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 29, 1983

The Hockey News April 29, 1983

<div class="image-hero"><img title="cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01785/4793054-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

The Hockey News THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY $1.25 64522 APRIL 15,1983 VOL. 36 NO. 27

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011099/4791147-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="292" height="347"></div><h2>Questions And Answers</h2>APART FROM PROVIDING us with the most delicious electrocution of the season, the playoffs always inspire provocative questions which lead to profound answers for the future. Here they are:QUESTION I: What effect will the Flyers&rsquo; debacle have on hockey in Philadelphia? On GM Keith Allen? On coach Bob McCammon? On Broad Street goonery practice?Answer: None. Attendance will hold next season, although the Flyers will slip because neither Bobby Clarke, nor Darryl Sittier or Bill Barber are getting speedier. Keith Allen is safe because he&rsquo;s smart and boss Ed Snider wouldn&rsquo;t know whom to trust for a GM even if he wanted to axe Allen. McCammon&rsquo;s future is predicted on (a) whether Snider&rsquo;s bitter playoff aftertaste holds through June. If so, McCammon could be in trouble; (b) on his performance during the first half of next season. As for muggery at The Spectrum, the Flyers&rsquo; policy will hinge on who&rsquo;s running the high command.Now that Jay Snider (Ed&rsquo;s son) has become policy-maker, a re-emphasis on bully can be expected. On the other hand, Jay may&mdash;just may&mdash;get Herb Brooks&rsquo; message: A team with style, speed and grace can convert the most blood-thirsty fans into connoisseurs of fine hockey.If that happens, then the Flyers will once and for all clean up their act. But that is doubtful. The betting here is that Jay will take over and it&rsquo;ll be status quo ante with the Flyers, which, by the way, isn&rsquo;t the worst thing in the world. After all, you can only carry Smurfism so far.QUESTION II: Will the Rangers&rsquo; regular-season style of &lsquo;playing possum&rsquo; become the National Hockey League&rsquo;s rage of the future?ANSWER: If so, the NHL is in big trouble. McCammon is on target when he says, &ldquo;If Herb Brooks coached in Philadelphia the way he coached in New York this year, he&rsquo;d have been fired. They didn&rsquo;t play most of the season. He (Brooks) used the whole regular season like a training camp exhibition season to gear his team up for the playoffs. What the NHL does not need is everyone looking at the regular schedule as &ldquo;an 80-game exhibition.&rdquo;If McCammon is right and if other clubs are encouraged by the Rangers&rsquo; theory of October-March possumism, the integrity of the game will face its most formidable challenge. Brooks was able to get away with it because Madison Square Garden is guaranteed a sellout of 17,000 tickets whether the Rangers go smurfing or surfing. The betting here is that possumism will be confined to Rangerville. They simply can&rsquo;t afford the luxury in Washington, Boston, Buffalo and all points west.QUESTION III: Can the Washington Capitals exploit their first-ever playoff ecstacy and firmly capture a large bloc of D.C. fans?ANSWER: Yes. The only thing wrong with the Caps&rsquo; 6-3 farewll loss to the Islanders was the deceptive quality of the numbers. Heroic would be an understatement for Bryan Murray&rsquo;s skaters as they reduced a 4-1 deficit to 4-3 and damned near tied the game in the third period of the finale. The sellout crowd of 18,130 toasted their Caps with a standing ovation in defeat. That reaction will be a metaphor for next season.The Capitals&rsquo; fans realize they have an imminent all-star in Scott Stevens&mdash;the toughest kid I&rsquo;ve seen in years&mdash;the NHLs second-best defenseman in Rod Langway, a first-rate coach in Murray and a neat goalie in Al Jensen. Mind you, the marketing will be extremely tough and super-smart GM David Poile knows that only too well. But it can and should be done. I&rsquo;m betting that it will.QUESTION IV: Do Irv Grundman and Bob Berry deserve to be scapegoats for the Canadiens&rsquo; catastrophe?ANSWER: Since the inmates&mdash;mostly Guy Lafleur&mdash;have been running the Forum asylum, it was inevitable that Grundman and Berry, whatever their merits, would be held responsible. It is clear the Habs did not win THE TRADE with Washington, nor did they win their playoff with Buffalo. True, they finished second in the Adams, but that is small potatoes. Or, as they say in La Belle Province, petite pommes de terre. Big potatoes are the order of the day. Tasty ones. Habs&rsquo; super-boss Ron Corey had to provide a potion to soothe the disillusioned Montreal fans and media. More than anything, that is why Grundman and Berry got the hook. And before weeping for Grundman, remember this: He got the job that originally was destined for the man who earned it&mdash;Scotty Bowman&mdash;but got jobbed in the now-forgotten Forum hanky-panky. When the Hab high command by-passed Bowman as GM, they got what they deserved. Now the same can be said for G and B.QUESTION V: Should Mike Nykoluk be fired to satisfy a Montreal Gazette press piranna, who doesn&rsquo;t know a fish from a Fischler?ANSWER: Definitely. Last December, the omniscient Red (Dread) Fisher of the Montreal Gazette promised his readers&mdash;including me&mdash;Nykoluk&rsquo;s days were numbered as Maple Leaf coach. Even though I like Nykoluk 40 times more than I like Fisher, I began counting the days. Then I ran out of fingers and went to my toes and still Nykoluk wasn&rsquo;t canned. Then I ran out of numbers.Now I&rsquo;ve gone to a calculator, but its battery is running low. Next I go to a computer, just to make Fisher look good. But this can&rsquo;t go on forever. So, in the interest of economy and the integrity of your prediction, I suggest that Harold Ballard get it over with and fire Nykoluk. This way Fisher will look good and Fischler can stop counting. (P.S. How come Fisher fired Nykoluk, but never fired Bob Berry, his hometown hero?)<h2>Improving The Game</h2>IN THE PAST season, New York hockey writers have been assailed by scatter-brained colleagues in such centers of learning as Toronto, Montreal and Boston, to name a few hockey hamlets. As any shrink knows, these digs betray the jealousy of scribes in those one-team towns who lack the breadth of New Yorkers, who have three teams at their disposal to watch during the season. The anti-New York digs are good because the more they happen, the more New York writers know they&rsquo;re the best. Since they are the creme de la creme and see so much hockey, the New York writers deserve to deliver their thoughts on what the NHL should do with its rules to make the game better. Read on and you tell me if this is sheer brilliance or not;DOUG GOULD, NEW YORK POST: &ldquo;Enforce the rules that are already in effect about freezing the puck along the boards and goalies holding onto the puck when there is no opposition in sight. These were called in 1978-79 and then the average time of a game was 2:10. Now the average is 2:35, because of the lack of enforcement. Penalties should be given to anyone who initiates activity in the crease after the whistle is blown. Handing penalties out would make for less rough stuff.&rdquo;MIKE DYER, Middleton Times-Herald-Record: &ldquo;Throw out the bluelines to quicken the pace. That way it will be more like basketball. There will be more long passes and non-stop action. Also don&rsquo;t let the man out of penalty box after a goal is scored on a minor penalty. This will also result in fewer penalties taking place. 1 favor overtime during the regular season. It would add excitment over the 80-game schedule.&rdquo;KEVIN DUPONT, New York Times: &ldquo;Make linesmen drop the puck faster. Players delay faceoffs with their constant jostling, so they should be given penalties for delay. Interference in front of the net isn&rsquo;t called enough. More penalties should be&rsquo; called and the interference rule should be better defined. More penalty shots should be awarded to liven up the game.&rdquo;HELENE ELLIOTT, Newsday. &ldquo;Get rid of the redline. That way there will be fewer offsides, more passing, less stoppages of play and a quicker game. Overtime should also be instituted during the regular season to make the game more exciting.&rdquo;PAT CALABRIA, Newsday: &ldquo;Move the nets closer to get rid of the clutter behind the nets. Now the area behind the nets is a i &lsquo;dead zone.&rsquo; Also, cut down on the nonsense in the faceoff circle. The officials who wait too long before dropping the puck should be penalized somehow. I favor making the nets smaller, so players would have to concentrate on high-percentage shots&rsquo; and refining their shooting and passing skills.&rdquo;As promised, pure genius, from The Big Apple.<h2>Infamous Last Words</h2>IT&rsquo;S TOO BAD we cannot withdraw some of our utterances like a hook on a fishing rod as demonstrated in the following:LARRY ROBINSON (on the eve of the Sabres-Canadiens playoff): &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got more confidence in our power play and the feeling I get is that the rest of the guys have more confidence in themselves. Mentally and physically.&rdquo; Total score: Buffalo 8, Montreal 2. Total games: Buffalo 3, Monteal 0.BOB McCAMMON (on the eve of the playoffs): &ldquo;The Bruins have suffered too many injuries to win (the Cup) now. The team I would pick to replace them (as the team to beat) would be the Canadiens&hellip;Any concern we (the Flyers) might have felt about the Rangers has passed. We were guessing when we played them last year. Now we&rsquo;re confident.&rdquo;<h2>Fischler Awards Dep&rsquo;t.</h2>THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE should get the following prizes:NORRIS TROPHY: MIKE MILBURY. As noted earlier, he is the best defenseman in the league. Rod Langway is second.VEZINA TROPHY: GLENN RESCH. Put Chico on the Canadiens and they&rsquo;d still be playing. Runner-up, Pete Peeters.LADY BYNG TROPHY: MARK PAVELICH. He&rsquo;s the best damn Smurf since Mush March and Henri Richard. Clean, too. After him, Dave Langevin.SELKE TROPHY: BILLY CARROLL. If you&rsquo;re talking about forwards who defend, Billy does it. Runner-up, Craig; Ramsay.HART TROPHY: (Note: Wayne Gretzky, who ordinarily would win the MVP, is ineligible because he is superhuman.) Therefore: BOBBY CLARKE. Take him away from the Flyers and what have you got? The Rubbers.CALDER TROPHY: PHIL HOUSLEY. If his head doesn&rsquo;t over-inflate in the next years, Housely will be better than Bobby Orr. Second-place: Dan Daoust.ADAMS TROPHY: DON CHERRY. Is there a better caah, anywhere? Runner-up. Blue! &#9632;

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ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyMONTREAL&mdash;The Verdun Juniors and the expansion Longueuil Chevaliers are both one victory shy of a berth in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League finals.The Juniors followed up their 4-3 opening-game upset in Shawinigan by thrashing the Cataractes 7-2 at home. The Juniors lost the third game 7-6 in double overtime&mdash;their first setback ir seven playoff games&mdash;but took a com manding 3-1 lead in the series back or home ice with a convincing 7-3 win.As for the Chevaliers, when we last left you they were leading 2-0 against the league-champion Laval Voisins Although the Voisins won Game There on home ice, 5-4 in overtime, the Cheva liers returned the favor back in Lon gueuil, winning by the identical score&mdash;also in overtime.A Verdun-Longueuil final, or for that matter a Verdun-Laval series, would be the QMJHL&rsquo;S first all-Montreal finale in its 15-year history.Here&rsquo;s a game-by-game breakdown of how both teams raced to their apparent strangehold leads.Verdun 7, Shawinigan 2&mdash;This game was closer than the score indicated. Jacques Sylvestre and Yves Beaudoin traded first-period goals. Sergio Momesso gave the Cats a 2-1 lead, only to see the Juniors score six unanswered goals&mdash;three coming in the second period. Sylvestre added two more and Jean-Maurice Cool also had a pair. Jean Bourgeois and Bill Campbell scored singles. Pat Lafontaine broke out of his scoring slump&mdash;albeit only four periods&mdash;-with three assists.Shawinigan 7, Verdun 6 (Double Overtime)&mdash;This was a strange topsyturvy game in which the lead frequently changed hands. Shawinigan led 5-3 after two on two goals by Momesso and singles from Whitney Richardson, Rejean Vignola and Alain Richard. Sylvestre, Gerard Gallant and Tom Kolioupoulos replied for Verdun.But the Cats almost let the game slip away in the third.Three consecutive goals by Lafontaine, Campbell and Kolioupoulos, his second, which came with less than two minutes remaining, gave the Juniors a 6-5 lead and an apparent third consecutive victory. But Vignola tied the game with 22 seconds remaining and Marcel Giguere scored the winner at the 22-second mark of the second overtime period.Verdun 7, Shawinigan 3&mdash;This game was also close&mdash;it was 4-3 with five minutes elapsed in the third&mdash;until the Juniors broke it open, exploding for three goals in as many minutes. Campbell again led the Juniors with two goals and ah assist. Gallant, Kolioupoulos, Danny Campbell, Sylvestre and Adam Glickman added singles. The Cats successfully contained Lafontaine to only one assist. But it didn&rsquo;t really matter. Giguere, Beaudoin and Vignola replied for Shawinigan. For the second consecutive game in Verdun, coach Ron Lapointe derricked goaltender Mario Gosselin for Marc Hamelin in the third period after the Juniors had scored their sixth goal.Laval 5, Longueuil 4 (Overtime)&mdash; Yves Courteau scored three goals for Laval, two coming in the opening period when the Voisins jumped into a 3-0 lead. But they couldn&rsquo;t hold it&mdash;a familiar story&mdash;as Frank lammatteo and Guy Rouleau scored in the second, and Jean-Jacques Daigneault and Hilton Ruggles in the third after Laval built up a 4-2 lead. Ruggles sent the game into overtime with 1:30 remaining. But Dan Cormier sent the hometown fans away happy, ending the contest barely two minutes into sudden-death play. Steve Fulton scored Laval&rsquo;s other goal.Longueuil 5 Laval 4 (Overtime)&mdash;The Voisins were leading 2-0 in the second on goals by Jean-Marc Lanthier and Alain Bisson but, as usual, blew it. They ran into penalty trouble in the second period&mdash;again, this is not the first time for this&mdash;and were assessed four unanswered minors by referee Andre Duhamel. Longueuil scored on one of those occassions&mdash;defenseman Michel Therrien registering the first of his pair&mdash;and Santino Pellegrino evened the score at 2-2 before the period ended.Mario Lemieux gave Laval a 3-2 lead early in the third, only to see Therrien and Ruggles give the Chevaliers their first lead of the game. Cormier sent the game into overtime with less than six minutes remaining, but Bobby Mormina, with his first goal of the series, scored the winner only 1:33 into overtime.AROUND THE LEAGUE&mdash;Eric Taylor, general manager of the Juniors, said he will attempt to move Verdun&rsquo;s home games to the Montreal Forum in the event they meet Laval in the finals. He was uncertain which option he would take if Longueuil was the opponent. &#9632;

QMJHL History Ready To Be Written

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER AND THN STAFF</div>Ranger defenseman Ron Greschner fingers the cause of the Flyers&rsquo; demise. He tells intimates that Philly goalie Pelle Lindbergh choked. Ex-Caps&rsquo; coach Gary Green offers another theory. &ldquo;Biggest mistake the Flyers made,&rdquo; Green, a USA Network commentator, tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;was to give Lindbergh The (Initiation) Shave at mid-season. It&rsquo;s one thing to cut the hair of a Canadian hockey player, but the Europeans take it a different way.&rdquo; Green maintains Lindbergh lost his touch after The Shave. Another theory heard among some members of the Philly media was the mid-season loss of the captaincy turned off Bill Barber and the Barber-Bob McCammon split affected other players. Philly Inquirer&rsquo;s&nbsp;Al Morganti isolated the Flyer problem in advance&mdash;failure to decide on a playoff goalie until the last game of the regular season. A Wales Conference GM also lists Lindbergh as the Broad Street debit. &ldquo;His confidence was shattered at All-Star time and he never got it back. And from what I hear, the Barber situation was disturbing-&rdquo;&hellip;Because of their friendship with Bobby Orr, both Phil Esposito and Don Cherry have refused to appear on Earl McRae&rsquo;s&nbsp; CJCL (Toronto) radio sports show. McRae&rsquo;s pungent magazine piece on the retired Orr (titled, Poor Bobby) in Quest still has Bobby&rsquo;s pals fuming&hellip;Reports persist that Gulf and Western Corp, wants to unload Madison Square Garden, the Rangers and Knicks&hellip;The Devils chirp that even though Detroit paid only one dollar for Dwight Foster, they got the better of the deal. A Jersey insider notes Foster collected only two goals and two assists in the homestretch crunch of 16 games and was minus-10. &ldquo;And that,&rdquo; adds the Jerseyite, &ldquo;on a $300,000 contract that the Red Wings are stuck with!&rdquo;Brad Seiwood withered King-cum-Ranger Rick Chartraw in an end-of-season session with L. A. scribes. Seiwood&rsquo;s explanation of why Chartraw wanted to be traded to the Rangers cannot be printed here. Of Nick Fotiu, Seiwood says: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to have him just for his presence.&rdquo; Seiwood on Greg Terrion, who was traded by the Kings to the Maple Leafs: &ldquo;He&rsquo;sjust afraid of getting hit. Some guys will never change. He&rsquo;ll always pull up short.&rdquo; Of course, anyone who witnessed Terrion&rsquo;s performance in the latter stages of the regular season and the playoffs would have an easy time debating with Seiwood. Leaf followers will tell you Terrion did a great checking job on Oilers&rsquo; Wayne Gretzky and North Stars&rsquo; Bobby Smith and added some key goals and took more than his share of punishment along the way&hellip;L.A. Times hockey scribe Sam McManis says the Kings should trade Marcel Dionne. &ldquo;It could prove to be the best deal for the franchise.&rdquo; Says Dionne: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to see myself playing for a contender.&rdquo; Dionne no longer is on the Kings &ldquo;untouchable&rdquo; list. The Kings are on the lookout for a first-rate goaltender&hellip;The Mets&rsquo; Bob Bailor and the Rangers&rsquo; Ron Duguay share a Manhattan apartment. &ldquo;We have a mutual agreement,&rdquo; says Bailor. &ldquo;Ron tells me which girls I can and cannot touch!&rdquo;&hellip;A Boston report has Guy Lafleur moving to an American team.The Maple Leafs banned Toronto Globe and Mail reporter Bill Houston from their dressing room because of GM&rsquo;s Gerry McNamara&rsquo;s displeasure over Houston&rsquo;s coverage of goon Paul Higgins. The ban lasted through the playoffs and, according to Houston, &ldquo;is not resolved.&rdquo; Neither the NHL office nor the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association have the power to force the Leafs to rescind the anti-Houston embargo. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know about next year,&rdquo; Houston adds. Leafs also have been feuding with journalist-broadcaster Earl McRae over his treatment of the Higgins issue. The NHL club has threatened to revoke CJCL&rsquo;s broadcast rights to Leaf games unless McRae is fired. The station&rsquo;s response has been to give McRae a two-week &ldquo;vacation&rdquo;&hellip;Rangers&rsquo; Ron Greschner is among hundreds of investors allegedly bilked by a phony tax shelter and securities scheme. A federal grand jury in Philadelphia charged four men with operating a phony investment firm. Its victims included Greschner as well as Kris and Randy Manery. Greschner was among 18 persons who, in 1979, put up $50,000 each in cash and notes and were fleeced in the tax scam&hellip;Devil exec Max McNab delivered a $3,000 check to the Bruins&rsquo; Normand Leveille Trust&hellip;Brad Park on Ray Bourque: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the dominant player in the game today&rdquo;&hellip;Gerry Cheevers&rsquo; kid brother was overheard telling someone he teaches computer math. The Bruins coach interrupted: &ldquo;I must be getting old. Whenlwasakid we called it adding!&rdquo;Oiler Mark Messier scored on a $300 bet made with his buddies. A balancing expert, Messier wagered that he could place nine hockey sticks on his arms and nose at the same time and retain them for at least five seconds. He did it and annexed $50 each from six Oilers. A minute-and-a-half went by before Messier dropped the stick on his nose&hellip;Whalers are high on 18-year-old defenseman Mark Paterson, their second pick in last year&rsquo;s entry draft. He played junior hockey in Ottawa. The guess is that he could make the NHL club next fall&hellip;Cathy Heggedal, trainer for the Nanaimo Islanders and the first female trainer in the Western Hockey League, has learned to laugh with the men with whom she works. One day a skater asked if she had a can. &ldquo;A can of what?&rdquo; she wondered. He replied &ldquo;a can.&rdquo; Again, she asked of what? The player finally explained: &ldquo;A can is the cup for a jock!&rdquo;&hellip;Minneapolis Tribune columnist Doug Grow&rsquo;s needling of GM Lou Nanne may have gotten Louie&rsquo;s goat. At a post-game press conference, Nanne snapped (at Grow): &ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you go out and find a coach if you think it&rsquo;s so easy?&rdquo;Keith Crowder wore Rick Middleton&rsquo;s No. 16 jersey during a recent Bruin practice and some onlookers mistook Crowder for Middleton. After the workout, Crowder berated Middleton: &ldquo;I resent being mistaken for you because I&rsquo;ve got a full head of hair!&rdquo; &#9632;

BLUELINES

<h2>NHL</h2>Boston&hellip;&hellip;18Buffalo&hellip;&hellip;16Calgary&hellip;&hellip;12Chicago&hellip;&hellip;4Detroit&hellip;&hellip;22Edmonton&hellip;&hellip;14Hartford&hellip;&hellip;24Los Angeles&hellip;&hellip;24Montreal&hellip;&hellip;9Minnesota&hellip;&hellip;18New Jersey&hellip;&hellip;23Islanders&hellip;&hellip;4Rangers&hellip;&hellip;19Philadelphia&hellip;&hellip;19Pittsburgh&hellip;&hellip;39Quebec&hellip;&hellip;17St. Louis&hellip;&hellip;17Toronto&hellip;&hellip;13Vancouver&hellip;&hellip;5Washington&hellip;&hellip;12Winnipeg&hellip;&hellip;20<h2>The Minors</h2>AHL&hellip;&hellip;26CHL&hellip;&hellip;28IHL&hellip;&hellip;29<h2>The Amateurs</h2>OHL&hellip;&hellip;30WHL&hellip;&hellip;31QHL&hellip;&hellip;32<h2>Columnists</h2>Frank Orr&hellip;&hellip;2Stan Fischler&hellip;&hellip;5Joe Falls&hellip;&hellip;12Bill Fleischman&hellip;&hellip;14Dick Beddoes&hellip;&hellip;16George Gross&hellip;&hellip;25<h2>Departments</h2>Rave Rookies&hellip;&hellip;3Playoff Roundup&hellip;&hellip;6World Hockey&hellip;&hellip;11Bluelines&hellip;&hellip;13Playoff Scoring&hellip;&hellip;33Minor Scoreboard&hellip;&hellip;35Classified&hellip;&hellip;37Hockey People&hellip;&hellip;38Slapshots&hellip;&hellip;39<h2>Coming Next Issue</h2>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;

<div class="byline">FRANK ORR&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011179/4790954-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="297" height="347"></div><h2>The Doctor Is In</h2>&ldquo;AH, DOCTOR ORR, pedagogue of the puck, how hockey needs your perspicacity to clear up parts of the game that have been obfuscated in this spring of long playoffs.&rdquo;&ldquo;Of course, as always I&rsquo;ll help because I always do what I can to eschew obfuscation and Saskatoon in January. What&rsquo;s the problem? Everything seems simple this spring.&rdquo;&ldquo;Doctor, the favorites won seven of the eight series in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Is there really any purpose in having dinky series every spring?&rdquo;&ldquo;The Stanley Cup playoffs are hockey&rsquo;s version of the World Series, the Super Bowl and the Olympics and the National Hockey League&rsquo;s big aim is to give as many cities as possible the opportunity to see at least a little bit of this great event, to participate in the drama, excitement and sporting greatness of those best-of-five extravaganzas. It&rsquo;s a very secondary consideration that some teams pick up a few bucks at the game.&rdquo;&ldquo;Doctor, if the NHL&rsquo;s aim is to spread great entertainment and the excellent, uplifting aspects of sportsmanship so important in the playoffs, then why do most teams raise their ticket prices by a sizable amount for the playoffs?&rdquo;&ldquo;Good heavens! You just don&rsquo;t understand. The NHL teams don&rsquo;t want to raise their prices and most owners agonize over it. But in doing it, they are just attempting to add to the enjoyment of the event for the spectators.&ldquo;If you attend an event that seems to be of major status and the ticket costs only $14.50, you would feel you were watching something second rate. But if you pay $28 for a seat, you&rsquo;ll feel you are watching something special and enjoy it much more. The hockey fans should thank the owners for their charitable outlook in raising ticket prices and making the playoff games much better for the fans.&rdquo;<h2>The Refs Help, Too</h2>&ldquo;DOCTOR, WHY DO the referees seem to be slightly more blind in the playoffs than they are during the season? I can&rsquo;t believe the amount of garbage they allow to go unpunished in playoff games.&rdquo;&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a terrible thing to suggest. You sound like the owner or general manager of a team that&rsquo;s been knocked out of a playoff in straight games, offering an intelligent assessment of why the team was defeated. Of course, it&rsquo;s the referee who can&rsquo;t handle the puck or doesn&rsquo;t cover his check or misses the net or gets a dumbo penalty. Everybody knows that.&rdquo;&ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t the NHL place a quota on how many penalties the referee can call?&rdquo;&ldquo;No, the NHL would never do a thing like that. The League gives the officials very simple, easy-to-follow instructions in the playoffs: Keep the games under control by ruling with an iron hand, but don&rsquo;t clutter things up with a large number of penalties. Now, what could be easier than that? It makes it really simple for the referees to do a good job.&rdquo;&ldquo;Doc, I bet heavily on the Philadelphia Flyers to beat the New York Rangers in the First round of the playoffs and those dopey Flyers really cost me a bundle. Why do you think the Flyers blew it?&rdquo;&ldquo;Well, the folks in Philly have only themselves to blame because they made a large number of jokes about the Rangers having a batch of small-sized players, calling them &lsquo;Smurfs&rsquo; and stuff like that. Now, everyone knows that short people really do have no reason to live, but the little devils can get all ornery when they&rsquo;re riled up. You&rsquo;ve noticed that the New York Islanders have made no comments about the Rangers being a bunch of runts.&rdquo;<h2>Short Leaf Fall</h2>&ldquo;DOCTOR, I CAN&rsquo;T believe all the fuss made in Toronto because the Maple Leafs beat out Detroit Red Wings and earned a playoff spot, then won a game against Minnesota. The way everyone went nuts about it, you would think the Leafs made it to the final.&rdquo;&ldquo;Remember that book Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me. Well, it could have been written about the Maple Leafs, who replaced the pregnant hooker driving a Corvair with a Nixon-Agnew sticker on it as the symbol of the world&rsquo;s losers, so just getting in the playoffs was a big deal and winning a game was a huge bonus.&ldquo;There is an uplifting part to it all. Harold Ballard gouges people for tickets to five playoff games&mdash;the most the Leafs have played at home in four years is two&mdash;and then has to return the money. Harold&rsquo;s giving money back is a big attraction in Toronto. It draws larger crowds than the games.&rdquo;&ldquo;Doc, Lou Nanne says he hates coaching and doesn&rsquo;t want to do it. But he took over the North Stars in the playoffs. What&rsquo;s with that guy?&rdquo;&ldquo;Look, I only have a PhD in hockey. You&rsquo;ll need someone with much more than that to figure out Nanne.&rdquo;&ldquo;Doctor, what do you foresee for the duration of the playoffs?&rdquo;&ldquo;Many games in hot arenas. I never have liked getting out of the swimming pool and going to a hockey game very much. There will be no empty seats from now until the end of May. There will be much complaining about how long the playoffs are&mdash;all of it from guys who have their expenses paid to be there.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0002-01

HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

It&rsquo;s still too soon to tell for sure&mdash;any time you are evaluating trades and the performances of 18 and 19-year-old rookies, you have to allow a few years&mdash;but early indications are that Lou Nanne&rsquo;s Minnesota North Stars got the best of the deal that brought Brian Bellows to the Twin Cities.Nanne, picking second overall, wanted to be sure to get Bellows, considered by many to be the No. 1 player available. So Nanne dealt Brad Palmer and collegian Dave Donnelly to the Bruins in exchange for general manager Harry Sinden&rsquo;s promise to pass on Bellows, which Sinden later said he was going to do anyway. Sinden then made defenseman Gord Kluzak the No. 1 pick overall.To put it mildly, Kluzak has had a disappointing rookie season. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound defenseman was often injured or ill. He dressed for 70 games, saw limited ice time and recorded only one goal and six assists&mdash;poor statistics for a defenseman said to be blessed with outstanding offensive skills.That isn&rsquo;t to say he won&rsquo;t suddenly break out and display all the talent he is said to possess. After all, you need not look any further for proof than Brian Bellows.&ldquo;Yeah, it takes a while to get adjusted to the NHL,&rdquo; says Bellows, who used the second half of the regular season and the playoffs to show he&rsquo;s finally found his stride. &ldquo;The first part of the season was very tough for me. I knew it would eventually come. At least, I hoped it would eventually come and it did.&ldquo;There was no one game in particular. Things just started to fall into place about midway through the season.&rdquo;Before then, Bellows had some problems, problems which may have cost him the Calder Trophy. He looked rather ordinary, hardly anything like the player who led the Kitchener Rangers to the Memorial Cup last spring. It didn&rsquo;t take long for the critics to surface.Some, who had never seen him play junior, wondered what all the fuss was about. Others questioned whether he was really playing well enough to hold down a spot in the North Star lineup or whether Nanne was only playing him for fear of looking bad.All those half-baked ideas have been laid to rest. Despite a terribly slow start, Bellows finished the regular season with 35 goals, second only to Chicago&rsquo;s Steve Larmer, and 30 assists. As the season came to an end, he was probably playing as well or better than any other NHL rookie.By season&rsquo;s end, North Star coach Murray Oliver, who is now back to being assistant coach, and Nanne proclaimed that, over the course of the final 30 games, Bellows was the Stars&rsquo; best player, a team leader.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got so much composure,&rdquo; Oliver said. &ldquo;He never loses his cool and panics. I&rsquo;ve got veterans who panic more than Bellows does.&rdquo;In the preliminary round playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, it was a toss-up whether Bellows or a rejuvenated Bobby Smith was the Stars&rsquo; best player. One thing is certain: without Bellows&rsquo; key goals and leadership, the Stars&rsquo; chances of beating the Leafs would have been next to nil.Now, he must be careful not to overstep the unwritten limitations a rookie must adhere to.&ldquo;I like to think I can help lead this team in the dressing room as well as on the ice,&rdquo; the supremely confident Bellows says. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve got to watch my step, too. I don&rsquo;t want to ruffle too many feathers. After all, I am just a rookie.&rdquo; &#9632;

Bellows Struts His Stuff For North Stars

<div class="byline">BY BOB McKENZIE</div>At the Stanley Cup luncheon, between Games Three and Four of the finals in the Wales Conference city, the National Hockey League will announce two finalists for the Calder Trophy, awarded annually to the top rookie in the regular season.The consensus among NHL observers is that the top two candidates are Chicago Black Hawk right winger Steve Larmer and Buffalo Sabre defenseman Phil Housley.There are a host of others who also merit varying degrees of consideration. They include Minnesota North Star right winger Brian Bellows; Washington Capital defenseman Scott Stevens; Montreal Canadien left winger Mats Naslund; Boston Bruin left &gt; winger Mike Krushelnyski; Sabre defenseman Hannu Virta; Toronto Maple Leaf center Peter Ihnacak; Maple Leaf left winger Walt Poddubny and the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; rookie netminding tandem of Pelle Lindbergh and Bob Froese.But when it&rsquo;s all said and done&mdash;the ballots, filled out by members of the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association, were at the league office by April 10&mdash;Larmer and Housley are expected to be the two finalists.All of which is rather surprising since neither Larmer nor Housley were considered favorites when the NHL season began last fall. In fact, few people, outside of those who followed the Ontario Hockey League or American Hockey League gave Larmer much of a chance of ever making the Black Hawks. And Housley was a standout high school player in South St. Paul, MN., but the question everybody was asking was could the 18-year-old make the adjustment to pro hockey in just one season.Well, Larmer not only made the Black Hawks, he played a key role in the team&rsquo;s drive to the Norris Division championship. Playing on a line with superstar center Denis Savard and and bruising left winger Al Secord, a 54-goal scorer, Larmer fired 43 goals and 47 assists in 80 games. His 90 points were second only to Savard, who recorded 120.Playing with such prolific players as Savard and Secord will likely hurt Larmer&rsquo;s chances for the Calder. The thinking is that he&rsquo;s good, but that anyone playing with Savard and Secord will share the wealth.Maybe so, but Larmer recorded the highest plus-minus rating (plus-44) on the team, 10 more than Secord who was runner-up. He also led the team in game-winning goals (nine) and anyone who watched Larmer with the Niagara Falls Flyers of the OHL or the New Brunswick Hawks of the AHL knows he is no fluke; that he has special touch around the net.Housley, meanwhile, started the season as one of many rookies in a rebuilt Sabre lineup. When Scotty Bowman drafted the 18-year-old high school star sixth overall, he compared him to Bobby Orr. At the time, the analogy seemed a little far-fetched, especially since Housley looked so young and almost frail standing on the Montreal Forum floor in an oversized Sabre sweater.The looks were deceiving, however, and Housley demonstrated that he is indeed the closest thing to Orr we&rsquo;ve seen since the great Bruin detenseman was forced to retire.In 77 games, Housley, who constantly thinks offense, scored 19 goals and 47 assists to finish third in team scoring and tied for third in rookie scoring. His 47 assists tied him with Larmer for most assists by a rookie.But Housley&rsquo;s numbers don&rsquo;t fully tell his story. The youngster, with amazing acceleration, outstanding puckhandling skills and an uncanny knack for seeing the play unfold before it even happens, has to be seen to be appreciated. The most often-heard comment about him is, &ldquo;If he&rsquo;s this good now, what&rsquo;s going to happen when he matures and gains more experience.&rdquo;On the surface, never have two Calder candidates come from such different backgrounds. Larmer is a Canadian. Housley is an American. Larmer played major junior hockey and was drafted 120th overall (the sixth round) in 1980. Housley played high school hockey and was drafted sixth overall (the first round) in 1982. Larmer, 21, spent a full season in the American League. Housley, 19, jumped directly from high school to the NHL.But perhaps they aren&rsquo;t as different as their backgrounds would seem to indicate.Both have one brother (Larmer&rsquo;s brother, Jeff, is a talented rookie with the New Jersey Devils), one sister and, call it coincidence if you will, but their fathers are both construction workers who believe strongly in the work ethic.&ldquo;If you put out the effort, you should, as a rule, get something out of it,&rdquo; says Donald Larmer, who lives in Peterborough, Ont., with his wife, Doris, and daughter, Donna. &ldquo;As far as I&rsquo;m concerned, what&rsquo;s good for me in my job is basically the same for every job, even if it&rsquo;s playing professional hockey.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011197/4790992-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="952" height="1231"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phote by Bruce BennettChicago Black Hawk rookie right winger Steve Larmer, above, led all rookie scorers this season while his Buffalo Sabre counterpart, defenseman Phil Housley, below, finished tied for third among first-year scorers.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying that if you work hard, you&rsquo;ll definitely make it to the NHL. It isn&rsquo;t that simple. You&rsquo;ve got to get a lot of breaks along the way. I guess the big thing is to be prepared to take advantage of the breaks when they come.&rdquo;Which is exactly what Steve Larmer did this year.&ldquo;I guess Steve got a big break because of (Chicago coach) Orval (Tessier),&rdquo; Donald Larmer added. &ldquo;Orval had coached against Steve in junior and he had coached Jeff. Then, Steve played for Orval in New Brunswick. So, you have to wonder, if Orval wasn&rsquo;t coaching in Chicago this year, would Steve have gotten a chance to play there?&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I mean about the breaks. You can work as hard as you want but you have to have all the small things fit into place, too. That seems to have happened for both Steve and Jeff, although when everything goes as well as it has, I always believe you should start double checking everything, making sure you aren&rsquo;t letting little things slide.&ldquo;If you stop doing all the small things that help to make you successful, then things start going wrong, eh?&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02993/4790985-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="951" height="1265"><figcaption class="caption-body">Photo by Robert Shaver</figcaption></div>In South St. Paul, Leroy Housley, his wife, Mary Lee, his son, Larry, and daughter, Connie, are trying to adjust to having the youngest member of the family away from home for the first time.Phil Housley never had to leave home to play junior hockey. For that matter, he never had to leave home to play college hockey either and even if he had gone to college, it would have been at his hometown University of Minnesota.&ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t really ready for Phil to play in the NHL,&rdquo; Mr. Housley says. &ldquo;It really kind of pulled the rug out from under us. We really miss him a lot.&ldquo;But he&rsquo;s adjusted well. In fact, I&rsquo;m surprised at how well he&rsquo;s done. I knew he was a good player and I thought he&rsquo;d do pretty well in the NHL someday. But this year, I just thought he&rsquo;d kind of be there, if you know what I mean. I didn&rsquo;t expect him to be as dominant as he has.&ldquo;I know he&rsquo;s my son and I&rsquo;m kind of partial, but he&rsquo;s a real pleasure to watch. He&rsquo;s always had that sixth sense on the ice. And he&rsquo;s always worked hard at hockey.&ldquo;When he and his brother were little guys, I used to come home from work dead tired and have to take them up the rink and put on their skates for them. After a while, I told them if they wanted to play hockey, they&rsquo;d have to take themselves up there because I was too tired.&ldquo;From them on, they did. I think Larry helped Phil develop, too. They used to play Showdown in the driveway all the time.&rdquo;Not unlike the Larmer brothers who spent countless childhood hours on rinks and driveways in Peterborough.&ldquo;My boys were no diffferent than any other Canadian kids that dreamed of playing in the NHL someday,&rdquo; Mr. Larmer says. &ldquo;Did I ever think they would make it? Not really, at least not when they were kids. I don&rsquo;t think anyone can look at a kid playing minor hockey or whatever and say he&rsquo;s going to make it.&ldquo;Some kids get better as they get older. Some get worse. Hell, you can&rsquo;t even tell if a player will stay in the NHL once he gets there.&rdquo;&ldquo;Does that mean,&rdquo; Mr. Larmer was asked, &ldquo;that you question whether your boys will become fixtures in the NHL?&rdquo;&ldquo;Well, let&rsquo;s this put it this way,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;the way I see it, getting to the NHL is pretty tough, but it&rsquo;s even tougher to stay there. I think if the boys keep that in mind, they&rsquo;ll be alright, but you can&rsquo;t forget what got you where you are. That&rsquo;s important.&rdquo;One final question was put to each of the fathers: Who do you think should win the Calder Trophy this season?&ldquo;Well&hellip;1 don&rsquo;t really get to see that many games,&rdquo; Donald Larmer says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not in a position to really say who should win it. I know who I&rsquo;d like to see win it, but whatever happens, I guess that Steve has had a pretty good season this year. Who could ask for any more than that?&rdquo;&ldquo;I think Phil should win it,&rdquo; says Leroy Housley. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if he will or not, though. He&rsquo;s a defenseman and that might hurt him. They should have a separate award for defensemen. But all things considered, it&rsquo;s a been a really great year for him&mdash;even if he doesn&rsquo;t win the rookie award. I guess I can&rsquo;t squawk if he doesn&rsquo;t win. Phil might squawk, but I can&rsquo;t.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0003-01

It’s A Two-Man Affair

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011240/4791047-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">New York Islander goalie Billy Smith played an outstanding game to record a 5-0 shutout against the New York Rangers.</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;Duane Sutter was so nervous he found it impossible to keep his food down. And when he attempted to take a pre-game nap, he tossed and turned until he finally surrendered and decided sleep wasn&rsquo;t that important.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll sleep tomorrow,&rdquo; he said.That&rsquo;s what made the Islander winger&rsquo;s playoff performances against the Rangers so astounding. Lacking sleep and bothered by a nervous stomach, Sutter had a goal and an assist in the Isles&rsquo; 4-1 victory over the Rangers in the opener of the Patrick Division final series. The following night, he scored three goals as the Isles romped, 5-0.&ldquo;Funny thing, I still feel a little sick,&rdquo; he admitted after Game Two at Nassau Coliseum.But if Sutter was feeling ill, imagine how the Rangers felt. After looking so strong in sweeping the Flyers in the opening round, they suddenly lost their scoring touch and some of their composure, too.The Islanders can do that to a team. They were flying at the start of their second game against the Rangers and they never let up.&ldquo;That was the best playoff game we&rsquo;ve played in two years,&rdquo; said Bob Bourne, who had three assists for the second consecutive game. &ldquo;I think if we played the Russian national team, we would have won. We were superb.&rdquo;Al Arbour, who does not specialize in superlatives, was most impressed by the Islanders desire. &ldquo;For a team effort, that as our best of the year,&rdquo; the coach said. &ldquo;Everything worked, everybody worked, we have no passengers and Billy Smith was great&hellip;he deserved that shutout.&rdquo;Smith did not have to work too hard for his fourth career playoff shutout. He totaled 23 saves while the Islanders fired 47 shots at the Rangers&rsquo; Glen Hanlon.Sutter admitted he became ill before the series opener. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m always nervous before a game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I went to a drug store and got some stuff for my stomach, but it didn&rsquo;t help much. Then I couldn&rsquo;t sleep.&rdquo;He appeared neither sleepy nor sick to his stomach while fashioning his first hat trick since he broke into the NHL three seasons ago. His first of the night was a fluke. He caught Hanlon out of position as he circled the net and caromed a shot off Don Maloney, who attempted to cover up for Hanlon by tossing his body across the crease.Sutter scored his second by taking a pass from Bourne, faking Hanlon to the ice and hoisting a backhander into the net. &ldquo;That was an NHL goal,&rdquo; Sutter said, beaming.Sutter was playing on a line with his brother, Brent, and Bourne. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re a good blend,&rdquo; Duane Sutter said. No doubt about it. The trio totaled six goals and 16 points in the first two playoff games against the Rangers.Bourne wound up playing with the Sutters when Clark Gillies suffered a sprained left knee with three games left in the regular season.&ldquo;Those Sutters eat, live and sleep hockey,&rdquo; Bourne said. &ldquo;They talk hockey night and day. They make my head spin. But it&rsquo;s fun to play with them. When the puck goes in a comer, you don&rsquo;t have to worry about chasing it. You know those two brothers will get it. They want it so bad and they&rsquo;re so intense.&rdquo;ON THE ISLE&mdash;The Islanders lost two key players with injuries in their series opener against the Rangers. Dave Langevin suffered severe damage in his right knee in a collision with Don Maloney and Bryan Trottier sprained his left knee when one of his skates struck a rut in the ice. Langevin underwent arthroscopic surgery that included repair of some cartilage and hoped to resume skating later in the week. &#9632;

f0004-01

Isles’ Sutter Feels Bad But Rangers Feel Worse

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div>CHICAGO&mdash;This was what coach Orval Tessier had in mind when the Black Hawks acquired left winger Curt Fraser from Vancouver on Jan. 6.Fraser took Minnesota&rsquo;s Gordie Roberts into the boards with a crunching check, jarring the puck from the defenseman in the North Stars&rsquo; end.Then, rookie linemate Steve Ludzik took out Bobby Smith and led the puck to Doug Wilson on the left point.&ldquo;As soon as that happened. I headed straight for the net,&rdquo; said Fraser, &ldquo;Their goalie (Gilles Meloche) was down when Doug shot.&rdquo;&ldquo;I had the short side covered and was down for it,&rdquo; said Meloche. &ldquo;If Fraser doesn&rsquo;t deflect it, no way it goes in.&rdquo;But Fraser deflected the puck and this goal born of desire and second effort with 6:54 to play vaulted the Hawks to 5-2 victory in Game One of their Stanley Cup quarter-final series.&ldquo;Right from the start, when we got Fraser from Vancouver (for Tony Tanti), I said that it would take a while for him to get used to it here but that he&rsquo;d be a factor in the playoffs,&rdquo; recalled Tessier.Fraser&rsquo;s deflection broke a 2-2 tie on a night when the North Stars appeared to have Denis Savard&rsquo;s number and the 17,432 Chicago partisans seemed resigned to the posibility of overtime. Only on the scoreboard was this a three-goal triumph.Denis Savard scored with 2:19 left and Wilson shot the puck into an empty net with 46 seconds remaining.In the fist two periods, Minnesota played a remarkable defensive game against the Hawks&rsquo; top two lines. Savard and his explosive wingers, Al Secord and Steve Larmer, and Tom Lysiak and his traveling companions, Darryl Sutter and Rick Preston, weren&rsquo;t permitted a single shot on goal.Murray Bannerman, who played in his third straight game for the first time this season, stopped 27 shots, giving up goals to Tom McCarthy and Smith in the second period.To advance to the quarter-finals, the Hawks bounced back from an opening night defeat on home ice and elminated St. Louis in the four-game first-round series.Secord, a 54-goal scorer during the regular season, was held without a point by the Blues.Midway through Game Three, Second received a double-game misconduct for his role in an altercation involving three players on both teams, and had to miss Game Four.&ldquo;I learned a lesson in St. Louis,&rdquo; said Secord, who reduced his penalty toll from 303 minutes to 180 during the regular season. &ldquo;I got the short end of the stick. I&rsquo;ll have to play smarter this time (in the Minnesota series).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021170/4791078-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="541" height="1070"><figcaption class="caption-body">Black Hawk Al Secord says he&rsquo;ll try to &ldquo;play it smarter&rdquo; against the Stars.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not going to change my style. I&rsquo;ll play my game and go to the net and be tough.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel any pressure because I didn&rsquo;t do any scoring in the St. Louis series. Except for getting thrown out and missing a game and a half, I played the way I wanted to. I made room for Denis Savard and Steve Larmer, and they had good chances and scored goals.&rdquo;With 11:21 remaining in Game Four and without Secord, Savard set up Larmer for the power-play goal that enabled the Hawks to defeat the stubborn Blues 5-3 and expel them from the playoffs. Darryl Sutter deposited the insurance goal in an empty net.HAWK TALK&mdash;The Chicago power play, second in the NHL during the regular season, has turned out to be a paper tiger in the playoffs. In the St. Louis series, the Hawks were 3-for-23 and in Game One against Minnesota were 0-for-3&hellip;Defenseman Keith Brown, out since Jan. 26 when he suffered a separated shoulder against Vancouver, returned for Game One of the series with the North Stars&hellip;Tessier&rsquo;s original playoff plan was to rotate Tony Esposito and Bannerman in goal. Esposito won Game Two against St. Louis but Tessier decided on Bannerman in the next three outings because of his ability to handle and move the puck. &#9632;

f0004-02

Fraser Deal Pays Dividends

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031008/4791116-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg"></div>THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded in 1947 by Kenneth W. McKenziTHE HOCKEY NEWS. (ISSN 0018-3016) is published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd., 85 Scarsdale Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2 (416) 4455702. In US. do W.C.C. Publishing Corp., 850 Third Ave, New York, N.Y. 10022.YEMLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $18 95 in the USA $1895 in Canada $24 95 in Foreign Countries Send all Canadian and Foreign subscription orders to THE HOCKEY NEWS. P. O Box 13035. Postal Station A. Toronto. Ont M5W 1V7 U.S subscription requests should be mailed to Box 904. Buffalo. N Y 14240. Please allow 4-6 weeks for processing.SEMI ADDRESS CHANGES TO THE HOCKEY NEWS. 85 Scarsdale Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2. Second Class mail Registration No. 1327. All inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addressed to Subscription Dept, The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M38 2R2.IN THE IMHO STATES: Second class postage paid at New York. N Y and at additional mailing offices. U.S. POSTMASTER send address change to: The Hockey News. P.O Box 904, Buffalo. N.Y 14240<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04893/4791109-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="77" height="75"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Member ot the Audit Bureau of Circulations &#9632;

f0004-03

The Hockcy News

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;On the surface, it would appear that the end of the Canucks&rsquo; season came down to a single goal, the one scored by Calgary&rsquo;s Greg Meredith 66 seconds into sudden-death overtime of Game Four.But when it was all over and the Canucks were through for the season, it was quite clear that they lacked enough players going at top speed to contend with the Rames.Further, they had no scoring punch up front, a sad fact that was highlighted in this series as half their goals came from defensemen, not including one scored by Doug Halward in the first minute of the opening game that was not seen by either referee Kerry Fraser, two linesmen or the goal judge and, therefore, didn&rsquo;t count.&ldquo;I had bad vibrations when Doug&rsquo;s goal wasn&rsquo;t counted in the first game,&rdquo; said Vancouver associate coach Ron Smith. &ldquo;That didn&rsquo;t happen last year. And another factor, and perhaps one we didn&rsquo;t react to soon enough this season, was that teams were much better prepared for us.&rdquo;Smith best described the Canucks&rsquo; entire season when he talked about illusion, the illusion that it would all happen the same as last spring when they made it to the Cup final.&ldquo;The game is such an illusion. We were not happy with our first 55 games and in the last 15 we got things going. But except for a couple of cases, there were no tremendous personal turnarounds.&ldquo;This year&rsquo;s series wasn&rsquo;t that much different than last year&rsquo;s (when the Canucks beat the Rames). I don&rsquo;t think we could have hit Calgary when they had Willi Plett and Ken Houston the way we did Saturday (the Canucks&rsquo; only win). And Calgary never outplayed us as badly in this series as they did in the third period last year when Richard (Brodeur) played such a great game.&ldquo;When you analyze it down to it&rsquo;s crunch, it&rsquo;s an illusion. I hate to use that word but I can&rsquo;t think of another. Games are won by things over which you have no control.&rdquo;Indeed, the Canucks had all kinds of shortcomings this year, some of which are not going to be easily rectified. Their absolute poverty of speed, size and scoring ability on the wings is so bad, it may take years to fix. Take away Stan Smyl and Darcy Rota from the Canucks, and the wingers are averaging about seven goals apiece, a situation that would kill any team&mdash;let alone one without a 50-goal scorer.And really, the Canucks lost the series in the first game, when a problem they had all season resurfaced, as it did in Game Three, which they managed to hold onto.&ldquo;We had problems holding onto the lead,&rdquo; said coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what it was, whether it was mental or phvsical But I just couldn&rsquo;t shut down the other teams once we got ahead. We should have won the first game. We were up 3-1 in the third period and couldn&rsquo;t hold it.&rdquo;The same problem happened in Game Three, when after leading 4-1 in the second period, they gave up three straight goals to the visiting Hames, who completely took control of the third period until Stan Smyl scored the winning goal in the last minute of the game.It was like that most of the season. As soon as they got ahead against a determined team, they began to fall back, completely ignored forechecking and then began running around in their own end. The team, ultimately, was undisciplined, hardly the kind of team normally associated with Neilson. &#9632;

Lack Of Offensive Punch Kills Canucks

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03617/4791258-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="524" height="116"></div>As this issue went to press, the Campbell Conference semi-finals were shaping up as one tight series and one blowout. In the tight one, the Chicago Black Hawks held a 2-1 game lead over the Minnesota North Stars, but the Stars looked impressive in winning the third game on home ice, where Game Four was scheduled for.In the other series, though, the Edmonton Oilers were having no trouble at all with the Calgary Flames. The Oilers dominated all three games and looked certain to move on to the conference final against the winner of the Black HawkNorth Star series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011278/4791272-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="163" height="143"></div><h2>MINNESOTA vs CHICAGO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02942/4791265-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="153" height="142"></div>Game One: The Chicago Black Hawks had too much of everything for the Minnesota North Stars in the final period as they outplayed, outshot and outscored them to win 5-2.Goals by Curt Fraser and Denis Savard broke open a 2-2 tie before defenseman Doug Wilson scored for Chicago in the final minute into an empty Minnesota net to send the Hawks on their way to their first win of the series.Fraser&rsquo;s goal was the winner. Savard&rsquo;s insurance marker came with less than three minutes remaining in the game and was his fourth of the playoffs. Steve Ludzik and Doug Crossman were the ether Chicago scorers. Tom McCarthy and Bobby Smith, with his fifth playoff goal, scored for Minnesota.Goalie Murray Bannerman handled 29 shots compared to 28 for Gilles Meloche of the North Stars.Thu. Apr. 14MINNESOTA 2, CHICAGO 5First PeriodNo scoring.Penalties&mdash;McCarthy (Min) 10:22; Preston (Chi) minor-major; Maxwell (Min) minormajor 11:35; Lysiak, (Chi) 15:50; Higgins (Ch) 18:21.Second PeriodChicago 1 &mdash; Ludzik 3 (Wilson, B. Murray) 8:00.Minnesota 2 &mdash; McCarthy 1 (Ciccarelli, Roberts) 8:31.3 &mdash; Smith 5 (Maxwell, Plett) 13:17.Chicago 4 &mdash; Crossman 1 (Lysiak, Sutter) 18:52.Penalties &mdash; Payne (Min) 5:53; Roberts (Min) 10:08; Preston (Chi) 12:28.Third PeriodChicago 5 &mdash; Fraser 2 (Wilson, Ludzik) 13:06.6 &mdash; Savard 4 (Secord, Fox) 17:41.7 &mdash; Wilson 2 (Lysiak) 19:14.Penalties &mdash; None.Attendance: 17,432(Chicago leads best-of-seven series 1-0).Game Two: The Chicago Black Hawks showed their superiority over the Minnesota North Stars for the second straight game and, as a result, held a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Norris Division final series.Center Denis Savard and winger Steve Larmer figured in four goals each to spark the Hawks to a convincing 7-4 romp over the North Stars, who fell behind 5-2 before getting their offense in gear. Savard showed the way with two third-period goals, his fifth and sixth of the playoffs. Larmer scored once and assisted on three others. Al Secord, Doug Crossman, Bob Murray and Tom Lysiak fired the other Chicago goals.Craig Hartsburg, Dino Ciccarelli, Al MacAdam and Willi Plett were the scorers for the North Stars.Minnesota GM and coach Lou Nanne admitted the North Stars dug themselves too deep a hole and couldn&rsquo;t get out. Murray Bannerman posted his fourth straight playoff win in goal for the Black Hawks and stopped 28 Minnesota shots.Fri. Apr. 15MINNESOTA 4, CHICAGO 7First PeriodChicago 1 &mdash; Secord 1 (Larmer, Crossman) 5:46.2 &mdash; Larmer 3 (Savard) 16:10.3 &mdash; Crossman 2 (Savard, Wilson) 17:18.Penalties &mdash; Roberts (Min) 0:33; Secord (Chi) 3:00; Plett (Min) 3:34; Larmer (Chi) 6:16; Payne (Min) 12:06; Plett (Min) 16:38; Beaupre (Min) (served by Sargent) 17:05; Preston (Chi) 18:29.Second PeriodChicago 4 &mdash; B. Murray 1 (Sutter, Preston) 6:06.5 &mdash; Lysiak 3 (Crossman, Preston) 6:41.Minnesota &mdash; Hartsburg 1 (Broten) 12:56. 7 &mdash; MacAdam 1 (Ciccarelli, Broten) 16:44. Penalties &mdash; Maxwell (Min) 4:24; Fraser (Chi) 11:34.Third PeriodMinnesota 8 &mdash; Ciccarelli 3 (Broten, McCarthy) 3:47.Chicago 9 &mdash; Savard 5 (Larmer, Secord) 11:56.10 &mdash; Savard 6 (Larmer) 16:26.Minnesota 11 &mdash; Plett 1 (Ciccarelli, Hartsburg) 17:14.Penalties &mdash; Fraser (Chi) 12:50; Preston (Chi) 16:49.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04409/4791251-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="537" height="113"></div>Attendance: 17,506.(Chicago leads best-of-seven series 2-0)Game Three: The Minnesota North Stars found home ice more to their liking as they walloped the Chicago Black Hawks 5-1 after losing the first two games of their best-of-seven series in Chicago.The North Stars did it all in the third game&mdash;outskating, outscoring and out-muscling the Hawks throughout while outshooting them 36-25. The Black Hawks, who still lead the Norris Division final series 2-1, were never in this one as Minnesota scored twice in the first period and never looked back the rest of the way.Five different players figured in the Minnesota scoring. Al MacAdam and Dino Ciccarelli counted in the first period and the Stars pulled away with three unaswered third-period goals by Craig Hartsburg. Bob Smith and Steve Payne. The goal was Smith&rsquo;s sixth of the playoffs. Defenseman Brad Maxwell was the sparkplug for Minnesota, setting up three goals including the game-winner by Ciccarelli. Goalie Gilles Meloche earned the win for the North Stars.Al Secord scored the lone Chicago goal as the Hawks&rsquo; sputtered after scoring 12 times in the first two games on Chicago ice. Murray Bannerman took the loss, his first after four straight playoff victories.Sun. Apr. 17CHICAGO 1, MINNESOTA 5First PeriodMinnesota 1 &mdash; MacAdam 2 (Maxwell) 13:51.2 &mdash; Ciccarelli 4 (Maxwell, McCarthy) 17:36. Penalties &mdash; Ludzik (Chi), Smith (Min) 6:34; Lysiak (Chi); 15:14; Fox (Chi) 16:55.Second PeriodChicago 3 &mdash; Secord 2 (Higgins, Ludzik) 14:00.Penalties &mdash; Secord (Chi) major, Plett (Min) minor-major, 2:13; MacAdam (Min) 5:53; Higgins (Chi) 7:56; Smith (Min) 10:22; McCarthy (Min) 11:58.Third PeriodMinnesota 4 &mdash; Hartsburg 2 (Ferguson, Plett) 1:54.5 &mdash; Smith 6 (Hartsburg, Payne) 3:07.6 &mdash; Payne 3 (Maxwell, Bellows) 18:35.Penalties &mdash; Brown (Chi) 2:48; Roberts (Min) 7:22; Savard (Chi), Maxwell (Min) 8:38; Plett (Min) 13:00; Smith (Min) 15-46; Gardner (Chi) major, 18:08; Smith (Min) major, Brown (Chi) minor-major, 18:25.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05333/4791244-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="527" height="115"></div>Attendance: 15,784.(Chicago leads best-of-seven series 2-1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06237/4791237-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="174" height="146"></div><h2>CALGARY vs EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-07129/4791230-1-eng-US/f0006-072.jpg" title="f0006-07" width="154" height="148"></div>Game One: Mark Messier became the second Edmonton player to score four goals in the 1983 Stanley Cup playoffs as he sparked the Oilers to an easy 6-3 win over the Calgary Flames.Messier&rsquo;s four-goal performance, which matched Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s similar effort in the division semi-finals against Winnipeg, was all the offense the Oilers needed to capture the first game of the best-of-seven Smythe Division final series.Despite the fact they were outshot 3733 by Calgary, the Oilers dominated the game with their speed and pin-point passing. Messier scored twice in the first period and the Oilers went on from there to count four more times in the final period to win as predicted. Messier&rsquo;s four goals gave him six in the team&rsquo;s first four playoff games. Pat Hughes and Paul Coffey collected the other Oiler goals.Defenseman Paul Reinhart scored all three Calgary goals.The Flames managed to keep high-scoring Wayne Gretzky in check but in concentrating on the NHL scoring champion they neglected Messier, who skated freely all night. Gretzky did not score a point.Thu. Apr. 14CALGARY 3, EDMONTON 6First PeriodEdmonton 1 &mdash; Messier 3 (Gregg, Lindstrom) 1:38.2 &mdash; Messier 4 (Coffey, Moog) 17:12.Penalties &mdash; Russell (Cal) 2:02; Anderson (Edm) 5:10; Chouinard (Cal) 6:39; Russell (Cal) 12:07; Huddy (Edm) 13:31; Nilsson (Cal) 13:41; Russell (Cal) 16:37; Messier (Edm) 19:58.Second PeriodCalgary 3 &mdash; Reinhart 1 (Chouinard, Eloranta) 6:26.Penalties &mdash; Russell (Cal) 3:14; Jackson (Edm) 6:18; Macoun (Cal) Linseman (Edm) 10:10; Hughes (Edm) 14:06; Bridgman (Cal); Coffey (Edm) 15:37.Third PeriodEdmonton 4 &mdash; Messier 5 (Linseman, Jackson) 2:00.5 &mdash; Hughes 1 (Hunter) 2:08.6 &mdash; Coffey 3 (Kurri, Anderson) 7:30.7 &mdash; Messier 6, 8:58.Calgary 8 &mdash; Reinhart 2 (Chouinard, McDonald) 10:04.9 &mdash; Reinhart 3 (Meredith) 13:01.Penalties &mdash; Beers (Cal) 0:10; Huddy (Edm) 1:08; Peplinski (Cal) major, Jackson (Edm) major 6:34; Hunter (Edm) 8:09; Linseman (Edm) 9:54; Beers, (Cal) 12:28; Semenko (Edm) 18:59.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0872/4791223-1-eng-US/f0006-082.jpg" title="f0006-08" width="520" height="118"></div>Attendance: 17,498.(Edmontoh leads best-of-seven series 1-0).Game Two: The defense took over the offense for the Edmonton Oilers for a change and the result was a 5-1 victory that pushed the Oilers into a 2-0 lead over the Calgary Flames in their best-of-seven Smythe Division final series.Randy Gregg, Don Jackson and Paul Coffey collaborated to score one goal each and spearhead the Oilers past the Hames for one of the few times this season that the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson weren&rsquo;t doing all the scoring damage. In fact, none of the Edmonton super scorers managed to connect in the second game of the series but it didn&rsquo;t mean they were totally idle. They all figured in at least one Edmonton goal. Jari Kurri and Willy Lindstrom were the other snipers for the Oilers. Coffey&rsquo;s goal was his fourth of the playoffs.Another defenseman, Kari Eloranta, accounted for the lone Calgary goal as the backliners stole the thunder away from the high-scoring forwards. In fact, Kurri&rsquo;s first-period goal was the only one scored by a forward in the first 53 minutes of the game.Just as they did in the first game of the series, the Oilers completely dominated the Flames, outshooting them 38-26 and might have had more goals expect for some sparkling saves from goalie Don Edwards.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0950/4791216-1-eng-US/f0006-092.jpg" title="f0006-09" width="1153" height="1493"><figcaption class="caption-body">After a slow start in the Calgary series, Edmonton&rsquo;s Wayne Gretzky cut loose for seven points in the Oilers&rsquo; 10-2 victory.</figcaption></div>Fri. Apr. 15CALGARY 1, EDMONTON 5First PeriodEdmonton 1 &mdash; Kurri 1 (Anderson, Gretzky) 0:39.Calgary 2 &mdash; Eloranta 1 (Nilsson, Hislop) 4:36.Edmonton 3 &mdash; Gregg 1 (Kurri, Gretzky) 15:23.4 &mdash; Jackson 1 (D. Hunter, Hughes) 18:29. Penalties&mdash;T. Hunter (Cal) Semenko (Edm) 2:47; Gretzky (Edm) 7:01; McDonald (Cal), Lumley (Edm) 7:57; Risebrough (Cal), Linseman (Edm) 14:23.Second PeriodNo scoring.Penalties &mdash; Semenko (Edm) 7:21; Peplinski (Cal) minor-major, Jackson (Edm) major, Gregg (Edm) 9:01; Konroyd (Cal) 19:15.Third PeriodEdmonton 5 &mdash; Coffey 4, 6:06.6 &mdash; Lindstrom 2 (Linseman, Messier) 13:45.Penalties &mdash; Lumley (Edm) 3:34; Chouinard (Cal) 5:09; Peplinski (Cal), Gregg (Edm) 6:27; Coffey (Edm) 8:09; T. Hunter (Cal) 9:55; Anderson (Edm) 10:47; Risebrough (Cal) 13:29; T. Hunter (Cal) misconduct, 14:01; Semenko (Edm) 14:28; Risebrough (Cal), Anderson (Edm) majors, 17:45.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1035/4791209-1-eng-US/f0006-102.jpg" title="f0006-10" width="540" height="115"></div>Attendance: 17,498.(Edmonton leads best-of-seven series 2-0)Game Three: It was record night in the old Calgary Corral as the rampaging Edmonton Oilers overwhelmed the Calgary Hames 10-2 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven Smythe Division final series.The game turned into the Wayne Gretzky show again as the NHL scoring champ broke out of a two-game famine and scored four goals and helped set up three others to tie an NHL record. In all, the Oilers set or tied five Stanley Cup playoff records. Details can be found on page 39 of issue.Gretzky&rsquo;s four-goal effort was his second of the playoffs and was all the Oilers needed to outclass the Flames. Calgary was hardly in the game after Gretzky scored two goals in a three-goal first-period flurry. After that, the Oilers poured it on with Mark Messier registering a hat trick as well. Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson and rookie Ray Cote, with his first NHL goal, accounted for the rest of the Edmonton scoring. Messier and Gretzky now have scored 17 goals between them in Edmonton&rsquo;s first six playoff games.Paul Reinhart, with his fourth goal of the series, and Kari Jalonen were the Calgary scorers. About the only decision the Hames won all night came was when Tim Hunter punched out Edmonton enforcer Dave Semenko, four minutes after the game began. After the brief brawl, Semenko and Don Jackson of Edmonton and Calgary&rsquo;s Jim Peplinski were all tossed out of the game for fighting.Sun. Apr. 17EDMONTON 10, CALGARY 2First PeriodEdmonton 1 &mdash; Coffey 5 (Gretzky, Kurri) 8:18.2 &mdash; Gretzky 5 (Anderson) 13:42.Calgary 3 &mdash; Reinhart 4 (Nilsson, Konroyd) 13:57.Edmonton 4 &mdash; Gretzky 6 (Kurri) 14:37.Penalties &mdash; Semenko (Edm) major, match misconduct, game misconduct, Jackson (Edm) major, game misconduct, Lumley (Edm), Peplinski (Cal) major, double game misconduct, T. Hunter (Cal) major misconduct, Macoun (Cal) 4:01; Macoun (Cal), D. Hunter (Edm) 14:17.Second PeriodEdmonton 5 &mdash; Anderson 1, 0:36.6 &mdash; Gretzky 7 (Kurri, Gregg) 4:52.7 &mdash; Messier 7 (Coffey, Huddy) 14:53.Calgary 8 &mdash; Jalonen 1, 16-44.Edmonton 9 &mdash; Gretzky 8 (Anderson, Fogolin) 19:06.Penalties &mdash; Lowe (Edm) 3:54.Third PeriodEdmonton 10 &mdash; Messier 8 (Gretzky) 9:10. 11 &mdash; Cote 1 (D. Hunter, Huddy) 13:16. 12&mdash;Messier 9 (Gretzky, Lindstrom) 18:40. Penalties &mdash; Fogolin (Edm) 8:45.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1133/4791202-1-eng-US/f0006-112.jpg" title="f0006-11" width="537" height="143"></div>Attendance: 7,242.(Edmonton leads best-of-seven series 3-0) &#9632;

f0006-03

Hawks Lead Stars; Oilers Bury Flames

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-10" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-1082/4791404-1-eng-US/f0007-102.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0007-10

NHL Playoff Picture

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03578/4791359-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="552" height="121"></div>As this issue went to press, the Wales Conference semi-finals were taking an interesting turn. The regular-season champion Boston Bruins found themselves trailing the youthful Buffalo Sabres 2-1 in games with Game Three scheduled for Memorial Auditorium.In the other match-up, the favored New York Islanders looked strong in jumping out to a 2-1 lead over the New York Rangers. The Islanders had a very mediocre regular season, but seem to have found their form in the playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011143/4791373-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="150" height="144"></div><h2>BUFFALO vs BOSTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02830/4791366-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="154" height="149"></div>Game One: In the biggest single upset of the NHL&rsquo;s division final playoffs, the Buffalo Sabres hammered the Boston Bruins 7-3.The youthful Sabres, fresh from an astounding three-game sweep of the Montreal Canadiens, continued their mastery in the first game against Boston even though they appeared slightly shaky in the first period and were facing a 3-1 deficit before they got untracked in the second period.Two goals each by Tony McKegney and Lindy Ruff powered the Sabres to their fourth successive playoff win. After pouring four goals past star netminder Pete Peeters of Boston in the second period, the Sabres skated the Bruins into the ice in the final 20 minutes as they scored twice more to win handily.Other Buffalo scorers were Mike Ramsey, Craig Ramsay and Gilles Hamel. Ray Bourque, Barry Pederson, Peter McNab and Steve Kasper scored for Boston. The leg-weary Bruins managed only 11 shots at goalie Bob Sauve of Buffalo in the final two periods.Thu. Apr. 14BUFFALO 7, BOSTON 4First PeriodBoston 1 &mdash; Bourque 2 (O&rsquo;Connell, Middleton) 4:49.2 &mdash; Pederson 4 (Middleton, Park) 10:51.Buffalo 3 &mdash; Ramsey 2 (Housley, Seiling) 16:33.Penalties &mdash; MacTavish (Bos) major-minor; Foligno (Buf) major-double minor 5:59; Van Boxmeer (Buf) 9:01; McNab (Bos) 10:59; Seiling (Buf) 12:47.Second PeriodBoston 4 &mdash; McNab 1 (Bourque, K. Crowder) 0:40.Buffalo 5 &mdash; Ruff 2 (Perreault) 1:17.6&mdash; Ruff 3 2:19.7&mdash; McKegney 2 (Foligno) 9:37.8&mdash; McKegney 3 (McCourt, Virta) 15:35.Penalties &mdash; Foligno (Buf) major; Howe (Bos) major 2:12; Ruff (Buf) 3:39; McKegney (Buf) 6:52; Middleton (Bos) 15:18; Kluzak (Bos) 18:20.Third PeriodBuffalo 9 &mdash; Ramsay 1 (Savard) 1:08.10 &mdash; Hamel 2 3:27.Boston 11 &mdash; Kasper 1 (B. Crowder) 17:44. Penalties &mdash; Boston bench (served by Cashman) 8:35.Attendance: 14,685.(Buffalo leads best-of-seven series 1-0).Game Two: The Boston Bruins snapped back to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 and square their best-of-seven Adams Division final series at 1-1, but for a moment it seemed they were about to run out of gas for the second straight game.After building up a 4-0, the Bruins had to hang on desperately in the final 20 minutes as the Sabres came on with a furious 18-shot offense as they scored three goals to pull within two goals of Boston. Only some outstanding work in goal by Pete Peeters kept the Sabres from coming all the way back.Rookie Mike Krushelnyski led the Boston attack with two goals, his first of the playoffs. Rick Middleton, Keith Crowder and Ray Bourque notched the other Bruins&rsquo; markers. Bourque&rsquo;s goal, his third of the playoffs, was the winner. Bourque and veteran Brad Park combined with Middleton to play outstanding defensive games and their performance swung the decision for the Bruins.Phil Housley, Mike Ramsey and Mike Foligno scored the Buffalo goals. The defeat for netminder was his first of the playoffs after four straight victories.The defeat was doubly bitter for the Sabres, who lost defenseman Larry Play-fair for the rest of the season when the big Buffalo defender collided with Mike Gillis of Boston and chipped his elbow.Fri. Apr. 15BUFFALO 3, BOSTON 5First PeriodBostonl &mdash; Krushelnyski 1 (Middleton, Pederson) 0:52.2 &mdash; Middleton 4 (Pederson) 10:30.Penalties &mdash; Kasper (Bos) 8:29; Ramsey (Buf) 1043; K. Crowder (Bos) major-minor, Ruff (Buf) major, 15:00.Second PeriodBoston 3 &mdash; K. Crowder 1 (Pederson, Bourque) 12:05.4 &mdash; Bourque 3 (Krushelnyski) 19:36.Penalties &mdash; B. Crowder (Bos) 1:14; K. Crowder (Bos), Ruff (Buf), MacTavish (Bos), Peterson (Buf) 5:26; Van Boxmeer (Buf) 10:45; Ramsey (Buf) 15:21; Dufour 1Bos), Ruff (Buf) majors, B. Crowder (Bos), Ramsey (Buf) 18:24.Third PeriodBuffalo 5 &mdash; Houseley 1, 12:19Boston 6 &mdash; Krushelnyski 2 (Middleton, Bourque) 12:35.Buffalo 7 &mdash; Ramsey 3 (McCourt) 15:03.8 &mdash; Foligno 1 (Cyr) 16:01.Penalties &mdash; Cyr (Buf), Park (Bos) 8:47.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-04409/4791352-1-eng-US/f0007-042.jpg" title="f0007-04" width="515" height="120"></div>Attendance: 14,685.(Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)Game Three: The Buffalo Sabres spotted the Boston Bruins a 2-1 lead and then rallied to score the game-winning goal with less than three minutes to play for a 4-3 victory and a one-game lead in their best-of-seven Adams Division final series.Defenseman Mike Ramsey scored the winning goal with a high comer shot that first hit one post and deflected across and hit the other before going into the net behind goalie Pete Peeters of the Bruins at 17:02 of the final period to push the Sabres into a 2-1 series lead. It was Ramsey&rsquo;s fourth goal of the playoffs.The Bruins got goals from Bruce Crowder and Tom Fergus in the second period and another by Barry Pederson, his fifth of the playoffs, in the third period to tie the Sabres at 3-3. After the Bruins had a goal called back when rookie Luc Dufour kicked the puck into the Buffalo net in a scramble, the Bruins continued to press and had the Sabres on the run when Ramsey connected on what looked like a routine shot.Craig Ramsay, Dale McCourt and rookie Dave Andreychuk were the other scorers for the Sabres. Goalie Bob Sauve registered the win, his fifth in six playoff games.Sun. Apr. 17BOSTON 3, BUFFALO 4First PeriodBuffalo 1 &mdash; Ramsay 2 (Savard, Seiling) 3:57.Penalties &mdash; Foligno (Buf) 7:30; B. Crowder (Bos) 13:54; Foligno (Buf) 16:23.Second PeriodBoston 2 &mdash; B. Crowder 1, 6-14.3 &mdash; Fergus 1 (Middleton, Kluzak) 7:47. Buffalo 4&mdash; McCourt 2 (Housley, Perreault) 9:16.Penalties &mdash; Dufour (Bos) 8:45; B. Crowder (Bos) 11:54; Pederson (Bos) 18:15; Seiling (Buf) 18:50.Third PeriodBuffalo 5 &mdash; Andreychuk 1 (Foligno, Hamel) 4:26.Boston 6 &mdash; Pederson 5 (Middleton, Park) 5:59.Buffalo 7 &mdash; Ramsey 4 (Peterson, Ramsay) 17:02.Penalties &mdash; None.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-05290/4791345-1-eng-US/f0007-052.jpg" title="f0007-05" width="515" height="114"></div>Attendance: 16,433.(Buffalo leads best-of-seven series 2-1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-06219/4791338-1-eng-US/f0007-062.jpg" title="f0007-06" width="154" height="154"></div><h2>RANGERS vs ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-07167/4791331-1-eng-US/f0007-072.jpg" title="f0007-07" width="166" height="161"></div>Game One: The New York Islanders wasted little time in establishing who the favorite is in the start of their best-of-seven Patrick Division final series by defeating the cross-town rival New York Rangers 4-1.A three-goal, third-period outburst by the Islanders settled the series opener with veteran goalie Billy Smith cooling off the Rangers with several key saves. The Rangers went into the series with three straight victories over the Philadelphia Flyers and started out like they meant business by scoring the game&rsquo;s first goal. Defenseman Ron Greschner counted at 13:01 on a Ranger power play but after that, Smith shut them down and the Islanders soon took command of the game.The Sutter brothers, Duane and Brent, came through with their first playoff goals to lead the way for the Islanders. After Stefan Persson tied the score at 1-1 in the second period, the defending Stanley Cup champs came back with three unanswered third-period goals. Denis Potvin got the first, which was the game winner, then Brent and Duane followed with goals just minutes apart. Veteran Bob Bourne assisted on all three goals to tie an NHL playoff record.Thu. Apr. 14RANGERS 1, ISLANDERS 4First PeriodRangers 1 &mdash; Greschner 2 (Pavelich, Hedberg) 13:01.Penalties &mdash; Fotiu (NYR) 4:04; Lane (NYI) 12:21.Second PeriodIslanders 2 &mdash; Persson 1 (Kallur, Potvin) 5:43.Penalties &mdash; McClanahan (NYR) Lane (NYI) 3:22; Dave Maloney(NYR) 5:18; Merrick(NYI) 6:56; Greschner (NYR) 7:30; Fotiu (NYR) B. Sutter (NYI) 11:22; Hedberg (NYR) 12:50.Third PeriodIslanders 3 &mdash; Potvin 2 (B. Sutter, Bourne) 1:44.4 &mdash; B. Sutter 1 (D. Sutter, Bourne) 4:27.5 &mdash; D. Sutter 1 (Bourne, B. Sutter) 8:05.Penalties &mdash; Allison (NYR) 7:13; Merrick (NYI) 11:03.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-08135/4791324-1-eng-US/f0007-082.jpg" title="f0007-08" width="516" height="109"></div>Attendance: 15,230.(Islanders lead best-of-seven series 1-0).Game Two: The New York Rangers are rapidly discovering why the New York Islanders have been hockey&rsquo;s best team for the past three years.The Islanders poured it on the Rangers for the second straight night as they trounced their cross-town rivals 5-0 to take a two-game lead in their best-of-seven Patrick Division final series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-09103/4791317-1-eng-US/f0007-092.jpg" title="f0007-09" width="563" height="900"><figcaption class="caption-body">Buffalo Sabre forward Tony McKegney scored two goals in Game One against Boston.</figcaption></div>The Sutter brothers, Duane and Brent, again killed the Rangers as they scored four of the five Islanders&rsquo; goals. Duane had the hat trick, giving the Sutters six of the nine goals the Islanders have scored in the first two games of the series. John Tonelli was the other scorer, notching his fourth of the playoffs. Veteran Bob Bourne, who plays on the same line with the Sutters, assisted on three goals, giving him six assists in the last two games.Fri. Apr. 15RANGERS 0, ISLANDERS 5First PeriodIslanders 1 &mdash; Tonelli 4 (Nystrom) 0:54.2 &mdash; D. Sutter 2 (Jonsson) 8:10.3 &mdash; D. Sutter 3 (Bourne) 15:33.Penalties &mdash; Goring (NYI) 4:04; Laidlaw (NYR) 6:23; Ruotsalainen (NYR) 9:37; Greschner (NYR), Morrow (NYI) 18:08; Lane (NYI) 19:36.Second PeriodIslanders 4 &mdash; B. Sutter 2 (Bourne, Potvin) 8:02.5 &mdash; D. Sutter 4 (Bourne, B. Sutter) 15:26. Penalties &mdash; Hanlon (NYR), D. Sutter (NYI) 3:16; Beck (NYR) 4:12; Chartraw (NYR) 6:24;Duguay (NYR), Hallin (NYI) 12:01; Hallin (NYI) 18:16.Third PeriodNo scoring.Penalties &mdash; Persson (NYI) 1:01: Greschner (NYR) 1:46; Chartraw (NYR), Merrick (NYI) 3:40; Tonelli (NYI) 10:57; Smith (NYI) 11:30 (served by Lane).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01466/4791310-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="504" height="135"></div>Attendance: 15,317.(Islanders lead best-of-seven series 2-0)Game Three: The New York Rangers roared into a 7-2 lead against the New York Islanders and then had to hold on desperately to ward off the Stanley Cup champions&rsquo; closing onslaught to win the game 7-6 for their first victory of best-of-seven Patrick Division final series.Rangers&rsquo; coach Herb Brooks promised things would be different once the series got back to Madison Square Garden ice after the Islanders took the first two games on Long Island. For two periods, he looked like a prophet as the Rangers played with poise, hustle and discipline and had the Islanders on the ropes. But Sl;.e bubble nearly burst in the final 20 minutes as the Islanders scored four times to narrow the score to 7-6.Eddie Johnstone, with two, led the high-scoring offensive game for the Rangers. Singles went to rookie George McPhee, Ron Duguay, Dave Maloney, Barry Beck and Mark Pavelich. Mike Bossy was the Islanders&rsquo; top sniper with two goals, his fourth and fifth of the playoffs. Billy Carroll, Bob Bourne and Anders Kallur each scored once, all on shorthanded goals while Denis Potvin added the other Islander score.Sun. Apr. 17ISLANDERS 6, RANGERS 7First PeriodIslanders 1 &mdash; Bossy 4 (Kallur, Jonsson) 5:06.Rangers 2 &mdash; McPhee 2 (Hedberg, Dave Maloney) 7:14.3 &mdash; Johnstone 3 (Dave Maloney, Allison) 8:46.Islanders 4 &mdash; Bourne 4 (Carroll, Smith) 11:03.Rangers 5 &mdash; Duguay 1 (McPhee, Backman) 13:08.6 &mdash; Beck 2 (Duguay, Ruotsalainen) 17:45.Penalties &mdash; McPhee (NYR) 3:33; Morrow (NYI) 5:21; Morrow (NYI) 8:34; Potvin (NYI) 10:39; Morrow (NYI) 15:43; Morrow (NYI), Allison (NYR) 19:01.Second PeriodRangers 7 &mdash; Dave Maloney 1 (Don Maloney, Allison) 2:118 &mdash; Johnstone, 4:12.9 &mdash; Pavelich 3 (Greschner, Kleinendorst) 13:20.Penalties &mdash; Greschner (NYR) 2:58; Bossy (NYI) 8:06; Greschner (NYR) 10:15; B. Sutter (NYI) 12:43; Carroll (NYI) 14:26; Pavelich (NYR) 15:40; Persson (NYI) 15:59.Third PeriodIslanders 10 &mdash; Carroll 1, 2:33.11 &mdash; Bossy 5, 4:55.12 &mdash; Kallur 2, 8:36.13 &mdash; Potvin 3 (Bourne, Bossy) 19:17.Penalties &mdash; Gilbert (NYI) 1:54; Beck (NYR) 5:14; B. Sutter (NYI) 6:42; Rangers bench (served by Greschner) 18:42.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02337/4791303-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="502" height="166"></div>Attendance: 17,386.(Islanders lead best-of-seven series 2-1). &#9632;

f0007-03

Bruins Have Their Hands Full

The International Hockey WeeklyFounded in 1947Published by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd.85 Scarsdale Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2<h2>Redefining Rookies</h2>WE CAN SEE it now. International hockey czar Alan Eagleson camps out all summer in the Soviet Union in an effort to complete arrangements that would allow Soviets to play in the National Hockey League. Finally, there is a breakthrough and Vladislav Tretiak, the outstanding Soviet netminder, is the first to receive permission from the politburo to play in the NHL.As the 1983-84 season gets underway, Tretiak joins the Montreal Canadiens, who selected him in the 1983 entry draft. Over the course of the season, Tretiak plays 60 games, racks up a dozen shutouts and records a goals-against average of 1.00.Not only does he win the Hart Trophy (&ldquo;for the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team&rdquo;), but he also walks off with the Vezina (&ldquo;for the goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at his position&rdquo;), the Jennings (&ldquo;to the goalkeeper(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it&rdquo;) and the Calder (&ldquo;to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League&rdquo;).The Calder, you say? Isn&rsquo;t that for the NHL&rsquo;s rookie of the year?Yes, it is, and unless the NHL gets on the ball and redefines exactly what a rookie is or what the Calder is supposed to represent, then the above scenario could become a reality. That&rsquo;s fine if you believe Vladislav Tretiak is a rookie, but&hellip;Actually, the NHL is fortunate. This season, the players that are top candidates for the Calder Memorial Trophy are all &ldquo;real&rdquo; rookies, or at least they won&rsquo;t embarrass what the Calder Trophy supposed to stand for.Phil Housley, Steve Larmer, Brian Bellows and Scott Stevens, some leading candidates, can all justifiably be termed rookies. We can only be thankful that Jaroslav Pouzar of the Edmonton Oilers or Milan Novy of the Washington Capitals didn&rsquo;t have outstanding seasons. Otherwise, these two veterans of the Czechoslovakian national team would be eligible to win the Calder.That would be a repeat of the situation in 1981, when Quebec Nordique center Peter Stastny, at age 24 and with years of international experience, collected the Calder. That presentation made no sense whatsoever then and it&rsquo;s equally as asinine now. Yet the qualifications for the Calder haven&rsquo;t been changed.It still goes to the best first-year NHL player who &ldquo;cannot have played more than 25 games in any single preceding season nor in six or more games in each of any two preceding seasons in any major professional leagues.&rdquo;To be fair, redefining the rookie tag is not an easy chore. Players coming into the NHL today graduate from such a variety of sources&mdash;major junior, college, high school and the European leagues&mdash;with a wide variety of experience. The chore is to try and evaluate that experience and make some concrete judgments on it.That&rsquo;s easier said than done, though. Here&rsquo;s an example: It&rsquo;s the end of the 1984-85 season. The top two rookie candidates are New York Ranger defenseman James Patrick and Kirk Muller (whose team we don&rsquo;t know at this time). Muller (the Ontario junior who will be a top pick in the 1984 draft) had a great season, jumping directly from Guelph of the Ontario Hockey League. Patrick, however, was equally good. But Patrick spent two seasons at the University of North Dakota, played with Team Canada in two world junior championships and then crowned his amateur career with an appearance in the Winter Olympics at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.Is he as much a rookie as Muller, who a year earlier was riding a bus and playing against players his own age and experience? No, not really, so is he really a rookie at all, given the amount of top-notch experience he has? It&rsquo;s a good question, but one that lacks a definite answer.We don&rsquo;t pretend to have the absolute definition of what constitutes a rookie. But we know what a rookie isn&rsquo;t and so do the folks at the NHL and that&rsquo;s a start. That&rsquo;s why they should make a point of taking some action on this matter when they convene at the annual congress in Montreal this June.If this matter isn&rsquo;t attended to soon, then the NHL is asking to be embarrassed.If Vladislav Tretiak can qualify for the Calder Trophy then Dave Semenko might as well be given the Lady Byng. &#9632;

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY AL STRACHAN</div>The purge of the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; front office appears to be complete and it&rsquo;s been some time since pro hockey saw such sweeping reform in one move. A lot is being said and written about the demise of the Canadiens and the firing of Irving Grundman, Ron Caron and the demotion of coach Bob Berry. Al Strachan, a hockey writer with the Toronto Globe and Mail wrote the following in-depth analysis, which first appeared in his paper, a couple of days before the axe fell in Montreal. Obviously, Canadien president Ron Corey and Strachan were on the same wavelength.Never in more than 40 years have the Montreal Canadiens compiled such a dismal playoff record.In 1940, the Canadiens were struggling through a string of poor playoff performances that went unmatched from that time until April 9, 1983.But back then, they knew what to do with a fading powerhouse. On May 11, 1940, the Canadiens underwent a major corporate shuffle.Senator Donat Raymond and William Northey took over as president and vice-president, respectively. Each had more than 40 years of hockey experience. Dick Irvin was hired as coach and two other men, Tommy Gorman and Frank Patrick, were given front-office jobs and told to build a champion.For the next four decades, the Canadiens were the dominant force in hockey.It was evident then, as it is evident now, that if the Canadiens are to be a great team again, a major restructuring of the front office is in order.It is also evident that when the new people move in, they must greatly increase the percentage of qualified hockey men. A hockey team needs people who know the game, not assorted businessmen and relatives. All five of the men who joined the Canadiens in 1940 are now members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.Canadien president Ron Corey has been on the job less than a year so he can hardly be blamed for the depths to which the Canadiens have sunk.But managing director Irving Grundman took over from Sam Pollock five years ago and has since shown that he can&rsquo;t handle the job.In Grundman&rsquo;s first year, with most of the same people Pollock had left behind, the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup. Since then, the team has won only one playoff round. They beat the Hartford Whalers four years ago.It was Grundman who drove off coach Scott Bowman, who&rsquo;s now building a dynasty in Buffalo.It was Grundman whose ignorance of NHL bylaws saw him lose two defensemen, Pierre Bouchard and Serge Savard, to other teams.It was Grundman who put together that disastrous trade of Rod Langway, Brian Engblom, Craig Laughlin and Doug Jarvis for Rick Green and Ryan Walter. Green is only an average defenseman and Walter, hailed by the Canadiens as the best left winger in the game, was playing center on a checking line by the time the playoffs started.It was Grundman who decimated the once-mighty Montreal farm system to the point that, in Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s annual State of the Canadiens Address&mdash;which is always accurate even though it&rsquo;s often counterproductive&mdash;we were assured this year that the Canadiens &ldquo;have nothing in the minors.&rdquo;It was Grundman who shipped off Dan Daoust, Gaston Gingras and Doug Risebrough for distant draft choices, none of which is a first-rounder.It was Grundman who either drove off or was unable to keep, depending on whose version you hear, Ken Dryden and Jacques Lemaire. Both men were at the peak of their careers and had good years left when they departed from the Canadiens.It was Grundman who chose to ignore the time-honored Montreal strategy of gamering first-round draft picks. In his first year, not only did Grundman not acquire any extra draft picks, he actually traded away the Canadiens&rsquo; own first-round selection.It is no accident that the Canadiens&rsquo; best players in the recent elimination at the hands of Buffalo Sabres were the four old-line veterans&mdash;Larry Robinson, Bob Gainey, Steve Shutt and Guy Lafleur.Of all the players to join the Canadiens since Grundman&rsquo;s elevation, only goaltender Rick Wamsley stood out above the crowd.Scott Bowman, never one to resist getting in a little dig, stood in the Buffalo dressing room after the final game of the series and talked about his own team. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got the depth,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got lots of good guys in the minors and our only problem is to evaluate them and decide what to do with them. That&rsquo;s one thing I learned in Montreal. You should always keep as many players as you can. You can never tell how they might develop. You can never tell who the other team might want.&rdquo;And what about the opposition?&ldquo;Well, I looked over at that bench. And I though of Langway, Jarvis, Engblom, Laughlin, Risebrough, Daoust and Gingras. I&rsquo;m sure glad they didn&rsquo;t have those seven guys ready over there. All they had was Walter and Green.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re in the playoffs and you&rsquo;ve got to play guys like John Newberry, who is good prospect but only a minor-leaguer, or a recycled Rejean Houle because you&rsquo;ve got nobody better, I don&rsquo;t think you can blame the coach.&rdquo;Whether others agree with Bowman will soon be seen.Naturally enough, Bob Berry has his detractors. Any Canadien coach who doesn&rsquo;t win the Stanley Cup has his detractors in Montreal.But other, more reasonable people, feel Berry should be given another chance.He was, after all, working with a weak defense once Larry Robinson was off the ice. He was also working almost totally on his own and no NHL coach, no matter how brilliant he might be, can do that consistently and successfully.Berry learned of the big trade with Washington on the radio. He found out about the dispatching of Daoust and Gingras from the assistant trainer. Working in that kind of environment does nothing to make the coach&rsquo;s job easier.When Bowman was in Montreal, even though he was the best coach in the business, he faced problems from time to time. He often went to Pollock for advice.How could Berry go to Grundman for advice? The 54-year-old Montreal-born Grundman was an entrepreneur who built a chain of bowling alleys, took over the business operation of the Forum in 1972 and then gravitated into the hockey operations in the adjacent offices.If Bob Berry is having trouble developing an appropriate break-out system against a team that&rsquo;s pinching its defensemen, where&rsquo;s he going to go for help? To Irving Grundman? You can&rsquo;t stop defensemen from pinching by commissioning a marketing survey. After all, Grundman has established himself as a businessman, not a hockey man.And Berry hasn&rsquo;t been given bright young stars to work with either.Even during the glory days of Sam Pollock, the Canadiens never had a good draft record. From 1970 to 1977, for example, they expended first-round picks on such mediocre talents as Ray Martiniuk, Chuck Amason, Chuck Lefley, Dave Gardner, Cam Connor, Gord McTavish, Robin Sadler, Peter Lee and Rod Schutt.Fortunately for the Canadiens, they had so many first-round picks that they were also able to grab the other stars who made up that dynasty. At one point, Pierre Larouche was the only member of the Canadiens who had ever played for another NHL team.Throughout those years, the scouting system was headed by Ron Caron.But Caron&rsquo;s picks, many of whom are listed above, were often balanced by some of the selections of Claude Ruel, one of the best talent spotters in the game. Furthermore, Caron&rsquo;s assessments were often overruled by evaluations offered by Bowman and Pollock, two more shrewd judges of young talent.Under the Grundman regime, however, Caron was left almost totally on his own.Bowman had been squeezed out. Ruel was pressed into coaching duties when the first man Grundman hired to do the job, Bernard Geoffrion, proved to be a monumental&mdash;and predictable&mdash;failure. Needless to say, Grundman himself could hardly be expected to evaluate talent.So that left Caron on his own.They should go. And when they do, they&rsquo;ll probably take a few other members of the inner circle with them.But as the Canadiens showed in 1940, a massive infusion of quality hockey personnel is the best way to rebuild a dying dynasty.The road to resurrection is clear. All they have to do is find the five Hall of Fame hockey men to lead the organization down that road. &#9632;

Grundman’s Record Speaks For Itself

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011214/4791483-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Although he was relieved of his coaching job, Bob Berry will remain with the organization as a scout.</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;The action was not surprising. The quickness in which it was carried out was.Ronald Corey, appointed to the presidency of the Montreal Canadiens last Nov. 12, cleared out the team&rsquo;s top three front-office members just four days after the Habs&rsquo; third consecutive first-round exit from the Stanley Cup playoffs.Bob Berry, appointed coach of the Canadiens June 2, 1981, was relieved of his duties, although he is expected to remain in the organization. At the moment. he is fulfilling scouting assignments.Ronald Caron, director of player recruitment, was told his services would no longer be needed after the National Hockey League&rsquo;s entry draft in June. Irving Grundman didn&rsquo;t have the opportunity to stay around.Grundman, 54, who inherited the managing director&rsquo;s job in Sept., 1979, following the retirement of Sam Pollock, was told a day before a Wednesday afternoon news conference that his contract was not being renewed. His son, Howard, who had been director of hockey administration, resigned.&ldquo;I take full responsibility for these changes,&rdquo; Corey told a pack of Montreal journalists. &ldquo;I hope to have a new general manager and coach in place before the June meetings.&rdquo;Corey added that somewhere between Monday and Tuesday, he made the decision that rocked the Montreal hockey scene. He had said it would take 10 days or so to make the decision, but &ldquo;once I had made up my mind, I couldn&rsquo;t see waiting any longer.&rdquo;Among the candidates for Berry&rsquo;s job are Jacques Lemaire, the former Canadien center who has coached Longueuil Chevaliers into the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League final.Lemaire, who left the Canadiens after the 1978 Stanley Cup to play in Switzerland. has expressed interest in the job and he is also being courted by the Hartford Whalers. Winnipeg Jet defenseman Serge Savard, a former member of the Canadiens, and New York Islanders&rsquo; coach Al Arbour were possibilities as general manager, with the former a popular choice with the French-language media.&ldquo;I want the best people available,&rdquo; Corey insisted. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter if the candidates are Russian, Czechoslovakian, English, French or Swedish. If the man is the best one for the job, I want him.&rdquo;Berry admitted he was surprised with his dismissal, but he was not bitter.&ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t help anyone if I was bitter,&rdquo; said Berry, who joined the Canadiens after coaching the Los Angeles Kings.Grundman, who engineered the unforgettable and unforgivable trade with the Washington Capitals last fall which resulted in the Canadiens acquiring a left winger with questionable knees and a defenseman with a questionable attitude in exchange for two all-star defenseman, a strong defensive center and a young forward, felt he gave his best to the Canadiens&rsquo; organization in his five-year tenure.&lsquo;Even if we had done well in the playoffs, I don&rsquo;t know if my contract would have been renewed,&rdquo; Grundman noted. &ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;There is some feeling that Grundman&rsquo;s downfall was his decision to draft Doug Wickenheiser from Regina instead of keeping local junior star Denis Savard in his own backyard. The French media has been criticizing Wickenheiser&rsquo;s selection ever since their local hero was bypassed. Grundman&rsquo;s fall was just another chance to stick the knife in further.To blame the selection of Wickenheiser as the reason for the breakdown of the organizaton is narrow-minded and shortsighted.The trade that sent Rod Langway and Brian Engblom along with Doug Jarvis and Craig Laughlin to Washington in exchange for Ryan Walter and Rick Green and a subsequent deal with Toronto which sent Gaston Gingras and Dan Daoust to the Maple Leafs for future draft choices did not improve the Canadiens as Grundman banked. The Washington deal is the worst in team history and neither Green nor Walter did anything of note in the short playoff series against Buffalo.Wickenheiser, who started off this year for the first time in a regular role, played well for the first two months until a combinaton of factors led to him being played on the checking line. Berry never had any confidence in him, nor did Claude Ruel, who made him ride the bench in the Canadiens&rsquo; tradition in his rookie year.The Canadiens&rsquo; traditon died after the 1979 Stanley Cup and now they are just another team in a 21-team league. There is nothing super about a team which will have its fifth coach in six years when the new man takes over.There are no superstars left on this team, despite the best efforts of Larry Robinson. Guy Lafleur hasn&rsquo;t filled thal role, although he&rsquo;ll tell anyone who will listen (and there are a few) that all he needs is a center to feed him the puck.People in other NHL cities may not be that gullible. There is no fear of the once-mighty Montreal machine any more.Corey figures it will take five years before the Canadiens are back on a championship course. He may be optimistic.One thing is certain, his atomic-powered broom hasn&rsquo;t finished sweeping yet, not by a long shot. &#9632;

f0009-01

Habs’ Front-Office Jobs Open To Right Person(s)

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div>QUEBEC&mdash;Nordique coach Michel Bergeron had praise for his players, admiration for Boston goalie Pete Peeters, questions about the refereeing and one good excuse&mdash;the loss of defenseman Normand Rochefort&mdash;when the opening-round playoff series with Boston was finally over.Rochefort missed the remainder of the series after suffering a knee injury in the opening game, in which Peter Stastny gave his team a 3-0 in the first period. The Bruins eventually won that game 4-3 in overtime and took the series three games to one.&ldquo;I think the loss of Rochefort was the turning point and perhaps the difference in the series,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;Before he was injured he was having a great game and we had taken the lead. He was our best defenseman for the second half of the year. Boston took advantage of his absence to come back and win that game and that was really the turning point for us.&rdquo;Bergeron also gave full credit to Boston, especially Peeters.&ldquo;You need a hot goaltender to get somewhere in the playoffs and that&rsquo;s what Peeters provided for Boston,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Dan Bouchard was sensational in goal for us as well and we saw two of the best in league in head-to-head competition. He certainly was the difference in that fourth and final game, but he wasn&rsquo;t just lucky; he has played like that all year.&rdquo;Peeters faced 39 shots in that last game, giving up only one goal to the inspired Nordiques. He made sensational saves on Real Cloutier, Marc Tardif and Wilf Paiement throughout the game. The Nordiques finally played up to their potential&mdash;even if only for one last spurt&mdash;and once again showed their fans what they are capable of doing when they are totally motivated.Quebec did not deserve to oust Boston based on regular-season performances, even if the Nordiques did indeed deserve to win the fourth game. The Bruins never let up, just as they never gave up in any game during the year, and their efforts earned them a third-period breakaway by Luc Dufour, who scored the winning goal.&ldquo;That was surely the most important &mdash; goal of my career,&rdquo; said Dufour after the game. &ldquo;I yelled to Keith Crowder and he got me the pass at center. All the way, skating in on my breakaway, I knew I would try to slip the puck through Bouchard&rsquo;s legs.&rdquo;Dufour did just that and, although the Quebec netminder got a piece of the puck, it still slid by him into the net.The winning goal by Dufour let the Bruins take sweet revenge on the Nordiques after Quebec defeated Boston in a seven-game series last year. The Quebec-Boston rivalry now matches the Quebec-Montreal games in fan appeal. Boston coach Gerry Cheevers had nothing but praise for his team overall, but also special praise for Peeters.&ldquo;His performance in the fourth game was one of the best I have ever seen in the NHL,&rdquo; said Cheevers. &ldquo;He gave us that final victory against Quebec on a silver platter. If it had not been for Pete, there would have been a fifth game of the series back in Boston and then who knows. I said at the start of the year that he was the best in the league and I hope there is no one left that doubts me now.&rdquo;The Quebec dressing room was a sad place after the final game. The players gave their all, but Peeters was the difference. This was the first time the Nordiques had been eliminated in only four games&mdash;which was not as bad as missing the playoffs entirely in their first year in the league&mdash;but they knew that if they had played that way all season it might have been a different story. If the Nordiques had played the season with the same drive and determination as the Bruins, the series might very well have started in Quebec rather than in Boston.The Nordiques felt the loss of Marian Stastny, Mario Marios, and Rochefort in the Boston series.&ldquo;Even if Boston won, that does not mean they are that much of a better team,&rdquo; said Peter Stastny. &ldquo;They finished much higher than Quebec in the standings and they might look better on paper, but on the ice we are just as good as they are. They got the breaks this time around and they had the luck. This year they had Peeters and that was the difference.&rdquo; &#9632;

Rochefort’s Loss Cripples Quebec

<div class="byline">BY GARY MUELLER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011257/4791514-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">St. Louis Blue captain Brian Sutter took the playoff defeat to the Chicago Black Hawks extremely hard.</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Mercifully, the end came quickly, if not painlessly.The St. Louis Blues&rsquo; frustration-filled 1982-83 National Hockey League season came to a fitting close in a loss to the Chicago Black Hawks in a four-game playoff series.The end of the season was fitting because it underscored the frustration that followed the Blues around like a black cloud. The Blues had stunned everyone by walking into Chicago Stadium and beating the Hawks in the opening game of the series, 4-2. But just when it looked like things were going their way, the Blues lost the next three games, including the last two at home, and the season was history.&ldquo;This last game, the series and the whole season were sort of the same,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; forward Blake Dunlop. &ldquo;We never seemed to be able to turn the corner. When we needed a goal, we couldn&rsquo;t put the puck in the net, but when the other guys needed one, they got it. There wasn&rsquo;t one time all season that things seemed to straighten out and go our way.&rdquo;Amazingly, the Blues never managed to win three games in succession all season. Their longest winning streak was a meagre two games. But the biggest frustration of all came from the announcement on Jan. 12 that the team might be moving to Saskatoon.&ldquo;Of course it bothered us,&rdquo; said Barclay Plager, who took over the coaching duties from Blues&rsquo; president and general manager Emile Francis before the announcement that the team was up for sale. &ldquo;Maybe it shouldn&rsquo;t bother us, but it certainly did. How would you like it if they told you your newspaper might be moving to another town? How would you like going home and explaining it to your wife and kids and having to worry about selling a house and buying another one? It was always there, and it hurt us. It took our minds off hockey.&rdquo;But leave it to Brian Sutter, the Blues&rsquo; consummate professional, to put things in perspective.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re professionals and we&rsquo;re paid to do our jobs,&rdquo; said Sutter. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care if they tell us we&rsquo;re moving to Alaska, we have a job to do and it&rsquo;s up to us to do it. They still paid us every two weeks. There was no excuse for what happened to us. We just didn&rsquo;t want to win as much as the guys on the other team did.&rdquo;Sutter, who probably joins New Jersey Devil netminder Chico Resch as the NHL&rsquo;s true Most Valuable Player&mdash;when the literal definition of &ldquo;most valuable to his team&rdquo; is applied to the MVP award&mdash;suffered even more than most as the Blues were eliminated from the playoffs by the Black Hawks.He played his usual all-out game, but when the end came, he was in the penalty box for an infraction he had committed against his brother, Darryl. Chicago&rsquo;s Steve Larmer scored what turned out to be the series-winning goal in the Hawks&rsquo; 5-3 final-game victory.&ldquo;What was I supposed to do, let him score?&rdquo; said Brian, choking back the tears after the game. &ldquo;The score&rsquo;s 3-3 and the puck&rsquo;s just about on his stick. All he has to do is tip it into the corner of the net. When I hit him, I was just glad that he hadn&rsquo;t score on the play, although I felt bad that I might have separated his shoulder the way he went down.&rdquo;Brian felt worse 57 seconds later when Larmer, on a brilliant cross-ice feed from Denis Savard, scored what proved to be the series-winning goal, with 10:21 left in the game. To add insult to injury, Darryl Sutter scored an empty-net goal with 34 seconds left, putting an end to one of the most frustrating seasons in the Blues&rsquo; history.As the teams lined up for the traditional series-ending handshake, Darryl Sutter stopped and started to say something as he and Brian passed one another. But Brian kept right on going.&ldquo;He takes it hard,&rdquo; Darryl said. &ldquo;I just wanted to tell him how proud of him I am. He&rsquo;s the guy who won&rsquo;t let that team quit. Without him, they (the Blues) wouldn&rsquo;t have done nearly as well as they did. They never quit and they gave us a real good battle.&rdquo;The Blues wiped out a 2-0 deficit in winning the opening game, 4-2. Then they came back from 4-0 to 4-2, before losing the second game, 7-2. In the third game, Chicago grabbed a 2-0 first-period lead, but the Blues got one goal back and were all over the Hawks in the closing minutes before losing 2-1. And in the final game, the Blues battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie, 2-2; and again came back from 3-2 to tie at 3-3, before Larmer&rsquo;s goal finally proved the one from which the Blues could not come back.Of the 10 goals the Blues scored in the four-game series, Brian Sutter was on the ice for seven of them.Perhaps in such a frustration-filled season, it was only right that the one player&mdash;the only one&mdash;who could skate away with his head held high, was in the penalty box when the end finally came.BLUENOTES&mdash; With two goals and three assists in the four playoff games, Bernie Federko became the Blues&rsquo; career playoff scoring leader. In 32 playoff games, Federko has 44 points on 15goals and 29 assists. Frank St. Marseille had been the leader, with 43 points on 19 goals and 24 assists in 61 games from 1968 through 1972&hellip;The key to the series probably came in the third game when the Blues failed to take advantage of th lengthy absences of Chicago&rsquo;s Al Secord and Denis Savard. Secord was given a double game misconduct penalty at 12:05 of the second period and Savard was handed a 10-minute misconduct at 7:54 of the third period. The Hawks almost no offensive threat with those two sidelined, but the Blues still went down to a 2-1 defeat as goalie Murray Bannerman sparkled for Chicago&hellip; Although there was some criticism of the work of referee Kerry Fraser in the third game, the one call in that series that really broke the Blues&rsquo; back was a noncall by Dave Newell in the second game. With Chicago leading 2-0, Rich Preston pulled down Andre Dore, leading to a goal by Tom Lylsiak. Instead of being down 3-0, the Blues would have trailed only 2-0 and been on the power play had Newell not ignored the flagrant penalty. &#9632;

f0010-01

’Twas A Blue Season In St. Lou

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD FRIEDMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011166/4791569-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Duguay, who&rsquo;s heard the Bronx cheer all too often this season, silenced his critics with the go-ahead goal in Game Three.</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Games One and Two of the Patrick Division finals showed the Rangers what a dominant opponent the crosstown Islanders are.Game Three showed the Rangers themselves what they were capable of doing when they generated the proper intensity, as they had in their first-round elimination of the Philadelphia Flyers.But there was a sobering lesson to be learned, too, because the Rangers saw what can happen to them when they try to sit on a lead. In the third period of Game Three, the Islanders whittled the Rangers&rsquo; 7-2 lead to 7-6. The Rangers escaped a deadly overtime confrontation when referee Bruce Hood disallowed an apparent goal by Mike Bossy with just seven seconds remaining.That left the Rangers facing the near-impossible task of beating the three-time defending Stanley Cup champions in three out of four potentialy remaining games, two of which would be played in the hostile confines of the Nassau Coliseum.&ldquo;It was a kick in the rear end and hopefully it will get us to smarten up,&rdquo; said a shaken captain Barry Beck in the quiet Ranger dressing room at Madison Square Garden after the bizarre Game Three. &ldquo;They kept on coming and we tried to lay back and sit on the lead.&ldquo;If we&rsquo;re smart, we&rsquo;ll use it to our advantage, as a learning experience.&rdquo;The Rangers took a 4-2 lead in the first period on 18 shots, quite a barrage considering they had taken only 20 shots in Game One and 23 the next night at Nassau. There were many hopeful signs, not the least of which was the goal that put the Rangers ahead for good at 3-2.Ron Duguay, defusing the boo-birds in the Garden crowd who have abused him for most of the season, dug relentlessly in the Islanders&rsquo; end, sprung the puck loose behind the net and passed it out to rookie linemate George McPhee. Duguay then circled around to Islander goalie Billy Smith&rsquo;s left to jam the puck home. It was Duguay&rsquo;s 25 th career playoff goal, placing him second behind Rod Gilbert&rsquo;s 34 on the Rangers&rsquo; all-time list.When Dave Maloney increased the Rangers&rsquo; lead to 5-2 at 2:11 of the second period, Smith, who stonewalled the Rangers at the Coliseum, was replaced by Roland Melanson.It was Ranger goalie Ed Mio who faced an onslaught in the final period, giving up three unassisted goals in a span of six minutes and three seconds. Billy Carroll scored off a giveaway in the Rangers&rsquo; zone; Mike Bossy from a center-ice steal and Anders Kallur picked up a puck at the boards, lost it and then stripped it from Beck.Both Carroll&rsquo;s and Kallur&rsquo;s goals were shorthanded, while the four shorthanded goals by both teams and the three by the Islanders were Stanley Cup records.&ldquo;Things got a little wild and they capitalized on our mistakes,&rdquo; said Ed Johnstone. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t very pretty, but we&rsquo;ll take it.&rdquo;It was the first game in which the Rangers were able to take advantage of their own scoring opportunities. The play that typified Game One, which the Islanders won 4-1, was the two-on-none breakaway that Duguay and Mike Backman had on Smith. Duguay, on the left, passed off to Backman on the right, but the rookie could not lift the puck over Smith&rsquo;s pad.The score at that time, early in ine second period, was 1-0 in favor of the Rangers; that breakaway could have put them ahead by two goals. Instead, Stefan Persson tied the score for the Islanders minutes later and they took the game away with a three-goal third period.In Game Two, the Islanders dominated the Rangers from the opening faceoff to the end of the game, fore-checking effectively in the Rangers&rsquo; zone and taking the play away from the forwards at center ice. Only a trickle of offense leaked into the Islanders&rsquo; zone&mdash;this minus three of the Isles&rsquo; key players, Clark Gillies (knee), Dave Langevin (knee sprain) and Bryan Trottier, who sprained a knee late in Game One.It was that kind of night, with the Islanders fans chanting &ldquo;1940, 1940&rdquo;&mdash;signifying the last time the Rangers won the Stanley Cup&mdash;and Brooks fuming because a Frank Sinatra recording of New York, New York was played over the public address in the Coliseum with 36 seconds left.&ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s the only thing that was a classless act here tonight,&rdquo; said Brooks, who later met with, and extracted an apology from, Islander GM Bill Torrey. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t see (Garden boss) Sonny Werblin pulling that kind of stuff.&rdquo;Not all the Rangers reacted in this manner, but one who did&mdash;and who was reluctant to have his name attached to such sentiments&mdash;said: &ldquo;I hope we can shove it down their throats.&rdquo;For two periods of Game Three, the Rangers did just that. More pertinent, though, was their abandoning of Mio in period three, a repeat of their performance in front of Glen Hanlon in Gam Two. Brooks wondered &ldquo;if President Reagan has a program for Hanlon. He should get Workmen&rsquo;s Compensaton for the non-support he had tonight.&rdquo;The Rangers&rsquo; mandate that moment, said Brooks, was to &ldquo;take a deep breath and prove to the world that we&rsquo;re a better hockey club than we showed tonight.&rdquo;Forty-eight hours later, after Game Three&rsquo;s narrow escape, Brooks was asked what he was thinking during that third period.&ldquo;I was thinking about whether I&rsquo;d renewed my insurance license back in the Twin Cities,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;because if we lost I&rsquo;d be back selling.&rdquo;Now it&rsquo;s Game Four and it remains to be seen just who benefitted the most from that scare in Game Three. &#9632;

f0011-01

Expect The Unexpected: The Ranger Theme Song

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;The Flyers have five months to stew together in their hell. A general rule of thumb is the cooler the weather at the time of elimination, the longer and hotter the summer. This one will scorch to the bone.Instead of providing consolation, the Flyers&rsquo; 106-point season, has turned into an instrument of their torture. The three-straight first-round wipeout by the Rangers hurt more than any of them could put into words.&ldquo;You play the game for so many years, it&rsquo;s not for the money anymore,&rdquo; said Bobby Clarke. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s because you think you have a chance to win. Because of the season we had, this is the most disappointing loss I&rsquo;ve ever felt.&rdquo;On the day the Flyers would have been preparing to play the Islanders, the players met only to divide their $336,000 booby prize into shares. Keith Allen and Bob McCammon begged off meaningful comment about where the team goes from here and flew off to Maine to bury themselves in the Maine Mariners&rsquo; bid for the American League championships.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ll tear the team apart,&rdquo; Allen offered. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure there will be some moves, but I wouldn&rsquo;t ever speculate as to what they&rsquo;ll be.&rdquo;Neither would McCammon, who would not even confirm that he wants to coach the team again next season. Ed Snider and Allen desire McCammon to stay on and chances are he will. But McCammon obviously has some things to iron out with his bosses before commenting on his decision.Hope, which springs eternal, still is six inches into the soil when a good team goes out with but a whimper. Trying to figure out the Flyers&rsquo; flaws at this point would be like asking a corpse to draw up a blueprint.Undoubtably, they will try to add more speed, particularly on defense, but what, if any, sacrifices from the core of the team will be made to get that speed wasn&rsquo;t even considered.The Bill Barber trade rumors have already begun, but Allen scoffed at the suggestion that Barber and McCammon were incompatible. Before splitting for the summer, both parties were shrugging off their public sniping of four weeks ago.&ldquo;Billy never got his weight and strength back from that broken jaw,&rdquo; McCammon said. &ldquo;He normally plays at 200 and never got back above 190 and it took it&rsquo;s toll. I&rsquo;m not angry with him.&ldquo;I questioned him publicly because sometimes veterans get settled in and don&rsquo;t realize they can do more. I just wanted to bring it to his attention.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m OK,&rdquo; said Barber, who truly wants to finish his career in Philly. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no problem (with myself and McCammon). We may think different about some things, but we get along well. Really. We had a talk. I hope he understands now. What will happen, I have no control over.&ldquo;I thought I could overcome it&mdash;the weight loss and energy drains&mdash;but the way I feel right now, I may have been kidding myself. I feel pretty weak, but maybe that&rsquo;s an emotional thing, too.&ldquo;This was tough; tougher than any loss we&rsquo;ve ever had. It really, really hurts.&rdquo;McCammon, Allen and Snider speculated about changes in the Flyers&rsquo; approach for next season, not personnel. McCammon berated himself for not resting veterans such as Bobby Clarke, Darryl Sittler and Miro Dvorak down the stretch.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll treat the regular season like exhibitions, just like everybody else,&rdquo; said Snider.How this will go over with seasonticket holders, already sickened by the team&rsquo;s demise, remains to be seen.McCammon said he already talked to Clarke and Sittler about taking days off.&ldquo;Pre-set days, like March 1 to the 15th, no matter what,&rdquo; the coach said. &ldquo;Clarkie already said it was pre-set. He could live with it.&ldquo;They both have 23-year-old bodies and I don&rsquo;t think the physical grind of playing 80 games got to them as much as the mental grind.&rdquo;What&rsquo;s left now is for Allen and McCammon to decide whether, under different circumstances, the Fyers could have been good enough. Excpet for an absolution of goalie Pelle Lindbergh and mention of the one silver lining, the play of late-sason free agent acquisition Dave Poulin, no other names were mentioned. But the subject of speed was recurring.&ldquo;Of the 16 teams in the playoffs, we probably drew the worst one for us to play,&rdquo; said McCammon. &ldquo;Edmonton (which the Flyers beat two out of three) has speed. Quebec (which they swept) has speed, but not like the Rangers have speed. We probably have to look at some more for our backline. I think Thomas Eriksson (the Swedish defenseman who lost a bout with homesickness a year ago) will be back and that will help.&rdquo;ICEBERGS&mdash;Darryl Sittler and Brian Propp joined Team Canada for the World Tournament in West Germany. Miro Dvorak joined the Czechoslovakian team and Pelle Lindbergh (Sweden) and Ilkka Sinisalo (Finland) also accepted invitations &hellip;Jay Snider, the 25-year-old son of the Flyers&rsquo; chairman of the board, has been named president of the team, replacing Bob Butera, who takes over the presidency of the New Jersey Devils. &#9632;

Philly’s Flop Hurts Like Hell

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY&mdash;The two dimensions of the Calgary Flames&rsquo; offense accounted for 35 per cent of the team&rsquo;s scoring.They accounted for more goals than any pair of right wingers in the National Hockey League.Together, Lanny McDonald&rsquo;s 66 and Kent Nilsson&rsquo;s 46 totalled more goals than the next six Flames combined.When both McDonald and Nilsson scored in a game, the Fames almost always won (11-2-2). When neither McDonald nor Nilsson scored, the Fames almost always lost (1-17-5).Clearly, their production would decide whether the Fames passed or failed their playoff test against the high-scoring Edmonton Oilers.One year ago, the Vancouver Canucks shut out both McDonald and Nilsson in their first-round playoff series with the Fames. Not surprisingly, the Canucks knocked the Fames out in three straight games.One year later, with the same playoff scenario, rookie Hame coach Bob Johnson needed better production from his two key players&mdash;and received it.The much-anticipated disappearing act of Nilsson didn&rsquo;t happen. In a series when the Fames&rsquo; right side has received the constant attention of Roger Neilson, coach of the Canucks, Nilsson and McDonald eluded the coverage efficiently, leading the club to a quick 2-0 lead in the series. For two straight nights, the two teams engaged in a chippy, physical game, the kind of contest of which Nilsson would rather not participate. But Nilsson, much to the surprise and delight of the Fames and their fans, has shown he&rsquo;s not just a one-way player.Nilsson, a McDonald by no means in the comers, forechecks more aggressively than ever. One time, killing a penalty, he threw himself in front of a slapshot, a la Bill Clement. Much rubbing of eyes and cleaning of eyeglasses followed from a Corral audience not used to such displays from Nilsson.&ldquo;I try my best,&rdquo; said Nilsson. &ldquo;If it works, it works. If it doesn&rsquo;t, it doesn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;As for McDonald, he went face-to-face, elbow-to-elbow, with his former Toronto teammate and linemate Dave Williams and received a bruised ankle after the Tiger rode him into the post.Williams, as is his custom, made more of their former relationship than McDonald was prepared to.McDonald, seemingly annoyed at the publicity the confrontation was receiving, commented: &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t talked for a couple of years and I doubt if we&rsquo;ll start now. I doubt if we&rsquo;ll get together in the off-season.&rdquo; ,Williams replied: &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not allowed to check a 66-goal scorer in this league. It&rsquo;s against the rules. Anyone over 50 goals, you can&rsquo;t check. It&rsquo;s a penalty.&rdquo;McDonald, told that this was a storybook season for him, added: &ldquo;If that&rsquo;s the case, then it ends with the Stanley Cup. If you&rsquo;re going to fantasize, why not go all the way?&rdquo;IN BRIEF&mdash;It may not match whitetowel fever, but the Canucks created another temporary controversy by demanding the League alter the visiting team&rsquo;s bench at the Corral. Neilson wanted the second tier taken out to facilitate line changes, something he planned to do frequently in the series. Eventually, the league bowed to the Canucks&rsquo; demands and sent in Dutch van Deelen, its supervisor of officials, to investigate Neilson&rsquo;s complaints. Van Deelen recommended a minor revision, completed just hours before the series began&hellip;Goaltender Don Edwards started Game One for the Fames, but could not complete it, suffering a concussion in a collision with Patrik Sundstrom 50 minutes into the game. Edwards spent the night in hospital, forcing the Fames to call up Marc D&rsquo;Amour from their Central Hockey League farm club in Colorado. Reggie Lemelin, in relief, got the win and then won the next night in Game Two.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021040/4791624-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="562" height="729"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kent Nilsson has suddenly come - to the Flames&rsquo; rescue with some W aggressive play.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0012-02

Flames Supported By Deadly Duo

<div class="byline">BY JOE FALLS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011230/4791655-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="301" height="349"></div><h2>What If&hellip;?</h2>IF I WERE King of Hockey:I&rsquo;d give Bobby Clarke a body trasplant and make him 23 years old again.I&rsquo;d invite Lord Stanley to all Stanley Cup parties.I&rsquo;d put up my own Gondola in the living room.I&rsquo;d make Wayne Gretzky play six games in every arena.I&rsquo;d buy a nice dinner for Larry Robinson and thank him for all the wonderful moments.I&rsquo;d sit with King Clancy and have him explain the game to me.I&rsquo;d get season tickets for Boston Garden and eat the roast pork in Durgen Park before every game.I&rsquo;d do my own telecasts just so I could pronounce the name of Walt Poddubny.I&rsquo;d make sure the Canadiens got a bye in the first round of the playoffs.I&rsquo;d give Mickey Redmond a little raise for the relaxed way he analyses the games.I&rsquo;d bring in Phil Esposito to show Red Wing coach Nick Polano how to set up a power play.I&rsquo;d put Bill Mosienko out there one more time to see if he can score three goals in 21 seconds again.I&rsquo;d rack up all of Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s goals on tape and have a summertime orgy.I&rsquo;d have Pat (Box Cat) Egan check Kenny Linseman and see how he likes it.I&rsquo;d invite movie buff Dick Irvin over the house for a weekend of food and flicks.I&rsquo;d take a swing through the west and see games in Flin Flon, Medicine Hat and Moose Jaw.<h2>In Toe&rsquo;s Bar</h2>I&rsquo;D LIKE TO spend an afternoon in Toe Blake&rsquo;s bar talking with Jacques Plante.I&rsquo;d ask George Armstrong to kill one more penalty.I&rsquo;d ask Brian Bellows if he&rsquo;d like to have a sports writer as his agent.I&rsquo;d make the rinks three feet wider on each side to give the skaters room to skate.I&rsquo;d make the Stanley Cup winners play everybody else in the All-Star game.I&rsquo;d make the Vancouver Canucks think of better uniforms than dark mustard on light mustard.I&rsquo;d have a yellow light and flash it every time the goalie makes a great save.I&rsquo;d make every stick-swinging incident a 25-game penalty.I&rsquo;d talk Don Cherry into trying it one more time.I&rsquo;d give Guy Lafleur Bobby Clarke&rsquo;s old body.I&rsquo;d show &ldquo;Hockey Night in Canada&rdquo; in California and give those people the treat of a lifetime.I&rsquo;d put Red Fisher, Milt Dunnell and Frank Orr into the Hall of Fame.I&rsquo;d make sure an Oldtimer&rsquo;s Committee would take care of Elmer Ferguson, Baz O&rsquo;Meara and Dink Carroll.I&rsquo;d like to put out Lach, Richard and Blake against Trottier, Bossy and Gillies and see what happens.I&rsquo;d make Willi Plett take off a piece of clothing every time he fouls somebody.<h2>Buy Beer For Gump</h2>I&rsquo;D BUY GUMP Worsley his own brewery because who would enjoy it more?I&rsquo;d give the Vezina Trophy to George Vezina because he never won it himself.I&rsquo;d sew three stars on Mark Messier&rsquo;s jersey for trying so hard as No. 2I&rsquo;d like to listen in when Gerry Cheevers is talking goaltending to Pete Peeters.I&rsquo;d like to see the Stastny brothers try it with a white puck.I&rsquo;d like to see a front line of Boudreau, Bordeleau and Boldirev.I&rsquo;d like to have a three-hour lunch with Foster Hewitt.I&rsquo;d put Lanny McDonald&rsquo;s mustache in the Hall of Fame.I&rsquo;d like to see Willie Huber put his skates on and jump center against Wilt Chamberlain.I&rsquo;d have them close up that parking lot on Eighth Avenue and put Madison Square Garden back where it belongs.I&rsquo;d ask Marcel Dionne not to mention the money but write a thesis on why he likes playing in California.I would give Danny Gallivan a trophy for being such an unbiased broadcaster.I&rsquo;d put Eddie Shack&rsquo;s nose in the Hall of Fame.I&rsquo;d bind up all of Stan Fischler&rsquo;s books and give them away as Christmas presents.I&rsquo;d start all games at 7:30 so the kids can get home early.I&rsquo;d put Halifax into the Adams Division.I&rsquo;d take Clarence Campbell out to lunch and thank him for being &ldquo;King of Hockey.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

HOCKEY CORNER

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>LANDOVER&mdash;For the second straight season, Bob Gould was selected as the Washington Capitals&rsquo; unsung hero. Apparently, this year the fan club was trying to tell the media that although it sung Gould&rsquo;s praises a bit more, the tune still wasn&rsquo;t loud enough.Although Gould has been an outstanding defensive forward, good enough to be a leading contender for the Selke Trophy, it has been his offensive heroics that have brought his increased recognition.In the Capital&rsquo;s four-game playoff series against the New York Islanders, Gould led all goal scorers with five. He and linemates Glen Currie and Gaetan Duchesne accounted for six goals and five assists. By contrast, Washington&rsquo;s four top regular-season scorers&mdash;Dennis Maruk, Mike Gartner, Bob Carpenter and Bengt Gustafsson&mdash;totalled two goals and one assist.Gould scored two goals, including the game winner, in Washington&rsquo;s lone victory, a 4-2 decision at Nassau Coliseum. He opened the scoring that night with a sensational rink-length dash, in which he put a fake on Tomas Jonsson, the Islanders&rsquo; leading plus-minus player, and then deked goalie Bill Smith before flipping the puck behind him.Later, Gould stole a Jonsson pass and set up Duchesne in front. When Smith stopped Duchesne, Gould was right there to net the rebound.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know where the goals are coming from,&rdquo; Gould said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve fooled around with some things in practice, but everything happens so fast out there you just do it, you don&rsquo;t stop to think about it.&ldquo;For our line, the principal job is still to keep the puck out of our net. We can&rsquo;t change. We have to play our game, up and down the wings, and be sure to get the puck out of our end successfully.&ldquo;As the game grew tighter, we seem to get more ice time and being out there in important spots we get the chance to 4 score big goals. We can all score if the&rdquo; opportunities come, but we don&rsquo;t give up anything defensively.&rdquo;Over the first half of the NHL season, Gould was cited as the full-time player with the fewest minuses in the league. He finished at plus-16, losing the team&rsquo;s Emery Edge trophy to Currie&rsquo;s club-record plus 18.Asked whether he was surprised by Gould&rsquo;s playoff exploits, coach Bryan Murray said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not surprised by the way he&rsquo;s playing. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I get consistently good work from Gaetan, Glen and Bobby when they&rsquo;re together.&ldquo;I am a little surprised to see the offensive result in bunches like that. But that line creates pressure and gets the chances. As they learn to take advantage of them, they&rsquo;ll be even better.&ldquo;Bobby certainly is well worth what we paid to get him from Calgary&mdash;a second-round draft pick. He&rsquo;s one of the most responsible and good defensive wingers in the league. He&rsquo;s as good as anybody on the boards and certainly our best. He compares to Guy Lafleur in our end the way he gets the puck off the boards and gets it moving.&rdquo;Perhaps the biggest praise for Gould and friends came from team captain Rod Langway, a teammate of Gould&rsquo;s at the University of New Hampshire, who is more likely to lash his colleagues than 4 laud them.&ldquo;The biggest surprise of the season was Kid Currie&rsquo;s line,&rdquo; Langway said. &ldquo;They won a lot of games for us. There&rsquo;s our foundation&mdash;a line that can play against anybody in the league.&rdquo; &#9632;

Caps’ Offense Good As Gould

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011171/4791734-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Toronto Maple Leaf captain Rick Vaive had numerous opportunities to score key goals in the playoff series against Minnesota.</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;It was less than 24 hours after the Maple Leafs had been eliminated from the Stanley Cup chase by a Minnesota goal in overtime of the fourth game of their divisional semi-final series and captain Rick Vaive emerged from the Toronto dressing room following the team&rsquo;s final meeting of the season to face a gaggle of media representatives.Someone asked Vaive&mdash;rather unbelievably&mdash;if he was over the disappointment of losing out in the playoffs. The Leaf captain didn&rsquo;t flinch or answer with a smart remark, probably the more appropriate response under the circumstances. Instead, he simply stated: &ldquo;No, I&rsquo;m not over the disappointment. I think it&rsquo;s going to take two or three weeks.&rdquo;One could see Vaive replaying the four games against Minnesota through his mind over and over during the course of the Leafs&rsquo; hiatus from the rink. The team, and Vaive in particular, came so close to changing the outcome of the first-round series.In the first game, Vaive dashed down the right side into the Minnesota end with the Leafs trailing by a goal in the final seconds of play. Leaf goalie Mike Palmateer was on the bench in favor of an extra attacker when Vaive unleashed a drive that ricocheted off the goalpost. There were six seconds left in the contest.The same scene was repeated the next night, this time with the score tied at 4-4 and the teams in overtime. Vaive beat Minnesota&rsquo;s Don Beaupre with a shot only to have it repelled by the post. Bobby Smith won it for the Stars shortly after.When the series switched to Toronto, Vaive was held off the scoresheet for the third consecutive game although he did contribute an assist, sending John Anderson away for an empty-net marker that iced Toronto&rsquo;s 6-3 victory.Finally, he broke loose in Game Four, assisting on a pair of Bill Derlago goals that provided 1-0 and 2-1 leads. In the third period, after Smith had again tied it for Minnesota, Vaive twice put the Leafs on top only to have North Star rookie Brian Bellows pull the Stars back even with goals of his own.As the game moved into overtime, the opportunity all hockey players dream about came to Vaive. He was in the deep slot, about 25 feet from the net when the puck came to him. Goalie Gilles Meloche was down and could only cover about half the net. Vaive lifted the puck over a sliding defenseman and watched as it sailed over the crossbar, just missing the top lefthand comer. Naturally, the North Stars scored the next chance they had with Dino Ciccarelli knocking in a bouncing puck, just under the crossbar, to end the Leafs&rsquo; playoff journey.&ldquo;Nobody on this team has anything to be ashamed of,&rdquo; said Vaive on the day following the defeat. &ldquo;We can hold our heads up and think about next year.&ldquo;This year was totally different than last year. Last year, we had the last 15 games to think about next season because we were out of the playoffs. These playoffs have been a confidence builder for us. Now we&rsquo;re excited about next year. I&rsquo;d be happy if it started next month.&rdquo;It might take until May for the Leafs to return to a close-to-healthy state. Their final game saw two more players added to their bulging list of the walking wounded. Goalie Mike Palmateer finished the game with an injured shoulder, thanks to a first-period collision with his goalpost. Palmateer had been asked by Team Canada to join them in West Germany for the World Championships but had to decline the next day when he was told he would need about six weeks for his shoulder to heal. Bill Derlago was also injured in the final game, suffering a broken finger.Meanwhile Jim Korn, who missed the final game, was hobbling quite noticeably as the team assembled for the final time as was Peter Ihnacak who missed all of the playoffs after receiving a deep gash in his calf. Also, Gaston Gingras played the last two games on a slightly strained knee after sitting out Game Two, while Dan Daoust (knee) and Dave Famish (bruised back) were doubtful even for the second round of the playoffs.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t totally satisfied with our year after the bad start we had,&rdquo; Vaive said, &ldquo;but I was pleased by the heart, determination and guts our team showed. I think the last month of the season showed the character we have, the coaches stuck with us and didn&rsquo;t push the panic button.&rdquo;Vaive. this year&rsquo;s Toronto Molson Cup winner as the player receiving the most Three-Star selections, turns 24 in May. He plans to play a lot of golf, do plenty of relaxing and then work out to get ready for next year. Hopefully, he&rsquo;ll spend most of his time thinking about the 51 goals he scored in the regular season and the advancements made by the Leafs, rather than all of the close calls in the playoffs.But don&rsquo;t deny him the right to be disappointed. &#9632;

f0013-01

Maple Leafs Recounting Dismissal By Minnesota

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011212/4791765-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Paul Coffey scored a disputed goal to snap a 3-3 tie in Game Two of the series with the Jets.</figcaption></div>EDMONTON&mdash;Short, sweet and basically to the point.But the heavily-favored Edmonton Oilers did not dispose of the Winnipeg Jets in a straight set during their best-of-five Smythe Division semi-final without controversy. Or, without foreign aid.After Wayne Gretzky connected for four goals during the Oilers&rsquo; 6-3 triumph as the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs began, the Oilers were hard-pressed for a 4-3 conquest in Game Two. They were also given the benefit of the doubt on defenseman Paul Coffey&rsquo;s shot that snapped a 2-2 tie 2:57 into the third period.The puck, which glanced off the goal post, has yet to enter the net, although neutral goal judge Rick Lundgren of Los Angeles deemed otherwise. Likewise referee Kerry Fraser, who awarded the Oilers their third shorthanded goal of the series.&ldquo;It couldn&rsquo;t have gone in, not from that angle and not after making a sound like it did,&rdquo; testified the Jets&rsquo; rookie goalie Brian Hayward, who bounced back after allowing six goals in 40 minutes during the opening loss the night before.Coffey, who kicked in a game-winner with 27 seconds left in a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on March 16, initially pleaded the fifth. &ldquo;I never saw it, honest. I turned the other way after I shot, but all indications were that it wasn&rsquo;t in. It was about three seconds later when the goal judge put the light on. I thought I had better put my stick in the air to make it look&hellip;well, what am I going to say? I&rsquo;ll have to catch the replay&rdquo;Ironically, it was Fraser who last lason deprived the Oilers&rsquo; Pat Hughes i legitimate game-tying goal in a 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. &ldquo;This one&rsquo;s a bigger game, it means a lot more,&rdquo; said Hughes, the only member of the Oilers ever to play on a Stanley Cup winner (Montreal Canadiens 1978-79). &ldquo;In a way. it&rsquo;s too bad. But, hey, it takes an awful lot of hard work and luck to get where we want to be (Stanley Cup final). And this is a start.&rdquo;Actually, the start came the night before.Here&rsquo;s how the series went:GAME ONE: &ldquo;He certainly showed how to score on a breakaway&mdash;a deke, top shelf, be patient. What can you say about him?&rdquo; marvelled Oilers&rsquo; captain Lee Fogolin of the fact Gretzky tied two playoff records&mdash;most goals in one period (three, shared by 13 others) and most shorthanded goals in one game (two, set by Toronto Maple Leaf Dave Keon in 1963 and equalled by New York Islander Bryan Trottier three years ago).Gretzky&rsquo;s third goal&mdash;nine seconds into the second period&mdash;resulted from a brief cat-and-mouse game he played with Hayward before depositing the puck through the freshman&rsquo;s legs.&ldquo;That was a matchup like two gunfighters waiting to pull the trigger,&rdquo; said Oilers&rsquo; manager-coach Glen Sather, who also received first-period goals seven seconds apart from Kenny Linseman and Dave Hunter. &ldquo;Wayne showed nerves of steel. There&rsquo;s not anyone else in our game who could have scored that goal:&rdquo;GAME TWO: &ldquo;For me, personally, things couldn&rsquo;t have gone any worse than they did last year,&rdquo; said Mark Messier, the Oilers&rsquo; all-star left-winger who was held to one goal in a five-game exit from the playoffs at the hands of the underdog Los Angeles Kings.Messier was out to make amends this time, scoring twice, including the gamewinner at 18:16 of the third period, to provide the Oilers with a 4-3 win. Hampered, along with linemate Linseman, by the flu in Game One, Messier recovered the following night to rap home Gretzky&rsquo;s centering pass to pull Oilers even at 1-1 in the first period. Linseman did likewise later in the period, but after Coffey&rsquo;s controversial tally, the Jets came back 29 seconds later on defenseman Moe Mantha&rsquo;s second power-play goal of the night.Overtime, in which the Oilers were one-for-five in their playoff history, appeared to be looming large when Linesman pushed ex-Oiler Laurie Boschman off the puck and spotted Messier in the slot for the game-wirier.GAME THREE: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a born winner, that sucker, I&rsquo;ll t-U you that,&rdquo; snorted Sather of Linser in. who scored the unassisted game winner with 74 seconds remaining a: Oilers swept the series with a 4-3 triumph in Winnipeg.&ldquo;What happened in New York?&rdquo; questioned Sather of the fact Linseman&rsquo;s old team, the Philadelphia Flyers, were ushered from the playoffs in straight games by virtue of a 9-3 beating at the hands of New York Rangers. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty obvious they miss him You just don&rsquo;t find players like that.&rdquo;Linseman&rsquo;s winner, just 68 seconds after Winnipeg&rsquo;s Ron Wilson had tied the game, came when he stole the puck behind the net from the Jets&rsquo; Lucien DeBlois, shook off Dave Babych&rsquo;s stick and fired a shot off the stick of Winnipeg&rsquo;s Brian Mullen that bounced into the far comer as he skirted around the net. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t see the shot, I was going full throttle,&rdquo; explained Linseman, who screened Hayward on defenseman Kevin Lowe&rsquo;s first-ever playoff goal at 14:04 of the final period.Three minutes later, ex-Jet Willy Lindstrom gave the Oilers the lead for the first time in the game when his 40-footer trickled through Hayward&rsquo;s pads into the net.&ldquo;Our team wasn&rsquo;t ready to win last year,&rdquo; admitted Sather following the series. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have the maturity. This year we have it.&rdquo;Next: Calgary Flames. &#9632;

f0014-01

Oilers Waste Little Time Disposing Of Winnipeg

<div class="byline">BILL FLEISCHMAN&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02976/4791796-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="302" height="351"></div><h2>The Philly Principle</h2>YOU&rsquo;VE HEARD OF Murphy&rsquo;s Law. Now we can adapt Murphy&rsquo;s Law to the Philly Principle: everything that could go wrong went wrong.If you&rsquo;re a New York Ranger fan, this law is also known as Smurfs&rsquo; Revenge. What happened to the Philadelphia Flyers shouldn&rsquo;t happen to any first-place hockey team. But it did, leaving the Rangers in a well-deserved celebrating mood, while Philadelphia was left in shock.As the Rangers moved on to tangle with their pals on Long Island, all the Flyers could do was analyze what went wrong in what everyone in Philadelphia was calling the Flyers&rsquo; most devastating playoff loss ever. The task of examining how a first-place team that finished 26 points ahead of its opening-round playoff rival could be swept in three straight games will occupy most of the Flyers&rsquo; dreary summer. And it should.The Flyers hadn&rsquo;t been this dazed since they were eliminated from a playoff berth by Buffalo with just four seconds remaining in the 1972 season finale. On that night, the Flyers sat slumped in their dressing room, resembling combat-weary soldiers. Losing to the Rangers this year left the Flyers with the same numb feeling.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the worst I&rsquo;ve ever felt after a loss,&rdquo; said Bobby Clarke.&ldquo;A lot of people think because we&rsquo;re from Europe, we don&rsquo;t care much,&rdquo; said besieged goaltender Pelle Lindbergh. &ldquo;But, I&rsquo;m a member of this team and I feel as bad as anybody. This is the worst loss I&rsquo;ve been through.The way the Flyers played in front of him, Lindbergh was entitled to snarl, &ldquo;A bunch of Swedish amateurs could beat this team.&rdquo;<h2>How Sweet Is Is</h2>DOWN THE CORRIDOR in Madison Square Garden, the mood of Lindbergh&rsquo;s countryman, Anders Hedberg, was completely the opposite. Hedberg, who played three superb games against the Flyers, wanted to do cartwheels up Broadway, all the way to Stockholm. Hedberg also wanted to grind the sweep in the faces of a few Flyers.&ldquo;The most gratifying thing about this win was to look into the faces of Clarke, Propp and Allison,&rdquo; said Hedberg. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m giving credit to Paul Holmgren and Glen Cochrane. At least you know they slash you at home and on the road.&rdquo;After generally behaving themselves during the season, the Broad Street Bullies were reborn in the playoffs as the Flyers went out in a blaze of punches and high sticks. Behn Wilson, living up to his New York billing as &ldquo;the Philly Slasher,&rdquo; once again performed his specialty&mdash;high-sticking Eddie Mio, the Rangers&rsquo; goalie and prime Flyers&rsquo; tormentor.Even Bryan Murray, the Washington Capitals&rsquo; astute coach, found the Flyers&rsquo; final-game tactics reprehensible. Before the last period of the Capitals&rsquo; final playoff game against the Islanders, Murray told his team not to go out like Philadelphia did&mdash;&ldquo;with no poise, no dignity.&rdquo;That a team with Philadelphia&rsquo;s experience, with leaders such as Clarke, Darryl Sittler, Bill Barber and Holmgren, would completely unravel almost defies belief. But they did and now it&rsquo;s up to Flyer GM Keith Allen and coach Bob McCammon to quickly patch the cracks before next season.Whispers about McCammon being fired are absurd. A year ago, he was summoned, again, from the American Hockey League Maine Mariners to put the Flyers back on course. He was armed with the assistant GM title which, presumably, means he will succeed Keith Allen in a few years.<h2>Still A Rookie</h2>THIS SEASON, McCAMMON guided the Flyers to first place in a tough division. In the playoffs against the Rangers, McCammon was out-coached by Herb Brooks. Fortunately for McCammon, Flyer owner Ed Snider reminded people that his coach is still relatively inexperienced at the NHL level. However, if Orval Tessier another novice NHL coach, guides Chicago deep into the playoffs, Snider&rsquo;s point will be substantially weakened.One of McCammon&rsquo;s problems is spending too many years in the minor leagues. He has a good sense of humor and a touch of the entertainer in him but, too often, the entertainer displays &lsquo;bush&rsquo; brashness that infuriates opponents and inspires them against the Flyers. Still, McCammon is not dumb and he will learn from his mistakes.One mistake he is already learning from is placing too much emphasis on the regular season. If the NHL&rsquo;s playoff blueprint, which must have been dreamed up by the Monty Python crew, isn&rsquo;t changed, McCammon said he will treat next season&rsquo;s regular season as an 80-game exhibition schedule.This idea should go over big with Philadelphia&rsquo;s season-ticket holders, but you can&rsquo;t blame McCammon. For 80 games, the Flyers were one of the NHL&rsquo;s best teams. As a reward for finishing first in their division, all the Flyers, Boston, Chicago and Edmonton received was an extra home game in the best-of-five opening round. Lose that first home playoff game and all the incentive for 80 games is destroyed.&ldquo;It sounds like I&rsquo;m crying and I guess I am,&rdquo; Allen said, &ldquo;but I was talking to Al Eagleson about how the league doesn&rsquo;t reward you for finishing first and he agreed. At least, if there&rsquo;s no first-round bye, I don&rsquo;t see what was wrong with the old system, where No. 1 played No. 16 and 2 played 15. At least that way you got a weaker team to play in the first round.&rdquo;The good news is people such as Keith Allen, Harry Sinden and Bill Torrey are working toward a better playoff plan. Sinden, Boston&rsquo;s GM, agrees that first-place teams aren&rsquo;t rewarded enough.&ldquo;One idea might be to give them home ice all through the first round of the playoffs,&rdquo; Sinden told the Boston Globe&rsquo;s Fran Rosa. &ldquo;The way it is now, the fourth-place team just hasn&rsquo;t earned the chance to knock off the first-place team.&rdquo;Allen, McCammon and Snider will hoist a mug or two to that view. &#9632;

f0014-02

HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyBOSTON&mdash;They were calling it, perhaps unfairly, the Scotty Bowman matinee.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011152/4791827-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="576" height="1414"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Crowder returned to the lineup wearing special pads to protect his shoulder.</figcaption></div>For the first time in memory of the oldest inhabitant, the Boston Bruins had to play a game at two o&rsquo;clock on a Friday afternoon and it was all because of one William Scott Bowman, for whatever dark and devious reason the Buffalo GM-coach had in mind.But, as it turned out, the controversial contest was a 5-3 victory, coming only 16 hours and one late brunch after the Sabres blew out the Bruins 7-4 in a game that was not as close as the score would indicate. In fact, even the Bruins agreed that it worked to their advantage.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have to sit around all day thinking about a 7-4 loss,&rdquo; said Brad Park.&ldquo;Luckily, we only had a half a day off,&rdquo; said Barry Pederson. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing like sitting around in your home town and reading about it in all the papers and the TVS and the radios. Pretty soon you start believing what they&rsquo;re saying about you.&rdquo;The controversy followed the Bruins&rsquo; first-round conquest of the Quebec Nordiques. The schedule called for the next series to start Thursday and Friday night in Boston Garden. But the basketball Celtics had the Garden on Friday night. Would the kind and considerate Mr. Bowman consent to playing Wednesday and Thurday nights? He would not!&ldquo;He mumbled something about interrupting his practice schedule if we played Wednesday,&rdquo; said Boston GM Harry Sinden. &ldquo;The only reason I can think of is that he must figure this gives them an edge; that it gives us less time for recovery. Our defenseman, Mike O&rsquo;Connell, Ray Bourque and Brad Park, have been logging an awful lot of ice time lately.&rdquo;&ldquo;I expected to look like the heavy in this,&rdquo; snarled Bowman. Bowman noted the NHL playoff schedule has been known for a long time and the Bruins should have realized the Celtics were playing on the same night as a possible playoff date. He questioned why the Bruins waited until 1 p.m. Monday to call him about a possible change in dates.Fortunately, for the Bruins, the arguments were rendered moot by the superb matinee performances from the Crowder brothers, Keith and Bruce, and Mike Krushelnyski, even though only one of them, Krushelnyski, figured in the scoring summary.&ldquo;We got embarrassed last night,&rdquo; said Pederson. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t just that they won. We got embarrassed. We&rsquo;ve got away from our game in the last two or three weeks. Now we got Keith back in good form and Bruce and Mike and that&rsquo;s going to be the key for the rest of the series.&ldquo;They went out there and started taking the body. It&rsquo;s like when Terry O&rsquo;Reilly is around. You get a little guilty feeling seeing those guys working so hard and taking the body and you give yourself a little kick in the butt and say &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s go out there and do the same thing.&rsquo; The way those guys played rubbed off on the rest of us tonight.&rdquo;Keith Crowder missed the last six games of the season with a shoulder injury and was able to return for the playoffs only with the aid of a football shoulder pad that gave him a resemblance of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. It took him a couple of games to get back into playing shape.&ldquo;Keith has been taking the body for us all year long,&rdquo; said Peterson. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a tendency when a guy is scoring a lot of goals to think you can just go out there and something&rsquo;s going to happen. Keith is a goal-scorer (35 goals this season) because he&rsquo;s a mucker. He likes to get back for the rest of the series.&rdquo;Krushelnyski was the hero of the game that deadlocked the Sabre series at 1-1, at least as far as the stat sheet and coach Gerry Cheevers were concerned.&ldquo;I kept saying to the team in the dressing room, &lsquo;there&rsquo;s somebody in here who&rsquo;s going to pick us up today,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Cheevers. &ldquo;And it was Krush today, there&rsquo;s no doubt about it.&rdquo;The 22-year-old rookie scored two goals and did most of the work setting up a third by Ray Bourque. His first goal came just 52 seconds into the game and his second was the &lsquo;Krusher&rsquo; in the third period.It was just a matter of working, shrugged the shy Krushelnyski after captain Wayne Cashman dug the puck out of a comer and fed him in the slot. &ldquo;Maybe we figured we were working yesterday, but we really weren&rsquo;t putting all out. The smarts weren&rsquo;t there. The team kinda woke up tonight.&rdquo;WHAT&rsquo;S BRUIN&mdash;Hockey oddity collectors will long cherish the final game of the Boston-Quebec series in which the Bruins eliminated the Nordiques by a score of 2-1. Boston had 15 shots on goal to 39 for Quebec. The Bruins scored on their first shot on goal, Pederson at 57 seconds. They scored on their last shot on goal, with Luc Dufour tallying with 7:58 to go&hellip;Wildest rumor of the week has it that Mike Milbury, who was sidelined with a broken kneecap March 29, might possibly be back in the lineup if the Bruins go all the way to the finals. The brace has been removed from his left knee and he is walking without pain&mdash;&ldquo;except when I forget that I cracked the thing and moved the wrong way.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-01

Bruins Win The Scotty Bowman Matinee

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;At that moment, it was impossible to tell if the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; 5-1 decision over Chicago was really a turning point in their Norris Division playoff final, or a brief interruption in the Black Hawks&rsquo; surge to victory.It was in the third game, which meant it was the first one at Met Center. Lou Nanne, the general manager who is now coaching the Stars, insisted that home ice meant nothing in the series, although it seemed that home ice never meant more. After all, the Stars had been swamped 5-2 and 7-4 in the first two games in Chicago Stadium, and the Black Hawks had not won all year at Met Center.Nanne stood outside the dressing room door after his team had overturned the Black Hawks 5-1, and he talked about how &ldquo;there&rsquo;s a good feeling in this room now, a lot of emotion.&rdquo;And yet, the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; 1983 Playoff Express more closely resembled a wayward bus, careening out of control down a mountain road. There was a chance that the bus could make it all the way, or it could veer off at any moment to destruction.Nanne&rsquo;s plot in Game One at Chicago was to put a checking line with George Ferguson centering Al MacAdam and Willi Plett. That unit would hound the Denis Savard line at every opportunity. The line did a remarkable job, holding Savard&rsquo;s high-test line to two shots while getting seven itself.The teams played cautious, tentative hockey as Gilles Meloche and Murray Bannerman dueled, but a 2-2 tie after two periods was broken when the Hawks scored three in the last seven minutes. The checking line was superb, but the North Stars never got anything approaching offensive rhythm from its other lines.Curt Giles, after a brilliant series against Toronto, was Minnesota&rsquo;s best player, separating several Hawks from the puck&mdash;to say nothing of their senses&mdash;with jolting bodychecks. One time, he cracked Savard with a check, lost his stick in the process, but blasted Steve Larmer with another clean hit without bothering to reclaim his stick.But Giles went out late in the game when he bombed Tim Higgins with a check, but caught Higgins&rsquo; knee in the hip. That knocked him out of series.The Hawks led 5-0 before seven minutes of the second period had passed. The Stars made a late bid, on goals by Craig Hartsburg and MacAdam late in the second, and another by Dino Ciccarelli in the third, cutting it to 5-3. But Savard scored twice for a 7-3 cushion before Plett got a late one for Minnesota.Don Beaupre, brilliant in goal early, was the victim of the Hawk pressure.Neal Broten, who had been ineffective against Toronto and was hindered by shuffling lines in the opener in Chicago, assisted on the first three Minnesota goals.Back at home, with 15,784 fans howling, Minnesota stormed out and made 41 takeouts in the first period&mdash;more than in both games at Chicago combined-and led 2-0 on goals by MacAdam and Ciccarelli. On MacAdam&rsquo;s goal. Plett took out one defenseman on his way in, then bumped Keith Brown into Bannerman and continued to jostle at the crease. Just then, Brad Maxwell&rsquo;s pass found MacAdam in front, and MacAdam, one of the quiet leaders of the team, whirled and scored. Checking line, eh?Meanwhile, the goaltenders seethed privately. While most organizations would be bolstering their goalies&rsquo; confidence at this stage of the season, Nanne and his &ldquo;co-coach.,&rdquo; Murray Oliver, had been ripping Meloche and Beaupre. They called the goalies slumping, Oliver once was quoted using the word &ldquo;cruddy&rdquo; in reference to them, and Nanne said he felt goalies should be criticized as much as any other players.It seemed, however, that the goalies were getting all the public criticism. While it was said that the goalies hadn&rsquo;t actually won a playoff game for the club, team that requires its goaltender to steal a victory at playoff time is either ill-prepared or overrated.At any rate, while the Stars played much better at both ends of the ice, Beaupre was in the press box with newcomer Jim Craig dressed as back-up. Meloche, harnessing his anger, played brilliantly.He stopped Denis Cyr&rsquo;s breakaway in the first period when Game Three was goalless, and after Secord had somehow eluded all five Minnesotans to circle the but and pick the far side for Chicago&rsquo;s goal to cut it to 2-1 in the second period, Meloche came up with a dazzling save on Secord breakaway.&ldquo;That was the biggest play of the game,&rdquo; said Nanne.Hartsburg, Smith and Steve Payne got third-period goals in the 5-1 victory. With 35 seconds left, Keith Brown grabbed Payne with a headlock and threw him down. Payne was not going to retaliate, and Bobby Smith&mdash;Bobby Smith!&mdash; jumped in and rained punches at Brown. Smith chose not to discuss it afterward, but Nanne admitted he couldn&rsquo;t recall Smith jumping in physically for a teammate before. For the team&rsquo;s sake, it might have been as big a play as his goal.Meloche, clearly the star of the game, waved reporters away and dressed hurriedly, still upset. He talked, privately and off the record, in the back room. He didn&rsquo;t have to say that when a goal is scored, often five guys make mistakes before the goalie gets a chance to miss. And he didn&rsquo;t have to say that when a goalie looks great, the fact that the other five guys total 100 takeouts helps a lot. It&rsquo;s still a team game. &#9632;

It’s Tough To Tell If The North Stars Are For Real

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011015/4791882-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sabre goalie Bob Sauve had trouble the last few games of the regular season, but is peaking in the playoffs.</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;It has been a pressure season all the way for Bob Sauve, but the cool, quiet Buffalo Sabre goaltender seems to be handling it very well, thank you.&ldquo;I like it,&rdquo; Sauve said of handling pressure, &ldquo;it keeps you honest. No matter how many times you go out there, it&rsquo;s how you did your last time out that matters.&rdquo;When the pressure was most intense, Sauve came through with a historymaking performance. He shut out the Montreal Canadiens in two consecutive games in the Montreal Forum&mdash;in the Stanley Cup playoffs.The Canadiens were shut out in two successive playoff games before, but the last time was more than 20 years ago, and one game was in the Forum, the other, in that 1961 series, in Chicago.Sauve gave up only two goals in three games to the Canadiens, the second highest scoring team in the National Hockey League in 1982-83, as the Sabres swept the Adams Division opening round senes 3-0.This was an abrupt about-face from the way the Sabres&mdash;and Sauve&mdash;finished the regular season.The Sabres won only four of their last 12 games. Sauve, who had a 3.45 goals-against average for the season, was 4.80 through the last 10 games when Buffalo went 4-5-1.Neither the team nor Sauve looked good through the final couple of weeks of the season.However, Scotty Bowman, Sabre GM-coach, made his goaltending decision for the playoffs. It was Sauve.Bowman sent rookie netminder Jacques Coutier, who had divided the goaltending chores with Sauve, down to Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League shortly before the deadline for freezing playoff rosters. He called up 34-year-old Phil Myre as Sauve&rsquo;s backup.Myre was, ironically, Montreal&rsquo;s first pick in the 1966 amateur draft. He shut out the Sabres for the Canadiens in the first NHL game they played in Memorial Auditorium and later played for Atlanta, St. Louis, Philadelphia and Colorado before the Sabres signed him as a free agent last summer.Sauve was the man the Sabres were counting on, though. He was under pressure, just as he had been at the start of the season.He was the goaltender who came back to the Sabres, it might be remembered, to take over when Don Edwards, twice an NHL all-star, was traded to Calgary to better Buffalo&rsquo;s drafting position last June.Bowman traded Sauve, then playing out his option, to Detroit in a separate deal when Jim Schoenfeld, Danny Gare and Derek Smith went to the Red Wings for Dale McCourt, Mike Foligno and Brent Peterson in December, 1981.Sauve did not sign with Detroit and when Edwards went west, Bob returned to Buffalo and signed a contract.It was up to him to lead the rebuilding Sabres to a respectable finish. He did, with help from Cloutier. The Sabres finished sixth in the final goaltending statistics.The fans were worried, however, after the shaky finish. They needn&rsquo;t have been.The Sabres went into the Montreal Forum and played their best hockey of the season. As Montreal coach Bob Berry observed, &ldquo;They just checked us to death.&rdquo;The Canadiens didn&rsquo;t get many good shots, but when they did, Sauve blocked them.Sabre Craig Ramsay says the big difference was when Bob Sauve made several tough saves with the score tied 0-0 early in the game.&ldquo;Making those big saves while it was ( still 0-0 in the first game made all the difference,&rdquo; said Craig Ramsay, who has played in all the Sabres&rsquo; playoff appearances, starting in 1973. &ldquo;The longer it went on without their scoring a goal, the better it was for us.&ldquo;As the game went on, we felt that if it stayed that way we would win it.&rdquo;The opening game was goalless for more than two periods, then the Sabres got the only goal. Peterson scored it on the rebound of a shot by Gilles Hamel.The next night, the Sabres scored right at the start. McCourt took a nice feed from Gil Perreault and shot the puck high into the net in the second minute of play. The Sabres went on to win 3-0.&rsquo;Then, back in Buffalo, the Canadiens made their bid to stay alive. They scored first, but the Sabres won 4-2.When he was praised after the series, Sauve credited his teammates.&ldquo;The team played super,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

f0016-01

Sabres’ Netminder Sauve Enjoys Pressure Tests

<div class="byline">BY DICK BEDDOES</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02820/4791913-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="294" height="345"></div><h2>Why The Delay?</h2>AT LAST, in Montreal, crowned heads rolled like beads from a broken string. Some of them, in hockey terms, were deadheads.The mortality rate was high in the realm of Canadien royalty when the team president, Ronald Corey, walked in swinging a large axe.Mr. Corey had ample reason for a belated hatchet job. The Canadiens, owned by the Molson brewers, have become the big hockey joke in the big land.Corey first plucked the robes of authority off coach Robert Berry and assigned him to scout Eskimos neat Baffin Island, or somewhere.Then he deposed Ronald Caron as the king of Montreal&rsquo;s scouting department.Then, going for the big one, Corey ousted Irving Grundman as liege lord of the Canadiens, dismissing the short grey chap who generally mismanaged the club.Grundman&rsquo;s son, Howard, quickly got the message and, ducking, resigned as boss of the hockey operations before Corey&rsquo;s cutlery whittled him. The younger Grundman was not very dry behind the swivel chair.In one swoop, therefore, the Canadiens established a NHL record for dismissals. In one afternoon, four executives expunged. Can any other team make this claim?<h2>Caron&rsquo;s Big Goof</h2>THE QUESTON IS: What t8k the Montreal owners so blessed long to catch on that the fired front-office personnel were hockey incompetents?It said here, and elsewhere, that Ron Caron g8fed when, in 1980, he recommended that the Canadiens draft Douglas Wickenheiser rather than Denis Savard.Montreal had the first choice that spring and reckoned that Wickenheiser, at six feet and 200 pounds, could be the large center the Canadiens have wanted since Jean Believeau retired to become the club&rsquo;s vice-president of corporate affairs.Up until now, Wickenheiser resembles Beliveau only until the puck is dropped.Meanwhile, in Chicago, Savard has become the sprightliest center this side of Wayne Gretzky. He is 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, clearly the pivot to replace Henri Richard, who was 5-f8t-7, 158 pounds and remarkable in the Canadiens&rsquo; cause.Caron&rsquo;s mistake was compounded by the fact that Savard played junior hockey in Montreal, practically in Irving Grundman&rsquo;s backyard.Mr. Grundman persisted through this past season in demonstrating that as a hockey dealer, he is a hell of a bowling-alley operator.How else to explain his monumental blunder in trading Brian Engblom, Rod Langway, Craig Laughlin and Doug Jarvis to Washington?Engblom and Langway represented the guts of a defense. With them gone, Larry Robinson was overburdened trying to compensate for a tangle-footed Montreal rearguard.It said here, and elsewhere, that another Grundman miscue was swapping center Dan Daoust and defenseman Gus Gingras to Toronto for two unknown draft choices who are still in school, somewhere. In one bemused moment, Grundman made the Maple Leafs respectable.<h2>A Tribute To Scotty</h2>IT IS TRUE that Grundman was the manager of the Canadiens&rsquo; Stanley Cup triumph in 1978-79. That conquest, though, was more of a tribute to Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s coaching than it was to Grundman&rsquo;s managing.One is baffled why the Montreal owners did not knight Bowman as the managerial successor to Sam Pollock, when that distinguished gentleman went off to consort with millionaires, of which he is now one.Bowman grew up in the Mohtreal organization. He had his first coaching job in the Canadien system in 1954. He subsequently worked four substantial years in St. Louis, then returned to Canadiens to win five Stanley Cups in eight years.No one&mdash;and certainly not Irving Grundman&mdash;had such impressive credentials. Still, Grundman was awarded the job that Bowman coveted.It was rewarding, therefore, to see Bowman&rsquo;s Buffalc Sabres dismiss Grundman&rsquo;s Canadiens in three games in the first round of these playoffs. Bowman&rsquo;s team allowed Grundman&rsquo;s two mere goals, the worst exercise in offensive futility since the Argentines invaded the Falkland Islands.Grundman insisted, after the Canadiens had been expelled from the playoffs in the first round for the third successive year, &ldquo;They went out with their heads high.&rdquo;Rex MacLeod more or less murmured in the Torontc Star, &ldquo;But their asses were dragging.&rdquo;It can be said of Mr. Grundman, as Mr. Shakespeare said in Macbeth, that nothing became his quite so much as his leaving. &#9632;

f0016-02

BEDCLOTHES

<div class="byline">BY JIM PROUDFOOT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01898/4791944-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="185" height="162"></div>DORTMUND&mdash;Team Canada found itself in a spot of trouble only two games into the 1983 world hockey championships.A 3-2 defeat at the hands of fired-up Sweden left the Canadians in considerable danger of missing the four-nation showdown for first, second and third places.Canadian coach Dave King admitted his team could not afford another defeat, particularly against Finland.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve made things difficult for ourselves. But then, on the other hand, we figured on starting out slowly.&rdquo;The Swedes, Finns and Canada are likely to compete for two places in the medal round, along with the Czechoslovakians and the Soviet Union. The top four advance after all eight entrants have engaged in a round-robin preliminary.&ldquo;The fact we came on so well at the end is encouraging,&rdquo; noted King after an exciting match in which Canada had several chances at a tying goal in the closing five minutes of the game against Sweden.The outlook wasn&rsquo;t easy for the Canadians. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re in for a really difficult week,&rdquo; said King of his team&rsquo;s early schedule.Team Canada had to face the Soviets, who won their first two games by shutouts, over East Germany and against Finland, then Czechoslovakia, who were also 2-0 after beating Finland and East Germany, and finally the game with the Finns, who were in ar even more precarious position than Canada because they dropped their first two games.Team Canada completes its pre liminary-round schedule with games against East and West Germany. Canada trounced Italy 6-0 in its first game and the West Germans beat Italy, too, 4-0.After the first days of the tournament, the records of the eight competing nations were: Czechs 2-0, Soviets 2-0, Sweden 2-0, Canada 1-1, West Germany 1-1, East Germany 0-2, Finland 0-2, Italy 0-2.&ldquo;We were a bit worried about the fatigue factor, but it didn&rsquo;t materialize,&rdquo; said Mike Gartner of the Washington Caps, who scored once in each of Canada&rsquo;s first two games. &ldquo;We were a strong club at the end against Sweden, and I think that&rsquo;s a terrific sign.&rdquo;Canada went in with 11 forwards to Sweden&rsquo;s 12, but conceded much more of an advantage than those numbers would suggest. The Swedes employed four forward lines while the Canadians were limited to three. Wingers Pat Flatley and Gord Sherven, both products of the U.S. college hockey program, appeared only occasionally.&ldquo;Four lines would be preferable, especially against opponents as fast as the Russians and Czechs,&rdquo; King agreed. &ldquo;And I do plan to go with four when we complete our roster. But having only three didn&rsquo;t cost us this match (against Sweden). We played well enough to win. I think 3-2 represents the game very well.&rdquo;Peter Sundstrom put the Swedes out in front in the first period, when goaltender Rick Wamsley lost track of a puck he had stopped. Gartner cancelled that on a beautiful set-up by Michel Goulet.Peter Andersson&rsquo;s drive glanced in off Rick Lanz and then Tommy Morth escaped Bob Gainey&rsquo;s checking for a 3-1 Swedish margin. Darryl Sittler put Canada back in the picture by directing James Patrick&rsquo;s shot into the net.&ldquo;We wanted to have 12 forwards at the outset but recruiting players has been a very difficult job this year,&rdquo; said Sam Pollock, Team Canada chairman. &ldquo;So many guys were hurt. Now we can pick up some more people.&ldquo;But the key was the defensive game the Swedes played. They translated that into scoring opportunities and we needed great netminding by Wamsley just to keep us close.&rdquo;A year ago, a much stronger Team Canada tied the Swedes, 3-3, then ran up a 6-0 score against them in the concluding series.&ldquo;1 think you&rsquo;ll see us make a similar type of improvement,&rdquo; Gartner predicted. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the pattern for Canada in this tournament, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;Here&rsquo;s how the tournament games finished up for the first two days. On opening day, the Soviet Union defeated East Germany 3-0, Sweden beat West Germany 5-1, Czechoslovakia downed Finland 4-2, and Canada blanked Italy 6-0. On day two, Czechoslovakia beat East Germany 61, the Soviet Union defeated Finland 3-0, West Germany stopped Italy 4-0 and of course, Sweden edged Canada 3-2.The victory over the Italians was hardly a test of strength for the Canadians. They had no problem winning.Charlie Simmer scored two of the Canadian goals, with singles by Dennis Maruk, Gartner, Marcel Dionne and Goulet.It was a far cry from Team Canada&rsquo;s frustrating draw with Italy and its 13 imported Canadians at last spring&rsquo;s global tournament. That lost point ultimately cost Canada a second-place finish overall.&ldquo;It was a matter of patience,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;Often, in a game where you control things without scoring a lot of goals, there&rsquo;s a tendency to start playing individually. We didn&rsquo;t. We stuck with our plan.&rdquo;An example was the third goal, cooling off an Italian rally in the second period. Goulet was breaking in off left wing but faded off that path when challenged by Italy&rsquo;s netminder, Jim Corsi. Instead of making a hopeless attempt, Goulet droppd a neat pass out to Gartner. Corsi, of course, was unable to switch positions quickly enough.Engblom was credited officially with Canada&rsquo;s first score but it belonged to Simmer who redirected an off-target drive.Maruk counted in the same manner for a 2-0 first period margin. Goulet, Dionne and Simmer made it a rout in the third period.King had three centers to work with (Dionne, Maruk and Darryl Sittler) but it takes four in this competition. So one of the newcomers from the expected late NHL reinforcements, will have to play that position definitely.Two right wingers were pros, Gartner and Taylor, but Flatley and Sherven are candidates for King&rsquo;s 1984 Olympic squad. He may want to replace one of them from time to time.Simmer, considered slow for this affair, compensated with nifty stickwork and good positioning. Whether that&rsquo;ll work against the Soviets or Swedes, say, remains to be seen. The other left wingers were outstandings&mdash;Bob Gainey, Goulet and Brian Propp. &#9632;

f0017-01

Team Canada Gets Off On The Wrong Foot

<h2>PRELIMINARY ROUND</h2>(Standings on Mon. Apr. 17)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02736/4792003-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="509" height="257"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDSat. Apr. 16Canada 6, Italy 0Soviet Union 3, East Germany 0Sweden 5, West Germany 1Czechoslovakia 4, Finland 2Sun. Apr. 17Sweden 3, Canada 2Czechoslovakia 6, East Germany 1Soviet Union 3, Finland 0West Germany 4, Italy 0GAMES TO COMETue. Apr. 19East Germany vs ItalyCanada vs Soviet UnionCzechoslovakia vs Swedenest Germany vs FinlandWed. Apr. 20Sweden vs East GermanySoviet Union vs West GermanyThu. Apr. 21Italy vs FinlandCzechoslovakia vs CanadaFri. Apr. 22Canada vs FinlandEast Germany vs West GermanySat. Apr. 23Soviet Union vs CzechoslovakiaSweden vs ItalySun. Apr. 24Finland vs SwedenItaly vs Soviet UnionCanada vs East GermanyWest Germany vs CzechoslovakiaMon. Apr. 25West Germany vs CanadaEast Germany vs FinlandTue. Apr. 26Czechoslovakia vs ItalySweden vs Soviet Union(End of preliminary round)Sat. Apr. 16CANADA 6, ITALY 0First PeriodCanada 1 &mdash; Engblom (Simmer, Taylor) 18:10.2 &mdash; Maruk (Goulet, Gartner) 18:54.Penalties &mdash; Amodeo (Ita) 8:43; Tomassoni (Ita) 17:31; Lanz (Can) 19:41.Second PeriodCanada 3 &mdash; Gartner (Stevens, Goulet) 15:30.Penalties &mdash; Manno (Ita) 0:38; Gartner (Can), Tomassoni (Ita), 1:28; Gartner (Can), Bellio (Ita) 7:28; Sittler (Can) 11:56.Third PeriodCanada 4 &mdash; Dionne, 2:40.5 &mdash; Goulet, 10:49.6 &mdash; Simmer (Taylor, Halward) 17:45.Penalties &mdash; None.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03573/4791996-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="512" height="61"></div>Goalies: Wamsley, Canada; Corsi, Italy. Attendance: 3,700.Sun. Apr. 17SWEDEN 3, CANADA 2First PeriodSweden 1 &mdash; Sundstroem (Gustafsson) 7:19.Canada 2 &mdash; Gartner (Maruk, Goulet) 14:56. Penalties &mdash; None.Second PeriodSweden 3 &mdash; Andersson (Moerth, Haegglund) 3:14.4&mdash;Moerth (Rundqvist) 14:37. Canada 5 &mdash; Sittler (Gainey) 14:57. Penalties &mdash; Bo Ericsson (Swe) 5:29.Third PeriodNo scoring.Penalties &mdash; Goulet (Can), Andersson (Swe) 3:07; Sittler (Can) 9:29; Simmer (Can) 12:33.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04439/4791989-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="512" height="115"></div>Attendance: 1,740.SOVIETS 3, FINLAND 0First PeriodSoviet Union 1 &mdash; Skvortsov (Shluktov, Fetisov) 16:36.Penalties &mdash; Levo (Fin) 12:05.Second PeriodSoviet Union 2 &mdash; Makharov (Krutov, Larionov) 4:42.Penalties &mdash; Arima (Fin) 6:23; Lehtonen (Fin) 6:28.Third PeriodSoviet Union 3 &mdash; Kapustin (Makharov, Larionov) 1:26.Penalties &mdash; Mkaharov (Sov), Bilyaletdinov (Sov), Javainen (Fin) 9:59; Kasatanov (Sov) 11:59; Javainen (Fin) 12:20; Jalo (Fin) 17:00; Krutov (Sov) 18:42.Attendance: 5,000.CZECHS 6, E. GERMANY 1First PeriodCzechoslovakia 1 &mdash; Lala, 18:02.Penalties &mdash; Graul (EGer) 1:2O; Pasek (Cze) 12:54.Second PeriodCzechoslovakia 2 &mdash; Rusnak, 1:50. East Germany 3 &mdash; Scholz (Kinzell) 3:08. Penalties &mdash; Svoboda (Cze) 6:19; Lempio (EGer) 16:13.Third PeriodCzechoslovakia 4 &mdash; Caldr (Lala, Penak) 3:30.5 &mdash; Chalupa (Richter, Caldr) 4:55.0 &mdash; Liba, 5:29.7 &mdash; Lukac (Liba, Rusnak) 14:43.Penalties &mdash; Lempio (EGer) 1:28; Cerny (Cze) 4:09; Uvira (Cze) 15:41.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-05339/4791982-1-eng-US/f0017-052.jpg" title="f0017-05" width="510" height="111"></div>Attendance: 535.W. GERMANY 4, ITALY 0First PeriodWest Germany 1 &mdash; Kreis (Kuehnhackl) 7:30.Penalties &mdash; Di Fazio (Ita) 1:56; Bellio (Ita) 2:37; Manno (Ita) 3:56; Mastrullo (Ita) 10:23; Berndaner (W.Ger) 13:53; Bellio (Ita) 19:29.Second PeriodWest Germany 2&mdash; Meitinger (Truntschka) 1:55.Penalties &mdash; Manno (Ita), Scharf (WGer) 4:39; Milani (Ita), Amodeo (Ita) 6:39; Betz (WGer) 9:37; Kiessling (WGer), Goegan (Ita) 12:27; Roedger (WGer), Priondolo (Ita) 18:50.Third PeriodWest Germany 3 &mdash; Betz (Hegen, Reindl) 2:55.4 &mdash; Hegen (Betz, Reindl) 15:50.Penalties &mdash; Migliore (Ita) 8:56.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-06267/4791975-1-eng-US/f0017-062.jpg" title="f0017-06" width="508" height="61"></div> &#9632;

f0017-02

WORLD HOCKEY

<div class="byline">BY PERRY LEFKO</div>On a night when the Minnesota North Stars and Toronto Maple Leafs are engaged in a feud that has all the earmarks of the Hatfields and McCoys, Randy Velischek is on the bench, manning the gate.When a controversial goal by the Stars halts play, Velischek steps onto the ice and goes for a brief, carefree skate, just to keep his legs from falling asleep.For a player heralded as the third coming of the North Star defense&mdash;first there was Bill Nyrop, then came Craig Hartsburg&mdash;you&rsquo;d think Velischek would have a more meaningful role than slapping his teammates&rsquo; backsides as they go to and from the ice.He will not, however, make any mad dashes to the press to criticize the coach, nor will he ask the GM&mdash;who just happens to be the coach&mdash;to be traded. It&rsquo;s not that he doesn&rsquo;t care; it&rsquo;s that he realizes he&rsquo;s got time&hellip;lots of time.&ldquo;This team is so talented, it&rsquo;s going to be like playing for the (Montreal) Canadiens,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to take me awhile to get adjusted and I&rsquo;ll get some seasoning for sure. Right now, I&rsquo;m the sixth or fifth defenseman and I&rsquo;m perfectly willing to play the role of somebody who can fill in the gaps.&rdquo; ,Velischek, Minnesota&rsquo;s third choice in the 1980 National Hockey League entry draft, comes to the North Stars via Providence College, where this year he captained the Friars to a title in the Eastern Colleges Athletic Conference and a third-place finish in the NCAA finals.Lou Nanne, the North Stars&rsquo; loquacious GM-coach who did TV commentary of the college finals in Grand Forks, ND, for ESPN, barely let Velischek&rsquo;s Providence uniform dry before he sweetalked him into signing with the green and gold.&ldquo;We needed him and we thought he&rsquo;d be a real good addition to our club. Nanne says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a kid who we think will have a real good future in the game.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s little doubt about that. What makes Velischek different from other rising college stars is that he was considered a prime prospect for Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team, which will compete in the Winter Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslvia, next year.Velischek&rsquo;s signing, while hailed in the Twin Cities, is being criticized by a young man who is well aware of the choice to be made. James Patrick, who played for the University of North Dakota, is a Winnipeg native who is &ldquo;90 per cent sure&rdquo; he will play in the Olympics. Patrick, currently playing for Team Canada in the world championships at West Germany, is being sought after by the New York Rangers (secstory above) and makes it clear tharheN disappointed by Velischek&rsquo;s decision to turn pro and forfeit his amateur status.&ldquo;I just think he could have given it more; thought,&rdquo; Patrick said, just before departing for the world championships.Velischek a native of Quebec, says he understands Patrick&rsquo;s viewpoint, but felt the timing was right to sign with the Stars.&ldquo;Aside from choosing a college to attend, this was the biggest decision I&rsquo;ve ever had to make,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d spent four years in college and I think I was ready to make the step. There&rsquo;s the fear of injury and perhaps next year they (the Stars) might get a high draft pick or someone who might take my spot.&rdquo;Bom Feb. 10, 1962, Velischek could be accused of making an immature decision. But if education can be equated with maturity, then Velischek knows what he&rsquo;s doing. He majored in languages&mdash;he speaks fluent English. French and German&mdash;and Business Management at Providence, entered his final year with a 4.0 grade average and was on the Dean&rsquo;s list.Education aside, Velischek is a blatantly talented hockey prospect, whose achievements in the sport indicate why he was made Providence&rsquo;s leader. This season, he garnered the ECAC Player of the Year honors and finished runner-up to Harvard&rsquo;s Scott Fusco in the balloting for the Hobey Baker Award as the outstanding player in the country. He earned conference honors his last two years and all-New England honors the last three. He finished the season with 18 goals and 52 assists in 41 games&mdash;and he&rsquo;s a defensive defenseman&mdash;and had a career total of 27 goals and 94 points.&ldquo;I think European hockey is so competitive and so good, he says. I mignt have gone over there and, since skating is not my strong point, it might have made me look really bad. If the Canadian team doesn&rsquo;t do that well, which is conceivable, it might have hurt my bargaining position next year. I took that into consideration, the fact that the Americans won it four years ago and all those guys had a great opportunity.&ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t win, who remembers who&rsquo;s second? It&rsquo;s going to be tough (in Sarajevo). The Russians aren&rsquo;t going to let the North Americans suprise them again. So really, unless you win the gold or silver medal over there, I think you&rsquo;ll remain anonymous. Olympic hockey in Canada is not what it is in the States. It&rsquo;s OK for Jim Craig, Neal Broten (both teammates of his now) and Mike Eruzione, who got their name through that, but how many Canadian Olympic stars do you see in the NHL right now? Very few.&rdquo;In the meantime, this would-be Olympic star makes his professional debut with a team appropriately named the Stars. &#9632;

Velischek Goes Wishing Upon A North Star

<div class="byline">BY BOB MCKENZIE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01916/4792034-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">James Patrick is a star defenseman for the University of North Dakota and could step into the NHL immediately, but the Winnipeg native would rather represent Canada in the 1984 Winter Olympics at Sarajevo.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02702/4792041-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="180" height="154"></div>Everybody wants a piece of James Patrick. If it isn&rsquo;t the New York Rangers, then it could be one of many player agents. Of course, it could be Canada&rsquo;s Olympic coach Dave King, or maybe Alan Eagleson or Sam Pollock, the two men who put together Team Canada&rsquo;s entry in the World Championships in West Germany. Or perhaps it&rsquo;s any one of a number of interested reporters who would like to know what Patrick has told his many suitors and what they have said to him.Anyway you look at it, Patrick, a 19-year-old native of Winnipeg who just completed his sophomore year at the University of North Dakota, is a popular fellow.But why? Aside from being an outstanding hockey player, one who NHL scouts say is destined to star in the professional ranks, what is it that makes Patrick so much more in demand than any other top pro prospect, the type that Canada produces on a fairly regular basis?The answer is really quite simple. The pros can&rsquo;t have him. Patrick isn&rsquo;t sure if he wants to play in the NHL&mdash;at least not yet.In a country where nearly every hockey-playing youngster dreams of playing in the NHL, Patrick is certainly a rarity. For most Canadian youngsters, the dream of making it to the NHL fades as the years go by and it becomes apparent that their skill level will never be high enough to succeed. But, according to nearly every scouting report, Patrick could step immediately into the NHL.The brass ring is there. In fact, it&rsquo;s been there since the 1981 entry draft, when the New York Rangers made the 6-foot-1, 190-pound defenseman the ninth overall selection. Patrick doesn&rsquo;t even have to reach out for it. The Rangers will put it on a satin cushion and deliver it, along with a fat signing bonus and contract that will guarantee his financial security for many years to come, to his lap.But still he stands firm. His goal is to play for Canada in the 1984 Olympics at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what the rush is,&rdquo; Patrick said, just before he left for West Germany, where he is playing for Team Canada in the World Championships that began on April 17&mdash;an invitation that was extended to Patrick and fellow collegians and Olympic prospects Pat Flatley and Gord Sherven.&ldquo;The Rangers wanted me to sign right away and play in (the current Stanley Cup) playoffs. I couldn&rsquo;t see the sense in that. I am 90 per cent certain that I want to play in the Olympics. It&rsquo;s just something that I want to do. But by the same token, I am not, at this time, prepared to make a definite committment to play in the Olympics. As I said, I&rsquo;m 90 per cent sure I will, but it&rsquo;s not certain.&ldquo;Actually, the Rangers have been pretty good about it all. I can understand their position. They&rsquo;ve told me that if I&rsquo;m going to leave school (which he would have to do to play in the Olympics), then they definitely want me to turn pro. They do not want me to play in the Olympics. But they said that if I wanted to stay in school, they wouldn&rsquo;t bug me to turn pro.&rdquo;All of which is fine, except it&rsquo;s obvious that Patrick won&rsquo;t be returning to Gino Gasparini&rsquo;s collegiate team in Grand Forks. ND, this fall. If Patrick rejects the Rangers&rsquo; offer to turn pro, then he will obviously pursue the Olympic path.One of life&rsquo;s little ironies is that the men who are trying to sway Patrick from playing in Sarajevo are the same guys who led the United States to the gold medal in the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, NY.Ranger general manager Craig Patrick and coach Herb Brooks&mdash;the two men who orchestrated the 1980 Miracle On Ice&mdash;would like nothing better than to get Patrick on Broadway. They are professionals now and waving the flag, especially a Canadian one, is no longer in their job description.&ldquo;Do you not find it amusing,&rdquo; James Patrick was asked, &ldquo;that the same men who are so intent on having you turn pro and forget about the Olympics, are the same men who got to where they are today because of their success in the Olympics?&rdquo;&ldquo;It is kind of ironic, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; replied Patrick, his face breaking into a wide grin.&ldquo;Did you mention this to them?&rdquo; he was asked.&ldquo;No, I didn&rsquo;t have the nerve,&rdquo; he replied, laughing. &ldquo;But the thought crossed my mind.&rdquo;A discussion with Patrick leaves the impression that he is earnest about the thrill of representing his country&mdash;something he has done twice, winning a gold medal in the world junior championships of 1981 and taking a bronze medal in the 1983 version of the tournament. He should not stand accused of using the Olympics as leverage for a better contract.If it was a quick buck he was out to make, he could have signed at any point in the past two years. And each time he steps on the ice as an amateur, runs the risk of suffering an injury that could possibly jeopardize his career.&ldquo;When you start thinking about injuries, that&rsquo;s when they start happening,&rdquo; said Patrick, whose older brother, Steve, plays for the Buffalo Sabres. &ldquo;The thought crosses your mind once in a while, but you can&rsquo;t dwell upon it.&ldquo;The way I look at it is that I could just as easily get a serious injury playing in the NHL. Sure, at that point I&rsquo;d be getting paid, but I&rsquo;d still be as disappointed that I couldn&rsquo;t play hockey any more. The money wouldn&rsquo;t make me feel any better.&ldquo;And it&rsquo;s not as if I&rsquo;m some poor kid right now. I&rsquo;ve got clean clothes on, I eat three pretty good meals a day and I really don&rsquo;t miss out on anything. If I had to, I could live happily without the money from an NHL contract.&ldquo;Besides, if I get injured overseas (in the World Championships), I&rsquo;ve got insurance.&rdquo;Flatley, a native of Toronto who just finished his freshman season with the NCAA champion University of Wisconsin Badgers, is in much the same situation as Patrick. He was the New York Islanders&rsquo; first-round pick in last summer&rsquo;s entry draft.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m like Jim,&rdquo; Flatley said. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t made a firm committment one way or the other yet. I&rsquo;d really like to play in the Olympics, but I&rsquo;ll sit down and talk with the Islanders when I get back from the World Championships.&rdquo;When Patrick and Flately announce their intentions, they are well aware that their decisions could have a significant impact on the future of Canada&rsquo;s Olympic hockey program.&ldquo;If some of the other good Canadians who are playing U.S. college or Canadian university hockey see us passing up the NHL for a year or two,&rdquo; Patrick said, &ldquo;then maybe they&rsquo;ll do the same.&ldquo;There are a lot of good, young Canadians out there who, if they were all put together, would make a really great team and improve our Olympic chances. Look at Craig Redmond (a Canadian who just finished his freshman year at Denver University). I think he&rsquo;s better than Mario Lemieux (a major junior player with the Laval Voisins who may be the No. 1 NHL draft pick in 1984). If players like him (Redmond) passed up the NHL for the Olympics, we could have a really good team, as good or better than the U.S. team that the won the gold medal in 1980.&rdquo;Patrick made no attempt to hide his disappointment that Randy Velischek, a Providence College grad who was a top Olympic candidate, signed a pro contract with the Minnesota North Stars a few weeks ago.&ldquo;I just wish he would have given it more thought,&rdquo; Patrick said. &ldquo;He (Velischek) finished the NCAA finals on a Saturday and he was signed by Sunday night, I think. Yeah, I was disappointed with his decision. I thought he would have waited until after the NHL season and made his committment, one way or the other, this summer.&rdquo;So, until he makes his committment, Patrick can expect the phone calls and inquiries to continue. He says Team Canada and Olympic coach Dave King has been the best about the entire situation&mdash;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s never bothered me once,&rdquo; Patrick said&mdash;and that the agents and the Rangers have been most persistent.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t need an agent until I&rsquo;m ready to sign a contract,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The Rangers have been very good to me and I don&rsquo;t want them to be upset with me, but what I would really like is to play in the Olympics without any hard feelings over it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-01

The Brass Ring Can wait

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01866/4792096-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="180" height="154"></div>TORONTO&mdash;After many years of a directionless international hockey program. Team Canada has finally adopted a long-range plan that is aimed at making Canada a top world hockey power again.The first phase of the new program, which is being jointly sponsored and Cordinated by the Labatt Brewing Company and Hockey Canada, began with the Leningrad Pravda Tournament a couple of weeks ago and was followed by the current 1983 World Championships in West Germany.The aim of the hockey committee is to make Canada an international hockey contender for the 1984 Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and ultimately have the team peak for the 1988 Winter Olympics, which will be staged in Calgary.The program is an ambitious and Mrolonged one, according to Doug Richer, who is the ice hockey program coordinator for Labatt&rsquo;s. Kelcher said Labatt&rsquo;s is committed to the overall sponsorship of the Canadian Olympic program with the hope it will help bring Canada its first Olympic hockey-gold medal since 1952, when the Edmonton Mercurys won at Oslo, Norway.Kelcher said Labatt&rsquo;s and the Canadian Olympic Committee, which is headed by Sam Pollock, the former general manager and vice-president of the Montreal Canadiens, and includes group of top Canadian hockey people and businessmen, are totally dedicated to bringing together the best young players from all levels of hockey in Canada to ice a contending team for the next two Olympic competitions.No one would say as much but the success of the unknown young American team in winning the Olympic Gold Medal at Lake Placid in 1980 over the Soviet Union, has had an influential impact on both Labatt&rsquo;s and Hockey Canada&rsquo;s commitment to succeed at Yugoslavia next year and ultiknately at Calgary in 1988.Kelcher said the Pravda tournament provided Canada&rsquo;s young university and future Olympic hopefuls with an opportunity to compete at the international level. Several of the players were retained for the World Tournament in West Germany, where Team Canada was represented mostly by NHL players whose teams did not make the playoffs or were eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.Following the world championships, Canada&rsquo;s Olympic program gets into full swing with two regiona training camps to be held in June at St Jean de Brebeuf College in Montreal June 3-7, and in Winnipeg, at the University of Manitoba, June 9-14.Approximately 50 players will be invited to each camp, with 45 then going on to the main training camp a Calgary, Aug. 15-30. Team Canada will then embark on an extensive fivi months series of international warm up games at home and abroad, leading the Olympics, Feb. 7-19, 1984.The Canadian Olympic hockey team committee will be comprised of Pollock as chairman, coach Dave King assistant coaches Jean Perron and George Kingston, Murray Costelk president of the CAHA, Roland Mercier. Bill Hay, Chris Lang, Justice W.Z. Estey, Richard Dawe, Alan Eagleson, international negotiator for Hockey Canada, Jim Gregory, who heads up the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau, and Kelcher.King will be the head coach of the Olympic team with Perron as his assistant. Kingston will handle advance scouting and will also serve as an assistant coach as well.Labatt&rsquo;s left no stone unturned in its efforts to give Team Canada a new look in the days ahead. The company commissioned a Toronto design firm, Carverhill, Russell and Timmerman, to create a new logo for Hockey Canada. It will be worn by Team Canada for all international events, excluding the Canada Cup, through the 1988 Winter Olympics at Calgary.King, who is presently coaching Team Canada at the World Championships in West Germany, has man aged to infuse the team with his youth hockey movement by playing four of his potential Olympians, along with the NHL player reinforcements, in the tournament. Team Canada faced Italy, Sweden, the Soviets, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Finland and finally West Germany in their eight-game preliminary round tournament schedule.Once the world championship tournament is finished, King will head back to Canada to commence his Olympic training program and start the tedious year-long preparation for the 1984 Olympic Games where names like Dionne, Simmer, Taylor, Sittler, Gainey, Maruk, Wamsley, Engblom, etc., will be replaced by the likes of Ron Dennis, Darren Eliot, both goalies, Peter Shier, Kelly Glowa, Shane Pearsall, Joe Grant, Patrick, Flatley and Sherven and others who may eventually represent Canada in Olympic competition. &#9632;

f0019-01

Team Canada Embarks On New Program

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;Thoughts going through the minds of Winnipeg Jets in the postmortem of another season, which ended abruptly at 10 p.m. Central Standard Time on April 9.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01708/4792127-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="565" height="1144"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Soetaert believes he played well enough to be the team&rsquo;s No. 1 goalie.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still the No. 1 goaltender,&rdquo; proclaims Doug Soetaert, so fiercely proud of a 19-19-6 record. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got the job and they&rsquo;ve got to take it from me. But if they just give it to someone else, then that&rsquo;s different.&rdquo;If, indeed, Soetaert was No. 1, it hardly appeared that way. Rookie Brian Hayward started 17 of the Jets&rsquo; last 21 league games, plus all three games in the playoffs.&ldquo;Personally, I thought I had a good season going,&rdquo; said Soetaert. &ldquo;At no point was I below .500. Then things got a little shaky. Changes were made. The season ended on a sour note for myself, but I&rsquo;m determined to come back stronger than ever.&rdquo;Hayward is one of two new players the Jets have discovered. A free agent signed out of Cornell, he won the confidence of his coach, Tom Watt, who continued to use him in pressure situations.Another find is left winger Brian Mullen, who came out of a mid-season slump to finish with 24 goals and 26 assists for 50 points and led the Jets with a plus-11. On two occasions, he had shots that ran into double figures.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still not over the disappointment of the playoffs,&rdquo; said Hayward as the Jets reflected on their three-game dismissal by Edmonton Oilers.&ldquo;I feel we out-played them badly in two of those games. But (Andy) Moog made the big saves for them.&rdquo;The inference is that Hayward didn&rsquo;t. Nothing could be further from the truth.While most of the players had homes to go to, Ron Wilson didn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;Right now I&rsquo;m of no fixed address,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got an apartment in Sherbrooke (the Jets&rsquo; American Hockey League team), but the lease has run out. We had a house in Winnipeg, but sold it. I&rsquo;ve got relatives near Collingwood, Ont., and we might go there.&rdquo;Wilson, like four of his teammates, doesn&rsquo;t have a contract for next season. Called up on March 8, he played amazingly well for the Jets.&ldquo;I hope somebody noticed,&rdquo; he said.Others whose options are running out are captain Dave Christian, right winger Paul MacLean, left winger Larry Hopkins and defenseman Bryan Maxwell.Christian&rsquo;s agent, Mark Perrone of Boston, has been negotiating with the Jets but, at last word, they were miles apart.&ldquo;I doubt if anything will happen until late summer,&rdquo; said Christian, whose main concern right now is having a nagging shoulder injury fixed. Rest is prescribed as the cure, but surgery is a possibility, too.A year ago, Maxwell was asking to be traded; now he longs to stay. He feels he&rsquo;s demonstrated that he can play for the Jets.We haven&rsquo;t talked,&rdquo; said Maxwell, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m sure we will.&rdquo;MacLean, the team&rsquo;s No. 2 scorer with 32 goals and 44 assists for 76 points, hopes to be back.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no rush,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can wait, even until Oct. 4, if I have to.&rdquo; Secretly, though, he&rsquo;s hurt that the Jets haven&rsquo;t started negotiations already.Hopkins&mdash;Of Thunderlugs&mdash;was left in Sherbrooke until early March. When he came up, the team, coincidentally, went on a tear, winning eight of its last 12 games. He has had his fill of the minors and would probably retire before returning there. Still, he would love to play for the Jets again.Another player who has changed his mind about requesting to be traded is defenseman Moe Mantha.&ldquo;My plans have changed,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This is where I want to play.&rdquo;Plagued by a shoulder that healed slowly after early-season surgery, Mantha plans to return in the best shape of his career.&ldquo;My attitude is better,&rdquo; he said.Morris Lukowich, the victim of an off year, intends to build up his upper body strength as he recovers from a late-season knee injury. The team did amazingly well without him.Suddenly, the organization is not as thin as some people thought.BENCH BITS&mdash;Veteran defenseman Serge Savard feels he can play another season, but wants to be sure he&rsquo;s wanted before signing again. &ldquo;Some nights I shudder to think what our defense would be like without him,&rdquo; said coach Tom Watt&hellip;About one third of the Jets have made Winnipeg their permanent home-&hellip;Wade Campbell intends to take skating lessons during the offseason&hellip; Jimmy Mann, Don Spring and Campbell are joining the ranks of the married this summer. &#9632;

f0020-01

Jets Have The Summer To Tie Loose Ends

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02482/4792158-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Photo by Bruce Bennett</figcaption></div>A year ago, the Edmonton Oilers were on the outside looking in as rar as the Stanley Cup playoffs were concerned. This year, however, they performing at peak efficiency and have already disposed of the Winnipeg Jets and look ready to knock off the Calgary Flames, too.One big reason is the play of Oiler left winger Mark Messier, who has nine playoff goals in six games. Messier scored four times in the Oilers&rsquo; 6-3 Game One victory over the Flames and three times in the Oilers&rsquo; 10-2 thrashing in Game Three.That performance earned the young Oiler star the nod as THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo;Player of the Week.Included among his seven-goal week were two power-play efforts and one game-winning goal. His nine goals led all playoff scorers. &#9632;

f0020-02

Player Of The Week

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01530/4792189-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0021-01

Introducing the Medalic by Micron.

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01599/4792220-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

USA CABLE NETWORK BRINGS YOU THE NHL

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;One of the very few &ldquo;benefits&rdquo; of failing to qualify for the playoffs this spring is that Devils&rsquo; GM-coach Billy MacMillan is free to join Director of Player Personnel Bert Marshall&rsquo;s scouting team.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather still be coaching at this time of year,&rdquo; MacMillan said before departing for Ottawa, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;ve already warned Bert that I will be tied up next year.&rdquo;MacMillan realizes the Devils have a long way to go before they climb into the top four in the Patrick Division but New Jersey&rsquo;s &ldquo;unbeaten in April&rdquo; finish left him smiling and hopeful.&ldquo;One of the elements we&rsquo;re looking for in junior prospects.&rdquo; MacMillan stressed, &ldquo;is the kind of hunger for the puck and the kind of determination Pat Verbeek showed us at the end of last season.&rdquo;Although he played only six games, the compact 5-foot-9, 185-pound center made a big impression on MacMillan&mdash;as well as the New York Rangers.Playing in only his fifth NHL game, the 18-year-old rookie scored a pair of goals against the Devils&rsquo; Hudson River rivals, the second one with 1:04 left in the third period to earn a 3-3 tie.While the playoff-bound Rangers downplayed the significance of that April Fool&rsquo;s Day encounter, it was no joke to the Devils. The point lifted them out of the cellar and the tie evened their season series with the Rangers at 3-3-1.&ldquo;That was a big. big point for us,&rdquo; MacMillan said, &ldquo;and it was something special for Pat. something he&rsquo;ll probably remember his whole life.&ldquo;His dad and mom (Gerard and Joanne) were here to see him play and I&rsquo;m sure he made them very proud,&rdquo; MacMillan said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re sure proud to have him in our organization. He looks like he has a great future, doesn&rsquo;t he?Stationed in the slot, Verbeek took a pass from Steve Tambellini and fired a wrist shot from 10 feet for the tying goal before Ranger captain Barry Beck could check him.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great feeling,&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a goal I can carry into the next game and even into the next season. Going back to my junior team helped me, playing in the junior tournament helped me (for Team Canada in the Soviet Union last December) and this has helped me prepare for next season.&rdquo;Verbeek disagreed when it was suggested that perhaps the Devils made a mistake by sending him back for another year of junior hockey.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01550/4792251-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="556" height="849"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Verbeek joined the Devils late in the season and scored twice against the Rangers.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;No, I think I gained a lot of confidence this year,&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;1 learned to take charge. I matured in a lot of ways. You&rsquo;ve got to remember this is the NHL, this is a difficult league to play in. I don&rsquo;t think I was ready last October.&rdquo;Verbeek seemed more than ready to participate in his second game against the Rangers. He said he wasn&rsquo;t &ldquo;one bit worried&rdquo; about alleged comments made by Dave and Don Maloney concerning the possibility of getting &ldquo;revenge&rdquo; against him for a stiff check he delivered on Dave two weeks before in his NHL debut.&ldquo;People were telling me, &lsquo;Watch out for Dave and Don,&rsquo; but you have to just play the game,&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;In the first place, it was a good check and. in the second, that kind of thing happens all the time in junior, where somebody is looking to get back at you.&ldquo;One of the reasons I got this far,&rdquo; Verbeek added, &ldquo;is because I play aggressively and I&rsquo;m not going to stop now. If anything had happened, I wasn&rsquo;l alone out there; I had 19 other guys be hind me.&rdquo;Verbeek. a native of Wyoming, Ont (population 1,700), could prove to be the bargain pick of the 1982 amateur draft He was the 43rd choice overall, partially because of his size and partially becausi he played on a non-contender (the Sud bury Wolves) in the OHL.MacMillan has heard nothing but goo reports on Verbeek for the past year and even when the &ldquo;Masters of Hockey&rsquo; practiced at the Devils&rsquo; training base ii Totowa, the GM received an unsolicite testimonial from former NHL defense man Pat Stapleton.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve watched Pat through junio hockey,&rdquo; Stapleton told MacMillan &ldquo;and I think your scouting staff made a fine choice. He&rsquo;s a good, hard-nosed player who can be a leader. He comes from a good family&mdash;I went to school with his father&mdash;and you just can&rsquo;t beat those farm boys.&rdquo;Verbeek did, indeed, grow up on a farm and intends to return there this summer.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t get fat and lazy when you&rsquo;re living on the farm,&rdquo; Verbeek said.HOT STUFF&mdash;Verbeek collected 47 goals and 59 assists for 106 points to lead_ Sudbury&hellip;The Devils sent first-round pick Rocky Trottier to Wichita (CHL) for the final three games of the season and he picked up his first pro point, an assist, in his second game&hellip;MacMillan inserted tough guys Garry Howatt and John Wensink into his lineup against the Rangers, just in case&hellip;Surpisingly. mid-season all-star Hector Marini was rested frequently late in the season. &#9632;

f0023-01

Devils Searching For ‘Another’ Verbeek

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Jerry Buss isn&rsquo;t giving up on his management team just yet, even though his Kings suffered through their second straight losing season and failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 10 years.&ldquo;There could be some changes in personnel,&rdquo; the owner said, referring to his players, &ldquo;but if you&rsquo;re asking about Rogie Vachon or Don Perry or George Maguire, the answer to that is absolutely not.&ldquo;Now, if we have a very bad year next year&mdash;we&rsquo;ve had one this year and I&rsquo;ve turned the other cheek&mdash;maybe I&rsquo;m the one who needs to be replaced. I feel we need one more year before giving up.&ldquo;Next year will open my eyes. It will influence me very strongly.&rdquo;So there. Buss, for one more season at least, will live or die with Maguire, the Kings&rsquo; much-maligned 62-year-old general manager who has taken a lot of heat during his six-year stint.According to Buss&rsquo; own statistical analysis, however, Maguire ranks right there with Bill Torrey of the New York Islanders and Lou Nanne of the Minnesota North Stars&mdash;and forget about the Kings&rsquo; 24-41-15 and 27-41-12 finishes of the last two seasons.No laughing, please. Buss is dead serious.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sitting in the position where I have to evaluate his performance,&rdquo; Buss said. &ldquo;Some of the greatest coaches and general managers have been involved in losing efforts where there have been circumstances beyond their control.&ldquo;I believe that&rsquo;s the case here. If someone is doing a bad job, that&rsquo;s one thing. If someone just happens to end up as the general manager of a losing team, that&rsquo;s something else. It&rsquo;s okay to make him the scapegoat.&ldquo;I have to ask myself, &lsquo;Just what is the general manager&rsquo;s job?&rsquo; Well, as far as I&rsquo;m concerned, largely three things:&ldquo;No. 1, is he supplying us with good talent and building a good hockey team for the future?&ldquo;No. 2, in trades, are we getting the best end of the stick? Does he attempt to fill the holes we have?&ldquo;No. 3, is he good at keeping a happy hockey team in terms of signing contracts and preventing free agents from going elsewhere and destroying the team from a business standpoint?&rdquo;Maguire, according to Buss&rsquo; calculations, passes all three criteria with flying colors, and never mind the fact that the Kings traded away a good part of their future when their No. 1 draft pick of last year went to Buffalo (for defenseman Jerry Korab) and their first two picks in the coming June 8 draft went to Buffalo again (for left winger Rick Martin) and Montreal (defenseman Rick Chartraw), respectively.Martin retired last season because of a severe knee problem. Chartraw cleared waivers this year and is now performing for the Rangers in the playoffs, and Korab&mdash;approaching his 35th birthday and in the final year of his contract&mdash;isn&rsquo;t expected to be re-signed for next season.In fairness to Maguire, the Kings&rsquo; team physicians blew the Martin deal; they were positive his knee was fine when the trade was made and told him so.But then there was the 1978 deal with Boston, in which the Kings acquired goaltender Ron Grahame in exchange for their No. 1 pick in the &rsquo;79 draft. The Bruins wound up with a defenseman of some reknown, Ray Bourque, out of that one.Back to Buss.&ldquo;Looking at my first criteria,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I put together a list of all the draft choices that all the NHL teams have made in the last six years, and then I looked at how many years these players have lasted in the league&mdash;regardless of which team they might be on now&mdash;and I assigned each so many points.&ldquo;Using this system, the top three teams were Minnesota, the Islanders and the Kings. And you have to remember neither George nor I were here when the Islanders were building their team through the draft and the Kings weren&rsquo;t drafting. And Minnesota had an excess of people because they merged with another team (the defunct Cleveland Barons). So I was satisfied on criteria No. 1.&ldquo;Now, on No. 2, on his ability to trade and fill holes we had. We needed some bigger and better defensemen, and he responded with Dave Lewis and Jerry Korab, and they have contributed, particularly the year we finished with 99 points (in 1980-81). (goaltender) Markus Mattsson, who had some very good games. I&rsquo;m not saying he was brilliant, but he helped. And he also traded for (center) Terry Ruskowski, who has a lot of heart. He&rsquo;s one of my favorite players and I don&rsquo;t think anyone can deny he&rsquo;s added new spirit to the team.&rdquo;Lewis was acquired from the Islanders in 1980 along with the now departed Billy Harris&mdash;Harris and John Gibson went to Toronto last year for the now departed Ian Turnbull&mdash;in exchange for the popular Butch Goring, the Stanley Cup MVP that year. Korab came from Buffalo in 1980, and the Sabres selected 18-year-old Phil Housley with their No. 1 pick.Ruskowski was acquired from Chicago last October for an undisclosed draft pick&mdash;an excellent deal&mdash;and Mattsson came by way of Minnesota for a third-round pick in the 1985 draft.&ldquo;Now, on to the third criteria,&rdquo; Buss continued. &ldquo;George has been exceptionally fair with the players. We have one of the highest payrolls in the league and we&rsquo;ve had no free-agent problems.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve asked people from all over and they all tell me George is a solid and very knowledgable hockey man. When people yell at me, &lsquo;Fire Maguire,&rsquo; that&rsquo;s a sign of frustration. I can&rsquo;t be too emotional about it, though. I have to be objective. In my analysis, George has proven he is very competent.&rdquo; &#9632;

Buss Gives His Blessing To The King Management

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div>HARTFORD&mdash;The Hartford Whalers finished their 1982-83 National Hockey League campaign betwixt, bothered and bewildered, but the uncertainty of what might happen next hangs heaviest of all.&ldquo;Unless there&rsquo;s harmony in the locker room, it&rsquo;s difficult to have a winning team,&rdquo; said Mark Johnson, who finished with 31 goals and 69 points, his best NHL season to date. &ldquo;But unless management realizes what&rsquo;s going on, it&rsquo;s not going to change. They have to read between the lines and understand the problem or it&rsquo;ll never get solved. There are simply too many individuals not interested in the team. We lose 10-3 and guys are worried about their plus-minus total.&rdquo;The onus clearly is on a management, who called a press conference with 10 regular-season games left to announce that the organization would be &ldquo;restructured&rdquo; to include an incoming president, who would be blessed with &ldquo;total control&rdquo; of the hockey operation.If management can recruit the right man, things may begin looking up in Hartford.If not, more of the same may be anticipated.&ldquo;Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be this bad,&rdquo; said winger Blaine Stoughton, who netted 45 goals despite missing eight games with a suspension. &ldquo;Having so many young players is a big part of it. I think they should have kept a few more veterans around. Three years ago, someone should have sat down and decided which veteran players they wanted to keep as leaders. Naturally, you have to look ahead. Someone obviously didn&rsquo;t. It really makes you wonder.&rdquo;Very little went right for the Whalers during their longest NHL season that was blackmarked by 54 losses, the most in the league. Larry Kish began as coach and was replaced by GM Larry Pleau after 49 games. Eighteen games later, Pleau stepped aside in favor of John Cunniff. Pleau, aware of the importance of this year&rsquo;s draft, wanted to see several prospects personally.Confused? So were most of the players.&ldquo;The mishandling of players confused a lot of people,&rdquo; said Pierre Larouche. who played only 38 games in a season marred by injury. &ldquo;Like Russ Anderson. One person (Pleau) names him captain and another (Kish) doesn&rsquo;t think he can play. It&rsquo;s all part of not knowing what&rsquo;s going on. Who are they going to keep? Who&rsquo;s going to be traded? Who&rsquo;s going to coach? In Montreal, there was one boss and you did what he said or else.&rdquo;&ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t even aware of all the things happening to us,&rdquo; winger Doug Sulliman said. &ldquo;If I had to single out one thing, it&rsquo;s no direction. There are so many people going so many different ways, you just didn&rsquo;t know which way we were heading. The inconsistency has been mind-boggling. We just don&rsquo;t have the burning desire to win. If you give it your best shot possible and lose, I can handle that. But I can&rsquo;t lose the way we lost. It was downright embarrassing.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s impossible to explain exactly what happened,&rdquo; said goalie Mike Veisor, a veteran of three seasons with the Whalers. &ldquo;Everything was so promising in pre-season. Heck, the guys were even optimistic during the summer. I knew a lot of us were looking forward to the season. Then, little by little, things started to fall apart. I really don&rsquo;t know why.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01580/4792282-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="530" height="934"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pierre Larouche believed the mishandling of players confused a lot of people.</figcaption></div>The infusion of many younger players is one plausible explanation.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no way to win with so many young players,&rdquo; said Warren Miller, who has spent four of seven pro seasons in Hartford. &ldquo;Nothing against the players, but they brought in too many at once. The harder they tried, the worse it got. The little mistakes can make a difference between a 7O-point season and the year we had.&ldquo;And when management says they&rsquo;re going one way and turns around and does something else, it&rsquo;s hard to figure. Now everyone&rsquo;s job is on the line, from the very top to the stickboys. Of course, if I had the answers, I&rsquo;d be the new czar.&rdquo;Management, obviously at a crossroads, might listen to the players.&ldquo;The guys are not comfortable with each other,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no mutual respect. When the ship started to sink, too many guys became concerned with numero uno. When someone has cancer, they try to get rid of it. In sports, you try to work with &lsquo;cancer and resolve the problem. If not, you simply get rid of the problems.&rdquo;A year of total frustration can serve as a teacher of sorts.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a tough year for everyone,&rdquo; Ronnie Francis said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s obvious that more player changes are coming; they have to. You can&rsquo;t keep the same cast of characters that played as poorly as we did. Everyone is counting on the draft. That&rsquo;s okay with me because it would make for an interesting camp, what with guys fighting for jobs.&ldquo;Hopefully, we can keep that peer pressure going in a positive fashion throughout the season. It sure would make things a lot more enjoyable than they&rsquo;ve been this year.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Whaler Players Uncertain Of The Future

<div class="byline">BY GEORGE GROSS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01505/4792337-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="286" height="340"></div><h2>Vintage Jim Craig</h2>THE GOALTENDING HEROICS of Jim Craig in the 1980 Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid were chiefly responsible for the gold medal-winning triumph of the United States national team.It was Craig&rsquo;s sure hand, plus a determined effort by his teammates and the no-nonsense approach of then coach Herb Brooks, that guided the U.S. nationals to a stunning victory over the highly-touted Soviet team.Craig turned pro with the Atlanta Flames immediately after the Olympics and was later shuffled off to the Boston Bruins. His career has had its ups and downs, with the downs far and away in the majority. But Craig didn&rsquo;t give up. Several injuries, including a broken hand, and an unfortunate car accident might have had disastrous affects on a lesser man.But Craig, who&rsquo;s joined the Minnesota North Stars, was back in his old form, as he helped the U.S. nationals win the recent world B Pool tournament in Tokyo. The Americans were undefeated in the tourney, tying one of seven games and allowed only 14 goals. Craig had a glittering 2.00 goals-against average.The triumph assured the Americans of a place in next year&rsquo;s Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, but it will be rather difficult for them to successfully defend the crown they earned in such thrilling fashion three years ago.In the Tokyo tournament, Craig was voted the all-star netminder, with former Toronto Maple Leaf Ron Wilson chosen as one of the all-star defenseman. Two other Americans, John Harrington and Ken Norwich, a forward and defenseman respectively, also made the team.The only Europeans chosen were forwards Wieslaw Jobczyk of Poland and Gregory Holst of Austria. Holst, an Austro-Canadian who played junior hockey in Kingston, was the top scorer of the tournament with eight goals and eight assists.The Fairplay Cup went to the host country, since the Japanese team accumulated only 40 penalty-minutes in seven games, while the Romanians were the most-penalized squad with 110 minutes.<h2>Soviet Union</h2>OVER THE YEARS, we&rsquo;ve been used to hearing about the dynasty of the Montreal Canadiens, Detroit Red Wings or Toronto Maple Leafs.More recently, we&rsquo;ve been hearing about the impending dynasty of the New York Islanders.The term &ldquo;hockey dynasty&rdquo; was built on a team&rsquo;s ability to put together a string of Stanley Cups or National Hockey League pennant triumphs. And all these teams deserve the accolades being showered upon them for what they&rsquo;ve accomplished or are in the process of achieving.But all their efforts pale by comparison to the team that boasts none other than the magnificent Vladislav Tretiak in goal&mdash;the Moscow Red Army.The Army, a collection of top Soviet hockey players who form the backbone of the national team, have recently won their 26th championship title in 35 years. They did it in impressive fashion, by earning 81 out of a possible 88 points in 44 games.Moscow Spartak, the team of Sergei Kapustin, placed second with 69, while Alexander Maltsev&rsquo;s Moscow Dynamos were third with 66.<h2>Czechoslovakia</h2>KLADNO USED TO be the pride and joy of Czechoslovakian hockey.The team that boasted such stars as center Milan Novy and defenseman Frantisek Kaberle was perpetually at or near the top of the National League. Still, its arena hasn&rsquo;t been filled to capacity since 1966. Until the last championship round, that is.In that round, Kladno faced Brno and had to win in order to remain in the top Czechoslovak league. But things didn&rsquo;t go Kladno&rsquo;s way as the Frantisek Vanek-coached Bron club took a 4-0 lead before Kladno fought fack, but lost 4-2.The move of Novy to the Washington Capitals, the departure of Kaberle to Japan and the resignation of coach Frantisek Pospisil, a former star defenseman of the national team, proved to be too much of a setback for the Kladno players to overcome.Kladno&rsquo;s place in the National League will be taken by Trencin. a club from Slovakia. Trencin outclassed Olomouc 9-4, 5-2 and 8-1 in a best-of-five promotion battle.<h2>From Here And There</h2>CZECHOSLOVAKIA TORPEDOED SWEDEN, 11-2, in a warmup game for the 1983 world championships. The line of Igor Liba, Vincent Lukac and Darius Rusnak accounted for seven goals. Liba and Lukac each enjoyed a three-goal night&hellip;The powerful Soviets downed West Germany 5-2 and 3-2 in preparation for the global tourney&hellip;Djurgarden defeated Fatjestad 6-2 in the fifth and deciding game to capture the Swedish title three games to two&hellip;Andrei Starovoitov of the Soviet Union will preside over the referees&rsquo; seminar of the International Ice Hockey Federation at Fuessen, West Germany, August 15-20&hellip;Dukla Jihlava of Czechoslovakia, Tappara Tampere of Finland, Sportbund Rosenheim of West Germany and the Moscow Red Army team will vie for the Citizen European Cup, August 25-28 in Helsinki&hellip;Matti Ranki was elected new president of the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation&hellip;Czechoslovak sculptor Zdenek Nemecek designed the 1983 world championship trophy, worth $10,000&hellip;Holland won the world C Pool championship in Budapest ahead of Hungary, China, Denmark, France, Bulgaria, Spain and North Korea. &#9632;

f0025-01

THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;The Detroit Red Wings entered the 1982-83 National Hockey League season searching for help at center ice. They ended it the same way.Not surprisingly, they&rsquo;ll continue the search right up until the beginning of next season.It&rsquo;s a priority item and, most likely, the first bit of help can be expected from the NHL entry draft in June.If at all possible, the Wings will expend their No. 1 pick on a center.The player of Wing GM&rsquo;s Jimmy Devellano&rsquo;s dreams is Pat Lafontaine, the record-shattering junior with the Verdun Juniors of the Quebec League, who was bred in the Detroit suburb of Waterford. But Devellano is realistic enough to know he&rsquo;s not going to get Lafontaine, not as long as he picks fourth.&ldquo;For the first time, two Americans will go one-two in the NHL draft&mdash;LaFontaine and (Brian) Lawton,&rdquo; Devellano said. &ldquo;Can I upgrade my pick to first overall? Might be an idea.&rdquo;But the twinkle in Devellano&rsquo;s eye disappeared when he added, &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s call a spade a spade. With Mr. Nanne having that pick, the chances are not good that I could (upgrade). One thing about Mr. Nanne and Mr. Torrey: they don&rsquo;t trade away draft choices. They acquire them.&rdquo;Still, Devellano expects and hopes to find a player with his top pick who will be able to step in and help the Wings next season. If he&rsquo;s a center, all the better.Two players acquired during the season, Dwight Foster and Ivan Boldirev, turned out to be the Wings&rsquo; best at the position. Foster got off to a quick start with the club, but slumped in the final six weeks. He finished with 17 goals and 22 assists for 39 points. More importantly, his presence allowed Danny Gare to excel and the veteran right winger produced 26 goals, most of them while playing alongside Foster. Boldirev scored 18 goals, 37 assists.Veteran Walt McKechnie, who contributed 14 goals and 29 assists won&rsquo;t be back. The Wings released him before the final weekend of the season.The other centers on the squad at season&rsquo;s end were rookies Murray Craven, the No. 1 pick in 1982, and Kelly Kisio, who returned from Europe for the final few weeks.Craven made quite an impression late in the season, although his statistics won&rsquo;t reflect it. He finished with four goals and seven assists, but he was a plus-4 player and showed enough to lead many people to believe he&rsquo;s a genuine prospect. He&rsquo;s still a kid and needs to mature, mentally and physically, but he displayed flashes of outstanding potential.Kisio, an outstanding offensive threat at the minor-league level, got his first taste of the big leagues. It wasn&rsquo;t conclusive&mdash;one way or the other. He&rsquo;ll get another look in training camp.Those who failed during the season include, Bobby Francis, who was acquired from Calgary, Mark Kirton, who was traded to Vancouver for Boldirev, and Derek Smith, the veteran acquired from Buffalo in the big trade of 1982.The Wings are counting heavily on Craven and Claude Loiselle, the club&rsquo;s top pick two seasons ago, to help improve the position next season. Loiselle started the season in Detroit, but ended up back in junior hockey with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League. Once the Spitfires&rsquo; season ended, the Wings assigned him to Adirondack of the American Hockey League.&ldquo;The reports I get from Bill Mahoney (the Adiron-deck coach) are that Claude has made the adjustment to the AHL and is playing well,&rdquo; Devellano said.Except for Loiselle, there&rsquo;s not much help on the farm.&ldquo;Things are pretty grim down there,&rdquo; Devellano said. &ldquo;When I got here, there were no prospects. And there are none now.&rdquo; &#9632;

Wings Look To Upgrade Center Position

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyNEW HAVEN&mdash;Just call them the Cardiac Nighthawks.Coach Nick Beverley&rsquo;s New Haven clup can&rsquo;t win a game without kicking and clawing down to the final seconds. Three one-goal victories over the Hershey Bears, including one in triple overtime. gave the Hawks a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Calder Cup quarter-finals.After splitting two games in Hershey, the teams returned to New Haven for three straight playoff contests. The American Hockey League&rsquo;s, new 2-3-2 system of alterating home dates just about takes away the home-ice advantage to the team finishing higher in the standings. Hershey finished second in the Southern Division, one point ahead of New Haven.The never-say-die Hawks fell behind 2-0 in the third game, but tied it on second-period goals by Brian MacLellan and Al Sims. Rookie center Denis Lapensee gave Hershey a 3-2 lead 47 seconds in the final period, but that only reminded Brock Tredway and MacLellan that the final minutes were time to go to work.Dan Boner and MacLellan fed Tredway at 14:15 to make it 3-3. With overtime looming, MacLellan took a Tredway feed behind the net with 41 seconds left. Hershey goalie Dave Parro saw Tredway positioning himself in front and it provided the 6-foot-4 MacLellan the opening he needed.The rookie left winger squirted out from behind the net and stuffed the winning goal between Parro&rsquo;s pad and the post.The fourth game was the second epic battle the Nighthawks have been host to in two years. Last season, they and Rochester engaged in the second-longest game&mdash;four overtimes&mdash;in the history of hockey. This one took only three overtime periods.Pierre Giroux, back from a five-game suspension, set up Rick Blight and Rick Shinske to give New Haven an early 2-0 lead. The Bears came back on goals by Larry Skinner late in the first and Wayne Prestage at 8:09 of the second.Then Hershey goalie Robbie Moore and New Haven netminder Mike Blake took over. The last 11:51 of the second was goalless. So was the third period and the five-minute preliminary sudden-death session and the 20-minute second overtime.The teams played 59 minutes and 22 seconds without a goal until 34-year-old center Guy Charron, signed as a Nighthawk free agent after a season in Switzerland. took a Scott Gruhl pass in the slot and flipped a quick shot over Moore&rsquo;s shoulder.&ldquo;What I would really like is to blow somebody out so I can relax a bit,&rdquo; joked Beverley. &ldquo;But this style is what you have to do to be successful in the playoffs.&rdquo;ROCHESTER-BINGHAMTON: When these two New York State rivals clash, anything can happen and usually does. After splitting the first two games in a series alternating home sites, the heavily-favored Amerks moved to a 3-1 lead.The third game was a beauty, a 7-5 Amerk victory at the Rochester War Memorial spiced by a 25-minute bench-clearing brawl that almost cost Rochester the game. It was the third bench-clearing session between the teams in two seasons.The Amerks took a 6-3 lead on third-period goals by Kai Suikkanen, Geordie Robertson and Jean-Francois Sauve. With 4:06 remaining, rugged left winger Chris Langevin charged Whaler defenseman Larry Good-enough with a thundering hit behind the net.When Goodenough failed to get up, left winger Dave McDonald escorted trainer Jon Smith on to the ice. Langevin, a former teammate of Goodenough&rsquo;s, whispered words of encouragement to his buddy, who suffered back spasms but was not seriously injured.At this point, all was calm. Binghamton defenseman Glen Fester brought out a water bottle to goalie Ken Holland as players milled about. It wasn&rsquo;t until Sean Coady and McDonald exchanged words with Langevin that bedlam took over.As Coady and McDonald tried to get at Langevin, players paired off. Gerry McDonald and Suikkanen began trading punches and toppled onto Smith and Goodenough, who was still crumpled behind the net.With Suikkanen on top of Gerry McDonald, Dave McDonald joined in. Roohester coach Mike Keenan used simple arithmetic&mdash;five Amerk skaters, five Whaler skaters plus Fester and Dave McDonald, minus Goodenough&mdash;and decided to even the count.Led by seldom-used forward Clint Fehr, the Amerks left their bench to join the brawl. The Whalers followed. Four fights broke out, including a near stick duel between Randy MacGregor and Steve Dykstra. MacGregor, who precipitated that ugly scene by picking up a stick after Dykstra outpunched him, wisely dropped it when ordered by referee Don Koharski. Neither player was able to get near the other.&ldquo;Fehr was instructed,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;It was very calculated. I was waiting to see if the officials could handle the situation. I was waiting to see if the Binghamton players would leave the area. When they did not, I instructed our players to leave the bench.&rdquo;Keenan was livid when Koharski handed Fehr a double minor and double game misconduct for being the first off the bench, a penalty which included a four-game suspension.&ldquo;McDonald was the first off the bench to participate in an altercation.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He took the ice in good faith to help the trainer, but once he joined the altercation that should have made him first off the bench.&rdquo;Langevin, who was suspended for three games by AHL president Jack Butterfield for physically abusing linesman Bill Daupman during the ruckus, was given a charging minor. Coupled with coincidental minors to goalies Holland and Jacques Cloutier for leaving their creases, the Whalers went on a 4-on-3 power play.Dan Bourbonnais scored with 3:21 left to make it 6-4. Fehr&rsquo;s first penalty expired. On a second 4-on-3, Paul Marshall made it 6-5 with 2:17 remaining. Fehr&rsquo;s second penalty expired and Langevin&rsquo;s penalty began.It was 5-on-4 with 2:06 left and the Whalers pressed for the tying goal of what would have been a remarkable comeback. But with 50 frantic seconds remaining, Binghamton crossed its signals.Coach Rick Ley hadn&rsquo;t planned on lifting Holland for another attacker, but never told Holland. The goalie, on his own, raced to the bench as the Whalers worked the puck over the Amerk blueline. When Ley finally saw Holland on the bench, another player hopped over the boards.At about the same time, Jere Gillis fired the puck from his own zone wide of the net. But Gary McAdam, who scored a pro record 11 shorthanded goals during the regular season, won the race to the puck and from behind the net ricocheted it in off Bourbonnais skate with 40 seconds remaining.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01530/4792392-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="548" height="888"><figcaption class="caption-body">Free agent Guy Charron scored in triple overtime as New Haven beat Hershey.</figcaption></div>The fourth game at the Broome County Arena was classic playoff checking and nothing vaguely resembling a fight.Trailing 3-1, the Whalers rallied late in the second period on goals by Marshall and Bob Sullivan, 42 seconds apart. After a goalless third period, the teams prepared for overtime.The Whalers hadn&rsquo;t lost in overtime (5-0-8) all season, but the Amerks hadn&rsquo;t lost in Binghamton (4-0-1) all season. Rocester right winger Sean McKenna slid a rebound from the slot past a helpless Paul Flicker at 4:14 to give Rochester its commanding series lead. &#9632;

f0026-01

Nighthawks Need Sudden Heroics To Take Series Lead On Hershey

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>FREDERICTON&mdash;Dennis Sobchuk has returned from a hockey graveyard in Saskatchewan with an outstanding Calder Cup playoff performance that just might be the springboard for a second career in the sport.Sobchuk, a 29-year-old center, scored four goals and added three assists to help the Express take a commanding 3-1 lead in their quarter-final series with the Adirondack Red Wings. Maine rebounded from a 5-3 loss in the opener of its series against Nova Scotia with a pair of 3-1 wins in the other quarter-final involving Northern Division teams.For nearly two years, Sobchuk worked his farm south of Regina, resigned to the fact that his playing days were behind him. A phone call from Edmonton Oiler general manager Glen Sather last November brought the forced retirement to an end. Sather offered Sobchuk an opportunity to play with the struggling Moncton Alpines, the Oilers&rsquo; AHL affiliate. Sobchuk jumped at the chance and started an odyssey that has carried him across the Atlantic Ocean and back again.&ldquo;For two years, it was really funny, I couldn&rsquo;t get a job,&rdquo; Sobchuk said. &ldquo;I really didn&rsquo;t put my name back in the pot anymore. I just said, &lsquo;the heck with it.&rsquo; Teams weren&rsquo;t interested in me after the year I had with Detroit and so I just decided to hang it up and went and farmed and took it easy for two years.Sobchuk, one of the brighter lights in the WHA, was unable to make the grade in the National Hockey League after the merger in 1979. He spent an injury-filled 1979-80 season with the Detroit Red Wings, and attended the Calgary Flames&rsquo; 1980 training camp as a free agent. A knee injury wiped out training camp and after five games with Birmingham in the Central League, the Flames said they weren&rsquo;t interested. Sobchuk completed the season in Switzerland then turned to farming.&ldquo;This year was unusual. The Edmonton Oilers phoned me up, they knew I was retired, in about November and asked me to come out of retirement,&rdquo; Sobchuk said. &ldquo;Things were going good in Moncton, when all of a sudden, and to this day I don&rsquo;t know why he did it, (coach Doug) Messier put me on the bench.&rdquo;Even though Sobchuk averaged a point a game in his 29 starts with the Alpines, he knew he wasn&rsquo;t wanted. He completed the season in Austria, and placed a call to Fredericton coach Jacques Demers when he returned to North America. Demers, who had coached Sobchuk inthe WHA, offered him a job with the Express. Sobchuk responded with seven goals and five assists in nine regular season games and added a goal during a two-game stint with the Quebec Nordiques.In the playoffs, Sobchuk has been the Express&rsquo; most dangerous player. Besides his scoring output, he has killed penalties, and played the point on the power play.&ldquo;I had heard that Jacques Demers had run into injuries and had guys up and down. Jacques was my coach in Cincinnati six years ago in the WHA. He said, Sobby, I&rsquo;ll play you a lot and try to help you out with your career again.&rsquo; So I came here and everything just took oft again. I started scoring goals again.&rdquo;Demers couldn&rsquo;t be happier with the way things have worked out.&ldquo;The important thing he&rsquo;s added to this team is leadership,&rdquo; Demers said &ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely not a finished hockey player. He&rsquo;s definitely capable of still playing. I think, given the right opportunity, he could still play in the NHL.&rdquo; Sobchuk isn&rsquo;t quite sure where hi! second career will take him. From ex perience, he knows it&rsquo;s difficult to look too far ahead.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m willing to try and get my caree going, but you never know,&rdquo; Sobchuk said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been in the situation where it ended quickly and I&rsquo;m not going to say whether it could start up or it could end. It&rsquo;s a day-to-day thing.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got the opportunity to go back to Innsbruck, that&rsquo;s in my back pocket already. I&rsquo;d like to stay in North America and get another two or three years out of my career. But if it ends in North America again, it ends, and I&rsquo;ll just be happy to have gotten this year out of it.&ldquo;I know the playoffs mean everything to me,&rdquo; Sobchuk said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to go out there and give 110 per cent. If we win, eyes are bound to open up.&rdquo;SERIES A&mdash;Adirondack&rsquo;s work-ethic approach to the series has kept them in every game with the division-champion Express. The Wings&rsquo; dismal power play and poor penalty-killing have strangled their upset bid. With the exception of the third game, won 6-1 by Adirondack, the Express has been able to build a lead and protect it with a disciplined defensive approach.Game Two&mdash;The Express took a 2-1 first period lead on power-play goals by Tim Tookey and Tony Currie, sandwiched around a score by Adirondack&rsquo;s Larry Trader. Sobchuk scored on a long slapshot one minute into the second period and Grant Martin followed with a key shorthanded goal at 11:59.Claude Loiselle brought the Wings back to within two goals on a power play. Adirondack turned on the pressure in the third period, but the Express did not buckle and allowed just one goal, Briar Johnson&rsquo;s first of the playoffs.Game Three&mdash;Adirondack grabbed a convincing 6-1 win before a disappointing crowd of just 3,199 at the Glen Falls Civic Center. Ted Nolan scored the only goal of the first period. Richard Davie tied the game early in the second, but the Wings struck for five unanswered goals to win easily. Dennis Polonich and Bob by Crawford scored in the second period while Bill Hogaboam, Rejean Cloutier and Ted Nolan tallied in the third.A helmet saved Fredericton captain Tony Currie from serious head injuries in the first period. Currie was knocked off balance, fell and struck his head on the ice. He was knocked unconscious and had to be taken from the ice on a stretcher. He was checked at the hospital, but was not admitted.Game Four&mdash;Sobchuk supported a brilliant 43-save performance by goalie Ken Ellacott with two goals and an assist.Martin scored his second shorthanded goal to give the Express an early lead. After Eric Vail tied the game, Sobchuk scored on a power play and added what proved to be the game-winner with 1:14 left in the period. Richard David&rsquo;s power-play goal 55 seconds into the second period completed Fredericton&rsquo;s scoring. Adirondack continued to press but came up with just one more goal, Trader&rsquo;s wrist shot with 5:37 left.SERIES B&mdash;Goalie Sam St. Laurent has been the key performer for the injury-plagued Mariners. St. Laurent has allowed only six goals in the first three games, to fashion a sparkling 2.07 goals-against average. The Mariners have played without Steve Tsujiura (knee), Gordie Williams (knee), Bernie Johnston (ribs), John Paddock (shoulder) and Dave Poulin, who was unable to return from the Philadelphia Flyers due to a problem with eligibility.Game One&mdash;The Vees jumped out to a fast 4-0 lead at home and hung on for a 5-3 win. Larry Landon scored twice and Dave Orleski and Greg Paslawski added singles. Maine came roaring back in the second half of the second period with goals by Ross Fitzpatrick, Gordie Clark and Tom Gorence.Maine nearly tied the game with four minutes left, but Dan Held&rsquo;s shot hit the crossbar. Yvan Joly scored Nova Scotia&rsquo;s final goal into an empty net.Game Two&mdash;St. Laurent made 36 saves in the Mariners&rsquo; 3-1 win at Halifax.Doug Morrision scored at :48 and Gorence followed at 7:22 to give the Mariners a 2-0 lead. John Chabot scored the Vees&rsquo; only goal on a power play at 17:04. Fitzpatrick answered a minute later to complete the scoring.The final two periods were goalless.Game Three&mdash;The Vees &ldquo;Spent a lot of time and energy chasing Maine&rsquo;s tough right winger Dave Brown and lost a 3-1 decision. After surrendering a goal to Mike McPhee at 16:15, St. Laurent made a crucial save on John Goodwin at 19:52 that changed the complexion of the game. St. Laurent handled Goodwin&rsquo;s shorthanded breakaway bid.Fitzpatrick scored the game-winner at 14:20 of the second period and veteran International League standout Marcel Comeau added an open-net goal in the third.Comeau, 30, was the player-coach and general manager of the Saginaw Gears this season. Comeau, an 11-year veteran of the IHL wars, is the leading all-time scorer in that league with 996 points.He was signed as an emergency replacement by the Mariners and made his debut a successful one. Besides his goal, he assisted on Fitzpatrick&rsquo;s goal. &#9632;

Sobchuk Rises Out Of Hockey Graveyard

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyDALLAS&mdash;Indianoplis was well rewarded for finishing atop the Central Hockey League as the Checkers garnered five of six league awards.Indy goalie Kelly Hrudey was judged as the league&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player and was given the Tommy Ivan Trophy. Hrudey edged out Birmingham forward Wes Jarvis in the voting.Hrudey and Indy&rsquo;s other goalie, Rob Holland, won the Terry Sawchuk Trophy as the most effective goaltending team in the league. Holland led the league with a 2.87 average; Hrudey was next at 3.04.The Ken McKenzie Trophy for Rookie of the Year went to Wichita forward Larry Floyd by a narrow margin over Tulsa defenseman Grant Ledyard.Gord Dineen of Indianapolis was given both the Bobby Orr Trophy and the Bob Gassoff Trophy as the league&rsquo;s Outstanding Defenseman and Most Improved Defenseman, respectively.Red Laurence, also of the Checkers, received the Don Ashby Memorial Trophy, formerly known as the Iron Man Award, for playing in all of his team&rsquo;s games and showing character and leadership qualities.INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Hat tricks by Scott Howson and Red Laurence staked the high-flying Checkers to a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Adams Cup playoff semi-final series with Salt Lake.Howson&rsquo;s three goals in the opener included the winning one after 6:08 of overtime for a 5-4 decision. Laurence had his three in an 8-3 romp the following night. Both victories were achieved at the Fair Grounds, where the Checkers set a regular-season record with 33 home victories. They closed out the schedule with six straight home triumphs, unbeaten in their last 14 starts in their own rink.Kelly Davis had a game-winning assist each night for the Checkers, helping to set up Howson&rsquo;s overtime tally and Dave Hanson&rsquo;s shorthanded goal at the start of the second period.In the series opener, Howson&rsquo;s first-period goal was answered by Claude Julien. Dave Simpson scored for Indy at the start of the second, but Ralph Klassen responded for the Eagles a minute later.Howson&rsquo;s second goal put the Checkers in front for the third time. John Marked tied it with 1:16 left in the second period, then Julien put Salt Lake ahead on a 70-foot goal with 38 seconds to go in that session. Steve Stoyanovich forced the overtime with a power-play goal early in the third.Paul Skidmore was the Eagle goaltender in the first game and started the second one, but was replaced by Rollie Boutin after 13:30 of the middle period, with Indianapolis ahead 5-2.Glen Duncan, Kevin Devine and Laurence provided a 3-0 lead in the opening period. Hanson&rsquo;s shorthanded goal, which proved to be the winner, came at 2:13 of the second. Dan Wood got the first Eagle goal 35 seconds later, but Laurence counted again, answered by Salt Lake&rsquo;s Charlie Skjodt.After the goalie change, there was no further scoring in the second period. Tim Lockridge padded the Checker margin early in the third. Bert Wilson had the final Salt Lake tally, before Laurence completed his hat trick at 11:51. Lome Stamler scored the final Indy goal with 23 seconds left.Newcomer Ron Handy suffered a slight knee injury and was left behind when the Checkers headed for Salt Lake, where the next two games (or three, if necessary) were to be played.Hrudey was in the Checker nets for the overtime victory, while Holland worked the next night.COLORADO&mdash;The form chart was thrown out the window when the Flames tangled with Birmingham in a playoff semi-final series.Colorado won two games on Birmingham ice, 4-1 and 7-6 in overtime, then the South Stars reversed the trend with a 3-2 decision in Denver. The next three games were scheduled for the Flames&rsquo; McNichols arena.Colorado goalie Tim Bernhardt had a shutout for 57 minutes of tthe opening game, before Wes Jarvis beat him with the lone Birmingham goal. Aside from lemhardt losing his shutout, it really lidn&rsquo;t matter as the Flames won the game &gt;n goals by Dan Bolduc and Mike Dwyer the first period. The Flames padded heir lead with Dwyer&rsquo;s second goal in he second and Gord Hampson&rsquo;s tally in he third.Howard Walker got the tying goal in he second game with 1:15 left in regulation time, then scored the winner after S: 19 of overtime play.Birmingham had the lead three times the game. Tim Harrer opened the scoring for Colorado, but Jim Dobson and larvis gave the Stars a 2-1 edge in the first period. In the second period, Charles Bourgeois and Tony Curtate put the Flames in front, but Dave DeBol tied it for Birmingham.Frank Beaton provided a 4-3 Birmingham lead early in the third. Bourgeois scored again to knot the count, but Steve Martinson and Dave Richter forged a 6-4 Birmingham advantage, only to see Bolduc score with 2:02 left in regulation and Walker get the tying goal 47 seconds later.Warren Skorodenski was in goal for the Birmingham losses, but Mario Lessard worked the victory in the Mile High city. Dobson and Richter rallied the Stars with a pair of late goals, Richter putting in the winning tally with 1:20 left.Mike Dwyer&rsquo;s shorthanded score in the first period gave Colorado the opening goal in all three games. Jarvis tied it for Birmingham in the middle period, but Mario Simioni regained the Flames&rsquo; advantage.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02348/4792447-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="546" height="917"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Simpson opened the scoring in the second period of Indy&rsquo;s 5-4 win over Salt Lake.</figcaption></div>Tim Bernhardt was the Colorado goalie in all three games, after Marc D&rsquo;Amour was recalled by the parent Calgary Flames. Jeff Lastiwka was promoted from Peoria Prancers of the International League for backup duties. Right winger Tim Hunter followed D&rsquo;Amour to Calgary.Birmingham&rsquo;s Warren Young and Colorado&rsquo;s Colin Patterson tangled in the third game and became the playoff penalty leaders. Young drew 19 minutes, Patterson 15.Birmingham coach Gene Ubriaco was fined $500 and put on probation for the playoffs after his team saluted the referee in the April 2 home loss to Indianapolis, the penultimate game of the regular season. &#9632;

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Checkers Monopolize League Awards…

INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;The Indianapolis Checkers&rsquo; domination of the Central Hockey League regular season race was reflected in the league&rsquo;s annual All-Star selections as the Checkers placed four players on the first team and two on the second.Led by goaltender Kelly Hrudey, who also won the CHL&rsquo;s most valuable player award this season, and defenseman Gord Dineen, who won two individual awards, the Checkers gained four places on the first team with Hrudey in goal, Dineen and Darcy Regier on defense, and Steve Stoyanovich on left wing. Only center Wes Jarvis of Birmingham and right winger Mike Backman of Tulsa broke through the Indianapolis&rsquo; monopoly on the first team.Indy gained two spots on the second team with Rob Holland picked in goal and Red Laurence at center. Others on the team included Claude Julien of Salt Lake at one defense position while Dave Richter of Birmingham and Wichita&rsquo;s Mike Forbes were tied in the voting for the second defense spot. In addition to Laurence on the forward line, Danny Bolduc of Colorado was chosen at right wing and Warren Young of Birmingham got the nod al left wing.In the individual awards categor Hrudey was selected MVP, Dineen was voted best defenseman of the year and also won the most improved player award. Larry Floyd of Wichita was chosen as the CHL&rsquo;s rookie of the year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01502/4792485-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="503" height="886"><figcaption class="caption-body">Checker rookie Gord Dineen was selected as the league&rsquo;s best defenseman.</figcaption></div><h2>CHL All-Stars</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03258/4792478-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="990" height="554"></div>(* &mdash; Tied in voting.)Most Valuable Player &mdash; Kelly Hrudey, Indy.Best Defenseman &mdash; Gord Dineen, Indy.Rookie of the Year &mdash; Larry Floyd, Wichita &#9632;

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…And Dominate All-Star Voting

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyMUSKEGON&mdash;As the International Hockey League entered its final week of competition, seven of the eight teams were still alive in the playoff picture.Five of the eight have reservations. The last seat is being held for either the Muskegon Mohawks or Saginaw Gears and the winner may not be known until after the final game.The Mohawks, who struggled early, fought their way up the ladder to a point where a week ago it appeared they would survive. But a late-season slump, brought on mainly by a heavy load of road games, has put Muskegon&rsquo;s position in jeopardy. Still, Muskegon was still in control of its own destiny as the season ground down to the final weekend.Muskegon took a one-point lead over Saginaw into its final three games. Saginaw also has three games left. The ratio of home-to-road assignments was the same for both, two at home and one on the road.There is one difference: Muskegon will finish its season on the road, while Saginaw has its finale at home.While Saginaw and Muskegon were fighting it out for the final seat, Toledo and Milwaukee sat on top of the Eastern and Western divisions, respectively, and will receive the first-round bye.Toledo wrapped up its second straight league title by nipping Muskegon 3-2 in one of four games during the week. The victory was the 50th of the season for Toledo and while Fort Wayne could still match the Diggers in total points, the most games the Komets can win is 48.Ironically, Fort Wayne set a club record for points with a 5-3 victory over Toledo during the week, which boosted the Komets&rsquo; point total to 103. The club record was 102, set during the 1959-60 season when Fort Wayne posted a 50-162 record for 68 games. The Komets could finish with as many as 109 points and still be only second best.The Fort Wayne-Toledo game drew a sellout crowd of 8,022, thanks chiefly to the third apearance at the Memorial Coliseum of the famed San Diego Chicken. The Chicken drew sellout crowds on his first two visits, too, and the Komets were 3-0-0 in games with the Chicken as a booster.With the victory, Fort Wayne won the series with Toledo 6-5-1.In addition to the win over Muskegon and the loss at Fort Wayne, Toledo posted a 11-2 romp over Peoria at home and played to a 3-3 tie with Milwaukee on the road. Dirk Graham raised his team goalscoring record to 67.Fort Wayne has won its last four games and hopes to continue the surge to have momentum on its side when it opens the playoffs against Flint. The Komets launched the week with a 6-5 overtime win at Milwaukee and added victories over Muskegon and Flint by identital 5-3 scores at home. The Komets have two 50-goal scorers in Ron Leef and veteran Barry Scully and each could reach the 60-goal plateau by season&rsquo;s end.If Scully hits 60, it would mark the fourth straight year he had scored 60 or more goals. Scully hit the magic 60 figure last season by scoring the hat trick in the season finale. With three games left, Scully and Leef each had 55 goals.The Komets will face Flint in the first round of the playoffs, a best-of-five affair. Flint is also on a hot streak as the playoffs approach. The Generals were 4-0-0 during the week, including a 3-1 triumph at Peoria. Flint also recorded home victories over Kalamazoo (4-3); Saginaw (4-2) and Muskegon (5-2).While Milwaukee has wrapped up the top spot in the West, the Admirals are setting club records and a couple of league standards, too, as they await their first playoff assignment. The most significant achievement was that of little Danny Lecours, who broke the all-time goal scoring record for the IHL of 72, established by Fort Wayne&rsquo;s Merv Dubchak during the 1965-66 season. Lecours tied and broke the record as Milwaukee scored a 9-2 romp in Kalamazoo. Dubchak scored his 72 goals in 70 games, however.Meanwhile, the Ads&rsquo; Dale Yakiwchuk also improved a league standard by raising his assist total to 93. That eclipsed the old mark of 92, held jointly by Chick Chalmers, then with Louisville, and Fori Wayne&rsquo;s Len Thomson. Chalmers finished with 93 assists during the 195960 season and Thomson tied the mark in 1966-67.In addition to the 9-2 romp over Kalamzoo, Milwaukee beat Peoria 8-4, tied Toledo 3-3 and lost 6-5 in overtime to Fort Wayne in home games.Kalamazoo has a playoff berth locked up and also is assured of home-ice advantage for the first round. The Wings are going into the playoffs on a down swing. Kalamazoo dropped three straight during the week, including the 9-2 trimming at home to Milwaukee. On the road, Kalamazoo lost 4-3 Flint and 4-2 to Saginaw. Kalamazoo will meet either Saginaw or Muskegon in its first-round playoff test.Muskegon failed to improve its playoff position by losing three times during the week. All three games were on the road, however. The Hawks lost 5-3 at Fort Wayne, 3-2 at Toledo and 5-2 at Flint.Saginaw improved its playoff hopes with one victory during the week, while dropping a pair. The lone win was a 4-2 verdict over Kalamazoo. The Gears lost 4-2 at Peoria and 4-2 at Flint.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01432/4792516-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="555" height="844"><figcaption class="caption-body">Milwaukee&rsquo;s Dan Lecours erased the record of 72 goals in a single IHL season.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Muskegon, Saginaw Playoff Race Won’t Be Decided Until Very End

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BROPHY</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyOTTAWA&mdash;According to Ottawa 67s&rsquo; coach Brian Kilrea, a true champion rH6st be able to win in his opponent&rsquo;s building.After four games of the Ontario Hockey League&rsquo;s Leyden Division eight-point final between Ottawa and the Oshawa Generals, that very point has him worried.The 67s and Generals each won at home in the first two games of the series but the Generals, who hadn&rsquo;t won in Ottawa since Nov. 20, 1981, upset their hosts in Game Three to carry a 4-2 point lead home with them for Game Four.Then, the Generals edged Ottawa 5-4 to take a commanding 6-2 lead back to Ottawa for Game Five.&ldquo;My guys are capable of rebounding but I think some of the guys who aren&rsquo;t playing well right now are going to have to dig down a little deeper,&rdquo; said Kilrea. &ldquo;Right now, we just don&rsquo;t have enough guys playing well to win.&ldquo;I tell the guys the same thing before each game and that is: you have a chance to be champions of the league but if you can&rsquo;t win in the other team&rsquo;s building, you aren&rsquo;t worthy of being champion.&rdquo;Kilrea said he has been getting a lot of mileage out of veterans John Ollson, Phil Patterson and Larry Power but adds others are going to have to get their act together.Oshawa, a team that survives as much on hunger and desire as they do on talent, is hard to beat in their own building. They have strong fan support when they are ahead.The 67s held a 3-2-1 regular-season series record over Oshawa but that seems to be forgotten now. After winning 6-5 in their first trip to Oshawa, the 67s were edged 6-5 and soundly defeated 8-1.&ldquo;Home ice has always meant a great deal to us,&rdquo; said Kilrea. &ldquo;We play a fast skating and wide-open style. When they beat us in our building and took away our home-ice advantage, that really hurt. We are hindered when we play in Oshawa because the rink is smaller and we end up playing their style, which is bump and grind.&rdquo;OTTAWA VS. OSHAWA: Home teams won the first two games of this series but the Generals prevailed in Ottawa in Game Three to take a 4-2 lead in their eight-point semi-final series with the 67 s.Ottawa goalie Darren Pang was the star of the series opener, stopping 41 shots while leading his team to a 5-1 victory. The Generals outshot their hosts 19-6 in the opening peirod but the teams went to the dressing room tied 1-1.Phil Patterson paced the winners with a pair of goals while Don McLaren, Allan Hepple and Bruce Cassidy added singles. Hepple, a defenseman, scored after moving in from the point to in front of the Generals&rsquo; net. Oshawa defense man Dale DeGray couldn&rsquo;t move his husky opponent away from the slot.David Gans scored the lone Oshawa marker.The Generals dominated Game Two at home as John MacLean, Gans and Dean DeFazio scored two goals each to lead the way to an 8-3 win. Greg Gravel and Todd Hooey added one goal each. McLaren and Patterson scored for the 67s.The Generals took a 3-0 first-period lead in Game Three in Ottawa and held on for a4-3 win. MacLean, the Generals&rsquo; top playoff performer this season, Gans, John Hutchings and captain Joe Cirella scored for Oshawa with Brian McKinnon, Patterson and Larry Power scoring for Ottawa.KITCHENER VS. SAULT STE. MARIE: Neither the Rangers nor the Greyhounds have shown an aversion to winning on the road. The Rangers took Game One in the Soo, but the Greyhounds won Game Three in Kitchener, 8-5. It was Kitchener&rsquo;s first loss after 20 consecutive home-ice wins.The Rangers opened the eight-point Emms Division final with a 5-4 victory but lost the next two, 7-4 and 8-5.Rob Nichols, Allan Maclnnis. Tom St. James, Mike Eagles and Jim Quinn scored for the Rangers in Game One with Tony Celia firing three goals in two minutes and 21 seconds for the Hounds. Rookie defenseman Jeff Beukeboom added his first goal of the season for Soo.Rick Tocchet and defenseman Tim Hoover scored two goals each for Soo in the second game with Rob Mazzuca, Pat Lahey and Wayne Groulx collecting one goal each. Dave Nicholls, Rob Nichols, Eagles and John Tucker scored for Kitchener.Veteran Richard Beaulne was the big gun for Soo in Game Three with three goals. Terry Tait, who has developed into one of coach Terry Crisp&rsquo;s most dependable players, added a pair with singles going to Celia, Groulx and Gus Greco.Mike Hough, Kent Paynter, St. James, David Bruce and Dave Shaw connected for the Rangers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01487/4792554-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="545" height="756"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ottawa&rsquo;s Brian Kilrea is worried that his team hasn&rsquo;t shown its ready to win away from home.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02363/4792547-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="539" height="754"><figcaption class="caption-body">larry powers is one of the veteran 67s&rsquo; who&rsquo;s been contributing lately.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Speaking Generally, 67s Don’t Like Leaving Home

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyPORTLAND&mdash;Portland Winter Hawks seldom have had trouble putting pucks in the net&mdash;stopping them has been a different story.The Winter Hawks established a Western Hockey League team scoring record this season with 495 goals, breaking the previous mark of 491 set by the 1978-79 edition of the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Winter Hawks also finished with seven 100-point scorers, erasing the previous record of five held by four clubs.While Portland led the league in scoring statistics, the club was only ninth in team goaltending. Add a freak playoff injury to Ian Wood and the questionable condition of Bruno Campese and the defending WHL champions have something to think about heading into their best-of-seven Western Division final series.Wood, who finished with a 5.16 goals-against average, was sidelined for the season in the fourth game of the club&rsquo;s best-of-seven division semi-final series with Seattle Breakers. The Winter Hawks swept the series in four straight games, but lost the services of the 19-year-old netminder for the duration of the playoffs and Memorial Cup, which Portland is host to.Wood was involved in what appeared to be a harmless collision when he attempted to smoother a loose puck in the crease area. When a Breaker landed on Wood, the goalie suffered a dislocated neck and bruised spinal chord. The mishap caused partial paralysis of his right side.Wood was rushed to hospital and given anti-inflammatory drugs. They reduced swelling and eased the paralysis.&ldquo;Wood has been released and is going home to Victoria for a two-month recouping period,&rdquo; said Portland GM Brian Shaw. &ldquo;He has gained full control of all facilities and it&rsquo;s expected he&rsquo;ll have a complete recovery. He&rsquo;s got to be kept in a neck brace, but we expect he&rsquo;ll soon be 100 per cent.&rdquo;Campese has suffered two hamstring pulls, but is expected to be ready for the Western Division final series. The Winter Hawks have 16-year-old Eddie Jones from the British Columbia Junior Hockey League tier-two ranks and 15-year-olc midget Peter Fry to rely on in case Campese suffers another pull.Jones was shelled in two regular season appearances and finished with an 8.25 goals-against average.In a 5-2 win in the fourth game of the series with Seattle, Portland&rsquo;s Ker Yaremchuk scored twice, while Can Neely, Curt Brandolini and Grant Sassei added singles. Wood made 12 saves before being injured in the second period. Campese relieved and finished with 23 saves.Brad Duggan, Ray Ferraro, Alfie Turcotte, Terry Jones, Brandolini and Neely did the scoring in a 6-5 win in the third game.VICTORIA&mdash;Mark Morrison put the Cougars in the driver&rsquo;s seat in their best-of-seven semi-final series with Kamloops Oilers, by scoring at 12:23 of overtime in the fifth game. The 5-4 win gave Victoria a 3-2 edge in the series.Morrison finished with two goals, while Rob Ki veil, Geoff Courtnall and Rich Chernomaz potted other markers for the Cougars, who played before 5,088 home fans, the first sellout in two seasons.Darren Moren was outstanding for Victoria, making 49 saves, 19 of which came in the third period when the Cougars were outshot 20-6.SEATTLE&mdash;Al Kerr and Terry Sargent provided the goals in the Breakers&rsquo; 5-2 loss to Portland in the fourth game of their division semi-final series. The loss eliminated Seattle in straight games to the first-place Winter Hawks.What has to be more disappointing than the loss is that only 1,591 fans turned up in the 4,131-seat Seattle Centre, leading to speculation that the franchise may move next season.KAMLOOPS&mdash;A pair of overtime losses have spelled the difference for the Oliers in their semi-final series with Victoria.A 5-4 overtime setback in the fifth game gave the Cougars a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series and put the onus on the Oilers to come up with victories if they hope to prolong their season.NANAIMO&mdash;Center Jim McGeough, who finished seventh in league scoring with 76 goals and 56 assists, was the bright spot this season for the Islanders, who missed the playoffs. There&rsquo;s speculation the Islanders, who finished with a record of 20-51-1, will move to the Vancouver area next season.KELOWNA&mdash;The last-place Wings took their lumps in their first season, setting a league mark for most-goals allowed (531). But the word out of Kelowna is new financial interest has been pumped into the club, which has to share its arena with the tier-two British Columbia Junior Hockey League Buckaroos.CALGARY&mdash;The Wranglers nearly bit the dust in preliminary-round Eastern Division playoffs, but are now riding high in the saddle.After trailing 2-0 in the best-of-five matchup with Medicine Hat Tigers, Calgary bounced back and took the next three games.The Wranglers are continuing their improved play in the semi-finals.Calgary took a 2-1 lead in a best-of-seven pairing with Regina Pats, after a 5-3 victory. Doug Moffat scored twice for the Wranglers, who also got single markers from Garth Hildebrand, Ken Quinney and Parie Proft. Mike Vernon turned aside 25 shots.In the second game, Scott Machej and Warren Yadlowski scored two goals each, while Ken Vinge and Doug Houda added singles in a 6-3 win over Regina. Vernon made 21 saves in the game, which was marred by 176 minutes in penalties.Vinge provided the lone Calgary marker in a 5-1 loss in the first game. The accent was on the rough stuff as 149 minutes in penalties were assessed. Vernon finished with 25 saves as the Wranglers outshot the Pats 38-33.LETHBRIDGE&mdash;The Broncos are giving Saskatoon Blades all they can handle in post-season play.Lethbridge has taken a 2-1 lead in its best-of-seven Eastern Division semifinal series with the Blades. The Broncos took the lead with a convincing 6-1 triumph on home ice as Rich Sutter and Ivan Krook scored twice each.The Broncos, who led 1-0 and 5-1 after the first and second period, respectively, got singles from Doug Kyle and Troy Loney. Ken Wregget came up with 26 saves.Rich Sutter was the hero in the second game in Saskatoon. His overtime goal at 4:40 of sudden death gave the Broncos a 5-4 win and evened the series after the Blades took the opener 5-1.Gerald Diduck scored twice for Lethbridge in the second game, while Ron Sutter and Krook added singles. The Broncos were outshot 39-38.It was a fight-filled opener as 320 minutes in penalties were assessed. Each team took 13 fighting majors, while Saskatoon was given six game misconducts and Lethbridge five and a gross misconduct.Rich Gal scored the lone goal for Lethbridge as Wregget faced 50 shots, while the Broncos managed 31.REGINA&mdash;The Pats couldn&rsquo;t get going in the third game of their semi-final series meeting with Calgary.Regina was held scoreless for two periods en route to a 5-3 loss. The Pats trail 2-1 to the Wranglers in the best-of-seven matchup. Bob Lowes, Kurt Wickenheiser and Dale Derkatch scored for Regina, which narrowed the count to 4-3 before the Wranglers potted an emptynet marker.In the second game, Gary Leeman, Lyndon Byers and Lowes scored for the Pats, who were tied 2-2 after 20 minutes before falling behind 4-3 going into the final period.Derkatch collected a hat trick in the opener, while Brad Wells and Lowes got singles. Regina was outshot 38-30 in a rough first game.SASKATOON&mdash;The Blades&rsquo; big gunners were held in check in the third game of their semi-final series with Lethbridge. That spelled the difference in a 6-1 setback and a 2-1 deficit in the best-of-seven showdown.Gary Stewart&rsquo;s second-period goal was the only offensive effort for the Blades, who fired 26 shots at Broncos.Lane Lambert, Todd Strueby, Peter Derksen and Allan Acton scored for Saskatoon in a heartbreaking 5-4 loss in the second game, in which the Blades led 4-3 with five minutes remaining. Al Larochelle made 33 saves for Blades.In the first game, Perry Ganchar, Darrel Leir, Joey Kochur, Roger Kortko and Lane Lambert tallied for Saskatoon, which took leads of 4-0 and 5-1 after the first and second period, respectively, en route to an easy win in a fight-filled game. The Blades outshot Lethbridge 50-31MEDICINE HAT&mdash;Although disappointed with their preliminary-round playoff exit with Calgary, the Tigers have to be pleased with many individual accomplishments.Medicine Hat placed two players in top 30 league scoring. Mark Lamb finished 18th with 36 goals and 80 assists. Mike Lay placed 24th with 109 points on 52 goals and 57 assists. Al Conroy was eighth in rookie scoring with 38 goals and 57 assists.WINNIPEG&mdash;It&rsquo;s the same story for the Warriors, who despite a quick start, faded to a fourth-place finish and an early exit from the playoffs courtesy of Lethbridge.The Warriors had three players in top 30 scoring. Darren Boyko was 10th with 49 goals and 81 assists, while Randy Gilhen was 28th with 57 goals and 44 assists. David Korol was 11th in defenseman with 57 points.BRANDON&mdash;The Wheat Kings were saddened to learn former outstanding coach Dune McCallum passed away at the age of 43. McCallum, stricken with cancer, compiled the winningest percentage of WHL coaches. He guided the Wheaties in their glory years, marked by an appearance in the 1979 Memorial Cup.The highlight of a disappointing season for Brandon was Kelly Glowa finishing third in league scoring with 71 goals and 92 assists. Cam Plante was fifth in defenseman scoring with 75 points.PRINCE ALBERT&mdash;Although they finished last in the Eastern Division with a record of 16-55-1, the future looks bright for the Raiders.Fans flocked to watch the first-year club and rookie Dan Hodgson led all first-year performers with 56 goals and 74 assists. Hodgson, who finished ninth overall in league scoring, is considered a good bet to earn Rookie of the Year honors. &#9632;

Goaltending Could Affect Hawks’Chances

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01424/4792633-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL PLAYOFF SCORING

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01451/4792702-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="590" height="1474"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03277/4792695-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="2390" height="1092"></div> &#9632;

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STANLEY CUP SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02355/4792733-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="543" height="1776"></div> &#9632;

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All Time Top Playoff Point Leaders

BOSTON&mdash;Pederson 4, 5, McNab 1, Kasper 1, Krushelnyski 1,2, Middleton 4, K. Crowder 1, Bourque, 2,3, B. Crowder 1, Fergus 1. Winning goals&mdash;Bourque.BUFFALO&mdash;Ramsey 2, 3, 4, Ruff 2, 3, McKegney 2, 3, Ramsay 1, 2, Hamel 2, Housley 1, Foligno 1, McCourt 2, Andreychuk 1. Winning goals&mdash;Ramsey, Ramsay.CALGARY&mdash;Reinhart 1, 2, 3, 4, Eloranta 1, Jalonen 1. Winning goals&mdash;none.CHICAGO&mdash;Ludzik 3, Crossman 1, 2, Fraser 2, Savard 4,5,6, Wilson 2, Secord 1,2, Larmer 3, B. Murray 1, Lysiak 3. Winning goals&mdash;Fraser, Lysiak.EDMONTON&mdash;Messier 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, Hughes 1, Coffey 3, 4, 5, Kurri 1, Gregg 1, Jackson 1, Lindstrom 2, Gretzky 5, 6, 7, 8, Anderson 1, Cote 1. Winning goals&mdash;Hughes, Gregg, Gretzky.MINNESOTA&mdash;McCarthy 1, Smith 5, 6, Hartsburg 1,2, MacAdam 1, 2, Ciccarelli 3, 4, Plett 1, Payne 3. Winning goals&mdash;Ciccarelli.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Persson 1, Potvin 2, 3, B. Sutter 1,2, D. Sutter 1,2,3,4, Tonelli 4, Bossy 4, 5, Bourne 4, Carroll 1, Kallur 2. Winning goals&mdash;Potvin, Tonelli.NY RANGERS&mdash;Greschner 2, McPhee 1, Johnstone 3, 4, Beck 2, Dave Maloney 1, Pavelich 3. Winning goals&mdash;Pavelich.Four-goal games&mdash;Gretzky, Messier, Edmonton, 1 each.Hat tricks&mdash;Reinhart, Calgary, Messier, Edmonton, and D. Sutter, Islanders, 1 each.Overtime winners&mdash;none. &#9632;

Playoff Scorers This Week

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04228/4792809-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="613" height="2272"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05183/4792802-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="1233" height="1684"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06164/4792795-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="579" height="2218"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04176/4792788-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="1756" height="1776"></div> &#9632;

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AMATEUR SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01431/4792854-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02322/4792847-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="1151" height="1564"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03250/4792840-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="530" height="765"></div> &#9632;

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MINOR SCOREBOARD

1 &mdash; Montreal2 &mdash; Chicago3 &mdash; Boston4 &mdash; NY Rangers5 &mdash; Detroit6 &mdash; Toronto7 &mdash; Philadelphia8 &mdash; Los Angeles9 &mdash; St. Louis10 &mdash; Minnesota12 &mdash; NY Islanders13 &mdash; Vancouver14 &mdash; Buffalo15 &mdash; Calgary16 &mdash; Washington17 &mdash; New Jersey18 &mdash; Edmonton19 &mdash; Hartford20 &mdash; Quebec21 &mdash; Winnipeg<h2>OTHER AFFILIATIONS</h2>22 &mdash; Pittsburgh and Boston23 &mdash; Chicago. Calgary & Rangers24 &mdash; Hartford. Toronto & Los Angeles25 &mdash; Minnesota. Philadelphia & Islanders26 &mdash; Montreal. Boston & Buffalo27 &mdash; Winnipeg. Vancouver & Washington28 &mdash; Quebec. St Louis & Edhionton29 &mdash; Pittsburgh & New Jersey30 &mdash; Philadelphia & Hartford31 &mdash; Quebec. Philadelphia. L.A., & Buffalo32 &mdash; Boston, Vancouver. St. Louis & Toronto33 &mdash; Independent. No affiliates &#9632;

Who They’re Affiliated With …

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01444/4792937-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="940" height="1215"></div><h2>The Dynamic Du</h2>In case you don&rsquo;t recognize these two sinister looking gentlemen, they are in reality goalie Eddie Mio, left, and defenseman Barry Beck behind those shades during the recent New York Rangers&rsquo; fashion show at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02352/4792930-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="941" height="1219"></div><h2>Family Affair</h2>Staged annually, the Rangers&rsquo; show is becoming more successful every year. Here&rsquo;s right winger Anders Hedberg with his two children, Hanna, left, and Mattias showing off what the relaxed small fry likes best &mdash; wearing daddy&rsquo;s Ranger sweater.<h2>Fashion Plate</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03276/4792923-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="937" height="1149"><figcaption class="caption-body">Photos by Nancy Cataldi</figcaption></div>Produced by the players&rsquo; wives, the 1983 show raised $50,000 towards the fund for the Prevention of Child Abuse in the New York area. Defenseman Bill Baker came dressed in formal attire for the affair in which all the Rangers players gave freely of their time to put the show over.<h2>Jets Become Model Players</h2>Members of the Winnipeg Jets came out in full force to help raise money for Ronald McDonald House, which is due to open in Winnipeg this summer. Taking part in the fashion show from left right, are Don Spring, Dale Hawerchuk, Dave Christian, Jimmy Mann, Scott Arniel and Brian Mullen. The players&rsquo; wives also participated in the show.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04208/4792916-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="2313" height="1040"><figcaption class="caption-body">Photo by Wes Pascoe</figcaption></div><h2>T-Birds Grab The Silverware</h2>The Carolina Thunderbirds won it all this season in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League and here they enjoy their moment of glory as they raise the Bob Payne Trophy for all to see after they beat Mohawk Valley in the cup finals. Shown at celebration from left to right, are Robert Dore (2), Dave Watson, Michel Lanouette (lifting trophy over his head), Randy Irving (5) and Kim Elliott (10). The Winston-Salem, NC, team won both the league and playoffs registering 59 wins out of 76 games this season.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05142/4792909-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="1885" height="863"><figcaption class="caption-body">Photo by Robert Skene</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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HOCKEY PEOPLE

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;The Penguins finished dead last in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s final regular season overall standings and their 18-53-9 record was the worst in the franchise&rsquo;s 16-year history. But coach Eddie Johnston says his club is only one good trade away from being a contender.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t say this club is years away from turning itself into a contender,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;I say one good trade and we can get ourselves right back in there. Look at a club like Washington. They made one key trade back of the blueline, which you need.&ldquo;If you keep your goals-against down, you&rsquo;re going to be in every hockey game. Our goals-against tells the story of our inexperience back there.&rdquo;The Penguins allowed a club-record 394 goals-against, including an NHL-record 110 power-play tallies.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a very nice thought to have finished at the bottom,&rdquo; said Johnston, whose club traded first-round picks with Minnesota and will select 15th instead offirst in June&rsquo;s entry draft. &ldquo;If you look at it that way, we weren going to get our pick. But I look at the bright side of things sometimes, and Minnesota dropped a couple of places in the standings late in the season and we moved up two or three spots in the draft. It&rsquo;s like anything else, you don&rsquo;t want to finish on the bottom.&rdquo;Johnston, who would appear to be the leading candidate to replace the late Baz Bastien as the Penguins&rsquo; general manager, says there are only a few &ldquo;untouchables&rdquo; on his club.&ldquo;There are guys on the club I wouldn&rsquo;t trade,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;First of all, you don&rsquo;t want to trade your goalkeepers (Michel Dion and Denis Herron). That&rsquo;s something that you can&rsquo;t get. A guy like (defenseman and team captain) Randy Carlyle is one you&rsquo;ve got to put in the category who you wouldn&rsquo;t trade. And we&rsquo;ve got a couple of young kids up front that we definitely would never trade (probably Doug Shedden and Mike Bullard). That&rsquo;s about it.&rdquo;Johnston also is counting on help next season from some of the team&rsquo;s previous draft choices, who played this season in the minor leagues or remained in junior.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to go see the players who are coming out of junior that will be available to our hockey club,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;This is the important thing for us.&rdquo;Despite the Penguins&rsquo; dismal season, Johnston sees some bright spots from this year&rsquo;s team.&ldquo;The No. 1 bright spot is the year we got out of Doug Shedden,&rdquo; said Johnston of the man who was voted the team&rsquo;s most valuable player and who led the club in scoring with 14 goals arid 43 assists. &ldquo;Leaving Mitch Lamoureux in the minors all season was a bright spot for us. Roberto Romano&rsquo;s had a tremendous year for us down in the minors. Some of our kids came on in the last three or four weeks and played well for us.&rdquo;The 20-year-old Lamoureux scored 57 goals and 50 assists for Baltimore in the American Hockey League as a rookie. He broke the all-time AHL record for most goals in a season of 55.However, Johnston acknowledges the Penguins must make some moves to improve their club for next season.&ldquo;What we&rsquo;ve got to do is look for some experienced defensemen.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Our goals against was atrocious. You&rsquo;ve also got to have speed, and you&rsquo;ve got to have guys who can put the puck in the net. That&rsquo;s your No. 1 priority.&ldquo;You look at our left side. Outside of (Pat) Boutette (27 goals), you&rsquo;re not looking at very much as far as production. What we&rsquo;ve lacked over the years is production on the left side.&ldquo;But the year that the kids have had up here now will definitely help them. If we do send them to Baltimore next year, they have the year&rsquo;s experience up here. With our farm club, we&rsquo;ll have 12 or 14 guys in the minors next year as opposed to when we started off when we had nobody a few years ago. There is definitely a future in this organization.&rdquo;PENGUIN TRACKS&mdash;In addition to Shedden being named the club&rsquo;s MVP, other award winners included: R8kie of the Year, Dave Hannan; Unsung Hero, Andre St. Laurent; Player&rsquo;s Player, Boutette; B8ster Club Star of the Game Leader, Dion&hellip;Right winger Steve Gatzos underwent successful shoulder surgery for an injury suffered late in the season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01416/4792968-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="541" height="970"><figcaption class="caption-body">Penguin captain Randy Carlyle if one of the few players the team won&rsquo;t trade.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Pens’ Johnston Sees Some Bright Spots

<h2>Mayoralty Challenge</h2>EDMONTON&mdash;Mayor C.J. Purves of Edmonton issued a challenge to Calgary mayor Ralph Klein on the outcome of the current Stanley Cup playoff series between their respective teams.&ldquo;This year the losing mayor will wear the winning team&rsquo;s sweater at his next news conference and eat a humble pie provided by the winning mayor,&rdquo; Purves challenged.It appeared Purves was in no danger of losing the challenge after the Oilers won the first three games of the best-of-seven series.<h2>New NHL Chiefs</h2>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;The National Hockey League has two new presidents.Jay Snider, son of owner Ed Snider of the Philadelphia Flyers, has been installed as the new president of the team. Twenty-five-year-old Jay, who has served as executive vice-president since last October, replaces Robert J. Butera, who resigned earlier to accept a similai position with the New Jersey Devils.Butera, who has held the Philadelphia position for many years, will join the Devils immediately under owner John McMullen.<h2>Kea Improving</h2>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Defenseman Ed Kea, who suffered a near fatal head injury March 7, is making gradual but steady improvement.Dr. Jerome Gilden said Kea is in the &ldquo;full rehabilitation phase&rdquo; of his recovery program, which includes physical and speech therapy. Gilden said he is encouraged by Kea&rsquo;s progress but could not predict the immediate future for the former St. Louis Blues&rsquo; defenseman. Kea suffered his head injury when he crashed into the boards following a collision. He underwent brain surgery to save his life and has improved greatly since the operation.Kea, who was not wearing a helmet at the time of his injury, now is able to move about and make sounds, but he is still unable to talk.<h2>Record Night</h2>EDMONTON&mdash;They may have to create a new record book for the Edmonton Oilers and Wayne Gretzky the way they&rsquo;re knocking off the feats of the past.Between them, Gretzky and the Oilers combined to tie or set five NHL playoff records while lambasting the Calgary Flames 10-2 in the third game of their best-of-seven Smythe Division final playoff series.Gretzky exploded for an NHL record seven points in one game to shatter the old mark of six, shared by Darryl Sittler, Phil Esposito, Dickie Moore and Mikko Leinonen. He also tied a playoff record with his third shorthanded goal and his four-goal outburst equalled another play off mark for most games with three or more goals.The Oilers established a record with their seventh shorthanded goal of the series and their three shorthanded goals in the game also tied a league mark. &#9632;

SLAPSHOTS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="C4-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c4-01224/4793023-1-eng-US/c4-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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April 29, 1983

The Hockey News THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY $1.25 64522 APRIL 15,1983 VOL. 36 NO. 27

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QMJHL History Ready To Be Written

BLUELINES