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.

July 15, 1983

The Hockey News July 15, 1983

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IN THIS ISSUE

NEWSMAKERS’ ROUNDTABLE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03347/4805375-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04233/4805368-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="540" height="544"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02436/4805361-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="527" height="1330"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03342/4805354-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="2408" height="1395"></div> &#9632;

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QUEBEC HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

QUEBEC CITY&mdash;Overtime is in and long pants are out for the coming National Hockey League season, following the recent NHL Board of Governors meeting.The acceptance of overtime ends a tug o&rsquo; war between the players and the Board that began with the Board&rsquo;s approval of overtime in 1980 and the NHL Players&rsquo; Association refusing to accept the extra period unless there was a change in the collective bargaining agreement.The two parties signed a new agreement in 1982 and the players agreed to five-minute overtime. But the owners turned the overtime down by three votes.The Board voted 14-5 in favor of overtime this time, with only 11 votes needed to make it official.Vancouver, Boston, Detroit, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils were the five &lsquo;nay&rsquo; voters, while St. Louis was not represented at the meetings and Pittsburgh missed the vote.One of the leading lobbyists for overtime was Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; president Marcel Aubut, who was unsuccessful in getting his fellow Board members to OK the idea when it was first put to vote last year.&ldquo;I really wanted overtime for the fans, the people who should be kings of the game, because they pay the bills for everyone,&rdquo; Aubut explained. &ldquo;The players, the guys who put on the show, said that they were in favor of overtime. I feel it&rsquo;s important that our game has more excitement in it, especially during the schedule when it sometimes seems that teams are thinking only of playoffs.&ldquo;And we had to consider our position in relation to the other major sports. All of them produce a winner in every game and we don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;At the conclusion of the regular 60minute session, the teams will switch ends. Unlike basketball overtime, in which the full five minutes is played regardless of who scores first, the hockey overtime will be decided with the first goal. If no team scores in that interval, one point will be awarded to each team.There had been some discussion of awarding two points to the winning team in overtime and a point to the loser&mdash;a system presently in effect in the International and Atlantic Coast Leagues&mdash;but Washinton Capital general manager David Poile said it was never seriously considered.Detroit GM Jim Devellano opposed the extra five minutes because last season the Wings had 18 ties and being one of the league&rsquo;s lower echelon teams (18th overall), he felt his team needed all the points it could get.&ldquo;We have only two 20-goal scorers on our roster and if we can get into overtime against a team like Edmonton or the Islanders, who have a large number of big shooters, we&rsquo;re in trouble,&rdquo; Devellano said.Boston GM Harry Sinden felt overtime would distract from the impact of overtime in the playoffs and added that just because a team got the first goal in overtime didn&rsquo;t mean it was the better team in that game.Overtime was part of the game until 1942 when travel restrictions imposed by the World War II led to its being dropped until it was proposed again in 1980.Alan Eagleson, the NHL Players&rsquo; Association executive director said the players are in favor of overtime and hopes it&rsquo;s a big improvement for the fans.&ldquo;Now we hope that the league does something to make, the regular season more important, such as some rewards for the teams that finish first in the divisions.&rdquo;The NHL plans to appoint a committee to explore ways to give the regular-season schedule more clout.The elimination of the Patrick Division Philadelphia Flyers by the New York Rangers in the first round of the &rsquo;83 Stanley Cup playoffs exposed a flaw in the regular season. The Rangers finished fourth in the division, 26 points behind the Flyers, but in a five-game series such as that, the Rangers proved that a team who finishes lower in the standings can knock off a higher-placing team. Following the Flyers&rsquo; elimination, there was talk Flyer coach Bob McCammon, who&rsquo;s now been given the dual portfolio of GM-coach, would rest some of his veteran players such as Bobby Clarke and Darryl Sittler during the regular season, so that they&rsquo;d be stronger and better rested for the playoffs. In doing so, he would be sacrificing a first-place finish.Meanwhile, the Flyers, who introduced full-length pants two seasons ago and were followed by the Hartford Whalers the next season, will be back in the conventional short pants and visible shinguard socks for the 1983-84 season. The Board switched back to the old dress because it sought uniformity with its 21 teams. &#9632;

NHL Approves Overtime, Bans Use Of Long Pants

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Atlantic Coast League Scoring

Our next issue will feature THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; 10 Best listings, the result of a survey done in conjunction with an assortment of more than 150 National Hockey League players, coaches, general managers, trainers, and broadcasters.You&rsquo;ll find out who they consider to be the 10 best players ever, the 10 fastest skaters now and the 10 best fighters, to name just a few of the categories. Don&rsquo;t miss it. &#9632;

Next Issue

<div class="byline">FRANK ORR&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011182/4804427-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="291" height="340"></div><h2>They Want The Blues</h2>ANY DAY NOW, the National Hockey League will announce its decision and the St. Louis Blues will have a new home. All the fuss, confusion, government intervention and name-calling will be finished and the Blues will settle into a new locale. It might even be St. Louis.The word that Ralston-Purina was out of the hockey business and that the NHL board of governors had taken control of the franchise has inspired enormous interest in owning the team.NHL president John Ziegler has been up to his buns&mdash;admittedly not all that great a depth&mdash;in inquiries from a variety of individuals and groups wanting to buy the team. Weeding out the frivolous requests was a big job for Ziegler but when he did, he discovered that there was a large amount of serious mail.Well, THE HOCKEY NEWS feels that the fans should know who has been making a pitch for the team. Thus, in another exclusive, here are some of the letters concerning the Blues received by Ziegler and acquired by a THN operative.Here&rsquo;s one from the mayor of a town in a hockey-mad area.&ldquo;Dear Mr. Ziegler:&ldquo;We realize that our town isn&rsquo;t that big, the metropolitan area having a population of 5.647, but we sit in the middle of the hockey-mad area of northern Ontario.&ldquo;Folks up here think nothing of driving 150 miles to see a hockey game which gives us a total population base of approximately 22.000 people from which to draw. Thus, we should have no trouble filling a 17,000-seat arena for every game.&ldquo;Oh. we don&rsquo;t have the arena yet but that&rsquo;s no problem. If those guys in Saskatoon can build one in five months, then northern Ontario folks can do it in four.&ldquo;Our area has produced a large number of hockey players who have made a big contribution to your league. I&rsquo;m certain that a few of them are sick and tired of Los Angeles, Chicago and New York and would like to get back home to play hockey.&ldquo;Ah. yes! I&rsquo;m certain you&rsquo;ll want to know how we&rsquo;re going to finance the purchase and operation of the team. Well, that&rsquo;s one we haven&rsquo;t quite figured out and we&rsquo;ll be back to you on the subject.&rdquo;<h2>Politicians Write, Too</h2>A LETTER FROM Pierre Trudeau, prime minister of Canada. in support of the Saskatoon bid for the Blues received considerable publicity. But no noise was made about one received in NHL headquarters from U.S. president Ronald Reagan.Ziegler refused to release the contents of the Trudeau letter but THN has secured at least part of the text. Here it is:&ldquo;John, I think you know well how it is not to have support and popularity in a part of the constituency that you rule. Perhaps like most Americans, you don&rsquo;t know anything about Canadian geography, economics or politics so I&rsquo;ll fill you in on a few details.&ldquo;My party, the Liberals, doesn&rsquo;t have any seats&mdash;that&rsquo;s members of parliament&mdash;west of Ontario and a large amount of carpers in the west are on my case all the time because they say I don&rsquo;t do anything for them.&ldquo;If I were to be instrumental in helping Saskatoon acquire an NHL team, then the westerners would get off my back.&ldquo;know you can be sympathetic to my problem: How would you like it if you had half a country of Harold Ballard clones, all knocking everything you did?&rdquo;Reagan&rsquo;s letter was more in the form of a note.&ldquo;Dear John: I really enjoyed having lunch with you and your guys here at the White House a couple of years back when the all-star game was held in our town, especially because you paid for the affair.&ldquo;Anyway, I noticed in the paper the other day that your league might be moving a team from the great city of St. Louis to somewhere in Canada called Saskatoon.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d just like to say that such an action doesn&rsquo;t sound very good to me. Geez, John, the U.S. is allowing Canada to be a test ground for the Cruise missile. Isn&rsquo;t that enough good things for us to be doing for them?&rdquo;<h2>I&rsquo;d Like To Buy&hellip;</h2>OF COURSE, there are the chaps who fall under the heading of &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to purchase&hellip;&rdquo; or &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to buy&hellip;&rdquo; California sportsman, entrepreneur of financier (never with his own loot)&mdash;he has a variety of titles&mdash;J. Waldo Cinsear wrote a letter to the NHL about the Blues.In the past five years, J. Waldo has said that he&rsquo;d like to buy the Boston Red Sox. Montreal Alouettes, General Motors, New York Yankees, Seattle Sounders, San Antonio Spurs, the Polish Solidarity movement and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.&lsquo;Dear John Ziegler: After reading about the plight of the St. Louis clues. I would like to make an offer to purchase the team. Of course, my backers and I would want to keep the team in St. Louis.&ldquo;However, we would like to examine the books of the team for the last few years because even though my group has a large amount of investment capital, it isn&rsquo;t made up of a bunch of dummies.&rdquo;Then, there was a letter that did provide a bit of a shock for Ziegler.&ldquo;Dear John: You probably don&rsquo;t remember me but I was involved in hockey, once with several teams. Ave missed the game since I&rsquo;ve been out of it and I would like to Explore the possibility of reentering the game by becoming involved in the ownership of the St. Louis Blues.&ldquo;I have a little scheme in mind where the Blues could be the basis of a whole new concept in hockey, I&rsquo;d like to discuss it with you.&ldquo;Best regards, Gary Davidson.&rdquo; &#9632;

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HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">by BOB MCKENZIE</div>Please forgive Charlie Huddy if he doesn&lsquo;t get involved in the continuing debate over the merit of plus-minus ratings in the National Hockey League.Of course, since the 24-year-old Edmonton Oiler defenseman recorded a league-high rating of plus-62, earning him the Emery Edge Award, he may be a little bias. Not only did the award put $2,000 in his pocket, a trophy on his mantlepiece and $500 to the charity of his choice, it provided the Scarborough, Ont., native with recognition and attention he may not otherwise have received.But no, the reason he avoids plus-minus debates has more to do with what he sees as the simplistic nature of the subject.&ldquo;The way I see it,&rdquo; says Huddy, &ldquo;is that, as a defenseman, my biggest concern is not being on the ice for any goals against.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always been that way. It&rsquo;s not as if it&rsquo;s a new concept or anything. It&rsquo;s just that there&rsquo;s an award for it now. Any team I&rsquo;ve ever played for kept them (plus-minus statistics). A good rating is something to strive for&mdash;it certainly can&rsquo;t hurt you in any way&mdash;but I also understand that&rsquo;s there is more to the game of hockey than just that. Still, there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with something that makes you want to be on the ice for more goals for than against.&rdquo;For the uninitiated, a player&rsquo;s plus-minus rating is calculated by subtracting the number of goals scored against his team while he is on the ice from the number of goals scored by his team while he is on the ice. Power plays and shorthanded goals do not count. Last season, for the first time ever, Emery Worldwide Inc., a New York based courier and shipping company, sponsored both league and team awards based on plus-minus ratings.Obviously, a plus rating is deemed favorable to a minus figure, but the entire issue had its share of point-counterpoint discussions throughout the regular season.For example, Vancouver Canuck coach Roger Neilson said the whole plus-minus system is a joke because players (on the ice for a goal against) may be penalized for the mistakes of others or a player on the ice may not make any contribution to a goal. Sort of painting everybody with the same plus-minus brush, if you will.Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; general manager John Ferguson deliberated at length on the shortcomings of the rating system, but admitted he wasn&rsquo;t adverse to pulling out those same stats at contract time.Meanwhile, two retired NHL stars, Gordie Howe and Rod Gilbert, went to work for Emery, barnstorming through NHL cities, extolling the virtues of plus-minus.&ldquo;Some people try to make the award out to be more than it really is,&rdquo; says Larry Parnell of Manning. Selvage and Lee, a New York public relations firm handling the Emery Edge promotional campaign. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not trying to say the Emery Edge winner is the best player in the league or the most valuable player. We&rsquo;re not trying to supplant any existing awards.&ldquo;The main point we are trying to make is that we are attempting to recognize them (plus-minus ratings) as an important part of the game. Simply put, we are recognizing one aspect of the game.&ldquo;Of course, not everyone will agree on how important the ratings are. But that&rsquo;s the nature of sports. That&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s all about. That&rsquo;s why people love to argue about baseball. Are RBls more important than hitting for average? What about slugging percentages? Total Average? What about all the other statistics and formulas used to grade players in baseball?&ldquo;So, we don&rsquo;t mind the debates. We&rsquo;re happy with the way the players and fans are responding. We&rsquo;re happy to recognize and reward a player such as Charlie Huddy, who, if you ask. Glen Sather will tell you is an integral part of the Edmonton Oilers. We&rsquo;re happy to be involved with the game of hockey, charity, the whole thing.&rdquo;While the plus-minus figures are bound to be misleading on occasion&mdash;no one says they are carved in stone and the situation Neilson talks about is bound to crop up on at one time or another&mdash;they can also offer some insight.Take Detroit Red Wing plus-minus leader John Ogrodnick. He finished the regular season with a plus-7 rating. If you saw the Red Wings play last season, you have to know that Ogrodnick, who scored 41 goals to help his own plus-minus cause, didn&rsquo;t get that rating by using mirrors. If nothing else, Ogrodnick deserves some recognition and the plus-minus system gives it to him. And if you&rsquo;re Detroit general manager Jimmy Devellano or coach Nick Polano, you have to possess more than a passing notion that it&rsquo;s no liability to have Ogrodnick on the ice.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011201/4804465-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="942" height="1216"><figcaption class="caption-body">Photo by Bruce BennettWhen Charlie Huddy wasn&rsquo;t drafted in 1978, he wondered if there was any future for him in professional hockey.</figcaption></div>Nevertheless, the debates are bound to continue. As for Huddy, only one aspect of the plus-minus question irks him.&ldquo;When it was getting late in the season and I was up near the top of the ratings,&rdquo; Huddy says, &ldquo;some people started saying I was getting off the ice quickly because I didn&rsquo;t want to get scored on and lose ground in the standings.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s ridiculous. I never, not for one minute, changed my style because of the award. I was very happy to win it, but I would never let it effect the way I play the game. Maybe the people that said that stuff wanted to see a more high-profile player win it. I don&rsquo;t really know.&rdquo;Plus-minus ratings aside, Charlie Huddy&rsquo;s story is an interesting one.In the summer of 1978, just weeks before a kid named Wayne Gretzky signed with the Indianpolis Racers of the World Hockey Association, the NHL conducted its annual amateur draft by conference call. For reasons that nobody can seem to recall, the draft was limited to six rounds, as opposed to 10 or 12, which has been the case since 1979.Huddy, then a chunky defenseman with the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League, was ignored by all 21 NHL teams.&ldquo;If I recall correctly,&rdquo; says Barry Fraser, Edmonton&rsquo;s director of player personnel and scouting wizard, &ldquo;we had the very last pick of the draft. It came down to a choice between Blair Barnes, John Blum and Charlie Huddy. We took Barnes (who has since been dealt to Los Angeles and played last season in New Haven of the American League).But Huddy, dismayed at not being drafted, wasn&lsquo;t sure he had any future in hockey. In retrospect, not being drafted was his big break.&ldquo;By not being drafted,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;Gus (Badali, his agent) and I could make the best deal possible and look where I would have the best chance to play. We picked Edmonton because they had a few older defenseman just about ready to retire. Things worked out real well for me.&rdquo;An understatement, to be sure. But it never came easy, either.A full season in Houston. Edmonton&rsquo;s Central League farm team at the time, for starters. Then came Wichita, home of the Wind and Charlie Huddy. He had a 12-game cup of coffee with the Oilers that season, but a shoulder injury saw him back in Wichita for New Year&rsquo;s.It was in the 1981-82 season that he got his break, being summoned to Edmonton two days before Christmas. He took full advantage of his chance, finished the season, enjoyed Edmonton&rsquo;s upset playoff win over Montreal before returning to Wichita with Andy Moog to help the Wind playoff bid.Last season marked his first full NHL campaign and he didn&rsquo;t disappoint himself or the Oilers.&ldquo;Edmonton is a great place to play and it&rsquo;s a lot of fun to play with a guy like Wayne Gretzky,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The best part is you get to watch him every game and that&rsquo;s something.&ldquo;I thought Paul Coffey and I played well together on defense. When he wants to lead a rush. I stay back. If I want to go, he stays. Everything worked out quite well. I&rsquo;m happy.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02995/4804458-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1953" height="1382"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Emery, left, chairman and chief executive officer of Emery Worldwide, presented Oiler defenseman Charlie Huddy with the Emery Edge award at the Stanley Cup luncheon. In its first year of existence, the award sparked a number of interesting debates.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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CHARLIE HUDDY

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011244/4804496-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">With the addition of Steve Bozek from Los Angeles, the Flames have acquired one of the speediest players in the league.</figcaption></div>CALGARY&mdash;The moves began before the team had found a logo, leased an office or even had a telephone listing in the Calgary area.Days after the sale of the Atlanta Flames to Calgary interests became final. general manager Cliff Fletcher started disassembling the &ldquo;Atlanta country club&rdquo; in favor of a team with a specific local identity.The first trade, in the summer of 1980, saw Garry Unger go to Los Angeles Kings for Randy Holt and Bert Wilson.Then, in rapid succession, over the next three years, the Flames traded:&bull; Jim Craig to Boston for second and third-round draft choices (Steve Konroyd and Mike Vernon).&bull; Dan Bouchard to Quebec for Jamie Hislop.&bull; Earl Ingarfield to Detroit for Dan Labraaten.&bull; Eric Vail to Detroit for Gary McAdam and two fourth-round draft choices (Dave Meszaros and John Bekkers).&bull; Brad Marsh to Philadelphia for Mel Bridgman.&bull; Don Lever and Bob MacMillan to Colorado for Lanny McDonald and a fourth-rounder (Bill Claviteer).&bull; Bobby Gould and Holt to Washington for a second-rounder, which was later traded to Minnesota.&bull; Willi Plett and a fourth-rounder (Dusan Pasek) to Minnesota for Steve Christoff and a second-rounder (Dave Reierson).&bull; Pat Riggin and Ken Houston to Washington for Howard Walker. George White and second, third (Perry Berezan) and sixth-round (Mats Kihlstron) draft choices.&bull; Four draft choices (Paul Cyr, Jens Johansson, Normand Lacombe and John Tucker) to Buffalo for Don Edwards, Richie Dunn and two draft choices (Dan Quinn and Richard Kromm).&bull; A third-round draft choice and a switch of seconds to Montreal for Doug Risebrough.&bull; Denis Cyr to Chicago for Carey Wilson.&bull; Bobby Francis to Detroit for Yves Courteau.&bull; Christoff and a second-rounder (Frantisek Musil) to Minnesota for Mike Eaves and Keith Hanson.&bull; Kevin Lavallee and Carl Mokosak to Los Angeles for Steve Bozek.&bull; Bridgman and Phil Russell to New Jersey for Steve Tambellini and Joel Quenneville.Only three players&mdash;defenseman Paul Reinhart, center Guy Chouinard and goaltender Reggie Lemelin&mdash;who saw service in Atlanta now remain with the club. Only one other club. Minnesota North Stars, have come close to matching the Flames in the number of deals made over the past three seasons.Why the massive turnover?Fletcher, defending his activity in the marketplace, said: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like the number of moves we&rsquo;ve had to make. Most were absolutely necessary, going back to the stage where we had to move some players unhappy about moving from Atlanta to Calgary.&ldquo;I think now the club is headed in the right direction. We&rsquo;ve let three players go in the summer (Lavallee, Bridgman and Russell). I hope not to make any more changes.Quite apparently, the Flames, caught in the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; slipstream the last two years, have moved to close the gap with the last three trades.For all the knocks against Bozek and Tambellini, the Flames did pick up two of the fastest players in the National Hockey League.Coach Bob Johnson, the man responsible for the trades, said the pair would &ldquo;fit into our new identity.&rdquo;&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one thing we&rsquo;re trying to do establish an identity,&rdquo; said Johnson. &ldquo;The Flames were always known as a big team and a slow team. Then the game changed and they got caught in the change. All of a sudden, they needed an identity and didn&rsquo;t have one.&ldquo;Obviously we&rsquo;re going with an identity of team speed.&rdquo;Johnson, conscious of how far the Flames have to go to catch the Oilers, called the trades, &ldquo;positive steps in the right direction.&rdquo;&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have any part in last year&rsquo;s trades,&rdquo; said Johnson, a reference to the disappointing deals that brought Edwards, Dunn and Christoff to the Flames. &ldquo;At least, this year, with guys like Eaves and Bozek, I know what I&rsquo;m getting. They&rsquo;ll fit in well with the Calgary Flames.&rdquo;Fletcher, aware that few professional teams in recent memory have built championships teams through the trade market, named 11 players&mdash;the majority of the team&rsquo;s high draft choices in the last three years&mdash;as the &ldquo;keys&rdquo; to the organization.&ldquo;For any long-term success, a good portion of them will have to make their way into the NHL in the next few years,&rdquo; said Fletcher.Bridgman, a key member of the Flyers in their halcyon years, wondered about the Flames&rsquo; revolving-door policy.&ldquo;One of the things that kept the Flyers together for such a long time was the knowledge that you&rsquo;d be there year after year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe it. but all the players that were there when I played all retired in the area. It&rsquo;s what Bob Butera (former Flyers&rsquo; president, now the Devils&rsquo; president) is trying to do in New Jersey.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Flames Look For ‘Identity’ By Wheeling And Dealing

PUBLISHERDean HeineCONTROLLERTony DobranowskiEDITOR IN CHIEFBob McKenzieEDITORIAL DIRECTORCharlie HalpinCONTRIBUTING EDITORSStan Fischler, Frank OrrADVERTISING SALES MANAGERRandy GreenADVERTISING SERVICES MANAGEREsther SumkaADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES New York: s.Bob Bassinette, The Bassinette Co., 27 Audrey Ave., Oyster Bay, NY 11771 (516) 922-6842Canadian Consumer Product Sales:CCMC, Kim Locke, 43 Madison Ave., Toronto, Ontario M5R 2S2 (416) 961-5141SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES MANAGERPaula HeardNEWSSTAND SERVICES MANAGEREsther SumkaSPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGERElaine WatkinsonADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL OFFICES85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2 (416) 445-5702EXECUTIVE OFFICE850 Third Avenue New York, New York 10022DISTRIBUTORDistributed nationally by Disticor 101 Duncan Mill Rd., Suite L4 Don Mills, Ont., M3B 1Z3 (416) 449-6430THE 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: $19.95 in the U.S.A. $19.95 in Canada, $34.95 in Foreign Countries. Send all Canadian and Foreign subscription orders to THE HOCKEY NEWS, P.O. Box 13035, Postal Station &lsquo;A&rsquo;, 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 Registration 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/f0004-031012/4804527-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="61" height="53"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations &#9632;

The Hockey News THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY Founded in 1947 by Kenneth W. McKenzie

<div class="byline">BILL FLEISCHMAN&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021174/4804558-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="286" height="330"></div><h2>Summer Daydreaming&hellip;</h2>ALREADY WAITING FOR another hockey season to start while summer daydreaming&hellip;Tell me this isn&rsquo;t true, that Gary Davidson is trying to launch a summer hockey league. &ldquo;It worked for the USFL, why shouldn&rsquo;t it work in hockey?&rdquo; asked the man behind the World Hockey Association. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll call it the USSHL&mdash;the U.S. Summer Hockey League.&rdquo;&ldquo;But Gary, where will you play?&rdquo; stammered weary survivors of the WHA-NHL turmoil.&ldquo;I can think of six cities faster than you can say &lsquo;whatever happened to the Minnesota Fighting Saints?&rsquo;&rdquo; Davidson replied. &ldquo;How about Pittsburgh. St. Louis, Buffalo, Washington, Los Angeles&mdash;maybe even Philadelphia? Gee, just thinking about starting a new league gets me excited.&rdquo;&ldquo;Anybody can dream, Gary. By the way, you were a major-league dreamer. But why these cities? Sit over here on this block of ice&mdash;to get you in the mood&mdash;and explain yourself.&rdquo;&ldquo;Okay. Start with Pittsburgh. You know how the Penguins have been. They don&rsquo;t draw very well in the winter and no one goes to the Pirate games in the summer. Playing hockey in the summer would be ideal. We&rsquo;ll bring back some&mdash;pardon the expression&mdash;old favorites such as Lowell MacDonald, Jean Pronovost and Syl Apps and sell out the place.&ldquo;Next, there&rsquo;s St. Louis. What a mess, right? This franchise is in such bad shape, it is being ridiculed in the Tank McNamara cartoon. The poor players don&rsquo;t know whether to pack for Saskatoon, Ottawa or Nanaimo. You know one thing&mdash;the Blues&rsquo; players won&rsquo;t ever buy a certain brand of dog food again. Anyway, it gets so hot in St. Louis in the summer, people will be glad to see hockey games just to cool off.&ldquo;Buffalo. Hey, they don&rsquo;t have major league baseball in Buffalo. We&rsquo;ll put a USSHL team there, bring back Eddie Shack to entertain and let Scott Bowman be the general manager. The way he wheels and deals in hockey, I&rsquo;m sure he could do the same thing in baseball. Wouldn&rsquo;t you pay to see him talk trade with George Steinbrenner or Whitey Herzog?<h2>Craving A Summer Team</h2>&ldquo;WASHINGTON. HERE&rsquo;S ANOTHER city with no major league baseball. Baltimore is only a few miles away, but it pains Washington-area people to call the Orioles their home team. These people are craving for a good summer team, especially after watching the Federals, or Flounderers, or whatever their USFL team is called. The Capitals are a young team&mdash;I&rsquo;m sure they wouldn&rsquo;t mind playing a summer schedule, too. David Poile is already prematurely gray-haired and he wouldn&rsquo;t mind either. Now all he has to worry about is his stomach. &ldquo;Los Angeles is another city that&rsquo;s just perfect for summer hockey. We&rsquo;ll bring back some all-time West Coast hockey favorites such as Andre Lacroix, Kevin Morrison, Bart Crashley and Sepo Repo. Oh, Repo played for Phoenix? That&rsquo;s close enough. Imagine Jerry Buss&rsquo; reaction when he hears about this? In the winter he has the Kings and Lakers, but in the summer he has nothing to do but hang around the pool with all those beauties, like Jimmy Connors&rsquo; estranged wife, Patti. Summer hockey will give him something to do. Knowing Jerry, he&rsquo;ll go for it in a big way. He could decorate the Forum to resemble a beach and have all those gorgeous women stroll around the place in bikinis. You don&rsquo;t think Californians will go for that? They&rsquo;ll go for any fad!<h2>Why Not Philly?</h2>&ldquo;OKAY, WHERE ELSE? Oh, yeah, Philly. Why not? All those former Flyers are still around&mdash;Ed Van Impe, Bob Kelly, Orest Kindrachuk, Bobby Taylor, Don Saleski. I hear Van Impe has put on a little weight, but all he&rsquo;d have to do is what he did before&mdash;stand at the blueline and wave his stick at the opposing forwards. The Watson brothers can&rsquo;t play any more, but they could coach. And Joe could handle the post-game interviews. With his loud voice, we wouldn&rsquo;t have to buy a microphone. Here&rsquo;s another city that needs a lively summer attraction&mdash;the USFL Stars have the league&rsquo;s best record, but they don&rsquo;t draw. And the Phillies are so old, fans age a couple years just watching them play.&ldquo;We could try Minnesota, too. No one goes to see the Twins so they must need something to do. Oh. they spend a lot of time outdoors around those beautiful, clear lakes? Hmmm&hellip; maybe we could hire someone to pollute the lakes and drive people indoors.&ldquo;Look, this is a great time to test new major league hockey markets&hellip;Seattle, Dallas&hellip;let&rsquo;s see if those people really want hockey. How about Honolulu? With a team there I could write off the trips. Ya gotta think of everything in this business.&ldquo;Television, ya gotta think of television. I&rsquo;m sure one of those cable networks would go for summer hockey. With all the other crazy stuff they televise, summer hockey is a natural. Think of all the city people who don&rsquo;t have air-conditioning&hellip;they&rsquo;d watch hockey all night just to feel cool. You know, this gets better and better. Excuse me, I have to call my old pals Ben Hatskin, Nelson Skalbania, John Bassett and Howard Baldwin. I know they&rsquo;ll love it just like I do.&ldquo;Hello, Ben? Gary Davidson. How are&hellip;&rdquo;Click. &#9632;

f0004-02

HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011103/4804589-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="290" height="342"></div><h2>Call Me, Jimmy D</h2>Jimmy DevellanoGeneral ManagerDetroit Red WingsJoe Louis ArenaDetroit, MIDEAR JIMMY:Remember last year, right after you got the big job, I called you up. You need help, you got it. Want advice, just call your old buddy Fischler and I&rsquo;ll help you get over that blueline.But, Jimmy, my phone never rang. Why, I was even hoping you&rsquo;d call collect just so I could tell you what to do with Walt McKechnie, not to mention that those speeches about why the Red Wings were light years away from the end of the tunnel weren&rsquo;t good for morale.But you never called and then you went and did it: You got Ron Duguay. I wouldn&rsquo;t have wished that on my worst enemy. Not even Glen Sather.Talk about a death wish, Jimmy, I mean Duguay is like inheriting a lifetime supply of migraines.Do you know that there&rsquo;s a fortune to be made in the manufacturer of 10-foot poles just for those general managers who won&rsquo;t touch Duguay with one.Judging by the way Duguay shows up for practices, you&rsquo;ve got to believe that the guy wears a sun dial instead of a watch.No, no, Jimmy, getting Ron Duguay was not the smartest move in the world&mdash;unless you have something against your coach Nick Polano.Not that Duguay doesn&rsquo;t do some things well. I mean, fair is fair. You must have seen the Stanley Cup playoffs. Is there anyone better at ruining a two-on-nothing breakaway better than Duguay? Remember the night Billy Smith saw Doogie break over center ice with Mike Backman and no Islanders in sight? Good old Doogie came through with the perfect bad play, blew it good. To this day. Herb Brooks hasn&rsquo;t had a good night&rsquo;s sleep over that blunder.Sure, Jimmy, you know as well as I do that Doogie does some things well. Doesn&rsquo;t he hold the NHL record for ducking the media and finding back doors out of dressing rooms? And isn&rsquo;t he the perfect role model for this young and impressionable team you are building in Detroit?If you had called, Jim, I&rsquo;d have told you about how I, too, was suckered under the Duguay spell. Last year I wrote a book about the bright young talents in the NHL and included Doogie along with the Bobby Carpenters, Brian Bellows and Wayne Gretzkys. When it came time to select a photo for the cover, I figured why not Duguay. He&rsquo;s exciting (I thought); he&rsquo;s sexy (I thought); he&rsquo;s the kind of player hockey fans dig (I thought). That was mistake number three.I couldn&rsquo;t believe the number of people who came to me and said, not very pleasantly I might add, &ldquo;why did you put him on the cover?&rdquo; That&rsquo;s a good question.Do you for a minute think this major league malingerer can help your club? We are talking about a player who rates back-checking just below leprosy on his scale of values.Granted, it&rsquo;s none of my business, Jim, but aren&rsquo;t you the same guy who&rsquo;s been telling the world that it&rsquo;s a sin to trade away draft choices and then you go and unload Red Wing draft choices, Mike Blaisdell, Willie Huber and Mark Osborne. Who am I supposed to believe, Jimmy Devellano or Jimmy Devellano?Now I don&rsquo;t want to sound like I&rsquo;m a smart guy or that you know more about marinating mussells than you do about managing. And I will go public and promise to eat this column (along with one of Mike Hitch&rsquo;s pizzas) if Doogie scores more than 25 goals for you next season.But I&rsquo;ve got this feeling that when you made that deal, Jimmy, you got Ron Duguay in name but Don Murdoch in reality. You got a guy whose legs are gone at age 26 and who left his heart at Studio 54, Xenon and the Stage Door Canteen.Your pal, Stan.<h2>Fischler Credit Dept.</h2>THE POLICY HERE is always to give standing ovations to those who go out on a big, shaky limb&mdash;and survive. That&rsquo;s why Al Morganti of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Buzzy Deschamps, who coaches hockey at St. John&rsquo;s University in New York, get Fischler&rsquo;s standing o&rsquo;s for the month. They are the only people in captivity who went on record&mdash;nay, went on the air&mdash;and predicted the Islanders would whip the acid off the Oilers in four straight games.Think about what gall and insight it took for Morganti and Deschamps to do it early in May when it counted.Al made his call on an Edmonton station, while Buzzy set himself up for the men in white on Pete Stemkowski&rsquo;s Long Island radio talk show. Ah, but the question: What ever made them think the Islanders could do the unthinkable and win four straight over Sather&rsquo;s (ahem) Supermen?&ldquo;Before the finals started,&rdquo; Morganti explains, &ldquo;I looked around Edmonton and couldn&rsquo;t help notice how everyone was swept up with this Oilers&rsquo; mania. And it seemed to me that nobody was giving the Islanders enough credit. After hearing how the Oilers were going to squash &rsquo;em, I figured that it would just get the Islanders&rsquo; ire up.&rdquo;And it did. Talk to insiders and they&rsquo;ll tell you that if there was one factor among all that helped motivate the Isles, it was the deluge of pro-Oiler drivel that was oozing out of the two-bit media butchers in Edmonton. Others may have sensed it, but Morganti said it. Hurray for you, Al.As for Deschamps, well this is one super-smart hockey man who earns his living as sales manager for Victoriaville hockey sticks, but should be some NHL team&rsquo;s full-time consultant on what the heck is going on in the league. Here&rsquo;s what made Deschamps pick the Isles in four straight.&ldquo;Discipline always wins,&rdquo; Buzzy says, &ldquo;and I knew that the Islanders were the best disciplined team-in the NHL. I also talked to Sather before the series started. I could sense from hearing his voice that he was just satisfied to be in the finals, but he didn&rsquo;t think he could win. And I knew the Islanders would handle Wayne Gretzky. They planned to chase all the Oilers forwards to center&mdash;and they did. They took the free flow away from Gretzky. And I knew that the Bob Nystroms and Sutters would scare the Oilers off the walls&mdash;and they did.&rdquo;There were some other smart men, but they were not wise enough to pick the Isles in four straight. Nevertheless, it is interesting to review some pre-finals statements from hockey people to see how insightful they were in the end:FRED SHERO: &ldquo;The Islanders should stick their butts into them (the Oilers). Don&rsquo;t let them get started. There&rsquo;s nothing illegal about getting in somebody&rsquo;s way.&rdquo; (That&rsquo;s precisely what the Islanders did.)DON CHERRY: &ldquo;The Islanders have to pick up their wingers, have their defense stand up at the blueline and hit them.&rdquo; (It was done).EMILE FRANCIS: &ldquo;Denis Potvin is the key.&rdquo; (How true.) HARRY NEALE: &ldquo;The Islanders don&rsquo;t get beaten in three departments&mdash;motivation, intensity and physical play.&rdquo; (Ask the Oilers.)DAVID PO1LE: &ldquo;The Islanders don&rsquo;t get rattled. They have an exceptional clutch goaltender in Billy Smith and two of the three best forwards in hockey in Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier.&rdquo; (Can&rsquo;t dispute that)BRYAN MURRAY: &ldquo;The Islanders have to get great goaltending. That&rsquo;s the key.&rdquo; (That&rsquo;s why Billy Smith won the Conn Smythe Trophy.)You want to know what I think: I still don&rsquo;t believe it went four straight!<h2>Resch On Battlin&rsquo; Billy</h2>THE ISLANDERS WILL not trade Billy Smith because &ldquo;they have never yet traded a player who has been a key to their success,&rdquo; says New Jersey Devil goalie Glenn (Chico) Resch.<h2>Final, Final Detail</h2>FOR A MOMENT, forget Billy Smith&rsquo;s goaltending, the spunky Sutter Brothers, the indefatigable Bryan Trottier and the rebirth of Bob Bourne. Try this:The honest-to-goodness, genuine, Yankee Doodle-ipsie-pipsie reason the Isles stopped Edmonton was penalty-killing. Think about it: the Oilers had the top-ranking power-play (29.3 per cent efficiency) during the regular season.So, what did they do in the finals. A measly one power-play goal in 21 tries. For that, Billy Carroll remains the least-warbled about Islander hero.<h2>Sinden&rsquo;s Wee-Mom Thoughts</h2>CAN PETE PEETERS play that kind of goal for me again in 1983-84 like he did in 1982-83. And then Harry dozes off muttering: &ldquo;I think he can, I think he can, I. think he can&hellip;&rdquo;<h2>Thoughts On Big McC</h2>DO YOU KNOW what would have hapened to Bob McCammon if he had not lost three straight games to the Rangers and had taken his Flyers to the second round, third round or even the finals? Why Bob wouldn&rsquo;t have gotten a single offer to be GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins or GM of the Philadelphia Flyers or an offer to coach the Minnesota North Stars. But by going out faster than it takes the Metroliner to roll from Philly to Manhattan. McCammon has been immortalized in a manner that only Pennsylvanians can understand. He has turned losing into a high and profitable an form. I want to meet his genie.<h2>Headline Of Headlines</h2>THE HEADLINE THAT said it best about the Stanley Cup finals: &ldquo;OILERS COACH OUT OF IDEAS.&rdquo; The Toronto Star.<h2>Revisionist History Dept.</h2>&ldquo;I THINK WE will see a new Bob Berry,&rdquo; predicts Guy Lafleur.That, frere Guy, is not le problem. It is that Les Canadiens won&rsquo;t see a new Guy Lafleur.<h2>And In Closing&hellip;</h2>THERE WILL NEVER be another team in NHL history to win four straight Stanley Cups. &#9632;

f0005-01

ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD FRIEDMAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;Eddie Mio stopped short of calling New York Ranger general manager Craig Patrick a liar and said he&rsquo;d like to return and haunt his former team and Ron Duguay confirmed that he has not yet adjusted to the idea of life in the slow lane in the suburbs of Detroit.The two newest members of the Detroit Red Wings revealed that in an unorthodox press conference at Duguay&rsquo;s Manhattan restaurant, Sticks, a few days after the trade which sent Willie Huber. Mike Blaisdell and Mark Osborne to New York for Mio, Duguay and Eddie Johnstone. Leaning over a bar in an elevated section of the restaurant while Duguay sat off to the side at a table, Mio explained that he was bitter because he felt Patrick breached an understanding between the two.&ldquo;I told him, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t intend on leaving New York&rsquo; and Craig said &lsquo;1 don&rsquo;t want you to go,&rsquo;&rdquo; Mio said of a conversation the two had a week after the playoffs. &ldquo;I take people for what they say and believe them when I&rsquo;m told something. From now on. I&rsquo;m going to have to get stuff on paper. I&rsquo;m a very loyal person. This happened to me in Edmonton and now in New York and now I have to look out for myself.&rdquo;Patrick said the deal, consummated during the National Hockey League congress meetings in Montreal last month, hinged on Detroit&rsquo;s acquiring Mio.Mio, 29, is set to become a free agent on July 1. but it became apparent the Rangers would deal him when they acquired Glen Hanlon from St. Louis for defenseman Andre Dore in January and signed Michigan State star Ron Scott last month. Ranger coach Herb Brooks had frequently been subdued in his praise of Mio, saying &ldquo;Eddie&rsquo;s not the answer.&rdquo; That, despite Mio backstopping the Rangers&rsquo; defeat of the Flyers before being eliminated by the Islanders.&ldquo;It was going to be a very easy negotiation,&rdquo; said Mio of the contract talks he had with Patrick, adding that he was asking for $l50,000-a-year and would have settled for $25,000 less than he could have negotiated elsewhere.Mio said that he would consider playing for either the Devils or the Flyers, both of which are near New York and both of which could use another goalie.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d just like to come back and haunt the Rangers,&rdquo; Mio said.Despite his interests in other teams, he said he fully expected to sign with Detroit. But he won&rsquo;t be as easy to catch as he would have been here.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d be stupid not to listen to other offers,&rdquo; Mio said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a greedy man, but I&rsquo;m looking out for No. I now I&rsquo;m tired of being a nice guy.&rdquo;Mio took pains to emphasize that he was in no way knocking Detroit or the Red Wings. Detroit coach Nick Polano was his coach in his first year of professional hockey, with Erie of the North American Hockey League.Duguay, however, did not seem concerned with being diplomatic about his new employers. A fixture on the Big Apple gossip pages, Duguay is unhappy about leaving his East Side stomping grounds and took little comfort when he was told that Blaisdell and Osborne said that life in Michigan was not bad.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a big difference between their saying &lsquo;not bad&rsquo; and living in New York City, where it&rsquo;s terrific,&rdquo; said Duguay, adding that he didn&rsquo;t think his new employers wanted an &ldquo;unhappy player.&rdquo;Duguay is seeking a trade closer to the Big Apple as soon as possible and suggests rumors he&rsquo;s heard indicate it could happen.Duguay said he has thought about retiring but realizes he is in no position to do so&mdash;though he is in no real hurry to sit down with Polano or Devellano, either.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying yes, I&rsquo;m happy to go to Detroit and my mind is set,&rdquo; said Duguay. &ldquo;If I said that I&rsquo;d be b.s.ing you. All that may change when I go out there. This is what I&rsquo;m feeling right now.&rdquo;If there was one positive aspect of the trade, Duguay said &ldquo;it&rsquo;s a new atmosphere, a new challenge and the two Eddies are going with me.&rdquo;Duguay harbors no ill will towards Patrick, but admitted he and Brooks &ldquo;weren&rsquo;t chums&rdquo;&mdash;which was Duguay&rsquo;s fault more or less for constantly arriving late for Ranger practices, something Brooks could not accept. &#9632;

Unhappy Mio, Duguay Get The Last Word

WHEN THE NATIONAL Hockey League Board of Governors, at its June meeting in Quebec City, voted l4-5 in favor of adopting a five-minute, sudden-death overtime period for NHL regular-season games for the 1983-84 season, it was a little difficult to suppress a chuckle or two.The urge to laugh had nothing to do with New York Islander general manager Bill Torrey&rsquo;s analogy of the overtime proposal&mdash;&ldquo;five minutes of overtime is like 15 seconds of sex&rdquo;&mdash;although that certainly supplied a little levity. No, what sparked the giggles was a flashback to comments made by NHL president John Ziegler one year ago, when the NHL board turned thumbs down on the overtime proposal.Ziegler said then that the major stumbling blocks to overtime being instituted were:&bull; It would be unfair to teams who were on a long road trip and playing against well-rested teams.&bull; It would cause scheduling problems for teams with cable and pay-TV packages.It would mean keeping unionized arena support staff around longer and having to pay them more.Well, when the NHL board saw the light last month and okayed overtime, there was no mention of how these so-called stumbling blocks were erased. It was almost as if they were never really major considerations in the first place.Could it be that the NHL governors finally realized that it was time for professional hockey to step into the modern age with Major League baseball, the National Football League and the National Basketball Association, leagues that already make a point of declaring a winner at the end of each and every contest?Actually, the biggest surprise of the overtime vote was that the NHL did not opt for the system that guarantees one point to each team heading into the extra period. The International and Atlantic Coast Hockey Leagues&mdash;hardly the perfect role models, admittedly&mdash;use that system.Had the NHL followed that lead, it would have meant that if the Pittsburgh Penguins finished 60 minutes of play on Long Island tied with the New York Islanders and then lost in overtime, they wouldn&rsquo;t head home empty handed. The Islanders, of course, would receive an extra point for winning in overtime.You couldn&rsquo;t blame the NHL if it went that route&mdash;the lower level teams would certainly be in favor of it because they could use every point possible, especially if it&rsquo;s a tie on the road against one of the NHL powerhouses.But the board decided it wanted a winner and a loser. Very admirable sentiments, indeed.That being the case, however, it&rsquo;s difficult to understand why it selected five minutes as the duration of the overtime period. Ten minutes of sudden death&mdash;used in the Ontario Hockey League&mdash;seems to work quite well and certainly increases the odds of emerging with a winner.Oh, well, rather than be critical of the details of the overtime concept, we should be thrilled that it&rsquo;s finally here. We&rsquo;ve said all along that the big winner in overtime is the fan and that still hold trues. Enjoy it, because it&rsquo;s been a long time coming.And speaking of a long time, that&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s been since the entire St. Louis Blue fiasco started. The fact that it&rsquo;s the middle of the summer and the question of where the Blues will play, if at all, next season is still unresolved, speaks for itself.Let it suffice to say that the NHL is wasting its time trying to find a buyer who will keep the Blues in St. Louis. The city has a great fans, but the franchise just isn&rsquo;t economically viable. If it was, it would have been scooped up long before this. Keeping the Blues in St. Lou will only guarantee that the same finanical woes will pop up a few years from now.Meanwhile, the players and personnel of the Blues&rsquo; organization are suffering through a summer of uncertainty. It shouldn&rsquo;t be that way and that&rsquo;s why the NHL board should convene immediately and set up the format for a dispersal draft and a 20-team NHL for the 1983-84 season.Even if the Blues were to remain in St. Louis, they are already behind the eight ball. They didn&rsquo;t participate in the entry draft and they are without a front-office staff. The NHL would be much better off to disperse the St. Louis players among the other 20 teams and strengthen the professional hockey product in those cities. St. Louis captain Brian Sutter, for example, could do wonders for the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; franchise.But the bottom line is that the Blues are finished in St. Louis. And that holds true whether the NHL can find a suitable buyer or not. This, it would seem, is as obvious as the overtime issue. &#9632;

It’s About Time

<div class="byline">BY GARY MUELLER</div>At long last, the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Board of Governors has come to the realization that a hockey game without a winner is not as exciting as one with a winner.Thus, the NHL finally has approved overtime for regular-season games. True, it&rsquo;s only a five-minute overtime, but that&rsquo;s better than nothing.It&rsquo;s just a shame that the Board wasn&rsquo;t willing to go into overtime in another situation where it is obvious there is no winner&mdash;the saga surrounding the fate of the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; franchise.On May 18, when the Board met in New York and turned down Ralston Purina&rsquo;s proposed sale and transfer of the Blues to Saskatoon, League president John Ziegler announced the result of that vote and then&hellip;was silent!Everyone waited for the second half of Ziegler&rsquo;s statement. Surely he was going to tell us that the sale had been rejected and that the league had taken action in the disposition of the St. Louis franchise.Instead, Ziegler said nothing. When asked what that meant as far as the St. Louis franchise was concerned, he replied: &ldquo;As far as the National Hockey League is concerned, Ralston Purina is still a member in good standing.&rdquo;Could he be serious?As it turned out, he was. The league sat back and waited while Ralston Purina went to court, filing a $60 million lawsuit and while Ralston Purina ignored the entry draft.Why didn&rsquo;t the Board, after rejecting the sale and transfer of the team, take the next logical step right then on May 18, going into overtime and determining what could be done to avoid a situation in which there clearly is no winner.But there certainly are a lot of losers.The NHL. so concerned about its major-league image if a team were to be moved to Saskatoon, has come across as minor league in the way it has handled the situation.Ralston Purina, which thought it had sold its team for approximately $12 million, hasn&rsquo;t pocketed a dime and is facing a $78 million countersuit filed by the NHL.The players under contract to the St. Louis Blues are continuing to be paid and their contracts will be honored, but they are living through a summer of indecision, not knowing where they&rsquo;ll be when the 1983-84 season opens in a few months.The front-office employees of the Blues were dismissed by Ralston Purina. A few workers&mdash;such as president-general manager Emile Francis, who has been hired by the Hartford Whalers, and publicity director Susie Mathieu, who has been hired by the National Football League&rsquo;s St. Louis Cardinals&mdash;have found other jobs, but others are unemployed, waiting to hear whether there will be hockey in St. Louis for the 1983-84 season.Ah, you say the winners are the hockey fans of St. Louis, because the NHL has refused to allow the team to be spirited off to Saskatoon.Nonsense.If hockey does return to St. Louis for the 1983-84 season, it will be an inferior product. The team&rsquo;s managment structure would have to be assembled hurriedly just to get ready for the new season. They&rsquo;ve already lost the services of Francis and the leading candidate to assume ownership of the team is Beverly Hills, CA investor Harry Ornest.If Ralston Purina, with its annual corporate profits exceeding $100 million, can&rsquo;t make a go of hockey in St. Louis, how can Ornest succeed?If the league really cares about the hockey fans of St. Louis, will it allow a possibly under-financed Ornest to buy the Blues? All that will do is guarantee the fans of St. Louis that two or three years down the road, they again will be faced with a summer of indecision as the team&rsquo;s troubled ownership hangs in the balance.If the league needs some information about the prospects of stable ownership in St. Louis, it ought to consult with Sidney Salomon Jr., who owned the Blues from 1967-1977; with Francis, who spent the spring and summer of 1977 trying to drum up an owner to save the then-bankrupt franchise; with Ralston Purina, which owned the team from 1977-1983, and with Vincent Schoemehl, the mayor of St. Louis, whose flim-flam attempts to put together a group of local investors, would have been comical, if it hadn&rsquo;t been so tragic for the hockey fans of St. Louis.Eleven of the Fortune 500 corporations have headquarters in St. Louis, yet no one can seem to come up with stable local ownership of the Blues. They&rsquo;ve been trying, at least since 1977, to rescue the troubled franchise and haven&rsquo;t made one inch of progress.Yet, the NHL remains adamant that it wants a team in St. Louis.If there is a winner in all this, perhaps it is in the form of those organizations that will be competing for the entertainment dollars of turned-off hockey fans in St. Louis.For instance, the Fabulous Fox Theatre, a gloriously renovated grand old art-deco theatre in midtown St. Louis is offering a season that features Wayne Newton. Paul Anka, Ann Margaret, Shirley MacLaine and Bob Hope.They might not be Wayne Gretzky, but at least you know what you&rsquo;re getting when you pay your money. The same cannot be said for the NHL&rsquo;s winter season. You might get a team in St. Louis or you might not. &#9632;

There Are No Winners In The St. Louis Saga

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div>At first thought, a single top-level minor league&mdash;an amalgamation of the Central and American Leagues&mdash;makes sense. While the 13-team AHL has prospered the last few seasons, the six-team CHL has had to scramble just to stay afloat each year amidst rumors of its demise.The reasons for merging the two leagues are convincing. Ever since the NHL lowered the draft eligibility to 18 but agreed to return those below 20 to the Canadian junior leagues if they did not latch onto NHL rosters, the minor-league pool of talent has shriveled.Three years ago, teams were scurrying to purchase their own minor-league franchise, but the trend may soon shift to dual minor-league affiliations, such as Boston-Washington in Hershey and Vancouver-Quebec in Fredericton. With only 20 or 21&mdash;depending upon the St. Louis situation&mdash;NHL teams needing a place to nurture its young, there may no longer be a need for 18-20 minor-league cities in two or three years.A single minor league would put an end to the CHL&rsquo;s nagging transportation problem. The AHL has worked so well for its NHL affiliates because geography continues to be its best subject. The cost of travel remains workable.And to the bird-dogs who roam the continent filing their endless scouting reports, the idea of one top-level minor league is priceless. No more red-eye flights out of Syracuse, NY to Indianapolis, IN. Every top-level minor leaguer would filter into every AHL city, allowing the NHL affiliate to scout every player.The idea sounds reasonable. But on second thought, I say no.Turn the American Hockey League, by accepting a team such as Indianapolis and expanding into two other cities, into one 14-or 16-team league nestled in the Northeastern portion of Canada and the U.S. and you&rsquo;ll kill hockey in cities like Salt Lake City. UT, and Denver, CO.The game has never received major-league billing in many parts of the United States&mdash;most notably the south and southwest&mdash;and that, among other things, has prevented it from reaping the financial benefits that accompanies mass appeal.The NHL lost its American network coverage years ago because it couldn&rsquo;t sell in the major markets. With the USA Cable Network now serving as the NHL&rsquo;s liason to the United States, hockey needs to maintain every market it can touch.Clearly, the CHL would be prudent to steal a page from the AHL&rsquo;s success formula. But how do you do that when your two strongest franchises&mdash;Indianapolis and Salt Lake City&mdash;are 1,566 miles away?You don&rsquo;t. You struggle along, the way the CHL has managed the last few years and you continue to promote the game in as many sections of the U.S. as you can.The game&rsquo;s image has suffered enough. The NHL governors may feel they&rsquo;d save themselves some dough by amalgamating the minors, but they&rsquo;d only be weakening their already weak base of support in many parts of the USA.And hockey needs every fan it can get. &#9632;

The AHL And CHL Do Not Belong As One

TORONTO&mdash;They are called free agents and if ever there was a misnomer in the National Hockey League, this is it. Free is hardly the word to describe NHL players who, on July 1, had their contracts expire.Among the players who became &ldquo;free agents&rdquo; on July 1 were Detroit Red Wing defenseman Reed Larson and goalie Eddie Mio; Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; Tom McCarthy and defenseman Gary Sargent; Pittsburgh Penguin center Greg Malone; Quebec Nordique defenseman Dave Pichette; Edmonton Oiler defensemen Kevin Lowe and Gary Lariviere and Chicago Black Hawks Tony Esposito, a netminder, defensemen Keith Brown and Jack O&rsquo;Callahan as well as right winger Tim Higgins.Thanks to the new collective bargaining agreement signed a year ago by both the NHL and the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, you can expect very little action on the free-agent market. Quite simply, the formula for determining compensation still scares off all but the biggest gambler. And, if anything, the NHL general managers are becoming a more conservative bunch these days, fearing to make critical mistakes in the building of their hockey teams.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02929/4804796-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="555" height="616"><figcaption class="caption-body">Black Hawk goalie Tony Esposito is the only free agent without compensation.</figcaption></div>The compensation packages are as follows:&bull; Sign a player making an annual salary of more than $85,000 but less than $100,000 and it will cost the team a third-round draft choice.&bull; Sign a player making more than $100,000 and less than $125,000 and compensation is one second-round pick and one third-round pick.&bull; For players earning more than $125,000 but less than $150,000, compensation is a first-round pick or a player from the new club, with the new club having a protected list of eight including the newly-acquired free agent.&bull; Compensation for a player earning more than $150,000, but less than $200,000 is a first and second-round pick or a first-round pick and a player from the new team who isn&rsquo;t on a six-man protected list.&bull; For a player earning an annual salary of more than $200,000, compensation is two first-round picks or a first rounder and a player from the new club who isn&rsquo;t on a four-man protected list.Given these conditions, it&rsquo;s easy to see why free agency isn&rsquo;t really so free.&ldquo;There is no free agency,&rdquo; says player agent Bill Watters. &ldquo;Absolutely none. It&rsquo;s just a figment of somebody&rsquo;s imagination.&rdquo;Norm Caplan, a Montreal-based player agent who teams up with Art Kaminsky of New York to represent more NHL players than any other agent, says &ldquo;it is the most outlandish and ridiculous agreement in any sport. It&rsquo;s a fraud.&rdquo;The only true free agent available this year is Tony Esposito. That&rsquo;s because he&rsquo;s over 33 and, therefore, requires no compensation.&ldquo;I still think it (the overall free-agency agreement) is a good middle-of-the-road agreement,&rdquo; says Esposito, who is also president of the NHLPA.Some of the other so-called &ldquo;free agents&rdquo; may beg to differ with Esposito, but one thing is certain&mdash;the general managers don&rsquo;t mind it because it simplifies their already complex jobs.&ldquo;When the agreement was made last summer,&rdquo; says Caplan. &ldquo;I talked to many general managers and owners an they all had smiles on their faces. The were shocked that they got such a great deal.&rdquo;Before last year&rsquo;s agreement, an independent arbiter would decide on con pensation. Each of the two teams in volved would offer compensation pad ages and it was up to the arbiter to take either one or the other, with no con promise permitted. &#9632;

f0009-02

NHL Free Agents Are Anything But Free

<div class="byline">BY STEVE SIMMONS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011218/4804827-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="295" height="339"></div><h2>Save The Kings</h2>IT WAS PERHAPS the longest and darkest night of a long and dark National Hockey League season. Marcel Dionne sat half-dressed in the dressing room of the Stampede Corral, knowing this was the final night of the 1982-83 season.Oh, there were still games to play, but for Dionne and the Los Angeles Kings, this was the last night that counted. It was the night, Los Angeles, a finalist in the Smythe Division a season earlier, was officially eliminated.Dionne sat in a dressing room of a building the Kings will never win a game in. He sat for the longest time, alone, in a comer, as his teammates dressed around him. Finally, he spoke.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how long I can go on like this,&rdquo; Dionne said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s just so much you can take. So much you can do. This is getting so frustrating. I wish someone else would take up the slack.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting up there now. Possibly. I&rsquo;m not going to hang in their much longer. If this doesn&rsquo;t get better, I may quit. I don&rsquo;t feel tired physically, but I&rsquo;m so tired mentally. I feel worn down, but I won&rsquo;t ask to be traded. But how long can I put up with this.&ldquo;What can you do? I don&rsquo;t know. This is the same team that did well in the playoffs last year. The difference? Motivation. Motivation can take you a long way. We won last year on motivation.&ldquo;I guess to some the 80-game season didn&rsquo;t mean as much. We lost some key people&mdash;more importantly we lost some character. Remember, we weren&rsquo;t much better last year. We got 10 points from Colorado. This year there was no Colorado.&rdquo;<h2>Words Of Frustration</h2>THE WORDS THAT came from Dionne were words of emotion, of frustration, of disappointment. He had pushed aside a difficult start and had yet another superb individual season, only to see it end without results. Team results. The once difficult Marcel Dionne has become a team man and now it is so painful for him.Outside the Corral dressing room that night, coach Don Perry spoke about the future of a hockey club that failed to make the playoffs division where only one club won more than it lost.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t stay the way we are,&rdquo; Perry said. &ldquo;There has to be changes. I don&rsquo;t know exactly what, but we&rsquo;ll sit down and talk about it. We can&rsquo;t have the same lineup next season.&ldquo;We had trouble getting good goaltending. We had to gamble, on unknowns, and we still don&rsquo;t know if we have a guy. Our defense had been damn erratic and we had some guys just disappear on us.&rdquo;And Dionne? &ldquo;He has been great.&rdquo; Perry said. &ldquo;I think I asked too much of him.&rdquo;At different periods throughout the NHL season, the Kings played without Dave Taylor, its on-ice leader; Bernie Nicholls, the self-centered center; Jay Wells, one of hockey&rsquo;s most underrated defensemen and Jimmy Fox, the scoring threat. They are a club not deep enough to fill so many holes.They are a club in need of a change. In need of producing a winner in a city that will not support mediocre hockey. They are a club that cannot live of the superbly-talented Dionne and be successful. There must be more.The Kings have made just one change of significance since this night at the dark Corral. They acquired Kevin Lavallee and Carl Mokosak from the Flames, giving up Steve Bozek in exchange but this is hardly the move to turn around a club in need of change.<h2>Calling All Goalies</h2>IF PERRY FOUND Bozek difficult because of a lack of discipline and flair for the offensive end of the rink, he will find Lavallee the same way. In Mokosak, he is only getting a spare part.If the Kings want to compete, as Dionne says they so desperately do, Los Angeles needs a goaltender. Game films. Perry insists, showed flaws in Mario Lessard&rsquo;s play, leading to his demise. New assistant coach Rogie Vachon insists Lessard will again emerge.Rookie Gary Laskoski, the best of the King goalies last season, still is found wanting. Perhaps he is the answer down the road, but not now. There is still Markus Mattsson, but he&rsquo;s never been good enough before. Ditto for Paul Pageau, the former Canadian Olympic goalie.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t go blaming any one person,&rdquo; said Charlie Simmer. &ldquo;We also can&rsquo;t sit here and say we were beaten by better teams. We weren&rsquo;t.&ldquo;We just didn&rsquo;t have enough discipline. We have enough talent.&rdquo;The question of talent, is, of course, a debatable one. Not debatable is the status of a Los Angeles franchise in the NHL. With hockey threatening to become a Canadian and border city sport, the success of the Kings&rsquo; franchise is paramount for the NHL to be considered major league sport.Currently, it is not successful, despite the talents of Marcel Dionne and a talented coach. Don Perry.The Kings need help&mdash;now&mdash;and if they don&rsquo;t get it soon, they may not live a long and prosperous life. This is a team in transition and a franchise in need of transfusion. &#9632;

f0009-01

THE WESTERN WORD

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER AND THN STAFF</div>Ron Duguay&rsquo;s dumping has Madison Square Garden insiders winking that Ranger coach Herb Brooks now is wielding clout over his lower-paid general manager Craig Patrick. Brooks, who sources report, earns more than twice the salary of Patrick, delivered an ultimatum to the latter: trade Duguay or find a new coach. For Duguay, the handwriting was on the wall when his pal, captain Barry Beck, quietly turned on him in mid-season. Previously, Beck championed Duguay&rsquo;s cause, but the captain became fed up with the glamor boy when he constantly turned up late for practices. According to Ranger whispers, Ed Mio&rsquo;s inclusion in the purgs suggests that the Brooks-Patrick consortium is eliminating the &ldquo;Phil Esposito Brigade&rdquo; within the Ranger dressing room. Espo, who is partners with Duguay and Ron Greschner in a Manhattan restaurant. Sticks, is also very tight with Mio. Brooks&rsquo; dislike for Espo and some of Phil&rsquo;s TV commentary, likely spurred the dismantling of Phil&rsquo;s gang. John Ferguson was interested in Duguay&hellip;An NHL insider says Bobby Clarke had refused to attend the league&rsquo;s award banquet unless he was assured he had won the Selke Trophy. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t want to come if he was the runner-up,&rdquo; the man says&hellip;The talent-starved Penguin organization has been quietly hoping that the Blues will be cancelled and a dispersal draft held. The Pitt high command would dearly love to have Brian Sutter. Penguin draft selections have the fans &ldquo;up in arms,&rdquo; according to Sharon Eberson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette&hellip; tipster inside the NHL Players&rsquo; Association says the anti-Al Eagleson movement has remained covert and that The Eagle, despite attempts to unseat him, is as strong as ever.Fred and John Barrett are among a few NHL players willing to stand up and challenge Eagleson on issues, according to those close to the union&hellip;Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s material needs some freshening up, according to those who have heard him on the hustings. His anti-Billy Smith diatribe moved NBC-TV sportscaster Mary Albert to remark: &ldquo;This isaline he has obviously rehearsed well&rdquo;&hellip;That George Steinbrenner ultimately will make a bid to annex Madison Square Garden, the Rangers et al, remains a hot talking point within Broadway sporting circles, but George&rsquo;s biggest opposition will come from members of the NHL board of governors who are not partial to him&hellip;Although Mike Keenan left the Rochester Americans for a job coaching at the University of Toronto, he is believed to be eyeing an NHL job and could be following the trail blazed by Tom Watt, who moved from the U of T to the bigs&hellip;The annual flap within the NHL&rsquo;s public relations hierarchy over Bill (Edmonton Oilers) Tuele&rsquo;s candor failed to cause any concern among his colleagues. &ldquo;At least,&rdquo; says one league publicist, &ldquo;Tuele keeps the pot boiling on dull days&rdquo;&hellip;Bob Gainey has been removed from the &ldquo;untouchable&rdquo; list on which he had been placed by Canadien rookie GM Serge Savard&hellip;Devils GM-coach Bill MacMillan on the draft: &ldquo;After it&rsquo;s over, everybody says they did great. Then they go back home and worry for two or three more years before they find out how they really did.&rdquo;Here&rsquo;s how deep the Billy Smith-Wayne Gretzky dislike runs. Both were invited to play in the Westchester, NY golf classic. When Smitty learned that The Kid would be there, he cancel led&hellip;Sports Illustrated&rsquo;s blockbuster look at the world of Al Eagleson has involved so much detail and investigation that the piece won&rsquo;t make print until mid-September at the earliest. One insider tells BLUELINES that NHL officials are concerned about the SI article but that some GMs are anticipating it with glee. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s possible,&rdquo; one GM is reported to have snapped, &ldquo;that we can get rid of this guy (Ealgleson) and finally run our own business&rdquo;&hellip;Montreal Gazette columnist Tim Burke verbally blasted Toronto Globe and Mail sportswriter Paul Palango after the latter penned an unflattering portrait of Hall of Famer Doug Harvey. Said Harvey of Palango: &ldquo;I have to go to Toronto pretty soon and if I meet the guy. I&rsquo;ll throw him in Lake Ontario&rdquo;&hellip;Although his title may remain the same, Maple Leaf assistant coach Dan Maloney has gained many points in the eyes of boss Harold Ballard-&hellip;The Bruins invited their top draft choice, Nevin Markwart, to have a look at Boston Garden. &ldquo;As soon as I stepped inside,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I had visions of Bobby Orr.&rdquo;Devil veep for hockey operations. Max McNab, was discussing the reluctance of players to bodycheck wandering goalies and offered: &ldquo;When a goalie leaves his crease to deliver a pass he can be bodychecked, legally. That&rsquo;s when you can run a goalie&rdquo;&hellip;One NHL team official says Willie Huber&rsquo;s problem has been conditioning, which happens to be Herb Brooks&rsquo; obsession. &ldquo;Huber can play well for the Rangers,&rdquo; says the official, &ldquo;if Brooks can get him in shape&rdquo;&hellip;The NHL placed an ad in the Wall Street Journal soliciting potential investors for the St. Louis Blues&hellip;The Bruins would be tickled if someone would be kind enough to take Brad Palmer off their hands&hellip;Eddie Mio is angling for a move to the Flyers or Devils, while Ron Duguay is hoping that the Red Wings will ultimately move him to New Jersey&hellip;There is now talk of a Guy Lafleur for Marcel Dionne deal&hellip;Word out of Minnesota is that the North Stars and Brian Lawton, the Rhode Island schoolboy who was chosen first overall in the 1983 entry draft, are miles apart in contract negotiations. Lawton&rsquo;s agent Neil Abbott, a lawyer from Boston, says the Stars are not bargaining in good faith and Lawton would welcome a trade to another team. Abbott says North Star GM Lou Nanne is pressuring Lawton into signing, offering the same kind of deal which the Stars gave to their No. 1 pick last year, Brian Bellows. Nanne says he&rsquo;s prepared to let Lawton play with the U.S. Olympic team and then the two parties will continue negotiating. &#9632;

BLUELINES

MONTREAL&mdash;One of these days, they may have to provide superstar Wayne Gretzky with his own section in the National Hockey League record book.The 1982-83 campaign represented another record-breaking year for the 22-year-old scoring whiz of the Edmonton Oilers who set or tied 18 more regular-season. Stanley Cup playoff and all-star game marks to bring his four-year NHL career total to an amazing 37. Not even the 1-tgendary Gordie Howe could match Gretzky&rsquo;s performance during his 26 years in the NHL. Howe retired with 21 records in the book, including seven set in all-star competition.During the past season, Gretzky established seven new league marks, deluding most assists in one season (125) and the longest consecutive point-scoring streak (30 games). With these new highs, the Edmonton center now owns 18 of a possible 22 regular-season records. The only ones that don&rsquo;t belong to Gretzky are highest goals-per-game average (held by Joe Malone), most power-play goals (shared by Phil Esposito and Mike Bossy), most shorthanded goals (set by Marcel Dionne) and longest goal-scoring streak (established by oldtimer Harry Broadbent).In a four-year span that has seen him win the Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion three times and the Hart Trophy as MVP four consecutive years, Gretzky has played in 319 of a possible 320 games, which includes a streak of 310 consecutive games. He has registered at least one point in 277 of those 319 contests and is the only player in the 66-year history of the NHL to score seven points in a game three times during his brief major league career.The sparkplug behind Edmonton&rsquo;s rise to prominence in the league, Gretzky now stands 49th on the all-time career points list, an incredible feat considering he has only been in the NHL four years. The Oilers&rsquo; all-star pivot has accumulated 709 points. His 440 assists places him in 42nd spot among the playmaking leaders of the league. Gretzky has also scored 269 goals.To illustrate how rapidly Gretzky has progressed in his four years in the NHL, a recent league chart showed that it took Guy Lafleur of the Canadiens eight seasons and 539 games to hit 709 points. Dionne did it in eight years as well but took 567 games. Esposito, one of the NHLs most prolific scorers in the &rsquo;70s, needed nine years and 579 games. Stan Mikita played in 652 games over a 10-year period to achieve the plateau and Howe hit 709 in his 682nd game during his 11th NHL season.It took Gretzky only one season to warm up to establishing new league scoring standards. His first year was 1979-80 when the old WH A and the NHL decided to merge with Gretzky entering the league with the Edmonson Oilers&rsquo; franchise. From that day on, the talented center has been dazzling NHL crowds with his scoring prowess. Gretzky began dazzling the league when he collected seven assists in one game, a first for both an NHL player and a rookie. After his rookie year, he scored 51 times, added 86 assists and 137 points, all of which were new records for a first-year player.With five individual records to his credit after playing in only 80 NHL games, the hockey experts were predicting even greater heights for the youngster from Brantford. Ont., and he didn&rsquo;t disappoint them even though he managed only two records for the 1980-81 season. He picked up the tempo the following year and posted eight more records. This past season was his most productive as he set out to rewrite 18 individual marks to become the greatest record-setter in the history of the NHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011170/4804906-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="971" height="1306"><figcaption class="caption-body">Photo By Bruce BennettWayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers, left, poses with the Hart Trophy and Maurice (Rocket) Richard after the former scoring great of the Montreal Canadiens presented the Oiler star with his fourth straight MVP award during the NHLs summer hockey congress.</figcaption></div>Here is a rundown of Gretzky&rsquo;s records since coming into the NHL:&bull;Most goals one season, 92 in 1981-82.&bull;Most assists one season. 125 in 1982-83.&bull;Most points one season, 212 in 1981-82.&bull;Most games scoring three or more goals in one season, 10 in 1981-82.&bull;Highest assist-per-game average one season, 1.56 in 1982-83.&bull;Most assists one season, including playoffs, 151 in 1982-83.&bull;Most goals one season, including playoffs, 97 in 1981-82.&bull;Highest points-per-game average one season, including playoffs, 2.64 in 1981-82.&bull;Most points one season, including playoffs, 234 in 1982-83. -&bull;Most goals one season by a center, 92 in 1981-82.&bull;Most goals by a player in his rookie NHL season, 51 in 1979-80.&bull;Most assists one season by a center, 125 in 1982-83.&bull;Most assists by a player in his rookie NHL season, 86 in 1979-80.&bull;Most points one season by a center, 212 in 1981-82.&bull;Most points by a player in his rookie NHL season, 137 in 1979-80.&bull;Most goals, minimum 50 games from start of season, 60 in 1981-1982.&bull;Longest consecutive point-scoring streak. 30 games in 1982-83.&bull;Longest consecutive point-scoring streak from start of season. 30 games in 1982-83.&bull;Most assists in one game by a player in his first NHL season, seven in 1979-80.&bull;Most points one playoff year, 38 in 1983.&bull;Most assists one playoff year, 26 in 1983.&bull;Most points one playoff game, seven in 1983.&bull;Most goals one all-star game, four in 1983.&bull;Most goals, one period, four in 1983.&bull;Highest goals-per-game career average, .843 (269 goals in 319 games.&bull;Highest assists-per-game career average, 1.38 (440 assists in 319 games).&bull;Highest points-per-game career average, 2.22 (709 points in 319 games).In addition to all these records, Gretzky shares nine other league records, including longest consecutive assist-scoring streak, 14 games in 1981-82; most assists one game, seven in 1979-80; most goalsone period, four in 1980-81; most shorthanded goals one playoff year, three in 1983; most shorthanded goals one playoff game, two in 1983; most playoff goals one period, three in 1983; fastest playoff goal from start of period, nine seconds in 1983; most playoff assists one period, three in 1981; most points one all-star game, four in 1983.This season, for the first time ever, the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association selected an all-rookie all-star team with two defensemen, Phil Housley of Buffalo and Washington&rsquo;s Scott Stevens, dominating the voting.Joining Housley and Stevens on the team were goalie Pelle Lindbergh of Philadelphia, center Dan Daoust of Toronto, right winger Steve Larmer of Chicago and left winger Mats Naslund of Montreal.Housley, who stepped out of Minnesota high school ranks directly into the NHL this past season, appeared on 60 of the 63 ballots cast by the PHWA selectors in the 21 NHL cities to lead the way in the voting. Stevens was on 54.The most interesting battle was at right wing where Larmer outdistanced Minnesota&rsquo;s Brian Bellows by a 50-13 margin. All other positions were conclusive with the voting heavily slanted in favor of Lindbergh. Housley, Stevens. Daoust and Naslund. Lindbergh had to beat out his Philadelphia teammate goalie Bob Froese while Daoust got the best of teammate Peter Ihnacak at center. &#9632;

f0011-01

Gretzky Still Rewriting NHL’s Record Book

Following are the complete voting results of the various NHL awards for 1982-83 with the numbers in brackets indicating the number of first (5 points), second (3 points) and third place (1 point) votes. A unanimous choice required 315 points.Hart Trophy &mdash; most valuable player.Winner &mdash; WAYNE GRETZKY, Edm.1. Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton 266 (43, 16, 3); 2. Pete Peeters, Boston 159 (14, 27, 8); 3. Denis Savard, Chicago 67 (3, 10, 22); 4. Rod Langway, Washington 50 (1, 6, 7); 5. Mark Howe, Philadelphia 20 (2, 0, 10); 6. Bobby Clarke, Philadelphia 9 (0, 3, 0)/ 7. Peter Stastny, Quebec 5 (0, 1, 2); 8. Lanny McDonald, Calgary 4 (0, 0,4); 9. Glen Resch, New Jersey 2 (0,0, 2); 10. Mike Bossy, Islanders 1 (0,0,1); 11. John Tonelli, Islanders 1 (0,0,1); 12. Brad Park, Boston 1 (0, 0, 1); 13. Mark Pavelich, Rangers 1 (0,0,1); 14. Brian Sutter, St. Louis 1 (0, 0, 1).Lady Byng Trophy &mdash; sportsmanship.Winner &mdash; MIKE BOSSY, NYI.1. Mike Bossy, Islanders 191 (28, 15, 6); 2. Rick Middleton, Boston 181 (23, 18, 12); 3. Kent Nilsson, Calgary 41 (3, 7, 5); 4. Marcel Dionne, Los Angeles 37 (1, 7, 11); 5. Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton 26 (2, 4, 4); 6. Jari Kurri, Edmonton 25 (2, 4, 3); 7. Mark Howe, Philadelphia 11 (1, 1, 3); 8. Denis Savard, Chicago 10 (2,0,0); 9. Mats Naslund, Montreal 8 (0, 2, 2); 10. Peter Stastny, Quebec 6(1,0,1); 11. Jorgen Pettersson, St. Louis 5 (0, 1, 2); 12. Bob MacMillan, New Jersey 4 (0, 1, 1); 13. Mark Napier, Montreal 4 (0, 1, 1); 14. Neal Broten, Minnesota 3 (0, 1, 0); 15. Mark Pavelich, Rangers 3 (0, 1, 0); 16. Ray Bourque, Boston 2 (0,0, 2); 17. Butch Goring, Islanders 1 (0,0,1); 18. Larry Robinson, Montreal 1 (0, 0, 1); 19. Mike Rogers, Rangers 1 (0, 0, 1); 20. Glenn Resch, New Jersey 1 (0,0,1); 21. Anton Stastny, Quebec 1 (0, 0, 1); 22. Doug Wilson, Chicago 1 (0,0,1); 23. Jim Fox, Los Angeles 1 (0, 0, 1); 24, Peter McNab, Boston 1 (0, 0, 1); 25. Mike Eaves, Minnesota 1 (0, 0,1); 26. Ron Francis, Hartford 1 (0, 0, 1).Norris Trophy &mdash; top defenseman.Winner &mdash; ROD LANGWAY, Wash.1. Rod Langway, Washington 180 (24, 16, 12); 2. Mark Howe Philadelphia 155 (13, 24, 18); 3. Ray Bourque, Boston 139 (19, 11, 11); 4. Doug Wilson, Chicago 29 (2, 4, 7); 5. Paul Coffey, Edmonton 24 (0, 6, 6); 6. Charlie Huddy, Edmonton 12 (2, 0, 2); 7. Paul Reinhart, Calgary 9 (1, 1, 1); 8. Gordie Roberts, Minnesota 6 (1,0,1); 9. Mike O&rsquo;Connell, Boston 6 (0, 1, 3); 10. Mike Milbury, Boston 5 (1, 0, 0); 11. Borje Salming, Toronto 1 (0, 0, 1); 12. Brad Park, Boston 1 (0, 0, 1).Calder Trophy &mdash; rookie of year.Winner &mdash; STEVE LARMER, Chicago.1. Steve Larmer, Chicago 227 (36, 13, 8); 2. Phil Housley, Buffalo 115 (8, 20, 15); 3. Scott Stevens, Washington 85 (13, 4, 8); 4. Brian Bellows, Minnesota 78 (6, 12, 12); 5. Pelle Lindbergh, Philadelphia 21 (0, 5, 6); 6. Mats Naslund, Montreal 16 (0, 3,7); 7. Dan Daoust, Toronto 10 (0, 3, 1); 8. Mike Krushelnyski, Boston 9 (0, 2, 3); 9. Bob Froese, Philadelphia 5(0,1,2); 10. Peter Ihnacak, Toronto 1 (0,0,1).Vezina Trophy &mdash; outstanding goalie.Winner &mdash; PETE PEETERS, Boston.1. Pete Peeters, Boston 105 (21, 0, 0); 2. Roland Melanson, Islanders 34 (0, 9, 7); 3. Murray Bannerman, Chicago 22 (0, 6, 4); 4. Billy Smith, Islanders 9 (0, 3, 0); 5. Andy Moog, Edmonton 8 (0, 2, 2); 6. Glenn Resch, New Jersey 5 (0, 1, 2); 7. Pelle Lindbergh, Philadelphia 4 (0, 0,4); 8. Tony Esposito, Chicago 1 (0, 0, 1); 9. Bob Froese, Philadelphia 1 (0, 0, 1).Selke Trophy &mdash; top defensive forward.Winner &mdash; BOBBY CLARKE, Pha.1. Bobby Clarke, Philadelphia 125 (18,9,8); 2. Jari Kurri, Edmonton 63 (10, 1,10); 3. Bobby Gould, Washington 51 (6, 6, 3); 4. Tom Lysiak, Chicago 43 (2, 10, 3); 5. Doug Risebrough, Calgary 27 (4, 2, 1); 6. Bob Gainey, Montreal 26 (2,4,4); 7. Craig Ramsay, Buffalo 25 (2, 4, 3); 8. John Tonelli, Islanders 23 (1, 6, 0); 9. Rick Middleton, Boston 20 (3, 1 2); 10. Stan Smyl, Vancouver 15 (2, 1, 2); 11. Barry Pederson, Boston 14 (2, 1, 1); 12. Mike Krushelnyski, Boston 14 (1, 3, 0); 13. Bryan Trottier, Islanders 12 (1, 2, 1); 14. Gaetan Duchesne, Washington 10 (2,0,0); 15. Mario Tremblay, Montreal 10 (2, 0, 0); 16. Thomas Gradin, Vancouver 8(1,1,0); 17. Brian Sutter, St. Louis 8 (1,1,0); 18. Neal Broten, Minnesota 7 (1,0, 2); 19. Rich Preston, Chicago 6(1,0, 1); 20. Brent Peterson, Buffalo 6 (0, 2, 0); 21. Bruce Crowder, Boston 6 (0, 1, 3); 22. Pat Hughes, Edmonton 5 (1, 0, 0); 23. Dale Hunter, Quebec 5 (0, 1, 2); 24. Mark Pavelich, Rangers 4(0,1,1); 25. Mike Bossy, Islanders 4 (0, 1, 1); 26. Andre Savard, Buffalo 4 (0, 1, 1); 27. Ryan Walter, Montreal 4 (0,1,1); 28. Butch Goring, Islanders 4 (0, 1, 1); 29. Mark Johnson, Hartford 3 (0, 1, 0); 30. Larry Patey, St. Louis 3 (0, 1, 0); 31. Doug Jarvis, Washington 3 (0, 0, 3); 32. Tom Fergus, Boston 3 (0, 0, 3); 33. John Ogrodnick, Detroit 1 (0, 0,1); 34. Ric Seiling, Buffalo 1 (0, 0, 1);.35. Darcy Rota, Vancouver 1 (0,0,1); 36. Paul Woods, Detroit 1 (0,0,1); 37. Al Secord, Chicago 1 (0,0,1); 38. Steve Kasper, Boston 1 (0, 0, 1).<h2>ALL-STAR TEAMS</h2>Following are the complete results of voting for the al-star teams with the numbers in brackets indicating the number of first (5 points), second (3 points) and third place (1 point) votes. A unanimous choice required 315 points.GOALTENDER: 1. PETE PEETERS, Boston 309 (61, 1,1); 2. ROLAND MELANSON, Islanders 79 (0, 23, 10); 3. Murray Banerman, Chicago 39 (0,8,15); 4. Glenn Resch, New Jersey 35 (2, 5, 10); 5. Andy Moog, Edmonton 28 (0, 8,4); 6. Pelle Lindbergh, Philadelphia 24 (0, 5, 9); 7. Billy Smith, Islanders 17 (0, 5 2); 8. Richard Brodeur, Vancouver 14 (0, 4, 2); 9. Bob Froese, Philadelphia 6(0,1,3); 10. Rejean Lemelin, Calgary 3 (0, 1 0); 11. Mike Palmateer, Toronto 3 (0, 1, 0); 12. Don Beaupre, Minnesota 3(0,1,0); 13. Bob Sauve, Buffalo 2 (0,0, 2); 14. Al Jensen, Washington 2 (0,0,2); 15. Tony Esposito, Chicago 2 (0, 0, 2); 16. Gilles Meloche, Minnesota 1 (0, 0, 1).DEFENSE: 1. MARK HOWE, Philadelphia 262 (42, 16, 4); 2. ROD LANGWAY, Washington 228 (37, 12, 7); 3. RAY BOURQUE, Boston 218 (31, 19, 6); 4. PAUL COFFEY, Edmonton 111 (6, 21,18); 5. Doug Wilson Chicago 96 (4, 18, 22); 6. Denis Potvin, Islanders 38 (1,8, 9); 7. Mike O&rsquo;Connell, Boston 33 (1,7,7); 8. Charlie Huddy, Edmonton 27 (1, 5, 7); 9. Dave Babych, Winnipeg 20 (0, 4. 8); 10. Paul Reinhart, Calgary 19 (2,1,6); 11. Larry Robinson, Montreal 14 (0, 3, 5); 12. Gordie Roberts, Minnesota 10 (1, 1 2); 13. Borje Salming, Toronto 10(0,2,4); 14. Phil Housley, Buffalo 8 (0,3, 5); 15. Mike Milbury, Boston 7n (0,2,1); 16. Mike Ramsey, Buffalo 6 (0, 1 3); 17. Bary Beck, Rangers 5 (0, 1,2); 18. Craig Hartsburg, Minnesota 4 (0, 1, 1); 19. Reijo Ruotsalainen, Rangers 3 (0,1, 0); 20. Tomas Jonsson, Islanders 3 (0,1,0); 21. Brad Park, Boston Bruins 3 (0, 1,0); 22. Brian Engblom, Washington 3 (0, 0, 3); 23. Dave Langevin, Islanders 3 (0, 0, 3); 24. Reed Larson, Detroit 1 (0, 0, 1); 25. Bob Murray, Chicago 1 (0, 0, 1); 26. Curt Giles, Minnesota 1 (0, 0, 1).CENTER: 1. WAYNE GRETZKY, Edmonton 307 (60, 2,1); 2. DENIS SAVARD, Chicago 148 (2,42, 12); 3. Peter Stastny, Quebec 75 (0,16, 27); 4. Barry Pedeison, Boston 18 (0,1,15); 5. Marcel Dionne, Los Angeles 15 (1, 1, 7); 6. Bobby Clarke, Philadelphia 4 (0, 1, 1).LEFT WING: 1. MARK MESSIER, Edmonton 254 (41, 14, 7); 2. MICHEL GOULET, Quebec 162 (15, 26,9); 3. Al Secord, Chicago 115 (7,1, 26); 4. Brian Sutter, St. Louis 15 (0, 2, 9); 5. Darcy Rota, Vancouver 7 (0, 1, 4); 6. John Tonelli, Islanders 4 (0, 1 1); 7. Jari Kurri, Edmonton 3 (0, 1, 0); 8. John Ogrodnick, Detroit 3 (0, 0, 3); 9. Ryan Walter, Montreal 1 (0, 0, 1); 10. Mats Naslund, Montreal 1 (0, 0, 1); 11. Tony McKegney, Buffalo 1 (0, 0, 1); 12 Brian Propp, Philadelphia 1 (0, 0, 1).RIGHT WING: MIKE BOSSY, Islanders 243 (32, 26, 5); 2. LANNY McDONALD, Calgary 207 (25, 25, 7); 3. Rick Middleton, Boston 67 (5,7,21); 4. Glenn Anderson, Edmonton 26 (1, 2,15); 5. Jarri Kurri, Edmonton 19 (0,3,10); 6. Rick Vaive, Toronto 2 (0,0,2); 7. Mike Gartner, Washington 1 (0, 0, 1); 8. Stan Smyl, Vancouver 1 (0, 0, 1); 9. Steve Larmer, Chicago 1 (0, 0, 1). &#9632;

How They Voted For 1982-83 NHL Awards

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011234/4805031-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2>Final Scoring And Penalty Records For All Major And Minor League Players</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021043/4805024-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="1422" height="3488"></div><h2>Final Scoring And Penalty Minutes For All Major And Minor League Players</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011175/4805017-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="1374" height="2544"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02879/4805010-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="1391" height="2495"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011216/4805003-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="1395" height="3558"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02980/4804996-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="1415" height="3535"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011156/4804989-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="1434" height="3578"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02853/4804982-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="1418" height="3490"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011019/4804975-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="1422" height="3488"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02824/4804968-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="1407" height="3425"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01902/4804961-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="2893" height="1171"></div> &#9632;

f0012-01

HOCKEY NEWS STATISTICS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03725/4805062-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0013-03

The NHL’s Leading Shooters For 1982-83

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02739/4805100-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03575/4805093-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="1187" height="1557"></div> &#9632;

f0017-02

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE SCORING

MONTREAL&mdash;The Edmonton Oilers made a shambles of the individual Emery Edge Trophy plus-minus statistics this season and it was all attributed to the team&rsquo;s awesome offense that racked up a record 424 goals.Not only did the Oilers lead all NHL teams with a plus-112, but Oiler defenseman Charlie Huddy won the overall award with a plus-62. Edmonton players finished in the top three and the Oilers placed six in the top-12, a tribute to the highest-scoring machine in the history of the National Hockey League.The powerful Oilers mauled their opposition during the regular schedule, losing only 21 times in 80 games while scoring over 400 goals and finishing 28 points ahead of their closest rival in the Smythe Division race. They ended up with five players in the top-14 individual scorers but still managed a respectable defense to monopolize the plus-minus ratings.Huddy, a mobile defenseman who did an out-standing job both ways for the Oilers this season, led all National Leaguers with a plus-62. But he had plenty of competition and most of it came from his own teammates. Wayne Gretzky ended second behind Huddy with a plus-60 and Huddy&rsquo;s defense partner, Paul Coffey, was third with a 52. Gretzky led the NHL last season with a plus-81 but no other Oilers were able to crack the top 10.It was an entirely different story this season with the Edmonton players capitalizing on their big offense. Huddy was on the ice for 140 goals scored by the Oilers while the opposition connected for 78 while he was the defender. Gretzky was on for 159 scored and only 99 against. Coffey was on for 150 goals and gave up 98.Defensemen have long dominated the NHL&rsquo;s plus-minus ratings and this season was no different. The rearguards placed first, third, fourth, fifth, eighth and ninth among the first 10.Others among the plus-minus leaders included Ray Bourque of Boston with 49, Mark Howe of Philadelphia and Jari Kurri of Edmonton with 47, Steve Larmer of Chicago and Boston&rsquo;s Mike O&rsquo;Connell with 44, Philadelphia&rsquo;s Glen Cochrane with 42 and Glenn Anderson, also of the Oilers, in 10th spot with a plus-41. Bourque, Howe, O&rsquo;Connell and Cochrane are defensemen.Larmer, the Hawks&rsquo; right winger who won the NHL rookie award this past season, led all freshmen players with his plus-44. Boston&rsquo;s Mike Krushelnyski, also a rookie, finished with a plus-38, good for 13th place.Unlike past years when the likes of Brian Engblom, Rod Lang way and Larry Robinson provided the Montreal Canadiens with such defensive depth that made the Habs the best plus-minus team in the league, the Canadiens failed to put one player in the top-16 players. Mats Naslund was tied for 17th and led the Canadiens with a plus-34. Langway, now with Washington Capitals and the NHL&rsquo;s top defensman for 198283, did not place in the top-40, having ended the season with an even rating.Engblom, who also went to Washington in the same trade with Langway, was second to Gretzky last year with a plus-78. This season he ex, perienced a minus-4 year, the first time he had not been a plus player in his NHL career.Many of the top players of the 1982-83 season were in the top-40 ratings. Barry Pederson, who led the Bruins in scoring with 107 points, was a plus-38. Bryan Trottier of the Islanders, the No. 3 man in plus rankings in 1981-82, was right behind Pederson with a 37, tied with Philadelphia&rsquo;s gritty Bobby Clarke, who won the Selke Trophy this past season as best defensive player in the NHL. Two of the league&rsquo;s high scorers, Chicago&rsquo;s Al Secord and Rick Middleton of Boston, finished with plus-34 and 33 ratings, respectively. The Islanders&rsquo; 60-goal sniper, Mike Bossy, had a plus-27 but 66-goal scorer Lanny McDonald of Calgary finished well down with a minus-2 rating.<h2>Plus-Minus Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01920/4805285-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="711" height="1104"></div><h2>BOSTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02706/4805278-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="706" height="648"></div><h2>BUFFALO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03511/4805271-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="713" height="678"></div><h2>CALGARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04347/4805264-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="711" height="653"></div><h2>CHICAGO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05244/4805257-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="712" height="620"></div><h2>DETROIT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06196/4805250-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="716" height="814"></div><h2>EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-07169/4805243-1-eng-US/f0018-072.jpg" title="f0018-07" width="708" height="741"></div><h2>HARTFORD</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-08144/4805236-1-eng-US/f0018-082.jpg" title="f0018-08" width="709" height="766"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-09124/4805229-1-eng-US/f0018-092.jpg" title="f0018-09" width="707" height="645"></div><h2>MINNESOTA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-10111/4805222-1-eng-US/f0018-102.jpg" title="f0018-10" width="706" height="592"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-11107/4805215-1-eng-US/f0018-112.jpg" title="f0018-11" width="707" height="651"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1298/4805208-1-eng-US/f0018-122.jpg" title="f0018-12" width="712" height="762"></div><h2>NY ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1383/4805201-1-eng-US/f0018-132.jpg" title="f0018-13" width="705" height="648"></div><h2>NY RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-1477/4805194-1-eng-US/f0018-142.jpg" title="f0018-14" width="707" height="673"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01869/4805187-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="693" height="650"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02662/4805180-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="717" height="674"></div><h2>QUEBEC</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03468/4805173-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="721" height="622"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04384/4805166-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="720" height="786"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05318/4805159-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="722" height="712"></div><h2>VANCOUVER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-06247/4805152-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg" title="f0019-06" width="718" height="679"></div><h2>WASHINGTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-07216/4805145-1-eng-US/f0019-072.jpg" title="f0019-07" width="726" height="647"></div><h2>WINNIPEG</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-08199/4805138-1-eng-US/f0019-082.jpg" title="f0019-08" width="722" height="677"></div><h2>Final Goaltending Records</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-09174/4805131-1-eng-US/f0019-092.jpg" title="f0019-09" width="1511" height="3678"></div> &#9632;

f0018-01

Top Offense Permits Oilers To Dominate Individual Figures

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01712/4805323-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="549" height="3395"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02486/4805316-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="2366" height="2712"></div> &#9632;

f0020-01

ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01534/4805413-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02312/4805406-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="1200" height="2232"></div> &#9632;

f0021-01

WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

If it&rsquo;s true that a goalpost is a goalie&rsquo;s best friend, you couldn&rsquo;t fault Doug Wickenheiser if he ted the metal pipe just above the tax collector on his buddy list.Wickenheiser, a center with the Montreal Canadiens, collided with a goalpost a game against Pittsburgh last season had busted a rib. It was a sickening sight the Canadien center lay writhing in in, a grim reminder that there&rsquo;s a lot to said about the hazards of the goalpost.Unlike the goalpost in football, which I wrapped in cushion, the hockey goal-post no protective covering. Unless goal is knocked off its moorings in a collision, a player colliding with the post easily susceptible to injury. Brian O&rsquo;Neill, the National Hockey League&rsquo;s excutive vice-president, estimates that if the 3,500 man-games lost through ingary in the 1982-83 season, about 10 per cent resulted from collisions with the goalpost.O&rsquo;Neill says the league has conducted ladies to devise an alternative to the metal moorings&mdash;something that will see the net more easily on impact but he only substitutions so far have been easy to insert but hard to put back together.Russell Hawkes, a 47-year-old finanial planner from Binghamton, NY, thinks he has the solution. Hawkes has invented break-away pins, a modified plastic substance that can be used in place of moorings and are easily replaced once they&rsquo;ve been broken off after a collision.Hawkes says the pins are a viable alternative to the present mooring system.The key factor in post collision, Hawkes says, is not the weight of the player but the speed upon impact. Using a calculation of a player weighing about 185 pounds crashing into the post at a speed ranging between five to eight miles-per-hour, Hawkes believes the pins will break free and the net will dislodge.Replacing the pins&mdash;one for each post&mdash;is a snap, he says, and can be accomplished in about two minutes&mdash;less than the time it takes to carry an injured player of the ice. The pins are adjustable for ice thickness of half an inch to an inch an a half and shear off at ice level.Another advantage, he says, is that the pins are inexpensive. A package of five pins&mdash;two pins for each net plus a spare&mdash;cost $50. He estimates over the course of a year that a team would spend about $500-1,000 at &ldquo;absolute maximum&rdquo; in pin replacement.&ldquo;That is a nominal cost, compared to preventing an injury,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;If you knock Wayne Gretzky out for a year or a career, that&rsquo;s thousands of dollars.&rdquo;Hawkes began making sketches of the pins two years ago, after he saw an NHL game on TV, in which a player had collided with the post and was later being carried off on a stretcher. Hawkes thought &ldquo;there must be a better way&rdquo; to reduce injuries.On the recommendation of business friend and former Binghamton minor leaguer Frank Hamel, Hawkes took his invention to the recent Professional Hockey Trainers Association meetings in Concorde, NY. There he met Peter Millar, athletic therapist for the Edmonton Oilers, who was with Hamel in Binghamton and Laurentian University.Millar says the theory of the pins is &ldquo;good, but whether (the pins) will hold up in game situations or practices remains to be seen.&rdquo;Hawkes admits the pins have not been tested in game situations, only in the lab and on the ice. He&rsquo;ll be making the pins available this summer to hockey schools in the U.S. and Canada, recording information on the merits and weakness of the pins.The design is satisfactory, Hawkes says, but the shearing capacity needs to be changed so the breakage is minimal&mdash;what Hawkes terms &ldquo;a little fine tuning.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a matter of comparison,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;For every 10 times it broke when it should have, it broke three or four times when it wasn&rsquo;t supposed to. We&rsquo;ll listen to leagues and tell us if they like it&mdash;whether it&rsquo;s too strong or too weak.&rdquo;Hawkes is hoping the NHL buys his product, but that will only come with the general managers&rsquo; recommendations and then O&rsquo;Neill, who heads the league&rsquo;s rules committee. Hawkes says all of the 21 NHL teams&rsquo; trainers have ordered trial packs for possible use in training camp.Millar says he&rsquo;ll show Oiler GM-coach Glen Sather the benefits of the pins and he&rsquo;s confident Sather will try them.Hawkes says he&rsquo;s contacted the NHL about the pins, but so far he hasn&rsquo;t heard any response either way, but he doesn&rsquo;t expect to until his product is finalized, which should be midway through the 1983-84 season.Hawkes is already envisioning the day his pins are in use.&ldquo;A player falls and hits the goal hard, knowing full well he&rsquo;s not going to get hurt and he&rsquo;ll get up and skate away,&rdquo; Hawkes says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what it is all about for me.&rdquo; &#9632;

Pins Could Be Answer To Injury Prevention

Here are three good reasons to be sure to get the next three issues of THE HOCKEY NEWS:<h2>August</h2>THE 10 BEST: More than 150 NHL players, coaches, general managers, trainers and broadcasters were surveyed to find who they thought the 10 best were in a vareity of categories, including the 10 best players ever, 10 fastest skaters, 10 slowest skaters, 10 best fighters, 10 best college programs and 10 best junior hockey franchises, just to name a few. It&rsquo;s sure to be an entertaining and informative feature. One good reason why you&rsquo;ll want to have the August issue.<h2>September</h2>EQUIPMENT PREVIEW: An annual HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; feature that allows you to get a head start on your hockey equipment shopping list for the fall. In these days of economic restraint, you will want to know what is good value for your hard-earned dollars. Our product descriptions will allow you to compare manufacturers and make the decision that best suits you. One good reason why you shouldn&rsquo;t be without the September issue.<h2>Sept. 23rd</h2>TRAINING CAMP SPECIAL: A new feature this year, this issue will supply all the NHL teams&rsquo; training camp rosters as well as complete exhibition schedules and interesting stories that profile what an NHL training camp is all about. A good reason why you should start your NHL season coverage with the Sept. 23rd issue.And, of course, we&rsquo;ll cover all the topical events, such as what is going to happen to the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; situation. All that, plus insightful commentary and a plethora of NHL, minor-league, junior and college statistics on a regular basis. Don&rsquo;t miss out on the very best in hockey coverage. &#9632;

COMING SOON

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Olympic Candidates

<div class="byline">BY PERRY LEFKO</div>Lou Vairo and Dave King are getting their picks and pans ready, hoping that around mid-Febuary of next year they both find gold&mdash;Olympic gold that is.The two men have begun the task of assembling a group of amateur hockey players whose goal is to strike it rich at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, sight of the 1984 Winter Olympics.Vairo is a 37-year-old native of Brooklyn, who&rsquo;s been the coaching program director for the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States for the past four years. He takes over the U.S. Olympic team reins from Herb Brooks, who guided his team to a gold medal at the &rsquo;80 Games in Lake Placid, NY and is now the coach of the New York Rangers.King, a 35-year-old who hails from Saskatoon, Sask., the would-be home of the St. Louis Blues, heads the Canadian team. King has presided at the University of Saskatchewan since 1979-80. At the 1981-82 International Ice Hockey Federation junior championships, he coached his team to a gold medal. King succeeds Tom Watt, now coach with the Winnipeg Jets, as head of the Canadian Olympic team.Vairo and King are interesting insofar as the publicity&mdash;or controversy&mdash;that they&rsquo;ve gained with their Olympic portfolios. Vairo, in particular, has been downright &ldquo;embarrassed&rdquo; by claims that he orchestrated the European flow which the Americans used to defeat the Soviets and which Brooks&rsquo; Rangers employed to de-Smurf the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the &rsquo;83 Stanley Cup playoffs.&ldquo;In my opinion, if I had any effect at all, it was minimal,&rdquo; says Vairo, who was a techinical assistant to Brooks and his assistant Craig Patrick.King, meanwhile, has been trying to shun the spotlight of the &lsquo;82 IHHF junior championship, which was won in Minnesota&mdash;home court of the North Stars and their general manager Lou Nanne.Nanne had been disenchanted with Glen Sonmor (the coach who&rsquo;s now been moved to a scouting role) and it was no secret King was one of his leading candidates to become the Stars&rsquo; coach. But King repelled Nanne&rsquo;s offers&mdash;eventually the North Star GM hired Adirondack&rsquo;s Bill Mahoney to coach the team&mdash;and King has stated emphatically that Sarajevo is all he&rsquo;s presently concerned with.&ldquo;We have a large task ahead of us,&rdquo; King says of himself and assistant&rsquo;s Jean Perron and George Kingston. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t let my mind wander. It&rsquo;ll be a great experience. I&rsquo;m working with great people and so far it&rsquo;s been exciting.&rdquo;The two coaches agree they will be entering the competition as underdogs. The Soviets have been waiting since &rsquo;80 to avenge their surprising 4-2 loss to the Americans and if Brooks&rsquo; brood of 20-year-olds were able to surprise the Soviets once, you can be sure they&rsquo;ll be ready this time.Vairo, while admitting he&rsquo;s aiming for a gold, says the U.S. team will enter the competition as a darkhorse.&ldquo;The spectator who doesn&rsquo;t know hockey is probably expecting us to win a medal,&rdquo; says Vairo. &ldquo;The people who know hockey don&rsquo;t expect us to win it.&rdquo;King also acknowledges he&rsquo;s shooting for No. 1 status, but his situation, compared to Vairo&rsquo;s, is historically different. The Canucks have not won a world or Olympic championship (except the &rsquo;82 junior championship) since 1955 in West Germany, when the Penticton Vees earned Canada a gold medal. In Lake Placid, the Canadians did not even qualify for the medal round.&ldquo;I think we can be competitive,&rdquo; says the eternal optimist King. &ldquo;In a short tournament, it&rsquo;s an advantage to be an underdog. In a 10-12 day tournament there is a chance to pull an upset.&rdquo;At the time of this writing, Vairo could offer very little insight into his team. A collection of 80 hopefuls attended the National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs, CO, hoping to make an impression on Vairo. Only two players, Chris Chelios and Bobby Brooke, have committed themselves to the Olympics.Vairo will pare the roster to 26, but he&rsquo;s leaving an open invitation to Brian Lawton and Pat LaFontaine, chosen first and third, respectively, in the 1983 NHL entry draft. The latest word on Lawton is that he&rsquo;s enbroiled in contract squabbles with the North Stars, who own his rights, and Nanne has indicated he&rsquo;ll allow Lawton to go Olympic. The status on LaFontaine is not as clear, but one can almost put money on his being a member of the U.S. team. The New York Islanders own LaFontaine&rsquo;s rights, but they are so stockpiled in talent&mdash;both on the parent club and the minor-league Indianapolis Checker farm team&mdash;that Isles&rsquo; GM Bill Torrey may suggest LaFontaine gain some experience playing in the Olympics.After camps in Montreal and Winnipeg, King has selected 47 players who will attend the main Olympic tryout camp at the Calgary Corral, August 17-31, but he is hoping to recruit more players in the meantime.James Patrick, a defenseman University of North Dakota, will undoubtedly be one of King&rsquo;s kingpins. Patrick played in the world championships in West Germany and made a suitable impression not only on King, but the Rangers&rsquo; brass. New York has the rights to Patrick, but he has maintained that he can gain more experience by playing in the Olympics.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01534/4805530-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="561" height="794"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lou Vairo is embarrassed by claims he masterminded the U.S. Olympic victory.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02379/4805523-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="564" height="793"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave King gave up an opportunity to coach Minnesota for a shot at Sarajevo.</figcaption></div>Pat Flatley, a Wisconson Badger, also played in the &rsquo;83 world championships, and King has indicated that Flatley, along with another member of that team, Gord Sherven, will get a good look.Fifteen players were granted amnesty from the regional camps, with some of those players including: Joe Grant, a member of the 1980 Canadian Olympic Team; Carey Wilson, a teammate of Grant on the &rsquo;80 squad who played for IFK Helsinki last season; Dale Derkatch, the 5-foot-5 scoring sensation of the Western Hockey League, whom Edmonton Oilers selected in the seventh round of the NHL entry draft; and Bowling Green&rsquo;s Brian Hills, who won the Central Collegiate Hockey Association scoring crown last season.King admits he&rsquo;s got qaulity people, but he&rsquo;d like to have a little more depth.&ldquo;We have top people, but too few in number.&rdquo; says King.For King and Vairo, the next few months will be a test of character and coaching ability and at times they&rsquo;ll no doubt feel the pressure. But both admit they&rsquo;re ready for the task.Says Vairo: &ldquo;I just have one objective: To do the best job I can with the team I select. I do it one step at a time, that&rsquo;s why I don&rsquo;t have ulcers.&rdquo;Adds King: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an opportunity and a challange. I&rsquo;m not afraid.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Vairo, King Ready For The Task: To Win A Gold Medal At Olympics

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01505/4805592-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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YOUR SUMMER SPORTS READING SELECTION…

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01506/4805623-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Photo by Dennis MilesRick Vaive of the Toronto Maple Leafs holds the Molson Championship Trophy aloft after it was presented to him by Mike Murphy, right, director of Sales for Molson Brewery Ontario Ltd.</figcaption></div>NIAGARA FALLS&mdash;Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; right winger Rick Vaive is not only a splendid goal-scorer, he&rsquo;s a soothsayer, too.At the Wayne Gretzky Tennis Classic, in which Vaive teamed up with Canadian songbird Anne Murray, the Leafs&rsquo; two-time 50-plus goal scorer told a reporter the Leafs were going to win the Molson-NHL Slo-Pitch Classic the following weekend, June 17-19, in Niagara Falls, Ont.Vaive&rsquo;s prediction came true as the Leafs beat defending champion Los Angeles Kings 21-3 to win the Molson Cup.That&rsquo;s three converted touchdowns against one field goal if you&rsquo;re counting by football scores&mdash;and with a lopsided score like that it&rsquo;s hard to figure otherwise.The Leafs pounded out 61 runs against 22 registered by their opponents in the playoff rounds.For the Leafs, who haven&rsquo;t won a Stanley Cup competition since 1967, it was a spiritual victory. Toronto suffered a heartbreaking defeat to Minnesota in the first round of last season&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs, as Dino Ciccarelli scored in overtime of the fourth game to give the Stars a three games to one, best-of-five series victory.Battered and bruised in that series, the Leafs used the intervening weeks to mend but didn&rsquo;t lose their competitiveness.&ldquo;It feels great,&rdquo; said Leaf center Walt Poddubny, who manned third base for the blue and white. &ldquo;Before they (the Kings) knew what hit them, it was all over. When our bats got going there wasn&rsquo;t much of a difference. When the Kings played St. Louis in the semi-final they totally dominated the game, so I figured we&rsquo;d be in for one heck of a ball game.&rdquo;Carrying the big bat for the Leafs was bearded Bill Derlago, who stroked two homers&mdash;one a grand slam&mdash;and one single for eight RBI. Derlago, who came on strong for the Leafs in the Minnesota series when No. I center Dan Daoust was injured, received the Molson Most Valuable Player Trophy as the MVP in the tourney. Two years ago, in the inaugural slo-pitch tourney, Derlago finished behind Detroit&rsquo;s (now New York Rangers&rsquo;) Willie Huber in the MVP balloting.&ldquo;We were all tired from the games earlier in the day but we played well,&rdquo; said Derlago. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t make too many mistakes and played well defensively which is what you have to do against a team like Los Angeles. Bernie Nicholls and the rest of the guys played really well.&rdquo;For the Kings it was an end to what they had hoped would be a &ldquo;dynasty.&rdquo; Nicholls, famous for his post-goal Pumper-Nicholl dance, could take personal consolation as he copped his second award in as many years. The tourney&rsquo;s MVP last year, Nicholls was selected as the top defensive player of this year&rsquo;s competition and garnered the Rawlings Sport Award as the best defensive player.Toronto wasted little time getting on the scoresheet. With Vaive and Daoust on base, Derlago cleared the bases with a homer in the opening inning of the final.Los Angeles&rsquo; Jay Wells, who won the Jelinek Sports Award with his tournament-high .770 batting average, got the only run of the second inning. But the Leafs added a pair in the third, three in the fifth and eight in the sixth, with Derlago and Vaive hitting the long ball.In the seventh and final inning, the Leafs kept up the offensive outburst with five runs on five hits. Dave Gardner, a former member of the Kings who now plays in the Swiss First Division, supplied the Leafs with a homer and Daoust, Bruce Boudreau, John Anderson and Greg Terrion added key singles.Wells and Dean Hopkins added the other Kings&rsquo; runs.The Kings beat St. Louis 16-8 in the semis, as Nicholls had a pair of homers. Perry Anderson led the Blues with two homers, too, and four RBI.The Leafs hammered Calgary 26-8 in the other semi-final with Derlago hitting three homers. Poddubny had a pair of homers as did Daoust.In quarter-final action: Calgary edged Winnipeg 15-14; Toronto beat first-year champs Detroit 14-11; St. Louis doubled up on Philadelphia 16-8 and Los Angeles won 13-8 over Stanley Cup finalist Edmonton.Vaive admitted the tourney was the best of the three.&ldquo;There were more teams and a lot more people,&rdquo; Vaive said. &ldquo;The fans were terrific and gave us that extra incentive to win. All we wanted to do was have fun. Winning was a bonus. Now all we have to do is hope no one gets traded and we&rsquo;ll be back to defend our title ne^ year.&rdquo;Bob Lavelle, the tournament&rsquo;s organizer, expressed satisfaction with the entire weekend.&ldquo;Each year the players come up to me and say that the weekend was great and we won&rsquo;t be able to duplicate it the following year,&rdquo; Lavelle said. &ldquo;But when the next year winds down the players say the same thing again, they can&rsquo;t believe it.&rdquo;The tourney featured an all-star between the Campbell Conference the Wales Conference, in which the Campbells won 11-9 with Marcel Dionne and Nicholls hitting two homers apiece. Dionne received the Maple Leaf Village MVP Award in the all-star game and with his home run in the seventh inning. Vancouver&rsquo;s Darcy Rota won the Panasonic Play of the Game Award.The all-star game was filmed by Hockey Night in Canada, which fielded a team but proved with their winless record in three games those who can play and those who can&rsquo;t produce. Highlights of the tourney will be televised on the Global TV Network, July 16 from 7-9 p.m. &#9632;

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Derlago Muscles Leafs To Slo-Pitch Victory

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02351/4805654-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="531" height="689"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Detroit 38, Buffalo 11Philadelphia 8, Pittsburgh 4Quebec 3, Vancouver 2Los Angeles 24, NHL Oldtimers 5Washington 5, Winnipeg 4Chicago 3, Edmonton 2Toronto 9, Minnesota 7St Louis 20, Montreal 5Boston 9, Hartford 6Calgary 25, HNIC 2New Jersey 22, NHL Referees 5Los Angeles 13, Toronto 10Calgary 12, Pittsburgh 10Minnesota 22, HNIC 0St. Louis 8, New Jersey 7Buffalo 12, Hartford 11Montreal 13, Washington 10Winnipeg 13, HNIC 0Philadelphia 17, New Jersey 5Hartford 20, Vancouver 12Washington 9, NHL Referees 8Montreal 11, Quebec 10Winnipeg 30, Philadelphia 18Chicago 5, Vancouver 4Detroit 21, Boston 3Edmonton 18, NHL Oldtimers 13Buffalo 17, Chicago 0Edmonton 10, Boston 4Detroit 20, NHL Oldtimers 10Los Angeles 11, Calgary 9Toronto 17, Pittsburgh 13NHL Referees 17, Quebec 16St. Louis 15, Minnesota 6<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2>QUARTER-FINALSCalgary 15, Winnipeg 14Toronto 14, Detroit 11St. Louis 16, Philadelphia 8Los Angeles 13, Edmonton 8SEMI FINALSLos Angeles 16, St. Louis 8Toronto 26, Calgary 8FINALSToronto 21, Los Angeles 3(Toronto wins championship)ALL-STAR GAMECampbell Conf. 11, Wales Conf. 9 &#9632;

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Slo-Pitch Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY TERRY SCOTT</div>Years ago, when Brian O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s daughter was in primary school, she asked her father what he did at his National Hockey League office.&ldquo;I told her very facetiously that I sharpened skates,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neill said, recalling the incident. &ldquo;She went back and told her teacher that my job was sharpening skates.&rdquo;These days, a teacher probably would to have to inquire. O&rsquo;Neill, the 53-year-old executive vice-president of the NHL, still maintains a low public profile, but few people who read the sports&rsquo; pages would fail to recognize the name.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s the most powerful man in hockey.&rdquo; said Boston Bruin general manager Harry Sinden. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been appointed by the president of the league to handle his duties when it comes to discipline.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that (NHL president) John Ziegler is trying to slough off his duties. But he has candidly said that the experience Brian gained working with (former president) Clarence Campbell has put him in a better position when it comes to dealing with disciplinary measures.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Neill has a myriad of functions in his position, but the handling of on-ice discipline is the job for which he is most prominently known by the average fan.When he appeared on a sports&rsquo; talk show last season, it was 100 minutes into the program before he was asked a question that didn&rsquo;t relate to hockey violence or one of the suspensions he handed down.Before the 1982-83 regular season was two months old, O&rsquo;Neill had already dealt eight-game suspensions to Blaine Stoughton of the Hartford Whalers and Willi Plett of the Minnesota North Stars, seven to Dave Williams of the Vancouver Canucks and six to Jerry Korab of the Los Angeles Kings. All of the judgments followed the ugly wielding of sticks.&ldquo;I know people perceive me as the man who is in charge of discipline,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Neill. &ldquo;I understand fully before I went on that show what most of the calls would deal with because I was on after the incidents were still fresh in the minds of callers.&rdquo;There was no mention, for example, of O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s work as chairman of the league&rsquo;s officiating or professional development committees. Nothing about his dealings with the three Canadian major junior leagues or his daily contacts with general managers on hockey-related matters. Nothing about the hours he spent preparing the budget for last season&rsquo;s exhibition series against an all-star team from the Soviet Union.&ldquo;You have to go a long way to find a better individual than Brian,&rdquo; said Sinden, who has been dealing with O&rsquo;Neill in a GM&rsquo;s capacity since 1972. The pair haven&rsquo;t always been in total agreement. Sinden still recalls his discussions with O&rsquo;Neill a year ago when Terry O&rsquo;Reilly was suspended for 10 games after striking referee Andy van Hellemond.&ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;ve seen Brian&rsquo;s Irish temper and he&rsquo;s seen my Scottish temper,&rdquo; said Sinden. &ldquo;But I think he&rsquo;s outstanding.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s meticulous and he&rsquo;s organized and very little is ever left undone. I think his organizational abilities are his greatest asset. The ability to organize his time to administrate the league, because that&rsquo;s exactly what he does&mdash;administrate the league.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s what the NHL owners were seeking when they ran a newspaper advertisement back in 1965. With expansion in the planning stage, they felt president Campbell could use a top-notch administrator.O&rsquo;Neill, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree at Loyola before earning a Bachelor of Commerce at McGill, was working as the business manager of The Financial Times when he saw the ad. He applied, beat out 120 competitors, and started on April Fool&rsquo;s Day in 1966.&ldquo;When I first came into the job, I used to have a very low boiling point,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neill said.&ldquo;There were times when my Irish temper got the best of me, especially when dealing with the schedule with general managers.&ldquo;But Mr. Campbell taught me patience, although not to the degree he has.&rdquo;To relieve frustrations. O&rsquo;Neill, who is an avid tennis player, spends noon hours working out at the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. Further solace sometimes comes in listening to Pavarotti, the operatic tenor, a performance by Harry Belafonte or Liberace.&ldquo;I like the standard music, but not the heavy stuff.&rdquo;He also professes to have no label politically, but described his leanings as &ldquo;a little left of center&rdquo; when dealing with the underprivileged, which was the case while he was president of the Federation of Catholic Community Services from 1969-71.&ldquo;I became very involved with the welfare side of the city of Montreal,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was one of the principals involved with merging the federation into what is now Centraide.&ldquo;I guess you could say I&rsquo;m a liberal when it comes to dealing with the underprivileged because you can&rsquo;t help but have that rub off on you.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s concern for humanity is also reflected in his charitable work with the United Way appeal and his two-year presidency of St. Mary&rsquo;s Hospital, in the northwest section of Montreal.O&rsquo;Neill said the liberalism does not extend to his disciplinary duties, although the public, who has been generally critical of O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s lenient suspensions, may not agree.&ldquo;People have the right to be upset by some of the actions of our players because I share their concern,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I hope they understand how the decision process goes.&ldquo;What has to be done is to notify anyone that if these suspensions are not an adequate deterrent, the players can expect more in the future. I have advised all general managers to that effect.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see a thread among the incidents last season. I think they were coincidental and there is no relation between one or the other. The reason I say that is because I asked one of the later players I suspended if he was aware what the others got and he didn&rsquo;t know. That&rsquo;s what prompted me to send out the other decisions to the general managers. If we don&rsquo;t have the deterrent, then we&rsquo;re missing the boat.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Neill receives &ldquo;maybe six or seven&rdquo; letters a week from fans suggesting the boat has already come and gone. He reads every letter and answers many that have a reasonable complaint and aren&rsquo;t simply an emotional reaction.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind the mail, it&rsquo;s some of the phone calls that bother me. Sometimes, you have to look at the postmark on a letter. Fans will write because a local player has been affected by the decision, which is all right, I suppose. But there are some very good points made by fans.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Neill, who played Jr. B. hockey with the Winged Wheelers and at the unversity level with McGill Redmen, countered with some ammunition of his own.&ldquo;The public has the feeling that sticks have caused a large incidence of injuries,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But, historically, it may no be as much as people make it out to be. We had 4,500 man-games lost last season, but only 23 of them were stick-related injuries.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been involved in about 6,000 NHL games and in only three of them were there deliberate injuries caused because of a stick.Two of them were this year (Korab sliced open the jaw of Dale Hunter of the Quebec Nordiques and Stoughton injured Paul Baxter of the Pittsburgh Penguins.) The other one was the Wilf Paiement-Dennis Polonich incident.The figures probably will not appease the hot-line callers or the correspondence or even a large segement of the hockey players, many of whom have called for suspensions or up to a year for stick swinging with attempt to injure.But that, Sinden said, is something O&rsquo;Neill will have to live with.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so discretionary, the powers that he has. The whole process just invites criticism.&rdquo;Terry Scott is Canadian Press staff writer in Montreal. &#9632;

O’Neill Does More Than Suspend Players

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01491/4805737-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02365/4805730-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="614" height="1418"><figcaption class="caption-body">Photos by Brace Bennett</figcaption></div><h2>NHL&rsquo;s Top Performers Carry Home The Silver</h2>Steve Larmer of the Chicago Black Hawks, extreme left, is a happy young man as he holds the Calder Trophy after winning the NHL rookie of the year award at ceremonies during Montreal&rsquo;s summer hockey congress. Washington&rsquo;s Rod Langway, second left, returned to his former hockey home in Montreal to accept the Norris Trophy as the league&rsquo;s best defenseman for 1983-83. Ex-NHL goaltending great, Ken Dryden, is shown at right above as he presents the Vezina Trophy to Pete Peeters of Boston as the best netminder of the season. Dryden was one of the three new members voted into the Hall of Fame. The others were Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull. New York Islanders&rsquo; sharpshooter Mike Bossy, extreme right, cradles the Lady Byng Trophy after winning the sportsmanship award following his 60-goal season for the Stanley Cup champs.<h2>Hockey Stars Talented Bunch</h2>Proving that hockey players have an abundance of other talents, three of the top performers in the 1983 Molson-NHL Slo-Pitch tournament at Niagara Falls, Ont., stepped up to receive awards for their prowess on the baseball field. At left, Bernie Nicholls of the L.A. Kings, shown on the right, receives the Rawlings Award from Al Andrews of Irwin Sport as the best defensive player in the tournament. At right, Jay Wells, also of the Kings, receives the Jelinek Award as the leading hitter from Randy Beatty of Jelinek Sports, left. Darcy Rota of the Vancouver Canucks, above center, accepts the Panasonic Play of the Game Award from Sean Hesketh, sales representative of Panasonic, for his seventh inning home run in the all-star game. Tourney MC Brian MacFarlane is on the right.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03250/4805723-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="865" height="1617"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04168/4805716-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="1162" height="1123"><figcaption class="caption-body">Photos By Dennis Miles</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05108/4805709-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="865" height="1612"></div> &#9632;

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HOCKEY PEOPLE

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Make The SAVE This Summer 2 Ways

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July 15, 1983

NEWSMAKERS’ ROUNDTABLE

QUEBEC HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

NHL Approves Overtime, Bans Use Of Long Pants

Atlantic Coast League Scoring