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.

March 2, 1984

The Hockey News March 2, 1984

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Doug Shedden was the Penguins&rsquo; leading scorer and most valuable player last season, but this season he didn&rsquo;t pick up where he left off as he broke his wrist in the first game of the year.Things have been getting better lately for Shedden, however.&ldquo;Dougie Shedden, the last two or three weeks, has played just super,&rdquo; said coach Lou Angotti. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s making real outstanding plays.&rdquo;The Wallaceburg, Ont., native was Pittsburgh&rsquo;s fifth-round selection in the 1980 entry draft and registered 51 goals and 72 assists plus 16 goals and 22 assists in 19 playoff games for Sault Ste. Marie in his final junior season. He split his first professional year between Pittsburgh and Erie of the American Hockey League.The 22-year-old right winger scored 24 goals and added 43 assists for the Penguins last season and was voted the club&rsquo;s MVP. After a slow start because of the wrist injury, Shedden tallied 11 goals and 18 assists in his first 40 games this campaign.&ldquo;It took a little longer than I expected to when I first came back,&rdquo; Shedden said about his injury. &ldquo;My wrist still isn&rsquo;t right, but I can&rsquo;t use that as an excuse. It&rsquo;s got to get operated on at the end of the year. There&rsquo;s still a little bone chip in there.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve just got to go out and play your game for the rest of the year and hope to finish off strong.&rdquo;Shedden&rsquo;s injury occurred during Pittsburgh&rsquo;s 5-3 season-opening loss to the Blues in St. Louis.&ldquo;It was the last minute of play and we were on a power play,&rdquo; Shedden recalled. &ldquo;I was on the point and Rob Ramage just grabbed the puck and let a slapshot go down the ice. I was backing up and I just went to knock it down and it caught between the laces of my glove.&rdquo;Watching his teammates play from the press box wasn&rsquo;t fun for Shedden.&ldquo;Any time you get injured, you don&rsquo;t like to be out,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It gets really hard. You like to be out there.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m the type of guy, I don&rsquo;t like to miss a game. I played all 80 games last year and I was looking forward to playing 80 again this year.&rdquo;Angotti recently returned Shedden to the right point on the power play, where he racked up a number of his points last season.Shedden didn&rsquo;t enjoy watching his mates from the press box.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there was any pressure on me,&rdquo; Shedden said about entering this season after leading the team in scoring last year. &ldquo;I just wanted to come in and have the same type of year. Maybe it could have been better, but the first half of the season didn&rsquo;t go quite the way I wanted it to. But the last has and hopefully it&rsquo;ll keep up.&ldquo;You definitely want to go out and have just as good or a better year again to show them that, hey, you want to stay here and you&rsquo;re ready to play. I think last season was just coming in with a good frame of mind from the previous year, going out every game and not worrying about how our team was playing. I think more than anything else, it was just consistent play.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s hard to be consistent and not worry about how the team is playing when you&rsquo;re on a club that has as few victories as the Penguins have over the last two seasons.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a lot of good changes,&rdquo; Shedden said about this year&rsquo;s Penguin club. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re starting to play really well now. If you go over our lineup, we&rsquo;ve got three pretty good lines put together. Maybe we&rsquo;re a little shy on the fourth one. The defense is coming along.&ldquo;For next year, these guys are all going to be a year older and a lot stronger.&rdquo;PENGUIN TRACKS&mdash;Rookie defenseman Todd Charlesworth was sent back to his junior team to protect his eligibility. Left winger Troy Loney was demoted to Baltimore along with Tom Thombury and defenseman Greg Tebbutt was recalled along with left winger Tim Hrynewich and Andy Brickley. who was originally sent down for breaking curfew&hellip;Goaltender Denis Herron returned to the lineup after missing 16 games with a pinched nerve in his neck and shoulder problems. &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

Penguin Sniper Sheds Unfortunate Start

When a team such as Northeastern, which may miss the ECAC playoffs this season, defeats a league power such as Boston University to win the prestigious Beanpot Invitational tournament at the Boston Garden, it has to get solid netminding.And that&rsquo;s exactly what junior goalie Tim Marshall provided as Northeastern defeated BU 5-2 before more than 14,000 fans at the Garden.Marshall, the 5-foot-9, 170-pound native of Hull, MA, made 32 saves en route to the prestigious victory, a feat which earned him college player-of-the-week honors for the period ending Feb. 19.At the end of the season, THE HOCKEY NEWS will select a Bauer College Player of the Year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01518/4876312-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="557" height="664"><figcaption class="caption-body">TIM MARSHALL Northeastern</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0027-01

Bauer Player of the week

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02992/4874845-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="396" height="350"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Orr.</figcaption></div>Hall of Fame hockey playerBrain damage is forever.That is why The Easier Seal Society encourages young people to wear protective helmets, and to always play with safety in mind.Like Bobby Orr, think Head First. And make sure your children do too.Presented by The Easter Seal Society. Ontario in partnership with 6 Consumers Gas. &#9632;

f0002-02

“It’s smart to wear a helmet. If 1 were playing today I’d wear one.”

<h2>Next Week</h2>One of the more remarkable stories of this NHL season has been the resurgence of New York Ranger center Pierre Larouche, who a year ago seem destined for the scrap heap. But he&rsquo;s taken The Big Apple by storm and we&rsquo;ll have an in-depth interview with the man many believe is the reason the Rangers are Stanley Cup contenders. We&rsquo;ll also get Hartford Whaler president Emile Francis&rsquo; reaction to the the turn of events since it was Francis who let Larouche go for nothing. And on top of all that, we&rsquo;ll look at the catch-phrase &ldquo;1940&rdquo; and how it symbolizes everything evil for a Ranger rooter.Don&rsquo;t miss it.<h2>March 16</h2>The Washington Capitals are a serious Stanley Cup contender this season, thanks to the efforts of players such as Dave Christian. We&rsquo;ll profile Christian, whose work ethic embodies the Caps&rsquo; spirit, and we&rsquo;ll also discuss his rise through the American high school hockey system. In fact, the Christian feature will just be the kickoff to a special section of the development of U.S. high school hockey.Don&rsquo;t miss it. &#9632;

COMING SOONIN THN

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01791/4877813-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">QUEBEC NORDIQUE MICHEL GOULET (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>Chicago&rsquo;s Al Secord: Story Of A Lost Season&mdash;Page 3Rangers Could Lose James Patrick&mdash;Page 17Tulsa Oilers Fold; Is The CHL Next?&mdash;Page 8 &#9632;

Cover-01

THE BEST LEFT WING IN THE NHL

&ldquo;I hate All-Star games like I hate Christmas.&rdquo;&mdash;New Jersey Devil coach Tommie McVie, explaining the two things that cause his players to slump. Story on Page 12. &#9632;

Quote Of The Week

<div class="byline">FRANK ORR&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011199/4874814-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="311" height="363"></div><h2>The Golden Rule</h2>THE TORONTO MAPLE Leafs are currently enjoying a run of good fortune, but it was only recently they hit rock bottom. An annual event in Toronto is the &ldquo;Maple Leafs&rsquo; Slump, Angst and What-Will-Harold-Do Festival.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s been held without interruption for longer than a Wayne Gretzky scoring streak.Each season, too, Toronto hockey fans&mdash;difficult to believe, isn&rsquo;t it, that the town remains a fine hockey center after all the lousy home teams it has had?&mdash;say the same thing: Why don&rsquo;t they make a deal to turn this thing around?In Chicago, where the Black Hawks were having problems this season because of a long injury and suspension list, the fans sang the same song. They wanted to know when general manager Bob Pulford was going to alleviate the Hawks&rsquo; woes by swinging a trade?The Los Angeles Kings have been suffering from the lack of a competent goaltender and their fans are asking when the team is going to make a swap for a goalie who can at least stop a rolling beach ball, let alone a puck.Of course, all three teams, and several other with roster problems, could have made deals quite easily, perhaps even trades that would aid their causes over the short haul, if they had been willing to part with their first-round draft choices.The sharks of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s front offices, Bill Torrey, Scotty Bowman and Harry Sinden, to name three of the few, would have been happy to offer succor to the afflicted if they could have been repaid in draft picks for their largesse.But it appears that a few more men who operate National Hockey League teams are learning the facts of life and No. 1 on the list goes like this: Winning teams simply can&rsquo;t be built on the trade market and the draft is the only way to go. The only deals of any real value are those that bring in draft choices.This isn&rsquo;t an attempt to say that people who are traded in hockey are bad dudes. A few players have changed hands over the years in the marketplace. But no champion or leading contender was built on the trade market.<h2>Isles Show the Way</h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS, who are gunning for their fifth consecutive Stanley Cup this spring, are the state of the art as a team and a franchise at this point in NHL history. They had 24 men play at least one game for them in the 1983 playoffs and 19 of those workers were acquired by the Isles through the entry draft.Edmonton Oilers, &rsquo;83 finalists and owners of the NHL&rsquo;s best record this term, have only six players acquired from other organizations.Buffalo Sabres, with a brilliant young club, have only four of the outsiders.At the other end of the scale, several clubs at the bottom of the standing are those with the most workers acquired from other organizations, usually for future draft picks. New Jersey Devils have 17 players from other chains, the same number as Hartford Whalers. The Maple Leafs picked up 16 of their 24 players via the trade route.The Isles&rsquo; drafting and their small bit of trading for live bodies&mdash;they have, of course, made shrewd deals for draft picks&mdash;shows how it&rsquo;s done.Luck helps. In 1974, the Kansas City Scouts had claims on a kid named Bob Bourne as their third-rounder in the draft. They traded him to the Islanders for Bart Crashley and Larry Hornung.In 1978, the Isles acquired center Wayne Merrick and defenseman Darcy Regier from Cleveland Barons for veterans Jean Potvin and J.P. Parise.In the &rsquo;79-80 term, Islander GM Torrey made two key moves, landing defenseman Gord Lane, who added needed toughness, from Washington Capitals for Mike Kaszycki, and center Butch Goring from the Kings for Bill Harris and Dave Lewis.<h2>Why Trade Drafts?</h2>IT TOOK A long time but the trading of draft picks seems to have diminished. After all, the precedents that establish the dopiness of the move are well established. There&rsquo;s simply no logic&mdash;or sanity&mdash;to trading a field of tomorrow&rsquo;s wheat for a loaf or two of yesterday&rsquo;s bread.In a few cases, a team will trade a player who can help because it feels the guy joining it will help even more. Mostly, though, players are traded for others reasons (not physical enough, lazy, out of condition, bad living habits) but the main one is that team figures the worker can&rsquo;t help it climb any higher.There is one exception to the home-grown theory. Montreal Canadiens have only four players who weren&rsquo;t acquired in the draft and they&rsquo;re having a rough season. &#9632;

f0002-01

HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div>Imagine, if you will, Liberace confined to the keyboard of a player-piano, Bill Shoemaker forced to do his riding on a merry-go-round, or Howard Cosell relegated to the role of a high school public address announcer.Now you know what kind of hockey season this has been for Al Secord.The Chicago left winger who was fire on ice for the last two seasons now spends his practice sessions in the whirlpool tub. On game nights in Chicago Stadium, he establishes squatter&rsquo;s rights in the press box rather than in the combat zone in front of the visiting team&rsquo;s goaltender.A young man with a huge appetite for hard work has been forced to lead a life of leisure.Since coming to the Black Hawks in the Dec. 19, 1980 trade that made a Boston Bruin out of defenseman Mike O&rsquo;Connell, Secord played in every game before this season.Two years ago, he scored 44 goals and piled up 303 minutes in the penalty box. Last season, he swelled his goal output to 54, while reducing his penalty toll to 180 minutes.This year, at age 25 and presumably in the prime of his hockey life, Secord has been rationed to two goals and four assists in nine games.His abdominal muscles have been mangled, turning him temporarily into an armchair athlete, but his emotional equilibrium hasn&rsquo;t wavered.The desire and dedication are still there. It&rsquo;s just that now they are being channelled into a cautious rehabilitation program that Secord hopes will enable him to eventually pick up where he left off last year.But he doesn&rsquo;t know if it will be this year or next.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s about a 50-50 chance that I&rsquo;ll play again this season,&rdquo; said Secord. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m doing various exercises and taking whirlpool treatments in the morning and afternoon and skating very lightly once a day.&ldquo;The exercises are stretching, stomach tensing, sit-ups, leg raises and weight work for my arms, shoulders and wrists.&ldquo;What I have to realize is that I can&rsquo;t jeopardize all that I&rsquo;ve done by coming back before it&rsquo;s completely healed. I tried that twice before and each time I increased the damage and had to start all over again.&ldquo;The injury still is there. At times I can feel a pull and then I pull in the reins and stop immediately. One day I will feel really good; the next day I&rsquo;ll be sore again.&rdquo;Secord believes the injury may have occurred during skirmishes with Jim Pavese and Dwight Schofield of St. Louis during an early-season game but isn&rsquo;t certain.No stranger to playing in pain, he tried to keep his nose to the grindstone only to have it turn into a buzzsaw.He also is wondering if the Hawks&rsquo; ultra-ambitious exhibition schedule may have made him vulnerable.&ldquo;We had 10 exhibitions and twice we played four straight nights,&rdquo; he recalled. &ldquo;We also were working out twice a day and a lot of us caught the flu.&rdquo;&ldquo;I always work very hard during the summer to come to camp in the best condition possible but I was kind of weary going into the season. I&rsquo;m not trying to blame anybody; I just wonder if it wasn&rsquo;t a little too much.&rdquo;Secord estimated he has seen from seven to 10 doctors concerning his mysterious abdominal injury. Hawk general manager Bob Pulford even sent him to the Mayo Clinic. In every instance the diagnosis has been: &ldquo;severely strained abdominal muscles.&rdquo;The cure? &ldquo;Complete rest.&rdquo;&ldquo;When I hurt myself the third time I tried to come back in December. I knew it was really bad,&rdquo; said Secord. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had worse injuries as far as pain goes but none has ever restricted me like this.&ldquo;The abdominal area is the center of balance. Your strength comes from there. Any kind of body movement in skating comes from there. There are so many ways I can aggravate it.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m hoping to start regular workouts in early March. Getting my legs back into condition will be the biggest problem. But I have to be 100 per cent before I start. I want the cure to be permanent.&rdquo; &#9632;

Time Will Heal Secord’s Wound

<div class="byline">BY HOWARD BERGER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011218/4874876-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Quebec Nordique left winger Michel Goulet has become a more complete player, which is a big help playing against Boston in the tough Adams Division.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Now that Al Secord isn&rsquo;t playing, Michel Goulet is the best left winger in the NHL. Make sure to put that in the story!&rdquo;&mdash;Don CherryYou can always count on Don Cherry for objectivity. Or perhaps a lack of it. In this case, let&rsquo;s call it objective tunnelvision.It has been four years since Cherry coached the Boston Bruins&mdash;a team noted for its ill-mannered, sometimes bellicose, approach to subduing opponents. Highlighting a rather unceremonious batch of grinders was one Al Secord, a man who felt as comfortable in the comers as the Pope does in the Vatican.Apparently lacking the ability to score, however, Secord was dispatched to the Chicago Black Hawks where he struggled through arduous campaigns of 44 and 54 goals, respectively. When a pulled abdominal muscle felled Secord this season, Cherry, a devout Secord disciple, had to look elsewhere for his favorite left winger.&ldquo;Michel Goulet is the best in the league right now,&rdquo; he says reluctantly. &ldquo;I like those grinder-type players but no team will ever win a Stanley Cup without a sniper like Goulet, Bossy or Lafleur.&rdquo;Cherry makes a valid point but other sources must be checked to answer this week&rsquo;s niggling question: Is Michel Goulet of the Quebec Nordiques the finest left winger in the National Hockey League?Pose the question to Goulet and his reply will not astound you. Or it shouldn&rsquo;t anyway. You won&rsquo;t get a firm agreement; nor will you be chastised. Instead, you&rsquo;ll have to deal with some conventional diplomacy.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a very nice compliment,&rdquo; Goulet says, &ldquo;but don&rsquo;t forget guys like John Ogrodnick (Detroit) and Mark Messier (Edmonton). I&rsquo;m sure there are lots of people who think they are the best left wingers in the league. It&rsquo;s just an honor to be included in that category.Okay, Michel, enough with humility. If you refuse to echo our sentiments&mdash;and those of Don Cherry&mdash;then try this endorsement from a chap who knows you far better than we do.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the toughest left winger for me to handle,&rdquo; says Boston Bruins&rsquo; right winger Rick Middleton, who faces Goulet and Les Nordiques eight times a season. &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t keep an eye on him at all times he&rsquo;ll give you the slip&mdash;and he&rsquo;s as dangerous as anyone with the puck. So, I always watch him as closely as I can.&rdquo;There you have it. Goulet&mdash;the 23-year-old, five-year veteran&mdash;has indeed matured into the NHL&rsquo;s craftiest left winger. In addition, just recently he&rsquo;s emerged as the consummate forward: polished and immaculate at both ends of the ice. His expanding ability to score goals is etched in twine: 22 his first year; 32 his second; 42 his third; 57 last season and he will likely attain or surpass the 60-goal plateau this term, barring serious injury.&ldquo;Michel&rsquo;s a deceptive sort of player,&rdquo; says New York Islanders&rsquo; Bob Nystrom. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not the greatest skater in the world and he doesn&rsquo;t go out of his way to bump you around, but he&rsquo;s a sneaky kind of guy who always seems to come out of nowhere at the right time.&ldquo;And man, can he ever score goals!&rdquo;Nystrom&rsquo;s depiction of Goulet is flawless. The Quebec winger has the innate ability to lurk&mdash;inconspicuously&mdash;in the background and then spring up near the opposition net, usually with the puck.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a tricky little guy,&rdquo; says Middleton. &ldquo;There are some wingers in this league who will always be where you expect them to, but Michel is different. You can lose him pretty easily if you&rsquo;re not concentrating,&rdquo;As far back as Goulet can recall, he was a goal-scorer. While growing up in Peribonka, Que.,&mdash;a small village-town, 150 miles north of Quebec City&mdash;Goulet terrorized his street buddies like he does current-day NHL foes.&ldquo;I loved to score goals as a kid,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I guess I was a bit of a showoff sometimes but scoring always came naturally to me.&rdquo;Goulet served notice of his future potency around the net when he tallied 73 times during his second (and last) junior season with the Quebec Remparts. He skipped his final two years of junior eligibility in 1978-79 to sign with Birmingham of the World Hockey Association, where he joined fellow under-agers Rick Vaive, Craig Hartsburg, Pat Riggin, Rob Ramage and Gaston Gingras in a clique known as the Baby Bulls.He was Quebec&rsquo;s first choice&mdash;20th overall&mdash;in the 1979 amateur draft and he rapidly established himself as a man to be watched around the net.Tony McKegney joined Quebec this season following a five-year term with the Buffalo Sabres&mdash;during which he was frequently assigned to keep an eye on Goulet.&ldquo;In Buffalo, we always had the idea Michel could be somewhat intimidated so we usually concentrated on throwing him off his game,&rdquo; McKegney remembers. &ldquo;As he matured, though, we found it more and more difficult to distract him and this year he has really toughened up.&ldquo;Bobby Smith (of the Canadiens) tried to pick a fight with Michel in Quebec one night and got clobbered. So the old intimidation routine doesn&rsquo;t work anymore.&rdquo;&ldquo;I guess I was getting pushed around a bit early in my career,&rdquo; Goulet says. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t go looking for fights nowadays either but I won&rsquo;t stand for the cheap stuff I was getting. Most of the guys I face are pretty honest, though. I think they respect me a little more than they used to. &ldquo;When tempers heat up, Goulet feels secure in the knowledge that long-time linemate Dale Hunter is comfortable in stormy situations.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played with Dale for four years and I can honestly say he keeps me going,&rdquo; Goulet says. &ldquo;He plays the same way on the road as he does at home and I can rely on him at all times. For my purposes, he&rsquo;s the best center in the league.&rdquo;Goulet and Hunter have toiled with a plethora of right wingers over the year. Wilf Paiement, Louis Sleigher and McKegney have all served time on the line this season but Hunter says Goulet keys the success of any unit.&ldquo;Playing with Michel is easy,&rdquo; Hunter says. &ldquo;When I get the puck I usually have two options: either pass it to Michel or carry it myself to the opening he creates with his speed. He&rsquo;s head and shoulders above any other left winger.&rdquo;McKegney has noticed Goulet can be counted upon in crucial situations.&ldquo;You&rsquo;d think a guy who scored so often would get a lot of garbage goals,&rdquo; McKegney says. &ldquo;But Michel has done exactly the opposite this year. He seems to thrive under pressure and he scores at important times for us.&rdquo;Goulet&rsquo;s 12 game-winning goals&mdash;the highest total in the NHL&mdash;supports McKegney&rsquo;s claim.With scoring a natural skill. Goulet recognized defensive play as his primary weakness of recent years and he worked diligently at becoming the impeccable forward he is today.His plus-minus rating of plus-44 was third-best in the NHL last week.&ldquo;If our team is going to be a contender, everyone has to backcheck, including the scorers,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We scored enough goals last year (343) to compete with any team but we allowed way too many (336). So this year we all promised to help out our defensemen and that&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;ve improved our record.&ldquo;Losing to Boston in the first round of the playoffs last year was very disappointing but 1 think we learned a lot from that series. Boston had a great defensive system and they eliminated us without much of a struggle. So our goal this year is to play effectively in our own end of the rink.&ldquo;With this team, the other end will take care of itself.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0003-01

With Apologies To Secord, Messier, Ogrodnick And Don Cherry, This Guy Is The NHL’s Best Left Winger

<div class="byline">BY RICH FRIEDMAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;There is a beauty and a real sense of tension to the Patrick Division race, by far the National Hockey League&rsquo;s tightest, that has fans and players alike watching the out-of-town scoreboard knowing that the fate of their team hangs in the balance and hinges on events hundreds of miles away.&ldquo;You can go from first to fourth in one night in this division and I think we might have done it,&rdquo; said Ranger coach Herb Brooks as the Rangers ended one of many pivotal weeks with an overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden.Brooks was close. It was not exactly a secret in that building that the Islanders had reclaimed first place just moments before the Rangers-Flyers game began with an overtime victory over the Devils at the nearby Meadowlands.Later that night, the Washington Capitals lost in overtime at Winnipeg, leaving them tied with the Rangers in points but ahead in the victory column in second place in the division, just a point ahead of the Flyers and two points back of the Islanders.That&rsquo;s tight.The Rangers returned from a road trip, in which they posted a 2-1 record, to face the Islanders in a home-and-home, Wednesday-Saturday series and play host to the Flyers Sunday night. They started the three-game set with a 3-2 victory at the Garden over the Islanders that was decided with 6:52 remaining in the game on a goal by Garden favorite Nick Fotiu. a part-time player who is resigned to that role.From an observer&rsquo;s point of view&mdash;and from a fan&rsquo;s point of view&mdash;the game was among the most satisfying of the year, pitting two highly-charged teams against each other. To use an overused phrase, which some commentators attach to any well-played game at this stage of the season, it was &ldquo;playoff hockey.&rdquo;The Rangers controlled the faceoffs&mdash;Mike Allison especially&mdash;and they also controlled the rebounds in front of Glen Hanlon.&ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t giving them second and third chances,&rdquo; Brooks said. &ldquo;They have too many people who can put the puck away. Our defensive zone coverage was pretty decent, as it has to be against those people.&rdquo;Fotiu muscled in the game-winner from the right post with his right arm while holding Islander defenseman Denis Potvin off with his left. Earlier, Allison fought off Islander defenseman Gord Dineen to open the scoring.&ldquo;We scored a couple of classic Islander goals tonight.&rdquo; said Dave Maloney.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s good to see guys grinding and going to the net. It&rsquo;s nice to be in a successful situation for a change, but the jury is still out until that last game. We&rsquo;ve submitted some pretty good evidence but the jury still has to vote.&rdquo;Brooks amplified on that theme when asked for his reaction to the fact that the win gave the Rangers a 4-2 advantage over the Stanley Cup champions in the season series to date.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not as good as the Islanders,&rdquo; was his response. &ldquo;Four out of six doesn&rsquo;t prove anything; it only proves we won four out of six.&rdquo;What would prove the Rangers better?&ldquo;Getting that first leg of the playoffs&hellip; and maybe winning the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; Brooks said.First things first. The Rangers ended the home-and-home series three nights later at the Nassau Coliseum with a 4-3 loss as Brent Sutter tipped a long shot&mdash;or pass&mdash;from Potvin past Ron Scott with just six seconds remaining in the game.In fact, you could say that the Rangers were done in by the Flyers&rsquo; Sutter brothers that weekend. The next night, Ron Sutter set up brother Rich with the goal that tied the score 2-2 early in the third period just 35 seconds after Don Maloney gave the Rangers their second lead of the game.In the overtime period, the Flyers&rsquo; Dave Poulin missed an open net on a breakaway just moments before Brian Propp set up Tim Kerr for the game-winner. On that final play, Hanlon came out of the net in an attempt to beat Kerr to the puck, a maneuver he had executed successfully most of the night. But Kerr beat him to it as he kicked Propp&rsquo;s pass ahead of him in the slot and pushed it under Hanlon&rsquo;s arm. It was the Flyers&rsquo; first win over the Rangers after eight straight losses going back to last season.Hanlon was composed, rather than disconsolate, after the sudden-death loss. There have been nights that this team has been shattered after a loss, but on this night there was some perspective to be gained from the knowledge that the Patrick Division race may not be decided, as Brooks indicated, until the last night of the season.&ldquo;Every game is so important,&rdquo; said Hanlon after that overtime loss. &ldquo;Hope-fully, we won&rsquo;t have to look back at the end of the season at this five-minute span and say that this made the difference.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;With loss to Flyers, the Rangers were 8-2 in their last 10 one-goal games and 15-5 in the 20 games this season decided by one goal. &ldquo;I wish we could blow some teams out,&rdquo; Anders Hedberg admitted, &ldquo;but it hasn&rsquo;t been that way all season long. &ldquo;&hellip; Four of their last seven games had gone into overtime, with the Flyer game being the only one resulting in a decision; three games on the road trip had ended in ties. Rangers were 3-3-8 in overtime for the season&hellip;Pierre Larouche&rsquo;s goal at the Coliseum was his 40th of the season, making him only the ninth Ranger in the team&rsquo;s history to reach that plateau. &#9632;

Rangers Feel The Patrick Division Pressure

THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded in 1947 by Kenneth W. McKenziePUBLISHERDean HeineCONTROLLERTony DobranowskiEDITOR IN CHIEFBob McKenzieEDITORIAL DIRECTORCharlie HalpinASSISTANT EDITORPerry LefkoCONTRIBUTING EDITORSStan Fischler, Frank OrrADVERTISING SALES MANAGERRandy GreenADVERTISING SERVICES MANAGEREsther SumkaADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVESCanadian Consumer Product Sales:CCMC. Cliff Kivell, 43 Madison Ave.,Toronto. Ontario M5R 2S2(416) 961-5141SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES MANAGERPaula HeardNEWSSTAND SERVICES MANAGEREsther SumkaCIRCULATION DEPARTMENTKathy NikiesRosanne TaninoACCOUNTING DEPARTMENTTom MoffatMary CarubiaSPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGERElaine WatkinsonADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL OFFICES85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100Toronto, Ontario, CanadaM3B 2R2(416) 445-5702EXECUTIVE OFFICE850 Third AvenueNew York, New York10022NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTORDistributed nationally by Disticor101 Duncan Mill Rd., Suite L4Don Mills. Ont., M3B 1Z3(416) 449-6430THE HOCKEY NEWS, (ISSN 0018-3016) is published weekly except monthly June through September by 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. 10022.40 ISSUE SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $22.95 in the U.S.A. $22.95 in Canada. $39.95 in Foreign Countries. Send ail Canadian and Foreign subscription orders to THE HOCKEY NEWS, P.O. Box 13055, Postal Station *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. &#9632;

The Hockey News

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011119/4875003-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"></div><h2>FLAMES LOSE McDONALD</h2>CALGARY&mdash;The Flames&rsquo; sharpshooting right winger, Lanny McDonald, will be lost to the Smythe Division team for at least two to three weeks with a fractured ankle suffered on Feb. 18.McDonald, who was leading the Flames in scoring with 29 goals and 31 assists, suffered the injury after being slashed by Boston Bruin defenseman Jim Schoenfeld, who was swiping at a bouncing puck in the 5-5 tie at the Olympic Saddledome.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the big (ankle) bone and the doctor said, hopefully, I should be back in two or three weeks,&rdquo; McDonald said.<h2>CHEQUE FOR THE CZECHS?</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;Le Journal de Montreal says the Calgary Flames are prepared to pay $2.6 million to the Czechoslovakian Ice Hockey Federation for two players and the head coach of that country&rsquo;s national team.The report says Flames&rsquo; general manager Cliff Fletcher made the offer during the Olympics in an attempt to acquire left wingers Igor Liba and Jaroslav Benak as well as veteran coach Ludek Bukac. It did not say whether the Czechoslovaks showed any interest in the offer.<h2>FIT FOR A KING</h2>TORONTO&mdash;Francis (King) Clancy has joined defenseman Borje Salming in the Maple Leaf Forever department.Clancy, the 80-year-old Maple Leaf vice-president and sidekick of owner Harold Ballard, was given a 10-year contract by Ballard, who recently said he would not trade Salming under any conditions.&ldquo;I just wanted to make sure that King is well looked after if anything happens,&rdquo; the Leaf owner told the Toronto Sun&rsquo;s&nbsp;George Gross. &ldquo;Like if 1 went crazy and decided to sell this place (Maple Leaf Gardens). Not that 1 have any intention, but you never know, people go crazy and maybe I&rsquo;m no exception.&ldquo;I also want to make sure he&rsquo;s taken care of if I happen to die. Now, I have no intention of dying. But just in case. I just want to make sure the ol&rsquo; fellow is looked after.&rdquo;Meanwhile, in a different story, Ballard told the Sun&rsquo;s&nbsp;John Iaboni that the Canada Cup, unofficially scheduled from Sept. 1-18 in various cities across Canada, will not be played at the Gardens.Ballard cited an incident in December, 1979, involving National Hockey League Players&rsquo; Association director Alan Eagleson. Ballard offered to allow the Canadian Olympic team to play an exhibition game against the Leafs but Eagleson said he would only give approval to the game if Ballard allowed the Soviets to play in the Gardens.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t challenge me like that,&rdquo; Ballard said. &ldquo;1 told him there&rsquo;d be no Russian hockey team coming into the building and I told him, &lsquo;You&rsquo;ll regret the day you pulled this job on me.&rsquo;&rdquo;Ballard also cited the downing of the Korean jet as another reason for his anti-Soviet sentiments.<h2>JUNIOR PLAYERS CLEARED</h2>SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont.&mdash;Three members of the Kitchener Rangers&rsquo; hockey club of the Ontario Hockey League have been cleared of charges laid against them following a fight-filled game last month.John Tucker, 19, David Bruce, 19, and Mike Stevens, were charged with obstructing justice on Jan. 10. Tucker had also been charged with resisting arrest.However, OHL commissioner David Branch produced a letter stating his league does not condone such behavior and would handle the matter according to its bylaws and that had a signifcant impact on the crown attorney dropping the charges.<h2>BEAVER TALES &#9632;</h2>

f0005-01

SLAPSHOTS

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02819/4875034-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">When Ron Ellis quit for the second time, he missed the player relationships but not the road trips and the aches and pains.</figcaption></div>In his book, Heaven and Hell In The NHL, former Toronto general manager-coach Punch Imlach described former Maple Leaf Ron Ellis as &ldquo;a good man. You never had any trouble with him.&rdquo;No truer words could have been written about Ellis, who spent almost 16 seasons (1963-75 and 1977-81) with Toronto.For Ellis, though, hockey wasn&rsquo;t always a bed of roses.&ldquo;There were reasons 1 retired the first time,&rdquo; recalled Ellis, a native of Lindsay, Ont., now living in Orangeville as an insurance agent. &ldquo;I wanted to get away from the game for awhile.&ldquo;I thought I was close to a breakdown. Hockey wasn&rsquo;t fun for me.&rdquo;After working for a Toronto business firm for two years, Ellis decided to return to the Maple Leafs.&ldquo;I came back refreshed and ready to go again,&rdquo; said the former right winger. &ldquo;I missed the game and knew 1 had a few years left in me.&rdquo;Although he played on the Leafs Stanley Cup team in 1966-67, Ellis&rsquo; greatest memory was yet to come.&ldquo;The highlight for me came when I played for Team Canada in 1972,&rdquo; said the 39-year-old Ellis. &ldquo;Winning the Stanley Cup was nice.&ldquo;But Team Canada was different. I was representing my country, which meant a lot to me.&ldquo;And the series had such a dramatic ending to it, with Canada having to win the last three games to win it. You couldn&rsquo;t have written it any better.&rdquo; When Ellis retired the second time it was for good.&ldquo;I missed the game, there was no doubt about that,&rdquo; said Ellis. &ldquo;I missed the guys and the highs and lows you experience with a team.&ldquo;But I didn&rsquo;t miss the road trips or the aches and pains that go with the game.&ldquo;I also think that I was well prepared for retirement. I had it in the back of my mind what 1 wanted to do after hockey.&ldquo;So, unlike many other players who have had a rough time adjusting to life without hockey, I was able to make the big adjustment.&rdquo;Ellis still follows the Leafs.&ldquo;I really feel for the Leafs today because I&rsquo;ve been there before,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s never easy when you&rsquo;re losing.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just something the team has to get through together. I can&rsquo;t say how long that will take.&ldquo;But once they begin to reach success, all of these bad days will just be memories.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what they are for me.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0005-02

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Here&rsquo;s what was happening 20 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; One of the most famous trades in Maple Leaf history occurred when Toronto acquired Don McKenny and Andy Bathgate from the New York Rangers for Bob Nevin, Dick Duff. Rod Seiling, Amie Brown and Bill Collins.&bull; Detroit&rsquo;s Terry Sawchuk played in his 804th National Hockey League game in a 3-2 Red Wing victory in Boston. Earlier in the season, Sawchuk set a record for career shutouts with No. 95.&bull; Ex-NHL referee and coach Bill Stewart, 69, died after suffering a stroke two weeks before.Here&rsquo;s what was happening 15 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; The NHL&rsquo;s expansion committee, headed by Montreal Canadiens general manager Sam Pollock, advised the governors not to expand beyond its 12 teams for at least two seasons.&bull; Emile Francis announced he would remain as general manager-coach of the New York Rangers while Bernie (Boom Boom) Geoffrion, who&rsquo;d been replaced as coach after he collapsed a month earlier, indicated he would stay on in a scouting capacity.&bull; Tom Watt, coach of the University of Toronto Blues, was selected as the new camp director of the Bobby Orr-Mike Walton Sports Camp. &#9632;

THIS WEEK… 20 Years Ago

<div class="byline">BY BOB DUFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03568/4875113-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0005-03

Did You Know…

1. Who was the only player to register five goals in an NHL game last season?2. What year did Canada last win the world championships?3. Who coached that team?4. Which NHL coach has the most career wins?5. Who did Guy Lafleur just pass to become the Montreal Canadiens all-time point-scoring leader?6. Who played in the 1959 Grey Cup game and the 1960 Stanley Cup final?7. Who led his team to a Stanley Cup, but died before the start of the next season?8. Which player on Italy&rsquo;s 1984 Olympic hockey team was the last cut of Canada&rsquo;s 1980 Olympic team?9. Which NHL team was first to register 100 points in a season?10. The O&rsquo;Brien Trophy, last awarded in 1949-50, was given to whom?<h2>Trivia Answers</h2>1. New York Ranger Mark Pavelich.2. 1961.3. Bobby Kromm.4. Dick Irvin, 690 wins.5. Jean Beliveau.6. Gerry James.7. Charlie Gardiner.8. Carey Farelli.9. Detroit Red Wings, 1950-51 (101 points).10. The loser of the Stanley Cup finals. &#9632;

TRIVIA

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011298/4875144-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="308" height="360"></div><h2>True Blue Stan</h2>I DON&rsquo;T MIND telling you how miffed I am about the Americans winning the Black-and-Blue hockey medal at Sarajevo.No, I&rsquo;m not angry at Lou Vairo, who now joins Scotty Bowman, Lester Patrick, Herb Brooks, Al Arbour and Harry Sinden among coaches who have lost hockey games in their lifetime.Louis did his best; no more, no less. He lost without weeping, hiding, moping or making excuses. You can&rsquo;t ask more of a guy whether he&rsquo;s from Brooklyn or Brantford.The jokers I&rsquo;m angry with are the perfect-vision people; those who see things clearly and see them whole and tell you what will happen after the event is over.For these optical wonders, I have one message; take a hike.Now I will get to specifics.To begin with, Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News and all the other bandwagon-jumping-writers are No. 1 on my snit list.Lupica and his ilk found a cooperative coach in Lou Vairo, an accessible group of players in Pat LaFontaine et al, milked them for all they were worth without any intelligent concern for the problems confrtoning them. Lupica built Vairo up as a saint and then just as quickly crucified him. Hiss to all of you.The ABC Network is No. 2 my list. I don&rsquo;t like it when a media mammoth&mdash;to suit its own selfish purpose&mdash;unrealistically spends six months talking up a Miracle on Ice Two as if an American hockey gold medal was in the bag. These Madison Avenue mudheads neglected to note that Herbie Brooks&rsquo; batta-lion was so damn lucky in 1980, it wasn&rsquo;t funny. And the odds against a repeat in 1984 were a good 100-1. You blew it, ABC. Unfortunately, you took the hockey team down with you.No. 3 is U.S. Olympian John Harrington. I nearly felt sick when 1 read some of his stilleto-in-the-back quotes after his club had been wiped out of medal contention. Here&rsquo;s a sample:&ldquo;We should have been less concerned about keeping everyone around the country happy with our appearances all over and worried more about what we were doing on the ice&hellip;I don&rsquo;t think there was enough criticism. Sometimes mistakes were made but things got overlooked because we won. &ldquo;You want to know something, John Harrington, I think you&rsquo;re full of applesauce and I&rsquo;ll tell you why: At no time when it counted&mdash;before you guys began losing&mdash;did I hear a word from you about how your coaches were screwing up. You were lovey-dovey, super-nice beautiful on the downhill. Now all of a sudden, after you lose, you&rsquo;re a big talker.Funny, John Harrington, but I didn&rsquo;t hear you yapping after you had beaten the Soviets here in the States. And I didn&rsquo;t hear any wisdom pearl from you after you conked the Canadians in pre-Olympic games. So where were you?But now that everyone from here to Krypton is jumping on Louie Vairo, you become Mr. Big Shot and tell us everything you should have told us before the walls came tumbling down. I don&rsquo;t buy it.Louie Vairo and his kids are climbing out of the debris, as mortal as they were before the collapse. Nobody&mdash;except Mike Lupica, ABC, Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, et al&mdash;said they were Supermen.But the pressure inflicted on them by the Lupicas and ABCs of the world was inhuman. The kids of 1984 were the victims of the men of 1980. The men of 1980 knew that. One of them, Mike Enizione, puts it best.&ldquo;When our games started in 1980,&rdquo; says Eruzione, &ldquo;nobody knew us; nobody expected anything of us. There was no pressure at all. This year it was the other way around.&rdquo;Inevitable, to be sure, just like the backbiting, backstabbing of Lupica and his ilk. But I&rsquo;ll be damned if I&rsquo;m going to keep my mouth shut and let them get away with it.Louie Vairo and his lads return black-and-blue around the win column but, what the heck, they did what they could so let&rsquo;s not cry about it. Black-and-blue to you ABC but true blue to me.<h2>Advice, Please</h2>EVERY ONCE IN awhile, 1 get the feeling that I&rsquo;m losing touch with the hockey world around me and I need some guidance. So, perhaps, you can answer these two questions for me:1) Wouldn&rsquo;t it be more fun to watch a hockey game without the mindless organ-playing while action is taking place during each of the three periods?2) Wouldn&rsquo;t it be more sensible to have icing whistles blown as soon as the puck crosses the goalline instead of having players insanely careen into the boards in ridiculous pursuit of the puck?<h2>30-Second Third Degree</h2>DAVE CHRISTIAN OF the Washington Capitals, please take the stand.Q: You are supposed to be the latter-day Dennis Maruk in Washington. What about it?CHRISTIAN: They&rsquo;ve looked to me to fill some of the void left by Dennis&rsquo; departure. I won&rsquo;t equal his offensive production, but I can play a solid defensive game. Hopefully, I&rsquo;ll get 30-35 goals.Q: How can a team be so bad as the Caps were in the fall and so superb in February?CHRISTIAN: Once the season started we stopped skating as well as we had in training camp. We needed a shake-up. The thing that turned it around was hard work. By February we were playing consistent through 60 minutes.Q: Where are the Caps going?CHRISTIAN: In the fall we didn&rsquo;t think we were going anywhere; never thought we&rsquo;d have a shot at first place. Now we&rsquo;re looking for the top. We&rsquo;re going to give it a good shot and, hopefully, make first.Q: What about the playoffs?CHRISTIAN: We can match up with the Rangers and Flyers. As for the Islanders, we can beat them in Washington but we can&rsquo;t beat them in their building&mdash;right now. That&rsquo;s why we have to shoot for home-ice advantage.Q: What was the missing link for the American Olympic team?CHRISTIAN: The home crowd definitely helped us at Lake Placid. They missed that at Sarajevo.<h2>Devilish Advice</h2>THIS SHOULD TELL you all you need to know about the value of the New Jersey Devils franchise. Last year, with one of the worst hockey clubs known to man or beast, the Devils had the fourth-highest gate receipts (after taxes) in the 21-team NHL.Think about that for a moment. Financially, the Devils did better than the Canadiens, Nordiques, Canucks, Maple Leafs, North Stars and everyone else. The mind boggles at the thought of what numbers this franchise would tally with just a half-decent team.But, alas, the Devils are light years from even that modest goal. What&rsquo;s worse, the team headed by owner John McMullen and his handsome sidekick, Bob Butera, may be drifting off to Oblivion-on-the-Hudson if they don&rsquo;t watch out.It is hard to imagine so promising a franchise going down the tubes but the exodus from Kansas City to Denver and then from Colorado to New Jersey has been fraught with mistakes.Another exceptionally critical error is being made right at this moment. Having sacked general manager-coach Billy MacMillan and his aide, Bert Marshall, McMullen inserted Tom McVie behind the bench and gave Max McNab the managership. This is good. The bad part is that neither McMullen nor Butera (one assumes they think as a unit) have given McVie-McNab any assurances beyond April.This is dumb.Without guarantees that they&rsquo;ll return, McVie-McNab are interpreted as lame duck leaders with about as much clout as Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.What the Devils need most of all is continuity of leadership. The players, to avoid falling into a state of disarray, need strength and guidance, but they won&rsquo;t get it without a coach fully backed by his boss.The suspicion remains that McMullen-Butera are considering Pat Quinn and/or Keith Allen (both of whom have Philadelphia Flyer ties to Butera) as futures in the Devil front office. If they are, they&rsquo;re making another mistake.What this franchise needs least of all is another overhauling; another start from square one. But that&rsquo;s just what they&rsquo;ll get if the current command is broken.At the moment, the Devils are in a hell of a mess with very little in the way of futures. Their prime assets, goalies Glenn Resch and Ron Low, are 35 and 33, respectively. Their youth movement&mdash;particularly Paul Gagne, Aaron Broten&mdash;has bombed. Their once-reliable scorers, Bob MacMillan and Don lever, are over the hill.The truth is the Devils prime assets are McVie and McNab. McVie is 10 times the coach MacMillan was and has come as close to weaving straw into gold as is possible, this side of Rumplestiltskin. He is tough, experienced and an excellent p.r. man. McNab is a front-office pro who had the misfortune of running the Washington Caps at a time when even the combined talents of Batman, Captain Marvel and Alan Eagleson couldn&rsquo;t have moved that franchise. The victim of a bum rap from a jealous few, McNab is as good as the Devils will get.There&rsquo;s no way McVie and McNab can be expected to rehabilitate the ruins overnight; especially without a strong signal from the top. &#9632;

f0006-01

ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>LANDOVER&mdash;Before the season began, coach Bryan Murray looked at the talent on the Washington Capitals&rsquo; roster and decided that the way to win was through a defensive system. Approaching the three-quarter point of the season, the Capitals&rsquo; ranking as the top defensive club in the league bears out the soundness of that decision.After 58 games, Washington permitted 175 goals, an average of 3.02 per game. Boston was next, well in arrears, at 3.23.If the Capitals continue to shut down the opposition, goaltenders Al Jensen and Pat Riggin will share the William M. Jennings Trophy&mdash;and the $1,500 check that accompanies it&mdash;as the netminders of the team that allows the fewest goals. Predictably, neither is much concerned about it.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re up there because of our overall talent and the way we play,&rdquo; said Jensen, recovering from an inflammation around a nerve in his back. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have a selfish hockey team and every-body&rsquo;s thinking about our end first. That&rsquo;s why we are where we are right now.&rdquo;&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s not worry about the Jennings Trophy; let&rsquo;s worry about first place,&rdquo; said Riggin, who set club records of eight straight victories and 11 games without a loss. &ldquo;Ranking first defensively is a good reflection on the club, though.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt about the quality of the defensemen we have here. And the way our wingers are working with the defensemen and the centers are coming in deep, it&rsquo;s not one guy, it&rsquo;s everybody. It&rsquo;s a nice thing for the team to share in.&rdquo;The Capitals outshot 16 straight opponents, not permitting any of them more than 28 shots, until Minnesota fired 37 in Riggins&rsquo; third straight shutout on the road on Feb. 13.&ldquo;We set a goal at the start to see how many games we could keep teams below 30 shots,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;Many are in the 20 range now. Right in the beginning we did adopt a defensive philosophy. There are nights where we&rsquo;re frustrated, because we don&rsquo;t score enough to win a 3-2 hockey game, but we&rsquo;re in a lot more games this way.&ldquo;In Rod Langway, Scott Stevens, Doug Jarvis, Glen Currie, Bobby Gould and Gaetan Duchesne, we have quality people, defensive-type people who can be successful playing and justifying what we&rsquo;re doing.&ldquo;A lot of other guys have sacrificed to a degree in the offense they could create. They have adjusted and learned the defensive type of game. Not only are the guys playing very well defensively, but they are getting very good at getting the puck out of our end.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure I bore them silly every day with the constant repetition of the break-outs, but it&rsquo;s needed with our system, to get a five-man involvement. The big thing is that they&rsquo;re being rewarded for that work and it makes them work harder.&rdquo;If Jensen and Riggin were unwilling to take credit for the club&rsquo;s surge into the fight for first place in the Patrick Division, Murray was aware of their contributions.&ldquo;It takes a special quality goaltender. They&rsquo;re not overworked, because we haven&rsquo;t been giving up a lot of shots, but there are three or four key shots every night and you have to concentrate and stay on top of it.&rdquo; &#9632;

Capitals To All Share Goals-Against Glory

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>EDMONTON&mdash;A couple of Rick Chartraw&rsquo;s teammates&mdash;past and present&mdash;were discussing the big fella&rsquo;s fortunes shortly after his acquisition by the Edmonton Oilers.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got nine lives,&rdquo; quipped Pat Hughes, who played with the newest member of the Oilers on the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; 1978-79 Stanley Cup winner.&ldquo;Does he ever,&rdquo; added Pat Conacher, who performed briefly with Chartraw as a New York Ranger in 1982-83. &ldquo;But, I&rsquo;ll tell you one thing. He was among the top four Rangers&rsquo; defensemen in the playoffs last year.&rdquo;Chartraw certainly is a survivor, but then again, would you expect anthing less from a chap who, as a child, escaped a South American country just before a revolution began ripping the place apart?&ldquo;Yeah, I&rsquo;ve had an unbelievable streak of good fortune,&rdquo; confessed Chartraw, who was rescued from the now defunct minor-league Tulsa Oilers by Edmonton on Jan. 20. &ldquo;I was getting dressed for a game in Tulsa when the coach (Tommy Webster) came and told me, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re still an Oiler. But no longer Tulsa. Edmonton!&rsquo; It was quite a step up&hellip;and to a contender.&rdquo;Indeed!It all started in Caracas, Venezuela, where Chartraw was born of American parents. Following the Second World War, his father went into the hydroelectric business in the strife-tom South American land. When the winds of revolution started blowing in 1958, his dad figured things were getting a mite too hot. He packed up the family, including four-year-old Rick, and headed back to Erie, PA, where Chartraw grew up before heading to Canada to pursue a junior hockey apprenticeship with the Kitchener Rangers.A first-round draft of the Canadiens (10th overall) in 1974, he played on four Stanley Cup winners in Montreal. Chartraw was then traded to Los Angeles, where he was an instrumental member of the Kings&rsquo; outfit that shockingly upstaged the Oilers during the 1982 play-offs.&ldquo;That,&rdquo; he recalled, &ldquo;was quite a bang &rsquo;em up series.&rdquo;Then came the Rangers, followed by demotion to the minors&hellip;and when the Oilers vacationed in Palm Springs, CA, last month, among those perched at poolside was Chartraw.A possible shot at further playoff glory looms on the horizon for the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder who performed both on right wing and defense during his Edmonton baptism&mdash;a 6-3 National Hockey League triumph on Jan. 21 in Los Angeles.&ldquo;Maybe I can lend a little experience,&rdquo; said the 29-year-old. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what they brought me here for. I&rsquo;m not too sure about right wing&mdash;I haven&rsquo;t played forward since Montreal. But I&rsquo;ll take a look at it. And with the coaches helping and the guys helping&hellip;&rdquo;He didn&rsquo;t waste any time getting adjusted to the new environment. In his second game with Edmonton, Jan. 25 in Vancouver, Chartraw whistled a shot from the slot to pull the Oilers into a 4-4 tie and they later went on to win 6-4.Besides, after being rescued out of the Central League, he was not about to pick and choose where the Oilers planned on utilizing his services.Chartraw admitted he didn&rsquo;t like his chances of regaining steady employment on the Rangers&rsquo; set defense where he played four games this season, but he figured he&rsquo;d wind up somewhere back in the NHL. The Oilers were a huge bonus in this regard.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played in some pretty good towns,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but this is the best of the moves I&rsquo;ve made.&rdquo;Glen Sather, the Oilers&rsquo; general manager-coach, assuredly likes the idea of having a big, rugged customer such as Chartraw on the scene. If, for no other reason, to serve a job-security reminder to the likes of Don Jackson and injured Dave Semenko. By no strange coincidence, Jackson was involved in his first fight in a dozen games during Chartraw&rsquo;s Edmonton debut.&ldquo;It was a little tough playing against old friends,&rdquo; confessed Chartraw of the chippy affair in L. A. &ldquo;But if I want a job here I can&rsquo;t be concerned with friends from another team.&rdquo;Especially against a bitter foe like the Kings, whom the Oilers may meet again come the playoffs. A tough customer such as Chartraw could come in handy in this regard. He&rsquo;s no fancy-dan and similar to the acquisition of Kevin McClelland before, fits the mold of Sather beefing up his team for the playoffs.He may, as has been suggested, qualify as a reclamation project, but he figures he can still cut the mustard.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve won and played with good clubs before, there&rsquo;s no reason why I can&rsquo;t do it again,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think I can help this team.&rdquo;A little insurance for the playoffs could do nothing but good.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011158/4875199-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="581" height="712"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Oilers are hoping Rick Chartraw&rsquo;s luck will rub off on them in the playoffs.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0007-01

Chartraw Gets New Lease On Life

<div class="byline">BY RON COBB</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;When defenseman Dave Pichette arrived in town on Feb. 11 after being traded from the Quebec Nordiques to the Blues, he talked about how happy he was to be with his new team.He said that he hadn&rsquo;t been playing much in Quebec and that a trade was just what he needed.Pichette made good in his first game with the Blues as he assisted on all four goals in the Blues&rsquo; 4-3 win over Detroit.St. Louis coach Jacques Demers said Pichette was down on his luck in Quebec and needed a change of scenery. He said Pichette would see plenty of action with the Blues.There was nothing particularly odd about all of that except that it sounded so familiar. Come to think of it, that was basically what was said after every transaction the Blues made this season.When the Blues purchased Guy Chouinard&rsquo;s contract from the Calgary Flames last August, the deal was described as a new beginning for the veteran center. At 26, he&rsquo;d been cast aside as the Flames undertook a youth movement.When the Blues picked up Dwight Schofield and Terry Johnson in the waiver draft last fall, they were rescuing two defensemen who were hopelessly anchored in the minor leagues. Schofield, 27, couldn&rsquo;t break into the Canadiens&rsquo; lineup and Johnson wasn&rsquo;t having much luck in the Nordiques&rsquo; system.On Dec. 21, the Blues handed new leases on life to Doug Wickenheiser and Gilbert Delorme when they acquired them, along with Greg Paslawski, from Montreal, in return for Perry Turnbull. Wickenheiser and Delorme fell out of favor in Montreal, but the Blues gave assurances that they would blossom in a new environment.Bunny Larocque hadn&rsquo;t played in a National Hockey League game in almost a year when the Blues bought his contract from Philadelphia on Jan. 5. So what? The Blues had him in the nets two nights later in Montreal.Along came Pichette, whose story fit right in with the others. He&rsquo;d had his ups and downs in Quebec after signing as a free agent in 1980.He got off to a bad start this season when he was injured on the first day of training camp in a fight with teammate Gord Donnelly. When he recovered, he was sent to Fredericton of the American League for about a month.&ldquo;When I got back to the Nordiques, the team was playing well and it was tough to get anybody out of the lineup,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was getting tough ot me over there.&rdquo;Demers, who had coached him for 16 games last season at Fredericton, said this season&rsquo;s demotion to the minors had demoralized Pichette.&ldquo;He was down and the public in Quebec was hard on him,&rdquo; said Demers. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s a great kid with a great attitude.&rdquo;The Blues gave up Andre Dore, a righthanded-shooting defenseman, to get the lefthanded-shooting Pichette. Demers believes the future is in good hands at right defense with Rob Ramage, 25; Rik Wilson, 21; and Delorme, 21.The Blues had been saying for most of the season that they need help at left defense, which is being manned by Jack Brownschidle, 28; Schofield, 27; and Johnson, 25. The lefthanded-shooting Tim Bothwell, 28, is sidelined because of a leg injury, but the Blues are so conscious of building with young players that his future with the team is in doubt.The key to the Dore-Pichette deal, Demers said, was the emergence of Wilson as a solid contributor at right defense. Wilson, a first-round draft choice in 1980, had been all but forgotten at midseason. The Blues decided in mid-January to send him to Montana of the Central League for two weeks of conditioning and play him regularly when he returned to St. Louis.Wilson won a job and Dore became expendable. &#9632;

Pichette Sparkles In Blues Debut

The International Hockey Weekly Founded in 1947<h2>Great Expectations</h2>BY JUST ABOUT anybody&rsquo;s standards, the United States&rsquo; Olympic hockey team failed at the Winter Olympics at Sarajevo. A 4-2 loss to Canada, followed by a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Czechoslovakia and a 3-3 tie with a weak Norwegian squad&mdash;in Team USA&rsquo;s first three Olympic games&mdash;spelled an early exit for the defending gold medal hockey champions. All in all, it was a rather dismal scene for a team that was picked to do better.Realistically, though, how great was the failure? And, if you&rsquo;re looking for someone to shoulder the blame, where do you point the fingers?To answer these questions, you must first establish some terms of reference. For example, what exactly do we mean by failure?Knowledgable hockey people, those who know the difference between a puck and a truck, understood well in advance of the Olympic Games that Team USA&rsquo;s task would not be an easy one. The U.S. team was in the tough B Pool, from which only two teams would advance to the medal round. Czechoslovakia was conceded one of those two berths, which left Team USA fighting with Team Canada and Finland for one medal-round berth. Heading into the Games, the odds of getting that berth were one in three for the three teams, it was that close.Naturally, American hockey fans were disappointed with the manner in which their team was eliminated. There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with that. But the point here is that Tom USA&rsquo;s failure wasn&rsquo;t as great as it was made out to be. They lost a couple of important hockey games, which we might add, by weren&rsquo;t ordained to win.No, Team USA&rsquo;s failure wasn&rsquo;t even in the same ballpark as the people and institutions that built them up, put them on a pedestal beside the indelible memory of the 1980 Golden Boys from Lake Placid. Compared to the accomplishments of Herb Brooks&rsquo; 1980 U.S. team, Lou Vairo&rsquo;s 1984 squad would never match up.Sensing this, the 1984 version of the team went out of its way to say, over and over again, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re not miracle men. We&rsquo;re a hockey team that will go to the Olympics and try our best. We can&rsquo;t solve all the problems of the world.&rsquo;But many Americans chose not to listen. They nodded, said they understood that, but the realization was fleeting and soon evaporated, swallowed up by all the hype that not only suggested an American ice hockey victory is some sort of socio-economic statement to the world, but is an inevitable fact of life.As a result, when Team USA bowed out of contention, the hype came crashing down around them. Weeks ago, Lou Vairo was being heralded for his unique background&mdash;a Brooklyn native who learned his hockey while playing on roller skates and reading Russian manuals. After the crash, we listened to ABC-TV&rsquo;s Jim McKay, among others, suggest that you can&rsquo;t learn hockey from a book and roller skates could never replace ice skates. That may well be, but where was Jim McKay before the Games started.We had to listen to daily stories on how ABC&rsquo;s ratings for Olympic coverage were low. The reason? Running opposite Mr. T and The A-Team didn&rsquo;t help, but the ABC party line was that it was &ldquo;the failure of the U.S. hockey team.&rdquo; ABC had admittedly built its Olympic programming around the hockey team, which, as any knowledgable hockey person would have told them, was sheer folly. Knowledgable hockey people, who obviously don&rsquo;t make any programming decisions at ABC, fully realized that a bronze medal or fourth-place finish would have been a significant accomplishment for Team USA.Meanwhile, Team Canada, which had developed in relative obscurity and received primarily negative media coverage and poor public response en route to the Games, made it to the medal round and finished fourth overall.So Team Canada returns home, praised for its valiant effort, buoyed by the old sporting equation: Low expectation provides no disappointment. In the case of Team USA, though, the equation was inverted.Yes, the U.S. hockey team failed in its mission at the Olympic Games. But that failure pales beside the ignorance and failure of the individuals and institutions which tried to make this hockey team something it wasn&rsquo;t and never could be.You just can&rsquo;t compete with ghosts. &#9632;

<div class="byline">BY BOB MCKENZIE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011244/4875278-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="330" height="377"></div>John Vanbiesbrouck, a minor-league goalie with major-league capabilities, thought he&rsquo;d seen it all a few months ago when his Central Hockey League team, the Tulsa Oilers, had to drive 100 miles to Oklahoma City just to get an hour of practice ice.He didn&rsquo;t think he would ever see anything to top the day his team, the New York Rangers&rsquo; No. 1 minor-league affiliate, had to practise on a pleasure-skating rink in a shopping mall, without sticks or equipment and throwing a rubber ball to each other to illustrate where the puck and players should go on a breakout.And he&rsquo;d never been exposed to an environment where rodeos, cattle shows and Jehovah&rsquo;s Witness conventions took precedence over daily practice time.But on Valentine&rsquo;s Day, Vanbiesbrouck, a 20-year-old rookie pro from suburban Detroit who starred in junior hockey for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, received the ultimate in minor-league indoctrination when the doors to the Expo Square Pavilion&mdash;home of the Tulsa Oilers&mdash;were padlocked shut.Two days later, Feb. 16, the locks came off but the Tulsa Oilers, the 21-year-old elder statseman franchise of the CHL, were history, awash in a sea of red ink.Vanbiesbrouck, adapting quickly to the situation at hand, did what any self-respecting player would do.&ldquo;I got the hell in there and grabbed all my equipment and got the hell out.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t going to give them another chance to lock it up.&rdquo;Now, as a result of an emergency league meeting on Feb. 17 at Denver, Vanbiesbrouck and his mates will move as a unit and share the state of Colorado with the Flames, Calgary&rsquo;s No. 1 affiliate. Both teams will play out of McNicholls Arena in Denver. The move was designed to buy the CHL some time, to give it a chance to, more or less, finish out its regular season intact.But time is something the CHL may not have.&ldquo;Yep, for sure, this is the biggest (crisis) we&rsquo;ve faced,&rdquo; said CHL president Bud Poile on the eve of the emergency meeting. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just sitting here wondering what the hell we&rsquo;re going to do.&rdquo;What they did&mdash;shifting the Oilers to Denver for the remainder of the season&mdash;gets them over the first hump, but you have to wonder if, after hundreds of false alarms, the Central League is finally going to whither away.&ldquo;Maybe, maybe it is,&rdquo; mused Poile. &ldquo;But you want to know something? The CHL is as strong as the NHL clubs that sponsor teams here. Will the CHL survive? The answer to that is if the New York Rangers (Tulsa), Minnesota North Stars (Salt Lake City), Calgary Flames (Denver), New York Islanders (Indianapolis) and St. Louis Blues (Montana) want it to. If they&rsquo;re committed, the league stays. If one or two of them go, then so does the Central League.&rdquo;The Islanders, Flames and North Stars have solid minor-league franchises in Indy, Denver and Salt Lake, respectively. They&rsquo;re Central League boosters and, as Poile said, are &ldquo;committed.&rdquo;But the Rangers, still smarting from the under-financed Tulsa fiasco, are reported to be looking east to the American League for their development team, even if it means sharing one with another NHL club. St. Louis, which is only partially committed to Montana a franchise that hardly inspires any confidence), is said to be looking at putting their own team in Louisville, Cincinnati or Omaha next season.The fact remains that when the Rangers pull out&mdash;and they&rsquo;re bound to&mdash;it leaves only four decently-supported franchises. Four franchises do not make a viable league, especially one which is supposed to be one step away from the National Hockey League.It&rsquo;s at that point that the Islanders, North Stars, Flames and Blues would have to re-examine their commitment to a development league that has high travel costs and a poor competitive base, at least compared to the relatively solid 13-team American League.So will the CHL survive and be back again next season? It&rsquo;s a question you hate to answer because the CHL has supposedly been on its death bed for the past few years. But if the Rangers go&mdash;New York general manager Craig Patrick couldn&rsquo;t be reached for comment before this issue went to press&mdash;you really have to wonder what future it has&hellip;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really too bad things didn&rsquo;t work out in Tulsa,&rdquo; said Vanbiesbrouck, who had a league-leading 3.20 goals-against average when the locks went on the door. &ldquo;Of course, I&rsquo;d prefer to be in New York more than anywhere else, but I was getting to like Tulsa.&ldquo;We finally got everything straight with practice time and we were on a real roll (seven straight wins) when they locked it up. If they break up this team (original reports had the Rangers relocating their farmhands on various teams in the American and International Leagues), it&rsquo;ll be too bad.&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s pretty clear they don&rsquo;t want hockey in Tulsa. It didn&rsquo;t take them any time at all to rip out the ice. I kind of think they (the arena management) were glad to see it go&rdquo;So it&rsquo;s on to another city, Denver, with Vanbiesbrouck and his mates, living out of suitcases, wondering where the next stop on the minor-league merry-go-round will take them. They&rsquo;ll make do with the best of a bad situation, the same as Bud Poile, but from time to time they&rsquo;ll inevitably ask themselves the question.&ldquo;Hey, this has really impressed me,&rdquo; said Vanbiesbrouck, who is fortunate enough to have the talent to escape the minors in the not-too-distant future. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s like I asked Craig (Patrick), &lsquo;Is this the type of business that I want to make my life&rsquo;s work?&rsquo;&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-01

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

<h2>YANKEE DOODLE ANGRY</h2>I love hockey. I love the Olympics. I used to like Team USA, but now 1 don&rsquo;t. What changed my mind? Politics!The U.S. couldn&rsquo;t convince the rest of the world that the Russians and Czechoslovaks were paid professionals, so it lashed out at its own friend&hellip;the Canadians.I believe this has put a tarnish on the 1980 gold medal.It makes one believe that the U.S. was afraid of losing to Canada in the first round, that the U.S. was unstoppable and the &ldquo;pros&rdquo; of Canada were the only stumbling block that the U.S. had to face until the finals against the Russians. I believe in a subtle sort of way that Team Canada has won the respect of many Americans who hoped that Canada might win the gold medal, the same way many Canadians rooted for Team USA in 1980.Tim O&rsquo;Brian&nbsp; Uncasville, CT<h2>THE NCAA&rsquo;S FOLLY</h2>Bravo for your editorial (Feb. 3, 1984) pointing out how ridiculous the NCAA&rsquo;s rules on eligibility are. Indeed, if playing with or against a professional makes a college player ineligible for a scholarship, then not only are all the members of the Canadian and U.S. Olympic teams ineligible, then so are all the members of the current Minnesota, Wisconsin, Minnesota-Duluth, Providence, New Hampshire and seven other college teams who played the Olympians this year.Playing against professionals could be a great way of strengthening NCAA players, but the NCAA has chosen to use it to continue its tradition of hassling its players. The NCAA plays a great part in the growing American hockey tradition, but its current policies will only chase players out of the U.S.&rsquo;s strongest leagues.Lets&rsquo; leave politics to the government and let the kids play hockey.Chris Walker Minneapolis, MN &#9632;

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011228/4875333-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Thomas Gradin has reacted well to the pressure of carrying much of the offensive load on his line. (Photo by Diane Sobolewski)</figcaption></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;The flak over the airplane had been getting to the point where Flyer announcer Gene Hart was giving the Canucks shots about their road record.But when the Canucks originally bought the Boeing-727 to lessen the travel grind, the thought was it would eventually help the road record later in the season, when cumulative fatigue became a problem.Everyone in Vancouver had been waiting and they finally started getting some results as the club came back with a .600 road trip on what looked to be their toughest of the season.With stops in Calgary, where the Flames have been heating up, Quebec City, Montreal, Long Island and Philadelphia, the only way to make the trip much tougher would be to have scheduled the Soviet Red Army for an exhibition.With the help of some shaky goaltending from the opposition, the Canucks beat the Nordiques&mdash;their best performance of the trip&mdash;and also took wins from Montreal and the Flyers for their most successful jaunt to date.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a disappointing seas&rsquo; but this trip with the wins we&rsquo;ve had should give us some confidence for a run down the stretch,&rdquo; said general manager-coach Harry Neale. &ldquo;If it doesn&rsquo;t. I think we should all be spending some time on the funny farm.&rdquo;Part of the reason the club has been doing so well is the remarkable play of Mr. Silence&mdash;Patrik Sundstrom.The superb-skating center scored 10 goals in his last seven games but had a goal-scoring streak of six games broken in Philadelphia. He has been making something happen each shift and when he&rsquo;s flying, so does Tony Tanti. To get the line really moving, Neale put Stan Smyl on the right side for the first time since the two youngsters joined the club. But the move wasn&rsquo;t so much to help Sundstrom and Tanti as to get Thomas Gradin going.&ldquo;Thomas and I have played together for five or six years now and I guess we were getting a little stale,&rdquo; Smyl said.Gradin, meanwhile, has responded well to the challenge of having to carry much of the offensive load on his line. He has been showing the speed that made him superb over his National Hockey League career. He has picked up his scoring pace and the goal he scored in Philadelphia against Pelle Lindbergh was a classic, as he came in alone from the side, avoided a poke check and slipped a behind-the-back, backhand shot past his former national teammate.With Peter McNab joining youngsters Cam Neely and Moe Lemay on a third line for the Canucks, Gradin and Sundstrom seem to have a little more room to move.While the Canucks have been showing signs of life on the road, they are still fighting for their lives in the lowly Smythe Division.&ldquo;We have perhaps the best schedule in the league coming down the stretch so that should help us,&rdquo; said Neale. &ldquo;But most of the teams in the Smythe Division have similar schedules except L.A. Their&rsquo;s is a little tougher.&rdquo;The all-important consideration in the division is to stay Out of fourth position in order to stay away from the Edmonton Oilers in the first round.Injuries have not been a major problem for the Canucks this season, due in part to their aircraft. Doug Halward is the only man out, having suffered his third injury of the season. This one is a deep knee bruise, which should keep him out a couple of weeks. &#9632;

f0009-01

Canucks Silence Critics With A Good Road Show

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;Jet fans have been able to follow the fortunes of Barry Shenkarow&rsquo;s hockey club in two sections of their daily newspaper&mdash;front and sports.A long, distracting, often-bitter argument over a new lease pre-empted the team&rsquo;s accomplishments on the ice.If a hockey fan could be so naive as to think the team is his, he hasn&rsquo;t been living here for the past two months. The team is someone else&rsquo;s, a glorified piece of furniture that could be sold or dismantled at a moment&rsquo;s notice.Using his one trump card, Shenkarow threatened to sell the team to interests in Phoenix or merge it with the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins.Shenkarow may argue that the options were real but his underlying reasons were to shock the city into giving his team a better lease arrangement.And he got it. The Jets were offered the Arena rent-free, a saving of $635,000 this season, for the next 10 years. In addition, revenue sharing payments of $200,000 will be made to the team for the next three and a half years and, for the remaining years, a cash payment of $25 per patron will be made.In return, the Jets have agreed to pay a penalty of $7 million to the city should the team cease operations in Winnipeg.&ldquo;The financial support for the Jets under this agreement during the 1984-85 season is estimated to be $846,500,&rdquo; said Shenkarow, the Jets&rsquo; president.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a fair and reasonable deal and it will ensure the hockey team remains in Winnipeg. Our projections don&rsquo;t show a profit for the next five years but this agreement will go a long way toward helping us. Hockey is still a marginal operation in Winnipeg.&rdquo;City council has yet to approve the deal, which could add a quarter of a mill to the tax rate. However, the mayor was party to all negotiations.To the fan on the street, however, the threats made by Shenkarow won&rsquo;t soon be forgotten. The man who would like to be regarded as a hero locally has some fence-mending to do. He did risk the family fortune to bring the NHL to Winnipeg and he did absorb losses of $4 million to keep the team viable through its first five seasons, but his whining and crabbing turned many people off.Attention was focused away from the ice and people didn&rsquo;t like what they saw. The Jets needed a better deal and they got one, but not before a lot of dirty linen was showed.Shenkarow does not have to be reminded that he was the object of a palace coup attempt. Some of the other less-visible owners would have welcomed new majority shareholders.At one juncture, he raised the price tag of the team from $13 million to $18 million. Obviously, he didn&rsquo;t want to sell.Meanwhile, fans tried to concentrate on the team itself, wondering if they were watching the future Phoenix Roadrunners or Penguins or Devils in disguise.The announcement of a settlement, however, was welcomed by players and patrons alike. Now, the ownership, management and players could get down to the serious business of a) capturing a playoff spot; and b) finishing as high as they can.BENCH BITS&mdash;U.S. Olympic goaltender Marc Behrend has joined the team&hellip;General manager John Ferguson left on a week-long scouting trip of juniors in Quebec and Ontario&hellip;Center Laurie Boschman was goaded into two fights by Kevin McClelland of the Edmonton Oilers and a resulting game misconduct cost him a one-game suspension. Boschman is still seriously impaired by a shoulder brace that prevents him from raising his right arm. &ldquo;Laurie is our heart and soul,&rdquo; said coach Barry Long. &ldquo;Give us 10 more players like him and then we&rsquo;ll see how the Oilers would fare,&rdquo; he said after a 7-4 loss in Edmonton. where Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Dave Semenko came off injuries to lead the Oilers&hellip;Defenseman Jyrki Seppa was brought up from Sherbrooke and he impressed Long with his offensive skills. &ldquo;When he&rsquo;s playing without the puck, he still seems to have some problems, however,&rdquo; said Long&hellip;Goaltender Brian Hayward was sent to Sherbrooke. He has fallen to No. 3 status behind Doug Soetaert and Mike Veisor. Wrestler Mad Dog Vachon is an avid Jets&rsquo; supporter. &#9632;

Threats By Shenkarow Taken Seriously By City

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;They live together in the suburbs but they haven&rsquo;t been able to play together much this season.Mike Ramsey and Lindy Ruff are two of the Sabres&rsquo; biggest, roughest and toughest players but this season they have been in the lineup together only about half the time.Coach Scotty Bowman hopes to have both physically fit for the stretch run of the season and the Stanley Cup playoffs. If he does, the Sabres should do even better than they have been doing lately.What the Sabres have been doing lately isn&rsquo;t bad. When the Boston Bruins came to town, the Sabres trounced them 7-4 to open their lead in the Adams Division to five points over Boston.Ruff, a left winger and former defenseman, was hurt in the second game of the season and sat out seven games. Shortly after Ruff returned to action, Ramsey was hurt and sat out eight games.They both were in the lineup for awhile, then Ruff hurt his shoulder in a fight during the closing minutes of a 2-1 win in Detroit. He was expected back in the lineup after missing more than a dozen games.In the 30 games both Ramsey and Ruff were in the lineup, Buffalo posted a 20-82 record.Ruff helps a lot in the comers, along the boards and in front of the net. He isn&rsquo;t a big scorer but he does get in on quite a few goals, when he&rsquo;s playing. He has 31 points in 37 games.&ldquo;The way Lindy plays,&rdquo; Ramsey said, &ldquo;he invites injury. He&rsquo;s always in the thick of it, throwing his body around.&rdquo;That might be said, too, for Ramsey, who has become one of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s top defensemen.He is known as one of the best shot-blockers in the league; he knows how to bodycheck and he clears the area in front of the net. He does a good defensive job and moves the puck out of Buffalo&rsquo;s end in a hurry.Ramsey helps on offense, too, when the occasion arises. He scored seven goals in the first 50 games he played this season and four of them were game winners.In the Sabres&rsquo; last visit to the Montreal Forum, he assisted on both his club&rsquo;s third and fourth goals as Buffalo won 4-3.These two bachelors, who share a townhouse in a posh Buffalo suburban development, were Buffalo&rsquo;s first and second draft choices in 1979, Bowman&rsquo;s first draft as general manager-coach of the Sabres.Ruff broke into the lineup immediately, as a defenseman, at the age of 19, but Ramsey first played in the 1980 Olympics for Team USA. He signed a contract after the Olympics and played for Buffalo through the last month of the 1979-80 season.The two come from completely different hockey backgrounds.Ruff took the traditional route to the NHL. He started playing youth hockey in his home town of Warburg, Alta. He advanced to junior hockey and then was picked by the Sabres as an underage player in the 1979 draft, the first time underage players could be picked. As a youngster, Ruff spent most of his time in the town rink, where his father coached peewee and bantam teams.Ramsey grew up in the hockey country around Minneapolis and lived half a block from an outdoor rink. In high school he played before crowds of 18,000 or more in the Minnesota state tournament.He played regularly as a freshman on the University of Minnesota hockey team and was named to the all-tournament team when the Gophers won the NCAA championship. Then he went to the Olympics.ICE CHIPS&mdash;The new forward line of Dave Andreychuk centering Gil Perreault and Mike Foligno continues to score. In its first four games together, that line scored 12 goals and totalled 29 points&hellip;Tom Barrasso was in goal for the 7-4 win over the Bruins, evening his record against his hometown heroes to 2-2.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011277/4875388-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="580" height="709"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sabre winger Lindy Ruff is often injured because he plays a physical game.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-01

Sabre Bachelors Prefer It Ruff And Tough

<div class="byline">BILL FLEISCHMAN&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02994/4875419-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="302" height="357"></div><h2>The Gretzkyless Oilers</h2>TAKING WAYNE GRETZKY away from the Edmonton Oilers is comparable to depriving the Boston Celtics of Larry Bird, the Los Angeles Lakers of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, or Tonight Show viewers of Johnny Carson (1 know, Joan Rivers is funny, but could you stand her every night for as many years as Carson has been with us?)In case you&rsquo;ve been curled up in an igloo in the Yukon the last few years, Gertzky is the most exciting player in the National Hockey League. He rings up points like a supermarket cashier totalling your weekly food shopping spree. He handles fame as well as any 23-year-old athlete I&rsquo;ve ever seen. And he is a superb salesman for hockey.It was this streak of caring and responsibility that forced him out of the Edmonton lineup. Playing in the NHL All-Star game despite a bruised shoulder, Gretzky aggravated the injury and wound up sidelined for the first time since he put Edmonton on the hockey map.The Oilers, whose Smythe Division lead is so decisive that the rest of the teams can only track them on radar, really missed The Great One in their first game after the All-Star break. All Edmonton did was crush division-rival Calgary 10-5. Who needs Ol&rsquo; Whats his name, right?Stay tuned. The Oilers then saddled up and headed East where they had dates along the Checking Corridor with Washington, the New York Islanders, Philadelphia and Boston. Loss, loss, loss, loss&hellip;These are teams that still practise the ancient hockey art of checking, a skill that seems to have vanished not only in the NHL but in junior and minor-league hockey, too. Most young players think checking is what they do at the nearest bank.<h2>Better Now Than Later</h2>&ldquo;WE&rsquo;RE IN A slump,&rdquo; admitted Mark Messier, the Oilers&rsquo; All-Star left winger. &ldquo;Things have gone our way for two years, but now we&rsquo;re in a slump. But, maybe it&rsquo;s better to have it now than later.&rdquo;The Oilers&rsquo; slump careened out of control when they were demolished 11-0 by the mighty Hartford Whalers.Asking how much Gretzky is missed by the Oilers is like asking how much popular music would miss Michael Jackson. But it&rsquo;s a question that had to be asked, even though Glen Sather. Edmonton&rsquo;s general manager-coach. was already tired of the topic midway through the road trip.&ldquo;You can never replace someone like Gretzky,&rdquo; Messier said, &ldquo;but we have enough talent to win even with those two out. We&rsquo;re just making a few mistakes.&rdquo;&ldquo;Those two&rdquo; refers to Gretzky and linemate Jari Kurri. who has been runnerup in league scoring to Gretzky. Although he is having an outstanding season, Kurri will some day make a great trivia question: Who had the second-highest point total in the 1983-84 season?Edmonton must have made enough mistakes in its loss to Hartford and its 9-2 thrashing by Washington to short-circuit Sather&rsquo;s videotape machine. Afterward. Washington coach Brian Murray grudgingly conceded that Gretzky&rsquo;s absence was a factor.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not noted for keeping goals out,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t remember hearing of him scoring more than six goals in a game. So, maybe it would have been 9-8.&rdquo;<h2>The Checking Corridor</h2>THOSE 9-8 GAMES are more familiar to the offensively awesome Oilers than 3-2 games. After Edmonton blew a lead entering the third-period for the first time in memory and lost 4-3 in Philadelphia, Ken Linseman reminded dressing-room visitors that teams who lurk in the checking corridor are tougher to play than the Calgarys and Winnipegs of the Smythe Division.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing our same style,&rdquo; said Linseman, &ldquo;but now we&rsquo;re playing really good checking teams. We&rsquo;re trying to adjust because we don&rsquo;t usually play those types of teams.&rdquo;Linseman, who was at his nuisance best on this night&mdash;bashing Darryl Sittler&rsquo;s head into the boards and watching Sittler receive the penalty for retaliating, then antagonizing Bob Froese into a slashing penalty&mdash;was right about the Oilers not altering their pedal-to-the-medal style. If you had just checked in and didn&rsquo;t know Gretzky and Kurri were ailing, you would have thought Edmonton was in reasonably good shape. Froese was brilliant in stopping at least five breakaways. Meanwhile, Grant Fuhr was also in top form 180 feet away in the other net.Where Edmonton was most vulnerable was on defense. Paul Coffey made two errors that led directly to Philadelphia&rsquo;s tying and winning goals. Until the Oilers polish their defensive act and win a Stanley Cup, this is a curse they&rsquo;ll have to live with.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been trying all year to be more disciplined on defense,&rdquo; said Randy (Doctor G) Gregg. &ldquo;But, when you&rsquo;re winning, it&rsquo;s difficult to emphasize that part of the game. With Jari and Gretzky out, we only seem to have one potent offensive line, so the guys have to pay more attention to defense.&rdquo;While the Oilers tried to ignore Gretzky&rsquo;s absence, opponents were grateful for a rare breather. As Bobby Clarke said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think him being out affects the way they play. It just takes a lot of their offense away. It&rsquo;s easier for us. not having to worry about him so much. When he&rsquo;s playing, you spend half the night worrying about him.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-02

HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div>HARTFORD&mdash;One of the Whalers&rsquo; more bizarre claims, through five National Hockey League years of some pretty serious losing, is that they could beat the Edmonton Oilers if it weren&rsquo;t for Wayne Gretzky. On a Sunday afternoon in February before a sellout crowd of 14,817 at the Hartford Civic Center, the Oilers, without Gretzky, called the Whalers&rsquo; bluff.And lost 11-0.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t 3-0 or 5-0 or 7-0, but 11-0,&rdquo; Whaler captain Mark Johnson said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s scary.&rdquo;Ronnie Francis, the best fourth-line center in the western hemisphere, scored four goals and one assist, while Greg Malone had three goals and two assists as the Whalers gave the public, which had bought tickets to see Gretzky, a special memory just the same.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s about time, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;Everything just went our way. This was fun.&rdquo;In all, the Whalers set or tied 23 club records, including most goals in a game (11), largest winning margin (11) and most power-play goals (6).&ldquo;It was quite a day,&rdquo; winger Ray Neufeld said.It may have been Edmonton coach Glen Sather&rsquo;s longest day. The Oilers hit the road without Gretzky, who missed six games with a bruised shoulder, and Jari Kurri, the league&rsquo;s second leading scorer, sidelined with a groin pull.&ldquo;Our goaltending was bad, our defensemen were terrible and our forwards were just as terrible,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;It was a total collapse. We&rsquo;re not the first NHL team to get shelled on a road trip and we won&rsquo;t be the last, but this is our lowest point of the season, no question.&rdquo;Nobody&mdash;not in 12 years, including seven in the World Hockey Association&mdash;had ever lost 11-0 in Hartford.&ldquo;We seemed to be waiting for someone to be there who wasn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;Our team should have responded to Wayne&rsquo;s absence, but we didn&rsquo;t. Once they got it rolling, we couldn&rsquo;t stop them. The whole thing snowballed on us.&rdquo;&ldquo;Off today&rsquo;s effort. I&rsquo;d say we were a lousy team,&rdquo; Sather said.Francis scored twice and rookie Sylvain Turgeon once to stake the Whalers to a 3-0 lead after one period. Malone scored another early in. the second for a 4-0 cushion and then former Whaler Kevin McClelland got five minutes for elbowing Turgeon and the flood-gates opened. The Whalers converted four times on the ensuing power play and led after two periods.Grant Fuhr, who allowed seven goals on 23 shots, was replaced by Andy Moog midway through the second period. Moog allowed three goals on seven shots as the Whalers added three third-period strikes to account for the 11-0 finale.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s be honest,&rdquo; said goaltender Greg Millen, who recorded his second shutout of the season and seventh of his NHL career. &ldquo;We caught them at a good time. You talk about bounces. Well, we got them all today.&rdquo;Neufeld, Chris Kotsopoulos and Bobby Crawford joined the Whalers&rsquo; scoring parade.&ldquo;It was a great day for the Whalers and, in that sense, I suppose, a great day for the game,&rdquo; said John Muckier, Edmonton&rsquo;s assistant coach. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ll tell you something: I wouldn&rsquo;t want to be in the Whalers&rsquo; shoes when they come to Edmonton March 21.&rdquo;Muckier didn&rsquo;t have to look up the date. The Oilers already have it bronzed.Asked how many points he had in the blowout, Mike Zuke, who went goalless, laughed.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s put it this way,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was even.&rdquo;And so are the Whalers, who paid off a considerable debt to their backers in a 60-minute showcase that none will soon forget.So much for never on Sunday.WHALER SCUTTLEBUTT&mdash;Greg Millen was named as co-winner, along with Buffalo&rsquo;s Dave Andreychuk, as the league&rsquo;s player of the week. Millen, in victories over Detroit and Edmonton, stopped 52 of 53 shots&hellip;Sylvain Turgeon suffered a mild concussion from his run-in with Kevin McClelland and missed two games, his first two of the year. He had 29 goals when he went down&hellip; Ronnie Francis, on an eight-game tear, despite some curious handling, has taken over the team lead in scoring. Francis, (8-10-18) in those eight games, has played less this year than in his last two years, but still has surpassed 70 points and shows no signs of stopping&hellip;Here&rsquo;s a good one: In three games, the Whalers scored 15 unanswered goals, possibly a world&rsquo;s record, and won but one of the three&hellip; A 5-3 loss to Montreal came on the heels of the win over Edmonton and had a sobering effect. The loss, the Whalers&rsquo; sixth in seven meetings with Montreal (the teams tied in the other game), dropped Hartford 15 points behind the Canadiens and just about brought the curtain down on any playoff shot&hellip;Defenseman Eddie Hospodar missed three games with a knee injury&hellip;The Whalers, at one point, were 2-16-4 against Adams Division foes and 17-14-4 against all others&hellip; Winger Tony Currie, a free agent signed out of the Vancouver chain, had two goals and 10 assists in his first 11 games with the Whalers. &#9632;

Hartford Has One Whale Of A Time

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY&mdash;The majority of high choices spent their draft days in the Montreal Forum. The majority of low draft choices spent their draft days by the telephone.Then there was Jamie Macoun. Macoun can&rsquo;t even remember his draft year, let alone his draft day. (It was 1979.)His draft season had been divided between the Newmarket Flyers and Aurora Tigers in a southern Ontario tier two league. In the fall of 1979, Macoun went to Ohio State. To study. Thoughts of a pro career were the furthest thing from his mind. In fact, the only thing significant about his draft day is that he wasn&rsquo;t drafted. That made him a free agent, able to sell his services to the highest bidder. If indeed anyone in the National Hockey League wanted to bid.One team did&mdash;the Flames.Every year about this time, the Flames dip into the college free-agent market and come up with a prize or two. Two years ago, it was Eddy Beers and Tony Stiles. Last year, it was Macoun and Colin Patterson. On a team that is waiting patiently&mdash;and frequently unsuccessfully&mdash;for its draft choices to develop, the free agents have bridged the gap. All four are playing regularly. Altogether, eight free agents&mdash;add Reggie Lemelin, Paul Baxter, Kari Eloranta and Jim Jackson to the list&mdash;play regularly for the Flames.&ldquo;Where would we be without our free agents?&rdquo; says coach Bob Johnson. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to think about it.&rdquo;The reasons Calgary&rsquo;s free agents did not get drafted are many and varied. Patterson missed three months of his draft year with food poisoning. Macoun was too small. Beers split the season between a Merritt, B.C., tier two team and Denver University.Then there&rsquo;s Stile&rsquo;s explanation.&ldquo;No big mystery,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I just wasn&rsquo;t good enough.&rdquo;Watching Macoun play now, it is hard to imagine that at age 16 he was 5-foot-1, 100 pounds. Today, he uses brute force more than anyone on the Flames. His strength and balance make him an effective player. When he runs into an opponent, he stays up. The opponent goes down.&ldquo;At the end of grade 10,1 wrestled in the under-105 pound provincial tournament,&rdquo; says Macoun. &ldquo;I had good stats that year. I played left wing. But I was small. I went to college for the same reason my brother did&mdash;to get a free education.&ldquo;In those days, that was the only reason to go, You could not forecast then the way they scout and sign players now.&ldquo;I had a chance to go to junior. Oshawa invited me to its camp, but to be honest, I didn&rsquo;t like the life. Also I wasn&rsquo;t ready physically. In two years of college, I matured physically and mentally. By my third year. I was ready.&rdquo;Beers&rsquo; case is a little different. The 24-year-old left winger who has been Calgary&rsquo;s leading scorer much of the season had hoped to get drafted. He wanted a career in pro hockey. In 1979, the only way that appeared possible was as a referee.Then things changed. In his second year at Denver, Beers blossomed. Edmonton Oilers approached him about the possibility of signing.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s when I started to think: &lsquo;Maybe I could make a living out of this,&rdquo;&rsquo; says Beers. &ldquo;In my last two years, my attitude changed. Instead of going down for the education, I went down for the hockey. My junior and senior years, that&rsquo;s what I was there for&mdash;to play the game.&rdquo;More than anyone else, Calgary general manager Cliff Fletcher has exploited the college free-agent market. The Flames have four in their lineup. No other team has more than two.&ldquo;The cost of a free agent really depends on the player,&rdquo; says Fletcher. &ldquo;Basically, it costs you between what you pay a first-and a second-round draft choice. The other factor is that you do not sign a free-agent to a one-way contract. Very few teams will. Only the odd exceptions will get that kind of contract.&rdquo;Of this season&rsquo;s free agents, the majority of whom are with the U.S. and Canadian Olympic teams, Johnson asks: &ldquo;Are there players this season in the same category as four years ago? You&rsquo;d say no and maybe you&rsquo;d be right. Then again, maybe we&rsquo;re all missing the boat again. &#9632;

Flames Are Specializing In Free Agents

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;Tommie McVie says that speed is the answer and he isn&rsquo;t about to quibble over the fact that it may be old speed instead of young speed, just as long as it gets the Devils going.A makeshift line of Gary McAdam (28), Bobby MacMillan (31) and Rick Meagher (30) produced three goals and three assists to help the Devils snap a six-game home losing streak on Valentine&rsquo;s Day at the Meadowlands Arena.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t play this game anymore unless you have speed,&rdquo; McVie said after the Devils topped Los Angeles 6-4. &ldquo;McAdam has to be one of the fastest skaters in the league. 1 like that line; it caused the Kings problems with strong forechecking all night.&rdquo;McVie has also been pleased with the work of Mel Bridgman, Paul Gagne and Tim Higgins on a line which used to include MacMillan. And so, when Mac-Millan came back after missing five games with tendinitis in his right knee, the Devils&rsquo; coach had to find a new spot for him.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011250/4875498-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="579" height="972"><figcaption class="caption-body">You have to be able to skate, Devil coach Tommie McVie says, to play today.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Higgins is playing so well that I don&rsquo;t want to move him.&rdquo; McVie said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good checker and a good goal-scorer. I wish I could have gotten him when he was 20 instead of 26.&rdquo;Because McVie pushed for the deal, he has been criticized by the media and the fans for trading 21-year-old Jeff Larmer to Chicago.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t give a damn about taking any heat for the trade,&rdquo; McVie said. &ldquo;1 think maybe the front office took some heat but the press and the fans can&rsquo;t pick this team. We&rsquo;d be in great shape if they did.&rdquo;Contrary to McVie&rsquo;s observations, history seems to suggest that the Devils might, indeed, be in a lot better shape than they are today if the fans, the media or almost anybody else but front offices, past and present, listened to the fans.The paying customers objected loudly when the Colorado Rockies&rsquo; front office traded players such as Barry Beck and Lanny MacDonald and neither the fans nor the media ever recommended that first-round draft choices be dealt away.A lack of speed and checking ability seemed to be what McVie was pointing to when he talked about Larmer&rsquo;s case.&ldquo;I have nothing against Larmer,&rdquo; McVie said, &ldquo;but he just didn&rsquo;t fit in with the way we&rsquo;re trying to get this team to play&rdquo;Higgins, who collected six goals and two assists in his first 15 games with the Devils, says he hasn&rsquo;t felt any lack of acceptance since arriving in New Jersey.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t really heard that much about the trade,&rdquo; Higgins said, &ldquo;but my first thought when it happened was that Jeff Larmer is a goal-scorer. Like his brother, Steve, he can put the puck in the net.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Tommie (McVie) got me to swap goal-scorers. I&rsquo;ll play my game, which is bumping, and if the goals come, that&rsquo;s a bonus.&rdquo;In his usual blunt manner, McVie complains that a lot of Higgins&rsquo; natural ability has been wasted by a lack of coaching.&ldquo;Tim played on a line with Steve Payne and Bobby Smith in Ottawa as a junior and I liked him the best out of those three guys,&rdquo; McVie said. &ldquo;He can skate, shoot and hit but the life expectancy of a hockey player in this league today is short.&ldquo;If you play 10 years, you&rsquo;ve had a helluva career and his is half over and he doesn&rsquo;t know the game yet. The only guy who taught him anything is Bob Pulford and he went up into the front office shortly after Higgins came to Chicago.&rdquo;Higgins found himself in coach Orval Tessier&rsquo;s doghouse at Chicago after 59 and 50-point seasons during which he showed signs of developing into more than just a journeyman NHL player.&ldquo;I played a system in junior which was successful,&rdquo; Higgins said, &ldquo;but when I went to Chicago, they had a stay-at-home system. They didn&rsquo;t like you to roam much from your wing. It&rsquo;s different here; I find myself open more and getting more chances.&rdquo;Even though he wasn&rsquo;t playing much for the Black Hawks, he was hopeful of getting another chance.&ldquo;When I got traded, 1 thought, here I was coming to New Jersey,&rdquo; Higgins said. &ldquo;Leaving Chicago was tough. The last two years we had shots at going all the way.&ldquo;You hate to give up that opportunity for a shot at going all the way. You hate to give up that opportunity for a shot at the ring, but I&rsquo;m much happier now playing here than I was sitting and watching in Chicago.&rdquo;HOT STUFF&mdash;Tom McVie&rsquo;s raging outburst at Buffalo on Feb. 9 following an 8-5 loss was X-rated. He was much more subdued after a 3-2 defeat at Pittsburgh two days later and finally appears to have accepted at least some of the limitations of his personnel&hellip;When youthful defenseman Joe Cirella struggled following his All-Star appearance, McVie benched him briefly and had a talk with him, which was appropriate, but also criticized him in the media. His reputation as a coach who had difficulty relating to young players was probably not enhanced by his handling of Cirella. On Cirella, McVie said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not trying to hurt anyone. I&rsquo;m trying to help them. That damn All-Star game ruined Joey.Just like what Christmas and the party did to this team. After the Christmas party when everyone was told how great they were playing, we went right down the tubes. I hate All-Star games like I hate Christmas. Veteran defenseman Mike Kitchen suffered a severed tendon in the middle finger of his right hand at Pittsburgh on Feb. 11 just before he was to return to the lineup after missing 11 games because of a hip injury. He took off his glove to adjust his equipment while sitting on the Devils&rsquo; bench and was clipped by the skate of teammate Aaron Broten. &#9632;

f0012-01

McVie Willing To Take Speed At Any Age

<div class="byline">BY DICK BEDDOES</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021052/4875529-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="305" height="358"></div><h2>Dark Side Of Bentley</h2>MURRAY KEMPTON, A New York journalist of distinction, has said, &ldquo;It is probably an illusion that any one man much alters history even in the short run and it is certainly a fact that history crushes every man in the long&hellip;&rdquo;That seems as perceptive as one can be about the human condition. So those who mourn the death of Max Bentley may be left only with illusions.Was he the best third-string center who ever graced the National Hockey League? Perhaps.Was he the best third-string center who ever played for the Toronto Maple Leafs? I think so.But those of us who remember Bentley&mdash;especially my HOCKEY NEWS colleagues. Joe Falls, Frank Orr and Stan Fischler&mdash;are remembering from more than 30 years ago.In perspective, those days seem more incandescent than they really were. Shadow can be mistaken for substance. Compared with the NHL that came later, though, Bentley&rsquo;s time does indeed seem to have been a golden time, particularly in Toronto.In the short run, Bentley helped alter Toronto hockey history. The Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup four times in the five seasons between 1947 and 1951, barely missing five in a row.Max was the wheeling hub of Toronto&rsquo;s third lines, for the incontestable reason that nobody replaced combative Ted Kennedy on the first line: Kennedy, so tough and caring that when he walked through a dressing room door, defeatism jumped out the window.<h2>The English Beliveau</h2>NOR COULD MAX supplant Syl Apps as the big pivot on the second line: Apps, smooth and elegant, an English-Canadian version of the Jean Beliveau who performed with clan a decade later.On Toronto&rsquo;s third lines, there was Max, playing with the shifting ease of Wayne Gretzky, spinning out the puck and taking it back as a yo-yo, making wingers on the journeyman order of Joe Klukay better than they were.Max: a pony, never bigger than 150 pounds, forever an innocent. His best friend was his brother, Douglas Wagner Bentley, another pony, the fanciest left winger in the history of the Chicago Black Hawks.An innocent? Max accepted two race horses, in exchange for his hockey prowess, from two richbuck boosters of the Maple Leafs, Charles Hemstead and George McCullagh.The gifts hooked Max on horse betting, to the extravagant extent that he never considered racing official on any given day unless he had a bet down somewhere in North America. The expensive habit forced him to consort with loan sharks, whom brother Doug had to protect him from.Murray Kempton: &ldquo;&hellip;History crushes every man in the long run&hellip;&rdquo;In the long run, Max Bentley was clinging to yesterday&rsquo;s pride. He was, when he departed at 63, the caretaker of a home for senior citizens in Saskatoon., He was hoping to make it to 65, so he could receive an old-age pension from the Canadian government.<h2>He Felt Pinched</h2>NO DISREPECT IS intended in reporting that reality. Max lived in a puritanical part of Canada where to be poor is to feel disgraced and he at least felt pinched.He would drive, when he drove, a used Cadillac given him by his old Toronto owner, Conn Smythe. He had framed an offer from Smythe to return to the Maple Leafs in 1954 and play the point on power plays. The offer was for $10,000 and what would that represent today? $100,000? $200,000? Plenty, anyhow.Max turned Smythe down. His skills were eroded by 1954 and money never insulates the good ones from the fear of looking mediocre.His sincerest media friend in the end was Lloyd Saunders, the best sports announcer ever foaled in Saskatchewan.Saunders said it for all of us when he said at Max&rsquo;s funeral, &ldquo;Max didn&rsquo;t know how good he was.&rdquo;That included on the baseball field, where Max was a slugging outfielder for his hometown of Delisle, 26 miles from Saskatoon.The Bentleys of Delisle used to play in prairie baseball tournaments. One of the umpires in 1950 was Harry Ornest of Edmonton, now the sedate owner of the St. Louis Blues.Ornest recalls, &ldquo;Whenever Max hit one, he always seemed to wind up on third base. You&rsquo;d look over there and he&rsquo;d be smiling with all those teeth.&rdquo;A smile, Lloyd Saunders said, that shone like light bulbs. Better to remember, in a crush of nostalgia, the smiles. &#9632;

f0012-02

BEDCLOTHES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011181/4875560-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0013-01

Bookshelf

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>A biography of Harold Ballard is being written by Toronto Globe and Mail reporter Bill Houston for Summerhill Press. The unauthorized tome, due for fall publication, will spare no thorns including nettlesome material about the ongoing war between the Leaf high command and Globe hockey correspondents. Hopes for a league-arranged peace talk between Ballard&rsquo;s men&mdash;general manager Gerry McNamara and coach Mike Nykoluk&mdash;and the Globe sports department appear dim. When likeable Globe columnist Trent Frayne recently encountered Nykoluk in a hotel lobby and attempted conversation, the coach dropped his head and walked away. Frayne also delivered a &ldquo;Hello, Gerry&rdquo; to McNamara in the press box, but the GM stared straight ahead. Frayne repeated the &ldquo;hello,&rdquo; finally sticking his face in front of McNamara&rsquo;s. McNamara replied that he wouldn&rsquo;t talk to Frayne because of his feelings about The Globe&rsquo;s treatment of the Leafs&hellip;Ex-Leaf GM Punch Imlach, who still skates three times a week, turned down an offer to author a weekly column in the The Globe on the grounds that he didn&rsquo;t want to make any more enemies.Promoters shouldn&rsquo;t bother inviting Glen Sather to any oldtimers or Masters of Hockey matches. The Oiler boss tells BLUELINES he won&rsquo;t have any part of the post-graduate puck nonsense and adds that much of the time is spent by oldtimers cutting up former teammates and foes. A few other comments cannot be mentioned here&hellip;Pierre Larouche has been whispering privately that the complete story about his rupture with the Whalers has yet to be told. Now it turns out that the Penguins also blew an opportunity to land Pierre last summer when he worked out in Pittsburgh but Penguin GM Eddie Johnston nixed Larouche&hellip;Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s business agent Michael Barnett says The Great One is as vigilant with his business affairs off-ice as he is on the pond. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s as far ahead of the game in business,&rdquo; Barnett tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;as he is when he plays. His perception in that area (fiscal) is uncanny.&rdquo; Barnett, who fields offers which come Wayne&rsquo;s way, reveals that one of the products they chose not to endorse was Andy Jorgenson&rsquo;s Down Home Sizzlin&rsquo; Hot Southern Chili. &ldquo;When I phoned Jorgenson to find out where the chili was manufactured,&rdquo; Barnett tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;he told me, &lsquo;Right here on my damn stove, where do you think?&rdquo;&rsquo; The first authorized Gretzky book rolls off the Avon presses next fall. The publisher hopes to sell more than one million copies worldwide. The book is being co-authored by Wayne&rsquo;s dad. Walter Gretzky, and Vancouver Province columnist Jim Taylor. The Canuck high command is displeased with Taylor&rsquo;s hockey coverage, charging that he&rsquo;s too obsessed with football&hellip;Don Lever&rsquo;s claim that he learned that he lost Devils&rsquo; captaincy to Mel Bridgman without being informed by management is disputed by the club brass who claim he was so advised along with Bridgman.Embattled Maple Leaf coach Mike Nykoluk is listed as the lowest-paid ($55,000) coach in all major sports, according to a Sport magazine survey. Lou Angotti of the Penguins and the Jets&rsquo; Barry Long are next at $65,000 apiece. Wayne Gretzky ($600,000) is listed as highest-paid stickhandler, although others put his annual take at closer to $1 million&hellip;If the Sports Illustrated X-ray of power broker Al Eagleson ever makes print it will be at playoff time and because SI found an investigative reporter who would make the story stand up&hellip;Retiring Madison Square Garden boss Sonny Werblin was so disgusted with the All-Star dinner entertainment that he reportedly snapped to a friend, &ldquo;Typical NHL.&rdquo;&hellip;Insiders say Phil Esposito rejected the GM job of the Kings (not enough $) and then recommended his pal, Rogie Vachon&hellip;A Campbell Conference GM notes that former Cap GM, Roger Crozier, has been phoning a club owner trying to get back in the bigs&hellip;Peter McNab&rsquo;s fall from grace in Boston coincided with the ascendency of Gerry Cheevers as coach. McNab says the Bruin high command seemed to think he was doing less than he actually was accomplishing&hellip;Exactly 17 years ago, Larry Zeidel sent resumes to 12 NHL clubs and landed a job on the original Flyer defense. Now Larry, a Philly stockbroker, is sending out resumes for his son, Jay, a promising junior defenseman who has the old man&rsquo;s heart&hellip;Tiger Williams bums when he thinks about Vladislav Tretiak joining the Canadiens. &ldquo;The Communists,&rdquo; Tiger tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;should stay where they are.&rdquo;After a 10-minute interview with Rod Langway, an announcer from ESPN concluded, &ldquo;Thanks a lot, Larry!&rdquo; Langway then trooped into the Cap dressing room where Scott Stevens led a chorus of &ldquo;Larrys.&rdquo; When the broadcaster later was advised of his mistake by Mike Gartner, he apologized to Langway. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t worry,&rdquo; Langway replied, &ldquo;it happens all the time.&ldquo;&hellip;Penguin problems transcend hockey. Pittsburgh Spirit of the Major Indoor Soccer League drew back-to-back crowds of 14,031 and 10,007 at the Civic Arena shared by both clubs&hellip;Jeff Larmer denies Jersey reports that he was out of shape at the Devils&rsquo; camps. &ldquo;I was in great shape,&rdquo; Larmer insists&hellip; Herb Brooks capitalized on his 1980 glory with a Chevrolet ad which ran on the ABC Network throughout the current Olympics. Consensus among American scribes is that the biggest blunder committed by the U.S. hockey club was protesting eligibility of Canadians on the eve of the tourney&hellip; Wayne Cashman on Rick (Nifty) Middleton: &ldquo;When Nifty breaks away with the puck,&rdquo; says Cashman, &ldquo;you&rsquo;ve already gotten $15 worth of entertainment.&rdquo; &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>BOSTON&mdash;&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just in a little bit of slump,&rdquo; said Keith Crowder. &ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s the slump that we should have had when we had all the injuries, I don&rsquo;t know. I hope that&rsquo;s all it is.&rdquo;Crowder and the rest of his Bruin teammates have devoted a good deal of off-ice time to trying to figure out just what has happened to them.Despite injuries that had cost them 157 man-games in ice time, they won eight of the last 10 games. They had allowed 12 goals less than the next best defensive team. Backup goalie Doug Keans had won eight in a row and his 2.40 goals-against average was the best in the league.But starting on Jan. 29 with a 7-2 beating by the Montreal Canadiens in their home rink, the Bruins went on to lose five of the next eight games. Worse than that, they allowed 41 goals in those eight games, a horrendous 5.13 average and had fallen 16 goals behind Washington defensively.What has happened to the Bruins?&ldquo;Obviously, the defense is falling apart,&rdquo; said general manager Harry Sinden, to whom defensiveness is next to godliness. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s collapsing. There are holes.&ldquo;Part of the problem is this&mdash;and we certainly aren&rsquo;t making any excuses&mdash;but with the injuries we&rsquo;ve had, certain guys are playing an awful lot and they&rsquo;re getting stale. You can only play so much.&ldquo;And certain guys on defense are getting, well, puck-happy. They seem to want to attack all the time. You have to have patience. If you don&rsquo;t, it leaves you open to letting goals in.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to overcome that. Every-body wants to get in on the attack. But there&rsquo;s a way to go about it. You can&rsquo;t manufacture plays that aren&rsquo;t there. If a play isn&rsquo;t there it just isn&rsquo;t there.&ldquo;It will be very important to us to get our team back. We have to play 15 or 20 games as a unit before the playoffs. Three or four games won&rsquo;t do us any good.&rdquo;The Bruins had all but two of their key players back from the injury list in time for the opener of seven-game road trip in the Buffalo on Feb. 15.In fact, three of them returned against the Sabres and made up a brand new line of their own&mdash;Craig MacTavish on left wing, Tom Fergus at center and Terry O&rsquo;Reilly on right wing.Fergus missed 11 games with a sprained ligament in his left knee; O&rsquo;Reilly, in his latest appearance on the injury list, had been out six games with a dislocated right shoulder.MacTavish, out for nine games, was a different case. He suffered a shoulder injury and emotional distress in an auto accident Jan. 26. When the woman in the other car died, he was charged with vehicular homicide, which carries a mandatory one-year jail sentence for a conviction. He was permitted to make the trip with the Bruins.&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t have to surrender himself,&rdquo; said Karen McLaughlin, spokesman for the Essex County district attorney. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not going to flee the jurisdiction. He&rsquo;s a celebrity. It would be pretty hard to hide.&rdquo;MacTavish scored two goals in Buffalo, making him a 20-goal scorer for the first time in his NHL career, but the Bruins&rsquo; defense fell apart once again and the Sabres won to take a five-point lead in the Adams Division race.The one bright spot in an otherwise drab 18 days for the Bruins was an appearance in Boston Garden by Normand Leveille, who has made an almost miraculous recovery from the cerebral hemorrhage that struck him down in Vancouver on Oct. 23, 1982. He walked by himself, slowly, to the edge of the Garden ice and waved to the sellout crowd with his left hand.&ldquo;When you see Normand, it lights up your life,&rdquo; said coach Gerry Cheevers. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so damned heart-warming to see how great he&rsquo;s doing and how happy he is you just feel good about it. You want to go out and play.&rdquo;The Bruins went out and played so well that they beat Edmonton 4-1 for one of their rare recent victories.&ldquo;Normand left his wheelchair on Nov. 10,&rdquo; reported his friend, Bob Pemo. &ldquo;He started walking without any support on occasions just a couple of weeks ago. He now has limited movement in his right arm. The slowest part of his therapy is his speech. It is coming along very slowly.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011230/4875615-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="579" height="763"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Crowder feels the slump should have happened during the team&rsquo;s injury crisis.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0014-01

Bruins Work Off The Ice To Cure On-Ice Problems

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>MONTREAL&mdash;As they continue stumbling around the .500 level, the Canadiens have developed a bad habit.In five of their last seven games, the Canadiens have found themselves behind to the opposition early and in the case of back-to-back outings against the Los Angeles Kings and Hartford Whalers, they were in deep trouble before rallying for victories against inferior opponents.&ldquo;Any team that is behind us, we have to beat,&rdquo; said defenseman Bill Root. &ldquo;They are must wins. At this point, we have to look for all the guaranteed wins we can get. If teams are behind us in the standings, we have to beat them. It&rsquo;s as simple as that.&rdquo;So, why then did the Canadiens find themselves down 2-0 on their home ice to the Kings while the fans jeered along and trailing Hartford 3-0 on Valentine&rsquo;s Day before the game was 11 minutes old.&ldquo;I think we have to be more mentally prepared when we come out for the games,&rdquo; Root explains. &ldquo;We were not prepared for the Hartford game. They jumped on us.&ldquo;We have to be ready for those first 10 minutes, it&rsquo;s crucial. If you let the good teams like the Rangers and the Islanders get ahead of you by three goals, you aren&rsquo;t going to come back against them. They won&rsquo;t let you.&ldquo;We came back against L.A. and Hartford, but we have to be prepared for that first period.&rdquo;It could be the Canadiens are mentally tired. They have had what amounts to one of their worst schedules in recent memories and it&rsquo;s going to get tougher in the final month of the schedule. Managing director Serge Savard planned to have the boys spend three days in California for a little rest and relaxation be-fore the rematch against the Kings.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s good for the morale and for the confidence,&rdquo; said defenseman Craig Ludwig. &ldquo;The key is to remember why we are out there. We are going out west for a hockey game. I am sure we will take a day or a day and half to relax. But we have a hockey game to play as well.&rdquo;Ludwig and regular defense partner Larry Robinson could use the rest. Robinson has been utilized over 30 minutes a game almost every night as the coaching staff elects to play four defensemen much of the time.&ldquo;We have a couple of days away from the rink and from the grind of hockey,&rdquo; Robinson noted. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a much needed rest for all of us.&rdquo;Some changes have been made to the defense with the return of Rick Green and there will be one more alteration now that Chris Chelios is finished with his commitment to the U.S. Olympic team.Savard has made it clear that Chelios is going to play when he joins the club. The former University of Wisconsin defenseman was expected to play his first NHL game against the New York Rangers in Montreal on Feb. 25.Speculation is rampant that either Ric Nattress or Kent Carlson will find themselves en route to the Nova Scotia Voyageurs for playing time. Carlson, whose ice time has been limited even when he dresses, is the most likely to be sent down, if Savard decides to demote anyone.Up front, there is a problem to be resolved as well. Veteran left winger Steve Shutt has recovered from ligament damage to his left thumb and was available for duty against the Kings and the Whalers. However, Shutt did not dress and it was difficult to perceive exactly who Shutt could replace. The Canadiens&rsquo; left wingers playing ahead of Shutt are Ryan Walter, Mats Naslund, Perry Turnbull and team captain Bob Gainey.Pierre Mondou, who missed the trip to California with a sprained back, also isn&rsquo;t assured a post when he is due to return. Alfie Turcotte and John Chabot, two cornerstones of the Canadiens&rsquo; future, are performing well now that they are being played regularly. Chabot, who has been in and out of the lineup this winter, had a two-goal effort against the Whalers after a goal-and-two-assist performance against the Kings.Regardless of who plays, the Canadiens have to get away from their bad habits if they plan to be on a high going into April&rsquo;s playoffs.&ldquo;We have been coming out flat too often,&rdquo; Robinson noted. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t afford to do those kind of things. Once you get past Febrary and into March, everybody is jockeying for a playoff position. The games are tough.&rdquo;IN PASSING&mdash;The Canadiens home-ice loss to Buffalo on Feb. 11 was their 14th on Forum ice, tying a club record set during the 1939-40 season&hellip; Serge Savard is getting a little rattled with the Vladislav Tretiak affair, noting that Tretiak seems to be changing his mind almost every day&hellip;There are a few Canadiens in scoring droughts. Ryan Walter had just one goal in his last 11 games after the victory in Hartford while Mario Tremblay&rsquo;s two-goal effort snapped a dry spell which saw him score just once in the previous 14 games. Tremblay is still bothered by a rash&hellip; Bobby Smith had 10 assists but just one goal going into the game in Los Angeles while Guy Charbonneau was struggling with a goal and two assists in a nine-game span. Perry Turnbull stopped off in St. Louis to look after some personal business before rejoining the team on the west coast. &#9632;

Canadiens Fighting Off Mental Exhaustion

While watching the Soviet Union skate to a gold-medal triumph at the Winter Olympic Games at Sarajevo, you got the feeling they were playing only as hard as they had to.The Soviets went undefeated in seven games, never really being pushed by any team, even though the Czechoslovaks made it close (2-0) in the game to determine the gold and silver medalists on Feb. 19.But the fact of the matter is that the Soviets, heavy pre-Olympic favorites, did nothing to show they didn&rsquo;t deserve the label. And the big question now is not so much whether any of the teams at the Olympics can be competitive with them, but can Team Canada&mdash;one which will be stocked with the best professional players in the country&mdash;skate with the Big Red Machine at the Canada Cup in September?That&rsquo;s a question that can be pondered over the summer. The matter at hand is assessing how Team Canada&mdash;the collection of young college, junior and minor-league pros&mdash;fared at these Winter Games.Team Canada, exhibiting a decided lack of offensive firepower, fell 2-0 in its game against Sweden that determined the bronze-medal winner. But coach Dave King and his team maintained from the time they started last summer that a spot in the four-team medal round would be a significant achievement.Therefore, Team Canada&rsquo;s mission was a success.But don&rsquo;t tell the players that. They really believed they could beat the Swedes to get the bronze medal.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re taking this very tough,&rdquo; said King, referring to the sombre dressing-room scene, the silence broken only by occasional sobs. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re distraught at not doing well today. They really had high hopes for themselves and were convinced they could beat the Swedes.&rdquo;Had Team Canada possessed a little more offensive punch, it may well have come home with a medal. In the three-game medal round against the best three teams in the tournament&mdash;the Soviets, Czechoslovaks and Swedes&mdash;Team Canada failed to score a goal.&ldquo;Our kids wanted the medal very much and that created pressure,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re young and it narrowed their focus. They were trying to force the puck through people.&ldquo;But our kids were tough. The scorers we need to have are all making a big buck in pro hockey because that skill is a priority there, too.&rdquo;Despite the medal-round defeats. Canada came up with wins over Team USA. Norway, Austria and the Finns. They played a tight, disciplined and defensive style throughout the tournament. more out of necessity than anything else. They received outstanding netminding from Mario (Goose) Gosselin, but simply failed to generate enough offense.After travelling to Paris for a two-day exhibition tournament, Team Canada returned home and went their separate ways, as did the members of Team USA, who failed to get to the medal round. A number of the players headed to National Hockey League teams. Some went back to junior teams. Others took time off.It&rsquo;s also a time of decision for King, who once again proved he is a master tactician and one of the finest coaches in the game today.He&rsquo;s had NHL offers before and he&rsquo;s turned them down. It will be interesting to see what he plans to do now.&ldquo;I have three options,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have my university job (University of Saskatchewan head coach) and I&rsquo;m on leave from that. There&rsquo;s been talk of Hockey Canada extending the program for the 1988 Olympics and 1 could be involved in that. Then there&rsquo;s the NHL but I have no firm offers now.&ldquo;Right now, I want to go home to Calgary, get to know my kids again and talk over the future with my wife.&rdquo;King&rsquo;s immediate task will be to write a report on the past year for Hockey Canada, which will help to formulate the program for 1988. when Calgary plays host to the Winter Games. &#9632;

Canada Cup Next On The Soviet Union’s Menu

<h2>MEDAL ROUND (Final Standings)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011031/4875848-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="539" height="215"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Feb. 17Soviet Union 4, Canada 0Czechoslovakia 2, Sweden 0Sun. Feb. 19Soviet Union 2, Czechoslovakia 0Sweden 2, Canada 0CONSOLATION ROUNDFri. Feb. 17West Germany 7, FinlandUSA 7, Poland 4(West Germany finished 5th, Finland 6th,USA 7th, Poland 8th)<h2>PRELIMINARY ROUND (Final Standings)</h2><h3>GROUP A</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02831/4875841-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="531" height="209"></div><h3>GROUP B</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03655/4875834-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="533" height="211"></div>(Soviet Union, Sweden, Czechoslovakia & Canada advanced to medal round)(West Germany, Poland, Finland & USA advanced to consolation round)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Feb. 7GROUP AItaly 3, Sweden 1West Germany 8, Yugoslavia 1Soviet Union 12, Poland 1GROUP BCanada 4, United States 2Finland 4, Austria 3Czechoslovakia 10, Norway 4Thu. Feb. 9GROUP AWest Germany 8, Poland 5Soviet Union 5, Italy 1Sweden 11, Yugoslavia 0GROUP BCanada 8, Austria 1Finland 16, Norway 2Czechoslovakia 4, United States 1Sat. Feb. 11GROUP ASoviet Union 9, Yugoslavia 1Sweden 1, West Germany 1Italy 6, Poland 1GROUP BCanada 4, Finland 2United States 3, Norway 3Czechoslovakia 13, Austria 0Mon. Feb. 13Canada 8, Norway 1United States 7, Austria 3Sweden 10, Poland 1Yugoslavia 5, Italy 1Soviet Union 6, West Germany 1Czechoslovakia 7, Finland 2Wed. Feb. 15Czechoslovakia 4, Canada 0United States 3, Finland 3Poland 8, Yugoslavia 1Soviet Union 10, Sweden 1West Germany 9, Italy 4Austria 6, Norway 5(End of preliminary round)<h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04515/4875827-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="534" height="122"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05406/4875820-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="532" height="207"></div><h2>Mon. Feb. 13 CANADA 8, NORWAY 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06341/4875813-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="538" height="756"></div><h2>USA 7, AUSTRIA 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07314/4875806-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="526" height="322"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08293/4875799-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="536" height="440"></div><h2>SOVIETS 6, GERMANY 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09269/4875792-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="536" height="677"></div><h2>SWEDEN 10, POLAND 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-10247/4875785-1-eng-US/f0016-102.jpg" title="f0016-10" width="524" height="207"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-11233/4875778-1-eng-US/f0016-112.jpg" title="f0016-11" width="534" height="585"></div><h2>YUGOSLAVIA 5, ITALY 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-12215/4875771-1-eng-US/f0016-122.jpg" title="f0016-12" width="539" height="563"></div><h2>Wed. Feb. 15 CZECHS 4, CANADA 0</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-13200/4875764-1-eng-US/f0016-132.jpg" title="f0016-13" width="497" height="87"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0982/4875757-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="530" height="381"></div><h2>USA 3, FINLAND 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1073/4875750-1-eng-US/f0039-102.jpg" title="f0039-10" width="539" height="673"></div><h2>SOVIETS 10, SWEDEN 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1165/4875743-1-eng-US/f0039-112.jpg" title="f0039-11" width="539" height="930"></div><h2>GERMANY 9, ITALY 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1257/4875736-1-eng-US/f0039-122.jpg" title="f0039-12" width="537" height="930"></div><h2>AUSTRIA 6, NORWAY 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1350/4875729-1-eng-US/f0039-132.jpg" title="f0039-13" width="539" height="789"></div><h2>POLAND 8, YUGOSLAVIA 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1446/4875722-1-eng-US/f0039-142.jpg" title="f0039-14" width="523" height="351"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1541/4875715-1-eng-US/f0039-152.jpg" title="f0039-15" width="529" height="351"></div><h2>Fri. Feb. 17 SOVIETS 4, CANADA 0</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1636/4875708-1-eng-US/f0039-162.jpg" title="f0039-16" width="528" height="582"></div><h2>Sun. Feb. 19 SWEDEN 2, CANADA 0</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1731/4875701-1-eng-US/f0039-172.jpg" title="f0039-17" width="530" height="522"></div><h2>SOVIETS 2, CZECHS 0</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1824/4875694-1-eng-US/f0039-182.jpg" title="f0039-18" width="530" height="525"></div> &#9632;

f0016-01

OLYMPIC STANDINGS, SUMMARIES

<div class="byline">BY BOB MCKENZIE</div>The New York Rangers may be the first National Hockey League team to feel the adverse effects of a relatively obscure draft rule and it could conceivably cost them the services of a blue-chip prospect, James Patrick, who just completed his tour of duty with the Canadian Olympic hockey team.It has been assumed all season that Patrick, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound defenseman who was the Rangers&rsquo; first-round pick (ninth overall) in 1981, would join the Rangers immediately after the Olympics. Other teams, such as the New York Islanders, will be bolstering their lineups with players such as Pat LaFontaine and Pat Flatley, so the Rangers figured to do the same.But a number of NHL sources, all of whom requested anonymity, have told THE HOCKEY NEWS that Patrick and his agent, Herb Pinder of Saskatoon, Sask., are employing a clause generally referred to as the &ldquo;180-day rule&rdquo; and it could make the 20-year-old Winnipeg native a free agent without compensation in six months.So, instead of getting Patrick for the stretch drive of this season and the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Rangers may never get his name on a contract. Here&rsquo;s why:The rule states that any drafted college player (the Olympics are considered as a year of college) who graduates or declares he&rsquo;s quitting school must be signed by the NHL team which owns his rights within 180 days of that declaration. If the player and the team do not come to terms within the 180-day period, then the player becomes a free agent without compensation, able to sell his services to any one of the 21 NHL teams.What&rsquo;s worth noting here is that 1) the player is apparently free to either accept or reject the team&rsquo;s contract offer, 2) the player is the only party who can take the offer to arbitration and 3) these two conditions allow the player to virtually control his own destiny.The bottom line, the sources said, is that if he wants to, the player can sit on the team&rsquo;s initial offer, wait for six months and choose where and for whom he&rsquo;d like to play.These sources indicated that Patrick and Pinder are considering this course of action.Pinder refused to confirm these reports. But he also refused to say Patrick would join the Rangers this season.&ldquo;I do not negotiate contracts in the media,&rdquo; Pinder said from Saskatoon, having just returned from Sarajevo. &ldquo;My clients make the final decision on matters of their future. I do know that it is James&rsquo; wish to sit down and deal with the Rangers. We&rsquo;ll sit down with the Rangers, roll up our sleeves and try to work something out.&rdquo;Ranger general manager Craig Patrick, no relation to James, could not be reached for comment. He was tied up in meetings at Denver, CO, concerning the future of the Rangers&rsquo; minor-league team in the CHL, the Tulsa Oilers, which folded on Feb. 15.But the sources said that James Patrick, who attended the University of North Dakota before joining the Canadian Olympic team, has already made his declaration concerning leaving school and that the next step will be for the Rangers to make a written contract offer. After that, the sources added, Pinder and James Patrick can either a) accept it, b) say it isn&rsquo;t good enough and continue negotiations, c) take it to arbitration or d) wait for 180 days to elapse and become a free agent.&ldquo;Some people might say James Patrick hasn&rsquo;t developed as a player the way he was touted to,&rdquo; said one source, &ldquo;but 1&rsquo;11 tell you one thing&mdash;if he was a free agent, every NHL team would be very interested in him. He could dictate his own terms and make himself one helluva deal.&rdquo;Pinder did admit that he was familiar with the 180-day rule and he conceded it could be used as a very effective bargaining tool. He did, however, add that his awareness of the rule should not be taken to mean he is using it on James Patrick&rsquo;s behalf.&ldquo;It (the 180-day rule) is an anomaly in our game,&rdquo; Pinder said. &ldquo;It is one of the few instances where a player appears to be in control of his future. As I understand it, yes, a (college) player can become a free agent by using the rule to his advantage.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really incredible when you think about it. A player can pick the team he wants to play for or the city he wants to play in. He has the choice. That&rsquo;s incredible.&rdquo;So, as it stands now, several scenarios could develop. They are:&bull; Patrick will accept a Ranger contract offer and join them immediately.&bull; Patrick will use the clout of the 180-day rule to get a better contract offer&mdash;either through arbitration or further negotiations&mdash;and join the Rangers whenever he is satisfied with the terms of the deal.&bull; Patrick will file the Ranger contract offer where the sun doesn&rsquo;t shine, wait for six months, become a free agent, sell his services to the team he wants to go to and begin his NHL career in the fall.Whichever route he and his agent choose to go, it would appear they can&rsquo;t lose. And that&rsquo;s why other players and agents will be looking into this most effective bargaining tool, one which is certain to cause an enormous furor in the NHL and have significant ramifications.NOTES&mdash;Team Canada captain Dave Tippett, another Pinder client and a free agent, is headed to the Hartford Whalers. &#9632;

No Guarantee Patrick Will Join Rangers

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>Louisville HockeyDETROIT&mdash;It&rsquo;s only a matter of time before Brad Park sets the National Hockey League record for the most career assists by a defenseman.Park is only four shy of Bobby Orr&rsquo;s record of 541 career assists, but the veteran Red Wing&mdash;and that still sounds a bit strange, calling Park a Red Wing instead of a Bruin or a Ranger&mdash;leads the club with 41 assists this season and should tie or break the mark before the campaign is over. It&rsquo;s the 10th time in Park&rsquo;s career, now in its 16th season, that he&rsquo;s had 40 or more assists.He picked up another assist, on a goal by Rick MacLeish, as the Wings tied the Jets 2-2 in Winnipeg to complete an impressive three-point weekend. The Wings ended a winless streak of 10 games against Minnesota by defeating the North Stars 6-4 at the Met Center. John Ogrodnick scored a pair of goals and defenseman Reed Larson the winner.The road games zapped a six-game-in-nine-day stretch for the Wings, who have the second best road record in the Norris Division. But when the Wings lost 4-3 to St. Louis, it was their 15th defeat at home, equalling their road losses.&ldquo;If we were just .500 at home we&rsquo;d be in second place,&rdquo; said general manager Jimmy Devellano.Before that loss, orchestrated by Mike Liut&rsquo;s exceptional goaltending on behalf of the Blues, the Wings closed to within three points of the second-place Blues in the Norris Division.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re skating now,&rdquo; Park said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing the type of hockey that we were playing when we won six in a row and maybe even better. I actually think we&rsquo;re skating with more confidence now.&ldquo;Anytime you get into a race like this, everybody is a littler tighter because there&rsquo;s more on the line. In that situation, the team that&rsquo;s soundest on defense is going to win. If you play well defensively, it keeps the other guys frustrated offensively. That&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve been doing.&rdquo;Park said the NHL record for assists by a defenseman will provide him the &ldquo;satisfaction that I&rsquo;ve left some kind of mark in the NHL.&lsquo;It&rsquo;s hard to put into words. There&rsquo;s a tremendous amount of satisfaction in being in the record book.&rsquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to put it into words. There&rsquo;s a tremendous amount of satisfaction in being in the record book. I&rsquo;m lucky in one respect, that I&rsquo;ve been able to play so long.&rdquo;In each of Park&rsquo;s two most productive years&mdash;1973-74 with the Rangers and 1977-78 with the Bruins&mdash;he had career-high 57 assists.Just as the inevitability of Orr&rsquo;s record falling, Park&rsquo;s record will fall to some-one among the new breed of NHL defensemen. Perhaps Boston&rsquo;s Ray Bourque, who understudied Park in his first four NHL seasons en route to All-Star status and, ultimately, the Norris Trophy as the league&rsquo;s best defenseman Perhaps to Edmonton&rsquo;s Paul Coffey. Perhaps to Phil Housley of Buffalo. But certainly to somebody.&ldquo;Oh sure,&rdquo; Park said. &ldquo;The game is so different now. The defensemen are so offensive-minded.&rsquo; &lsquo;The Wings tried hard against the Blues but Liut was something else.&ldquo;Maybe if we&rsquo;d have scored a little earlier on him it would have made a difference,&rdquo; said Danny Gare, the Wing captain. &ldquo;As the game goes on his confidence grows. The more shots he faces the stronger he gets. He thrives on a lot of shots.&rdquo;If that&rsquo;s the case, the Wings played right into Liut&rsquo;s hands because they bombarded him from the start with 16 shots in the first period. He blocked them all.The Blues arrived in Detroit with only one victory in six games&mdash;that against the Islanders in New York&mdash;and facing a stretch of 10 games in 15 days.The Blues&rsquo; situation is similar to that encountered by the Toronto Maple Leafs a couple of weeks ago. The Leafs arrived in Detroit for a game Feb. 4 with only one victory in a dozen games and ready to be put out of their misery. Instead of greasing the skid, the Wings let the Leafs off the hook and Toronto used a 6-3 victory over Detroit as a springboard for a 5-1 stretch that has catapulted the club back into the Norris Division race.The St. Louis game had the same sort of significance and perhaps even more so for the Blues who had only eight games remaining against Norris Division teams.&ldquo;We talked about that,&rdquo; said Gare, using the Maple Leaf example. &ldquo;It was a big game. I thought we played hard and we had our chances but Liut made the difference. If we keep working, our luck&rsquo;s got to change.&rdquo;&ldquo;Liut really did dominate the game.&rdquo; said coach Nick Polano. &ldquo;He was at his very best. It just goes to show that if you have that kind of goaltending you can be completely outplayed and still win.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01933/4875903-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="580" height="952"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brad Park says the Wings are playing the type of game that won them six in a row.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-01

Park Closing In On Orr’s Record

<div class="byline">BY PERRY LEFKO</div>TORONTO&mdash;The music that one blared so loudly in the dressing room turned to the sounds of silence. The faces that once greeted you with proud smiles changed to defeated frowns. This is the difference between winning and losing; this is another story in the roller-coaster season of the Leafs.After posting consecutive victories over Boston (twice), Quebec and the New York Islanders, the Leafs proceeded to lose three straight against Minnesota, Hartford and Detroit.The big question was how could the Leafs play so well against teams that are considered unbeatable and then play so poorly against teams that are considered beatable?The answer is not easy, but several factors could be used to explain it.To be sure Leafs caught the good time at the right time. Both Boston and the Islanders were missing many of their top players and Quebec arrived on the day of the game after being fogged in. But in fairness to the Leafs, they employed a thorough system, with the forwards checking, the defense clearing the puck out of the defensive zone and the goaltending providing timely stops.That total effort allowed the Leafs to score and more importantly, prevent the opposition from scoring.It had all the appearances of playoff-type hockey.But just as easily as it appeared, it disappeared and the Leafs reverted to heir old, losing ways. Instead of using a system where you try to make the other earn make mistakes, the Leafs made the mistakes and they were easily beatenAgainst Minnesota, for instance, the Leafs failed to play with their usual gusto. The much-anticipated war that is usually the rule for these two division rivals never materialized. The Gary Nylund-Willi Plett scraps that highlighted the Leafs&rsquo; last win against Minnesota was not to be. Instead, little Dan Daoust attempted to take on the North Stars&rsquo; enforcer, but he shrugged it off feeling it was a &ldquo;no-win&rdquo; situation. That typified the game. Score: Minnesota 3, Toronto 1.Against Hartford, the Leafs clearly had the clocks in their head set 24 hours ahead, eagerly anticipating the game against Detroit. But by the middle of the second period, it was obvious that Allan Bester, the petite, rookie netminder who sparked the Leafs in their winning skein, was having an off night and he had to be replaced. Again, that symbolized the game. Score: Hartford 8, Toronto 2.Against Detroit, the Leafs attempted to freewheel and the Wings benifitted from the wide-open play. The score was 6-0 in the Wings&rsquo; favor before Gary Nylund and Gary Leeman scored back-to-back goals in the waning moments. Score: Detroit 6, Toronto 2.The Leafs then embarked on a three-game western road trip, facing Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver and the one common characteristic of all three teams is scoring ability. If the Leafs continue to allow the opposition to roam, they&rsquo;ll slump further, which is last in the Norris Division, three points behind Detroit.With only 19 games left, the Leafs can ill afford to continue making mental mistakes. Their only path to success is reverting back to tight, defensive hockey. It may not be exciting, but at least it&rsquo;s successful.&ldquo;I think if we play the way we know we&rsquo;re capable of, we&rsquo;ll win our share of games,&rdquo; says Greg Terrion.Terrion, a center who has been shifted to left wing, is characteristic of the Leaf team; he&rsquo;s not blessed with an abundance of talent, so he has to make up for it with hard work.Like many of his teammates, he is feeling the frustration of losing, but he has not lost his positive outlook.&ldquo;The only attitude we can have now is that we&rsquo;re going to have to win every game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter who we&rsquo;re playing or whose building we&rsquo;re playing in, we&rsquo;ve put ourselves in a position where we&rsquo;ve got to make up for lost ground.&rdquo;That can be accomplished, Terrion says, if the Leafs put their &ldquo;nose to the ground.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to run guys into the boards,&rdquo; Terrion said.In a nutshell, Terrion put it best when he said: &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to hate to lose. You can&rsquo;t accept losing.&rdquo;LEAFLETS&mdash;It appears Gary Nylund has a habit of breaking Detroit shutouts. When Nylund broke Corrado Micalef &lsquo;s shutout in the loss to Detroit, it was only his second goal of the season. He scored his first on Dec. 23&mdash;his first game back after his second knee operation&mdash;against the Wings, with Detroit leading 9-0&hellip;It seemed a little strange that the Leafs were in such a good mood after losing to Minnesota, but it was later revealed that Dale McCourt&rsquo;s wife, Jan, gave birth to the couple&rsquo;s second child&hellip;Leaf captain Rick Vaive has done a commercial to help spark interest for a young child who&rsquo;s in dire need of a liver transplant.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01878/4875934-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="582" height="832"><figcaption class="caption-body">Greg Terrion says the Leafs have to have a winning attitude no matter who they play.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0019-01

Leafs Must Put Their ‘Nose To The Ground’

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Good thing Markus Mattsson decided to keep the mask and pads as part of his wardrobe back in September when his future as a National Hockey League goaltender seemed so uncertain.Good thing the 26-year-old Finn was in the Kings&rsquo; organization, come to think of it. The way they&rsquo;ve been going through goaltenders the past two seasons, Mattsson should have figured he&rsquo;d eventually get the opportunity he&rsquo;d been hoping for.&ldquo;I never had much of a chance to make it in training camp,&rdquo; he said after extending his personal unbeaten streak to four with a brilliant 28-save, 1-0 shutout of Chicago in early February.&ldquo;I played in one exhibition game out of nine. I think I must have been No. 5 on the chart at the beginning of the year.&rdquo;The Kings invited five goaltenders to camp&mdash;Mario Lessard, Mike Blake, Gary Laskoski, Dave Ross and Mattsson&mdash;and Lessard and Blake wound up making the opening-night roster.Laskoski and Mattsson were sent to New Haven, Ross to Fort Wayne.Five weeks later, Lessard was down and Laskoski was up. Seven weeks after that, Laskoski was down again and Marco Baron&mdash;having been rescued from Boston&rsquo;s minor-league organization&mdash;was up.Two weeks after that, on Jan. 16, Blake was down and Mattsson, finally, was in the bigs again.Of his last four starts, Mattsson halted Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s record point-scoring streak at 51 games and posted a 3-0-1 record to go along with a 1.71 goals-against average.Overall, Mattsson was 3-1-1 with a 2.56 average&mdash;impressive numbers on any team&mdash;and he played a major role in the Kings&rsquo; resurgence under interim coach Rogie Vachon and then Roger Neilson; in the five games following Don Perry&rsquo;s dismissal, the Kings went 3-0-2&mdash;matching their longest unbeaten streak of the season&mdash;and gave up a total of only nine goals.&ldquo;Mattsson is so hot right now we have to go with him, especially at this stage of the season,&rdquo; said Neilson, 2-0-1 in his first three games behind the bench.&ldquo;I still haven&rsquo;t seen Marco play yet, but we&rsquo;ll use the both of them, alternate them, when we start playing back-to-back again.&rdquo;For now, though, Mattsson is No. 1.&ldquo;There was a time when I thought, &lsquo;Maybe that&rsquo;s it.&rsquo; But I decided to give it one last shot in the minors to see how things would go,&rdquo; Mattsson said.&ldquo;My confidence is at a high point right now, but the team is playing so well-&hellip;that makes such a big difference. Roger has us playing a tight-checking type of game and I&rsquo;m not seeing a great deal of quality shots.&ldquo;Everyone feels good now because we&rsquo;ve been winning. The whole atmosphere has changed totally, in the dressing room and on the ice. That makes a big difference, too.&rdquo;KING NOTEBOOK&mdash;Center Bernie Nicholls suffered a fractured jaw in Calgary on Jan. 27, but the injury wasn&rsquo;t discovered until after he had played in two games&mdash;collecting three goals and an assist&mdash;and he missed two games before returning to the lineup on Feb. 11. Nicholls, the Kings&rsquo; leading scorer with 31 goals and 38 assists when he went out, had his jaw wired shut and it was to remain that way for six weeks. He wore a protective bar on his helmet after returning, but his biggest problem was being able to breathe while playing&hellip;Center Wes Jarvis, who had missed 10 games with a sprained knee, was expected back shortly. Right winger Ken Houston, out for 22 games with knee and then back trouble, was still sidelined&hellip;The Kings&rsquo; 4-2 victory over Edmonton on Jan. 20, the 48th game of the season, marked (the) first time they had won while scoring under five goals&hellip;Goaltender Mario Lessard, back home in Sherbrooke, Que., while his contract was being worked out, said nothing concrete had yet developed, adding, &ldquo;I still feel I can play.&rdquo; &#9632;

Mattsson Makes It The Hard Way

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01729/4876013-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>After a five-game losing streak, the Edmonton Oilers are apparently back in form, having won three games, over Boston, Pittsburgh and Winnipeg. Part of the reason, of course, is because Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri returned to the lineup after injuries.But Paul Coffey&rsquo;s return to form also played a major role in the resurgence. Coffey, who struggled during the losing streak, scored four goals and five assists in the three games to earn HOCKEY NEWS player-of-the-week honors for the period ending Feb. 19.Included in his output was one game-winning goal and he now has 13 power-play goals, tops on the Oilers. In 61 games, he has 31 goals, the most for an NHL defenseman, and 56 assists. &#9632;

f0020-01

Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Pelle Lindbergh&rsquo;s confidence sunk so low that he needed a miner&rsquo;s light, and not a red one, to find it. The Flyers, smart enough to recognize that the 23-year-old goalie was beyond mechanical correction through practice, wisely asked him to go underground&mdash;to Springfield&mdash;to play three games.Lindbergh thought it over, checked with his agent. Frank Milne, to make sure there would be no violations of his contractual rights or other unseen repercussions, and wisely agreed. This can&rsquo;t be a one-way ticket. Lindbergh would have to be waived to stay in the American League more than two weeks. Only about 18 of the 21 NHL reams would then claim him.What Lindbergh needed was not instruction, but some work and luck. It was hoped that sometime over the weekend, he would be caught hopelessly out of position, have the puck hit him in the rear-end and stay out of the goal. A second risk, that he could let in some bad goals and still win, came true in his first game with the Indians. He allowed five second-period goals, including one that he poked off defenseman Dan Dietrich and into the goal, but Springfield rallied for a 7-6 victory in Hershey.&ldquo;On a scale of one to 10, I&rsquo;d give it about a one,&rdquo; Lindbergh said, &ldquo;but we won and that meant a lot to me.&rdquo;While three games isn&rsquo;t enough to fully rehabilitate Lindbergh, maybe he will at least come back ready to be an outpatient. The Flyers do have a rare four-game schedule this week and should have some work for him.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not committing myself for the rest of the season.&rdquo; Flyer general manager-coach Bob McCammon said. &ldquo;I know Pelle needs to play a lot to play well. But on the other hand, if he doesn&rsquo;t play well, how can he play?&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s always been a No. 1 goalie and this has been hard on him. He&rsquo;s a good goalie and a fighter, I don&rsquo;t buy the theory that he pouts if he lets in a bad goal. He let in a lot of bad goals when he played in Maine and that never bothered him.&rdquo;Lindbergh took it pretty well. Smiling on the outside, dying on the inside, he was still able to laugh at locker room jokes of bad humor.&ldquo;Hey,&rdquo; said trainer Dave Settlemyre, &ldquo;you should have looked over at the bench after that tying goal (which came off the backboards in a 6-5 loss to Vancouver). I was giving you this.&rdquo;Settlemyre held his nose.The always magnanimous Spectrum crowd was considerably more vocal. Nobody&rsquo;s angry at Pelle in Springfield and that&rsquo;s going to help.&ldquo;Fans are fans,&rdquo; Lindbergh said.Then he paused.&ldquo;Do you know what it&rsquo;s like to feel like a fool in front of 17,000 people? But actually the press and the people I&rsquo;ve talked to have been pretty nice. There are nice people here, really.&ldquo;It hurts a little, sure. I spent two years in the minors to get here and you don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;ll ever have to go back. But it&rsquo;s only for a weekend and the Flyers are trying to help me. It&rsquo;s not like they&rsquo;re just sticking me on the bench and forgetting about me.&rdquo;How could he get so absolutely-screwed up? Quite easily, really, considering Lindbergh is accustomed to playing so much more. It&rsquo;s Froese&rsquo;s fault for playing so well. It&rsquo;s Lindbergh&rsquo;s fault for simply not getting the job done. It&rsquo;s the schedule&rsquo;s fault for an arid late December that wouldn&rsquo;t allow two rotating goalies enough starts to stay sharp.And it&rsquo;s also McCammon&rsquo;s fault for two separate decisions he made earlier this year. The first one he will admit to. Lindbergh started the season well, allowing only 23 goals in winning seven of his first nine games, but the coach wanted to use Froese more and Lindbergh began to rust.&ldquo;I should have stayed with him.&rdquo; McCammon said.The other change, which McCammon shrugs off, with the standard &ldquo;I have 18 other guys on the team to think of.&rdquo; came on Nov. 22 in Calgary. Biting the bullet to get the shaky Lindbergh going. McCammon played the goalie in four straight games, the last of which was an impressive 5-4 victory in Vancouver. But when Lindbergh looked shaky on two of the three first-period goals three nights at the Saddledome, he got yanked.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t like that,&rdquo; Lindbergh said. &ldquo;He had never pulled me before. But I&rsquo;m not playing badly in February because I got pulled in a game in November.&rdquo;Froese won that game and two of the next three, then lost 6-5 to Hartford. McCammon began alternating the two of them. It worked. Froese continued to play well and Lindbergh looked all the way back when he shut out New Jersey on Dec. 22. Then he had to wait eight days for his next start, a 6-3 loss to the Rangers in which his teammates played a lot worse than he did.Nonetheless, it was a big fat six and the next time out, six days later, bang, four first-period goals to Winnipeg. To the bullpen again for Froese. Lindbergh got one more shot in early January when Froese came down with the flu but gave up four against Detroit, seven against Washington and six in Buffalo.That was the last we saw of him until two weeks ago in Boston. He surrendered seven that afternoon, but they were a pretty good seven. &#9632;

Lindbergh Comes Crashing Down To Earth

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;Both came out of Sudbury, Ont., and carved a niche for themselves in the National Hockey League&mdash;first as players and later as coaches.Hector (Toe) Blake starred at left wing on the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; famed Punch Line and later coached the team to eight Stanley Cup championships, including a record five in a row (1956-60).Alger (Al) Arbour was a solid defenseman for four NHL clubs, then turned to coaching and will be in a position to match Blake&rsquo;s record this year when the Islanders seek their fifth successful Cup victory.Arbour already has surpassed Blake in one respect. When the Islanders beat the Rangers 4-3, it was Arbour&rsquo;s 501st career victory as a coach, enabling him to break out of a fourth-place tie with Blake on the all-time list.The all-time leader is the late Dick Irvin with 690 victories, followed by Scotty Bowman, who started the current season with 622. Billy Reay holds down third place with 542&mdash;Arbour&rsquo;s next target.Arbour, always low key, accepted congratulations for his latest milestone victory with a shrug of his broad shoulders and a quip.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just an indication that I&rsquo;m getting old,&rdquo; the 51-year-old coach said.How long will Arbour continue coaching? Insiders estimate that if the Islanders win their fifth straight Stanley Cup in the spring. Arbour will be tempted to remain on the job for at least another season and attempt to break Blake&rsquo;s record.Arbour fielded such a suggestion with a wry grin.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t really thought about it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It depends on how I feel. But the challenge is there and I like a challenge.&rdquo;Three years ago, Arbour considered retiring and returning to Sudbury. He reconsidered and signed a new contract that earns him an estimated $200,000 a year. It amounts to a lifetime contract; whenever Arbour is tired of coaching he will be offered a position as a team vice-president in charge of player development.Arbour has changed considerably since becoming coach of the Islanders at the start of their second season in 1973.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t rant and rave as much now and I&rsquo;m not the slave driver I used to be.&rdquo; he admitted.Bob Bourne, who has played for Arbour since 1974, has noticed that.&ldquo;Al has put away the whip,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He would have gone out of his mind if he hadn&rsquo;t eased up&hellip;He gives us more rope now. And we all know how far we can go before he gives that rope a tug.&rdquo;Arbour gained his 500th career victory when the Islanders defeated the Canucks 6-4 on Feb. 11. His 501st was produced when Brent Sutter beat Ron Scott, the Rangers&rsquo; rookie goalie, with six seconds left to play. &ldquo;Whew!&rdquo; said Arbour.Sutter&rsquo;s goal helped the Islanders wipe out the memory of a 3-2 loss to the Rangers four nights earlier. Then the Islanders completed a successful weekend by outlasting the Devils 5-4 on John Tonelli&rsquo;s goal with 80 seconds remaining in overtime.Arbour was not pleased that the Islanders were outshot 15-2 while wasting a 4-1 lead in the third period at New Jersey. He called the Isles&rsquo; play &ldquo;stupid&rdquo; and promised to punish them.&ldquo;From now on, this is going to be like a boot camp,&rdquo; he said.ON THE ISLE&mdash;The Islanders were close to full strength when Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier recovered from knee injuries, then Butch Goring twisted his left knee against the Devils. However, the veteran center insisted the injury was not serious&hellip; Wayne Merrick remains sidelined with a bruised knee&hellip;The Isles, and the Rangers have now played 49 consecutive games without a tie. The last time they tied was Dec. 16, 1976, (4-4) at Nassau Coliseum&hellip; Brent Sutter totalled six points (5-1) in five games since recovering from a severed tendon in his right hand. His five goals included two game winners&hellip;Paul Boutilier has shown improved defensive play since being recalled from Indianapolis. &#9632;

Arbour About To Give His Team The Boot

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;Dave Richter is making himself at home these days for the Minnesota North Stars, but for a long time, he thought his professional career was going to be one long road trip.&ldquo;They can have my body but they can&rsquo;t have my mind,&rdquo; Richter joked earlier this season.It was lighthearted because Richter, a tower of strength amid the injury-riddled Minnesota defense this year, was in the pressbox.He spent a lot of his time watching instead of playing early in the season. In cases like that, young prospects&mdash;even 6-foot-5 defensemen with bright futures&mdash;have to find a way to pump themselves up mentally.Richter also spent a lot of time travelling. He lived at the hotel next to the Met Center in training camp. Then, when camp broke and players either went to Sait Lake City to find homes or moved into permanent dwellings in the Twin Cities, Richter found himself going to Salt Lake, but stayed at a hotel there because his status wasn&rsquo;t permanent.&ldquo;After two weeks, I came back up here,&rdquo; Richter said.He stayed at a hotel while the Stars were at home because his situation was still uncertain.He alternated with Dan Mandich, playing now and then, but pretty much as a reserve.After six weeks, Richter went back to Salt Lake City to play, then was brought back up just before Christmas to stay. Finally, he moved into a house owned by goaltender Don Beaupre, who wound up going back and forth to Salt Lake City himself.National Hockey League players get used to living in hotels on the road, but until that time. Richter was in hotels both on the road and at home.&ldquo;For three months and four days,&rdquo; Richter said, &ldquo;it was a permanent road trip.&rdquo;A string of injuries to Minnesota defensemen pressed Richter into regular duty. He responded by playing exceptionally well.&ldquo;Dave Richter&rsquo;s progress, from the first week of training camp until now, has been outstanding,&rdquo; coach Bill Mahoney said.And now, Richter laughs, he&rsquo;s donating his mind as well as his body to the Stars&rsquo; cause.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of a vicious circle,&rdquo; said Richter. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s unfortunate that guys get hurt but then they have to play you. When you play, you get some confidence and play better. Then your teammates get some confidence in you and management does, too. So, you get to play more.&rdquo;If Richter is strong on the road, it&rsquo;s understandable. That may help him fit in with the North Stars this season. The Stars continue to be an enigma this season, playing well enough to run away with first place in the Norris Division but inconsistently overall to raise serious doubts about their playoff chances.The latest part of the puzzle is that the club that was once invincible at home but a pushover on the road has swapped roles. In recent weeks, the Stars have become tigers on the road and amazingly inept at home.After coming home on a fogged-delayed return flight from Buffalo, the Stars were thrashed 7-2 by Quebec. That loss made the Stars 0-4-1 in their last five games at home.Before the overtime loss at Buffalo the night before, the Stars won six of their last seven road games.The club is 15-13-2 on the road&mdash;which is good&mdash;but only 15-12-3 at home&mdash;which is not so good for a division leader and awful in comparison to traditional North Star teams.&ldquo;If I knew what was happening, I&rsquo;d be GM,&rdquo; said Richter, who may have learned his scholarly off-ice looks along with his hockey at the University of Michigan. &ldquo;When we go on the road, we play a basic, boring road style. We play strong, move the puck, dump and chase, but we do it well.&ldquo;When we get home, it seems like some of our players feel like they&rsquo;ve got to do more to impress the fans. We get a little too fancy.&rdquo;Richter has been steadily improving his play both at home and on the road this season&mdash;even if his perpetual road trip has finally ended.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01616/4876092-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="571" height="781"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Dave Richter found himself on the road between Salt Lake and Minnesota.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

Richter Right At Home With Stars

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>Louisville HockeySHERBROOKE&mdash;While reports circulate that the future of the franchise is in question, the Jets have been enjoying unaccustomed success on the ice.The Jets finally ended their extended winless streak on the road with victories at Rochester and Moncton and have fashioned a 4-5-1 record in their last 10 outings. That&rsquo;s a considerable achievement for a team with an overall record of 16-37-5.At the same time that the Jets were beginning to win some games, open speculation about the viability of the franchise began to be heard. The Montreal daily, La Presse, reported that Winnipeg, Sherbrooke&rsquo;s parent club, would enter into a partnership with the Montreal Canadiens to send players to Nova Scotia next season. During its two seasons in the American League, Sherbrooke has been stuck in the basement of the Northern Divison and its attendance figures have been far below the other league teams. This season, an average of 1,499 have attended the Jets&rsquo; home games, which is 2,000 off the league average of 3,441.Despite repeated efforts, Sherbrooke general manager Georges Guilbault could not be reached for comment on the matter. However, the sources indicated that Sherbrooke officials were planning to remain in the league next season, but that there is a possibility of a switch in affiliations.Sherbrooke coach Ron Racette believes that the uncertainty of the situation has helped his team.&ldquo;This team here, we don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going to happen, so I talked to the guys and I mentioned to them to work for for the team but also for themselves,&rdquo; Racette said. &ldquo;And if we could, for example, play .500 hockey from here on in, it would open a lot of eyes.&ldquo;If it&rsquo;s not Winnipeg, it could be another team so these guys could have a job next year. I&rsquo;m not saying that the team won&rsquo;t be here next year, but we don&rsquo;t know. That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve been working on and they&rsquo;re working more as a team right now.&rdquo;Racette, who has suffered through the only losing season in his career, maintains a positive approach. He isn&rsquo;t quite ready to write off the season and is still talking about the playoffs with 22 games left. To achieve that goal, the Jets would have to make up 17 points in the final quarter of the season.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re working on right now, and maybe it looks like an impossible dream, but we&rsquo;ve still got an outside chance of making the playoffs,&rdquo; Racette said. &ldquo;And even if we don&rsquo;t make the playoffs but we could play .500 hockey from here to the end of the season, I think that would open up a lot of eyes in hockey everywhere.&rdquo;Racette has been impressed with the performance of rookie right winger Michel Lanouette and feels that he has had a hand in helping change the team&rsquo;s fortunes. Since being obtained from Carolina of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League, Lanouette has scored eight goals and 16 points in 18 games.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a team man, he&rsquo;s a tough kid and I think he&rsquo;s really helped us lately,&rdquo; Racette said. &ldquo;I put him on a line with Guy Fournier at center and Alain Daigle on the left side and that line has been doing pretty well. So, of course, have been Claude Larose and Murray Eaves.&rdquo;Larose and Eaves are by far the team&rsquo;s leading scorers with 75 and 71 points, respectively. Larose has scored 15 of his 36 goals on the power play, the same place Eaves has picked up 11 of his 31 this season.When Racette reviews the season he may find that night at Rochester, when the Jets ended a 0-19-1 winless streak on the road with a 5-3 victory, as the most rewarding.&ldquo;In the two games on the road we played very, very well,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We had five games on that road trip and we won two and we could have won four like nothing. We lost two by one goal. I felt that we played well enough to win four games or win two and tie two. It happened that we won two and lost three. It was good for the guys; it gave them a little confidence back.&ldquo;It was a great night (at Rochester). We don&rsquo;t win too often on the road and when we finally won that game it took a lot of pounds off our shoulders.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01557/4876123-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="577" height="778"><figcaption class="caption-body">Center Wayne Thompson of Nova Scotia was selected as the player of the week.</figcaption></div>AROUND THE DIVISION&mdash;In a series of player transactions, the Jets picked up goalie Brian Hayward from Winnipeg, but lost defenseman Jyrki Seppa to the NHL club. With the return of Hayward, goaltender Warren Skorodenski, who has been on loan from Chicago, was reassigned to Springfield&hellip;Fredericton defenseman Rick LaPointe, the team captain, was recalled by Quebec after Dave Pichette was traded to St. Louis. Also, center Jean-Francois Sauve and defenseman Gord Donnelly were sent down by the Nordiques and Jean-Marc Gaulin was recalled. The Express were unbeaten in seven straight games (6-0-1) and appear ready to run off with the division title for the second straight year&hellip;Nova Scotia has continued to win and pulled into a second place tie with Adirondack with a 3-1 win over St. Catharines. The Vees followed up a 2-1 road trip with wins over Moncton and the Saints. Center Wayne Thompson played a big role in the success and was named the AHL player of the week&hellip;The Moncton Alpines pulled a surprising move by adding former World Hockey Association tough guys Bill Goldthorpe and Gord Gallant. Both men have been playing intermediate hockey in New Brunswick and are expected to see just limited duty with the Alpines. The Alpines&rsquo; roster has been bolstered by the addition of Ray Cote and Tom Gorence from the parent Edmonton Oilers. But Reg Kerr was recalled by the Oilers and Tom Rowe continues to be sidelined by neck and back injuries that have plagued him much of the season. Bart Yachimec has been named the Alpine team captain. The Alpines also have added rookie defenseman Tim Molle, a 6-foot-6, 220-pounder. Molle, who played for the University of Alaska team this season, is a member of an active sports family. His brother Kevin plays for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League and his brother Bob is a member of the Canadian Olympic Wrestling Team&hellip;The Maine Mariners have struggled with a number of players injured and have been unable to make up any ground on Moncton in the race for the last playoff berth. The Mariners have played without defensemen Mike Hordy, Carmine Cirella. M.F. Schurman and Paul Mercier and have gone seven games (06-1) without a victory &hellip; Adirondack has done a complete reversal from its first-half form. The Wings are going great on the road, sporting a 4-0-1 record, but have been playing about .500 at home. Defenseman Barry Melrose was recalled by Detroit and rookie Rory Cava was handed a four-game suspension for receiving a match penalty in a game against Nova Scotia. Veteran Andre St. Laurent extended his point-scoring streak to 14 games and has 40 points in 29 games with Adirondack. &#9632;

f0023-01

Jets Still Looking To The Playoffs Even Though Future Is Unstable

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div>SPRINGFIELD&mdash;He would have preferred to play for the Canadian Olympic team, but defenseman Don Dietrich has resigned himself to being a member of the Springfield Indians.&ldquo;Sure, I&rsquo;m very disappointed I didn&rsquo;t get to play,&rdquo; said the 22-year-old Dietrich, who was ruled ineligible by the International Olympic Committee on the eve of the 1984 Winter Olympic Games because he played six games in the National Hockey League with the Chicago Black Hawks. &ldquo;I wanted to play quite a bit. It was a chance of a lifetime, to represent my country.&rdquo;Dietrich was unhappy, but he wasn&rsquo;t angry with the ruling that prevented him from competing with a hungry Canadian team that has surprised many people by qualifying for the medal round.&ldquo;We were all aware of the chance we were taking,&rdquo; Dietrich said. &ldquo;We knew when we got there that there might be a protest. It all happened the day before, on Feb. 6.&rdquo;Asked if he felt the rules were fair, he said: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough for me to say. But it kind of makes you wonder. One guy played five years in the WHA (Rick Cunningham) and they say the WHA isn&rsquo;t a professional league. But what can you say? They make the rules.&rdquo;Dietrich watched the Canadians knock off the heralded but overmatched U.S. Olympic team 4-2 and then Austria. Then he hopped a plane for the long ride back to Springfield, MA.&ldquo;Chicago said I could go over, but I was supposed to come right back if I couldn&rsquo;t play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But the trip back was pretty long and there were some complications.&rdquo;Dietrich returned to help the Indians nip Hershey 7-6 at Hersheypark Arena, a win which kept the Tribe in a second-place tie with Rochester in the Southern Division.As tough as it was for the native of Deloraine, Man., to jump back into AHL competition, it was tougher for Dietrich to forget his brief Olympic experience.&ldquo;It was great,&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;The facilities were great, the Olympic Village was a really good set-up. I think it&rsquo;s great what the Canadians are doing. They kind of had their backs against the wall. A lot of people said the Canadians were a second-rate team.&rdquo;AROUND THE SOUTH&mdash;Shuffling by co-parents Philadelphia and Chicago left the Tribe with a goaltending tandem that hadn&rsquo;t played a game all season for coach Doug Sauter.When the Black Hawks recalled Bol Janecyk, they pulled Warren Skorodenski out of Sherbrooke, where he was on loan, and placed him with the Indians. Philadelphia assigned Pelle Lindbergh, who was struggling in the NHL. The 1980-81 AHL most valuable player was temporarily replaced in Philladelphia by Gil Hudon. Lindbergh was-in goal for the Indians&rsquo; 7-6 win at Hershey, forged by third-period goals by Steve Tsujiura and Bobby Mormina. John Ollson leads the AHL with six game-winning goals. The Indians hope to get Len Hachborn back in the lineup soon. Hachborn, who injured a knee while on recall to Philadelphia, has scored 60 points in just 28 AHL games this season.Billy Harris reported to the St. Catharines Saints after the Toronto Maple Leafs assigned the 32-year-old veteran, the first pick of the expansion New York Islanders in the 1972 amateur draft. After contemplating retirement for a week, Harris agreed to report. He set up the go-ahead goal in his first AHL game, a 4-3 Saints victory at Binghamton. He later was picked up by Los Angeles in a future considerations deal with the Leafs.The Saints maintained their hold on fourth place by winning three straight before the streak was snapped with a 3-1 loss at Nova Scotia.Hershey, which surged to within two points of fourth by winning three straight, lost a 6-5 lead at home to Springfield and wound up losing 7-6. The Bears lost winger Mike Siltala for the season with a broken wrist suffered in practice, but added veteran defenseman Greg Theberge, who was out with a knee injury. Rookie center Doug Kostynski returned from Boston, but Washington recalled goalie Dave Parro on an emergency basis, leaving coach Gary Inness as back-up to Mike Moffat. Rookie defenseman Brian Curran, who was believed to be out for the season when he broke his ankle, received permission to resume skating and may be back in the next few weeks.Mark Lofthouse snapped a 14-game goal-scoring drought in New Haven&rsquo;s 73 victory at Baltimore, a win that broke, the Nighthawks&rsquo; three-game losing streak and kept them in fifth place. The Hawks were without right winger Archie Henderson, who will return this week after serving a five-game suspension for head-butting St. Catharines&rsquo; Bob McGill. Center Bill O&rsquo;Dwyer returned from Los Angeles, where he was or emergency recall. Coach Nick Beverley, who ended his four-year coaching career last week, announced his retirement after one game, two shifts, one assist and a plus-one rating. There was no truth to the rumor Beverley had a bonus in his contract for finishing the season as a plus player.Binghamton&rsquo;s Ross Yates scored 20 points over a recent seven-game stretch to take over the AHL scoring lead. The defending scoring champ leads Lofthouse 81-80. The Whalers, desperately trying to stay in the playoff race despite their last-place status, scored five third-period goals to rally past Baltimore 7-6. The next night, however, they blew a 2-0 lead at home and lost 4-3 to St. Catharines. They then pulled to within six points of a playoff berth with an 8-6 win at Adirondack.Erratic play behind the blueline was the cause of Rochester&rsquo;s four-game losing streak, which finally ended with a 6-4 win at Maine. The Amerks, who fell into a tie for second with Springfield. lost six of seven. Veteran right winger Mal Davis, the team&rsquo;s leading scorer, returned from Buffalo. &#9632;

Dietrich Knew The Chance He Was Taking

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div>Louisville HockeyBILLINGS&mdash;Montana&rsquo;s John Markell may not be doing anything different this season, as he claims, but the fact is after 31 Central Hockey League games, he was well ahead of last year&rsquo;s 33-goal career high output at Salt Lake.The 27-year-old winger leads the league with four hat tricks and is the leading goal-scorer. Midway through February he had 35 goals and the prospect of recording 50 for the regular season doesn&rsquo;t seem too remote. The league last had a 50-goal scorer in the 1981-82 season; in fact there were two players with 50 and one with 60 that year.Kelly Kisio had 62 goals for Dallas; Bobby Crawford of Salt Lake and Kris Manery of Tulsa had 54 each.Markell, a native of Cornwall, Ont.; credits the work of veteran Stan Weir for his scoring pace this season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really doing anything different,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;ve found a really good centerman, Stan Weir. He&rsquo;s a good offensive and defensive player and he seems to complement my game. He really helps me out.&rdquo;The fact that Markell finished off the plays also explains why Weir is leading the Magic in assists.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been playing together since he got here,&rdquo; Markell said of Weir, &ldquo;and it has started to pay off lately. As far as the pucks going into the net&hellip;well, it&rsquo;s just happening.&rdquo;And it&rsquo;s not happening because the play in the league got any easier this year.&ldquo;I was pretty high in the league last year in shots on the net (he was fifth with 249),&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Not all of them went in, of course, but this year more of them are going in.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s actually a tougher league than last season. There are fewer teams and they&rsquo;re more aware of that you&rsquo;re going to do&hellip;they match up players against you.&rdquo;Markell, in his third year with the St. Louis organization, initially entered the pro ranks in 1979 when he was signed as a free agent out of Bowling Green University by Winnipeg.He split his first pro season between the Jets and their franchise at Tulsa of the CHL and had 25 goals that year&mdash;10 in 38 appearances with Winnipeg and 15 with Tulsa.The following season was another 25-goal year, one with the Jets in 14 games. He was involved in a trade between Winnipeg and St. Louis in the summer of 1981 and has been with the Blues&rsquo; organization since then.He spent six games earlier this season with St. Louis and saw action in two before rejoining the Magic. Markell isn&rsquo;t the only sniper on the Montana Squad. Alain Lemieux, Jock Callander and Perry Ganchar all have more than 20 goals so far this year.And the Magic was scoring more goals than second-place Tulsa, which folded on Feb. 16. They also, however, were giving up nearly two goals a game more than Tulsa was.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting the goals,&rdquo; Markell said, &ldquo;and I think hockey in general has become offense-minded. If there is a lot of scoring in the NHL. there&rsquo;s going to be a lot in the minors. They say in the minors you have to play offensively and that&rsquo;s what everyone is trying to do. There are places everywhere for defensive players, but offense gets you noticed more, it seems.&rdquo;That being the case, it would seem St. Louis would be taking a bit more notice of Markell. In the meantime, he&rsquo;s playing his game and hoping to make things more exciting for the fans in Billings.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got (a base) of 1,500 really good fans. We&rsquo;ve got to win some to bring out the not-so-diehard fans,&rdquo; he noted.Perhaps the current homestand will boost interest at The Metra. After dropping two contests in Indianapolis on Feb. 11 and 12, the Magic had a one-game stopover in Denver against the league-leading Colorado Flames before returning home for more than a month.Their next contest on the road will be March 16 at Indianapolis and if the Magic is able to generate a modest spring of success at home early in the stand, then there&rsquo;s a chance Markell and his teammates will be filling lots of seats before taking to the road again.As a matter of fact, Montana has but five of their final 17 games of the season booked away from home. The Magic will have to take advantage of that scheduling.CHL CHAT&mdash;Tulsa&rsquo;s Bob Scurfield earned player-of-the-week honors for a two-game stint in which he scored three goals and added and assist. Two of the goals were game-winners. Tulsa, mean-while. picked up its sixth straight victory&mdash;fifth in a row on the road&mdash;and climbed within six points of the league-leading Colorado Flames. But it&rsquo;s all moot now, as the Tulsa operation has folded (see page 8)&hellip;Indianapolis avoided setting a league record of nine straight home losses with a 4-1 triumph at home over Montana and followed that with a 10-5 victory over the Magic, a game in which Ron Handy scored three goals and picked up two assists. The wins moved Indianapolis back into third place, a point ahead of Salt Lake City-&hellip;Salt Lake goaltender Wendell Young picked up a pair of victories earlier over the Checkers in his first CHL starts.Ron Kennedy, a winger, and defenseman Glenn Fester have joined Indianapolis on amateur tryouts; Garth Mac-Guigan was returned to Indy by the parent New York Islanders and winger Neal Coulter was assigned to Toledo.Blair MacDonald and Reg Thomas, who played together in Austria earlier this season, have joined Montana for the remainder of the schedule.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01521/4876178-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="578" height="688"><figcaption class="caption-body">Montana&rsquo;s John Markell has a chance to reach the coveted 50-goal plateau.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0025-01

Markell Credits Work Of Vet Weir For Making Him Top Goal-Scorer

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>Louisville HockeyTOLEDO&mdash;The Goaldiggers aren&rsquo;t going to give up their championships easily. That became apparent as they put together a five-game winning streak, their second longest of the season. Earlier, they had a run of nine straight victories.The Diggers, league and playoff champions the last two seasons, have been chasing league-leading Milwaukee and second-place Fort Wayne almost since the opening faceoff. But the Diggers went into a slump when goalie Lorne Molleken was elevated to Indianapolis of the Central League. Molleken was one of the keys to Toledo&rsquo;s two straight championships and it appeared Toledo would suffer with him out of the lineup. But Toledo has regrouped and even spent one day in second place as Fort Wayne stumbled twice during a three-game road trip while the Diggers kept winning.The streak reached five with a 4-3 win at Muskegon and a 6-3 triumph over Milwaukee at home. Two of the victories in the streak were on the road. But the Diggers were surprised by Kalamazoo at home as the Wings ended the streak with a 3-0 shutout. Toledo is still third but two points out of first and one point behind Fort Wayne.MILWAUKEE&mdash;The Admirals hung on to their slim first-place lead with an even break during the week. Milwaukee won a pair at home while dropping an equal number on the road.Milwaukee beat Kalamazoo 6-5 as Danny Lecours scored his 35th goal and the 500th point of his IHL career. The Admirals also whipped Peoria 8-4, while losing 6-3 in Toledo and 5-2 in Flint.FORT WAYNE&mdash;The Komets had their road-winning streak snapped at seven in Flint when the Generals pulled out a 5-4 win. Peoria made it two straight losses for the Komets with a 6-3 victory in the first of a two-game series. Fort Wayne bounced back to squeeze out a 4-3 victory in overtime in the second game.Center Doug Rigler was the hero of the game as he returned from a trip to the hospital in time to score the winning goal. Rigler was injured in the first period when he received a stick in the face. His nose was broken and he also received a deep gash on his cheek. Rigler returned to the Civic Center halfway through the final period and made his comeback a heroic event by scoring the winning goal with just 30 seconds left in the overtime.FLINT&mdash;The Generals have also been on a roll. They recently put together a three-game winning streak, with victories over the league&rsquo;s two best teams, Milwaukee and Fort Wayne. They beat Milwaukee 5-2 and Fort Wayne 5-4. They also won 7-4 in Muskegon.General manager-coach Dennis Desrosiers believes the Generals will be a strong contender when the playoffs role around.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s when the cream comes to the top and since December I&rsquo;ll put the record of this club against any team in the league,&rdquo; he said.One of the sparks of the Generals has been Steve Stockman, who has scored 23 goals in the 23 games he&rsquo;s played since rejoining Flint from the Eastern Hockey League. Stockman came to the Generals two years ago in a trade with Fort Wayne but was cut after two weeks. He spent parts of the next two seasons with Erie but when the league lost two of its members, he looked for other places of employment.KALAMAZOO&mdash;The K-Wings snapped a four-game losing streak with an 8-2 romp over Muskegon at home and followed with a 3-0 road victory in Toledo.Before bombing&rsquo;Muskegon, Kalamazoo suffered four straight losses, which included an embarassing 7-3 defeat at home to sixth-place Peoria. The week started with a 6-5 loss in Milwaukee.PEORIA&mdash;The Prancers proved they are a pretty good hockey team when they are healthy. Veteran goalie Rich Sirois and right winger Marc Roy returned to the lineup after injuries and the Prancers won a pair of games, including one on the road. Peoria added another point with a 4-3 overtime loss to Fort Wayne.Sirois had stellar performances in a 7-3 win over Kalamazoo and 6-3 over Fort Wayne. Roy, who had wrist surgery in November, had two goals in the Fort Wayne victory.MUSKEGON&mdash;Things don&rsquo;t get any better for the hapless Mohawks&mdash;not even a goal-scoring splurge by veteran Barry Scully. The Mohawks lost three more, including two at home. Toledo won 4-3 and Flint won 7-4. On the road, the Hawks lost 8-2 at Kalamazoo.Scully, a three-time goal-scoring champion while playing in Fort Wayne, has scored eight goals in the 10 games he&rsquo;s played for the Hawks since being picked up on waivers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01544/4876209-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="576" height="788"><figcaption class="caption-body">Milwaukee&rsquo;s Danny Lecours scored his 35th goal and 500th league point.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

Toledo Still Digging For The Top

<div class="byline">BY PAT LYON</div>UTICA&mdash;It took awhile but Dave Lair of the Mohawk Valley Stars feels he has made the adjustment from college hockey to life in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League.After performing for Oswego State, the Stars&rsquo; center has become one of the top goal-scorers and point men in the five-team loop. Lair&rsquo;s 37 goals in 44 games had him tied for the league lead with Virginia&rsquo;s Lee Blossom and his 70 points ranked him in the top five scorers.&ldquo;I had a slow start and could have done better, but it was a real adjustment from college to pros,&rdquo; said Lair. &ldquo;In this league they get away with a lot more things like the hooking and you get tied up a lot where in college hockey it&rsquo;s a lot easier to move around.&rdquo;Being 26 and a first-year pro seems to be a disadvantage for the former Oswego star, who was hoping to move up to a higher league.&ldquo;There is no chance of my coming back to this league next year if I can&rsquo;t move up,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s okay to play in this league if a player is young, but I&rsquo;m 26 and I wouldn&rsquo;t want to hang around, there&rsquo;s just too much travelling.&rdquo;Lair considers himself a finesse-type player who moves the puck, gets in the open and sets up goals. He has also worked hard on his defensive play.Rick Ley, the Stars&rsquo; coach, wasn&rsquo;t sure what kind of player Lair would be at the start of the season, but he found out quickly.&ldquo;Dave had good stats in Division Two college play, but I really didn&rsquo;t know how he would perform,&rdquo; said Ley. &ldquo;He knows where the net is, has great individual moves and has great acceleration and quickness. Just when you think you have him he&rsquo;s gone.&rdquo;Lair may take his talents to West Germany next season should he not get his chance at playing in a higher league. In the meantime, ACHL goaltenders will continue to cringe whenever they see Lair flying down the ice leading another Mohawk Valley breakaway.The Stars were looking over their shoulders at the onrushing Virginia Lancers as the fight for third place heated up. Mohawk Valley had only a 1-4-1 record over a six-game stretch.After a 10-0 loss to the Thunderbirds, the Stars used a 23-save performance by Gray Weicker to stop Pine Bridge 4-1 on the road.Lair had two shorthanded goals and three assists in a 6-6 tie with Carolina. Dave MacQueen had a hat trick.AROUND THE LEAGUE&mdash;Erie goalie Darrell May stopped 26 shots en-route to a 5-0 shutout of Carolina. It was the first home shutout by a Blade goalie in three years and also carried a bit of irony with it. The last home Erie shutout was a 9-0 whitewash of the Syracuse Hornets who were coached by current Blade coach Bill Horton. Even more ironical was the fact that investors from Syracuse who are thinking of joining the ACHL next season were in attendance with commissioner Ray Miron&hellip;Virginia owner Henry Brabham is planning a new $1.8 million sports complex that will be the new home of the Lancers. &#9632;

Lair Makes Up For Slow Start

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>BOSTON&mdash;Classic. Too bad the word is overused. The 1984 Beanpot Tournament championship was indeed one for the books. It will linger for many years in the memories of the 14,501 fans who jammed Boston Garden last week to witness it.The final score was Northeastern 5, Boston University 2. The real score was 3-2. It was only the second time in 32 years that Northeastern has won the Pot and they did it with inpsired checking, both fore and back, and on the goaltending of most valuable player Tim Marshall, who was both lucky and good.Northeastern came into the game with a 14-9-1 record, definite underdgs to 225 BU. The Terriers, who owned the Beanpot from the mid-&rsquo;60s through the &rsquo;70s, were riding a six-game winning streak and getting stronger each game. BU beat Boston College and New Hampshire, two of the East&rsquo;s best, in the previous week and was at the top of its game.The Huskies, on the other hand, have been as inconsistent as New England weather. One might have sensed a peak coming two nights earlier when they drubbed Maine 6-1, but along the way they&rsquo;ve lost to less fearsome teams such as Harvard and Brown. There&rsquo;s just no telling what NU would do. but the night was special. Not only did they have to atone for last season&rsquo;s 8-2 championship rout to BC. but they wanted to win for their coach and his family.Fernie Flaman&rsquo;s son, Terry, has been fighting for his life for the past month in a Boston hospital, stricken with kidney and bone marrow troubles. Fernie&rsquo;s wife, Jeanne, had slipped and broken her kneecap several days before the Beanpot. Both attended the final in wheelchairs. The Harvard and BC rooters, as well as the thousands of non-partisans who attended this event throughout the years, had even more reason than usual to cheer for perennial-underdog Northeastern.The Huskie players responded as they knew they were capable. They played a complete, two-way game. Whenever BU gained an edge in play as they frequently did, it was Terrier proficiency rather than Northeastern laxity that swung the pendulum. Northeastern outscored BU 3-2 in the second period after a hard-hitting and goalless first frame. Though the game was not to be sealed until Ken Manchurek and Randy Bucyk bagged empty-net goals, you could tell that Dame Fortune had placed Northeastern atop her wheel.The last seven minutes were played in the Northeastern end. Many players on both teams are still nursing welts and bruises sustained there as the clock wound down. The Hounds bent but wouldn&rsquo;t break. In the end, it&rsquo;s too bad there had to be a loser. The crowd, thoroughly drained, couldn&rsquo;t take another night like this for 51 weeks. And that&rsquo;s the way it should be.As for the playoff race. Northeastern may become the fourth consecutive Beanpot winner to fail to make the top eight. They lost 5-1 at RPI to drop their record to 9-8-1 with three tough games remaining.St. Lawrence (9-8, with three games left), Colgate (8-8-1, three left). Harvard (8-7-2, four left) and Yale (8-9. three left) are also contenders for the eighth and final playoff spot, although either Yale or Harvard will win the Ivy Division and automatically get home ice.RPI clinched the top seed with its win over NU. The Engineers have never finished higher than fourth in the regular season under the current ECAC setup. Uttless something drastic happens, seeds No. 2. 3, 5, 6 and 7 will be divided among BU, BC, New Hampshire, Providence and Clarkson. &#9632;

Northeastern Wins The Beanpot

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div>DULUTH&mdash;Bill Watson, the league scoring champion, wasn&rsquo;t born when Minnesota-Duluth last won the Western Collegiate Hockey Association championship. For that matter, neither was Duluth coach Mike Sertich, nor anyone else in Duluth.When the Bulldogs claimed their first WCHA championship ever by sweeping Wisconsin on the final weekend of league play, it was their first crown in the 18 years they&rsquo;ve competed in the WCHA.Duluth went into the final weekend with a one-game lead over North Dakota, needing at least one win over Wisconsin to earn a piece of the rock. The Bulldogs hot only got a piece of it, but the whole thing, thanks to continued outstanding goaltending by freshman Rick Kosti and Duluth&rsquo;s usual output of goals.Any idea that the Bulldogs might fold under pressure quickly disappeared when Duluth answered Wisconsin&rsquo;s charge back from a 2-0 deficit to a 2-2 tie and then added two more goals to win 4-2.The big man in the Duluth attack was senior co-captain Bob Lakso, who ripped in three power-play goals with Norm Maciver adding a fourth power-play goal for the powerful Bulldogs, who have lost just one league game since Christmas in charging from four and a half games behind North Dakota to win the league by three games.And Kosti. who had to sit out the first five league games of the year before becoming eligible, has been a steadying force in goal for the youthful Bulldogs. Kosti came on strong enough to edge North Dakota veteran Jon Casey by the slimmest of margins for the lowest goals-against average in the league. Kosti, in 21 games, finished with a 2.9257 average to 2.9268 for Casey, who was bidding to become the first goalie in the WCHA since Michigan Tech&rsquo;s Tony Esposito to finish with the lowest GAA in the league three straight years.Kosti gave up just three goals on the weekend to Wisconsin as Duluth celebrated their league championship by hammering the Badgers 6-1 in the rematch the night after clinching the crown.Watson, a sophomore forward, joined Kosti in winning league individual awards for the Bulldogs. Watson won the WCHA scoring championship by compiling 17 goals and 38 assists for 55 points in 23 league games, which gave him a healthy 10-point margin over runnerup Tom Kurvers, a Duluth defenseman who finished with 45 points. In fact, Duluth finished with the top three scorers in the league as Matt Christiansen slipped into third place with 41 points, one more than Denver rookie John McMillan picked up.North Dakota went into the final weekend with an outside chance of catching Duluth. North Dakota needed to sweep Minnesota while getting some help from Wisconsin in Duluth, but neither the Sioux nor the Badgers could come through.North Dakota&rsquo;s faint hopes evaporated when Minnesota&rsquo;s Tom Rothstein scored on a freakish breakaway with 1:23 left in the game. With Rothstein tearing into the Sioux zone, both Sioux defensemen fell down on the play, leaving Casey unprotected against Rothstein, who was a high school teammate of Casey&rsquo;s on the state champion Grand Rapids (MN) high school team. Rothstein beat Casey with a neat deke to score into the open net to give Minnesota the 5-4 victory, thereby eliminating North Dakota from the race. Pat Micheletti had two power-play goals and assisted on Rothstein&rsquo;s winning goal to pace the Gophers. Chris Jensen scored late in the second period and Perry Berezan early in the third period to pull the Sioux even before Rothstein&rsquo;s goal dashed North Dakota&rsquo;s dreams.To make matters worse, Minnesota won the next night, too, this time 6-3 by rattling off six unanswered goals after Gord Sherven and Dean Barsness had staked North Dakota to an early advantage.North Dakota&rsquo;s inability to defend against the power play and its ineffectiveness with its own power play was costly for the Sioux. Minnesota clicked for five power plays in 10 chances and held North Dakota to one power play in 11 opportunities in beating the Sioux for the fifth time in six meetings, despite the fact that Minnesota finished behind the Sioux, in the league standings.About the only bright spot for the Sioux all weekend was the play of Sherven, seeing his first action for North Dakota since returning to school when a knee injury forced him off the Canadian Olympic hockey team. Sherven had two of North Dakota&rsquo;s three goals in the 6-3 loss and was North Dakota&rsquo;s most consistent offensive threat all weekend, despite still recovering from the injury.The Sioux must have some concerns about goaltending now, too, after Casey gave up the 10 goals to the Gophers, some of them weak ones, before giving way in goal in the third period of the second game to freshman Greg Strome, who made 14 saves while giving up Minnesota&rsquo;s final goal. Casey, who has had some brilliant performances in his career in North Dakota, didn&rsquo;t come up with one when North Dakota&rsquo;s title hopes hinged on his efforts.Meanwhile, Denver University claimed fifth place in the final standings by taking care of state rival Colorado College twice, to leave the Tigers buried in the league basement once again. The Pioneers skated to a 4-1 win in Denver and a 7-5 victory in Colorado Springs to finish three games ahead of the Tigers in the race to escape last place. Colorado College did finish with five wins, three more than they managed the previous year in finishing 2-24 in the WCHA.All of that set the stage for league playoffs, Duluth and North Dakota, by virtue of finishing first and second in the standings, draw byes in the first round.Colorado College goes to Minnesota for a two-game, total-goal series and Denver visits Wisconsin for the game setup. Minnesota won three of four regular season meetings from Colorado College and Wisconsin took five out of six games from Denver.The semi-finals of the league playoffs are set for March 2-3 with the league playoff championship series scheduled for March 9-10, all at sites to be determined on earlier playoff results. &#9632;

Bulldogs Beat Badgers To Win WCHA Title

<h2>CCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Feb. 24)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01520/4876427-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="538" height="348"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Ohio State 5, Ill-Chicago 0Ohio State 7, Ill-Chicago 3Mich Tech 5, Michigan 4Michigan 7, Mich Tech 6Ferris State 3, L. Superior 2L. Superior 4, Ferris State 2W. Michigan 4, Miami 3Miami 5, W. Michigan 4N. Michigan 4, Mich State 1Mich State 4, N. Michigan 3Bowling Green 11, Mich-Dearborn 3Bowling Green 10, Mich-Dearborn 2<h2>WCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02364/4876420-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="526" height="206"></div>Min-Duluth 4, Wisconsin 2Min-Duluth 6, Wisconsin 1Minnesota 5, North Dakota 4Minnesota 6, North Dakota 3Denver 4, Colorado College 1Denver 7, Colorado College 5<h3>PLAYOFF GAMES</h3>Sat. Sun. Feb. 25-26Colorado College at MinnesotaDenver at Wisconsin(Two-game total-goals series)<h2>ECAC CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 20)<h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03265/4876413-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="536" height="204"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04194/4876406-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="532" height="176"></div><h3>IVY DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05167/4876399-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="540" height="201"></div><h3>INDEPENDENTS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-08127/4876392-1-eng-US/f0028-082.jpg" title="f0028-08" width="538" height="95"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>RPI 10, Brown 3Princeton 8, Colgate 2Yale 4, Vermont 2New Hampshire 7, Dartmouth 5Army 16, AIC 3Clarkson 7, Brown 1Boston Univ. 2, Lowell 2Boston Coll. 5, New Hampshire 4Providence 8, St. Lawrence 5St. Lawrence 5, Brown 1Colgate 4, Dartmouth 2Maine 5, Princeton 4RPI 5, Northeastern 1Harvard 1, Yale 1New Hampshire 5, Vermont 4Clarkson 8, Providence 3BEANPOT TOURNAMENTConsolation FinalBoston College 5, Harvard 2Championship FinalNortheastern 5, Boston Univ. 2<h2>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-09120/4876385-1-eng-US/f0028-092.jpg" title="f0028-09" width="537" height="410"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Guelph 10, Ryerson 3Guelph 5, McMaster 1Laurier 5, Windsor 2Toronto 5, Western 2Queen&rsquo;s 9, York 5Toronto 6, Windsor 3Western 13, Brock 4Laurier 15, Ryerson 2York 9, RMC 7(End of schedule)EXHIBITION GAMERMC 8, U.S. Army 5<h2>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-10117/4876378-1-eng-US/f0028-102.jpg" title="f0028-10" width="533" height="178"></div><h2>ATLANTIC CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-11109/4876371-1-eng-US/f0028-112.jpg" title="f0028-11" width="533" height="293"></div><h2>GREAT PLAINS CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-12105/4876364-1-eng-US/f0028-122.jpg" title="f0028-12" width="527" height="180"></div><h2>CANADA WEST CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1397/4876357-1-eng-US/f0028-132.jpg" title="f0028-13" width="533" height="146"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>QUEBEC CONFERENCEConcordia 5, Ottawa 2Chicoutimi 9, McGill 6Concordia 5, Ottawa 5Concordia 7, T-Rivieres 5T-Rivieres 9, Chicoutimi 7McGill 3, Chicoutimi 3McGill 4, Ottawa 4ATLANTIC CONFERENCEUPEI 7, St. Thomas 0UPEI 5, St. Thomas 3Acadia 9, St. F. Xavier 2Moncton 7, Dalhousie 0New Brunswick 6, Mt. Allison 3Acadia 7, Moncton 5St. F. Xavier 5, Dalhousie 3New Brunswick 6, St. Thomas 1Moncton 3, UPEI 2Acadia 4, St. Mary&rsquo;s 3Acadia 6, Mt. Allison 2New Brunswick 3, Dalhousie 2Dalhousie 3, Mt. Allison 2Acadia 7, St. Thomas 0New Brunswick 3, St. F. Xavier 1Moncton 9, St. F. Xavier 5GREAT PLAINS CONFERENCEManitoba 7, Lakehead 2Manitoba 10, Lakehead 2Brandon 10, Regina 6Brandon 10, Regina 4Lakehead 6, Winnipeg 2Lakehead 8, Winnipeg 3Manitoba 6, Regina 5Manitoba 7, Regina 4CANADA WEST CONFERENCEAlberta 7, Saskatchewan 3Alberta 5, Saskatchewan 2Calgary 8, UBC 4UBC 7, Calgary 5UBC 2, Alberta 0Alberta 5, UBC 4Saskatchewan 6, Calgary 5<h2>ONTARIO COLLEGES</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1486/4876350-1-eng-US/f0028-142.jpg" title="f0028-14" width="546" height="236"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Humber 5, Canadore 4Seneca 11, Conestoga 4Sheridan 7, Centennial 3Seneca 4, Sheridan 2St. Clair 12, Conestoga 3Canadore 11, Centennial 1(End of schedule)<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1582/4876343-1-eng-US/f0028-152.jpg" title="f0028-15" width="530" height="321"></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

HOW THEY STAND

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-06147/4876465-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg"></div><h2>NCAA DIVISION I LEADING SCORERS</h2><h2>NCAA DIVISION I LEADING GOALIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-07137/4876458-1-eng-US/f0028-072.jpg" title="f0028-07" width="1086" height="329"></div> &#9632;

f0028-06

COLLEGE LEADERS

<h2>ECAC</h2><h3>FEBRUARY</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1666/4876538-1-eng-US/f0028-162.jpg" title="f0028-16" width="561" height="790"></div><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1752/4876531-1-eng-US/f0028-172.jpg" title="f0028-17" width="466" height="34"></div><h2>CCHA</h2><h3>FEBRUARY</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1849/4876524-1-eng-US/f0028-182.jpg" title="f0028-18" width="530" height="61"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1946/4876517-1-eng-US/f0028-192.jpg" title="f0028-19" width="531" height="241"></div><h2>CCHA Playoffs</h2><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2037/4876510-1-eng-US/f0028-202.jpg" title="f0028-20" width="508" height="263"></div><h2>WCHA WCHA PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>FEBRUARY</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2136/4876503-1-eng-US/f0028-212.jpg" title="f0028-21" width="380" height="57"></div><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-2233/4876496-1-eng-US/f0028-222.jpg" title="f0028-22" width="514" height="262"></div> &#9632;

f0028-16

GAMES TO COME

<div class="byline">BY JIM SCHNEIDER</div>CHICAGO&mdash;Senior center Paul Pooley earned player-of-the-week honors, leading Ohio State into second place with a 5-0, 7-4 sweep of Illinois-Chicago to highlight Central Hockey Association action.Pooley, who leads the CCHA in overall scoring with 87 points, collected 10 points in three Buckeye victories during the week. He had a goal in a 3-2 midweek win over Miami and had a goal and eight assists to account for nine of 12 goals against UIC.Ohio State&rsquo;s John Dougan made 19 saves in the shutout at Illinois-Chicago as Dave Kobryn&rsquo;s goal at 6:32 of the first &lsquo;period proved to be the winner. OSD held a 4-0 lead in the second game before the Flames reached the scoreboard in the third period. Terry Majich had two assists in the third period for the Flames in the final UIC contest of the season.In other CCHA action, Northern Michigan, Michigan Tech and Ferris State all split two-game sets to remain tied for the fourth and final home playoff position. All three teams won on Friday, but fell back to the .500 level by losing on Saturday. If the three teams finish the season tied, the order for playoff seeding would be NMU, MTU and FSC.Northern Michigan knocked Michigan State out of second place with a 4-1 win in the opener, but the Spartans bounced back for the split, winning the second game 4-3 in overtime on Craig Simpson&rsquo;s second goal of the game.Michigan Tech beat Michigan 5-4 in the opener in Ann Arbor with Geordie Hamilton scoring two goals and adding two assists for the Huskies. Hamilton scored the winner midway through the third period, snapping a 4-4 tie. The Wolverines rallied to win the second game 7-6 in overtime on a goal by freshman Brad Jones.Paul Podger&rsquo;s overtime goal provided Ferris State with a 3-2 win in the opener at Lake Superior, but the Lakers used a three-goal third period to take the second game by a 4-2 count.Western Michigan missed a golden opportunity to move into fourth place. The Broncos beat Miami 4-3 in overtime in the opener and grabbed a 4-1 lead in the second game, but Miami rallied to win the second game 5-4 in overtime.In non-league play, regular-season champ Bowling Green blasted Michigan-Dearborn 11-3 and 10-2 as Jamie Wansbrough scored five goals in the series for the Falcons. Defenseman Garry Galley had two goals and six assists and center Dan Kane had a goal and seven assists for BG.Northern Michigan defenseman Dave Randall&rsquo;s power-play goal at 19:29 of the second period snapped a 1-1 tie and proved to be the winning goal. In the second game, Simpson, an MSU freshman, and Gary Emmons of NMU each scored two goals. Emmons set a school record for goals by a freshman with 23, breaking the old mark set by Mike Mielke.Michigan defenseman Todd Carlile scored two goals in the first period of the opener versus Tech to give him five goals in two games and four goals in consecutive periods, but Tech&rsquo;s Hamilton snapped the 4-4 tie in the third period for the win. The Huskies lost regular netminder Dave Roach in the third period after he suffered a shoulder injury. Mudge Tompsett was on the ice just 15 seconds when the winning goal was scored.In the rematch, Michigan grabbed a 3-1 lead on powerplay goals by Ray Dries and Tom Stiles, but Tech scored four in a row with shorthanded goals by Bill Terry and Al Radke pushing the MTU lead to 5-3. Goals by Stiles and Chris Seychel tied the game at 5-5, but Tech&rsquo;s Steve Murphy snapped the tie and set up the late heroics for sophomore Frank Downing who scored with just 16 seconds left in the third period to force the overtime.The Ferris State-Lake Superior series had a little of everything including a penalty shot and an empty-net, tying goal. Lake Superior&rsquo;s Monty Beauchamp never got a shot off against FSC&rsquo;s Rob Hughston on his second-period, penalty-shot attempt. Bill Shopovick tied the game for Ferris State with his first career goal and Podger won the game in overtime.In the second game, the Bulldogs held a 3-1 lead when LSSC&rsquo;s Scott Johnson was given credit for the tying goal that FSC scored into its net after Hughston had been pulled during a delayed penalty. Keith Martin scored the winner at 2:41.Miami&rsquo;s John Ciotti scored four goals against Western Michigan in the series, including two in the third period of the opener, to force the game into overtime and he scored the overtime winner in the second game. WMU&rsquo;s Dan Dorion extended his scoring streak to 39 games, including an assist on Ron Pesetti&rsquo;s winner in overtime in the opener.The only playoff position nailed down in the CCHA with one week to play is champ Bowling Green in first place. Michigan State and Ohio State are still fighting for second and third with both assured of home ice in the first round. Four teams share the battle for fourth, while Lake Superior and Michigan fight for eighth. The Wolverines still have an eye on seventh while Miami and Illinois-Chicago have been eliminated.The first round of the CCHA playoffs will be held the first weekend in March in a two-game, total-goals format. The CCHA finals will be a four-team tournament in Detroit&rsquo;s Joe Louis Arena on March 9-10. &#9632;

Buckeyes’ Pooley Pads Point-Scoring Lead

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01446/4876593-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

The Classified

<div class="byline">BY JIM CRESSMAN</div>Louisville HockeyKITCHENER&mdash;Tom Barrett normally doesn&rsquo;t go around tossing bouquets, but there&rsquo;s been no stopping him lately when he gets to talking about his Ranger hockey club.You can&rsquo;t blame the man. Here&rsquo;s a team which has seen just about every player on its roster down at one time or another through injury&mdash;along with losing star forward John Tucker to the Buffalo Sabres for 29 games&mdash;and yet has survived to climb back atop the Ontario Hockey League standings.On Feb. 16, the Rangers defeated Windsor Spitfires&mdash;for an Ontario Hockey League record 15 th straight victory&mdash;and Barrett was smiling from ear to ear.The 1972-73 Toronto Marlboros went unbeaten through 25 games, but some ties were involved. That was equalled last season by Oshawa Generals as they ran up 19 wins and six ties before losing.The Rangers won 14 consecutive earlier this season after dropping their first game to the Brantford Alexanders, but Barrett wasn&rsquo;t overly impressed with that streak.&ldquo;A lot of teams weren&rsquo;t ready, but now, this is the guts of the schedule,&rdquo; fie said. &ldquo;Everything is on the line and we&rsquo;re winning. All the teams are fighting for their lives and we&rsquo;re beating the teams we have to beat&mdash;and in their own buildings.&rdquo;The Rangers are tough to beat in their own rink. They went 27 games straight without a loss at the Memorial Auditorium until the Alexanders beat them on Nov. 18 and since they snapped out of their mid-season slump, the Auditorium has been the burial ground for many an OHL opponent.The mild slump never bothered Barrett, who replaced Joe Crozier as general manager-coach this season after taking North York Rangers to the Canadian tier two junior A championship last season. He also guided Streetsville Derbys to six Central Ontario Junior B titles in 10 seasons.You can count on one hand the number of times they&rsquo;ve slipped into second in the Emms Division and they haven&rsquo;t been out of the top spot since Dec. 22 when the Soo Greyhounds defeated Brantford 5-4 and the Rangers were held to a 3-3 overtime tie by Windsor. The Greyhounds moved ahead by one point, but their reign was shortlived as the Rangers beat them 9-6 the next night.The Rangers are also on top of the overall OHL standings, something which weighs heavily, since the regular-schedule champ plays host to the Memorial Cup tournament and receives a direct bye into the championship.&ldquo;Nobody mentions it, but it&rsquo;s certainly on everybody&rsquo;s minds,&rdquo; Barrett said. &ldquo;There are still some excellent clubs in contention for this, so talk doesn&rsquo;t do you much good. It&rsquo;s what you do on the ice.&rdquo;The biggest hole was created when the Sabres decided they needed Tucker more than the Rangers. Tucker finished fourth in league scoring last season with 60 goals and 80 assists in 70 games.The 60 goals tied him with Dwight Foster for most in a season by a Ranger. Foster scored his 60 in 1976-77.Tucker, Wayne Presley and Greg Puhalski have been the Rangers&rsquo; most potent combination. Puhalski missed almost three months with injury and in his first 18 games since the three were reunited, the trio accounted for 54 goals.Tucker had 31 goals and 45 assists in his first 30 games, so there&rsquo;s no telling what he might have done had he been around for the entire season.&ldquo;I know what I think of him and what I think of him speaks yards,&rdquo; Barrett said when asked if Tucker might be the best player in the league. &ldquo;I think a lot of him and I don&rsquo;t know anyone in the league I&rsquo;d trade for him.&ldquo;Everybody also forgets about Puhalski, but he has around 70 points in 30 games. And the other lines can&rsquo;t be overlooked either. There are teams in this league that rely on one line and while we might be accused of that on occasion, the others are there to do the job.&rdquo;The Rangers might fall behind in a game and just when you think it&rsquo;s time to turn out the lights, there they are. Barrett has lost track of their comeback victories.&ldquo;While we bend a little it, we don&rsquo;t break,&rdquo; he said.Then there&rsquo;s the phenomenal fan support the Rangers receive in one of the best buildings in the league. They&rsquo;re averaging 4,000 and that will pick up as the playoffs approach.They attracted a season-high 5.686 (it was previously reported as 6,586, but the Auditorium box office transposed the first two digits) on Feb. 5 against the Ottawa 67s. The building seats 6,393 with room for 1,400 standees. The previous largest crowd this season for the Rangers was 4,997 for an Oct. 2 date against the Sudbury Wolves.&ldquo;The crowd is a great factor,&rdquo; Barrett said. &ldquo;I know I appreciate it a lot and the players appreciate it and it doesn&rsquo;t seem to matter who we&rsquo;re playing.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a total involvement by the community. This city seems to live and breathe with the Kitchener Rangers and it&rsquo;s a first-class city all the way.&rdquo;The Rangers are one of the finest junior hockey operations in the nation. In 1967, the season-ticket subscribers paid $ 1 to New York Rangers for the franchise as the era of NHL sponsorship ended.The only deal matching it lately was when Toronto Maple Leafs picked up the contract of goalie Mike Palmateer from Washington Capitals for $1 in October, 1982.And just like the Palmateer deal, there were strings attached to the New York-Kitchener swap. While the Leafs could return Palmateer to the Caps if his suspect knee didn&rsquo;t stand up, the NHL Rangers could take back the junior team if local management didn&rsquo;t live up to standards.The team is obviously in good hands as it&rsquo;s become the yardstick to measure junior hockey. In times of economic uncertainty and sports teams collapsing as funds run dry, the Rangers are flourishing. &#9632;

Rangers Have The Memorial Cup In Mind

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div>Louisville HockeyVICTORIA&mdash;For Dave Andrews it was more than a touch of irony.The Cougars&rsquo; coach expected the worst when his club&rsquo;s fortunes continued to tum sour on home ice. Andrews knew the boo-birds would be singing and the media would keep predicting his demise after each loss. Yet Fraser McColl, the man who hired Andrews, stood by his coach&rsquo;s side.But as the heat mounted, Andrews decided to get out of the kitchen. When he took matters into his own hands on Feb. 7 and resigned, Andrews hoped to accomplish three things:&bull; Take pressure off himself.&bull; Take pressure off his players.&bull; Take pressure off McColl.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t fired but there were rumors that made it difficult to coach the team,&rdquo; said Andrews, who&rsquo;s been replaced by veteran Western Hockey League coach Les Calder. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t disagree with Fraser on anything and he wanted me to finish out the year. I can&rsquo;t lay any blame on him.&ldquo;The attitude of some, of the people surprises me. My record is something like 74-47 and they (media) want my ass. I lost confidence in my ability to coach.&rdquo;The scenario sounds like the 35-year-old Andrews was captain of a sinking ship. Sure, the Cougars were having their problems but at the time of his decision to step down, Victoria was tied for second place in the Western Division with a 2723 mark. The problem was Cougars were 16-16 at home.&ldquo;I had trouble getting the kids to play,&rdquo; said Andrews. &ldquo;We had a tough time being mentally prepared to play. It became a situation that wouldn&rsquo;t work out for me. And it&rsquo;s not an easy decision when you&rsquo;ve been in sports all your life&mdash;it wasn&rsquo;t a decision I made lightly.&rdquo;McColl said the wolves were out for Andrews&rsquo; hide.&ldquo;I had a lot of pressure on me to do something but I never had any doubt that Dave could do the job,&rdquo; said McColl. &ldquo;There was absolutely no pressure on him from me or anybody else. He was under a lot of pressure from the media and the fans. I thought we had the horses but he chose not to carry on.&rdquo;What many found hard to believe was Andrews&rsquo; timing. The WHL trading deadline was Feb. 10 and his exit put Cougars in a coaching bind when they should have been strengthening their roster for the playoff run. Secondly, Cougars stood a good chance of getting the services of national team members center Russ Courtnall and defenseman Craig Redmond once the Winter Olympics ended in Sarajevo.&ldquo;Expectations became higher than what we could achieve,&rdquo; said Andrews. &ldquo;The team is young. 1 put two years into the team and it will be a real contender next year. They lose just three players this year.&rdquo;But what were the real problems? What kept the Cougars from winning on home ice and keeping the critics quiet?&ldquo;It came down to two things,&rdquo; said Andrews. &ldquo;When things started to go bad at home the pressure overcame the players and myself. Once we lost a couple everybody waited for a collapse. The players became very tight.&ldquo;The second is we lacked leadership from the guys with three or four years in the league.&rdquo;Andrews said he doesn&rsquo;t expect to be flooded with coaching offers. In fact, his decision to throw in the towel could have an adverse effect on his coaching future, especially higher up the ladder.Calder has a hard act to follow. The majority of the Cougar games, including an eight-game Eastern Division swing, are on the road. With New Westminster, Portland and Seattle also in the hunt for three remaining playoff spots, somebody will be the odd man out in the Western Division.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t leave him in a good situation,&rdquo; admitted Andrews. &ldquo;He has a lot of experience and I hope he does well and the players do well. The biggest thing could be a fresh face; it could be a good change.&rdquo;Calder was formerly general manager-coach of the defunct Nanaimo Islanders and Billings Bighorns.WHL WEEK&mdash;Several player transactions were completed as the roster deadline passed. Winnipeg dealt right winger Cam Douglas to Lethbridge while Medicine Hat shipped forward Don Herczeg to Winnipeg. Seattle traded netminder Mike Maisonneuve to Portland while Regina dealt forward John Bekkers to Portland. Portland also added overage defenseman Marty Ruff from the St. Louis Blues.Dan Hodgson of Prince Albert continued to lead the scoring parade as of Feb. 14 with 153 points including a league-high 100 assists. Ray Ferraro was second with 133 points including a league-high 75 points. Taylor Hall or Regina was third with 117 points.Ken Wregget of Lethbridge continued to lead all netminders with a 3.28 goals-against average. Blair McGregor of Medicine Hat was second at 3.81 while Jamie Reeve of Regina was third (3.87).In Canadian Major Junior Hockey League standings, Kamloops was the top-rated WHL club and fifth overall in the country with a .661 winning percentage. Regina was rated sixth (.645), Medicine Hat seventh (.632) and Lethbridge ninth (.607). Laval of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League was first at .786.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01468/4876648-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="577" height="970"><figcaption class="caption-body">Victoria coach Dave Andrews left of his own accord to take the pressure off everybody.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0031-01

When Cougar Kitchen Heats Up, Coach Goes Running Out For Air

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div>Louisville HockeyLAVAL&mdash;Mario Lemieux, the Voisins&rsquo; 18-year-old scoring sensation, thought he would have to settle for a share of junior hockey&rsquo;s consecutive point-scoring record as the minutes ticked away in the third period of a game against the Drummondville Voltigeurs.But the 6-foot-3. 191-nound center picked up assists on goals by linemates Jacques Goyette and Alain Bisson at 8:31 and 14:23 to secure exclusive possession of the record and keep his streak alive.Lemieux, who will be a top selection in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s entry draft in June, picked up at least an assist in 56 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League games to surpass the previous major junior mark of the 55 set last season by Doug Gilmour of the Cornwall Royals.Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; Wayne Gretzky extended the pro standard to 51 games earlier this season and Lemieux shattered the previous the QMJHL mark of 43 games that was set last season by Pat LaFontaine of the Verdun Juniors.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d make it, they checked me pretty well,&rdquo; said Lemieux, after Laval beat the Voltigeurs 7-4 in Drummondville. &ldquo;I played on two lines in the third period and got a lot of ice time. There is certainly less pressure on me now that I have the record in my pocket, but I&rsquo;m going to try and go for 70 games, for sure.&rdquo;Now he can concentrate on eclipsing the QMJHL&rsquo;s 130-goal record of set by Guy Lafleur and the 157-assist, 251-point marks of Pierre Larouche.The peak season for Lafleur was 197071 with the Quebec Remparts and 197374 for Larouche with the Sorel Black Hawks.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be pretty tough to catch them but we have seven games left at home and seven on the road,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my draft year and the records are important to me.&rdquo;Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils and Montreal Canadiens, who can have Hartford Whalers first pick, have expressed interest in seeing the slick playmaker the first player selected in June.He has since extended his streak to 58 games, scoring 103 goals and 115 assists for 218 points in that span&mdash;106 of them on the road.He needs 24 goals and 26 assists in his last 12 games to shunt Lafleur and Larouche and if he maintains his current production of 3.76 points a night, he will exceed Larouche&rsquo;s total-points mark by 12.What is most impressive about the Montreal native who was 20 days too young for last year&rsquo;s NHL draft is the number of points he has stockpiled since he entered the league in 1980-81, sharing the Central Scouting Bureau&rsquo;s ranking as the best midget in the province with Hart-ford&rsquo;s star rookie Sylvain Turgeon.He was the league&rsquo;s top rookie scorer in his first year with 33 goals and 66 assists for 96 points and was third last year with 84 goals and 100 assists for 184 points.In less than three seasons, he has scored 498 points to move past Denis Cyr (463 points with Montreal Juniors) into sixth place on the career-scoring list.Barring injury, Lemieux is a sure bet to pass Normand Aubin (515 Sorel, Sherbrooke) and he could catch fourth-place Mike Bossy (531, Laval Nationals) and third-place Sylvain Locas, 545 points with Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Sherbrooke Beavers.What is all the more remarkable is that it took these players at least one season more than Lemieux to arrive at their totals.The all-time leaders are Normand Dupont, who amassed 568 points in four seasons with Montreal Juniors, and Jacques Locas, who has 558 points in five campaigns with St. Jerome Alouettes and Quebec Remparts.&ldquo;I think the way he&rsquo;s going, everything should go Mario&rsquo;s way,&rdquo; said Laval owner and general manager Claude Foumel. &#9632;

Mario ovOnly Has Eyes For Lafleur, Larouche

BOSTON&mdash;Doug Kostnyski, C, and Luc Dufour, LW, assigned to Hershey of AHL. Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, RW, Craig MacTavish, LW, and Tom Fergus, C, all back from injury list. Greg Johnston, RW, returned to Toronto of OHL.BUFFALO&mdash;Lindy Ruff, LW, back from injury list. Mal Davis, RW, returned to Rochester of AHL.CALGARY&mdash;Lanny McDonald, RW, out indefinitely with broken ankle. Ed Bozek, LW, sidelined with injury.CHICAGO&mdash;Bob Janecyk, G, recalled from Springfield of AHL. Darryl Sutter, LW, back from injury list. Peter Marsh, LW, sent to Springfield. Warren Skorodenski, G, recalled from loan to Sherbrooke of AHL and reassigned to Springfield. Ken Yaremchuk, RW, sidelined indefinitely with groin pull.DETROIT&mdash;Barry Melrose, D, recalled from Adirondack of AHL. Eddie Johnstone, RW, back from injury list.EDMONTON&mdash;Jari Kurri, RW, and Dave Semenko, LW, back from injury list. Ray Cote, C, and Tom Gorence, RW, returned to Moncton of AHL. Reg Kerr, C, recalled from Moncton.HARTFORD&mdash;Marty Howe, D, back from injury list. Sylvain Turgeon, LW, out of action for 10 days with concussion. Ed Hospodar, D, sidelined with knee injury. Bob Hess, D, recalled from Binghamton of AHL.MINNESOTA&mdash;Curt Giles, D, back from injury list. Neal Broten, C, sidelined indefinitely with knee injury. Dirk Graham, RW, recalled from Montana of CHL.MONTREAL&mdash;Steve Shutt, LW, and Rick Wamsley, G, back from injury list. Mark Holden, G, returned to Nova Scotia of AHL. Pierre Mondou, C, sidelined with sprained back.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Mike Bossy, RW, and Bryan Trottier, C, back from injury list. Gord Lane, D, and Wayne Merrick, C, sidelined with injuries.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Gil Hudon, G, and Daryl Stanley, D, recalled from Springfield of AHL. Pelle Lindbergh, G, assigned to Springfield.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Todd Charlesworth, D, returned to Oshawa of OHL. Brent Loney, LW, and Dean DeFazio, LW, both sent back to Baltimore of AHL. Grant Sasser, C, recalled from Portland of WHL.QUEBEC&mdash;Gord Donnelly, D, assigned to Fredericton of AHL. Jean-Marc Gaulin, RW, recalled from Fredericton.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Tim Bothwell, D, back from injury list.TORONTO&mdash;Billy Harris, RW, recalled from St. Catharines of AHL and traded to Los Angeles for cash. Gaston Gingras, D, sidelined indefinitely after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his knee. Mike Palmateer, G, sidelined with knee injury.WASHINGTON&mdash;Al Jensen, G, returned to injury list with recurring back problem. Dave Parr&ograve;, G, recalled from Hershey of AHL. Darren Veitch, D, sidelined indefinitely with cracked rib.WINNIPEG&mdash;Marc Behrend, G, joined Jets from U.S. Olympic team. Brian Hayward, G, assigned to Sherbrooke of AHL. Jyrki Seppa, D, recalled from Sherbrooke. &#9632;

PLAYER TRANSACTIONS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01483/4876741-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="546" height="506"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE MILLAR Brantford</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>The Brantford Alexanders rank only 12th in the Ontario Hockey League in offense but they can turn it on when the occasion arisesThe Alexanders buried the Sudbury Wolves 10-0 and North Bay 6-2 and the man who led their two-game 16-goal onslaught was 18-year-old Mike Millar. He scored four times and set up five goals to win the nod as the OHL player of the weekMillar, who now leads Brantford in scoring with 66 points, has 36 goals in 52 games, surpassing his totals last year when he counted only 20 times in 53 starts<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02353/4876734-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="450" height="501"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALLEN CONROY Medicine Hat</figcaption></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>Good things come in small packages as far as Allen Conroy of the Medicine Hal Tigers is concerned.Conrey. who&rsquo;s only 5-foot-6. 165 pounds. is one of the mites of the Western Hockey League, but he carries a big stick on the ice. In four games for the Tigers, he picked up 14 scoring points, including nine in a 19-2 romp over Winnipeg, and was chosen as the WHL&rsquo;s player of the week.The 18-year-old center may not get a look from the pro scouts because of his size, but he&rsquo;s doing all right for Medicine Hat In 51 games, he has 83 scoring points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03231/4876727-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="544" height="504"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALAIN RAYMOND T-Rivieres</figcaption></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>Alain Raymond has the misfortune of playing for a last place team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, but as far as the pro scouts are concerned, he&rsquo;s the best pro prospect among the league netminders.Raymond, who was drafted by the Washington Capitalss. gave an example of his effectiveness when he made 135 saves in three games for the lowly Dravecurs to win the selection as QHL player of the week.Raymond is 16-21-1 and has a 4.87 GAA for a team that has managed only-19 wins in 58 games this seasonAt the end of the current season. THE HOCKEY NEWS will select a Micron Junior Player ol the Year &#9632;

f0032-01

MICRON JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

<h2>Mon. Feb. 13 WASHINGTON 4, MINNESOTA 0</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01438/4877178-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="546" height="708"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES 3, MONTREAL 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02311/4877171-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="548" height="826"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH 1, QUEBEC 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03220/4877164-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="548" height="854"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 1, TORONTO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04166/4877157-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="540" height="643"></div><h2>Tue. Feb. 14 MONTREAL 5, HARTFORD 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05135/4877150-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="502" height="62"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06110/4877143-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="548" height="678"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES 4, NEW JERSEY 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0799/4877136-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="554" height="969"></div><h2>Wed. Feb. 15 BOSTON 4, BUFFALO 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0882/4877129-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="542" height="413"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0973/4877122-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="539" height="592"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 4, DETROIT 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1068/4877115-1-eng-US/f0033-102.jpg" title="f0033-10" width="550" height="854"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 4, EDMONTON 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1166/4877108-1-eng-US/f0033-112.jpg" title="f0033-11" width="539" height="647"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1265/4877101-1-eng-US/f0033-122.jpg" title="f0033-12" width="539" height="442"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 2, RANGERS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1352/4877094-1-eng-US/f0033-132.jpg" title="f0033-13" width="545" height="678"></div><h2>QUEBEC 2, CHICAGO 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1449/4877087-1-eng-US/f0033-142.jpg" title="f0033-14" width="544" height="765"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 3, TORONTO 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1543/4877080-1-eng-US/f0033-152.jpg" title="f0033-15" width="504" height="60"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1637/4877073-1-eng-US/f0033-162.jpg" title="f0033-16" width="547" height="617"></div><h2>Thu. Feb. 16 PITTSBURGH 3, CALGARY 10</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1737/4877066-1-eng-US/f0033-172.jpg" title="f0033-17" width="547" height="1087"></div><h2>WASH. 4, LOS ANGELES 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1832/4877059-1-eng-US/f0033-182.jpg" title="f0033-18" width="533" height="209"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06176/4877052-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="530" height="439"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07165/4877045-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="528" height="123"></div><h2>HARTFORD 5, NEW JERSEY 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08145/4877038-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="528" height="324"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09138/4877031-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="540" height="496"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10121/4877024-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="531" height="267"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 2, PHILADELPHIA 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-11112/4877017-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="525" height="146"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01447/4877010-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="534" height="759"></div><h2>Fri. Feb. 17 MINNESOTA 4, BUFFALO 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02337/4877003-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="538" height="815"></div><h2>BOSTON 2, EDMONTON 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03265/4876996-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="525" height="115"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04190/4876989-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="545" height="789"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH 4 at VANCOUVER 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05149/4876982-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="534" height="523"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06127/4876975-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="533" height="323"></div><h2>QUEBEC 6, WINNIPEG 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07119/4876968-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="538" height="1016"></div><h2>Sat. Feb. 18 BOSTON 5, CALGARY 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08114/4876961-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="539" height="1107"></div><h2>CHICAGO 0, DETROIT 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-09108/4876954-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="498" height="122"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-10105/4876947-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="531" height="550"></div><h2>MONTREAL 3, LOS ANGELES 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-11102/4876940-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="534" height="812"></div><h2>QUEBEC 7, MINNESOTA 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1298/4876933-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="532" height="785"></div><h2>RANGERS 3, ISLANDERS 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01395/4876926-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="536" height="911"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY 3, PHILAD. 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02281/4876919-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="503" height="64"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03211/4876912-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="526" height="93"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04173/4876905-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="531" height="94"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05148/4876898-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="526" height="90"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1640/4876891-1-eng-US/f0038-162.jpg" title="f0038-16" width="532" height="528"></div><h2>WASHINGTON 4, ST. LOUIS 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1737/4876884-1-eng-US/f0038-172.jpg" title="f0038-17" width="535" height="810"></div><h2>HARTFORD 8. TORONTO 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1834/4876877-1-eng-US/f0038-182.jpg" title="f0038-18" width="522" height="289"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1932/4876870-1-eng-US/f0038-192.jpg" title="f0038-19" width="536" height="635"></div><h2>Sun. Feb. 19 HARTFORD 2, BUFFALO 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-2029/4876863-1-eng-US/f0038-202.jpg" title="f0038-20" width="536" height="692"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 5, CHICAGO 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-2127/4876856-1-eng-US/f0038-212.jpg" title="f0038-21" width="522" height="349"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-2225/4876849-1-eng-US/f0038-222.jpg" title="f0038-22" width="530" height="462"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH 3, EDMONTON 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-2322/4876842-1-eng-US/f0038-232.jpg" title="f0038-23" width="545" height="954"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 5, NEW JERSEY 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-2418/4876835-1-eng-US/f0038-242.jpg" title="f0038-24" width="524" height="294"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-2517/4876828-1-eng-US/f0038-252.jpg" title="f0038-25" width="534" height="497"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-2614/4876821-1-eng-US/f0038-262.jpg" title="f0038-26" width="528" height="94"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 3, RANGERS 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-2713/4876814-1-eng-US/f0038-272.jpg" title="f0038-27" width="528" height="349"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1920/4876807-1-eng-US/f0039-192.jpg" title="f0039-19" width="525" height="325"></div><h2>DETROIT 6, TORONTO 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-2019/4876800-1-eng-US/f0039-202.jpg" title="f0039-20" width="528" height="721"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-2118/4876793-1-eng-US/f0039-212.jpg" title="f0039-21" width="526" height="152"></div><h2>CALGARY 2, VANCOUVER 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-2216/4876786-1-eng-US/f0039-222.jpg" title="f0039-22" width="534" height="935"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-2315/4876779-1-eng-US/f0039-232.jpg" title="f0039-23" width="522" height="92"></div><h2>WASHINGTON 3, WINNIPEG 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-2412/4876772-1-eng-US/f0039-242.jpg" title="f0039-24" width="540" height="1001"></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01494/4877237-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"></div><h2>GOALTENDING STATISTICS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01468/4877230-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="552" height="2571"></div><h2>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h2><h3>GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02371/4877223-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="531" height="237"></div><h3>MOST WINS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03289/4877216-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="536" height="323"></div><h3>SAVE PERCENTAGE</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04240/4877209-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="531" height="206"></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05195/4877268-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0035-05

NHL TEAM ROSTERS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1395/4877306-1-eng-US/f0036-132.jpg" title="f0036-13" width="532" height="353"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1489/4877299-1-eng-US/f0036-142.jpg" title="f0036-14" width="528" height="352"></div> &#9632;

f0036-13

Top Rookies In The NHL

BOSTON&mdash;Bourque 19, 20, MacTavish 19, 20, O&rsquo;Reilly 10,11, Pederson 24,25, Kluzak 10, Middleton 36, Nill 10. Winning goals-none.BUFFALO&mdash;Foligno 22, McKenna 6, Cloutier 20, 21,22, 23, Verret 1,2, Playfair 4,5, Perreault 31, Andreychuk 27, 28, 29, Ruff 10, Hajt 2, Cyr 13. Winning goals-Cloutier, Andreychuk, Ruff.CALGARY&mdash;McDonald 27, 28, 29, Nilsson 22, Beers 30, 31, Risebrough 15, 16, 17, Maclnnis 6, Stiles 2, Patterson 9, 10, Loob 23, Quinn 11, 12, Tambellini 18. Winning goals-Risebrough.CHICAGO&mdash;McMurchy 3, Lysiak 10, Gardner 19, Savard 30,31, Paterson 6,7, S. Larmer 27, 28, J. Larmer 10, B. Wilson 8. Winning goals-Gardner, S. Larmer.DETROIT&mdash;Manno 7, Yzerman 31, Boldirev 22, 23, 24, 25, Kisio 16, Ladouceur 3, Duguay 23, 24, Lambert 12, 13, Johnstone 8, 9, 10. Winning goals-Kisio, Boldirev.EDMONTON&mdash;McClelland 6, Messier 21, 22, 23, Coffey 28, 29, 30, 31, Kurri 40, Gretzky 62, 63, 64, 65, Anderson 33, 34, 35, Linseman 16, Hunter 18, Lindstrom 18. Winning goals-Coffey, Anderson.HARTFORD&mdash;Johnson 29,30, Crawford 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, Neufeld 22, 23, Kotsopoulos 3, Paterson 2, Currie 6, 7, Sulliman 4, 5, Robertson 3,4, Stoughton 23. Winning goals-Currie.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Smith 13, 14, 15, Magellan 20, 21, Simmer 35,36, Nicholls 32, 33, 34, Fox 24, Kelly 6, Hakansson 10, Ruskowski 5. Winning goals-Ruskowski.MINNESOTA&mdash;Maruk 14, 15, Bellows 33, 34, MacAdam 16, Napier 8, Plett 8, 9, Giles 6. Winning goals&mdash;Bellows.MONTREAL&mdash;Turcotte 5, 6, Turnbull 17, Chabot8,9,10,11,12, Hunter 6, Tremblay 12, 13, Lafleur 27, Robinson 7. Winning goals-Chabot, Tremblay.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Meagher 12, McAdam 5, 6, 7, Gagne 10, Lever 11, 12, Higgins 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, Brumwell 3, Verbeek 14, 15, Ludvig 16, Cirella 10, Russell 8, MacMillan 13. Winning goals-Higgins, Ludvig.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Potvin 16, 17, B. Sutter 24, 25, 26, Bossy 39, Gilbert 20, Trottier 29, Kallur 7, Jonsson 10, Nystrom 13, Tonelli 21. Winning goals-B. Sutter, Tonelli.NY RANGERS&mdash;Allison 6, Greschner 10, Fotiu 4, Rogers 20, Larouche40, Don Maloney 21, 22, McClanahan 5. Winning goals-Fotiu.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Barber 17, 18, 19, Sittier 20,21, Kerr 34,35,36,37, Propp 27, Holmgren 9, Rich Sutter 13. Winning goals-Kerr 2, Holmgren 1.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Shedden 14, Flockhart 19, Taylor 17, 18, Bullard 38, 39, 40, 41, Brickley 11, Roulston 14, McCarthy 5. Winning goals-Brickley.QUEBEC&mdash;M. Stastny 18, McKegney 18,19, Paiement 30,31,32, Marois 6,7,8, LaPointe 1, 2, Gillis 4, Goulet 43,44,45,46, Cote 10, Mann 1, A. Stastny 17, P. Stastny 30, 31. Winning goals-Goulet 2, McKegney 1.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Chouinard 9, Gilmour 15, 16, Sutter 24,25, Mullen 25,26,27,28, Pettersson 19, Paslawski 4, 5, Reeds 10. Winning goals-Mullen.TORONTO&mdash;Derlago 25, 26, 27, Anderson 31, Terrion 11, Poddubny 5, Nylund 2, Leeman 3. Winning goals-Anderson.VANCOUVER&mdash;Gradin 13, Lemay 6, Williams 12, Smyl 21, Bubla 4, Tanti 37. Winning goals-Smyl.WASHINGTON&mdash;Christian 25, 26, Gustafsson 29,30, Gartner 30,31, Erickson 4, Murphy 12, Duchesne 12, Laughlin 16, Haworth 18, Carpenter 17, Jarvis 12,13, Shand 3. Winning goals-Christian, Murphy, Carpenter.WINNIPEG&mdash;DeBlois 28, 29, MacLean 27, 28, Hawerchuk 27, Amiel 18, 19, Kyte 1, Campbell 4, Boschman 22, Smail 14. Winning goals-Smail. &#9632;

NHL SCORERS THIS WEEK

<h2>NORRIS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1588/4877382-1-eng-US/f0036-152.jpg" title="f0036-15" width="527" height="177"></div><h2>SMYTHE DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1685/4877375-1-eng-US/f0036-162.jpg" title="f0036-16" width="526" height="180"></div><h2>ADAMS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1779/4877368-1-eng-US/f0036-172.jpg" title="f0036-17" width="531" height="177"></div><h2>PATRICK DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1875/4877361-1-eng-US/f0036-182.jpg" title="f0036-18" width="527" height="206"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Feb. 13Washington 4 at Minnesota 0Los Angeles 3 at Montreal 5Pittsburgh 1 at Quebec 6NY Islanders 1 at Toronto 3Tue. Feb. 14Montreal 5 at Hartford 3Los Angeles 4 at New Jersey 6Wed. Feb. 15Boston 4 at Buffalo 7St. Louis 4 at Detroit 3Winnipeg 4 at Edmonton 7NY Islanders 2 at Chicago 5Minnesota 3 at Toronto 1Thu. Feb. 16Pittsburgh 3 at Calgary 10Washington 4 at Los Angeles 2Hartford 5 at New Jersey 6 (OT)St. Louis 2 at Philadelphia 5Fri. Feb. 17Minnesota 4 at Buffalo 5 (OT)Boston 2 at Edmonton 5Pittsburgh 4 at Vancouver 1Quebec 6 at Winnipeg 3Sat. Feb. 18Boston 5 at Calgary 5 (OT)Chicago 0 at Detroit 6Montreal 3 at Los Angeles 5Quebec 7 at Minnesota 2NY Rangers 3 at NY Islanders 4New Jersey 3 at Philadelphia 4Washington 4 at St. Louis 2Hartford 8 at Toronto 2Sun. Feb. 19Hartford 2 at Buffalo 5St. Louis 5 at Chicago 6Pittsburgh 3 at Edmonton 7NY Islanders 5 at New Jersey 4 (OT)Philadelphia 3 at NY Rangers 2 (OT)Detroit 6 at Toronto 2Calgary 2 at Vancouver 5Washington 2 at Winnipeg 3 (OT) &#9632;

f0036-15

THE NHL SCOREBOARD

<h2>AT HOME</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1973/4877462-1-eng-US/f0036-192.jpg" title="f0036-19" width="263" height="634"></div><h2>ON THEROAD</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2069/4877455-1-eng-US/f0036-202.jpg" title="f0036-20" width="258" height="637"></div><h2>POINTS RACE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2165/4877448-1-eng-US/f0036-212.jpg" title="f0036-21" width="529" height="643"></div><h3>WHAT THEY DID IN THEIR LAST 10 GAMES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2264/4877441-1-eng-US/f0036-222.jpg" title="f0036-22" width="195" height="173"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2359/4877434-1-eng-US/f0036-232.jpg" title="f0036-23" width="190" height="144"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2455/4877427-1-eng-US/f0036-242.jpg" title="f0036-24" width="190" height="143"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2551/4877420-1-eng-US/f0036-252.jpg" title="f0036-25" width="192" height="146"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2648/4877413-1-eng-US/f0036-262.jpg" title="f0036-26" width="190" height="172"></div> &#9632;

f0036-19

HOW NHL TEAMS RATE

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06125/4877493-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="550" height="1217"></div>For much of last season, Saskatoon Blade right winger Lane Lambert was rated as a first-round pick in the 1983 NHL entry draft. As draft day approached, though, his rating dipped and when the Detroit Red Wings selected him, it was 25th overall and in the second round.Still, he made the team in training camp and has become a regular with the Wings, perhaps overshadowed by the offensive exploits of teammate Steve Yzerman.But the 19-year-old still managed 13 goals and 11 assists in 54 games while giving the Wings a solid defensive effort. &#9632;

f0037-06

Chrysler Rookie Award

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 20)<h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01460/4877678-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="531" height="207"></div><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02365/4877671-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="525" height="234"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Feb. 15Binghamton 8 at Adirondack 6New Haven 7 at Baltimore 3Springfield 7 at Hershey 6Rochester 6 at Maine 4St. Catharines 1 at Nova Scotia 3Moncton 4 at Sherbrooke 6Thu. Feb. 16St. Catharines 6 at Fredericton 4Fri. Feb. 17Moncton 4 at Adirondack 3Baltimore 5 at Binghamton 3Rochester 4 at New Haven 6Maine 7 at Springfield 3Sat. Feb. 18Binghamton 3 at Baltimore 6Adirondack 4 at Fredericton 5Rochester 5 at Hershey 4Moncton 1 at Maine 2New Haven 3 at Springfield 7Sun. Feb. 19Springfield 6 at Binghamton 2St. Catharines 5 at Moncton 2Maine 5 at New Haven 4Adirondack 3 at Nova Scotia 3Fredericton 4 at Sherbrooke 7<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03289/4877664-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="520" height="64"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04221/4877657-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="530" height="264"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 22)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05154/4877650-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="529" height="264"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Feb. 15Flint 2 at Fort Wayne 3Kalamazoo 3 at Toledo 0Peoria 4 at Milwaukee 8Thu. Feb. 16Fort Wayne 7 at Kalamazoo 6Peoria 9 at Milwaukee 6Fri. Feb. 17Peoria 3 at Muskegon 4Sat. Feb. 18Flint 1 at Milwaukee 5Sun. Feb. 19Toledo 2 at Fort Wayne 4Peoria 1 at Kalamazoo 3Flint 4 at Milwaukee 8<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06116/4877643-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="533" height="327"></div><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07102/4877636-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="532" height="237"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Feb. 14Indianapolis at Tulsa (ppd)Wed. Feb. 15Montana 1 at Colorado 4Thu. Feb. 16Indianapolis at Tulsa (ppd)Fri. Feb. 17Indianapolis 2 at Colorado 3Salt Lake at Tulsa (ppd)Sat. Feb. 18Indianapolis 5 at Colorado 6Salt Lake at Tulsa (ppd)<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0885/4877629-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="533" height="356"></div><h2>ATLANTIC COAST LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Sun. Feb. 19)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0975/4877622-1-eng-US/f0038-092.jpg" title="f0038-09" width="528" height="206"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. Feb. 12Virginia 7 at Carolina 4Mohawk Valley 5 at Erie 5Tue. Feb. 14Carolina 2 at Erie 5Pine Bridge 5 at Virginia 8Wed. Feb. 15Carolina 2 at Mohawk Valley 2Thu. Feb. 16Mohawk Valley 2 at Erie 7Carolina 1 at Virginia 6Fri. Feb. 17Erie 0 at Carolina 5Pine Bridge 3 at Virginia 7Sat. Feb. 18Virginia 3 at Carolina 6Erie 8 at Pine Bridge 2<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1071/4877615-1-eng-US/f0038-102.jpg" title="f0038-10" width="529" height="319"></div><h2>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 20)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1165/4877608-1-eng-US/f0038-112.jpg" title="f0038-11" width="524" height="292"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Georgetown 11, Barrie 6Chatham 7, Petrolia 5Collingwood 6, Flamboro 4Petrolia 9, Woodstock 2Georgetown 6, Chatham 4Dundas 6, Cambridge 4<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1260/4877601-1-eng-US/f0038-122.jpg" title="f0038-12" width="521" height="63"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1351/4877594-1-eng-US/f0038-132.jpg" title="f0038-13" width="531" height="267"></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 21)<h3>LEYDEN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1446/4877587-1-eng-US/f0038-142.jpg" title="f0038-14" width="534" height="241"></div><h3>EMMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1544/4877580-1-eng-US/f0038-152.jpg" title="f0038-15" width="527" height="270"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Feb. 14London 4 at Cornwall 7Ottawa 3 at Kingston 1Sudbury 8 at S.S. Marie 6Wed. Feb. 15London 3 at Belleville 2Thu. Feb. 16Toronto 4 at Peterborough 7Kitchener 5 at Windsor 0Guelph 1 at Brantford 4Ottawa 7 at North Bay 3Oshawa 6 at Cornwall 8Fri. Feb. 17Toronto 1 at London 6Ottawa 3 at Sudbury 0Kitchener 6 at S.S. Marie 5Brantford 1 at Guelph 4Windsor 4 at Kingston 6Sat. Feb. 18Cornwall 4 at Belleville 0London 5 at Toronto 6Windsor 5 at Peterborough 7Sun. Feb. 19Ottawa 2 at S.S. Marie 6Kitchener 7 at Sudbury 4Belleville 4 at Toronto 3Kingston 6 at North Bay 7Cornwall 3 at Oshawa 6Guelph 4 at London 6Windsor 4 at Brantford 3<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01432/4877573-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="531" height="297"></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 21)<h3>EASTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02299/4877566-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="531" height="265"></div><h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03211/4877559-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="534" height="205"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Feb. 13Victoria 6 at Portland 3Tue. Feb. 14Medicine Hat 4 at Saskatoon 3Victoria 2 at Seattle 4New Westminster 2 at Kamloops 5Calgary 7 at Winnipeg 4Wed. Feb. 15Seattle 9 at Portland 8Calgary 2 at Regina 4Winnipeg 2 at Brandon 9Thu. Feb. 16Saskatoon 2 at Medicine Hat 5Victoria 5 at Kamloops 6Fri. Feb. 17Medicine Hat 4 at Regina 5Portland 2 at Seattle 9Saskatoon 4 at Calgary 5Victoria 1 at Kelowna 4Brandon 6 at Prince Albert 11Sat. Feb. 18Calgary 1 at Lethbridge 5Portland 3 at New Westminster 10Brandon 4 at Winnipeg 2Sun. Feb. 19Regina 4 at Medicine Hat 3Saskatoon 6 at Lethbridge 5Victoria 2 at New Westminster 3Seattle 9 at Kamloops 4Winnipeg 3 at Brandon 15<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04177/4877552-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="534" height="323"></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 20)<h3>LEBEL DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05142/4877545-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="530" height="207"></div><h3>DILIO DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06120/4877538-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="528" height="178"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Feb. 13T-Rivieres 2 at Laval 4Tue. Feb. 14Laval 6 at Longueuil 9Wed. Feb. 15St. Jean 3 at Drummondville 10Verdun 6 at Hull 4Quebec 4 at Shawinigan 2Fri. Feb. 17Shawinigan 4 at Chicoutimi 2Hull 3 at Drummondville 10Longueuil 4 at Granby 5Quebec 6 at St. Jean 3Verdun 5 at T-Rivieres 4Sun. Feb. 19Chicoutimi 5 at Hull 4Quebec 5 at Longueuil 7Drummondville 3 at Shawinigan 4Laval 4 at St. Jean 5Granby 0 at Verdun 5<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07104/4877531-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="557" height="353"></div><h2>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 8)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0894/4877524-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="529" height="297"></div> &#9632;

f0038-01

MINOR SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-01165/4877758-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg" title="C0004-01" width="332" height="316"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0299/4877751-1-eng-US/c0004-022.jpg" title="C0004-02" width="486" height="436"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0357/4877744-1-eng-US/c0004-032.jpg" title="C0004-03" width="486" height="191"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0429/4877737-1-eng-US/c0004-042.jpg" title="C0004-04" width="483" height="190"></div><h2>WINNIPEG</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0515/4877730-1-eng-US/c0004-052.jpg" title="C0004-05" width="482" height="189"></div><h2>CALGARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0613/4877723-1-eng-US/c0004-062.jpg" title="C0004-06" width="479" height="188"></div><h2>EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-079/4877716-1-eng-US/c0004-072.jpg" title="C0004-07" width="483" height="197"></div><h2>VANCOUVER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-086/4877709-1-eng-US/c0004-082.jpg" title="C0004-08" width="479" height="188"></div> &#9632;

C0004-01

THE MOLSON CUP THREE-STAR STANDINGS

The annual Molson NHL Slo-Pitch Challenge will be back for its fourth consecutive year, set for June 22-24 in the Niagara Peninsula.The three-day competition, which brings together more National Hockey League players at one time than any other off-ice function, is set for Niagara Falls, Ont., St. Catharines and Welland.Negotiations are currently underway that would see Buffalo, NY, added as a fourth site.Molson officials, the tournament committee and NHL team public relations directors met last month in New Jersey at the NHL All-Star game. Among the matters discussed was getting all 21 NHL teams to participate in the event.Last year, 22 teams participated. But of those 22, NHL referees and linesmen formed one team, NHL Old-timers formed another and Hockey Night in Canada staff formed a third entry.The New York Islanders and New York Rangers didn&rsquo;t participate and it&rsquo;s hoped that they both will attend this year.Last year&rsquo;s tournament attracted more than 50,000 fans and raised $30,000 for charity.Last year&rsquo;s tournament attracted more than 50,000 fans over the three days. Close to $30,000 was raised for various charities.The Toronto Maple Leafs won the grand championship, earning the Molson Cup which was presented to the Los Angeles Kings and Detroit Red Wings the two previous years.In cooperation with Molson&rsquo;s, Hockey Night in Canada will again produce a 90-minute television special to be aired after the tournament.For any further information on the tournament, write Molson NHL Slo-Pitch Challenge, 4730 Valleyway, Niagara Falls, Ont. L2E 1W1. and watch for further updates and announcements in coming issues of THE HOCKEY NEWS. &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

March 2, 1984

Penguin Sniper Sheds Unfortunate Start

Bauer Player of the week

“It’s smart to wear a helmet. If 1 were playing today I’d wear one.”

COMING SOONIN THN