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.

May 13, 1983

The Hockey News May 13, 1983

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01450/4796291-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02319/4796284-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="525" height="1137"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03237/4796277-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="1100" height="271"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

AMATEUR SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011144/4794800-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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USA CABLE NETWORK BRINGS YOU THE NHL

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02364/4796246-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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World Championships’ Game Summaries

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011167/4795068-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Housley, who had such an impressive rookie campaign, is the cornerstone of the young Sabres.</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;It&rsquo;s the same, but it sure is different.The Buffalo Sabres finished the same as last year&mdash;third in the Adams Division and eliminated by Boston in the Stanley Cup playoffs. They finished lower, in fact, in the National Hockey League standings, ninth compared to sixth in 1982.But the feeling around Buffalo, as far as the Sabres are concerned, is much different.A year ago there was vast disappointment after the Bruins eliminated the Sabres three games to one in the first round of the playoffs.This year, after the Sabres swept the Montreal Canadiens in three games in the first round of the playoffs, they extended their quarter-final series with the Bruins to seven games, before Brad Park scored in overtime to give Boston the series.The Sabres gave the Bruins a real battle before bowing out. After losing 9-0 to move one game from elimination, they bounced back and won 5-3. Then they fought the Bruins in Boston Garden for more than 61 minutes before Park ended it with a slapshot while goalie Bob Sauve was down on the ice at the 1:52 mark of overtime.The feeling around Buffalo&mdash;and, apparently, throughout the league&mdash;is that the Sabres are a young team that came of age in the playoffs.An even dozen rookies played for the Sabres at one time or another during the season. Seven of them played in the series against the Bruins.Two 19-year-old defensemen, Phil Housley and Hannu Virta, played a regular shift when coach Scotty Bowman used only four backliners in the final game.Housley, known as an offensive defenseman who lacked something defensively, showed that he can hold his own in a close-checking game against a tough, physical team such as Boston. Besides, Housley scored the first Buffalo goal and the last one when the Sabres won the sixth game. The first goal came in the final minute of the first period when the Sabres trailed 2-0 and put Buffalo back into the game.Dave Fenyves also played on defense and Jim Wiemer was called up from Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League for one game on the backline. First-round draft choice Paul Cyr played in all the playoff games on left wing, while Dave Andreychuk, a first-rounder via Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League and Rochester forward Mai Davis were in and out of the lineup in post-season play.&ldquo;I would say we had a good season and a good playoffs,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting stronger in our division. You can&rsquo;t go anywhere in this league if you are not strong in your division.&ldquo;Our team should continue to improve. The kids should get better. They won't get worse.&rdquo;Last year, when the team dispersed, several veterans wondered if they would be back in the fall.This year the feeling was much better. When Bowman went with his best in the last few games&mdash;three lines and four defensemen&mdash;Bill Hajt, Craig Ramsay and Andre Savard, survivors of the Punch Imlach regime, were among those getting the most ice time.Ramsay is predicting a bright future for the young Sabres.&ldquo;As a team it was a positive year for us,&rdquo; the veteran left winger said. &ldquo;This team proved it could win against anybody and in any building and that&rsquo;s a positive thing to find out. We came out of all this believing in ourselves and we won&rsquo;t be going to camp worrying about what kind of team we are.&rdquo;Housley, the Sabres&rsquo; No. 1 pick in the 1982 draft, also was optimistic.&ldquo;I enjoyed playing,&rdquo; said the youngster from South St. Paul High School in Minnesota. &ldquo;Even the up and down periods were good because we pulled through them.&ldquo;We have to be proud of what we accomplished. We have a good mix of players, different players who all took a role as a leader. It takes quality players to do that.&rdquo;With three first-rounders in last year&rsquo;s June entry draft, the Sabres enter this year&rsquo;s draft with the fifth (via Los Angeles) and 10th choice. &#9632;

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Buffalo’s Youthful Bunch Possesses Bright Future

<h2>NHL</h2>Boston &hellip;&hellip; 3Buffalo &hellip;&hellip; 11Calgary &hellip;&hellip; 24Chicago &hellip;&hellip; 4Detroit &hellip;&hellip; 22Edmonton &hellip;&hellip; 3Hartford &hellip;&hellip; 22Los Angeles &hellip;&hellip; 24Montreal &hellip;&hellip; 26Minnesota &hellip;&hellip; 26New Jersey &hellip;&hellip; 16Islanders &hellip;&hellip; 4Rangers &hellip;&hellip; 25Philadelphia &hellip;&hellip; 25Pittsburgh &hellip;&hellip; 21Quebec &hellip;&hellip; 10St. Louis &hellip;&hellip; 12Toronto &hellip;&hellip; 21Vancouver &hellip;&hellip; 9Washington &hellip;&hellip; 22Winnipeg &hellip;&hellip; 10<h2>The Minors</h2>AHL &hellip;&hellip; 27CHL &hellip;&hellip; 28IHL &hellip;&hellip; 28<h2>The Amateurs</h2>OHL &hellip;&hellip; 15WHL &hellip;&hellip; 18QHL &hellip;&hellip; 19<h2>Columnists</h2>Frank Orr &hellip;&hellip; 2Stan Fischler &hellip;&hellip; 9Joe Falls &hellip;&hellip; 10Steve Simmons &hellip;&hellip; 12Dick Beddoes &hellip;&hellip; 24<h2>Departments</h2>World Hockey &hellip;&hellip; 5Playoff Roundup &hellip;&hellip; 6Bluelines &hellip;&hellip; 13Playoff Scoring &hellip;&hellip; 29Minor Scoreboard &hellip;&hellip; 30Classified &hellip;&hellip; 31<h2>Coming Next Issue</h2>Next week&rsquo;s issue marks the end of our weekly publication schedule and we will profile the two teams that will be competing for the Stanley Cup.As well, we&rsquo;ll have full coverage of Emile Francis&rsquo; appointment as the top man of the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; hockey operation, a story that broke just as this issue was going to press. Of course, we&rsquo;ll have all our regular features and statistics and keep you informed of what is happening in hockey circles all over the world.Once the Stanley Cup finals are over, we will bring you our June issue, which will feature a Stanley Cup wrap-up as well as a Memorial Cup wrap-up, not to mention a special section devoted to the Molson-NHL Slo-Pitch Classic, which is scheduled for Niagara Falls, Ont., in mid-June.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/f0002-011180/4794420-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="299" height="352"></div><h2>The Old And New</h2>THIS IS NOT an attempt to point out the inevitability of a 1983 Stanley Cup final between the New York Islanders and Edmonton Oilers, although at the time this was written, that was a possibility. However, the Boston Bruins and Chicago Black Hawks were very much alive in the playoffs.But time with the two clubs, the Islanders and Oilers, this spring was an interesting stretch, the old kings seeking their fourth consecutive title and the pack of youngsters who have taken dead aim at the throne and would seem to own all the ingredients to grab it, if not this year in the not-too-distant future.Both clubs were constructed through wise drafting and shrewd trades to fill in the holes. The clubs reflect the style of their ownership and management; the Oilers, flamboyant and flashy, a manner not out of synch with owner Peter Pocklington and president-general managercoach Glen Sather; the Islanders, solid, disciplined and consistent, the approach of owner John Pickett, GM Bill Torrey and coach Al Arbour.The Islanders assembled the star parts of a champ (Denis Potvin, Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier) but didn&rsquo;t win until they upgraded their foot soldiers to a high level. The Oilers have had the stars&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Glen Anderson and Paul Coffey&mdash;and now that the supporting cast is first-rate, they&rsquo;re ready to challenge.Each club has endured some heartbreaking defeats along the way. The Isles lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in &rsquo;78 and New York Rangers in &rsquo;79; the Oilers had their black moment when they were eliminated by Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the &rsquo;82 playoffs.&ldquo;When the Islanders lost those two series in &rsquo;78 and &rsquo;79, they applied a very intelligent attitude,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;The men who run their organization looked at their situation and decided that they had lost not because of a lack of talent, but because a lack of maturity. There was no panic, no huge changes in the roster, just a plugging of some holes.&ldquo;When we lost to the Kings in &rsquo;82, we took the same approach. We certainly didn&rsquo;t lose because we lacked talent. Our club had some growing-up to do and we had some small holes to plug.&rdquo;<h2>A Big Season</h2>INTERESTINGLY, THE ISLANDERS figured that &rsquo;82-83 would be their season to establish a batch of NHL standards of excellence, according to their good winger Bob Bourne.Their goal was the 1976-77 campaign of the Montreal Canadiens when they were on their way to the second of four Stanley Cup triumphs. That season the Canadiens had a 60-8-12 won-lost-tied mark, scoring 387 goals and gave up only 171, finishing the term with a record 132 points.&ldquo;Back before the season started, we thought we had the club that had a legitimate chance to have the caliber of season the Canadiens did that year,&rdquo; Bourne said.&ldquo;We had experience even though our team isn&rsquo;t that old, the depth to survive a few injuries and the ambition to do it. We started the season well and then everything that could happen did happen.&ldquo;We knew that caliber of season would be very difficult to get in a league as tough as the NHL is now. But we figured it would be a great thrill to go through a season from October to May and be the best all the way.&ldquo;Well, we didn&rsquo;t quite pull it off, did we? But the playoffs are always there to give a team the chance to rescue the season and the year won&rsquo;t be too bad if we get to carry the Cup around the ice in May again.&rdquo;Notice that the Islanders claim for the hardware again came when the club quietly assumed the top slot among the NHL&rsquo;s defensive teams late in the schedule. Defensive proficiency is a large asset in April and May, a fact of hockey life the Oilers realized.<h2>Better Without It</h2>THE OILERS&rsquo; ATTACK was extraordinary all season when the team scored 424 goals to break the record of 417 set last term. However, the Oilers knew they had to improve defensively if they were to make a serious Cup bid.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost a negative approach, isn&rsquo;t it, but the club that gets the puck out of its own end the best usually wins the Cup,&rdquo; said Islander defenseman Denis Potvin.Thus, the Oilers worked hard during the second half of the season at improving their play when they didn&rsquo;t have the puck. Through their first 10 playoff games, the Oilers didn&rsquo;t crow about the 65 goals they had scored, but talked of their goals-against mark in that stretch, which was 2.80 per game.&ldquo;Our play without the puck really has improved and we&rsquo;re a much more complete hockey club now because of it,&rdquo; said Gretzky.While the Islanders had a Canadien season as a target&mdash;an unrealistic one as it turned out&mdash;the Montreal club has a large influence on the Oilers, too.&ldquo;To improve our club, which has a large number of good offensive players, we have used the same approach as the Canadiens have always taken,&rdquo; Sather said.&ldquo;Puck control always has been a big part of the Canadiens&rsquo; defense and that&rsquo;s how we look at it. If we have the puck, the other team can&rsquo;t do much with it.&rdquo;An Islander-Oiler final would be fun. But so would a Bruin-Black Hawk series or any combo of those teams. &#9632;

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HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011198/4794451-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">After a rather mediocre regular season, rookie defense man Gord Kluzak has been thrust into a situation when he is seeing a lot of ice time in the playoffs. He says his confidence is beginning to build.</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;It was just like it used to happen back in Toronto when little Douglas Bradford Park was shooting on Glenn Hall in his fantasies and scoring every time.Only this time it was for real.&ldquo;It was definitely the biggest goal of my career,&rdquo; said Park, whose life in the National Hockey League spans 15 seasons, speaking of his goal at 1:52 of overtime that eliminated the Buffalo Sabres in the seventh game of their playoff series.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never scored an overtime goal and to get it in the seventh game in sudden death has to be the highlight of my career.&ldquo;I used to fantasize doing something like this when I was growing up. When I was a kid I won everything. These are the things you dream about. But when it happens you just can&rsquo;t believe it.&ldquo;My reactions? It&rsquo;s like&mdash;&lsquo;My shot did this?&rsquo; It&rsquo;s a high that&rsquo;s hard to compare, the exhilaration that you feel for accomplishing something. The relief that you feel is unbelievable.&rdquo;It was probably one of the most exhaustively-analyzed goals in recent Boston history.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny,&rdquo; said Park. &ldquo;Before the start of the overtime we were talking about how important draws are, especially in their end. We told ourselves that we&rsquo;re gonna have to get the draws.. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s exactly what Barry Pederson did. He won the draw&rsquo; and got it back to me cleanly. When I shot, Craig Ramsay got his stick on it and it didn&rsquo;t get through. It hit one of their players and bounced straight out.&ldquo;It was just sitting down flat and sliding toward me. I saw everybody down in front of the net and I said, &lsquo;Just get it up and make sure it&rsquo;s on the net!&rsquo; And that&rsquo;s what I did.&rdquo;Park&rsquo;s goal, which was his second of that particular game, moved the Bruins into the Prince of Wales Conference finals against the New York Islanders and, despite falling behind two games to one, things were improving for Boston, particularly on defense.When we last discussed the Bruin defensemen during the Quebec series, Park was out with a sore knee, Mike Milbury and Randy Hillier were lost with more serious knee injuries, rookie Gord Kluzak was learning what the Stanley Cup playoffs are all about and coach Gerry Cheevers was reluctant to use Marty Howe and Larry Melnyk in critical situations&mdash;and there were a lot of them.Ray Bourque and Mike O&rsquo;Connell were carrying the club on defense with 75 minutes between them in one game.By the time the Islanders series rolled around, Park was back at full strength to share the load with Bourque and O&rsquo;Connell. Kluzak was playing like a young veteran and Melnyk was throwing his weight around, finding the NHL tempo after spending almost all the season in Baltimore of the American Hockey League.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to be able to be a part of the team and contribute,&rdquo; said Kluzak. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something I didn&rsquo;t get a chance to do a lot of the year.&ldquo;I was really thrust into a position where I had to perform because we had injuries on defense. I&rsquo;ve made my share of mistakes but I feel I haven&rsquo;t hurt the hockey club in any way. The more I play the more confidence I get.&rdquo;Kluzak claimed the Bruins lost the first game to the Islanders because he and many of his young teammates were a little in awe of the three-time Stanley Cup winners.&ldquo;I think maybe we respected them too much,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We were made in a little awe of them. I felt that I was. But the third peirod of the game brought about the realization that we could play with them.&ldquo;We were ahead of them in the regular season and we certainly should be able to play with them.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Connell, who was still playing a regular shift along with the power play and killing penalties, welcomed the advent of Melnyk as the fifth defenseman.&ldquo;He gives us a nice break,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s always nice to have a little help back there, especially with Mike and Randy out in the playoffs.&rdquo;&ldquo;We tried to put a little beef in there,&rdquo; said Cheevers. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very aggressive and you need that against a team like the Islanders. I like the way he played.&rdquo;By the third game of the series, Bourque had taken charge offensively with two goals and an assist in a 7-3 loss for the Bruins. It was a game which was much closer than the score indicated, since the Islanders got two goals in the last 2:03, starting with a two-man advantage.Hillier dressed for that game, although he didn&rsquo;t play, and Milbury, making an amazingly rapid comeback from a broken kneecap, had actually been skating for a week.If there was a deficiency to worry about, aside from the Islanders&rsquo; 2-1 lead in games, it was Boston&rsquo;s insufficient scoring from their forwards, except for Middleton and Pederson.After 14 playoff games, the magic duo of Middleton and Pederson had 21 goals and 36 assists for 57 points. All other forwards had 19 goals and 19 assists for 38 points.The defensive trio of Bourque, O&rsquo;Connell and Park had 12 goals and 21 assists for 33 points. &#9632;

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Bruin Backliners Are Front And Center

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>CHICAGO&mdash;Heading into the Campbell Conference playoff final, just about everybody was predicting a tight, exciting series between the high-flying Edmonton Oilers and the rejuvenated Chicago Black Hawks.Oiler superstar Wayne Gretzky made the point that the Oilers, looking so impressive in series wins over Winnipeg and Calgary, had yet to be really tested by one of the NHL powers.Much was made of the prospective matchups and similarities between the teams. Gretzky versus Denis Savard. Paul Coffey versus Doug Wilson. Andy Moog versus Tony Esposito and so on. It seemed that for every type of player on the Oiler team, there was a corresponding match on the Hawks.What a series this was going to be.Well, after three games between the Oilers and the Hawks, the latter haven&rsquo;t played anything like an NHL power. As for the matchups and position-by-position showdowns, they simply failed to materialize.So, what a series this has been&hellip;if you&rsquo;re an Edmonton Oiler fan, that is.The Oilers opened at home and came up with two lopsided victories&mdash;8-4 and 8-2 (capsule reports on all playoff games are on page 6), hardly the type of games that were predicted.Ah, but it would be different when the Hawks returned to the noisy confines of Chicago Stadium, with the fans&rsquo; cheering and coach Orval Tessier&rsquo;s caustic criticisms&mdash;&ldquo;We need 18 heart transplants&rdquo;&mdash;ringing in their ears.Sure, it was different. The Oilers only won by one goal in a tight contest that was decided by Glenn Anderson&lsquo;s third-period marker, which he lifted over a sprawling Tony Esposito.The Hawks played a much more spirited game, led by Savard, who scored once and assisted on Steve Larmer&rsquo;s goal.But it still wasn&rsquo;t enough. And the performance had a lot of people asking the same question: If the Hawks couldn&rsquo;t win that one, when they played well and held the lead, would they win one at all?&ldquo;We worked as hard as we could and it hurts to play a 60-minute game like that and go home empty,&rdquo; said Black Hawk defenseman Doug Wilson. &ldquo;Give the Oilers credit. They came into our rink in front of our noisy fans and did it to us. They&rsquo;re just a very good hockey team.&rdquo;Meanwhile, the biggest noise was being made about Tessier&rsquo;s post-game comments following the two matches in Edmonton. After Game One, Tessier said he was &ldquo;ashamed&rdquo; of his team. After Game Two, Tessier used the heart transplant line and made national headlines with it.Black Hawk players, notably Savard and linemate Al Secord, responded to the charges, which were aimed at them, in particular.&ldquo;It bothers players and I know it has bothered me,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;I was checked closely in Edmonton and I know I have to skate more to be effective and play a little smarter. I think what the coach said was a bit unnecessary, but he&rsquo;s the coach. We had a pretty fair season so he must know what he&rsquo;s doing.&rdquo;Tessier downplayed the entire thing, saying it&rsquo;s just his way of motivating his players.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s certainly nothing personal in what I say,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;If I say something about a player tonight, he&rsquo;s probably the guy I would like to take to lunch tomorrow. When I sound off the way I do once in while, I&rsquo;m just trying to make this a better hockey club.&rdquo;It remained to be seen whether Tessier could inspire his team to a win and stave off elimination, but the Oilers, demonstrating excellent skills at both ends of the ice and paced by the solid goaltending of Andy Moog. look as though they&rsquo;re ready to treat their fans in The Great White North to some late May entertainment.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02994/4794482-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="539" height="840"><figcaption class="caption-body">Glenn Anderson scored the winning goal in Game Three at Chicago Stadium.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Oilers Make It Look Easy Against Hawks

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011241/4794513-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Clark Gillies returned to the lineup after a knee injury suffered on March 27 and played his usual bruising game.</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;Clark Gillies was horsing around with eight other Islanders at an optional practice last weekend. Near the end of the workout, Gillies swooped in on goalie Roland Melanson, fired a shot that was blocked, then cut around the back of the net and cruised back to center ice. He completed the journey by executing a neat figure-eight.Steve Wirth, the Islanders&rsquo; physical therapist, watched Gillies with more than casual interest. &ldquo;Amazing,&rdquo; Wirth said. &ldquo;I mean it&rsquo;s amazing that Clark is able to skate that well in such a short time.&rdquo;Gillies suffered ligament damage in his left knee during a game in Pittsburgh March 27. He underwent arthroscopic surgery a week later, was back skating six days after the operation and returned to action in the Islanders&rsquo; third playoff game against the Bruins. The Islanders, aided by Gillies, romped to a 7-3 victory.Reunited with his old linemates, Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier, Gillies showed no signs of discomfort during the game. He launched the play that led to a first-period goal by Trottier and did not avoid physical contact. On his first shift, Gillies rammed Gordie Kluzak, the Bruins&rsquo; biggest player, into the boards.&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t pass that one up,&rdquo; Gillies admitted later.The Islanders used the victory to open a 2-1 lead over the Bruins in the finals of the Wales Conference playoffs and Gillies used the game to convince himself that his repaired knee was sound again; well, almost sound.&ldquo;It was a little stiff when I got up the next morning, but I expected that,&rdquo; he said.What many people did not expect was Gillies&rsquo; quick recovery. If he had undre-gone conventional knee surgery, he would have required at least a two-month recuperation period. But the arthroscopy, which was performed by the team&rsquo;s orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Jeffrey Minkoff, cut that time in half.The use of the arthroscope&mdash;a thin, hollow surgical instrument&mdash;allows surgeons to look inside the knee without resorting to deep probing and cutting. It also magnifies areas 20 times, enabling the surgeon to perform minute, sophisticated surgery.Gillies has only minor scars on his left knee as a result of the arthroscopy. There is a quarter-inch scar on the inside of the knee where the arthroscope was inserted and a Band-Aid size scar on the kneecap.&ldquo;I went at it for 10 straight days. It was a little boring and I got a little tired of looking at Wirth. He&rsquo;s a real drag.&rdquo;&ldquo;This procedure reduces the soft tissue damage, the swelling and most of the pain,&rdquo; Wirth said. &ldquo;It also cuts down on the time a person can start weight training and flexibility tests. Clark, went into that phase in a week&rsquo;s time and he worked very hard.&rdquo;&ldquo;I went at it for 10 straight days,&rdquo; Gillies said. &ldquo;It was a little boring and I got a little tired of looking at the man (Wirth).&rdquo;GiMies-smiled and added: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a real hag.&rdquo;But Worth&rsquo;s nagging enabled Gillies to rejoin the Islanders weeks ahead of schedule. The Islanders were happy about that. So was Gillies.The Isles, meanwhile, were extremely inconsistent in their first three playoff games against the Bruins. The defending Stanley Cup champs hustled to a 4-0 lead in the series opener in Boston, then hung on for a 5-2 victory. The line of Bob Bourne and the Sutters, Duane and Brent, accounted for three goals and six points.In Game Two at Boston Garden, the Bruins rode shorthanded goals by Brad Palmer and Barry Pederson to a 4-1 victory.&ldquo;We were careless,&rdquo; said Bill Smith, who had been the winning goalie in 15 of the Isles&rsquo; previous 16 playoff games.Said Butch Goring: &ldquo;We had enough opportunities (the Isles oushot the Bruins, 33-31), but we didn&rsquo;t take advantage of &rsquo;em. You have to take the good with the bad and we were bad.&rdquo;The Isles totalled only 26 shots against Pete Peeters in the third game, but still prevailed 7-3. &ldquo;I think it was the worst playoff game we&rsquo;ve ever played and still won,&rdquo; Bourne said.Mike Bossy thrilled a sellout crowd of 15,317 at Nassau Coliseum by picking up a power-play goal and three assists. It was his 27th playoff power-play goal, breaking Jean Beliveau&rsquo;s record.ON THE ISLE&mdash;Stefan Persson suffered a twisted knee in the series opener at Boston and missed the next two games. The Isles were also minus the services of Dave Langevin, who was recuperating from ligament damage in his right knee. &#9632;

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Isles Back On Winning Track With Gillies

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div>We keep saying every night that it&rsquo;s going to be tougher. But every night we just keep growing into a bigger avalanche.&mdash;Edmonton captain Lee Fogo&#322;in.CHICAGO&mdash;An avalanche indeed. So big in fact, it looks as though it&rsquo;s about to crumble the &ldquo;heartless&rdquo; Hawks and annihilate them, one round away from the Stanley Cup finale.Edmonton leads Chicago three games to none in the best-of-seven quarter-final series and it&rsquo;s going to take a near miracle for the Hawks to topple the slick Oilers.The Hawks were branded &ldquo;heartless&rdquo; by coach Orval Tessier following their second straight lopsided loss in the seriesThe Oilers&rsquo; owner Peter Pocklington, who hopes to someday become prime minister of Canada, was surprised by Tessier&rsquo;s announcement that the Hawks needed &ldquo;about 18 heart transplants.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the one who needs the hearttransplant,&rdquo; exclaimed Pocklington, who felt Tessier was heartless in his analysis of an 8-2 slaughter that followed an 8-4 rout.In Pocklington&rsquo;s eyes, the Northlands Coliseum tongue-twister banner that read: &ldquo;Peter Puck Picked a Pack of Perfect Players&rdquo; was a far better synoposis of these two no-contests.Indeed, the Oilers seemed an irresistable force going into Game Three and Four in Chicago Stadium.In Game Three, however, the slaughtering stopped and the two teams played a brand of hockey, which was tight and tentative. Unfortunately for the Hawks, they came out on the short end of a 3-2 score and are one game away from elimination.After defensemen Charlie Huddy and Don Jackson staked the Oilers to a 2-0 lead in the second period, the Hawks rebounded with third-period goals by Steve Larmer and Denis Savard on a power play. But a three-way passing play between Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson resulted in a goal by the Anderson at 13:05.The Hawks Jested Andy Moog 41 times, but could beat the Oiler goalie only two times. Moog Was named the game&rsquo;s first star, a justifiable reward for a game well-played.In Game One, the Hawks lost their cool, were charged with 11 penalties and couldn&rsquo;t contain Wayne Gretzky, who scored a goal and assisted on four Others.In Game Two, the Hawks were, guilty of only three infractions (one of which was for too many men on the ice) and Gretzky&rsquo;s damage was limited to two assists. But on a night when Gretzky was only very, very good, three other Edmonton whiz kids&mdash;Anderson, Mark Messier and Ray Cote&mdash;were just great.Anderson scored four times on six shots and needed only three shots to bag his third hat trick of the playoffs.Cote, meanwhile, tied up Savard, collaborating with linemates Dave Hunter and Pat Hughes to keep the Hawks&rsquo; leading scorer and linemates Al Secord and Larmer from getting a single point.For good measure, Hunter scored in the third period with Hughes and Cote earning assists&ldquo;They got-some bad goals,&rdquo; said Hawk goa&#322;ie Murray Bannerman who, on his 26th birthday, got a taste of the medicine the Oilers shoved down Tony Esposito&rsquo;s throat two nights earlier. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t sharp in the first period. If I had come up a little bigger, who knows?&ldquo;There&rsquo;s got to be a way to defend against the play where they have somebody go behind the net with the puck and then throw it out to the slot. It used to be just Gretzky who did it. Now, all of their centers and wingers are doing it.&ldquo;All but two of the goals they scored against me came that way. They have the one guy behind the net and bring three guys in. One of our defensemen has to concentrate on the guy behind the net. Then, somebody gets open.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s embarrassing,&rdquo; said Doug Wilson. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d lose to a million teams the way we&rsquo;ve been playing.&rdquo; &#9632;

Hawks Need Hearty Effort To Stave Off Elimination

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021171/4794575-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg"></div>THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded In 1947 by Kenneth W. McKenzieTHE HOCKEY NEWS, (ISSN 0018-3016) is published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd., 85 Scarsdale Road, # 100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2 (416) 445-5702. In U.S. c/o W.C.C. Publishing Corp., 850 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022.YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $18.95 in the U.S.A. $18.95 in Canada. $24.95 in Foreign Countries Send all Canadian and Foreign subscription orders to THE HOCKEY NEWS. P.O. 80 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.SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO THE HOCKEY NEWS, 85 Scarsdale Road #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2. Second Class mail Rgistration No. 1327. All inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addressed to Subscription Dept., The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Road, #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2.IN THE UNITED 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/f0004-031009/4794568-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="53" height="40"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations &#9632;

f0004-02

The Hockey News

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011100/4794606-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Toronto&rsquo;s John Anderson was Team Canada&rsquo;s best offensive player against the Soviets as he connected for two goals.</figcaption></div>After Team Canada&rsquo;s first meeting with the Soviets in the preliminary round of the world championships in West Germany, Marcel Dionne said it was akin to &ldquo;playing a whole team of Wayne Gretzkys.&rdquo;Well, when the two teams met the second time, it wasn&rsquo;t much different. The Soviets&rsquo; Big Red Machine churned out an 8-2 win on May 2 (the same score as in the preliminary round) and collected its fifth consecutive world championship gold medal. It is the 19th time that the Soviets have won the gold medal and there&rsquo;s sure to be many more to come for the seemingly invincible dynasty.Team Canada, despite a valiant effort in the medal round that included a 5-4 loss to Czechoslovakia and a 4-1 win over Sweden, finished up with its now traditional bronze medal.Earlier on the final day of the tournament, Czechoslovakia defeated Sweden 4-1 to guarantee itself the silver medal.The Soviets and Czechs finished the three-game, round-robin finale with five points apiece, but the Soviets won on goal differential, boasting a plus-10 rating to the Czechs&rsquo; plus-four.Canada, which hasn&rsquo;t won a world championship since 1961, when the Trail Smoke Eaters collected the gold medal, finished with three points while the Swedes failed to manage a single point.In the Soviet-Canada game, the Canucks got off to a flying start as Toronto Maple Leaf left winger John Anderson beat netminder Vladislav Tretiak at the 3:43 mark of the first period.But the Soviets rebounded to tie it midway through the period as Mikhail Vasiliev beat Montreal Canadien goalie Rick Wamsley.Team Canada apparently took a 2-1 lead-on another goal by Anderson, a shorthanded effort. But Finnish referee Pertti Juhola, the same official who botched a simple stick measurement against the Czechs, ruled that Anderson gloved the puck into the net. Anderson protested that he got his stick on the puck in time, but it was to no avail.After that, it was all Soviet Union. The Soviets led 4-1 at the end of the second and coasted to an 8-2 victory.The Soviet scorers were Vasiliev, Vladimir Krutov, with two, Igor Larionov, Viktor Bykov, Aleksandr Skvortsov, Sergei Makarov, and Vyatcheslav Fetisov.Anderson, with his second goal of the game, scored in the third period.In the first game of the medal round, the loss to Czechoslovakia, Canada failed to put together a cohesive attack and were shaky on defense. They quickly fell behind by two goals and were trailing 5-2 late in the second period.&ldquo;We opened up in that second period and it was probably a bad mistake,&rdquo; said Team Canada coach Dave King. &ldquo;What an understatement, eh? They scored three times.&ldquo;What we had hoped for was a good start. We had trouble sticking to a basic plan, which emphasized team defense, when we had so much ground to make up.&rdquo;Team Canada did rally to make it 5-4 and then called for a stick measurement on a blade that was clearly illegal. But Juhola failed to correctly measure the curve and Canada was assessed a penalty and instead of gaining a two-man advantage, it played five aside with the Czechs.The loss to the Czechs pretty well sealed Team Canada&rsquo;s fate, at least far as a gold or silver medal was concerned.Team Canada regrouped against Sweden and came up with a solid effort to win 3-1. That win guaranteed Canada at least a bronze and had the Swedes beat the Czechs on the final day, the Canucks would have had a shot at the silver or even the gold.Wamsley, who was shaky against the Czechs, turned in a solid effort against the Swedes.&ldquo;The big saves were there in the first period when the guys really needed them,&rdquo; Wamsley said. &ldquo;I figured I owed it to them. I kept them in the thing. And there was one shot I got in the third that I won&rsquo;t forget for a long, long time.&rdquo;That shot came off the stick of Sweden&rsquo;s Mats Naslund, who is a teammate of Wamsley&rsquo;s in Montreal. Naslund ended up with the puck immediately in front of Wamsley and had plenty of time to set up and take his best shot at it.&ldquo;I guess I&rsquo;ve practised with him 150 times,&rdquo; Wamsley said, &ldquo;so this was knowledge against knowledge. After I stoned him, he told me he should have gone upstairs with it. I said that had been what I was looking for, so it wouldn&rsquo;t have helped him.&rdquo;Los Angeles King Charlie Simmer, Washington Capital Dennis Maruk, with the winner, and Marcel Dionne scored for Canada. Sweden&rsquo;s lone goal was scored by Leif Holmgren.Perhaps the best game of the medal round was a superbly-played 1-1 tie between the Czechs and Soviets. But as so often happens, when the tourney was finished, the goals for and against added up and the winner declared, the Soviets were at the top with another gold medal. &#9632;

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Soviet Machine Wins 5th Consecutive Gold

<h2>MEDAL ROUND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02807/4794644-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="520" height="315"></div>(Consolation group includes preliminary round results)GAMES COMPLETEDWed. Apr. 27West Germany 5, Italy 4East Germany 6. Finland 2Thu. Apr. 28Czechoslovakia 5, Canada 4Soviet Union 4. Sweden 0Fri. Apr. 29Finland 4, West Germany 2Italy 3, East Germany 1Sat. Apr. 30Canada 3, Sweden 1Czechoslovakia 1, Soviet Union 1Sun. May 1West Germany 7, East Germany 2Italy 4, Finland 4Mon. May 2Canada 2, Soviet Union 8Czechoslovakia 4, Sweden 1(End of medal round)<h2>PRELIMINARY ROUND</h2>FINAL STANDINGS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03556/4794637-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="518" height="253"></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 0Tue. Apr. 19Soviet Union 8, Canada 2East Germany 3, Italy 1Czechoslovakia 4, Sweden 1West Germany 4, Finland 3Wed. Apr. 20Soviet Union 6, West Germany 0Sweden 5, East Germany 4Thu. Apr. 21Canada 3, Czechoslovakia 1Finland 6, Italy 2Fri. Apr. 22Canada 5, Finland 1West Germany 4, East Germany 3Sat. Apr. 23Soviet Union 5, Czechoslovakia 1Sweden 5, Italy 1Sun. Apr. 24Canada 5, East Germany 2Soviet Union 11, Italy 1Finland 4, Sweden 4Czechoslovakia 3, West Germany 3Mon. Apr. 25Canada 3, West Germany 1East Germany 6, Finland 4Tue. Apr. 26Czechoslovakia 11, Italy 0Soviet Union 5, Sweden 3(End of preliminary round)<h2>ALL-STAR TEAMS</h2>FIRST TEAMGoal, Vladislav Tretiak, Sov.Defense, Alexei Kasatonov, Sov., and Viacheslav Fetisov, Sov.Forwards, Vladimir Krutov, Sov., Igor Larionov, Sov., and Sergei Makharov, Sov.SECOND TEAMGoal, Jiri Kralik, Czech.Defense, Craig Hartsburg, Can., and Paul Reinhart, Can.Forwards, Marcel Dionne, Can., Jiri Lala. Czech., and Andrei Khomutov, Sov. &#9632;

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World Championships

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-07130/4794738-1-eng-US/f0006-072.jpg" title="f0006-07" width="562" height="781"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andy Moog stole the show in the Oilers&rsquo; 3-2 victory over the Black Hawks.</figcaption></div>As this issue went to press. Edmonton Oilers looked to be on their way to their first berth in the Stanley Cup finals. In three games against the Chicago Black Hawks in the Campbell Conference best-of-seven final, the Oilers looked absolutely awesome, winning easily in the first two and playing winning hockey in a tight third game.Meanwhile, in the Wales Conference best-of-seven final, the New York Islanders and Boston Bivins were taking turns beating up on each other. The Isles completely dominated Game One but the Bruins rebounded for a convincing win in Game Two. Back on Long Island for Game Three, the Isles won easily for a 2-1 lead in the series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011279/4794731-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="152" height="135"></div><h2>CHICAGO vs EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02943/4794724-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="151" height="146"></div>Game Two: The Edmonton Oilers unleashed their scoring might for the second straight game as they whipped the Chicago Black Hawks 8-2 to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Campbell Conference final series.Just as they did in the first game, when they romped past the Hawks 8-4, the Oilers overpowered Chicago with their offense, stifled the Hawks on defense and outskated and outplayed them even though Chicago outshot Edmonton 2827. It was simply a case of the Oilers having too much and the Hawks unable to handle it.Sparked by a four-goal performance from Glenn Anderson, who became the third Edmonton player to score four goals in a single game during the 1983 playoffs, the Oilers mounted a 4-2 first-period lead. After being held in check during the goalless middle period, the Oilers erupted for four unanswered goals in the final 20 minutes to turn the game into a rout.Besides Anderson&rsquo;s four goals, Mark Messier chipped in with a hat trick, his third of the playoffs, which is an NHL record.Dave Hunter scored the other Edmonton goal. The Oilers&rsquo; checking line, which includes Hunter, also did another great job of shutting down the Hawks&rsquo; vaunted line of Al Secord, Denis Savard and Steve Larmer. Secord picked up the only point for his line when he helped set up the first Chicago goal by defenseman Bob Murray. Tom Lysiak counted the other Chicago score. The Hawks received a sub-par performance from goalie Murray Bannerman. He was guilty of fanning on at least three easy shots by the Oilers.<h2>Tue. Apr. 26</h2>CHICAGO 2, EDMONTON 8First PeriodChicago 1 &mdash; B. Murray 2 (Secord, Wilson) 2:54.Edmonton 2 &mdash; Messier 12 (Lindstrom, Jackson) 3:58.3 &mdash; Messier 13 (Linseman, Lindstrom) 6:39.Chicago 4 &mdash; Lysiak 6 (Sutter, Wilson) 11:07.Edmonton 5 &mdash; Anderson 4 (Gretzky, Kurri) 11:50.6 &mdash; Anderson 5, 18:15.Penalties &mdash; Hunter (Edm) 9:28; Savard (Chi) 13:45; Huddy (Edm) 14:39; Kurri (Edm) 18:54.Second PeriodNo Scoring.Penalties &mdash; Lysiak (Chi) 0:39.Third PeriodEdmonton 7 &mdash; Hunter 3 (Cote, Hughes) 0:35.8 &mdash; Anderson 6 (Gregg, Gretzky) 8:47.9 &mdash; Messier 14 (Linseman, Lindstrom) 15:09.10 &mdash; Anderson 7 (Kurri) 15:54.Penalty &mdash; Chicago bench (served by Larmer) 13:42.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03618/4794717-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="523" height="115"></div>Attendance: 17,498.(Edmonton leads best-of-seven series 2-0)Game Three: Goaltender Andy Moog stole the show again as the Edmonton Oilers edged the Chicago Black Hawks 3-2 to move to within one game of reaching the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in the club&rsquo;s history.Moog, the hottest goalie to hit the playoffs since Gerry Cheevers backstopped the Boston Bruins to the Cup in 1970, came up with another brilliant performance to frustrate the Hawks for the third straight game and give the Oilers a stranglehold on their best-of-seven series with a 3-0 lead.Moog and Chicago&rsquo;s Tony Esposito engaged in a goaltenders&rsquo; battle through the game with the tiny Edmonton netminder facing 39 shots to record his 10th playoff win.Glenn Anderson provided the winning touch for the Oilers when he connected for the deciding goal at 13:05 of the third period to break a 2-2 tie. It was Anderson&rsquo;s eighth playoff goal and his sixth of the series. Defensemen Charlie Huddy and Don Jackson got the other Edmonton goals.The Hawks, who played their best game of the series, outshooting Edmonton 41-28, still came up short despite their all-out effort. Steve Larmer and Denis Savard scored once each for Chicago.<h2>Sun. May 1</h2>EDMONTON 3, CHICAGO 2First PeriodNo scoring.Penalties &mdash; Gretzky (Edm) 6:21; Hunter (Edm) 16:09.Second PeriodEdmonton 1 &mdash; Huddy 1 (Gretzky, Coffey) 4:18.2&mdash;Jackson 3&mdash; seman, Hunter) 11:52.Penalties&mdash;;Sutter (Chi) 7:52; Preston (Chi) 19:12.Third PeriodChicago 3 &mdash; Larmer 4 (Secord, Savard) 3:49. &rdquo;4 &mdash; Savard 5 (Larmer, Secord) 7:56.Edmonton 5 &mdash; Anderson 8 (Kurri, Gretzky) 13:05.Penalties &mdash; Linseman (Edm) 5:54; Jackson (Edm) 7:48; Fox (Chi) Hunter (Edm) majors, 12-1Q<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1134/4794710-1-eng-US/f0006-112.jpg" title="f0006-11" width="380" height="79"></div>Attendance: 17,512.(Edmonton leads best-of-seven series 3-0)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04410/4794703-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="165" height="153"></div><h2>ISLANDERS vs BOSTON</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05334/4794696-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="140" height="141"></div>Game One: The New York Islanders beat the Boston Bruins at their own game&mdash;forechecking&mdash;as they drew first blood in the Wales Conference final by registering an easy 5-2 victory.The Bruins, who became the NHL&rsquo;s best forechecking team this season, were thwarted by the three-time Stanley Cup champions almost every time they attempted to get something going in the game. &ldquo;Boston&rsquo;s game is forechecking,&rdquo; said veteran Islander winger Bob Nystrom. &ldquo;The best way to counteract that is by forechecking them, to try to force them back into their own end.&rdquo;The Islanders dominated the game for the first two periods as they ran up a 4-0 lead before the Bruins could get untracked and even then it was only for a brief moment. Both the Bruins&rsquo; goals came within a span of 17 seconds in the final period by Barry Pederson, his 11th of the playoffs, and Ray Bourque. The Bruins cut the New York margin to 4-2 and were pressing when Bob Bourne stole the puck from Boston defenseman Brad Park and skated in alone to beat goalie Pete Peeters.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>Tue. Apr. 26</h2>ISLANDERS 5, BOSTON 2First PeriodIslanders 1 &mdash; B. Sutter 5 (Bourne) 3:26.Penalties &mdash; Trottier (NYI), Park (Bos) 4:02; Dufour (Bos) 8:01; Potvin (NYI) 13:08; Fergus (Bos) 16:08.Second PeriodIslanders 2 &mdash; Jonsson 1, 8:42.3 &mdash; Bossy 7 (Potvin, Jonsson) 14:08.4 &mdash; D. Sutter 6 (Bourne, B. Sutter) 15:15.Penalties &mdash; Jonsson (NYI) 3:04; K. Crowder (Bos) 13:02; Goring (NYI) 17:27.Third PeriodBoston 5 &mdash; Pederson 11 (Gillis, Middleton) 5:51.6 &mdash; Bourque 4 (Pederson) 6:08.Islanders 7 &mdash; Bourne 6, 17:27.Penalties &mdash; None.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06238/4794689-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="518" height="115"></div>Attendance: 14,685.(Islanders lead best-of-seven series 1-0)Game Two: Great goaltending, a pair of shorthanded goals and a lot more determination paid off for the Boston Bruins as they defeated the New York Islanders 4-1 to square their best-of-seven Wales Conference final series at 1-1.Pete Peeters, turning in probably his best performance of the playoffs, kicked out 32 of 33 shots the Islanders fired at him.Normally, it is the Islanders who mesmerize the opposition with power play and shorthanded goals. But not this time. The Bruins were the opportunists as Brad Palmer and Barry Pederson scored with Boston players in the penalty box. Mike Krushelnyski scored a powerplay goal just three minutes after the game started and the quick score set the pattern of the play for the Bruins. They managed to stay ahead the rest of the night with Peeters backing them up with a solid effort.Pederson showed the way with his 12th and 13th goals of the playoffs for the Bruins. Rick Middleton assisted on three of the Boston goals to set two club records. He lifted his playoff total to 25 points, two more than Phil Esposito, and his 21 assists bettered Bobby Orr&rsquo;s mark of 20.Defenseman Denis Potvin scored the lone Islander goal on a second-period power play but beyond that the New Yorkers either missed too many good scoring opportunities or were foiled by Peeters<h2>Thu. Apr. 28</h2>ISLANDERS 1, BOSTON 4First PeriodBoston 1 &mdash; Krushelnyski 6 (McNab, Kluzak) 3:05.2 &mdash; Palmer 1 (Middleton) 15:33.Penalties &mdash; Lane (NYI) 1:11; Fergus (Bos) 6:08; 1452; Kluzak (Bos) 18:05; Bossy (NYI) 18:47.Second PeriodIslanders 3 &mdash; Potvin 5 (Trottier, Bossy) 3:57.Boston 4 &mdash; Pederson 12 (Middleton, Kluzak) 16:51.Penalties &mdash; Kluzak (Bos) 2:21; Bossy (NYI) 6:26; Bourne (NYI) 11:22; Park (Bos) 14:52; D. Sutter (NYI), Peeters (Bos) (served by Gillis) 19-58Third PeriodBoston 5 &mdash; Pederson 13 (Middleton, Gillis) 10:15.Penalties &mdash; Kluzak (Bos) 5:39; Nystrom (NYI) 17:19; Nystrom (NYI) major, Melnyk (Bos) major, 19:26.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0873/4794682-1-eng-US/f0006-082.jpg" title="f0006-08" width="513" height="114"></div>Attendance: 14,685.(Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)Game Three: All-star netminder Pete Peeters lost both his touch and his cool as the Boston Bruins were trounced 7-3 by the New York Islanders, who took a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven Wales Conference final series.Peeters, so brilliant in Boston&rsquo;s Game Two victory over the New Yorkers, wasn&rsquo;t sharp as the Islanders poured in three power-play goals and were more opportunistic than the Bruins, despite being outshot 36-26 by Boston.The turning point of the game came in the final period with the Islanders leading 5-3. First, Mike Krushelnyski of Boston was chased to the penalty box at 16:16. Peeters, who had been carrying on a running feud with Duane Sutter of the Islanders, became embroiled with the abrasive Sutter and ended up taking a swing at him that brought on another penalty and left the Bruins vulnerable with two men short with less than four minutes to play. Denis Potvin scored on a power-play goal with Boston down to three defenders and the Islanders went on to score another and win easily.The Islanders had seven different scorers. Bob Nystrom, Brent Sutter, Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier, Ken Morrow, Butch Goring and Potvin all counted once each. Ray Bourque, who was outstanding for Boston, led the Bruins with two goals, his fifth and sixth of the playoffs. Craig MacTavish got the other Boston score.<h2>Sat. Apr. 30</h2>BOSTON 3, ISLANDERS 7First PeriodIslanders 1 &mdash; Nystrom 4 (Goring, Tonelli) 3:00.Boston 2&mdash;MacTavish 1 (Bourque, McNab) 4:28.Islanders 3 &mdash; B. Sutter 6 (D. Sutter, Bourne) 8:29.4 &mdash; Trottier 6 (Bosy, Gillies) 13:14.Penalties &mdash; McNab (Bos) 7:53; Tonelli (NYI) 10:18.Second PeriodBoston 5 &mdash; Bourque 5 (K. Crowder, Pederson) 6:53.Islanders 6 &mdash; Bossy 8 (Trottier, Jonsson) 16:27.Penalties &mdash; Tonelli (NYI) 6:05; Jonsson (NYI) 11:32; B. Crowder (Bos) 14:38.Third PeriodBoston 7 &mdash; Bourque 6, 1:24.Islanders 8 &mdash; Morrow 2 (Bossy, Kallur) 5:06.9 &mdash; Potvin 6 (Jonsson, Bossy) 17:57.10 &mdash; Goring 3 (Tonelli, Jonsson) 19:04.Penalties &mdash; K. Crowder (Bos) major, D. Sutter (NYI) major, 3:26; Potvin (NYI) 8:14; Krushelnyski (Bos) 16:16; Peeters (Bos) (served by Pederson) 16:41.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0951/4794675-1-eng-US/f0006-092.jpg" title="f0006-09" width="513" height="113"></div>Attendance: 15,317.(Islanders lead best-of-seven series 2-1) &#9632;

f0006-07

Awesome Oilers Look Bound For Finals

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-10" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1036/4794769-1-eng-US/f0006-102.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0006-10

NHL Playoff Picture

ONE YEAR AGO, the big talk was how major junior hockey was going to be revolutionized and revitalized, revamped and reworked. It was going to be called the NDL&mdash;National Development League&mdash;and it was going to be the hybrid league of the future. You remember that, don&rsquo;t you?It was a proposition made by some of the folks who operate major junior hockey in Canada. The idea went something like this:The 21 NHL teams would fold all their minor-pro teams in the American, Central, International and Atlantic Coast Leagues, establish 21 feeder teams comprised of 18-to-25-year-olds and operate them out of Canadian cities that already house major junior franchises. The system would be based on direct sponsorship and as an NHL team drafted an 18-year-old, it could place him in its one-team farm system.One could hardly blame the junior operators for exploring alternatives to the conventional set-up. After all, they had just experienced a season that they would never want to repeat.The NHL literally used Canadian major junior hockey as a direct farm system. Time and time again, NHL teams dipped into the juniors, without any regard or respect, instead of going to the minor-pro system. The reason was obvious&mdash;the best NHL prospects were still in junior, not the minor-pro leagues.It was convenient for the NHL teams, but a mess for the junior operators. They never knew from one week to the next whether their star players would be in uniform. Neither did the junior hockey fans, who didn&rsquo;t want to dish out hard-earned dollars and find out the top two or three players on the team just caught a flight for the Big Apple or Toronto.What it basically did was to taint the junior hockey product and that, in turn, got the wise men thinking of some new way to package their product and sell it to the fans. Hence the National Development League.Well, that was a year ago. We are happy to report that the number of call-ups from junior to the NHL have been substantially reduced. Traffic between the NHL and the minor-pro leagues is on the increase again and a look at some of the top rookies this season bears this out.We are, however, unhappy to report that the idea of the NDL is still kicking around, particularly in western Canada, where it was originated.Despite the fact that a degree of sanity has been restored to junior hockey operations across the country and the product is once again on an upward swing, there are still rumblings about changing it all and installing the NDL.That&rsquo;s a mistake. Here&rsquo;s why.Junior hockey is a very special game. It possesses qualities that cannot be related in mere words.It can probably best be described as youthful exuberance. The majority of the players are enthusiastic. In terms of their hockey careers, they still have hope and from this hope springs effort and excitement.Why anybody would want to do away with the very thing that makes junior hockey vibrant is beyond us. As soon as you start putting the 18 and 19-year-olds with 24 and 25-year-olds, something is going to be lost.Just look at the minors. They produce some good hockey, particularly in the American and Central Leagues, but it&rsquo;s just not the same as in junior. Graduating juniors who play in the minors are the first to realize it&mdash;hockey becomes a job&mdash;and this is reflected in their play and way of life.That&rsquo;s one reason for not instituting the NDL. An equally valid reason is for what it would do to minor-pro hockey in the United States. It would, of course, kill it and that&rsquo;s undesirable for a couple of reasons. First, the American League is a shining example of what happens when good hockey cities are given a good product. Second, it&rsquo;s nothing less than foolish to take minor-pro hockey out of the United States and reduce what little foothold our sport has in that country. American-based NHL teams would stand to lose a lot by reducing the number of Americans who have contact with pro hockey, albeit at the minor-league level.Please don&rsquo;t misunderstand. Canadian major junior hockey is far from perfect. Like anything else, it has weaknesses and ills that should be administered to.But that doesn&rsquo;t mean we should kill the patient and try to build a new one from scratch. No, junior hockey is just fine the way it is, thank you, and we&rsquo;re sure it will continue to flourish and survive in what are admittedly uncertain times. &#9632;

Leave It Alone

<div class="byline">BY JIM PROUDFOOT</div>International hockey has undergone some drastic changes in the last decade and columnist Jim Proudfoot, in this article which originally appeared in The Toronto Star, highlights one of these changes.Call them the Gorky St. Bullies. Or the big, bad bears.Always formidable, the Soviet Union&rsquo;s hockey nationals have developed a mean streak lately. They&rsquo;ve begun adding injury to insult. Now their opponents are suffering beyond what registers on the scoreboard.In the old days, the Soviets were always prominent in the running for the Fair Play Cup, awarded to the goodiegoodies, incurring the fewest penalties at the world championships. Today, they&rsquo;re the worst sinners of all. They lead the 1983 tournament in crime with 53 minors and one misconduct for spearing in nine matches. Angelic Team Canada, once the villain of international hockey, has totalled a virtuous 94 minutes.&ldquo;You were always sore after a game with the Russians, but they&rsquo;ve changed,&rdquo; says Marcel Dionne, whose international experience goes back to the summit series of 1972.&ldquo;You&rsquo;d have welts and bruises from all kinds of stickwork at close quarters. The average fan never even knew it was happening and neither did the referees. But now the Russians are a lot more open about what they do. They&rsquo;re like Canadians. They&rsquo;ll retaliate. They&rsquo;ll square off.&rdquo;The best&mdash;or worst, some say&mdash;illustration of the revised Soviet philosophy is defenseman Vacheslav Fetisov, who was an all-star as an 18-year-old rookie at the 1978 championships and had improved steadily since.&ldquo;He punishes people, the way top NHL defensemen do,&rdquo; testifies Dave King, Team Canada&rsquo;s coach. &ldquo;He adds a little something extra to every check he makes.&rdquo;What it comes down to, actually, is that the Soviets are now capable of matching whatever&rsquo;their opponents attempt to do and then beating them with it. Their 1-1 tie with Czhechoslovakia was incredibly fast and the pace never slackened for 60 minutes. They outfought the Swedes in a vicious first-round donnybrook and, 48 hours later, they totally squelched the same outfit with crisp efficiency straight out of a coaching manual.&ldquo;We must be prepared for all possibilities,&rdquo; coach Victor Tikhonov explains. &ldquo;With mostly the same players we attempt to win the gold medal in this tournament, the Olympic championship next February and then the Canada Cup of 1984. In such a series of competitions, we will face many different tests. So we make ouselves ready.&rdquo;Mind you, Tikhonov won&rsquo;t admit his boys do anything more than simply defend themselves with regret. When they lay on the lumber, he seems to be saying, &ldquo;this hurts us more than it does you.&rdquo; But nobody believes the Soviets any more when they profess to be squeaky clean and as pure as the driven snow. Their victims know better.&ldquo;At one time, a Canadian could intimidate a European by growling at him when they went into a corner together,&rdquo; King points out.&ldquo;That edge gradually disappeared. But for a time, we could still win with hitting or what they call grinding in the NHL. That comes from intensity and sheer determination and that&rsquo;s what finally won for us in 1972. We were just too game to be beaten.&ldquo;However, to think we can still succeed in that manner today would be a gross misconception. You have to be aggressive, of course. You have to get right on top of the Soviets. But they&rsquo;re far too strong and nasty to be pushed around.&ldquo;We now must find a way to match them in skills. They&rsquo;ve cancelled out everything else we had going for us. Toughness was the last to go. I&rsquo;m afraid they&rsquo;re tougher than we are now, physically. And they definitely enjoy doing it; you can see it on their faces.&rdquo; &#9632;

The Soviets Are No Longer Mr. Nice Guys

<div class="byline">BY ALLEN ABEL</div>Anyone who has ever heard a hockey general manager, coach or player in a post-game interview knows some of the favorite cliches that are used to describe the game. In the following article, which originally appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail, columnist Allen Abel takes a light-hearted look at some of hockey&rsquo;s great cliches.Settle down, gentlemen. I want to talk to you for a moment.&rdquo;Okay, coach, Okay.&rdquo;&ldquo;Now, you guys know that there&rsquo;s only one way we&rsquo;re going to be able to beat the Russians today.&rdquo;&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that, coach?&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to play our game.&rdquo;&ldquo;Uh, coach. What exactly is our game?&rdquo;&ldquo;You idiots! Our game is not letting them play their game.&rdquo;&ldquo;Right, coach.&rdquo;&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t let them get set up. We can&rsquo;t let them dictate the tempo. WE CAN&rsquo;T LET THEM PLAY THEIR GAME.&rdquo;&ldquo;Uh, coach. What exactly is their game?&rdquo;&ldquo;Their game, you jerks, is not letting us play our game!&rdquo;&ldquo;So if we play our game, they can&rsquo;t play their game. Right, coach?&rdquo;&ldquo;Correct, gentlemen. There&rsquo;s only room out there for one game at a time.&rdquo;&ldquo;How will we know if we&rsquo;re playing our game or they&rsquo;re playing their game?&rdquo;&ldquo;If we&rsquo;re playing our game, gentlemen, then we&rsquo;ll have the momentum.&rdquo;&ldquo;Right, coach.&rdquo;&lsquo;And if we let the Russians start playing their game, then the momentum will shift.&rdquo;&ldquo;How will we know that the momentum has begun to shift?&rdquo;&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll see it moving from upstairs and call me on the headset.&rdquo;&ldquo;Then what will you do?&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll disconnect the earphones. And another thing, gentlemen.&rdquo;&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that, coach?&rdquo;&ldquo;Let me tell you somehting about this hockey team we&rsquo;re playing today. They come to play.&rdquo;&ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t we come to play, too, coach?&rdquo;&ldquo;Of course we did, you fools. What do you think we&rsquo;re here for?&rdquo;&ldquo;But if the Russians come to play and we come to play, then what happens?&rdquo;&ldquo;Whoever gets the breaks will win.&rdquo;&ldquo;Er, I&rsquo;ve got a broken nose, coach. Is that okay?&rdquo;&ldquo;No, no, you dolt! Not that kind of break! The bounces. The chances. The breaks.&rdquo;&ldquo;How will we now if we&rsquo;re getting the breaks, coach?&rdquo;&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t get them, gentlemen. You make them. Everybody knows that you make your own breaks.&rdquo;&ldquo;Make&rsquo; em out of what, coach?&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s inside you, gentlemen. It&rsquo;s in here. You have to want it more than they do.&rdquo;&ldquo;How much do they want it, coach?&rdquo;&ldquo;What difference does that make?&rdquo;&ldquo;Well, we won&rsquo;t be able to want it more than they do unless we know how much they want it. Maybe you could ask them.&rdquo;&ldquo;Are you crazy? I can&rsquo;t just walk in there and snoop around. What if I saw a Russian dressing?&rdquo;&ldquo;Then you could tell us if they put their pants on one leg at a time.&rdquo;&ldquo;Listen, gentlemen. Those Russians are human, just like you. They make mistakes, too.&rdquo;&ldquo;How many mistakes do they make, coach?&rdquo;&ldquo;What?&rdquo;&ldquo;Well, if we knew how many mistakes they were going to make, we could try to make one less.&rdquo;&ldquo;Never mind that, you birdbrains. Look. We haven&rsquo;t got much time and there&rsquo;s one more thing I want to mention. Whenever you go out there, I want you to take the body.&rdquo;&ldquo;Where should we take it, coach?&rdquo;&ldquo;Take what?&rdquo;&ldquo;The body, coach. We&rsquo;ve got to take it somewhere. We couldn&rsquo;t just leave it lying on the ice.&rdquo;&ldquo;Oooooh! Listen, you fatheads. It&rsquo;s time to go out on the ice. Remember: play our game, take the body, make your own breaks and we&rsquo;ll teach those Russians a lesson.&rdquo;&ldquo;There&rsquo;s just one problem, coach.&rdquo;&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing the Swedes.&rdquo; &#9632;

Beating Russians Is Easy: Don’t Play ’Em!

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011215/4794903-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="294" height="346"></div><h2>The Ranger Curses</h2>THE ULTIMATE DEFINITION of failure in the National Hockey League is spelled N-E-W Y-O-R-K R-A-N-G-E-R-S. It has been that way since Studebaker stopped making automobiles.How bad are the Rangers? Simple. They never, ever, win the Stanley Cup. Nobody playing in the NHL now was even born when the Broadway Blueshirts last quaffed champagne out of the silver mug.The Japanese were barely blueprinting battle plans for Pearl Harbour when Bryan Hextail pumped home the Rangers&rsquo; last Cup-winning goal in 1940. That&rsquo;s how long it&rsquo;s been.A year later, America suffered &ldquo;a day that has lived in infamy&rdquo; and since then the Rangers have labored through a lifetime of ignominy. Can you believe that it is now 43 years&mdash;going on 44&mdash;since the Rangers won the Stanley Cup? And now people are starting to talk.Mostly, they are asking &ldquo;how come?&rdquo; For instance, how come such NHL-come-latelies as the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders can follow the Rangers through the turnstiles of time and take titles while the Blueshirts get zippo. Nothing! Goumished, as they say on Seventh Avenue where the Rangers annually flop.Ah, but why? That is the provocative question. Now, at last, I have the absolute explanation: The Rangers are cursed. They are the only genuinely hexed, vexed and nixed team in the NHL. Yes, dear sorcerers, a true blue voodoo is hanging over this unfortunate sextet. At last look the black cloud measured 20 miles long and 100 years wide.Those who know curses best trace the Rangers jinx to an event that took place in June 1946. But, first, a brief flashback so that you may understand the roots of Ranger evil.You see there once was another team in New York called the Americans. They were a poor, loveable bunch of athletes who were forced to disband in 1942 because of wartime manpower shortages. But at war&rsquo;s end the Americans&rsquo; owner, Red Dutton, decided to revive his NHL club and place them in a new $7,000,000 arena he&rsquo;d build in Brooklyn. All Dutton needed was green lights from the NHL and the Rangers.He didn&rsquo;t get the go-ahead. The Rangers turned the idea thumbs-down and the league went along with them. Trent Frayne, now a columnist with the Toronto Sun, once recorded Dutton&rsquo;s farewell after the Ranger-NHL rejection came through. In Frayne&rsquo;s book, The Mad Men of Hockey, Dutton was quoted as saying: &ldquo;Gentlemen, you can stick your franchise up your &hellip;&rdquo; The voodoo was directed at Madison Square Garden.Although Dutton didn&rsquo;t cite chapter and verse, the message was clear&mdash;a lifetime curse was put on the Rangers. And the whammy has held. Even worse, the Curse of Red Dutton has subdivided like an amoeba and multiplied. The hexes, placed end to end, should keep the Rangers from winning another Cup until the year 5,983. But, you may ask, what are these curses?After long and expensive consultation with some of Manhattan&rsquo;s foremost seers, palmists and tea-leaf readers, I bring you the assorted hexes of the New York Rangers.THE CURSE OF CASH: The Rangers spend money like crazy to get the Cup. Always have. It has never worked and never will work. Madison Square Garden&rsquo;s (Gulf and Western Corporation) outpouring of money has bought nothing but jinxes. It was that way in 1948 when the Blueshirts purchased Allan Stanley and it&rsquo;s that way today.Stanley was a terrific minor leaguer who was destined to be a star. He eventually became a star&mdash;but not with the Rangers.He&rsquo;s in The Hockey Hall of Fame&mdash;but not because of what he did on Broadway. He stagnated at Madison Square Garden until the Rangers traded him. Then, the curse was lifted and he became an ace. Allan Stanley earned four Stanley Cup rings between 1962 and 1967. The Rangers got none.Decades later the cash curse continued with all its sinister vigor. In June 1978, MSG unloaded another fortune, this time for those Swedish sensations, Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson. The Scandinavians, Broadway&rsquo;s press corps freely predicted, would at last deliver the Cup. Alas, there is still no Stanley Cup. Meanwhile Nilsson and Hedberg are wealthy&mdash;and Nilsson is washed-up.THE CURSE OF NICE GUYS WRONGED: No team has hurt the ones the fans loved more than the Rangers. The most beloved Ranger was Hall of Famer Frank Boucher. He was canned as GM in 1955 just as he had molded the club&rsquo;s most productive farm system that developed Hall of Famers Gump Worsley, Harry Howell and Andy Bathgate. MSG later broke loveable Camille Henry&rsquo;s heart and they stupidly sent away the second most popular Ranger of all time, Andy Bathgate. No less contemptible on the dumb scale was the deportation of Eddie Giacomin&mdash;do you know how many curses that inspired?&mdash;to Detroit and the forced retirement of Rod Gilbert.THE CURSE OF MANHATTAN, THE ISLE OF JOY: There are more bars, restaurants, singles joints and discos on the Upper East Side of Manhattan than in the entire Dominion of Canada. Every Ranger knows this. Every Ranger coach curses this fact. One would need an encyclopedia to catalogue the Blueshirts who left their game in Studio 54, Xenon or the other glittering nighteries.Were it not for The Curse of Manhattan, The Isle of Joy, the Rangers might have been led to a Stanley Cup this month by a gifted forward named Don Murdoch. At last report Murdoch was attempting a comeback with the Detroit Red Wings. Precisely what Manhattan has done to Murdoch&rsquo;s buddy, Ron Duguay, is a moot point. But this much is certain, when the Rangers were desperately clawing to a playoff finish with the Islanders last month, Duguay&rsquo;s mug was plastered on the social pages of a local tabloid with yet another starlet. Doogie looked as though he was having a wonderful time not thinking about the Stanley Cup. At a time when Ron Duguay should be a superstar, he is looking more and more like Don Murdoch, the cursed Manhattan dude.THE CURSE OF MISMANAGEMENT: When the Rangers traded Brad Park to the Boston Bruins in 1975, cartwheels of joy were executed at Madison Square Garden. Word was circulated that those bumbling Bruins didn&rsquo;t know that Park&rsquo;s pins were weaker than toothpicks at The Stage delicatessen. It was almost sinful, they said, to pull such a fast one on Harry Sinden.So what have we here in 1983? The toothpick-legged Brad Park leading the Bruins to yet another playoff win. Another beauty was the Rangers&rsquo; trading Rick Middleton for Ken Hodge. Ah, but those are old curses. This season there was a new one The Rangers were challenging the Islanders when they tradec defenseman Andre Dore to the St. Louis Blues. At the time Dore was the best defenseman on the team. Ranger players said it was an idiotic move made at a dopey time. It was. In return the Rangers received goalie Glen Hanlon and forward Vaclav Nedo mansky. During the playoffs Nedomansky never got to the battleground, while Hanlon was obliterated by the Islanders What the Rangers needed was a defenseman name Dore. CursesTHE CURSE OF GORDIE HOWE: Hockey&rsquo;s greatest star was supposed to be a Ranger. He came to the Blueshirts&rsquo; training camp when he was 15. Howe was shy and introverted and, at the training table, a veteran Ranger kept taking Gordie&rsquo;s plate away from him. Other Rangers teased him because the kid didn&rsquo;t know how to put on his equipment. Lonely and homesick, Howe eventually fled the Ranger camp. A year later, Mr. Hockey signed with the Red Wings. Can you imagine how many Stanley Cups the Rangers would have won with Gordie Howe? Curses, curses, curses!!!THE CURSE OF MYSTERIOUS INJURIES: What else but a curse can account for the Rangers&rsquo; congenital casualties? How can Barry Beck, the world&rsquo;s perfect physical specimen, get hurt so often? How can a club that employs an aerobics instructor to keep the team healthy fall prey to everything from backaches to tummyaches? Only on the Rangers could a talent such as Don Maloney become incapacitated with what his coach Herb Brooks described as a &ldquo;befuddling virus&rdquo; on the eve of the Rangers&rsquo; two most critical games of the year at playoff time. These injuries didn&rsquo;t develop only in 1983 or 1982. They happen all the time. Ask Jean Ratelie.THE CURSE OF THE CONTEMPTIBLE FANS: &ldquo;The Ranger fans spit on us,&rdquo; said Billy Smith. &ldquo;Some of them are animals,&rdquo; said Bob Bourne. NHL players delight in beating the Rangers if only to gain revenge against the most despicable block of rooters this side of an insane asylum. Not only do out-of-towners loathe Ranger fans (not all of the fans, mind you, but a noticeable minority of them) but New Yorkers do, too.Daily News columnist Mike Lupica says he hates Ranger fans. Lupica&rsquo;s sidekick, Phil Pepe, says Ranger fans should be ashamed of themselves. &ldquo;Their insulting signs, their verbal abuse, their shabby treatment of the visitors discredits the Ranger fans,&rdquo; adds Pepe. Post columnist Jerry Izenberg describes some of them as &ldquo;cases of arrested social development.&rdquo;These Ranger fans curse and curse and, in turn, bring a curse upon their own team. They are so bad that even Herb Brooks mumbles unpleasantries about them.THE CURSE OF THE PATRICKS NOT NAMED LESTER: Lester Patrick was manager of the Rangers when they won all three of their Stanley Cups (1928, 1933, and 1940). In 1948, Lester&rsquo;s son, Lynn, became coach of the Rangers. He was brilliant, like his father. He took an average team to the Stanley Cup finals in 1950 and almost won the marbles. Everyone figured that Lynn would hang around Broadway for a few years and finally win that elusive fourth Cup. But, no, Lynn did the unthinkable. He turned his back on Broadway. He packed his bags after the season and took a job with the despised Boston Bruins. Many Ranger fans cursed him for that.In 1980, Lester&rsquo;s grandson and Lynn&rsquo;s son, Craig, was named GM of the Rangers. It has been said Craig would not have obtained the job if his name had been Hart, Schaffner or Marx. Being Lester&rsquo;s grandson didn&rsquo;t hurt. What everyone with a sense of history is worried about is what happens if Craig ever takes the Rangers to the seventh game of the finals? Will he then go to Boston the following year?THE CURSE OF THE BLOCKBUSTER TRADE: Every once in a while the Rangers make a humungous trade that &ldquo;guarantees&rdquo; a Cup championship. They thought they had it when Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais came to New York. Zilch! When they traded a bunch of guys for Barry Beck in 1979-80, it was Freddie Shero who proclaimed it was the biggest trade since Toronto traded Max Bentley for five players. The difference was that Bentley won three Stanley Cups for the Maple Leafs; Beck&rsquo;s most significant contribution so far has been modelling skimpy underwear. &#9632;

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ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;The Canucks may have made an early exit from the playoffs , but for rookie general manager Harry Neale, it may be a mixed blessing in an excellent disguise. He&rsquo;s got quite a lot of work to do if the players&rsquo; contract situation is any indication.Not counting Doug Hal ward, who has agreed to a new deal calling for two years and an option, and Richard Brodeur, who will become the Canucks&rsquo; highest paid player, he has 17 players going into their option year. On top of that, he has a couple who will be free agents on June 1, one of which the club intends to let go with nothing more than a goodbye.That is Blair MacDonald, the veteran right winger who made excellent money for playing in Fredericton of the American League and who now, by all accounts, intends to further his career in Europe. Then there is the case of Mark Kirton, who would have been free with compensation owing, but a player that the coaches and general manager were impressed by.Kirton&rsquo;s agent, Bill Watters, thinks he may be able to pry two years and an option out of Neale for Kirton, and judging by the way he played down the stretch for the Canucks, the Toronto agent may be right.But the biggest problem is that the majority of the roster is heading into its option year, with several of the key members of the team not so sure they will be made genuine offers.Lars Lindgren, for one, thinks it isn&rsquo;t such a good situation.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not worried so much about everyone else, I have only to worry about myself as far as a contract goes,&rdquo; said the big Swede, who when on form is the best defenseman the Canucks have ever had. &ldquo;I would like a longer term contract, but at my age I certainly can&rsquo;t expect to get something like five years. That would be too much. But my knee is fine, getting stronger all the time, and I&rsquo;m far too young to retire.&rdquo;Lindgren hurt his knee in the latter stages of the regular season and returned in time for the final stretch run and playoffs, but appeared to be having some problems with his mobility. Neale just might want to take another look at him next training camp just to make sure he&rsquo;s not getting himself into trouble.Harold Snepsts is another player in limbo. He&rsquo;s going into his option year next season, his name synonymous with the Canuck organization.&ldquo;You look around our dressing room and just about everybody you see is going into his option year,&rdquo; said Snepsts, who elected to renegotiate his contract during the year, when just about everything that could go wrong did. He tore his hamstring before training camp, nearly lost an eye to Paul McLean&rsquo;s skate, then had back problems, in which it was learned that he has a degenerative problem there. Now Neale is not so anxious to tie up the big defender for too many more years.&ldquo;You can look at the way Doug Halward played this year and you would have to think that Harry (Neale) is in the driver&rsquo;s seat,&rdquo; said Snepsts. &ldquo;A guy has got to play hard if he wants a contract. But I don&rsquo;t know how many guys will be in that situation when we come to camp.&rdquo;For his part, Neale plans to work his way through the people one-by-one and make each decision based on the situation and age of the player involved. &#9632;

Canucks’ Neale Facing Busy Off-Season

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div>QUEBEC&mdash;Every athlete experiences that cerebral moment when the body stops performing with the same zeal and effort it once did. In some cases, the cause is due to injuries; in others age is the crippling killer.For years, Andre (Moose) Dupont established himself as a competent rearguard in the National Hockey League. But a few days after Quebec was eliminated from the 1983 Stanley Cup playoffs in four games by Boston Bruins, Dupont made his decision and announced his retirement as an active player.Dupont played his last three seasons in Quebec City after the Nordiques picked him up from the Philadelphia Flyers in 1980 for a seventh-round pick in the 1981 entry draft. Quebec needed some experience at the blueline and Dupont was the right man at the right time to fill that void. A year later he was chosen captain of the Quebec squad.He has always been good with the press in Quebec, never hiding after a loss or a disappointing performance, and always ready to do whatever he could to help the Nordiques to victory.&ldquo;I always said that if it ever came to be that I could not give 100 per cent consistently on the ice then it would be time to quit,&rdquo; said Dupont. &ldquo;That time has come and even if it is very hard to quit after 15 years as a pro, it is now time to devote a little more attention to my wife and family. They have certainly backed me up throughout my career.&ldquo;All good things must eventually end, but I can say that I have been quite lucky in my career. I had the chance to play for winning teams and I never had a serious injury. My best memories will be my two Stanley Cup championships with Philadelphia, but I will also have good memories of playing in Quebec. The Nordiques are a very fast team and my only regret is that I could not try that style when I was still only 25-years-old.&rdquo;Dupont, who&rsquo;ll turn 34 on July 27, missed about 30 games in 1982-83 with back problems and with the Nordiques cleaning house, it was apparent the veteran player would be deleted from the roster. But at the press conference announcing his retirement, Dupont was praised by both his GM and coach.&ldquo;When we got him he was the best player available and we knew that his experience would be an asset to our young defense,&rdquo; said Nordique GM Maurice Filion. &ldquo;He did all that we asked him to do and I want to publicly thank him for his efforts. I wish him the best of luck in his new plans.&rdquo;Those plans might well include a job as coach of the Trois Rivieres Draveurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. That was the same team Nordique coach Michel Bergeron once piloted and it is Dupont&rsquo;s home town.&ldquo;I know that he is interested and that he wants to stay in hockey,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;He would be a great help for the Draveurs. He has always been a winner wherever he has played. He has great experience as a player and he learned a lot being team captain with the Nordiques. He is disciplined and he is a natural leader.&rdquo;NORDIC NOTES&mdash;The Nordiques plan to have more games than ever on local TV next season. In addition to at least 12 games on pay TV, a local station will do about 30 games. The pay TV market is new in Quebec and offers interesting possibilities to the team in relation to marketing&hellip;Team president Marcel Aubut recently talked about the chances of getting more players from Europe, especially Czechoslovakia: &ldquo;We have never given up on the possibility of getting more Czech players, except that it is so much harder now than before. That is why we don&rsquo;t talk about it too much. We also know that if we want to improve our team as much as we have in recent years, thereby saving on the number of years it takes to build a competitor, we will have to get more players like the Stastnys&rdquo;&hellip; Rumors involving a deal with the North Stars, who own the National Hockey League&rsquo;s first choice overall in the June entry draft, to land Pat Lafontaine for Michel Goulet or the likes continue in Quebec. &ldquo;I got in touch with the North Stars and we talked about the draft choice,&rdquo; says Filion. &ldquo;You can be sure that I made a serious offer.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011258/4794958-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="557" height="733"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andre Dupont is hoping to continue his involvement in hockey by coaching.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-01

Dupont Aiming To Be A Coach

<div class="byline">BY JOE FALLS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02987/4794989-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="294" height="343"></div><h2>Those Dull Minds</h2>QUESTION: IS THE hockey season to long?Answer: Nope.It&rsquo;s like Red Smith said about baseball&mdash;&ldquo;The only people who think baseball is dull are people with dull minds.&rdquo; If these Stanley Cup playoffs don&rsquo;t turn you on, then hockey isn&rsquo;t your sport.What amuses me is how the quality of play seems to improve with each round. The first round is better than anything you see in the regular season because there is a sense of urgency to all of the games. Nobody can afford any mistakes.The quarter-finals are better than the first round, the semis better than the quarters&mdash;and, finally, the championship round is like going to heaven (except, of course, when the Islanders play the Vancouver Canucks).What I&rsquo;m saying is this: hockey always catches it for extending its season into the middle of May and sometimes later.It does seem strange to see them still skating while everything around you is beginning to bloom.The knock is that it is rather silly to play an entire season to eliminate five teams from a 21-team league. You hear this charge over and over and it comes from people who either don&rsquo;t understand the game of hockey or the matter of business.First of all, the Stanley Cup playoffs may be the greatest competition of our time. Not only do you have to be good against good teams, you have to be good over an extended period of time. To win the Cup, you have to win a minimum of 15 games and it&rsquo;s possible to play 26 games before you can get there. I like that a lot.From a financial standpoint, how can you knock it when you can&rsquo;t find an empty seat anywhere. Isn&rsquo;t that what they&rsquo;re in business for anyway? They&rsquo;re there for the same reason you go to your own job&mdash;to earn a living.<h2>No Arm-Twisting</h2>NOBODY FORCES THE fans to come out. Just take a look at some of these TV pictures. Do those people look as if they&rsquo;re not enjoying themselves? Even at $25 a ticket, they would be no place else in the world but in the place where their team is winning a Stanley Cup game.Of all sports, I find hockey the most fun and&mdash;when it&rsquo;s played right&mdash;the most exciting.So let&rsquo;s have a little fun:LATE-SEASON LISTS:Goalkeepers who sound like bull fighters&mdash;Cesare Maniago, Richard Sevigny, Corrado Micalef.Botanical best&mdash;Guy Lafleur, Boston Garden, Jacques Plante.Shots&mdash;Slap, wrist, Cutty Sark.Old-time power plays&mdash;-Orr and Espo, Bloom Bloom and The Rocket, Russia vs. Afghanistan.Blues&mdash;End, Broadway, Hill Street.Hookers&mdash;Bugsy Watson, Dave Schultz, Xaviera Hollander.Gardens&mdash;Maple Leaf, Madison Square and Babylon.Eh&rsquo;s&mdash;Messier, Trottier and Coumoyer.Great first names&mdash;Pentti Lund, Ebeneser Goodfellow, Gump Worsley.Smith Brothers&mdash;Hooley, Snuffy, Dallas.Jacques&mdash;Lemaire, Richard, Strap.Great first and second names&mdash;Jocelyn Guevremont, Gaston Gingras, Miroslav Frycer.Lets have breakfast with&mdash;Bun Cook, Paul Coffey, Sugar Jim Henry.Anatomy line&mdash;Too Blake, Bones Raleigh, Orland Kurtenback.Flying Frenchmen&mdash;Jacques Laperriere, Dollard St. Laurent, Bob Gainey.One of a kind&mdash;Dit, Fats, Newsy.Rockets&mdash;The Pocket, Red Glare.Checks&mdash;Back, fore, Vaclav Nedomansky.<h2>Some New Ideas</h2>WHAT THE GAME NEEDS:Square pucks that won&rsquo;t roll off the sticks.Defensmen in dresses to cut down on the fighting.One more Howie Morenz.Ladies Day.A comeback by the Montreal Macaroons.A team in Brooklyn.A team in Detroit.Two Wayne Gretzkys.30-cent balcony seats.More balconies.Another series in Moscow Square Garden.Bobby Orr one more time.Gladys Gooding at the organ.Apps, Drillon and Davidson.Tees for the slapshots.Karate lessons for the linesmen.A shot clock for the Pittsburgh Penguins.A blindfold and cigarette for Gilles Gilbert.More young writers like Steve Simmons.Sauerkraut on the hot dogs.An oldtimer&rsquo;s game on the eve of the All-Star game. More 2-1 scores. &#9632;

f0010-02

HOCKEY CORNER

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;So long, Serge, mon ami. Welcome, Barry, ol&rsquo; buddy.Gone is Serge Savard, L&rsquo;Ancien Senateur and &lsquo;Minister of Defense&rsquo; for the Winnipeg Jets.Exercising good judgment, the Montreal Canadiens went west to find their next GM, a native son. Flattered, Savard welcomed the offer.But before Savard could leave town for his Montreal press conference, the Jets made a bold effort to fill the void. To the surprise of some, including coach Tom Watt. 34-year-old Barry Long was hired as an assistant coach.The resulting announcement was one more source of aggravation in the strained relations between Watt and GM John Ferguson.&ldquo;Last week we had a meeting to discuss the year in review,&rdquo; said Watt. &ldquo;He (Ferguson) said he wants Barry to become more involved. I welcomed the idea, saying I thought he could do a lot more work for us pre-scouting games.&ldquo;We left it at that. At no times were the words assistant coach ever mentioned. I have to admit it took me back when I heard the announcement.&rdquo;Ferguson insists he informed Watt of his plans &ldquo;in the event we lost Serge.&ldquo;Tom Watt was aware of what our intentions were,&rdquo; said Ferguson. &ldquo;My scouting staff and I agree more individual teaching is needed with the defensemen. There is no misunderstanding.&rdquo;As compensation, it is believed the Jets received a second-round draft choice, plus the money they paid the Canadiens to buy out his contract two years ago. As much as $200,000 could be involved.&ldquo;We believe the arrangement we made is fair,&rdquo; said Ferguson. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry to be losing Serge. He helped us considerably. He went into every game expecting we would win. We&rsquo;ll miss him.&rdquo;Savard played 123 games with the Jets, spanning one-and-a-half seasons. One of those games&mdash;the 83rd&mdash;was his 1,000th in the National Hockey League. However, the highlight of his career, undoubtedly, were the eight Stanley Cups he won during his 14 years as a member of the Canadiens.The Jets were looking forward to yet another season with Savard in the lineup. Team president Barry Shenkarow. Ferguson. Watt and teammates alike encouraged him to return. He could have been convinced.But everyone knew a chance to become the Canadiens&rsquo; GM would quickly sway his mind. He has the business acumen, the energy, respect and knowledge of the game and its people to be a success.Savard kept a low-key presence in the dressing room. He was always a voice of reason, a source of copy for newsmen in two languages. He saw dimensions of the game others could not see. Yet he was as friendly with the kids as he was with the veterans.&ldquo;He did a wonderful job working with the young players,&rdquo; said Ferguson.During his stay, Dave Babych, who played in the all-star game this season, and Tim Watters, who&rsquo;s playing for Team Canada in the World Championships, benefitted immensely.Teammates marvelled at his enthusiasm for the games after so many years. Young legs and strong arms posed a challenge night after night but he prevailed, mostly because of his excessively long reach and his unparallelled understanding of what was happening.The void he leaves will be filled by Long who oddly enough, was succeeded by Savard after a career-ending deterioration of his right hand.Regarding his appointment and the resulting conflict between the GM and coach. Long said: &ldquo;Tom and I get along very well. He is the coach. I&rsquo;m just an added assistant. I&rsquo;m sorry if there has been a lack of communication. But it&rsquo;s no big deal.&rdquo; &#9632;

Jets Lose Savard; Hire Asst. Coach

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER AND THN STAFF</div>Resentment between the Devils and Red Wings continues to percolate. Detroit GM Jimmy Devellano phoned to protect a Devils&rsquo; charge that the Wings got the worst of the Dwight Foster deal. &ldquo;They (the Devils) are trying to give the impression that we&rsquo;re paying $300,000-a-year to Foster. We&rsquo;re paying $l00,000-a-year,&rdquo; Devellano tells BLUELINES. Jimmy D. adds he was satisfied with Foster&rsquo;s 17 goals in 58 games and adds his salary is below the NHL average. Devil GM-coach Billy MacMillan and Devellano, once colleagues on the Islander high command, seem more far apart than ever&hellip;Among the unprinted Ranger gripes filtering about Madison Square Garden concerning the playoffs are: Robbie Ftorek was unhappy with fourth-line status; Reijo Ruotsalainen resented being used as a forward and Ron Duguay was distressed about not going enough ice time&hellip;One of Lou Nanne&rsquo;s friends confides the North Star GM better re-evaluate his impact on the hockey club. &ldquo;Right now,&rdquo; the man says, &ldquo;the image of the North Stars is Lou Nanne, whereas his players have no identity. That could be Louie&rsquo;s fatal flaw.&rdquo;&hellip;One of the principal gripes St. Louis promoters had against Ralston Purina was RP&rsquo;s insistence on charging local investors more than the $2,200,000 book value of the Blues. &ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said one potential Blues investor, &ldquo;should we pay another company more than the book value when we were prepared to keep the team in St. Louis?&rdquo;&hellip;Those inside the NHL&rsquo;s hierarchy are extremely pleased with the Devils&rsquo; appointment of Bob Butera as club prexy. &ldquo;It was,&rdquo; says one league biggie, &ldquo;a brilliant move.&rdquo;Roger Crozier&rsquo;s name is being bruited about as a GM possibility for an NHL opening&hellip;If King GM George Maguire is moved upstairs&mdash;or retires&mdash;the buzz is boss Jerry Buss would look favorably on Phil Esposito as the next King manager&hellip; Sports Illustrated is researching a piece on NHL union boss Al Eagleson. If early rumblings on the article are a I barometer, it will be must-reading for everyone on the hockey beat-&hellip;Saskatoon Star-Phoenix sports editor John Cherneski tells BLUELINES that he, personally, is being more cautious about celebrating his city&rsquo;s potential acquistion of the Blues&hellip;Roger Neilson says the best I way to compare Soviet and NHL hockey is to have the top teams meet from each league. &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; adds Neilson, &ldquo;the sixth-place teams, the 12th place teams and then the 21st. I suspect all the NHL teams would win, certainly the 12th and 21st&rdquo;&hellip;Before driving back to Minnesota, Herb Brooks kidded: &ldquo;My main problem over the summer will be to see if my I wife can take me for an extended period of time&rdquo;&hellip;Ranger players received going-away gifts&mdash;boy and girl Smurf dolls from the manufacturer.The Whaler press conference announcing the hiring of Emile (The Cat) Francis as Hartford hockey czar is imminent. Newsmen have been researching The Cat&rsquo;s background for weeks in anticipation of the appointment&hellip; Now that John Davidson&rsquo;s goaltending career is apparently over he is causing concern at Madison Square Garden. JD is being wooed for TV work by both Hockey Night in Canada and the rival Devils. A Ranger insiders tips BLUELINES that he&rsquo;ll recommend that MSG Network not I allow Davidson to drift across the Hudson and work for the New Jerseyites. But JD may not want to wait too long for the Garden people to decide on what&mdash;if any&mdash;role he has with the Ranger broadcasts&hellip; Reports I that George Steinbrenner is interested in buying the Rangers, Knicks and the Garden have been reinforced by the Yankee boss&rsquo; appearance at the I recent Ranger-Islander playoff games. In addition, MSG honcho Sonny Werblin was Steinbrenner&rsquo;s guest at the Yankees&rsquo; opening day&hellip;Sentiment has grown stronger that Sentiment has grown Lou Nanne will select Rhode Island high; school ace Brian Lawton as his (and the NHL&rsquo;s) first pick in the junior draft, although a rumor has Nanne trading that pick to the Nordiques, who I would surely select Pat Lafontaine, the scoring sensation in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. To get Lafontaine, the Nordiques would have to offer a pretty package and Nanne is coveting Peter Stastny&hellip;A I somewhat bitter Bobby Hull appeared on the USA Network&rsquo;s Sports Probe with host Larry Merchant and snapped: &ldquo;Some coaches couldn&rsquo;t coach a I dog out of a storm with a T-bone steak!&rdquo;&hellip;Jets have trained their sights on the U.S. college hockey scene and own the rights to 13 American collegians. Winnipeg birddogs are particularly impressed with David Ellett, a 19-year-old defenseman at Bowling Green University. Jets regard him as a definite NHLer.John Ogrodnick received the highest grade (A-) and Mark Osborne the lowest (F) on Detroit hockey journalist Mike Lyster&rsquo;s report card. The Ogrodnick evaluation reads: &ldquo;Clearly the best all-round player on the Wings.&rdquo; Osborne&rsquo;s says: &ldquo;One of the biggest disappointments in the NHL&rdquo;&hellip;Ranger GM Craig Patrick is still hot on the heels of potential Olympian James Patrick, who played defense for Team Canada in the World Championships. Craig, who is no relation to James, says the youngster is mistaken if he thinks he&rsquo;ll move directly from the 1984 Olympic team to the Ranger roster. Craig is trying to persuade James to d make his move to the Rangers now, but James feels he&rsquo;ll be better off in the long run&mdash;both in terms of his bargaining position and his skill level&mdash;if he plays in the Olympics&hellip; Former Canadien Ken Dryden was rebuffed in his I bid to be Canada&rsquo;s Freedom of Information commissioner&hellip;Montreal&rsquo;s I Calder Cup candidate Mats Naslund predicts the Black Hawks&rsquo; Steve Larmer will get the Rookie of the Year prize, followed by Phil Housley of Buffalo.Word from the World Championships in West Germany is that the New 3 Jersey Devils&rsquo; Tapio Levo will stay in his native Finland this fall and the fl Philadelphia Flyers may not re-sign Czech defenseman Miroslav Dvorak. &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY GARY MUELLER</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;There are those among hockey&rsquo;s detractors who protest the sport is too much like a sideshow, with the ugly spectre of intimidation and fighting taking away from the game&rsquo;s mixture of grace, speed and skill.The only thing missing, these detractors say. is a carnival barker.If that&rsquo;s the case, then the St. Louis Blues have become the first complete team in the history of hockey. They have a carnival barker. The only question is whether they have a team.In the best &ldquo;&hellip;and where she stops, no one knows&rdquo; fashion, Vincent C. Schoemehl, Jr., mayor of the city of St. Louis, has kept the carnival going just when it looked as though the Blues were signed, sealed and delivered for Saskatoon.Two days after Ralston Purina Co., owner of the Blues, announced it signed final sale agreement papers selling the team to Coliseum Holdings Ltd. of Saskatoon, Schoemehl called a press conference and said his group of St. Louis investors made a bid to purchase the Blues and keep the team in St. Louis.The immediate response, of course, was: &ldquo;Where have you been, Vince?&rdquo;But the meaningful response, as far as the future of the beleagured franchise is concerned, is whether this is merely a case of too little, too late.The strategy is simple. By putting an offer officially on the table&mdash;even if it is for only $3 million&mdash;it gives the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Board of Governors an alternative to consider when it meets to decide whether to approve the transfer of the franchise to Saskatoon.Schoemehl and the St. Louis investors are betting the NHL will risk legal action and turn down the Saskatoon bid, thus forcing Ralston Purina to accept the St. Louis offer.Of course, there remains considerable question concerning the strength of the St. Louis offer. Supposedly, the local investors made a similar offer on March 15, but it was later revealed the offer really consisted only of a letter of intent and the group never came up with the financial backing to support the letter of intent.Schoemehl said the missing backing came forward only after Ralston Purina signed the papers with Coliseum Holdings, because the signing drove home the &ldquo;sense of urgency&rdquo; that existed in the case.When the Ralston-Coliseum signing was announced, the reaction among the Blues&rsquo; players was unanimously negative. Even Bernie Federko, a Saskatchewan native who formerly starred for the Blades, was less than thrilled.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very sad to leave here,&rdquo; Federko said from his home in St. Louis County. &ldquo;Everyone on the team is upset because we&rsquo;ve all come to love St. Louis. This is a great city and it&rsquo;s been my home for seven years.&ldquo;But at least for me, I&rsquo;m going somewhere where I know the city and I know the people. I haven&rsquo;t forgotten where I come from and I love Saskatoon, but it&rsquo;s not going to be St. Louis. It&rsquo;s not as big, the housing&rsquo;s not the same and the weather&rsquo;s not the same. But if we have to move, I&rsquo;d rather be going home than to Labrador or Saint John, New Brunswick.&rdquo;Another Saskatchewan native who was less than eager to move to Saskatoon was St. Louis president-GM Emile Francis, who grew up in North Battleford.&ldquo;It looks like the deal is done,&rdquo; said Francis when he learned of the sale agreement. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel very happy, I&rsquo;ll tell you that. I&rsquo;m just sick.&ldquo;The best memory for me is seeing the building (the Checkerdome) when it&rsquo;s packed. You give them a winning team and there&rsquo;ll be 18,000 there, but even through the worst times, you knew you had 12,000 of the most loyal fans you could ever want. You couldn&rsquo;t get a better group of 12,000 hard-core hockey fans than we have in St. Louis, but that&rsquo;s not enough. The corporate interest needed to keep the team here just doesn&rsquo;t exist.&rdquo;Bill Hunter, head of the Saskatoon group and a longtime friend of Francis, said he would want Emile to come to Saskatoon with the team, but Francis declined to say whether he&rsquo;d accept that offer.&ldquo;The only thing I can tell you is that I&rsquo;ll definitely stay in the hockey business,&rdquo; said Francis. &ldquo;If I would take another job, I would want to do so before the entry draft (June 8), so I could get started right away. And I&rsquo;m sure if the Saskatoon people want to bring in then-own man, they&rsquo;ll want to do it before the draft, too.&rdquo;The speculation that Francis would be the man to take control of the Hartford Whalers continued, but Francis declined to discuss it.Meanwhile, Hunter was asked what he thought about the belated offer put forward in St. Louis by Schoemehl.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011231/4795099-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="562" height="1117"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bernie Federko grew up in Saskatchewan, but would prefer to play in St. Louis.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We have bought the Blues,&rdquo; said Hunter. &ldquo;The documents are signed. We will not comment on the ridiculous.&rdquo;&hellip;and where she stops, no one knows.BLUENOTES&mdash;At last there&rsquo;s a Sutter girl! Judy Sutter, wife of the Blues&rsquo; captain Brian Sutter, gave birth to a baby girl on April 21&mdash;the first girl born in the Sutter family in three generations. Six of the seven Sutter brothers, of course, are under contract to NHL teams and Brian and Judy Sutter&rsquo;s first child also was a boy&mdash;Shaun, who&rsquo;s now three&hellip;Center Mike Zuke underwent surgery to correct a chronic shoulder problem that has hampered him the last two years. The surgery was termed successful and Zuke is expected to be at full strength in time for the 1983-84 season. &#9632;

f0012-01

Circus Atmosphere Surrounds Blue Saga

<div class="byline">BY STEVE SIMMONS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021041/4795130-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="299" height="346"></div><h2>Eyes Of A Dreamer</h2>ON THE 10TH floor of the tallest building in Saskatoon, a Canadian living out an American dream stares out his window.He does not see the empty field down the road, the human eye visualizes; he sees a coliseum, a palace of ice. He does not see obstacles; he sees only what he believes or what he wants to believe.This will be, the dreamer says, the greatest story in the history of Canadian sports.&ldquo;Not since Conn Smythe built Maple Leafs Gardens and the Maple Leafs has anything like this happened,&rdquo; he said.It hasn&rsquo;t happened yet.The NHL in Saskatoon? It&rsquo;s the impossible dream. The improbable dream: It is Bill Hunter&rsquo;s life.He is in search of that last major score, in a lifetime of so many scores. It is his last hurrah. A rare chance for immortality.All that stands between the transfer of the St. Louis Blues to Saskatoon is approval of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Board of Governors. This is the unlikeliest of sporting stories, in the unlikeliest of the locals, but not with an unlikely hero.This is Bill Hunter, William Dickenson Hunter, Wild Bill Hunter, both messiah and master salesman, prophet and performer. This is Bill Hunter, who started the World Hockey Association and was to the first to perpetuate merger talks. This is Bill Hunter, who built the Edmonton Oilers, founded the World Hockey Association, this is the man who does not know how or when to quit, nor does he accept such principles.This is Bill Hunter, outlandish yet dependable. He will predict the wild, then follow through with his prediction, that is his history.The comparisons between his newest project and his greatest are worth noting. No one gave him much of a chance when he founded the WHA. The biggest difference between then and now is Edmonton was skeptical about the Oilers; Saskatchewan&mdash;the entire province&mdash;is ecstatic about the Blues.&ldquo;That is why I know this can work,&rdquo; Hunter says.<h2>Man Of Magnitude</h2>THERE IS A magnetism to the man that is not lost when he lifts his coffee and you see his hands shake. There is still assurance there. There is something unique&mdash;something unexplainable&mdash;that makes one believe every word he says, however rehearsed or implausible the words may sound.He was laughed at when he began on this trail more than a year ago. Today, in some places he is still being laughed at. Yet the Blues are only an asterisk and so many unanswered questions from becoming a franchise in this province that has produced many NHLers, including the greatest one of them all, Gordie Howe.Hunter and his group, all Saskatchewan businessmen, have already purchased the Blues from Ralston Purina, but the sale is conditional, subject to transfer approval by the league.Thus far, there have been 18,400 season ticket requests for an unbuilt building that will seat just 18,000. Construction has not began, nor will it, until approval is received. The government of Saskatchewan has insured the mortgage up to $2O-million.&ldquo;Edmonton,&rdquo; he says with some pride, &ldquo;has led the NHL in attendance since it entered the league.&ldquo;I fully expect Saskatchewan to do the same.&rdquo;More difficult than selling tickets or building a coliseum in four months may be receiving approval from the NHL. The NHL has always been a slow-moving group that does not deal well with change. St. Louis was once a proud franchise: It does not want to lose it.<h2>League Heavyweights</h2>THOSE FAMILIAR WITH the inner workings of the league&rsquo;s hierarchy know owner Chicago William Wirtz and Philadelphia&rsquo;s Ed Snider are the heavyweights when it comes to league decisions, but Hunters says no lobbying will be done.&ldquo;Our approach to this is we are not going to do any talking to any member of the NHL unless it&rsquo;s done face to face,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We have made no comment on any of the supposed comments from league officials, which I find hard to believe. We&rsquo;ll do our talking when we go before the board. There will be no back-room politicking.&ldquo;We fully expect 100 per cent approval from the intelligent people on the board. When they see our dramatic presentation, a presentation like nothing they&rsquo;ve ever seen before, they&rsquo;ll have no choice other than to accept us.&rdquo;This is the end of the line for Bill Hunter, who will not reveal his age, although he is rumored to be in the 60s. This is Hunter&rsquo;s last stand, his greatest, too.If he can pull this off, somehow, he will become the hero in this province that he should have become in Edmonton.There is more to it than dreams. He has raised a tangible $6O-million for an arena and a hockey team, when those in St. Louis could only raise $3-million in cash. He fought the obstacles, losing his No. 1 money man, Peter Batoni of Edmonton, midway through this project.It is the end of a day for Bill Hunter when he follows a photographer to the concourse of a mall to have his picture taken in front of a model of the coliseum. More than anything else, the smile of Hunter&rsquo;s face tells the whole story.&ldquo;It must be true,&rdquo; a woman with a shopping bag shrieks. &ldquo;The deal with the Blues must be finalized. I can&rsquo;t believe it. We&rsquo;ve got the Blues.&rdquo;&ldquo;Not yet, league approval will determine that,&rdquo; Hunter says. &ldquo;But that will come soon.&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t worry, that will come soon.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-02

THE WESTERN WORD

<div class="byline">BY RON OLSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011172/4795161-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Since its inception into the Western Hockey League, the Portland Winter Hawks&rsquo; junior hockey franchise has spawned a plethora of National Hockey League stars. One of the brightest of those stars is Winnipeg Jet all-star defenseman David Babych.</figcaption></div>Many people have found their way to Portland with a product to sell, but few have had to make more of a sales pitch than Brian Shaw, president-GM of the Portland Winter Hawks.In the summer of 1976, Shaw had his work cut out. He brought an entourage from Edmonton, Alta., to set up a new home in Portland, thus becoming the first major junior hockey operation to depart Canada for the uncharted waters of the United States.It was a bold move&mdash;a gamble, to be sure&mdash;but Shaw had an unyielding faith in his master plan. Looking over the past seven seasons, it&rsquo;s hard to argue with the man.In seven seasons, Shaw has transformed an unstable franchise unable to rival the then World Hockey Association Edmonton Oilers in 1975-76 into one of the most successful major junior hockey operations&mdash;if not the most successful&mdash;in North America.I Establishing credibility was Shaw&rsquo;s biggest hurdle. Portland hockey fans were accustomed to the style of play of the old Western Hockey League in the 1960s and early &rsquo;70s. The Portland Buckaroos, featuring the likes of Art Jones, Connie Madigan, Andy Hebenton and the Schmautz brothers, Arnie and Cliff, were heroes in Portland.Then Shaw came along with his group of scruffy-haired teenagers, whose style lacked finesse. However, what this &ldquo;new&rdquo; game lacked in polish, it more than made up for with energy, enthusiasm and raw talent.Portland hockey fans, at first, were tentative to jump immediately on the bandwagon. The Winter Hawks attracted an average of 3,457 spectators during the maiden 1976-77 WHL season and managed to qualify for the playoffs, the first of seven straight post-season appearances.Through the years, crowds have picked up and this season hit an all-time high of 210,053 for an average of 5,835 for 36 home dates. In the first seven games of home playoff appearances in Memorial Coliseum this season, the Winter Hawks have drawn 6,119 fans per game.What are the reasons for Shaw&rsquo;s success?Two primary ingredients are the Winter Hawk scouting staff and versatile coach Ken Hodge.Portland scouts have provided a steady flow of hockey talent that has enabled the franchise to win the regular-season West Division championship five of the last six seasons.Forty-one Winter Hawks have been drafted by National Hockey League clubs and at the end of the 1982-83 season, 10 of them were on NHL rosters. In the last five drafts, Portland has had at least one first-round pick and in the last six drafts, 10 Winter Hawks have gone in the first round and another nine in the second i round.Winter Hawk graduates currently playing in the NHL include defenseman Larry Playfair and center Brent Peterson of the Buffalo Sabres, defenseman Keith Brown of the Chicago Black Hawks, goaltender Clint Malarchuk and defenseman Blake Wesley of the Quebec Noridques, wingers Wayne Babych and Perry Turnbull of the St. Louis Blues, defensemen Gary Nylund and Jim Benning of the Toronto Maple Leafs, winger Tony Currie of the Vancouver Canucks and defenseman David Babych of the Winnipeg Jets.Wayne Babych, the third pick of the first round in 1978, and younger brother David, second pick of the first round in 1980, have been Winter Hawk graduates who have seen action in the NHL All-Star Game.Since the NHL adopted its policy of taking underage players in the draft in 1979, the Winter Hawks have had 22 players selected with junior hockey eligibility remaining. Only Brown, David Babych, Benning and Nylund did not return for their final season with Portland. But in last year&rsquo;s draft, eight players from Portland were picked, six of them with two seasons of junior eligibility left.Portland&rsquo;s production line to the NHL doesn&rsquo;t appear to be slowing down, either. Winger Cam Neely is the top-ranked player in the WHL this season by the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau and center Alfie Turcotte also has received high marks. Ken Yaremchuk was Chicago&rsquo;s first-round pick a year ago.The 37-year-old Hodge has been the individual assigned the task of grooming the youngsters. As the game has changed over the years, so has his philosophy and he was honored as the WHL&rsquo;s coach of the year in 1980-81.Hodge and the Winter Hawks won their first WHL championship last season and thus became the first entry from the United States to compete for the prestigious Memorial Cup. The Hawks were beaten by eventual winner Kitchener and runner-up Sherbrooke, but it laid a foundation for what was to come.One of Shaw&rsquo;s dreams since he started tasting success with the Winter Hawks was to play host the Memorial Cup tournament. That dream became a reality this season when it was announced in November that the tournament would break with tradition and stage the event outside Canada for the first time in 65 years.It was three years ago when the WHL last served as host for the Memorial Cup in Brandon and Regina.&ldquo;If it could go there, I knew it would go in Portland,&rdquo; said Shaw. &ldquo;In the seven years since we&rsquo;ve been here, our hockey club has come of age. We used to think a crowd of 2,800 was a big deal. Now, if we don&rsquo;t draw 5,000, I&rsquo;m disappointed.&ldquo;The people come to see us and I think our (win-loss) record is one of the reasons. I feel real good that we have the championship.&rdquo;In another break with tradition, the Winter Hawks will be the fourth team in the Memorial Cup that also will feature the Quebec and Ontario winners, plus a second representative from the WHL. It is hoped the host-team entry will boost the sagging attendance that plagued last year&rsquo;s event at Hull, Que.Shaw and the Winter Hawks have done their job to sell the product and the Portland public is buying it. With the Memorial Cup in the city, that superb effort is being highlighted. &#9632;

f0013-01

Shaw’s Master Plan Has Come To Fruition

<div class="byline">BY RON OLSON</div>Portland&rsquo;s Memorial Coliseum, appropriately nicknamed, &ldquo;The Glass Palace,&rdquo; has been the site of many top-flight sporting events since it doors opened in 1960.Add another to the list: The 1983 Memorial Cup championship, featuring the elite of major junior hockey, to be staged in Portland, May 7-14. It marks the first time in 65 years the event has been held outside of Canada.The Coliseum, located near the Willamette River in downtown Portland, has been the home of hockey since Day One. The Portland Buckaroos of the old Western Hockey League occupied the arena through the &rsquo;60s and early &rsquo;70s, before the National Basketball Association Portland Trail Blazers emerged on the scene in 1970.Since 1977, the Trail Blazers and Western Hockey League Portland Winter Hawks have had a compatible co-existence as the Coliseum&rsquo;s top two tenants.Seating capacities vary from basketball to hockey. Since the Trail Blazers&rsquo; championship season of 1976-77, the basketball club has sold out the 12,666 seat arena for 280 consecutive games.The seating configuration is smaller for hockey with a capacity of 9,910. During the past three seasons, there have been several crowds in excess of 9,000, with an all-time high of 10,131 (standing room) set last season when the Winter Hawks faced Regina in the sixth game of the WHL championship series, which Portland won.The ice surface is smaller than that used by most hockey clubs&mdash;85 feet by 185 feet, instead of 85 by 200. The difference in length is taken from between the bluelines. The smaller ice rink may have a bearing on how the other league representatives fare in the Cup.The Winter Hawks&rsquo; management announced as of mid-April that more than 6,500 tournament ticket packages have been sold, far surpassing the sub-2,500 sold at last year&rsquo;s tournament in Hull, Que.Portland is a city of 366,423 with a metropolitan population of 1,242,000. &#9632;

‘Glass Palace’ Stages Inaugural U.S. Cup

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011213/4795230-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kamloops Oiler Dean Evason, left, receives his Most Valuable Player award from WHL executive assistant Richard Doerksen, right. Evason, the Oiler captain, isn&rsquo;t big, but he registered 164 points this season, second highest in the WHL.</figcaption></div>When the Portland Winter Hawks, Lethbridge Broncos. Oshawa Generals and Verdun Juniors gather in Portland for the Memorial Cup. more than just a national championship will be on the line.It will also be time to select the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League Player of the Year. In the past, many winners of this award have gone to be stars in the National Hockey League. They include Bobby Smith and Dale Hawerchuk, to name just two.This year, the competition will be stiff as each of the three CMJHL leagues have nominated an outstanding candidate. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League will be represented by rookie sensation Pat Lafontaine of the Verdun Juniors. The Ontario Hockey League will send Cornwall Royal scoring ace Doug Gilmour to Portland and Dean Evason of the Kamploops Oilers is the Western Hockey League&rsquo;s representative.Following are brief profiles of each of the candidates.<h2>PAT LAFONTAINE</h2>Pat Lafontaine, an 18-year-old American-born rookie, titillated the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this season with his incredible scoring accomplishments.Lafontaine, born in St. Louis and raised in Detroit, led the QMJHL in scoring with an incredible 104 goals and 130 assists for 234 points. He was a big reason why the Verdun Juniors led the league with 486 goals in 70 games and won the QMJHL finals against the expansion Longueuil Chevaliers.Even if the Juniors hadn&rsquo;t qualified for the Memorial Cup, Lafontaine would have been in Portland anyway as one of the three Player of the Year nominees.Little wonder. Among his records this season were:&bull; Forty-three consecutive games in which he scored at least one point, breaking Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s mark of 40.&bull; Becoming only the seventh player in QMJHL history to record a 200-point season.&bull; He scored the most goals, recorded the most assists and produced the most total points of any rookie in the history of the league.&bull; He was a big reason why the Juniors increased their attendance this season by 33,116, leading the team to 50 wins and one tie in 70 games.That Lafontaine scored in such large numbers was not really that surprising. Last year, with Compuware midgets of the Michigan National Hockey League, he produced a career-high 175 goals and 149 assists in 79 games.At least four Ontario Hockey League teams were hot on his trail last season after he let it be known he wanted to play junior in Canada rather than attend an American college.However, Lafontaine said he would only play for the Cornwall Royals or Soo Greyhounds.When Eric Taylor, the Juniors&rsquo; GM who had scouted Lafontaine at a Drummondville midget tournament, learned that the Belleville Bulls selected Lafontaine in the first round&mdash;fourth overall&mdash;he grabbed him immediately.Lafontaine, a center, stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 168 pounds, and has much the same stature as Denis Savard, the former Montreal Junior, who&rsquo;s now a star with the Chicago Black Hawks.Savard was selected third overall in the 1980 National Hockey League entry draft. There&rsquo;s every indication Lafontaine will be plucked this season at least as quickly, if not No. 1, which would be a first for an American.Minnesota, the New York Islanders and Hartford have the first three picks, respectively, and all have expressed interest in Lafontaine.<h2>DOUG GILMOUR</h2>Looking back to his first full season of major junior hockey, it&rsquo;s hard to imagine Doug Gilmour would accomplish the things he did as a veteran with the Cornwall Royals.Gilmour broke into the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League as a graduate of the Belleville Bulls, then a tier-two team in Ontario, during the 1980-81 season and scored just 12 goals and 23 assists for 35 assists.Not bad, but hardly an indication that just two years later he would be the single-most dominating figure in scoring and the OHL&rsquo;s representative for the CMJHL&rsquo;s Player of the Year award.The 1982-83 season will go down as the Year of the Gilmour.The speedy center from Cornwall led the OHL in goals (70), assists (107), points (177), power-play goals (23), tied with four others for most game-winning goals (9), was third in insurance goals (7), scored two shorthanded goals and recorded 20 multiple-goal games.And oh, yes, let us not forget the 55-game scoring streak he registered from Sept. 19 to March 3, in which he scored 64 goals and 104 assists for 168 points, breaking Jim Fox&rsquo;s record of 52 games, set during the 1979-80 season with the Ottawa 67s.Gilmour, whose National Hockey League rights belong to the St. Louis Blues, concluded his junior hockey career with 188 games played, 128 goals and 213 assists for 341 points and 139 penalty minutes.Gilmour admits his success is not only due to hard work, but the help he received from linemates Steve Driscoll and Ian Maclnnes.Maclnnes, the Royals&rsquo; overage player, scored 59 goals and 74 assists for 133 points, while Driscoll tallied 49 goals and 77 assists for 126 points.<h2>DEAN EVASON</h2>Dean Evason is living proof good things come in small packages.The 18-year-old Kamloops Oiler center was a big reason the Western Hockey League club improved 55 points and placed third in the Western Division. Evason&rsquo;s contribution both on and off the ice led to him being named WHL Player of the Year.The 5-foot-10, 175-pound Winnipeg native thrived in the season where the little men in the WHL had a big say in the league scoring. Evason placed second to Dale Derkatch of the Regina Pats in scoring with 71 goals and 93 assists for 164 points.Evason, captain of the Oilers, established a number of records during the 1982-83 season.As outstanding as his season was, it wasn&rsquo;t long ago that Evason was just another name on the player market.Evason arrived in Kamloops midway through the 1981-82 season after being the Oilers&rsquo; third selection in dispersal of the defunct Spokane Flyers. Evason scored 29 goals and added 69 assists for a 98-point year, which led all Kamloops scorers.A fifth-round selection of the Washington Capitals, Evason picked up where he left off last season. The only negative aspect of a banner year for Evason was that he wasn&rsquo;t named to the first or second all-star teams. Derkatch was the first-team center and Ken Yaremchuk of Portland was the second-team center.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02977/4795223-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="542" height="1130"><figcaption class="caption-body">Center Pat Lafontaine amassed 235 scoring points in his rookie year with Verdun.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03691/4795216-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="561" height="876"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Gilmour won the OHL scoring title and was named MVP and a first-team All-Star.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Lafontaine, Gilmour, Evason Vie For Award

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BROPHY</div>H&B Louisville HodkeyH&B Louisville HodkeyOSHAWA&mdash;Participating in the Memorial Cup championship tournament is as exciting for the fourth-line center who might only get two shifts a game as it is for the superstar who plays 40 minutes. This year, however, one individual might enjoy helping his team try to win the Canadian junior hockey title just a little more than the others.He&rsquo;s John Hutchings, whose team, the Oshawa Generals, disposed of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds with surprising ease to win their first Ontario Hockey League championship since 1965-66, when Bobby Orr was the team&rsquo;s star.Oshawa won the first two games 6-3 and 4-3 in the Soo and then wrapped up the series with 7-4 and 5-2 home-ice &ldquo; wins.Three years ago, Hutchings was told he would never play competitive hockey again after a tractor ran over him, breaking his right ankle and femur bone in his left leg. Most felt he was lucky to be alive.Hutchings missed his first season of junior hockey after being selected as a minor midget in the second round of the 1980 midget draft, but has made tremendous progress in his attempt to not only return to normal, but make an impression on professional teams.Hutchings was prepared to join the Genrals as a midget until July 5, 1980 when the accident occured.Then 16-years-old, Hutchings was working on a friend&rsquo;s farm in Cobourg, Ont., getting in shape for hockey. As he jumped off the tractor to grab a bail of hay, his pant leg got caught on the machine.Hutchings hopped along with the tractor which was still moving for a few seconds, but couldn&rsquo;t keep his balance and his right ankle slipped under the wheel. That pulled him down and the tractor ran over his leg.Even as he lay in bed at Toronto&rsquo;s Hospital For Sick Children saddled in a body cast, Hutchings was determined to make a comeback in hockey.&ldquo;They told me I&rsquo;d likely be able to play hockey again, but to forget about playing in a competitive league,&rdquo; said Hutchings. &ldquo;When I was in the hospital, I really wondered if I&rsquo;d be able to play. I knew if there was even one small chance for me to play again, I&rsquo;d take advantage of it.&rdquo;Hutchings hopes weren&rsquo;t helped any by the number of complications that developed during his stay and subsequent release from hospital. One problem, however, turned out to be the turning point to better things.&ldquo;I was supposed to be in the hospital for six weeks but I ended up being there for twelve and a half weeks,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Then they put me in a body cast and said I&rsquo;d be in it for six weeks; I was in it for 12 weeks. When I got home, I developed kidney stones and believe it or not, that turned out to be the best break I got&ldquo;They were treating me like a kid who had all the time in the world to heal and not like someone who wanted to play hockey as soon as possible.&rdquo;&ldquo;I had to see a new doctor about the kidney stones and he looked at my leg at the same time. At Sick Kids, they were treating me like a kid who had all the time in the world to heal and not as someone who wanted top play hockey again as soon as possible. The new doctor put a pin in my leg and the thingstarted to get better.&rdquo;The pin put in his leg was the same type put in Dino Ciccarelli&rsquo;s leg after the Minnesota North Star right winger suffered an injury while in junior with the London Knights.&ldquo;I phoned Dino to ask him what he did for rehabilitation,&rdquo; Hutchings said. &ldquo;He told me not to worry about guys blowing past me for the first while, because I was bound to have some bad nights, but to be patient and understand that it was going to take some time to get better.&rdquo;During the year he sat out, Hutchings moved to Oshawa and was made to feel part of the team. The Generals&rsquo; ever rented a station wagon prior to his arrival to bring him to the opening game of the season when he was still in a body cast and introduced him to the crowd.He eventaully joined the team on the ice for practices. That&rsquo;s when the real test began.&ldquo;It was hard on me at the start because I was getting burned all the time on one-on-one and two-on-ones,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I knew in my mind I should be able to stop these guys, but my body wouldn&rsquo;t react the way I wanted to. A lot of people felt I wouldn&rsquo;t be able to make it back. It&rsquo;s not only that I wanted to prove them wrong; I just wanted to prove to myself that I could make it. I saw what Dino Ciccarelli did and I knew in my heart I could do it, too.&rdquo;In the two years since he resumed his playing career, the 6-foot, 190-pound defenseman has established himself as a hard-shooting, hard-working type. His skating still needs work, but has improved incredibly since he stepped back on the ice.He scored 16 goals and added 33 assists for 49 points with 102 penalty minutes this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011153/4795261-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="560" height="978"><figcaption class="caption-body">Oshawa Generals&rsquo; John Hutchings wouldn&rsquo;t let a severe leg accident deter his hockey career.</figcaption></div>Winning the Memorial Cup would only serve to make his return to hockey that much more important.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a dream come true winning the OHL title,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now that we made it this far, we know how much we have to sacrifice to win. We know you have to be ready to give that extra little bit that can make the difference between a winner and a loser.&rdquo;No matter who wins the Memorial Cup, Hutchings has already established himself as a winner. &#9632;

f0015-01

Hutchings Has Come A Long Way To Make It To The Memorial Cup

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;The trouble with rebuilding programs is that the} often play havoc with the job security of the construction crew.How many rookies can the New Jersey Devils afford to integrate into their lineup next season? Will the fans and top level management continue to display patience?The Devils&rsquo; GM-coach Billy MacMillan expects three or four rookies to start the 1983-84 season in New Jersey and doesn&rsquo;t rule out the possibility that a: many as five or six might earn spots or the roster.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no limit,&rdquo; MacMillan said a few weeks after the season ended &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll welcome as many rookies as can earn jobs in training camp.&rdquo;But rookies make mistakes; it&rsquo;s part the learning process. How many rooki mistakes can a team absorb after finishing 17-49-14 the year before?What about an owner who, quite understandably, wants to see progress? What happens if Pittsburgh, which is expected to improve, leaves the Devils all alone at the bottom of the Patrick Division standings by mid-November?&ldquo;I&rsquo;m aware of the pitfalls,&rdquo; MacMillan said, &ldquo;but you can&rsquo;t sit around all day and worry about what is the safest way for yourself. If four or five or six of the kids are ready to play in the NHL, we&rsquo;ll accept the growing pains, we&rsquo;ll do what is best for the long haul&hellip;at least that&rsquo;s my feeling.&rdquo;That means Pat Verbeek, Joe Cirella, Ken Daneyko, Rich Chernomaz and Rocky Trottier may jump from junior hockey to the National Hockey League and other young players such as Larry Floyd and Mike Moher may move up after one year in the minor leagues.&ldquo;We want the young people to take over,&rdquo; MacMillan said. &ldquo;It happened this season over the second half. Players like Jeff Larmer, Aaron Broten, Paul Gagne and Jan Ludvig started to make this their team. We want more of that&hellip;we want to create a foundation.&rdquo;MacMillan stressed that there will be real competition at every position except goaltending. Here&rsquo;s the way he reviewed the roster:GOALIES&mdash;&ldquo;Chico Resch was overworked (68 games played) until we got Ron Low. We&rsquo;re happy with that duo. We can count on them.CENTERS&mdash;&ldquo;Broten had a good second half. Steve Tambellini was our leading goal scorer (25 goals), but we expected more. Mike Antonovich gave us a lift whenever he was healthy. Rick Meagher added speed. Verbeek is an exciting, aggressive prospect. Floyd excelled at Wichita (Wind of the Central Hockey League). Dave Cameron is valuable defensively. We have some difficult decisions to make.RIGHT WING&mdash;&ldquo;Jeff Larmer has unbelievable hands and is very smart. He has to work on his skating, but he is a talent. Hector Marini has a big heart and led us in important points. Bobby MacMillan played all over and may be a left winger next season. Ludvig should score some goals. Moher is strong and determined. Yvon Vautour will be a left winger because of a shoulder problem. There are openings for Chernomaz and Trottier; it&rsquo;s up to them to take advantage.LEFT WING&mdash;&ldquo;Don Lever was our most consistent forward. Paul Gagne found himself in the second half. Brent Ashton has a lot of tools and can do better. Garry Howatt deserves a chance to show last year was a mistake.DEFENSE&mdash;&ldquo;We need help here. Bob Lorimer was steady but can play even better. Mike Kitchen gives everything he has got. Tapio Levo (minus-41) is a question mark but moves the puck well when he is right. Murray Brumwell made some strides. Joel Quenneville andRob Palmer had pretty good plus-minus stats. Daneyko and Cirella have an opportunity and so do John Hutchings and Alan Hepple in the not-too-distant future.&rdquo;HOT STUFF&mdash;Broten led the Devils in scoring with 55 points, the lowest total to lead the franchise (including Kansas City and Colorado) in its nine-year history.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011016/4795292-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="563" height="729"><figcaption class="caption-body">Devil left winger Paul Gagne had a good second half and is being counted upon.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0016-01

Devils Plan To Stock Lineup With Rookies

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02821/4795323-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Photo by Bruce Bennett</figcaption></div>There is more to the Edmonton Oilers than Wayne Gretzky. This year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs have demonstrated that the Oilers have a solid cast of talent to ease Gretzky&rsquo;s offensive load.One of the key members of that strong supporting cast is former Canadian Olympian Glenn Anderson, who earned the nod as THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; Player of the Week. All Anderson did was to score six goals in the first three games against the Chicago Black Hawks. Two of those six goals were game-winners and Anderson managed to fire four goals in Game Two of the series.That was the third time in this year&rsquo;s playoffs that an Oiler scored four times in a single game. Gretzky and Mark Messier were the others to do it. &#9632;

f0016-02

Player Of The Week

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01899/4795354-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0017-01

Introducing the Medalic by Micron.

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div>CALGARY&mdash;Sometimes the best laid plans can go awry. Just ask the Calgary Wranglers.The Wranglers, who pride themselves on making the most of their scoring opportunities while relying on a defense-oriented game plan, found out the hard way that defense is not always the best Western Hockey League offense.Calgary, which again led the league in defensive statistics (3.50 goals-against per game), saw its Memorial Cup aspirations go up in a sea of red lights after falling to the Lethbridge Broncos in the Eastern Division final series.The Wranglers, who at one time enjoyed a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven matchup, saw the proverbial roof cave in with the series deadlocked 2-2. Game ** Five was scheduled for the friendlier confines of the Calgary Corral, expected to be a boost in a series that had home teams dominating earlier games.Not so.After evening the series with a resounding 10-1 win at home in Game Four, Lethbridge surprised Calgary in Game Five, claiming a 6-3 victory. The Broncos then earned a berth in the WHL final by breezing to an 8-3 decision at home in Game Six.&ldquo;We ran into a very physical hockey club. It took its toll,&rdquo; summed up Calgary general manager Ron Stewart. &ldquo;What hurt us was that fifth game here. But even after losing we thought we still had a good chance because we were a good road club this season.&rdquo;&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t play well in Lethbridge (Game Six) and they (Broncos) were pretty tenacious. We didn&rsquo;t have the horses to withstand it,&rdquo; added Stewart.With their backs to the wall in Game Six, the Wranglers did their best to try and put an end to the Broncos&rsquo; enviable 23-game home winning streak. Calgary and Lethbridge were tied 1-1 after 20 minutes but three unanswered Bronco goals in the second period settled the issue.Scott Makin and Barry Bracko provided the offense for the Wranglers, who fired 37 shots at Ken Wregget while Mike Vernon finished with 31 saves before 4,970 fans.In Game Five, before 4,861 fans in Calgary, the Wranglers fell behind 4-1 &gt; after the opening period and couldn&rsquo;t close the gap even though they staged a mild rally to trail 5-3 entering the final period. Ken Quinney, Bracko and Makin scored for Calgary, which outshot Lethbridge 39-29.In a rather meaningless WHL final&mdash;both the Portland Winter Hawks and the Broncos were assured berths in the Memorial Cup&mdash;Lethbridge skated to a convincing 4-1 win in the best-of-seven series.The defending league champion Winter Hawks opened the series with a victory but Lethbridge bounced back to win four straight (7-4 and 6-5 at Portland and 8-5 and 7-3 at home) and head into the Memorial Cup against the VerdunJuniors, Oshawa Generals and the host team Winter Hawks.In Game Two, Portland was held in check during the final 20 minutes as Lethbridge scored two unanswered markers to help post a 7-4 victory. Portland won the first game of the best-of-seven matchup 4-3.Grant Sasser, Ray Ferraro, Tim Lorenz and Ken Yaremchuk tallied for Portland in Game Two. Portland enjoyed a 46-38 advantage in shots before 5,216 fans in Portland.In Game One, Ferraro&rsquo;s second goal of the game at 15:59 of the third period snapped a 3-3 tie and gave the Winter Hawks the win. Alfie Turcotte and Yaremchuk also tallied for Portland which outshot Lethbridge 42-37 before 8,082 fans in Portland.The Sutter twins&mdash;Ron and Rich&mdash;each scored three goals in Game Two to power the Broncos to a 7-4 win.Ron Sutter tied a league playoff record for fastest two playoff goals by one player when he scored seven seconds apart, at 19:21 and 19:28 of the second period. The record is shared by former Brandon Wheat King Bill Derlago, who accomplished the feat April 9, 1978. Derlago scored at 1:02 and 1:09 in a 9-6 playoff win over the Flin Flon Bombers.Troy Loney fired the other goal for Lethbridge, which got a hot goaltending performance from Ken Wregget, who turned aside 42 shots. The Broncos finished with 35 shots.In Game One, Bob Rouse tied the game 3-3 at 15:29 of the third period. But Portland replied just 30 seconds later to settle the issue. Doug Kyle and Ivan Krook scored other goals for the Broncos, who were outshot 42-37.&ldquo;We felt we didn&rsquo;t play that well in Game One and we nearly won,&rdquo; said coach John Chapman. &ldquo;We had to make a few adjustments to come up the middle more and pinch their (Hawks&rsquo;) defensemen. We had to increase our forechecking and get on them quickly&mdash;that&rsquo;s what we did in the second game.&rdquo;&ldquo;We think their goaltending and the fact they&rsquo;ve only been going with four defensemen should work in our favor,&rdquo; added Chapman. &ldquo;If we go to the body we can be successful. They (Hawks) don&rsquo;t like to be hit&mdash;nobody does.&rdquo;ICE CHIPS&mdash;Ron Sutter held the WHL playoff scoring lead heading into Game Three with 32 points including 17 goals. He will be looking to break WHL playoffs records of most goals in one season&rsquo;s playoffs (24), most assists in one season&rsquo;s playoff (30) and most points in one season&rsquo;s playoff (45).Alfie Turcotte of Portland and Mark Morrison of Victoria shared second place in scoring with 27 points each while Portlands&rsquo;s Ken Yaremchuk (24 points), Grant Sasser (23 points) and Ray Ferraro (22 points) were next in line.Rob Hamill of Calgary finished with 20 points while Stu Kulak of Victoria and Ivan Krook of Lethbridge had 19 points. Rich Kromm of Portland and Russ Courtnail of Victoria rounded out top scorers with 18 points each.In goaltending, Ken Wregget of Lethbridge took a 2.80 goals-against average into Game Three to lead all netminders. Al Larochelle of Saskatoon finished his playoff stint with a 3.78 average while Dave Ross of Kamloops posted a 3.88 average to sit in third place. Mike Vernon of Calgary, the league&rsquo;s top goalie and coaches&rsquo; MVP, was fourth at 3.89. &bull;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02703/4795385-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="569" height="1101"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lethbridge&rsquo;s Ron Sutter had the league playoff scoring lead with 32 points.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-02

Broncos Rolling Merrily Along, Quashing Wranglers And Hawks

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01917/4795416-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"></div>H&B LouisvilleHockeyH&B LouisvilleHockey &#9632;

f0018-01

Top Junior Scorers

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyMONTREAL&mdash;It&rsquo;s not as if the organizers of the Memorial Cup in Portland needed any outside help&mdash;they&rsquo;ve already sold more than 6,500 tournament ticket packages&mdash;but junior hockey&rsquo;s No. 1 draw is on his way to the Oregon city.Pat Lafontaine, the 18-year-old St. Louis native, helped spark the Verdun Juniors to a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff championship over the Longueuiel Chevaliers.The Juniors won the best-of-seven final four games to one and when it came time to lavish praise, Lafontaine was first in the reception line.During the playoffs, he scored 11 goals and 25 assists to finish with 36 points, tops in the QMJHL. He was awarded the Guy Lafleur Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs and was also selected as the first team all-star center.Lafontaine must also receive a great deal of the credit for drawing Montreal fans to the Juniors&rsquo; games. In three games played at the Montreal Forum, the Juniors&rsquo; home rink for the final series, more than 50,000 fans turned out.A total of 17,860&mdash;an all-time league record&mdash;attended the opener with slightly less, 17,208, watching the third game. The Junior Canadiens, then a member of the Ontario Hockey League, drew 18,838 for a 1969 game against the Oshawa Generals.The only game that the Chevaliers managed to win was Game Two, a 6-3 win at the Jean Beliveau Colisee. Verdun won its four games by scores of 5-4, 12-3, 4-2 and 6-3, respectively.Here is a game-by-game breakdown of the series&rsquo; first three games:Verdun 5, Longueuil 4 (Double Overtime): Lafontaine&rsquo;s second goal of the game at 8:31 of the second sudden-death frame&mdash;the game ended at 12:05 a.m.&mdash; ended the marathon.Juniors&rsquo; captain Jean-Maurice Cool sent the game into overtime with less than nine minutes remaining in regulation time. Gerard Gallant and Jacques Sylvestre added singles.Santino Pellegrino with two, Hilton Ruggles and Jean-Philippe Lemoine replied for Longueuil, which was outshot 55-31 but received outstanding goaltending from Berthol Lavoie.The Juniors jumped out of the starting gate into a 2-0 lead by the time the first period was halfway over.Gallant opened the scoring at 5:10 with his team-leading 11th goal. His pass, from behind the net, struck Lavoie&rsquo;s leg and bounced tri.Lafontaine struck for a shorthanded goal at 10:19 while defenseman Steven Woodburn was serving a roughing minor. Jean-Pierre Poupart blocked a shot at the Juniors&rsquo; blueline and the puck rolled to the Chevaliers&rsquo; blueline before Lafontaine finally caught up with it for a breakaway. Lavoie made the first move and Lafontaine scored easily on a backhander.But with one second still remaining in Woodburn&rsquo;s minor, Pellegrino completed a three-way play for Longueuil&rsquo;s opening goal.Ruggles tied the score at 15:33 of the same period on a rebound which Woodbum and Daniel Roy&mdash;filling in for the injured Bill Campbell&mdash;were unable to clear.Two goals were scored in the opening minute of the Second period. Lemoine gave the Chevaliers their first lead of the game after 35 seconds, completing another three-way play. Only 22 seconds later, Sylvestre tied the score.Pellegrino scored his second goal at 8:04 to put Longueuil on top again.Longueuil 6, Verdun 3: Ruggles led the winners with two goals. But the big story of this game was the three powerplay goals scored by Longueuil. Although that was only one more than Verdun scored, the timing of that goal proved pivotal.As the buzzer sounded, ending the second period&mdash;Longueuil led 4-3&mdash;Gallant, only halfway through serving an elbowing minor, exchanged words and punches with some of his opponents as he left the penalty box for the dressing room. He received an additional minor and a 10-minute misconduct from referee Andre Duhamel.While he was off, Jean-Paul Lariviere scored to give Longueuil a 5-3 lead and some breathing room. Pellegrino added a sixth goal less than four minutes later.In fact, Longueuil scored the game&rsquo;s final three goals, blitzing Gilles Heroux, the beleagured Juniors&rsquo; goalie who was making his first start since the third game of the semi-final against Shawinigan.Verdun opened the scoring for the second consecutive game on Gallant&rsquo;s goal four minutes into the game. But two goals by Guy Rouleau and Ruggles less than a minute apart late in the period gave the Chevaliers their first lead.Verdun outshot Longueil 16-10 in the second but couldn&rsquo;t capitalize on the scoreboard as the teams traded four goals. Jacques Sylvestre and Roy scored for the visitors while Ruggles, with his second, and Alain Lavigne, on a breakaway, replied for Longueuil.It was the second consecutive game in which the Chevaliers carried a one-goal lead into the final period. This time they continued skating and didn&rsquo;t attempt to sit on the lead.Verdun 12, Longueuil 3: Bobby Mormina opened the scoring for Longueuil after just 24 seconds. But the Chevaliers wouldn&rsquo;t score again for another 45 minutes and 14 seconds.The Juniors rebounded for the next nine goals&mdash;including six in the first when they peppered Lavoie with 20 shots. After allowing three more goals on 14 second-period shots, Lavoie was derricked in favor of Daniel Savoie&mdash;seeing his first playoff action&mdash;to start the third.Lafontaine led the winners with three goals&mdash;his first hat trick in 13 playoff games&mdash;while Tom Kolioupoulos, Randy Muttart and seldom-used Steve Girard each added a pair. Sylvestre concluded the scoring for Verdun. &#9632;

Lafontaine Leads The Juniors To Portland

TORONTO&mdash;The cream of the amateur hockey crop&mdash;those who are considered good enough to have been drafted by theNational Hockey League&mdash;managed to win 21 of 37 positions on the three Canadian Major Hockey League All-Star teams named during the 1982-83 season.In a survey of the Ontario, Western and Quebec Leagues, eight NHL draftees from the WHL were chosen. The OHL and QHL had eight and five, respectively. There were six first-round draft picks among the junior all-stars.The Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and New Jersey Devils each had two of their drafts selected with the remaining 14 spread among all the other clubs.Most of the undrafted players selected as all-stars are rising stars that will be taken in the 1983 or 1984 entry drafts.Goalie Mike Vernon of Calgary, who was also chosen the WHL&rsquo;s most valuable player this season, was picked as the first-team netminder. Vernon is the property of the Calgary Flames. Others picked on the WHL team included Gary Leeman of Regina and Mike Heidt of Calgary on defense. Leeman is a draft of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Heidt is owned by the Los Angeles Kings. The center spot went to Dale Derkatch of Regina, who will likely be drafted this June. Rich Chernomaz of Victoria is the right winger and Randy Heath of Portland is the left winger. Chernomaz is owned by New Jersey while Heath hasn&rsquo;t been drafted.On the second WHL all-star team, Todd Lumbard of Regina is in goal with Doug Bodger of Kamloops and Lethbridge&rsquo;s Bob Rouse on defense. Lumbard is the property of the Islanders while Rouse was drafted by Minnesota. Bodger won&rsquo;t be available until the 1984 entry draft. Ken Yaremchuk of Portland is the center, flanked by Lane Lambert of Saskatoon on right wing and Todd Strueby of Saskatoon on left wing. Chicago owns Yaremchuk&rsquo;s NHL rights while Strueby is owned by Edmonton. Lambert will be drafted in June. Heidt and Yaremchuk were both first draft picks by their respective NHL clubs.In the OHL, center Doug Gilmour was the all-star center as well as the league&rsquo;s most valuable player. He is a draft of the St. Louis Blues. Others on the first team were goalie Alan Bester of Brantford, Allan Maclnnis of Kitchener and Joe Cirella of Oshawa on defense, Gilmour at center with Mike Siltala of Kingston on right wing and Bob Errey of Peterborough on the left wing. Bester and Errey are the only players not drafted by an NHL team. Maclnnis is the property of Calgary, Cirella belongs to New Jersey and Siltala is a draft of the Washington Caps.On the second Ontario team, John Vanbiesbrouck of the Sault was picked in goal with Steve Smith, also of the Sault, and Norm Schmidt of Oshawa on defense. Vanbiesbrouck was drafted by the Rangers, Smith by Philadelphia and Schmidt by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Up front, Dave Gagner of Brantford is the center with Andrew McBain of North Bay at right wing and Steve Driscoll of Cornwall on left wing. Gagner and McBain are top draft prospects this year but Driscoll already belongs to Vancouver.In the Quebec Hockey League selections, two players on the first team are owned by NHL clubs and three on the second team.Goaltender Mario Gosselin of Shawinigan, who was picked on the first team, is a draft of the Quebec Nordiques. On defense, Jean Jacques Daigneault of Longueuil and Michel Petit of St. Jean were named. Petit is owned by the Vancouver Canucks. At center is Pat Lafontaine of Verdun flanked by Sylvain Turgeon of Hull on right wing and Bobby Mormina of Longueuil on left wing. Lafontaine and Turgeon are sure first-round picks this year.On the second team, goaltender Luc Guenette of Quebec was chosen with Jocelyn Gauvreau of Granby and Bobby Dollas of Laval on defense. Mario Lemieux of Laval was the second center behind Lafontaine with Denis Dore of Chicoutimi at right wing and two players, Ron Choles of Trois-Rivieres and Claude Vilgrain, also of Laval, sharing the right wing in a tie vote. Three of the players, Gauvreau, Vilgrain and Dore were drafted by NHL teams. Montreal owns Gauvreau, Detroit drafted Vilgrain and Dore&rsquo;s rights belong to the Hartford Whalers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01709/4795499-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="564" height="727"><figcaption class="caption-body">Allan Maclnnis of Kitchener was named top defenseman and first team OHL All-Star.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02483/4795492-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="557" height="730"><figcaption class="caption-body">Oshawa&rsquo;s Joe Cirella was picked on the OHL first team defense after a year in the NHL.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03345/4795485-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="554" height="733"><figcaption class="caption-body">Regina Pat center Dale Derkatct was selected to the WHL&rsquo;s first all-star team.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04231/4795478-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="557" height="733"><figcaption class="caption-body">Calgary Wrangler netminder Mike Vernon was chosen MVP and first-team all-star.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-05137/4795471-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="546" height="730"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goaltender Mario Gosselin of Shawinigan was picked on the first team in the Quebec League.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0020-01

NHL Draft Picks Dominate Junior All-Stars

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-06109/4795544-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg"></div>Most valuable player &mdash; DOUG GILMOUR, Cornwall.Best defenseman &mdash; ALLAN MacINNIS, Kitchener.Rookie of year &mdash; BRUCE CASSIDY, Ottawa.Coach of year &mdash; TERRY CRISP, S.S. Marie.<h2>Western All-Stars</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0798/4795537-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="1016" height="483"></div>Most valuable player &mdash; MIKE VERNON, Calgary.Best defensemen &mdash; GARY LEEMAN, Regina.Rookie of year &mdash; DAN HODGSON, Prince Albert.Most gentlemanly player &mdash; DARREN BOYKO, Winnipeg.Coach of year &mdash; DARRYL LUBINIECKI, Saskatoon.<h2>Quebec All-Stars</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0887/4795530-1-eng-US/f0020-082.jpg" title="f0020-08" width="1027" height="664"></div> &#9632;

f0020-06

Ontario All-Stars

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-09" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0966/4795575-1-eng-US/f0020-092.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0020-09

Memorial Cup Dates

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01531/4795606-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="523" height="926"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mitch Lamoureaux is one of the Baltimore farmhands whom the Penguins will be watching.</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Having finished at the bottom of the overall National Hockey League standings, the Penguins are almost certain to make a number of roster changes before the first puck is dropped next October. Some of the new players probably will be promoted from their Baltimore farm club.In their first year of operation, the Skipjacks finished fifth in the American Hockey League&rsquo;s Southern Division and failed to make the Calder Cup playoffs by only one point with a 3536-9 record. Baltimore was coached by Lou Angotti, who also worked with Boston&rsquo;s top minor-league prospects.Angotti talked about four Penguin-owned players, whom he believes have futures in the NHL.At 5-foot-6, 185-pounds, center Mitch Lamoureaux would appear to be a bit small to play with the big boys in the NHL. But the 20-year-old Lamoureaux broke the all-time AHL record for most goals in a season with 57 and added 50 assists. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s small but he&rsquo;s stocky,&rdquo; said Angotti about the Penguins&rsquo; 1981 eighth-round draft choice. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a strong kid, a good checker and handles the puck pretty well. He&rsquo;s got speed once he gets going, but he doesn&rsquo;t have that quick takeoff yet and he still has trouble reading plays&mdash;especially in his end defensively and in the neutral zone.&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t seem to be getting into the play quick enough, but he&rsquo;s certainly getting better at it. Staying down here and completing the year certainly hasn&rsquo;t hurt him, regardless of what some people think.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s very strong in their end, strong in the comers, strong around the net. He&rsquo;s very hard to knock down and he&rsquo;s quick around the net&mdash;that&rsquo;s where he gets his goals and his points. But there&rsquo;s a lot of work that has to be done in the center ice area and in the defensive end.&rdquo;The Penguins allowed a club-record 394 goals-against. Rookie goaltender Roberto Romano played three games for Pittsburgh&rsquo; after he was recalled from Baltimore because of injuries.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s done an excellent job,&rdquo; Angotti said about the diminutive Romano. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to put the cart before the horse, but at this level he has shown that he handles the responsibility and the things that go along with being a goaltender. He&rsquo;s very sound. He&rsquo;s very quick. He&rsquo;s got a good glove and an excellent attitude.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really sure he&rsquo;s ready for the NHL right now. But he has the characteristics and the personality that I think he could surprise a lot of people within a year or two.&rdquo;The other two players that Angotti mentioned are familiar to Penguin fans, having made previous appearances in Penguin uniforms.Jim Hamilton was Pittsburgh&rsquo;s top draft choice in the second round in 1977. The 26-year-old left winger was ticketed for recall several times this season, but he was beset by injuries.&ldquo;I still think they&rsquo;ve got to make a commitment down the road somewhere to give him a good, full shot at it,&rdquo; Angotti said of Hamilton. &ldquo;He has a lot of talent. He&rsquo;s got major-league capabilities in the area of his skating and his puck-handling and his shooting.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s just a matter of finding out whether he has any consistency in terms of being able to execute all of those talents game in and game out. I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s really gotten to the point where he&rsquo;s been given the amount of time that is needed to really assess whether he can play in the National Hockey League or not.&rdquo;The other NHL veteran is 26-year-old left winger Rod Schutt, who came to Pittsburgh from Montreal in October 1978 for the Pens&rsquo; first-round draft choice. He played three full seasons and part of another for the Penguins, but he spent the entire season this year in Baltimore, scoring 34 goals and adding 53 assists.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still convinced that somewhere down the road Rod Schutt can play in the NHL,&rdquo; Angotti said. &ldquo;I think he probably could make a strong contribution to a team that concerned themselves with maybe just playing him in terms of being a good, solid checker.&ldquo;He might turn out to be a guy who could score 18, 20, 22 goals for you. I think they (the Penguins) looked for Rod Schutt to score 35 goals and he concentrated on doing that, too, and it affected his overall game.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0021-01

Penguins Look For Minor-League Relief

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div>TORONTO&mdash;As was the case with the first series of Leaf report cards issued last week, the following is the opinion and sole responsibility of the author and does not necessarily reflect the feelings of THE HOCKEY NEWS, its staff or its sponsors. Any rebroadcast or retransmission of the accounts and descriptions contained herein without the express written permission of Ekim Sinned, c/o Stan Obodiac, Maple Leaf Gardens, 60 Carlton Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5B 1L1, is strictly prohibited.KORN, JAMES: Responded well to the opportunity of participating as a club leader rather than engaging in extra curricular activities as his previous school instructed him. An excellent student of the game, Jim combined aggressiveness with a skill level few knew he possessed. A leader by example who isn&rsquo;t afraid to speak his mind. Grade: B.MARTIN, TERRY: After a couple of seasons in the limelight, Terry was called upon for a different role this year, protecting his own end of the ice and stopping the opposition&rsquo;s most dangerous players from taking too much Leaf territory. His record may not look as impressive, but his schoolmates know how much he contributed. Not afraid to tangle with even the biggest of adversaries. Grade: C.MELROSE, BARRY: Started the term at the prep school and proved he wanted to remain at dear old Maple Leaf Tech once he rejoined his NHL chums. Control is one subject that the instructors - have been after Barry to master. As long as he doesn&rsquo;t try to go too fast, he can keep the area around him very neat. Barry succeeds because he pays attention well. Grade: C.NIGRO, FRANK: This youngster had a bit of an unsettling season as he shifted back and forth between the Gardens and the St. Catherines Country School. Frank has many of the skills required to be a scholastic winner, but he doesn&rsquo;t always apply himself as much as the instructors would like. Grade: C.NYLUND, GARY: The Leafs recruited Gary out of Portland because they figured he could step right into their lineup. He did&mdash;but only after missing 52 classes due to mumps in his knee. After 16 sessions of steady progress, Nylund was cut down again and missed the rest of the term. Leafs can only hope he remains healthy next time around. Grade: Incomplete.PALMATEER, MICHAEL: Seasoned scholar who made a very successful homecoming after being injured at another school. Mike hasn&rsquo;t completely abandoned some of his irritating characteristics, such as pretending he&rsquo;s dead by flopping over in the middle of class, but he sure knows how to put on a show and get his work done at the same time. Grade: B-.PODDUBNY, WALTER: Instructors figured that putting a Canadian Slovak with the two Czechs (Frycer and Ihnacak) might make for a strong work table and they were pleasantly surprised when Walt gave them a significant return in the classroom. Walt is particularly good at hanging around in the opposition&rsquo;s zone and then pouncing on whatever goodies come his way. The Leafs could use a couple more like him. Grade: B.SALMING, BORJE: The first exchange student to have widespread success in North America, Borje is the oldest member of his class but still retains his enthusiasm. His presence in the group means a lot to his mates; they lost all 10 field trips when Borje was absent. Very skillful in the classroom. Grade: B.ST. CROIX, RICK: An exchange student who helped contribute to the class&rsquo; 1983 turnaround. He knows he isn&rsquo;t going to be called upon in class as often as Master Palmateer, but he does his best to be prepared. The Leafs feel his attitude and classroom deportment can be helpful for the younger students. Grade: C.TERRION, GREG: Began the season with another school and was supposed to attend a prep school. But he requested a transfer and the Leafs were glad he did. Joined with Martin and Harris to protect the Leafs&rsquo; property, but also showed he can deliver impressive stats when called upon for offensive contributions. A real digger who keeps on trying. Grade: B-.VAIVE, RICK: The captain overcame a terrible start to fashion his second consecutive 50-goal-plus season and help the Leafs advance to post-season outings. The student most of the others look to for guidance, Rick had a lot to do with keeping spirits in the classroom at beneficial levels. Grade: B. &#9632;

Quite A Few Class Players Emerge On Leafs’ Squad

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01600/4795661-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Whalers are building their franchise around Ronnie Francis, whose talent is being recognized around the league.</figcaption></div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyHARTFORD&mdash;When Orval Tessier said after Game Two of the Chicago Black Hawk-Edmonton Oiler playoff series that &ldquo;even if we had played Hartford tonight, we wouldn&rsquo;t have come close,&rdquo; he exposed, pretty dramatically, what the rest of the league thinks of the Whalers.Yet, the Whalers, with four inglorious NHL seasons under their belts, have something that no other team in the league has, namely, Ronnie Francis.Around such players, dynasties have been built.The temptation to overstate the case for Francis, considering the caliber of player in Hartford, is strong. He is young, intense and talented. Yet. even outside of Hartford, people have begun to take notice.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d give Larry Pleau four players, I mean, four good players, for Francis right now,&rdquo; said Scotty Bowman. Buffalo&rsquo;s GM and coach. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Larry&rsquo;s interested in trading somebody like him, though. If he did, they&rsquo;d probably hang him in Hartford.&rdquo;Pleau may be unable to avoid The Hanging Tree in Hartford regardless. The Whalers currently are searching for a new president, who, according to Chairman Howard Baldwin, will be blessed with &ldquo;complete control&rdquo; over the hockey operation. Considering that Pleau runs the hockey operation today, his future is clouded, and that&rsquo;s putting it nicely. No one would want to be in his shoes.But Pleau is aware of what the Whalers have in Francis, and recently told him so, in the form of an unexpected bonus.&ldquo;I told Ronnie how much he has meant to our team in the last two years,&rdquo; Pleau said. &ldquo;His contract doesn&rsquo;t come up until after next season, but he&rsquo;s accomplished too much to be overlooked. I tell all our players, &lsquo;Do the job and you&rsquo;ll get the money.&rsquo; So many of them want the money before they&rsquo;ve done anything. Ronnie has done the job. He deserves a boost.&rdquo;Francis, the fourth overall pick in the 1981 draft, signed a two-way contract, something others drafted that high have been reluctant to do. Pleau, for that reason and others, is very much a Francis fan.&ldquo;Ronnie did it the right way,&rdquo; Pleau said. &ldquo;He signed a contract that others would have moaned about. But Ronnie will get his money down the road. This added boost is our way of telling him that he&rsquo;s done the job.&rdquo;Francis, who turned 20 in March, led the Whalers with 90 points, 30 more than any teammate, save Blaine Stoughton and Mark Johnson In 138 NHL games, over two seasons, Francis has scored 56&rsquo; goals, including 31 last year, and 158 points.&ldquo;I thanked Larry for what he did,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;I also told him that I was ready to assume more of a leadership role. I&rsquo;m not a rah-rah guy, but I can assert myself more, especially in the room. This was a tough, tough season for everybody. At times, it was very frustrating. But we have to put all of that behind us. Things definitely are going to be better next year.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0022-01

Francis Keys The Drive To Respectability

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>LANDOVER&mdash;Although nobody was complaining after the Washington Capitals&rsquo; first playoff adventure ended in a 3-1 defeat to the New York Islanders, it was obvious that at least a few changes would be necessary next season.Both Cap GM David Poile and coach Bryan Murray noted such changes would largely be accomplished by promotions within the organization, although Poile indicated he had at least one trade in mind.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll move in a couple of people, make a trade and that might be enough,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;We do need the depth to see us through until Bob Carpenter and Scott Stevens reach the high level we eventually expect.&rdquo;The Capitals require a solid defenseman and one or two mucking wingers who can score. They are heavily stocked in centers and that position seems most likely to produce the trade bait.Murray&rsquo;s comments concerning Bengt Gustafsson, the oft-injured Swede who took a beating on the wing, provided a clue as to who might be offered in a deal.&ldquo;Gustafsson got worn down playing wing all year and I believe the guy just has to play center,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll try to put him there and leave him there.&rdquo;Carpenter, Glen Currie and Doug Jarvis are considering set at center, so if Gustafsson will be the fourth man in the middle, Dennis Maruk and Milan Novy become odd men out. Although Maruk led the team in scoring, he was also the top minus man as he shuttled between wing and center. Novy had difficulty adapting to the National Hockey League.A trade involving one or both would probably be geared toward obtaining a winger. The desired defenseman is already targeted&mdash;Peter Andersson, who toiled for Sweden in the World Championships and was a ninth-round draft selection in 1980.&ldquo;Anderson is a priority item and I plan to try to get him signed after the World Championships,&rdquo; Poile said.As for the promotions within the organization, attention focused on Western Hockey League graduates Dean Evason, who had 164 points for the Kamloops Oilers and Jim McGeough, a 76-goal scorer with Nanaimo; Butsy Erickson, the University of Minnesota product who had a hat trick in his professional debut with Hershey, and winger Torrie Robertson, who earned yet another NHL shot with a good season in Hershey.Only Robertson appears big and strong enough for NHL play right now, but Murray said he planned to put all the young players on a summer program to increase their strength.Murray expressed hope the Capitals&rsquo; first draft pick would be able to move right in and contribute, as Stevens did this season. After years of drafting in the first five, however, Washington must wait until the 14th selection this time and Poile was skeptical of the immediate value of such a pick.&ldquo;We have to hit on our first draft choice again, but it&rsquo;s not realistic to think on the 14th pick we&rsquo;II get anybody who can play right away,&rdquo; Poile said.Another task for Poile is satisfying goaltender Pat Riggin, who is due to become a free agent June 1. Since any team signing Riggin would have to compensate Washington, Riggin is considered unlikely to move.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02435/4795692-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="534" height="882"><figcaption class="caption-body">If the Caps make a trade, Dennis Maruk is a likely candidate to go elsewhere</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0022-02

Capitals About To Shuffle Lineup

HARTFORD&mdash;Just as this issue went to press, the Hartford Whalers announced that they had hired Emile (The Cat) Francis as president of the team.Francis, 56, who has been president, general manager and coach of the Blues, will oversee the Whalers&rsquo; entire hockey operation.At press time, it was not known what the future of the Whalers&rsquo; current hockey staff&mdash;general manager Larry Pleau. coach John Cunniff and the scouting staff&mdash;would be.THE HOCKEY NEWS will have complete coverage of Francis&rsquo; appointment in next week&rsquo;s issue. &#9632;

The Cat Lands In Hartford

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;For Red Wing fans, the 1982-83 National Hockey League season is ancient history.Their attention has ben redirected to the Tigers and the outdoors.Not so with Coach Nick Polano.It&rsquo;ll be awhile before he forgets his rookie season as an NHL coach. Not because it was so bad&mdash;it wasn&rsquo;t, by Red Wing standards&mdash;but because of all the things that happened, all the things he learned and all the things he can&rsquo;t wait do do next season.&ldquo;Our goal was to make the playoffs,&rdquo; Polano said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think it was an unrealistic goal. On the other hand, a lot of people told me I&rsquo;d have my work cut out when I came here.&ldquo;Still, I felt I&rsquo;d be able to do a little better. We look at the players. I have to look at myself. I made mistakes, too.&ldquo;1 know I won&rsquo;t carry extra players after the trading deadline next season like I did this time. It&rsquo;s tough when you&rsquo;ve got guys sitting in the stands. They don&rsquo;t feel part of the team.&rdquo;There were other examples, of course, but just as a rookie player must learn, so must a rookie coach.The Red Wings hired him away from Buffalo, where he was an assistant coach to Scotty Bowman in 1981-82. Bowman gave Polano, 41, his first major-league coaching exposure after he had enjoyed five very successful years in the minor leagues as coach of the Erie Blades of the Eastern Hockey League.Polano was twice chosen the EHL&rsquo;s coach of the year and, in 1981, THE HOCKEY NEWS picked him as minor-league Executive of the Year.Before moving behind the bench, Polano was a defenseman for 15 seasons in the American Hockey League and briefly for Philadelphia of the World Hockey Association.Polano was general manager Jim Devellano&rsquo;s choice to coach the Red Wings and the relationship appears as close now as it was the day Polano came aboard on August 4.&ldquo;I really believe in what he&rsquo;s doing,&rdquo; Polano said. &ldquo;Hopefully I&rsquo;ll be the coach down the road when we&rsquo;re a stronger hockey club. He&rsquo;s going about it the right way, I really believe that, and we&rsquo;ll be a good club in three, four years.&rdquo;Polano was off to Europe searching that market for prospective NHL players.&ldquo;It would help our building program to find a player or two there,&rdquo; the coach said.While the Wings were among the first NHL teams to hire European players&mdash;Swede Thommie Bergman in 1972-73, countrymen Tord Lunstrom and Leif Holmqvist the next season&mdash;their success hasn&rsquo;t approached that enjoyed recently by others.Incidentally, Bergman, the defenseman whose career was cut short by a series of knee injuries, is a scout for the Red Wings in Sweden. &#9632;

Polano Learned Lessons

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01551/4795771-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NOW: YOU CAN WIN 2 WAYS DURING PLAYOFF TIME

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY&mdash;The philosophy, it has been determined, will not change.Last summer, the Calgary Flames overhauled a mediocre, aging hockey team, anticipating the day that they would move from the small, antiquated Stampede Corral to the new larger, wider Olympic Saddledome.Eight experienced players were exiled. In came 10 new ones&mdash;four via trades, four via free agency and two through the National Hockey League entry draft.In the interceeding year, no discernible improvement occurred in the hockey club. An average club had an average year and finished with an average playoff&mdash;a win in the first round against a team&mdash;Vancouver&mdash;that finished behind them; a loss in the second round to a team&mdash;Edmonton&mdash;that finished ahead of them.Coach Bob Johnson candidly said afterwards: &ldquo;If we&rsquo;re going to catch Edmonton, we&rsquo;re going to have to make changes, because they&rsquo;re a better hockey team than we are.&rdquo;GM Cliff Fletcher promised, however, that there would be no repeat of the house-cleaning that took place last summer.There aren&rsquo;t going to be that many changes,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The majority of changes will come from younger players who are almost ready or who are ready to beat out veterans for jobs.&ldquo;We made up our minds last year what we were going to do. The results of one series are not going to change our plans. You can&rsquo;t operate that way. You can&rsquo;t change direction every time you win or lose.&rdquo;The trouble with the Flames&rsquo; prospects is that none can be considered blue-chip. None are prototype players with &lsquo;can&rsquo;t miss&rsquo; tags attached to their files.The top defenseman, Allan Maclnnis, suffered a knee injury in the OHL playoffs and underwent surgery. Considered a fine offensive defenseman, Maclnnis&rsquo; skills on defense are somewhat suspect.Carey Wilson played in Finland last season and Johnson would like to bring him to camp this season. Wilson, however, may choose to play for Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team.Haken Loob, one of the top players in Sweden last season, can skate and can score, but can he adapt to the North American game immediately?Can any of the three immediate help?&ldquo;Unless you&rsquo;re talking about an absolute superstar,&rdquo; said Fletcher, answering in the affirmative, &ldquo;there&rsquo;ll always be questions about a player. I remember when Jean Beliveau was a junior, they didn&rsquo;t think he was tough enough to play in the NHL. When rookies come into the league, some answer the bell; others don&rsquo;t.&ldquo;What we need is to have a player come to camp and leave no question in our minds that he can play in the NHL&mdash;like Jim Peplinski and Kevin LaVallee did in our first year here.&rdquo;On the day after the season ended, Johnson brought the team together for a state of the union address. Before the players dispersed, Johnson made one point clear: What was good enough last season won&rsquo;t be good enough next season.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t stand still,&rdquo; said Johnson. &ldquo;The league is getting stronger, in my opinion.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t just want players who can play in this league; I want players who can win in the league. There&rsquo;s a difference, you know.&rdquo;Johnson rated his players for all 99 games against NHL competition and the one exhibition against the touring Soviet team.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mean to be cruel,&rdquo; said Johnson. &ldquo;I just wanted some of them to know that if they didn&rsquo;t get better, they woulldn&rsquo;t be good enough to play for this team next year. It&rsquo;s a fact of life.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re gong to have a tough training camp. They better be in shape for it.&rdquo;IN BRIEF&mdash;Lanny McDonald, commenting on Johnson&rsquo;s coaching, said: &ldquo;I give him credit. He always had something new for us to look forward to at practice. He found a lot of different things to do that take your mind off the pressure you&rsquo;re under. As an example, on the final day of the season, Johnson put an Edmonton jersey on minor-league goaltender Jeff Lastiwka and played Showdown. Seldom-used Pat Ribble won the competition; Johnson finished fourth. &ldquo;Maybe that should have told me something,&rdquo; said Johnson.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01581/4795802-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="564" height="717"><figcaption class="caption-body">Calgary coach Bob Johnson will not hesitate to dump veterans in favor of youngsters.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Flame Veterans Face Tough Times

<div class="byline">BY DICK BEDDOES</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02421/4795833-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="298" height="350"></div><h2>Don&rsquo;t Laugh Yet</h2>WAIT A SEC. Hold the phone, Clyde. The corporate corpse of the St. Louis Blues is still twitching, still moaning as it tries to get shakily to its knees.Resuscitation is being performed by Vincent C. Schoemehl, the St. Louis mayor who regards the Blues as a civic asset.That will be good news to the Blues&rsquo; players, all of whom fear winding up in Saskatoon, Timbuctoo or on the floor of the Dead Sea.Hizzoner Schoemehl has proposed that the Ralston Purina people, owners of the Blues, sell the team to St. Louis investors for $8-million.The investors would pay $3-million now and $5million when the Blues begin showing a profit. Ralston Purina nuzzled at Schoemehl&rsquo;s bid, much as a hesitant pup might warily circle a dish of Ralston&rsquo;s dog chow.Ralston&rsquo;s hesitancy is understandable: The only solid bid is from Coliseum Holdings of Saskatoon, a company running in the flaming colors of Wild Will Hunter, who keeps getting backers for his hockey schemes. Wild Will&rsquo;s financiers have agreed to purchase the Blues and move them to the Canadian hinterland for $11.6-million American. Add 20 per cent more in terms of cut-rate Canadian dollars.This small comer of THE HOCKEY NEWS put it to a highly-placed source close in NHL headquarters.&ldquo;Okay, Highly-Placed Source,&rdquo; this small comer said, &ldquo;let&rsquo;s review the bidding.&rdquo;&ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; HPS said. &ldquo;The important thing to remember in all this is a key phrase in Ralston&rsquo;s agreement with W. W. Hunter. The phrase is &lsquo;pending the approval of the NHL governors.&rsquo;&ldquo;When mayor Schoemehl made his last-ditch pitch he knew many NHL owners are opposed to switching from St. Louis to Saskatoon.<h2>Borders On Nationalism</h2>&ldquo;HE KNOWS THAT approving the switch will break down on nationalistic lines, more or less.&ldquo;Those for Saskatoon will include Peter Puck Pocklington, the Edmonton boss who would be king of Canada but ain&rsquo;t ever going to make it.&ldquo;NHL prez John Ziegler is aware that beer sales will influence the Carling-O&rsquo;Keefe owners of Quebec and the Molson owners of Montreal Canadiens. They&rsquo;ll vote for Saskatoon because of an enlightened self-interest. They want to sell beer in the Canadian west.&ldquo;The Calgary brass will approve Saskatoon because five or six of them are from the wilds of Saskatchewan. Winnipeg figures to swing along with another prairie entrant in the NHL.&ldquo;Who knows about Vancouver? Pro-and anti-Saskatoon sentiment has been expressed in that lovely fishing village.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s it for Saskatoon. Harold Ballard is on loudly vocal record against Saskatoon. As the Toronto owner damaged the most when Hunter manipulated the World Hockey Association, Ballard hates Hunter.&ldquo;Expect Bill Wirtz in Chicago to lead all the other American owners in favor of keeping the Blues in St. Louis. Wirtz is on the side of the big business in St. Louis who are part of mayor Schoemehl&rsquo;s pitch to Ralston. Those businesses include Monsanto, Emerson Electric and Anheuser Busch. That bunch doesn&rsquo;t exactly run around barefoot.&ldquo;What about Ralston&rsquo;s public relations in St. Louis? They&rsquo;ve got to be damaged if the company is perceived as being responsible for losing its hockey team.<h2>A Tax Write-Off</h2>&ldquo;AND RALSTON-P HASN&rsquo;T been hurt that badly financially by hockey. When they bought the Blues from the Sid Salomon family, they put up $1 a share for 4,000 shares and assumed the team&rsquo;s liabilities of $3-to $4million. R-P has lost money in hockey, but that&rsquo;s been written off in taxes paid with, let us say, 30-cent dollars.&ldquo;Another thing: the offers from Schoomehl and Hunter are about even. If the Blues are shifted to Saskatoon, Ralston Purina will have to pay a $5-million transfer fee out of that $11.4-mil they get from Hunter.&ldquo;The $5-mil transfer fee is in the NHL constitution.&ldquo;Of course, Canadian politics and breweries and banks figure to favor Saskatoon. The premier of Saskatchewan has pledged provincial backing to Hunter. Molson is in if Hunter gets in. There&rsquo;s a hell of a lot of nationalistic claptrap on behalf of Saskatoon in many Canadian newspapers.&ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t be heresy for the NHL to leave St. Louis, maybe, but it would be stupid. Don&rsquo;t forget that the Blues drew 500,000 or so fans this year, some nights with 19,000 in the rink.&ldquo;So what would be smart in the NHL view? Stay in St. Louis. But don&rsquo;t laugh at Saskatoon. If Hunter has all that money, take it. Promise him an NHL expansion franchise some time. That&rsquo;ll give him time to get a big-league rink built.&rdquo; &#9632;

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BEDCLOTHES

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Jerry Korab&rsquo;s right foot, the one which has given him so much trouble the last five years or so, looks like something out of a Frankenstein movie.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the prettiest sight in the world,&rdquo; the Kings&rsquo; veteran defenseman said, &ldquo;but, hopefully, when it heals everything will be alright.&rdquo;Korab recently underwent three hours of complicated surgery to relieve the pain and pressure on the ball of the foot, pain and pressure that had built up over a National Hockey League career that has spanned 13 seasons and, including playoffs, 991 games.There were times this season, for example, when Korab was forced to skip practice because he was unable to put on his skates.Korab, nicknamed Kong because of his brutish figure, underwent surgery the previous summer, but the operation wasn&rsquo;t a total success. He played in pain for virtually the entire season.The most recent surgery, which was performed by noted foot specialist Dr. F. W. Wagner, (he also worked on a basketball star Bill Walton) was radical, to say the least: all five toes were broken and shortened and the tendons cut and stretched to give Korab more flexibility; the joint on the big toe also was cut and the bone on the opposite side flattened, then a dose of silicone was injected into the bottom of the foot.Korab spent five days in the hospital after it was over and has been told it&rsquo;ll take another three months to heal, at which time he&rsquo;ll have a clearer picture ol his future.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been bothering me for years,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been like a toothache. It&rsquo;s jusl constantly there, 24 hours a day. After a while you get used to it, but it&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ve been trying to get fixed for the past four years. I&rsquo;m hoping this will be the final solution.&ldquo;The way I had been walking around with a limp, people thought I had a bad knee. The back problem I had last yeat (forcing him to miss 22 games) probably developed from my foot problem. I&rsquo;d been putting pressure on my foot in different areas to alleviate the pain and all kinds of complications developed from that.&rdquo;As for next season&mdash;Korab&rsquo;s contract has expired and he&rsquo;ll turn 35 in September&mdash;that isn&rsquo;t quite so complicated. He says he&rsquo;ll either re-sign with the Kings, try to strike up a deal with Chicago or retire.Entering the option year of his contract last summer, that pact was tom up and Korab signed a one-year termination contract. He&rsquo;ll become a free agent without compensation on June 1.It&rsquo;s very questionable now. however, that he&rsquo;ll be back with the Kings for a fifth season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to play in L. A. another year, if things work out,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The only other place I&rsquo;d play would be Chicago. My wife (Mary Ann) is from there and that&rsquo;s where I started my career.&ldquo;There are a few things bothering me, though, things which I can&rsquo;t go into at this time. If those things are straightened out before camp I might be here. We&rsquo;ll just have to wait and see.&rdquo; &#9632;

Korab’s Career Remains Cloudy

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD FRIEDMAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;They took a weekend off to force down the bitter pill of their elimination by the Islanders. Then the Rangers gathered for final farewells before going their separate ways for the summer&mdash;a lot sooner than they&rsquo;d have liked to.First was a beer-and-sandwich brunch at their locker-room at Playland at Rye, NY&mdash;perhaps their last official visit there, since they&rsquo;re expected to move their practice operations to the Sportarama Rink in Monsey, NY by the fall.Two days later, Mike Rogers was to be host to the &ldquo;off-the-record&rdquo; final get-together at his suburban home.Here are final glimpses of the cast of characters that day at Rye:CHRIS KONTOS: &ldquo;You live with these people all year and then just like that it&rsquo;s over, kind of like the end of high school,&rdquo; said the rookie who appeared in 44 regular-season games but did not dress for the playoffs, much to his disappointment but unavoidable in coach Herb Brooks&rsquo; mind because of his age and lack of experience. Kontos has been given a rigorous training schedule for the summer, which he&rsquo;ll spend at home in Toronto (with a possible side-trip to Greece), and his parting words were, &ldquo;next year you&rsquo;ll see me out there the whole season, including&hellip;&rdquo; and he left it at that.GEORGE MCPHEE: Came in from Tulsa with Mike Backman and they gave linemate Ron Duguay a lift after his mediocre season, becoming the Rangers&rsquo; most consistent line against the Islanders. Given orders to work on his skating if he plans to perform on Broadway again this fall, McPhee plans to work with power-skating coach Laura Stamm at hockey camps in Canada.He may also take a few courses at Bowling Green and says that his back problems are less of a concern now, although he&rsquo;ll continue to play with a brace and some pain due to a congenital irregularity.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01506/4795888-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="558" height="928"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hometown favorite Nick Fotiu may find himself playing else-where next season.</figcaption></div>MIKE ALLISON: As usual, the best-dressed man at Rye, decked out in worn-out sneakers, tattered jeans and Grateful Dead T-shirt. His knee, injured during the Islander series, will require therapy during the summer but no surgery. He remains disappointed over his two injury-plagued seasons.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of like the sophomore jinx lasted an extra year,&rdquo; said the well-liked redhead.DON MALONEY: His mysterious virus, which sidelined him for part of the Islander series and had him playing the final game on desire alone, is over and done with. After vacationing in Mexico, he&rsquo;ll spend most of the summer in New York.MIKE ROGERS: Lower-back spasms sidelined him for the final eight games of the regular season and he appeared in only the very first game of the playoffs, but the back has improved and he expected to see doctors late in April for final diagnosis and treatments.ANDERS HEDBERG: Won&rsquo;t return to Sweden until June. His grandfather told him it was still snowing over there, so he was in no rush to fly back. Besides, he figures it&rsquo;s time he became a New Yorker. One of 10 to 15 free agents in the Ranger system, Hedberg finished fifth ir scoring for the Rangers, taking much of the season to regain his timing after missing 1981-82 with knee surgery. Then he combined with Mark Pavelich and Rot McClanahan to comprise the line that skated the Flyers into the ice and out of the playoffs in opening round.REIJO RUOTSALAINEN: The swift Finn headed home after a post season ir which he was more effective offensively than defensively.MARK PAVELICH: He figured to be fishing by the weekend back in Minnesota.ROB MCCLANAHAN: He was con sidering spending part of the summei working on Wall Street, as Davs Maloney did last year.NICK FOTIU: He does not require surgery for his injured cheek. He played against the Flyers but sat out the last games against the Islanders.SCOT KLEINENDORST: He fell good about having played in the playoffs, a confidence builder for summer, which he&rsquo;ll spend at home in Michigan. Looking forward to training camp in the fall with brother Kurt, a Ranger center of the future.ULF NILSSON: He missed the parties because he was in West Germany at the World Championships. Has developed several outside business opportunities, including a corporate public relations position and importing Swedish stemware with his wife. He is not expected to return to the lineup because of an endless series of injuries, the final one being the chronic knee problem that sidelined him in mid-season while he was in Tulsa attempting to get back into playing shape.As always, the last days in New York were bitter-sweet times. At least half-a-dozen players could lose their positions on the Rangers, either because of age or through trades. Among those who may be going are: Mikko Leinonen, Robbie Ftorek, Vaclav Nedomansky, Kent-Erik Anderson, Rick Chartraw and Bill Baker. Even Eddie Johnstone and hometown favorite Nick Fotiu could find themselves elsewhere next year. &#9632;

f0025-01

Rangers’ Last Bash Bitter-Sweet

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;The Flyers were burned on the skillet in three straight by the Rangers. Their hopes were mashed, the reasons for it have been hashed and rehashed, so the next logical question is: Where do they go from here?Early indications are that the changes will be more in approach than in personnel. The 106 regular-season points which became so hollow, nonetheless, remain as testimony to the team&rsquo;s talents. Though the Islanders victory over the Rangers in the conference final means, in a sense, that the Flyers died in vain, in another way it reaffirms that they are or the right track.Built along the lines of the Islanders and losers to the champions only once ir seven games this season, it turns out that the regular-season division champions probably were equipped with everything but the heads to beat the Rangers. What was diagnosed as &ldquo;Flyer Slow&rdquo; by the Rangers turned back into &ldquo;Islander Steady&rdquo; in the second round.Though the Ranger speed surely exploited Brad Marsh, Frank Bathe and Glen Cochrane, it should be pointed out that all three played effectively earlier in the season against quick teams such as Edmonton, Quebec and even the Rangers, whom the Flyers handled four straight times in mid-season. Both Marsh and Bathe were also coming off late-season leg injuries. And the Flyer breakdowns which doomed them to a first-round fall largely began up front.Another quick winger, on either side, will also be a priority. Two of the names on their shopping list are undoubtedly the Kings&rsquo; Steve Bozek and Jimmy Fox. And with the Kings looking for help on defense (Behn Wilson? Glen Cochrane?) and in goal (Bunny Larocque? Bob Froese?), there may be chemistry for a deal.With the Maine Mariners playing towards an American League championship, this also leaves Allen and McCammon a further opportunity to judge what they have on the farm. There is no single outstanding prospect in Maine, but there are some developing players.Two of them, Len Hachbom and Steve Tsijuira, are speedy centers and open up possibilities if the Flyers decide to go that route. Hachbom may need another year and some more finish around the net. Tsijuira, a former Western League Player of the Year, was passed over until the 10th round of the 1981 draft because of his 5-foot-5 build, but the Flyers&rsquo; fate at the hands of the Smurfs, is food for thought.The Flyers lost, in part, because their two senior centers, Darryl Sittler and Bobby Clarke, ran low on fuel. McCammon promises he won&rsquo;t let that happen again, regardless of his team&rsquo;s position in next year&rsquo;s Patrick Division race. It will be interesting to see how the Flyers use Ron Sutter, their No. 1 pick in the 1982 draft, towards oil change purposes.Reports, and not just ones filed through Flyer rose-colored glasses, said Sutter has become the best player in the Western League as Lethbridge rises from a mid-season grave. That he is Clarke and/or Sittler&rsquo;s heir apparent is obvious. The more immediate question is how the Flyers will handle his break-in next season.One remembers Bill Torrey using a mid-season recall of Ron&rsquo;s older brother, Brent, to fuel the Islanders&rsquo; 1982 stretch drive. And with the Flyers depth at center (Clarke, Sittler, Ron Flockhart and transplanted wingers Mark Taylor, Tim Kerr and Lindsay Carson), it&rsquo;s hard to see a spot for Sutter on the big club when the season opens. &#9632;

Flyers’ Philosphy: Speed Will Help

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>MONTREAL&mdash;Ronald Corey didn&rsquo;t take long to silence the speculators.Just two weeks after he swept Irving Grundman out of the managing director&rsquo;s job with the Montreal Canadiens, he filled it with a veteran of the National Hockey League playing wars.Serge Savard, who finished his NHL career this season with the Winnipeg Jets, was given a three-year contract by Corey.&ldquo;Serge knows that he is under a lot of pressure and that he has to produce,&rdquo; Corey told a news conference attended by many present and former Canadiens. &ldquo;We have a five-year plan. I hope we can win before then, but this is not something you can turn around overnight.&rdquo;Savard had a year remaining on his contract with the Jets, but the Canadiens pried him loose by surrendering a draft pick and a fair sum of cash to the Jets&rsquo; GM John Ferguson. Ironically, Ferguson was hyped as a possible successor to Grundman. Former Canadiens&rsquo; coach Scotty Bowman and present Islanders&rsquo; coach Al Arbour were also mentioned as successors.&ldquo;He (Savard) was my No. 1 candidate,&rdquo; Corey told the news conference. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t speak to anyone else. I didn&rsquo;t try to influence him one way or another. I told him to take as much time as he wanted to make a decision.&rdquo;Corey did not seem concerned that Savard has no managerial experience in the league, noting that Lou Nanne of the Minnesota North Stars had none before he took over that club. While the North Stars have been among the top teams in the overall standings they, similar to the Canadiens, haven&rsquo;t won too many Stanley Cups recently. The North Stars, however, eliminated the Canadiens in the 1980 quarter-finals to end Montreal&rsquo;s four-straight run.&ldquo;1 feel I can do the job here,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;If I had felt otherwise, I would have stayed in Winnipeg.&rdquo;Savard takes over a club with aging stars and nothing on the horizon to relieve them.&ldquo;You look at Chicago, Boston and Edmonton and their key players are all young,&rdquo; noted Rejean Houle, who is serving as an analyst on the Radio Canada telecasts of the Stanley Cup semifinals.In Boston&rsquo;s case, 22-year-old Raymond Bourque is the kingpin of the defense, while 22-year-old Barry Pederson is their top forward along with Rick Middleton, 29.Chicago&rsquo;s offense is led by 22-year-old Denis Savard, while 25-year-old Doug Wilson is considered among the top defenseman in the league. Enough has been written and said about the youthful Edmonton Oilers, who are smashing their way to the Stanley Cup finals with a devastating offense.Guy Lafleur, the star of the 1970s for the Canadiens, has not proven that he is a man for the &rsquo;80s as well. Lafleur will be 32 in September and the Canadiens lean far too much on him to lead offensively. Larry Robinson, who turns 32 next month, is the only thing the Canadiens have that resembles an all-star caliber defenseman. Craig Ludwig will be a solid NHL defenseman in a year or two.But Grundman traded away two all-stars when he dealt Rod Langway and Brian Engblom to Washington last fall.There is another thing Savard must do quickly. Bob Berry was kicked aside when Corey did his cleaning job, although Berry is still in the organization as a scout. Savard indicated at his induction ceremony to the Canadiens&rsquo; pressure-cooker that Berry was among the candidates for the coaching job, as is Jacques Lemaire, whose Longueuil Chevaliers were finalists in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs.&ldquo;The coach will have to be chosen as quickly as possible,&rdquo; Savard said.Berry was unavailable for comment as he was attending the World Championships in West Germany, where the Canadiens&rsquo; Bob Gainey and Rick Wamsley were playing for Team Canada. Lemaire said after his team was eliminated from further play that he would not be back with Longueuil, but that did not necessarily mean he would be coaching Montreal. The Hartford Whalers also expressed interest in him.The appointment of Savard was well received by most of the players, including his long-time roommate Larry Robinson.&ldquo;He kept up on things, not only in the hockey world but in the business world,&rdquo; Robinson noted. &ldquo;I wonder if he will give me a raise?&rdquo;Goaltender Richard Sevigny added that he &ldquo;always had confidence in Savard.&ldquo;I know the players will try and win for him.&rdquo;Corey said that Savard will be in complete charge of the hockey operation, although he expects his new employee to discuss his decisions with him.&ldquo;I have my responsibilities at the administrative level and that does not include any of the things the managing director has to do,&rdquo; Corey explained. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll pick the new coach. If he wants to pick Bob, it&rsquo;s fine with me.&rdquo;A hockey committee has been formed at the Forum, including Corey, his new GM and Jean Beliveau, the executive vice-president. Claude Ruel, assistant coach Jacques Laperriere, Floyd Curry and the new coach will also be on the committee.Will it work?Stay tuned for the next five years. &#9632;

Savard Given Job Of Cleaning Habs’ Mess

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;As hockey fever cools down prematurely in April in Min** nesota, several apparently unconnected things were happening at once:&bull; North Star GM Lou Nanne was in Europe, trying to coax Dave King into coaching his team and not the Canadian Olympians next season.&bull; Herb Brooks, after guiding the New York Rangers to a spirited Stanley Cup playoff run, was driving home to Shoreview, MN, where his wife and two children live.&bull; Gordie Roberts and Brian Bellows ran off with all the club&rsquo;s annual awards. Roberts, curiously enough, won the most improved honor for the second straight year and this time was the Masterton nominee as the team&rsquo;s most valuable player, plus the media vote as the team&rsquo;s top defenseman. Bellows won top rookie honors and won the most votes in the cumulative three-star naming, done regularly by former North Star defenseman Tom Reid.&bull; North Star president John Karr admitted there is true pressure on Nanne from the owners for the first time.&bull; Speculation continues whether Nanne will take flashy scorer Pat Lafontaine from the Verdun Juniors of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League or Providence high school winger Brian Lawton on the first pick of the June entry draft. If Nanne wants to keep his present crop of centers, Lawton makes sense; if he plans any major changes in the middle or is looking for an electrifying player, Lafontaine is the clear choice.The possibility of Brooks someday coaching the North Stars is a natural. Brooks has proven he&rsquo;s an exceptional coach and the North Stars have proven, conclusively, they need a coach immediately.Brooks is under contract to the Rangers, who need manpower help desperately. Could or would Nanne trade a few front-line players and/or that No. 1 pick for Brooks? Nanne says no coach is worth $150,000, but he doesn&rsquo;t flinch at paying a player that much and a coach I such as Brooks would have a greater impact on the North Stars than any player.Nobody doubts Nanne&rsquo;s ability to put a team together, but some are wondering if he can mastermind the final step, to take that team up on the highest pedestal.Back when he was starting to build the club and Brooks was in his pre-Olympic days at the University of Minnesota, Nanne tried to hire his old friend and former amateur teammate. Nanne offered a one-year contract; Brooks demanded a longer-term security. Both were stubborn, although the other&rsquo;s offer might have been their best; Brooks could - have shown his stuff in one year with a last-place club that could only improve and then demanded ransom; Nanne could have held Brooks to a three-year deal no matter how much the club improved.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01531/4795967-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="558" height="785"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gord Roberts was voted his team&rsquo;s most valuable player and top defenseman.</figcaption></div>Now Brooks&rsquo; family lives in Minnesota to stabilize the schooling of his kids. It&rsquo;s tough to be on a nine-month trip, but Brooks lives in hotels permanently during the season now. Maybe he belongs in Minnesota, as much as King belongs with the Canadian Olympians.Then there are the North Star players. The adage, &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t fool the players&rdquo; was never more accurate.When the management and coaches were criticizing the goaltenders during the playoffs, a funny thing was happening in the dressing room. Other players were coming up to the goalies and seemed to be more upset about the unjust criticism than the goalies themselves.&ldquo;This is the first time when I was eve bothered by what was being said,&rdquo; Gilles Meloche. &ldquo;In the Chicago series, knew that if we lost we were through ant I didn&rsquo;t want to think about anything but the games. That&rsquo;s why I refused to be interviewed; I didn&rsquo;t want to face an; questions that I didn&rsquo;t want to answer ant I didn&rsquo;t want my concentration to be up set so that anybody could blame the goalies if we lost.&ldquo;Naturally, if the goalies don&rsquo;t allow any goals, a team would be undefeated Usually, before the goalie lets the puck in, there&rsquo;s a big problem farther out.&ldquo;When you get mad about the critic ism, you try twice as hard, then nothing works because you&rsquo;re putting too much pressure on yourself. The only guy we can talk to is Gump Worsley. He&rsquo;ll watcl our films and might see mistakes, but he is supportive and gives constructive cri ticism.&ldquo;When we blew that 3-0 lead agains Chicago in the fourth game of our playof series, the team just sagged. But we&rsquo;vi been that way all year. We don&rsquo;t have that killer instinct.&ldquo;This team is told several times: week how much talent we&rsquo;ve got. I don&rsquo; care how much talent there is, you&rsquo;ve go to put out all the time. We&rsquo;ve got to have a coach who treats everyone the same way, so that we can develop some respect for each other.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s got to be a shake-up, a big trade. I just hope I&rsquo;m not involved. I&rsquo;d like to stay here and help prove we can do it.&rdquo; &#9632;

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North Stars Trying To Connect Number Of Dots

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div>H&B Louisville HodkeyH&B Louisville HodkeyROCHESTER&mdash;Jim Wiemer, the Americans&rsquo; 22-year-old left winger-cum-defenseman, is one of those hard-working guys who carries a lunchpail and punches the time clock religiously. When Wiemer tugs on his helmet, the Amerks know he&rsquo;ll produce a full night&rsquo;s work.But now, as the Amerks took a 3-1 lead over New Haven in their best-of-seven Calder Cup semi-final playoff series, Wiemer has left the time clock alone.Now he&rsquo;s even working overtime.The rangy 6-foot-4, 200-pounder with the bullet from the point scored a pair of long-range overtime goals in Games Three and Four to lift the Southern Division champion Amerks to within one game of a berth in the finals.Overtime thy name is Amerk-Nighthawk. These are the teams who set the American Hockey League record last spring by playing 134 minutes, eight seconds in a 3-2, four overtime, Nighthawk victory that began at 7:30 and ended six hours and five minutes later at 1:35.Rochester and New Haven have played eight playoff games the last two seasons, counting the first four of this series. Five have been tied after three periods.That it was Wiemer who scored on an Amerk squad loaded with marksmen is surprising enough; that it was he who scored from his post at left defense is what makes this a story.The parent Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; fifth-round draft pick in 1980, Wiemer joined the Amerks for the 1980-81 season as a left winger after a junior career with Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey Leage. At Rochester, Wiemer was reunited with coach Mike Keenan, who left Peterborough for Rochester a year earlier.Wiemer&rsquo;s rookie season was ordinary. A defensive forward who was adept at killing penalties and checking the opponent&rsquo;s high-scoring right wingers, the Sudbury, Ont., native scored 19 goals and 26 assist in 74 games.But early this season, Keenan approached Wiemer with the idea that has changed the young man&rsquo;s career. With a virtually all-rookie defense&mdash;except for second-year pros Vai James and Kari Suoranieni&mdash;the Amerk coach asked Wiemer if he would try playing behind the blueline. Keenan chose Wiemer because he believed he could best make the transition and because he knew he would accept.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great team player,&rdquo; Keenan said late in the season, after Wiemer established himself as a bonafide defenseman around the league. He garnered votes for a division all-star berth. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll do any job you&rsquo;d like him to do; 1 don&rsquo;t know any left winger in the league who could have made the transition and played as well on defense as Jim has.&rdquo;He finished the season with 15 goals and 44 assists, was a fixture on the point during power plays and killed penalties. Not only that, he endeared himself with the Buffalo brass, who asked him to make his National Hockey League debut in Game Five of the Sabres&rsquo; seven-game quarter-final loss to the Boston Bruins.Wiemer&rsquo;s debut&mdash;he was on ice for four goals as the Bruins dropped the Sabres 9-0&mdash;was hardly suspicious. But it was evidence of how high Wiemer&rsquo;s stock has risen.&ldquo;Making the switch certainly makes him a more marketable product,&rdquo; Keenan said.GAME ONE: Right winger Sean McKenna, who scored two game-winning goals in overtime against Binghamton, tallied a goal and three assists to lead the favored Amerks to a 6-3 victory before 5,677 at the Rochester War Memorial.Goals by Lee Keller, Kai Suikkanen, Randy Cunneyworth and Jean-Francois Sauve staked the Amerks to a 4-1 first-period lead. Suikkanen and McKenna made it 6-1 before the Hawks scored two lone goals.It was the last time the teams would decide a game in 60 minutes.GAME TWO: Suikkanen and McKenna staked the Amerks to an early 2-0 lead, but Dean Jenkins and Scott Gruhl tied it in the second period.Then came a goalless third period. And a goalless five-minute first overtime. And a goalless 20-minute second overtime. Outshot 12-1 in the first 25 minutes of overtime, the Nighthawks stayed alive behind the superb goaltending of Paul Pageau.At 2:49 of the third overtime, at 12:10 a.m., of a game that started at 8 p.m., Guy Charron fed Brock Tredway, skating in two-on-one with Gruhl. Gruhl beat goalie Jacques Cloutier and the Nighthawks had a split in Rochester.GAME THREE: Trailing 4-1 after two periods, the Nighthawks staged a thrilling third-period rally before 4.461 at home. Defenseman Al Sims score3 it 5:43, left winger Brian MacLellan made it 4-3 at 14:56 and defenseman Dean Tunner tied it less than a minute later.After a goalless preliminary overtime, Wiemer uncorked a blast from just behind the blueline that surprised Pageau and beat him low to the glove side at 1:03 of the second overtime. Wiemer never saw the puck go in.&ldquo;I heard everyone go ooh and aah and then I saw everybody racing off the bench,&rdquo; he said.GAME FOUR: This was classic play-off hockey. Bumping and grinding for 82 minutes, nine seconds. Terrific netmind-ing by Cloutier and Mike Blake. Again, Wiemer decided matters.Dave Morrison scored late in the first period to give New Haven the lead. McKenna, on assists from Wiemer and Sauve, tied it in the second period. Then the goalies took over.Cloutier stopped 39 of 40 shots. Blake stopped 40 of 41 before Wiemer&rsquo;s low shot at 17:09 of the second overtime, from just inside the blueline, handed Rochester a sweep in New Haven and a commanding 3-1 series lead.Right winger Gary McAdam started the play. He tried to feed Wiemer at the left point, but his pass was broken up. The loose puck slid to center Bob Mongrain. who fed Wiemer for the 55-foot game-winner.&ldquo;I wanted to keep the shot low because all game I&rsquo;d been shooting high he said matter-of-factly.Wiemer keeps his words to a minium During this season of metamorphosis, he let his performance speak for him.Now it&rsquo;s the playoffs and he&rsquo;s working overtime.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01503/4795998-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="561" height="810"><figcaption class="caption-body">Center Bob Mongrain got on assist on the Amerks' winning goal in overtime.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Amerks’Winger-Cum-Defenseman Makes Overtime Scoring A Habit

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>FREDERICTON&mdash;With the preliminary feeling-out process completed, the Maine Mariners and Fredericton Express moved into the middle round of their best-of-seven Northern Division final a bit smarter&mdash;and tied with one win each.Maine took the opener of the two-game set at the Aitken Centre, 2-1, but the Express bounced back in the second test to score a 6-3 decision. The series now shifts to Portland for three games. If necessary. Games Six and Seven will be played in Fredericton.Express coach Jacques Demers credited strong play by the Mariners and blamed a one-week layoff from the end of his team&rsquo;s six-game series with Adirondack as the factors that decided the first game.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t play well in the first game, but every time we&rsquo;ve played a bad game we&rsquo;ve bounced back strongly the second time around and we did just that,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;There is no question not playing for a whole week&mdash;and we thought it would help some of our guys because we had some injuries&mdash;but it was not very good for us. We didn&rsquo;t have any momentum going. The whole week off definitely hurt us. We proved it by coming back in the second game.&ldquo;We dominated the second game. I think we had 37 shots to their 26. They were never in the game.&rdquo;Maine controlled the whole show in Game One, allowing the Express a power-play goal by Richard David in the first period and then not much of anything resembling solid scoring chances thereafter. The tight-checking Mariners moved out to a 2-1 lead in the second period and allowed Fredericton just four shots in the final period, for a total of 23 in the game.Fredericton finally got untracked in the second period of the second game and outshot the Mariners, 19-10. David&rsquo;s goal broke a 3-3 tie early in the third period and the Express added two more goals later in the period.Maine coach Tom McVie, who led his team to a hard-fought victory in seven games in the opening round against Nova Scotia, was, obviously, pleased with the first game against the Express. He wasn&rsquo;t too worried about the outcome of the second, though.&ldquo;We started off the second game doing things more right, but we got away from our game plan, which was the same plan that beat Nova Scotia,&rdquo; McVie said. &ldquo;We let them get away on us a little bit and that&rsquo;s only happened once in the last eight games, so I can&rsquo;t complain about that. We&rsquo;ve got some time to get squared right back away again. We&rsquo;ll be all right.&rdquo;By losing the first game, the Express lost their home-ice advantage and face the difficult prospect of playing three straight games at Maine. Demers, whose club played at a .500 clip on the road during the regular season, didn&rsquo;t seem too concerned.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to take them one at a time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;First of all, our object is to win three, but we're going to be realistic. If we win one, we&rsquo;ll be happy even if they come back here, 3-2. They&rsquo;ve got to beat us here and we know we can play well at home. But, yeah, we would like to win two out of three and it is not beyond our reach because we have played well on the road.&rdquo;McVie preferred not to predict how home ice would affect the matchup.&ldquo;It won&rsquo;t be an easy series,&rdquo; he said.Game One&mdash;Playing before a packed house at the Aitken Centre, the Express grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first period on David&rsquo;s power-play goal.Maine bounced back in the second with quick goals, 2:04 apart, by Tom Gorence and linemate Steve Tsujura. Tsujura tied the game at 13:11 and Gorence netted the winner at 15:15.Fredericton had another apparent goal disallowed in the game. Tony Currie beat Maine goalie Sam St. Laurent, but the goal was not counted because Dennis Sobchuk was ruled to have interfered with St. Laurent in the crease on the play.Game Two&mdash;Maine jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on a power-play goal by Andy Brickley at 5:11 and an even-strength score by John Paddock at 6:16. Just 28 seconds later, at 6:44, Jim McRae picked up an important goal for the Express when he stole a clearing pass and rifled a long shot past St. Laurent.Andre Cote&rsquo;s goal at 6:53 of the second period tied the game at 2-2, and Currie&rsquo;s first of the series at 12:25 gave the Express their first lead. Gorence added the tying goal 17:19.The Mariners were unable to cash in on a double minor called against Basil McRae late in the second period, but the Express did captitalize on their chances in the third.David picked up the game-winner at 6:43, Michel Bolduc followed at 9:03 and McRae added the final score at 14:51.PLAYOFF NOTES&mdash;The Express added center Art Rutland to its roster when Tim Tookey (shoulder) and Moe Lemay (knee) were injured&hellip;Maine picked up defenseman Andre Villeneuve after he completed his junior elegibility at Chicoutimi. Villeneuve replaced rookie defenseman Taras Zytynsky, who injured an ankle against Nova Scotia.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02329/4796029-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="558" height="864"><figcaption class="caption-body">Maine&rsquo;s Tom Gorence scored a goal in Game One of the series with Fredericton.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Mariner, Express Clash Battle Of The Smarts

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>H&B Louisville HockeyH&B Louisville HockeyBIRMINGHAM&mdash;Jim Dobson's hat trick, including the winning goal after just nine seconds of overtime, gave the South Stars a 4-3 victory and squared the Adams Cup best-of-nine finals at a game apiece. Indianapolis routed the Stars 7-1 in the series opener.The first two games were played in Indianapolis, with the next two scheduled for Birmingham.Dobson provided the first period&rsquo;s only goal at 2:48, but Glen Duncan tied it for Indy at 9:13. Scott Howson put the Checkers in front at 1:22 of the third and Kelly Davis raised the count to 3-1 at 6:25. Dobson struck again at 10:25 and Wes Jarvis tied the game only 12 seconds later.Mario Lessard was the Birmingham goalie, with Kelly Hrudey working in the Indianapolis goal for the second straight game.Scott Howson scored twice to lead the Checkers to a 7-1 series-opening victory. Kelly Hrudey shut out the South Stars for 57 minutes before Craig Homola spoiled the shutout bid at 17:02 of the third period.Warren Skorodenski was the Birmingham starting goalie, but gave up five goals in the opening period. Mario Lessard gave up two in the last two frames.Howson opened the Checkers barrage at 6:03. Red Laurence added a powerplay goal at 9:42 and Howson tallied on another power play at 18:05. Kevin Devine joined in the Indy scoring 50 seconds later and Randy Johnston made it 5-0 with 14 seconds left in the period.Dave Simpson increased the Checker margin with 1:44 left in the middle period and Gord Dineen finished the Indianapolis scoring after 22 seconds of the third.Dave Hanson was still sidelined by a knee problem.LEAGUE NOTES&mdash;Wind owner Larry Gordon made it official: Wichita will not be back for the 1983-84 CHL season. Ending weeks of negotiations, Gordon called a press conference to announce the club&rsquo;s withdrawal from the league. Gordon said he was unable to persuade the Sedgwick County Commission to accept his proposed changes in the lease of Kansas Coliseum and had been unable to find another practice facility for the team.Gordon said he has had discussions with arena managers in Phoenix, AR and Billings, MT on the possibilities of moving the franchise to those cities and said officials in Louisville, KY and St. Joseph, MO have also expressed interest.League president Bud Poile denied he has had any official negotiations with Milwaukee, Peoria, Kalamazoo and Muskegon&mdash;all teams in the International League.Rumors have been flying that those clubs wished to leave the IHL to join the CHL, but Poile said: &ldquo;I seriously doubt that could happen. Those clubs would have to pay a severe fine if they left the International League to join another league.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01503/4796060-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="562" height="887"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wichita owner Larry Gordon announced his club's withdrawal from the league.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Dobson’s Key Goal In Overtime Keeps South Stars In Contention

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>WINDSOR&mdash;The International Hockey League semi-final playoffs appear to be a mismatch&mdash;on paper.Toledo, which led the league overall, and Western Division winner Milwaukee dominated the league all-star teams. Their opponents, Fort Wayne and Kalamazoo, respectively, have just one representative on the honor unit between them.In addition, Toledo coach Bill Inglis was chosen coach of the first all-star unit, while Doug McKay, whose Muskegon team fell victim to Kalamazoo in the first round, was voted honorary coach of the second all-star squad.Toledo is represented by goalie Lorne Molleken, right winger Dirk Graham and Inglis on the first team, while defenseman Mike Shea and center Claude Noel are on the second unit.Milwaukee placed defenseman Kevin Willison, center Dale Yakiwchuk and left winger Danny Lecours on the first team and goalie Rich Sirois on the second unit. The lone Fort Wayne representative is defenseman Jim Burton. Defenseman Steve Harrison and left winger Paul Fenton of Peoria and right winger Jim Egerton of Muskegon complete the all-star teams.In addition. Fort Wayne and Kalamazoo have been active since the regular season ended, while Toledo and Milwaukee have been idle, drawing a first-round bye. Fort Wayne qualified by nipping Flint 3-2 in a thrilling, fight-scarred five-game series. Kalamazoo, after losing the first game, swept three straight to defeat Muskegon 4-1.Flint, which finished a distant third to Fort Wayne in the Eastern Division, gave the Komets almost more than they could handle. It took a goal at 5:41 of overtime by Doug Rigler to give the Komets a 4-3 victory in the first game. The Komets had to score twice in the final two minutes and 39 seconds to nip Flint 4-3 in the finale. In between, Flint won 7-4 and 2-1 at home. The Komets won 7-4 at home.Reflecting on the series, Flint coach Ted Garvin called the third game the key. Flint had a four-minute power play early in the first period of that game and a 1-0 lead. For four minutes, Fort Wayne was two men short, but Flint did not score. The Komet penalty killers and goalie Dan Sanscartier would not yield.&ldquo;That would have to be they key,&rdquo; Garvin said. &ldquo;We should have come out of that power play three goals up. But we came up empty.&rdquo;Mike Clarke and Wayne Bishop were the heroes of the Komets&rsquo; clinching victory. Clarke tied the score with 2:39 left to play and Bishop got the winning goal with 1:01 remaining. The loss was the 10th straight for Hint at the Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne.In that pivotal third game, referee Jim Neagle called a total of 226 minutes in penalties, 121 on Fort Wayne and 105 on Hint. Three players from each team as well as Komet coach Ron Ullyot were tossed out.The Kalamazoo-Muskegon series was tame by comparison. After dropping the first game 5-3 at home, the K-Wings pretty much dominated the series. John Kirk, Jim Egerton, Joe Ward, Kevin Reeves and Alex Belcourt scored the Mohawk goals in their lone victory.The Wings turned the series around in the second game, converting a pair of power-play goals and getting near-perfect goaltending from George Gagnon to post a 4-1 victory. Gagnon stopped 29 of 30 Muskegon shots.The K-Wings took a 2-1 lead in the series with a 5-2 decision in the third game in Wing Stadium and then closed out the series in the fourth game at Muskegon with a 4-2 win. Doug Derkson put the final nail in the Mohawk coffin, breaking a 2-2 tie when he stole the puck from Jim Peters to beat Gordie Laxton on a breakaway. Muskegon had a 2-0 lead after one period, but couldn't keep the marein.Derkson, who had gone goalless in the final nine games of the regular season, was singled out by Kalamazoo coach J.P. Leblanc as the &ldquo;clutch player of the series.&rdquo; Derkson also led the Wings in the series with seven points.The loss may have sounded the death knell for the Mohawks, too. The new owners were counting on playoff revenue to help them survive. Attendance failed to meet expectations during the regular season, a condition which resulted in the slow start the Mohawks had during the regular season. Muskegon spent most of the season in the basement but finished well to make the playoffs. After the opening-game win in the series with Kalamazoo, the outlook was optimistic. But the early end to post-season competition cut off the cash flow.Attendance was encouraging in the playoffs. A crowd of 3,735 attended the secong game and the Mohawks outdrew the Wings for the series. But one series may not be enough to keep the team alive. &#9632;

Toledo, Milwaukee Tops In All-Star Voting

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02349/4796115-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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IHL All-Stars

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01433/4796153-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02304/4796146-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="716" height="2427"></div> &#9632;

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NHL PLAYOFF SCORING

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03197/4796184-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="690" height="1106"></div> &#9632;

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GOALTENDING LEADERS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01488/4796215-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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MINOR SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="C0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-01159/4796322-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg"></div>NEW YORK&mdash;The chances of seeing a penalty shot being called during the current Stanley Cup playoffs are remote. During the recent Calgary-Edmonton series, Kent Nilsson of the Flames was hauled down on a breakaway just as he was about to shoot at the Edmonton net. The referee chose not to call a penalty shot much to the consternation of the Calgary fans.But history shows that penalty shots are rarely whistled down in playoff competition. In fact, there have been only nine called in the last 46 years and not too many have resulted in goals.According to the playoff record book, only two players have managed to score on penalty shots since 1937. Wayne Connelly of Minnesota connected in 1968 against Terry Sawchuk of Los Angeles and Anders Hedberg of the Rangers scored in 1981 when he beat Mike Liut of St. Louis.While there have been only nine such events in history, ironically, two of them came in 1968 and two more in 1981. There were penalty shots called last year and none to date this season. &#9632;

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May 13, 1983

AMATEUR SCOREBOARD

USA CABLE NETWORK BRINGS YOU THE NHL

World Championships’ Game Summaries

Buffalo’s Youthful Bunch Possesses Bright Future