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

April 15, 1983

The Hockey News April 15, 1983

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;Home ice would have been nice, but all things considered, the Canucks have to be breathing a sigh of relief heading into the opening round of the playoffs.The Canucks hoped to finish second in the Smythe Division and gain home-ice advantage against Calgary in their first-round match. The Flames finished the season with 78 points, three ahead of the Canucks, after Calgary gained five of six points in its final three games, while Vancouver totalled only two points in three games.Third place might not seem so great on the surface, but when the Canucks consider the fate of the Winnipeg Jets, then they have to feel somewhat fortunate. By tying Los Angeles 2-2 on the final night of the regular season, the Canucks finished one point ahead of the Jets (7574) and escaped a first-round affair with the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers will no doubt come out smoking in the playoffs, still reeling from last season&rsquo;s hasty exit at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings.The Canucks are fairly healthy heading into the playoffs, with the only major casualty being Lars Molin, a key member of last year&rsquo;s drive, who is sidelined for the duration of the playoffs with a broken leg.For perhaps the first time this season, the Canucks expect to have their entire defense intact for the playoffs. Kevin McCarthy was injured for the last few games with bruised ribs, but is expected to be ready for the Flame series.&ldquo;The difference for us, the bonus, is to have all our defenseman back,&rdquo; said team captain Stan Smyl after the Canucks defeated Los Angeles 8-4. &ldquo;Like tonight, we really noticed Kevin was missing. I think we&rsquo;ll be a lot stronger with all our defenseman healthy and there&rsquo;s no doubt we have the best goaltending in the Smythe division.&rdquo;Vancouver got three power-play goals against the Kings, to bring their total to 87 for the year. Combined with the fact they have given up 55 goals while shorthanded, they have the best differential on the league, according to Canuck coach Roger Neilson.The line of Thomas Gradin, Darcy Rota and Smyl is still going strong and will get special attention by other teams in the playoffs.Rota, who garnered Player of the Week honors recently for his scoring efforts, has 15 goals in his last 13 games and has at least a point in his last 14 games.Smyl&rsquo;s line has 80 points in the last 13 games, though the team dearly needs another scoring line to begin generating some additonal offense.The good thing for this year&rsquo;s team going into the playoffs is the offense produced by the defense, which has produced 53 goals, compared to a paltry 26 last season.&ldquo;We probably have a lot more scoring power this year compared to last, but we aren&rsquo;t as tough,&rdquo; said goaltender Richard Brodeur who, despite&rsquo;s John Garrett&rsquo;s fine play since coming to the team in a trade with Quebec, will get the bulk of the work in the playoffs. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really care who we play. It can be anyone. You have to play the best sooner or later, so what does it matter?&rdquo;Neilson and most other Canuck observers would rather it be later than sooner.NOTES&mdash;The Canucks set a modest club record for scoring goals (303) in one season. &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

Canucks Make A Point Of Avoiding Oilers

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>QUEBEC&mdash;The Remparts might be down, but, according to their general manager Gilles Courteau, they&rsquo;re not out.Following losses of at least $100,000 this season, team president Bernard Belanger put the Remparts up for sale on March 22. His asking price is $200,000 and he has set a deadline of April 15&mdash;two weeks before the team must post a $10,000 bond with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League&mdash;ensuring its operation for next season.But the Remparts will continue to exist, Couteau said emphatically. If not in the hearts of Quebec, playing out of the Colisee&mdash;home of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Nordiques&mdash;then either the University of Laval, Beauport or Levis-Lauzon arenas, all located no farther than 30 minutes from the heart of the capital.Although the Remparts signed a three-year, $170,000 benefits contract with the Nordiques this season, the problem is the NHL team won&rsquo;t grant the junior side any concession rights. Courteau estimated the Remparts could have generated at least $60,000 from concession sales this season, but he also admitted the team was hurt by its failure to qualify for the playoffs.All three managers of the Remparts&rsquo; potential new homes have assured the team concession revenue. All would dearly love to have the team as one&mdash;if not the major&mdash;occupant.&ldquo;You can be sure we can&rsquo;t continue operating out of the Colisee,&rdquo; said Courteau. &ldquo;With just the gate and no concessions, we simply need more money.&rdquo;The Remparts, who pay a flat $1,000 in rent per game, averaged 1,200 fans this season, down from their projected total of 1,600. All three of the aforementioned new sites have seating capacities in the neighborhood of 2,000.&ldquo;In my mind, I don&rsquo;t think anyone will buy the team before the deadline,&rdquo; said Courteau. &ldquo;But I think we have a very good chance of moving to one of the three arenas.&rdquo;Courteau said Belanger had received offers in the first few days following his announcement, but already it is rumored that Gaston Drapeau could be a potential buyer.Drapeau, former coach of the Remparts and Granby Bisons, is currently coaching the Beauport junior B team.&ldquo;I know Gaston can put a lot of the money up,&rdquo; said Courteau, &ldquo;but does he have the bodies to invest with him? I really think the Nordiques will make an arrangement to move the team to another rink.&rdquo;But in the meantime, both Courteau and coach Fred Dixon are in very tenuous positions as their salaries are only guaranteed until April 15. And even in the event the team moves, Courteau said there is no guarantee he and Dixon would be retained. For Courteau, only in his mid-2Os, married and with one child and another on the way, a steady check is obviously of the utmost importance.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m worried a bit, but I&rsquo;m sure we&rsquo;ll find a way to move,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We might be in Beauport, but we&rsquo;ll still be the Remparts.&rdquo;The Remparts completed the season ninth overall in the 11-team league with a record of 27 wins and 43 losses for 54 points&mdash;six points behind the Hull Olympics, who gained the eighth and final playoff berth. But it was a vast improvement over last season when Quebec was simply disgusting, winning only 11 of 64 games.NOTE&mdash;In a March 25 story, it was reported that league president Jean Rougeau, suffering from cancer of the liver, had been admitted to the hospital for the fifth time in a year and that no successor would be named until after his death. Although Rougeau has surprised his doctors with his resiliency, it was in no means intended that Rougeau was about to die. THE HOCKEY NEWS aplogizes to Rougeau and the league for any negative connotations implied by the remark. &#9632;

Remparts Down But Not Out: GM

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;One man has made it known that he is very interested in filling the vacant general manager&rsquo;s position with the Penguins, but another says he want no part of the job.Penguin coach Eddie Johnston says he is a candidate to replace the late Baz Bastien, who died in an automobile accident March 15. However, Calgary Flame president-GM Cliff Fletcher has denied reports that he is a contender for the Penguin position.&ldquo;I think everybody in our organization already knows I&rsquo;m interested in the job because Mr. DeBartolo (Penguin owner Edward J. DeBartolo), Paul Martha (Penguin vice-president) and I discussed it a lot last summer,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;At that point, it was discussed as a possibility for when Baz retired or after his contract expired after next season.&ldquo;But no promises were made or anything like that. But I&rsquo;m very interested in it and will speak with Paul Martha about it. I&rsquo;d have to think I&rsquo;m a prime candidate.&rdquo;Martha said following Bastien&rsquo;s death that no interim general manager would be named and no major changes in the organization would occur before the regular season ended.However, Johnston has been performing several of the tasks done normally by a GM, including working with the National Hockey League on drawing up next season&rsquo;s schedule and with the Penguin scouting department on possible selection in June&rsquo;s entry draft.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d be happy to take on the dual jobs of coach and GM or even move up and just be GM,&rdquo; said Johnston, who has next season remaining on his coaching contract. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d be willing to go either way, but there&rsquo;s been no discussion at all so far on what direction we might go.&ldquo;A lot of clubs have moved their coaches up lately and I think I&rsquo;m certainly qualified to go that route here. I could go as GM and we could look for an assistant GM. That seems to be the way most NHL clubs go now.&rdquo;If Johnston relinquishes the coaching duties to become GM, the prime candidates to go behind the Pittsburgh bench are Lou Angotti, coach of the Penguins&rsquo; Baltimore Skipjacks farm club in the American Hockey League and Mike Corrigan, who is Johnston&rsquo;s assistant.Meanwhile, Fletcher says he hasn&rsquo;t been contacted by anyone in the Penguin organization and isn&rsquo;t interested, anyway.&ldquo;I have no interest whatsoever in going to Pittsburgh,&rdquo; Fletcher said, &ldquo;absolutely none. That&rsquo;s an outlandish suggestion. I have a long-term contract here and besides, Paul Martha and I wouldn&rsquo;t last together about half an hour. There&rsquo;s not even the slimmest chance that it would happen.&ldquo;First of all, I&rsquo;m under contract for two more years to the Flames and I plan to honor the balance of my contract. And I have not been contacted by the Penguins.&ldquo;I like it here in Calgary; I&rsquo;m happy with my situation here. I&rsquo;m more than general manager or director of operations here&mdash;I&rsquo;m president as well. I&rsquo;m chief executive officer. There&rsquo;s not even a chairman of the board above me. I report directly to the board of directors.&rdquo;Another possible candidate for the Penguin job is former Buffalo Sabre assistant general manager John Anderson. He applied for a front-office position with the Penguins a couple of months ago, even before Bastien&rsquo;s death.Former Penguin GM Jack Button could still be another candidate to fill his old job. Button, who is currently director of player recruitment for the Washington Capitals, was the Pittsburgh GM when the Penguins enjoyed their most successful season in 197475.The Penguin ownership went bankrupt after that season and Button moved on to the NHL office in Montreal. He built the Central Scouting Bureau, an operation which provides reports and analysis of amateur talent to NHL teams.Penguin officials also must wait for the contracts of potential candidates who work for other teams to expire or receive permission from those clubs to negotiate with them or face possible tampering charges.PENGUIN TRACKS&mdash;The Penguins snapped a club-record 18-game losing streak on the road with a 7-2 victory in Hartford. Pat Boutette scored a personal high five points in that game with a goal and four assists against his old Whaler teammates. &#9632;

Johnston Makes It Clear He Wants GM Position

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Final NHL Goaltending

Now that the National Hockey League playoffs are in full swing, you won&rsquo;t want to look anywhere else for your playoff information than THE HOCKEY NEWS. Next week, we&rsquo;ll have progress reports on what exactly happened in the opening round of the march to the Stanley Cup. We&rsquo;ll set up any matchups that are on the horizon and our staff of columnists will be offering some insightful comments as to why things are happening the way they are happening.Of course, we&rsquo;ll have all the playoff statistics.But that doesn&rsquo;t mean we&rsquo;ll forget about those teams which missed the playoffs. Our beat correspondents in the non-playoff cities will continue to keep you informed of what&rsquo;s happening and, keeping in mind these are teams that didn&rsquo;t do well this season, there&rsquo;s bound to be some news coming out of there.We&rsquo;ll have that and much, much more, including full playoff coverage of the minor leagues and the three Canadian junior leagues. Don&rsquo;t miss it. &#9632;

Coming Next Issue

<div class="byline">FRANK ORR&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011136/4602278-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="287" height="341"></div><h2>What Form For Playoffs?</h2>ANOTHER NATIONAL Hockey League season has wound its way into the record books and now the &ldquo;real&rdquo; season, the Stanley Cup playoffs, can start.Sixteen of the NHL&rsquo;s 21 teams compete in the new term, two months of competition that will end around May 26, if all series are stretched to the limit.An annual event, too, is for the carpers to complain about the NHL&rsquo;s playoff set-up that there are too many teams involved, there are too many playoff games too close together, the set-up makes the playoffs too important and makes the season almost redundant, an 80-game series of exhibitions.Of course, much whining about the length of the playoffs is done by the people who have their expenses paid to attend them, the writers and broadcasters. Very few complaints are heard from the fans in the towns where the teams have spring success. No one in Vancouver uttered a single moan when the Canucks had their big spring in 1982.A very simple reason&mdash;money&mdash;has inspired the inclusion of 16 teams in the playoffs. In &rsquo;81-82, only six of seven teams in the NHL made money and some playoff income helped many of the owners cut down on their losses.Thus, until all NHL teams are in the black, don&rsquo;t expect any changes in the playoff structure. The simple solution, and probably the best one, is to have eight teams, the top two clubs in each of the four divisions, participate in the Cup chase. However, that would eliminate the possibility of eight clubs to acquire a little extra loot and the proposal is laughed down by the NHL board of governors.This season, an assortment of hockey folks have offered ideas on the Stanley Cup playoffs from a variety of angles. Some have merit.Glen Sather, president, general manager and coach of the Edmonton Oilers, advocates a return to the balanced schedule that the NHL employed before the swing to an emphasis on divisional play with the realignment of &rsquo;81 and the first vs. 16th, second vs. 15th, etc., based on the overall standing.<h2>An Equal Basis</h2>&ldquo;I LIKED THE old schedule when we played each of the other teams four times,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;It placed everythng on an equal basis in the league.&ldquo;Sure, the teams in the east in the cities that are close together want more divisional play to cut their travel costs. But they forget that not all teams are in that situation. Except for Calgary, every road trip we make is a three-day effort&mdash;fly today, play tomorrow and fly home the next day.&ldquo;I always figured that the top against the bottom, and so on, playoff arrangement was very equitable and offered a reward to the clubs that had a good season when they met teams at the bottom in the first round. That certainly didn&rsquo;t rule out the chance of upsets as we proved a couple of years ago (when the Oilers eliminated the Montreal Canadiens in the first round).&rdquo;Ed Snider, the owner of the Philadelphia Flyers, has an ambitious, exciting idea that has two chances&mdash;none and less&mdash;of being accepted. Snider wants to see a May series between the Cup champs and the USSR national team.Snider&rsquo;s plan would have eight teams in the playoffs, then the Cup winners would play the Soviets in an event the Philly owner claims &ldquo;would be bigger than the Super Bowl.&rdquo;Snider foresees the NHL-Soviet series generating a large amount of television revenue&mdash;many NHL owners claim he&rsquo;s wildly over-optimistic about the sum&mdash;and that money would be spread among NHL clubs to compensate for their loss of playoff gates.Although such a series would be a great event, there are too many things against it. The main objection from NHL clubs is that having eight teams in the playoffs cuts down on more than playoff revenue.<h2>Big Loss At Gate</h2>&ldquo;A SERIES BETWEEN the Cup champs and the Soviets might generate enough loot to give the clubs a little compensation but it can&rsquo;t duplicate playoff income, especially for the lower-ranked teams that pull upsets,&rdquo; said an NHL owner.&ldquo;But having eight teams in the playoffs turn a big part of the season into a lame-duck situation for many clubs and that would really hurt gate receipts. As an example, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wing were bad clubs but as long as they had a shot at a playoff berth, interest and attendance in Detroit stayed up.&ldquo;The Leafs went into Detroit a couple of times late in the season and there were 18,000 people in the rink to see the big battle for fourth place. If they weren&rsquo;t going for a playoff spot, there would have been 4,500 at the games, a loss of revenue that Snider&rsquo;s super series can&rsquo;t replace.&rdquo;Hockey Night In Canada&rsquo;s Dave Hodge has an interesting idea and Boston Bruin GM Harry Sinden likes it, too. Hodge&rsquo;s notion is to reward excellence during the schedule with extra home games in the playoffs.&ldquo;If a first-place team in a division runs away and hides during the schedule, then it should reap some benefit from it,&rdquo; Hodge said.&ldquo; If a club is say, 10 points in front of the club it plays in a series, then the top club gets an extra home game. If the margin is 20 points, it gets two extra home games and if it&rsquo;s 30 points up, then the entire series is played on its building, with a shared gate arrangement, of course.&ldquo;That way, a good season by a team is worth something.&rdquo; &#9632;

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HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>The Washington Capitals surprised a lot of people by contending for second place in the Patrick Division right up until the last weekend of the season. They were hoping to use the element of surprise in the Stanely Cup playoffs, too, after a much-heralded playoff preview left them with egg on their face.The New York Islanders came into the Capital Centre during the final week of the regular season and humiliated the Capitals 7-1. That embarrassment, along with the Islanders&rsquo; 8-3 and 6-2 victories at Nassau Coliseum in the teams&rsquo; two previous meetings, did not auger well for the Capitals&rsquo; chances in their first-ever playoff competition against the same club.Nevertheless, Washington coach Bryan Murray managed to find some rays of light in an increasingly dim picture.&ldquo;It would have been nice to have had a better showing against them in our building, but I don&rsquo;t mind this role,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;This hockey team has played with a lot of pride and a lot of enthusiasm and I think we&rsquo;ll come back. I just hope they (the Islanders) think they&rsquo;ll have an easy time with us.&rdquo;With the Capitals wrapping up their first playoff berth in mid-February, Murray has been able to concentrate on the Islanders for some time. As early as Feb. 13, Murray broke up the tenacious Gee Whiz Line of Glen Currie, Bobby Gould and Gaetan Duchesne for the sole purpose of more favorable matchups against the Islanders.Duchesne was replaced by Doug Jarvis, who moved in at center while Currie shifted to left wing, primarily to take advantage of Jarvis&rsquo; ability to neutralize Bryan Trottier. But Islander coach Al Arbour&rsquo;s decision to use Trottier, Mike Bossy and Anders Kallur almost half the game in Washington, forced Murray to reconsider the move.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have to make some adjustments,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;They kept Bossy, Trottier and Kallur out there an awful lot and that&rsquo;s what they want, to play their offensive line against our defensive line.&ldquo;He (Arbour) was challenging me to play someone else against them. Another thing I&rsquo;ve learned is that it&rsquo;s going to be difficult to go with four lines against them. Some of our people were outplayed badly.&rdquo;Besides the need for adjusting his carefully planned matchups for the playoffs, Murray faced a major problem in the goaltending area. Pat Riggin, who had played brilliantly over the last two months, was dreadful against the Islanders, a fact that Riggin readily admitted.&ldquo;The guys worked real hard; their problem was that they had a goaltender who had a bad night,&rdquo; Riggin said. &ldquo;It was bad timing for a bad game. There was a lot at stake and I pride myself on being a pressure goalie, but you have to take the bad with the good.&rdquo;Riggin permitted a soft backhand dump from the blueline by Tomas Jonsson to skip through his pads for a 2-0 Islander lead. The Capitals never recovered, although outshot by only 24-23.In the two months before the Islander debacle, Riggin had posted a 9-2-3 record with a 2.35 goals-against average and wrested the No. 1 spot from Al Jensen.It was Jensen who limited the Islanders to one goal in Washington&rsquo;s 3-1 and 5-1 successes in November and. December, the Capitals&rsquo; only victories as they dropped the season series 4-2-1.Jensen, however, was shelled in the losses on Long Island and over his last 10 starts had gone 5-5 with a 4.76 goals-against average.Murray had apparently been grooming Jensen for the playoff series, but after Riggin shut down both the Bruins and the Flyers in successive road starts, Murray promised Riggin the chance to face the Islanders, with the added promise that if he won he would start the first playoff game as well.Afterward, Murray adopted a wait-and-see attitude on his future plans, but both he and team captain Rod Lang way emphasized that the defeat was hardly the sole responsibility of Riggin.&ldquo;We got blown out,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;If we can&rsquo;t match up man-for-man in some situations better than this, we can&rsquo;t beat them. Psychologically, some of our guys must be intimidated by the Islanders. At this point, we do not play nearly the game against the Islanders that we play against Philadelphia and Boston.&rdquo;&ldquo;Patty didn&rsquo;t have a good game, but not many guys did,&rdquo; Langway said. &ldquo;We were discouraged about the way we played, but it was only one game in an 80-game season. We have to get ourselves mentally prepared for the playoffs now.&ldquo;For a lot of these guys, this was the first time that they had anything on the line. It&rsquo;s an experience I&rsquo;ve gone through and I think it might help us. Last year with Montreal, we beat Quebec bad one game in the playoffs, but they came back and beat us in the series.&rdquo;Murray called the game a &ldquo;free chance at some playoff experience&rdquo; for some of the younger Capitals.Even with Jarvis&rsquo; four Stanley Cup rings and Brian Engblom&rsquo;s three the Capitals are no match for the Islanders in playoff experience. On an individual game basis, the Islanders total 1,339 playoff games to the Capitals&rsquo; 253. Sixteen members of the current Islanders have played for all three Stanley Cup championship teams.Dennis Maruk, preparing for his first playoff after 581 regular-season contests, said, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll keep this game in mind until we play them again. We want to do well and we should be a little hungrier than they are.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have to be motivated,&rdquo; said Alan Haworth, twice a playoff performer with Buffalo. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather lose now than in the playoffs. We&rsquo;ve played well against other good teams such as Boston And Philadelphia and we can&rsquo;t keep playing bad against the Islanders.&rdquo;Although stopping Bossy, who had 37 goals in 31 lifetime games against Washington, and Trottier, with 50 assists in 37 games, obviously must carry a high priority, the Capitals need to work on their offense, too. While the Islanders crowded toward the net to follow up their shots, the Capitals were hanging back, almost as if they were prepared to go on the defense as soon as they released the puck.Also, Washington must improve on the power play, which operated at a pathetic 12 per cent efficiency against the Islanders in the regular season.&ldquo;We know the Islanders are a class hockey team and we didn&rsquo;t necessarily want to meet them in the first round of the playoffs,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;I felt we&rsquo;d play a lot better than we have against them and now we face an uphill climb. But we&rsquo;re going to play much better. I can assure you of that.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011151/4602309-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="939" height="1813"><figcaption class="caption-body">New York Islander winger Clark Gillies suffered torn knee ligaments and is expected to miss at least the first three games of the series against Washington. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Can The Isles Make It Four?

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div>Bob Bourne sounded the rallying cry for the Islanders, who had just skated to a 7-1 victory over the Capitals and into undisputed possession of second place in the Patrick Division.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a great feeling around here,&rdquo; Bourne said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like it used to be.&rdquo;Yes, the Islanders were feeling great as they launched a bid for their fourth straight Stanley Cup championship by meeting the Capitals in the opening round. A model of inconsistency most of the season, the Isles hit their best stride at the best time&mdash;just before the opening of the playoffs.That victory over Washington on the Caps&rsquo; home ice left the Isles supremely confident. Mike Bossy was on a roll&mdash;he scored his 58th and 59th goals against the Caps&mdash;and the Isles&rsquo; defense was superb.&ldquo;I have to like our chances now,&rdquo; Bossy said. &ldquo;We had our problems, but we&rsquo;re coming on. I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d want to play us right now.&rdquo;The Islanders had a few other positive things going for them, namely:&bull; CAREER RECORDS&mdash;The Isles are 33-5-5 lifetime against the Caps, 4-2-1 this season. They are 15-2-2 for their last 19 meetings. At home, the Isles are 20-1-1 vs. the Caps, the lone loss coming earlier this season.&bull; MIKE BOSSY&mdash;He loves the Caps, scoring nine goals and 12 points in seven games this season, nine goals and 14 points last season. Of his 23 career hat tricks, four have come against the Caps, including the first o*f his career on Feb. 4, 1978.&bull; BILL SMITH&mdash;He loves the Caps, too. The veteran goalie is 16-2-3 lifetime against Washington. Roland Melanson, the Isles&rsquo; other goalie, has lost only once to the Caps (7-1-1).Most impartial observers were convinced that the Islanders would roll through the first two rounds of the playoffs, then run into the Bruins in the Wales Conference championship series. &ldquo;That could be a real dogfight,&rdquo; said Stefan Persson, the Islanders&rsquo; lanky defenseman.The Islanders were forced to open the playoffs without the services of Clark Gillies, who was nursing tom ligaments in his left knee and an aching heart. &ldquo;Aw, you miss a game during the regular season and you don&rsquo;t mind that much,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s so many of them, you know. But the playoffs&mdash;that&rsquo;s do or die.&rdquo;Gillies suffered his injury when he collided with Tony Feltrin of the Penguins during a game in Pittsburgh, which the Isles won, 4-1. He was fitted for a brace and considered it a fitting end to his troubled season.The husky left winger missed five games last month with a strained back and also suffered what he indentified with a grin as a &ldquo;bruised&rdquo; thumb, But he had recently run off five goals in six games to boost his season total to 20.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to go crazy just sitting and watching the games,&rdquo; Gillies said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to be to easy to live with the next couple of weeks.&rdquo;Trainer Ron Waske said it was possible that Gillies could play in the opening round of the playoffs&mdash;if it was extended beyond three games&mdash;or in a second-round series.Meanwhile, Gillies will sit and root. He is confident the Isles will knock off the Capitals, but insisted it won&rsquo;t be easy. &ldquo;The Caps seem to be using the Montreal system since they got those three guys (Brian Engblom, Doug Jarvis and Rod Langway) from the Canadiens,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Notice the way they forecheck and move up and the way they come back&mdash;just like the Canadiens.&ldquo;How do you beat &rsquo;em? Well, you have to outwork &rsquo;em. Some of their younger guys don&rsquo;t have much experience, so there&rsquo;s always a chance they&rsquo;ll make mistakes.&rdquo;And what must the Islanders do to win?&ldquo;We have to forecheck better than we did during the regular season,&rdquo; Gillies said. &ldquo;We have to force the other guys into making mistakes, then capitalize on those mistakes.&rdquo;Glenn (Chico) Resch of the New Jersey Devils remebered when the Islanders&rsquo; forechecking was the fulcrum on which the team&rsquo;s success was balanced.&ldquo;They used to make teams turn over the puck, and now they&rsquo;re not doing that as much,&rdquo; the former Islander goalie said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s part of the problem. You need that burning desire to pound the team night after night. The Islanders have been trying to flick that switch on and off at will. Sometimes they&rsquo;ve tried to turn it on and it hasn&rsquo;t been there.&rdquo;Resch, like many impartial observers, wondered about the Isles&rsquo; lack of depth of center. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying Butch Goring can&rsquo;t bounce back and have a good playoff,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He can. But they&rsquo;re also going to need Bryan Trottier to catch fire. Let&rsquo;s face it, without good centers they just don&rsquo;t have the push and zip to dominate a lot of teams like they used to&hellip;&ldquo;Teams aren&rsquo;t overwhelmed by the Islanders any more. Look, I love those guys. They still have the best talent. But they better get it together.&rdquo; &#9632;

The Capitals, Making Their Playoff Debut, Aim To Halt The Islanders’ Streak

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>MONTREAL&mdash;The season ended for Doug Wickenheiser with a sickening thud. The third-year Montreal center will have to wait until next year to play his first Stanley Cup playoff game, unless the Montreal Canadiens go farther than expected in this spring&rsquo;s post-season activity.Wickenheiser suffered a broken rib on his right side in the Canadiens&rsquo; 78th game of the season, before a silent crowd in the tomb-like Pittsburgh Arena. The former No. 1 draft pick had good momentum speeding down the right wing when Pittsburgh defenseman Marc Chomey hit him with a legal check and sent him flying. Chomey&rsquo;s hit, combined with Wickenheiser&rsquo;s speed, resulted in the Montreal forward smashing into the goal post to the left of goaltender Michel Dion.Preliminary medical reports indicated Wickenheiser was quite seriously injured.For a few agonizing moments, Wickenheiser, who turned 22 on that day, tried to regain his breath as he lay on his back on the ice.&ldquo;I guess in a way I was lucky,&rdquo; said Wickenheiser. &lsquo;No one wants to get hurt at a time like this. It&rsquo;s very disappointing, but it could have been worse&hellip;L guess.&rdquo;Indeed. Preliminary reports indicated Wickenheiser not only had broken the rib, but also had cracked a vertebrae in his back and a punctured liver. The information was not corrected until early the next morning.Wickenheiser remained in hospital for an extra day before doctors allowed him to return to Montreal. The original diagnosis was confirmed by team physician Doug Kinnear, who ordered Wickenheiser to take it easy for at least two weeks at which time he would be reexamined. It was deemed likely that Wickenheiser would be out for a total of four weeks, which would mean he could not play in the playoffs unless Montreal made it to the Prince of Wales Conference championship.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little stiff,&rdquo; Wickenheiser explained three days after the accident. &ldquo;I bruised the muscles in my back and it&rsquo;s difficult to get up after I&rsquo;ve been lying down.&rdquo;Wickenheiser&rsquo;s roommate, Mark Hunter, was also a little discouraged as the season drew to a close. The sophomore right winger, out since Dec. 23 with a knee injury, tried to play against the Penguins and while he took a full shift, his aching knee had little strength.&ldquo;At least now I know,&rdquo; Hunter said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried it and I know what I can and can&rsquo;t do.&rdquo;Hunter did not think he would be available for playoff duty unless an emergency arose and will have to wait until next fall before he plays again.With the injury problem, coach Bob Berry was almost out of extra players. Rejean Houle, a forgotten man in the Canadiens&rsquo; camp this year, was ready, willing and able and played the last three games of the regular season on a line with Guy Carbonneau and Chris Nilan.Houle, who had been helping Berry and assistant Jacques Laperriere by looking after some team statistics, scored a goal against the Penguins to give the Canadiens a 2-0 lead which they could not hold. He played well as the Canadiens took three of four points from the Boston Bruins to close out the regular season and head into their best-of-five playoff series against the Buffalo Sabres in a positive frame of mind.Montreal finished the regular season with three wins, three losses and two ties against both the Sabres and the Bruins and a feeling that they could handle both teams come playoff time.Berry couldn&rsquo;t give much rest to people such as Larry Robinson in the final week of the season because of injuries. Guy Lafleur and Mats Naslund sat out the Pittsburgh game. Rick Green suffered an eye injury, but was expected to play in the first series against the Sabres.IN PASSING&mdash;Referee Dave Newell was injured in the first period of the 4 Bruin-Canadien game at the Forum. Newell, scheduled to work the playoffs, suffered a rib injury when checked to the ice. He was replaced by Gregg Madill, who was in the press box watching.:.Mats Naslund led the Canadiens with a plus-36&hellip;Rick Wamsley finished the season with a 5-0-1 streak and was outstanding in the two games against the Bruins after Richard Sevigny played against the Penguins&hellip;Berry and his players bristled at a suggestion in a French-language newspaper that they didn&rsquo;t go all out against the Penguins in the 3-2 loss&hellip;The Canadiens finished with 98 points, the first time in eight years they have not cracked the 100-point barrier. &#9632;

Wickenheiser Breaks Rib; Likely Gone For The Year

1. Les Binkley2. Bob Kelly3. Curt Bennett &#9632;

SHER-WOOD’S CONTEST ANSWERS

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD FRIEDMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011195/4602364-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Flyers say that New York Ranger Mark Pavelich is, pound-for-pound, one of the toughest NHL players.</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;If you can&rsquo;t catch &rsquo;em, you can&rsquo;t knock &rsquo;em down.That was the puzzle the New York Rangers presented to the Philadelphia Flyers as the two teams prepared for an opening playoff round that each was capable of winning.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a question of who&rsquo;s going to get someone else to play their style of game,&rdquo; said Ranger coach Herb Brooks on the eve of the series.The question is whether the Flyers&rsquo; forchecking or the Rangers&rsquo; skating will be the deciding factor.The issue was focused in what, as the series began, was an unrequited, unconsummated feud of sort. Brooks&rsquo; response to his Flyer counterpart Bob McCammon&rsquo;s nickname for the comparatively undersized Rangers, &ldquo;The Smurfs&rdquo; (after the undersized TV characters), was a calculated&mdash;if not angry&mdash;-non-response.&ldquo;I was always taught that little people talk about other people, big people talk about concepts and philosphy,&rdquo; Brooks said, re-affirming the fact that he and McCammon do not exactly indulge in mutual admiration. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s all I have to say about it.&rdquo;The next day, the headline in the New York Post blared: &ldquo;RANGER SMURFS SMEAR FLYERS,&rdquo; as the Rangers won the last regular-season game between the two teams at the Spectrum, 4-2. Defenseman Reijo Ruotsalainen, 5-foot-8, 170 pounds, scored two goals, as the Flyers, oddly, failed to forecheck and allowed the Rangers to skate.&ldquo;That little 29 is going to be a key for us to shut down in the playoffs,&rdquo; said McCammon of Ruotsalainen. &ldquo;He comes from everywhere.&rdquo;Not to imply that McCammon had for gotten about the forward line that was the principal inspiration of his christening his opponents &lsquo;The Smurfs&rsquo;&mdash;Rob McClanahan. Anders Hedberg and Mark Pavelich.&ldquo;You can call them Smurfs,&rdquo; said Flyer tough-guy Paul Holmgren, &ldquo;but they don&rsquo;t play like Smurfs. That little Pavelich, pound-for-pound, is one of the toughest guys in the league, McClanahan too.&rdquo;&ldquo;The three of us complement each other,&rdquo; said McClanahan after the Rangers had come from behind to beat the Washington Capitals 5-4 at the Garden in a game in which Pavelich scored twice, Hedberg once and McClanahan had two assists.Speaking of the give-and-goes that resulted in goals that night, McClanahan said: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s fun to develop that comraderie. We can read what each of us is going to do; we don&rsquo;t have to look to throw the puck to an open area. We know when the guy&rsquo;s going to be there and it shows in our play.&rdquo;The line was temporarily disconnected two days later as Hedberg missed the Rangers&rsquo; 4-3 victory in St. Louis to return to New York. His wife, Gun-Marie, gave birth to the couple&rsquo;s third child, Johan.In the the aftermath of the Rangers&rsquo; final home-game of the season in which the Devils tied them on Pat Verbeek&rsquo;s goal with 1:04 remaining, Hedberg offered his own reply to McCammon&rsquo;s attempts at psychological warfare.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t bother me at all,&rdquo; said Hedberg. &ldquo;From what I know of Smurfs, they&rsquo;re good guys, ambitious and hardworking.&rdquo;None of which could be taken as good news for the Flyers, facing a Ranger team fortified by more self-confidence than they&rsquo;d had in months and playing with increasing consistency down the home stretch, while the Flyers struggled through the season&rsquo;s final weeks.NOTES&mdash;Eddie Mio, who was in goal last year when the Rangers eliminated the Flyers in four games, was expected to start the first game of the series&hellip;This is the fourth time in five years that the Rangers and the Flyers have met in the playoffs&mdash;there is no love lost between the two teams&hellip;The Rangers finshed the season in Washington, being shutout 3-0 by the Capitals, in a game the Rangers played tentatively, seemingly trying to avoid any more injuries. They entered the playoffs with six forwards either out of the lineup or hurting: Robbie Ftorek is sidelined for the season with strained knee ligaments; Mike Rogers, with back spasms, missed the season&rsquo;s last seven games; Nick Fotiu, who suffered a concussion a week before the season&rsquo;s end, missed the final four games; Don Maloney, who hurt his knee in the Flyer game, sat out the final weekend; and in the Devils game, Kent-Erik Andersson bruised his left shoulder and McClanahan suffered a lacerated ear when struck by the puck&hellip;Prior to Devil game, the 42nd Annual West Side Association of Commerce Awards were presented at center-ice to Pavelich, voted Rangers&rsquo; MVP by the media and defenseman Tom Laidlaw, voted the Players&rsquo; Player by the team itself. Pavelich also received the Frank Boucher Trophy from the Ranger Fan Club as &ldquo;the most popular Ranger on and off the ice&rdquo;&hellip;The New York Federation on Child Abuse and Neglect received a check for $41,000 from the proceeds of the recent Ranger Fashion Show, presented by Barbo Nilsson, representing the Rangers&rsquo; wives and girlfriends, and captain Barry Beck-&hellip;Garden TV executive and former broadcaster Bill Chadwick was presented with honory civilian membership in the New York City Patrolmen&rsquo;s Benevolent Association for 10 years of service to the PBA, an honor previously confered upon Yankee owner George Steinbrenner and Yoko Ono, widow of musician John Lennon&hellip;Eight players (Scot Kleinendorst, Rick Chartraw, Mike Backman, Chris Kontos, Bill Baker, Vaclav Nedomansky, Anders Hedberg and Ron Greschner) who appeared in the final game were not in the lineup at this time last year, either because they were injured or were playing for other teams&hellip;Eight players (forwards George McPhee, Gary Bums, Pat Conacher, Cam Connor&mdash;injured all season&mdash;defensemen Grant Ledyard, Graeme Nicolson and Steve Richmond and goalie Steve Baker were called up from Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League as back-ups. &#9632;

f0004-01

Ranger ‘Smurfs’ Don’t Fear Big, Bad Flyers

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011052/4602481-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="287" height="337"></div><h2>Silly Philly Billy</h2>First, you should know that I like (Pete) Peeters.&mdash;Bill Fleischman, THE HOCKEY NEWS, March 25, 1983.With friends such as Bill Fleischman, Pete Peeters doesn&rsquo;t need any enemies.&mdash;Stan Fischler, today.First, you should know that I don&rsquo;t like Bill Fleischman for what he has done to Pete Peeters of the Boston Bruins.Peeters played four years for the Flyers and, for the life of me, I can not recall him being crucified by those intrepid writers from Saskatoon-on-the-Schuyikill (otherwise known as Philadelphia) the way he is being chain-sawed now.As a member of the Bruins, Peeters is being viewed as something worse than Attila The Hun by at least one Broad Street typewriter-banger.All of which instantly inspires the question: Did Pete Peeters change that much in a year?Of course not, it&rsquo;s just that he&rsquo;s moved 271 miles away from where Fleischman watched him play hockey. Pete Peeters, you turncoat, you are guilty with an explanation. It&rsquo;s all there in the March 26 edition of THE HOCKEY NEWS.The column written by Philly Fleischman is mistakenly headlined, &ldquo;Grow up, Pete.&rdquo; It should been titled, &ldquo;Beating A Dead Horse.&rdquo;In his column, Fleischman tells us Peeters hasn&rsquo;t matured as a person in Beantown. He suggests the goalie is no more grown up than he was at The Spectrum.For a moment, I was worried for Pete Peeters; then, I read the column carefully. For proof that Peeters is still prepubescent, Fleischman dredged up two episodes from the National Hockey League cesspool. Presumably, these incidents demonstrate that the super-goalie whom the Flyers foolishly unloaded last summer is a first-class McNasty.Fleischman&rsquo;s first damning &ldquo;disclosure&rdquo; is a year-old incident that has been told so many times via coy innuendo it no longer even qualifies for the classified page of The National Inquirer.Furthermore, it involves one of Fleischman&rsquo;s sidekicks who supposedly is so embarassed, he does not want his name attached to the episode. So, I ask, why did Fleischman exhume it from the septic tank? After all, the red-faced writer settled his feud with Peeters a year ago.Next, Fleischman tells us that &ldquo;there have been problems&rdquo; with Peeters in Boston this season. Problems, what problems? Fleischman mentions Peeters stiffed an awards presentation before a game. That&rsquo;s a problem?I checked with Nate Greenberg, the Bruin PR man about the &ldquo;problem.&rdquo; Greenberg says there was one minor mix-up, but he and coach Gerry Cheevers were as much to blame as Peeters. Greenberg points out that goalies as intense as Peeters do not like having their concentration disturbed before a game.Since Fleischman wrote about Peeters&rsquo; &ldquo;problems&rdquo; in Boston in the plural, I assumed, hey, this guy really has more goods on Pete. I couldn&rsquo;t wait to sink my teeth into the meat. Unfortunately, Fleischman stopped there so I decided to check Peeters out with some other journalists.First, I tried Steve Harris, who covers the Bruins for the Boston Herald-American. I couldn&rsquo;t wait to hear his sordid revelations. Had Peeters impaled him on the horns of a dilemma? Was Harris ever hoisted by Peeters&rsquo; own petard?&ldquo;No,&rdquo; says Harris. &ldquo;Pete has been absolutely perfect. I&rsquo;ve found him to be a personable, likeable guy.&rdquo;I got no more satisfaction from Fran Rosa of the Boston Globe. &ldquo;I certainly don&rsquo;t have any complaints about Pete,&rdquo; says Rosa. &ldquo;When I ask him questions, I don&rsquo;t get any wise-guy answers.&rdquo;Who needs that? I wanted the goods on Peeters and if I can&rsquo;t get it from a Boston writer, I&rsquo;ll get it from a former Boston writer. I go to Kevin Dupont, formerly of the Herald-Amrican, now with the New York Times.Scandal, outrage, prepubescent material. Gimme anything you&rsquo;ve got on Peeters, I demanded. I want to out-smear Fleischman.Instead, Dupont gives me the back of his hand. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t ask for a better guy to work with than Peeters,&rdquo; he says.Undaunted, I contacted Donna Foote from Newsweek. Dupont, Rosa and Harris may have to go back to Pete for more stories. But Foote was on a one-shot assignment and has nothing to lose now by putting the harpoon into Peeters. Instead, she tells me he was a marvelous interview, the very soul of decorum.Next, I tried Gary Deckelnick of the Asbury Park Press. Deckelnick covers all the Flyer home games and occasionally makes road trips. &ldquo;After Pete became a Bruin, I needed a statement from him,&rdquo; Deckelnick tells me. &ldquo;I phoned him late one night, woke him up and asked him a question. He was just fine.&rdquo;This is outrageous. Obviously, nobody in Boston, Chicago, Asbury Park or New York perceives Pete Peeters with the X-ray vision of Philly Fleischman.There was only one thing to do: eschew the second-hand reports and go one-on-one with Peeters myself. Based on Fleischman&rsquo;s character assassination of the goalie, I fully expected Pete to box my ears with his goalie gloves when we finally met.Instead, I found a co-operative, articulate, patient and forthright young man, who could give a few Philly writers a lesson in maturity. When I mentioned the Fleischman column to Peeters, he dismissed it without rancor. &ldquo;I just turned the other cheek,&rdquo; he says.But maybe I&rsquo;m wrong. And Rosa is wrong. And Harris is wrong. And Foote is wrong. And Dupont is wrong. And Deckel-nick is wrong. Maybe we&rsquo;re all wet and Fleischman, the joumalist-cum-child psychologist, is right.To tell you the truth, I can&rsquo;t wait to see what Fleischman has to write about Behn Wilson next season after Behn is traded to the Los Angeles Kings.Or, to put it another way, would Fleischman have written so delightful a column about Peeters if Pete was still a Flyer?Is water dry?<h2>Smart And Dumb Dep&rsquo;t</h2>SMART&mdash;PHILADELPHIA BOSS Ed Snider reiterates NHL governors should rearrange the schedule to accommodate a genuine post-season World Series between the Stanley Cup champions and the European winners.DUMB&mdash;Those who brand Bobby Clarke and other non-helmeted players as idiots for not jumping on the head-piece bandwagon. They fail to understand that helmets are as much a cause as a cure for on-ice problems.SMART&mdash;New York Ranger captain Barry Beck insists helmets inspire more high-sticking. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anybody in the league should be wearing one. You&rsquo;d see a different game if nobody wore one. Players take advantage of guys who wear helmets and they tend to keep their sticks down and respect the fact if you aren&rsquo;t. He proves it by pointing out that of his six high-sticking penalties this season, five have come against helmeted players.DUMB&mdash;Canadian chauvinists who suggest that hockey is fading in the good, ol&rsquo; USA. On the night of March 3, three games were played in the New York-New Jersey Metropolitan Area. A crowd of 17,411 watched the Rangers at the Garden, 15,005 saw the Islanders in Nassau and 12,701 went to see the Devils at the Meadowlands. The grand total was 45,117, more than has ever witnessed NHL games on one night in Toronto or Montreal. Or Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver&mdash;or Saskatoon, for that matter.<h2>Helmetless Bruins Explain</h2>ON TOP: OVER the 80-game schedule, the Bruins have proven themselves the NHL&rsquo;s best team. Not coincidentally, there are more helmetless players on the Bs than any other team in the league. The Bruins have good reasons for not wearing the headpiece:RICK MIDDLETON: &ldquo;I tried a helmet, but I found that it took away the second sense that a player needs.&rdquo;BRAD PARK: &ldquo;I never felt comfortable playing with one. I think I&rsquo;m smart enough to know what I&rsquo;m doing on the ice. Also, I think it&rsquo;s important to note that the Ed Kea incident happened in the minors. Players in the NHL are different than in the minors.MIKE MILBURY: &ldquo;It (the Ed Kea episode) is scary, there&rsquo;s no doubt about that. But even when the game got out of hand for a couple of years awhile back (late in the &rsquo;70s), there weren&rsquo;t really many serious head injuries. I&rsquo;ve been playing without a helmet for all these years and. maybe, I&rsquo;ve just been fortunate. But, at the end of the season, I&rsquo;ll probably reconsider.&rdquo;MIKE O&rsquo;CONNELL; &ldquo;1 stopped wearing a helmet this season because I wasn&rsquo;t happy with the way I played last year and I wanted a change. I may decide to wear one again next season.&rdquo;<h2>Embarassing Moments Dept.</h2>DAVE FARR1SH, TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: &ldquo;There was a time when Normand Aubin had just joined the Maple Leafs as a rookie center. The French-Canadian kid Obviously wasn&rsquo;t hip to his geography, which was proven as we prepared to leave on a road trip to Calgary and Edmonton. Nobody could believe it, but Aubin was late for the bus. That was unheard of for a rookie. As it turned out, Aubin was late because he went to the bank to get some American money. Normand thought Calgary and Edmonton were in the United States!&rdquo;DAVE MALONEY, NEW YORK RANGERS: &ldquo;Did you ever wonder how to convert a general manager&rsquo;s head into a birthday cake? Very simple. I developed the technique a few years ago when John Ferguson was GM of the Rangers. We were on a flight and Fergy conveniently fell asleep. With a can of shaving cream in my hand, I sneaked up on him and sprayed the shaving cream on top of Fergy&rsquo;s head. Once I had piled it up good and high, I let a cigarette and put it on top. Fergy looked very much like a birthday cake!&rdquo;NICK FOTIU, RANGERS: &ldquo;As you know, I haven&rsquo;t always gotten along with the referees and linesmen. (Nothing personal, of course.) Well, once I got even with them by accident. It was just before game time and the three officials were lined up for the TV camera. They were doing the pre-game &lsquo;and now our officials for tonight&rsquo; stuff. As they waited, I happened to be skating by and lost the edge on my skates. I went sliding across the ice and took the feet out from under all three of them, knocking them flat. Fortunately, no penalty was called.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0005-01

ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05324/4602557-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="686" height="109"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011234/4602571-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="133" height="132"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS vs CHICAGO</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02922/4602564-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="148" height="130"></div>STRENGTHS&mdash;Very few this season. Brian Sutter is the leader, in spirit and offense. Bernie Federko and Jorgen Petterson are the other top guns with Perry Turnbull also presenting a threat. Mike Liut, more often than not, is a top-notch goaltender.WEAKNESSES&mdash;Defense. Even with the addition of Rob Ramage in the off season, the Blues are troubled behind their own blueline. Things aren&rsquo;t that much better up front. The Blues have trouble scoring goals. The loss of Joey Mullen to injury early in the season didn&rsquo;t help matters any.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;St Louis must come up with some combination of forwards that can work effectively against Savard, Secord and Larmer. Two rookies recently called up from Salt Lake, Perry Anderson and Mark Reeds, have been impressive two-way performers. Larry Patey, Mike Crombeen and Mike Zuke are other defensive forwards.HOT PLAYERS, LINES&mdash;Reeds, the Blues&rsquo; only plus players (plus-6) have played beyond expectations but Sutter, Petterson and Federko are keys. Liut, with help from backup Rick Heinz, gave the Blues good goaltending late in the season.INTANGIBLES&mdash;The Saskatoon talk has died down and it looks like the Blues will be staying in St. Louis. With that out of their mind, the Blues may be able to concentrate on hockey. In the final couple of weeks of the season, the Blues didn&rsquo;t play that badly.OVERALL SEASON RECORD</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>STRENGTHS&mdash;Four balanced lines with a couple of legitimate superstars. Denis Savard leads the way with linemates Al Secord and rookie scoring ace Steve Larmer. Team captain Darryl Sutter, Tom Lysiak and Rich Preston form a formidable second line. Doug Wilson keys a steady, if not flashy, defense that executes coach Orval Tessier&rsquo;s disciplined system. Goaltending, with Murray Bannerman and Tony Esposito, is sound.WEAKNESSES&mdash;With Keith Brown injured, defense isn&rsquo;t as strong as it could be. If the Hawks are weak in any area, it is the blueline. There is no depth and an injury could be fatal.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;The Hawks will employ the Lysiak unit against St. Louis&rsquo; top offensive threat, which consists of Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko and Jorgen Petterson.HOT LINES, PLAYERS&mdash;Savard, Secord and Larmer as well as Wilson. Curt Fraser, acquired from Vancouver, is known as a tough playoff competitor.INTANGIBLES&mdash;Last year, there was no pressure on the Hawks. They upset Minnesota and St. Louis. This year, they&rsquo;re expected to win and the pressure is on them. But coach Orval Tessier has always been a winner and a tough guy to bet against.Game scores: STL 4. CHI 6; CHI 4. STL 5; STL 4, CHI 7: CHI 4. STL 2; CHI 5, STL 0; STL 1, CHI 4; CHI 2, STL 4; STL 2, CHI 7. Top goal scorers: CHI, Secord 7, Larmer, Savard 6, Lysiak, Higgins 4, D. Sutter 3. STL, Pettersson 3, B Sutter 3, Carlson, Mullen, Patey, Turnbull, Chapman, Ramage 2.Goaltending: CHI, Bannerman 4-1-0, Esposito 2-1-0. STL, Liut 2-2-0, Hanlon 0-2-0, Heinz 0-2-0.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03603/4602550-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="155" height="161"></div><h2>TORONTO vs MINNESOTA</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04398/4602543-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="144" height="129"></div>STRENGTHS&mdash;The goal-scoring and leadership qualities of captain Rick Vaive, the overall defensive capabilities of Borje Salming and the hot goaltending of Mike Palmateer. The Leafs don&rsquo;t have a lot of strengths, but they seem to able to put it together when they have to. Greg Terrion&rsquo;s defensive work is another plus for them.WEAKNESSES&mdash;Under playoff pressure, the defense could crack, especially when it comes to moving the puck out of its own zone. Lack of depth was highlighted in closing moments of regular season when injuries hit the Leafs hard. Dan Daoust and Peter Ihnacak, two regular centers, were on the shelf as playoffs opened as was defenseman Dave Farrish, a key player on the Toronto blueline. Salming and Palmateer were also suffering from the flu and if they&rsquo;re not healthy, it&rsquo;s bad news for the Leafs.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;Greg Terrion, Billy Harris and Terry Martin will draw checking assignment against Bobby Smith, Steve Payne and Brian Bellows.HOT PLAYERS, LINES&mdash;The entire team finished out the season an a positive note, stealing third place. Palmateer, Vaive and Terrion were among the best, but the Leafs also got yeoman service from Miroslav Frycer, Walt Poddubny and John Anderson.INTANGIBLES&mdash;The Leafs handled the Stars pretty easily all season and after Christmas, Toronto was one of the hottest NHL teams. Excluding the injuries, the Leafs were peaking at just the right time. Center Bill Derlago hasn&rsquo;t played up to par and his effort in the playoffs could ultimately decide the fate of the Leafs.STRENGTHS&mdash;A powerful offensive team with good goaltending. Don Beaupre and Gilles Meloche give the Stars a good netminding duo while the Neal Broten-Dino Ciccarelli-Tom McCarthy line and Bobby Smith-Steve Payne-Brian Bellows unit lead the offense. Bellows, despite being a 19-year-old rookie, is already a team leader who excels in pressure environment. Lots of playoff experience.WEAKNESSES&mdash;Defense and a general lack of intensity. The Stars have some good defensive players such as Craig Hartsburg but they never seem to put it all together in their own end.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;The Stars will use a variety of defensive-minded and physical players to try to wear down Rick Vaive, the key to the Toronto offense. Mike Eaves is the Stars&rsquo; top defensive man.HOT PLAYERS, LINES&mdash;Beaupre was outstanding in the final stages as was Bellows. Other than that, though, the Stars were anything but hot as the playoffs started.INTANGIBLES&mdash;As the playoffs began, the Stars appeared to be a confused, disoriented team that lacked confidence. They were in a real tailspin, the type that is tough to pull out of.OVERALL SEASON RECORD</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06231/4602536-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="685" height="109"></div>Game scores: TOR 2, MIN 6; MIN 2, TOR 5; MIN 3, TOR 4; TOR 1, MIN 2; MIN 4, TOR 2; TOR 3, MIN 2; MIN 3, TOR 6; TOR 4, MIN 2.Top scorers: TOR, Terrion 5, Anderson 4, Vaive, Gingras 3. MIN, Eaves, Douglas, McCarthy, Bellows 4, Ciccarelli, Maxwell, 2.Goaltending: TOR, Palmateer 3-0-0, Larocque 1-1-0, St. Croix 1-2-0; MIN, Meloche 2-4-0, Beaupre 1-1-0. &#9632;

f0006-05

NORRIS DIVISION

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0944/4602623-1-eng-US/f0006-092.jpg" title="f0006-09" width="685" height="110"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-07123/4602637-1-eng-US/f0006-072.jpg" title="f0006-07" width="125" height="132"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>WINNIPEG vs EDMONTON</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0866/4602630-1-eng-US/f0006-082.jpg" title="f0006-08" width="134" height="132"></div>STRENGTHS&mdash;The line of Dale Hawer-chuk, Paul MacLean and Brian Mullen gives the Jets a dangerous offensive threat. On defense, David Babych is a tower of strength. By adding Laurie Boschman and Larry Hopkins to the lineup, the Jets have become a physical team, something they lacked for most of the season.WEAKNESSES&mdash;Lack of depth on the forward lines and the same problem on defense, not to mention in net, which may be the Jets&rsquo; biggest problem. Quality forwards such as Dave Christian and Morris Lukowich have played below capabilities all season and their absence cripples this team. Babych&rsquo;s supporting cast is decidely ordinary and the goaltending of rookie Brian Hayward has to be questioned, at least for playoff hockey against the Oilers.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;The Jets will have to make some effort to contain Gretzky and Boschman may draw the assignment.HOT LINES, PLAYERS&mdash;Hawerchuk&rsquo;s line finished with a flourish and Bryan Maxwell was performing well on the blueline.INTANGIBLES&mdash;The Jets have nothing lose; they&rsquo;re expected to bow out so there won&rsquo;t be much pressure on them.OVERALL SEASON RECORD</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Game scores: EDM 5. WPG 9; WPG 2, EDM 7; EDM 6. WPG 5; WPG 3. EDM 5; EDM 8. WPG 3; WPG 0, EDM 3;EDM 4. WPG 7; WPG 2, EDM 7.Top goal scorers: EDM, Gretzky 6, Messier, Kurri 5, Coffey, Linseman 4, Hughes, Huddy 3. WPG, Hawerchuk 7, DeBlois 5, Lundholm, Steen 4, Lindstrom 3.STRENGTHS&mdash;Offense. Offense. Offense. As bad as the Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; defense is, the Oilers&rsquo; offense is just as extreme the other way. They are awesome, led, of course, by Wayne Gretzky. But when you&rsquo;ve said Gretzky, you haven&rsquo;t said it all. Jari Kurri, Willy Lindstron, Ken Linseman, Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson are the high-scoring forwards. Paul Coffey is the top offensive defenseman. Toss in some muscle from Dave Semenko, Pat Hughes, Dave Hunter and Dave Lumley. Awesome indeed.WEAKNESSES&mdash;Defense, though it&rsquo;s not as bad as some may think. After all, everything is relative. If you are the highest-scoring team in the history of the NHL, you can afford to be a tad weaker on defense. Kevin Lowe, Lee Fogolin, Charlie Huddy, Randy Gregg and Don Jackson aren&rsquo;t too bad. Netminding may be suspect, but Andy Moog and Grant Fuhr are still more than adequate.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;The Oilers&rsquo; checkers, Tom Roulston, Hughes, Lumley and Co. will be up against Winnipeg&rsquo;s Dale Hawerchuk.HOT LINES, PLAYERS&mdash;Gretzky is always hot and the Linseman-Messier-Anderson line is potent. Coffey is a tremendous offensive threat and Moog will be aiming to be a playoff hero a la 1981.INTANGIBLES&mdash;The Oilers haven&rsquo;t forgotten last season&rsquo;s disgrace against L.A. That&rsquo;s powerful motivation.Goaltending: EDM, Moog 5-0-0, Fuhr 1-2-0. WPG, Hayward 1-1-0, Staniowski 1-2-0, Soetaert 0-3-0.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1029/4602616-1-eng-US/f0006-102.jpg" title="f0006-10" width="109" height="112"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>VANCOUVER vs CALGARV</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1128/4602609-1-eng-US/f0006-112.jpg" title="f0006-11" width="149" height="134"></div>STRENGTHS&mdash;A hard-working team led by the line of Thomas Gradin, Stan Smyl and Darcy Rota, who finished the regular season with a flourish. Goaltending looks to be sharp with the duo of Richard Brodeur and John Garrett, acquired earlier this season from the Nordiques. The Canucks are at their best when they play a close-checking clutch-and-grab style.WEAKNESSES&mdash;Defense, considering all the injuries suffered this season, has to be seen as suspect. Lars Molin is out for the remainder, but Harold Snepts, Kevin McCarthy, Lars Lindgren and Rick Lanz are all back. Still, the cohesiveness isn&rsquo;t there. Up front, the Canucks are plagued by a lack of scoring. The second line of Patrick Sundstrom, Tony Tanti and a designated third member has to put the puck in the net to ease the pressure on Gradin&rsquo;s line.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;The Canucks, with their many defensive forwards, will key on containing McDonald and Nilsson.HOT LINES, PLAYERS&mdash;The Gradin line was on a tear as the regular season ended. Both goaltenders, Brodeur and Garrett, are proven playoff performers.INTANGIBLES&mdash;The Canucks made it to the final last season and that may help them along the way this time.OVERALL SEASON RECORD</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1223/4602602-1-eng-US/f0006-122.jpg" title="f0006-12" width="690" height="191"></div>STRENGTHS&mdash;Lanny McDonald, Kent Nilsson, Doug Risebrough and Paul Reinhart are the key men in the Flames&rsquo; scheme of things. McDonald had his best season ever, Risebrough adds character to a team that badly needs it, Nilsson has the ability to take the pressure off McDonald and Reinhart does just about everything, both offensively and defensively.WEAKNESSES&mdash;Start with goaltending. Don Edwards, supposed to be the big stopper, has flopped this season. Reggie Lemelin has worked capably, but certainly not sensationally, the type of goaltending you need in the playoffs. On defense, Reinhart is the only &ldquo;star.&rdquo; The supporting cast works hard, but doesn&rsquo;t always get the job done. Up front, there are a few holes that need to be plugged by either competent scorers or muscular comer men.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;The Flames must shut down the line of Thomas Gradin, Stan Smyl and Darcy Rota. Doug Risebrough may get the call.HOT LINES, PLAYERS&mdash;McDonald and Nilsson are both streak players and dangerous around the net. If Edwards ever caught fire, it would give the Flames a big boost.INTANGIBLES&mdash;The Flames are known to many as a team that lacks character and heart. That&rsquo;s bad news in the playoffs.Top goal scorers: CAL, Nilsson 9, McDonald, Bridgman 5, Reinhart, Jalonen 3. VAN, Smyl 5, Molin, Hlinka, Lupul 3, Lanz 2.Goaltending: CAL, Lemelin 3-0-0, Edwards 2-1-1, Bernhardt 0-1-0. VAN, Garrett 1-0-1, Brodeur 1-4-0. &#9632;

f0006-09

SMYTHE DIVISION

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03572/4602689-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="694" height="192"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011098/4602703-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="134" height="133"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>QUEBEC vs BOSTON</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02819/4602696-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="133" height="136"></div>STRENGTHS&mdash;Aside from Way ne Gretzky, Quebec&rsquo;s Peter Stastny may be the most dangerous offensive threat in the NHL. Team him with brother Anton and it&rsquo;s double trouble, especially on the power play. The strong two-way play of Dale Hunter, Michel Goulet and Wilf Paiement makes Quebec&rsquo;s second line rather impressive.WEAKNESSES&mdash;Defense. Defense. Defense. With Mario Marois sidelined for most of the regular season, the Nords&rsquo; defense is like a jigsaw puzzle. Neither Dave Pichette nor Normand Rochefort have developed this season the way last year&rsquo;s playoffs indicated they would. Veterans Moose Dupont, Pat Price, Blake Wesley round out a truly ordinary defensive cast. The Nords also lack a strong third line, something they&rsquo;ll need to be competitive against the Bruins. Goaltending from Dan Bouchard is either great or terrible and it doesn&rsquo;t help to have Marian Stastny on the shelf with a shoulder injury.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;Look for Hunter&rsquo;s line to go up against Barry Pederson and Rick Middleton.HOT LINES, PLAYERS&mdash;Hunter has proven to be a hard-nosed playoff competitor and Bouchard is a notorious streak goalie.INTANGIBLES&mdash;On paper, the Nordiques don&rsquo;t belong in the same league as the Bruins, but that was the case last year, too. Despite all their deficiencies, the Nords are the type of team that could get hot and pull an upset or two.OVERALL SEASON RECORD</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Game scores: QUE 3. BOS 2,BOS 7, QUE 4; QUE 3,BOS 3; BOS 5, QUE 10; QUE 0, BOS 2; QUE 3,BOS 5; BOS 11, QUE 5; BOS 4, QUE 3.STRENGTHS&mdash;These guys finished first in the NHL overall standings for a reason. They&rsquo;ve got balance, depth, experience, a lot of ability and even more pride. Barry Pederson and Rick Middleton head up the offense but the supporting cast is impressive. Ray Bourque and Mike O&rsquo;Connell anchor a very disciplined defense and Pete Peeters has given the Bruins outstanding goaltending all season.WEAKNESSES&mdash;Not many, although a few defensive cracks began to show late in the regular season. The loss of defenseman Mike Milbury to injury could be a serious blow. If anything happens to Peeters, there is some question as to the effectiveness of back-up Marco Baron. Absence of Terry O&rsquo;Reilly and Keith Crowder, with a bruised shoulder, are also factors, although Crowder may be back at some point.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;The Bruins will look to neutralize Peter Stastny. If Steve Kasper is healthy, he&rsquo;ll draw the assignment but Peter McNab may also face the task.HOT PLAYERS&mdash;Middleton and Pederson finished up strongly and Peeters has been solid all season.INTANGIBLES&mdash;Bruin pride and the return and ultimate effectiveness of Steve Kasper. Injuries could seriously hamper the Bruins&rsquo; efforts.Top goal scorers: BOS, Middleton 8, K. Crowder 6, McNab, Bourque 4, O&rsquo;Reilly, B. Crowder, Krushelnyski, Pederson 3. QUE, Cloutier 6, M. Stastny 5, Goulet, A. Stastny, Sleigher 3. Goaltending: BOS, Peeters 4-2-1, Baron 1-0-0; QUE, Malar-chuk 1-1-0, Garrett 1-1-1, Bouchard 0-3-0.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-04404/4602682-1-eng-US/f0007-042.jpg" title="f0007-04" width="133" height="130"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>BUFFALO vs MONTREAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-05286/4602675-1-eng-US/f0007-052.jpg" title="f0007-05" width="159" height="108"></div>STRENGTHS&mdash;A good combination of players who can play both ends of the rink. On defense, rookie sensation Phil Housley is a potent offensive weapon. Gil Perreault is a steadying influence on a young, inexperienced team that is very tough to beat in the tiny Memorial Auditorium. On defense, Mike Ramsey is the key performer. Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s playoff expertise may compensate for his players&rsquo; lack of experience.WEAKNESSES&mdash;Inexperience. The Sabres count a great deal on rookie defensemen Hannu Virta and Housley. Up front, the Sabres&rsquo; most dangerous line consists entirely of rookies &mdash; Dave Andreychuk, Paul Cyr and Mai Davis. Goaltending has been a little too inconsistent, but Bob Sauve should be adequate. The Sabres have a tough time winning away from the Aud.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;Brent Peterson, the Sabres&rsquo; top defensive forward, will likely go against the Mondou line, as will Andre Savard.HOT LINES, PLAYERS&mdash;The Andreychuk-Cyr-Davis unit is exciting to watch and tough to defend. Toss in Virta and Housley on defense and you have the Sabres&rsquo; all-rookie power-play unit.INTANGIBLES&mdash;Scotty Bowman versus the Canadiens. Bowman may get his players &ldquo;up&rdquo; for this rivalry. Because the Sabres are so young and they are underdogs, the pressure may not faze them and they could ape Edmonton&rsquo;s performance of two seasons ago.OVERALL SEASON RECORD<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-06215/4602668-1-eng-US/f0007-062.jpg" title="f0007-06" width="693" height="193"></div>STRENGTHS&mdash;A complement of forwards that is as good as any in the league. The big offensive threat is the line of Swedish rookie Mats Naslund, Pierre Mondou and Mario Tremblay. The remaining forwards&mdash;Ryan Walter, Keith Acton, Bob Gainey, Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Mark Napier, to name just a few&mdash;can do it all&mdash;skate, score and check. In Larry Robinson, the Habs possess one of the best NHL defenseman.WEAKNESSES&mdash;Defense, goaltending and injuries. Defense is the main one. Aside from Robinson, there is a lack of experience and if the Habs bowed out of the playoffs last year with Rod Langway and Brian Engblom, what&rsquo;s going to happen this year? The big question is whether the young defensemen can withstand the heavy forechecking that is part of playoff hockey. In net, Rick Wamsley has proven to be more than adequate but he, along with Richard Sevigny, tend to have consistency problems. Doug Wickenheiser&rsquo;s rib injury doesn&rsquo;t help the cause and Acton has had continuing knee problems, although he will play. Mark Hunter is also plagued by knee injuries, but will not see action.HOT LINES, PLAYERS&mdash;The Mondou-Naslund-Tremblay unit has been dynamite and both Napier and Wamsley finished the regular season with strong performances.INTANGIBLES&mdash;The Canadiens have suffered three consecutive early playoff defeats and if there is a fourth, heads will roll.Top goal scorers: BUF, Virta 6, Foligno, Seiling 4, McKegney, McCourt 3. MTL, Wickenheiser 5, Napier, Walter 4, Mondou 3. Goaltending: MTL, Wamsley 3-3-1, Sevigny 0-0-1; BUF, Cloutier 2-1-2, Sauve 1-2-0. &#9632;

f0007-03

ADAMS DIVISION

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-09100/4602755-1-eng-US/f0007-092.jpg" title="f0007-09" width="690" height="221"><figcaption class="caption-body">OVERALL SEASON RECORD</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-07163/4602769-1-eng-US/f0007-072.jpg" title="f0007-07" width="141" height="137"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>RANGERS vs PHILADELPHIA<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-08131/4602762-1-eng-US/f0007-082.jpg" title="f0007-08" width="159" height="109"></div>STRENGTHS&mdash;Speed. These Smurfs are fast, very fast. When Herb Brooks&rsquo; flow-and-motion system works, it&rsquo;s poetry in motion. Barry Beck is a key defensive performer and also the team leader, a role he will have to fill to the utmost against the Flyers. Up front, Mark Pavelich is one of the hardest workers and he also has a fine touch around the net.WEAKNESSES&mdash;Inconsistent goaltending, shaky defense and a load of injuries up front. Glen Hanlon and Eddie Mio run hot and cold, when they&rsquo;re not injured, and the defense is not all that impressive. But the injuries could be the biggest weakness. Robbie Ftorek is gone for the year while Mike Rogers and Don Maloney are among the many ailing and questionable for this series.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;Bob McCammon and Herb Brooks. The two rival coaches are not fond of each other and they&rsquo;d both like to rub it in with a victory. A lot of bad blood exists between these two teams.HOT LINES, PLAYERS&mdash;The line of Rob McClanaghan, Anders Hedberg and Mark Pavelich finished on a strong note.INTANGIBLES&mdash;The Rangers scored two wins over the Flyers in the final weeks of the season. The pressure is on the Flyers.STRENGTHS&mdash;Experience and leadership with veterans such as Bobby Clarke, Darryl Sittier and Bill Barber up front and Mark Howe on the blueline. The Flyers are playing a more disciplined style, taking fewer penalties but still forechecking as well as ever. This team is built for playoff hockey.WEAKNESSES&mdash;Goaltending. The rookie duo of Bob Froese and Pelle Lindbergh played exceptionally all season, up until the final few weeks, that is. Then, they looked very weak, casting a shadow heading into the playoffs. On defense, the Flyers rely heavily on Mark Howe. Without him, they are very immobile. Injuries have also cost the Flyers, although coach Bob McCammon said Tim Kerr will return to action. Brad Marsh is gone for the year with a cracked fibula.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;McCammon says the Flyers will have to key on Reijo Ruot-sailainen and Mark Pavelich, but it&rsquo;s hard to say if one unit or player will be assigned to those tasks.HOT LINES, PLAYERS&mdash;Clarke and Sittier are the consummate playoff competitors. Rookie Dave Poulin, called up from Maine late in the season, streaked into the playoffs and could be a surprise.INTANGIBLES&mdash;If goaltending comes up big, the Flyers are definite Cup threats. They slumped a little late in the season and this may hurt their confidence heading into the playoffs, hart, Propp, Sinisalo 3, Gorence, Taylor, Sittier, Barber, Holmgren, Evans 2.Goaltending: PHA, Froese 3-1-0, Lindbergh 1-1-0, St. Croix 0-1-0; NYR, Hanlon 2-2-0, Davidson 1-0-0, Mio 0-2-0.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-1079/4602748-1-eng-US/f0007-102.jpg" title="f0007-10" width="182" height="99"></div>WASHINGTON vs ISLANDERS<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-1165/4602741-1-eng-US/f0007-112.jpg" title="f0007-11" width="147" height="142"></div>STRENGTHS&mdash;A defense led by Rod Langway and Brian Engblom and bolstered with the strong play of rookie star Scott Stevens. A good mix of forwards, including Mike Gartner, Dennis Maruk and Bobby Carpenter on the offensive side with Doug Jarvis, Gaeten Duchesne, Bobby Gould and Glen Currie on the defensive side.WEAKNESSES&mdash;A lack of playoff experience. It&rsquo;s the Caps&rsquo; first time in the playoffs and not even Langway&rsquo;s, Engblom&rsquo;s and Jarvis&rsquo; experience makes up for it. Goaltending is never a sure bet. Early in the season, Al Jensen was great. Later, it was Pat Riggin. If both go cold at the same time, they&rsquo;re in trouble. General lack of depth.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;Caps&rsquo; coach Bryan Murray will put Doug Jarvis up against Bryan Trottier and Currie and Gould will face Bossy and Bob Bourne.HOT LINES, PLAYERS&mdash;Riggin is a streak goalie who possesses the ability to stone an entire team.INTANGIBLES&mdash;It&rsquo;s the Caps&rsquo; playoff debut and it&rsquo;s anybody&rsquo;s guess how they&rsquo;ll react when the curtain goes up. They could flop or they could surprise.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-1252/4602734-1-eng-US/f0007-122.jpg" title="f0007-12" width="694" height="163"><figcaption class="caption-body">OVERALL SEASON RECORD</figcaption></div>STRENGTHS&mdash;Excellent one-two goaltending punch with Roland Melanson and Billy Smith and the NHL&rsquo;s best defensive record. One of the most talented teams in the league. They have Mike Bossy&rsquo;s scoring, plenty of forwards who combine muscle and offense and one of the premier playoff performers in John Tonelli. On top of all that, they have playoff experience and three consecutive Stanely Cups.WEAKNESSES&mdash;The Isles&rsquo; star players &mdash; Bryan Trottier, Butch Goring, Denis Potvin et al&mdash;have not played up to their potential in the regular season. It may be tough for them to suddenly turn it on in the playoffs. They must come up with some offensive consistency, especially up the middle.POSSIBLE MATCHUPS&mdash;Coach Al Arbour is another notorious line juggler and he usually challenges opposing coaches to match his lines, not vice versa.HOT LINES, PLAYERS&mdash;Melanson and Smith finished strongly and Bossy hit the 60-goal mark again. Tonelli is a top money player. Entire team began peaking in final weeks of season.INTANGIBLES&mdash;They are the defending Cup champions and they know how to win. But can they turn it on and off at will? Clark Gillies&rsquo; injury.Top scorers: NYI, Bossy 9. Gillies 5. Trottier. B. Sutter 3. WAS. Houston 5, Gartner 4, Maruk 3.Goaltending: NYI, Smith 2-1-1, Melanson 2-1-0; WAS. Jensen 2-1-1, Riggin 0-3-0. &#9632;

f0007-09

PATRICK DIVISION

EVERY YEAR AT this time, all the National Hockey League experts come crawling out of the woodwork and boldly predict who is going to beat whom in the preliminary round of the Stanley Cup finals. You would think that, given the success rate of this venture, the fearless forecasters would finally cop out and simply announce that it&rsquo;s going to be close.But no, it just wouldn&rsquo;t be playoff time unless the prognosticators stuck out their neck a little. So what the heck, we aren&rsquo;t any different. You&rsquo;ve read the others, now you&rsquo;re going to read ours.But first, a few passing thoughts.Despite all the uproar last spring when the Quebec Nordiques, with their vastly inferior regular-season record, eliminated the Montreal Canadiens, the playoff system still hasn&rsquo;t been changed. Bearing this in mind, we request that if one of the favorites gets gassed this year in the preliminary rounds, the gnashing of teeth should be kept to a minimum.Yes, it&rsquo;s true that the playoff system needs revising to make the regular season count for something. But it&rsquo;s not a reality for this year and everyone knew the ground rules all season long. No one has been duped, even though the existing system needs some sort of fine-tuning to make it a touch more equitable.Next, have you noticed how really difficult it is to pick playoff winners this season? This, we&rsquo;re confident, is an excellent sign for pro hockey. It translates as parity, or something close to it, anyway, and that, above and beyond all else, makes our game more attractive to more people.With those spring thoughts out of our mind, we&rsquo;ll get down to the serious business at hand and warm up THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; crystal ball. The decisions reached below were the consensus of our editorial staff, all three of us, so two votes constitutes a majority. Without any further ado, here are our predicitions:BOSTON OVER QUEBEC&mdash;Quebec may have been the Cinderella team last spring, but not this time around. The way we see it, part of the Nordiques&rsquo; success last year was due to the fact they were primed and ready for the hated foe&mdash;the Montreal Canadiens.This time, they&rsquo;re up against the NHL&rsquo;s No. 1 team, the Bruins. When the Bruins get their mighty forechecking game into action, the Nords&rsquo; suspect defense will crumble.BUFFALO OVER MONTREAL&mdash;Some may consider this an upset of sorts, what with the Canadiens&rsquo; tradition and all. But the Sabres are a team on the way up. A few years from now, they&rsquo;ll be legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, but for now, we see them as a 1983 version of the 1981 Edmonton Oilers, who knocked off the Montreal Canadiens before falling to the Cup-champion New York Islanders. Buffalo is young and inexperienced, but tough at home and very enthusiastic.Meanwhile, the pressure will be on Montreal to win after three consecutive playoff defeats.ISLANDERS OVER WASHINGTON&mdash;The Islanders peaked just as the season ended and showed signs they&rsquo;re ready to make a worthwhile title defense. If Bryan Trottier gets going, it will be that much easier to dispose of the playoff-rookie Capitals.This will, however, be a close series. Nevertheless, the Isles will prevail.PHILADELPHIA OVER RANGERS&mdash;The Flyers will wake up just in time from their late-season slump and narrowly defeat the Rangers.CHICAGO OVER ST. LOUIS&mdash;This should be an easy one for the Black Hawks.f36TORONTO OVER MINNESOTA&mdash;The Stars seemed to be in total disarray as the season ended while the Leafs were coming on strong, despite a rash of injuries. Look for the Leafs in a five-game upset.EDMONTON OVER WINNIPEG&mdash;After losing out last season, the Oilers aren&rsquo;t about to do it again, at least not in the first round. Wayne Gretzky won&rsquo;t let it happen this time.CALGARY OVER VANCOUVER&mdash;Despite strong objections by one member, our editorial staff opted for the Flames, based on Lanny McDonald&rsquo;s presence. It&rsquo;ll be close, though.To take things a couple of steps further, the Bruins will beat out the Sabres; the Flyers will eliminate the Isles; the Black Hawks will dispose of the Leafs and Edmonton will top Calgary. Then, Edmonton will beat Chicago and Boston will edge Philadelphia. The finals? Edmonton over Boston in overtime of Game Seven.Remember, you read it here first. But also remember that we picked five of eight incorrectly last season. &#9632;

Our Predictions

<div class="byline">BY BOB BAER</div>Much has been said and written about the considerable advantage a team has playing on its own ice in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Just how much of an advantage is it? Let&rsquo;s examine last year&rsquo;s playoffs and see how the home teams fared.Of the 15 teams that went down to defeat on the trail to the Stanley Cup, 10 of those teams were eliminated in their own arena. Only six of the 16 playoff qualifiers were able to win more games at home than they have lost. The New York Rangers lost four of the five games they played at Madison Square Garden, while winning four of the five games they played on the road. This included two wins at the Spectrum, where the Flyers have lost three consecutive playoff games and four of their last five (while winning two of their last three road games).Ah, but the real advantage they say comes when a series goes the full distance and the deciding game is at home. Well, consider the following:&bull; The Edmonton Oilers lost the fifth and deciding game at home to the Los Angeles Kings &mdash; a team that finished 48 points behind them in the standings.&bull; The Montreal Canadiens lost the fifth and deciding game at home to the Quebec Nordiques&mdash;a team they finished 27 points ahead of during the regular season.&bull; The Bruins lost the seventh game of the Adams Division finals at the Boston Garden to the Nordiques after finishing 14 points ahead of them in the standings.The fact is the only team to win at home in the final game of a series that went the maximum number of games was the Islanders, who defeated the lowly Pittsburgh Penguins&mdash;and it took them an overtime period to do it.What does all this mean? Can we conclude that the so-called &ldquo;home-ice advantage&rdquo; is really no advantage at all? No, that conclusion cannot be reached based on one season&rsquo;s playoffs. So let&rsquo;s go back to the 1980-81 playoffs.The Minnesota North Stars, without the home-ice advantage in any series, went to the finals, winning six consecutive road games along the way. Last year with the home-ice advantage, the Stars were eliminated in the first round, losing both games at home to Chicago. In the only series that went seven games, the Flames defeated the Flyers in Philadelphia in the seventh game after losing the preceding game in Calgary. Only seven of the 16 teams in the playoffs were able to win more games at home than they lost. And, seven of the 15 teams eliminated during the playoffs made their departure on their own ice.So there you have it: The much ballyhooed home-ice advantage has not been measuring up to its advance billing. While it may not be totally without merit, the home-ice advanntage is certainly not the substantial edge that the playoff hype has cracked it up to be.Bob Baer is an accountant in the Philadelphia Flyer office. &#9632;

Home-Ice Advantage Is No Advantage

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div>Considering the amount of playing time he receives, Toronto Maple Leaf rookie Paul Higgins may well be the most talked-about player in the NHL. In several instances this season, Higgins has shown his forte isn&rsquo;t skating, shooting or any of the game&rsquo;s finer points. He is an intimidator. pure and simple, and this account of his actions in a recent game, written by Frank Orr in the Toronto Star emphasizes that point.For the first time this season, Paul Higgins was given the opportunity to do something for the Toronto Maple Leafs other than sit on the bench and look mean, try to start trouble during the warm-up or get involved in incidents at the end of periods.The Leafs used the rookie winger on four shifts in the first half of Mar. 30&rsquo;s game against the Detroit Red Wings, the most ice time he&rsquo;s had in any match this season, and he came very close to having a shot on goal.However, Higgins missed the chance to earn valuable National Hockey League playing experience when he was heaved out of the game for initiating a large melee in which all players on both teams were involved.Play was stopped at 10:34 for a line change when Higgins, on his way to the bench, knocked down the Wings&rsquo; Stan Weir. In an instant, all players were involved in assorted tussles, but referee Dave Newell was unable to determine who had bolted the bench first.Several Wings tried to get at Higgins and when most players were paired up, he went on a little search for a worthy opponent. He found one in Wing defenseman Colin Campbell, who happened to be engaged in a holding competition with the Leafs&rsquo; Walt Poddubny, a tiny detail that didn&rsquo;t prevent Higgins from punching a defenseless Campbell on the head.Campbell and Higgins had a lengthy wrestling match, from which Campbell emerged with a black eye.&ldquo;I saw him coming but I couldn&rsquo;t do anyting because Poddubny had hold of my arms,&rdquo; Campbell said. &ldquo;I managed to turn my head enough that he hit me on the side of the head. I got the bruise beside my eye when he gouged me when we were wrestling on the ice.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t understand the kid starting all the garbage. For the first time this season, he had a chance to play a litle hockey and he got himself tossed out.&rdquo;Higgins earned a game misconduct, plus a minor, major and a 10-minute misconduct. That&rsquo;s his third game sentence of the season.Leaf coach Mike Nykoluk claims that Higgins is there to make the world safe from dangerous opponents for elderly ladies, small children and other Leafs.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s on our team to help keep guys from taking advantage of our players,&rdquo; Nykoluk said.Ah, that&rsquo;s it! All along, folks thought it was something else because Higgins&rsquo; record now reads: 22 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 points, one shot on goal and 135 penalty minutes. Of course, the Leafs must be protected from the goon tactics of Stan Weir.Higgins offered no explanaton for his actions. The Leafs don&rsquo;t allow him to participate in post-game interviews.Campbell drew a major, 10-minute misconduct and two game misconducts&mdash;one for leaving the bench to participate in a fight, the others for trying to continue the battle.Wings&rsquo; coach Nick Polano claims he finds Higgins&rsquo; presence a little difficult to comprehend.&ldquo;I thought that this league wanted to have hockey players in it,&rdquo; Polano said. &ldquo;I hope that because the Leafs are in the division and have a player like Higgins, it doesn&rsquo;t mean that we* have to go to the low minors and find a similar sort of player next season just to use against them.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011200/4602848-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="814" height="1447"><figcaption class="caption-body">Maple Leaf coach Mike Nykoluk, above, says Paul Higgins is on the team &ldquo;to help keep guys from taking advantage of our players.&rdquo;</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0008-01

No Goals, No Assists And 135 Penalty Minutes

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div>CHICAGO&mdash;On a night when the Black Hawks could have played it by ear, they played it by heart.Instead of being an anti-climatic contest, it was a consummate celebration of the Norris Division championship. Rocketing toward the playoffs while another capacity crowd in Chicago Stadium rejoiced, the Hawks got their second straight shutout when Murray Bannerman blanked Minnesota in a 5-0 blowout.Since Toronto eliminated runner-up Minnesota from championship contention the previous night, there was only pride at stake in this confrontation.But the 18,927 rabid fans got the adrenalin pumping and the Hawks picked up where they&rsquo;d left off three nights before, when they buried Detroit 6-0 with Tony Esposito tending goal.It was the first time Chicago recorded consecutive shutouts since Esposito whitewashed Detroit and Los Angeles in February, 1974.Esposito&rsquo;s shutout was his first this season and the 75th of his career. He ranks fifth on the all-time list and first among active goaltenders.The shutout by Bannerman was No. 4 this season and No. 5 in his career.&ldquo;This probably was the sweetest,&rdquo; said the 25-year-old veteran of three National Hockey League seasons. &rdquo;You have to consider that it came against Minnesota, a team we definitely wanted to beat, even though we already had the championship clinched.&ldquo;We hadn&rsquo;t beaten the North Stars in the last four games and we had to reaffirm to ourselves that we really were the better team.&ldquo;Against anyone else, there might have been a tendency to let down. But we had 20 guys prepared to give it everything they had. If anybody wasn&rsquo;t ready I&rsquo;m sure the crowd got them in a hurry. There were chills going up and down my spine.&ldquo;Outside of power plays, they didn&rsquo;t have many chances. The forwards were coming back and the defensemen were standing up and taking the man.&rdquo;For two periods, it was a goaltenders&rsquo; duel between Bannerman and Gilles Meloche. The Hawks outshot the North Stars 31-19 in the first 40 minutes, but their only breakthrough was Denis Savard&rsquo;s goal in the fourth minute.But in the final period they let the good times roll and the North Stars never had it so bad. Tim Higgins, Tom Lysiak, Darryl Sutter and Curt Fraser got the goals as coach Orval Tessier&rsquo;s team rolled to its most resounding victory of the season series.The way the Hawks played made it easy to forget that they lost the eight-games series with the North Stars 3-4-1.Fearing a recurrence of the massive brawl that halted play for almost 50 minutes when the Hawks lost 4-3 in Minnesota nine nights before, two NHL honchos made their presence known.Before the contest, Brian O&rsquo;Neill, executive vice-president of officiating, laid down the law to both teams. Once the puck was dropped, referee Bruce Hood swiftly demonstrated that he was going to call this one strictly by the rule book.The Hawks were charged with 14 penalties adding up to 34 minutes; the North Stars with 16 for 38 minutes. Savard and Sutter got their goals on power plays.In the rout of the Red Wings that put Chicago on the brink of championship, the Hawks reached back for a little extra to make certain that Esposito got the shutout. In the final two minutes, center Tom Lysiak was the one-man hockey equivalent of college basketball&rsquo;s four-comer offense.Offensively, Steve Larmer scored his 40th and 41st goals (breaking Sutter&rsquo;s team rookie record) and Al Secord tallied his 53rd and 54th.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very fortunate because our team played exceptionally well,&rdquo; said Esposito, who will turn 40 on April 23. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve only played this well six or seven times this year. It wouldn&rsquo;t have made any difference if it was me in goal or Murray &mdash; either way we&rsquo;d have had a shutout.&rdquo; &#9632;

Hawks Show North Stars You’ve Gotta Have Heart

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011173/4602879-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">If the Flyers get Tim Kerr back, he will be expected to lay on the muscle against the swift-skating Rangers.</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;As it grew time for the real Flyers to stand up, they were wearing seat belts. Most signs indicated they were trying to buckle down, but when the Rangers, their first-round playoff opponent, slapped them 4-2 last week at the Spectrum, the question arose: Just who is in this driver&rsquo;s seat?The Flyers finished a comfortable first in the Patrick Division, 26 points ahead of the fourth-place Rangers, but lost eight of their final 13 games. And New York won the last two games between the two teams&mdash;8-2 and 4-2.That Spectrum loss, played at a playoff pace by both teams, unfolded like so many bad memories that the Spectrum fans fought back a shudder. Last spring, it was Eddie Mio who stoned the Flyers, in a series in which the Flyers carried more of the play than the 3-1 Ranger victory suggests. Four years ago, it was John Davidson keying a 4-1 Ranger rout. And when Glen Hanlon stopped 32 shots and four of the 13 Ranger ones got by Bob Froese, the deja vu was not easily shrugged off.&ldquo;We had some good chances, more than they did,&rdquo; said Flyer coach Bob McCammon. &ldquo;A few go in, it&rsquo;s a different story, but I&rsquo;d rather have them go in next week.&rdquo;The Flyers did most of the forechecking; the Rangers did the scoring. Though one probably knew back in January when the Flyers were burning and pillaging the National Hockey League that the Rangers would be tough, the Flyers now know for sure.The Flyers&rsquo; key in the coming series is not getting sucked in counting Ranger drop passes and being mesmerized by the Rangers circling back, then sneaking in behind the play. But that was known back in October, too. The Flyers, in fact, were reminding themselves of the same thing all the way up until Reijo Ruotsalainen caught four of them on the other side of the ice and got away from Brian Propp for the game-winner. Later, Ruotsalainen finished with a two-goal, three-point night.&ldquo;He (Ruotsalainen) is the key,&rdquo; said McCammon. &ldquo;Barry Beck can carry the puck all night and not hurt you. But the Finn goes with reckless abandon. They can have the puck in their end of the ice and he&rsquo;ll be up at center. Apparently, he has that license and that&rsquo;s what makes him so tough to contain.&ldquo;We tried some things in the first period that will work. We got away from later, but we&rsquo;ll stay with them in the first game of the playoffs. It&rsquo;s going to be a tough series; I&rsquo;ve already predicted it will go five games. But we&rsquo;re the first-place team and we have the home-ice advantage.&ldquo;Obviously, we have a size advantage in some cases that we have to take advantage of. That&rsquo;s another key&mdash;hitting them, staying out of the penalty box and getting ahead. They get a lead and spread it out with their puck control, it&rsquo;s very hard to play catch-up.&rdquo;Paul Holmgren put his bones into the Rangers at every opportunity, including memorable levellings of Dave Maloney and Barry Beck. If McCammon isn&rsquo;t just blowing smoke and Tim Kerr really will be ready to play when the series opens, that&rsquo;s one more behemoth to crunch a few more Ranger &lsquo;Smurfs,&rsquo; the name McCammon has given to the diminutive Rangers. Every hit helps.Bob Froese had little to no chance on any of the Ranger goals, but it has been a month since either he or Pelle Lindbergh have made the impossible possible. Hanlon was lucky a few times. It&rsquo;s been a month since the Flyers had that kind of magic at their dislposal.McCammon&rsquo;s decision on his playoff goaltender, supposedly &ldquo;chiselled in stone&rdquo; almost a month ago, appeared to be back on the Flyer coach&rsquo;s dartboard. He turned back to Lindbergh on the final weekend and the first result, a 6-3 victory in Toronto, was encouraging.Lindbergh, who had never really been given a sustained opportunity to work back towards his December form since his wrist injury in early January, appeared challenging and confident.So did the Flyers. It was their best checking game in a month and may have chased away the gathering dark clouds.When Lindsay Carson suffered a bruised chest against the Rangers, the Flyers called up left winger Dave Poulin from Maine Mariners of the American Hockey League. The former Notre Dame star, who had been playing in Europe until the organization signed him in March, scored two goals on his first two NHL shots. This little bit of manna from heaven didn&rsquo;t hurt, but more importantly, the Flyers were awake and aware again in their own zone.They had been handing out free passes into their slot for three weeks, but they sealed the Leafs off almost completely. It was the complete kind of performance that the Flyers needed to get their ebbing confidence back.ICEBERGS&mdash;Frank Bathe returned to the Flyer defense for the first time in 12 games in Toronto and helped plug the leaks considerably. Brad Marsh, with a cracked fibula, was doubtful for the Ranger series. &#9632;

f0009-01

Flyer Fans Get Fearful Feeling Of Deja Vu

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY &mdash; Every few weeks or so, Reggie Lemelin and the boys would get together and wonder how far ahead of last year&rsquo;s pace the current edition of the Calgary Flames were.Told that the team was never more than a point or two better than a year ago, Lemelin would shake his head and say, &ldquo;Why does it feel like a better year, then? It must be because we&rsquo;re not getting blown out as much. That must be it.&rdquo;Indeed, the Flames, a team that under-went 13 off-season changes last summer trying to improve themselves, were on a collision course with last season&rsquo;s record through the final week of the regular season.The Flames were bidding to finish 12th overall&mdash;again &mdash; with less than 80 points&mdash;again&mdash;and in the middle of the Smythe Division pack&mdash;again.No appreciable improvement on last year&rsquo;s record, the second worst in team history, was apparent. Certainly not where it counted anyway&mdash;in the standings.However, the ever-optimistic Cliff Fletcher, the Flames&rsquo; GM, detected some off-ice changes.&ldquo;When we moved here from Atlanta, we had an older club with lots of players who didn&rsquo;t want to be in Calgary,&rdquo; said Fletcher. &ldquo;In two years, we&rsquo;ve introduced a number of younger players into the lineup and moved out the players who didn&rsquo;t want to be here.&rdquo;In reviewing Fletcher&rsquo;s off-season moves, it is clear that only one&mdash;acquiring Doug Risebrough from the Montreal Canadiens for a third-round draft choice and a switch of seconds&mdash;showed immediate dividends.Risebrough, a hard-nosed, hard working center quickly emerged as a team leader on a leaderless team. He became coach Bob Johnson&rsquo;s catalyst.Two other deals, however, turned out disastrously for the Flames. In the first, the Flames gave up With Plett and a fourth-round draft pick to get Steve Christoff, Bill Nyrop and a second-round pick from Minnesota.The loss of Plett took away much of the Flames&rsquo; muscle. Once one of the largest, if not toughest teams in the league, the Flames now are considered neither a physical team nor a skating team. They lost a little bit of their identity when they dealt Plett.Nyrop, one-half of the deal, was last seen hiking somewhere in the northern United States. For all that he has played this season, Christoff might as well have joined him. The statistics show Christoff dressed for 44 games this season. They do not show how much ice time he received&mdash;almost none. Only for one eight-game stretch in November did Christoff take a regular turn. Otherwise, he sat on the bench. More frequently, he sat in the press box. In the final weeks, he stopped making the road trips.Officially, the Flames defend the Plett trade by pointing out that the draft choice they received turned out to be Dave Reierson, a candidate for Canada&rsquo;s Olympic hockey team. If Reierson develops, the club maintains, the trade could look a little better than it does now.In the other move, Fletcher&rsquo;s blockbuster, the Flames picked up Don Edwards and Richie Dunn from the Buffalo Sabres in a complicated exchange of first-and second-round draft choices.Both were major disappointments. Edwards lost the No. 1 job to Lemelin three-quarters of the way through the regular season. In the final days, he was trying to get his won-loss record over .500 and his goals-against average under 4.00, numbers that he would have laughed at a year ago.Edwards has had a trying time playing behind Calgary&rsquo;s less-than-all-star defense corps. With the exception of Paul Reinhart, one of the top defensemen in the league, the Flames&rsquo; rearguards were as erratic as ever, one day playing like pros, the next masquerading as pros.Dunn, ironically, turned out to the be the worst of the defensive bunch. He became the fifth defenseman in a four-man rotation at Christmas. When the Flames signed free-agent Jamie Macoun of Ohio State and went back to six defensemen, Macoun, the rookie, outplayed Dunn, the veteran.The Flames like to think that Edwards simply had an off-season, that a goaltender with his credentials will rebound next year and play good goal for them for years to come.They think that Christoff, given 12 months to recover from shoulder surgery, could be effective again next year.They think that if Dunn does not fit into their plans next season, he could fit into someone else&rsquo;s.They don&rsquo;t think much about Nyrop at all.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02951/4602934-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="549" height="714"><figcaption class="caption-body">Of trades made in the off-season, only the Doug Risebrough deal panned out.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-02

New-Look Flames Have Old-Look Stats

<div class="byline">BILL FLEISCHMAN&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011209/4602965-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="290" height="336"></div><h2>Other Final Four</h2>SPEND A WEEK in Grand Forks, ND, covering the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division One hockey finals and you remember the enthusiasm of the players and fans (especially the Wisconsin fans), the quality of the hockey, the hospitality of Grand Forks and the efficiency of the people handling the tournament.This was The Other Final Four. While millions in the United States followed every bounce of the NCAA basketball tournament, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Harvard and Providence mushed into Grand Forks by dog sled to battle for the NCAA hockey championship. The only TV coverage was locally, plus ESPN carrying the final. Outside the East and Midwest, few people cared who won in Grand Forks which, in reality, makes the NCAA tournament a regional championship.&ldquo;College hockey is big-time to us, even though there aren&rsquo;t the same number of teams involved (as in basketball),&rdquo; said Minnesota coach Brad Buetow. &ldquo;That doesn&rsquo;t diminish the prestige of a national championship. I think they (hockey players) excel at that sport as well as they have to in basketball.&ldquo;What disappoints me, in a sense, is people don&rsquo;t appreciate the ability our players have. For instance, we have 12 players in the NHL.&rdquo;Perhaps Jeff Sauer, who returned to Wisconsin and led the Badgers to this year&rsquo;s title when Bob Johnson shifted his winning attitude to the Calgary Flames, said it best: &ldquo;If any basketball game this weekend is more exciting than what we do here, it&rsquo;ll be amazing.&rdquo;Although the good people in Louisville, Houston and Athens, GA, and Raleigh, NC, won&rsquo;t agree, Sauer was on target. In one semi-final, Wisconsin blanked Providence 2-0. However, although it was a 1-0 game until the final moments, the game curiously lacked the tension you would expect in a 1-0 game.Wisconsin&rsquo;s defensive corps, led by rearguards Chris Chelios&mdash;a Montreal draft choice&mdash;and Bruce Driver&mdash;a New Jersey selection&mdash;and goaltender Marc Behrend &mdash; property of Winnipeg&mdash;had a lot to do with the Badgers smothering the explosive Providence offense and thereby removing much of the game&rsquo;s suspense.<h2>Great Harvard Night</h2>THE NEXT NIGHT, Harvard rose up and smacked Minnesota 5-3 in the upset of the tournament. Imagine, Harvard, in its first hockey final four, stunning the three-time champion Gophers. &ldquo;A great night for Harvard hockey,&rdquo; exclaimed beaming Harvard coach Bill Cleary. Since Harvard was rolling, many observers in the University of North Dakota&rsquo;s attractive 6,000-seat arena gave the Ivy Leaguers a good chance to beat Wisconsin the next night. Harvard fought fiercely, as the Ivies say, but Wisconsin was too good and, with MVP Behrend playing superbly in goal, Wisconsin prevailed 6-2.Leaving Grand Forks the next day, a first-time visitor recalled some highlights:&bull;Sitting next to Glen Sonmor of the North Stars on the flight to Grand Forks and enjoying some of his tales of earlier trips to North Dakota, when he was coaching Minnesota&rsquo;s Gophers. &ldquo;They (North Dakota) used to play in an old bam,&rdquo; recalled Sonmor. &ldquo;If it was 25-below outside, it was 35-below inside. One time we had a player, Peter Fichak, who was from International Falls (MN), He never wore socks but, one day during practice here, he left the ice. I found him in the dressing room rubbing his feet. He said, &lsquo;Coach, I&rsquo;m a senior and have a college education&hellip;I don&rsquo;t have to take this crap.&rsquo;&rdquo;&bull;It was nice talking again with John Marks, the former Chicago Black Hawk who has returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach. &ldquo;The only changes here are I have a wife, child and the arena is a lot nicer,&rdquo; said Marks.&bull;Marks&rsquo; boss is Gino Gasparini, who has built North Dakota into a college hockey power (two national titles in the last four years). Among the players who have gone from Gasparini&rsquo;s teams into the NHL are: Dave Christian, Mark Taylor, Craig Ludwig, Mickey Volcan, Marc Chomey and Phil Sykes. The best Fighting Sioux product of &rsquo;em all may be defenseman James Patrick, a first-round pick of the New York Rangers, who is agonizing over whether to sign with the Rangers, play for the Canadian Olympic team or remain with the Sioux.<h2>Keep Eye On Gino</h2>LIKE MANY COLLEGE coaches, the annual rebuilding task, caused by NHL teams drafting players, is starting to annoy Gasparini. &ldquo;You get tired of constantly rebuilding,&rdquo; said Gasparini. &ldquo;This year we&rsquo;ll have the Canadian and U.S. Olympic teams taking players. It kind of gets frustrating.&rdquo;Keep an eye on Gasparini&mdash;he is a candidate for at least one NHL coaching job (Minnesota) and other NHL clubs know where he is.&bull;The NCAA tournament was my first opportunity to catch the Wisconsin fans. They are, as I was told, in a class by themselves. Backed by the lively Wisconsin band, the red-and-white clad fans were a show by themselves. Several days later, I was still humming their beer-commercial based tunes, &ldquo;Wis-con-sin, you&rsquo;ve said it all.&rdquo;&ldquo;What do you think of the Wisconsin fans?&rdquo; asked one Midwest writer? &ldquo;They&rsquo;re great,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;but I think two nights of them is my limit.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m only staying two nights,&rdquo; said Dennis Ball of the St. Louis Blues, &ldquo;because I can&rsquo;t stand the bands. I went to the Minnesota high school tournament and had a seat right next to the tuba player. I figured it wouldn&rsquo;t be too bad, because the tuba player would get tired. But I forgot: there were four different bands and four fresh tuba players!&rdquo;&bull;There are always good stories at any tournament and one of the best at the NCAA&rsquo;s was the recovery of Lisa Andringa, whose brother, Jeff, is a defenseman for Wisconsin. Last year, a week before Wisconsin played in the NCAA finals at Providence, Lisa, a student at Wisconsin, suffered a heart attack. Her heart stopped for more than 20 minutes, but, through some first-class emergency work, her life was saved and Jeff, assured that his sister would be all right, played in the tourney.Lisa, who is undergoing therapy, was in the stands at Grand Forks, rooting for Jeff and the Badgers. All the family wore red, except Conrad, the father. He wore a Providence sweatshirt, in appreciation of all the prayers Providence people said for Lisa last year.My only disappointment was not visiting nearby Thief River Falls, MN. A couple late-March snowstorms prevented my trip to the town with the fascinating name. Maybe next time I&rsquo;m in Grand Forks. &#9632;

f0010-01

HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">BY GARY MUELLER</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Will it never end? Just when it appeared some degree of sanity was being restored to the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; 1982-83 season, everything went crazy again.The emergence of a group of local investors, coupled with some strong goaltending from a rested Mike Liut, seemingly had the Blues ready for smooth sailing heading into the playoffs. The talk about the franchise being moved to Saskatoon was dying down and Liut, given a breather as backup goalie Rick Heinz made a couple starts, showed signs of his all-star form of two years ago.But then&hellip;The Blues went into Boston Garden and scored six goals against the Bruins and two nights later walked into the Montreal Forum and fired five goals past the Canadiens. What&rsquo;s so unusual about that, you ask? The Blues lost both games. When is the last time that a team scored 11 goals in back-to-back games in Boston and Montreal without coming away with at least a point?Meanwhile, the saga of the sale of the franchise took a few twists, too.The board of directors of Ralston Purina Co., the owner of the Blues, met and discussed the sale of the team, but didn&rsquo;t arrive at any final decision.&ldquo;The board was brought up to date on everything that has transpired up to this point on both offers,&rdquo; Ralston spokesman Elmer Richars said. &ldquo;It was more of an information session with respect to the Blues.&rdquo;Richars said the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Ralston board would be in early May. With the Saskatoon group still needing to construct a building after receiving approval for the transfer of the Blues, that about rules out the possiblity of the Blues opening the 1983-84 season in Saskatoon.However, the group of St. Louis investors reportedly were in need of further financing to have the wherewithal to operate the team. A source of further funding might be West Coast investor Harry Omest, who was revealed to have met with officials of Ralston Purina and with officials of the group of St. Louis investors.If I would become involved, it would be with local people whose total and sole aim is to keep the club in St. Louis,&rdquo; Omest said. &ldquo;It is totally erroneous to suggest that I would want this club to be playing anywhere besides St. Louis. The place for this hockey club is in St. Louis.&rdquo;Omest was born in Edmonton, but has spent most of his life in southern California and currently resides in Beverly Hills, CA. He owned the Vancouver Canadians baseball team in the Pacific Coast League from 1978 until 1980, when he sold the team to Nelson Skalbania, who formerly owned the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Calgary Flames. Omest&rsquo;s brother, Leo, currently is the Flames&rsquo; vice-president for marketing and broadcasting.Harry Omest, however, declined to say whether he would become involved in the buying of the Blues by the St. Louis group.&ldquo;I have nothing definitely planned,&rdquo; he said &ldquo;It was just exploratory I expect we&rsquo;ll talk further.&rdquo;On the ice, things were just as topsy-turvy, as the Blues nailed down a playoff spot between the losses in Boston and Montreal when the Detroit Red Wings continued losing.Thus, the Blues with only one win in their last five games, clinched the playoff spot when Detroit mathematically eliminated itself.BLUENOTES&mdash;The Blues&rsquo; Jorgen Pettersson could be a candidate for the Lady Byng trophy, with another 30-goal season and only four minutes in penalties&mdash;two for interference against Buffalo on Oct. 24 and two for hooking against Edmonton on Jan. 11&hellip;Brian Sutter&rsquo;s two goals in the Blues&rsquo; 4-1 victory in Hartford gave him 44 goals, erasing Chuck Lefley&rsquo;s team record of 43 goals by a left winger, set in 1975-76&hellip;Rob Ramage added the Blues&rsquo; record for most assists by a defenseman to most points by a defenseman, which he had broken a week earlier. The former marks were 33 assists, set by Jack Brownschidle in 1981-82, and 44 points, set by Brownschidle in 1979-80. Ramage had 35 assists and 50 points with three games left in the regular season. &#9632;

More Craziness For The Blues

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011141/4603020-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0011-01

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021009/4603051-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Veteran North Star defenseman Fred Barrett broke his finger blocking a shot in a game against Detroit.</figcaption></div>MINNESOTA&mdash;Like a punch-drunk fighter trying to hang on without any remaining equilibrium, the Minnesota North Stars somehow staggered to the end of the regular season.Barely, if ever, has this group of North Stars been more depressed or bewildered about themselves as they were heading into the Stanley Cup playoffs. Some of the players with the best mental outlooks on the club were stymied, wondering what had gone wrong, wondering if they could pick it up in time for a show of anything in the playoffs.Toronto, which finished 30 points behind the North Stars, should not be considered an ominous threat in the first round of the playoffs, but the only possible saving grace for the Stars is that they they now respect the Maple Leafs, if not flat Out fear them.The Leafs finished Minnesota&rsquo;s home schedule by inflicting a 4-2 loss on the Stars. Before the game, coach Murray Oliver wrote &ldquo;THEY WANT YOU&rdquo; on the chalkboard in the Stars&rsquo; dressing room, with the capital letters stressing what the Leafs were saying in Toronto. The Leafs were playing with great deter mination to overtake St. Louis for third place, just so they could play the North Stars.It&rsquo;s not that the Stars play so badly against the Leafs, although there is evidence that they have done that. The Leafs play with great confidence against the Stars, as if they are certain they can outplay them and win.In that last home game, the Stars poured it on in the third period, trailing 3-2 and knowing that if they lost, their season-long pursuit of Chicago for the Norris pennant would be finished.Some good plays, some good shots, but things didn&rsquo;t click. Neal Broten dropped a slick pass to Dino Ciccarelli, but Ciccarelli&rsquo;s blast hit Broten in the back of the leg. Brad Maxwell and then Bobby Smith dumped the puck deep, but the Leafs simply grabbed it and skated out.Earlier, between periods, the entire North Star front-office staff, from president John Kan, GM Lou Nanne and down through the guy who guards the door, assembled on the ice for a spoken and song tribute to the loyal, if not spend-thrifty, fans. Right in the middle of the tribute, the fans booed&mdash;so loudly it drowned out the ceremony.Meanwhile, in the final minute of the final period, Oliver sent out a line with Bobby Smith centering Willi Plett and Jordy Douglas. Terry Martin plunked one into the empty net at the other end with 18 seconds to go and it was over.The Stars went into Chicago the next night, for the resumption of the war the two teams have waged all season. Gilles Meloche held the Stars close, as they trailed only 1-0 through two periods. The dike broke in the third and Chicago waltzed to a 5-0 lead.Nanne said he thought a lot of things about the game were encouraging, that Meloche had &ldquo;overplayed&rdquo; three of the goals or it would only have been a 2-0 game.The Stars, with the the most power-play goals in the league, failed in eight opportunities in Chicago.Oliver said he was mystified about how to motivate the team. The players were obviously bewildered about how to motivate themselves.Nanne signed Providence defenseman Randy Velischek and he was immediately plunked into the lineup when Fred Barrett went down with a broken finger, after trying to block a Reed Larson blast in Detroit. Strangely, Velischek was paired with Craig Harstburg, while Brad Maxwell and Gordie Roberts manned the other pair. That left Curt Giles with rookie Dan Mandich, a willing but green blueliner.Since Oliver seemed reluctant to play Mandich in key situations, that meant Giles&mdash;perhaps the steadiest, most consistent and certainly the most unsung defenseman on the club&mdash;barely played.And lines were still being juggled in the final game of the season and nobody was certain who they&rsquo;d be paired with in the playoffs.The only thing that could save the Stars from quick elimination is they know they&rsquo;re in for a scrap with Toronto. Last year, they were thinking Stanley Cup finals when Chicago eliminated them in the first round. But nobody &mdash; nobody &mdash; is thinking Stnaley Cup finals this time. &#9632;

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Stars Stagger Into Stanley Cup Showdown

<div class="byline">BY STEVE SIMMONS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011183/4603082-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="291" height="340"></div><h2>Team Of The Future</h2>IN A BARREN Buffalo arena on a Wednesday morning, Phil Housley, 18, passed the puck to Hannu Virta, 19, who slid a backhand in the direction of Dave Andreychuk, 19.In another comer of the ice, the master builder watched intently. For this is the team of the future, built and delivered by William Scott Bowman, the under-the-gun boss of Buffalo Sabres.Four years ago, Bowman left Montreal Canadiens for a more powerful position with the Sabres. In four years, he has phased out many players worth phasing out, made five substantial trades&mdash;all winners&mdash;and in his final year of his contract, many wonder if he will be rehired.It is depressed and depressing Buffalo and these are difficult times for both the people and their favorite hockey club. Gone are the free-wheeling days of the French Connection, gone is the coach with the fedora, gone is Eddie the Entertainer, who now makes his living in clothing commercials.Gone are the sold-out houses so prevalent between the years 1971 and 1980. Attendance has dropped to 13,000 per night as the team of the future continues in a season of both high highs and low lows.<h2>Scotty&rsquo;s Not Popular</h2>BOWMAN HAS REBUILT the Sabres and it is only a matter of time before they again challenge for Lord Stanley&rsquo;s Cup. He has stockpiled the finest young players this side of Edmonton but, despite the turnover, his clubs have been competitive. Yet, he remains unpopular.Since he arrived after a series of Stanley Cups on the other side of the border, Bowman&rsquo;s Sabres have played hockey at a .630 clip. Still, it hasn&rsquo;t been enough to please the hardened Sabre fan. In most National Hockey League cities, .500 seasons have become reason enough to give coaches a new contract, spout of optimism, talk of the Stanley Cup.Bowman&rsquo;s impressive record, both as coach and administrator, is often lost or clouded in personality clashes. He is not, nor will he ever be, hockey&rsquo;s most popular figure. Yet his record is so very impessive.He ranks not below the Bill Torreys, Lou Nanne and Harry Sindens of the hockey world, as a general manager. He traded the now-retired Rene Robert to Colorado for defenseman John Van Boxmeer. He traded the now-retired Rick Martin to Los Angeles for a first-round draft pick. He traded Jerry Korab to the those same Kings for a first-round pick, which turned out to be Housley.He traded Don Edwards to Calgary for a first-round pick (Paul Cyr) and a swap of first-rounders. He traded mediocre Richie Dunn to Calgary for a second-rounder. And while his major trade with the Red Wings has not turned out to be that major, the Sabres are getting good work out of Brent Peterson and good enough out of Mike Foligno to still make them a winner. All they gave up was Danny Gare, Jim Schoenfeld and Derek Smith.In Housley and Virta, the two teenaged blueliners, Bowman has his anchor for a championship defense. Immensely talented, Housley has outshone Brian Bellows and Gord Kluzak&mdash;the prize catches of last year&rsquo;s entry draft&mdash;in his initial season.<h2>Close To Orr</h2>&ldquo;HE IS,&rdquo; SAYS Bowman, &ldquo;the closest thing to Bobby Orr.&rdquo; If that&rsquo;s not accurate, try Ray Bourque.There is Andreychuk, a big, strong, slow center, who has been compared to Phil Esposito. He will be a big scorer in the NHL. Cyr has been also been compared to Rick Martin and most recently has proven why. Much is also expected of Mike Moller and Sean McKenna, two 20-year-old right wingers with the Sabres&rsquo; Rochester farm club in the American Hockey League.As coach, Bowman is simply the best.He has taken a team comprised of six or seven rookies on most nights this season to a more than respectable record. These are his Sabres, a competitive, fast-skating club, that soon will struggle for the Stanley Cup.In a comer of a barren arena, teenaged professional athletes looking more like children than heroes, continue their daily routines. For this is the team of the future, with or without the master builder.MORE ON SCOTTY&mdash;Just the thought that the Sabres will not renew the contract of Bowman is absurd. Yet there is talk throughout the hockey world that a poor playoff for the Sabres will mean just that. If that&rsquo;s the case, there could be a terrific bidding war for his services.Some people seem to think that he is on his way back to St. Louis, to take over the Blues, while Emile Francis is on his way to Hartford. Cliff Fletcher denies he&rsquo;s leaving Calgary for Pittsburgh, but no one in Calgary is fighting for him to stay. If Bowman was available, the Flames&rsquo; brass could also enter the bidding.LEFTOVERS&mdash;Why is it the NHL has an award for the best defensive forward but not the best defensive defenseman?&hellip;A hot Pat Riggin could defeat New York Islanders in the first round of the playoffs&hellip;Latest prediction: Boston over Chicago in a long final&hellip; Pre-season prediction wasn&rsquo;t that bad: Minnesota over Boston in the final. &#9632;

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THE WESTERN WORD

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>BOSTON&mdash;It was the slapshot heard&rsquo; round the world of Boston hockey.It came off the stick of Quebec&rsquo;s Wally Weir at 11:50 of the third period in the Bruins&rsquo; 78th game of the season and it caught Mike Milbury flush on the right knee as he went down to block it.&ldquo;It hurt like hell,&rdquo; said Milbury, &ldquo;but I thought it was just a stinger. I went back to the bench and when I tried to climb over the boards for my next shift I found I couldn&rsquo;t support myself.&rdquo;The diagnosis came a day later&mdash;broken kneecap. Milbury would be out for 10 to 12 weeks which, for practical purposes, is the rest of the season, even if the Bruins go to the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals.Ironically, the injury to Milbury came as the Bruins were clinching first place overall in the National Hockey League, giving them what some consider their best shot at the Cup in a decade.&ldquo;Usually I can accept an injury as part of the game, but this is tough,&rdquo; said Bruin GM Harry Sinden. &ldquo;He was having his best year. Terry (O&rsquo;Reilly), Stevie (Kasper) and now this. That&rsquo;s the problem with the playoffs. There are so many factors that can change everything for you. And there&rsquo;s no time to recoup. &rdquo;Milbury&rsquo;s injury was only the latest in a long series of mishaps to key players that the Bruins have had to overcome on route to the best record in hockey.Ray Bourque missed the first 13 games of the season with a fractured sinus bone. Normand Leveille&rsquo;s career was ended by a cerebral hemhorrage. Kasper was felled with shoulder surgery. O&rsquo;Reilly was sidelined for the season with knee surgury.To top it off in the final weeks of the season, Keith Crowder, the team&rsquo;s third-leading scorer with 35 goals and 74 points, suffered a bruised shoulder when he was checked into the board by Dave Langevin of the New York Islanders. His playoff status is uncertain, at least for the opening round.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02867/4603120-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="552" height="753"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bruin veteran Brad Park would like to win the Cup before he retires.</figcaption></div>Randy Hillier, the young defenseman who played steadily, if unspectacularly, all season, came down with what was first diagnosed as a sprained right knee in the penultimate game in Montreal. His status on the eve of the playoffs was also uncertain.Milbury&rsquo;s loss hurt the most for a team that has lived off its defense throughout the season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tremendous loss,&rdquo; said coach Gerry Cheevers, &ldquo;and the timing is what makes it such a loss. He&rsquo;s a terrific competitor. But we&rsquo;ve rebounded all year from injury and we&rsquo;ve got to do it again.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you what these guys are going to do,&rdquo; said Milbury. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re going to react to this just the way they&rsquo;ve reacted to every other setback they&rsquo;ve been handed. They&rsquo;re gonna start stroking a little harder on those oars and they&rsquo;re gonna pull together just a little bit more.&rdquo;Meanwhile, while the Bruins were losing Milbury. they regained Kasper, the 1982 winner of the Selke Trophy as the league&rsquo;s best defensive forward, who missed 49 games with shoulder surgery on Dec. 7. He returned March 24, only to take a stick in the eye on his first shift against St. Louis. It wasn&rsquo;t serious, although he had to leave the game. His real comeback was March 26 against Hartford.&ldquo;Wednesday night I was lying in bed thinking about the game Thursday,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;All I was thinking was, &lsquo;I gotta get one hit in to make sure the shoulder feels good.&rsquo; I got a stick right in the eye as soon as I stepped out on the ice and I was gone.&ldquo;Next game I was trying not to even think about it. The way this year&rsquo;s been going, I went out there saying, &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s get this damn thing over with.&rsquo; I went into the comer a few times and it felt good. I hit Doug Sulliman right at our blueline in the third period. I hit him pretty good and I felt strong, so I&rsquo;m confident it will work out now.&rdquo;Of all the Bruins, probably Brad Park has the most at stake in the 1983 playoffs. He has been in the post-season competition every year for 15 years. He&rsquo;s been in the finals three times, but he&rsquo;s never been on a Cup-winning team. At 34, with two bad knees, each spring could be his last chance. He&rsquo;s more optimistic than usual about this one.&ldquo;Other years you&rsquo;d say, &lsquo;If we get this break or that, we&rsquo;ve got a chance,&rsquo; &rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This year you say, &lsquo;The kind of year we&rsquo;ve had, we&rsquo;re capable of winning it.&rsquo;&ldquo;I just wish we were a little healthier.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011130/4603113-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="555" height="805"><figcaption class="caption-body">A broken kneecap has sidelined defenseman Mike Milbury for 10 to 12 weeks.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0013-02

Bruins Encounter Another Setback

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;Stop the fretting. Start relaxing. Ol&rsquo; Thunderlugs is back in town.The Winnipeg Jets are a different club when Larry Hopkins plays. They begin to win more games than they lose.But the 29-year-old left winger toils in relative obscurity. He isn&rsquo;t underestimated; he&rsquo;s downright unappreciated.If he has a curse, it&rsquo;s the mutual respect he shares with Tom Watt, the Jets&rsquo; coach.&rsquo;&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t be objective when I discuss Hoppy,&rdquo; said Watt, almost apologizing. &ldquo;He was my captain for years at the University of Toronto. I know him so well, I find it difficult to regard him as just another player.&rdquo;Watt&rsquo;s reluctance to praise him publicly is premised on the fact that others in the organization may accuse him of promoting a favorite son.Hopkins is hardly considered a prospect by John Ferguson, the Jets&rsquo; GM.But even he has seen him in a different light in the last few days as the team suddenly kicked into gear, winning seven out of 10 games to wrap up a playoff spot for the second time since joining the National Hockey League four years ago.&ldquo;He has helped a lot,&rdquo; said Ferguson. &ldquo;All of the new players have helped.&rdquo;Hopkins was called up to the Jets on March 8, the trading deadline. But precious little attention was devoted to the arrival of himself and center Ron Wilson from Sherbrooke of the American Hockey League.The real hoopla surrounded Ferguson&rsquo;s decision to trade a fan favorite, Willy Lindstrom, to the Edmonton Oilers for Laurie Boschman, a 22-year-old center. For many, it was like a death in the family. Lindstrom was a throw-back to the World Hockey Association days when the Jets, using a blend of Europeans and Canadians, won three league championships.Quietly, Hopkins took a place in the lineup. No smattering of applause greeted his arrival. All eyes were focused on Boschman.The Jets won, beating Buffalo 6-0. Hopkins didn&rsquo;t manage a single point, but he played well.What does Hopkins mean to the Jets?Most of his teammates regard him as an honest hockey player, strong along the boards, not flashy but adequate.His detractors denounce him as being too slow and unproductive. But they have been unusually quiet lately.Still, the bottom line is the same. When he plays, the Jets seem to win. That is a heavy conclusion, but it can be supported by facts.Hopkins has played 51 games for the Jets since 1981. The team&rsquo;s record in that span is 27-18-6 or .588 hockey.Without him, the team is 39-53-16, which is .430 hockey.By no means does this revelation suggest he is the only reason why the team has a better record when he is around. There are a multitude of factors involved.But it is fair to say he is at least partly responsible for the switch in the club&rsquo;s fortunes.A year ago, he joined the team in midseason and appeared on a line with Dale Hawerchuk and Paul MacLean. Hawerchuk had a torrid second half, becoming the youngest player in the history of the NHL to collect more than 100 points (103) in his rookie season.Not surprisingly, Hawerchuk won the Calder Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s Rookie of the Year.But almost forgotten as a contributing factor was Hopkins, the old rookie. He never played on the line again.By mid-summer, as Ferguson announced the signing of Brian Mullen, it was made clear that he would be Hawerchuk&rsquo;s new left winger. The Jets let Hopkins&rsquo; contract expire last summer before signing him again&mdash;for one more year.Before training camp even began last fall, his photo appeared among the team&rsquo;s farmhands in the Jets&rsquo; media guide.Not once did he skate on the same line as Hawerchuk and MacLean. He was left unprotected in the waiver draft. Before camp was over, he was banished to the minors.&ldquo;Coming to camp, I felt I had proven I could contribute to the team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I was sent to Sherbrooke and I thought I would never get back.&ldquo;Many times I was tempted to retire. My wife is from Tulsa and we were thinking of making our home there. I have a business degree and I&rsquo;m sure I could get a job.&rdquo;But the phone rang once more. The Jets beckoned him back to Winnipeg. Gladly, he returned.BENCH BITS&mdash;Wilson struck for four goals in a 10-5 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. He required only five shots. All told, the Jets had 54 shots on Markus Mattsson to break a club record, set only 11 days earlier against the Quebec Nordiques&hellip;&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a hardnosed team now,&rdquo; said general manager John Ferguson, reviewing his roster. &ldquo;We have changed our style a lot&rdquo;&hellip; Defenseman Bryan Maxwell has been drawing rave reviews with his play of late. He scored a beautiful goal against Los Angeles on a rink-long rush a la Bobby Orr. Said Maxwell: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s scary.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011165/4603151-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="552" height="860"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Hopkins has proven his value since being recalled from Sherbrooke on March 8.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Jets Better With Hopkins In Their Lineup

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div>QUEBEC&mdash;The Nordiques are about to go into the playoffs, but coach Michel Bergeron is wondering whether he will be getting the full co-operation from his players.In a story in the Journal de Quebec, Bergeron said that several of his players are &ldquo;not coachable.&rdquo;&ldquo;We will meet with players to discuss strategy before a game and we just can&rsquo;t count on having all players doing what we want,&rdquo; Bergeron said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll talk to four wingers and tell them what to do, but often two or only three of the four will do what we ask of them.&ldquo;The Nordiques are still unpredictable, because we never know what to expect from certain players.&rdquo;After one of his team&rsquo;s off-ice workouts at the Centre Entrain, where the Nordiques meet about once a month, Bergeron claimed that some of his players were trying to &ldquo;sneak out.&rdquo;&ldquo;We try to treat everyone equally; some appreciate that but others don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Some players seem to try to avoid us.&rdquo;All this followed a preview of the opening round of the playoffs, when the Nords and Bruins squared off in Quebec on March 29. The Nordiques blew a 3-2 lead and let the Bruins escape with a 4-3 triumph. Louis Sleighergave Quebec the lead with his second goal of the game, but Barry Pederson and Rick Middleton scored 76 seconds apart late in the third period to ice the victory.&ldquo;It was a disappointing game, just like it has been a disappointing season for us,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;We played with intensity and with discipline and I even think we made (Pete) Peeters a little nervous, which may help us in the playoffs.&rdquo;Bergeron publicized some decisions concerning which players he&rsquo;d be starting in the series, which opens in Boston.&ldquo;Dave Pichette will not dress for us, because he is still making the same mistakes he has been all year,&rdquo; Bergeron said. &ldquo;1 think someone like Jean Hamel will be more effective in the small Boston rink.&ldquo;That 4-3 loss against Boston will not hurt us psychologically, because we know they are the best team in the NHL. The Boston defensemen simply do not make mistakes. The first goal of each game will be of the utmost importance and we certainly can&rsquo;t afford to give up a bad goal at the start of the game.&rdquo;Both Bergeron and Gerry Cheevers know that goaltending will be a big factor in the series.&ldquo;A slump by Peeters is always possible,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;We know how strong Boston is and that we will have to forecheck well to be in the game. We can match the Boston offense, but we must check their defense. Goaltending could well be the difference overall.&rdquo;Cheevers expected a stronger performance by the Nordiques than what he had seen in recent games.&ldquo;Quebec is a good playoff team and they will be much stronger with Marian Stastny back in the lineup/&rsquo; Cheevers said.&ldquo;Quebec is a good playoff team and they will be much stronger with Marian Stastny in the lineup,&rdquo; Cheevers said. &ldquo;We will do everything we can and we know we have to keep checking and using the body as much as possible. We will play conservative hockey.&rdquo;The Bruins have the reputation of being the hardest-working team in the league, but Cheevers does not think they will run out of gas in the playoffs.&ldquo;Working that hard all year to win first place overall can sometimes backfire like it did for the Blues a few years ago,&rdquo; Cheevers said. &ldquo;Our players have been working hard all year and we know we will be ready for the playoffs.&rdquo;The Nordiques have added Sleigher, defensemen Pat Price and Blake Wesley to the roster in recent months and all three have impressed Bergeron.&ldquo;Sleigher has been playing great physical hockey for us and he deserves the good breaks he has been getting,&rdquo; Bergeron said. &ldquo;He will be in his element against the Bruins in the playoffs. I&rsquo;m also happy with the play of Price and Wesley. They have the size, the right attitude and they will be with us for awhile.&rdquo;The opening round series probably rests in the gloves of goalie Dan Bouchard, who has been inconsistent in recent months.&ldquo;Dan has the experience,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;I know he will be ready for Boston. He proved last year what he can do. He is a proud guy and he will want to show he is just as good as Peeters.&rdquo; &#9632;

Nords Head Into Playoffs With Uncertain Attitude

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02944/4603206-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Photo by Bruce Bennett</figcaption></div>Perhaps it is only fitting that we close out the National Hockey League regular season with Edmonton Oiler whiz kid Wayne Gretzky as THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; Player of the Week.In the final week of the regular season, Gretzky led all NHL scorers with 10 points. He had three goals and seven assists in just three games. And, of course, he easily won the NHL points race with 71 goals and 125 assists for 196 points, 72 more than runner-up Peter Stastny of the Quebec Nordiques.On top of all that, he led the Oilers to an NHL-team record 424 goals, finished with a plus-60 in the plus-minus rating, led the entire NHL with the most shots (348) and had a league-leading six shorthanded goals. Toss in his nine game-winners and you see why Gretzky dominated this space this season. &#9632;

f0014-02

Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER AND THN STAFF</div>If Emile Francis goes to Hartford as GM and super-boss as powerfully hinted, his first order of business will be finding a coach. One name being mentioned is Freddie Shero, an old pal and former teammate of The Cat. Insiders say Freddie would be receptive to another National Hockey League coaching stint, if the offer is right. Another report suggested that the Whalers are trying to lure Harry Sinden away from the Boston Bruins&hellip;John Ziegler is echoing the sentiments of other league officials when he expresses &ldquo;cautious optimism&rdquo; about the Blues remaining in St. Louis. However, a number of problems remain, not the least of which is political fighting among members of the group formed to keep the club in Missouri. One informant notes that some of those helping the Blues are there for &ldquo;political exposure.&rdquo; Ziegler tells BLUELINES that the Ralston-Purina Company has been sympathetic with the NHL&rsquo;s wishes in the Blues&rsquo; sale and has shown &ldquo;good faith.&rdquo; Ziegler adds: &ldquo;They (Ralston-Purina) have listened and have taken their time on the matter&rdquo;The Jets&rsquo; Morris Lukowich has lost points with Winnipeg fans. Journalist Kathy Johnson notes that Luke and the Jet Booster Club no longer are the best of pals. &ldquo;Every season,&rdquo; she tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;the Jets&rsquo; rookies take the older group out for dinner while on the road. This year, they did it in Los Angeles. Just about everyone from management showed up and 99 percent of the players. Lukowich didn&rsquo;t&rdquo;&hellip; Derek Sanderson has already titled his not-yet-completed book, &ldquo;The Truth About The Lie.&rdquo; The chapter on his relationship with Boston attorney Bob Woolf figures to be a scorcher. Derek says ex-Blue Noel Picard was the toughest fighter he ever faced. Turk insists that Emile Francis should never have been both GM and coach&hellip;Absence of Rod Gilbert from the Masters of Hockey spurred talk.. Reijo Ruostalainen, the Rangers&rsquo; Finnish defenseman, has led newsmen to believe his English is too uncertain for him to conduct interviews. Some writers, who noticed Rexy doing The New York Times crossword puzzle on flights, suspect he is pulling their leg&hellip;Canadiens&rsquo; Chris Nilan dispatched a wreath to the funeral of Long Island teenager Christopher Gruhn, who was murdered in late March. Nilan, who did not know Gruhn, explained: &ldquo;I read the little guy liked to play hockey. I thought it would be good for the famity to know that someone is thinking of them, not just their family and friends, but someone from somewhere else. I look at myself and realize how lucky I am&rdquo;&hellip;People magazine&rsquo;s spread on Ron Greschner and his $200,000-a-year model-fiancee Carol Alt was the third hockey spread of the season for the publication. Gresch explains his pitch to Carol after she was dropped by singer Rex Smith. &ldquo;The hell with Rex. Go out with me!&rdquo; was his Carol-winning line.Gordie Howe predicts he&rsquo;ll have an emotional problem if the Bruins and Flyers meet in the playoffs. Son Marty is with Boston and Mark with Philly. &ldquo;If they meet,&rdquo; says Gordie, &ldquo;that&rsquo;s when I&rsquo;m going to Florida!&rdquo; Howe&rsquo;s future in the Whalers&rsquo; high command will be a topic for discussion when the new Hartford hockey hierarchy takes over&hellip;Danny Geoffrion, son of Bernie, will be boning up on his Japanese. Danny will be heading to Japan next fall to coach and play for the Snow Brand club in Sapporo&hellip;Eddie Giacomin blames Madison Square Garden honcho Sonny Werblin for shutting him out of a job with the Rangers. He told Mark Everson of the New York Post: &ldquo;Werblin was one of the reasons I never got anything. He said: &lsquo;Who the hell is Eddie Giacomin?&rsquo; You can&rsquo;t make it any plainer than that&rdquo;&hellip;Nick Fotiu filled out a biography form before appearing in the Rangers&rsquo; annual fashion show. In the blank for hobbies, Fotiu scribbled: &ldquo;Lobstering and making a mess&rdquo;Angry words and glares exchanged between Caps&rsquo; rookie Scott Stevens and Ranger captain Barry Beck led onlookers to believe that the feud has just begun&hellip;Flyer-watchers are wondering whether chairman Ed Snider&rsquo;s son, Jay, will ultimately move into position of power at The Spectrum. Jay I tell BLUELINES that he&rsquo;s also busy with other business pursuits. Writing I in the Newark Star-Ledger,&nbsp;Walt MacPeek noted that Jay told Fred Shero I that it&rsquo;s necessary to put fighting back into the NHL again&hellip;Minnesota I State hockey tourney has grown from obscurity to one of the nation&rsquo;s top I hockey events. In 1964, the local television station paid less than $3,000 to I televise the tournament. This year, WCCO-TV paid $ 150,000 as part of a I three-year package totalling $450,000&hellip;&ldquo;Thin Ice,&rdquo; Larry (Ratso) Sloman&rsquo;s behind-the-scenes X-rated look at the Rangers, is out in paperback. I When Ratso ran into Phil Esposito, Phil noted that his father nearly had a I stroke reading the book. Sloman figured that the elder Esposito had trouble I with the raunchy parts. &ldquo;No,&rdquo; added Phil, &ldquo;he nearly had a stroke from I laughing so hard! &rdquo;&hellip; Caps&rsquo; captain Rod Langway keeps a rubber chicken I hung in front of his locker. After Langway was cut for several stitches I recently during a game, a similar number of stitch marks appeared on the I chicken soon after&hellip;The list of possibilities for the next North Star I coaching job includes: Murray Oliver, Pat Quinn, Dave King, Brian I Kilrea, Terry Crisp, Gene Ubriaco, J.P. Parise and John GasparIini&hellip;Rumors continue to surface that Bob Butera, who almost certainly I will leave the Flyer executive suite this spring, is going to become the I Devils&rsquo; president, on June 1, filling a still vacant slot.Ref Kerry Fraser: &ldquo;We (the refs) hate the word &lsquo;inconsistent&rsquo; bandied I about. No two people think alike. You can&rsquo;t approach a hockey game the I same way each time, because each game is different and we&rsquo;re different&rdquo;&hellip;Flyer scout Marcel Pelletier on Bob Johnson: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s too honest&mdash;in every way&rdquo;&hellip;Jacques Laperriere predicts that Hab defenseman I Craig Ludwig will be a better hockey player than Brian Engblom. &ldquo;The potential is all there,&rdquo; says Laperriere. &ldquo;All he has to do is develop it&rdquo;. &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011112/4603261-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Photo by Bruce BennettThe Oilers admit they made a mistake by not drafting defenseman Charlie Huddy, but atoned for it by signing him as a free agent.</figcaption></div>EDMONTON&mdash;Ed Hospodar, the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; defenseman, shook his head in amazement while watching Charlie Huddy unload a howitzer during a recent Edmonton Oiler practice.Bing! Top shelf! Goal!&ldquo;When Charlie was 18, they thought he was done&hellip;he had such a weight problem,&rdquo; said Hospodar, who performed in the Ontario Hockey League at the same time as Huddy&mdash;the Oilers&rsquo; nominee for the Bill Masterton trophy.In fact, when the the 6-foot, 200-pound Huddy reported overweight to Edmonton&rsquo;s 1980-81 training camp&mdash;a definite no-no in the eyes of Edmonton GM-coach Glen Sather&mdash;he was exiled to the minors for 32 games. The message was: head directly to Wichita Wind of the Central Hockey League, but do not pass go and heaven forbid, don&rsquo;t even dare consider stopping over at a hamburger joint along the way.Upon recall, Huddy developed so quickly with an impressive second half, Sather deemed Huddy&rsquo;s defensive partner, Risto Siltanen, expendable. He unloaded the Finnish rearguard to Hartford in the steal of a deal that netted the Oilers feisty center Ken Linseman.This season, Huddy&rsquo;s first full campaign in the National Hockey League, has proven Sather correct. Huddy has been Edmonton&rsquo;s steadiest defenseman with 18 goals and 36 assists.Not only is the 23-year-old Huddy one of the league&rsquo;s highest-scoring rearguards, but his plus-61 with two games to go almost assuredly makes him the winner in the NHL&rsquo;s plus-minus rating. Teammate Wayne Gretzky is second at 54, while Huddy&rsquo;s high-scoring defense partner Paul Coffey, who leads the league in goals (29) and points (96) for a defenseman, is next at plus-50.The ultra-shy Huddy blushed when informed of the Masterton nomination that has gone to Lee Fogolin the last three seasons.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great honor, but like I said a 1,000 times before, the main thing is to help the team keep winning,&rdquo; Huddy said. &ldquo;If it means having a good season for me, that&rsquo;s fine, too. It&rsquo;s just good to see we&rsquo;ve been cutting down on goals against. I guess it&rsquo;s working&hellip;we always see a forward in the high slot coming back now.&rdquo;Huddy, of course, often finds himself in a position to witness that first hand. Coffey, who is playing with the confidence he displayed several months ago, carries the puck more often than any other defenseman in the league. Huddy&rsquo;s the stay-at-home rearguard of the tandem that has become particularly effective as the season winds down.The Masterton trophy is awarded annually to the NHL player who &ldquo;best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportmanship and dedication to hockey.&rdquo;Huddy certainly qualifies&mdash;particularly in the area of perseverance.A member of the Oshawa Generals, he was by-passed during the NHL entry draft in 1979. The draft was only six rounds that year, but Oiler chief scout Barry Fraser is the first to admit bypassing Huddy could have been a big mistake.&ldquo;In fact, it was a mistake, but we were lucky enough to sign him as a free agent,&rdquo; confessed Fraser of Huddy, who also weighed an offer from the Calgary Flames.Huddy, however, has paid his dues, logging two-and-a-half years in the minors while trimming his waistline. &#9632;

f0015-01

Huddy Had To Shed Fat To Get To Where He’s At

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01968/4603292-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0016-01

FINAL NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01857/4603323-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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SCORING FOR 1982-83 SEASON

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01873/4603354-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Housley, the Sabres&rsquo; precocious 19-year-old defenseman, picked up 18 points in his last 18 games.</figcaption></div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyBUFFALO&mdash;A rookie defenseman and a resurrected veteran center were working on scoring streaks as the Buffalo Sabres closed out the regular season.Phil Housley, a 19-year-old defenseman, the Sabres&rsquo; leading candidate for the Calder Trophy as the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Rookie of the Year, was picking up a point nearly every game as the Sabres came down the stretch.Housley, who last season was playing high school hockey in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, picked up 18 points in 18 games going into the final weekend of the season. He was third among all rookie scorers, behind two forwards, Steve Larmer of Chicago and Mats Naslund of Montreal.Housley&rsquo;s 19 goals&mdash;with a game remaining&mdash;were only three behind the rookie season record of 22 scored by Barry Beck with the 1977-78 Colorado Rockies.Housley&rsquo;s 47 assists were one short of the total compiled by Boston&rsquo;s Ray Bourque in 1979-80. His 66 points put him one ahead of Bourque&rsquo;s record total in 1979-80. That record was broken in 1980-81 by Los Angeles&rsquo; Larry Murphy, who set the present standard of 76.Murphy is the only first-year defenseman to score more than the 5-foot-10, 176-pound Housley.People scoffed when Scotty Bowman, the Sabres&rsquo; GM-coach, compared Housley to Bobby Orr.As a rookie, however, Housley outscored the Boston Bruins&rsquo; all-time great. In his first NHL season in 1966-67, On scored 13 goals and assisted on 28 for 41 points.Orr, of course, was playing in the old pre-expansion six-team league.Buffalo was unbeaten&mdash;14-0-3&mdash;in games in which Housley scored a goal.Dale McCourt, first pick in the entire 1977 draft, found himself in an unaccustomed position during the 1982-83 season&mdash;a spectator in the press box when he was perfectly fit to play.McCourt sat out 18 games, including eight in one 11-game stretch during January and February. McCourt, who came to the Sabres as the key man in the seven-man trade with the Detroit Red Wings in 1981, admitted he wasn&rsquo;t pleased with watching his teammates play, but refused to sound off with complaints.The main knocks on the smooth-working center were his defensive play and his lack of speed. He just couldn&rsquo;t skate with the fast-moving youngsters on the Buffalo forward lines, said some. His plus-minus was the worst on the club.&ldquo;The goals-against was probably the main thing,&rdquo; McCourt said after returning to the lineup as center for Gil Perreault and Ric Seiling.&ldquo;They also mentioned my skating and my weight. And I wasn&rsquo;t scoring too regularly. You can go on and on. You start to have doubts about yourself.&ldquo;When I did get back in, I think I was skating well and I said to myself, &lsquo;Forget about the confidence factor and just do the best you can.&rsquo;&rdquo;In the seven games McCourt centered for Perrault and Seiling, the line scored 11 goals and totalled 29 points.With McCourt centering for him, Perreault had four goals and nine assists in that stretch. Perreault reached the 30-goal mark with two in an 8-5 win over the New Jersey Devils last week. That was the eighth time in his 13 seasons that Perreault scored 30 or more goals.The game picked the Sabres up after a disappointing 4-2 loss to the lowly Hartford Whalers, following a wild 6-6 tie with the Quebec Nordiques.McCourt scored the third-period goal which gave the Sabres the tie with Quebec, on a fine shot with one and a half minutes left in the game. Housley scored a key goal with one second remaining in the second period.The loss to the Whalers was a weird one. Blaine Stoughton scored the winning goal on a penalty shot with nine seconds to go.Referee Ron Fournier called the penalty shot, declaring Buffalo defenseman Mike Ramsey threw his stick at the puck when Stoughton was breaking in on goal. &#9632;

f0018-01

Perreault And Housley Streak To The End

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Battered and hanging onto the ropes for the previous week and a half, the Kings were officially knocked out of the Stanley Cup playoff hunt in Calgary on March 29.Kent Nilsson and Lanny McDonald inflicted the fatal one-two blows, combining for five goals and an assist, as the Flames scored a 5-3 decision in the Stampede Corral and mathematically eliminated the Kings from post-season play for the first time since the 1972-73 season.&ldquo;There&rsquo;ll be no miracle on Manchester this year, I guess,&rdquo; said Marcel Dionne with a sad smile, referring to last season&rsquo;s stirring upset of Edmonton in the playoff&rsquo;s opening round.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a funny feeling when it&rsquo;s over,&rdquo; he said and he wasn&rsquo;t laughing. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long summer. I did it my first four years (in Detroit), but I never thought it would happen again.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an awful feeling.&rdquo;This was not the way the Kings expected to go out. They began the season with very high hopes&mdash;and with four victories in the first six games&mdash;only to watch everything fall apart with a rash of serious injuries early on, followed up by six consecutive losses down the stretch, just when it appeared things were beginning to fall into place.The back-breaker might have been losing to Pittsburgh at home on March 19, despite peppering Michel Dion with a season-high 52 shots. A victory then would have pulled the Kings into a third-place tie; instead, they embarked on a two-game trip to Montreal and Quebec in the cellar, promptly lost both games, and that was that.A 9-3 shellacking at the hands of Edmonton at the Forum a couple of days later all but sealed their post-season fate.&ldquo;We had beaten some pretty good teams recently,&rdquo; Jim Fox said, &ldquo;then we played some teams that weren&rsquo;t so good, teams we should have beaten and we lost.&ldquo;And Winnipeg and Vancouver just kept on winning. And they won on the road, too. We just couldn&rsquo;t catch them. &rdquo;When the Kings look back on this season over the long summer, their inability to do much of anything on the road will come back to haunt them. With one last, meaningless journey to Winnipeg remaining on the suitcase circuit, the Kings managed to collect just seven victories and five ties in 39 games.Nineteen out of a possible 78 points just won&rsquo;t do it, in any league.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just turned out to be a dreadful season,&rdquo; captain Dave Lewis said softly, &ldquo;except for Marcel, who has accomplished so much.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know&hellip;I&rsquo;m just about out of words right now. I always thought we had a strong group of players here. We were just so inconsistent. We just haven&rsquo;t had the chemistry I guess. We&rsquo;ve been so up and down all year.&rdquo;Dionne was one of the few who had been consistently up. With a first-period assist in the big loss to Edmonton, Dionne established a National Hockey League record by reaching the 100-point plateau for the seventh time in his illustrious career.Dionne wasn&rsquo;t exactly the picture of health, either. He was still feeling the effects of having stopped a puck with his left ankle in a 7-3 loss in Quebec two nights before and had been listed as questionable for the game.He limped around the Kings&rsquo; dressing room afterwards, his badly bruised ankle heavily taped and wrapped in ice.&ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t his normal self, but I have to give him a lot of credit,&rdquo; coach Don Perry said later. &ldquo;He could easily have ducked out of this one, but there was no way he would.&rdquo;Dionne hadn&rsquo;t totally recovered as the season wound down to its final three games, but now there was plenty of time for that.It&rsquo;s a long way to training camp.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02681/4603385-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="549" height="1100"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Kings missed the playoffs but it wasn&rsquo;t for lack of effort by Marcel Dionne.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-02

Flames Give Kings The Heave-Ho

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01834/4603416-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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USA CABLE NETWORK BRINGS YOU THE NHL

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div>HARTFORD&mdash;This was the stuff of which scrapbooks and tall tales are made.It ended with Blaine Stoughton, a solitary gunslinger, standing at center ice about to embark on a rare penalty shot with the score tied and nine seconds remaining.&ldquo;Now I know what Mark Moseley feels like in front of 60,000 people,&rdquo; Stoughton said. &ldquo;Can you imagine what those place-kickers must go through? Believe me, it&rsquo;s scary.&rdquo;The Hartford Whalers hadn&rsquo;t come from behind in the third period to win all season. They had trailed after two periods in 40 games and had but one tie to show for a rather large collection of forgettable third periods.But against Buffalo in Game 78 in Hartford, the worm finally turned.First, Ronnie Francis, who continues to grow both in stature and ability before your very eyes, pocketed a shorthanded goal to force a 4-4 tie.Then with nine seconds left, referee Ron Fournier called the penalty shot.With Stoughton streaking in on Buffalo goaltender Bob Sauve, defenseman Mike Ramsey appeared to throw his stick at the Whalers&rsquo; sharpshooter, thereby allowing Fournier the option of signalling for a penalty shot, which he did.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a vicious slash.&rdquo; Ramsey said later. &ldquo;My stick popped out. I didn&rsquo;t throw it. If I had wanted to throw it. I would have thrown it from the blueline. It was a brutal call.&rdquo;Buffalo GM-coach Bowman wasn&rsquo;t nearly as kind.&ldquo;That should never have been a penalty shot,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It really doesn&rsquo;t make any difference because when the playoffs start, he (Fournier) won&rsquo;t be there.&rdquo;But it did make a difference in Hartford. not only to the Whalers, but to win-starved fans who stayed to the bitter end, hoping for&mdash;and finally receiving &mdash; a miracle of sorts.It was a magical moment, one that fathers often tell their sons about.&ldquo;You should have seen it, kid. Blaine Stoughton, going one-on-one, with nine seconds left. Everybody was standing and screaming. Ah, son, it sure was something.&rdquo;And so it was.Stoughton, who missed a penalty shot, the first of his 10-year pro career, earlier this year against Quebec and Clint Malarchuk, was forced to wait while Ramsey registered a complaint with Fournier that would cost the defenseman a 10-minute misconduct.&ldquo;Those five minutes felt like an hour,&rdquo; Stoughton said. &ldquo;I half expected Buffalo to call a timeout, like they do in basketball, just to make me sweat a little more. I&rsquo;ll be honest. Was I nervous.&rdquo;Enter acting head coach John Cunniff.&ldquo;You could see that Stash was very nervous,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I told him that it was a great situation, a no-lose situation. If he misses, we&rsquo;ve still got our comeback in the third and a tie. A penalty shot is a game of nerves. Stash held the puck just long enough. I&rsquo;m glad it was him.&rdquo;Sauve came out of his net, &ldquo;to force him to deke,&rdquo; he said later, but didn&rsquo;t quite get back fast enough. Stoughton slid the puck along the ice to Sauve&rsquo;s stick side and into the Buffalo cage.Pandemonium, not exactly Hartford&rsquo;s leading commodity, followed.Cups, cups and more cups were thrown on the ice to celebrate Stoughton&rsquo;s game-winner. Teammates sped to congratulate him&mdash;on the ice&mdash;a tidbit that Bowman was quick to point out to Fournier.&ldquo;That should have been a delay-of-game penalty,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the rule.&rdquo;Fournier, perhaps caught up in the excitement, pretended not to notice.&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t tell me that Hartford isn&rsquo;t a hockey town,&rdquo; said Larry Pleau, a press box observer. &ldquo;Just think what this town is going to be like three years from now.&rdquo;For nine seconds, with the money on the line, it was, well, perfect.WHALER SCUTTLEBUTT&mdash; Francis was chosen Favorite Whaler in a vote of the fans. Past winners include Nick Fotiu. Thommy Abrahamson, Tom Webster, Alan Hangsleben, Dave Keon, Mike Rogers, Norm Bames and Pierre Larouche. All save Larouche are no longer with the Whalers, and Larouche, who played just 38. games this year, is no guarantee to return in September.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01666/4603447-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="547" height="721"><figcaption class="caption-body">Whaler sniper Blaine Stoughton scored on a penalty shot against the Sabres.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0020-01

Whalers Perform A Minor Miracle

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01497/4603478-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Introducing theMedalic by Micron.

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;Jimmy Devellano&rsquo;s efforts to improve the Red Wings via the trade route didn&rsquo;t materialize, but it wasn&rsquo;t for a lack of effort.&ldquo;I did try,&rdquo; Jimmy D. said. &ldquo;I proposed one trade that would have been a blockbuster, the biggest ever.&ldquo;I offered to trade six regulars off my team for one young superstar. It would have been the biggest trade in the NHL&hellip;it&rsquo;s true.&rdquo;Devellano has said all along that the Wings need a superstar center to build around and that&rsquo;s what he was after in the big deal.&ldquo;I had the opposing GM shaking&mdash;in person and over the phone. He had been offered some big names. I offered him six players, including one outstanding player.&ldquo;I did try very hard to get the one superstar player this club needs.&rdquo;Devellano wouldn&rsquo;t elaborate on details. He wouldn&rsquo;t name the team (which would make it a dead giveaway as to who the player was, of course) or the player. Certainly, that would constitute tampering and he wasn&rsquo;t about to get involved in that. But a little knowledge of the National Hockey League and a little imagination would probably reduce the player targeted by the Wings to one or two.When everything is said and done, the Red Wings will finish 18th overall in the National Hockey League for the 1982-83 season. That&rsquo;s an improvement&mdash;from 2Oth a season ago&mdash;but it&rsquo;s still short of respectability.The Wings didn&rsquo;t attain their No. 1 goal for the season, a playoff spot. They got close. They stayed in the race until almost the final week and, at one point, had a 10-point margin over the Toronto Maple Leafs.It didn&rsquo;t last, however.&ldquo;The season served to verify what I suspected going in,&rdquo; Devellano said. &ldquo;I said when I took the job that there were only six or seven NHL calibre players on this team. A lot of people got mad at that.&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s true.&rdquo;He&rsquo;ll get no argument. At least he shouldn&rsquo;t.Devellano and coach Nick Polano patched things up as best they could with what they had to work with. It just wasn&rsquo;t good enough.So the Wings and their long-suffering fans suffered a little more.The end to the Wings&rsquo; playoff hopes officially came in Chicago, when the Black Hawks and veteran goalie Tony Esposito administered a 6-0 shellacking. If it sounds like the Wings went down without a fight, that&rsquo;s an accurate assessment.It was Detroit&rsquo;s fifth straight lost after a stirring come-from-behind 4-3 victory in Toronto, which kept their flickering hopes alive. There were no such heroics in Chicago.&ldquo;We knew they&rsquo;d be coming out after us,&rdquo; Polano said. &ldquo;We just weren&rsquo;t able to keep up with them.&ldquo;The difference was Savard&rsquo;s line. If the Hawks play like they did today, they&rsquo;ll go a long way in the playoffs. They were awesome.&rdquo;It was just 24 hours earlier, in a matinee at the Joe Louis Arena, that the Wings blew a 4-1 first period lead to lose 7-5 to the Minnesota North Sails. Minnesota scored three goals in the final five minutes and it left Polano fuming.The coached ripped his players&mdash;especially the work of the goaltenders. In this case, rookie Corrado Micalef was the victim. Polano said neither Micalef nor veteran Gilles Gilbert has responded to the pressure of the stretch drive.The third netminder, rookie Greg Stefan, really didn&rsquo;t have a fair chance to show what he could do.Goals by Walt McKechnie and John Ogrodnick staked the Wings to a 2-0 lead in the first three minutes and five seconds. Neal Broten got one back for the North Stars before defenseman Willie Huber scored twice&mdash;his 13th and 14th&mdash;in a span of 45 seconds for a 4-1 Detroit lead.Mike Eaves, playing right wing in place of the suspended Dino Ciccarelli on Broten&rsquo;s line, made it 4-2 before the end of the second period and the North Stars tied it with a pair of goals by Brian Bellows and Warren Young in the second period.Bellows, who is destined to be remembered in Detroit as the central figure in the worst trade ever made by the Wings, murdered Detroit in the later stages of the season.&ldquo;There are going to be times when I look down the end of the bench for Bellows and he&rsquo;s not going to be there,&rdquo; Polano said earlier in the season.The Wings traded their No. 1 pick in the 1982 draft to the North Stars for defenseman Greg Smith and right winger Don Murdoch. North Star GM Lou Nanne used it to select Bellows who, after a slow start, is playing as though he deserves Rookie of the Year honors.Rookie Kelly Kisio restored the Detroit lead early in the third period, before the North Stars took over to win the game on a pair of goals by Brad Maxwell and a single marker by Tim Young.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01556/4603509-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="558" height="839"><figcaption class="caption-body">Red Wing GM Jim Devellano made a desperate bid to trade for a superstar.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

Wings Nearly Nabbed A ‘Superstar’

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01516/4603540-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Dave Farrish injured his back in Buffalo and is a questionable starter for the opening round of the playoffs.</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;Turn back the clock to Dec. 23, 1982 and you couldn&rsquo;t blame many of the Toronto Maple Leafs for asking Santa Claus for a new vocation for Christmas. The Leafs had just absorbed a 7-3 beating at the hands of the Blues in St. Louis to reach the holiday break with a nine-game winless streak. They were 21st in the National Hockey League, some 10 points behind the Detroit Red Wings, who occupied fourth place in the Norris Division.If you have been slightly more cognizant than semi-conscious for the past three months, then you probably know about the Leafs&rsquo; subsequent turnabout with the arrival of Dan Daoust, Gaston Gingras, Dave Farrish and Barry Melrose. Playing better than .500 hockey, they beat out Detroit for the final divisional playoff berth. The Leafs clinched it a week before the end of the regular season when the Red Wings lost in Chicago a night after the Leafs trimmed the Quebec Nordiques 2-1, thanks to a particularly strong goaltending effort by Mike Palmateer.And with a week to go in the 80-game slate, the Leafs had their eyes on even higher targets. They were just a point behind third-place St. Louis and had a game in hand. By finishing ahead of the Blues, the Leafs would a) not have to play first-place Chicago to open the playoffs; b) have a chance to play second-place Minnesota, the only divisional rival the Leafs held an advantage over and c) earn $1,000 per player as third-place finishers.Asked about his plans for the closing stages of the regular season. Leafs&rsquo; coach Mike Nykoluk responded: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you can change too much at this time. We&rsquo;ve been playing about as well lately as we have at any time this season.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no sense of playing Borje Salming 35 minutes a game,&rdquo; Nykoluk confined. &ldquo;We called up Frank Nigro so we don&rsquo;t have to double shift anyone (Rick Vaive and Mirko Frycer were used on the fourth line in the last few weeks). We&rsquo;re just going to try to play well going into the playoffs.&rdquo;Play well indeed. The Leafs took over third place with a hard fought 4-2 victory over the North Stars in Bloomington. Meanwhile, St. Louis was losing to the Rangers. The Leafs&rsquo; triumph was their third straight over the North Stars, including two in Minnesota, not a bad way to go into a head-to-head series.The following night in Detroit the Leafs turned in a similar effort and once again came away as 4-2 victors. The win put them three points up on St. Louis with each team having two games to play.Because the Leafs had a greater number of wins than the Blues, the only way for the Blues to catch them would have been for them to win both of their games against Chicago while the Leafs lost to Philadelphia and Buffalo. A tie anywhere in the picture would give the Leads third place.The Blues managed to get halfway there when they knocked off the Black Hawks at home while the Leafs&mdash;suddenly beset with injuries&mdash;were losing 6-3 to.the Flyers.Dan Daoust, who strained knee ligaments in Minnesota and was used sparingly in Detroit, did not play either weekend game for the Leafs. He was listed as a day-to-day proposition but there is some doubt whether he will play again this season. Salming retired after the first period of the game against the Flyers because of another bout with the flu. Dave Shand was called up from St. Catharines to play in Buffalo.At the same time, John Anderson played despite a cranky back and Mike Palmateer started in goal while battling a cold. Palmy lost that battle and was replaced after two periods with five Flyer goals added to his record.So that brought the Leafs down to the final regular season game in Buffalo and darned if they didn&rsquo;t win it. Of course, they had to scramble back from the 3-1 deficit which they accomplished on Rick Vaive&rsquo;s 51st goal of the season and Greg Terrion&rsquo;s second goal of the night, his 16th of the season, a career-high. The Leafs won it on Anderson&rsquo;s 31st goal of the season, a screamer with 5:57 to play which went right through the net. The Leafs had to take a bench penalty to bring the goal to Bruce Hood&rsquo;s attention but it counted when Hood checked with the goal judge who indicated that he had, indeed, signalled a goal.Dampening their enthusiasm however. were injuries to Peter Ihnacak and Farrish, which left them questionable for the start of the playoffs. The latter bruised his back and had to wait to see how it would respond while Ihnacak, who set a club rookie record for points with 66, received a four-inch gash across his calf which sent him to a Buffalo hospital to be stitched. Again, Ihnacak, Farrish, and the others had only two days of rest before the playoffs were to open in Minnesota with the first two games of the best-of-five series.Even before the injuries began to mount, Nykoluk spoke of what it would take for the Leafs to be successful in the playoffs: &ldquo;Hard work,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everybody doing their own job. They can&rsquo;t be trying to cover the whole ice and take care of everything.&rdquo;With lack of experience dictating against them, with the onslaught of last-minute injuries, the Leafs will be hard-pressed to continue their March momentum. They also won&rsquo;t have the opportunity to turn it all around in the &ldquo;second half&rsquo; like they did in the regular schedule. &#9632;

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Toronto’s Playoff Parade Spoiled Bu Key Injuries

The lure of competition has enticed 19 National Hockey League teams to enter this year&rsquo;s third annual Molson-NHL Slo-Pitch Classic, June 17, 18 and 19 at Niagara Falls, Ont.Two years ago, in its inaugural season, the tournament attracted 10 teams. Last year, the event attracted 14 and this year 19 clubs will compete. Among the clubs which will be making their debut in the 1983 tournament are the Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Minnesota North Stars, Vancouver Canucks, New Jersey Devils and St. Louis Blues.The three-day competition will take place at three sites with more than 200 National Hockey League players expected to put away their sticks and skates and take up the bat and ball to continue their intense ice rivalry on the baseball field.Headquarters for the tournament will be Maple Leaf Village in Niagara Falls, with games being played at Lancaster Park in St. Catharines, Plymouth Park in Welland and, of course, Oakes Park in Niagara Falls, where the exciting semi-final and final games will be staged to decide the tournament champion.The concept behind the Molson-NHL Slo-Pitch Classic is simply to bring together as many NHLers as possible to play in the round-robin tournament for charity.. The three-day event will mix some excellent softball and socializing among the players with all proceeds to be divided among the competing teams for contribution to a charity of their choice.Last year&rsquo;s tourney attracted more than 35,000 fans for the three days and co-ordinators of the tournament, Bob Lavelle and David Rigby, expect even greater crowds this year.All eyes will be focused on the Los Angeles Kings, who are the defending Slo-Pitch champions. The Kings dominated the 1982 tourney and according to Kings&rsquo; spokesman Mike Murphy, the team will take two weeks off before the event to practice and get the players ready for their title defense. Kings&rsquo; rookie Bernie Nicholls was chosen the tournament MVP in &rsquo;82 and Murphy said he will be back to play this year.Lavelle, the man who started the ball rolling three years, originally had an idea for a small six-team weekend event. It has now grown into the top off-season attraction in league history. Last year was the largest gathering of NHL players in one place at any one time in history.In the first two years, some players appeared reluctant to play, not knowing what to expect and worried about the possibility of injuries that could jeopardize their hockey careers. Those fears no longer exist. The treatment of the players and the stringent ground rules that are enforced to reduce the risk of body contact, have become more appealing to the NHLers.With the increase in the number of teams, it became necessary to branch out into St. Catharines and Welland. Games on Friday night and Saturday afternoon will be held in all three cities with teams rotated from city to city as much as the schedule will allow. This will give fans in all three parks a chance to see the stars perform.The finale on Sunday June 19 in Niagara Falls is set for Oakes Park, which is one of the top facilities in Ontario for both beauty and durability. Last year&rsquo;s championship playoffs attracted an overflow crowd of 6,000.Weekend events get underway on June 16. Players will arrive to register and will be greeted at a cocktail party at Maple Leaf Village, which will be open to the public. A luncheon will follow at Friday noon for the players and the media at the Niagara Falls Memorial Arena. This, too, will be accessible to the public. The first games will be held in all three cities starting at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Each team will play once on Friday with a minimum of four games in each park the first day. On Saturday, all 200 or more participating NHL players will be in action beginning at 10 a.m.The climax to the tournament will be Sunday at noon when the semi-finals open, followed by the championship game at Oakes Park starting at approximately 5:30 p.m. There will also be a special All-Star game on Sunday afternoon as representatives from the midseason NHL All-Star game on Long Island square off in a Wales-Campbell Conference matchup.Tournament officials have many events plannned as well as the games. A mammoth Saturday night auction of hockey memorabilia will be staged, followed by a dance. Both events will be held at the Maple Leaf Village and will be open to the paying public.The players, many of whom now plan their summers around the event, are eager to play according to Lavelle. &ldquo;They have a good time, but they are also tremendously competitive,&rdquo; he added.At a recent meeting between representatives of Molson, Maple Leaf Village, city officials and THE HOCKEY NEWS, plans were formulated for the 1983 tournament. A schedule of the actual games will be released in the coming weeks and lineups will be revealed as soon as all players are confirmed.In the meantime, business goes on in Niagara Falls for the event. What started out as a weekend tournament has mushroomed. According to Lavelle, it now takes a 200-person volunteer committee to handle all the details for the tourney. The committee&rsquo;s motto is to make the 1983 tournament bigger and better than ever and Levelle says the NHL teams and players are cooperating. &ldquo;This will definitely be our best tournament and with a break in the weather, we should set new crowd records in all three cities.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01468/4603595-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="551" height="709"><figcaption class="caption-body">L.A. team spokesman Mike Murphy says the Kings will work hard to defend their title.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Slo-Pitch Classic Attracts 19 NHL Teams

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyBINGHAMTON&mdash;How explosive is the premier edition of THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; American Hockey League Southern Division All-Star team, as chosen by the division&rsquo;s seven coaches?When two players who score 100 points can&rsquo;t find room on the first team, and two other 100-point scorers don&rsquo;t even make the second team, then you&rsquo;ve got a group that has burned out its share of red light bulbs.Five players have scored 100 this season. Four happen to play center. So St. Catharines&rsquo; Bruce Boudreau, Rochester&rsquo;s Geordie Roberston and Baltimore&rsquo;s Mitch Lamoureux all took a back seat to Binghamton&rsquo;s Ross Yates, the only unanimous first-team selection.The coaches&rsquo; choices:FIRST TEAM: Goal&mdash;Phil Myre, Rochester; Defense&mdash;GregTebbutt. Baltimore; Bob Gladney, New Haven; Left wing&mdash;Rod Schutt, Baltimore; Center &mdash; Yates; Right wing&mdash;Tony Cassolato, Hershey.SECOND TEAM: Goal&mdash;Tie between Paul Fricker, Binghamton, and Bob Janecyk, Springfield; Defense &mdash; Dave Shand, St. Catharines; Al Sims, New Haven; Left wing&mdash;Reg Thomas, St. Catharines; Center&mdash;Boudreau; Right wing&mdash;Mike Gillis, Baltimore.With three games left in the Whalers&rsquo; season, Yates has already broken the alltime AHL scoring mark. The previous mark was 119, set in 1953-54 by Hershey&rsquo;s Red Sullivan. The third-year pro, 23, passed the 29-year-old record in his 76th game with a goal and three assists. Despite missing Game No. 77 with a slightly pulled stomach muscle, the Montreal native is hoping to pad his record total, which stood at 41 goals and 81 assits.Tebbutt, 25, a near-unanimous choice, floundered in the Eastern and International Leagues the last three seasons after being labelled &ldquo;bad news.&rdquo; Baltimore coach Lou Angotti knew about Tebbutt&rsquo;s less-than-glowing references but offered him a training-camp tryout.Seventy-seven games and 78 points later, Tebbutt has silenced the critics.&ldquo;Nobody wanted to a take a chance on him.&rdquo; Angotti said. &ldquo;1 got a lot of phone calls when I agreed to bring him in. People were telling me he&rsquo;d cost me my job.&rdquo;Instead, Tebbutt has taken aim on the single-season record for points by a defenseman. With three games to go, he was four short of the 82-point mark, set two seasons ago by Nova Scotia&rsquo;s Craig Levie.Gladney, 25, a defensive defenseman who happens to score points&mdash;64 so far&mdash;could be the league&rsquo;s quietest star. He&rsquo;s neither big, nor flashy. He just dominates behind his blueline. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d say he&rsquo;s been the MVP from our team,&rdquo; said Nighthawk coach Nick Beverly, who would like to see Gladney get a chance to crack the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; roster next season.Schutt and Cassolato, one of two players to score 50 goals this season, would complement each other perfectly. Cassolato, 26, is a sniper. Schutt, 26, is a playmaker who can find the net. The Hershey captain has 51 goals and 37 assists. Schutt&rsquo;s numbers are 30-52-82.Myre. 35, was promoted by Buffalo in late February. The coaches still thought enough of his early-season performance to vote him to the first team. The 14-year NHL veteran also received one vote as the division&rsquo;s most valuable player.In 43 games, Myre was 28-8-5 with a 3.68 goals-against average. His 28 victories led the league.No coach would kick this second team out of its building. In any other season, Boudreau&rsquo;s 118 points would have been the league&rsquo;s story. Instead, he has been unable to catch Yates the past 10 games.Gillis, converted from left wing to right, is fourth in the league with 107 points. Only Yates has more assists than Gillis&rsquo; 76. Thomas, who plays on a line with Boudreau, has 35 goals and 53 assists. Shand and Sims are two veterans who can move the puck, have heavy shots from the point and clean up their own end. Janecyk, a third-year pro, has a 3.58 GAA, third best in the league. Right behind him in the league stats is Fricker, a second-year pro at 3.61.The awards:Most Valuable Player&mdash;Yates.&ldquo;As he goes, so does his team,&rdquo; said New Haven&rsquo;s Beverly.&ldquo;Binghamton&rsquo;s been low scoring all year,&rdquo; said Springfield coach Orland Kurtenbach. &ldquo;He seems to have carried them.&rdquo;Rookie of the Year&mdash;Lamoureux. The 20-year-old Ottawa native, an eighth-round pick by Pittsburgh in 1981, was a unanimous selection. With 54 goals, Lamoureux is threatening the alltime record for goals in one season. He needed one to tie the record, held jointly by Carl Liscombe (Providence, &rsquo;48-49), Sid Smith (Pittsburgh, &rsquo;48-49) and Guy Trottier (Buffalo, &rsquo;69-70).&ldquo;I had Mitch right up there with Yates at center,&rdquo; said Kurtenbach. &ldquo;e&rsquo;s been instrumental in beating us.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been fantastic, unbelievable,&rdquo; Angotti said.Coach of the Year&mdash;Tie between Mike Keenan, Rochester, and Gary Inness, Hershey.In his third year behind the bench, Keenan, 32, led the Amerks to the Southern crown. Keenan&rsquo;s club ran away with the division, moving into first place on Dec. 26 and remaining on top the final three months of the season.In his first full season, lnness, 33, kept the Bears near the top of the South from start to finish. They have not fallen lower than third at any point of the season. As two of three coaches to vote for him said, lnness had a lot less to work with than Keenan.HERSHEY&mdash;The Bears had 81 points with one game remaining. New Haven, two points behind, had two games left. The Bears&rsquo; hold on second slipped after they dropped two straight on the road, to Binghamton and Adirondack.NEW HAVEN&mdash;The Nighthawks played five games in six nights, but went 4-0-1 to solidify third and threaten the Bears for second. With 79 points in 78 games, they lead the fourth-place Whalers by five.Goalie Mike Blake blanked Adirondack, 3-0. New Haven built a 4-0 lead and held on for a 4-3 win at Binghamton. Gladney scored with 1:02 left in overtime to beat Baltimore, 5-4. Paul Pageau blanked Sherbrooke 9-0 as Dean Jenkins scored two goals and four assists, the team&rsquo;s fourth game in four days. After a day of rest, they tied Binghamton at home, 2-2. A potential winning goal was disallowed in the final five minutes.BINGHAMTON&mdash;The Whalers led Baltimore by four and needed only a win in their final three games to clinch a playoff spot. After losing four of six at thorn to fall from second to fourth, Yates set the scoring record as his team exploded for a 7-3 victory over Hershey.BALTIMORE&mdash;The Skipjacks remained alive by nipping Rochester at home, 3-2. Lamoureux scored all three goals, including the winner with 1:26 remaining in the game.ROCHESTER&mdash;With 98 points, the Amerks led Frederiction by points in the battle for overall best record, which guarantees home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs. The Express had one game remaining while the Amerks had two.ST. CATHARINES&mdash;The Saints were eliminated after losing three straight. They were beaten at home by Moncton and Fredericton and lost at Maine.SPRINGFIELD&mdash;The Indians went 2-3 (with one game still to be played) on their Canadian Maritimes road trip.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01487/4603626-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="553" height="917"><figcaption class="caption-body">Southern Division coaches selected Whaler Ross Yates as the most valuable player.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Binghamton’s Yates Heads List Of Southern Division All-Stars

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>GLENS FALLS&mdash;Right winger Tony Currie and defenseman Terry Johnson of the Northern Division champion Fredericton Express earned first-teamn positions in the voting for the American Hockey League&rsquo;s Northern Division AllStar team conducted by THE HOCKEY NEWS.Currie, the only unanimous choice of the five coaches in the division&mdash;the sixth, Moncton Alpine coach Doug Messier could not be reached for his votes &mdash; was joined on the first team by Sherbrooke center Ron Wilson and Maine&rsquo;s rookie left winger, Andy Brickley. Adirondack defenseman Rejean Cloutier, the second-leading vote-getter, and Nova Scotia goalie Greg Moffett round out the first team.Fredericton&rsquo;s Jacques Demers was the overwhelming choice as Coach of the Year, and center John Chabot of Nova Scota edged Brickley for Rookie of the Year honors.The second team is comprised of Nova Scotia right winger Yvan Joly, Chabot and Fredericton left winger Richard David. Maine rookie Taras Zytynsky and Moncton&rsquo;s Alan Hangsleben are the defensemen and Fredericton goalie Clint Malarchuk, who was recalled by Quebec in January, edged five other candidates for the second-team berth.Despite just playing 67 games with the Express, Currie was the top scorer in the division with 95 points on 47 goals and 48 assists. The 25-year-old Vancouver farmhand was a fourth-round pick by St. Louis in the 1977 draft. He was obtained by the Canucks in a trade in March, 1982.Wilson, 26, was recalled by the parent Winnipeg Jets early in March after compiling excellent statistics for last-place Sherbrooke. In 65 AHL games, Wilson scored 30 goals and 85 points.Brickley, who decided to pass up his senior year at the University of New Hampshire because he felt he had an excellent chance to make the Philadelphia Flyers, has shown that he had a pretty firm handle on his own abilities. Although the 21-year-old Melrose, MA native failed to make the Flyers, he has proven that he is ready for the professional game and appears to be one of the Flyers&rsquo; top prospects. Brickley has led the Mariners&rsquo; balanced scoring for most of the season and has scored 27 goals and 80 points in 73 games.Cloutier seems on the verge of reaching the stardom predicted for him when he signed with the Detroit Red Wings as a free agent in 1980 after a junior career with Sherbrooke. As a rookie, he helped Adirondack reach the Calder Cup finals, but a fractured leg he suffered in the first game of the finals at Maine ended his season and had a severe impact on his sophomore year. He played that second season with a plate in his leg. This season, with the plate removed, Cloutier, 23, played in every Adirondack game and through 77, was tied for third place in team scoring with 12 goals and 56 assists.Johnson, 24, is completing his fourth season in the Quebec organization since signing as a free agent from the University of Alberta. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder has contributed just a goal and 12 assists in 74 games, but his defensive work has helped the Express maintain their position as the best defensive team in the league.Moffett is a second-year pro who tended net for the University of New Hampshire. Although teammate Mark Holden has been called up to the Montreal Canadiens on occasion, Moffett has been the better of the two this season. Heading into the final week of the season, he had played 43 games with a 2018-4 record and a goals-against average of 4.06.ADIRONDACK&mdash;The Wings rebounded from a 3-0 loss to New Haven&rsquo;s Mike Blake to score wins over Maine and Hershey and move to within two points of clinching the final playoff berth.Team captain Bill Hogaboam sparked the team to an 8-6 win at Maine with a hat trick.Hogaboam opened the scoring against Hershey with a goal to improve his seven-game total to six goals and five assists. Eric Vail scored the gamewinner, rookie defenseman Larry Trader got his first two professional goals on shots from the point and Brad Smith completed the scoring with a breakaway goal in the third period.In the victory over Hershey, the Wings established team records for most wins in a season (36) and fewest shots on goal allowed in a game (13).NOVA SCOTIA&mdash;The Vees split games with Springfield before burying Sherbrooke 13-7. The win kept John Brophy&rsquo;s team in third place, just one point behind the Maine Mariners.Brophy couldn&rsquo;t help but take a humorous look at the game in which the Vees raked Sherbrooke goalies Michel Morrissette and Bob O&rsquo;Connor.&ldquo;We missed the point after on one of them, but we got 300 yards through the air and 200 on the ground,&rdquo; Brophy said. &ldquo;Any time you can hold Sherbrooke to just one TD, you are doing a good job.&rdquo;The Voyageurs scored nine times on their first shots against Morrissette. Wayne Thompson had two goals and five assists, while Larry Landon scored three times and Greg Paslawski had two.Rookie defenseman Jocelyn Gauvreau and Ted Fauss have played well since joining the team. Dave Allison, Francois James and Mike McPhee, all of whom have been sidelined with injuries, are expected back in the lineup by the playoffs.SHERBROOKE&mdash;Playoff-bound teams continue to bang the Jets around. Hershey posted a 7-3 win. New Haven, behind Dean Jenkins&rsquo; second four-goal game of the season, rolled over the Jets 9-0.The next night, Sherbrooke opened its road trip to the Maritimes with a 5-3 win at Fredericton. John Bethel had the game-winner and Shawn Babcock scored two goals.FREDERICTON&mdash;Player changes continue to have a negative effect on the division-champion Express in the final weeks of the season. With many of its top players in the NHL, the Express posted only one win in three games and that knocked them out of the running for the overall points title. Rochester, which clinched the overall title, blasted the Express 10-3. Fredericton dumped St. Catharines 8-5 in the finale of its road trip, but returned home to lose to Sherbrooke. That defeat clinched it for Rochester.Marc Crawford was recalled by Vancouver and joined Fredericton teammates B.J. McDonald and Tony Currie, the team&rsquo;s leading scorer. Crawford, nicknamed &lsquo;747&rsquo; by his teammates at Fredericton, has been recalled 10 times this season.The parent Quebec. Nordiques rewarded coach Jacques Demers&rsquo; efforts with a new three-year contract.MONCTON&mdash;The Alpines continued to pressure the fourth-place Red Wings with a .500 week. A 3-2 loss at Binghamton coincided with an Adirondack loss at New Haven. Moncton made up one of its games in hand with a win at St. Catharines to slice the Wings&rsquo; lead to two points. The next night, a 6-4 loss at Rochester coupled with the Wings&rsquo; win at Maine, allowed Adirondack to regain its four-point lead.Bill Riley and Yvon Vautour continued to spark the Alpines.MAINE&mdash;The Mariners fired a teamrecord 53 shots on St. Catharines goalies Bob Parent and Vincent Tremblay in a 9-1 win over the Saints that completed a a week in which Maine won one of three games.Reg Thomas gave the Saints a 1-0 lead 14 seconds into the game, but Dave Michayluk scored the first of his two goals 11 seconds later to send the Mariners on to their 38th win.John Paddock joined the Mariners&rsquo; 50-point club, which now has 10 members. Michayluk&rsquo;s two goals gave him 31, six less than Morrison&rsquo;s team-leading 37.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01470/4603657-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="551" height="874"><figcaption class="caption-body">Fredericton&rsquo;s Tony Currie is the unanimous selection to the first all-star team.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0027-01

Express Dominates Northern All-Star Team

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyINDIANAPOLIS&mdash;The Checkers won the regular-season title for the first time in four years of competition and the person they have to thank is Steve Stoyanovich.Two goals by Stoyanovich early in the third period proved decisive, as the Checkers clinched first place in the regular-season race with a 6-3 triumph in Denver over the second-place Colorado Flames.A year ago, they finished third in the regular schedule, but won the Adams Cup.It was the fourth victory of a productive week for the Checkers. They set 10 records in an 11-3 home romp over Wichita, then got back-to-back shutouts from goalies Kelly Hrudey and Rob Holland, both against the Wind. Hrudey&rsquo;s 7-0 shutout wound up an eight-game homestead, in which the Checkers won seven and tied one. Holland&rsquo;s 3-0 shutout was in Wichita.&ldquo;Now we can get tuned up for the playoffs,&rdquo; said Creighton after the titleclinching victory. &ldquo;We can do a little experimenting, but the main thing is to keep everyone sharp and work up a fresh head of steam to go after our second straight Adams Cup.Owning six straight victories and 10 games without a loss, the Checkers were assured of home-ice advantage in the playoff semi-finals, probably against Salt Lake, although mathematically the Eagles still had a chance to finish as high as second.Going into the last week of the schedule, Indianapolis amassed 96 points, Colorado 84, Birmingham 82, Salt Lake 78, Tulsa 65 and Wichita 53.Ironically, the first-place Checkers and last-place Wind were even (4-4-1) in their season senes, before Indy swept the last three games.The 11-3 rout saw Indy score five goals in the first period and five more in the third to set a club record for singlegame scoring. Red Laurence, Kevin Devine and Dave Simpson each scored twice and Tim Lockridge, Gord Dineen, Glen Duncan, Stoyanovich and Ron Hamby contributed singles. Dineen tied club records with five assists and six points. Holland was in goal.Scott Howson and Simpson each scored two goals to back up Hrudey&rsquo;s 7-0 shutout, his second shutout of the season. Other goals came from Stoyanovich, Lome Stamler (shorthanded) and Dave Hanson.Holland&rsquo;s shutout in Wichita was his third of the season. Neither team could score until the third period, when Garth MacGuigan. Bruce Affleck and Simpson found the net.In the decisive game at Denver, the first period was goalless. Duncan and Laurence counted for Indy in the second, but Mike Dwyer put Colorado on the scoreboard. Stoyanovich&rsquo;s pair made it 4-1 in the third, but the Flames came back with goals from Dan Bolduc and rookie Mario Simioni. Colorado coach Pierre Page lifted goalie Marc D&rsquo;Amour in the closing minute and the Checkers got two empty-net goals from Monty Trottier and Hanson to clinch the verdict. Hrudey was in goal.Defenseman Randy Johnston reinjured his knee and was sidelined. Winger Mike Greeder bruised both knees when he slid into a goalpost in Wichita.Laurence took over the league lead in goals with 40 to 39 for teammate Stoyanovich. Holland moved atop the CHL goalies with a 2.89 average to 2.92 for Salt Lake&rsquo;s Rollie Boutin and 3.09 for Hrudey.TULSA&mdash;Faced with five games in five nights in three cities, the Oilers won them all, even without the services of leading scorer Mike Backman, who is injured. Steve Baker was in goal for all five victories&mdash;4-1 in Wichita, 6-2 at home against Colorado, 6-3 at home over Birmingham and 4-3 and 5-4 in Birmingham.Coach Tom Webster was down to seven forwards for a couple of games, but defenseman Don Maclver and Chris Renaud played capably up front. Steve Hakala re-injured his ankle and was eventually sent home. Mike Seide and Birmingham blueliner Dave Logan were ejected from one game and suspended for the next, after they fought and had one near-fight in the first period in Tulsa.To ease the forward shortage, the parent New York Rangers promoted left winger Bobby Hehir from Nashville in the Atlantic Coast League, then demoted Cam Connor, who spent two weeks in Tulsa in late January, but was prevented from playing by a nagging injury.Ken Kuzyk had his second hat trick in three games and George McPhee scored the opening goal in Wichita. At home against Colorado, Graeme Nicolson scored in the first period, Steve Richmond and Renaud in the second and Kuzyk, Gary Bums and McPhee in the third.Kuzyk had two goals in the home win over Birmingham. Nicolson, McPhee, Grant Ledyard and Kuzyk provided a 4-1 lead in the opening period. Pat Conacher scored in the second and Kuzyk again in the third.It was Renaud&rsquo;s goal at 2:14 of overtime that won the first game in Birmingham. Conacher and Bob Scurfield provided early goals, but Birmingham answered with a couple of its own. Then Nicolson tied it up with 2:45 left in regulation.In the rematch, the Oilers had leads of 3-0 and 4-1, as Mike Seide scored in the first period and Conacher, Bums and Kuzyk in the second. But it took Gary DeGrio&rsquo;s goal with 3:45 left to claim the victory.Seide added 37 penalty minutes for the week to wrap up the league title in that department. His closest challenger was Colorado&rsquo;s Randy Turnbull with 286, after going without a penalty for the third straight week.COLORADO&mdash;Losing three of four starts, the Flames ended their bid for first place and were being challenged for second. They dropped a 6-2 game in Tulsa and split a pair in Salt Lake, winning the first 4-3 and losing the second 7-2. They dropped a 6-3 home affair to Indianapolis and finally bowed 5-4 in Wichita.Rookie forwards Mario Simioni (Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey League) and Colin Patterson (Clarkson College) joined the club, but the Flames released winger Greg Hampson (Colorado College).Tim Harrer and Dan Bolduc put Colorado ahead 2-1 in the first period at Tulsa, but that was the end of the Flames&rsquo; scoring. Gord Wappel&rsquo;s third-period goal was the winner in Salt Lake, after Keith Knight, Bolduc and Simioni scored earlier. The next night, Bolduc and Mike Dwyer scored late, after the Eagles had taken complete charge.Dwyer, Bolduc and Simioni counted in the loss to Indy. In Wichita, the goals came from Simioni, Knight, Patterson and Tim Harrer (after goalie Tim Bernhardt was pulled).BIRMINGHAM&mdash;After threatening the league record with 14 straight home victories, the South Stars took a 6-3 beating in Tulsa and then suffered two more losses&mdash;4-3 and 5-4&mdash;at home against the Oilers. The South Stars leagueleading scorer Wes Jarvis and Warren Young were recalled by the parent Minnesota North Stars, with Jarvis returning at the end of the week. He had 104 points I for a comfortable lead over Indianapolis&rsquo; Red Laurence, who had 92. The Stars brought in forwards Eric Ponath from Northern Michigan and Greg Moore from Minnesota-Duluth.Dave DeBol, Dan McCarthy, Steve Carlson and Jim Dobson had goals in the loss to Salt Lake. In the three games with Tulsa, the Stars counted eight times on 12 power plays, but lost all three. At Tulsa, Craig Homola scored twice on the power play, DeBol once.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01462/4603688-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="548" height="738"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Stoyanovich&rsquo;s two goals gave Indy its first title in four years.</figcaption></div>In the overtime loss at home, Dobson and McCarthy twice put Birmingham ahead on power plays. Newcomer Glenn White scored in the first half-minute of the third period, but the lead didn&rsquo;t stand up. The next night, DeBol scored at even-strength goal in the second period, then Frank Beaton, Homola and DeBol had power-play goals in a span of 2:19 at the start of the third to tie the game, but the Oilers came back to win.SALT LAKE&mdash;Defenseman Ed Kea, who suffered a head injury March 7, was transferred by plane to hospital in St. Louis. Kea was awake and cheerful, able to recognize friends and making an attempt to talk.On the ice, the Golden Eagles won 5-4 in Birmingham and 7-2 at home against Colorado, after losing 4-3 to the Flames. Left winger Scott Carlston rejoined the team after being released by Team USA.Jock Callander had two goals in Birmingham, with singles by Charlie Skjodt, John Markell and Ralph Klassen, to wind up a two wins in five games road trip.Markell, John Taft and Gord Donnelly scored in the loss at home. In the rematch, Bert Wilson, Claude Julien and Rob Tudor each scored twice and Klassen had a single.WICHITA&mdash;The Wind fired coach Andy Laing and replaced him with Marshall Johnston. The Wind responded with a 5-3 home victory over Colorado, breaking a string of four losses&mdash;4-1 at home against Tulsa, 11-3 and 7-0 in Indianapolis and 3-0 against Tulsa, after the Oilers shot ahead 2-0. Richie Hansen had two second-period tallies after Lance Nethery scored in the first period, but Indy got the first four goals and never let up.After successive shutouts by the Checkers&rsquo; Kelly Hrudey and Rob Holland, the Wind got back on track when Kevin Maxwell and Nethery each scored twice and and Merkosky adding a single against Colorado.NOTES&mdash;CHL president Bud Poile was guardedly optimistic when he talked about the league&rsquo;s prospects for 1983-84.&ldquo;Sure, we have problems,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know when the CHL hasn&rsquo;t had problems. But we&rsquo;ve solved them in the past and I think we can solve these.&ldquo;We have three solid franchises&mdash;Indianapolis, Colorado and Salt Lake. The problems are in Birmingham, Tulsa and Wichita. Next year, we could add Phoenix and possibly Tucson. Louisville is a definite prospect. It&rsquo;s a matter of getting NHL clubs into these cities.&ldquo;The problem in Birmingham is simply attendance. I&rsquo;m hoping the playoffs&rsquo; can stimulate interest in the team. I understand the big problems in Wichita and Tulsa are the lack of ice for practice. The parent clubs (New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers) are very concerned about that.&ldquo;Tulsa is hoping to move to the Fairgrounds next season and that would appear to solve that problem. I don&rsquo;t know what can be done about Wichita.&ldquo;There are seven NHL clubs which own dormant franchises in the CHL &mdash; Vancouver, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles and Hartford. They have to advise us each year if they want to reactivate their franchises. I&rsquo;ve written to each of them and I hope to have answers before our league meeting in June.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0028-01

Indy Takes First Title In 4 Years As Stoyanovich Leads The Charge

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyFORT WAYNE&mdash;Just when it looked as if the Komets&rsquo; chase for front-running Toledo would turn the stretch drive into a battle royal, injuries to right wingers Dale Baldwin and Robert Millette&mdash;both of whom are gone for the balance of the season&mdash;means the Komets must go the rest of the way shorthanded.The injuries dropped the Komet roster to 14, two under the limit of 16. Under existing International Hockey League rules, the Komets are permitted to replace just one of the two.The loss of Baldwin, with a knee injury, is extremely costly. Baldwin is the Komet captain and also one third of the Komets&rsquo; most productive line. Skating with Ron Leef and Rob Motz, the trio has scored 112 goals and a has a combined points total of 239.Leef is the pacesetter with 53 goals and 108 points, both Komet highs. Motz has 37 goals and 72 points, while Baldwin has 22 goals and 59 points.Millette, a late-season addition, has two goals and nine points.At the time of the injuries, the Komets cut a nine-point Toledo lead to just three points. The Komets have two games in hand, however.Following a split during a rather light week, the Komets have a 41-21-10 record for 94 points. The Komets lost a 7-6 win over Saginaw at home. In the wake of the injuries to Baldwin and Millette, Komet coach Ron Ullyot saw a ray of hope in a four-goal explosion from veteran right winger Barry Scully against the Gears. Scully, who has scored 60 or more goals in each of the last three seasons, has been a little behind schedule. His four-goal spurt put him at 45, but Scully has a habit of scoring in bunches. A year ago, Scully scored 14 goals in the Komets&rsquo; final eight games to finish with an even 60. He needed the hat trick in the season final for the 60.TOLEDO&mdash;The idle Goaldiggers lost ground on the ice to Fort Wayne, but scored a victory off the ice which just might be the edge Toledo needs to stay in front. General manager Bill Beagan discovered a loophole in the IHL constitution and brought back high-scoring center Gord MacFarlane, who played most of the year in Europe. Although the IHL teams had an &ldquo;understanding&rdquo; which prevented using players from European leagues, Beagan took his case to arbitration and won.The Toledo record stayed at 44-19-6 for 97 points.FLINT&mdash;The Generals also had a split, dropping a 9-4 decision in Milwaukee but bouncing back to blank shorthanded Muskegon 5-0 at home. Rick Knickle, a former Mohawk, registered the shutout. A bench-clearing brawl marred action in the first period. Muskegon, already down to 11 skaters because of injuries, played half the final period with just seven as a result of injuries and penalties. Flint boosted its record to 2933-8 with the victory.SAGINAW&mdash;The Gears kept their playoff hopes alive with a split, too, winning 6-4 in Peoria, before losing 7-4 at Fort Wayne. Manager-coach-player Marcel Comeau set a good example by scoring the winning goal in the game at Peoria. The Gears are 23-40-8 for 58 points, six behind Muskegon, which currently owns the final playoff berth.MILWAUKEE&mdash;Milwaukee followed the pattern with a sweep of its two games. The Ads blasted Flint 9-4 at home and lost 4-3 in overtime at Kalamazoo. The three points raised Milwaukee&rsquo;s first-place total in the West to 82. Milwaukee is 37-27-6.Derek Davis scored just five seconds after the opening faceoff to break a league record for the fastest goal at the start of a game. The record was six seconds, held by three players. Dan Lecours and Yves Preston paced the nine-goal assault with a pair of goals. Lecours boosted his league-leading total to 58, Preston has 29.KALAMAZOO&mdash;The K-Wings had just one game during the week, but had to work overtime. They nipped Milwaukee 4-3 to boost their record to 29-37-5. Kalamazoo had 68 points, good for fourth in the overall standings, but Flint is just two points back and Muskegon four. The K-Wings appear certain of making the playoffs, however, as they lead Saginaw by 10 and Peoria by 15.MUSKEGON&mdash;The Mohawks protected their hold on the final playoff position, but suffered the loss of high-scoring Jim Egerton&mdash;perhaps for the balance of the season. Egerton, who scored four goals in a 7-6 win over Fort Wayne to boost his season total to 51, suffered an eye injury as the Mohawks were blanked 5-0 in Flint. The Mohawks were already down to 11 skaters when Egerton was hurt. In addition, Muskegon could lose defenseman Mike Rusin on a suspension because of his role in a first-period brawl at Flint. The split left Muskegon with a 26-34-11 record.PEORIA&mdash;Time is rapidly out on the Prancers, the newest franchise in the league. The Prancers lost their only game, a 6-4 decision to Saginaw. The Prancers are a solid last, with a 21-40-10 record and 53 points. Peoria is five points behind Saginaw and 11 in back of Muskegon, both of whom Peoria must catch if it plans to extend its season into the playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01400/4603719-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="545" height="748"><figcaption class="caption-body">Fort Wayne&rsquo;s playoff chances were hurt when Dale Baldwin suffered a knee injury.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Komets Lose Right-Hand Men With Injuries

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BROPHY</div>OSHAWA&mdash;How do you stop the Oshawa Generals and high-scoring John McLean?That is the problem the Peterborough Petes and Belleville Bulls weren&rsquo;t able to figure out.McLean, one of the top-rated juniors eligible for the National Hockey League entry draft this June, scored 11 goals and added eight assists for 19 points as the Generals beat Belleville three times with one tie in their opening playoff series and then rolled up four consecutive wins to win their eight-point quarter-final against Peterborough.The Petes thought they had it all figured out when rookie defenseman Shawn Evans levelled McLean with a solid bodycheck in the second period of Game Two, knocking the Oshawa player into soap-opera land&mdash;namely Another World.Still, McLean recovered to score the winning goal. In all, he accounted for three goals and two assists that night.&ldquo;He is the epitome of a hockey player,&rdquo; said General coach Paul Theriault. &ldquo;He can move the puck out of our own zone as well as anybody in the league; he knows how to take a hit to make a play; he goes to the net with anyone and he scores goals. Also, he plays the power play, shorthanded and takes a regular shift.&ldquo;If there is a better forward in our league, I don&rsquo;t know who he is. I&rsquo;ll tell you one thing, there isn&rsquo;t one guy in the league I&rsquo;d trade him for.&rdquo;McLean is not the flashiest player in the league, but he rates as one of the hardest workers. He knows how to keep his cool.McLean is not the flashiest player in the OHL but certainly rates as one of the hardest workers. He also knows how to keep his cool while others around him are losing theirs.He has been punched in the head, tripped and slashed, but tries to stay away from retaliating. Instead, he tries to get even using his offensive excellence.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t bother me,&rdquo; McLean said of the special attention he has received. &ldquo;If the referee spots something and feels he should call it, he will. If he doesn&rsquo;t, I don&rsquo;t worry about it.&rdquo;When Tony Tanti and Dave Andreychuk were lost to NHL teams, Vancouver and Buffalo, respectively, sophomores such as McLean had to work extra hard in an effort to keep the Generals in the thick of things.&ldquo;I have to go out and create openings to score goals. I&rsquo;m not the type of player who&rsquo;s going to score on fancy plays like the Russians. When I work hard, I get goals.&rdquo;With McLean leading the way on offense and goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz playing outstanding hockey for the Generals, Oshawa had little trouble disposing of the Petes in four straight games.Dean DeFazio and Mike Stem scored two goals to pace Oshawa to a 5-4 win in Game One. Scott Brydges scored the Generals&rsquo; other goal with Venci Sebek, Scot McLellan, Ken Strong and Dave Reid replying for the Petes.McLean led the way with his three goals and two assists in Game Two.In the third game, Dave Gans, Todd Charlesworth, McLean and John Hutchings scored for Oshawa. Bob Errey and Reid scored for Peterborough.In the fourth game, Oshawa edged Peterborough 5-4 and took the series.OTTAWA VS. CORNWALL&mdash;The 67&rsquo;s showed no sign of being rusty after their layoff, sweeping the Cornwall Rovals 8-0 in the quarter-final series.Brad Shaw, John Ollson, Al Hepple and Bruce Cassidy scored to give the 67&rsquo;s a 4-1 win in Game One. Doug Gilmour scored for the Royals.Jeff Vaive paced the 67&rsquo;s in Game Two with three goals while Darcy Roy, Ollson and Mark Paterson were among the other scorers. Steve Driscoll, Roy Russell and Gilmour scored for Cornwall.Paterson paced the 67&rsquo;s in Game Three with two goals. Roy, Doug Stewart, Bill Dowd, Shaw and Larry Powers scored the other goals. Steve Maclnnis scored twice for the Royals with Mike Tomlak, Gilmour and Driscoll adding singles.In the fourth and deciding contest, Ottawa rolled to a 7-4 victory.NORTH BAY VS KITCHENER&mdash; The Rangers and Centennials built a bitter rivarly during the season and were natural opponents in the playoffs.The Rangers took the opener 5-2 to stretch their home winning streak to 19 games while North Bay won Game Two 6-5 in its building.In the second game. North Bay rebounded to defeat Kitchener 6-5. The Rangers returned home and scored an easy 6-1 win over the Centennials to take a 4-2 lead in the eight-point quarter-final series. Kitchener then scored a narrow 2-1 win and capped the series with a 4-2 victory.SAULT STE. MARIE VS BRANTFORD&mdash;The Alexanders had more success against the Greyhounds in the Sault than they had at home. Brantford opened with a pair of ties up north but lost Games Three and Four at home.In the opener, Brantford and the Sault played to a 1-1 tie. In Game Two, the teams played to a 4-4 tie.Back in Brantford, the powerful Greyhounds recorded a 4-2 win and then a 6-3 victory to head back home with a 6-2 lead in the eight-point quarter-final series.In the fifth game, the Greyhounds delighted their hometown fans by scoring a 1-0 victory. The win lifted the Hounds into the Emms Division final against the Rangers. Meanwhile, Ottawa and Qshawa, two bitter playoff rivals, will faceoff for the Leyden Division crown.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01450/4603757-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="553" height="887"><figcaption class="caption-body">Oshawa General forward David Gans scored a goal in a victory over the Petes.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02342/4603750-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="545" height="867"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peterborough defenseman Shawn Evans, above, levelled McLean with a hard check.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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McLean Paces Generals’ Attack; Greyhounds Will Meet Rangers

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01418/4603788-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyKAMLOOPS&mdash;They say an elephant never forgets&mdash;neither do wise coaches.Kamloops Oilers&rsquo; GM-coach Bill LaForge knew what ingredients were necessary to transform his team from doormats to a legitimate contender in the Western Division of the Western Hockey League.LaForge, who guided the Regina Pats to WHL runner-up honors last season, never forgot the players who helped spark the Pats to an Eastern Division pennant. Goaltenders Jim Campbell and Martin Wood, defenseman Bruce Holloway and center Tony Vogel helped the Oilers finish regular-season play with a 46-26 mark, good for third place. The showing represents a 55-point improvement over 1981-82 when the club finished at 18-53-1.Yet, with a young and inexperienced defense, LaForge wheeled and dealed to obtain Garth Butcher, whose junior rights were owned by the Nanaimo Islanders. Despite Butcher&rsquo;s being with the Vancouver Canucks, LaForge was banking on a numbers game that Butcher would be returned to junior.He was right.Butcher suited up for five games and had only six points with the Oilers but, more importantly, he instilled confidence in a club that needed it. Butcher left his mark Feb. 18, when Canucks recalled him on an emergency basis. Butcher had a lengthy stay in Vancouver, as the injury bug consistently bit the Canucks down the stretch drive. But as the Oilers prepared to enter the semifinals with the Victoria Cougars. Butcher was returned to Kamloops. The news couldn&rsquo;t have come at a better time.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anybody realizes what Butcher&rsquo;s worth to us is,&rdquo; said LaForge. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like Vancouver getting Wayne Gretzky, that&rsquo;s what he means to us.&ldquo;Butcher will help our team become more involved physically and mentally. He&rsquo;s positive. If anything, we might be a little apprehensive after losing last time in Victoria. We&rsquo;ll have a lot of aces back in the lineup and he (Butcher) is our trump card.&ldquo;1 think Garth has matured, but how much more can a Butcher mature? His biggest plus is his last name&mdash;that&rsquo;s an intimidating name. But he&rsquo;s smarter now. He doesn&rsquo;t drop the gloves; he uses stare tactics more.&rdquo;But what does Butcher think? This is the second time he&rsquo;s been returned to the junior ranks.&ldquo;Last time, I wasn&rsquo;t playing that well when I was sent down,&rdquo; said Butcher. &ldquo;I guess it&rsquo;s sort of better that they think I&rsquo;m playing well and send me back. I was happy with my play. I was plus-7 and now I feel a lot more confident about my future in Vancouver.The Oilers closed out the regular season with a 4-3 comeback victory over Seattle Breakers. Greg Evtushevski scored twice, finishing the season with 32 goals, including the winner at 19:13 of the third period. Stacey Wakabayashi recorded his first WHL goal, while Doug Saunders got his 24th.Sixteen-year-old rookie defenseman Doug Bodger scored his 26 goal of the season and Evason had the other in a 6-2 loss to Victoria that ultimately gave the Cougars second spot and home-ice advantage against the Oilers in semi-final playoffs. Bodger finished three points shy of the all-time WHL rookie defenseman record of 93 established by Robin Saddler with the Edmonton Oil Kings in the 1973-74 season.PORTLAND&mdash;The high-scoring Winter Hawks have smashed numerous league records this season. With one game remaining, Portland needed six goals against Kelowna Wings to eclipse the WHL season record of 491 established by the 1978-79 Brandon Wheat Kings. The Hawks also possess seven 100-point scorers, which tops the previous mark of five.VICTORIA&mdash;The Cougars clinched second place with a 10-3 victory over Kelowna. Fabian Joseph scored twice to break the team rookie scoring mark of 40. Russ Courtnall and Stu Kulak added two goals each, while Jeff Courtnall, Dave Mackie and Rich Chernomaz added singles.SEATTLE&mdash;Terry Sargent, Ron Renner and Fred Ledlin scored in a tough 4-3 loss to Kamloops, a game the Breakers led 3-2 in the late-going. The Breakers had to use youngsters on the blueline, with Tim Ziola lost for the season with a broken thumb and Pat Cullen nursing an injury.NANAIMO&mdash;Harry Mahood, Mike Spencer, John Hanna and John Lafontaine scored in a 7-4 loss to Kamloops, a setback that marked the Islanders&rsquo; 17th loss in their last 18 outings.KELOWNA&mdash;Jeff Fenton scored twice to raise his total to 21 in a 10-3 loss to Victoria. Dave McKenzie added his 38th goal in a game that saw the Wings establish a new record for most goals allowed in a season. The 1980-81 edition of the New Westminster Bruins owned the previous mark of 512. The Wings had 522 after the Victoria setback.SASKATOON&mdash;An 11-3 victory over Brandon helped the Blades break a team record for most goals in a season with 452. The previous mark was 450. Brian Skrudland had a four-point game, including two goals to give him 35.The Eastern Division leading Blades, who have a first-round bye in post-season play, also established a team mark for most wins in a season, eclipising the record of 47. Saskatoon went into its final regular-season game with 51 wins.REGINA&mdash;The Pats clinched second place in a 6-1 decision over Calgary and then handed rival Saskatoon a 7-2 setback before stumbling in a 5-1 loss to Medicine Hat. WHL leading scorer Dale Derkatch fired three goals against Saskatoon to raise his total to 83.CALGARY&mdash;The third-place Wranglers, specializing in tough defensive play, were shutout 4-0 by Lethbridge after dropping a 6-5 overtime decision to Prince Albert. The stingy Wranglers, who meet Medicine Hat in first round of best-of-five playoffs, continue to set the defensive pace.WINNIPEG&mdash;Darren Boyko scored twice to lead the fourth-place Warriors to a 6-5 overtime win over Prince Albert. Boyko increased his point total to 129, which breaks the team record of 127 held by Kevin McCarthy during the 1976-77 season. Randy Gilhen, with 57 goals, passed the team goal-scoring mark of 56 held by Tom Roulston.LETHBRIDGE&mdash;The Broncos were impressive in blanking Calgary 4-0. Ken Wregget made 25 saves in posting the shutout for fifth-place Lethbridge, which has been one of the hottest clubs in the new year. Rich Sutter led the Broncos with two goals, while Ivan Krook and Doug Kyle added singles.MEDICINE HAT&mdash;The sixth-place Tigers received a two-goal performance from rookie Shawn Nagumy in surprising Regina 5-1.BRANDON&mdash;The Wheat Kings closed out a disappointing season with a 5-3 loss to Prince Albert. Darren Schmidt, Stacy Pratt and Caswell scored for Brandon, which finished out of the playoffs in seventh place with a 21-51 record, nine points up on cellar-dwelling Prince Albert.PRINCE ALBERT&mdash;The Raiders closed out their inaugural season in the WHL with a three-game home stand. Prince Albert topped Calgary 6-5 in overtime, took Brandon 5-3 and lost 6-5 in overtime to Winnipeg.Ben Kuzma, sports editor for The Kamloops News, joins THE HOCKEY NEWS as its regular Western Hockey League correspondent.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01427/4603819-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="549" height="713"><figcaption class="caption-body">When Kamloops acquired defenseman Garth Butcher, it gave the entire team a lift.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Getting Butcher From Nanaimo Instilled Oilers With Confidence

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05121/4603968-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Stanley Cup Playoff Dates

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0699/4603999-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="531" height="630"></div> &#9632;

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Team Penalties

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0788/4604030-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="538" height="3378"></div> &#9632;

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THE NHL SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01387/4603937-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="565" height="3469"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02278/4603930-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="535" height="1139"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03198/4603923-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="540" height="1848"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04150/4603916-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="546" height="3437"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01437/4603909-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="559" height="3536"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02357/4603902-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="2324" height="699"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01413/4603895-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="1149" height="2415"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02326/4603888-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="584" height="3674"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03255/4603881-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="1117" height="726"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01394/4603874-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="1114" height="1356"></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<h2>BOSTON</h2>Goaltenders31 &mdash; BARON, Marco1 &mdash; PEETERS, PeteDefensemen7 &mdash; BOURQUE, Ray23 &mdash; HILLIER, Randy27 &mdash; HOWE, Marty6 &mdash; KLUZAK, Gord26 &mdash; MILBURY, Mike20 &mdash; O&rsquo;CONNELL, Mike22 &mdash; PARK, BradCenters28 &mdash; FERGUS, Tom11 &mdash; KASPER, Steve14 &mdash; MacTAVISH, Craig8 &mdash; McNAB, Peter10 &mdash; PEDERSON, BarryR. Wings18 &mdash; CROWDER, Keith16 &mdash; MIDDLETON, Rick24 &mdash; O&rsquo;REILLY, TerryL. Wings12 &mdash; CASHMAN, W. - Cpt.32 &mdash; CROWDER, Bruce29 &mdash; DUFOUR, Luc25 &mdash; KRUSHELNYSKI, M.21 &mdash; PALMER, Brad<h2>BUFFALO</h2>Goaltenders33 &mdash; MYRE, Phil28 &mdash; SAUVE, BobDefensemen31 &mdash; FENYVES, Dave24 &mdash; HAJT, Bill6 &mdash; HOUSLEY, Phil27 &mdash; PLAYFAIR, Larry5 &mdash; RAMSEY, Mike4 &mdash; VAN BOXMEER, John3 &mdash; VIRTA HannuCenters29 &mdash; ANDREYCHUK, Dave7 &mdash; McCOURT, Dale8 &mdash; McKEGNEY, Tony11 &mdash; PERREAULT, Gil - Cpt.20 &mdash; PETERSON, Brent12 &mdash; SAVARD, AndreR. Wings25 &mdash; DAVIS, Mal17 &mdash; FOLIGNO, Mike26 &mdash; PATRICK, Steve16 &mdash; SEILING, RicL. Wings18 &mdash; CYR, Paul9 &mdash; HAMEL, Gilles10 &mdash; RAMSAY, Craig22 &mdash; RUFF, Lindy<h2>CALGARY</h2>Goaltenders1 &mdash; EDWARDS, Don31 &mdash; LEMELIN, RejeanDefensemen6 &mdash; DUNN, Richie20 &mdash; ELORANTA, Kari3 &mdash; KONROYD, Steve34 &mdash; MACOUN, Jamie23 &mdash; REINHART, Paul28 &mdash; RIBBLE, Pat5 &mdash; RUSSELL, Phil - Cpt.Centers7 &mdash; CHOUINARD, Guy21 &mdash; JALONEN, Kari14 &mdash; NILSSON, Kent24 &mdash; PEPLINSKI, Jim8 &mdash; RISEBROUGH, DougR. Wings11 &mdash; CHRISTOFF, Steve17 &mdash; HISLOP, Jamie16 &mdash; JACKSON, Jim9 &mdash; McDonald, Lanny32 &mdash; RIOUX, PierreL. Wings27 &mdash; BEERS, Ed26 &mdash; BRIDGMAN, Mel18 &mdash; HINDMARCH, Dave15 &mdash; LAVALLEE, Kevin25 &mdash; MEREDITH, Gregg<h2>CHICAGO</h2>Goaltenders30 &mdash; BANNERMAN, M.35 &mdash; ESPOSITO, TonyDefensemen4 &mdash; BROWN, Keith23 &mdash; CROSSMAN, Doug3 &mdash; FEAMSTER, Dave2 &mdash; FOX, Greg6 &mdash; MURRAY, Bob5 &mdash; O&rsquo;CALLAHAN, Jack24 &mdash; WILSON, DougCenters29 &mdash; LUDZIK, Steve12 &mdash; LYSIAK, Tom19 &mdash; MURRAY, Troy26 &mdash; PATERSON, Rick18 &mdash; SAVARD, DenisR. Wings11 &mdash; CYR, Denis15 &mdash; HIGGINS, Tim28 &mdash; LARMER, Steve16 &mdash; PRESTON, RichL. Wings8 &mdash; FRASER, Curt14 &mdash; GARDNER, Bill17 &mdash; MARSH, Peter&mdash; MULVEY, Grant20 &mdash; SECORD, Al27 &mdash; SUTTER, Daryl - Cpt.<h2>DETROIT</h2>Goaltenders1 &mdash; GILBERT, Gilles31 &mdash; MICALEF, Corado30 &mdash; STEFAN, GregDefensemen3 &mdash; BARRETT, John5 &mdash; CAMPBELL, Colin7 &mdash; HUBER, Willie19 &mdash; LADOUCEUR, Randy28 &mdash; LARSON, Reed2 &mdash; SCHOENFELD, Jim5 &mdash; SMITH, GregCenters12 &mdash; BOLDIREV, Ivan22 &mdash; CRAVEN, Murray16 &mdash; KISIO, Kelly14 &mdash; WEIR, StanR. Wings21 &mdash; BLAISDELL, Mike18 &mdash; GARE, Danny-Cpt.20 &mdash; FOSTER, Dwight27 &mdash; LEACH, Reg17 &mdash; LOFTHOUSE, Mark8 &mdash; ROWE, TomL. Wings25 &mdash; OGRODNICK, John23 &mdash; OSBORNE, Mark26 &mdash; SOLHEIM, Ken15 &mdash; WOODS, Paul<h2>EDMONTON</h2>Goaltenders1 &mdash; FUHR, Grant35 &mdash; MOOG, AndyDefensemen7 &mdash; COFFEY, Paul2 &mdash; FOGOLIN, Lee-Cpt.21 &mdash; GREGG, Randy22 &mdash; HUDDY, Charlie29 &mdash; JACKSON, Don6 &mdash; LARIVIERE, Gary4 &mdash; LOWE, KevinCenters99 &mdash; GRETZKY, Wayne23 &mdash; HABSCHEID, Marc13 &mdash; LINSEMAN, Ken26 &mdash; NACHBAUR, Don77 &mdash; UNGER, GarryR. Wings9 &mdash; ANDERSON, Glenn16 &mdash; HUGHES, Pat17 &mdash; KURRI, Jari20 &mdash; LUMLEY, Dave24 &mdash; ROULSTON, TomL. Wings12 &mdash; HUNTER, Dave19 &mdash; LINDSTROM, Willy11 &mdash; MESSIER, Mark10 &mdash; POUZAR, Jaroslav27 &mdash; SEMENKO, Dave<h2>HARTFORD</h2>Goaltenders30 &mdash; MILLEN, Greg31 &mdash; VEISOR, MikeDefensemen7 &mdash; ANDERSON, -Cpt.23 &mdash; HOSPODAR, Ed24 &mdash; KOTSOPOULOS, C.5 &mdash; LACROIX, Pierr25 &mdash; RENAUD, Mark8 &mdash; SILTANEN, Risto4 &mdash; VOLCAN, MickeyCenters10 &mdash; FRANCIS, Ron14 &mdash; GALARNEAU, M.12 &mdash; JOHNSON, Mark20 &mdash; MALINOWSKI, M.R. Wings27 &mdash; MILLER, Warren17 &mdash; NEUFELD, Ray21 &mdash; STOUGHTON, Blaine22 &mdash; SULLIMAN, DougL. Wings18 &mdash; ADAMS, Greg11 &mdash; LAWLESS, Paul32 &mdash; McDOUGAL, Mike26 &mdash; SULLIVAN, BobINJURED: Mike Milbury, Terry O&rsquo;Reilly (Bos), Dave Hindmarch, (Cal), Keith Brown, (Chi), Pierre Larouche (Har).<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2>Goaltenders29 &mdash; LASKOSKI, Gary30 &mdash; MATTSSON, M.Defensemen20 &mdash; HARDY, Mark6 &mdash; KENNEDY, Dean4 &mdash; KORAB, Jerry25 &mdash; LEWIS, Dave - Cpt.5 &mdash; MURPHY, Larry24 &mdash; WELLS, JayCenters16 &mdash; DIONNE, Marcel22 &mdash; HOLMES, Warren9 &mdash; NICHOLLS, Bernie10 &mdash; RUSKOWSKI, Terry23 &mdash; SMITH, DougR. Wings14 &mdash; BARNES, Blair15 &mdash; EVANS, Daryl19 &mdash; FOX, Jim12 &mdash; HOPKINS, Dean7 &mdash; MURPHY, Mike18 &mdash; TAYLOR, DaveL. Wings26 &mdash; BOZEK, Steve17 &mdash; KELLY, John-Paul11 &mdash; SIMMER, Charlie<h2>MINNESOTA</h2>Goaltenders33 &mdash; BEAUPRE, Don27 &mdash; MELOCHE, GillesDefencemen3 &mdash; BARRETT, Fred2 &mdash; GILES, Curt4 &mdash; HARTSBURG, C.-Cpt.32 &mdash; MANDICH, Dan5 &mdash; MAXWELL, Brad10 &mdash; ROBERTS, Gord6 &mdash; VELISCHEK, RandyCenters7 &mdash; BROTEN, Neal16 &mdash; JARVIS, Wes18 &mdash; EAVES, Mike15 &mdash; SMITH, Bobby17 &mdash; YOUNG, TimR. Wings23 &mdash; BELLOWS, Brian20 &mdash; CICCARELLI, Dino21 &mdash; FERGUSON, George25 &mdash; MacADAM, AlL. Wings14 &mdash; DOUGLAS, Jordy31 &mdash; FRIEST, Ron11 &mdash; McCarthy, Tom29 &mdash; MILLER, Warren26 &mdash; PAYNE, Steve24 &mdash; PLETT, Willi<h2>MONTREAL</h2>Goaltenders33 &mdash; SEVIGNY, Richard1 &mdash; WAMSLEY, RickDefensemen27 &mdash; DELORME, Gilbert5 &mdash; GREEN, Rick17 &mdash; LUDWIG, Craig3 &mdash; NATTRESS, Ric24 &mdash; PICARD, Robert19 &mdash; ROBINSON, Larry18 &mdash; ROOT, BillCenters12 &mdash; ACTON, Keith21 &mdash; CARBONNEAU, Guy6 &mdash; MONDOU, Pierre25 &mdash; WICKENHEISER, DougR. Wings20 &mdash; HUNTER, Mark10 &mdash; LAFLEUR, Guy31 &mdash; NAPIER, Mark26 &mdash; NASLUND, Mats30 &mdash; NILAN, Chris14 &mdash; TREMBLAY, MarioL. Wings23 &mdash; GAINEY, Bob - Cpt.15 &mdash; HOULE, Rejean22 &mdash; SHUTT, Steve11 &mdash; WALTER, Ryan<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2>Goaltenders30 &mdash; LOW, Ron.1 &mdash; RESCH, ChicoDefense25 &mdash; BRUMWELL, Murray26 &mdash; KITCHEN, Mike8 &mdash; LEVO, Tapio4 &mdash; LORIMER, Bob22 &mdash; PALMER, Rob6 &mdash; QUENNEVILLE, Joel5 &mdash; VADNAIS, CarolCenters23 &mdash; ANTONOVICH, Mike24 &mdash; BROTEN, Aaron10 &mdash; CAMERON, Dave16 &mdash; MEAGHER, Rick14 &mdash; TAMBELLINI, SteveR. Wings7 &mdash; LARMER, Jeff29 &mdash; LUDVIG, Jan11 &mdash; MacMILLAN, Bob20 &mdash; MARINI, Hector12 &mdash; VERBEEK, PatL. Wings15 &mdash; ASHTON, Brent17 &mdash; GAGNE, Paul88 &mdash; HOWATT, Garry9 &mdash; LEVER, Don - Cpt.27 &mdash; WENSINK, John<h2>NY ISLANDERS</h2>Goaltenders1 &mdash; MELANSON, Rolland31 &mdash; SMITH, BillyDefensemen4 &mdash; BOUTILIER, Paul3 &mdash; JONSSON, Tomas24 &mdash; LANE, Gord26 &mdash; LANGEVIN, Dave2 &mdash; McEWEN, Mike6 &mdash; MORROW, Ken7 &mdash; PERSSON, Stefan5 &mdash; POTVIN, D. - Cpt.Centers25 &mdash; CARROLL, Bill91 &mdash; GORING, Butch11 &mdash; MERRICK, Wayne21 &mdash; SUTTER, Brent19 &mdash; TROTTIER, BryanR. Wings22 &mdash; BOSSY, Mike28 &mdash; KALLUR, Anders23 &mdash; NYSTROM, Bob12 &mdash; SUTTER, DuaneL. Wings14 &mdash; BOURNE, Bob17 &mdash; GILBERT, Greg9 &mdash; GILLIES, Clark20 &mdash; HALLIN, Mats27 &mdash; TONELLI, John<h2>NY RANGERS</h2>Goaltenders1 &mdash; HANLON, Glen41 &mdash; MIO, EddieDefensemen6 &mdash; BAKER, Bill5 &mdash; BECK, Barry-Cpt.11 &mdash; CHARTRAW, Rick4 &mdash; GRESCHNER, Ron3 &mdash; KLEINENDORST, S.2 &mdash; LAIDLAW, Tom26 &mdash; MALONEY, Dave29 &mdash; RUOTSALAINEN, R.Centers19 &mdash; ALLISON, Ray23 &mdash; KONTOS, Chris34 &mdash; NEDOMANSKY, V.40 &mdash; PAVELICH, Mark27 &mdash; ROGERS, MikeR. Wings24 &mdash; ANDERSSON, K.E.21 &mdash; BACKMAN, Mike10 &mdash; DUGUAY, Ron15 &mdash; HEDBERG, Anders17 &mdash; JOHNSTONE, EdL. Wings22 &mdash; FOTIU, Nick28 &mdash; LEINONEN, Mikko12 &mdash; MALONEY, Don9 &mdash; McClanahan, Rob<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2>Goaltenders35 &mdash; FROESE, Bob33 &mdash; LAROCQUE, Michel31 &mdash; LINDBERGH, PelleDefensemen5 &mdash; BATHE, Frank29 &mdash; COCHRANE, Glen9 &mdash; DVORAK, Miroslav24 &mdash; HOFFMEYER, Bob2 &mdash; HOWE, Mark10 &mdash; McCrimmon, Brad3 &mdash; WILSON, BehnCenters14 &mdash; ALLISON, Mike18 &mdash; CARSON, Lindsay16 &mdash; CLARKE, Bobby25 &mdash; EVANS, Paul11 &mdash; FLOCKHART, Ron27 &mdash; SITTLER, DarrylR. Wings22 &mdash; GORENCE, Tom17 &mdash; HOLMGREN, Paul12 &mdash; KERR, TimL. Wings7 &mdash; BARBER, Bill-Cpt.&mdash; POULIN, Dan26 &mdash; PROPP, Brian23 &mdash; SINISALO, Ilka15 &mdash; TAYLOR, MarkINJURED: Gary Sargent (Min), Mark Hunter, Doug Wickenheiser (Mtl), Gord Lane (NYI), John Davidson, Robbie Rorek (NYR), Frank Bathe, Brad Marsh (Pha).<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2>Goaltenders29 &mdash; DION, Michel1 &mdash; HERRON, DenisDefensemen4 &mdash; BAXTER, Paul8 &mdash; BOYD, Randy25 &mdash; CARLYLE, R. - Cpt.16 &mdash; CHORNEY, Marc33 &mdash; FELTRIN, Tony6 &mdash; HOTHAM, Greg5 &mdash; MEIGHAN, RonCenters22 &mdash; BULLARD, Mike20 &mdash; GARDNER, Paul32 &mdash; HANNAN, Dave34 &mdash; ST. LAURENT, AndreR. Wings26 &mdash; GATZOS, Steve11 &mdash; HAKANSSON, Anders10 &mdash; LEE, Peter17 &mdash; KEHOE, Rick14 &mdash; SHEDDEN, DougL. Wings15 &mdash; BOUTETTE, Pat12 &mdash; MALONE, Greg23 &mdash; RISSLING, Gary<h2>QUEBEC</h2>Goaltenders35 &mdash; BOUCHARD, Dan30 &mdash; MALARCHUK, C.Defensemen28 &mdash; DUPONT, A-Cpt.4 &mdash; HAMEL, Jean21 &mdash; MOLLER, Randy29 &mdash; PICHETTE, Dave7 &mdash; PRICE, Pat5 &mdash; ROCHEFORT, N.2 &mdash; WEIR, Wally25 &mdash; WESLEY, BlakeCenters14 &mdash; AUBRY, Pierre32 &mdash; HUNTER, Dale33 &mdash; SOBCHUK, Dennis26 &mdash; STASTNY, P. - Cpt.R. Wings9 &mdash; CLOUTIER, Real27 &mdash; PAIEMENT, Wilf23 &mdash; RICHARD, Jacques12 &mdash; SLEIGHER, Louis18 &mdash; STASTNY, MarianL. Wings19 &mdash; COTE, Alain&mdash; DAVID, Richard16 &mdash; GOULET, Michel20 &mdash; STASTNY, Anton8 &mdash; TARDIF, Marc<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2>Goaltenders31 &mdash; HEINZ, Rick1 &mdash; LIUT, MikeDefensemen16 &mdash; BROWNSCHILDE, J.2 &mdash; DORE, Andre4 &mdash; LAPOINTE, Guy5 &mdash; RAMAGE, Rob32 &mdash; VIGNEAULT, Alain34 &mdash; WILSON, RikCenters24 &mdash; FEDERKO, Bernie23 &mdash; LEMIEUX, Alain6 &mdash; PATEY, Larry21 &mdash; ZUKE, MikeR. Wings10 &mdash; BABYCH, Wayne26 &mdash; CROMBEEN, Mike19 &mdash; DUNLOP, Blake15 &mdash; REEDS, MarkL. Wings12 &mdash; ANDERSON, Perry20 &mdash; CARLSON, Jack18 &mdash; CRAWFORD, Bob22 &mdash; PETTERSSON, Jorgen11 &mdash; SUTTER, Brian - Cpt.9 &mdash; TURNBULL, Perry<h2>TORONTO</h2>Goaltenders29 &mdash; PALMATEER, Mike1 &mdash; ST. CROIX, RickDefensemen3 &mdash; BENNING, Jim23 &mdash; DURIS, Slava28 &mdash; FARRISH, Dave11 &mdash; GINGRAS, Gaston20 &mdash; KORN, Jim26 &mdash; MELROSE, Barry21 &mdash; SALMING, Borje4 &mdash; SHAND, DaveCenters24 &mdash; DAOUST, Dan19 &mdash; DERLAGO, Bill18 &mdash; IHNACAK. Peter8 &mdash; PODDUBNY, Walt7 &mdash; TERRION, GregR. Wings14 &mdash; FRYCER, Miroslav15 &mdash; HARRIS, Billy17 &mdash; HIGGINS, Paul22 &mdash; VAIVE, Rick - Cpt.L. Wings10 &mdash; ANDERSON, John9 &mdash; GAVIN, Stewart25 &mdash; MARTIN, Terry<h2>VANCOUVER</h2>Goaltenders35 &mdash; BRODEUR, Richard31 &mdash; GARRETT, JohnDefensemen15 &mdash; BELLAND, Neil29 &mdash; BUBLA, Jiri2 &mdash; HALWARD, Doug4 &mdash; LANZ, Rick13 &mdash; LINDGREN, Lars25 &mdash; McCarthy, Kevin27 &mdash; SNEPSTS, HaroldCenters23 &mdash; GRADIN, Thomas21 &mdash; HLINKA, Ivan16 &mdash; KIRTON, Mark17 &mdash; SUNDSTROM, P.R. Wings&mdash; CURRIE, Tony19 &mdash; DELORME, Ron14 &mdash; MacDONALD, B.J.26 &mdash; MOLIN, Lars8 &mdash; NILL, Jim12 &mdash; SMYL, Stan-Cpt.9 &mdash; TANTI, TonyL. Wings&mdash; CRAWFORD, Mark7 &mdash; LUPUL, Gary18 &mdash; ROTA, Darcy22 &mdash; WILLIAMS, Dave<h2>WASHINGTON</h2>Goaltenders1 &mdash; RIGGIN, Pat35 &mdash; JENSEN, AlDefensemen17 &mdash; BLOMQVIST, Timo9 &mdash; ENGBLOM, Brian4 &mdash; HOLT, Randy5 &mdash; LANGWAY, Rod-Cpt.&mdash; MACKINNON, Paul3 &mdash; STEVENS, Scott20 &mdash; THEBERGE, GregCenters10 &mdash; CARPENTER, Bobby12 &mdash; CURRIE, Glen15 &mdash; HAWORTH, Alan25 &mdash; JARVIS, Doug66 &mdash; NOVY, Milan28 &mdash; VALENTINE, ChrisR. Wings11 &mdash; GARTNER, Mike23 &mdash; GOULD, Bobby19 &mdash; HOUSTON, KenL. Wings29 &mdash; BULLEY, Ted14 &mdash; DUCHESNE, Gaetan16 &mdash; GUSTAFSSON, B.18 &mdash; LAUGHLIN, Craig21 &mdash; MARUK, Dennis<h2>WINNIPEG</h2>Goaltenders1 &mdash; HAYWARD, Brian33 &mdash; SOETAERT, DougDefensemen4 &mdash; CAMPBELL, Wade44 &mdash; BABYCH, Dave2 &mdash; MANTHA, Moe3 &mdash; MAXWELL, Bryan18 &mdash; SAVARD, Serge27 &mdash; SPRING, Don7 &mdash; WATTERS, TimCenters.16 &mdash; BOSCHMAN, Laurie13 &mdash; CHRISTIAN, D.-Cpt.10 &mdash; HAWERCHUK, Dale25 &mdash; STEEN, Thomas24 &mdash; WILSON, RonR. Wings23 &mdash; DEBLOIS, Lucien15 &mdash; MacLEAN, Paul8 &mdash; MANN, JimmyL. Wings11 &mdash; ARNIEL, Scott28 &mdash; DUPONT, Normand12 &mdash; LUKOWICH, Morris17 &mdash; HOPKINS, Larry22 &mdash; LUNDHOLM, Bengt19 &mdash; MULLEN, Brian9 &mdash; SMAIL, Doug &#9632;

NHL TEAM ROSTERS

BOSTON&mdash;Krushelnyski 23 Palmer 5, 6, Middleton 47, 48,49, Pederson 46, O&rsquo;Connell 13, 14. Winning goals&mdash;Pederson.BUFFALO&mdash;Hamel 22, Perreault 28, 29, 30, McCourt 20, Davis 8, Virta 13, Foligno 22, Cyr 13,14,15, Andreychuk 14, Seiling 19, Ramsay 11, Ramsey 8. Winning goals&mdash;Perreault.CALGARY&mdash;Nilsson 43, 44, 45, 46, McDonald 65,66, Jalonen 7,8, Lavallee 19, Christoff 9. Winning goals&mdash;Nilsson.CHICAGO&mdash;Savard 34, 35, Higgins 13, 14, Lysiak 23, Sutter 30, 31, Fraser 12, T. Murray 7, 8, Larmer 42, 43, Paterson 13,14. Winning goals&mdash;Savard, Larmer.DETROIT&mdash;Woods 13, Boldirev 16, Kisio 4, Ogrodnick 40, 41. Winning goals&mdash;none.EDMONTON&mdash;Kurri 43, 44, 45, Anderson 46, 47, 48, Messier 48, Linseman 33, Lumley 13, Gretzky 69, 70, 71, Lindstrom 25, 26, Huddy 19,20, Semenko 12. Winning goals&mdash;Kurri, Linseman.HARTFORD&mdash;McDougal 8, Stoughton 43, 44, 45, Kotsopoulos 6, Francis 30, 31, Malinowski 8, Lacroix 5, 6, Lawless 6, Neufeld 26, Galarneau 5, Johnson 31. Winning goals &mdash; Stoughton.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Fox 27, 28, Dionne 55, 56, Taylor 30, 31, Evans 18, Bozek 12,13, Simmer 28, 29, Holmes 8, Ruskowski 14, 15. Winning goals&mdash;Ruskowski.MINNESOTA&mdash;Plett 25, Eaves 15, 16, Bellows 35, T. Young 18, Douglas 13, Ciccarelli 37, Broten 32. Winning goals&mdash;none.MONTREAL&mdash;Shutt 34, 35, Houle 2, Napier 40, Walter 29, Mondou 29, Lafleur 26,27. Winning goals&mdash;Napier.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Gagne 13, 14, MacMillan 17, 18, 19, Broten 16, Ludvig 7, Meagher 15, Verbeek 2, 3, Cameron 4, 5, Tambellini 25. Winning goals &mdash; Gagne.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Bossy 58,59,60, Jonsson 12, 13, B. Sutter 20, 21, Bourne 20, Nystrom 10, Trottier 34, Goring 18,19, Carroll 1, Gilbert 8, Merrick 4. Winning goals&mdash;Bossy, Jonsson.NY RANERS&mdash;Greschner 3, Johnstone 15, Pavelich 36, 37, Nedomansky 14, Ruotsalainen 15, 16, Allison 11, Andersson 8, Hedberg 25, Backman 1. Winning goals&mdash;Nedomansky, Ruotsalainen.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Sinisalo 21, Holmgren 19, Poulin 1, 2, Sittier 42, 43, Dvorak 4, Propp 37, 38, 39, 40, Barber 27. Winning goals&mdash;Poulin, Propp.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Chomey 3, Gardner 27, 28, Shedden 24, Carlyle 15, Lee 13, Kehoe 29, Boutette 27, Malone 17. Winning goals &mdash; Shedden.QUEBEC&mdash;Price 2, Sleigher 13,14, A. Stastny 31, 32, David 3, Goulet 55,56,57, Richard 9, Wesley 4, Cloutier 28, Weir 5, Paiement 26. Winning goals&mdash;A. Stastny, Wesley.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Federko 24, Crawford 5, Turnbull 31, 32, Lapointe 3, Ramage 16, Sutter 45, 46, Pettersson 35. Winning goals&mdash;Ramage.TORONTO&mdash;Daoust 17, 18, Terrion 14, 15, 16, Frycer 23, 24, 25, Martin 14, Anderson 30, 31, Vaive 50, 51, Gingras 10, 11. Winning goals&mdash;Frycer 2, Anderson.VANCOUVER&mdash;Smyl 37, 38, Sundstrom 21 MacDonald 3, Nill 7, Lupul 17, 18, Lanz 9, 10, Delorme 5. Winning goals&mdash;none.WASHINGTON&mdash;Gartner 38, Carpenter 32, Theberge 8, Laughlin 17. Winning goals &mdash; Carpenter.WINNIPEG&mdash;Smail 14,15, Wilson 3, 4, 5, 6, Steen 23, 24, 25, 26, MacLean 31, 32, Mullen 22, 23 24, Arniel 13, Maxwell 6, 7, Lundholm 14, DeBlois 27. Winning goals&mdash;MacLean, Steen.Four-goal games&mdash;Wilson, Winnipeg.Hat tricks&mdash;Nilsson, Calgary, and Steen, Winnipg. &#9632;

NHL SCORERS THIS WEEK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03224/4604140-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Top Scorers In The NHL

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04152/4604192-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01346/4604185-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="1749" height="1206"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02241/4604178-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="1131" height="903"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03248/4604171-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="1744" height="2296"></div> &#9632;

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AMATEUR SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02295/4604230-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="873" height="3123"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0696/4604237-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="225" height="284"></div>Defenseman Charlie Huddy of the Edmonton Oilers is the first winner of the Emery Edge Trophy with the best plus-minus in the National Hockey League.Huddy finished the season with a plus 62 to edge out two teammates, Wayne Gretzky, who had a 60, and Paul Coffey, who was third with a plus 52.The legend GP Games played. TGF Total goals scored by player&rsquo;s team while he was on-ice. PPFG Power-play goals scored by player&rsquo;s team while he was on-ice, Offensive Net Oifference between TGF and PPFG. TGA Total goals scored against player&rsquo;s team while he was on-ice, PPGA Power-play goals scored against player&rsquo;s team while he was on-ice; Defensive Net Oifference between TGA and PPGA; Plus-Minus Difference between offensive net and defensive net<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05115/4604223-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="859" height="3528"></div> &#9632;

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Oilers’ Huddy Wins Emery Award

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01405/4604275-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02322/4604268-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="1806" height="1135"></div> &#9632;

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MINOR SCOREBOARD

<h2>Gretzky Again</h2>EDMONTON&mdash;Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers won the National Hockey League scoring championship for the third straight year and while his totals don&rsquo;t quite compare with his record 1981-82 season, they nevertheless were imposing.The 22-year-old Oiler center ended the season with 196 points, scoring 71 goals and picking up a record 125 assists in 80 games. The Edmonton star broke his assists record of 120 set last year when he rewrote the book by scoring 212 points, 92 goals and 120 assists.After four seasons in the NHL, Gretzky has scored 269 goals in 319 games. He also has 440 assists, giving him an amazing total of 709 scoring points. It has taken some NHLers 16 seasons to achieve what Gretzky has accomplished in just four years.<h2>Team USA Winners</h2>TOKYO&mdash;The United States National Team will return to A Pool competition next year, after winning the B Pool tournament without losing a game.Team USA finished atop the eight-nation event with a 5-0-1 record. Austria was second with a 2-0-4 mark and Poland third at 3-1-1. The only blot on the Americans performance was a 3-3 tie against Austria. The U.S. team defeated Poland 6-2, Norway 8-2, Romania 6-2, Switzerland 5-2 and bombed the host country, Japan, 12-1, in their windup game.<h2>Bossy Sets Mark</h2>NEW YORK&mdash;Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders scored his 60th goal of the season on the final weekend of the 198283 schedule and became the first player in NHL history to register 60 goals in three consecutive years.Bossy reached the 60-goal plateau for the fourth time in his career, tying him with Phil Esposito, who set the original mark between 1970 and 1975.<h2>Soviets Dominate</h2>MOSCOW&mdash;The Soviet Union skated off with the Pravda-Leningrad international hockey tournament title and the Russians didn&rsquo;t falter along the way winning all four games.The Soviets B team finished with a perfect 4-0 record as they walloped the Czechoslovakian B team 7-1 in the final game of the tournament. Sweden was second to the Russians with a 3-1 mark followed by the Czechs, who were 2-2, Canada 1-3 and Finland 0-4.Team Canada defeated Finland 8-5 in the tourney opener, but after that it was all downhill for the collection of college and Canadian Olympians as they lost 5-4 to Czechoslovakia, 4-2 to the Soviets and were edged 5-4 by Sweden.<h2>Tiger Banned</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;Dave (Tiger) Williams finished the 1982-83 NHL season in a spectator&rsquo;s role after the league handed him a five-game suspension for his part in a brawl against the Washington Caps.NHL vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill levied the sentence against Williams after the Tiger received a match penalty for deliberately trying to injure Washington defenseman Randy Holt with a vicious cross-check.Williams sat out the final five Vancouver games, but was not barred from the Stanley Cup playoffs.<h2>Help For Canada</h2>LOS ANGELES&mdash;The first NHL reinforcements were on their way to Europe to bolster Team Canada for the forthcoming World hockey championships in West Germany.The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; Triple Crown line of Marcel Dionne, Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor left to join Team Canada after the Kings failed to catch a playoff berth in the final week of the NHL schedule. The Kings&rsquo; trio scored 106 goals and collected 245 scoring points between them this season. Dionne accounted for 107 of the points.The NHL plans to send another dozen NHLers to Europe to strengthen Team Canada for a series of exhibition games prior to the World tournament, which begins April 16.<h2>Bruin Goes Home</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;Normand Leveille, the young Boston Bruins&rsquo; winger who was tragically stricken with a brain hemor-rhage last Oct. 23, went home for a visit for the first time since the incident happened during a NHL game in Vancouver.The 20-year-old Leveille had been confined to hospital in his battle to recover from the brain damage that has left him both paralyzed on his right side and still unable to speak because of a small tube inserted in his throat to help him breathe.Daniel Adam, director of hospital services at the Montreal Rehabilitation Institute, where Leveille was recently meved to undertake a rehabilitation program, said it was still too early to provide a detailed prognosis of the NHL plaers&rsquo; condition and his chances for a full recovery.While Leveille spent his first weekend at home in over five months, another NHLer, injured defenseman Ed Kea of the St. Louis Blues, continued to make good progress. The Blues recently had Kea moved from a Salt Lake Hospital to St. Louis in a private jet where doctors would be able to give a full evaluation of Kea&rsquo;s condition and be better able to determine the course of treatment.The 35-year-old Kea was still listed in fair and stable condition after receiving a serious head injury while playing for the Blues&rsquo; Salt Lake farm club March 8 in the Central League.<h2>Referee Flattened</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;Refereeing hockey games in the Montreal Forum is becoming an unexpected hazard for NHL referees.For the second time this season, a league official was knocked out of the game during the heat of the action. Veteran referee Dave Newell was sent to a Montreal hospital with a rib injury after colliding with Boston Bruin players during a weekend Montreal-Boston game. A standby referee, Greg Madill, took over for Newell after a short period during which the two linesmen ran the game.Earlier tis season at the Forum, referee Kerry Fraser found himself in jeopardy on the ice during a league game after one linseman fell sick with the flu and was unable to continue. Fraser and the second linesman managed for eight minutes of the second period before an errant puck cut the official for eight stitches on the forehead and again the game had to be delayed 15 minutes until repairs were carried out. With no backup available, Fraser was probably pondering the decision to recruit a player from each team to finish the game.<h2>Top Juniors</h2>TORONTO&mdash;The three best junior hockey players in the country have been nominated for the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League award, which will be presented during the Memorial Cup tournament at Portland in mid-May. Two _ of the three selections are league scoring champions.Doug Gilmour of the Cornwall Royals, who won the Ontario Hockey League title with 177 points, and rookie Pat Lafontaine of Verdun, who garnered a whopping 235 points as the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League scoring champ, are among the three nominees for the award.The third is Dean Evason of the Kamloops Oilers of the Western Hockey League, who finished second in his league&rsquo;s scoring race with 164 points. &#9632;

SLAPSHOTS

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;The New Jersey Devils were not able to leave their Meadowlands Arena fans with the kind of a memory that they had hoped for.It can be argued that the Devils ended their home season as pleasing, promising losers&hellip;but there was no doubt they were losers just the same.The Sabres handed the Devils their 20th home loss (8-5) in 40 games (11-209) on &lsquo;Fan Appreciation Night,&rsquo; as Chico Resch was victimized for five goals on the first 13 Buffalo shots.Resch, who dominated the pre-game awards ceremonies, didn&rsquo;t feel like a winner after the game.&ldquo;This was frustrating, embarrassing, mind-boggling,&rdquo; said Resch. &ldquo;Two factors lost this game for us. First, my goaltending; number two, our checking and lack of hitting. We got into a shootout and that&rsquo;s suicide for us&mdash;unless our goalie is hot.&rdquo;After the game, the Devils returned to the ice to greet the crowd of 13,286, throwing pucks into the stands and awarding prizes to raffle winners.Jerseys, sticks, season tickets and a trip to London were also given away as majority owner John McMullen and the Devils&rsquo; management thanked the paying customers for an average attendance of 12,486, largest in the twice-transplanted franchise&rsquo;s nine-year history.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed that we didn&rsquo;t finish up on a strong note here at home,&rdquo; Devil GM-coach Bill MacMillan said. &ldquo;I think it was a case of us wanting to win too much. We were too uptight. Our defense seemed to evaporate behind our blueline.&rdquo;In pre-game ceremonies, Resch was honored as the team MVP (basedon first star of the game voting) and as the Devils&rsquo; fan club&rsquo;s most consistent player.&ldquo;It was a tough night to really enjoy anything,&rdquo; said Resch, who was replaced by Ron Low for the final period. &ldquo;We all wanted to finish up the season in a blaze of glory and, instead, we just got burned up in the blaze.&rdquo;Mike Kitchen received an award as the Devils&rsquo; &lsquo;Unsung Hero&rsquo; from the New Jersey chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association and Jeff Larmer was named the club&rsquo;s top rookie by the fan club.The Devils&rsquo; &lsquo;Kid Line&rsquo; collected two goals and three assists in the losing effort against Buffalo, giving Aaron Broten (512), Paul Gagne (5-9) and Jeff Larmer (7-9)&mdash;a total of 47 points (17-30) over their last 11 games.Of the three members of the Kid Line, Gagne is the only first-round draft choice and, although he is only 22, this has been something of a comeback season for him.Similar to both Broten and Larmer, Gagne spent some time with Wichita Wind of the Central Hockey League before rediscovering his consistency. He doesn&rsquo;t ever want to go back to the minors, but leaves little doubt that the early-season demotion helped him.&ldquo;When I came back from Wichita,&rdquo; Gagne said, &ldquo;I had a whole new vision in life and hockey. When I got drafted in the first round (1980 entry draft), I didn&rsquo;t exactly think I was hot stuff, but I kind of figured I had it made. I found out that you just can&rsquo;t let your talent sit there or it might not be there when you go to look for it.&rdquo;The stay at Wichita jolted Gagne, made him more determined, and then the opportunity to play with Broten and Larmer just made it easier to show that he had, indeed, made progress.&ldquo;The game is so much fun when we&rsquo;re making things happen,&rdquo; Gagne said.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not scared of anything. We have so much confidence and a new attitude.&rdquo;HOT STUFF&mdash;Veteran winger Bobby MacMillan continued his late-season rush to reach 20 goals by firing Nos. 17 and 18 past Buffalo&rsquo;s Phil Myre, who beat the Devils for the second time&hellip; As a 19-year-old two seasons ago, Gagne scored 25 goals in 61 games for Colorado. He was the 19th pick overall, after scoring 48 goals in 65 games for the Windsor Spitfires in 1979-80&hellip;The Devils are not only pleased with the play of first-round picks Joe Cirella (Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League) and Ken Daneyko (Seattle Breakers of the Western Hockey League) on defense, they are optimistic about the prospects of John Hutchings (Oshawa) and Alan Heppie (Ottawa 67s of the OHL), who are having outstanding playoff series. All four are defensemen, suggesting that New Jersey could have a very young defense corps next fall.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01380/4604330-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="567" height="901"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goaltender Chico Resch was voted the team&rsquo;s MVP based on first-star selections.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0039-01

Devils’ Memory Goes Up In Smoke

<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Mike Milbury, D, lost for rest of season after suffering a cracked kneecap. Steve Kasper, C, returned from injury list. Dave Barr, RW, returned to Baltimore of AHL.CALGARY&mdash;Ed Beers, LW, returned from injury list.CHICAGO&mdash;Grant Mulvey, LW, recalled from Springfield of AHL.DETROIT&mdash;Walt McKechnie, C, released as free agent after Wings bought out his contract.HARTFORD&mdash;Michel Galarneau, C, returned from injury list.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Steve Bozek, LW, returned from injury list.MINNESOTA&mdash;Randy Velischek, D, signed to NHL contract from Providence College. Al MacAdam, RW, returned from injury list.MONTREAL&mdash;Doug Wickenheiser, C, sidelined for possibly rest of the season after suffering broken ribs when he slid into a goalpost. Rejean Houle, LW, returned from injury list.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Dan Poulin, LW, recalled from Maine of AHL. Brad Marsh, D, sidelined for rest of season after suffering a broken leg. Mark Taylor, LW, back from injury list.TORONTO&mdash;Dan Daoust, C, out of action possibly for rest of the year after injuring his knee. Frank Nigro, C, and Dave Shand, D, recalled from St. Catharines of AHL as replacement. Ken Strong, LW, recalled from Peterborough of OHL.VANCOUVER&mdash;Neil Belland, D, and Mark Crawford, LW, recalled from Fredericton of AHL.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>ADIRONDACK&mdash;Louis Lavoie, D, signed to tryout.BALTIMORE&mdash;Tim Hyrnewich, LW, assigned by Pittsburgh from Sudbury of OHL.BINGHAMTON&mdash;Bill Flanigan, D, signed to pro tryout.FREDERICTON&mdash;Gaston Therrien, D, recalled from Milwaukee of IHL.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>BIRMINGHAM&mdash;Greg Moore, C, and Eric Ponath, RW, both signed by Minnesota for pro tryouts.COLORADO&mdash;Mario Simioni, RW, assigned by Calgary from Toronto of OHL. Colin Patterson, RW, assigned by Calgary for pro tryout. &#9632;

Player Transactions

NEW YORK&mdash;The New York Islanders have a good reason for wanting to win their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup this season. They would be only the third team in National Hockey League playoff history to turn the trick.The Montreal Canadiens did it twice in the past, winning the Cup four times from 1975-76 to 1978-79 and five years in a row from 1955-56 to 1959-60. The Habs are the only NHL team to ever capture the Cup five times in succession.The Islanders reached a milestone last season when they won their third straight Cup, making them the first United States team in the NHL to ever annex three championships in a row. Even putting together three consecutive Cup years is something of a rarity in the league. Only five teams have managed it. The Canadiens won in 1956-60 and 1976-79 and the Toronto Maple Leafs also won it three straight years in 1947-49 and again in 1962-64.One of the big favorites for the forthcoming NHL playoffs, the Chicago Black Hawks, are looking at a 21-year Cup famine. The Hawks last won in 1960-61. &#9632;

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April 15, 1983

Canucks Make A Point Of Avoiding Oilers

Remparts Down But Not Out: GM

Johnston Makes It Clear He Wants GM Position

Final NHL Goaltending