between now and then? I&rsquo;ll have to see when I get there.&rdquo;Salming takes the same outlook on games.&ldquo;Lots of people think about the games we have in hand,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But for one reason or another, you usually don&rsquo;t wind up getting all the points you might think you would. What if you win your four games in hand but then lose the next four after that? I just take one game at a time.&rdquo;. &#9679; &#9632;

Leafs’ Elder Statesman Still Going Strong

<div class="byline">BY JOE FALLS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011208/4598734-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="286" height="337"></div><h2>Trivial Pursuits</h2>QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS about my favorite wintertime sport:Who decided the bluelines would be blue?Please don&rsquo;t tell me Guy Lafleur is slowing up.Why don&rsquo;t they cut out all the All-Star nonsense and have an All-Star team play the Stanley Cup champion?No matter what Harold Ballard says, I&rsquo;m interested in it.Is it too easy for guys to get into hockey&rsquo;s Hall of Fame?I hate it when p.a. announcers yell at me when somebody scores a goal for the home team.I still can&rsquo;t believe the old Madison Square Garden is a parking lot.Thrill of the year: Standing behind &ldquo;The Masters&rdquo; bench in that oldtimer game in Joe Louis Arena and listening to Phil Esposito talk to Yvan Cournoyer.I&rsquo;ll bet it&rsquo;s tough being Marty Howe.It&rsquo;s hard to believe Jim Craig didn&rsquo;t make it.My favorite name: Windsor Spitfires.Is there really a team in Medicine Hat?I hope the Bruins never leave Boston Garden.John Halligan; the New York Rangers&rsquo; publicist, writes a great column in Goal Magazine.I would give three years of my life to cover the Montreal Candiens for one season.Wherever Bill Cowley is these days, hello.How many people would cheer if they didn&rsquo;t flash a red light after the goals?I&rsquo;m thrilled the Red Wings got Ivan Boldirev, one of my all-time secret favorite players.<h2>No Fun At All</h2>MARCEL DIONNE doesn&rsquo;t seem as if he&rsquo;s having any fun at all.Whatever became of Dale McCourt?Vic Hadfield&mdash;what a nice man.If Wayne Gretzky doesn&rsquo;t get three points every night. I&rsquo;m disappointed.Rick Vaive seems like one tough nut.You know who I liked and never told him&mdash;Teddy Green.Bruce Martyn and Sid Abel do a great job of broadcasting hockey in Detroit.And, of course, I&lsquo;ll always be partial to Danny Gallivan and Dick Irvin.Believe this or not, but I&rsquo;ve got a small Canadian flag at my desk and I look at it whenever I write this column for THE HOCKEY NEWS.Why did Yvan Coumoyer retire anyway?I loved calling Clarence Campbell at his office in Montreal and hearing the old man say, &ldquo;Campbell here.&rdquo;Ever since I was a kid, I thought goals should count two and assists one.Why is it called the &ldquo;crease&rdquo;?Those who missed Elmer Ferguson&rsquo;s writing missed the treat of a lifetime.People I like to see do well: Don Cherry, Gerry Cheevers, Larry Robinson, Dino Ciccarelli, Peter Stastny and Jim Devellano.Is Halifax next into the NHL? That would seem like a great place to have a franchise.<h2>Noisiest Fans Ever</h2>NOISIEST FANS I ever heard were in the St. Louis Arena when the Blues first came into the league.If I could make time stand still, the rest of my life would be spent in Maple Leaf Gardens at eight o&rsquo;clock on Saturday nights in the dead of winter.Did you know John Ziegler is my neighbor, living up the road in suburban Detroit&mdash;50 miles from town?Wonder what kind of eggs he cooks for breakfast?Why don&rsquo;t the home teams wear their road uniforms at home once in a while. I miss the blood-red colors of the Red Wings.I also miss Roger Doucet.If I started a team. Rick Middleton would be a first-round draft pick.Funny, but I find myself rooting for the New Jersey Devils.I hate it when teams don&rsquo;t even get set up on the power play.I can&rsquo;t believe I&rsquo;ve never seen the Hershey Bears.Another funny thing: I don&rsquo;t get that turned on by shorthanded goals. They get them because somebody&rsquo;s made a mistake.What would you give to see Howie Morenz even one time?Don&rsquo;t you love Denis Savard&rsquo;s style?If I could invite anybody to dinner for a night of hockey talk, it would be Sam Pollack.Who remembers when they took &ldquo;minor&rdquo; penalty shots from the red line?Greatest hockey name of all time: Newsy Lalonde.What&rsquo;s the fuss&mdash;N.Y. Islanders will be there at the end. &#9632;

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Columnists

HOCKEY CORNER

<h2>NHL</h2>Bostony&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;6Buffalo&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;12Calgary&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;4Chicago&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;3Detroit&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;13Edmonton&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;4Hartford&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;24Los Angeles&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;14Montreal&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;17Minnesota&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;6New Jersey&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;18Islanders&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;17Rangers&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;3Philadelphia&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;9Pittsburgh&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;10Quebec&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;15St. Louis&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;14Toronto&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;18Vancouver&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;5Washington&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;10Winnipeg&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;15<h2>The Minors</h2>AHL&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;32CHL&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;34IHL&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;35<h2>The Amateurs</h2>OHL&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;39WHL&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;40QHL&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;41<h2>The Colleges</h2>CCHA&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;36WCHA&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;37ECAC&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;37<h2>Columnists</h2>Frank Orr&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;2Stan Fischler&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;5Joe Falls&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;10Steve Simmons&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;12Dick Beddoes&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;14Murray Costello&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;46<h2>Departments</h2>Bluelines&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;13NHL Scoring&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;16Whalers&rsquo; Salute&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;19Classified&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;41NHL Summaries&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;42NHL Rosters&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;43Minor Scoreboard&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;44Slapshots&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;47<h2>Coming Next Issue</h2>In our next issue, we&rsquo;ll profile the hottest property in the National Hockey League this season-Boston Bruin netminder Pete Peeters. Without a doubt, he&rsquo;s been the story so far in 1982-83 as he has backstopped the Bruins to the top of the NHL&rsquo;s overall standings. As well as an in-depth look at Peeters, we&rsquo;ll have a reaction story from Philadelphia, where he played last year, and columnist Bill Fleischman will reveal who the NHL coaches see as the top young goalies of our day.And, Stan Fischler will tell you why the United States&rsquo; gold-medal winning 1980 Olympic team was by no means the best American team ever iced.All that and more. Don&rsquo;t miss it. &#9632;

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011135/4598332-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="290" height="343"></div><h2>Mid-Winter Words</h2>AS A NATIONAL Hockey League season settles into the pause that refreshes just before the stretch-run portion of the season, how about a few words on a variety of topics, meaningful and otherwise, from an assortment of suspects?&#9679; Ken Linseman often played against Wayne Gretzky when Linseman was a Philadelphia Flyer. Now they&rsquo;re teammates with the Edmonton Oilers and Linseman admits that his view of No. 99 has changed considerably.&ldquo;I only saw him three times a season when I was a Flyer and while I knew he was good, I often wondered how he got all those points,&rdquo; Linseman said.&ldquo;Now that I&rsquo;ve seen him play every game, I know how truly exceptional he is. What people might not notice&mdash;I didn&rsquo;t until I saw him regularly&mdash;is how hard he works. He delivers as much effort, game in, game out, as a Bobby Clarke.&rdquo;&#9679; Dave Hutchison has been sent to the minors by the New Jersey Devils, a move that could mean the end of the NHL line for the big defenseman. Hutch never was an all-star but he was a man with a solid grasp of the game and where he fit into it.Hutchison was a key figure in the famous Toronto Maple Leaf dart-throwing caper when a few of the blue-and-white gathered for a farewell bash when Hutch was traded to Chicago Black Hawks. General manager Punch Imlach&rsquo;s picture was placed on the bistro&rsquo;s dart board and used for target practice.&ldquo;This fall, my wife bought a copy of Imlach&rsquo;s book,&rdquo; Hutchison said. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t believe it. I told her: &lsquo;That man caused me nothing but grief for a year and you bought one of his books and gave him money.&rsquo;&ldquo;She had a great answer. She said: &lsquo;There&rsquo;s two pages about you in it and when is any book going to be written that has two pages about you?&rsquo; I had no answer for that one.&rdquo;&#9679; Bob McCammon, the coach of the Philly Flyers, had a splendid line about defenseman Frank Bathe: &ldquo;You can yell at Bathe all night and it doesn&rsquo;t bother him. He likes the attention.&rdquo;<h2>Big Mac Forgets</h2>LANNY McDONALD was a definitive Maple Leaf and if he didn&rsquo;t have the insignia tattooed on his backside, he probably thought about it. His trade away from Toronto was a heartbreaker but now he&rsquo;s a Calgary Flame and a challenger for the NHL goalscoring lead. Big Mac has the Toronto situation in perfect focus.&ldquo;I seldom look back to Toronto, especially the bad parts of it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A large number of good things happened to me in my six years in that city, good times we had on and off the ice. all the good people we met. If I dwelled on the bad parts of it, it would wipe out the good things.&rdquo;&#9679; Glen Sather, GM-coach of Edmonton Oilers, was asked about his club&rsquo;s laugh-a-minute approach to life and hockey.&ldquo;Every psychologist I&rsquo;ve talked to or whose books I&rsquo;ve read says that people who have fun and enjoy their work do a better job, no matter what field they&rsquo;re in,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;Why shouldn&rsquo;t that apply in hockey?&rdquo;&#9679; Al MacAdam. like most of the Minnesota North Stars, was surprised when coach Glen Sonmor resigned but MacAdam, one of hockey&rsquo;s most thoughtful men, took a slightly different look at the situation.&ldquo;I have great respect for Glen&rsquo;s ability to make the decision to leave the job,&rdquo; MacAdam said. &ldquo;I know how much he loved the game and coaching it. But he had the courage to give it up when he felt he had lost his zest for it and coaching was taking too big a toll on him. I admire that.&rdquo;&#9679; An NHL owner, requesting anonymity because his statement went against popular opinion among the governors, made an interesting comment about basing an NHL team in Saskatoon.&ldquo;Other owners say that Saskatoon only has 160,000 people, far too few to support an NHL team, and we should only be concerned with having teams in cities with large population,&rdquo; the man said.&ldquo;My answer to that goes like this: Where does a team have the best chance for success at the gate&mdash;in a U.S. city of 2.5 million but only 35,000 people who give a hoot about hockey or in a town of 160,000 where 159,000 of them are hockey nuts?&rdquo;<h2>A Soviet Plan</h2>&#9679; GLEN SATHER has a sane idea for NHL-Soviet hockey integration.&ldquo;Why not bring the top four teams in the Soviet league and have one play each team in one NHL division and it would count in our standings?&rdquo; Sather said.&ldquo;We did that in the World Hockey Association with European teams and it worked very well. The WHA teams really were ready for them because the games counted for something.&rdquo;&#9679; Don Edwards was one of the NHL&rsquo;s best half dozen goalies during his five years with the Buffalo Sabres and Calgary Flames figured his acquisition would solve their netminding problems. However, Edwards hasn&rsquo;t played well for the Flames but he doesn&rsquo;t make any alibis.&ldquo;I simply haven&rsquo;t done the job because I&rsquo;ve never really got the fine edge on my play that a goalie needs.&rdquo; Edwards said.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve made fundamental mistakes and my technique has flaws in it. It&rsquo;s just seemed to have been an off-year for me, something every goalie has in his career.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0002-01

FRANK ORR’S HOCKEY VIEW POINT

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD FRIEDMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011150/4598363-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">New York Ranger forward Eddie Johnston, who had been out of the lineup since mid-December with a separated shoulder, returned on the team&rsquo;s western swing. He immediately teamed up with former linemates Robbie Ftorek and Don Maloney.</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;The Rangers&rsquo; longest road trip of the season&mdash;a five-game. two-week swing that began in Los Angeles and saw the team work its way east&mdash;provided the struggling, dispirited club with several pieces of good news that are bound to help in the season&rsquo;s tough home-stretch.First, there was the opportunity to escape from the pressure-cooker of Madison Square Garden where the fans, frustrated by the team&rsquo;s mediocre play since New Year&rsquo;s, had the players &ldquo;intimidated&rdquo; to the point where they were afraid to handle the puck.Second, a few days off&mdash;two in Los Angeles before the following game in St. Louis and three in Minnesota during the all-star break.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s better than playing a game every day,&rdquo; said Ranger coach Herb Brooks. &ldquo;It would be better to be at home but at least we have some time.&rdquo;Finally, significantly, the unveiling of two &ldquo;new&rdquo; faces in the game against the Blues: forward Eddie Johnstone, sidelined since mid-December with a separated shoulder&mdash;the result of a crash into the end boards after a trip by Islanders&rsquo; goalie Roland Melanson&mdash;and defenseman Ron Greschner, who had not played in almost a year after being plagued by back trouble since crashing into the boards in Toronto 15 months ago.Johnstone returned to his regular linemates, Robbie Ftorek and Don Maloney. Greschner, who said he was in his best shape in years, the spine notwithstanding, played forward.In his first shift, Greschner skated with Mike Rogers and Chris Kontos; later, skating alongside Ron Duguay, Greschner gave the Rangers size and strength up front.The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Greschner has been a Ranger since 1974 and has worn the team&rsquo;s uniform longer than anyone else on the current roster. He still has disc damage in his back. Last summer, when he could not even bend over to tie his shoelaces, he flew to Canada for the injection of a drug that was to have dissolved the damaged portions of the disk. That treatment, utilizing an extract of the papaya plant, had not been approved then for use in the United States. Since then, it has been.He has followed a rigorous rehabilitation program, aimed at strengthening the entire body, particularly the supporting muscles in his back near the weakened area, and loosens up for almost an hour before exercising. The 28-year-old defenseman has resigned himself to the constant presence of pain, and has sought to minimize it. It will take him at least a dozen games to regain his timing.&ldquo;I got hit a few times and I expected it to hurt more,&rdquo; he said after the St. Louis game, a 2-2 tie. The Rangers had trailed the Blues. 2-0, going into the third period but Anders Hedberg, who recently ended a long scoring drought, brought them within one. Less than three minutes later, Mikko Leinonen tied the score with Greschner assisting.That game was particularly meaningful for Glen Hanlon, the goalie whom the Rangers obtained from the Blues early in January, along with veteran forward Vaclav Nedomansky. in exchange for defenseman Andre Dore. The game was Hanlon&rsquo;s best as a Ranger, but it left him winless in five starts (0-4-1).&ldquo;Glennie just needs a little confidence,&rdquo; Dave Maloney said as the Rangers prepared to leave New York for the road, &ldquo;and that&rsquo;s pretty tough to get in this town when things aren&rsquo;t going well.&rdquo;.In the 5-5 tie against the Kings, the Rangers finally found a way to put the puck in the net. They scored four goals in the 5-4 loss to the Black Hawks at the Garden in their last game before heading west. Their total of nine goals in two games equalled their output in the previous eight, a string that saw them post a 1-6-1 record.&ldquo;We created more chances than in the last five games put together,&rdquo; said Hedberg, who went 14 games without a goal before scoring in three straight games against Chicago, Los Angeles and St. Louis. Hedberg scored the tying goal against the Kings on a crosscrease feed from Reijo Ruotsalainen, after Vaclav Nedomsansky beat the Kings at the blueline&mdash;a truly European goal&mdash;Czech to Finn to Swede.The Rangers seemed to be overcoming their third-period collapse, the type of lapse that saw them relinquish a two-goal lead at home to the Black Hawks.But in their rematch in Chicago the afternoon after the tie in St. Louis, the Rangers gave up the first goal of the game for the 12th straight game, losing to Chicago, 4-1. The Black Hawks kept the Rangers busy in their defensive zone, filling the slot constantly in front of Eddie Mio, who played a truly spectacular game. But the Rangers&mdash;winners in only one of 13 games&mdash;managed just 16 shots.NOTES&mdash;Don Maloney was the Rangers&rsquo; representative at the NHL All-Star game&hellip;Chris Kontos was the lone scorer against the Black Hawks, the rookie&rsquo;s sixth&hellip;The Rangers are finally carrying extra players. Leinonen, Nedomansky and Scot Kleinendorst sat out the Chicago game&hellip;Goalie John Davidson, who expects to return to action this season after back surgery, accompanied the team on the road trip. &#9679; &#9632;

f0003-01

‘New Faces’ A Lift For The Rangers

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02967/4598394-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="556" height="914"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jack O&rsquo;Callahan was promoted from Springfield to fill a hole on the Hawks&rsquo; defense.</figcaption></div>CHICAGO&mdash;Three years after earning a gold medal at the 1980 Olympics at Lake Placid, defenseman Jack O&rsquo;Callahan finally is getting a good shot to prove he belongs in the National Hockey League.His chance came because of another Black Hawk player&rsquo;s misfortune.In the third period of a game with Vancouver in Chicago Stadium in late January, Keith Brown crashed into the boards and separated his right shoulder. For Brown, it meant surgery and probably the end of the season.When it happended. O&rsquo;Callahan was making another one of his brief visits to the Black Hawks, this time filling in for one game for injured Greg Fox.But the mishap involving Brown, who is considered one of the NHL&rsquo;s best young defenseman, turned it into an extended visit.&ldquo;I wish it wasn&rsquo;t this way,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Callahan of his promotion from the Black Hawks&rsquo; American League farm team in Springfield. &ldquo;Keith had had so much hard luck the last two years and those are big shoes I&rsquo;m going to have to try to fill.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Callahan is no stranger to playing under pressure. Even though he was playing hurt because of a knee injury that later required surgery, he was in the forefront when the U.S. Olympic team upset the Soviets and won the gold medal.Many other members of that gold medal group already are established players in the NHL. Two of O&rsquo;Calla-han&rsquo;s old teammates, center Neal Broten of Minnesota and Buffalo defenseman Mike Ramsey, took part in the All-Star game and defenseman Ken Morrow has contributed to three Stanley Cup championships seasons with the New York Islanders.O&rsquo;Callahan, who played at Boston University before joining the Olympic team, also made a name for himself in the years that followed Lake Placid. He became known as one of the best defensemen in the American Hockey League.Last year, he was a second-team allstar when coach Orval Tessier&rsquo;s New Brunswick Hawks took the American league regular season title and the Calder Cup in the playoffs. During the summer, Tessier was given the Chicago coaching reins. Even though O&rsquo;Callahan had a good training camp and exhibition season, nobody could accuse him of being the new teacher&rsquo;s pet.When the regular season began, he was the seventh defenseman. the guy who practised but seldom played.Then, he was sent to Springfield. Three times he was summoned by the Hawks because of injuries but each time he was returned to Springfield.Thus, it was no big deal for O&rsquo;Callahan when he got the call to spell Fox. Little did he realize that this time he&rsquo;d be staying in Chicago for the rest of the season.O&rsquo;Callahan said it&rsquo;s different playing defense in the NHL than the AHL. &ldquo;In the minors, I played much more but there was less concentration required. There are a few guys on each team you have to watch. Here every team is filled with opportunists. Make a mistake and the puck is in the net.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to compare the NHL and American League teams with those I played against in the Olympic Games. The rinks and styles are so different that you really have two different systems.&ldquo;But I believe there&rsquo;s more determination, desire, and hard work that goes into playing in the NHL. You&rsquo;re playing for big money and the people in the NHL seem to be a lot hungrier.&rdquo;HAWK TALK&mdash;Although Tessier ripped the Hawk defensemen and just about everyone else for their play in the 6-2 loss in Buffalo, he shielded O&rsquo;Callahan and Dave Feamster from the blast. &ldquo;I was highly impressed with the game those two played,&rdquo; Tessier said. &ldquo;Feamster was our best defenseman and O&rsquo;Callahan certainly showed he belongs in the NHL. You don&rsquo;t replace a Keith Brown but there&rsquo;s no doubt in my mind that O&rsquo;Callahan will give a good account of himself.&rdquo;&hellip;Tessier&rsquo;s temper tantrum got results. The Hawks proceeded to win their next five games, one of which was a 5-0 conquest by Murray Bannerman in St. Louis. It was his third shutout of the year. &#9679; &#9632;

f0003-02

O’Callahan Gets Longer Stay With Hawks

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>EDMONTON&mdash;Wanna know how far hockey has progressed in this neck of the woods?Consider&hellip;Three Edmonton Oilers were picked as Campbell Conference starters for the National Hockey, League&rsquo;s All-Star game in Uniondale, N.Y. Yet the Oilers grumbled, with a degree of justification, that certain members of their close-knit clan were recipients of the shaft, although they hadn&rsquo;t planned on airing their beefs to an NHL grievance committee.AH of which tells us somthing.In their fourth NHL season, the Oilers have made such strides towards success that they can occupy 25 per cent of the starting berths for their conference AllStar team, yet still feel dissatisfied.&ldquo;There are plenty of things in this game you can&rsquo;t do anything about,&rdquo; said manager-coach Glen Sather, who saw Wayne Gretzky nail down a first-team center berth, while left winger Mark Messier and defenseman Paul Coffey were chosen for the second team. &ldquo;The unfortunate thing is, how is a guy who is second in league scoring (Messier) left off the first all-star team?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the system is right.&rdquo; added Sather, referring to the fact that three writers from each Campbell Conference city cast ballots that had to be in the NHL&rsquo;s Montreal office three weeks before the Jan. 25 announcement. &ldquo;There should be revisions. Only travelling media should vote, plus there should be some sort of collaboration between media and coaches. I don&rsquo;t say just let the coaches vote, they could fix it against certain players.&ldquo;Montreal is obviously too close to the bureaucracy of Ottawa. It&rsquo;s like they use one guy to count the votes and 25 to shake the ballot box.&rdquo;The Oilers complained that Chicago Black Hawk Al Secord, who was 22 points and 20 notches behind Messier in the scoring race, was selected to the first team. At the time. Messier was second only to runaway points leader Gretzky.&ldquo;Yes, I am disappointed, but that&rsquo;s the way it obviously is. I have nothing against Secord, he&rsquo;s having a tremendous year&hellip;he&rsquo;s come a long way as a hockey player the last couple of years,&rdquo; whispered Messier, who during Edmonton&rsquo;s previous 19 games was on a roll with 20 goals and 25 assists.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll just have to start earlier next season,&rdquo; added the 22-year-old, who was bothered for 15 games by a pinched nerve in his leg.Despite his 51-point lead atop the scoring derby, Gretzky&mdash;the NHL&rsquo;s first-ever unanimous winner of the Hart Trophy last season&mdash;couldn&rsquo;t duplicate the feat in the all-star voting. Which itself was a bit of a joke.Gretzky garnered 146 out of a possible 150 points in the five, three and one-point balloting system. His name appeared on 28 first-place ballots, while he was second to Chicago&rsquo;s Denis Savard on two others.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not upset at all, Savard&rsquo;s a good player,&rdquo; said Gretzky, whose 85 assists represented 12 figures more than Savard&rsquo;s total point production. There was also a matter of 42 goals, tops in the league at the time of the announcement.&ldquo;I just hope when they vote for another person, they feel he&rsquo;s a better hockey player&mdash;not because they have something against me.&rdquo;The Oilers weren&rsquo;t too crazy either that the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; Dino Ciccarelli (28 goals, 24 assists for 52 points) nailed down a second-team rightwing berth over either Jari Kurri (27-3966) or Glenn Anderson (31-32-63)&mdash;both among the NHL&rsquo;s top 20 scorers.&ldquo;Naturally, asking me is like asking a father if he&rsquo;d pick his own son, but my opinion is that I&rsquo;d have both Anderson and Kurri ahead of Ciccarelli on my hockey club. Obviously, everyone doesn&rsquo;t go along with that.&rdquo; said an admittedly-biased Sather.&ldquo;Look at Andy Moog. He has less losses than any goaltender in the league (19-3-7 record). Yet where was he in the voting?&rdquo;Fifth.The bypassed Oilers took the news in stride.&ldquo;If I make it, I make it. If not, it doesn&rsquo;t matter,&rdquo; said Kurri, who in addition to his 42 voting points as a right winger, accumulated three as a leftwinger. Total the points and he was one shy of Ciccarelli. &ldquo;Last year, I got nothing, this year I was at least close. But I really don&rsquo;t think about it.&rdquo;&ldquo;You think it&rsquo;s possible, but obviously they can&rsquo;t take everybody.&rdquo; shrugged Anderson. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t make those decisions. If I did, I&rsquo;d send our whole club.&rdquo;&ldquo;I guess you&rsquo;re always disappointed when you feel you&rsquo;re having a good year,&rdquo; said Charlie Huddy, generally regarded as the Oilers&rsquo; top defenseman over the season&rsquo;s first half, despite a sixth-place showing in the voting. &ldquo;One thing about it&hellip;I&rsquo;m not going to lose any sleep over it.&rdquo;IN THE CREASE&mdash;Goaltender Grant Fuhr, who last year joined Gretzky, Messier and Coffey on the first team, was sent to Moncton after suffering an acute case of the sophomore jinx. Rookie Chris Smith suffered a dislocated shoulder With the American League farm, necessitating help from the parent club. The vacancy appeared to be right up the Oilers&rsquo; alley where struggling Fuhr(4.28 goals-against average and 9-10-3 record) was concerned. In his first start with the Alpines, Fuhr led them to a 4-2 win over Rochester with a 35-save first-star performance. &#9679;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011194/4598449-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="563" height="680"><figcaption class="caption-body">Oiler coach Glen Sather said Mark Messier, above, should have made the first team.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

Oilers Feel Slighted In All-Star Selections

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY&mdash;The Flames, trying to get more depth on defense, have one new player in camp and are looking for a &ldquo;second.Jamie Macoun&mdash;one of the top prizes in the U.S. college free-agent market&mdash;has agreed to contract terms with the Flames.Macoun has already started practising with the team and expects to be in the lineup before the season ends.The other player the Flames want is Bill Nyrop, acquired with Steve Christoff in the summer trade for Willi Plett.Nyrop left his Cologne club team in West Germany just after Christmas with a deep groin injury and was told not to bother coming back.Now, what the Flames must decide is whether they want the enigmatic Nyrop on their team. Or more precisely, whether they can find him to decide whether they want him on their team.Confused by the Nyrop saga? So are the Flames.No one in the Flames&rsquo; organization is exactly sure where Nyrop holed up to heal. He will not return the team&rsquo;s phone calls. The Flames have left messages with both Nyrop&rsquo;s father and his mother, but they do not get answered.Nyrop did telephone Calgary once&mdash;to congratulate the team on-its 3-2 win over the Soviet Union&mdash;but he did not leave a return number.&ldquo;The last I heard, he was hiking somewhere,&rdquo; said one team official.The man who must make the decision on Nyrop is general manager Cliff Fletcher, who brought him into the fold in the first place. Nyrop is committed verbally if not legally to join the Flames in late February when the West German season ends.The Flames gave Nyrop permission to sign with Cologne for his promise to report to Calgary if the Flames thought they needed him.&ldquo;What we&rsquo;d really like is to have him come here, practise, then take it from there,&rdquo; said Fletcher.Fletcher, who hasn&rsquo;t talked to Nyrop since September, admitted he would be a little hesitant to replace a regular defenseman with Nyrop unless the estranged player convinced him he wanted to play.&ldquo;The pluses would outweigh the minuses if he came in and made a substantial contribution,&rdquo; said Fletcher. &ldquo;The bottom line might be that he doesn&rsquo;t want to play.&rdquo;One man who does want to play is Macoun, a 21-year-old defenseman and a member of the Canadian pre-Olympic team. Macoun quit Ohio State to sign with the Flames, but will finish his degree in the summer.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m lucky to be coming in at this time of the season because I&rsquo;ll have all summer to work on my faults,&rdquo; said Macoun. &ldquo;I have confidence in my abilities. Hopefully, I&rsquo;ll impress enough people to be in the top four or top five defensemen by next year.&rdquo;The Flames signed Macoun on the recommendations of U.S. scout Jack Ferreira and assistant GM Al MacNeil.&ldquo;They think he can step right in and play for us,&rdquo; said Fletcher. &ldquo;As I understand it, he was the best defenseman for the Canadian team that played Sokol Kiev in the Christmas tournament and he was one of the top candidates for the Olympic team.&rdquo;The team&rsquo;s coaches, Bob Johnson and Bob Murdoch, convinced Macoun to sign with the Flames over dinner in St. Louis on the recently completed road trip. The Flames had to outbid several other National Hockey League teams for the rights to Macoun.Although he was never drafted, Macoun had 18 college scholarship offers. He chose Ohio State because of the school&rsquo;s excellent business program.Macoun, 6-foot-2 and 199 pounds, said he did not consider playing pro hockey until this season.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t until this season, when my coach (Gerry Welsh) said the pro opportunity could arise, that I even thought about the NHL,&rdquo; said Macoun. &ldquo;I certainly didn&rsquo;t think things would happen this quickly.&rdquo;Over the last 12 months, the Flames have built their entire supporting cast around free agents such as Macoun. Ed Beers, Jim Jackson and Carl Mokosak were all signed as free agents, as were Pierre Rioux and Charles Bourgeois, considered the team&rsquo;s top prospects with the Colorado Flames of the Central Hockey League.Ohio State also turned out defenseman Dan Mandich, a rookie free agent currently playing regularly for the Minnesota North Stars.Macoun&rsquo;s signing gives the team some breathing room on defense. With Phil Russell sidelined with a bruised knee, the club is down to five rearguards, plus Jackson, a utility man. &#9679; &#9632;

Flames Patch Up Defense With Ex-Buckeye Macoun

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011051/4598504-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="287" height="343"></div><h2>Reverse Selke Trophy</h2>I AM SURE you will agree that the NHL acted wisely in awarding a trophy, the Selke, for the best defensive forward. The Selke Trophy currently is co-owned by Bob Gainey and Steve Kasper.But in the spirit of fair play, the league ought to give serious consideration to another trophy, one that will reward all those skaters who work so hard at not working hard.Yes, it is high time that due recognition be given to all those hangers, floaters, drifters and assorted snowthrowers whose fear of forechecking is only matched by their disdain for backchecking. For them, the new prize will be called the Reverse Selke Trophy.Needless to say, competition will be keen. Right up-down there with the best-worst of them is river hockey&rsquo;s gift to the NHL, Ron Duguay.It has been said that Duguay&rsquo;s problem is that he is awaiting a passport allowing him for the first time in history to cross the blueline into the defensive zone. Until that passport comes, Duguay apparently believes he must be limited to breakaways (which he won&rsquo;t score on anyway, penalty shots and tip-ins). He is, in short, a perfect candidate for the Reverse Selke.Some critics have suggested that the entire Quebec Nordique team be entered for the new trophy but, fearing an objection from Duguay, that proposal has been temporarily shelved. Instead, the Nordiques will be permitted two entries who epitomize all the grandeur of floating on ice&mdash;Real Cloutier and Marc Tardif. At the moment, Real has the edge.They tell an apocryphal story about the night Cloutier got his clock cleaned and retired to the infirmary. The club doctor, concerned about his injury, told him he could be excused for the night when, suddenly. Real learned that his Nordiques just obtained a five-on-three manpower advantage.Cloutier instantly recovered, hustled out of the medic&rsquo;s room and on to the ice.The Reverse Selke is in Real&rsquo;s future but just so he doesn&rsquo;t get too cocky, I am advising him that he will be up against a strong field. Among the candidates for the award include Kent Nilsson, Blaine Stoughton, Bobby Smith, Rick Kehoe, any St. Louis Blue. Rick Vaive, Bernie Nicholls, Dennis Maruk and Lucien Deblois.If Real and Ron really want this prize as much as I think they do. they should continue their wonderful imitation of dead wood in the defensive zone and we&rsquo;ll have a dead heat for the Reverse Selke.NOTES&mdash;The question of whether or not the Bruins have peaked too soon was put to Brad Park. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll let the other clubs worry about that.&rdquo; he replies. Every&rsquo; time Park and his gimpy knees move around a rink, it chalks up another miracle for medical science&hellip;Marty Howe&rsquo;s renaissance with the B&rsquo;s merely confirms my suspicion that Gordie Howe and not Larry Pleau should have been the Whalers&rsquo; GM all along&hellip;It&rsquo;s too bad all those North Stars who dropped crocodile tears over Glen Son-mor&rsquo;s departure didn&rsquo;t work as hard at their jobs as the coach did&hellip;Interesting comment from the master, Foster Hewitt, on contemporary hockey announcers: &ldquo;They try to be comedians instead of broadcasters&rdquo;&hellip;Have you noticed that the one quality shared by the first-place Flyers. Bruins and Black Hawks is hard work&hellip;Can you believe Bill Barber: Despite all his hardships this season he still manages to go out of his way to do interviews. broken jaw and all. And he makes a grand effort to be intelligible. Barber has to be one-two among the NHL&rsquo;s most underrated players&hellip;Billy Smith was right about Grant Fuhr; he was playing on reflexes, not technique.ST. LOU VS. SASKATOON&mdash;There is no law that says St. Louis must have an NHL team. Conversely, there are no statutes declaring that Saskatoon cannot support big-league hockey.But those who are so quick to denegrate St. Lou as a hockey town are overlooking facts, otherwise known as statistics. Despite an appallingly disappointing team&mdash;one that on performance doesn&rsquo;t deserve 9,000 per game&mdash;an average of more than 12.000 St. Louisians turned out to cheer the Blues so far this year. Now that&rsquo;s incredible.Long after the Ralston Purina Company made its intentions to sell the team well known, a crowd of more than 12,000 turned out to see the Blues play the North Stars&mdash;on a weekday night, too. No matter how you shake it. St. Louis is not a good hockey town, it&rsquo;s an outstanding one.The fact that the Blues got a bum financial deal back in 1967 and haven&rsquo;t been able to come up with the cable TV money to support the bankroll is another story that has absolutely nothing to do with the city&rsquo;s ability to back a team.In the past month, tons of applesauce have been dispensed by Canadian-chauvinists trying to prove that simply because an NHL team is delivered to Saskatoon, fans will endlessly fill the still-imaginary building.<h2>Mathematics Say No</h2>BOOSHWAH! THE mathematics of Winnipeg say it ain&rsquo;t so.Exhibit A. Winnipeg. This city has produced more hockey players than taxpayers. It is the quintessential Canadian hockey town. It has in Dale Hawerchuk, the second coming of Wayne Gretzky. So what are the Jets averaging? A big, fat 12,900 per game. Their capacity is 15,250. It is really no better than St. Louis.Canadian chauvinists would have us believe that fanatics will barrel in from all points of Saskatchewan to see NHL hockey. Sure they will, for the first couple of years, just like folks flocked to the Omni in Atlanta to see the Flames.But it&rsquo;s the long haul that counts when it comes to supporting a major league club. Wasn&rsquo;t it only a year ago that the Vancouver Canucks&mdash;that&rsquo;s a Canadian team, mind you&mdash;was threatening to move to the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey?Until Vancouver and Winnipeg show me that they can make a go of it for another decade, I say Saskatoon is better suited for the Western League.TAKING A FLYER&mdash;The myth of the Broad Street Bully-gone-soft has been exposed. Within a week, the Flyers banged heads with the Rangers and Devils with such fury that Dave Schultz must still be blanching from behind his commissioner&rsquo;s desk in the Atlantic Coast League.&ldquo;Each year the Flyers claim they&rsquo;ve cleaned up their act,&rdquo; writes Mark Everson in The New York Post. &ldquo;And each year they just fool some fools. Give them a chance and they still go goon.&rdquo;Perhaps, but this much is certain, they also have clawed their way to the top of the Patrick Division through a minefield of injuries that would have repulsed a lesser club. They epitomize the work ethic.Through it all they have been guided by the most underrated coach in the business. Bob McCammon struck out once in the bigs, returned to the minors, paid his dues in Maine and now is proving a better coach on an off day than on the best day Pat Quinn ever had. Here he is, in a 30-Second Third Degree.Q.&mdash;Red Wing coach Nick Polano says former fringe players like yourself make better coaches than ex-stars. Why is this so?McCAMMON&mdash;Fringe players understand when a player is trying and when he doesn&rsquo;t have the ability. They understand a player&rsquo;s shortcomings better. Quality hockey players have very little patience with players who can&rsquo;t make the play.Q.&mdash;You are part of the trend toward younger coaches in the NHL. Is this something we will see more of in the future?A.&mdash;As society has changed, so have the coaches and players changed. Besides being a coach, you have to be a friend&mdash;to a certain point. If you&rsquo;re honest and sincere, I don&rsquo;t think they&rsquo;ll ask for anything more.Q.&mdash;Is it possible the Flyers&rsquo; propaganda campaign about &ldquo;cleaning up their act&rdquo; has influenced referees not to call penalties against them?A.&mdash;I hope the refs are looking the other way. (Laughs). Seriously, it&rsquo;s not propaganda. We have made a sustained effort to cut down on penalties. You can tell by the penalty statistics. We&rsquo;re taking less misconducts and fighting penalties. When we have to play tough, we play tough, and when we don&rsquo;t have to. we don&rsquo;t. We have the ability to play well without taking needless penalties.<h2>Strength In Depth</h2>Q.&mdash;How have you been able to keep the team sharp over an 80-game schedule?A.&mdash;We break the season into quarters. With seven or eight new players, we felt we couldn&rsquo;t do everything all at once. The first quarter we concentrated on effort and the attitude of the hockey team. Around the 15th game, we noticed that our power play and penalty killing had to be improved, so for the second quarter we concentrated on those units. In the third quarter we&rsquo;re working on areas that need the most work. We want to achieve consistency and cut down our defensive mistakes. The fourth quarter will be devoted to getting mentally prepared for the playoffs. A few new wrinkles will be thrown in. The injuries have thrown us off, but the strength of the Flyers lies in the depth of the team. We do have a game plan and everything has gone true to schedule.Q.&mdash;Would you care to comment on the apparent feud between yourself and Herb Brooks of the Rangers?A.&mdash;I believe that if you don&rsquo;t have anything nice to say about a person, you shouldn&rsquo;t say anything!A NET GAIN&mdash;When the Seattle Breakers recently swapped the rights to left winger Tom Martin to Victoria for a used bus it may have struck newcomers as an oddity. But not to those who remember when Eddie Shore penuriously ran the Springfield Indians of the AHL. Believe it or not. Shore once traded a player&mdash;I believe his name was John Baby&mdash;to Buffalo for one &lsquo;Art Ross-style&rsquo; net. (Those, by the way, were the days when the then revolutionary Art Ross nets were relatively new to the scene and much desired.) When someone asked Shore why he didn&rsquo;t get two goal cages in the deal instead of just one. Eddie snapped&rsquo; &ldquo;Because that guy was worth only one Art Ross net!&rdquo; &#9632;

f0005-01

ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;There are a lot of teams having trouble with consistency in the National Hockey League this season. There always are.But, a couple of weeks ago, the Vancouver Canucks may have done the most complete about-face in the history of the franchise when they played back-to-back games in Detroit and Chicago.After losing 6-2 to the Wings and blowing a 2-0 lead after the first five minutes of the game, the Canucks came back and played a perfect game in Chicago against the Hawks, where they beat the Norris Division leaders 5-1 in their own building.&ldquo;We played almost a perfect game tonight,&rdquo; said Vancouver coach Roger Neilson, nearly as astounded by the turnaround as he was grateful. &ldquo;The game in Detroit was awful. We had no energy and it looked like we simply couldn&rsquo;t compete in a skating game.&rdquo;The flip-flop certainly astounded associate coach Ron Smith, though he may have cited the real reason; that the return to Chicago, where the fans were howling, caused memories of the playoffs to come flooding back into the players&rsquo; heads.&ldquo;That may have been the biggest turnaround from one night to another that I&rsquo;ve seen in my years in the National League,&rdquo; said Smith. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like being back in junior again. You come to the rink saying &lsquo;I wonder how we&rsquo;ll play tonight&rsquo;.&rdquo;The problem with the Canucks this year is that they are still seven games under .500, the place where just about every hockey fan in the city thinks they should be. The most recent disappointment came against the New York Islanders. The Canucks played fairly well, only to lose to the Stanley Cup champions, who appear to be hitting their stride once again.But through all the problems, frustrations and anguish of inconsistency, there has been one pleasant surprise. He is Gary Lupul, the little fire plug from Powell River, B.C., who generates excitement the moment he steps on the ice.Having been stationed in Fredericton most of the season, the center was recently recalled when the club was going badl-ly just after the new year.Unlike Gerry Minor, Mark Kirton, and Grant Martin, three other centers who could qualify for the fourth spot in the organization, Lupul is fairly offensively oriented. And given the fact the Canucks have had trouble scoring goals, his thrusts to the net have been a welcome addition. In fact, there is no telling how many goals he would end up with if he were ever to play&mdash;even spot duty and fourth-line activity&mdash;for 80 games, something he&rsquo;s never managed in the NHL before.Lupul scored a beautiful goal against the Hawks when he walked in on Murray Bannerman and slid the puck past him from an almost impossible angle.He scored two goals in his first game against Hartford, just after having been called up, and he has consistently been an offensive threat.&ldquo;My goal is to stay with the club this time.&rdquo; said Lupul. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never given up tht goal even though I was sent down again this year. I just thought I should keep working hard as long as I&rsquo;m playing and wait and see what happens.&rdquo;Meanwhile, with Ivan Hlinka out of the lineup with a bad back that initially wasn&rsquo;t believed to be anything serious, Kirton has also been recalled from Fredericton. Kirton, obtained from the Detroit Red Wings, has done a good job killing penalties and Neilson figures to keep him around for a while. &#9679; &#9632;

Canucks Fight The Battle Of Inconsistency

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>BOSTON&mdash;&ldquo;An unbelievable feat, isn&rsquo;t it?&rsquo;&rdquo; said 21-year-old Barry Pederson, who just finished playing his 141st game for the Boston Bruins.&ldquo;I had goosebumps standing on the blueline tonight when they gave him that big ovation. I played in Wayne Cashman&rsquo;s 1,000th game. Those are the kinds of things that you cherish.&rdquo;Cashman, who at 37 is the club&rsquo;s only surviving player from the 1970 and 1972 Stanley Cup winners, played in his 1,000th regular-season game with the Bruins on Feb. 3, and the team rewarded him with a 5-3 victory over Quebec.He was only the second to reach that figure with the Bruins (John Bucyk was the first), the 49th player in the whole National Hockey League and only the 15th to reach it with one team.&ldquo;I hadn&rsquo;t really thought a lot about it until a couple of weeks ago in Toronto when somebody brought it up and told me how few hockey players had done it,&rdquo; said Cashman. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot for the way I played the game, in the comers, along the boards, a lot of body contact.&ldquo;It takes a lot of things to make you play 1,000 games. It&rsquo;s a great organization, a great family at home, great teammates, coaches and managers&mdash;and most of all, a great training staff.&rdquo;In his 15-year career, Cashman has had two back operations, two shoulder operations, knee surgery, more broken fingers than he can remember and several hundred stitches, the tracks of which are visible all over his body. This season, he is coming back from surgery of a tom rotar cuff in his shoulder.Ironically, Cashman&rsquo;s 1,000th game came the day before his old teammates, Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Bucyk, Johnny McKenzie, etc., gathered for an old-timers&rsquo; game in Boston Garden, and two days after reports began circulating for the second time this year that his retirement was imminent.The retirement report started after a practice session at the Garden during which Cashman, who had the role of a spot player this year, really felt the advancing years.&ldquo;I told Barry Pederson this morning that I&rsquo;m Stan Mikita&rsquo;s cousin&mdash;Stan Still,&rdquo; he said with a weary smile.&ldquo;I feel this is my last year, no doubt about it. This season, I wanted to prove some personal things to myself. And I wanted to play 15 years.&ldquo;I went through a lot last year with my shoulder. I worked pretty hard on that in the off-season. I wanted to see if I could play with this team.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a lot of fun. It&rsquo;s not really like a season to me. I had two shifts last night. It&rsquo;s not going to be much of a year. I want to play and I feel I could play regularly so it&rsquo;s tough.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have much trouble keeping muy legs in shape and I probably can come off the bench better than the young guys, but I see what&rsquo;s going on with this team. It&rsquo;s such a skaters&rsquo; game today.&ldquo;Playing with this team has helped me to prepare for retirement. I see how quick these guys are at 19 or 20 years of age and how they&rsquo;ll get quicker. That&rsquo;s how good the league will be in a few years. Quickness is the key.&rdquo;But when the story appeared under the headline: &ldquo;Cashman calls it a career,&rdquo; there was a slight change of mind and heart.&ldquo;There are 28 games to go,&rdquo; he said, after playing on an occasional fourth line and the power play in his 1,000th game. &ldquo;No decision will be made.&ldquo;What I&rsquo;m going to do is enjoy this team and work as hard as I can and do as much as I can this season and then this summer I&rsquo;m going to sit down and decide what I&rsquo;m going to do.&rdquo;&ldquo;A 1,000 games is a hell of an accomplishment,&rdquo; said Bruin coach Gerry Cheevers, who played 418 games in goal for the Bruins and Toronto.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to see a guy give 110 per cent and overcome injuries to get a 1,000. Cash was one of the top two or three left wingers to play this game. He was definitely the best corner man who ever played.&ldquo;He was the Bruins,&rdquo; said assistant coach Jean Ratelle, who played in 1,281 games with the Bruins and the New York Rangers. &ldquo;If we had him in New York in his prime, we would have won the Stanely Cup for sure.&ldquo;He was one of the top left wingers in the league. He was tough but he was talented. He&rsquo;d go in the corners and battle but he could pass and he could make plays. That&rsquo;s why he lasted so long. A lot of guys are plain tough, but don&rsquo;t last 1,000 games.&rdquo; &#9679;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011233/4598559-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="553" height="983"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Cashman will make a retirement decision at the end of this season.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0006-01

Weary Cashman Reaches 1,000-Game Mark

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;It was a happy and maybe relieved group of Minnesota North Stars who returned home for the All-Star break. Actually, it was a happy group who stayed on Long Island during the time, too.With center Neal Broten&mdash;third to Wayne Gretzky and Denis Savard in votes&mdash;and left winger Tom McCarthy added to the Campbell Conference team, thus joining previously elected right winger Dino Ciccarelli and defenseman Craig Hartsburg, the Stars left four players on Long Island for the NHL All-Star game.Happy as they were at making it to the All-Star game, the rest of the club had good reason for being pleased. After 10 games of struggling to discover a compromise in coach Murray Oliver&rsquo;s defense-oriented style that would also free their previously explosive offense, the North Stars beat the New York Islanders, 4-2, in Nassau County Coliseum.That game did more than send the Stars home with a 2-1-1 road tour of Toronto, Buffalo, Washington and the Island. It was the first conclusive evidence that the Stars could indeed do both.They fired 31 shots at the Islander goal and Ciccarelli broke a 2-2 tie with his 29th goal, but only his second in 14 games. He had gone eight in a row without lighting the lamp. Rookie Brian Bellows then notched his 20th of the season into an empty net to clinch it in the last 29 seconds.When Oliver took over, 11 games before the All-Star break, his intention was to tighten the Stars&rsquo; sometimes-sloppy defensive play. A look at the statistics shows that has happened.The Stars averaged 3.55 goals-against through 55 games. Before Oliver took over, it was 3.61. In the 11 games since Oliver&rsquo;s ascension, they have yielded an average of 3.55. That figure, however, is obscured by the 10-4 thrashing administered by Edmonton in Oliver&rsquo;s debut. Without that, the Stars have given up an average of 2.60 goals in 10 games.However, in those same 11 games, while yielding 36 goals, the Stars scored only 37 and posted a 4-3-4 record. For 55 games, the Stars averaged 4.07 goals per game, but it was 4.25 when Glen Sonmor stepped down and only 3.36 since the Stars began executing Oliver&rsquo;s tighter system.So the Islander victory showed the Stars could have the best of both worlds, offensively and defensively. Two days earlier, in Washington, the Stars got the worst of both worlds. They clamped onto the Washington Caps, holding them to only 14 shots. But they managed only 19 themselves and lost, 3-1, also on an open-net goal.Tim Young, who has spent the season commuting in and out of the North Star doghouse after asking to be traded before the start of the season, was bewildered by his latest excursion.When the Stars were tied 3-3 by St. Louis on Jan. 27, Oliver criticized Broten, the club&rsquo;s leading plus-minus player. Oliver labelled himself &ldquo;boneheaded,&rdquo; saying he should have had Young on in the last minute because Young was &ldquo;more diligent&rdquo; defensively than Broten.Interestingly enough, Young then went directly to the press box, sitting out the next four games. He returned in the Islander game to center Ciccarelli and hard-working Ronnie Friest, both of whom got goals on the Island. Young also played the power play.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t say a word,&rdquo; said Young, of his press box stint. &#9679; &#9632;

North Stars Are Balancing Their Offense, Defense

The International Hockey Weekly Founded in 1947Published by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd.214 King St. West, Suite 314, Toronto, Ont. M5H 1K4<h2>Change Of Seasons</h2>The National Hockey League All-Star game has come and gone and, as the saying goes, the 1982-83 NHL regular season is heading into the stretch drive.Up to this point in the schedule, there have been innumerable surprises, some big, some small, that have helped to keep the campaign interesting.A few that quickly come to mind are the spectacular play of the Boston Bruins and their phenomenal goaltender Pete Peeters; the revitalization of the Chicago Black Hawks under new head coach Orval Tessier; and the resurgent Washington Capitals, who finally look to be playoff bound.Of course, there are surprises on the negative side, too. Until recently, the defending Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders had been decidely ordinary; the Stanley Cup finalist Vancouver Canucks have been Team Inconsistent and the same goes for the New York Rangers, a squad that was supposed to be headed for big things this year.So what does it all mean? What does it all add up to?Nothing, if you turn the clock back to last spring when the familiar refrain was, &ldquo;The regular season doesn&rsquo;t mean a thing.&rdquo; You may well remember those days. They came immediately following preliminary-round playoff upsets&mdash;the Los Angeles Kings over the Edmonton Oilers and the Quebec Nordiques over the Montreal Canadiens, to name just two.The gripe then was that teams such as Edmonton and Montreal worked hard all season to establish themselves as the elite of the NHL, only to have it all come crashing down in one five-game series against a supposedly inferior foe that was content with .500 hockey during the regular season.Now, not for one minute do we condone the &ldquo;we wuz robbed&rdquo; whining of last spring. Quite simply, as each NHL team prepares for the playoffs, they are all aware of the ground rules and those rules call for a best-of-five preliminary round playoff.Perhaps the best way of looking at it is that if teams from the upper echelon cannot win three of five games (with home-ice advantage, no less) against the NHL&rsquo;s middle class, then maybe they don&rsquo;t deserve to go any further in the playoffs. You know, all is fair is love, war and the Stanley Cup playoffs.Still, it&rsquo;s difficult to escape the feeling that the 80-game campaign lacks something. What&rsquo;s absent is some sort of incentive to be the best, to finish atop the overall standings.For this, we can thank the NHL governors. Oh sure, on a couple of occasions they&rsquo;ve talked about doing something, providing some sort of plum for the leader. But no concrete action has taken place yet and the season certainly isn&rsquo;t getting any younger.So, when the 1982-83 regular season wraps up, we may be faced with the same situation as one year ago. Suppose for a moment that the Toronto Maple Leafs or Detroit Red Wings upset the Chicago Black Hawks, or the Quebec Nordiques knock off the Boston Bruins or the Kings of L.A. return for another shocker over the Oilers in the best-of-five preliminary round playoff. The same old lines of last spring will be dusted off, hauled out and used over and over again.The league will be taking all this flak from its charter members and it won&rsquo;t be able to do anything, except watch the NHL name and pro hockey&rsquo;s reputation being dragged through the mud&hellip;again.What&rsquo;s needed here is some sort of obvious, attractive bonus to strive to be the best during the regular season. And for your pro hockey player of the 80s, what better award is there than cold, hard cash. That, as much as pride and other intangibles, should be enough to spark a fiery competition between the league leaders, even if they&rsquo;ve already wrapped up their division titles and are awaiting the playoffs.Otherwise, top teams such as the Bruins, Hawks, Flyers and Oilers, may be in a position to coast into the playoffs. It&rsquo;s better for all concerned if those teams have a reason to give it their all right to the wire.Of course, when NHL president John Ziegler hands out the cheques to the members of the regular-season championship team, he can remind them that money doesn&rsquo;t always buy everything. To be specific, neither the cash bonus nor a strong regular-season finish guarantee anything once the second season starts. &#9632;

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>When dear buddy John Robertson waves the Canadian flag near his brow, it&rsquo;s unfortunate that it clouds his otherwise fertile mind.In his impassioned plea for the admission of the village of Saskatoon to the National Hockey League, Robertson delivers a gratuitous kick in the pants to pro hockey in the United States. He, thus, has invited a return punt.Not only was Robertson was incorrect in his assessment that hockey is failing south of his border, he also was unfair, misleading, and guilty of an egregious ignorance of hockey history.Let&rsquo;s start at the 49th parallel. For the Canadian chauvinists such as Robertson, who would have the world believe hockey is their game, a word of caution.Perhaps hockey was played in your fair Dominion a few years before it was introduced in the States, but, keep this in mind: The first hockey played in artificial ice in an outdoor rink was played in the U.S. (Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Casino in Schenley Park, 1894.)Why it wasn&rsquo;t until the 1900s that Canada got around to building an arena with artificial ice. By that time, the U.S. had them not only in Pittsburgh, but also in New York, Boston, Cleveland and Detroit.And for your information, the first professional hockey league in North America was bom in the U.S. The date: 1904. The place: Houghton, MI.While there&rsquo;s no question that early in this century the majority of hockey players were developed in Canada, don&rsquo;t forget, Johnny R, that there wouldn&rsquo;t be a National Hockey League today were it not for the United States.Hockey became big-time in North America when Boston. New York. Detroit and Chicago were welcomed to the NHL. They were welcomed because Saskatoon, Victoria, Edmonton and those other pillars of puckdom couldn&rsquo;t carry the financial load.If you want to talk about folding franchises, Johnny R, you should include Hamilton (1925), Ottawa (1934) and the Montreal Maroons (1938), among them.Why even your fair city of Toronto&mdash;supposedly the hockey center of the universe&mdash;could not support a team in the World Hockey Association. In case you&rsquo;ve forgotten, the beloved Toros were moved to Birmingham, AL.No, Johnny, there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with hockey in the U.S. Check your clippings and you&rsquo;ll find that within recent memory, two esteemed Toronto writers&mdash;Rex MacLeod and Rick Boulton&mdash;suggested that the way hockey players are being produced in the States, there&rsquo;ll be as many, if not more, Amerks than Canadians in the NHL by the next century.Wise up, Johnny, the reason attendance is poor in Pittsburgh these days has nothing to do with hockey enthusiasm, but everything to do with hockey taste. Americans have it, Canadians don&rsquo;t. Unlike Torontonians, who would fill Maple Leaf Gardens if Pink Mules put on skates, Pennsylvanians knowquality hockey when they see it. They won&rsquo;t settle for the tripe the Penguins are serving so they stay at home. They are to be commended, not censured. Those who watch the Leafs, day in and day out, should be committed, perhaps, but not commended.Give Americans decent hockey and they&rsquo;ll support teams. Not only that but State-side hockey is out-flourishing its Canadian counterpart on every level&mdash;collegiate and minor league.Take the minors as an example. Eight out of 13 American League teams are from the States. All eight teams in the International League are from the States. The Atlantic Coast League has six American clubs as does the Central League. What kind of minor pro hockey do you have in Canada? Sorry, Johnny R, but it&rsquo;s no contest.And let me tell you another thing. Sure, Edmonton is selling out. But I&rsquo;ll let you in on a little secret. Take away Wayne Gretzky, and there would be caverns in the Northlands Coliseum. And wasn&rsquo;t it only a year ago that Vancouver&mdash;site of the first artificial ice rink in Canada&mdash;was hell bent on moving its franchise to the Meadowlands of New Jersey? (I hear Winnipeg isn&rsquo;t exactly coining money either.)Stop waving the flag, Johnny, and open your eyes. Saskatoon belongs in the Tundra League, if anything. And if you really want to know where the next NHL franchise should go, I&rsquo;ll tell you: In a 19,000 seat arena somewhere in Westchester County, just north of The Big Apple.Like Goerge M. Cohan once said, Johnny, anything outside of New York is&mdash;Saskatoon. &#9632;

You Can Take Saskatoon And Shove It

<div class="byline">BY P.J. KENNEDY</div>For the inhabitants of the metropolis of St. Louis, the revelation that the heretofore anonymous town of Saskatoon might well be the new home of their beloved Blues was, at very least, shocking.To lose one&rsquo;s franchise to such world centres such as East Rutherford, N.J.; Hartford, CT; or Landover, MD, would be acceptable.But Saska-whats? Well, it&rsquo;s downright humiliating. Think of the league&rsquo;s image, not to mention the embarrassment of having a team located in Canada&rsquo;s potash (whatever that is) capital.The reaction of New York sports columnist Stan Fischler should demonstrate to those international citizens of the capital of Dog Chow (everyone knows what that is!) that at least one hockey expert understands their plight. In a special article, entitled &ldquo;Saskatoon&mdash;Go Away!&rdquo;, written for the naive settlers of Saskatoon, Fischler stated. &ldquo;More than anything, league officials are concerned about losing an American franchise which has a heritage&hellip;In addition there is the matter of identity. Few fans in the northeastern United States can relate to Saskatoon.&rdquo;Thanks, Stan. What fools the Saskatchewan populace would be to think a houseful of knowledgeable hockey fans at home games supporting quality hockey in a competitive league are what the NHL is all about.Even the most uninitiated hockey spectator should realize that it is the league identity with teams from the world renowned population centres of Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., that keeps packing the arenas. Everyone should realize by now what folly it is to try to replace the thrill of seeing a team from East Rutherford compared to viewing a contingent from a place like Edmonton, Alta.Pity John Ziegler and his cohorts as they continue to fight the good fight to keep the National Hockey League, well, &ldquo;national&rdquo;. Imagine those upstart Canadians trying to get yet further control of the game of hockey. There will have to be a full investigation to prevent further Canadianization of the league.Should the trend continue for more Canadian cities in the league, it could mean the destruction of the proud traditions that extend as far back as 1967 when the Blues first received their franchise.Would NHL arenas still have the banshee scream of dappleresque sirens and horns each time a goal is scored? What would happen to the league&rsquo;s identity with gigantic electronic cheerleading scoreboards complete with subliminal advertising which changes with each shot on goal? And where would the seemingly ubiquitous San Diego Chicken and his many clones find winter employment if fans actually came to an arena to watch hockey and not the antics of some overstuffed bird?All this positive league image could go the way of maskless goalies if Saskatoon becomes yet another Canadian NHL city. Fans who actually applaud the opposition if a good play is made just won&rsquo;t do. There is no place in NHL hockey for more Canadian fans who refuse to continually raise huge view-blocking signs scribbled with such semi-literate slogans as &ldquo;Sycaucus, N.J. Luvs Ya Bobby&rdquo; each time a camera pans the crowd. Unhappily for league identity, there are even now too many American fans who won&rsquo;t do this sort of thing.But, alas, it may already be too late for Bill Hunter has been at work.Much to the chagrin of John Ziegler, Harold Ballard, and the rest of the image conscious league fathers. Saskatoon will fill its Coliseum game after game with knowledgeable fans who will encourage the players from all teams to perform at their best. &#9632;

Saskatoon Has Knowledgable Hockey Fans

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;And on and on it goes. Only when San Andreas double faults and Los Angeles falls into the Pacific Ocean will the Flyers&rsquo; unbeaten streak against the Kings end.No. 32 was routine.The Flyers got goals from Brian Propp and Brad McCrimmon and checked the Kings to death, 2-0, at the Forum in a renewal of the oldest non-rivalry in the National Hockey League. And like the majority of games between the two teams over the nine seasons, this one was close enough for the Kings to get lucky.If they had scored early, would it have been a different game? Sure, does it ever work out that way? No.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t talk about it too much,&rdquo; said Flyer coach Bob McCammon. &ldquo;But if anything, it (the streak) helps get us up.&rdquo;Such is the rate of the Flyer success these days that they don&rsquo;t have to stop to question why. When you&rsquo;re on an 18-1-2 roll, you don&rsquo;t ask. Youjust keep rolling. The Flyers are now almost three-quarters of the way down the Patrick Division hill and if this keeps up another 10 games or so, the Islanders will not have a snowball&rsquo;s chance in L.A. of overtaking them.Headed into the all-star break, the Flyers have 25 games left, one more than the Stanley Cup champions. Only 10 of them are on the road. Beginning this week, the next five and seven of the next eight are at the Specturm.The Islanders, down by 10 points, have only 11 of their final 24 on the road, but barring a Flyer collapse, their only chance is the three games they have remaining with the Flyers. Two, however, are at the Spectrum.Considering the Flyers have all three left with Toronto and four with New Jersey, they would really have to blow this now. This analysis may seem a bit premature, but if they pick up the expected points during this homestand, it no longer will be. If this was baseball, the commissioner would be directing Philadelphia to begin printing playoff tickets. Since this is hockey, just about everybody already has printed them at the beginning of the season.The Flyers will not continue forever at their present pace, but they are proving their depth by surviving a slump by one of their top offensive guns, Ron Flockhart. The lengthy mine field of injuries that has yet to break their stride, could always come back to grab any team, but the Flyers are almost completely healthy now. Besides, this year&rsquo;s model has two significant safety catches last year&rsquo;s was missing.One is the bottomless well of Mark Howe on defense; the other is goaltending. Against Los Angeles, Pelle Lindbergh returned from a one-month absence to record his third shutout of the season. Since Bob Froese was unbeaten in 10 games and had a 1.60 goals-against average while Lindbergh&rsquo;s sprained wrist healed, the Flyers appear too deep at hockey&rsquo;s most critical position to go off the deep end.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s harder to make the Flyers than it is the all-star team,&rdquo; said Lindbergh, who played in the All-Star game at Nassau Coliseum for the Wales Conference. &ldquo;Our defense played well in front of me, but that&rsquo;s nothing new.&rdquo;There had been some concern that Lindbergh, a notorious slow starter in September, would take several games to build himself back to his December form. &ldquo;Bernie (goaltending coach Parent) said he had been looking great in practice,&rdquo; said general manager Keith Allen. &ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t worried at all.&rdquo;Neither will Allen lose too much sleep over the upcoming musical net competition among three goalies for two spots. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to sit down and talk about it, now that the team&rsquo;s home,&rdquo; said Allen.He&rsquo;s been saying that for two weeks. The only move the Flyers will likely make is to inform Bunny Larocque that he just can&rsquo;t be playing much anymore.&ldquo;I know Bob doesn&rsquo;t want to get back to using three again,&rdquo; said Allen. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be tough, but I can&rsquo;t see us sending Froese back to Maine. I know that will leave us with two rookie goalies, but with his international experience, I don&rsquo;t look at Pelle that way.&rdquo;We probably haven&rsquo;t seen the last of Froese. but you know Lindbergh will get the majority of the remaining starts to get him ready for the playoffs.ICEBERGS&mdash;The Flyers were fined $7,000 for their part in a bench-clearing brawl against New Jersey. Paul Hom-gren, who challenged Garry Howatt to leave the bench after Howatt had sucker-punched him earlier, was assessed $500 of that. Howatt, facing a three-game suspension. declined, but Holmgren threw a punch in his general direction anyway. There were no suspensions because referee Bruce Hood could not ascertain which team left the bench first&hellip;Tim Kerr, out since Nov. 10 with various and sundry knee problems, was due back this week. So was defenseman Bob Hoff-meyer, who suffered a wrist sprain Jan. 22 at Uniondale&hellip;Darryl Sittier was added to the all-star team by Wales coach Al Arbour. Bob McCammon said he was &ldquo;curious&rdquo; why Bobby Clarke, who has certainly had an all-star season, was left off the team. Arbour filled in Bryan Trottier and Ron Francis at center and added Sittier as a left winger. &ldquo;But if Clarkie&rsquo;s not upset about it, I&rsquo;ve got more important things to worry about,&rdquo; McCammon said&hellip;The Flyers stretched their unbeaten streak to eight (7-0-1) and are 18-1-2 in their last 21 games. They are also 11-1-1 in their most recent road games. &#9679; &#9632;

Flyers Add Another Win To King Routine

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>WASHINGTON&mdash;The Washington Capitals experienced a bit of a slide following a 14-game undefeated streak, then they rebounded with a six-game unbeaten string that virtually wrapped up the club&rsquo;s first playoff berth.The six-games included one victory over New Jersey and two over Pittsburgh, the two longshot possibilities to create another post-season blank at the Capital Center.Also listed in the streak were two playoff-type contests, an emotional 3-3 tie at Montreal and a 3-1 home victory over Minnesota that contained only 33 shots on goal, fewest in a game involving the Capitals.The game at the Forum marked the first return visit for Rod Langway, Brian Engblom. Doug Jarvis and Craig Laughlin, the four former Canadiens who have done so much to turn around the Capitals&rsquo; fortunes.Liberally cheered by Forum fans while the struggling Canadiens were subject to boos, the Capitals built a 2-0 lead over two periods and still led, 3-1. with slightly more than six minutes remaining. However, an unassisted goal by Guy Carbonneau and one by Gilbert Delorme with 1:04 remaining enabled Montreal to escape with a tic.&ldquo;It was kind of an interesting game,&rdquo; Jarvis said. &ldquo;The big thing for the Washington Capitals was to play good hockey and show that we&rsquo;re a good team and that we belong. We wanted to gain a little respect and I think we did.&rdquo;Despite a record that showed them 10 games over .500 and only three points behind the second-place New York Islanders in the Patrick Division, the Capitals felt the need for some respect and recognition. The all-star voting and home attendance indicated there is still a long way to go in that area.Bryan Murray, who became the Capitals&rsquo; winningest coach with his 51st NHL victory over Minnesota Feb. 3, selected two examples from the all-star voting to illustrate Washington&rsquo;s problems.Engblom, picked to the second all-star team while playing for the Canadiens last season, ranked seventh among Prince of Wales Conference defenseman this time. Ryan Walter, virtually ignored in all-star balloting while a member of the Caps, was selected as the first-team left winger for the Wales team in his first season with the Habs.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard people in the media say in the past, &lsquo;With all that talent, why hasn&rsquo;t Washington done better?&rsquo;&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;But when it comes to the voting, there is no talent, it appears.&ldquo;The only guy picked was Rod Langway and he was on the second team. Denis Potvin made the first team and Denis Potvin did not have a better first half than Lang way. Lang way has been outstanding, one of the major reasons we have moved ahead in the standings and are so close to the Islanders.&ldquo;But at least Rod made it. Ayearago. Brian Engblom played for Montreal and was among the top four defensemen in the league. Now he&rsquo;s rated seventh in our conference and some of the guys ahead of him haven&rsquo;t even played much. Brian Engblom has made a tremendous contribution to this team and I don&rsquo;t think he played much better than last year, if at all.&ldquo;Ryan Walter played very well last year and we were disappointed that he wasn&rsquo;t selected to the all-star team, because he deserved it. I&rsquo;ve seen Ryan play eight games with Montreal this year and he&rsquo;s not playing well. But now he&rsquo;s picked as the first left winger in our conference.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not complaining, because he does deserve it, but the unfair part is being passed up with Washington. We don&rsquo;t get the media or TV exposure of teams like Montreal and I guess that&rsquo;s what hurts. When we were in Montreal, one of their guys who talked to me hadn&rsquo;t seen our team all season, yet I guess he was one of the voters.&rdquo;Besides the media recognition problem, the club was hurt by small crowds, as attendance, which declined considerably from the first quarter to the second, dipped again in the third. Only one of the four home games during the six-game streak attracted a five-figure crowd, with 10,978 turning up to see a 7-2 victory over Pittsburgh.&ldquo;Everybody said as soon as we got a winning hockey team people would come out in droves,&rdquo; said Mike Gartner. &ldquo;Now we have one of the best hockey teams in the NHL and where are they?&ldquo;Obviously, the Redskins have something to do with it. The Redskins were striving for respect and got it by winning the Super Bowl. Maybe we have to get in the playoffs and go a long way to get respect and have people come out.&rdquo; &#9679; &#9632;

Playoff-Bound Caps Aching For Attention

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Webster&rsquo;s New World Dictionary defines the adjective hapless as: unfortunate, unlucky; luckless. Pittsburgh fans believe the word perfectly describes their hockey team.The Penguins set a new club record for most games in succession without a victory, when they failed to win in 11 contests, with only one of those games ending in a tie. The old record of 10 was set in 1969-70.As the Penguins become closer and closer to being mathematically eliminated from Stanley Cup playoff consideration, general manager Baz Bastien plans to stick with the younger players he and coach Eddie Johnston have injected into, the lineup this season.&ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I can,&rdquo; said Bastien. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s always been talk of a youth movement here, but it was always done in a hit-and-miss way. Now we&rsquo;re headed in the right direction. We have a scouting system, we have a farm team, we have young players.&ldquo;We depend a lot on kids up here. We have seven more in Baltimore (in the American Hockey League), and we have seven under contract playing in junior hockey. All those players will be in training camp next year.&rdquo;Penguin owner Edward J. DeBartolo has also apparently given his blessing to the youth movement.&ldquo;He is the first owner here who has given us the go-ahead to plan for the future,&rdquo; said Bastien. &ldquo;Before, all the other owners were operating by the seat of their pants, borrowing money to make the payroll. If we had Mr. DeBartolo here eight years ago, we wouldn&rsquo;t be in this position.&rdquo;Bastien says the quick-fix this season isn&rsquo;t the long-range answer for his club.&ldquo;I could pick up the phone right now and make a three-for-one trade,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We can fool ourselves and get a player here and there. It would be easy to do that, and it might help us for this year. But that isn&rsquo;t the answer. We&rsquo;ve got to develop our own players through our farm system.&rdquo;Penguin vice-president Paul Martha met with DeBartolo, but he says a possible coaching change wasn&rsquo;t discussed.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s time to talk about that,&rdquo; Martha said. &ldquo;We have enough problems already and that really wouldn&rsquo;t change anything anyway.&rdquo;In an effort to break the winless streak, Johnston moved assistant coach Mike Corrigan from the press box, where he usually observes the games, to behind the bench.&ldquo;If the club we had was a veteran team instead of one with 10 first- or second-year players taking a regular shift, I would have switched roles with Mike for a week or two to see if maybe we could get things rolling in a positive direction once again,&rdquo; Johnston said.Despite the seemingly insurmountable odds, Bastien still hopes the Penguins will make the playoffs.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never throw in the sponge,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s important to the fans to still have something to shoot for.&rdquo;Even if the fans believe the Penguins are hapless.PENGUIN TRACKS&mdash;Forward Kevin McClelland is expected to miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery on his right shoulder. McClelland suffered a dislocation during a fight in Toronto with Paul Higgins. Pittsburgh recalled left winger Pat Graham and right winger Steve Gatzos from Baltimore Skipjacks of the American Hockey League. Randy Carlyle missed a number of games with a knee injury, leaving Paul Baxter as the club&rsquo;s only veteran defenseman. &#9679; &#9632;

Luckless Pens Looking To Win

<div class="byline">BY STEVE SIMMONS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011182/4598820-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="290" height="339"></div><h2>Watt Ain&rsquo;t Laughing</h2>IN HIS FIRST season coaching the Winnipeg Jets, Tom Watt was often seen smiling.He would walk proudly into most National Hockey League arenas. He was the savior of a fallen franchise&mdash;The Messiah. The coach of the year. He would pleasantly answer all questions asked, and his hockey club would not so pleasantly surprise the opposition.In all, the year 1981-82 was a pleasant season for a team that was once hockey&rsquo;s worst.A year has gone by and a pleasant Tom Watt has become surly. A sometimes surly general manager John Ferguson has become even more surly. An exciting, growing entity known as the Winnipeg Jets seems to have stopped growing.Recently, after another night of disappointment, a disappointed Tom Watt stomped out of the Jets&rsquo; dressing room at the Calgary Corral. On the ice that night, the Jets showed nothing to show they are a team on the way up. In fact, they showed nothing to demonstrate they belong in the Smythe Division playoffs. (At certain times this season, so have Calgary, Los Angeles and Vancouver.)Before Watt was even asked a question, he supplied his first answer. &ldquo;Now I don&rsquo;t want to hear any crap about guys not getting enough ice time,&rdquo; he barked. &ldquo;The way they played tonight, everyone got more ice time than they deserved.&rdquo;Watt was reacting to an earlier story in a Winnipeg newspaper, quoting some Jet players, including one Dale Hawerchuk, that Watt&rsquo;s system of four lines isn&rsquo;t working. And that some players need more ice time to be more effective.Watt was then asked to assess the play of Morris Lukowich, who was playing in all-star caliber form last season. Watt didn&rsquo;t answer the question. The icy stare was answer enough. Anyone who has watched the Jets did not necesarily need an explanation.<h2>What&rsquo;s With Morris?</h2>THIS SEASON, SOMEONE is wearing No. 12 for the Jets, but it can&rsquo;t be Lukowich, can it? There is no burst, no excitement, no fire. Whoever is wearing No. 12 for the Jets is an impersonator, and not a very good one.After Watt&rsquo;s performance of petulance in Calgary, he moved on to Vancouver to charm the faithfuls there. On the ice, his club was beaten 6-4 by a Canuck team that also appears to be going nowhere in a hurry. Watt did not blame either himself, his goaltender or his defense for the team&rsquo;s loss. He blamed a zebra named Bob Myers for the club&rsquo;s loss. Vancouver, without a legitimate scorer on its club, scored three power-play goals in the win.&ldquo;We were cheated,&rdquo; said Watt, firmly pointing the finger in the direction of Myers. Watt, taking a page out of Roger Neilson&rsquo;s book, tossed a white towel into the stands. &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; Watt continued, &ldquo;I can sympathize with Roger.&rdquo; He was, of course, referring to Neilson&rsquo;s behavior in last May&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs when he, too, surrendered to Myers, waving the white towel (flag) as a symbol.Watt, obviously, is having trouble dealing with the fact his team is troubled&mdash;as troubled as some general managers predicted in a pre-season poll when asked which team would slip the most.But what exactly has gone wrong with the Jets? I&rsquo;m glad you asked.For starters, their goaltending is less than adequate. A year ago, the Jets received more than competent netminding from the unlikely duo of Doug Soetaert (unwanted by the Rangers) and Ed Staniowski (unwanted by the Blues). Now Soetaert is showing why the Rangers didn&rsquo;t want him, and Staniowski plays only occasionally, and rarely well.For example, the Flames have played five games against the Jets to date. Winnipeg has won only one of those matches, but outplayed Calgary in four of them. The difference was goaltending.<h2>Weak Goaltending Shows</h2>WATT SAID earlier in the season: &ldquo;The first person always blamed is the coach. The second is the goaltender. Frankly I don&rsquo;t buy it.&rdquo;I don&rsquo;t buy the coaching reason myself, but the goaltending is too visible. If Watt didn&rsquo;t buy it then, he does now. The Jets have a goaltender named Brian Hayward whom they are grooming for better days.Up front, where the Jets should have some of the game&rsquo;s best forwards, something has gone wrong.In his dazzling rookie season, Dale Hawerchuk looked like a clone of Wayne Gretzky. After his rookie season, Gretzky increased his scoring totals by 37 points, and he did the same the year after that. At last glance, Hawerchuk will not equal his record-setting totals of his first appearance. He no longer looks like the next Gretzky, if there is such a thing. He just looks like another center who seems to be coasting.Is it possible for complacency to set in at such a young age?&ldquo;Once you get it, you know you have it,&rdquo; Hawerchuk told Allan Maki of the Calgary Herald. &ldquo;Me, I&rsquo;ve lost it.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been able to finish my chances. It&rsquo;s been like that for me all season. I&rsquo;ve had the opportunities, but I haven&rsquo;t been putting the puck in the net. Why? I&rsquo;m really not sure.&ldquo;I know people are going to expect a lot from me after last year. I&rsquo;m hard on myself. I haven&rsquo;t been happy at all. The only thing I can do is work harder and shoot as much as I can.&rdquo;Dave Christian, when healthy, hasn&rsquo;t performed at top level, and injuries and poor play have forced Watt to break up his once prominent Swedish trio of Thomas Steen, Bengt Lundholm and Willy Lindstrom.On defense, only David Babych has played as advertised, and his plus-minus statistics, once impressive, have since plummetted.The Cinderella Jets are a Cinderella team no more. It should be back to hard work, after all, that&rsquo;s what got them all their attention in the first place.Smile Tom, it could be worse. You could be coaching the Hartford Whalers. &#9632;

f0012-01

THE WESTERN WORD

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021008/4598789-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Although he is only 22, Buffalo Sabre Mike Ramsey has developed into the team&rsquo;s best all-around defensemen (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;Mike Ramsey says that playing in this year&rsquo;s National Hockey League All-Star game meant more to him than it did to play in it last year.&ldquo;Last year I was a fill-in, when John Van Boxmeer got hurt,&rdquo; the young defenseman for the Buffalo Sabres said, upon learning he was picked for the classic. &ldquo;This year, it means more.&ldquo;Not that I didn&rsquo;t feel honored to be there last year. I was in awe of everyone else in the dressing room. Probably will be this year, too,&rdquo; he added, with a laugh. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s exciting.&rdquo;Ramsey was Buffalo&rsquo;s only representative in the All-Star game this year. He was picked by Al Arbour, coach of the Prince of Wales team, as one of the eight players to augment the 12 chosen by the league writers.Ramsey has had quite a few honors, for a fellow only 22 years old.He was picked to the tournament allstar team when the University of Minnesota won the NCAA championship his freshman year.Then, less than a year later, he played for the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the 1980 Olympics.After the Olympics, he signed with the Sabres and played in the Stanley Cup playoffs, going as far as the semi-finals, where Buffalo lost to the eventual champions, the New York Islanders.In his second full season with the Sabres, he played in the All-Star game. On that occasion, he lunched in the White House for the second time. He was among the Olympians invited there by Jimmy Carter, who was pesident at the time of the Lake Placid Games. In 1982, of course, Mike lunched with a gentleman from the other party, Ronald Reagan.Scotty Bowman, who put Ramsey into the regular lineup the day he signed a Buffalo contract, said he was glad to see Mike added to the Wales Conference team.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s our top all-around defenseman,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;He kills all penalties (with Bill Hajt and he&rsquo;s out for the entire two minutes sometimes), he&rsquo;s our top man in plus-minus and he&rsquo;s now beginning to get in on the scoring.&rdquo;Indeed, the night after Ramsey was added to the All-Star team, he started the play that brought the Sabres back into the game after Minnesota scored two goals in 60 seconds early in the third period to take a 2-0 lead.Ramsey kept the puck in the Minnesota end and sent a pass around the boards to Brent Peterson, who passed to Mike Foligno, behind the god, then took a return pass to score 2:14 after Minnesota&rsquo;s second goal.The Sabres gained a tie when Craig Ramsay scored a shorthanded goal later in the period. It was Ramsey&rsquo;s third shorthanded goal of the season and his 27th in the NHL, a club record.The assist was Ramsey&rsquo;s third in his last four games, two wins, a loss and a tie. He had five goals and 22 assists in the Sabres first 52 games.Most followers of the Sabres feel that Ramsey is the most improved player on the young club.Even Don Cherry, the critical TV commentator, said on Hockey Night in Canada (during a Buffalo loss, at that), &ldquo;That Mike Ramsey, he&rsquo;s my kind of defenseman. An old fashioned defenseman.&rdquo;Ramsey had just given a Toronto player a stiff, clean bodycheck.&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve improved a little bit every year,&rdquo; Ramsey said, when talking about his all-star status. &ldquo;The points seem to be coming, I&rsquo;m not sure why. It&rsquo;s in the defensemen&rsquo;s mind, on this club now, to jump up and get into the play more.&ldquo;But mainly I&rsquo;m a defensive player.&rdquo;On regular shifts, Ramsey has been paired with Hannu Virta, the 19-year-old Finn, most of the time.&ldquo;Virta is a good partner,&rdquo; Ramsey pointed out. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s a matter of ice time with me. Scotty has shown a lot of confidence in me and when that happens, it boosts your own confidence.&rdquo; &#9679; &#9632;

f0012-02

Sabres’ Ramsey Develops His Vast Skills

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER AND THN STAFF</div>Members of the NHL high command, resolved to keep Saskatoon out of the league, still believe St. Louis can be saved as a viable franchise. Behind-the-scenes legal and political maneuvering could do the trick, the pro-St. Louisians believe. The strategy is to defer the Saskatoon bid long enough to explore all avenues in Missouri. This implies compelling the Ralston Purina Co. to at least temporarily sustain the franchsie in St. Lou. The NHL could refuse to approve the transfer to Saskatoon and Ralston&rsquo;s protest would then be rejected on the grounds that the company had agreed to uphold the NHL by-laws when it joined the fraternity. This would lead to a court case before a St. Louis judge who would have difficulty approving an anti-St. Louis decision. In the interim, the Blues&rsquo; backers believe that, somehow, they can find a buyer and keep the club at the Checkerdome. Others are pressuring St. Lou Mayor Vincent G. Schoenehl, Jr. to cut red tape and approve Cable TV for the city. This would insure big revenue for the hockey club. Cable rights to Blues&rsquo; hockey in St. Lou belongs to Anheuser-Busch. Saskatoon&rsquo;s trump card is that the Bill Hunter group can put $15-million cash on the table for the club&hellip;Derek Sanderson, the most flamboyant of all Boston Bruins, has begun serious talks on a book with Herald-American columnist Joe Fitzgerald. Skeletons in closets have already begun rattling. An Americanbased agent will have a fit when Sanderson&rsquo;s expose makes print&hellip;There have been reports that Red Wing owner Mike Illitch wants to buy the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League and hire Bobby Kromm as coach. So far, there are denials. There is also said to be another Detroit group after the Spits&hellip;Glen Sather is blamed for the decline and fall of Grant Fuhr as a formidable goalie by Edmonton Journal columnist Barry Westgate. &ldquo;He (Sather) has not shown much insight,&rdquo; says Westgate, &ldquo;which is not surprising, and no degree of patience, which is.&rdquo;Despite the build-up he received, Brian Bellows has&mdash;protests to the contrary&mdash;been a keen disappointment to the North Stars. A Wales Conference official privy to player talk says Bellows, at this point, should be learning skills in the minors. He adds that Minny GM Lou Nanne put Bellows on a line with Bobby Smith&mdash;the No. 1 line&mdash;to fatten Bellows&rsquo; stats. This, &rsquo;tis said, has diminished Smith&rsquo;s game&hellip;Real Cloutier has listed four teams to whom he would not report in the event of a trade. Pittsburgh is one but Montreal is not. Cloutier no longer has a no-trade clause in his contract. His gripe with the Nordiques is that they&rsquo;ve used him too sparingly&hellip;Dan Maloney has emerged as the real boss of the Leafs in practice&hellip;Flyers&rsquo; aide Marcel Pelletier says teams now adjust their strategies according to the particular ref who is handling the game&hellip;A front office man&rsquo;s comment on why it would be tough for the North Stars to deal Bobby Smith: &ldquo;His contract is too big!&rsquo;&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Harold Ballard&rsquo;s chums worry about his diabetes and his craving for sweets. &ldquo;Harold,&rdquo; notes one pal, &ldquo;will be having scoops of ice cream while still deciding which flavor he wants&rdquo;&hellip;Rhode Island high schooler Brian Lawton is expected to be an early pick in the 1983 draft&hellip;The impending departure of Flyer prexy Bob Butera has the Spectrum folks wondering how it&rsquo;ll be working under his successor, young Jay Snider, the chairman&rsquo;s (Ed Snider) son. &ldquo;Butera is a smoothy.&rdquo; says a Flyer insider, &ldquo;while Jay is a bit of a hot head.&rdquo;Flyers are expected to hike 1983-84 ticket prices&mdash;a touchy subject at The Spectrum&mdash;if they get past the second playoff round. Oilers got zinged by N.Y. Daily News&rsquo; Frank Brown for hot-dogging it after goals and running up big scores when games are in the bag. &ldquo;They better be able to back Up their cockiness in the playoffs,&rdquo; writes Brown, &ldquo;or people Oilers have angered Will have a field day.&rsquo;&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Sather tells BLUELINES that Brown is wrong. &ldquo;Fans pay good money to see a hockey game and they expect to see their team play 100 per cent for the full game,&rdquo; notes the Oiler boss. &ldquo;If we&rsquo;re leading 5-0 at the end of the first period, is it fair to the fans if we sit back and coast through the rest of the game? We&rsquo;re in the entertainment business and we should give our best at the first minute as well as the 60th.&rdquo; Sather refutes the humiliation theory. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s no reflection on a team if we beat them, 8-1. It&rsquo;s just another victory.&rdquo; Sather appears unconcerned about playoff retaliation. &ldquo;Any columnist who doesn&rsquo;t understand what we&rsquo;re doing&mdash;giving fans true value for their money&mdash;doesn&rsquo;t understand sports and should get out of the business&rdquo;&hellip;At least one NHL coach has privatley remarked that he believes Lou Vairo, who learned his hockey on roller skates, is over his head coaching the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team&hellip;One Ranger beat writer insists that Herb Brooks is totally obsessed with the idea of proving that small players can do as well&mdash;or better&mdash;than the big ones. Ex-pro Buzzy Deschamps puts it another way: &ldquo;The Rangers unloaded Andre Dore (6-foot2, 200 pounds) because he was too tall to play for Herbie&rsquo;s midgets!&rdquo;&hellip;Ref Wally Harris says officiating is much tighter today than when big guns Phil Esposito and Bobby Hull were in their respective primes.Hall of Famer Doug Harvey says the Canadiens&rsquo; problem is that they&rsquo;re not in shape. He told Tim Burke of the Montreal Gazette: &ldquo;They aren&rsquo;t in shape because they don&rsquo;t scrimmage anymore in their workouts. The only way you become a good hockey player is by scrimmaging two days before a game&rdquo;&hellip;Edmontonians don&rsquo;t want to be stuck with garbage games for the next Canada Cup and overseer Al Eagleson is being pressured into arranging the final in Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s adopted town. If Maple Leaf Gardens (Harold Ballard) turns its back on Canada Cup games, as in the past, Edmonton or Calgary could wind up with final. But if Ballard changes his tune about keeping the Soviets out of his building, the Cup final figures to be in T.O. &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011129/4598875-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Detroit Red Wing defenseman Reed Larson is one of two players who played in the 1978 playoffs against Atlanta and Montreal.</figcaption></div>DETROIT&mdash;Most of all, Paul Woods remembers &ldquo;The Goal&rdquo; and the atmosphere.&ldquo;It was incredible, unbelievable,&rdquo; Woods said. &ldquo;The atmosphere in the whole town was electric.&ldquo;And the best thing I&rsquo;ve ever seen in sports&hellip;We&rsquo;re losing 8-0 and with five minutes left, the fans gave us a standing ovation and they kept it up for the rest of the game.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s been five years now since the Red Wings last were in the National Hockey League playoffs. It was their only postseason appearance in more than a decade and for the first time since, it&rsquo;s not outlandish to suggest the Red Wings might return. Certainly, it&rsquo;s not done yet but, for a change, there&rsquo;s a reasonable chance.Only two players&mdash;Woods and Reed Larson&mdash;remain from that 1978 Red Wing playoff team. Both were rookies in the 1977-78 season. Woods was acquired from the Montreal farm system through the waiver draft on the eve of the season and Larson arrived as the No. 2 draft choice from the University of Minnesota campus.The Wings eliminated Atlanta in two straight games in the opening preliminary round before losing in the quarterfinals to Montreal, four games to one. Detroit won the second game in Montreal to even the series at 1-1 but lost both games at home&mdash;4-2 and the 8-0 game that Woods spoke of.Red Wing fans figured at that point that there would not be another game in Detroit, that the Canadiens would end it back in Montreal in Game Five. So they displayed their appreciation with the lengthy standing ovation despite the lopsided score. Of course, they were right. The series never returned to Detroit.&ldquo;We won in Atlanta and came back to Olympia for the second game,&rdquo; Woods recalled of the series against the Flames. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s strange but I remember that game like it was yesterday. I had three assists.&rdquo;Woods set up both of Bill Lochead&rsquo;s picture-perfect goals&mdash;including &ldquo;The Goal&rdquo;, which snapped a 2-2 tie with less than two minutes left for the victory.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never forget that last one. After he scored the goal and circled behind the net, I hit him like a linebacker and knocked the air out of him,&rdquo; Woods said.&ldquo;It was the best feeling of my life and it stayed all summer and even the next year. There&rsquo;s a lot more of that feeling here now. It&rsquo;s a good feeling. A lot more guys get upset when we lose, not that the others didn&rsquo;t, but it&rsquo;s different now.&rdquo;Woods missed 16 games this season with a shoulder separation and while he was out, the Wings went on a roll and moved into playoff contention by overtaking the Toronto Maple Leafs.&ldquo;Sitting up there watching that, I couldn&rsquo;t wait to get back,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was just as glad to see those wins, even if I wasn&rsquo;t there, because I&rsquo;ve seen so many losses over the year. No matter where we play now, we&rsquo;re in every game. We&rsquo;re right on the edge, we just have to turn the corner.&ldquo;And this would be a good time to do it, just before the playoffs.&rdquo;Woods&rsquo; rookie season was the best of his career. He scored 19 goals in 80 games. He reached double figures again the next season with 14 goals. He got off to a strong start offensively this season before the injury knocked him out of the lineup.Larson sees many similarities between the 1978 team and the current Red Wing squad.&ldquo;Mainly, we were just a hard-working team, a forechecking team, and we got good goaltending,&rdquo; Larson said. &ldquo;Those are the things we&rsquo;re trying to do this year&mdash;forechecking, playing the body, and we&rsquo;re getting the good goaltending.&rdquo;Larson, twice the Red Wing representative in the All-Star game, scored 19 goals and 41 assists for 60 points as a rookie and has continued to produce at that rate ever since. He&rsquo;s always near the top of the club&rsquo;s individual scoring parade and this season ranked second behind left winger John Ogrodnick.WING WIRE&mdash;Veterean goaltender Gilles Gilbert agreed to report to Detroit&rsquo;s Adirondack farm club in the American Hockey League for 14 days of conditioning. Earlier, he had exercised his right to refuse demotion&hellip;The Wings&rsquo; home attendance is lagging behind last season&rsquo;s pace by some 6,300 through 22 home dates. &#9679; &#9632;

f0013-01

Red Wings Players Try To Relive 1978 Experience

<div class="byline">BY GARY MUELLER</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;In this, the unlikeliest of seasons for the St. Louis Blues, the sight of defenseman Ed Kea dropping his gloves and taking part in some fisticuffs is still asking too much to be believable.But then, who would have ever thought a team that is averaging well over 12,000 fans per game could be on the verge of being transferred to Saskatoon&mdash;or Saska-who? as it is becoming known in St. Louis.Or who would have ever thought the Blues would be nearly 30 points behind the Chicago Black Hawks, but within a point or two of the Detroit Red Wings, at the All-Star break.Or who would have thought that Wayne Babych, a 54-goal scorer two seasons ago, would be watching from the press box while the Blues were using converted-center Blake Dunlop, defensive specialist Mike Crombeen and erstwhile minor leaguer Bobby Crawford as their regular right wingers.Or who would have thought goaltender Mike Liut, after averaging 31 victories in his first three seasons in the NHL, would have only 13 victories after 41 appearances this season.But even as unbelievable as all that seemed, credibility was stretched to its limits recently when Kea, a born-again Christian, received a rare roughing penalty and appeared on the verge of dropping his gloves and fighting with Tim Young of the Minnesota North Stars.&ldquo;He just caught me with a check and I gave him a little shove back,&rdquo; said Kea. &ldquo;It really wasn&rsquo;t anything, but if he had dropped his gloves. I&rsquo;d have dropped mine.&rdquo;Since coming to the Blues in 1979, Kea has picked up only three major penalties in 267 games. Thus, his nearfight with Young attracted some attention, all of which seemed to embarrass the soft-spoken, good-natured Kea. He would have much rather talked about the strong defensive game&mdash;perhaps his best of the season&mdash;that he had played against the North Stars.&ldquo;It felt good to get so much ice time again,&rdquo; said Kea. At age 35. he is the Blues&rsquo; oldest player, and seemingly was destined to wind up his career languishing on the bench while others dominated the playing time. But when defensemen Rob Ramage, Tim Bothwell and Guy Lapointe all were injured. Kea stepped back into the lineup and played well.&ldquo;As a veteran, you should know how to accept not getting much playing time, but it&rsquo;s very difficult not to start playing mind games,&rdquo; said Kea. &ldquo;It can be psychologically difficult to handle. I handed over my problems to the Lord and asked him to help me.&rdquo;Surprisingly, Kea also said it was helpful to him to see youngsters such as Crawford. Alain Lemieux, Alain Vig-neault and Jim Pavese come up from Salt Lake City and play well.Because Vigneault and Pavese are defensemen, the better they play, the more likely it is that Kea will again find himself with less playing time. It could hasten the end of Kea&rsquo;s career.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s exactly the kind of mind game you can&rsquo;t allow yourself to play,&rdquo; said Kea. &ldquo;When I see a younger player come up and play well and help our team. I&rsquo;m thankful. This has been a difficult season, both personally and team-wise, but there have been a lot of positive signs lately, and one of the best has been the way our younger players are starting to develop and contribute to the team.&rdquo;At least until a franchise in Saskatoon becomes a reality, the National Hockey League and veteran players such as Kea are to be taken seriously, we suppose, so nothing should come as too much of a surprise.Kea might not be ready to drop his gloves, but the Blues&rsquo; oldest player still has a few contributions to make.BLUENOTES&mdash;The Blues suffered a damaging blow when right winger Joey Mullen suffered torn ligaments in his left knee in a game against Los Angeles. He underwent surgery Jan. 31 and was expected to miss the remainder of the regular season&hellip;In their 10 ties this season, the Blues scored the final goal only three times&mdash;with all three coming in ties against Minnesota. &#9679;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011164/4598906-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="551" height="873"><figcaption class="caption-body">St. Louis Blue defenseman Ed Kea surprised everyone when he almost fought.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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The Blues’ Motto: Expect The Unexpected

<div class="byline">BY DICK BEDDOES</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02943/4598937-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="285" height="339"></div><h2>Here&rsquo;s Howe</h2>JOHN SHORT presides over an open-mouth radio program in Edmonton and, not long ago. Short was saying, &ldquo;You might not believe this, but Gordie Howe told me that Wayne Gretzky is the best center he ever saw.&rdquo;That, it seemed to me, covered many centers and enough years to be called a generation, or two.Howe was a mercenary for 33 seasons, on most scorecards the all-time hockey player on the sod, or under it.The centers he played with in his palmy years with the Detroit Red Wings included the smooth Fats Delvecchio and the industrious Norman Ullman, who forechecked with the vigilance of a bill collector.The centers that Howe played against included the combative Milton Conrad Schmidt of Boston, the equally combative Ted Kennedy in Toronto, masterful Stan Miki-ta of Chicago and elegant Jean Beliveau of Montreal.I mean, we are talking about centers.A few weeks after conversation with John Short, on CFRN radio, there was a chance to check with Howe. He was in Toronto representing Emery Express, the people who salute the player on each NHL team with the best plus-minus rating.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t say Gretzky was the best center I ever saw,&rdquo; Howe said. &ldquo;I said he was one of the best and smartest. The things he does with the puck in the other team&rsquo;s end are remarkable.&rdquo;Then Howe said, &ldquo;But Delvecchio&mdash;aw, how can I overlook him? He was something. He&rsquo;d be carrying the puck and get hit, but I&rsquo;d keep on going. 1 knew Fats would get the puck to me.&rdquo;He recalled hockey from a time when all was right in the NHL world and Clarence Campbell was in the president&rsquo;s swivel chair.&ldquo;Big Jean,&rdquo; he said of Beliveau. &ldquo;What a player. Did it all. Skate, pass, shoot. When anybody who saw Jean play thinks of the best among centers, they&rsquo;ve got to think of him.&rdquo;Beliveau and Howe were alike in one respect. Their elbows were magnificent weapons.&ldquo;Windshield-wiper elbows,&rdquo; King Clancy called them. &ldquo;Always up and in your kisser.&rdquo;Howe&rsquo;s duties these days, besides touting Emery Express, include advising Howard Baldwin, managing general partner of the Hartford Whalers.<h2>Baldwin Not Listening</h2>PRESUMABLY MR. Baldwin is not listening to Howe&rsquo;s advice. Otherwise he would have retained Marty and Mark Howe to play defense for a team whose rear guard is tanglefooted and whose goaltenders give exciting impersonations of open windows.How the hell else, Mr. Baldwin, to explain a 12-3 slathering in Quebec and a 7-1 whipping in Toronto?While the Whalers sink below sea level, so far down they are impossible to see with the naked eye, Marty and Mark Howe are prospering on the two best teams in the NHL.If Marty doesn&rsquo;t help win the Wales Conference with the Boston Bruins, Mark should help win it with the Philadelphia Flyers.Howe, rising 55, mentioned his kids with familial warmth. &ldquo;Colleen and 1,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;are really glad for the boys.&rdquo;He meant his wife Colleen, an able lady who has always led the Howes&rsquo; fireside cheering section.Allowing Marty and Mark Howe to escape Hartford makes one suspect the seventh sense of genius said to repose in Howard Baldwin, the managing general partner.A guy said, &ldquo;If anybody in Hartford hockey was really smart, they&rsquo;d have your wife running the team.&rdquo;Howe did not entirely disagree. &ldquo;Well, I know she can promote. She showed that years ago in Detroit, when she turned the Roostertails into a good talked-about kids team.&rdquo;&ldquo;The claiber of general managing in the NHL,&rdquo; Howe was told, &ldquo;is not so brainy that your wife couldn&rsquo;t beat a lot of guys masquerading as general managers.&rdquo;<h2>The Harpit Whalguins</h2>HE DEFLECTED that comment amiably. &ldquo;All I know is that she has general managed me pretty well for years.&rdquo;The Whalers, Howe said, are determined to go with youth. They are so youthful as to constitute a playpen full of moppets in funny green uniforms. The moppets get knocked down so often in their funny uniforms that the ice surface resembles a tossed green salad.&ldquo;What we have to do,&rdquo; said Dave Hodge, the comely telecaster, &ldquo;is merge Hartford and the Pittsburgh Penguins. They&rsquo;re both awful. I even have a name for their merger.&rdquo;&ldquo;Yeah?&rdquo;&ldquo;Yeah.&rdquo; Mr. Hodge said. &ldquo;The Harpit Whalguins.&rdquo; Which, Howard Baldwin, is to say whap!The conversation wheeled back to Gretzky, the Edmonton prodigy. &ldquo;You think he can carry his class over 33 years like you did?&rdquo; somebody asked.&ldquo;At the rate he&rsquo;s being paid,&rdquo; Howe said, &ldquo;he won&rsquo;t have to play 33 years.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-02

BEDCLOTHES

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Finally, the Kings struck paydirt in their long and. until now, fruitless search for a goaltender.On Feb. 1. they acquired 25-year-old Markus Mattsson from the Minnesota North Stars in exchange for a third-round pick in the 1984 draft.As part of the deal, the Kings also loaned five-year veteran Mario Lessard to Birmingham of the Central Hockey League, the North Stars&rsquo; minor-league affiliate where Mattsson spent the bulk of this season.Only a few hours after Mattsson hopped on the Kings&rsquo; ever-turning goaltending merry-go-round, the most popular player in Los Angeles hockey history climbed aboard, too.Following week-long negotiations with general manager George Maguire, 37-year-old Rogie Vachon signed on as the corps&rsquo; first-ever goaltender coach for the remainder of the season. His future with the team will be discussed at the end of the year.Vachon will work with all the goaltenders throughout the organization, but he&rsquo;ll pay particular attention to Mattsson, Lessard and rookie Gary Laskoski.Vachon has not seen Mattsson. the fifth goaltender to join the Kings this year. Neither, for the matter, has coach Don Perry who, nevertheless, felt the deal was a good one.&ldquo;We had to do something.&rdquo; Perry said. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a hell of a deal for us. We don&rsquo;t give anything up unless we find that he can help us. It was the best deal we could make under the circumstances.&rdquo;The Kings will have until March 8 to sign Mattsson or the deal is off. In that case, the North Stars would receive one dollar&mdash;it was not revealed whether payment would be made by cheque or cash.In 28 games with the Birmingham South Stars, Mattsson had a 17-10 record and a 3.31 goals-against average, fourth best in the CHL.He&rsquo;s a native of Suoneiemi. Finland, and is a 6-foot. 180-pounder. He spent two years in the old World Hockey Association with Winnipeg and had a 3.52 GAA in 10 games in 1977-78 and a 3.63 average in 52 games the following season.His best year came with the Jets in 1979-80. the team&rsquo;s first in the National Hockey League, when he put together a 3.25 average in 21 games. He also had two shutouts.Mattsson was signed by Minnesota as a free agent last summer and played in two games this year. He best Pittsburgh, 7-0, in a 40-save performance, then gave up six goals in two periods during a 10-4 loss to Edmonton. He also surrendered five goals in two periods in the Stars 6-3 loss to the touring Soviet All-Stars on Jan. 4. According to Maguire, Mattsson played exceptionally well despite the goals he allowed.&ldquo;I think this looks like a good deal for me.&rdquo; Mattsson said. &ldquo;I would have liked to have stayed in Minnesota but they have two good goaltenders there (Gilles Meloche and Don Beaupre) and I didn&rsquo;t get that much of an opportunity.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not going to put any pressure on myself here. I know Gary&rsquo;s (Laskos-ki) been playing pretty well so I just intend to play my game and see what happens.&rdquo;As for Vachon, the Kings had been interested in signing him as a coach and backup goaltender in training camp when negotiations broke down.&ldquo;The door had been left open on both sides. One party never said, &lsquo;That&rsquo;sit,&rsquo;&rdquo; Vachon said. &ldquo;We were talking on and off for a while, but I was not in a hurry to do anything. Nothing seemed to be happening and I was planning to take the year off and stay here (in Boston) with my family.&ldquo;Then the negotiations started up again and now I&rsquo;m back. I&rsquo;m not a miracle man. though. All I can do is try and do my best. There&rsquo;s not much time left to do something.&rdquo;Vachon spent 16 productive seasons in the NHL&mdash;including seven with the Kings from 1971-72 to 1977-78&mdash;and he owns virtually every King goaltending record.Vachon signed a much-publicized five-year, $ 1,7-million contract with Detroit on Aug. 8, 1978, after playing out his option with the Kings, a deal that triggered a court case when the Red Wings&rsquo; Dale McCourt, who was awarded to the Kings as compensation, refused to head west.The Kings eventually settled for center Andre St. Laurent and first-round draft picks in 1980 (defenseman Larry Murphy) and in 1981 (center Doug Smith).Vachon spent two years with the Red Wings, then was traded to Boston in exchange for goaltender Gilles Gilbert on July 15, 1980. He played two years with the Bruins before the remaining year on his contract was bought out last September.&ldquo;One of the first things I&rsquo;m going to do is take a look at the films from previous games and make notes,&rdquo; Vachon said. &ldquo;I want to study everyone&rsquo;s style, see the mistakes they are making, and see where improvements can be made.&ldquo;Goaltending is a very specialized field and I think you&rsquo;re going to see more and more goaltending coaches in the future. There&rsquo;s not a forward or a defenseman who really understands what the goaltender&rsquo;s job is all about. Only a guy who has played the position really knows what they go through.&rdquo;Welcome back, Rogie, and good luck.KING NOTEBOOK&mdash;Don Perry is growing very impatient with Larry Murphy, a No. 1 pick (fourth overall) four years ago who hasn&rsquo;t improved defensively at all. &ldquo;I hate to give up on a guy who has so much talent, but as a coach I have to wonder how much longer this can go on,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Marcel Dionne has been on a scoring binge, collecting nine goals in eight games and upping his season total to 29&hellip;Jim Fox reached the 20-goal figure for the second straight year on Jan. 27&hellip;Dave Taylor scored five goals in as many games after returning to the lineup. He missed 33 games with a fractured wrist&hellip;Defenseman Mark Hardy and left winger Steve Bozek were hobbling around with bad knees. &#9632;

Kings Loan Out Mario Lessard

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;A forlorn figure, Eddie Staniowski sat dangling his legs over the trainer&rsquo;s table, seeking a cure for a broken heart.These are tough times for the 27-year-old goaltender. Lately, he has been odd man out in a three-man rotation. He has even been asked to agree to go to the minors, ostensibly for conditioning purposes, but that would be a personal affront.&ldquo;I had a long talk with Mr. Ferguson,&rdquo; said Staniowski. &ldquo;Both sides of the story were presented. After a while, we both agreed it would be better if I stayed.&rdquo;This has not been a good year for Staniowski. But, then, the club is not doing so well, either.His problems started during the offseason. Entering the option year of his contract, he noticed he was not exactly being wooed by general manager John Ferguson. Finally, he recieved an offer and signed, for two years plus an option.But in the meantime, the Jets signed another goaltender, a free agent form Cornell by the name of Brian Hayward. During negotiations. Ferguson promised Hayward a shot in Winnipeg.Hayward started the season in Sherbrooke while Staniowski. playing infrequently and less than sensationally, slipped to the back-up role behind Doug SoetaertWhen he did start. Staniowski seemed to struggle. There were no visible signs he was the same sharp goaltender who won 20 of the Jets&rsquo; 33 victories last season. A 7-5 loss was particularly agonizing. The Jets should have won easily. Being the man he is, Staniowski accepted full blame for the loss.&ldquo;If there ever was the case when a goaltender could be blamed for a loss, this is it,&rdquo; said Staniowski. He promptly sat out the next six games.Hayward was summoned from Sherbrooke on Jan. 17. In fine fashion, he delivered two wins on home ice&mdash;6-3 over the Toronto Maple Leafs and 4-1 over the New York Rangers.Then came a crushing blow. As the team departed for its longest road trip of the season&mdash;five games in 10 nights&mdash;Staniowski was left at home.For almost two weeks, he skated with Jerry Butler. Ice was not even available at the arena as Ice Capades came to town.So what now. Eddie Stan?&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll just do my best to keep in shape until they need me,&rdquo; said the Saskatchewan farmer. &ldquo;You know. I&rsquo;ve dreaded this day. But I&rsquo;m not so naive as to think it could never have happened to me.&ldquo;Through my eight years in professional hockey, I bet I&rsquo;ve seen this happen to 80 per cent of the guys. One day you&rsquo;re on top, the next day you&rsquo;re down.&rdquo;Staniowski believes the safest goaltenders in hockey are the ones who play for the few defensive teams that remain.&ldquo;Hockey has changed so much in the last few years,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Most teams are playing a wide-open style. It&rsquo;s hard on the goaltenders. You are looking at so many more big saves. If a guy doesn&rsquo;t make enough to satisfy management, he&rsquo;s as good as gone.&rdquo;Still, Staniowski coddles the hope that he&rsquo;ll have a role to play in these final weeks of the regular season. He&rsquo;s been down the road before.Jimmy Mann, still searching for his first point of the season. was back in the headlines recently. The big right winger came off the bench to deck Frank Bathe of the Philadelphia Flyers with a sucker punch while Bathe and six other Flyers milled around four members of the Jets.The league promptly slapped Mann with a $1,000 fine and a three-game suspension, which the Jets later appealed.For Mann, it was his first belligerent act since last Jan. 23 when he cold-cocked Paul Gardner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, breaking his jaw in the process. Gardner has never been the same. Mann was later charged with assault by the Manitoba Attorney-General&rsquo;s department. He was found guilty and was given a suspended sentence.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011111/4598992-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="547" height="916"><figcaption class="caption-body">Winnipeg Jet netminder Eddie Staniowski has been relegated to a third-string role.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-01

Staniowski On The Outside Looking In

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;Through the last few seasons, no one has ever accused the Nordiques of being a team with depth on defense. Everyone keeps talking about potential, that Normand Rochefort. Dave Pichette and Randy Moller will be regulars in the NHL one day&mdash;regulars that will be noticed by everyone.Well, to many people&rsquo;s surprise, the Nordiques, in the last couple of months, have moved up considerably in the defensive statistics. In fact, they have gone from 21st overall to 13th place.And in an effort to fine tune the defense even more, the Nordiques swung a trade with the Vancouver Canucks. The Nordiques shipped out veteran back-up netminder John Garrett and welcomed defenseman Anders Eldebrink. Both players played key roles in their respective team&rsquo;s playoff performances last spring.Then, Quebec immediately recalled rookie netminder Clint Malarchuk from Fredericton to take Garrett&rsquo;s place on the roster and demoted Pichette to make room for Eldebrink.Meanwhile, No. 1 goalie Dan Bouchard lowered his goals-against average to 3.80 after having some problems in October and November. When the Nordiques lost Jean Hamel, Mario Marios. Andre Dupont and Pichette due to a variety of injuries, newcomer Blake Wesley and veteran Rick Lapointe filled in admirably.The team continued to play good conservative hockey with an emphasis on I hard work. The Nordiques won seven of eight games played in late January and early February.&ldquo;We have certainly not given up hopes of moving up in the standings and catching Montreal or Buffalo,&rdquo; said coach Michel Bergeron. &ldquo;Maybe first place and Boston are out of the question, but we have many games against the weaker NHL teams remaining, as well as two games against both the Canadiens and the Sabres. We want to get up to second place, which would give us home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.&rdquo;In the playoffs last year, the Nordiques eliminated both Boston and Montreal on the road, and Bergeron would prefer to have home-ice advantage if a series comes to a final deciding game this time around.&ldquo;We will take one game at a time and do our best to catch those teams ahead of us,&rdquo; added Bergeron. &ldquo;Every game is important now until the end of the regular season.&rdquo;While the Quebec defense has been improving, the offense was also in the spotlight.Bergeron has reunited the Statsny brothers and put second-team all-star Michel Goulet back with Real Cloutier and Dale Hunter. The line clicked immediately (they were together through most of the 1981-82 season) as Goulet fired four goals in two games and was selected NHL Player of the Week. In those same two games. Cloutier had three goals while Hunter added two.The Nordiques&rsquo; offense turned it on against the Hartford Whalers and the result was a 12-3 victory on home ice. The Nordiques bombarded the hapless Whalers with 47 shots, setting a couple of team records in the process. The record for most goals in one period was equalled (six in the opening period) while the 12 goals scored by Quebec set a new team mark. Sixteen of the 18 Quebec forwards and defensemen dressed for the game participated in the scoring, another team record.The Nordiques also showed a little depth and balance in that 12-3 romp over the Whalers as eight players scored. The defensive tine of Pierre Aubry. Louis Sleigher and Alain Cote stole the show and set the tone early in the game with solid forechecking and hard work in the corners. &ldquo;The records and the 12 goals were nice,&rdquo; said Bergeron, &ldquo;but I was even happier that all four lines contributed to the victory.&rdquo;The Nordiques have never won in Hartford, but after that convincing triumph in Quebec, perhaps it will be a little easier the next time The Whalers were the only team to beat the Nordiques in an eight-game streak, when Quebec lost only once.Now that the Nordiques have settled down of defense and Bouchard is back to peak form. Bergeron is ready to make a run at Montreal and Buffalo. It is too early to think about th playoffs, but it is never too soon to start working for better positioning in the Adams Division. &#9679; &#9632;

Nordiques’ Offense And Defense Get It Together

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;It was getting to be that time of the year when the days grow longer and the groundhog peeks out of his winter lodging and the Islanders begin to smell that good old playoff money.During the first half of the season, the Isles travelled a crooked road. They got off to a flying start by winning 11 of their first 13 games, then turned erratic. They won only four of 16 games in November and were 4-6-2 in December. As the old year turned into the new year, the Stanley Cup champions found themselves in an unaccustomed spot&mdash;third place in the Patrick Division.The Islanders began to regain some of their misplaced confidence early in January when they put together two straight victories (Buffalo and Quebec) for the first time in more than two months. Their hectic schedule also began to ease up, providing them with a chance to catch their collective breaths. They had no games scheduled between Jan. 23-27.Coach Al Arbour used the layoff to work on some of the Isles&rsquo; lingering problems. Twice he scheduled late-afternoon workouts&mdash;a rarity for him&mdash;and the players accepted them without complaint.&ldquo;They know,&rdquo; Arboursaid. &ldquo;Early in the season we were playing game after game. When something went wrong, we didn&rsquo;t get to practise as much as we should have. Lately, our practices have been very good.&rdquo;And so have the Islanders&rsquo; performances. They completed a four-game western swing unbeaten&mdash;defeating Los Angeles, Vancouver and Edmonton (in that order) before settling for a 2-2 tie against Calgary. The sweep enabled the Isles to raise their road record above .500 (11-10-7) for the first time since November. It also gave them a 9-1-2 record for their last 12 games.The tipoff on the Islanders&rsquo; resurgence came in their game against the Oilers at Edmonton. The Isles&rsquo; determined, tireless defense held Wayne Gretzky to a single point&mdash;an assist&mdash;in the 4-2 victory.Rollie Melanson appreciated the staunch support. The Isles&rsquo; goalie extended his unbeaten record to 7-0-1 while the Islanders snapped the 13-0-3 unbeaten string of Edmonton goalie Andy Moog.&ldquo;Moog was good.&rdquo; Arboursaid, &ldquo;but Rollie was fantastic.&rdquo;Other Islanders used the road trip to regain their touch around the net. Mike Bossy, goalless in five previous games, erupted at Los Angeles, producing three goals in a 6-4 victory over the Kings. Earlier that day, Bossy learned that Marian Stastny of the Nordiques had outpol-led him for the starting right wing berth on the Wales Conference All-Star team.&ldquo;I kind of knew this was going to happen.&rdquo; Bossy said. &ldquo;I certainly felt I didn&rsquo;t play like a first-team all-star during the first half of the season&hellip;The season&rsquo;s been a little frustrating for me&hellip;I like to be a leader on this team and help us pull out of slumps. I hadn&rsquo;t played well the last five games.&rdquo;Defenseman Ken Morrow scored the game-winner at Vancouver, a shorthanded goal by Bob Bourne proved decisive at Edmonton and Bryan Trottier earned the Isles a standoff at Calgary by scoring on a breakaway.Bourne has been moved from left winger to center on a new line with Clark Gillies and Mats Hallin. The move did not upset him.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m finally back at center and I enjoy it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a new challenge. I&rsquo;m in the play more and handling the puck more and having a good time.&rdquo;In discussing his new linemates, Bourne said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always enjoyed playing with Clarkie. He&rsquo;s got a great attitude and he&rsquo;s playing much better. It&rsquo;s taking a little while to get used to Hallin. He&rsquo;s your Swedish-type player. He moves a lot, but he has a lot of talent.&rdquo;Hallin was promoted last month from the Indianapolis Checkers of the Central League, where he was battling for the league scoring title. He is expected to stick with the Islanders, along with Greg Gilbert, another winger up from Indianapolis, and defenseman Paul Boutilier, who was recalled from St.-Jean Beavers of the Quebec Major Junior League.ON THE ISLE&mdash;Bourne enjoyed another big night against the New Jersey Devils, scoring twice in the Isles&rsquo; 7-2 victory&hellip;The Isles were represented by Bossy, Trottier, Denis Potvin and Dave Langevin in the All-Star game at Nassau Coliseum. It was a new experience for Langevin, who was one of the fill-ins selected by Arbour, coach of the Wales Conference squad. &#9679;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-05324/4599379-1-eng-US/f0017-052.jpg" title="f0017-05" width="560" height="714"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Bossy snapped a five-game scoring slump with three goals against the Kings.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0017-05

Islanders Find Confidence On Successful Road Trip

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>MONTREAL&mdash;Let&rsquo;s see&hellip;it&rsquo;s regular-season stretch drive time, right? Maybe it&rsquo;s a good time to see what the Montreal Candiens have done or have not accomplished this season compared to this time last year.For starters, they finished their western road swing in Winnipeg just before the all-star break with a 2-0 shutout over the Jets. That&rsquo;s the first shutout of the year, although it came against a team with just one victory&mdash;over everybody&rsquo;s patsy, the Pittsburgh Penguins&mdash;in eight games. However, last season the Canadiens couldn&rsquo;t win in Winnipeg&mdash;they had two ties&mdash;so that&rsquo;s progress, right?And hey, so what if the Canadiens dropped 7-3 verdicts to Edmonton and Calgary after a 7-3 victory in Vancouver to begin the trip. The Canadiens had to lose sometime in Calgary, didn&rsquo;t they?There is only one Montreal player who went to the All-Star game, left winger Ryan Walter. That&rsquo;s a first. Walter was selected, although even the Montreal writers didn&rsquo;t think he should have been a first-team choice. Coach Al Arbour didn&rsquo;t deem it necessary to select any other Montreal player, although one of the Canadiens&rsquo; young defenseman figured he should have been there instead of the Islanders&rsquo; Dave Langevin.All-star coaches don&rsquo;t select defensemen on teams with a goals-against average pressing closer to four a game instead of three. The only defenseman of all-star caliber on the Canadiens is Larry Robinson and the veteran did not have a great first half even though he finished sixth in the Prince of Wales Conference voting. Still, there is no one on this team remotely close to Robinson&rsquo;s caliber.Anyone who disputes Robinson&rsquo;s prowess might ask for a look at the Canadiens&rsquo; videotapes in the losses at Calgary and Edmonton, where Robinson had to play for 40-45 minutes because he was the only experienced defenseman available. Robert Picard was a major casualty before the road swing got started after suffering a broken foot in practise. Rick Green missed the Calgary and Edmonton games with a hip pointer, although he recovered in time to play the Jets.As the Canadiens enter the home stretch of the 1982-83 season, there are a few things you might like to know:Keith Acton, the team&rsquo;s leading scorer, is playing with a sore knee. Tendinitis has developed in the limb and while Acton can play with pain while others won&rsquo;t, his effectiveness is not as great as it was last year. Acton hasn&rsquo;t scored a goal since Jan. 6, when he potted two against the L.A. Kings for a total of 15. Doug Wickenheiser, who scored his 20th and 21 st goals on Jan. 11 against the Hartford Whalers, has one since, but like Acton, Wickenheiser is working hard.Guy Lafleur, who westerners feel is a faded superstar, isn&rsquo;t wowing the opposition, either. Lafleur scored his 12th goal of the season on Jan. 2 at the Forum against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Like Acton, Lafleur has only 15 goals.The Pierre Mondou line has easily been the most consistent as the statistics indicate and Mark Napier, unloved by some because he had dared to play out his option last season and took the Canadiens to arbitration last fall, is the leading goalscorer with 28 and should easily reach 40 or more.One thing about Napier: He does the majority of his goal scoring on the road, where the Canadiens are not exactly enjoying one of their better seasons, struggling at or below .500.Lafleur figures fans around Montreal can forget the Stanley Cup for a few more years yet. He told Bernard Brisset of La Presse during the last western swing that he was worried about the team&rsquo;s future and that there isn&rsquo;t a player in the Canadiens&rsquo; minor-league affiliate, Halifax Voyageurs, ready to step in and take over.The holes on the Canadieh defense have been obvious ever since the departure of Rod Langway and Brian Engblom in the infamous trade with Washington last September. Up front, the Canadiens are only slightly betterthan they were last year, but they are eight points off the 1981-82 Adams Division-winning pace.Some finger pointing has been done at Bob Berry and his coaching methods. He shouldn&rsquo;t be blamed totally because he is doing the best with what he has at his disposal.No further comment is necessary. &#9632;

Habs’ Future Far From Promising

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;Oh, cruel reality.The New Jersey Devils finally clawed their way out of last place in the Patrick Division but then received a crunching reminder of how long a climb still awaits the franchise.The Devils reached one of their rare &ldquo;highs&rdquo; of the season on Jan. 31, when they rallied for three goals in a span of 2:37 late in the third period to shock Pittsburgh. 3-2, in the &ldquo;Battle of the Basement.&rdquo;Three nights later, however, the defending Stanley Cup champion New York islanders routed the Devils, 7-2. at the Meadowlands Arena and GM-coach Billy MacMillan was more than a title bit disappointed.&ldquo;The second period,&rdquo; observed a somber MacMillan, &ldquo;was a humbling experience. It shows just how far we have to go before we&rsquo;re in a class with the Islanders.&rdquo;It was demonstrated quite clearly when the Islanders exploded tor four second-period goals.&ldquo;Everything broke down tonight,&rdquo; MacMillan admitted. &ldquo;The second and third periods were the worst two we&rsquo;ve played in six weeks. Of course, we were playing the Islanders, they can break you down.&rdquo;Ex-Islander Bob Lorimer talked about the Devils&rsquo; futility.&ldquo;Everybody on our club is struggling. I don&rsquo;t know why,&rdquo; Lorimer said. &ldquo;We chased them all night. Maybe it didn&rsquo;t look like we were doing anything but I&rsquo;m tired, maybe more tired than after any game all season.&ldquo;I thought they&rsquo;d be flat because they had travelled a lot,&rdquo; Lorimer added, &ldquo;but it seemed as though we were skating in mud and they were flying. They&rsquo;re the best until somebody shows me different.&rdquo;Glenn Resch finished the evening with a 0-6-1 career record against his former teammates and also admitted to a feeling of frustration.&ldquo;Sure it bugs me.&rdquo; Resch admitted &ldquo;It bugs me I&rsquo;ve never beaten them&hellip;it bugs me that I&rsquo;ve given up so many goals aginst them. It bugs me that I was pulled&mdash;I&rsquo;m not mad at Billy (MacMillan) or anything like that&mdash;but. obviously. I didn&rsquo;t stop enough pucks and I&rsquo;m mad about that.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to retire until I beat the Islanders,&rdquo; Resch declared. &ldquo;Maybe I&rsquo;d beter amend that; I&rsquo;m not going to retire until our franchise beats them. They may want to start somebody else the next time.&rdquo;The Devils were not only disappointed with their efforts against the Islanders but were also extremely displeased with a ruling by NHL Executive Vice-President Brian O&rsquo;Neill.Max McNab, the Devils&rsquo; Vice President of Hockey Operations, announced before the loss to the Islanders that New Jersey had formally protested equal $2,000 fines to both the Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers for a bench-clearing incident at Philadelphia on Jan. 26.&ldquo;We believe this ruling is unfair and unreasonable.&rdquo; McNab stressed. &ldquo;For one thing, it does nothing to discourage the player, (Paul) Holmgren, or the team. Philadelphia, whose players left its bench first.&ldquo;I thought our players showed admirable restraint.&rdquo; McNab added. &ldquo;Even the player Holmgren took a punch at (Garry Howatt) while he was sitting on our bench was not allowed to get involved. He was restrained on our bench by coach (Billy) MacMillan.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s explanation included this statement:&ldquo;It has been the policy of the league to discourage the practice of leaving the players&rsquo; bench during an altercation by imposing severe, automatic penalties. Since the first player to leave the bench was not identified, both clubs must share the responsibilities for the incident.&rdquo;In addition to the automatic and additional team fines. O&rsquo;Neill assessed a $500 fine to right winger Paul Holmgren of Phialdelphia for being the instigator of the incident. The $500 fine is the maximum amount allowed under the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the NHL Players&rsquo; Association.Referee Bruce Hood was unable to identify the first player to leave the bench, despite the fact that the benchclearing part of the incident took place in the area of the Devils&rsquo; bench.HOT STUFF&mdash;Both Steve Tambellini and Aaron Broten scored their third, goal in three games for the Devils against the Islanders. Tambellini&rsquo;s goal was shorthanded and produced a 1-0 New Jersey lead, the last upbeat moment for the Devils in that game&hellip;The Devils&rsquo; &ldquo;Kid Line&rdquo; of Broten, Paul Gagne and Jeff Larmer has been the team&rsquo;s brightest spot of the new year&hellip;As it has been for two seasons, feisty, little Mike Kitchen continued to be the only Devils&rsquo; defensemen to consistently deliver effective bodychecks. &#9679; &#9632;

Devils Have A Long Way To Go

<div class="byline">BY ROBIN FINN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01833/4599482-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Whalers play their home games in Veterans Memorial Coliseum, located in downtown Hartford. Downtown was &ldquo;deadsville&rdquo; before the Whalers arrived eight years ago, but now, various commercial changes have made it &ldquo;one of the fastest growing in the country.&rdquo;</figcaption></div>The Whalers haven&rsquo;t brought a Stanley Cup to their home base and by mid-season, Connecticut&rsquo;s most famous Whale was firmly beached in last place in the NHL. But what the team has lacked in hockey highlights, it has more than compensated for in the unlikely realm of downtown development. Hartford still has no NHL division-leading banners hanging from the Civic Center ceiling, but outside there&rsquo;s a skyline, something that didn&rsquo;t exist when the Whalers arrived in 1974.The team&rsquo;s biggest boosters, aside from the nucleus of 50 zealots in green team jackets who&rsquo;ll follow their heros anywhere&mdash;even if that means travelling to Montreal to watch the Whalers set a new record for losing games&mdash;are probably a weighty bunch of city fathers and corporate policy-wielders, dressed in three-piece suits with nary a Canadien accent among them.Until the Whalers assumed tenancy in the vacant coliseum of the $70-million Civic Center complex, Hartford was a capital known only for insurance policies and a gold-domed Old State House, credentials that weren&rsquo;t suitable to earn it a place in anyone&rsquo;s mental landscape of a first-class city; The Civic Center was starting to look suspiciously like a White Elephant, one more testament to the decline of downtown civilization in a city hard hit by suburban sprawl and the anti-urban lifestyle that goes with it.But the homeless Whalers, virtually evicted from Boston and unable to find a berth in Providence, did both themselves and Hartford a favor by moving inland eight years ago. The Whalers became the only major-league show in a town decidedly lacking in sports entertainment, and the Hartford City Council got itself a major tenant for its Coliseum.Until the Whalers brought their brand of glamor to the city, says former deputy mayor Nick Carbone, &ldquo;it was deadsville around here.&rdquo; Stores and offices were shutting down, and by the time the street lights were activated each evening, the place was a virtual ghost town. &ldquo;They literally rolled up the sidewalks at five o&rsquo;clock,&rdquo; says Whaler business manager Dave Andrews.Faced with conducting corporate business in a city without much of a drawing card for improvement or expansion, a dozen mainstream companies put up the $6 million it cost to put the Whalers in residence at the Civic Center. Today, $25 million later, most of those companies remain committed to keeping the Whalers in Hartford as long as it takes to stop bailing them out&mdash;to the tune of close to $2 million per year&mdash;and start breaking even.&ldquo;The Whalers are the principal catalyst to the renaissance of Hartford,&rdquo; claims Donald Conrad, the Aetna executive who organized the original corporate ownership and continues to support his company&rsquo;s majority holding (over 30 percent) of the team. &ldquo;They were the first and only and still are the Civic Center&rsquo;s prime tenant. They&rsquo;ve increased this city&rsquo;s vitality manifold&mdash;you can&rsquo;t even measure the impact. Today, Hartford appears in every newspaper that follows NHL hockey.&rdquo;In a sense, the Whalers put Hartford on the map, at least the coast-to-coast NHL map. which was one of the promises Baldwin made the City Counicl when he brought his team to town. The politicians were interested in getting an NHL franchise in their city, and so was Baldwin, who turned out to be prime architect of the merger that brought Hartford, Quebec, Winnipeg and Edmonton to the NHL in 1979. Suddenly, the Insurance City found itself boasting major-league status and, in the blocks surrounding the Civic Center, the city rose to the occasion with a flurry of high-rise office buildings and new restaurants, bars, and stores for the continued entertainment of the two million visitors who&rsquo;ve ventured downtown to the Civic Center since the Whalers&rsquo; arrival.&ldquo;The whole skyline changed,&rdquo; says Whaler star Blaine Stoughton. &ldquo;It was lot quieter when I first got here&mdash;it still isn&rsquo;t Manhattan, but the Civic Center has really woken things up. Rick Ley told me the changes in the last eight or nine years have been almost unbelievable.&rdquo;How much has the Civic Center meant to the financial wellbeing of the city? As a consequence of the spectacular collapse of the coliseum roof that crippled the facility in January of 1978, the city has filed a $10-million lawsuit against various Civic Center contractors, claiming that&rsquo;s how much money was lost during the two years it took to reopen the coliseum.The Whalers, who moved to a smaller arena in Springfield, MA, for the duration of the reconstruction, say they lost $3 million in anticipated revenues as a result of the catastrophe. At that time, the WHA franchise had been enjoying 90 percent capacity at the Civic Center, where seating was increased from 10,400 to 14,500 when it reopened.For the past three seasons, the attendance has averaged about 11,000 fans per game, a figure that doesn&rsquo;t dismay Whaler administration and players, considering the team&rsquo;s consistently poor standings in the league.According to the Chamber of Commerce gang, who look fondly on the visibility the Whalers have brought their city, the team has done nothing but improve the city&rsquo;s image. The trio of new downtown hotels, a Sheraton, Hilton, and Holiday Inn, are beginning to pick up a healthy convention trade in addition to $200,000 spent by visiting hockey clubs. And where there were once about a dozen downtown eateries, there are now 113. The city is adding three million square feet of office space to its existing six million, making it, says the Chamber&rsquo;s Rich Bradley, &ldquo;the fastest growing downtown in the country.&rdquo;While all paths of fiscal success cannot be traced back to a club of hockey players in green pants, the team has had a significant impact on the city&rsquo;s rejuvenation.&ldquo;The Whalers contribute to the spirit of the city; Hartford folks are hungry for a winning team, but they&rsquo;ve got a spot in their heart for the Whalers even now,&rdquo; Bradley says. &ldquo;Of course, the team will have an even greater impact if they start winning&hellip;because when you can fill 15,000 seats, it&rsquo;s going to spill over everywhere else.&rdquo;Back in their immediate domain at the Civic Center, where they just signed a 10-year lease, escalating the price of prime tenancy from the current $601,000 to $932,000 in its final year, the positive effect of having the Whalers on tap is felt everywhere. In their 1981 fiscal impact statement, the Whalers estimated they generated 28 per cent of the coliseum&rsquo;s attendance, 40 per cent of concessions sales (which go straight to the city), and 33 per cent of the rent. They figure they generated $4 million in income for the city through parking fees expenditures by visiting clubs, not to mention their fans&rsquo; patronage of city restaurants and shops.The Civic Center now houses 55 stores and 13 restaurants&mdash;only three of those shops and none of the restaurants existed elsewhere in the city before the Civic Center was built.&ldquo;The presence of the Whalers gives us an opportunity to showcase our stores and restaurants on a regular basis,&rdquo; says Tom McNary, the mail&rsquo;s assistant general manager. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s enough activity around now so that people perceive the city as a 24-hour-a-day thing; Hartford&rsquo;s become a much more interesting city to live in and visit. And the team has given the city major-league status, and that&rsquo;s made a good number of city corporations aware of downtown as a place for living and entertainment, not just offices.&rdquo;From Sinatra to the Celtics to Gretzky, Hartford is getting to see the people and teams it used to just hear about second-hand.&ldquo;I equate having a major-league sports team with having a major-league city,&rdquo; says Skip Bronson, a developer of the $150 million City Place complex adjacent to the Civic Center. &ldquo;Having the Whalers here has lent a great deal of credibility to Hartford. Even people who aren&rsquo;t hockey fans have recognized the asset of having a major-league team here: it&rsquo;s an amenity, just like the symphony, ballet, or opera. There are no negatives about having the Whalers here&hellip;except, of course, their lack of success on the ice in a city that&rsquo;s experienced nothing but success from their presence.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s been exasperating. It&rsquo;s been kind of like supporting a losing candidate. But just look back at all the dynasties of sports; these things take time.&rdquo;When the Whalers finally hit the big time, their city promises to be ready. In fact, it&rsquo;s already waiting. &#9679; &#9632;

f0019-01

Whalers Inspired Downtown Development

<div class="byline">BY CLIFF BLOOMQUIST</div>Run a National Hockey League team for some of the corporate giants of the United States and you&rsquo;ve got a tough job.That&rsquo;s what Howard Baldwin does in Hartford, and for the managing general partner of the Hartford Whalers, Connecticut&rsquo;s only major-league professional team, this has been a &ldquo;year of disappointment because I think we should have been better.&rdquo;Contrary to what some people might think around the country, Baldwin doesn&rsquo;t own the Whalers. He owns 4.5 per cent of the team.Insurance companies such as Aetna Life and Casualty, Connecticut General and Travelers own 73 per cent. Banks own 10.5 percent and the remaining 12 per cent is owned by other organizations, including a 6.5 per cent share by the giant United Technologies Corp, and one per cent by the Hartford Courant, the city&rsquo;s only newspaper.Why so much corporate backing for a team representing the smallest city in the NHL?Because the Whalers are the key to making the Hartford Civic Center and its 14,557-for-hockey-seat Coliseum go. The Coliseum is the hub of the city&rsquo;s downtown revitalization.Bring people downtown and that means stores, restaurants, nightspots and other spinoffs&mdash;including money in the city&rsquo;s coffers.Ask Frank E. Russo Jr., who&rsquo;s been executive director of the Hartford Civic Center since 1977, what its most profitable program is and he&rsquo;ll tell you the Whalers, &ldquo;because they&rsquo;re here for 45 games (including exhibitions).&rdquo;As for Baldwin, ask him what the most important thing he wants from his players and he answers &ldquo;EFFORT&rdquo;. That&rsquo;s his enunciatiion.&ldquo;People think I&rsquo;m impatient but I know when attitude and effort are there,&rdquo; said the Whaler boss, who&rsquo;s been in the hockey busines more than 18 years and is only 40 years old.&ldquo;I will always forgive a player if they give me 100 per cent. They may not have the most talent, but if they give me 100 per cent, I&rsquo;m satisfied. It&rsquo;s unconscionable if a player has talent and doesn&rsquo;t give out 100 per cent. That&rsquo;s when I get upset. If people don&rsquo;t have the ability, I can forgive mistakes. These people (players) are professionals and well paid, and the fans have a right to expect that they put out.&rdquo;Because the Whalers have been in the Adams Division cellar all season and finished there the past two seasons, Baldwin has taken his share of the heat from the written and electronic media as well as from the fans. The club made the playoffs in their first NHL season&mdash;1979-80&mdash;which only fed everyone&rsquo;s appetite for more.Lots of changes have been made on the club, from the front office to the ice, in attempts to build a contender and through it all, as far as Baldwin is concerned, &ldquo;the fans have been just great.&rdquo;&ldquo;They have been patient and sometimes when they boo, they have had every right to do so,&rdquo; said Baldwin.Most people think that the darkest days of the Whalers and Baldwin came when the roof collapsed on the former Coliseum in January, 1978. It necessitated the club playing 30 miles to the north in Springfield, MA, for more than two years.Not so, says Baldwin, who&rsquo;s been with the club since Day One in 1972. &ldquo;Those problems I can deal with,&rdquo; he said.The worst period of his Whaler life came during a stretch from midDecember to mid-January, when the club went 12 games without a win, the longest in club history.&ldquo;This has been a most discouraging period because I feel, on paper, it&rsquo;s a better team than it has shown. The bottom line is that I feel the team is better than their record,&rdquo; said Baldwin.&ldquo;Every franchise goes through it (a low point) and we&rsquo;re coming out of it and our attendance hasn&rsquo;t gone below 72 or 73 percent of capacity. Whenever we&rsquo;ve had any success on the ice, our ticket sales at the box office on game days have had dramatic increases.&rdquo;&ldquo;I think what we have with this team is a hell of a good nucleus, and with the right mental attitude and the (entry) draft coming up, well, I feel we have a good potential. I think the foundation is there, but that it just has not come together properly (for this season).&rdquo;Right now, the Whalers have just consummated two things that Baldwin says will &ldquo;make this franchise viable and selfsustaining.&rdquo;Hartford City Council recently gave its approval to build 24 luxury skyboxes in the Coliseum and the Whalers, with an agreement between New England Prism cable television and New York&rsquo;s Sport-schannel, will get a better cable television deal. The Whalers and the Boston Celtics started Prism.&ldquo;In terms of financial viability, we have done more in the last six weeks than in the last four years,&rdquo; Baldwin said.The skyboxes will be erected after this season is over with the Whalers footing the $3-million bill. Each skybox, with its closed-circuit television, refrigerator, running water and other services, will cost about $40,000 a year. Future plans call for another 16. The Whalers have estimated that the plush boxes could bring the city an additional $7 million in revenue over the next 10 years, not to mention revenue to the hockey club.The Whalers have never operated in the black, but the corporations have pumped in revenue to make up deficits. However, this season, a couple of corporations said &ldquo;no&rdquo; to extra dollars and the other companies made up the difference.The Whalers were born in Boston in 1972, an entry in the World Hockey Association. Baldwin said the franchise was &ldquo;never formed with the goal of getting into the NHL.&rdquo;&ldquo;We (Baldwin and co-founder, John Cobum, Jr., who is no longer with the club) were really sincere to create a team to be an alternative in the Boston market. During this formation period in our lives, all we wanted was that it (WHA) would be a viable second major league and would last,&rdquo; said Baldwin.However, competing with the Boston Bruins and Boston Braves of the American Hockey League (the Braves drew crowds of 14,000) was tough and the Whalers wanted a home of their own.Enter Hartford with a new 10,507-seat arena.&ldquo;The most pleasant surprise I&rsquo;ve had in all my years with the Whalers was moving down here (Hartford) from Boston. People may be upset at times (over Whaler results) but we never anticipated that a team would do so much good in a community,&rdquo; said Baldwin.What&rsquo;s the next most pleasant thing Baldwin has had in his Whaler life?&ldquo;Getting into the NHL,&rdquo; he said.Baldwin got his hockey start with the Philadelphia Flyer organization. He started as business manager for the Flyers&rsquo; Eastern Hockey League entry, the Jersey Devils. A year later, just before the Flyers&rsquo; entry into the NHL, Baldwin went to Philadelphia to head up the ticket operation and later the team&rsquo;s sales and promotion projects.It was while with Philly that Baldwin got the itch to head up his own hockey club. He returned to Massachusetts, where he had summered on Cape Cod as a youth and had gone to Boston University, being cut from the freshman hockey team by Jack Kelley, whom he later hired as the Whalers&rsquo; coach and director of hockey operations.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01665/4599513-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="553" height="841"><figcaption class="caption-body">Howard Baldwin says his greatest thrill was moving the team to Hartford from Boston.</figcaption></div>Then came the WHA and the opportunity to have a club in Boston and later a home in Hartford.Just a few weeks ago, the Whalers retired the jersey of an original Whaler-defenseman and captain Rick Ley. Before 14,270 fans at the Coliseum, Ley, in acknowledging all those who had helped him in his long career in Toronto and Hartford, said: &ldquo;Without Howard Baldwin, this team wouldn&rsquo;t be here.&rdquo;The fans cheered. It was a &ldquo;thank you&rdquo; to the man who had kept a team alive while a roof was being replaced and steered it into the major league&mdash;the National Hockey League. &#9679;Cliff Bloomquist has covered the Whalers for The Herald of New Britain, CT, since the late World Hockey Association years. &#9632;

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Corporate Giants Fuel The Whaler Ship

<div class="byline">BY MATT BUCKLER</div>If Rodney Dangerfield was a hockey player, this would be the type of thing that would happen to him.Back in 1973, when the New England Whalers were about to win their first&mdash;and only&mdash;Avco Cup in the World Hockey Association, the CBS television cameras had decided they&rsquo;d seen enough. The network decided to switch to a tennis tournament before the Whalers&rsquo; game was over, thereby depriving America from witnessing the biggest celebration in the team&rsquo;s 11-year history.And the Whalers have struggled with television ever since. In a business where you&rsquo;re only as good as your last television contract, the Whalers, now located in Hartford, have had to make do without the TV megabucks that have kept franchises in other sports from becoming trivia questions.After all, the Whalers are situated in the second smallest TV market among the National Hockey League&rsquo;s U.S. cities. Only Buffalo can offer fewer viewers. Plus, Hartford doesn&rsquo;t have the hockey tradition that can be found in most other cities. Ratings for Whaler games will never rival Roots. Throw in the fact that the Whalers have changed coaches seven times since the last time the NHL owned a national TV contract (1974-75) and you can see that the TV dollars haven&rsquo;t been rolling in.So that&rsquo;s why Howard Baldwin, general managing partner of the Whalers, decided to take matters into his own checkbook.If you can&rsquo;t beat the networks, start one, was his philosophy. In May, 1980, the Whalers put up the money to establish PRISM-New England, a pay cable channel that offered Whaler games, Boston Celtic games, plus movies and entertainment specials. If there was gold in cable TV, the Whalers had hoped to strike the mother lode. The new network was being programmed by PRISM of Philadelphia, which had already established itself as a success.That, however, was where the similarity ended. PRISM-New England was limping along at a rate of 20.000 subscribers, and some of the companies in the Hartford suburbs, where the Whalers have some of their most devoted fans, never bothered to pick up the package.Although Baldwin never admitted publically that PRISM was a flop, the figures, or lack of them, speak for themselves. So 18 months after jumping on the cable bandwagon, Baldwin deicided to abandon ship. He ended his association with PRISM and merged his company with SPORTSCHANNEL out of New York. Insiders in the industry claim that Baldwin made a heck of a deal. Under the agreement with SPORTSCHANNEL, Baldwin&rsquo;s network will not only carry selected Whaler and Celtic games, but also the New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Nets, plus the New York Yankees and New York Mets.&ldquo;This will give us the opportunity to get the kinds of rights fees some of the larger franchises are getting,&rdquo; Baldwin said at a news conference proclaiming his latest venture into cable. &ldquo;The feedback from the cable companies was that they wanted just a sports channel.&rdquo;The fact that PRISM-New England contained movies made it unattractive to most existing companies, which didn&rsquo;t want to buck some of their other pay channels, like Home Box Office and the Movie Channel. Since SPORTSCHANNEL goes dark when there isn&rsquo;t a sports event on, cable companies are more likely to carry it. And that&rsquo;s why SPORTS CHANNEL expects to have 120,000 subscribers throughout New England by the end of 1983.If the future of sports lies in pay cable, then Baldwin already has his harpoon in the door.As far as commercial TV is concerned, the Whalers have been affiliated the past five years with WVIT-Channel 30. an NBC affiliate.Although neither party is getting rich on the deal, the Whalers have gained much needed exposure, while Channel 30, long the doormat among the three Hartford area TV stations, has gained a major-league image.During the past two years, the station has carried 2) games, and even though most of the outcomes have been as onesided as elections in the Kremlin, the Channel 30 telecasts, for the most part, have been adequate.Scott Wahle, who became known to the nation&rsquo;s hockey fans as intermission host on the NHL&rsquo;s game of the week in the late &rsquo;70s, does the play-by-play and former Whaler Andre Lacroix does the color.A spot in the Whaler TV booth, however, could be a stepping stone to bigger and better things. The first Whalers&rsquo; color commentator was Larry Pleau, who later became the team&rsquo;s coach and general manager&mdash;quite simply the most powerful hockey man in the organization.While the Whalers&rsquo; are on the Hartford area&rsquo;s smallest TV station, they are carried on the largest radio outlet, the booming 50,000 watt voice of WTIC (1080) in Hartford.Not only does WTIC offer exposure throughout the state, but its powerful signal has been known to creep into Canada once the sun goes down.In fact, when Wayne Gretzky broke into pro hockey with the Edmonton Oilers of the WHA, he said he always tried harder against the Whalers because his mother was able to pick up the WTIC broadcasts in Brantford, Ont.The voice of the Whalers ever since they joined the NHL has been Chuck Kaiton. who broadcast University of Wisconsin hockey before making the climb to the NHL.Kaiton is blessed with a good radio voice and knows what he is talking about, which isn&rsquo;t always the case in the Hartford market. Kaiton has a plenty of hockey expertise in an area that cries out for it.Kaiton has also been known to get excited over the air. sometimes to the extent of going overboard. When the action gets hot. Kaiton has been known to sound like a human Federal Express commercial or an auctioneer gone wild. Yet during his Hartford tenure, Kaiton has been well recieved in Hartford.Whaler broadcasts are also money makers. The Whalers are one of the few NHL teams that buy the air time themselves and then sell the advertising. So the Whalers have been able to make more &lsquo;cash from their broadcasts than some teams in bigger markets.Yet if the team ever makes it big in broadcasting, it will have to be via cable. Baldwin, who has already been burned once, is ready to try again, thanks to SPORTSCHANNEL.If the Whalers ever win a championship again, this time the cameras won&rsquo;t turn away. Baldwin will own them. &#9679;Matt Buckler is a sports writer for the Journal Inquirer of Manchester. CT. He covers the Hartford Whalers and also writes a regular radio-TV media column. &#9632;

Whalers Take Bite Of Lucrative Pay-TV Pie

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div>It began in November, 1971, basically, in the mind and heart of one Howard Baldwin, who believed that the world was ready for two professional hockey leagues.For a mere $25,000, Baldwin and his associates could run a franchise in the World Hockey Association. They didn&rsquo;t hesitate.&ldquo;I can remember that first meeting with Howard,&rdquo; said Jack Kelley, the club&rsquo;s first general manager and coach. &ldquo;Here I am sitting on the banks on the Charles River, listening to this guy who had enough enthusiasm for six people. Howard can be very persuasive. He convinced me that we could make a go of it. I had done pretty much what I wanted to do in the college ranks. I was ready to take a crack at the pros.&rdquo;Baldwin and Kelley then began to assemble what would turn out to be the very best outfit in the WHA&rsquo;s first year of existence.The first player that the Whalers signed was a product of the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; system, Larry Pleau, who&rsquo;s presently the GM-coach of the team. Then they signed Rick Ley, Brad Selwood and Jim Dorey from Toronto. Tim Sheehy from the college ranks, and Teddy Green from the other Boston franchise, the Bruins.With Al Smith in net, the Whalers took a run at&mdash;and won&mdash;the WHA&rsquo;s first championship.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there will ever be another year like the first one,&rdquo; said Pleau. &ldquo;The Whalers were close, the guys pulled together and we had the Boston thing to contend with. We were second-class citizens and we didn&rsquo;t like it. Winning the title turned a lot of heads.&rdquo;Pleau says now, though, that the road to the championship wasn&rsquo;t that complicated.&ldquo;Looking back, we had the best players,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We should have won. Of course, lots of teams should win. We did.&rdquo;.The experience left a stamp on the Whalers for a long, long time. They were always going to win a second title, but somehow they never did. It can be argued&mdash;fairly&mdash;that the Whalers were undone by too much, too soon.&ldquo;It did come awfully easy,&rdquo; Pleau said.The Whalers moved from Boston to Hartford in January, 1974.For six more years, the Whalers competed as a quality entry in the WHA. While more than 20 franchises went under, the Whalers, backed by the Hartford business community, surfaced as leaders. They stand as the only WHA franchise that never missed a paycheck.The games that were played in the WHA were, well, games. If in trouble, the Whalers could swing one outrageous deal after another to cover themselves. Once they traded Danny Arndt and future considerations to the Minnesota Fighting Saints, who were about to fold, for Dave Keon, John McKenzie, Mike Antonovich, Bill Butters and Steve and Jack Carlson.&ldquo;They gave up on Arndt too soon,&rdquo; suggested one person.The Whalers never missed the playoffs in the WHA, but they forever missed the winner&rsquo;s circle.Still, they had their characteristics and their share of memories.At one point, the Whalers had Keon, Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull.Another time, they had to call up backup goalie Gaye Cooley, because of a shortage. Cooley lasted all of one game.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not here for a long time,&rdquo; Cooley said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m here for a good time.&rdquo;They enlisted Andre Lacroix, the WHA&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer. They protected Cap Raeder ahead of Mike Liut. They changed coaches like other people change socks. First Kelley, then Ron Ryan, then Kelley again, then Don Blackburn, then Harry Neale, then Bill Dineen, then Don Blackburn again, then Pleau, then Larry Kish, and then Pleau again.Consider this:With 12gamestogo in one season, the Whalers replaced Blackbum with Neale.With nine games to go in another season, they removed Dineen and rehired Blackbum.With 20 games to go in another season, they fired Blackburn and hired Pleau.This season, with 31 regular-season remaining, they fired Larry Kish and turned to Pleau again.So much for stability in the front office and how not to panic.Still, the WHA was fun, and very much a means to an end.Despite a roof collapse that led to more than 100 games being played in Springfield, Baldwin and the Whalers were front and center come merger time.The hours and hours of doubt must have seemed like minutes to Baldwin that day in a New York hotel when the NHL announced that four former WHA entries&mdash;Quebec, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Hartford&mdash;would join the league.NHL president John Ziegler has said several times that if it had not been for the input and strength shown by Baldwin during what had to have been testy merger hearings, the NHL never would have expanded.The dream that first surfaced on the banks of the Charles became a reality that afternoon.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happiest most for Howard Baldwin,&rdquo; Kelley said at the time.The Whalers, in their first NHL season. set six expansion team records and tied a seventh. They finished with 27 wins, 73 points, scored 303 goals, allowed 312, and qualified for the playoffs. Mike Rogers scored 105 points, and Blaine Stoughton netted 56 goals to tie for the goalscoring title.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01555/4599568-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="561" height="862"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Keon is one of the most famous players to wear the Whaler colors.</figcaption></div>It was a good time through and through. Since then, the Whalers have floundered. A restructuring of the NHL divisions hasn&rsquo;t helped them, although they say that playing the best will speed up the club&rsquo;s progress.It has been a long and winding road. From Christer and Tommy Abrahamsson to Carlson and the Coneheads to Louis Levasseur&mdash;&ldquo;You know, with these glasses, I see better in practices than I do in the games,&rdquo; Levasseur once admitted without hesitation&mdash;to Neale, Blackbum and the other coaches and to Ronnie Francis, the Whalers have never been dull.They have given the city of Hartford an identification that cannot be bought and they have enticed an average of nearly 11,000 fans per game. It is not coincidence that the arrival of the Whalers and the resurgence of Hartford seem so closely related.One man&mdash;Baldwin&mdash;had a dream, and the guts and wherewithal to take a run at the Kentucky Derby.He hasn&rsquo;t found the winner&rsquo;s circle, but he&rsquo;s in the race.On that day, with Kelley next to the Charles, that would have been enough.That would have been more than enough. &#9679; &#9632;

f0022-01

Baldwin’s Whaler Dream Became A Reality

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01539/4599599-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="547" height="818"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray Neufeld says the booing of Pleau reflects on the all the players, too.</figcaption></div>HARTFORD&mdash;Larry Pleau, about to begin his second tour as the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; head coach, arrived at Hartford Civic Center expecting the worst.And that&rsquo;s exactly what he heard.When Pleau stepped on the ice, he was booed again, this time louder than before.Only a man of conviction would walk with his head high into such a lion&rsquo;s den.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll be booing me for 30 more games, too,&rdquo; said Pleau, the club&rsquo;s director of hockey operations who moved in behind the bench after removing Larry Kish. &ldquo;And they&rsquo;ll be booing me all summer in my dreams. This is the first time that I wouldn&rsquo;t let my son come to a game. I knew what the reaction was going to be.&rdquo;Pleau admits that the booing is difficult to accept, but he says he understands the fans&rsquo; view.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been booed before and it&rsquo;s very hard,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They asked me if I wanted my name to keep being announced over the PA. I said, &lsquo;Yes, absolutely.&rsquo; If it were left to me, I would leave all the negative signs up, too. I can&rsquo;t worry about everything, though. I&rsquo;ve got a hockey team to run.&rdquo;Pleau accepts the treatment as part of his job.&ldquo;Booing is a part of the business and you just have to accept it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The fans aren&rsquo;t supposed to understand my job. They just want to enjoy the game.&rdquo;And most, surprisingly, did as the Whalers claimed three or four possible points&mdash;against Quebec and Winnipeg in Hartford&mdash;in Pleau&rsquo;s first two starts.Aside from a &ldquo;Pleau Must Go&rdquo; chant&mdash;let&rsquo;s face it, the guy&rsquo;s last name rhymes with too many potentially dangerous words&mdash;and one fan touring the Civic Center with a bag over his head that read, &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s next. Billy Martin?&rdquo;, Pleau&rsquo;s second coming went smoothly enough.&ldquo;I heard the booing and I really felt bad for Larry,&rdquo; winger Ray Neufeld said. &ldquo;No matter how you look at it, that booing reflects on us. Maybe after hearing that, it gave us a little spark to play well. We&rsquo;re all in this together. If Larry sinks, so does the team.&rdquo;Pleau, however, says the team has enough talent to stay afloat for awhile.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said all along that we had more talent than what we&rsquo;ve shown,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;The important thing is to get players to show as much intensity in practice as they do in the games. When we start giving 100 per cent in practice. we&rsquo;U start doing better.&rdquo;In his first tout of duty, from March 9, 1981, and all of the 1981-82 season, he compiled a 27-53-20 record. He says the experience wasn&rsquo;t wasted.&ldquo;I learned from my first experience,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;what this team most needs is firm guidance on a consistent day-to-day basis. The first time, if I was tired and let up a little in practice, the players could tell right away, and naturally, they were quick to take advantage. That won&rsquo;t happen this time. If the answer is to be tougher than I&rsquo;ve ever been, then so be it.&rdquo;A primary reason Pleau moved in behind the bench is that he considers the remaining games extremely important.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not writing off the end of the season,&rdquo; he said.&rdquo; These final games are critical. That&rsquo;s why I wanted to return to coaching. Make no mistake about it. The last 31 are important.&rdquo;Pleau is aware that he must walk this lonesome valley by himself.&ldquo;I know what has to be done,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The question is, can I do it or not?&rdquo;WHALER SCUTTLEBUTT&mdash;The Whalers were without Pierre Larouche (back spasms), Michel Galarneau (ribs) and Warren Miller (groin) for two weeks&hellip;Captain Russ Anderson received a six-game suspension for an incident involving L.A.&rsquo;s Dave Taylor&hellip;Unsigned rookie Mark Paterson played two games before injuring a shoulder. He was returned to the Ottawa 67&lsquo;s of the Ontario Hockey League. In his brief stint, however, Paterson opened some eyes. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be some player,&rdquo; said assistant coach John Cunniff. &#9679; &#9632;

f0024-01

Pleau Shrugs Off Booing By Whaler Fans

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div>This city was once self-proclaimed as Hockey town, U.S.A. During the days of the old North American League, its rabid fans would jam the Broome County Arena for every game, 4,855 of them, to see the Broome Dusters engage in the caliber of hockey immortalized by the movie &ldquo;Slapshot&rdquo;.When the NAHL folded, Binghamton moved to the American Hockey League. The Dusters, wearing out NHL affiliates like old socks, spun their revolving doors and took residency in the basement. Has been came and went. No-names abounded. It wasn&rsquo;t long before Hockeytown became a ghost town.Enter the Hartford Whalers. After one season in the National Hockey League, Hartford decided it wanted its own development club. Soon May 1, 1980, for a reported $325,000, the Whalers bought the Dusters from owner Andre Veilleux.Howard Baldwin, the Whalers&rsquo; managing general partner, sitting at the dais of the lavish inaugural luncheon that day, vowed to give the city a team that would &ldquo;give 100 per cent, 100 per cent of the time.&rdquo;While Baldwin boldly promised quality hockey, George Ducharme, who was chosen Binghamton&rsquo;s director of operations, quietly vowed to turn the city back into a hockey town.Both men have kept their promises.It took only two seasons for the Whalers to climb where no Binghamton team had ever reached, to the top of their division and the Calder Cup finals. Employing the hard-work ethic Baldwin promised, coach Larry Kish taught his blue-collar club and the 1981-82 Whalers finished atop the American Hockey League&rsquo;s Southern Division with a 4628-6 record. They eliminated the Hershey Bears and Rochester Americans in the playoffs before falling to the New Brunswick Hawks in five games in the Calder Cup finals.But even before the Whalers became winners, the 52-year-old Ducharme proved true to his word. Working with director of marketing Phil Jacobs, Ducharme faced the 1980-81 premier season with the hurculean task of restoring credibility.It wasn&rsquo;t easy, because Ducharme had to battle a skeptical public that felt it had been betrayed. He had to show the city that the Whalers cared.So he let the fans name their new team. He fought at the American Hockey League meetings for better home dates. The Whalers brought an NHL exhibition game to Binghamton.Despite not having a hockey background, Ducharme recognized poor quality hockey. So when Binghamton was embarrassed badly at home early in that first season, the energetic and highly motivated director invited everyone with a ticket stub back free for the next game.Binghamton fans who decided to take a wait-and-see attitude waited, and saw. Attendance, which continued to slide at the beginning of the Whalers&rsquo; first season, began climbing late in the season. Ten straight 3,000-plus crowds lifted Binghamton&rsquo;s season average over 3,000.And, after living in the cellar for most of January and February, Binghamton secured goalie Ron Grahame on loan from Quebec. Grahame almost singlehandedly lifted the Whalers into third, and a berth in the Calder Cup playoffs.Ducharme succeeded by selling his team to the kids. He was looking for tomorrow&rsquo;s hockey fan, not yesterday&rsquo;s. Meet The Whalers&rsquo; Day became an annual event. Fans were invited onto the ice after holiday games to get autographs and skate with the players. The team became visible, on the ice and off.More importantly, Ducharme turned a Binghamton Whaler hockey ticket into something of value. No longer were freebies handed out to anyone who uttered the word Dusters.A visible man in the community who knew how to listen, Ducharme ran his minor-league operation in major-league fashion. Director of operations Larry Pleau marveled at its organization and discipline. Demotees from Hartford couldn&rsquo;t help but be impressed.Ducharme earned respect for his willingness to battle for his city, for his team. Refusing to become another faceless league governor, he made sure his voice was heard at board meetings. He developed a reputation as one of the league&rsquo;s most progressive thinkers.Still, the Broome County Arena didn&rsquo;t fill until coach Larry Kish built the 198182 team into a Southern Division power. It was on Jan. 23, 1982, when the first place Whalers played host to the second place Rochester Americans, that the magic number 4,855 returned home for the lone sell-out of the regular season.That 81-82 team provided a season of thrills. Bob Sullivan broke a 36-year-old American Hockey League record by scoring points in 28 straight games and was selected the Rookie of the Year.Defenseman Norm Barnes handled his demotion from Hartford like a professional and joined Sullivan on the league&rsquo;s first-team all-star squad.There was Randy MacGregor, the sole survivor from that first 1973-74 NAHL Broome Duster team: Ken Holland, the veteran goalie who emerged as a second-team all-star.And Hartford, which constantly reminded Binghamton that its primary purpose was developing players for the NHL. promoted Sullivan, Mickey Volcan, Ray Neufeld and Mark Renaud from that 1981-82 club.The days of 4,855 are gone, but Ducharme and staff have rebuilt an organization ready for the scrap heap into one of the American Hockey League&rsquo;s most impressive.The promises have been kept. &#9632;

Whalers Bring Hockey Back To Binghamton

<div class="byline">BY JACK LAUTIER</div>Personal confidence and a gut feeling that &ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m doing the right thing&rdquo; continue to be the allies for Operations Director Larry Pleau, who is in the middle of his second full season as skipper of the Hartford Whalers.Pleau, who added coach to his title back on Jan. 24 when the National Hockey League team dismissed rookie mentor Larry Kish, says it was in the franchise&rsquo;s best interest that he return to coaching in an effort to salvage what began as a 12-32-5 season.&ldquo;I definitely feel we have a better team than we&rsquo;ve shown and I&rsquo;ve seen every team around the league,&rdquo; says the 35-year-old Lynn, MA, native.So while the Whalers look up at the other 20 teams ahead of them in the overall standings, the Hartford high command remains confident that YearTwo in the Pleau Era&mdash;a five-year campaign to &ldquo;save the Whalers&rdquo;&mdash;has the franchise on a positive course.&ldquo;I think what we have with this team is a good nucleus and with the right mental attitude and the (amateur) draft coming up (in June), I feel we have good potential,&rdquo; says Hartford General Managing Partner Howard Baldwin. &ldquo;I think the foundation is there but that it just has not come together properly (this season).&ldquo;Larry (Pleau) has been energetic, aggressive, hard-working, just about everything we&rsquo;ve asked for,&rdquo; Baldwin says about his youthful lieutenant.&ldquo;When Larry took over, he admitted he didn&rsquo;t have all the answers and maybe that&rsquo;s made him work harder,&rdquo; says Baldwin. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;ve made sure that he has the time to do the job he set out to do.&rdquo;Rebuilding a hockey team has never been an easy task but Pleau, who was named Operations Director on April 1, 1981, has tried.&ldquo;How many guys get a chance like this?&rdquo; asks Pleau. &ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t know if I can do it but I intend to find out.&ldquo;There have been some discouraging moments but I&rsquo;m not going to get discouraged. We&rsquo;re not one or two moves away. We have a long way to go.&rdquo;The Whalers, who averaged just 23 wins in their first three NHL seasons, have slowly transformed under Pleau. Hartford has finally severed its World Hockey Association roots through Pleau&rsquo;s housecleaning.While one might argue that the Whalers have a lease on fifth-place in the rough Adams Division, Pleau&rsquo;s trial and-error method of education in his short 20 months as chief ice executive seems to be working.Pleau&rsquo;s a doer. And if his team can get lucky and choose wisely in the coming draft (Hartford has 14 selections in the 12-round lottery), the franchise might become a competitive entity in the offing.While the Whaler players learn from playing in the NHL, Pleau has improved his ability to secure talent. That has not always been the case when the young American fell victim to more-seasoned NHL general managers.Pleau&rsquo;s first move came on June 15, 1981, when he signed free-agent goalie Greg Millen. The compensation price tag to Pittsburgh was winger Pat Boutette and young Kevin McClelland.Next came a trade with Philadelphia involving draft picks for veteran Rick MacLeish. That was a bummer but promising rookie Paul Lawless has eased the pain.Then came a two-for-one with the New York Rangers as high-scoring Mike Rogers was dealt to the Big Apple for youngsters Doug Sulliman and Chris Kotsopoulos, both regulars with Hartford.When the Whalers needed scoring punch last year, Pleau worked a draftpick deal with Montreal to obtain center Pierre Larouche, who has averaged better than a point-per-game since putting on a Whaler sweater.This past summer, the Whalers shipped highly-touted Mark Howe to the Flyers in a three-team deal that resulted in Risto Siltanen bringing his mobile ability from Edmonton, a first-round draft choice and two youngsters.And since the 1982-83 year began, moves were made to acquire Mark Johnson, Merlin Malinowski and Pierre Lacroix. All have been sharp.And with Hartfod&rsquo;s emphasis on youth, the team&rsquo;s best player this season has been Ronnie Francis, the top scorer to graduate from the 1981 draft. The 19-year old center teams up with Blaine Stoughton, a two-time 50-goal scorer, as the club&rsquo;s one-two punch. &#9679;Jack Lautier covers the NHL for the Bristol (CT) Press.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01469/4599685-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="558" height="1063"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Pleau is confident he has the Whaler franchise on the road to respectability.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0027-01

Pleau Has Time To Find Answers

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div>Larry Pleau, the man who means all things to the Hartford Whalers, scans his current roster and smiles.It is testimony to Pleau&rsquo;s belief in himself and his long-range plan that he can smile.Others might cry.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re nowhere near as bad off as some might think,&rdquo; Pleau said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got some talent on this team, and the best part of all is that it&rsquo;s young talent.&rdquo;The best part period about the Whalers is Ronnie Francis, a 19-year-old center who has been listed consistently among the league&rsquo;s top 10 scorers this season.&ldquo;Look, we want to handle Ronnie the right way,&rdquo; said Pleau. who sent Francis back to junior hockey after last year&rsquo;s training camp, the player&rsquo;s first. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no way that we want him to come up with a big head. But I look at him and see (New York Islander Bryan) Trottier. I&rsquo;m not saying that he&rsquo;s as good is Trottier or will be the next Trottier or anything like that. But he reminds me of one player&mdash;Trottier. Not only is he a talented hockey player and a leader, his work habits are tremendous. It&rsquo;s pretty obvious, at least to me. that he&rsquo;s a winner.&rdquo;Francis scored 28 goals and 68 points in 59 games as a rookie and will better those marks this season.&ldquo;Playing next to Ronnie might get me two or three more years,&rdquo; said Blaine Stoughton, the team&rsquo;s top goalscorer who plays right wing alongside Francis. &ldquo;The first time he came up to me in training camp, I knew he was going to be all right. He asked me if there was anything special that I wanted him to do. I told him. &lsquo;Yeah, work both comers.&rsquo; He said, &lsquo;Okay, I&rsquo;ll try.&rsquo; I suspected then that he might be a good player.&rdquo;Francis, Jor his part, feels the Whalers&rsquo; current woes a little more deeply than most.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01461/4599723-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="559" height="1147"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ronnie Francis, a 19-year-old, is destined for superstar status with Hartford.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02328/4599716-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="554" height="1156"><figcaption class="caption-body">Netminder Greg Millen, 25, has been the anchor of the Whalers&rsquo; defense.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The first thing that we&rsquo;ve got to do is earn respect around the league,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;Once we do that, things will begin to fall into place. We can&rsquo;t play well one night and then lousy the next. Once we get some consistency, we&rsquo;ll do fine. We are better right now than some people think.&rdquo;Those sentiments are echoed by defenseman Risto Siltanen, who arrived in Hartford as the key figure in the Mark Howe deal. Siltanen, a Finn, is just 24, and can play.&ldquo;If we could just play like this every night, we&rsquo;d be okay,&rdquo; Siltanen said after a 2-2 tie at home against Winnipeg. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no way that we should lose, 8-2 or 8-4 or 10-2. That&rsquo;s awful. If we could compete every night just like we did tonight, things would get better.&rdquo;Siltanen has been impressed by Hartford and the unyielding support that fans continue to heap on the Whalers.&ldquo;This is really a good place to play,&rdquo; Siltanen said. &ldquo;The fans are unbelievable. They cheer us after a tie. In Edmonton, it was different. The only thing that we need here in Hartford is a winning team. With a winning team, everything would be perfect.&rdquo;Goaltender Greg Millen, the old man of the Whalers&rsquo; kiddie korps at 25, seeks perfection. Signed by Pleau as a free agent from Pittsburgh, Millen has been the anchor of the Whalers&rsquo; defense. His goals-against average bothers him, as does his record, but he&rsquo;s smart enough to know that the battles for which he was really hired haven&rsquo;t been fought yet.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a professional and I have to keep telling myself that,&rdquo; Millen said. &ldquo;At times, it&rsquo;s been tough, but the whole idea is to keep things together until we get some better players. I like Hartford. Most of the players that play here do. I dream, from time to time, of seeing my jersey hanging from the rafters. We&rsquo;ve got a long way to go. Everybody knows that. But there&rsquo;s no rule that says it can&rsquo;t be done.&rdquo;With Francis, Siltanen and Millen, the Whalers have some young talent up the middle. They are the Big Three as far as the team&rsquo;s young personnel is concerned.At one wing is Doug Sulliman, who won&rsquo;t turn 24 until August. Sulliman scored 29 goals a year ago and should equal or better that mark this season.Sulliman arrived in Hartford with defenseman Chris Kotsopoulos, who is 24. as part of the Mike Rogers trade.Kotsopoulos is a player whose physical presence cannot be ignored and he finished with 13 goals and 33 points a year ago. His slapshot is a factor, particularly on the power play.Mark Renaud and Mickey Volcan are two other young defensemen who figure only to get better. Renaud is 24, while Volcan turns 21 in March.Greg Adams, a hard-working left winger who came over from Philly in the Howe deal, has shown enough moxie for three players this season. If Adams can improve his skill level, even slightly, he will be a force for seasons to come. Adams is 22.The season&rsquo;s nicest surprise, however, has been Ray Neufeld, a right winger, who turns 24 in April.Neufeld, who had 16 goals and 36 points at press time, both career highs, has finally surfaced. It&rsquo;s taken him the better part of four seasons, but the chips are now coming his way.&ldquo;The tide&rsquo;s definitely changing,&rdquo; Neufeld said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d be lying if I didn&rsquo;t say that I&rsquo;m pretty happy about it.&rdquo;Perhaps the tide is changing as far as the Whalers are concerned. For the first time ever, they have a nucleus of players, all 25 or under, who have proven that they belong in the National Hockey League.It&rsquo;s a start, and not a half-bad one at that. &#9679; &#9632;

f0028-01

Francis Tops Nucleus Of Talented Youth

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE WARRINER</div>Hartford Whaler fans are difficult to describe. There is a strong and loyal nucleus that has stuck by the team over the years, through thick and thin. But there seems to be a large group of closet Whaler fans, too.Seldom do they attend a game, but just let the Whalers knock over division rival Boston or some other NHL power, and they come crawling out of the woodwork. The Whalers are the talk of the town. Everyone&rsquo;s a fan.Then, after a loss or two, the closet door slams shut&mdash;with utterances of degradation. It has long been said that Hartford fans will only support a winner, in any sport. If the Whalers ever become consistently competitive, however, the turnstiles might even turn a profit for the Hartford entry.Before the Whalers brought the World Hockey Association to Hartford in 1974, almost all skaters on neighborhood ponds wore figure skates. Despite Hartford&rsquo;s proximity to New York and Boston (and minor-league cities. Springfield and New Haven), there was no real identity with hockey.Thus, the Whalers had to educate a major portion of the populace. That hockey is the only major league sport in town has helped. Some fans supported the team for that reason alone. Corporations played a major role in forming the season ticket base. For a lot of folks, a Whaler game was a social event&mdash;arrive late and leave early enough not to get caught in the crowd.Gradually, however, Hartford fandom has grown from naivete to a moderate degree of sophistication. They&rsquo;ve finally reached the point where they are smart enough to influence the calls of officials by their spontaneous outbursts on close calls.Whaler fans have learned a lot in recent years from visiting groups of fans. With Boston and New York within a couple of hours, Bruin and Ranger fans have descended upon the Hartford Civic Center in significant numbers. The boisterous Ranger fans have given Whaler followers a lesson or two in how to root for the home team.Although not particularly vocal, or active, in support of their favorite team. Whaler fans have exhibited their loyalty on numerous occasions. The collapse of the Civic Center roof in January, 1978, provides the best example.Those were WHA days remember, but less than 300 fans cancelled their season tickets even though all home games were moved 26 miles north on Route 91 to Springfield, MA. And by the time the team was ready to move back into the enlarged arena in Hartford, the &ldquo;Ninety One Club&rdquo;, as the travelling fans had been dubbed, has swelled to more than 4,000.Recently, almost 5,000 fans braved blizzard conditions to watch the Whalers take on the New Jersey Devils&mdash;not one of your premier NHL matchups, to say the least. Topping it off, the game was televised on cable TV. The weather was so bad that the referee and one linesman didn&rsquo;t show up until the second period while the Devils&rsquo; Garry Howatt and Whaler Mickey Volcan found a spot in NHL history books by serving as linesmen for a period.The Whalers Booster Club isn&rsquo;t especially large (435 members) but they are prolific in the sign department for each game. They also fete players and their wives at their annual awards&rsquo; banquet.In the absence of any Booster Club cheering section, long-time member Tony Giusani more often than not gets the crowd (and organist) going from his perch high up in Section 122.The bottom line in Hartford may depend upon the team&rsquo;s record, but the organization&rsquo;s turn toward youth might pay off at the gate if management takes the right steps in marketing the team. &#9679; &#9632;

Whaler Fans Weathering The Lean Years

<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>CALGARY&mdash;Phil Russell, D, returned from injury list. Jamie Macoun. D, signed as free agent after quitting Ohio State University.DETROIT&mdash;Gilles Gilbert, G, recalled from Adirondack of AHL. Bob Francis, C, and Joe Paterson, LW. assigned to Adirondack.EDMONTON&mdash;Dave Lumley, RW, returned from injury list.HARTFORD&mdash;Stuart Smith, D, and Dan Fridgen, LW, recalled from Binghamton of AHL. Smith later returned to AHL team. Mark Paterson, D, returned to Ottawa of OHL. Michel Galameau, C, and Warren Miller, RW, both sidelined with injuries.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Markus Mattsson, G, purchased from Minnesota for future cosiderations. Mario Lessard, G, assigned to Birmingham of CHL on loan. Doug Keans, G, sent back to New Haven of AHL. Dave Taylor, RW, sidelined indefinitely after injuring his knee. Steve Bozek, LW, out of action with knee injury.MINNESOTA&mdash;Dan Mandich, D, and Don Beaupre, G, recalled from Birmingham of CHL. Dave Richter. D, returned to Birmingham.MONTREAL&mdash;Bill Kitchen, D. recalled from Nova Scotia of AHL. Ric Nattress, D, sent to Nova Scotia. Robert Picard, D, sidelined for one month with broken bone in his foot.NY RANGERS&mdash;Scot Kleinendorst, D, recalled from Tulsa of CHL. Graeme Nicolson, D, sent to Tulsa.QUEBEC&mdash;John Garrett, G, traded to Vancouver Canucks for Anders Eldebrink, D. Clint Malarchuk, G, recalled from Fredericton to take his place. Dave Pichette, D, assigned to Fredericton. Jean Hamel, D, and Real Cloutier, RW, returned from injury list. Michel Bolduc, D, and Basil McRae, LW, assigned to Fredericton of AHL.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Joe Mullen, RW, out for rest of season after undergoing knee surgery.TORONTO&mdash;Terry Martin, LW, returned from injury list.VANCOUVER&mdash;Gerry Minor, C, and Anders Eldebrink, D, assigned to Fredericton of AHL.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>ADIRONDACK&mdash;Brian McDavid, D, and Bruce Howes, D, both recalled from Kalamazoo of IHL.BINGHAMTON&mdash;Larry Goodenough, D, signed as free agent.FREDERICTON&mdash;Mark Pletts, D, and Sylvain Cote. LW, assigned to Erie of ACHL. Rene Labbe, LW, released outright.NEW HAVEN&mdash;Paul Lohnes, D, assigned to Saginaw of IHL.ROCHESTER&mdash;Bernie Gallant, LW, sent to Flint of IHL.SHERBROOKE&mdash;Michel Morrissette, G, and Dan St. Laurent. LW. both signed to pro tryouts. Yves De-schene. G, signed as free agent. Rick Bowness, RW, returned to active playing role as player-coach. Glen Ostir, D, announced he was retiring from hockey.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>WICHITA&mdash;Dan Fascinato, D, recalled from Muskegon of IHL. Neil Hawryliw, LW, declared free agent after NY Islanders bought out his contract. &#9632;

PLAYFR TRANSACTIONS

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>MONCTON&mdash;The comparison with Frank Robinson comes to mind very &ldquo;quickly. Like Robinson, Moncton&rsquo;s Bill Riley wants to move from playing to coaching. Like Robinson, Riley is a black player seeking to move into a position that has never been occupied by a black man. Like Robinson, Riley has all the credentials needed for the move. He&rsquo;s ready, willing and waiting.Riley, the Alpines&rsquo; 32-year-old player-assistant coach doesn&rsquo;t believe that race is a question. He hopes he won&rsquo;t have to wait like Robinson, now the manager of the Cleveland Indians. In fact, Riley is open to offers right now from general managers who want to hire a motivated, enthusiastic, experienced hockey man to handle a team next season.&ldquo;I know he&rsquo;s having a tough time. He&rsquo;s sort of like Frank Robinson, who finally got a chance to show what he could do,&rdquo; Maine Mariners&rsquo; coach Tommy McVie said. &ldquo;He has to be taken seriously as a candidate for a coaching job, though. Bill Riley is a student of the game. He is one of those guys, and there doesn&rsquo;t seem to be many of them anymore, that if you tell him something once, that&rsquo;s it, he understands it and does it. Some guys you can tell the same thing 100 times and they never get it. The guy is very knowledgeable when it comes to hockey.&ldquo;Sure, he&rsquo;s going to have a tough time convincing people to give him a chance, but if people take Bill Riley for what he is, he has the potential to be a really good hockey coach because he really knows how the game should be played.&rdquo;McVie may know Riley better than anyone else in hockey. He found Riley in British Columbia playing for a senior hockey team and working in a factory. At that time, McVie was trying to build the Dayton Gems of the International League into a power.Riley accepted McVie&rsquo;s invitation to try out for the Gems in &rsquo;74 and earned a berth. He developed into an important member of the team and eventually moved up to the Washington Capitals with McVie. Riley played parts of four seasons with the Caps and was picked up by the Winnipeg Jets in the expansion draft of 1979.The failure to make the grade with the Jets convinced him that coaching was the profession he should start thinking about. Except for a brief stint with the Jets in 1979-80. Riley has spent the past three seasons in the American Hockey League. He played with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs in 1979-80, with the New Brunswick Hawks the next two seasons and has remained in Moncton to play with the fledgling Alpines this year. Through the stint in the NHL he has been team leader, an experience he feels will make him a better coach.&ldquo;I was the captain of the Vees in Halifax and captain of two teams here,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;Now I&rsquo;ve worked my way up to assistant coach. That was one of the things that I wanted to do this year ad that&rsquo;s one of the reasons why I&rsquo;m playing here. I had that role with Orval Tessier last year, but without the letterhead.&ldquo;With Tess, I got to run a lot of practices, he had trust in me. He knew what he wanted and I knew what he wanted. We really worked together in a lot of ways and we won a championship. Even when we were going for first place overall, I figured then that he would want to run all the practices, but he showed complete confidence in me and let me run them. He did that in the playoffs, too. That&rsquo;s when I got a lot of selfconfidence.&rdquo;Last year, Riley made an effort to land a coaching job. He wrote to a number of National Hockey League general managers about openings, received replies, but no offers. He plans to pursue his goal this year. He believes he carries more than adequate credentials.&ldquo;Teaching kids how to play with the puck, that&rsquo;s one of the things I think is most important,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;That and teaching them how to play in their own end of the rink. So many kids come out of junior with all the offensive skills but with no idea how to play in their own end. Most of all, I think I can teach a young player how to act. on and off the ice.&ldquo;I know I can do the job and probably the 60 to 100 guys that I have played with in the last four years know that I can do th job. I developed their respect and that&rsquo;s something you can&rsquo;t buy.&rdquo;Although Riley is a persuasive salesman, a disciple of McVie&rsquo;s school of motivation, his former teammates offer even more convincing reasons why Riley would make a good coach.&ldquo;He sent me a telegram that said, &lsquo;Keith, the puck in the NHL is the same size as the one in the AHL, go get them buddy,&rsquo; recalls Montreal Canadien Keith Acton after he been called up from Nova Scotia. &ldquo;Riles&rsquo; telegram was the shot in the arm that I needed. I wouldn&rsquo;t be in the NHL now if it wasn&rsquo;t for Riles. I never believed I could play all that well until I met Riles. He told me I could make the NHL. He motivated me.&rdquo;Chicago Black Hawk defenseman Dave Feamster was Riley&rsquo;s teammate and roommate for much of last season. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know what pro hockey was all about until I lived with Riles. He had me thinking hockey 24 hours a day,&rdquo; Feamster said. &ldquo;Heck, he had me doing situps during commercial breaks on television. There are guys on this team (Chicago) now, like (Steve) Larmer, (Steve) Ludzik and (Jack) O&rsquo;Callahan who would skate through a wall for Bill Riley.&rdquo;McVie, who speaks his mind all the time, feels that Riley deserves an opportunity.&ldquo;The guy is qualified and if I was in a position to hire a coach, he certainly would be a candidate. That&rsquo;s how strongly I feel about him,&rdquo; McVie said. &ldquo;I have a friend. George Allen, (the former coach in the National Football League who&rsquo;s now the coach of the Chicago Blitz of the United States Football League) and he told me never to hire a friend because there might come a day when you have to fire him, or you might lose your job because you hired your friend. I wouldn&rsquo;t hire Bill Riley because he&rsquo;s a friend, but because he is qualified. He deserves a chance.&rdquo;MAINE&mdash;The Mariners picked up three of a possible four points during the week with a 1-1 tie with Baltimore and a 3-2 win over Springfield and moved into second place behind Fredericton. Rookie Steve Tsujiura scored the tying goal with a minute and a half left against Baltimore goalie Mike Moffatt.John Paddock scored twice against the Indians, including the gamewinner, to increase his team-leading goals total to 25. Paddock is certain to eclipse his career high of 30 goals. His six gamewinners put him within one of the team record set by Wayne Schaab. Andy Brickley continues to lead the team in scoring with 20 goals and 60 points in 50 games.Since Bob Froese was recalled by the parent Philadelphia Flyers, the Mariners have put together a 6-3-2 record with Sam St. Laurent and Gil Hudon splitting the goaltending. Two of the three losses were in overtime.SHERBROOKE&mdash;The Jets ended a 10-game road losing streak with a 6-3 win over Fredericton. The win came after the team made a number of changes to its roster. Coach Rick Bowness returned to the ice as a player-coach, Benoit Gosselin and Steven Fletcher were sent to Fort Wayne of the IHL, and Michel Cote and Daniel Chicoine were assigned to Winston-Salem of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League. However, both players refused to report to the ACHL team.Yves Dechene, who had been recalled from Winston-Salem when goalie Brian Hayward moved up to the parent Winnipeg Jets, was forced to handle all of the team&rsquo;s goaltending. Rookie Bob O&rsquo;Connor has been experiencing some eye problems and was scheduled for a thorough examination.Also, Winnipeg GM John Ferguson quashed some rumors by announcing that Winnipeg would be the sole NHL affiliate for Sherbrooke next year. Some reports suggested that another NHL team would be enlisted to send players to Sherbrooke.NQVA SCOTIA&mdash;The Vees continue to struggle and dropped both of their games during the week to fall into third place, just a point ahead of Adirondack.Defenseman Ric Nattress was sent down from the parent Montreal Canadiens, but the Canadiens recalled Bill Kitchen and Dwight Schofield to fill in for injured defensemen Robert Picard and Rick Green.John Chabot continues to lead the team in scoring with 13 goals and 61 points.ADIRONDACK&mdash;The Wings&rsquo; four-game win streak was brought to an end at St. Catharines when Bruce Boudreau scored two goals and assisted on another in a 6-3 win.Adirondack, with veteran goalie Gilles Gilbert playing a major role, evened its record at 24-24-4 to reach the .500 plateau for the first time since Dec. 11. Gilbert won three games during his rehabilitation stint in the AHL. He was recalled by the parent Detroit club and center Bobby Francis and left winger Joe Paterson were sent down.Right winger Tom Rowe was named the AHL&rsquo;s Player of the Week after scoring five goals in three games. He picked up a goal and an assist against the Saints and has 13 points in 12 games with the Wings.FREDERICTON&mdash;The trade between Quebec and Vancouver that sent John Garrett to the Canucks could have a dramatic effect on the Express during the stretch drive.After the move was completed, Quebec called up goalie Clint Malarchuk, arguably the best netminder in the AHL, and returned defenseman Dave Pichette to the Express. Vancouver sent rookie goalie Ken Ellacott to Fredericton to join Frank Caprice and Brian Ford.Despite an 0-2-1 week, the Express maintained their grip on first place in the division. Player changes and injuries continue to effect the team, which is 1-41 in its last six games.Andre Chartrain (wrist) and Art Rutland (knee) are through for the season. Mark Pletts was recalled by the parent Vancouver Canucks and Sylvain Cote was sent to Erie after he came off the injury list. Moe Lemay was sent down by Vancouver, Basil MacRae and Michel Bolduc were returned to the Quebec Nordiques. &#9679; &#9632;

The Minors

Ready, Willing And Waiting, Riley Aims To Become The First Black Head Coach

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div>The Skipjacks made it through the weekend without any Pittsburgh or Boston call-ups.&mdash;Note in a recent Baltimore Skipjacks&rsquo; press release.BALTIMORE&mdash;Lou Angotti insists he stopped worrying about it long ago, but you couldn&rsquo;t blame him if every time he heard the telephone ring, he instinctively reached for a pencil to change his starting lineup.A dual affiliation can do that to a coach. Pittsburgh, and to a lesser degree Boston, have juggled Baltimore&rsquo;s roster all season. But as Angotti said earlier when the Penguins came calling, &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t let it bother you. We go with what we&rsquo;ve got. that&rsquo;s all I can worry about.&rdquo;So who&rsquo;s worrying? The 23-22-7 Skipjacks continue to surprise the American Hockey League&rsquo;s Southern Division by banging around with the top clubs. They temporarily moved into a tie for second before settling comfortably in third place by extending their unbeaten streak to four games.Veteran right winger Mike Gillis continues to lead the team in scoring with 64 points in 47 games. Center Mitch Lamoureux, a leading candidate for Rookie of the Year, is second with 57 points.Baltimore began an unbeaten week by skating to a 1-1 tie at Maine. Then they made the trek to Sherbrooke and beat the Jets. 6-4. Right winger Dave Barr and defenseman Greg Tebbutt each had a goal and three assists in that game.After taking a 3-0 lead, the Skipjacks allowed the Jets to tie in the third period. But Tebbutt scored at 7:54 and Barr and Rod Schutt scored 10 seconds apart late in the game to seal the victory. Rookie goalie Roberto Romano stopped 40 shots for his 11 th victory of the season.Back in the Baltimore Civic Center, the &lsquo;Jacks pulled into a tie with Hershey for second by tying the divisionleading Rochester Americans, 4-4. Again Romano was peppered, but he stopped 37 of 41 shots.The Skipjacks fell behind after one period but Rod Schutt tied it in the second. The Amerks pulled ahead again, and Schutt promptly retied it at 15:37 of the third. After Rochester took its last lead at 13:33, Gillis took feeds from Lamoureux and Stan Jonathan to tie the game for good with 5:30 remaining in regulation.HERSHEY&mdash;After allowing six or mre goals in five of his team&rsquo;s last seven games, coach Gary Inness figured it was time to stress defense.The result? A 2-1 victory over Sherbrooke and a 5-2 win over Binghamton, which left the 27-21-1 Bears two points ahead of Baltimore.Arthroscopic surgery was performed on goalie Robbie Moore&rsquo;s tender knee, leaving the netminding to Dave Parro. Parro stopped 23 of 24 shots against Sherbrooke and received goals from Paul McKinnon and Tony Cassolato, whose 36th of the season moved him into a tie for the league lead with Amerk Mai Davis.Cassolato broke the tie in the victory over Binghamton with a goal and two assists. Parro stopped 13 shots in the second period, when Errol Rausse and Vic Morin scored late in the period to break the game open.ST. CATHARINES&mdash;The strategy is simple: just give the puck to Bruce Boudreau. Not only is the Saints&rsquo; player-assistant coach on his way to the AHL scoring title with 34 goals and 53 assists, but he&rsquo;s scoring when it counts.The fourth-place Saints (24-26-4) have won four of their last six, and Boudreau has notched the gamewinning goal in three of those victories. The only time he didn&rsquo;t was in a 6-3 win over Adirondack. Boudreau fed linemate Mike Kaszycki&mdash;a converted center playing right wing&mdash;for the game-winning goal.The Saints hit the road last week and won two of three. As Boudreau goes, so does his team. At Fredericton, he scored three goals as the Saints won, 5-3. At Moncton, he was held without a point and the Saints lost, 6-3. At Nova Scotia, Boudreau scored two third period goals and assisted on a shorthanded tally by Kaszycki to spark a 5-2 win.ROCHESTER&mdash;You&rsquo;ll forgive right winger Gary McAdam for licking his mustachioed lips every time one of his Amerk teammates is penalized. Ten short-handed goals in a season is reason enough to smile.McAdam burned the Nova Scotia Voyageurs to tie the all-time professional record held by Marcel Dionne, who scored 10 in 1974-75 with the Detroit Red Wings. McAdam&rsquo;s goal was one of eight scored by the Amerks as they won 8-5 at Halifax. Davis scored twice in that one.The Amerks (29-16-7) have scored an incredible 124 goals in their last 20 games. After beating Nova Scotia, they extended their unbeaten streak to a modest three by tying Baltimore, 4-4 and New Haven, 3-3.SPRINGFIELD&mdash;The last-place Indians (18-29-1) managed to go 1-2-1 despite scoring just eight goals in ther four games. They tied Binghamton, 22, and dropped a 2-1 decision at New Haven before beating the Nighthawks, 3-0, in the second of their home-and-home series. Bob Janecyk made 29 saves to earn his third shutout of the season. Bob Miller scored the only goal.The 1981-82 first-team AHL all-star goalie allowed only four goals in his last three games and stopped 85 of 89 shots, a 1.30 goals-against average with a save percentage of .955.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01386/4599833-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="561" height="800"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Parro will take over the goaltending chores for the Hershey Bears.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02277/4599826-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="563" height="803"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hershey&rsquo;s Tony Cassolato scored his 36th goal of the season to tie for the league lead.</figcaption></div>NEW HAVEN&mdash;The Nighthawks (23-21-5) dropped to fifth, but remained four points out of the second after splitting their home-and-home series wtih the Tribe and tying Rochester, 3-3.The deadlock with the Amerks snapped New Haven&rsquo;s nine-game home winning streak, but extended a Veterans Memorial Coliseum unbeaten string to 13 (11-0-2). Bill O&rsquo;Dwyer scored two goals but the Nighthawks couldn&rsquo;t take advantage of a power play in the final 1:39 of overtime to break the tie.BINGHAMTON&mdash;The sixth-place Whalers (20-24-5) tied Springfield, 22, topped Sherbrooke, 5-3, lost at Adirondack, 3-2, and lost 5-2 at Hershey.Dan Bourbonnais scored two third period goals to spark the Whalers over the Jets. Goalie Paul Fricker extended his unbeaten streak to five games before losing at Hershey. Hartford recalled defenseman Stu Smith. &#9679; &#9632;

f0033-01

Skipjacks Go With Flow And Obtain Good Results

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01436/4599871-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="555" height="803"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Stoyanovich triggered the Checkers&rsquo; 5-4 win over Salt Lake with a hat trick.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02356/4599864-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="561" height="780"><figcaption class="caption-body">Garth MacGuigan scored on a penalty shot in Indy&rsquo;s 5-3 win over the Oilers.</figcaption></div>INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Fred Creighton had a perplexing puzzle on his hands. &ldquo;I wish I knew why we can&rsquo;t win on the road, when we play so well at home.&rdquo;Creighton&rsquo;s Checkers dropped 4-1 and 5-1 decisions in Tulsa, running their streak to a record-threatening 11 straight losses on the road. The CHL record is 12 straight road losses, set by Albuquerque in 1975-76 and equalled by Dallas last winter. But the Checkers opened the week with a 5-4 home overtime win over Salt Lake, and they closed it with a 5-3 home decision over Tulsa, their sixth straight triumph in the Fair Grounds Coliseum.As a result, the Checkers clung to first place by a one-point margin over the Colorado Flames, who were having road troubles of their own. Indy had 62 points and a game in hand on the Flames, who had 61 points. Birmingham was at 55 points, Salt Lake 50, Tulsa 37, and Wichita 35.Steve Stoyanovich&rsquo;s hat trick, all in the first period, keyed the Checker attack against Sait Lake, but it took Gord Dineen&rsquo;s goal after 6:04 of overtime to win it. Stoyanovich had built a 3-1 lead in the first 20 minutes, but the Eagles went ahead with three goals in the second period. Glen Duncan tied it for Indy early in the third.Red Laurence opened the scoring with a power-play goal the next night in Tulsa, but that was all the Checkers could get off Oiler goalie Steve Weeks. Two nights later, Weeks didn&rsquo;t give up a goal until the final minute, as Stoyanovich spoiled the shutout bid at 19:03 of the third period.Kelly Hrudey was in goal against Salt Lake, and Rob Holland took the first loss in Tulsa. Holland relieved Hrudey in the rematch at 5:15 of the third period, after the Oilers made it 5-0 with three goals in a span-of 2:09.Holland and the Checkers got a measure of revenge when they returned home. Laurence&rsquo;s power-play goal was the only first-period score. It was 2-1 after two periods, with Dave Hanson scoring early in the second and Garth MacGuigan counting on a penalty shot (Oiler defenseman Chris Renaud fell on the puck in the crease). Duncan got what proved to be the winning goal at 9:05 of the third, and Stoyanovich added an empty netter with eight seconds to play.Laurence was the league&rsquo;s third leading scorer with 58 points. Mats Hallin (with the parent New York Islanders for two weeks) had 53 for fourth place and Scott Howson was fifth.Howson injured a wrist in the Salt Lake game. His only action in the first Tulsa game was serving a minor penalty that Dave Hanson received in conjunction with a misconduct. Howson then flew home and missed the next two games. Hanson collected 16 penalty minutes for the week, and was only nine behind the league penalty leader, Colorado&rsquo;s Randy Turnbull.BIRMINGHAM&mdash;Goalie Don Beaupre won three home games against Colorado, running his personal record with the South Stars to 8-2 (a 3.21 goals against average), then was recalled by the parent Minnesota North Stars, who also summoned defenseman Dave Richter. Goalie Markus Mattson was returned by Minnesota and was subsequently dealt to the Los Angeles Kings.The South Stars beat the Flames, 4-1, in a game to make up the Dec. 26 game, postponed because a blizzard kept the Flames from leaving Denver. They followed that with a 6-4 triumph and a 6-1 decision.Craig Homola scored twice for Birmingham in the first victory, with Ken Solheim and Dan McCarthy also getting into the act. Dan Bodluc got the Flames&rsquo; only goal off Beaupre, tying the score briefly in the middle period.Wes Jarvis&rsquo; hat trick sparked the second victory, with two goals in the second period and one in the third, as the South Stars came from behind twice before taking charge. Jim Dobson, Warren Young and Dave BeBol also scored. The next night, Solheim and Young each had two goals, with DeBol and Jarvis also scoring. Pierre Rioux got Colorado&rsquo;s lone goal in the first period. It was the fifth straight home victory for Gene Ubriaco&rsquo;s South Stars.Jarvis&rsquo; 27th goal, as Birmingham broke to a 4-1 first-period lead in that third game, gave him the league lead, with one goal more than former Indianapolis winger Mats Hallin. Jarvis and Young were one-two in the CHL scoring race, with 66 and 59 points, respectively. Young topped the league in assists, with 41, followed by Jarvis&rsquo; 39.SALT LAKE&mdash;The Golden Eagles posted two home victories over Wichita, 3-2 and 6-1, but they came between a 5-4 overtime loss in Indianapolis and a 4-2 loss in Colorado. Defenseman Jim Pavese came back from the St. Louis Blues.Charlie Skjodt (on a power play), Mark Reeds and Cary Eades rallied Salt Lake ahead of the Checkers, 4-3, in the second period, after Reeds scored in the first. But the Checkers knotted the game in the third, and won on Gord Dineen&rsquo;s overtime rally.Jack (Tex) Evans coached his 500th game for the Eagles in the first tilt with Wichita. John Marked. Jock Callender and Bill Stewart rallied Salt Lake to victory, after spotting the Wind the first goal. Two nights later, Wichita again scored first, but the Eagles took command on goals by Reeds, Perry Anderson, Marked, Rob Tudor, Bert Wilson and Callander. It was the Birds&rsquo; fourth straight victory in their Salt Palace.But the next night, a trip to Denver brought the Eagles&rsquo; third straight reversal on the road. Paul Skidmore was in the net for his ninth straight game. Bill Stewart tied the score briefly in the opening period and Reeds tallied in the second.COLORADO&mdash;Pierre Page&rsquo;s Flames suffered three straight losses in Birmingham, where a victory in any one of them would have vaulted the club into first place. Tim Bernhardt worked a 4-1 loss and a 6-4 setback after posting a 4-2 win in Wichita. Marc D&rsquo;Amour was in goal for a 6-1 Saturday loss to the South Stars, then. Bernhardt beat Salt Lake, 4-2, in Denver.Left wingert Gord Hampson was lost for at least five weeks, with a wrist injury. The Flames brought in forwards Grant Rezansoff and Brad Kempthorne from Peoria in the International League.Greg Meredith. Dan Bolduc. Charles Bourgeois and Kari Jalonen (into an empty net) were the scorers in Wichita. Bolduc&rsquo;s second-period goal was the only one for the Flames in Birmingham. Bolduc, Pierre Rioux. Tony Curtale and Tim Harrer scored in the second loss, while Rioux, in the first period, had the Flames&rsquo; only goal in the third game.Harrer&rsquo;s opening goal was answered by Salt Lake, but Meredith regained the lead in the first period, and Jalonen and Harrer scored in the second.WICHITA&mdash;The Wind didn&rsquo;t further their campaign to evacuate the cellar, losing. 4-2, at home to Colorado, then dropping 3-2 and 6-.1 decisions in Salt Lake. That ran the latest losing streak for Andy Laing&rsquo;s men to six games, four on the road.Defenseman Dave Hutchinson and right winger Jan Ludvig arrived from the parent New Jersey Devils. The contract of veteran forward Neil Hawyrliw was terminated.Larry Floyd and Kevin Maxwell helped the Wind try to erase a three-goal deficit against Colorado, but the Flames sealed the verdict with an empty-net goal. Maxwell and Paul Fulcher scored in the first game at Salt Lake. Ludvig, in the first period, got the only goal off Eagle netminder Paul Skidmore in the rematch. The Eagles outshot the Wind. 37-17, including an 11-3 advantage in the first period, which ended at 1-1.TULSA&mdash;Two home victories (4-1 and 5-1) over first-place Indianapolis excited the Oilers&rsquo; fans and coach Tom Webster. But a trip to Indy resulted in a 5-3 loss.Steve Weeks was the Oiler goalie in all three games, and became the league&rsquo;s stingiest netminder. with a 2.92 average. Weeks started eight straight games, 11 of 12 since coming to Tulsa.The standout goalie blanked the Checkers for 59 minutes in the second game, with Steve Stoyanovich spoiling the shutout with 57 seconds on the clock.Weeks gave up an opening goal on a Checker power play in the first game, with Red Laurence scoring at 4:44 of the first, but the Checkers were blanked for the remaining 55 minutes. Dave Silk had power-play goals for Tulsa in the first and third periods, while Ken Kuzyk and Chris Renaud put the Oilers in charge in the second.The Oiler defense set a CHL record by not allowing the Checkers a shot on goal in the second period of the next game. Defenseman Graeme Nicoison, who had only returned that afternoon from the parent New York Rangers, had two goals, with others coming from Kuzyk, Peter Wallin and Silk. Goals by Nicoison, Wallin and Silk in a span of 2:09 in the final period chased starting Indy goalie, Kelly Hrudey.Silk again had two power-play goals when the series shifted to Indianapolis, but the Oilers couldn&rsquo;t catch up. Wallin narrowed the deficit to 2-1 in the second period, but Garth MacGujgan scored on a penalty shot. It was the second time this season the Checkers were awarded a penalty shot (and scored) at home aganst Tulsa.The Rangers recalled defenseman Scot Kleinendorst when they demoted Nicolson. Left winger Cam Connor, assigned to Tulsa two weeks previously, went back to New York for treatment of a lower back injury without playing a game for the Oilers. &#9679; &#9632;

f0034-01

Indy Nears Consecutive Road Loss Record

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>FORT WAYNE&mdash;The International Hockey League hasn&rsquo;t survived for 38 seasons by turning its back on adversity. It fought back. Positive thinking, optimism and faith in the game of hockey has kept the league alive through bad times as well as good. And, that&rsquo;s how the IHL board of governors is attacking the current crisis&mdash;a sour economy.&ldquo;We have a great game to sell and that&rsquo;s what we plan to do,&rdquo; said Commissioner Jack Riley as the IHL met in Fort Wayne for its annual winter meeting. &ldquo;There is a great deal of optimism among the owners and while we are concerned about finances, we aren&rsquo;t discouraged.&rdquo;High unemployment in league cities, especially Flint, Saginaw and Muskegon, is a deep concern but none of the three gave any indication it was ready to fold.&ldquo;We have the smallest market,&rdquo; said John Snider of Muskegon. &ldquo;And our unemployment is among the highest. But I am optimistic. Our attendance was down early but then showed an increase. Since the holidays it has dropped again but I am confident it will bounce back. Our team is winning now. We have a good core of fans and I think hockey is the greatest game there is.&rdquo;Bill Beagan, former IHL commissioner and now owner of the Toledo franchise, said &ldquo;I think we have bottomed out. The fact Grand Rapids was willing to protect its franchise (by paying a $5,000&rsquo; fee) indicates as much. That&rsquo;s a positive sign. I think.&rdquo;Port Huron, which along with Grand Rapids put its franchise in escrow two years ago. did not pay its fee. &ldquo;The franchise now reverts back to the league,&rdquo; said Riley. Grand Rapids is awaiting the completion of a new arena at which time it is expected the franchise will be activated.Optimism was also expressed by Ted Parfet of Kalamazoo. &ldquo;My goal when we started the franchise was 2,000 season ticket holders. We got as high as 1,800 but then it dropped off. I think hockey runs in cycles. I am confident we&rsquo;ll bounce back again. It (hockey) is a great game.&rdquo;Considerable time was spent during the two-day meeting discussing ways to promote the game. And sell it. The league has been more promotion-minded and one of the best promotions has been booking the famed San Diego Chicken. The Chicken was responsible for record crowds of more than 9,000 and 8,402 at Peoria and Fort Wayne, respectively.The league is also considering hiring a full-time public relations person who they hope can help market the league. The governors agreed the potential was present to do a good selling job.Riley, who hinted he may yield his reins as commissioner &ldquo;after one more year,&rdquo; felt good about the two-day meeting and the future of the league. &ldquo;There is a lot of enthusiasm for our future. A lot of optimism. We know the economy is a tough assignment but the league has faced money problems before and survived. The thinking is all positive.&rdquo;Meanwhile, on the ice:TOLEDO&mdash;The Diggers opened up a little breathing room on Fort Wayne by posting three victories and a tie to pick up seven of a possible eight points. The streak started with an 11-2 rout of Fort Wayne at home. Dirk Graham led the assault with three goals. The Diggers followed with a 2-1 win at Saginaw and after a 3-3 tie with Muskegon at home, Toledo closed out the week with a 3-2 conquest of Kalamazoo, also at home. Toledo boosted its record to 30-12-5 for 65 points. Toledo has lost just twice at home and has won 10 games on the road, more than any other team in the league.FORT WAYNE&mdash;The Komets had a six-game undefeated streak snapped with the 11-2 whipping in Toledo. It also ended a three-game winning streak on the road. In addition to the loss at Toledo, the Komets were bombed in Peoria, 10-4, as the defense collapsed. Fort Wayne managed a .500 week with a pair of one-goal decisions at home. They nipped Flint, 5-4, in regulation and beat Saginaw, 3-2, in overtime. It was the third time Fort Wayne had beaten the Gears in overtime. Dale Baldwin scored the winning goal in both games.SAGINAW&mdash;The Gears snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 4-2 win at Toledo, keyed by excellent play from goalie Bill Provencher, who has been loaned to the Gears by Toledo. But the magic didn&rsquo;t last. In fact, it was followed by a pair of losses at home, raising the loss string at home to four. Toledo was responsible for the first loss, a tough 2-1 decision. Then the dam broke. Milwaukee blizted the Gears, 6-0, the second time Saginaw has been shutout at home this season. What really hurt was that the Milwaukee game featured an appearance by the San Diego Chicken and the largest crowd (4.784) since the final game of the 1980-81 Turner Cup finals suffered through it. The week ended with a 3-2 loss in overtime at Fort Wayne.FLINT&mdash;The Generals have found life on the road better than home cooking. In danger of dropping out of the playoff picture when they launched a lengthy road trip, Flint has fought back into the playoff picture by posting a 2-2-1 record during the first five games of a six-game tour. The second victory was a 2-1 win at Kalamazoo. It followed a tough 5-4 loss at Fort Wayne.The balance of the schedule features more home games than road assignments. But the way the Generals have been playing on the road, manager-coach Ted Garvin doesn&rsquo;t know if that&rsquo;s good or bad.MILWAUKEE&mdash;The Admirals maintained their comfortable lead in the Western Division with a split during a two-game road trip. It opened with a 2-1 loss at Kalamazoo. Wing Goalie Mike Dufour was the difference as he kicked out 34 shots. The Admirals rebounded with a 6-0 romp at Saginaw as Dan Lecours scored a pair of goals to raise his IHL lead to 37. Fred Benry and Cal Roadhouse reached the 30-goal plateau with goals.KALAMAZOO&mdash;The K-Wings stayed two points up on Peoria in the battle for second place in the West with an even split. The Wings opened with a 6-2 win at Peoria and followed with a 2-1 win at home against Milwaukee. The string ended with a 2-1 loss to Flint at home and a 3-2 loss in Toledo.PEORIA&mdash;The Prancers lost ground with a 1-2-0 week. The losses were at home to Kalamazoo, 6-2, and an 8-1 whipping in Muskegon. Peoria bounced back by whipping Fort Wayne at home, 10-4.MUSKEGON&mdash;Muskegon continued its surge towards an eventual playoff berth by posting one victory and a tie against one loss during the week. Muskegon is 7-3-1 over the last 12 games and is now just four points behind Flint, five behind Peoria and Sagninaw. The victory was an 8-1 romp over Peoria in which seven different players scored. John Kirk got a pair and singles came off the sticks of Daryl MacLeod, Joe Ward, Jim Egerton, Steve Peters and Ron Hansis. The loss was 4-2 at home to Saginaw and the tie came in Toledo, 3-3. &#9679;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01412/4599902-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="555" height="756"><figcaption class="caption-body">Despite a very poor economy, IHL commissioner Jack Riley is quite optimistic.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0035-01

Tough Times Don’t Faze League

<div class="byline">BY JIM SCHNEIDER</div>KALAMAZOO&mdash;Sophomore goalie Glenn Healy paced Western Michigan as the Broncos stunned Bowling Green, taking three of four points from the league-leading Falcons to highlight Central Collegiate Hockey Association play.Western Michigan topped Bowling Green, 3-1, in the opener and the second game ended in a 3-3 tie.Michigan State and Ohio State kept pace with each other in the battle for second and third place as each gained ground on Bowling Green by sweeping Lake Superior and Illinois-Chicago, respectively.Michigan State topped the Lakers, 73, and 2-1 behind all-American netminder Ron Scott.The Buckeyes swept two games (6-3 and 5-1) from Illinois-Chicago.In other CCHA action: Michigan Tech moved back into fourth place by sweeping Ferris State 4-2 and 8-0, while Northern Michigan fell back into fifth place, splitting two games with Michigan. NMU took the opener, 5-3, but Michigan grabbed the second game, 3-2, behind Jon Elliott&rsquo;s 42 saves.Miami and Notre Dame split two games in the other league series as the host Redskins won the opener, 9-2, but the Fighting Irish collected the split, winning the second game by a 6-4 margin.Bowling Green grabbed its only lead of the weekend as Kerry Kennedy opened the scoring at the 3 :20 mark of the first period, but Dan Dorion&rsquo;s goal tied the game at 18:26 of the first period and David Bina netted the winner early in the second period.The Broncos, coached by former BG assistant Bill Wilkinson, gained a 3-1 lead on Rob Adams&rsquo; power-play goal at 4:05 of the third period in the second game, but the Falcons bounced back for the tie on goals by John Samanski and all-American Brian Hills.Healy made 61 saves in the series for the Broncos, while Wayne Collins kept his unbeaten string alive (11-0-2) with 30 saves in the second game.Michigan State jumped to a quick 2-0 lead in the opener against Lake Superior with goals by Robert Martin and Mike Donnelly giving the Spartans two goals after just 2:03 of play.Mark Hamway and Martin scored two goals in the opener while Ken Leiter and Gord Flegel each had three assists.The second game was goalless after one period and 1-1 after two as MSU&rsquo;s Flegel and Nick Palumbo of Lake Superior exchanged goals midway through the frame.MSU freshman Dale Krentz snapped the 1-1 tie at the 15:42 mark of the third period with assists by Lyle Phair and Leiter.Dave Kobryn and Jamie Crapper scored two goals each as Ohio State scored twice each period in the opener against Illinois-Chicago.Kobryn put OSU on the scoreboard at 4:29 of the first period and UIC gained a 1-1 tie on Ken Stevens&rsquo; goal at 5:29. Mike Rousseau put OSU on top for good at 10:56 of the first period.Following a goalless first period in the second game, the Pooley brothers gave OSU the lead with Perry Pooley scoring at 7:33 and Paul Pooley scoring at &rsquo;12:30 of the second period.Stevens netted his second goal of the weekend for the Flames, but OSU scored three third-period goals to gain the sweep. John Dougan made 45 saves in the sweep.Ferris State scored goals on its first two shots of the weekend as Jim File scored 30 seconds into the game and Rob Brownlie scored 21 seconds later. But Michigan Tech goalie Mudge Tompsett settled down to stop the next 67 shots and earn Most Valuable Player honors in Tech&rsquo;s annual Winter Carnival series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01393/4599933-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="553" height="749"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ferris State&rsquo;s Jim File scored 30 seconds into the game against Michigan Tech.</figcaption></div>Geordie Hamilton scored the winning goal in the opener and Todd Scott&rsquo;s goal at 2:16 of the first period of the second game was the winner. Jim Bissett had two goals in the second game as Tompsett made 33 saves for his second shutout in two weeks.Northern Michigan freshman center Al Chancellor scored a goal and added two assists as the Wildcats topped Michigan in the opener in Lakeview Arena. Bruce Martin scored the winning goal in the opener at 8:47 of the second period and Jeff Poeschl made 28 saves in the win.The second period was the story in the second game as Northern Michigan outshot Michigan, 24-3, in the period. But the Wolverines scored on all three shots with Todd Carliel scoring on a powerplay goal to tie the score 46 seconds into the period, while Brad Tippett and Paul Spring scored goals just 18 seconds apart to push the lead to 3-1.Eric Ponath cut the Michigan lead to 3-2 with a second period power-play goal, but Michigan held the Wildcats goalless in the third period for the win to snap a five-game losing streak. Elliott made 42 saves in the win, while Poeschl made 11 saves for NMU.Kevin Beaton and David Wheeldon each scored two goals in the first period as Miami took a 5-1 lead and coasted to a 9-2 win in the opener against Notre Dame. Andy Cozzi scored two goals in each game for the Redskins.Notre Dame&rsquo;s Kirt Bjork kept his hot hand going with three goals and two assists in the second game. Bjork, who netted the winner at 4:44 of the third period, has 26 points in his last 10 games. &#9679; &#9632;

f0036-01

The Colleges

Healy, Collins Lead Bowling Green In Surprise Over Western Michigan

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>PROVIDENCE&mdash;Slowly but patiently and inexorably, in just the same manner they play their ideal game, the Providence Friars have inched out to a commanding lead in the Eastern Colleges Athletic Conference Division One playoff race.Barring some major disaster, PF will win the ECAC East Pennant and cop home ice for the playoff quarter-final series March 4-5. But PC hasn&rsquo;t had an easy game, even though its current win streak is six after a wild 4-2 victory at Boston College. That game wasn&rsquo;t decided until Kurt Kleinendorst scored with 1:03 to play.Earlier in the week, Cornell came to Schneider Arena and led going into the third period. Kleinendorst scored his second goal of the game at 0:29, then a two-goal burst by Randy Velischek and Steve Rooney within a span of 1:19 propelled Providence to victory. Cornell scored a late goal to narrow the margin to a single goal, which is how seven of Providence&rsquo;s 14 ECAC wins have ended.Three others, including the BC tilt, have been decided by two. It was a chippy game, typical of the grudge matches between these clubs. Referee Wayne Houmiel called a total of 32 penalties, 15 to the Eagles and 17 to the Friars. Twenty-one of those minor penalties were called in matching situations. Houmiel obviously wanted to keep it from getting out of hand, as has happened so many times between these teams over the past dozen years or so.Hindsight seems to indicate that the overly Strict strategy backfired. Matching penalties are in a sense not penalties at all because aggressors go unpunished. Additionally, several quick whistles blown while the puck was still playable tended to aggravate rather than curb the instincts for the jugular. The game took more than three hours to complete.Houmiel, by the way, is one of the better respected of the ECAC referees, if off-the-record comments by several coaches are any indication. He can&rsquo;t be faulted for deciding on a strategy and then sticking to it. It just didn&rsquo;t work this time in a game which, oddly enough, did not rank among the top PC-BC slugfests.Obscured in the blizzard of penalty statistics were the fine goaltending performances of PC&rsquo;s Mario Proulx&mdash;42 saves&mdash;and BC freshman Scott Gordon, making his first Division One start and coming up with 33 stops.Overall, it wasn&rsquo;t a great week for the ECAC West teams. The best performer in the West group was Vermont with a 6-5 win at Princeton and a 3-3 tie at Cornell. The other league games played by Western teams resulted in four losses and a single win.Rob McConnell scored the hat trick for the Catamounts at Princeton, spoiling a 42-save performance by Ron Dennis. The next evening at Cornell it was UVM goalie Mike Mundorf&rsquo;s turn to shine as he came up with 49 stops, 21 of them in the third period when Cornell outhsot UVM 23-6 and scored twice to tie the game.Clarkson got a goal 17 seconds into the game but ended up losing, 4-3, to Harvard in overtime. The Crimson, returning from exams, were in the waning seconds of a power play when Clarkson goalie Don Sylvestri broke his stick across Greg Britz&rsquo; legs as Britz invaded the crease in search of a rebound.The penalty to Bruce McDonough expired but Harvard kept control of the puck as Scott Fusco got credit for a goal against the stickless Sylvestri when a drive from the point by brother Mark Fusco glanced in off Scott&rsquo;s arm.New Hampshire bounced slumping St. Lawrence, 6-2, in Durham as six different players scored. It was the Larries&rsquo; fourth consecutive league loss. Earlier, UNH scored four power-play goals but managed only a 6-6 tie with Boston College in Snively Arena. Lee Blossom&rsquo;s second goal of the game, with 1:13 remaining, knotted the count and BC held a territorial edge in the overtime but couldn&rsquo;t score on Bruce Gillies.RPI would have taken over first place in the ECAC West had Cornell not nipped them 5-4 at Ithaca. Cornell goalie Darren Eliot made 50 saves. The Big Red fell behind 3-1 but battled back for a 4-3 lead early in the third frame. George Servinis&rsquo; second goal of the game tied it for RPI at 9:54, but Geoff Dervin tallied the winner for Cornell at 5:05 of overtime. The next night, the Engineers blasted Princeton. 11-7, as Servinis, Ken Hammond, and John Carter all scored twice.Boston University moved out to a 5-1 lead, then had to scramble for dear life in defeating Colgate, 5-4, at Walter Brown Arena. Gerard Waslen&rsquo;s unassisted shorthanded goal, at 4:18 of the third period, ignited the Red Raiders. Waslen has scored in Colgate&rsquo;s last eight games.Yale climbed closer to Harvard in the Ivy race with a 5-0 blanking of the Crimson. It was Yale&rsquo;s first shutout in the series since 1956 and featured two goals by Mark Crerar and a goal and an assist by linemate Bob Brooke in a four-goal, second-period outburst. Harvard got only 17 shots on Paul Torterella.Earlier, Northeastern kept its playoff hopes alive with a solid 5-3 win at Yale. Torterella made only 16 saves in that one and his NU counterpart, Mark Davidner, stopped 38 shots. Ken Manchurek scored twice for the Huntington Hounds, including the clincher at 13:15 of the third period.BU had an easy time defeating Maine, 6-2, behind Cesare Carlacci&rsquo;s two goals. The Terriers forced Ray Roy to make 47 saves. Dartmouth scored four times in the final seven minutes to beat stubborn Brown 8-4. &#9679;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01345/4599964-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="557" height="759"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goalie Darren Eliot stopped 50 shots as Cornell nipped RPI, 5-4, at Ithaca.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0037-01

Providence Takes Big Lead In Division One

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div>GRAND FORKS&mdash;It&rsquo;s been a long climb, but defending national collegiate hockey champion North Dakota has finally got one foot on the top rung of the ladder in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.North Dakota, which opened league play with three straight losses and four in its first six games, moved into a tie for first place for the first time all season by sweeping Colorado College while Minnesota. which held the lead since Nov. 27, managed just a split at Denver.That left North Dakota and Minnesota tied for the WCHA lead with identical 15-6-1 records going into the final two weekends of the regular season. They&rsquo;ll settle their difference in Grand Forks Feb. 11-12 when the two leaders meet head-to-head.North Dakota has been the hottest team in the WCHA since rebounding from a stumbling start. Coach Gino Gasparini has once again done a masterful job of blending his new recruits with veterans in compiling a 13-2-1 record in North Dakota&rsquo;s last 16 league games.The Sioux, aiming for their fourth WCHA title in five years since Gasparini became head coach, once again rely on the league&rsquo;s best defense. The Sioux have given up just 57 goals in 22 starts, a stingy 2.60 goals-against average that is 16 goals fewer than anyone else in the league has allowed.The Sioux stretched their home-ice winning streak to 10 games by defeating Colorado College, 8-2, and 5-3 in the latest action.Glen Klotz, Brian Williams and Dusty Carroll all scored goals in the first five minutes of the game as the Sioux jumped on the Tigers early in the first game. Carroll finished with two goals with James Patrick, Glen White, Randy Maxwell and Gord Sherven also scoring for the Sioux. Jon Casey, the No. 1 goalie in the WCHA, supplied 24 saves.North Dakota spotted Colorado College a 1-0 lead 43 seconds into the game on Steve Brown&rsquo;s goal, before coming back to complete the sweep the next night. White got the winning goal for North Dakota with Carroll, Patrick, Williams and Eddie Christian collecting one apiece.Not only did Minnesota lose possession of the WCHA lead on its trip to Denver, but it also lost senior goalie Paul Butters for the year with a broken arm.Butters was involved in a collision with Denver&rsquo;s Ian Ramsay in Minnesota&rsquo;s 6-2 victory, an incident which Minnesota coach Brad Buetow called &ldquo;a very deliberte attempt to injure. That young man (Ramsay) made no attempt to avoid Paul Butters. Paul couldn&rsquo;t get out of the way. It hurts hockey when something like that happens.&rdquo;That incident took some of the glow off Minnesota&rsquo;s victory in the series opener, in which the Gophers exploded from a 0-0 tie after one period with four quick goals in the second period before Butters was hurt.Denver beat Minnesota for the second time in three weeks the night after the Ramsay-Butters incident, when Kevin Dineen scored his second goal of the game in the third period to snap a 4-4 tie.The lead changed hands several times after Butsy Erickson put the Gophers on top, 1-0. Jim Leavins replied on a power play for Denver and Bill Stewart gave Denver a 2-1 lead with a shorthanded goal. Ramsay made it 3-1 for Denver before Dave Preuss and Jeff Larson brought the Gophers even again.Dineen&rsquo;s first goal put Denver on top 4-3 in the third period, but Billy Yon&rsquo;s power-play goal tied it for Minnesota before Dineen got the game-winner against Minnesota freshman goalie Frank Pietrangelo.At Duluth, Wisconsin stayed four points in front of Duluth by coming back from a 6-3 loss in the opener to take a 3-1 win the second night. Chris Chelios&rsquo; shorthanded goal early in the third period snapped a 1-1 tie and lifted Wisconsin to victory. Paul Houck had two goals for Wisconsin.WCHA NOTES&mdash;Dean Dachyshyn, the North Dakota co-captain who has been sidelined since Dec. 4 with a shoulder separation, has returned to the Sioux lineup. Minnesota continued to field the best power-play unit in the WCHA. clicking at 28 per cent, while North Dakota, which has given up power-play goals at a rate of only 13 percent, is the best defensively&hellip;It was Wisconsin&rsquo;s Paul Houston, not Paul Houck as incorrectly reported here recently, who had to clear up an academic question mark to be eligible for the second semester of the race. &#9679; &#9632;

North Dakota Vaults To The Top

<h2>CCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Feb. 11)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01404/4600124-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="539" height="385"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Michigan State 7, Lake Superior 3Michigan State 2, Lake Superior 1Michigan Tech 4, Ferris State 2Michigan Tech 8, Ferris State 0Ohio State 6, Illinois-Chicago 3Ohio State 5, Illinois-Chicago 1Western Michigan 3, Bowling Green 1Western Michigan 3, Bowling Green 3Northern Michigan 5, Michigan 3Michigan 3, Northern Michigan 2Miami 9. Notre Dame 2Notre Dame 6, Miami 4<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02321/4600117-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="539" height="441"></div><h2>WCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Feb. 11)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03247/4600110-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="536" height="203"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>North Dakota 8, Colorado College 2North Dakota 5, Colorado College 3Minnesota 6, Denver 2Denver 5 Minnesota 4Minnesota-Duluth 6, Wisonsin 3Wisconsin 3, Minnesota-Duluth 1<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04183/4600103-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="546" height="592"></div><h2>ECAC CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 7)<h3>EAST REGION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05131/4600096-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="542" height="204"></div><h3>WEST REGION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0699/4600089-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="541" height="177"></div><h3>IVY REGION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0786/4600082-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="539" height="209"></div><h3>INDEPENDENT</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0869/4600075-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="529" height="61"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Army 3. Brown 2Army 6, Northeastern 5Boston Univ. 6. Maine 2Boston College 6, N. Hampshire 6Northeastern 5, Yale 3Providence 4, Boston College 2Boston&rsquo; Univ. 5, Colgate 4Cornell 5, RP1 4Vermont 6. Princeton 3Dartmouth 8, Brown 4Vermont 3, Cornell 3N. Hampshire 6, St. Lawrence 2RPI 11, Princeton 7Yale 5, Harvard 0Harvard 4, Clarkson 3<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0959/4600068-1-eng-US/f0038-092.jpg" title="f0038-09" width="545" height="682"></div><h2>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 7)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1055/4600061-1-eng-US/f0038-102.jpg" title="f0038-10" width="539" height="408"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Western 11, York 2Laurier 10, Ryerson 3Western 8, Windsor 6Laurentian 6, Brock 6Queen&rsquo;s 3, McMaster 1Toronto 1, Queen&rsquo;s 0Laurentian 7, Brock 4McMaster 8, RMC 3Windsor 6, Guelph 6Toronto 14, RMC 0York 14, Ryerson 1<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1149/4600054-1-eng-US/f0038-112.jpg" title="f0038-11" width="539" height="330"></div><h2>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1244/4600047-1-eng-US/f0038-122.jpg" title="f0038-12" width="541" height="208"></div><h2>ATLANTIC CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1335/4600040-1-eng-US/f0038-132.jpg" title="f0038-13" width="536" height="298"></div><h2>CANADA WEST CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1430/4600033-1-eng-US/f0038-142.jpg" title="f0038-14" width="537" height="151"></div><h2>G-PAC CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1528/4600026-1-eng-US/f0038-152.jpg" title="f0038-15" width="535" height="178"></div><h2>ONTARIO COLLEGES</h2>(Standings on Fri. Feb. 4)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1624/4600019-1-eng-US/f0038-162.jpg" title="f0038-16" width="533" height="236"></div> &#9632;

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COLLEGE SCOREBOARD

Dave Gagner of the Brantford Alexanders scored a picture goal against the Kitchener Rangers in last weekend&rsquo;s OHL game of the week and while it didn&rsquo;t save the Alexanders from a 2-1 defeat it did win Gagner the Panasonic Play of the Game award.Gagner, who leads the Alexanders in point scoring with 41 goals, 53 assists and 94 points, produced the award-winning goal when he took a pass from teammate Tom Searle, crossed over the Kitchener blueline and let fly with a left corner shot that caught the top of the net behind Rangers&rsquo; goalie Wendell Young for Brantford&rsquo;s only score of the game.It was a gratifying week for the sophomore center, who was named the Ontario Hockey League&rsquo;s 1982-83 winner of the Bobby Smith Trophy, which is awarded to the player who best combines academics and hockey in the league. In addition Gagner scored the game-winning goal in the OHL&rsquo;s seventh annual All Star game to spark the Emms Division to a 6-5 victory over the Leyden Division.Gagner became the third Panasonic award winner this season. Derek Smith of Peterborough Petes won the first award on Jan. 22 and Dave MacLean of Belleville Bulls was chosen for the second award Jan. 29.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1721/4600155-1-eng-US/f0038-172.jpg" title="f0038-17" width="519" height="1509"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE GAGNER Brantford Alexanders</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0038-17

PANASONIC Play Of The Game Award

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BROPHY</div>BELLEVILLE&mdash;National Hockey League scouts who said Dave Gagner of the Brantford Alexanders was too small to make it in the big leagues are taking a serious second look.The flashy sophomore center, who is eligible for the NHL entry draft this year and leads his team in scoring with 36 goals and 50 assists for 86 points, added two more feathers to his cap. He scored the game-winning goal in the seventh annual OHL all-star game as well as being selected as the 1982-83 winner of the Bobby Smith Trophy, which goes to the player who best combines academics and hockey.Gagner&rsquo;s goal at 17:06 of the third period lifted the Emms Division to a 6-5 win over the Leyden Division in one of the better all-star games in recent memory. The Emms Division has won five of the seven games played.Bob LaForest of the North Bay Centennials scored two goals to pace the Emms Division and was chosen his team&rsquo;s most valuable player. Kevin Conway (Sault Ste. Marie), Pat Verbeek (Sudbury) and Mike Eagles (Kitchener) had the other Emms&rsquo; Division markers.Oshawa&rsquo;s John MacLean paced the Leyden Division with a pair of goals while Bob Errey (Peterborough), Todd Hooey (Oshawa) and Dune MacIntyre (Belleville) scored one each. Mike Posavad of Peterborough had two assists.Cornwall goaltender Joe Mantione stole the show with an excellent display during the first half of the game and was chosen most valuable player for the Leyden Division squad. Mantione had the Emms Divison players skating back to the bench with their heads shaking in frustration.At the annual all-star banquet, Gagner was chosen as the OHL&rsquo;s scholastic player of the year and earned the Smith trophy. Gagner is in his first year at Hamilton&rsquo;s McMaster University.One disappointment at the all-star game was not getting to see Ottawa 67&rsquo;s big center Adam Creighton suit up. He had been named as an addition to the Leyden Division team and was at the game, but became odd-man out when it was discovered there weren&rsquo;t enough uniforms to go around.OSHAWA&mdash;The Generals split games last week but continue to hold down first place in the Leyden Division. John MacLean and Todd Hooey scored two goals each to lead the Generals to a 9-6 win over Cornwall.OTTAWA&mdash;The 67&lsquo;s played just once but beat Oshawa 5-3 to move into second place, one point behind the Generals. Five different players scored for the 67&rsquo;s.PETERBOROUGH&mdash;The Petes continue to lead the league in serious injuries. Steve Yzerman. rated as the top junior prospect from the OHL, will miss a few weeks with an injured knee and Scott McLellan suffered a cut thumb and will miss a few games. They join Ken Strong (pulled hamstring) and Bruce Shoebottom (broken leg) on the injured list. Bob Errey had a goal and four assists in a 9-7 loss to Belleville.TORONTO&mdash;The Marlboros moved ahead of Cornwall into fourth place with a 5-2 win over the Royals and 2-1 decision over Brantford.CORNWALL&mdash;Rob Norman scored two goals in a 9-6 loss to Oshawa. The Royals also dropped a 5-2 decision to Toronto, slipping them back into fifth place. The Marlies also carry a game in hand over Cornwall.BELLEVILLE&mdash;The Bulls have been hot of late and picked a great time to show off. After falling behind 4-1 and then 6-2, the Bulls stormed back for a 9-7 win over Peterborough in the OHL game of the week, shown live on Global Television. Dave MacLean had four goals for the winners while Dan Quinn added two goals and four assists. Winger Mike Clayton, one of the Bulls&rsquo; most consistent performers this season, had four assists in the second period.KINGSTON&mdash;The Canadians&rsquo; hopes of making the playoffs dimmed last week with two losses on a northern swing. They lost 10-7 in North Bay; 4-2 in Sault Ste. Marie (where they traditionally play well) and then beat Sudbury 9-6.SAULT STE. MARIE&mdash;Mike Lococo had a goal and two helpers to lead the Greyhounds to a 4-2 win over Kingston. Kevin Conway scored once and assisted on another to give him 100 points. He has 51 goals and 49 assists.NORTH BAY&mdash;Paul Gillis fired three goals as the Centennials blasted Kingston 10-7. The Cents were also hit with a total of 31 games in suspensions to five players for their part in a brawl with fans in Kitchener two weeks ago. Ray Flaherty, recently returned from an eight-game suspension, was hit with 15 games for being the first player to venture into the spectator area.Mark Hatcher was suspended for seven games; Curtis Collin five games; Scott McKay and Allan Bishop two games each. Kitchener&rsquo;s Rob Nichols, David Bruce and Rob MacInness were each suspended for two games with coach Joe Crozier suspended for a pair of games and fined $1,000.KITCHENER&mdash;The Rangers got a goal from Dave Shaw with time running out to beat Brantford 4-3. They also beat Peterborough 4-1 and topped Windsor 7-6 in overtime.BRANTFORD&mdash;Two losses dropped the Alexanders back to .500 hockey, leaving them with a 25-25-2 record.LONDON&mdash;Scott Morrison scored once in a 4-3 loss to Belleville. The Knights were also defeated 5-3 by Peterborough.WINDSOR&mdash;Claude Loiselle scored two goals in the Spitfires&rsquo; 7-3 win over Belleville and then scored three along with Scott MacLellan as the Spits pounded Guelph 11-3.SUDBURY&mdash;Ken Minello had the lone goal in the Wolves! 4-1 loss to North Bay. Sudbury also lost 9-6 to Kingston.GUELPH&mdash;Paul Brydges had two goals as the Platers were bombed 11-3 by Windsor.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01379/4600186-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="549" height="1067"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kitchener Ranger coach Joe Crozier was fined $1,000 and suspeneded for two games.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0039-01

The Amateurs

Gagner Moves To Front Of The OHL Class

<div class="byline">BY GREGG DRINNAN</div>KAMLOOPS&mdash;Last winter, the Kamloops Junior Oilers finished with 18 wins, 53 losses and a tie. Only the Spokane Flyers, who folded after 26 games, kept them from finishing fifth and last in the Western Division of the Western Hockey League.Now the Junior Oilers have surfaced as a most competent team.They started the season like a house on fire, winning 15 of their first 16 games. After that, inconsistency set in and Bill LaForges&rsquo;s bunch won 13 of its next 33 outings.&ldquo;We play one excellent game, then a questionable game like the young team we are.&rdquo; said LaForge, who spent last winter coaching the Regina Pats to the WHL&rsquo;s championship final. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not as consistent as I would like and that&rsquo;s because of having so many players who haven&rsquo;t been in the league before.&rdquo;When the Junior Oilers, whose majority owners are the National League&rsquo;s Edmonton Oilers, announced last summer that they signed LaForge, the moans and groans could be heard throughout Western Canada. After all, LaForge just finished a rough-and-tumble, controversy-filled season with Regina.&ldquo;We have a different team.&rdquo; LaForge told Dave Senick of the Regina Leader&mdash;Post, when asked to compare the Oilers to last season&rsquo;s Pats. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not overly aggressive. In fact, we&rsquo;re one of the least-penalized clubs in the league. I wasn&rsquo;t hired to build a big tough club in Kamloops, which I was in Regina. I was told (in Regina) that they wanted a big, tough team.&ldquo;But we do play a bump-and-grind style, which we did in Regina. We&rsquo;re doing much better than I expected. They&rsquo;ve developed the work ethics I want, both on and off the ice. When I first came here, there was a clubhouse attitude as far as off-ice activities were concerned. But that has changed.&rdquo;On the ice, LaForge has received sparkling play from center Dean Evason and rookies Jim Camazzola and Doug Bodger.Evason, a fifth-round pick of the Washington Capitals in the 1982 draft, was slowed somewhat by an ankle injury. But 49 games into the season, he still had 40 goals and 94 points.Camazzola, an 18-year-old left winger who has taken by the Chicago Black Hawks in the 10th round, missed part of the season with a shoulder injury, but was among the leading rookie scorers with 35 goals and 69 points.The best of the bunch, though, has been Bodger, a 16&mdash;year&mdash;old defenseman who has played with the poise of a fourth-year veteran. A 6-foot-l, 185-pound native of Chemainus, B.C., Bodger had 18 goals and 65 points and the pro scouts are already drooling.And LaForge is touting the youngster as an all&mdash;star and rookie of the year. The coach could be right on both counts.BRANDON&mdash;Tom McMurchy scored twice and center Kelly Glowa had a goal and two assists in a 6&mdash;4 win in Prince Albert. Glowa&rsquo;s two assists lifted his career total to 200.CALGARY&mdash;Barry Bracko set up Scott Makin&rsquo;s second goal of the game and 20th of the season with 52 seconds left in the third period, then scored the winner at 1:07 of overtime as Calgary won 6-5 in Kelowna. Makin also had three assists, while Bracko set up two goals. Bruce Robertson, who hadn&rsquo;t scored a goal this season and in parts of two previous seasons, struck for a pair as Calgary won 8&mdash;7 in Nanaimo. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t looking, I was just shooting,&rdquo; said Robertson. &ldquo;It was unreal&mdash;it feels great. I&rsquo;m a defenseman, but I&rsquo;ve been playing left wing and it&rsquo;s been a good change.&rdquo; Scott Machej got goals No. 19 and 20 in that win. Defenseman Mike Heidt got his 20th goal in a 3&mdash;1 victory in Seattle.LETHBRIDGE&mdash;Ron Sutter scored twice as the Broncos dumped visiting Regina, 5-3. Rookie goaltender Dwayne Murray blocked 26 shots to earn his first WHL shutout. 3-0 over visiting Brandon. Sutter and Ivan Krook each scored twice as the Broncos edged Prince Albert. 5-4, in Lethbridge.MEDICINE HAT&mdash;Rookie Ken Jorgenson struck for two shorthanded goals on the same penalty to spark the Tigers to a 6-4 home-ice win over Lethbridge. Mike Spencer scored twice and Richard Zemlak added his 20th of the season in a 4-3 win over visiting Winnipeg.PRINCE ALBERT&mdash;&ldquo;We were probably the hottest thing in town tonight,&rdquo; said GM-coach Terry Simpson, after his Raiders blasted visiting Kamloops 13-3 to end a nine-game losing streak. Don Hodgson led the way with four goals, giving him 32 goals and 73 points, while Todd Bergen added goals No. 19 and 20.REGINA&mdash;Dale Derkatch scored twice, giving him 50, in a 5-3 loss in Lethbridge. Derkatch then set up five goals as the Pats dumped Prince Albert 8-3 in Regina. That moved Derkatch back into the lead in the point parade as he unseated Brandon&rsquo;s Kelly Glowa, who spent three weeks on top. Lyndon Byers got his 20th goal in that victory, while Gary Leeman had two goals and two assists. Todd Lumbard made 30 saves, while Brad Wells and Leeman each had a goal and two assists as the Pats bounced visiting Kamloops 9-0.SASKATOON&mdash;The Blades rocked visiting Brandon 10-3 as Roger Kortko ran his point total to 103 with three goals and three assists. Lane Lambert added three goals, giving him 40. but he was stopped on a penalty shot by former teammate Ron Loustel. Perry Ganchar struck for three goals, giving him 41, in an 8-6 home-ice win over Medicine Hat.WINNIPEG&mdash;Darren Boyko scored three times and added two assists as Winnipeg won 7-2 in Kelowna. Randy Gilhen chipped in with two goals and two assists, while John Benns got his 20th goal.KAMLOOPS&mdash;Steve Bull scored four goals and set up two others in an 11-3 win over visiting Winnipeg. Dean Evason got his 40th goal in that win.NANAIMO&mdash;Jim McGeough scored three times, giving him 50. and Harry Mahood had two goals and four assists in an 8-7 loss to visiting Calgary. Mitch Poulin scored twice, giving him 21. and added two assists in a 6-4 home-ice win over Victoria.PORTLAND&mdash;Ray Ferraro had two goals as Portland won 7-4 in Seattle. Things didn&rsquo;t look good for the Winter Hawks, as they trailed visiting Calgary 4-0 after two periods. But, Portland cut the deficit to 4&mdash;2 and then then forced overtime on third-period goals by Curt Brandolini at 19:05 and Randy Heath at 19:24. Then, just 23 seconds into over-time, rookie Cam Neely scored to give Portland a 5-4 win. Ferraro got his 20th goal in that win, while Heath and Ken Yaremchuk both reached the 100-point plateau. Heath also had an assist, lifting his totals to 53 goals and 47 assists, while Yaremchuk set up three goals, giving him 67 assists and 100 points.SEATTLE&mdash;A Seattle record 4,292 fans-seating capacity is 4,106-watched the Breakers lose 7-4 to Portland.VICTORIA&mdash;Rookie Fabian Joseph had two goals, giving him 25, and an assist in a 3-2 win over visiting Calgary. Mark Morrison got his 30th goal in a 6-4 loss in Nanaimo.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01180/4600217-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="550" height="1179"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kamloops coach Bill LaForge is surprised at howquickly histeam has developed.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0040-01

Near Cellar Dwellers Last Season, Kamloops Makes Great Reversal

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02109/4600262-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="338" height="482"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLAUDE LOISELLE Windsor</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0368/4600255-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="342" height="483"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROSS LAMBERT Saskatoon</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0446/4600248-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="339" height="483"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARIO GOSSELIN Shawinigan</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>The Windsor Spitfires have climbed into the sixth and final playoff berth in the Ontario Hockey League&rsquo;s Emms Division and much of the credit belongs to center Claude Loiselle and his linemates.Loiselle, the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; No. 1 draft pick in 1981. came up with a fantastic 19-point performance to spark the Spitfires to three wins in four starts and win the nod as the OHL&rsquo;s Player of the Week. Loiselle and his two wingers, Scott McLellan and Paul MacDermid, combined for 20 of 31 Windsor goals in the three wins.<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>Ross Lambert&rsquo;s decision to return to junior hockey this season as an overage 20-year-old, was welcome news to the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL.The former Princeton University center showed his slick playmaking talent for the Blades when he collected 10 assists in three games to win the honor as the WHL&rsquo;s Player of the Week. Lambert now has 53 assists in 48 games for Saskatoon.<h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>Mario Gosselin of the Shawinigan Cataracts is destined for the NHL one day and he showed a little of his netminding magic this past week in the QMJHL.Gosselin, who was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in 1982, has already been called up to the NHL club on two occasions this season. Gosselin posted three straight victories for Shawinigan, including his third shutout of the year, to win the Player of the Week award. &#9632;

f0040-02

Players of the Week

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>HULL&mdash;While Ontario Hockey League executives were slapping themselves on the back for their ingenious idea of playing an annual all-star game against the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Jean Rougeau, the president of the QMJHL. sat at home in Montreal, without knowledge of the entire concept.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s news to me,&rdquo; Rougeau told THE HOCKEY NEWS. &ldquo;I know nothing about it, unless the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League is doing it.&ldquo;And anyways, I&rsquo;m not so sure that the experiment will work. Will it draw? When the season is on who knows about the Western Hockey League or the OHL?&ldquo;All it is is Ontario vs. Quebec. And it will be a big expense.&rdquo;But Yvon Sabourin, governor and general director of the Hull Olympics, thinks the idea is a sound one. He originally discussed the idea with the Earl Montagano, president and governor of the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s, at last year&rsquo;s CMJHL annual convention. Sabourin plans on shedding some light on the project at the next QMJHL meeting.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been put on the table,&rdquo; said Sabourin, obviously not realizing the OHL governors had already voted for the change before their Feb. 1 all-star game at Belleville. &ldquo;We (QMJHL) are interested and they are, too. &ldquo;It could be a good game. It could really draw. Fans would be seeing what could potentially be considered as the best National Hockey League prospects in the East.&rdquo;Both leagues, which compete under a two-division format, have continued this divisional rivalry into their all-star games although Quebec attempted to have its drafted players play the non-drafted ones for a while.The proposed intra-league all-star affair could consist of either one or two games. If it was the former, the host league would incur all expenses and the game would shift annually between Ontario and Quebec. The latter would consist of a home-and-home series with both hosts paying expenses and sharing the gates.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been using two teams. If we had only one, Turgeon (Sylvain of the Olympics), Lafontaine (Verdun&rsquo;s Pat) and Lemieux (Laval&rsquo;s Mario) would all be one team,&rdquo; said Sabourin. &ldquo;They (OHL) use two teams, too. Could you imagine if all their talent was put on one team and we played in January or February?&rdquo;While Sabourin admitted the danger of only the top QMJHL teams being initially interested&mdash;it would be their players that would make up the majority of the squad&mdash;he has no doubts the Quebec governors will unanimously accept the proposal.&ldquo;I feel we should do it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Both leagues are certainly interested.&rdquo;The Laval Voisins, Quebec Remparts and Shawinigan Cataractes have shown the biggest improvement in the QMJHL this season.After 49 games, the Voisins had a 3712 record for 74 points. Last year after the same number of games, Laval was only 22-26-1 for 45 points.While the Remparts were still below .500 after 50 games&mdash;20-30 for 40 points&mdash;their plight has improved considerably. Last year at this time. Quebec won seven and tied one of 50 games for a paltry 15 points.The Cats, meanwhile, have gone from being a good club to a great one. After 49 games this season. Shawinigan was tied with Laval for second overall with 74 points on a 36-11-2 mark. Last season, they had a 28-19-2 record for 58 points.Rounding out the remainder of the league, with last season&rsquo;s points first: Chicoutimi (48/56); Granby (2/24); Hull (64/44); St. Jean, formerly Sherbrooke (65/44); Trois-Rivieres (62/37); and Verdun, formerly Montreal (70/75). Longueuil and Drummondville were not in the league last season. &#9679; &#9632;

Rougeau Slams Ontario All-Star Challenge

<h2>Amateur Scoreboard</h2><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 8)<h3>LEYDEN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01146/4600349-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="539" height="238"></div><h2>EMMS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0285/4600342-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="538" height="268"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Tue. Feb. 1Emms Stars 6, Leyden Stars 5(All Star game)Wed. Feb. 2North Bay 2 at Belleville 9Thu. Feb. 3S.S. Marie 1 at Peterborough 2Sudbury 3 at Brantford 5Guelph 4 at Windsor 6North Bay 6 at Cornwall 10Fri. Feb 4S.S. Marie 1 at Ottawa 4Sudbury 6 at Guelph 3Oshawa 4 at Kitchener 5North Bay 5 at Kingston 1Toronto 8 at London 5Sat. Feb. 5Cornwall 7 at Belleville 4Guelph 0 at Peterborough 5London 5 at Toronto 4Sudbury 4 at Windsor 5Brantford 1 at Kitchener 2Sun. Feb. 6London 4 at North Bay 4S.S. Marie 2 at Cornwall 4Windsor 5 at Brantford 6Guelph 0 at Ottawa 10Belleville 4 at Toronto 5Kitchener 8 at Kingston 10Peterborough 4 at Oshawa 6<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0360/4600335-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="538" height="233"></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 7)<h3>LEBEL DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01138/4600328-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="539" height="205"></div><h3>DILIO DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0292/4600321-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="533" height="178"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Thu. Feb. 3T-Rivieres 5 at Longueuil 12Fri. Feb. 4Drummondville 6 at Granby 10Laval 4 at Quebec 3Longueuil 2 at Shawinigan 9Hull 4 at St. Jean 8Chicoutimi 4 at Verdun 11Sun. Feb. 6St. Jean 7 at Granby 8Longueuil 6 at Hull 4Chicoutimi 3 at T-Rivieres 13Drummondville 3 at Verdun 12<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0357/4600314-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="547" height="327"></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 7)<h3>EASTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0443/4600307-1-eng-US/f0044-042.jpg" title="f0044-04" width="537" height="265"></div><h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0534/4600300-1-eng-US/f0044-052.jpg" title="f0044-05" width="538" height="204"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0628/4600293-1-eng-US/f0044-062.jpg" title="f0044-06" width="548" height="355"></div> &#9632;

f0041-01

QUEBEC HOCKEY LEAGUE

f0042-01

HOCKEY NEWS STATISTICS

<div class="byline">BY MURRAY COSTELLO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01116/4600988-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="275" height="337"></div><h2>The Legal Burden</h2>IT IS CLAIMED, from time to time, that Canadians take this game of hockey too seriously.Whenever I hear arguments against this theory. I&rsquo;m reminded of the story of three men in heated discussion on a Montreal street. Overhearing one man. another says, &ldquo;Did you hear him? He says he would trade his wife for season tickets to the Canadiens&rsquo; games. You wouldn&rsquo;t do that, would you?&rdquo;&ldquo;Hell, no&rdquo;, says the other, &ldquo;the season&rsquo;s half over!&rdquo;Perhaps seriousness is to be expected in the commercial, money-oriented world of professional hockey. But, more and more, voluteers in amateur hockey, where the game is still supposed to be a fun experience, are finding serious people who are creating serious problems.It seems that over-zealous parents, over-ambitious coaches and managers and private organizations, seeking to exploit the system to some special advantage, are the root of the problem.The CAHA, as a national organization, is really only the sum of 12 independent branches, each of which functions with almost full autonomy and independence. As the national sport governing body for amateur hockey, the CAHA is the regulatory agency, sometimes seen as the heavy-handed national organization that forces compliance with national rules and regulations across the land. The normal flack that comes with such a role is quite acceptable to the full-time employees, who work out of the National Office.However, it&rsquo;s not so easy for the volunteers, who are the lifeblood of amateur hockey across the land. In addition to pursuing full-time daily occupations to keep bread on the table, these volunteers also accept the responsibility for these autonomous branch operations. Such quality volunteers, who get involved to &ldquo;help the kids on the ice&rdquo; are finding themselves in board rooms and even court rooms to defend positions and decisions that were democratically arrived at by the membership.Although the national body carries insurance to cover this side of their activities, particularly liability coverage, it is still only a plan that is available on a voluntary, rather than a mandatory, basis throughout Canada.The goal of the volunteers, of course, is to establish some level of competitive balance, as opposed to top quality competition at every level. This approach maximizes opportunities to play the game. But, in carrying out these aims, they constantly come across coaches and managers who look for an edge in any competition. Then, of course, there are parents who look to maximize every pportunity for their next Bobby Orr.A couple of prime problem areas center on the current court battle with the small College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Sask. By reason of being a residential school which espouses and teaches basic religious and educational values, Notre Dame accepts students from all over Canada and outside, some of whom are exceptionally fine hockey players. These players violate the residential rules established by the CAHA for Minor Hockey. The CAHA Minor Hockey Regulations prohibit branch-to-branch transfers for players 16 years of age and under. This, of course, gives Notre Dame a decided edge in the competition and for the last five years, that school has represented the Saskatchewan branch in the Air Canada Cup national midget championship. The CAHA, though, is not blameless in the situation in the sense that it has not created a proper niche for residential schools in a system that claims to accommodate everyone who. wants to play the game at his or her level of competence and ability.<h2>Some Female Concern</h2>ANOTHER CONCERN is the very delicate area of female hockey. Those who work in the female game encourage the CAHA to support segregated hockey for females in order to establish a broad base, thus assuring the establishment of a solid base of female participation that will continue to grow at every level. But in small communities, where there are not enough females to form established teams and leagues, it becomes necessary to permit integration so as to provide girls with an opportunity to play the game.Volunteers constantly wrestle with this problem, trying to find the fair and reasonable solution in each individual case.Through all of this, we are living in a time that stresses Charter of Rights, human rights, individual rights, etc., and. unless the volunteers handle each of these disputes in a fair and equitable manner, they subject themselves to being corrected by higher authorities, most notably, the courts of the land.Therefore, advice to the volunteers is simply to stress the fact that each case must be dealt with separately, individually and on its own merit regardless of what has gone before or of what other cases are pending. By this we mean, if the consequences of any decision is of a serious nature for the person against whom that decision is made, then it may be imperative to hold a hearing first. This involves giving the person against whom the decision is rendered an opportunity to be heard and which carries with it a duty on the part of the people deciding the issue to listen to both sides and to reach a decision without bias.<h2>Far-Reaching Duties</h2>SUCH RIGHTS and duties are further reaching than one might first suspect. First, reasonable notice of such a hearing must be given to the party, fair opportunity to correct or contradict statements prejudicial to his view must be allowed for and for the person to do this, he or she must have some knowledge of the arguments and evidence that will be presented.In arriving at such a decision against any wrong doer, the volunteer must provide such a person with the right to give evidence orally, the right to cross examine, the right to representation by counsel, the right to appear before the decision-makers and assurances that the strict rules of evidence will be adhered to.This gets rather technical and complicated for the average volunteer and the concern of the CAHA at this point centers on quality volunteers who simply look at such a situation and say, &ldquo;Do I really need this hassle?&rdquo;As a result, one of the major concerns of amateur hcokey in this country at this time is, in addition to the mounting costs which accompany decisions that are made by the courts instead of by the volunteers, the loss of quality volunteers who became involved to &ldquo;help on the ice&rdquo;, only to find that they are becoming more and more involved in the legal paper chase and hearing-room discussions that really take the fun out of the entire experience. &#9632;

f0046-01

CANADIAN AMATEUR SCENE

<h2>NHL Levies Fines</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;The NHL lowered the boom on brawling, suspended one player for three games for instigating a bench-clearing fight and fined a coach for remarking that an NHL referee cheated his team.Both the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers were assessed fines of $7,000 each and Flyer player Paul Holmgren was ordered to pay $600 because of a bench-clearing brawl during a Jan. 25 game involving the two teams.Holmgren and four other players received automatic $100 fines for game misconducts handed out by referee Bruce Hood. Both netminders, Chico Resch of the Devils and Philly&rsquo;s Bob Froese each were hit for $ 100 for leaving their creases to join the fight. Holmgren was handed an extra $500 fine for being the ringleader in the brawl.Meanwhile, winger Jimmy Mann of the Winnipeg Jets was given a three game suspension for being the first man off the bench when fisticuffs erupted in a Feb. 2 game between the Jets and Pittsburgh.Referee Dave Newell maintained that Mann was the first player he saw coming over the boards when the fighting began. The Jets disagreed and filed a protest with the NHL, claiming the Penguins had three extra men on the ice because of a line change before Mann went over the boards. Mann had been suspended for eight games last year for breaking the jaw of Penguin Paul Gardner with a sucker punch during a free-for-all.The Jets were further victimized by the NHL when coach Tom Watt was fined $2,500 for his remarks about referee Bob Myers after a recent 6-4 loss to Vancouver. Watt was quoted as saying Myers cheated the Jets.After the Jan. 16 game. Watt said Myers erred in a faceoff decision that may have cost the Jets the game with the Canucks.<h2>Gretzky Hot</h2>EDMONTON&mdash;Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers added his name to still another NHL record&mdash;giving him at least a share of 28 individual league marks.Gretzky set up four first-period goals in a 7-3 romp over the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 4 in the Northlands Coliseum and the four assists tied an existing NHL record for most assists in one period. Gretzky became the 19th player to equal the mark in league history.<h2>Injuries Mount</h2>TORONTO&mdash;An outbreak of injuries in the past two weeks has taken a heavy toll among NHL clubs.Goalie Richard Brodeur was flattened by a rising shot from the stick of Dan Daoust of the Toronto Maple Leafs that sent him to hospital with a severely mangled left ear that eventually required plastic surgery. The puck struck Brodeur of the side of the head, shattering his face mask and damaging the cartilage around the ear. Early in the same game at Maple Leaf Gardens on Feb. 5, defenseman Lars Lindgren suffered a knee injury that might require surgery. If it does, Lindgren will be out for the remainder of the season.Montreal Canadien defenseman Robert Picard suffered a broken bone in his foot and is expected to be out of action at least one month.Meanwhile, the injury jinx continued to hammer away at the St. Louis Blues. Center Joey Mullen is out for the rest of this season after undergoing knee surgery. Blues&rsquo; defenseman Guy Lapointe has been sidelined for the past two weeks with a broken jawbone.Kevin McClelland of the Pittsburgh Penguins suffered a shoulder separation trying to match punches with Toronto&rsquo;s Paul Higgins and the injury will keep him out of action for the rest of the season.The Chicago Black Hawks suffered a tough blow when star defenseman Keith Brown separated his shoulder, requiring surgery. He will miss the rest of the season.And hard-luck Dave Taylor of the Los Angeles Kings could be out for another long stretch after injuring a knee. Taylor had already missed 30 games with a broken wrist suffered early in the season.<h2>Irate Canucks</h2>VANCOUVER&mdash;The Vancouver Canucks want the NHL to reimburse them in the amount of $5.000 for revenue lost when the league agreed to nationally televise the recent Soviet-NHL series in the Vancouver area while the Canucks had a game scheduled.The Canucks maintain they lost potential revenue on Dec. 28 as a result of the series being televised in Vancouver. On the night in question, the Canucks were at home to the Winnipeg Jets and drew a crowd of 14,980, which is 633 below seating capacity. The Canucks contend walk-in ticket sales were decreased by $5,000 because the Edmonton-Soviet game was being shown live on TV in their city.NHL president John Ziegler was reported furious over the Canucks&rsquo; claim to the league&rsquo;s broadcast committee. The Canucks insist it is a matter of territorial rights and the club wants to be compensated for the lost revenue.The Canucks were not included in the six-city NHL series involing the touring Soviet All-Star team. &#9632;

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February 18, 1983

Player Of The Week

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

Leafs’ Elder Statesman Still Going Strong

HOCKEY CORNER