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

April 6, 1984

The Hockey News April 6, 1984

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07105/4905572-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="536" height="1158"></div>Many people questioned why the Hartford Whalers chose Sylvain Turgeon second overall instead of Pat LaFontaine in last June&rsquo;s entry draft, but the play of the 19-year-old from Noranda, Que., has given the Whalers everything they&rsquo;ve ask for and more.Turgeon, a center from Hull Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League who&rsquo;s been converted to left wing in his rookie season, is third in the Whalers&rsquo; scoring with 40 goals&mdash;tops on the team&mdash;and 30 points for 70 points in 72 games. In addition, he&rsquo;s among the league leaders in power-play goals and is a contender for Calder Trophy honors. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Chrysler Rookie Award

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011284/4903756-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="303" height="354"></div><h2>Ironclad Playoff Forecast</h2>AS A PUBLIC service, I annually provide you with a unique guarantee. This one is ironclad. You can be sure it is not wrong.If you recall, last year I assured you that the Rangers would whip the Flyers in three straight playoff games and, as even Herb Brooks knows, they did.This year the annual Fischer-Never-Wrong-Forecast takes a different form, although once again it will be etched in stone. Are you ready for it, Wayne, Jari, and Sweet Lou From The Soo?Here it is: The following teams will definitely not win the Stanley Cup: Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, Winnipeg Jets, Chicago Black Hawks, Minnesota North Stars, Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens and Quebec Nordiques.Therefore, the winner of the Stanley Cup will be the team that wins the Patrick Division playoffs. You don&rsquo;t have to look it up because it say so right here.Stay tuned and see how right I am, but if you can&rsquo;t wait, listen to my reasoning.a) The Patrick Division is the toughest of the four.b) The Patrick Division winner will have been steeled through intense competition and will top its Adams rival (likely Buffalo) in no more than six games, probably five.c) It is better than even-money that the Oilers will be dried in five or fewer games.Guaranteed.<h2>Who Won The War?</h2>LET&rsquo;S HEAR A rousing cheer for the Toronto Maple Leafs and those avid devotees of 15th century thinking&mdash;Harold Ballard, Gerry McNamara and Mike Nykoluk. Three hoorays, fellows, for gallantly re-opening your press box to the formerly-banned members of the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper.Thus, the 11-month war between the Maple Leafs and the Globe and Mail newspaper has been resolved; possibly for an hour, a month, perhaps, if we&rsquo;re lucky, even a year. With the tissue-skinned Leafs you never know.The durability of the cease-fire depends on whether Harold, Gerry and Mike&mdash;not to be confused with The Three Stooges&rsquo; Curly, Larry and Moe&mdash;continue to set new records for paranoia and press sensitivity. But to think that they were able to blockade the New York Times of Canada for 11 months is mind-boggling.When Bill Houston and Al Strachan of the Globe and Mailtwitted the Leafs at one time or another, they were told they had a better chance of taking an express train to hell than getting into the Leaf dressing room or press box.Some people, such as Globe and Mail sports editor Paul Palango, took a dim view of such shennanigans. The Globe evenhired hotshot lawyer Clayton Ruby to monitor the Maple Leaf madness.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s absurd to think that in the 20th century a private fiefdom (Maple Leaf Gardens) can operate in such a way as to dictate news coverage of a public event,&rdquo; says Ruby.Some naive nitpickers have wondered how a chap such as Ballard could get away with such outrageous intimidation tactics in supposedly enligthened Toronto. The answer, says one NHL club owner, lies in the guaranteed sellout at Maple Leaf Gardens.&ldquo;What would Ballard have done about banning the Globe,&rdquo;the owner wonders, &ldquo;if he had to sell a ticket? Nothing!&rdquo;Within the NHL high command, there are officials who are repelled by Ballard&rsquo;s behavior towards journalists.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to believe,&rdquo; says one governor, &ldquo;that we have an owner who thinks he has the license to be a dictator with the media.&rdquo;Ballard&rsquo;s &ldquo;license&rdquo; could quickly have been revoked had members of the other two Toronto papers, the Star and Sun, rallied to their cousins who were being oppressed. Stan Saplin, a former Ranger publicist and later a prize-winning reporter, says they should have vigorously supported the Globe and Mail.&ldquo;If the other papers had joined in a boycott of the Leafs,&rdquo; says Saplin, &ldquo;Ballard would have lifted his sanctions immediately. The argument that boycott would have deprived Toronto fans of hockey coverage doesn&rsquo;t hold water. All three papers could have used Canadian Press stories about the Leafs until the ban was lifted.&rdquo;Instead, the squeamish hockey writers of the other papers pretended nothing was happening whereas out-of-town reporters rallied to the Globe and Mail. Strachan recalls how Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal was supportive to the point of shouting back at Ballard when No Pal Hal attempted to involve Matty in the dispute.&ldquo;Ballard tried to get some Edmonton writers to punch me out,&rdquo; says Strachan. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s when Matheson shouted back.&rdquo;Some sportswriters argue that lack of support from the other Toronto writers merely encouraged Ballard to maintain the lockout.&ldquo;If Ballard did in baseball what he did to the Globe hockey writers,&rdquo; says Newsday (N.Y.) columnist Stan Isaacs, &ldquo;the writers here could have fought him and won.&rdquo;The closest thing to a Ballard-of-baseball is George (Boss) Steinbrenner. Boss George once was upset about some things Newsday had written and, in retaliation, began favoring other dailies.&ldquo;We finally took our Yankee writer (Joe Donnelly) off the Yankee beat and had him cover other clubs in spring training,&rdquo; Isaacs. &ldquo;As soon as that happened, Steinbrenner apologized.&rdquo;Ballard never apologized and the war between himself, his two aides and the Globe and Mail crackled until March. As it did, the question inevitably is raised: What role did NHL president John Ziegler play in settling the dispute?Ziegler addressed this question in an interview with THE HOCKEY NEWS. The president tells me that the issue is not simplistic. In addition to freedom of the press, there is also the right to earn a living and the right (Ballard&rsquo;s) of private property. Regarding the latter, Ziegler adds, &ldquo;In a sense, everyone who comes to our building (in this case Maple Leaf Gardens) is an invitee; thereby privileged, not by right.&rdquo;Ziegler attempted to bring about a settlement in January and believed that one was in sight. At that time the focus was on the banning of Bill Houston. But then another episode involving Strachan and Nykoluk erupted and Ziegler found himself back at square one.&ldquo;If it was a question of just a reporter in the dressing room,&rdquo; he explains, &ldquo;the matter could have been settled quicker, but there were other issues involved. These fundamental issues came into conflict. It was not a simple thing.&rdquo;Far from it. The Globe and Mail filed a complaint against the team and the NHL under a provision of Canada&rsquo;s anti-trust law. It appeared for a time that finally a terribly messy new episode would be added until Ballard capitulated and re-admitted the Globe as No Pal Hal puts it &ldquo;for a probationary period only.&rdquo;Can you believe that Ballard is putting the Globe &ldquo;on probation?&rdquo; Does that mean that the newspaper&rsquo;s reporters must develop a set of acceptable phrases that will keep them from getting heaved out again. In other words, if the Leafs miss the playoffs you don&rsquo;t say such a nasty thing as that, you merely point out that Ballard&rsquo;s collections of clods are better than 13 American League clubs.The implications remains that Harold will slam the door once more if a story about his loveable Leafs rubs him the wrong way.I phone Ballard and ask him about his feelings toward the Globe. He seems relaxed, perfectly willing to talk.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve buried the hatchet,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I wrote the letter (to the Globe. It (the feud) had gone far enough and 1 saw no point in biting off my nose to spite my face. And to be honest, there were some (reporters) on the other two papers that I&rsquo;m not too fond of.&rdquo;Ballard indicates that the &ldquo;probationary&rdquo; period is not to be taken literally.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind them (writers) abusing me,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want them abusing the team. The problem is we have some people covering hockey today who are critics, not writers.&rdquo;Hopefully, a post-season peace parlay can be established at which all sides can participate and a brave new world of media-NHL relations can be established.&ldquo;After the season we&rsquo;ll invite members of the Writers&rsquo; Association and others,&rdquo; says Ziegler. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll try to find out if there are suggestions for legislation that we should consider. There are some gaps we ought to look at but I don&rsquo;t have an answer in my head right now.&rdquo;Having heard Ziegler&rsquo;s problems, I can understand the difficulty facing him as a lawyer viewing the dispute in pure legalese and as an NHL employee dealing with an especially difficult club owner. In the context of these issues it is conceivable that Ziegler&mdash;considering his behind the scenes diplomacy&mdash;went as far as he could go.But the Toronto newspapers could have gone further. They could have brought Ballard to his knees in no time at all. With that in mind I leave you with a personal recollection.Once, when I covered hockey for the New York Journal-American, Ranger GM Muzz Patrick disliked something I had written and banned me from the Blueshirts&rsquo; locker room. My sports editor, Max Kase, got wind of it and promptly phone Madison Square Garden chairman Irving Mitchell Felt. Kase put it simply: &ldquo;Either let my reporter into the dressing room or there won&rsquo;t be another line about your hockey club in our newspaper.&rdquo;One minute later the ban was lifted. &#9632;

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ON THE CONTRARY

Here&rsquo;s what was happening 20 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; Chicago finished the season with 11 team records, notably individual scoring (Stan Mikita 89 and Bobby Hull 87), penalty minutes (1,116) and penalties for a center (Mikita, 146).&bull; Boston extended the contract of coach Milt Schmidt to keep him from being signed by other teams.&bull; Montreal and Toronto established two playoff records when they were assessed 16 penalties in the opening period and 31 in all in their playoff game.&bull; Turk Broda, the former great Leaf goaltender, was rumored to be losing his job with Charlotte Checkers of the Eastern League, with a core of young goalies, including Gerry McNamara, the heir apparents. Here&rsquo;s what was happening 15 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; THE HOCKEY NEWS selected Oakland&rsquo;s Fred Glover as coach of the year, St. Louis&rsquo; Sid Salomon, III, and Sid Salomon, Jr., as the top executives and Boston&rsquo;s Phil Esposito as player of the year. Esposito also garnered THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; player of the year in the Eastern Division after recording 49 goals and 77 assists and 126 points (all records). In the Western Division, St. Louis goalies Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante shared the award after they recorded a combined 2.07 goals-against average.&bull; The Soviets won the world championship in Sweden, the seventh consecutive victory for them. The Swedes finished in second, followed by the Czechs and Canadians.<h2>BEAVER TALES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011125/4903505-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="589" height="594"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02825/4903498-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="592" height="595"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03574/4903491-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="601" height="596"></div> &#9632;

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THIS WEEK…20 Years Ago

<h2>MARCH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09143/4906039-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="519" height="544"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10123/4906032-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="520" height="238"></div><h2>APRIL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-11114/4906025-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="525" height="285"></div> &#9632;

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NHL GAMES TO COME

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01796/4906070-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE FOLIGNO (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&rsquo;S REFORMED GOAL SCORERBowling Green: King Of College Hockey&mdash;age 25King Richard&rsquo;s Canuck Reign May Be Over&mdash;age 17Meet The AHL Coaches&rsquo; All-Star Teams&mdash;age 23 &#9632;

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The Hockey News $1.50 64522 THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY APRIL 6,1984 Vol. 37, No. 27

<div class="byline">FRANK ORR&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011206/4903302-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="316" height="366"></div><h2>A Penguin Named Mario</h2>UNLESS ONE OF two things happens&mdash;ittsburgh Penguins stage a last-week surge in the 1983-84 National Hockey League season and avoid the basement of the overall standing or some other NHL club comes up with an incredible trade offer&mdash;Mario Lemieux will be a Penguin next season.Lemieux is the lanky center from Laval juniors who ripped up the Quebec League scoring records this season, standards set by a couple of worthy chaps, Pierre Larouche and Guy Lafleur. By finishing last, the Pens are rewarded with the No. 1 pick in the entry draft and they&rsquo;ll use it to select Lemieux. New Jersey Devils could out-fumble the Penguins for the honor but not likely.Thus, the Pittsburgh team, which has been a sorry franchise much of the time since entering the NHL in the &lsquo;67 expansion, will have the player around whom a future can be constructed. The Pens, in fact, have three first-round selections, their own, Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; from a trade for defenseman Randy Carlyle and Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; from the deal involving Rich Sutter.Between now and the draft, Penguin general manager Eddie Johnston will receive an assortment of offers for that draft choice. Two teams that very badly want it and Lemieux are the naturals in this case, Montreal Canadiens and Quebec Nordi-ques, who would love to have the fine French-Canadian prospect.One rumble had the Nordiques offering th three Stastny brothers, Peter, Anton and Marian, to the Pens for the draft pick while the Canadiens reportedly dangled a package in front of Johnston.<h2>Lots Of Offers</h2>JOHNSTON DOESN&rsquo;T DEAL in specifics but he admits to receiving an assortment of offers for that first pick.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had all sorts of offers, a few of them quality ones,&rdquo; E. J. said. &ldquo;But many of the would give us several older players with big contracts who would expand our payroll but not our performance over the long haul.&rdquo;However, Johnston, who took over as Penguin GM this season, knows that the draft is the only way to go and the list of examples to back up that idea is a long one. A major reason for the Pens&rsquo; prolonged mediocrity was that some other club always seemed to be speaking up when the Pittsburgh turn came in the draft.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no quick solution to getting our club turned around and our owners understand that,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to take time and the only way we can do it is through the draft. If there&rsquo;s another way, I&rsquo;ll be happy to listen to it.&ldquo;Lemieux is a very gifted offensive player, a big, strong, quick center with all the skills who can look after himself. I was on a scouting trip recently and saw him play three times. He scored 23 points, 13 of them goals, in those three games. I guess he&rsquo;s what you call a &lsquo;franchise&rsquo; player.&ldquo;We have the other two first-rounders and we&rsquo;re hopeful that out of the three choices we get at least two players who will be starters for us next season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re certain that Lemieux will be a ticket-seller for our team. The only way we will trade that draft pick is if someone comes up with a phenomenal offer and I don&rsquo;t think that will happen.&rdquo;<h2>Some Bright Spots</h2>JOHNSTON CLAIMS THAT there were some brights spots for the Pens in a disaster season, which could stamp him as a hall of fame optimist, if nothing else.&ldquo;Our Baltimore farm team had the best record in the American League and there are about six or seven players there with NHL potential,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;We had a few good youngsters on the NHL club. Mike Bullard had a fine year, scoring 50 goals, and players like Mark Taylor, Andy Brickley, Doug Shedden, Bob Errey and Ron Flockhart are young guys who showed that they can play in this league.&ldquo;If we can use those three first-round draft picks wisely, we&rsquo;ll have a nucleus of players to work with next season. We know, we&rsquo;re a long way from being a.500 team but at least we&rsquo;ll have the people to step in that direction.&rdquo; &#9632;

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HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE PARRISH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011225/4903333-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"></div>You&rsquo;re seven years old and you&rsquo;ve never played organized hockey before but once in awhile over that first season, there is a magic moment, a flicker of something different, something special.The next fall, when your ankles are stronger it becomes more apparent. Your coach isn&rsquo;t the only one who can see it now. Other coaches and parents notice it too, a sort of radar-like sixth sense that clicks in when you cross the enemy blueline, a certain deftness of touch around the net.By the time you&rsquo;re bantam age, the special something has grown, taken on shape and definition. When other coaches are getting their teams ready to play yours, they mention you by name: &lsquo;Watch that Foligno kid,&rsquo; they say, &lsquo;he can really put the puck in the net.&rsquo; Your coach lets you know that when you get the puck, you shoot it. No need to worry about getting back because there are other players who can handle that.Naturally, you go along. Goal-scoring is the glamor job of your sport and being a star makes being 14 and 15 a lot easier. It takes awhile to adjust to major junior but you hit your stride in your third season, scoring 47 goals. In your final year, you up the ante with 65 goals, 85 assists and are chosen the most valuable player in the top junior league in the country.A few months later, from a list of names that probably comprises the finest group of talent in the history of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s entry draft, you are grabbed third overall by the Detroit Red Wings. In your rookie year you score 36 goals and hockey people speak of your as a budding superstar.But the next season, things begin to go awry. You slip to 28 goals and suddenly your defensive deficiencies are being noticed more. Halfway through your third season, you&rsquo;re called in and told you&rsquo;ve been traded to the Buffalo Sabres. The news hits hard. You&rsquo;ve never been traded before, not in junior, not anywhere, and you keep asking yourself why.In your new home, the goals are increasingly hard to come by. One day early in your fourth big-league campaign, you suddenly find yourself in what always struck you&mdash;if you thought about it at all&mdash;as a position of absolute ignominy: the right wing on your team&rsquo;s checking line. Scoring goals is no longer your job. Now, you have to stop them. And suddenly, you realize just how much of the game you haven&rsquo;t been playing all these years&hellip;&ldquo;I was lost out there the first few games,&rdquo; Mike Foligno recalls. &ldquo;There was so much about the defensive part of the game I didn&rsquo;t know. I was never aware of where to be positionally. Oh, through your whole career you&rsquo;re taught bits and pieces of defense. When you&rsquo;re supposed to score goals, you get away from it. But here, our only job (he was teamed with center Brent Peterson and left winger Craig Ramsay) was to play defense. Not until you actually play on a defensive line do you comprehend what the job is. It made me realize I had been playing a one-way game. My eyes really opened up.&rdquo;It is that revelation, Foligno suspects, that has projected him into a central role with the Sabres, a role that may well be critical in their drive to the Stanley Cup. Foligno is the type of player who can turn big games around. He&rsquo;s proved it consistently over the Sabres&rsquo; stretch run.Two years ago, Foligno suspects, Sabre general manager-coach Scotty Bowman wouldn&rsquo;t have put him on the ice in critical situatons. There was too much chance of something going wrong.&ldquo;I had so many bad habits,&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;Things like being in the other team&rsquo;s comer and throwing the puck out to the slot blind. I wasn&rsquo;t thinking. But if your guy isn&rsquo;t there and the puck is intercepted, the other team is going the other way with a three- or four-on-two. I never used to think about who we were playing against, what to do against specific guys. (Wayne) Gretzky, (Rick) Middleton&hellip;you can&rsquo;t take your eyes off those guys for one second, but I never used to think of that. I&rsquo;d be covering guys and at the end of the night I wouldn&rsquo;t even know they&rsquo;d done anything. Then I&rsquo;d look at the scoresheet and they&rsquo;d have two or three points. And I thought I&rsquo;d done a pretty good job on them.&rdquo;That sort of effort never did much to impress Bowman, of course. He may have had Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Jacques Lemaire et al in Montreal, but more often than not he also had the Vezina Trophy at the end of the season. These days, a majority of NHL coaches seem to have rejected the old philosophy that the Vezina and Stanley Cups go hand in hand. Bowman hasn&rsquo;t changed one bit. He still believes as fervently as ever in the tight-to-the-vest game. As a result, the Sabres, despite an abundance of offensive wizards, stand eighth in the league in goals scored but second only to Washington in fewest goals allowed.&ldquo;The thing I&rsquo;ve learned here is it takes a two-way player to contribute to the team,&rdquo; said Foligno. &ldquo;My rookie year in Detroit, I scored 36 goals but I was on for a lot against and we didn&rsquo;t make the playoffs. His (Bowman&rsquo;s) style is a winning style. We always block out the middle. We might have two guys on the puck, but we still have one guy to eliminate as many shots as possible from the slot area.&rdquo;Foligno isn&rsquo;t the only one who has required time to learn and adjust to Bowman&rsquo;s system; each of his teammates has had to do so to an extent and only this season has it really come together.&ldquo;I have a feeling we are going to be a real contender (for the Stanley Cup),&rdquo; Foligno says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ve never felt before. This year, if we get down a goal or two, we know we can come back. We&rsquo;re able to play better against some of the best teams. When we were in pressure games last year, I don&rsquo;t think we thought we could. What happened in the playoffs against Boston last year (the Bruins edged out the Sabres four games to three&mdash;the last game in overtime&mdash;in the conference finals) gave this team so much confidence and encouragement. Over the summer, we grew from it. The kids who were here last year all became men.&rdquo;But there is a lot of boy still left in them, Foligno especially. Loud and raucous, he is the Sabres&rsquo; dressing room sparkplug, the life of every party, a practical joker par excellence (though he insists it&rsquo;s only because people were doing it to him, probably &ldquo;because I look like one of them clowns or something.&rdquo;) When the players stayed over in Banff earlier this year, a reporter mused to goalie Tom Barrasso &ldquo;Gee, it sure is quiet around here.&rdquo; Replied Barrasso, &ldquo;Yeah, Foligno&rsquo;s not around.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just me,&rdquo; says the boisterous one, who is also rated one of the NHL&rsquo;s better fighters. &ldquo;I like to whoop it up before a game. I mean, you can&rsquo;t go into it like a game of golf or you&rsquo;re going to be in a lot of trouble. It&rsquo;s not a game for quiet concentration. You&rsquo;ve got to keep people up, keep them aware of what we&rsquo;re up against. When you play 80 games, some guys aren&rsquo;t going to be as ready to play as others. So you loosen &lsquo;em up, get &lsquo;em ready. It makes for a stronger team.&rdquo;His rookie year in Detroit, a few of the veteran players disagreed. They suggested Foligno keep his views to himself.&ldquo;Maybe coming out of junior, 1 thought things were as free and wild and crazy as in junior,&rdquo; he sighs. &ldquo;But they&rsquo;re not. And when you start losing, no matter what anybody says to anybody else it starts sounding like they&rsquo;re telling them what to do. I learned from that, to re-word my sentences before a game, not make it sound like I&rsquo;m getting on somebody.&rdquo;Bom in Sudbury, Ont., Foligno started playing hockey later than most because his family moved back to Italy when he was one and didn&rsquo;t return until he was seven. His father died of lung cancer when he was 10 and while his mother never liked him playing hockey, he persevered.Inside, perhaps not surprisingly, he remains a goal scorer, a fact he hides well most of the time, but not all of it. He celebrates each and every one of his goals like no one else in the NHL. His ritual includes jumping as high as he can with both feet off the ground and punching the air simultaneously. Asked at one point about his play this season, he answers, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not as happy as I would be if I could score 50 goals.&rdquo;But he&rsquo;s the Sabres&rsquo; top plus player and among the best in the league, a far cry from the minus-30s of his first two years in Detroit.&ldquo;I think I enjoy it more because you get complimented for both parts of your game,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;There are a lot of guys about who people say, &lsquo;Okay, he scored 60 goals but look at how many he gave up.&rsquo; There are the pats on the back here for both sides. Guys like Craig, Brent and Ric Seiling&mdash;we watch them, they&rsquo;re doing such a great job we know we have to too.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m more of a team player than I ever was before. In Detroit, it was funny. We&rsquo;d be down by a goal or two and everyone would get involved with individual parts of the game. Everyone would try to do it himself and you&rsquo;d never get ahead. Here, we know we can do it if we stick together.&rdquo;A pity, a guy suggests, that all teams don&rsquo;t take that approach to the game.&ldquo;Thank God they don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; the reformed goal scorer said, &ldquo;or we&rsquo;d all be fighting for first place.&rdquo; &#9632;

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MIKE FOLIGNO

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div>CHICAGO&mdash;The frustration that the Black Hawks have known as a team this season is a compound of individual dis-appointments. Take the case of rookie Ken Yaremchuk, who has just completed a stint of two months on the disabled list.When the Hawks drafted Yaremchuk seventh overall in 1982, general manager Bob Pulford predicted: &ldquo;He might be another Stan Mikita.&rdquo;Others likened Yaremchuk to the Hawks&rsquo; leading scorer, Denis Savard, and comparisons could indeed be drawn, both statistically and artistically. In three years of junior hockey in the Quebec League. Savard produced 455 points; in the same length of time, Yaremchuk had 452 in the Western League.But, unlike Savard, Yaremchuk hasn&rsquo;t been able to do for the Chicago Black Hawks what he did for the Portland Winter Hawks of the Western League.In 44 games&mdash;many of which he played very little&mdash;he has scored six goals and assisted on seven. During his junior hockey career he frequently got that many in a week.In contrast to Yaremchuk, Detroit&rsquo;s Steve Yzerman and Hartford&rsquo;s Sylvain Turgeon have assumed major roles on their respective teams immediately after being drafted last June. Both are a year younger and neither had the advantage of another year of junior experience as Yaremchuk did.However, for Yaremchuk, there have been extenuating circumstances.He has spent &ldquo;about 80 per cent of time&rdquo; playing right wing instead of his natural center position. And then he pulled abdominal muscles in a Jan. 21 game in Quebec and joined the elongated Chicago disabled list.Being injured is alien to Yaremchuk, who turned 20 on New Year&rsquo;s Day.&ldquo;I never ever was hurt in junior,&rdquo; he recalls, &ldquo;not even one game. Once I was suspended for three games but that was it.&ldquo;This year has been a learning experience. I thought I&rsquo;d be happy if I just made the team. I&rsquo;m not. When you&rsquo;re only out there once or twice a period the way I have been you&rsquo;re worried about making a mistake. I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve played a good game this season.&ldquo;I feel the only way I&rsquo;ll get better is by working a regular shift. Look at Bill Gardner. It was the same with him. When he got a regular shift, Bill started producing.&ldquo;Center is my position and someday 1 plan to play there again because I know that&rsquo;s where I can help the team the most. Playing right wing has made my learning experience a little more difficult. But game by game I was catching on to playing right wing. Tom Lysiak and Darryl Sutter helped me a lot and so did (assistant coach) Cliff Koroll.&rdquo;Pulford remains convinced that Yaremchuk can become an outstanding NHL player.&ldquo;His skills are so good,&rdquo; says Pulford. &ldquo;He can skate and shoot. I also think he can be an outstanding right wing. You look at Bob Bourne (of the New York Islanders). He was a centerman; he didn&rsquo;t learn to play left wing overnight.&ldquo;But last year in the playoffs Bourne was one of the Islanders&rsquo; best players. I see Yaremchuk being able to do the same thing&mdash;he already has the good shot and the great speed, just like Bourne.&ldquo;Yaremchuk has to learn to come from behind and not force the play with his speed and learn to make plays with the puck from the right side.&ldquo;Wherever he plays, someday he&rsquo;s going to turn out to be one of the better ones.&rdquo;HAWK TALK&mdash;The Hawks have almost clinched a playoff spot after splitting a weekend series with Toronto, losing the first 7-3 and winning the second 5-4. Al Secord returned to the lineup, after a lengthy stretch on the disabled list with pulled abdominal muscles. While Secord showed the physical effects of the long layoff, he played the role of the sparkplug with his intimidating play. A check he gave Toronto&rsquo;s Stewart Gavin forced the Leaf player to miss the balance of the game&hellip;Left winger Curt Fraser and defenseman Behn Wilson are back in the lineup after missing five and four games, respectively, with back injuries.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011260/4903364-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="582" height="764"><figcaption class="caption-body">Junior sensation Ken Yaremchuk has been hampered by injuries and adjusting to a new position.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Yaremchuk Feeling Frustration

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 Ki veil, 287 MacPherson Ave.Toronto, Ontario M4V 1A4 (416) 928-2909SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES MANAGERPaula HeardNEWSSTAND SERVICES MANAGEREsther SumkaCIRCULATION DEPARTMENTKathy NiklesRosanne TaninoACCOUNTING DEPARTMENTTom MoffatMary CarubiaSPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGERHughes MarketingHockey News Bookshelf (416) 499-8227ADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL OFFICES85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100Toronto, Ontario, CanadaM3B 2R2(416) 445-5702EXECUTIVE OFFICE850 Third AvenueNew York, New York10022NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTORDistributed nationally by Disticor 101 Duncan Mill Rd., Suite L4 Don Mills, Ont., M3B 1Z3 (416) 449-6430THE HOCKEY NEWS, (ISSN 0018-3016) is published weekly except monthly June and bimonthly July and August by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd., 85 Scarsdale Road #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2 (416) 445-5702. In U.S. do 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 all Canadian and Foreign subscription orders to THE HOCKEY NEWS, P.O. Box 13055, Postal Station &lsquo;A&rsquo;, Toronto, Ont. M5W 1V7. U.S. subscription requests should be mailed to Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y. 14240. Please allow 4-6 weeks for processing.SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO THE HOCKEY NEWS, 85 Scarsdale Road #100, Toronto. Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2. Second Class mail Registration No. 1327. All inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addressed to Subscription Dept., The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Road, #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2.IN THE UNITED STATES: Second class postage paid at New York, N.Y. and at additional mailing offices, U.S. POSTMASTER send address change to: The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904. Buffalo. N.Y. 14240.Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations &#9632;

The Hockey New

<h2>Next Week</h2>Next week&rsquo;s issue marks the end of another National Hockey League regular season. So we&rsquo;ll have the complete final scoring and goaltending results for every NHL player.And since it&rsquo;s the end of another season, that means it&rsquo;s time for the Stanley Cup playoffs to begin. We&rsquo;ll have a playoff preview with capsule looks at all eight opening-round series plus features on how NHL stars cope with Cup pressure; how the officials are picked for playoff games and what the playoffs mean financially to an NHL team.It&rsquo;s the most exciting time of the year. Don&rsquo;t miss it!<h2>April 20</h2>Who&rsquo;s going to win the Norris Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s best defenseman? Will it be offensive-minded Paul Coffey of the Edmonton Oilers. Or will it be a defensive stalwart such as Washington&rsquo;s Rod Langway? It&rsquo;s a question we&rsquo;ll examine in depth.We&rsquo;ll also have first-round playoff results and summaries.Don&rsquo;t miss it! &#9632;

COMING SOON IN THN

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;A solid, 40-goal scorer can never be considered merely a throw-in when a hockey trade is made, but that&rsquo;s just about what Mark Napier appeared to be when he first joined the Minnesota North Stars.He was still hobbled by an injury when an early-season trade sent Bobby Smith to Montreal and brought he and Keith Acton to Minnesota. Acton was an instant hit, for his hustling, two-way play.Because he played the same center position as Smith, Acton was heralded for helping change the personality of the club toward quickness up the middle.But Napier just filled in, here and there, when he came back to full health. Talent and depth at the forward slots left Napier without a certain regular job. In his first 39 games with the North Stars, he scored only six goals and 15 assists.In the North Stars&rsquo; recent surge through the stretch, however, Napier has been a vital factor. In the 13 games leading up to the final week of the regular season, Napier had scored seven goals and nine assists for 16 points.And, when Steve Payne got hot on the left side of the line with Napier and center Brian Lawton, Napier recorded just one goal but a whopping seven assists in four games.But Napier&rsquo;s influence on the Stars is as important in the dressing room and off the ice, too. While he wouldn&rsquo;t take credit for it, he organized a group of players to visit the Minneapolis Children&rsquo;s Hospital around Christmas and since then the players have also visited University Hospitals in Minneapolis.&ldquo;My dad died of cancer two years ago,&rdquo; Napier said. &ldquo;I guess I lean toward visiting places like that, because I know it&rsquo;s tough for people in those situations and if something like a visit from athletes can cheer them up, it&rsquo;s worth it.&rdquo;North Star public relations director Dick Dillman said Napier organized the visits on his own.&ldquo;I never thought I&rsquo;d run into a player as classy as Al McAdam,&rdquo; said Dillman, &ldquo;but I have. At Christmastime, Napier brought gifts in to several people in the office. I asked him what it was for and he said, &lsquo;For helping me.&rsquo; We should have been thanking him instead.&rdquo;So it is fitting that Napier should also be fitting in as a solid contributor to the team these days and if he&rsquo;s setting up teammates, backchecking and fulfilling various roles instead of just scoring goals, he&rsquo;s satisfied.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have any rhythm going when I first got to play here,&rdquo; said Napier. &ldquo;When that happens, your confidence goes down and if you&rsquo;re not playing well you don&rsquo;t play as much. It&rsquo;s a Catch-22, but you&rsquo;ve got to wait for the next chance.&ldquo;When I first signed with the WHA (World Hockey Association), we had a tough team with a lot of checkers. I was told to go for goals and I scored a lot because I was on a team that needed goals. At Montreal, we had a lot of scorers, so you have to be a two-way player or not play.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the same thing here in Minnesota. There are enough good goal-scorers here. It&rsquo;s important to prevent goals more than scoring them, maybe. If you give up the chance to score a few, someone else will pick up the slack.&rdquo;With Willi Plett on the right side, the unit clicked right away. When Plett went off for a suspension, Payne was installed at left wing on the line and Napier was shifted to the right.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m feeling good now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It may not be that great a year productionwise for me, but it doesn&rsquo;t matter if we can have a good playoff. It&rsquo;s a good time to get going.&rdquo;STAR NOTES&mdash;The North Stars&rsquo; optimism for the upcoming playoffs was bruised when goaltender Don Beaupre, who had lost only one of nine starts with a 5-1-2 span through March, went out with a knee injury.Beaupre stretched his knee when he was piled on in the crease during a 4-4 tie with the New York Islanders. Beaupre finished the game, but the knee stiffened up the next day. He was to undergo tests and was expected to miss the final four regular-season games, at least.General Manager Lou Nanne got University of North Dakota senior Jon Casey to agree to a tryout and brought him in to dress as backup to Gilles Meloche. Meloche had a 1-5-3 record in recent games, but has been at his best, during his career, when he knew he had to carry the load and the magnitude of playoff games was present.Other goalies in the organization include Jim Craig, recovering from a severe hamstring pull Jan. 20, and Mike Sands, who has been hampered with a groin-muscle strain at Salt Lake City. &#9632;

Napier Influence Felt Many Ways

<h2>DRUG CHARGES DENIED</h2>VANCOUVER&mdash;Former National Hockey League defenseman Steve Durbano, who&rsquo;s now serving a seven-year sentence for drug smuggling, claims 20 to 25 per cent of NHL players are users of drugs ranging from marijuana to cocaine to speed, but some of his former teammates deny his allegations.Ron Delorme and John Garrett of the Vancouver Canucks and Colin Campbell of the Detroit Red Wings have all played with Durbano at some point in their careers and unanimously agree Durbano&rsquo;s statements are false.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s mad at the world,&rdquo; Delorme said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe that figure he gave. How would he know? How could he say that, especially from where he is now?&ldquo;He&rsquo;s judging that on the guys he played with and that makes me look bad because I played with him. I don&rsquo;t need that. I was really cheesed off when Johnny Garrett told me abut that story.&rdquo;Garrett, who described Durbano as a &ldquo;little strange,&rdquo; said he had &ldquo;doubts about his lifestyle and that&rsquo;s why I avoided him.&rdquo;&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s a little bitter at the NHL and society in general,&rdquo; Garrett added. &ldquo;How anybody could say that 25 per cent of the players in the NHL are using drugs is stupid.&rdquo;Campbell says Durbano is seeking publicity.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s put it this way, coming from him, it&rsquo;s understandable that he would want to strike back at the league and the players.&rdquo;<h2>HULL CRITICIZES PLAYERS</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;Former NHL star Bobby Hull believes today&rsquo;s NHL players are not giving a full effort and are cheating the fans.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not here to downgrade anybody, but sometimes I feel the people out there on the ice need to be reminded that they&rsquo;re in the entertainment business,&rdquo; Hull said. &ldquo;The most important people are those 16,000 to 18,000 people sitting there in the stands. They&rsquo;re the ones we have to keep happy.&rdquo;<h2>BLACK CAT DIES</h2>RHODE ISLAND&mdash;Johnny (Black Cat) Gagnon, a former NHL player and scout, died on March 21 after a lengthy illness. He was 79.Gagnon ran away from home at age 12 to pursue a hockey career and played with the Montreal Canadiens in the early &lsquo;30s and closed out his career with the New York Americans in the late &lsquo;30s after stints in between with Boston and a return with the Habs.In 454 games, he had 120 goals and 141 assists.<h2>DIONNE BETTERS BUCYK</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;Los Angeles&rsquo; Marcel Dionne, who broke into the NHL in 1971-72, has moved up on the NHL&rsquo;s all-time scoring list and had one of his own records broken.Dionne became the fourth-leading scorer of all time when he collected a goal and two assists in a 4-3 loss to Winnipeg to surpass former Boston Bruin Johnny Bucyk, who held the previous mark with 1,369.However, Dionne&rsquo;s rookie record of 77 points with Detroit was topped by Red Wing freshman Steve Yzerman, who also broke the team&rsquo;s rookie record of 36 goals set by former Red Wing Mike Foligno. &#9632;

SLAPSHOTS

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div>Inspiration to become a professional hockey player has come in many forms for many different players.For Lou Fontinato, it was a farm.&ldquo;I had always wanted to play hockey as a kid,&rdquo; recalled Fontinato, who played nine seasons (1954-63) in the National Hockey League for the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens. &ldquo;But I also knew that someday I wanted to own a farm.&ldquo;So I figured that one way to earn the money it took to buy a farm would be to play pro hockey. So wanting that farm spumed me on to be a pro hockey player.&rdquo;Today, Fontinato owns a 265-acre beef cattle farm in Eden Mills, Ont. He has been in farming since he retired from hockey with an injury that nearly ended his life.The former defenseman suffered a broken neck in a game between the Canadiens and his former teammates, the Rangers.&ldquo;It never really scared me that much when it happened,&rdquo; said the 52-year-old Fontinato, a native of Guelph, Ont. &ldquo;I always thought I would recover and be able to play again.&ldquo;But when I was told to retire I thought to myself that it&rsquo;s done, it happened and that&rsquo;s it.&ldquo;So I went into farming with no regrets about leaving a game I really loved.&rdquo;Fontinato was brought up to the Rangers with the reputation of being a hard-nosed, fighting player.&ldquo;It was my job to make sure that guys like (Maurice) Richard and (Gordie) Howe didn&rsquo;t score the goals against us,&rdquo; said Fontinato. &ldquo;When they scored goals it was like letting them put their hand in your pocket and take money from you.&ldquo;So it was my job to do something about it. And it sometimes meant me knocking them on their butt or taking a round out of them.&rdquo;Some of Fontinato&rsquo;s fights against Richard and Howe were legendary. One such fight against Howe, in fact, is believed by at least one critic to have ruined and deteriorated Fontinato&rsquo;s tough style of play. Howe was a clear winner.In his Ice Hockey Encyclopedia, Stan Fischler writes of Fontinato:&ldquo;His air of braggadocio vanished. His play deteriorated and so did the Rangers.&rdquo;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the fight ruined me,&rdquo; said Fontinato. &ldquo;I think I got my fare share of hits on Howe.&ldquo;Despite that, I went on to have two good seasons with the Canadiens, seasons which I played with a hell of a lot of confidence.&rdquo;In his present occupation, Fontinato doesn&rsquo;t follow the game that much.&ldquo;I went to see a game last year in Edmonton,&rdquo; remarked the former defenseman. &ldquo;I thought that (Wayne) Gretzky played a great game.&ldquo;The only thing I didn&rsquo;t like about him was that he was allowed to get away with murder. What I mean is that he was getting two or three extra chances on rebound shots to put the puck into the net and nobody was touching him.&ldquo;He should have been knocked flying, not to hurt him mind you, but just to let him know that he wouldn&rsquo;t be getting more than one shot at a time.&ldquo;I would have treated him like I did any other player. Hit &rsquo;em and send them flying. Let them know who&rsquo;s the boss.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04384/4903536-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="584" height="1177"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lou Fontinato had a reputation as a hard-nosed player who wasn&rsquo;t afraid to fight.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

1. Who played on Chicago&rsquo;s Million Dollar Line?2. Which WHA franchise originally signed goaltender Bernie Parent?3. Name the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; first-round pick in 1979 who decided to forego an NHL career to become an Edmonton fireman?4. Name the former Toronto Maple Leaf forward who played in the Stanley Cup finals in six of his seven NHL seasons?5. In what country was Minnesota North Star Willi Pletl bom?6. Rick Vaive recently became the sixth player in NHL history to score 50 goals in at least three consecutive seasons. Who was the first?7. When was the last Stanley Cup final to feature two of the original six clubs?8. What Canadian university did Minnesota&rsquo;s Bill Mahoney once coach?9. Mike Bullard became the fourth Pittsburgh Penguin to score 50 goals in a season. Name the other three?10. When was the last season in which there were no 50-goal scorers?<h2>Trivia Answers</h2>1. Red Hay, Bobby Hull, Murray Balfour.2. Miami Screaming Eagles.3. Robin Sadler.4. Don Metz.5. Paraguay.6. Phil Esposito (1970-71 to 197475).7. 1978-79&mdash;New York Rangers vs. Montreal Canadiens.8. McMaster University.9. Pierre Larouche, Jean Pronovost and Rick Kehoe.10. 1969-70. &#9632;

TRIVIA

<div class="byline">BY BOB DUFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-05258/4903591-1-eng-US/f0005-052.jpg"></div>that the NHL teams with the most ties in one season are: &#9632;

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Did You Know…

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011305/4903622-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Illustration by Ted Michener)</figcaption></div>Since major league hockey is a war game on ice, it stands to reason that the war element will occasionally overshadow the game.When that happens, the fun turns to feuding and friend becomes foe. It is an action-reaction that is as old as the first puck and at this very moment a feud is sparking somewhere in the NHL.It may remain sotto voce or, as in the case of Bob Butera vs. Lou Angotti, the haranguing will make headlines. So, let us examine both the feuds with the high and low decibel counts:BOB BUTERA-LOU ANGOTTI&mdash;This one pits the New Jersey Devils president against the Pittsburgh Penguins coach and revolves around the anticipated top draft pick this June, Mario Lemieux.The team with the worst record gets the best pick and both Pittsburgh and New Jersey have been neck-and-neck in the race for last place. That&rsquo;s where the feud erupted.Late in February, not-so-subtle mutterings began emanating from the Meadowlands that the Penguins were subtly trying to annex last place. In an interview with Rich Chere of the Newark Star-Ledger, Butera stopped short of accusing the Penguins of coasting.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to win every game,&rdquo; said Butera, &ldquo;and I hope Pittsburgh is too&hellip;It&rsquo;s a mystery to me. I think they&rsquo;re a better team than they&rsquo;re showing&hellip;There&rsquo;s no way we&rsquo;re going to start teaching our players how to lose because ever since Tommie McVie came in here we&rsquo;ve been trying to teach them how to win.&rdquo;Penguin coach Lou Angotti did not require a code-breaker to decipher Butera&rsquo;s bombast. The return salvo from Pittsburgh was more emphatic and right on target.&ldquo;Even to plant a seed (that the Penguins weren&rsquo;t trying) like that is a damned disgrace,&rdquo; barked Angotti. &ldquo;After Wayne Gretzky made those statements about his club, how can anybody from this organization criticize us like that? He (Butera) has no class. It&rsquo;s so hypocritical, it&rsquo;s a joke.&rdquo;At one point it appeared that the Penguins would ask NHL president John Ziegler to intervene but decided against such a move. A letter of apology&mdash;and a phone call&mdash;transmitted by Butera to Pittsburgh general manager Eddie Johnston soothed the Penguin high command but the bitterness lingers on and no doubt will be renewed next season.HERB BROOKS-BOB JOHNSON&mdash;Dating back to the days when Brooks coached the University of Minnesota&rsquo;s hockey team and Johnson was Brooks&rsquo; counterpart at Wisconsin, the two have loved each other like a Hatfield and McCoy. Since they&rsquo;ve arrived in the NHL, Herb on Broadway and Bob in Calgary, discretion has been the better part of bombast.Brooks&rsquo; barbs have usually surfaced in off-the-record post-game throwaway lines about Badger Bob, but the intensity remains. When someone asked Brooks on-the-record about Johnson, he replied: &ldquo;Next question.&rdquo;Johnson has been even less candid other than to say: &ldquo;The feud is from him (Brooks), not me.&rdquo;Minnesota North Star vice-president Walter Bush, Jr., acknowledged that there was bad blood between the two Americans. &ldquo;But,&rdquo; Bush added, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the feud is as incendiary as it once was.&rdquo;WILLIE HUBER-JIMMY DEVELLANO&mdash;The anger began curling before the media after Jimmy D. became Detroit Red Wing general manager last season. Negotiations between the two over a new Huber contract bogged down in the mud of recriminations.The roots of the feud are traceable to a claim made by Huber that Devellano never offered him a contract. Jimmy said he did. Jimmy suggested that Willie worked harder at Detroit discos than he did on the ice. The crescendo of carping was in motion, culminating with Huber&rsquo;s one-way ticket to New York.Upon arrival at the Ranger camp, Huber returned the rancor. Devellano replied with a one-word letter: &ldquo;Liar!&rdquo;Early this season Huber was sidelined with an injury. Jimmy D. announced he would send flowers to his nemesis and added they would be pansies. Willie&mdash;who claims he never received the flowers but heard about them&mdash;was militantly unamused.Now Huber discusses Devellano in off-the-record and singularly uncomplimentary terms. Willie suggested that Devellano had no idea how to treat men, rather handled them like garbage and pointed out that Jimmy D. never played the game. He concluded that he could not imagine why an adult would act in the manner which Devellano did. Huber said he is willing to face his adversary when he returns to Detroit this summer.BOBBY ORR-ALAN EAGLESON&mdash;The legendary pals, Damon and Pythias, couldn&rsquo;t have been tighter than super-player Bob and super-agent Al. They broke in together in 1967, helped organized the players&rsquo; union&mdash;with The Eagle ruling the nest&mdash;and seemed destined to ride over the horizon and live happily ever after.The wretched rupture occurred when Orr moved to the Chicago Black Hawks and took on many a Machiavellian turn. When the dust cleared, Orr and Eagleson were continents apart. Furthermore, the Eagle&rsquo;s associate, Bill Watters, set up an agent&rsquo;s nest of his own&mdash;with Orr as a client.Imprecations have been hurled to and fro faster than slapshots but lately they have been limited to friends. One who knows Orr put it this way about the retired ace&rsquo;s attitude toward Eagleson: &lsquo;&lsquo;There&rsquo;s resentment on Bobby&rsquo;s part toward Eagleson, not to mention animosity and bitterness. He feels Alan betrayed him.&rdquo;Another who is close to Orr said the split is so deep that repair is unthinkable. &ldquo;The relationship,&rdquo; said Watters, &ldquo;simply does not exist between Bobby and Alan. It is not unlike the relationship between the Eagle and I.&rdquo;PHIL ESPOSITO-ROD GILBERT&mdash;Ever since Phil was traded from the hated Boston Bruins to the New York Rangers and usurped the Blueshirts&rsquo; captaincy from Ranger Rod, the feeling has been more sour than Chinese mustard. Phil recently noted that his long-running feuds with NHL president John Ziegler and Al Eagleson have been dissipated &ldquo;but not with Rod.&rdquo;Phil is miffed because Rod turned down an invitation to appear at Madison Square Garden on April 1, in the Esposito Foundation&rsquo;s Masters of Hockey event. A member of the Foundation said: &ldquo;Bill Chadwick (of the Rangers&rsquo; office) had asked Rod and he indicated he&rsquo;d play. Then, he changed his mind. We were told that he didn&rsquo;t want to do it if it had anything to do with Phil. And when Phil heard about it he just went nuts.&rdquo;An NHL official, not connected with any team, explained that the bad blood is traceable to the Esposito invasion of the Rangers when Gilbert was lord of the Blueshirts. Rod has made himself absent from most Masters events.PETE PEETERS-CHRIS KOTSOPOULOS&mdash;If the Whalers had been a playoff team this personality collision would be even bigger. As it is, the possibility of it resuming next season is excellent. For starters, the Bruins and Whalers do not like each other a lot. For another, Kotsopoulos has taken it upon himself to bug Peeters over the fact that he won&rsquo;t win the Vezina Trophy again this year.During one recent encounter, Peeters not only listened, he offered to meet Kotsopoulos outside after the game. &ldquo;Peeters challenged me to a fight and I turned him down,&rdquo; said Chris. &ldquo;It started when he was yelling at me off the bench. So I yelled back about him not being the No. 1 goaltender any more, and maybe being a crybaby. Is there something personal between us? It never showed up before, so I don&rsquo;t know. He made a reference about me being big and dumb and I made a reference about him being ugly.&rdquo;PAUL BAXTER-TIGER WILLIAMS&mdash;Baxter has harbored the suspicion that earlier in the season Williams tried to seal off his windpipe and said his neck would vouch for it. Williams claimed that Baxter could easily qualify for an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor of the year.MICHEL BERGERON-HARRY SINDEN&mdash;When Harry called the Stastny Brothers a bunch of Commie-Pinkos it was a little much even for a Francophone such as Bergeron. If the clubs clash in the playoffs, we can expect this duo to fire the darts.DALE HUNTER-INNUMERABLE&mdash;Not long ago, Hunter struck Mike Ramsey of the Sabres in the face with his stick. Ramsey fell to the ice, his mouth bleeding profusely. Substitute Ramsey for you-name-him and there is another Dale Hunter feud.BILL SMITH-GLEN SATHER&mdash;It began with Smitty vs. Wayne Gretzky two years ago and resumed in the playoffs last year. Sather picked up on the fillibustering which will resume if the clubs meet again this spring. &#9632;

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Who Hates Who In The World Of Pro Hockey

The International Hockey WeeklyFounded in 1947Published by W C.C. Publishing Ltd85 Scarsdale Road, #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2.<h2>Afternoon Delight</h2>ONE OF THE most time-honored traditions that professional hockey has going for it is Saturday night. Saturday night was and still is Hockey Night In Canada. It&rsquo;s more than the name of a television production. For many of us. it&rsquo;s a way of life.It came to be this way because the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, the only Canadian teams in the days of the six-team NHL, both played home games on Saturday night.In the era of radio, that meant you heard either the Habs or Leafs on Saturday night. When television was introduced, hockey fans across the country had their eyes riveted to the action at either Maple Leaf Gardens or the Montreal Forum.Talk to an adult hockey fan in Canada, or even the U.S. for that matter, and chances are that he&rsquo;s got a special place in his heart for Saturday, with recollections of Foster Hewitt or Murray Westgate.Even now, with 21 teams in the NHL and seven of them in Canada, Saturday night is still Hockey Night In Canada. Foster and Murray are gone, and maybe the feeling isn&rsquo;t quite so special as it used to be. Nevertheless, Saturday night remains as the night that hockey is supposed to be played and telecast to a nation of hockey fans.Until March 25, that is. Mark that date on your calendar because that&rsquo;s the day that Hockey Night In Canada emerged from the darkness, comfort and security of Saturday night tothe brilliance of Sunday afternoon.And, after watching the Edmonton Oilers skate to a 3-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets, one has to wonder why we&rsquo;ve waited so long for a Sunday afternoon version of Hockey Night In Canada.From a sports fan&rsquo;s standpoint, it makes a lot of sense.Sunday afternoons, once the National Football League Super Bowl is history, are not one of the more exciting days where television sports are concerned.If you&rsquo;re into the National Basketball Association, you might grab a noon-hour tilt with the Sixers or Celtics. If you&rsquo;re a diehard football fan with absolutely nothing to do, then you might try to get interested in the United States Football League. It&rsquo;s still too early for baseball.Other than that, you get a steady diet of Battle of the Network this or that; guys carrying refrigerators on their back or perhaps, if you are lucky, a half-decent golf tournament.With ail due respect to all these entertainment spectacles, nothing quite hits the spot like hockey. But then you wouldn&rsquo;t expect THE HOCKEY NEWS to say anything else, would you?Seriously, though, the timing is perfect. Interest is peaking because the playoffs are just around the comer. Relatively speaking, there isn&rsquo;t a lot of competition as far as other television programs are concerned.When the NHL had a game-of-the-week deal with NBC back in the &lsquo;70s, it was on Sunday afternoon. But that was different than the production we viewed on March 25.The NBC telecasts were poorly done. The camera angles were bad. NHL president John Ziegler even admits that the clubs have to share in some of the blame since they didn&rsquo;t fully cooperate with the network.The Hockey Night in Canada production on March 25, as usual, was excellent. It was professional in every sense of the word, the same high standards we have all known and come to take for granted.The foray into Sunday afternoon, HNIC admits, was an experiment. They&rsquo;ll be carefully monitoring the ratings to see how they fared.Weil, far be it for THE HOCKEY NEWS to horn in on Mr. Neilsen&rsquo;s territory, but here&rsquo;s betting that the Oiler-Jet game did pretty well in the ratings. Just call it a hunch.Sunday afternoon hockey in February and March just seems to make a lot of sense. In the strictest sense, it&rsquo;s not prime time television but in the narrow world of sports, what better day is there to plop down in front of the tube and watch two teams do battle?If the ratings and logistics of the March 25 contest arc good, then why not try filling the football void on Sunday afternoons in February and March with hockey. It&rsquo;s worth a shot. &#9632;

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY BOB MCKENZIE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011247/4903677-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="329" height="373"></div>The late-night television sportscaster in Toronto led off his report with, &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not much of anything significant happening tonight in the National Hockey League. Both the Leafs and Chicago Black Hawks are idle.&rdquo;He did proceed to give other scores from around the NHL but it struck at least one viewer that the talking head&rsquo;s philosophy&mdash;nothing significant was happening because it didn&rsquo;t involve the Leafs or Hawks, two teams then fighting(?) for a playoff spot in the Norris Division&mdash;was a totally warped way of looking at professional hockey today.Be that as it may, it&rsquo;s not uncommon in Toronto these days for people to be down on hockey. You hear them all the time: &ldquo;The game has really gone downhill.&rdquo; &ldquo;It&rsquo;snot like it used to be.&rdquo;The fact of the matter is that hockey doesn&rsquo;t stink today. But the Toronto Maple Leafs do. And in Toronto, where hockey holds a special place in the hearts of sports fans, it&rsquo;s easier to say the game&rsquo;s bad than it is to say the team they&rsquo;ve been nurtured on, which used to be a national institution, is no better than the Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils or Los Angeles Kings.The Toronto Maple Leafs are also-rans. They have been for some time, longer than those of us who live in Toronto would care to admit.Nevertheless, Leaf fans refuse to come down hard on the team.Last season, when the Leafs were going through a particularly disastrous stretch, an open-line sports show host urged his listeners to turn out in force at Maple Leaf Gardens on a Saturday night and bum their tickets for that game, a symbolic gesture to Leaf owner Harold Ballard. The talk-show host turned up with a few supporters and the reports of the incident said they were burning old Toronto Marlboro tickets.This season, the Marlboros have provided the best hockey entertainment Toronto fans could find.The Leaf fans have been treated to horrible hockey game after game. The biggest story of the season was a seedy feud between the Leafs and the Toronto Globe and Mail. Now, as the schedule mercifully draws to a close for the Leafs, the raging controversey is who on the team doesn&rsquo;t care. Team captain Rick Vaive says there are too many slackers. Jim Korn echoed those sentiments. Harold Ballard and Gerry McNamara want to know who they are. Dave Hutchison says the bosses need only ask him and he&rsquo;ll spill the beans.Wayne Gretzky missed the deserving target when he fired his Mickey Mouse salvo at the New Jersey Devils.Still, don&rsquo;t ask Toronto hockey fans to hate the Leafs. The biggest response you might get would be to have one or two of the 16,000 Maple Leaf Gardens patrons wear a gas mask or paper bag over his head. No, for better or worse, the Leafs are Toronto&rsquo;s team.Actually, it&rsquo;s not really the fans&rsquo; fault for assuming that hockey in general is putrid. Most Leaf fans don&rsquo;t get to see too many other games. Perhaps if they did, then they&rsquo;d realize that the world of hockey isn&rsquo;t such a bad place after all.A case in point: On March 17, the Leafs visited the Canadiens in Montreal, a match-up that used to carry a great deal of significance.That night, it had to be considered one of the worst hockey games ever played. Late in the third period, the Leafs had managed only nine shots on net. They lost 6-1 and were outshot 45-13.That same night, the Washington Capitals were on Long Island to play the defending-Cup champion Islanders. From all accounts, it was an exciting, tense struggle that resulted in the Capitals winning 2-1 in a game that was played the way hockey is meant to be.Unfortunately, Leaf fans saw only momentary clips of the three goals in that game, just enough to make them realize they were being cheated by being fed the TorontoMontreal pablum. But at the end of the game&mdash;if they lasted that long&mdash;the fans thought back to what used to be a great rivalry, compared it to the crap they had seen and were left with no other conclusion than hockey&rsquo;s in a horrible state.Which is why it is only fitting that, as of April 2,1984, the Toronto Maple Leafs will be finished for the season. And as they disappear from the scene, it&rsquo;s a good bet that the notion of the NHL being bad entertainment will go with them.Dispatch those pretenders and bring on the contenders. Let&rsquo;s see Boston, Buffalo, the Islanders, Washington, Edmonton, Quebec, Philadelphia and the Rangers.It is time for Toronto Maple Leaf fans to become hockey fans once again.And to answer Joe Falls&rsquo; question on page 12 of this issue&mdash;&rdquo;Can there be a finer way to spend a Saturday night in Toronto than to go to a hockey game?&rsquo; &lsquo;&mdash;one can only hope the answer is yes.If not, it doesn&rsquo;t say much about the fair city of Toronto. &#9632;

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EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

<h2>STEAMING OVER SHOOTOUTS</h2>I found Marcel Aubut&rsquo;s comments in Stan Fischler&rsquo;s column (March 16) somewhat disturbing. He makes the assumption that shootouts to determine overtime ties are something the fans want to see. I find this hard to believe; I think it&rsquo;s an awful idea and I don&rsquo;t know a hockey fan that thinks it&rsquo;s a good one.If a proper poll were conducted and the fans voted to accept this dubious idea, then I&rsquo;d be the first to admit I&rsquo;m wrong, but I just can&rsquo;t buy the assumption that the majority of fans would support it.Robert Wojtowicz Rochester, NY<h2>TICKLED BY TV DEAL</h2>I just finished reading the editorial in the Feb. 24th issue of THN and it tickled me pink. If Carling-O&rsquo;Keefe&rsquo;s plans come through, I for one will be a very happy hockey fan. My family and I probably live in one of the few areas of Central New York State that does not offer cable television. Other than listening to hockey on the radio, the only hockey I watch is Hockey Night in Canada. Please don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m complaining. From October to May, it&rsquo;s my very favorite television program. I am also definitely not a hockey widow. Even my three-year-old daughter loves to watch a game with me and my husband.Watching hockey on Saturday night is great, but during the week also&hellip;well, that would be icing on the cake. So, to the sport of ice hockey&mdash;thank you for existing&mdash;and to Carling-O&rsquo;Keefe, thank you for making it possible for me to watch my favorite sport more often.Jennifer Meek New Haven, NY<h2>GRETZKY MEASURES BEST</h2>It has been stated that we learn from our past. Does that apply to hockey? Let&rsquo;s see.It&rsquo;s the mid &lsquo;40s and the world is at war. A young French Canadian playing hockey in Montreal is making headlines. While the fans applaud, the experts state: &ldquo;He plays in a league with talent decimated by the war. He cannot be compared to the great Joe Malone.&rdquo;We move to the &lsquo;70s and a Chicago castoff leads a Boston team to several Stanley Cups. The fans marvel, but the experts state: &ldquo;He plays in a league diluted by expansion. He cannot be compared to the great Rocket Richard.&rdquo;We are now in the &lsquo;80s and a softspoken hockey player in Edmonton is winning scoring titles by mid-season. The fans are amazed, but the experts state: &ldquo;He plays in a league which forgot the meaning of defense. He cannot be compared to the Great Phil Esposito.&rdquo;There is no longer any doubt, he is now the yardstick by which all future greats will be measured.Fred Van Oeveren Grand Rapids, Ml &#9632;

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>BOSTON&mdash;Terry O&rsquo;Reilly plucked the rebound off the pads of falling Ranger goalie Glen Hanlon, looked at half an open net, then passed across the crease to Steve Kasper for an easy tap-in.Steve Kasper. There&rsquo;s a name out of the past. Didn&rsquo;t he used to play for the Bruins?&ldquo;None of them are ever easy,&rdquo; grinned Kasper, &ldquo;but that was nice. It&rsquo;s been a long time.&rdquo;Indeed it has.The goal that helped the Bruins to a badly needed 6-4 victory over the Rangers on March 20 was only Kasper&rsquo;s second goal of the seasoh.But then it was only his 21st game of the season, his first since Feb. 27 and his fourth since Nov. 24 when he suffered a left shoulder separation when he was felled by a heavy check from Quebec&rsquo;s Normand Rochefort.More than that, the 22-year-old center, who was on the verge of stardom after winning the Selke Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s best defensive forward in 1981-82, missed all but 24 games of the 1982-83 season after surgery to repair a tom capsule in his left shoulder.Still, Kasper does not regard the current year as a lost season.&ldquo;If I play well in the last seven games and do well in the playoffs, it won&rsquo;t be a lost season,&rdquo; he said before starting at center between O&rsquo;Reilly and Jim Nill against the Rangers.He got off to a good start. In addition to the goal only 4:53 into the first period, he also assumed his favorite role, that of shadow, this time to the Rangers&rsquo; Pierre Larouche, a 44-goal scorer at the time.Larouche had only one shot on goal during the game although it really wasn&rsquo;t entirely due to Kasper since the Rangers played with four lines, the Bruins three, and the Rangers had last line change on their home rink.Larouche noticed him, though.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the best at it in the league,&rdquo; Larouche said. &ldquo;Maybe the best. Whatever you do, wherever you go, he stays with you. He never does anything dirty. He&rsquo;s just always in front of you.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still a little tender in the left shoulder,&rdquo; Kasper said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be tender until I take time off in the summer. But the encouraging thing is that I have no swelling. I&rsquo;m a little tired, but it&rsquo;s a good tired, the way it was supposed to be all winter.&rdquo;The season nearly ended for Kasper with the Rochefort check Nov. 24. He was about to come back during the first week in January when it was discovered that the separation had not knitted properly. He underwent surgery Jan. 7.&ldquo;Some calcium had built up where the separation was,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was grinding, bone on bone, and causing quite a bit of pain. I was able to do just about everything but if I did it real quick, without thinking, like turning to take a pass, it hurt. I probably could have come back and played awhile but the odds were I wouldn&rsquo;t have lasted long without doing it again.&ldquo;When it happened, the doctors told me that 90 per cent of shoulders heal on their own. It&rsquo;s just my bad luck that I fall into that other 10 per cent.&rdquo;Kasper returned to the ice after surgery Feb. 22 in Los Angeles, then hurt the same shoulder two games later in Buffalo.&ldquo;After that last game,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;one doctor told me I should take six weeks off and see what happened. But if I did that it would be a lost season. So I took three weeks off and got the thumbs up again. &ldquo;Total rest was prescribed so he spent the first two weeks of his enforced absence doing absolutely nothing. Then he spent a week furiously riding a stationary bicycle. The last three days before his comeback against the Rangers he skated all out. The rest and work showed.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a sparkplug,&rdquo; said teammate Barry Pederson, who has had perhaps too much ice time this season, due largely to injuries to Kasper and Tom Fergus, the Bruins&rsquo; other front-line center. &ldquo;He plays so hard, with such determination, it makes all of us play harder. He didn&rsquo;t win the Selke award for nothing.&rdquo;&ldquo;He adds spunk and he&rsquo;s a top checker,&rdquo; said coach Gerry Cheevers. &ldquo;He plays well in either end and he&rsquo;s always conscious of not getting caught. We&rsquo;ve had success killing penalties with whoever we use but he&rsquo;s a leader in that department.&rdquo; &#9632;

Kasper Doesn’t Carry Chip On His Shoulder

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div>QUEBEC&mdash;In the final weeks of the regular season, Nordique coach Michel Bergeron decided that the time had come to get his No. 1 netminder ready for the playoffs. He did this by giving Dan Bouchard four starts in seven days, the last three games played on four evenings on the road.Bouchard responded well, winning two and earning a draw in those four starts. His only loss was in overtime against Edmonton. Bouchard helped Quebec to a 6-4 triumph over St. Louis, a 5-5 draw against Minnesota and let in only one goal in a 3-1 victory out west against the Kings.&ldquo;With the playoffs starting, Dan will be playing back-to-back games and so I decided to try it now,&rdquo; said Bergeron, who said at the start of a trip out west that he would use all his players, including backup netminder Clint Malarchuk.Malarchuk won&rsquo;t see much action when the playoffs start and Mario Gosselin is out with a knee problem. This means that Bouchard will be in net for all the games, at least until he falls apart in a couple of starts. Then it might be Malarchuk, or even Gosselin if he returns, but no one really expects that to happen.Bouchard was a key to Quebec&rsquo; success on the road. He beat the Blues almost singlehandedly, with the Nordiques being outshot by a two-to-one ratio throughout the game. Bouchard was going down to the ice a little fast against the North Stars the next evening, but was splendid in allowing the Kings only one goal two days later. Los Angeles had already been eliminated from postseason play before that game and had nothing to lose.After 53 starts, Bouchard had a 3.25 goals-against average, placing him in sixth position in the league. But the 53 games he has played in are at least eight more than the five netminders with a lower average. He has been number one for Bergeron all year and this will continue in the playoffs.&ldquo;In our win in Los Angeles he once again made the key saves when he had to because we were two men short in the firstperiod,&rdquo; Bergeron said. &ldquo;He has the experience and he will be ready for the playoffs.&rdquo;Another player Quebec is counting on these days is center Jean-Francois Sauve, acquired in the Real Cloutier deal in the off-season but relegated to Fredericton for most of the season. In the last two months, Bergeron has used Sauve at the blueline on the power play and to fill in now and then on a fourth line.With all their firepower, Quebec has been a big disappointment on the power play all season. After trying five or six regulars on the blueline, including Wilf Paiement and Anton Stastny, Bergeron has settled on Sauve, usually accompanied by defenseman Mario Marois.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter at all how much time a player spends on the ice, but rather what he does when he is there,&rdquo; said Bergeron.Sauve had 21 points, including nine goals, in only 31 starts with Quebec this year, pretty good considering his limited ice time.&ldquo;When you have confidence in your abilities there is no telling what you can do,&rdquo; Sauve said. &ldquo;I am always rested when I jump on the ice because I am not playing a regular shift. It is nice to see that my coach has confidence in me as well and that he uses me in critical situations.&rdquo; &#9632;

Bergeron To Lean On Bouchard In Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY RICH FRIEDMAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;Ranger coach Herb Brooks had been looking forward to entering the playoffs with a core of 17 or 18 players whom he considered capable of taking the team all the way, but now he has an overabundance of almost evenly-matched bodies&mdash;a situation some coaches would envy&mdash;which means he has to make some decisons.When the Rangers beat the Devils 5-3 with a full 60-minute effort that had been absent in recent weeks, a core of veterans that would whet the appetites of any general manager did not play. Defensemen Tom Laidlaw and Ron Greschner and forwards Blaine Stoughton, Mike Rogers, Don Maloney and Mike Allison sat out for a variety of reasons, ranging from Maloney&rsquo;s exhaustion&mdash;the defense was in need of a rest too&mdash;to Rogers&rsquo; recent non-performance. Others were victims of the perennial numbers game.Dave Maloney, the former captain, continued to be benched.Brooks tried to find positive ways to view the situation and was not always successful.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;Our playoff roster could vary according to who we play.&rsquo;</blockquote>&ldquo;Our playoff roster could vary according to who we play,&rdquo; Brooks said. &lsquo;&lsquo;We&rsquo;d play different lineups for Washington and the Islanders so it does give us a little flexibility.&rdquo;The playoff roster would be determined primarily on players&rsquo; performance. At least a half-a-dozen players were right on the borderline, including Rogers and Dave Maloney, who had been trying a bit too hard and were making mistakes in the defensive zone.&ldquo;Obviously, the situation has some good and bad,&rdquo; Brooks said. &ldquo;Good in flexibility and the bad&mdash;the pulling out your hair and some internal, &lsquo;Why me&rsquo;s.&rsquo; You try not to turn it into a negative situation, the internal pulling for jobs, but sometimes it gets a little sticky, with guys not playing. Sometimes through adversity you build character.&rdquo;This overcrowded situation began just after the Olympic Games in mid February. Defenseman James Patrick&rsquo;s postOlympic arrival had been heralded for months, but contract problems and his ability to fit into the lineup clouded that decision. Once he settled his salary dispute and adjusted to the Ranger lineup, that influenced Dave Maloney&rsquo;s not playing.Stoughton&rsquo;s acquisition from Hartford just before the National Hockey League trading deadline March 6 further complicated matters. The Rangers did not have to reach into their active lineup to get Stoughton, giving up minor-league defenseman Scot Kleinendorst. Then came the additions of Bob Brooke and center Larry Patey from St. Louis for minor leaguer Dave Barr and cash.Three of the newcomers&mdash;atrick, Brooke and Patey&mdash;layed against the Devils. Steve Weeks played in net after a long layoff, with Glen Hanlon suffering from back problems that had bothered him for some time.The victory over the Devils came after yet another uneven stretch for the Rangers. They had followed a come-from-behind victory at the Garden over the Flyers with a 6-4 loss at the Spectrum three days later. In that game, not only did they give up the last five goals, but the 4-2 lead they carried into the third period transformed into the first loss they&rsquo;d suffered all season after leading going into the third.Were it not for Hanlon&rsquo;s goaltending, the score could easily have been 10-4. Adding to Hanlon&rsquo;s indignity was his teammates&rsquo; failure to retaliate late in the third period when he was speared in the chest-protector by the Flyers&rsquo; Ron Sutter.Three nights later at home, the Rangers played 55 minutes of decent hockey against the Bruins. They dug themselves a hole by surrendering a 3-0 led in the first 4:53 and trailed 4-0 after the final period. Nick Fotiu then attempted to climb the glass in the comer after he was taunted by a Garden spectator. Fotiu was ejected from the game, issued a gross misconduct penalty and could face sus-pension.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011176/4903811-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="584" height="648"><figcaption class="caption-body">Former captain Dave Maloney has become a victim of the Rangers&rsquo; overcrowded situation.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Brooks Faced With Crowded Team

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>MONTREAL&mdash;The certainty is the Canadiens will finish fourth in the Adams Division. The probability is that they will face the Buffalo Sabres in the first round.The question is: Can the Canadiens win a game from the Sabres?There probably will be few who think the Canadiens will even come close to the team coached by their former mentor Scotty Bowman. During the regular season, the Canadiens failed to win a game against Buffalo and, of course, everyone in this town remembers the rather inglorious three-game sweep at the hands of the Sabres last spring.Yet, in the wake of a 4-2 loss to Buffalo in the final regular-season game between the two on March 21, there was more of a positive feeling in the Montreal camp.&ldquo;We were right there,&rdquo; said defenseman Larry Robinson. &ldquo;They got a power-play goal (by Gilles Hamel in the second period) which was kind of a bangbang play, but we didn&rsquo;t let down.&ldquo;We have to be a little bit satisfied. We can&rsquo;t be satisfied because we didn&rsquo;t win, but we are going in the right direction.&ldquo;We have to play a little bit better. Defensively we didn&rsquo;t do too badly, but we didn&rsquo;t come at them with a lot of offense. We are still a little hesitant.&rdquo;But unlike many of their previous games against the Sabres, the Canadiens did not find themselves backed into their end for great stretches of the evening. They only permitted Buffalo 20 shots at rookie goaltender Steve Penney, who was making his NHL debut.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve won a few more games lately playing a closer style of hockey,&rdquo; added team captain Bob Gainey. &ldquo;We have been playing better with the tools that we have. I think going into the playoffs we have to put our best game on ice with our best style and our best players. It seems in the last 10 games we have had more success playing a close-checking type of game.&rdquo;The victory by the Sabres snapped a three-game Montreal winning streak which saw Montreal record a 3-2 triumph over Edmonton, a 6-1 laugher over hapless Toronto in which the Canadiens outshot the Maple Leafs 45-13 and a 2-1 decision over the lacklustre Chicago Black Hawks.Gainey felt the game against the Buffalo was important to the Canadiens as the playoffs approached.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve built ourselves up two or three times this year to play big games against them and try to get out of the situation where we haven&rsquo;t beaten them since last March 20,&rdquo; Gainey noted. &ldquo;It would have been a boost for our confidence to beat them. As in other games, we played pretty well and it seemed at points we were going to take the game and go away with it.&ldquo;They seem to have what it takes to come back with a goal at the right time and they play very well with the lead.&rdquo;The Canadiens only managed 20 shots themselves and there are several Montreal forwards in the throes of horrible slumps which coach Jacques Lemaire hopes will end before the Canadiens play the Sabres again in April.Guy Lafleur, who scored his 30th goal of the season against Detroit on March 1st, hasn&rsquo;t scored since and carried a 10-game scoring drought into the final five games of the season.Bobby Smith, who was acquired from Minnesota to provide offensive punch, had three goals since the All-Star break, a period of 22 games. Ryan Walter, who missed four games with a sprained knee, had two goals in 18 games since All-Star time and just four since popping two in a game against Toronto back on Jan. 11, the Canadiens&rsquo; 43rd game of the season.Perry Turnbull, a consistent 30-goal man with St. Louis, had three goals in 15 games, two of them coming March 8 against Hartford.Steve Shutt scored his 14th goal in Buffalo to snap a seven-game goalless drought.It has not been a banner year for the veteran left winger who scored 60 goals during the 76-77 season to set a record for NHL left wingers.The lack of scoring from these players is one of the major reasons the Canadiens have not been able to defeat the better teams in the league.IN PASSING&mdash;The Canadiens recalled Normand Baron from the Voyageurs and signed him to an NHL contract&hellip;Alfie Turcotte recovered from his bruised right knee, but was a little less than effective. &#9632;

Canadiens Refuse To Be Buffaloed

<div class="byline">BY RON COBB</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011257/4903866-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">St. Louis coach Jacques Demers stands above rookie center Doug Gilmour, whom he says is &ldquo;like a son to me.&rdquo;</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;When the National Hockey League season was only two months old, Jacques Demers undertook what he knew might be a lost cause. The Blues&rsquo; coach began to campaign for rookie center Doug Gilmour for the Calder Trophy.Almost four months later, Demers continues to push for his 20-year-old candidate, even though he knows the race is lost. Most of the votes for rookie of the year likely will go to three players&mdash;goaltender Tom Barrasso of Buffalo, center Steve Yzerman of Detroit and left winger Sylvain Turgeon of Hartford.Gilmour can&rsquo;t compare statistically with any of those three. After 75 games, he had 23 goals and 22 assists. But he can match any other rookie in the category of intangibles.In making his case, Demers compares Gilmour to Yzerman, primarily because the Blues faced the Red Wings eight times.&ldquo;I know Yzerman has a lot of points and he&rsquo;s a great hockey player,&rdquo; Demers said, &ldquo;but look at what Gilmour has done for us. Look at who he&rsquo;s had to check. Yzerman doesn&rsquo;t play against the best centers in the NHL. That&rsquo;s why, to me, Doug is the rookie of the year.&rdquo;Gilmour got off to a slow start offensively this season, partly because he concentrated almost entirely on defense. He generally has been sent out to check the opposition&rsquo;s best center and he has shut down a fair number of them.Gilmour checked Denis Savard in all eight games between the Norris Division rivals and limited the Black Hawk center to a total of one even-strength goal&mdash;and that goal came on a shot from outside the blueline as Savard was preparing to leave the ice on a line change.The attributes that have endeared Gilmour to everyone in the Blues&rsquo; organization are his grit, determination and hard work.&ldquo;Doug Gilmour has a lot of Brian Sutter in him,&rdquo; Demers said, referring to the Blues&rsquo; captain. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got the same kind of determination. He&rsquo;s like a son to me. He&rsquo;s so coachable. You just pull for a kid like that.&rdquo;Demers is amazed that Gilmour wasn&rsquo;t picked until the seventh round of the 1982 entry draft. In 1981-82 with Cornwall of the Ontario Hockey League, Gilmour had 46 goals and 73 assists. The next season, after being drafted by the Blues, he led the OHL with 70 goals and 103 assists.Last summer, however, Demers had his doubts about Gilmour as an NHL prospect. They met for the first time in August, after Gilmour had signed with the Blues, and got acquainted by attending a St. Louis Cardinal baseball game.Demers&rsquo; first thought was that the youngster could afford to put some meat on his bones. Gilmour is 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds.&ldquo;He was wearing shorts,&rdquo; Demers said, &ldquo;and I looked at him and said, &lsquo;No way.&rsquo; I remember his dad telling me that he was tough and durable. But I was thinking to myself, &lsquo;Gee, he&rsquo;s so small.&rsquo;&rdquo;Claude Larose was the Blues&rsquo; scout who liked Gilmour and drew the Blues&rsquo; attention to him.&ldquo;The only thing against him was size and stamina,&rdquo; said Larose, now a Hartford scout. &ldquo;But he proved otherwise. He&rsquo;s very strong for his size and he has unbelievable stamina. I&rsquo;m not surprised at all with how he&rsquo;s played so far.&rdquo;Gilmour has stood up well to a season&rsquo;s worth of punishment and he has dished some out himself, but he wants to go to training camp next September with a bit more muscle. He&rsquo;d like to strengthen his wrists so that his shot will be harder.&ldquo;Next year, I&rsquo;ll be ready.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was ready mentally this year, but not physically.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still growing, but as somebody said, &lsquo;A man shows what he is by what he does with what he has.&rsquo; Or something like that.&rdquo;BLUENOTES&mdash;Center Bernie Federko&rsquo;s goal in a 5-3 victory over the Capitals on March 18 was his 38th, matching his NHL career high. With five games left in the regular season, he had 99 points, five short of the club record he set in 1980-81&hellip;Rob Ramage&rsquo;s three points in a 6-4 loss to Quebec on March 17 gave him 54 for the season, breaking the club record he set last season for points by a defenseman. &#9632;

f0012-01

Demers Praises Gilmour As The Son Of St. Louis

<div class="byline">BY JOE FALLS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021058/4903897-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="301" height="349"></div><h2>Saturday Night In Toronto</h2>FOR THOSE WHO live in Toronto, I suppose it&rsquo;s no big deal. But can there be a finer way to spend Saturday night in that city than to go to a hockey game?Saturday night in Toronto has meant only one thing to me over the years: Maple Leaf Gardens and Syl Apps and Ted Kennedy and Foster Hewitt and Conn Smythe. That&rsquo;s how I grew up, dreaming of the blue and white of the Maple Leaf and I would have given anything to sit in the Gardens on a Saturday night and thrill to all the sights and sounds of that great old building.Unhappily, it was only a dream. I grew up in New York City and whoever went to Toronto? Who could afford it? It seemed like a million miles away, another culture in another country. You might make it to Boston or Philadelphia but never to Toronto.And so these were the thoughts that came rushing back as I prepared recently to see a game between the Red Wings and Maple Leafs in the Gardens. I&rsquo;d been there before, but only a few times&mdash;three at most and not for 10 or 15 years&mdash;and so everything seemed new and exciting.It began with the morning skate. That&rsquo;s when the players get out of bed for a brief turn on the ice on the day of a game.I arrived at Maple Leaf Gardens at 10 a.m. because I didn&rsquo;t want to miss any of it and went directly to the coffee shop in the lobby. This is where Bill Brennan, the old hockey writer for the Detroit News, used to sit with the likes of Punch Imlach and Hap Day and even Ted Kennedy and exchange stories and then write them so beautifully for his paper.<h2>Supreme Toast And Coffee</h2>WAYNE GRETZKY&rsquo;S AGENT was in there&mdash;a pleasant man named Gus Badali. Stan Obodiac, the Maple Leafs&rsquo; publicity man, came in and we ordered toast and coffee from the small lady behind the counter. It was the finest toast and coffee in North America.Obodiac was saying the Maple Leafs had 6,500 customers on the waiting list for season tickets. He said one of the problems is that when people died, they willed their tickets to friends or relatives and the turnover was slim. He said the Maple Leafs were the first team to put in private boxes and they now had 70 of them which went for $40,000 a year and the initial response&mdash;rivately kept&mdash;was: &ldquo;Harold Ballard, what a scallywag.&rdquo; His team is in last place and he&rsquo;s raking in $2.8 million from private boxes.The Maple Leafs were on the ice but I recognized only one of them&mdash;Dan Maloney, the old Red Wing who is now the Leafs&rsquo; assistant coach. He came over to shake hands.&ldquo;How are things going?&rdquo;Maloney shook his head. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t dig the hole we&rsquo;ve dug and expect to get out of it,&rdquo; he said.Now it is evening&mdash;eight o&rsquo;clock is drawing near. A good dinner has been had and the taxi is on the way back to Maple Leaf Gardens.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t go in there if they paid ME for the seats,&rdquo; the driver was saying.I replied, &ldquo;I understand.&rdquo;<h2>I Didn&rsquo;t Understand</h2>BUT I DIDN&rsquo;T understand because didn&rsquo;t he know this was Saturday night in Toronto and we were on the way to Maple Leaf Gardens?The marquee outside was blazing: &ldquo;Hockey Tonight: Toronto vs Detroit.&rdquo; I could feel the excitement starting to rise in the cold night air. A vendor had a cart on the sidewalk and the aroma of roast chestnuts filled the air. The smell was marvelous.Inside, they had portraits of all the old Maple Leafs on the walls of the lobby&mdash;the great teams from the &lsquo;30s, &lsquo;40s, &lsquo;50s and &lsquo;60s. They won 11 Stanley Cups in this building and I said to my wife, &ldquo;That one is George Armstrong and that&rsquo;s Gordie Drillon and that&rsquo;s Tim Horton and that&rsquo;s Sweeney Schriner and that&rsquo;s&hellip;&rdquo;She stood there, dutifully, as her husband went on his nostalgic trip through time.The seats were at center ice and the moment was as beautiful as imagined. The Red Wings in their blood-red uniforms were circling around in their end of the rink and the Maple Leafs in their white and royal blue uniforms were at the other end and it did not take much to imagine that this was Abel, Howe and Lindsay against Kennedy, Meeker and Lynn.The game was exciting. Both teams played hard and it wound up with a wild breakaway in sudden-death overtime and a 23-year-old kid named Stewart Gavin of the Maple Leafs raced in and beat Corrado Micalef for the game-winning goal.It&rsquo;s all true. There is no finer moment than Saturday night in Toronto. &#9632;

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HOCKEY CORNER

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY&mdash;Sometime in the summer, Jamie Hislop will face a decision: Does he try to make a comeback with the Flames or does he retire and collect the disability insurance provided by the National Hockey League and the Players&rsquo; Assocation?The matter is fuzzy now, about as fuzzy as the vision in Hislop&rsquo;s left eye.Hislop was injured in a Dec. 1 game against the New York Islanders when Anders Kallur accidentally clipped Hislop&rsquo;s eye with his stick. Hislop tried twice to come back, but had trouble following the puck away from the play. New tests showed that surgery was necessary and raised the possibility that permanent damage had already been done.Hislop underwent laser surgery recently to fix two tiny holes in his retina and is finished for the season and his career is hanging in the balance.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll see how surgery turns out,&rdquo; said Hislop. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll decide after that. Somewhere down the line, I&rsquo;ll certainly have to face the question: Do I take the insurance or play again? If things don&rsquo;t work out, I will have to consider disability.&rdquo;Hislop&rsquo;s decision will be made particularly difficult by the wording of the NHL&rsquo;s Players&rsquo; Association&rsquo;s policy with the insurance company, Lloyd&rsquo;s of London.Under terms of the policy, Hislop can play 20 games following surgery, then has to decide if he can see well enough to play, said Alan Eagleson, the NHLPA president.&ldquo;If he decides he can&rsquo;t play, then he qualifies for disability,&rdquo; Eagleson said.Hislop would receive $ 100,000 from a league policy negotiated under the collective bargaining agreement, $75,000 from a policy of the Players&rsquo; Association, plus the balance of his contract. Hislop, 30, has one more year remaining in his deal with the Flames.Complicating his situation is the fact that rookie right winger Colin Patterson has more or less supplanted Hislop in the lineup since his injury, although Patterson is sidelined for two weeks with a badly bruised shoulder.The Hislop case has many parallels to the dilemma Glen Sharpley, a former Chicago Black Hawk center, faced two seasons ago.Sharpley took a stick in the eye in a game against the Washington Capitals over Christmas in 1981. He came back with blurred vision and eventually chose to retire.&ldquo;We have two examples to go on,&rdquo; said Eagleson, who discussed the alternatives with Hislop. &ldquo;One is the Sharpley case. Sharpley said he couldn&rsquo;t go. Another is the Ric Seiling case. Seiling said he could.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bummer,&rdquo; said Hislop, &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll mean I have to be completely inactive again for two weeks following the surgery and it means I&rsquo;m done for the season.&rdquo;In describing the surgical precedure he faces, Hislop said: &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t amount to much. They freeze your eyeball with drops and they do a little bit of welding on your eye.&rdquo;Hislop joined the Flames Jan. 29, 1981 from the Quebec Nordiques in a trade for goaltender Dan Bouchard. He played just 27 games this season.Hislop would have been the logical choice to fill in for Patterson on the team&rsquo;s checking line. Because he was unavailable, the job fell to center Jim Peplinski.Why Peplinski?&ldquo;Got a better solution?&rdquo; asked coach Bob Johnson. &ldquo;I looked at our lineup and thought which guy resembles Patterson the most? Not (Carey) Wilson. He&rsquo;s not the grinding type. I slept on it. I got up at 3 a.m. and wrote down his (Peplinski&rsquo;s) name.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s only one other guy I could think of and that&rsquo;s Greg Meredith and he&rsquo;s in Denver (of the Central League). So Peplinski gets the call.&rdquo;Peplinksi filled in on the checking line in Boston on the team&rsquo;s last road trip and had perhaps his finest night of an underachieving season.&ldquo;Your role depends a lot on circumstance,&rdquo; said Peplinski, who balked at the idea of becoming a defensive specialist in training camp. &ldquo;You try to adjust yourself to what&rsquo;s going to be the best for the team.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve thought since game 60, I&rsquo;ve played a lot better. It seems that when you do 10 things right and one thing wrong, people get on you for the thing you did wrong. I&rsquo;ll get to play an ordinary, honest game with them (Richard Kromm and Doug Risebrough). I think that&rsquo;s my style.&rdquo;&ldquo;With Patterson, you know what you&rsquo;re going to get every night,&rdquo; said Johnson. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have to go to him and say, &lsquo;Big game tonight Colin.&rsquo; You know what you&rsquo;re going to get&hellip;This is an opportunity for Peplinski to come in and finish strong.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011185/4903928-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="583" height="792"><figcaption class="caption-body">Injured Flame Jamie Hislop has 20 games to decide if he wants to continue his career.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0013-01

Hislop Faces Critical Decision In Career

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;Jordy Douglas was raised only five minutes from Winnipeg Arena. On foot, that is.Almost daily, he would be in the vicinity or the Arena. At Empress Lanes he shot pool, bowled and played the arcade games when he wasn&rsquo;t skating at Clifton Community Club or watching someone else skate in the Arena.Hockey was his first love and he can remember watching the Jets when they were a junior team, coached by Eddie Dorohoy and Nick Mickoski and owned by Ben Hatskin.Now 26, Douglas has returned to his boyhood haunts as a player in the National Hockey League. It is the fulfillment of a life-long dream.Today, people pay to watch him play, admiring his quickness and determination on the team&rsquo;s fourth line.&ldquo;I can proudly say that I never once snuck into the Arena,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My friends and I always paid. If I said anything else, they&rsquo;d be looking for backpay today.&rdquo;Cheerful and popular, Douglas is beginning to establish himself on the team as the playoffs near.Summoned out of the press box, he has given the Jets an added scoring threat at a most desirable time.&ldquo;I admire Jordy,&rdquo; said his coach, Barry Long. &ldquo;He waited a long time for his chance to play. We always felt he would be good for us once we could work him into the lineup.&ldquo;He checks hard, skates fast and pops the occasional goal. He&rsquo;s a good allround player.&rdquo;This is Douglas&rsquo; sixth professional season. One of the last graduates of nowdefunct Flin Flon Bombers of the Western Hockey League, he was signed by New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association.The Whalers appealed to him because they had a lineup that included Gordie Howe, Johnny McKenzie and Dave Keon. As the only rookie, he received a wild indocrination to professional hockey.To his surprise, the Whalers made him one of their three priority picks before the 1979 expansion draft. Also protected were Mark Howe and John Garrett. He responded with 33 goals.But injuries struck. He separated his shoulder, broke his foot and separated his shoulder again, requiring surgery.The Whalers traded him, along with a fifth-round draft choice, to the Minnesota North Stars for Mark Johnson and Kent-Erik Andersson on Oct. 1, 1982.While he dressed for 68 games that following season, he played little for the talent-rich North Stars. Still, he scored 13 goals and added 14 assists.The current season began with Douglas in the Minnesota press box. He wore a blue sweater in practice. Blues are reserved for the players without a line.&ldquo;If someone left the ice to tighten a skate lace, I filled in for him,&rdquo; said Douglas.Eventually, he asked to be traded but the North Stars balked.Then one night the Whalers were in Minnesota when he was invited to do an interview on Hartford television.Douglas obliged, though North Star general manager Lou Nanne was reluctant.&ldquo;Help, I&rsquo;m living in exile!&rdquo; said Douglas.Nanne was not impressed.When the North Stars were planning their traditional Boxing Day game in Winnipeg, Douglas asked if he could leave early to spend some time with his folks.Instead, Nanne asked him to go to Salt Lake City for two games. Douglas said he would go if Nanne would promise him a chance to play regularly with the North Stars.&ldquo;Louie hummed and hawed,&rdquo; said Douglas. &ldquo;It was a situation where I was asked to do a favor for them with nothing in return. Then Louis said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll make sure you clear waivers. Then I&rsquo;ll send you to Salt Lake City.&rsquo;&rdquo;Then, on Jan. 12, he received a call from Nanne.&ldquo;Happy Birthday, Jordy,&rdquo; said Nanne. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re going home. I&rsquo;ve traded you to Winnipeg for Tim Trimper.&rdquo;Douglas thanked him.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m deliriously happy to be going,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

Douglas Happy To Come Home

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>A national U.S. magazine is gambling against embarrassment on Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers. The well-established publication is assuming that Glen Sather&rsquo;s sextet will make it to the Stanley Cup finals. With that in mind, Gretzky is slated to be the cover boy along with an accompanying feature. If the Oilers are upset in an earlier round, there will be red faces from Edmonton to Manhattan. Meanwhile, the Gretzky gold mine grows. His planners are now studying posh resorts across the continent with the view of filming hockey instructional shows for movie, network and video distribution at these spas. One being considered is The Concord Hotel in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. Gretzky scored a big hit there last summer. Another barometer of The Kid&rsquo;s popularity is a consumer test recently conducted for a Canadian brewery in 100 Alberta homes. One result of the survey is that 100 out of the 100 families polled not only were familiar with Gretzky&rsquo;s (General Mills) cereal, Pro Stars, but had it in their house&hellip;NHL prexy John Ziegler says the current divisional playoff format has been found most acceptable economically and that high attendance proves the point. &ldquo;When we had the first-place team playing the 16th,&rdquo; Ziegler tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;people weren&rsquo;t interested. It was a hard sell.&rdquo; The NHL currently has a blue-ribbon committee quietly examining development hockey. Demands for a switch of the opening playoff round from best-of-five to best-of-seven are likely to be ignored. Players&rsquo; union boss Al Eagleson tells BLUELINES that the stickhandlers believe a change to best-of-seven would &ldquo;extend the season too long.&rdquo; The players must approve such a change. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s unlikely to happen,&rdquo; added Eagleson. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t hear any complaints about the system as it now stands until the first round is over. Then, it&rsquo;s the losers who beef.&rdquo;Eagleson says the Toronto Globe and Mail responded too mildly to Harold Ballard&rsquo;s declaration that he is allowing that newspaper&rsquo;s reporters use of the Maple Leaf Gardens press box &ldquo;for a probationary period only.&rdquo; Although Globe and Mail sports editor Paul Palango says the probationary status won&rsquo;t affect the paper&rsquo;s coverage, Eagleson says: &ldquo;Under those conditions I would have told them (Ballard, et al) to shove it.&rdquo; However, there&rsquo;s reason to believe the paper&rsquo;s lingering ill feelings for the Leafs has resulted in them being shunted off the front page, a seemingly sacreligious crime. In a recent game in Hartford, the paper did not send a reporter and instead relied on a wire service story&hellip;A North Star insider reports that the acquisition of Paul Holmgren has somehow extracted leadership qualities previously missing in Curt Giles. Denials to the contrary, a Minneapolis sports columnist tips BLUELINES that Don Beaupre&nbsp;was the bait for Chico Resch in a deadline deal that, reportedly, was rejected by the Devils. The Minnesotan says he can&rsquo;t understand why New Jersey rejected the offer&hellip;Rumors of the post-season Jersey shakeup continue. Winnipeg Free Press columnist Scott Taylor says &ldquo;there&rsquo;s now little doubt (in his mind) that Pat Quinn will succeed Tom McVie as head coach in New Jersey.&rdquo; Keith Allen appears to be enroute as well, if whispers can be believed. The final decision will be made by Devil boss John McMullen after the season&hellip;. When other NHL coaching vacancies occur, more collegiate coaches will be considered. These include: Gino Gasparini, North Dakota; Mike Sertich, Minnesota-Duluth; Mike Addesa, RPI. Mike Keenan, who won the Canadian collegiate championship with University of Toronto Blues after winning the American Hockey League Calder Cup last season, is also interested in an NHL head-coaching job, but will continue to build the Blues&rsquo; program if he can&rsquo;t find employment. And if any general manager openings develop, a pair of names in the hopper are Bruce MacGregor, who for years had been Glen Sather&rsquo;s aide in Edmonton, and Mike Doran, John Ferguson&rsquo;s sharp business head in Winnipeg&hellip;Sportscaster George Michael, a terrific booster of hockey wherever he&rsquo;s broadcasting, is now doing the Capitals&rsquo; play-by-play on tv, replacing Danny Gallivan. Michael will finish the season and do the playoffs&hellip;Nick Fotiu&rsquo;s six-year-old daugther, Carolyn, inadvertently caused a furor when she innocently strolled into the all-nude home-team shower room after a Ranger-Flyer game.Knowledgeable Quebec sources inform that crack personnel director Gilles Leger is being sought by other clubs. Leger may bite since there are no openings ahead within the Nordique high command. The Nordiques also must decide on the future of assistant coach Charles Thiffault, who&rsquo;s after a new three-year pact. When Wilf Paiement scored his 300th goal, one congratulatory telegram contained the names of his father, brothers and 54 nephews and nieces&hellip;The success of U.S. high school grads such as Tom Barrasso has changed scouting priorities. A Bruin scout visited a New Hampshire high school game thinking he was the only birddog present. A minute later five other NHL scouts arrived&hellip;A Flyer official was overheard questioning Pat Riggin&rsquo;s ability to handle playoff pressure if the Caps use him in goal instead of Al Jensen&hellip;After evaluating the miserable finish his Kings suffered, Roger Neilson reportedly snapped to a friend: &ldquo;Don Perry should win the coach-of-the-year award for getting 16 wins out of the Kings.&rdquo;&hellip; Montreal, once the NHL&rsquo;s capital in terms of housing the league office and officials, is losing its grip. One whisper has it that pressures are mounting to move the Montreal operation into Toronto and to hold the annual league Congress at various sites each June. &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011236/4904007-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">French-born Gilles Hamel proved his passion for playing against the Canadiens with six points in seven games. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;If the the Sabres win the Adams Division, they will have more of an advantage than usual for a first-place team against a fourth-place finisher in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.The Sabres swept all eight games against the Montreal Canadiens, who are definitely in fourth place. The Sabres had a six-point lead in the division after beating the Canadiens 4-2 in the final game of their season series.No other team in modem times (since 1940) ever has swept a divisional series from the Canadiens, according to Camil Desroches, who has been taking note of these things for the Montreal hockey club for many years. Desroches is now the Canadiens&rsquo; director of special projects.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it ever happened anytime before,&rdquo; Desroches said, &ldquo;except maybe for some team we only played three times during the season.&rdquo;The Sabres have, in fact, won 11 straight games against the Canadiens. They swept the best-of-five playoff opener last spring. The Canadiens last win over Buffalo was in the final regular-season game of 1982-83.A key performer in Buffalo&rsquo;s sweep was a young center-winger who has a brother playing defense for the Canadiens.Gilles Hamel, who just turned 24, is in his second full season with the Sabres. His brother, Jean, nine years older, has played in the National Hockey League for a decade, for St. Louis, Detroit, Quebec and Montreal.Gilles scored the go-ahead goal in the 4-2 win, as he had in the first game of the season between the teams when the Sabres won 5-4. In the seventh game, an 8-3 win in Montreal, Gilles had a goal and two assists. In all, he had six points in the seven games he played between the two division rivals.&ldquo;I like to play against the Canadiens,&rdquo; said Gilles. &ldquo;I was raised near Montreal (in Asbestos, Que., about 100 miles north) so I always followed the Canadiens.&ldquo;When Jean and I play against each other, we don&rsquo;t think about being brothers. We just are opponents out on the ice.&rdquo;Hamel has been on a scoring binge since he was moved from left wing to center in the third period of a game against Chicago Feb. 29.He hadn&rsquo;t played center since his bantam days, but coach Scotty Bowman was trying different players at center when Gil Perreault moved to left wing and Phil Housley went back to defense fulltime, apparently for good.Bowman hit upon Hamel and Gilles has been great ever since. It took him a couple of games to get started but in six games, including the final one against Montreal, he scored six goals and assisted on five.The score was 1-1 in the second period against Montreal when the Canadiens received a penalty. The Sabres had failed on three previous power plays but on this one, Hamel won the opening faceoff and sent the puck back to Housley at the point.Housley let go a slapshot and Hamel, who had rushed to the net, tipped it in.The game before, Buffalo&rsquo;s only loss on a three-game western trip, Hamel won a faceoff against Wayne Gretzky and sent the puck back to Housely at the point for a scoring shot that gave Buffalo a 3-2 led over Edmonton. The Oilers scored twice in the third period for a 4-3 victory. &#9632;

f0014-01

Sabres Sweep Canadiens With Hamel Helping Out

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>LANDOVER&mdash;After avoiding serious injuries for most of the season, the Washington Capitals were hit with a big one. Winger Bengt Gustafsson suffered a partial tear in the medial collateral ligament of the left knee, forcing him out for the last two weeks of the regular season and at least the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.When Gustafsson limped out of the Capitals&rsquo; dressing room after a 2-1 win over the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum, it dampened the celebration of a win that had lifted Washington within one point of the first-place Islanders in the tight Patrick Division race.Gustafsson was injured in the third period of that game, as he leaned away from a check by the Islanders&rsquo; Pat Flatley and was hit just hard enough to knock the anchored leg awry.With Gustafsson out, the Capitals dropped a 5-3 decision to St. Louis the next night, missing an opportunity to climb over the Islanders. Then they regrouped, with coach Bryan Murray altering the makeup of three lines, and defeated Minnesota, 5-1, to stay in the divisional title chase.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a major loss; we&rsquo;d be kidding ourselves to say otherwise,&rdquo; Murray said after the extent of Gustafsson&rsquo;s injury became known. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re losing a guy who holds onto the puck, a fine playmaker and one of our top offensive players. Gus is a quality hockey player on this club.&rdquo;At the time of the injury, Gustafsson was enjoying his best season with career highs of 32 goals and 43 assists, plus a club-leading rating of plus-29.&ldquo;These things happen,&rdquo; Gustafsson said. &ldquo;Right now I can&rsquo;t do anything. I can only wait until the doctor tells me to go ahead and hope I can help the team in the playoffs.&rdquo;Gustafsson never has become the 100-point scorer scouts envisioned when the Capitals and Edmonton Oilers fought a custody battle over him in 1979. Part of the reason was his penchant for picking up minor injuries that kept him below 100 per cent; part was his conscientious play that had him thinking defense rather than point totals.The St. Louis contest, with the Blues repeatedly sweeping in three-on-twos or two-on-ones, was an effective reminder of Gustafsson&rsquo;s value, because he often cut off opponents in such circumstances. After that contest, Murray altered all his lines except the formidable Gee Whiz trio of Gaetan Duchesne, Glen Currie and Bob Gould.Bryan Erickson, a righthand shot who was on a scoring roll with six goals and six assists in 10 games, took Gustafsson&rsquo;s place on left wing with Dave Christian and Mike Gartner.Lou Franceschetti, a lefthand shot who filled that vacancy against St. Louis, went to right wing on the unit with Gary Sampson and Doug Jarvis. Craig Laughlin, the usual right winger with that group, reclaimed his old spot on the Bob Carpenter-Alan Haworth unit.&ldquo;Butsy (Erickson) will score and he&rsquo;s a playmaker, sort of the type of role that Gus filled,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;Butsy shoots good and, with Mike and Dave, he should get some chances.&ldquo;Louie has played the right side in Hershey. He&rsquo;s a good checker and a good skater, with the size to bump and grind a bit, maybe the kind of guy Laughlin was becoming for us. Now we have to ask Craig for more offense.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to have left the lines alone, but with an injury, at the left wing spot in particular, we have to compensate.&rdquo;Although the injury to Gustafsson was a tough blow, the Capitals were not bemoaning their fate. Aside from Timo Blomqvist&rsquo;s cracked ankle and Darren Veitch&rsquo;s cracked rib, the only major injury suffered by the club all season was to Al Jensen&rsquo;s back.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011169/4904038-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="582" height="728"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Capitals will have to go into the playoff minus injured winger Bengt Gustafsson.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Washington Suffers Capital Injury

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;As usual. Brad Park put it best when he said, &ldquo;The Washington Redskins have the Hogs, we&rsquo;ve got our Trolls. They aren&rsquo;t pretty but they do the job. Dewey is the head Troll.&rdquo;Dewey is Dwight Foster. In his first full-season with the Detroit Red Wings, Foster, between injuries, is enjoying a terrific season. Not statistically, of course, because Foster isn&rsquo;t the kind of player whose contributions can be measured by goals and assists.His contributions can be measured by the Wings&rsquo; accomplishments this season. They&rsquo;ve risen from the depths to become a respectable (and respected) team. They don&rsquo;t always win but they always show up to play and for their efforts they have clinched their first playoff spot since 1977-78.With coach Nick Polano preaching a grinding, close-checking style of hockey, Foster and his linemates, Danny Gare and Bob Manno, have skated to the fore. It&rsquo;s something they do naturally and comfortably.&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll hound you to death and he&rsquo;ll work his butt off,&rdquo; Park said of Foster.The line was a major contributor during the Wings&rsquo; early-season success. But Foster and Gare were knocked out of the lineup for extended periods&mdash;Foster missed 20 games with a knee injury, Gare 17 with a chest injury.As for Manno, his productivity declined in the absence of his linemates and he was farmed out.Once Foster and Gare returned, Manno was recalled from Adirondack of the American Hockey League and the line was reunited.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m doing things I haven&rsquo;t done in a couple of years,&rdquo; said Foster, the No. 1 choice of the Boston Bruins in the 1977 draft.The Wings paid one dollar to the New Jersey Devils for Foster last season and in 58 games with Detroit he had 17 goals and 22 assists, his second most productive NHL season. Obviously, the Wings got their money&rsquo;s worth. This season, they&rsquo;re collecting considerable interest.&ldquo;What we&rsquo;ve been asked to do helps me,&rdquo; Foster said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my style to begin with It means getting involved.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not the kind of line that&rsquo;s going to go up and down the ice making picture passes. We&rsquo;ve got to stay on top of the other team in its own end, force them to rush their passes and plays, create turnovers, make things happen.&rdquo;They&rsquo;ve done all of that this season as well as contributing the odd goal.&ldquo;It would be nice to have more points,&rdquo; Foster said, &ldquo;but there are guys on this team who have that job to do. If we do our job, it helps us win games, and that&rsquo;s what counts. It doesn&rsquo;t matter how many goals you score if you don&rsquo;t make the playoffs. If they do their job and we do ours, we&rsquo;ll get into the playoffs and won&rsquo;t have to spend the summer explaining to people why we didn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;Although the Wings hit a rough spot, losing four straight games after sweeping a home-and-home set from St. Louis, a playoff berth was guaranteed on Mar. 23 with a victory in Calgary.The fourth setback was administered by the Minnesota North Stars, a team that left its stars at home. Rookie Brian Lawton scored the game-winning goal with 38 seconds left to ruin Eddie Mio&rsquo;s return and make it 4-3 for the Stars.It was Mio&rsquo;s first start since Jan. 7 when he suffered a hamstring injury making a save against Philadelphia. He was summoned from Adirondack of the AHL, where he was playing himself back into shape, the day before and was a surprise starter.&ldquo;The fact that we had lost three in a row and Mio had been playing well (in the AHL) and was ready, I felt it might give us a lift to put him in,&rdquo; Polano said. &ldquo;I just felt the timing was right. It wasn&rsquo;t his fault.&rdquo;Afterwards, Polano said he was considering designating one of his three net-minders&mdash;Mio, Greg Stefan and Corrado Micalef&mdash;to play the remaining games of the season.If Polano goes that route, his only logical choice is Stefan, who had emerged as the No. 1 goalie with an 8-3-1 record and a sizzling 2.00 goals-against average down the stretch. &#9632;

Dwight Fosters Wing Troll Gang

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02857/4904100-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="338" height="438"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03653/4904093-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="1833" height="2464"></div> &#9632;

f0015-02

The Classified

<div class="byline">BY PERRY LEFKO</div>TORONTO&mdash;Before the Leafs were to play the first game of a home-and-home series with Chicago, general manager Gerry McNamara told his players it would take nothing short of a miracle to make the playoffs.As it stands now, Moses had an easier time parting the Red Sea.With three games left in the season for both the Leafs and the Hawks, Chicago led the Leafs by five points and needed only a tie to clinch a playoff spot.The Leafs, however, could have easily been trailing the Hawks by only a single point entering the final week of the season.After winning the first game 7-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens with a complete effort, the Leafs had the momentum for the second game at Chicago Stadium. After John Anderson and Rick Vaive scored two goals in the first 27 seconds of the third period to set a National Hockey League record for the fastest two goals by a team at the start of a period, and Derlago scored about three minutes later, the Leafs led 4-3.At that point, the Leafs were ahead both on the scoreboard and in emotion and the victory was their&rsquo;s&mdash;or so it seemed.But the Leafs&rsquo; nemesis&mdash;failing to hold onto a lead&mdash;cost them the game&mdash;and the season, it would appear&mdash;as the Hawks scored two goals less than a minute apart and hung on for a 5-4 win.It was a painful end to a another sad week in a sad season.Following a lackadaisical 3-1 loss to Pittsburgh, players started airing their dislike for one another through the papers, although, as is the custom of the Leafs&rsquo; Secrecy Act, no names were disclosed.Dave Hutchison lambasted a player&mdash;though he refused to give the player&rsquo;s name&mdash;for not coming to the aid of Gary Nylund in the Penguin game, after the young Leaf defenseman was ambushed by two Pittsburgh players. Hutchison, on the bench at the time, watched in disbelief as no one came to Nylund&rsquo;s aid, and then jumped over the boards to help him.He received a game misconduct for his heroic deed&mdash;which meant he missed the first Hawk game with his third game misconduct of the season&mdash;and the right to single out players for not showing more character.But the more Hutchison didn&rsquo;t say which player was guilty, the more it became apparent he was singling out Jim Korn, who was on the ice at the time.Ironically, earlier in the week Korn spoke on a radio show about the Leafs&rsquo; lack of character. Kom has expressed his viewpoints about the Leafs on more than one occasion this season, most notably after the All-Star game, when Vaive said management should make trades because certain players were not giving a wholehearted effort.Though Kom softened his comments with humor, it became apparent that the two players did not get along.Coincidentally, after Hutchison went public, Kom stopped talking to the press and told one reporter, &ldquo;I ain&rsquo;t talking to nobody&mdash;nothing personal.&rdquo;Then there was the story about Leaf owner Harold Ballard giving McNamara a list of players whom he didn&rsquo;t want to have on the team next season, but that was also top secret as no names were disclosed.All of this seemed to detract from the series with the Hawks, though to the Leafs&rsquo; credit&mdash;and the fact Black Hawk goalie Murray Bannerman had a rare off weekend&mdash;they came close to making a go of the final week of the season.The line of Bill Derlago at center with Vaive on the right side and Anderson on the left was reunited and the fact they played so well despite not having been alongside one another in almost one and a half seasons, made one wonder why they hadn&rsquo;t been joined together sooned. Anderson, who had missed four games with a groin injury, took a particular shine to being back with his former mates and finished with a goal and four assists in the two game sets. Derlago, who is finishing strong in the stretch, potted three goals and two assists, and Vaive had two goals and an assist.When Nylund was asked if he still believed in the team&rsquo;s chances of a playoff berth after the Leaf victory, he said, &ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t, we might as well go home right now.&rdquo;It may be time to start packing.LEAFLETS&mdash;Stewart Gavin absorbed one of the hardest hits of the season when Al Secord elbowed him and caused him to miss most of the opening game of the series. The next night, he and Secord had a running feud the whole game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011038/4904131-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="584" height="740"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Anderson came back from a groin injury and contributed a goal and four assists.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0016-01

Leafs’ Chances Hinge On A Near Miracle

<div class="byline">BY STEVE SIMMONS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02835/4904162-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="309" height="356"></div><h2>Playoff Handicapping</h2>THE STANLEY CUP sweepstakes are soon to begin, with 16 participants but one victor. First team to 15 wins takes home Lord Stanley&rsquo;s mug.Over the past four years, this has been a time for the New York Islanders. The four years before that it was Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; property. The other 19 pretenders have come too short, too often.But the Western Word&rsquo;s ace handicapper says it&rsquo;s time for a change and here&rsquo;s the odds and facts to back it up.&bull; Edmonton Oilers (2-1)&mdash;Last time around, Team Gretzky easily made it to the finals and easily exited in four straight. This is a better Oiler team for a number of reasons. They have two able goaltenders entering the playoffs this season: last year they did not. With the tremendous improvement of Randy Gregg, they have a more capable defense. And they have Gretzky, who no doubt wants to rectify his questionable performance of last year&rsquo;s finale. The Oilers will be in the the finals. There is no conference competition for them. It says here they&rsquo;ll quiet all critics and win the big one this year.&bull; New York Islanders (3-1)&mdash;This team knows how to win. They know how to play playoff hockey. But too much has gone their way in recent times. They&rsquo;re due for a bad break. In past springs, Billy Smith has been brilliant in goal, but he hasn&rsquo;t experienced a great season. Can he do it again? It says here he can&rsquo;t. Goaltending aside (and what are the playoffs if not a goalie&rsquo;s show) this may be a stronger Islander team than previous winners.&bull; Buffalo Sabres (5-1)&mdash;The team of the future may still be a touch too young to win it all. Scott Bowman worries aloud about the first round of the playoffs. The Sabres have handled Montreal easily and he now fears the Canadiens. If Tom Barrasso holds up to the playoff pressure, this is a team that can challenge. The series to watch could be Buffalo vs. Quebec, if the Nordiques upset Boston in the first round.<h2>Goaltending Cost Bruins</h2>&bull; BOSTON BRUINS (8-1)&mdash;WITH better goaltending, the odds on the Bruins would be better. Last year it cost them in the playoffs. Pete Peeters has not impressed in the second half of this season. The Bruins made a late desperate pitch for Randy Carlyle, which indicates they&rsquo;re not totally pleased with their defense. If one line can carry this club, that could mean trouble. Shut down Rick Middleton and Barry Pederson and the Bruin season will end swiftly.&bull; Washington Capitals (10-1)&mdash;By all rights, this is a team that should be rated higher. But they have never won a playoff series. The Capitals played playoff-style hockey all season long and were extremely successful doing do. Pat Riggin has proven in the past he can beat anyone, if in the right frame of mind. The questions surrounding the Capitals are on the power play. To be successful, you have to be able to take advantage of power-play situations. This will eventually cost the Caps, who might be hockey&rsquo;s best-coached team.&bull; Quebec Nordiques (12-1)&mdash;An interesting playoff team. The Nordiques have dominated the Sabres so if they can get past the Bruins, they could walk right into a conference final. A team more suited to Stanley Cup play than in the past, with the addition of some grinders, defensive forwards, and an improved blueline with the maturing of Randy Moller and acquisition of Andre Dore. Personally, I don&rsquo;t trust Dan Bouchard. His history is to let a bad goal in at a bad time. With Mario Gosselin, out for the season with an injury, it could have been another story.&bull; New York Rangers (15-1)&mdash;The Ranger defense was strengthened immensely when they signed James Patrick. New York fans will soon leant that the higher the level of competition, the better Patrick plays. Whether the Rangers small forwards and odd forwards such as Pierre Larouche and Blaine Stoughton, can contribute in a more conservative game, is the No. I question here. Glen Hanlon has given the Rangers adequate goaltending, but there are still too many questions of this team, not enough answers.<h2>Playoffs Kill Flyers</h2>&bull; PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (20-1)&mdash;THE last three playoffs have been particularly devastating to the Flyers. They are not as strong in goal or on defense as the majority of their Patrick Division rivals. Up front, they&rsquo;ll have to yeoman&rsquo;s service out of the Sittlers, Clarkes and Barbers to be successful this time around. Dave Poulin, Brian Propp and Tim Kerr won&rsquo;t be enough.&bull; Minnesota North Stars (25-1)&mdash;Since advancing to the Stanley Cup finals in 1981, the North Stars have been upset victims annually. This is a tougher team&mdash;with Willi Plett and Paul Holmgren&mdash;than in the past. Realistically, it should be better, more competitive. Over a long season, all the North Stars have proven is they&rsquo;re as predictably unpredictable as they&rsquo;ve been in recent seasons. They should win the mid-worst (Norris) Division, but won&rsquo;t be much of a test for the hungry Oilers.&bull; Calgary Flames (50-1)&mdash;The Flames have had an excellent second half; sparked by rookies such as Colin Patterson, Richard Kromm, Allan MacInnis and Dan Quinn and the goaltending of Reggie Lemelin. Still, to do anything, they must beat the Oilers. Last year&rsquo;s series was a disaster. So was the regular season&rsquo;s eight-game set.&bull; Montreal Canadiens (60-1)&mdash;First the Canadiens will have to beat the Sabres. That won&rsquo;t happen. They&rsquo;ll have to get good goaltending, which they haven&rsquo;t had all season long. They&rsquo;ll have to get production out of Bobby Smith, who wasn&rsquo;t productive in the second half.&bull; Winnipeg Jets (100-1)&mdash;With a goaltender, the Jets might be able to challenge for the division championship. Without a goaltender, they&rsquo;ll go down in the first round of the playoffs.&bull; Chicago Black Hawks (150-1)&mdash;Enough about the injuries. Other teams have had injuries. Other teams have somehow managed to make due. The Black Hawks have whined their way through the season and if they do, in fact, make the playoffs (I&rsquo;m still a Leaf fan at heart) it may not be worth the effort.&bull; St. Louis Blues (300-1)&mdash;Might even win a round. It&rsquo;s a credit to the geniuses who came up with this playoff format.&bull; Detroit Red Wings (500-1)&mdash;Nice to see them in the playoffs. A team on the way up. Jimmy D. for exec of the year.&bull; Vancouver Canucks (500-1)&mdash;King Richard has run out of miracles. So did Roger Neilson. &#9632;

f0016-02

THE WESTERN WORD

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>EDMONTON&mdash;Quickie quiz time:Which of the following misfit categories fills the bill as far as Dave Lumley is concerned?Feel free to check off the appropriate answer regarding the personable Oiler right winger:a) Taking into consideration skating ability, Lumley hardly operates with the acceleration of drag-strip linemates Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson. Full throttle to Lumley is barely shifting into second gear for the speed-demons.b) While Messier (95) and Anderson (91) are closing in on 100 points, Lumley&rsquo;s most productive National Hockey League outing of 1983-84 (three assists during a 12-2 drubbing of Vancouver March 11) enabled him to crack the 20-point barrier. That&rsquo;s seven points more than goalie Grant Fuhr.c) Even taking into account the fact he missed 21 games with a sprained knee, Lumley&rsquo;s six goals in 51 games appear paltry alongside Anderson&rsquo;s 52 and Messier&rsquo;s 33.&ldquo;Yeah, but I can remember every one of &lsquo;em,&rdquo; joked Lumley, ever a comedian. &ldquo;They were all pretty.&rdquo;The last time the guy connected at home was on Nov. 18. Statistics don&rsquo;t specify which year.d) Some hockey purists maintain his distracting attitude as a disturber could have an adverse effect on the free-flow rhythm of his linemates. The assumption is that Nos. 9 and 11&mdash;in particular the muscular Messier&mdash;would have more pressing matters to occupy themselves than attempting to explain to irate opponents Lumley&rsquo;s hit-and-run tactics.e) Considering his next birthday will be his 30th, isn&rsquo;t Lumley a little long in the tooth to be cavorting with 23-year-olds?f) All of the above.Well, so much for the facts. Once again they get in the way, cluttering success.Lumley&rsquo;s presence on right wing with Messier and Anderson has created a vital option for Oiler general manager-coach Glen Sather. When Messier shifted to center, Kenny Linseman took on the responsibility of being the puckhandler on a line with Dave Semenko and Willy Lindstrom. Having Semenko on hand to oversee his activities has also led to Linseman living up to his pesky nickname. Wayne Gretzky, now that he&rsquo;s taken up fighting, doesn&rsquo;t need a bodyguard, but if The Rat is doing his job properly he does need to be bailed out now and then.The point is, though, how has the unit in question performed since the havoc-creating Lumley became an active employee on what is considered Edmonton&rsquo;s second line?Over 16 games since the cobwebs were dusted off Lumley, new left winger Anderson has struck for 16 goals and 10 assists. Messier, as a center, has split 26 points evenly. Lumley&rsquo;s statistical contributions consist of one goal and six assists, but is primarily responsible for the fact that, as a line, they have been on the ice for only three even-strength goals against.Offense has never been a problem; defense has been another matter where Messier and Anderson are concerned and it all came to a head during the Oilers&rsquo; disastrous early-February eastern swing.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to score 50 goals, so I&rsquo;m the guy who has to do the checking,&rdquo; Lumley says. &ldquo;Besides, I&rsquo;m the dealer on the line and those guys play out the hand.&rdquo;Then a forlorn look of a Maytag repairman crosss his face:&rdquo; Right wing can be an awfully lonely position on that line. They never give me the puck. How can I score when I&rsquo;m always in the comer, digging out the puck for thsoe guys? It&rsquo;s a lonely job, but somebody has to do it.&ldquo;But, I&rsquo;m not complaining&hellip;it&rsquo;s just great to be playing.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s really no need for tears. Only one other player over the past 62 years has strung together a longer consecutive-games goalscoring streak&mdash;one more than Lumley&rsquo;s 12 in 1981-82&mdash;and L. A. &lsquo;s Charlie Simmer had Playboy Playmate Terri Welles cheering him on. Lumley had to settle for Gretzky&rsquo;s playmaking.Keeping up with his younger, faster linemates hasn&rsquo;t posed a great problem either.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve never played with anyone who doesn&rsquo;t skate as well as us but is still always able to keep up with the play,&rdquo; explained Messier. &ldquo;He gets there.&rdquo; &#9632;

Lumley Assumes Important Role For Oilers

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;The Richard Brodeur case unfolding here has reached the boiling point. After a recent 5-2 loss at home to the Buffalo Sabres, the Canucks were wondering whatever happened to the man called King Richard just two years ago.Young Frank Caprice, who has played extremely well considering his age and experience, is beginning to shake Brodeur&rsquo;s confidence. He blew a couple of the goals against the Sabres and the natural question to ask coach, general manager and vice-president Harry Neale was whether the 31-year-old Brodeur would get another chance in goal.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve given Richard a chance every day,&rdquo; Neale said, alluding to Brodeur&rsquo;s ineffective play in practice. &ldquo;When you are playing, that (practice) is the only place where you can show somebody you want to play and he hasn&rsquo;t done that. He should know there are days when you can&rsquo;t stop your behind with your goalstick and days when they can&rsquo;t put a pea by you.&ldquo;His original rise on this team came when someone else wasn&rsquo;t playing well. He should know, he&rsquo;s been around the block a little bit. He should be encouraged by the possibility he may play, because his chances are a lot better than if Caprice had gone out and stoned them. But so far I&rsquo;ve had no reason to use anyone other than Garrett and Caprice.&rdquo;Brodeur has been out of the lineup for nearly a month after he was struck in the head by a puck shot by Greg Tebbutt. He was ready to play two days after the shot, but both Caprice and John Garrett have been going pretty well and Neale hasn&rsquo;t seen any reason to make a change for the stormy French Canadian.Brodeur is also bugged by the media. Many members feel he&rsquo;s been sulking through this period, although he&rsquo;s been talkative lately, saying he just has to wait for his chance, he doesn&rsquo;t want to be traded and he&rsquo;s happy with his contract.The highest-paid player on the hockey club, Brodeur hasn&rsquo;t had much of a season and many are wondering whether or not he has become puck-shy. His initial problems began last year when he was struck on the side of the mask by a shot from the stick of Dan Daoust of Toronto. In the meantime, he has been hit in the mask three more times, Tebbutt&rsquo;s being the most recent, and some believe he has never recovered.Apart from the 12-2 shelling suffered at the hands of the Oilers, Garrett has played well and appears to be the No. 1 goalie heading into the playoffs&mdash;which unfortunately for the Canucks, look like a series against the Oilers.Brodeur hasn&rsquo;t played that badly, that&rsquo;s the rub. Most certainly, he hasn&rsquo;t been the goaltender who stoned three straight teams in the playoffs before succumbing to the Islanders, but he hasn&rsquo;t been bad either. He has a losing record, but he&rsquo;s been in the more difficult games.Brodeur&rsquo;s name was shopped around before the trading deadline, but Neale claims several of his players were in that category. Further, there seemed to be a glut of goaltenders on the market at the time and Brodeur&rsquo;s salary didn&rsquo;t make the negotiations any easier. Combine that with the fact he hadn&rsquo;t played for 17 days befpre the deadline and it&rsquo;s little wonder there wasn&rsquo;t a deal made for him.It seems likely, however, Neale will give Brodeur one last look during the regular season to see if he feels snarly enough to shove a great performance in front of the boss. For Neale will always have the nagging doubt that if he doesn&rsquo;t try at least one more time, he may have had the King sitting in the stands without knowing it.Meanwhile, the Canucks&rsquo; first-round draft pick of three years ago, Garth Butcher, has been returned from Fredericton to Vancouver for treatment of a badly sprained ankle. He suffered the injury just after he was demoted and hasn&rsquo;t been able to play since the new year started. &#9632;

Brodeur Waits For Chance To Become A King Again

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;The New York Islanders have their share of worry warts. Bob Bourne, John Tonelli, Bobby Nystrom and Brent Sutter head the list of players who bite their finger nails or find it difficult to sleep when things are not working smoothly.Mike Bossy worries too, but he manages to hide his frustrations behind a relatively calm facade.&ldquo;I kind of keep everything inside,&rdquo; Bossy admitted.However, as the regular season was winding down and Bossy was having problems scoring goals, he expressed his anguish in a long conversation with general manager Bill Torrey. The meeting was held after an Islanders&rsquo; practice and lasted 40 minutes.&ldquo;Bill and I had a chat and it did me a lot of good,&rdquo; Bossy said.It certainly did. The following night, Bossy contributed four assists in the Islanders&rsquo; 5-2 victory over the Devils at Nassau Coliseum. Two nights later. Bossy&rsquo;s 46th and 47th goals of the season enabled the Islanders to wipe out a 3-1 deficit and gain a 3-3 tie against the Bruins at Boston.Bossy didn&rsquo;t stop there. He bagged goal No. 48 during the Islanders&rsquo; 4-4 tie against the North Stars, then set up the clinching goal by Greg Gilbert in the Isles&rsquo; stirring 5-3 victory over the Sabres. It enabled the Islanders to enter the final week of the regular season with a one-point lead over the Capitals in their battle for the Patrick Division championship.&ldquo;I decided not to worry about getting 50 (goals),&rdquo; Bossy said. &ldquo;I just want to help the team.&rdquo;Bossy put on quite a show at Boston Garden. So did Bryan Trottier, who beat Doug Keans five seconds after winning the opening faceoff to tie a National Hockey League record for the fastest goal at the start of a game.Trottier was paired against Steve Kasper on the opening faceoff. The Islanders&rsquo; center shoveled the puck to his left, where Gilbert and Boston&rsquo;s Terry O&rsquo;Reilly fenced for it. The puck squirted loose and Bruin defenseman Mike O&rsquo;Connell crouched to block it.&ldquo;He reached for it with his glove, but it went to his right and I picked it up,&rdquo; Trottier said. &ldquo;The puck was rolling when I shot.&rdquo;Trottier&rsquo;s shot from near the top of the left faceoff circle sailed past Keans and landed in the net with 19:55 showing on the clock. It tied the record set by Winnipeg&rsquo;s Doug Smail against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 20, 1981.Bossy, who had failed to score in his previous four games, converted a pass from Trottier in the second period and tied the score with 5:36 left in the third period when he pirouetted past Ray Bourque and beat Keans with one of his patented wrist shots.There was growing concern among some Islanders, though, that the team lacked consistency and intensity.The standoff against the North Stars was particularly galling to coach Al Arbour. Goals by Pat LaFontaine (his 10th) and Bourne in a span of 12 seconds late in the third period had shoved the Islanders ahead 4-3. But the North Stars bounced back to gain the tie on a goal by Al Mac Adam.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d better wake up or it will be a fast exit once the playoffs start,&rdquo; Arbour said.Added Bourne: &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t understand this. There&rsquo;s no intensity at all.&rdquo;Historically, the Islanders are at their strongest down the stretch. In the last 10 games of the season over each of the past four years, the Isles had a combined 275-8 record. And, of course, they went on to win the Stanley Cup in each of those four years.Bourne, who launched the Islanders&rsquo; comeback at Buffalo with his 21st goal of the season, conceded that some people were questioning the Isles&rsquo; ability to do it again.&ldquo;They doubt us year after year, but especially this year because we haven&rsquo;t been as strong toward the end of the season as we have in the past,&rdquo; he said.ON THE ISLE&mdash;at LaFontaine missed the Boston game because of the flu, but came back stronger than ever. He had 11 goals in his first 12 games&hellip;Bobby Nystrom sat out the Buffalo game because of a jammed left hand&hellip;The Islanders worried about their power play, which had produced only two goals in their last 21 opportunities. &#9632;

A Little Chat Does Bossy A Lot Of Good

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01939/4904265-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>In the closing weeks of the 1983-84 National Hockey League regular season, the Edmonton Oilers haven&rsquo;t had a lot of incentive. They have long sinced wrapped up the Smythe Division crown and the regular season overall title.But that didn&rsquo;t stop Oiler winger Glenn Anderson from exploding for six goals in three games, giving him 54 goals on the season and earning him HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; player-of-the-week honors for the period ending Mar. 25.After 75 games, he had 54 goals and 45 assists. &#9632;

f0018-01

Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;With no muss, no fuss, only 113 seconds of the 75th game of the season and one sweet flick of the wrists, it was over. Bang. Tim Kerr&rsquo;s 50th goal of the season flew up over Denis Herron&rsquo;s shoulder.Flyer defenseman Brad McCrimmon dug out the puck for Kerr&rsquo;s mantel and three minutes later defenseman Daryl Stanley gave Kerr another one. If it&rsquo;s any consolation to Greg Fox, the Pittsburgh defenseman, what happened next has happened to Washington&rsquo;s Rod Langway, too.&ldquo;When Timmy really wants to go around you, he will do it,&rdquo; Flyer defenseman Mark Howe said. Fox hung on and so did Herron, but Kerr couldn&rsquo;t stop and neither could Fox as the rebound caromed off his skate and into the goal.That was No. 51. A big deal, but not that big a deal, really, because Wayne Gretzky has already scored 91 goals in a single season. Fifty has already been reached 77 times by 39 different guys in National Hockey League history.Maurice Richard, the first to do it in 1945, didn&rsquo;t have the Pittsburgh Penguins, who lost to the Flyers, 13-4, last week at the Spectrum, at his disposal, either.Which is not at all to suggest that any particular 50 these days by any Tom, Dick, Michel or Jari is a cheap stunt. They had a couple of bad teams in the Rocket&rsquo;s day, too. Six players already have passed 50 this season with a couple more to follow in the next few days. But if anybody tries to tell you that the goalies aren&rsquo;t what they used to be, ask that person to name eight players from any bygone era who could shoot a puck like the eight who will score 50 this year.Nonetheless, the milestone has become indicative of an excellent, but not an extraordinary season. And not to demean Kerr&rsquo;s accomplishment, but there have been certain physical laws at work over the last 75 games that made this plateau inevitable.Six feet, three inches and 225 pounds is not a bad start. &ldquo;Yeah, but there&rsquo;s been a lot of big guys who haven&rsquo;t been that hard to move,&rdquo; Marsh said. &ldquo;What makes Timmy special is his balance on his skates. He leans into you, you can never make your weight work against him.&ldquo;And then, of course you&rsquo;re taking him, and you think, oh boy, there&rsquo;s the puck, and bingo. That&rsquo;s the shot already away.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good shot, but I wouldn&rsquo;t say it&rsquo;s an unbelievable one,&rdquo; Flyer goalie Pelle Lindbergh said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the release. He doesn&rsquo;t use a slap shot, it&rsquo;s always with the wrists, and a lot of times it&rsquo;s going to come before you can get set. It&rsquo;s heavy, too. But what makes it really unbelievable is how often he gets it off with just one arm.&rdquo;This season was just a test run. Like Newton&rsquo;s apple dropping from a tree, the puck will be away, and at least 50 times a season it will continue to go where the goalie isn&rsquo;t. Only injuries, or an inflated head from the big contract Kerr, who is headed into his option year, will likely sign this summer, can keep this from happening again next year and the year after.&ldquo;I know I can produce,&rdquo; Kerr said. Then he smiled at the repeated references to his luckless first three NHL seasons. &ldquo;But you know that I&rsquo;m injury-prone.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want this to be a one-time thing.&rdquo;His course this season suggests it wasn&rsquo;t. This was not one of those cases where a career 30-goal man rode a couple of hot streaks to the season of his life. Kerr knocked these goals down, game by game, like pins in a bowling alley. He had one major slump&mdash;one goal in 13 games&mdash;and one hot streak consisting of seven goals in four games, and reached 50 without a single hat trick. Twelve two-goal games helped speed things up, but if you throw out his one long stretch without a goal, seven games, there were only 24 games this season in which he did not score. That says something for Kerr&rsquo;s consistency.Of course, he is blessed with two quick linemates, Dave Poulin, who scored a hat trick, and Brian Propp. But there are certain edges to playmaking when an ox is planted in the slot.&ldquo;There may be three guys on his back,&rdquo; Poulin said. &ldquo;And it doesn&rsquo;t matter. He&rsquo;s still going to get something away. And even if he can&rsquo;t reach it, there&rsquo;s still three guys on him, so the puck is probably going to go somewhere we can get it.&lsquo;&lsquo;Whenever Cagey (Bob McCammon) has put another center with him, they&rsquo;ve come to me and asked me the same question. &lsquo;Am I still supposed to throw it out for him, even if he&rsquo;s covered?&rdquo;&lsquo;&ldquo;Hell, yes.&rdquo;With two goals in the first five minutes and the hapless Penguins looking like a buffet tray, it looked like a night when Kerr could even get a good start toward 60. But, in position for only two more shots the rest of the game, he nonetheless stayed busy. His four assists gave him seven in the last two games and the club scoring lead with 85 points.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing with a lot of confidence now,&rdquo; McCammon said. &ldquo;You could tell they were going to come out strong in that third period.&ldquo;If Sinisalo&rsquo;s going to score, and Timmy Kerr is going to keep scoring, we&rsquo;re going to be tough in the playoffs.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I have to defend the move of resting players. The Islanders and Rangers have been doing it for years. An 80-game schedule is demanding. Physically, the older guys can do it, but they take the weight of the hockey team on their shoulders and it&rsquo;s good to get them away from it.&ldquo;We thought it was right, we did it. That&rsquo;s the long and the short of it.&rdquo;The long season is now down to a few short games. Bobby Clarke, recently rested for six, looks like a new man, and Dvorak, Sittler and Barber returned with what should be full tanks.Hachbom and Poulin are on a tear, and their youth and speed gives the Flyers a dimension up the middle that was absent a year ago. Lindbergh is playing better and Froese has not been just hot, but solid for two months. &#9632;

Flyers’ Kerr Powers His Way To 50 Goals

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01735/4904320-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Verbeek will be one of the youngsters who will be expected to carry some of the Devils&rsquo; load next season.</figcaption></div>Louisville HockeyEAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;A year ago it was the Kid Line which gave the New Jersey Devils so much hope for the future. Along the way, however, the trio of Jeff Larmer, Paul Gagne and Aaron Broten self-destructed.As the curtain began to drop on New Jersey&rsquo;s 1983-84 season, it was not a single line which the Devil management viewed as the team&rsquo;s nucleus for next season. It was three hard-working forwards: Tim Higgins, Pat Verbeek and Jan Ludvig.Barring off-season roster changes, the Devils are counting on veterans Ron Low and Chico Resch in goal; captain Mel Bridgman up front and reliable Dave Lewis to help along a projected young defensive corps. But the workhorses figure to be Higgins, who continues to impress after being acquired from Chicago for Jeff Larmer; Verbeek, a tireless worker in his rookie season, and Ludvig.Of the three, it is hoped that the 22-year-old Ludvig will put together his first truly explosive season after two years of adjusting to the National Hockey League and the English language. The Czech right winger has already made the toughest adjustments, mastering English with the help of Bob Dylan records, and earning respect in the NHL with his blistering slapshot and jarring physical style.He&rsquo;s reached the 20-goal plateau and is second behind Bridgman on New Jersey&rsquo;s scoring list.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;Jan has got tremendous talent and he&rsquo;s only 22. I certainly think he&rsquo;s capable of becoming a dominant hockey player.&rsquo;</blockquote>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got tremendous talent and he&rsquo;s only 22,&rdquo; said Bobby MacMillan, who watched Ludvig score seven goals in 51 games for the Devils last season. &ldquo;I certainly think he&rsquo;s capable of becoming a dominant hockey player. Any time you have a shot like that, that&rsquo;s half the battle.&rdquo;The battle last season involved the jump from junior hockey to the NHL as well as the John Wensink controversy in which Wensink criticized both Ludvig and Tapio Levo for lacking team commitments.&ldquo;He (Wensink) apologized later, but he did a lot of hurting,&rdquo; recalled Ludvig. &ldquo;I had a bad feeling walking into the dressing room. I was scared to turn around. I would wonder who was my friend and who was talking about me.&rdquo;Those fears have passed, along with the doubts about whether he could survive in the NHL.&ldquo;Last year I was learning,&rdquo; explained the 5-foot-10, 190-pounder who plays like he&rsquo;s three inches and 40 pounds bigger.&ldquo;I still have a long way to go, but I was hoping for 25 goals this season. I was told by management if I scored 25 it would be good progress.&rdquo;Ludvig led the Devils in scoring for most of this season until Bridgman found a groove and an injury slowed Ludvig down. But while his offensive production tailed off just after the All-Star game, Ludvig has contributed in other ways.&ldquo;Everything is based on points and I resent that,&rdquo; said Bridgman. &ldquo;A lot of times a guy has 20 or 30 goals and no one realizes there&rsquo;s a hard-nosed winger digging in the comers. Like Tiger Williams in Vancouver. (Thomas) Gradin and (Stan) Smyl are always putting the puck in the net and getting the goals, but a lot of times the whole play was made by Tiger Williams.&ldquo;Ludie&rsquo;s playing great for us. There are a lot of intangibles that don&rsquo;t show up in the point totals. Everybody sees the point board but all those intangibles you don&rsquo;t see on the stat sheet. He&rsquo;s getting involved and he&rsquo;s contributing in other ways along with points. Besides, even when he wasn&rsquo;t scoring goals he was getting chances.&rdquo;HOT STUFF&mdash;Garry Howatt and Glenn Merkosky were returned to Maine of the American Hockey League for the playoffs when Paul Gagne and Rick Meagher returned from injuries. Both had been recalled under emergency conditions&hellip;Center John Johannson completed the season at Wisconsin and signed a tryout contract with Devils. &#9632;

f0020-01

Devils Are Hoping Ludvig Will Continue To Improve

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02499/4904351-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bernie Nicholls, who&rsquo;s recovered from his broken jaw, says it&rsquo;s going to be a tough summer having missed the playoffs again.</figcaption></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;The ending came, fittingly enough, in Winnipeg, against a team they hadn&rsquo;t been able to handle even once all season.And it came in fitting style, too, with the Kings blowing a 3-0 lead on the way to a 5-4 loss that mathematically eliminated them from Stanley Cup play for the the second year in a row.This time, the end came on March 6, in game No. 74, when Winnipeg defenseman Moe Mantha beat goaltender Marco Baron with 28 seconds remaining in regulation to snap a 4-4 tie.But even if the Kings had held on to win it really wouldn&rsquo;t have mattered all that much. They would have had to win their remaining six games while Winnipeg would have had to lost its remaining nine in order to make the playoffs, a highly unlikely scenario.The loss came two days after the Kings had extended their modest winning streak to two games, five days after they had snapped a club-record losing streak at 10 with a 4-3 victory over Chicago.Even then, however, the Kings were anything but optimistic about their chances.&ldquo;Miracles do happen, but it doesn&rsquo;t look good for the playoffs,&rdquo; said Bernie Nicholls, the club-scoring leader with 40 goals and 49 assists.The 22-year-old center did have something to smile about though&mdash;literally.Forced to have his fractured jaw wired shut for the previous four and a half weeks, Nicholls finally was able to cut the uncomfortable metal which had hampered his breathing and limited his diet to liquids.His food intake changed drastically. Having lost 15 pounds during the ordeal, Nicholls&mdash;in two sittings&mdash;wolfed down a chili dog, an ice cream cone, airplane meals belonging to Terry Ruskowski and Russ Anderson, fettucini, a chicken pot pie, a large salad and two artichokes.He was feasting on opposing goaltenders as well, collecting four goals and eight assists in seven games to run his season total to a career-high 89 points&mdash;39 better than his rookie year&mdash;with six games still to be played.But Nicholls&mdash;and the rest of his teammates&mdash;weren&rsquo;t looking forward to yet another spring without the playoffs.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a tough summer,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everybody makes the playoffs in this game and we didn&rsquo;t. We&rsquo;re playing for jobs from here on in.&rdquo;With only 54 points through 74 games, the Kings were headed for their worst finish since 1971-72, when they collected only 49 in a 78-game schedule. Four of their remaining six games were to be played at the Forum, but they already had assured themselves of their worst losing record at home since that dismal &lsquo;71-72 season.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter whether you score 50 goals or even 80,&rdquo; Nicholls said, &ldquo;if you don&rsquo;t make the playoffs. That&rsquo;s why we play this game. We&rsquo;ve been playing better in the last few games, but we&rsquo;re not going to make the playoffs again and that really hurts.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0020-02

Pitiful Kings Headed For Worst Finish In 12 Years

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s stock continues to rise every day, but the man who appears to have the inside track on it isn&rsquo;t about to sell.Eddie Johnston, who officially took over as general manager this season, is resolute that he won&rsquo;t trade his first pick (which will be the first pick overall if they continue in their present last-place standing in the league) no matter what package he&rsquo;s offered.Johnston has indicated he wants to select Lemieux, the record-setting center of the Laval Voisins of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and build around him. But other teams, particularly the Montreal Canadiens and Quebec Nordiques want to land the Montreal-born Lemieux and they&rsquo;re prepared to make the Pens an attractive offer.A rumor making the rounds has the Nordiques offering the Stastny brothers, Peter, Anton and Marian, for the Pens&rsquo; first pick in June. In Montreal, the package is believed to include left winger Steve Shutt and some other players off the Habs&rsquo; roster.In either case, Johnston, who watched the Pens suffer through mediocre seasons as coach while other teams harvested off his No. 1 pick, is holding tight.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re prepared if we end up in last position we&rsquo;re going to keep our draft choice,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;And it looks like the guy that we&rsquo;re going to bring here is Mr. Lemieux. We&rsquo;re not giving our first-round draft choice away. We&rsquo;ve made our mind up around 90 per cent about Lemieux.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to watch him a few more times in the playoffs and also, hopefully, in the Memorial Cup where the competition is a little better. But he&rsquo;s a very dominant player: he&rsquo;s big, tough and his production is second to none in the history of hockey.&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll also probably put some people in the stands. He&rsquo;s that type of player.&rdquo;The Penguins are last in league attendance and have had an average crowd of just over 7,000 a game. They&rsquo;ve only had crowds over 10,000 three times this season, but haven&rsquo;t had a sellout. Several times they&rsquo;ve had crowds bordering the 4,000 mark.Johnston figures the addition of Lemieux will garner at least another 5,000 a game.Meanwhile, the words between the management of the Penguins and the New Jersey Devils concerning whether Pittsburgh was trying its best to win games apparently has been diffused before it broke into war.Devil president Bob Butera intimated the Penguins were not playing up to their talent level and thus were trying to finish lower than the Devils, who are the second-worst team in the league, so they could draft first overall.The remarks infuriated Penguin coach Lou Angotti, who said Butera has got &ldquo;no class&rdquo; and his remarks are a &ldquo;real disgrace.&rdquo;&ldquo;What did we ever do to him?&rdquo; Angotti asked. &ldquo;How can anybody in this organization say anything about us?&rdquo;Devil management was equally upset earlier about remarks Wayne Gretzky made when he referred to New Jersey as a &ldquo;Mickey Mouse operation.&rdquo; The Devils, including Butera, demanded and received an apology from Gretzky.&ldquo;The whole thing of this is that Gretzky made that statement about them and they went crazy, then (Butera) goes around and plants a seed like that,&rdquo; Angotti said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the most hypocritical thing I&rsquo;ve ever heard.&rdquo;Butera later said his remarks, which were used in the New York Post even though he did not speak to any reporters from that paper, were used out of context and misinterpreted.&ldquo;I said, &lsquo;We are trying to win every game and I hope Pittsburgh is too.&rsquo; What I should have said is, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m sure Pittsburgh is too.&rsquo;&ldquo;What was not said was that they&rsquo;ve had a lot of injuries to key players and it&rsquo;s a shame because they have a good team. That wasn&rsquo;t quoted. I&rsquo;m pretty sure I said it.&rdquo;Penguin vice-president Paul Martha apparently was willing to forgive and forget.&ldquo;He said he felt his remarks were taken out of context and he apologized for the misunderstanding,&rdquo; Martha said. &ldquo;(Devil chairman) John McMullen and Bob Butera are good friends of ours. These things happen in the heat of battle.&ldquo;I can understand how hard feelings can develop over a situation like that. I think tempers were a bit high and understandably so.&rdquo;Angotti was still upset, however.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s relatively out of my hands now,&rdquo; Angotti said. &ldquo;He apologized, and I think it&rsquo;s something our organization has to handle as it sees fit. If we feel his apology is adequate, there&rsquo;s not much I can do about it. There&rsquo;s no reason for us not to accept it.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s not the first time this has been going around. A lot of people are thinking we or New Jersey are going for last place and to have someone in their organization make a statement like that&hellip;&ldquo;He questioned our integrity and the integrity of our players. We&rsquo;ve gotten a lot of criticism, in the press and other places, and that&rsquo;s something we have to take. But it usually revolves around our record, not our integrity.&rdquo; &#9632;

Johnston Has His Heart Set On Lemieux

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div>HARTFORD&mdash;If you look at it one way, the Whalers staved off elimination from the National Hockey League playoffs by beating the four-time defending Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders.Come to think of it, that&rsquo;s not a halfbad trick.Mark Johnson and Randy Pierce each scored two goals and the first Sylvain Turgeon-Pat LaFontaine confrontation ended in a tie as the Whalers nipped the Islanders 5-4 in Hartford.&ldquo;We beat them tonight,&rdquo; said goaltender Greg Millen, the Whalers&rsquo; first 20-game winnner in five NHL seasons. &ldquo;They came to play and we beat them.&rdquo;For the second time in three tries.When the Whalers, who have missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year, look for positives in what must be labeled an encouraging season, they can begin right there. They beat the Islanders two out of the three games they played, giving the Whalers seven season series&mdash;Chicago, Minnesota, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Toronto are the others.The Islanders&rsquo; cause wasn&rsquo;t helped by Islander coach Al Arbour&rsquo;s juggling of the lineup. Gord Dineen, Wayne Merrick, Mats Hallin, Bob Nystrom, Dave Langevin and Butch Goring all sat out.Form betters would have taken a beating in a weekend that included a 4-2 loss to 21st-place Pittsburgh as well as the win over the Islanders.&ldquo;A reporter just asked me how can we lose to Pittsburgh and then turn around and beat the Islanders,&rdquo; Millen said. &ldquo;How would you like to answer that one?&rdquo;The answer, if there is one in an inconsistent league, has something to do with playing to one&rsquo;s level of competition. Over the years, the Whalers have played well against the better teams and poorly against the lesser lights. But losing to Pittsburgh and beating the Islanders in a 48-hour span is, well, a bit dramatic even for the lovable Harpooners.&ldquo;Had we played like this last night, we&rsquo;d have one more win,&rdquo; Whaler coach Jack Evans said. &ldquo;We came back twice with some great team play. Everybody carried out their assignments. I&rsquo;m very pleased.&rdquo;Johnson netted the game-winner, off a Turgeon feed, on a sizzler that beat Roland Melanson.&ldquo;That was my Bobby Hull bullet from the slot,&rdquo; said Johnson with a smile. &ldquo;In my two years here, we&rsquo;ve had some success against the Islanders. It&rsquo;s pretty hard to explain.&rdquo;The Whalers lifetime against the Isles are only 4-10-4, but 3-3-3 in Hartford.Turgeon scored his second unassisted job in two nights as he pickpocketed the puck from Gord Lane and beat Melanson on a breakaway. LaFontaine, meanwhile, connected on a 30-foot rising rocket to the far top comer, a goalscorer&rsquo;s goal, to be sure.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a pride thing,&rdquo; said Evans of the Turgeon-LaFontaine meeting. &ldquo;I know if it were me, I&rsquo;d be thinking about it. Sylvain showed some great moves and LaFontaine just missed the net there at the end. I&rsquo;d like to have both of them.&rdquo;The Whalers, picking one spot ahead of the Islanders in last June&rsquo;s draft and second overall, chose Turgeon ahead of LaFontaine.A tight checking job by Ronnie Francis and Doug Sulliman on Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy also aided in the Whalers&rsquo; win. The Islanders&rsquo; duo wasn&rsquo;t nearly as effective as they can be.And the Whalers outplayed the Islanders.In March.Mark it down. &#9632;

Whalers Say Beware Isles Of March

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div>Louisville HockeyBINGHAMTON&mdash;It has been a season filled with offense for those who play the game, but the seven Southern Division coaches had the highest praise for a defensive defenseman in choosing the 1983-84 HOCKEY NEWS Southern Division All-Star team.If they&rsquo;re not calling him St. Garry in St. Catharines, they should be. Garry Lariviere dominated the balloting as a unanimous selection as a first-team defenseman and a near-unanimous pick as the division&rsquo;s most valuable player.The coaches&rsquo; all-star team: goal&mdash;Roberto Romano, Baltimore; defense&mdash;Lariviere and Tom Thombury. Baltimore; center&mdash;Bob Mongrain, Rochester and Bruce Boudreau, St. Catharines (tie); right wing&mdash;Mal Davis, Rochester; left wing&mdash;Daryl Evans, New Haven.The awards:Most valuable player&mdash;Lariviere. Top defenseman&mdash;Lariviere.Rookie of the year&mdash;Claude Verret, Rochester.Coach of the year&mdash;Gene Ubriaco, Baltimore.For the 29-year-old Lariviere, the season was a homecoming. The St. Catharines, Ont., native was floundering in the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; organization. They had no plans for him and he had no desire to play for Edmonton&rsquo;s farm team in Moncton.Several AHL teams inquired about his availability. When St. Catharines expressed interest, Lariviere&rsquo;s ears perked up. Not only was he a hometown boy, he was quite familiar with Garden City Arena after spending two years there with the Ontario Hockey Association&rsquo;s St. Catharines Black Hawks.The Saints were 5-9-1 with worst goals-against average in the league when they acquired him for future considerations. With five games left in the regular season, the Saints are 39-30-6, having gone 22-8-2 over the last 32 games.Steady at the offensive blueline, Lariviere has also chipped in with seven goals and 31 assists, including three powerplay goals and three game-winners.Joining Lariviere behind the blueline is Thombury, who was edged four to three by Verret for the top rookie honor. Thombury lead all defensemen in scoring with 63 points and is fourth among rookie points scorers.Skipjack sophomore Roberto Romano, 21, nipped Rochester&rsquo;s Phil Myre in goal. Although Romano spent a chunk of the season with the Penguins, he has amassed a 22-4-1 record and a 3.39 goals-against average.While the coaches had little difficulty choosing their defensive stars, they could not agree on their starting center. Boudreau, Mongrain, St. Catharines&rsquo; Norm Aubin and Mike Kaszycki, Baltimore&rsquo;s Paul Gardner, Rochester&rsquo;s Geordie Robertson and Binghamton&rsquo;s Ross Yates all tied. However, the work both ways of Boudreau and Mongrain earns them this critic&rsquo;s vote.Right and left wingers were easier to pick. Davis&rsquo; 52 goals&mdash;five off the AHL record&mdash;made him a near-unamimous pick. Davis, 28, leads the league with 22 power-play goals and is fifth in the league with 97 points.Evans, 23, set his pre-season sights on 50 goals when the Los Angeles Kings assigned him to New Haven, but a midseason stint in the NHL cost him several AHL games. Upon returning to the Nighthawks, he has scored 13 goals over 10 straight games, one short of tying the AHL record, and is two short of 50.Verret, 21, outpointed Thombury for top freshmen in the eyes of the coaches after tallying 84 points in 61 games with only two penalty minutes.Ubriaco earned three votes from his peers, compared to two for Rochester&rsquo;s Joe Crozier and one each for Carpenter and Springfield&rsquo;s Doug Sauter.AROUND THE SOUTH&mdash;Baltimore surprised absolutely nobody by clinching first with a victory at Nova Scotia on March 18&hellip;Binghamton and Hershey surprised even fewer observers by being knocked out of playoff competition. New Haven, a point away from elimination, will go any day&hellip;Rochester, taking a commanding eight-point lead over St. Catharines with six games to play, is a cinch for second&hellip;The Saints lead Springfield by eight points for third.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01563/4904430-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="600" height="784"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Lariviere parlayed a trade to his hometown into most-valuable player honors.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Lariviere Chosen As The Best In Southern…

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>GLENS FALLS&mdash;Veteran left winger Claude Larose, one of the few bright spots for the cellar-dwelling Sherbrooke Jets, was selected most valuable player in the Northern Division in a poll of coaches in the division.The 28-year-old Larose was named to the first team by all six of the coaches. He joins teammate Murray Eaves, a center, and Adirondack right winger Jody Gage on the first team forward line. Both Eaves and Gage were the clear-cut winners at their positions, but neither man was able to sweep through the voting like Larose did.Rick LaPointe, the cornerstone of the defense that carried Fredericton to its second straight Northern Division championship, earned the most votes for his position and was named the most valuable defenseman in the division. Adirondack team captain Greg Joly also earned a spot on the first team, edging a number of other candidates for the honor. Eight different players received votes at defense.Fredericton goaltender Brian Ford, who is on the verge of locking up his second straight Hap Holmes Award as the league&rsquo;s top goalie, was a narrow winner over Nova Scotia&rsquo;s Mark Holden as the first-team goalie. Ford has been the workhorse for the Express this year and entered the final two weeks of the season with a 3.10 goals against average.Adirondack&rsquo;s Bill Dineen was named the coach of the year by his peers and the Wings&rsquo; 20-year-old left winger Gerard Gallant was the overwhelming selection as the division&rsquo;s top rookie. Fredericton&rsquo;s rookie head coach Earl Jessiman placed second to Dineen in the voting.Joining Holden on the second team are defensemen Bill Kitchen of Nova Scotia and John Van Boxmeer of Fredericton. The forward line is composed of Adirondack center Andre St. Laurent. Fredericton&rsquo;s right winger Jim Dobson and left winger Mike McPhee of Nova Scotia. Other players who figured in voting were, Adirondack goalie Ken Holland, Moncton right winger Bart Yachimec, Nova Scotia center Wayne Thompson and Adirondack defenseman Ted Huesing, Larry Trader and Rejean Cloutier and Nova Scotia defenseman Dave Allison.Although their team has been at the bottom of the division&rsquo;s standings all season, both Larose and Eaves have been near the top of the league scoring standings. Larose has been at or near the lead in goals scored and total points since the start of the season. He entered the final 10 days of the season as the top scorer in the league with 103 points in 73 games and second in goals scored with 47.Eaves, 23, split last season between Sherbrooke and Winnipeg, but has spent the majority of this year with Sherbrooke. In 71 games with Sherbrooke, Eaves, who is often teamed with Larose, has collected 42 goals and 101 points.The 24-year-old Gage has recovered fully from the knee injury that hampered his production a year ago and is enjoying his best pro season. His 37 goals and 69 points in 69 games lead the Wings in both categories. Among his 32 goals are 10 on the power play and six while the Wings were shorthanded.LaPointe, 28, and Joly, 29, are former first-round draft picks who were teammates with the Detroit Red Wings during the 1976-77 season. LaPointe, currently on recall to the Quebec Nordiques, played a major role in the Fredericton surge that carried the team into first place near the midpoint of the season and kept it there. Before being recalled, LaPointe had eight goals and 30 points in 54 games with the Express. Joly, the No. 1 pick in the 1974 draft, is enjoying a rare injuryfree season and has been an important contributor to the best season in Adirondack&rsquo;s five-year history. Joly has been the steadying influence on the Wings&rsquo; young defense and has contributed 10 goals and 33 assists in 74 games.Last year, Ford shared the Holmes Trophy with teammate Clint Malarchuk, but this season Ford has been the main man in the Fredericton net. In 33 games, Ford had a 3.10 goals-against average, with one shutout and a 15-16-1 record.Gallant started slowly for the Wings, but has really come on since Christmas. With 31 goals and 61 points in 73 games he is the top-scoring rookie in the division. Gallant, a native of Summerside, P. E.I., was chosen by Detroit in the sixth round of the 1981 draft.Dineen, twice honored as the World Hockey Association coach of the year for his work with the Houston Aeros nearly a decade ago, has proven that he hasn&rsquo;t lost the skills that made him a success in Texas. He spent the past four seasons as the head scout of the Hartford Whalers. He accepted the Adirondack coaching job last summer, replacing Bill Mahoney, and has led the Wings to their best season. Under Dineen, the Wings have been either first or second in the division since early November, will finish with a record over.500 for the first time in the franchise&rsquo;s history and already have eclipsed the points record.AROUND THE DIVISION&mdash;Sherbrooke coach Ron Racette has been forced to step aside for the second time in two seasons becaue of health problems. Racette, who had brain surgery during the summer of 1982, was unable to coach the team during the 1982-83 season. He returned to the job last summer and handled the club until March 19 when his doctors ordered him to step down. Rest and treatments in Montreal have been prescribed. Sherbrooke general manager Georges Guilbault replaced Racette behind the bench for the remainder of the season. Guilbault refuted earlier reports and said that there definitely would be an AHL team in Sherbrooke next season. Guilbault said that at least three different Options are being explored&hellip; Nova Scotia has an 0-6-2 record in the month of March and dropped into fourth place two points behind Maine with a 4-3 loss to the Mariners. The Vees have regained Brian Skrudland and defenseman Ted Fauss from the injured list. Left winger Larry Landon was returned to the team after playing two games in Montreal and Alain Heroux has joined the Vees from Chicoutimi of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The Canadiens called up Norman Baron&hellip;Brian Ford turned in his second shutout of the season on March 22, a 4-0 decision over Maine to give the Express the Northern Division title for the second straight season&hellip;Former Notre Dame standout Kirt Bjork joined Adirondack after completing a season in Italy. &#9632;

…While Larose Stands Atop The Northern

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div>Louisville HockeyBILLINGS&mdash;Bryon Baltimore has had better times.Still, the Montana Magic coach has his team battling down the stretch in an effort to go out on the highest note possible when the Central Hockey League regular-season schedule draws to a close March 31.The Magic, last in the league for much of the season, really had the bottom drop out earlier this month when financial problems forced former owner Larry Gordon to relinquish his interest in the club to the local Ermineskin Indian band.And it wasn&rsquo;t until the 11th hour of a deadline set by league president Bud Poile that the situation was resolved&mdash;as far as ownership and continued life in the league was concerned.By then, however, Baltimore was down to a dozen players because of the St. Louis decision to reassign five players just before the roster deadline. The Magic&rsquo;s new owner was forced to postpone one game while Baltimore looked for player help in order to finish the season.&ldquo;Sure, we&rsquo;ve been eliminated already from the playoffs,&rdquo; Baltimore noted during a two-game stop in Indianapolis where his patchwork squad was beaten twice by the Checkers, &ldquo;but the new owners would like to finish as strong as possible, at the same time keeping an eye the dollars they are spending to get through the season.&rdquo;Veterans Stan Weir and Don Murdoch led a respectable, if losing, effort in Indianapolis, and newly acquired rookie winger Richard Zemlak gave a good account of himself.Things didn&rsquo;t even go right for the Magic at the start of their trip to Indianapolis. The team missed a flight connection out of Denver, spent nearly five hours waiting for the next one, and didn&rsquo;t arrive in Indy until less an hour before game time on the first night.Montana even got two fine goaltending efforts from Ken Ellacott, but the Magic was simply outmanned and the Checkers pelted the Montana goalie with 98 shots in the two nights.Things got better the next two nights, however, as the Magic returned home to face league-leading Colorado. They earned a tie and a victory before dropping a 4-3 decision to the Flames in their fifth game in five nights.Paul Polin, a 32-year-old veteran winger who was out of hockey last season, had a goal and an assist in his first four outings with the Magic. Doug McGrath had a goal, Zemlak an assist and left winger Mike Kouwenhoven had yet to score in a pair of contests for Montana.&ldquo;McGrath is a rookie out of Maine of the AHL on loan to us for the rest of the season,&rdquo; Baltimore pointed out. &ldquo;Zemlak played three games for us earlier in the season and rejoined us from Toledo after St. Louis reassigned Jock Callander there.&ldquo;Kouwenhoven played junior hockey at Billings and has been playing in Europe this season.&ldquo;The new owners agreed to operate the club through the end of the season, then we&rsquo;re going to sit down and take a look at a number of situations.&ldquo;First, of course, we want to find an NHL team to work with in the future. Then we&rsquo;ve got to see what the makeup of the CHL is going to be next season. Then the owners will decide in which direction they&rsquo;re going. They would like to have a team here next year.&rdquo;Baltimore says the new owners were informed completely about the Magic situation&mdash;and about the CHL&rsquo;s problems&mdash;before they took over the club.&ldquo;But they are interested in getting into hockey,&rdquo; he noted, &ldquo;and there are things they would like to do with the club. They&rsquo;re optimisitc about the league and its ability to survive.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s one of the few positive things Baltimore has encountered lately. It&rsquo;s been a trying season for him and for the Magic.Baltimore certainly has had better times.CHL CHAT&mdash;resident Bud Poile has decided not to go into Cincinnati with any playoff games. The possibility had been considered should one of the series involve Indianapolis and the Oilers.Poile said he would rather go into Cincinnati fresh next season, given, of course, the continued interest of the people in the Cincinnati Gardens and a commitment from an NHL team.The Oilers appear to be settled in second place but the scrap for the No. 3 position continues between the Checkers and Salt Lake City. The Golden Eagles have five games in hand on Indianapolis and after a 5-4 overtime victory March 20 were but four points behind Indianapolis. Both teams will complete 72 games; Colorado and Montana will play 76, while the Oilers but 68.Salt Lake&rsquo;s Scott MacLeod picked up four points in an 8-6 victory over Montana, thus becoming the highest scoring rookie in Salt Lake history. His 88 points are four more than Ron Huston had in the 1972-73 season for the Golden Eagles&hellip; Colorado lost left winger Gord Hampson for six weeks when he suffered a dislocated left shoulder in a game against Indianapolis March 10&hellip;Checker winger Ron Handy was named CHL player of the week for a three-goal, six-point performance in two games against the Magic.Calgary returned defenseman Tony Stiles to Colorado and assigned winger John Harrington on tryout to the CHL Flames&hellip;Tim Coulis and Dirk Graham were returned to Salt Lake by Minnesota.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01599/4904485-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="586" height="766"><figcaption class="caption-body">Montana coach Bryon Baltimore has to keep his team financially sound and competitive.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Baltimore Still Expected To Perform Magic

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>FORT WAYNE&mdash;The injury jinx which so far has bypassed the Komets reared its ugly head recently&mdash;briefly&mdash;and general manager-coach Ron Ullyot couldn&rsquo;t help but look back to a year ago.The Komets were battling Toledo for the championship when right winger Wally Schreiber suffered a broken leg and Dale Baldwin hurt his knee.Without Schreiber and Baldwin in the lineup, the Komets limped home second and they dropped out of the playoffs in the second round, bowing to Toledo.This time their injury was to rookie goalie Darren Jensen, whose 2.77 goals-against average is the best in the league. Jensen suffered a mild concussion during a game with Milwaukee and Jensen&rsquo;s re-placement, Dan Sanscartier, has been in the Komet net since.Jensen should be okay by the playoffs. Actually, he is okay now. Elliott just wanted to give Sanscartier some playing time. He wants both of this goalies sharp for the playoffs.While the Komets lost Jensen, they didn&rsquo;t lose to Milwaukee. They skated to a 7-2 triumph to expand their lead over the second-place Admirals to 13 points. Steve Salvucci and Doug Rigler each scored a pair of goals. The Komets followed the win over Milwaukee with a 4-0 shutout at Toledo, Sanscartier&rsquo;s first of the season. Kalamazoo was a 4-1 victim at home before the Komets stumbled 8-1 at Flint. The loss ended a five-game un-MILWAUKEE&mdash;The Admirals Split a pair of games during the week, losing a little more ground to first-place Fort Wayne. The Ads lost 7-2 to the Komets, but regrouped and beat Muskegon 9-4.TOLEDO&mdash;The Goaldiggers snapped out of a scoring slump with a six-goal feast against Peoria. The 6-1 victory also clinched a playoff berth for the defending league and playoff champions.Before the romp over Peoria, the &lsquo;Diggers dropped a 4-1 game to Fort Wayne and struggled to a 1-1 tie against Muskegon, also at home. On the road, Toledo lost 4-1 to Kalamazoo.KALAMAZOO&mdash;The Wings held onto fourth place with a three-point week. A key game was a 5-5 tie against Flint, the team chasing the Wings. Kalamazoo beat Toledo 4-1 and lost 4-1 at Fort Wayne.FLINT&mdash;The Generals are one team which seems to have the hex on Fort Wayne. Flint whipped the Komets 8-1 to climax a near-perfect week. In other games the Generals beat Muskegon 3-1 and tied Kalamazoo 5-5. The victory over Fort Wayne was Flint&rsquo;s fifth of the season over the league leaders. Flint has also skated to a pair of ties with Fort Wayne.PEORIA&mdash;The Prancers suffered their first loss in four games, losing 6-1 at Toledo. Flint&rsquo;s magic number for eliminating Peoria is four.MUSKEGON&mdash;The Mohawks, eliminated from the playoffs, suffered two more defeats during the week. Muskegon lost 3-1 to Flint and 9-4 to Milwaukee at home, while skating to a 1-1 tie in Toledo. &#9632;

Komet Jinx Rises Again, But Not As Bad As Before

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>LAKE PLACID&mdash;Like heavyweight boxers, the hockey teams assaulted each other in turn, blinded by sweat, arms and legs leaden with exertion. Time and again they summoned every last reserve of strength for one more rush, one more attack that would end the battle. And time and again the foe would bend, rooted to the spot, it seemed, but wouldn&rsquo;t yield.Bowling Green University and the University of Minnesota-Duluth battled through 60 minutes of hockey, then through another 30 of sudden-death hockey in the Olympic Arena. At stake was the NCAA championship, a prize neither team had ever contested, let alone won. As 10 skaters and two goalies glided slowly to their positions, conserving every bit of energy before yet another opening faceoff, the 7,918 fans in attendance rose in tribute for a sincere and non-partisan ovation.Bowling Green won the game 5-4 at 7:11 of the fourth overtime. Gino Cavallini, a sophomore left winger from North York, Ont., was the game&rsquo;s last hero. He finished off a textbook three-on-two rush, taking a pass from center Dan Kane after slipping behind Duluth&rsquo;s right defenseman at the top of the faceoff circle. Cutting across the crease, he shoved a backhand through the skates of little Rick Kosti, the freshman goalie who&rsquo;d already turned away 55 Falcon bids.Kosti made the all-tournament team for his effort but his Bowling Green counterpart, Gary Kruzich, was named the tournament&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player. The freshman only had to make 32 saves, but no fewer than five in the third overtime period were spectacular.Jerry York, the Bowling Green coach via Boston College and Clarkson, had seen Kruzich as a minor liability and designed a dogged backchecking game plan.Both York and Duluth coach Mike Sertich skated three lines the whole game. Only four Bowling Green defensemen played the entire time. Duluth defender Jim Johnson played most of the game with a separated shoulder. In an effort to keep only their best players on the ice, the coaches contributed mightily to the bone-wearying fatigue.York&rsquo;s game plan worked well, for the most part. Kruzich, who has been bothered by hamstring pulls for a couple of months, only had to make 17 saves in the first 60 minutes. But Duluth had looked comfortable at the 11:45 mark of the third period when Tom Herzig sprang free on a two-on-one, catching right defender Garry Galley up ice. Herzig let fly a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle that beat Kruzich high to the glove side. One of the few Bulldog forays that penetrated the Falcon backcheckers, it looked like the clincher.Not so. Cavallini tied up a defenseman less than minute later, allowing Peter Wilson to tuck home a rebound of a Mike Pikul slapshot.But the Bowling Green offense could do nothing on a subsequent power play and things looked grim. York called a timeout for a last breather. Then came the break or, if you will, Kosti&rsquo;s one mis-take. He stepped around his right post to sweep a backboard carom behind the net. Somehow, the puck eluded him and trickled into the crease, where John Samanski poked it home to start the long sudden-death march.In the first extra period, Kosti stopped 10 shots to Kruzich&rsquo;s two. One of those was a glittering split save on senior Bob Lakso,In the second overtime, three of Kruzich&rsquo;s five stops were point-blank on Lakso, Watson and Sean Toomey.In the third, Duluth controlled play, had a man advantage, jammed Kruzich&rsquo;s crease and threw eight good shots his way. They left the ice shaking their heads.In the fourth overtime after the standing ovation, Kruzich stopped yet another two-on-one. Up at the other end, Dave Ellett, Galley&rsquo;s defense partner who also played at least 65 minutes, rang a shot off the post. Then Kane and Cavallini dashed away and ended it at last.Sertich is himself one of the drama&rsquo;s heroes. Last year he was an interim coach, working for a year after his mentor and long-time friend Gus Hendrickson was fired. The school owed Gus another year&rsquo;s pay, and turned to Sertich, who&rsquo;d actually offered his own resignation. He turned in a 24-16-1 record and got a three-year contract.Sertich&rsquo;s team is the only thing that the dreary iron ore port has to cheer about. Just five times in 19 years has the school&rsquo;s hockey team posted a winning record. They&rsquo;d never won the WCHA. They&rsquo;d never won an NCAA playoff game.York has had his share of post-season blues. Last year his 28-8-4 team was politicked out of the NCAA tournament in favor of UMD, ironically enough. It was the worst decision ever handed down by a selection committee, but revenge was not in the air.The final game was simply the last act of a superlative Final Four toumey. Both semi-final games were 2-1 pressure cookers, with UMD beating North Dakota in overtime while Bowling Green held off Michigan State. Even the consolation game went to overtime, with North Dakota winning 6-5.The championship match was the longest ever held, of course, since the toumey began in 1948. &#9632;

Falcons Flying Home With College Crown

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div>LAKE PLACID&mdash;For the second time in four years, the winner of the Hobey Baker Award is a player from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.But not even the presence of the award winner&mdash;defenseman Tom Kurvers&mdash;could help Minnesota-Duluth to its first NCAA Division One hockey championship.The Bulldogs fell 5-4 in four overtimes in the title game of the 37th annual NCAA toumey played at the Olympic Center, the site of the 1980 Winter Olympics.Kurvers, a senior from Bloomington, MN, received the Hobey Baker Award, presented by the Decathlon Club of Minneapolis, based on playing ability, scholastic achievement and off-ice activities.Kurvers is the fourth player to win the award, the previous winners being Minnesota&rsquo;s Neal Broten, Bowling Green&rsquo;s George McPhee and Harvard&rsquo;s Mark Fusco.Kurvers and the Bulldogs enjoyed their greatest seasons together. Kurvers asserted himself early as one of the alltime great UMD players. He played in more games than any other player in school history (164), finished as the school&rsquo;s all-time leader in assists with 149 and became the first player in Duluth history to net 50 or more assists in a season, finishing with 58. In addition, his 43 career goals is the most ever scored by a Duluth defenseman.Kurvers&rsquo; contributions were recognized by the media and coaches of the WCHA when he was named to the All-WCHA first team and selected as the league&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player in a landslide vote.Academically, Kurvers carries a 3.46 grade point average with a major in communications. His professional rights belong to the Montreal Canadiens, who are expected to announce his signing shortly.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been associated with hockey for over 30 years as a player, a fan, an assistant coach and head coach,&rdquo; said Bulldog coach Mike Sertich. &ldquo;There are few players I&rsquo;ve seen in that time who have combined athletic ability, scholarship and character as well as Tom Kurvers has at UMD.&rdquo;Sertich further praised Kurvers by saying he would love to have a son grow up to be just like him.Kurvers is an offensive defenseman. He finished second in scoring in the WCHA to teammate Bill Watson.For Kurvers, winning the highest individual award left him nearly speechless, a remarkable feat for a communications major.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of hard to put my feelings into words,&rdquo; Kurvers told a room jammed with reporters and fans in Lake Placid. &ldquo;This whole week has been like a dream for me, with the season we&rsquo;ve had and now winning this award. I don&rsquo;t think the impact of it all is going to hit me for awhile.&rdquo;The other finalists for the award were: goaltender Jon Casey, North Dakota; center Paul Donato, Babson College; winger Dan Dorion, Western Michigan; center Gates Orlando, Providence College; center Joel Otto, Bemidji State; center Paul Pooley, Ohio State; defenseman Jean Roy, Bowdoin College; goalie Cleon Daskalakis, Boston University, and center Steve Smith, Colgate.Kurvers made remarkable progress as a college player. He admits he wasn&rsquo;t even the best defenseman on his high school team at Jefferson High in Bloomington, a honor he says belongs to Bill Whitsitt, who became a four-year regular for North Dakota.Because of illness and injuries, Kurvers played a smaller role than expected his senior year at Jefferson as the Jaguars finished with a 22-2-2 record and placed third in the Minnesota State high school tournament.&ldquo;Wisconsin offered me a half-ride in hockey, but I looked at the defensemen they had there like Bruce Driver and I decided that&rsquo;s not where I wanted to go,&rdquo; Kurvers said.&ldquo;Minnesota made a couple of phone calls to me, but the school that recruited me the hardest was RPI. Coach Mike. Addesa called me all the time, but I decided I didn&rsquo;t want to go out East to play. I wanted to stay closer to home. Mike Sertich, who was then an assistant coach at Duluth, told me they wanted me at UMD, so that&rsquo;s where I decided to go.&rdquo;It couldn&rsquo;t have worked out better for both Kurvers and the Bulldogs. Kurvers won the major award and Duluth came within a goal of winning its first NCAA title ever, just a few weeks after winning its first WCHA title.&ldquo;This has been a team effort from the very start,&rdquo; Kurvers said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very honored and happy to win the Hobey Baker Award, but to me, it&rsquo;s a team award. We&rsquo;ve all worked very hard all year to get where we are today and any individual honors that come our way are a reflection of that team spirit.&rdquo;TOURNEY TIDBITS&mdash;It didn&rsquo;t take long for the pros to pick off a few prize players in the toumey. The Minnesota North Stars, in dire need of goaltending help because of illness and injuries, signed North Dakota&rsquo;s Jon Casey to an eight-game amateur tryout. Casey was one of the finalists for the Hobey Baker Award. In addition, Sioux forward Dan Brennan, UND&rsquo;s leading scorer as a senior, left immediately to join the Los Angeles Kings&hellip;On the NCAA Division Two level, Bemidji (MN) State became only the second U.S. college team to complete an unbeaten season when the Beavers beat Merrimack College 6-3 and 8-1 in a two-game, total-goals series in Bemidji, to finish the year with a 31-0 record. The 1970 Cornell University team, with Ken Dryden in goal, was 29-0 and the only other United States college team to go unbeaten&hellip;The 5-4 win by Bowling Green over Duluth in four overtimes has to rank as one of the longest games in history. But it isn&rsquo;t the longest. In 1955, Thief River Falls and Minneapolis South played 11 overtimes in the Minnesota State high school tourney. &#9632;

Speechless Kurvers Wins Hobey

The fact Bowling Green is the winner of the college championship is a result of a total team effort, but if you had to single one player who stood out above the rest, Gary Kruzich would be the one.Only 5-foot-6,160 pounds, Kruzich refused to buckle under the quadruple-overtime pressure as he continually thwarted the Minnesota-Duluth attack with quality saves.The most telling stat of all is that Kruzich is a rookie, but the Oaklawa, IL, native came through like a veteran in the true spirit of the Bulldogs.An outstanding minor-hockey prospect in Illinois, Kruzich worked hard to merit his assignment in the championship game and his being selected the player of the week proves he earned it.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01527/4904588-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="546" height="680"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY KRUZICH BGU</figcaption></div>At the end of the season, THE HOCKEY NEWS will select a Bauer College Player of the Year. &#9632;

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Bauer Player of the week

<h2>NCAA FINALS</h2>(at Lake Placid)<h3>CHAMPIONSHIP GAME</h3>Bowling Green 5, Minn-Duluth 4(four overtime periods)<h3>CONSOLATION GAME</h3>North Dakota 6, Mich. State 5<h3>SEMI-FINALS</h3>Minn.-Duluth 2, North Dakota 1Bowling Green 2, Mich. State 1QuarterfinalsNorth Dakota 5, RPI 4North Dakota 4, RR 2(North Dakota wins two-game total-goals series 9-6)Boston Univ. 6, Bowling Green 3Bowling Green 5, Boston Univ. 1(Bowling Green wins two-game total-goal series 8-7)Minnesota-Duluth 6, Clarkson 2Clarkson 6, Minnesota-Duluth 3(Minnesota-Duluth wins two-game totalgoals series 9-8)Mich State 6, Boston College 2Mich State 7, Boston College 5(Michigan State wins two-game total-goal series 13-7)<h2>ECAC CONFERENCE</h2><h3>PLAYOFF GAMES</h3>SemifinalsBoston Univ. 6, Boston College 4RPI 5, Clarkson 4ConsolationClarkson 3, Boston College 1ChampionshipRR 5, Boston Univ. 2<h2>CCHA CONFERENCE</h2><h3>PLAYOFF GAMES</h3>SemifinalsMich State 8, Ohio State 1W. Michigan 5, Bowling Green 4ConsolationOhio State 3, Bowling Green 2ChampionshipMich State 5, W. Michigan 0<h2>WCHA CONFERENCE</h2><h3>PLAYOFF GAMES</h3>FinalsMin-Duluth 8, No. Dakota 1No. Dakota 5, Min-Duluth 4(Min-Duluth wins two-game total-goal series 12-6)<h2>ECAC CONFERENCE (Final Standings)</h2><h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01550/4904745-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="535" height="203"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02389/4904738-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="537" height="172"></div><h3>IVY DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03327/4904731-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="539" height="203"></div><h3>INDEPENDENTS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04253/4904724-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="535" height="88"></div><h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05207/4904717-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="536" height="643"></div><h2>CCHA CONFERENCE (Final Standings)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06174/4904710-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="538" height="349"></div><h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-07152/4904703-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="544" height="1001"></div><h2>WCHA CONFERENCE (Final Standings)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-08139/4904696-1-eng-US/f0026-082.jpg" title="f0026-08" width="544" height="205"></div><h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-09131/4904689-1-eng-US/f0026-092.jpg" title="f0026-09" width="542" height="1342"></div><h2>ECAC CONFERENCE</h2><h3>DIVISION II PLAYOFFS</h3>East DivisionBowdoin 6, UMass 4Norwich 7, Merrimack 4Colby 3, NE College 2Babson 6, Salem State 2SemifinalsBabson 3, Norwich 1Bowdoin 4, Colby 3FinalsBabson 4, Bowdoin 1West DivisionRIT 7, Hamilton 0Plattsburgh 6, Elmira 1Union 6, No. Adams 4Oswego 9, Potsdam 2SemifinalsRIT 6, Plattsburgh 2Union 5, Oswego 3FinalsRIT 3, Union 1<h2>CANADIAN COLLEGES</h2>SemifinalsToronto 8, Trois-Rivieres 3Toronto 6, Trois-Rivieres 1(Toronto wins best-of-three series 2-0)Concordia 2, Alberta 2Concordia 5, Alberta 3(Concordia wins best-of-three series 1-0, one tied)FinalsToronto 9, Concordia 1(Toronto wins championship)<h3>INTER-UNIVERSITY PLAYOFFS</h3>Toronto 3, New Brunswick 2Toronto 5, New Brunswick 2(Toronto wins best-of-three series 2-0)Alberta 4, Manitoba 2Alberta 7, Manitoba 1(Alberta wins best-of-three series 2-0)<h3>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</h3>FinalsConcordia 5, Ottawa 2Concordia 6, Ottawa 3Concordia 6, Ottawa 4(Concordia wins best-of-five series 3-0)<h3>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</h3>Semi-finalsToronto 7, Guelph 2Toronto 13, Guelph 4(Toronto wins best-of-three series 2-0)Laurier 8, Western 5Western 6, Laurier 3Western 3, Laurier 2(Western wins best-of-three series 2-1)FinalsToronto 2, Western 1Toronto 5, Western 3(Toronto wins best-of-three series 2-0)<h3>ATLANTIC CONFERENCE</h3>Semi-finalsAcadia 5, New Brunswick 4New Brunswick 5, Acadia 1New Brunswick 8, Acadia 2(New Brunswick winsbest-of-three series 2-1)FinalsNew Brunswick 4, Moncton 3New Brunwick 5, Moncton 3New Brunswick wins(best-of-three series 2-0)<h3>GREAT PLAINS CONFERENCE</h3>FinalsBrandon 8, Manitoba 4Manitoba 9, Brandon 5Manitoba 8, Brandon 5(Manitoba wins best-of-three series 2-1)<h3>CANADA WEST CONFERENCE</h3>FinalsAlberta 4, Saskatchewan 2Alberta 9, Saskatchewan 2(Alberta wins best-of-three series 2-0)<h3>ONTARIO COLLEGES</h3>FinalsSeneca 7, Canadore 2Seneca 10, Canadore 2(Seneca wins best-of-three series 2-0)<h2>ONTARIO CONFERENCE (Final Standings)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-10125/4904682-1-eng-US/f0026-102.jpg" title="f0026-10" width="548" height="412"></div><h2>QUEBEC CONFERENCE (Final Standings)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-11121/4904675-1-eng-US/f0026-112.jpg" title="f0026-11" width="540" height="178"></div><h2>CANADA WEST CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-12112/4904668-1-eng-US/f0026-122.jpg" title="f0026-12" width="548" height="154"></div><h2>GREAT PLAINS CONFERENCE (Final Standings)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-13109/4904661-1-eng-US/f0026-132.jpg" title="f0026-13" width="544" height="184"></div><h3>INDEPENDENT</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-14100/4904654-1-eng-US/f0026-142.jpg" title="f0026-14" width="542" height="68"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>No. Arizona 5, US Inti 0No. Arizona 5, US Inti 4No. Arizona 10, US Inti 3US Inti 6, No. Arizona 4(End of schedule)<h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1592/4904647-1-eng-US/f0026-152.jpg" title="f0026-15" width="542" height="386"></div><h2>NCHA CONFERENCE (Final Standings)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1683/4904640-1-eng-US/f0026-162.jpg" title="f0026-16" width="546" height="266"></div><h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1777/4904633-1-eng-US/f0026-172.jpg" title="f0026-17" width="538" height="356"></div><h2>WEST PENN CONFERENCE (Final Standings)</h2><h3>GREATER PITT DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1862/4904626-1-eng-US/f0026-182.jpg" title="f0026-18" width="535" height="175"></div><h3>WEST PENN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1951/4904619-1-eng-US/f0026-192.jpg" title="f0026-19" width="538" height="175"></div><h3>PLAYOFF GAMES</h3>Duquesne 9, West Virginia 4Indiana 5, Slippery Rock 3Semi-finalsGannon 4, Indiana 3Duquesne 4, Carnegie 3FinalsDuquesne 7, Gannon 5(Duquesne wins championship) &#9632;

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HOW THEY STAND

<div class="byline">BY JOHN HERBERT</div>Louisville HockeyKITCHENER&mdash;The junior franchise voted in THE HOCKEY NEWS poll last summer as the best in Canada has completed another remarkable and recordsetting season in the Ontario Hockey League.The Kitchener Rangers clinched the host team berth in the Memorial Cup tournament the final weekend of the season and tied a Canadian Major Junior Hockey League record for consecutive wins the same night when they defeated the Brantford Alexanders before a sellout 6,649 fans at the Memorial Auditorium.The 25-game streak, an OHL record, was snapped the next night with a 5-1 loss at Peterborough.The following day, back at the Auditorium before 4,660 fans, the Rangers closed out the season romping to a 6-2 win over the London Knights to finish with a record 52 wins.London held the record of 51 games set in a 66-game schedule in 1976-77 and a record 106 points while finishing atop the Emms Division standings.As the OHL&rsquo;s top team, the Rangers earned the right to be host to the Memorial Cup, May 12-19. The OHL will have a second representative, making it a four-team tourney, if the playoff champion is a team other than the Rangers. The Rangers finished with a 52-16-2 record in the 70-game schedule, four points in front of Ottawa 67s, who led the Leyden Division standings.The Rangers accomplished several milestones:&bull; Of the Rangers&rsquo; 35 home games, there were 28 crowds of more than 4,000 for a season average of 4,400, tops in Canada.&bull; Ten of their crowds were more than 5,000 and only once did they go below 3,000 and that was a crowd of 2,800, the opening weekend of the season.&bull; The Rangers had a 31-3-1 home record and a 17-game winning streak at home as the regular season ended.Many of the Rangers&rsquo; achievements came despite the loss of key players to National Hockey League clubs. Brian Bellows and Scott Stevens, both finishing their second seasons in the NHL, would have been eligible for this year&rsquo;s club had they not been first-round drafts. The Rangers also had center John Tucker for only 39 games but won 37 while losing only twice as the third-year player from Windsor piled up 40 goals and 60 assists in his short stay in Kitchener. The rest of the season he was with the Buffalo Sabres.Key players in this year&rsquo;s success included Wayne Presley, Carmen Vani, Greg Puhalski, Garnet McKechney, Dave Shaw, Jim Quinn, goalie Ray Leblanc and Dave Bruce.The Rangers&rsquo; rise to power began in 1980-81 when Orval Tessier was brought in as general manager-coach after the franchise had floundered for several seasons, finishing dead last overall in 197980. Tessier took the club all the way to the Memorial Cup final behind rookie Brian Bellows, before leaving to join the Chicago Black Hawks. The next year, Joe Crozier, another who held the GM-coach portfolio, took the Rangers to the Memorial Cup title and then last year he took a rookie-laden club to the Emms finals.Another strong general managercoach in Tom Barrett, for years successful with junior B and tier two clubs, took the Rangers to their best-ever season. Some of the rival coaches say he did it with the best possible coaching strategy, by not coming in with a broom to make sweeping changes. He sat back and let the club play its own game.In all four seasons, the Rangers had strong second halfs. In 1980-81, they had a 20-7 mark in the second half of the schedule and improved on that the following season with a 19-3-1 mark and a 24-7 slate last season. Of course, this season, they had a 26-1 record to close with the 25-game streak.The Rangers&rsquo; top scorer this season was the sophomore Presley with a club record 63 goals and 139 points. Presley, a seventh-round midget draft pick last year from Taylor, MI, scored his 62nd goal the night the Rangers clinched the Memorial Cup berth. It was a picture play, an end-to-end rush where he deked past two defenders to break into the clear. The goal broke the record held by Tucker and Dwight Foster, now a member of the Detroit Red Wings.In a touch of class Ranger-style, Foster called Presley after the game with congratulations.The Rangers also had the top scorer among rookies this season with Shawn Burr, a second-round choice off the Sarnia midget club, who produced 41 goals and 44 assists for 85 points.Ranger governor Bob Ertel, who stepped down as president this year to take the newly created full-time position as business manager of the club, said plans for host of the Memorial Cup began almost immediately. An organization meeting was held the day after the regular season ended. The OHL, which would ordinarily organize the Memorial Cup, has turned over the entire package to the Rangers because of their incredible record on and off the ice.Ertel said the club will offer $55 packages, one ticket to each of the seven games and the eighth, if it is necessary, to season subscribers from April 2-11 before making the package offer available to the public April 12-20. After that, tickets will be sold on an individual game basis.Ertel says there are two reasons for the club&rsquo;s success, winning and marketing the product.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to have that combination,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;One thing you&rsquo;ve got to have is a good season-ticket base. If you sell 2,000, you&rsquo;re pretty well assured 4,000. The other biggest contributing factor, and the rest of teams can learn from it, is our children&rsquo;s prices are $2 and they bring their parents.&ldquo;The other thing is you have to go out and work at it. You can&rsquo;t open doors in September and say, &lsquo;Here&rsquo;s the Kitchener Rangers, come on in. &lsquo;It&rsquo;s an old story. Off the ice you have to work as hard as the guys on the ice.&rdquo;Ertel said the Kitchener executive hopes to put on a Memorial Cup extravaganza which will at least match last spring&rsquo;s effort in Portland. The Memorial Cup banquet will be staged May 16 and Ertel said the committee is in the process of obtaining a major speaker.&ldquo;We won&rsquo;t be outdone,&rdquo; Ertel said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not going to be just another occasion. It&rsquo;s going to be an experience. It&rsquo;s going to be done right. We&rsquo;ve got the manpower and expertise to pull it off.&rdquo;Meanwhile, the OHL schedule concluded with Kingston&rsquo;s Tim Salmon the scoring champion with 45 goals and 100 assists for 145 points. Salmon and linemate Kevin Conway, who led the league with 65 goals to 63 by Presley and Peterborough&rsquo;s Scott Tottle, joined Toledo Goaldiggers as the Kingston club missed the playoffs. Salmon was in his first season in Kingston after being dropped by the Guelph Platers, producing 13 goals and 17 assists last season.Kingston&rsquo;s general manager Ken Slater, who remembered Salmon when Slater was with NHL Central Scouting Bureau, offered the 19-year-old center a trial.Windsor Spitfire majority owner John McHale, of Nepean, was looking for partners to help ease the financial burden of operating the franchise. McHale cited business reversals as the reason for re-quiring financial help but was on record last May, after buying the club from Fred Sorrell and Wheels, Inc., that he wanted seven equal partners. He has four.The first coaching casualty was Jocelyn Guevremont, in his second season, who was let go by the Cornwall Royals two nights before they were to open a playoff series with Peterborough Petes and replaced by director of player personnel Gord Wood for the remainder of the season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01523/4904776-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="584" height="784"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Presley played a key role in the Rangers finishing atop the Ontario League.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Rangers Planning Memorial Cup Hoopla

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02339/4904821-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="556" height="546"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE SEGUIN Peterborough</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>Steve Seguin is winding down his junior hockey career with a flurry and his next stop may be the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League.The strapping 6-foot-2, 201-pound right winger, who was drafted by the Kings in the second round in 1982, finished the Ontario League regular season with 106 points and continued his hot pace into the first round of the playoffs to win the nod as OHL player of the week.Seguin collected 10 points in the final game against Toronto and helped the Petes to their first two playoff games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03222/4904814-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="562" height="547"><figcaption class="caption-body">LYNDON BYERS Regina</figcaption></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>The Boston Bruins will give Lyndon Byers a long, close look next season at training camp and the chances of the young Regina winger sticking are good.Byers, who was selected by the Bruins in the second round of the 1982 draft, has already had a brief taste of the NHL with the Bruins this season. He finished the Western Hockey League schedule with 15 points in his final three games and was chosen as the WHL player of the week.The 6-foot-1, 185-pound right winger had 89 points in 58 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04155/4904807-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="551" height="552"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARIO LEMIEUX Laval</figcaption></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>The Laval Voisins are the big favorites to win it all in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this season and it&rsquo;s all because of the production of Mario Lemieux.Already Canada&rsquo;s most talked about junior and the likely No. 1 pick in the 1984 NHL draft this summer, Lemieux has did it all for Laval this season. He scored 133 goals and 281 points, set three new records and hasn&rsquo;t let up in the QMJHL playoffs.The 19-year-old offensive dynamo made his playoff debut with four goals in a 7-2 romp over Granby.At the end of the current season, THE HOCKEY NEWS will select a Micron Junior Player of the Year. &#9632;

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MICRON JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div>Louisville HockeyKELOWNA&mdash;The Wings have taken the sacrificial approach in a strive for Western Hockey League survival.The second-year franchise, abused like a well-worn welcome mat by its Western Division rivals, is hoping the youth movement will afford the Wings an opportunity to finally do some stepping of their own next season.The 1983-84 season has been another trying campaign for the Wings, who took a 15-55-1 record into their final regularseason contest. Kelowna was 12-57-3 in its first year. The lack of significant improvement and a pair of last-place showings kept the fans away and started the rumor mill churning.&ldquo;There have been rumors the club has been sold and is moving to Prince George, Edmonton or Swift Current,&rdquo; said Kelowna coach Marc Pezzin. &ldquo;There is a large group of shareholders here and many of them feel it&rsquo;s more viable to stay in Kelowna. I think the club will be here next year.&rdquo;Team president Chris Parker owns 37 per cent of the Wings and has put his shares up for purchase.&ldquo;As far as I&rsquo;m concerned we are staying,&rdquo; said Kelowna general manager Joe Arling, who has shares in the Wings. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have anybody on the dotted line yet but people in the community have come forward expressing interest. We&rsquo;ve had two tough years and to have local support is to our advantage.&ldquo;If you win nobody cares who owns the team. Local businessmen are more loyal to the city.&rdquo;What if Wings have another bad year?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t look at it that way,&rdquo; said Pezzin. &ldquo;Actually, it hasn&rsquo;t even crossed my mind. We lost 17 one-goal games and about 24 by two goals. We&rsquo;ve gone through all kinds of growing pains but I think it will be worth it.&rdquo;Optimism has been at a premium in Kelowna since the Wings joined the 14-team league. The first season it was the predictable plot of stocking a new team with journeymen players in a vain attempt to win and attract a fan following. That was tough chore in Kelowna, where the tier two British Columbia Hockey League Buckaroos reigned supreme before moving this season.This time around it was much the same story in the win-loss column but another one in terms of some light at the end of a long tunnel. Forwards Jeff Fenton, Cam Lazoruk and Darren Cota were the lone returnees this season. Next year it will be different.&ldquo;There wasn&rsquo;t a highlight this season,&rdquo; said Pezzin. &ldquo;The two major things which hurt us this year were the loss of two key defensemen. We lost Todd Voshell one and a half months into the season with a knee injury and Stu Wenaas before Christmas with an ankle injury. We were history after that. We knew we were going to struggle regardless but losing defensemen of that calibre hurt.&ldquo;We feel with what&rsquo;s on our list we need some maturity up front. One or two 19-year-olds who can help up front would make a difference. We now have players people want instead of giving up a battleship from two rowboats. We can now trade a battleship for a battleship.&rdquo;Three battleships who inflicted their share of offensive damage this season were rookies Terry Zaporzan, Grant De-lcourt and Dave McLay. The line, which combined for 88 goals heading into the Wings&rsquo; last game, will form the nucleus of the team next season. Although not big, the line is quick and smart. Zaporzan, named the team&rsquo;s most valuable player, is the best of the bunch and is expected to be one of five Wings drafted by the National Hockey League in June.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been offered three players by one club and a substantial cash deal by another for 16-year-old Sharples (defenseman Jeff),&rdquo; said Pezzin. &ldquo;If we give away the talented kids what do we get back? Nothing. We don&rsquo;t want to keep patching a tire.&rdquo;The big question is will the fans buy Pezzin&rsquo;s pitch?&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve had no heroes,&rdquo; said the Kelowna coach. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s frustrating. They&rsquo;ve had nobody to cheer and no real reason to pay six or seven dollars. Now they can look at Terry Zaporzan and wonder how many goals he&rsquo;ll get next year.&ldquo;The fans have paid their dues&mdash;now they want to see something.&rdquo;WHL WEEK&mdash;okey Reddick of New Westminster Bruins and Ray Ferraro of Brandon Wheat Kings have been named player of the year division winners in the Western and Eastern Divisions, respectively.The 19-year-old Reddick, who at time of the award had appeared in a leagueleading 50 games and had a league-high 1,643 saves, compiled a respectable 4.40 goals-against average.Reddick is a big reason why Bruins headed into their final three regularseason games in second place, a far cry from last season when the club compiled a 20-51-1 in Nanaimo and missed the playoffs.In the Eastern Division, it was no surprise Ferraro added another feather to a cap already brimming with recordbreaking performances.The 19-year-old center, dealt to Brandon in a pre-season trade with the Portland Winter Hawks, had 108 goals to easily top the league record of 96.The 5-foot-10, 175-pound Ferraro, a native of Trail, B.C., also set season power-play (43) and hat trick (15) marks and just missed the record for points (194) by two.The winner of the league honor will represent the WHL in national balloting at the Memorial Cup against representatives from the Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.Cam Plante of Brandon has bettered the league record for most assists in a season by seven with 118 and his 140 points also are a record. &#9632;

Wings Will Fly Next Season With Kids

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div>SHAWINIGAN&mdash;The playoffs are called a second season, but the Cataractes have gone through two seasons just to reach them.&ldquo;January was like going to training camp again for us, we had seven new players,&rdquo; said Ron Lapointe, who guided the Cats to third place overall in the final standings with the lowest goals-against figure and was rewarded with a new two-year contract.His towering club, led by 6-foot-4 captain Jean Houde and four players 6-foot-3, are a strong threat to runaway pennant winner Laval Voisins (54-16) and-runner-up Verdun Juniors (40-27-3).&ldquo;We started out with a fairly good nucleus from last year and a good defense but we were questionable in goal and some players didn&rsquo;t want to play,&rdquo; said Lapointe, who completed a two-year contract with Shawinigan after positions with Quebec Remparts, Montreal Juniors, Sorel Eperviers, Concordia University and Lac St. Louis midget AAA.So the Christmas house-cleaning saw high-scoring center Guy Banoit, a Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; fourth-rounder, shipped to Drummondville Voltigeurs for center Eric Leveille, left winger Marc Dam-phousse and junior B Sylvain Leduc.Defenseman Jean-Guy Berger, a Montreal Canadien 12th-round pick, and No. 1 draft pick Eric Collin, a left-winger, were traded to St. Jean Beavers for St. Jean&rsquo;s first pick, 6-foot-1 defenseman Ralph Diviore, 6-foot-3 defenseman Charles Doucet and left winger Bobby Lebrun.And in another deal that paid off well, Lapointe swapped backup goalie Daniel Marcotte for Beavers&rsquo; backup Marc Desbiens and Desbiens worked his way into a starting role with Dave Quigley.&ldquo;I think we have the best defense in the league,&rdquo; Lapointe said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing good, crisp hockey and very seldom get blown out. We have depth, a bit of muscle and I think we may be able to surprise a few people in the playoffs. We&rsquo;re thinking semi-finals and see what happens after that.&rdquo;Shawinigan (37-33) wound up tied with Longueuil Chevaliers (37-33) and Quebec Remparts (36-32-2) with 74 points, but claimed third because a better goal differential than Longueil and one more win than Quebec.Although the Cats&rsquo; defense allowed two goals less than Laval, their offense, paced by 6-foot-3 left winger Sergio Momesso&mdash;a Canadiens&rsquo; second-rounder who finished sixth in league scoring with 42 goals and 87 assists&mdash;ranked seventh in the league.It was their impressive corps of defensive defensemen that carried the load.Yves Beaudoin, a 6-foot, 190-pound l0th-round draft pick of the Washington Capitals, had a great second half. Although Beaudoin is 18, he has played three seasons as has 5-foot-11, 185-pound Pat Murray.Lapointe figures 6-foot-1, 188-pound Ralph Difiore will be among the first six or seven QMJHL players to go in June&rsquo;s National Hockey League draft and was a steal from St. Jean.Jasmin Naud, 17-year-old brother of Rochester Americans&rsquo; defenseman Dan Naud, is 6-foot-3, 200 pounds and tough 19-year-old Benoit Richard is 6-foot-3, 200 pounds.Charles Doucet is 6-foot-3, 207 pounds and Sylvain Laroche, one of the smaller players at 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, is a mucker who is strong in front of the crease.The Cats have a balanced attack with 17-year-old Dave Kasper, the younger brother of Boston Bruins&rsquo; center Steve Kasper, centering Leveille. Another valuable addition was 20-year-old right winger Paul Adey, who finished fifth in league scoring last season with Hull Olympiques (58-104-162).NOTES&mdash;Laval&rsquo;s Mario Lemieux shows no sign of letting up in the playoffs after scoring 133 goals and 282 points. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound center scored three goals and assisted on two others as the Voisins opened their best-of-seven quarter-final against Granby Bisons with a 7-2 win.The Bisons grabbed the eighth and final playoff berth from Chicoutimi Sagueneens on the last night of the schedule with a win over St. Jean.There were no surprises in the other quarter-final openers either as second-place Verdun downed seventh-place St. Jean 11-6 and fourth-place Longueuil beat fifth-place Quebec 5-2.Third-place Shawinigan will meet sixth-place Drummondville in the remaining series. &#9632;

Shawinigan Coach Earns Reward

<h2>Mon. March 19 CHICAGO 1, MONTREAL 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01451/4905257-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="570" height="534"></div><h2>PHILAD. 4, NEW JERSEY 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02315/4905250-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="574" height="794"></div><h2>Tue. March 20 HARTFORD 1, CALGARY 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03204/4905243-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="570" height="616"></div><h2>QUEBEC 3, LOS ANGELES 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04140/4905236-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="592" height="676"></div><h2>DETROIT 6, VANCOUVER 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-05122/4905229-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="594" height="738"></div><h2>Wed. March 21 MONTREAL 2, BUFFALO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-06100/4905222-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="602" height="556"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0783/4905215-1-eng-US/f0029-072.jpg" title="f0029-07" width="594" height="100"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 2, CHICAGO 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0873/4905208-1-eng-US/f0029-082.jpg" title="f0029-08" width="594" height="796"></div><h2>HARTFORD 3, EDMONTON 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0968/4905201-1-eng-US/f0029-092.jpg" title="f0029-09" width="590" height="800"></div><h2>TORONTO 1, PITTSBURGH 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1060/4905194-1-eng-US/f0029-102.jpg" title="f0029-10" width="552" height="826"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 1, WASHINGTON 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1155/4905187-1-eng-US/f0029-112.jpg" title="f0029-11" width="562" height="686"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY 2, ISLANDERS 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1250/4905180-1-eng-US/f0029-122.jpg" title="f0029-12" width="596" height="796"></div><h2>BOSTON 6, RANGERS 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1343/4905173-1-eng-US/f0029-132.jpg" title="f0029-13" width="588" height="854"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 3, ST. LOUIS 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1440/4905166-1-eng-US/f0029-142.jpg" title="f0029-14" width="598" height="1116"></div><h2>Thu. March 22 ISLANDERS 3, BOSTON 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1536/4905159-1-eng-US/f0029-152.jpg" title="f0029-15" width="592" height="388"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1634/4905152-1-eng-US/f0029-162.jpg" title="f0029-16" width="560" height="480"></div><h2>DETROIT 6, CALGARY 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1732/4905145-1-eng-US/f0029-172.jpg" title="f0029-17" width="560" height="890"></div><h2>RANGERS 5, NEW JERSEY 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1830/4905138-1-eng-US/f0029-182.jpg" title="f0029-18" width="556" height="998"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH 4, PHILAD. 13</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1925/4905131-1-eng-US/f0029-192.jpg" title="f0029-19" width="566" height="822"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06120/4905124-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="557" height="235"></div><h2>Fir. March 23 VANCOUVER 4, WINNIPEG 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-07105/4905117-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="554" height="131"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0895/4905110-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="583" height="497"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0981/4905103-1-eng-US/f0031-092.jpg" title="f0031-09" width="586" height="369"></div><h2>Sat. March 24 CHICAGO 3, TORONTO 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1068/4905096-1-eng-US/f0031-102.jpg" title="f0031-10" width="586" height="62"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1157/4905089-1-eng-US/f0031-112.jpg" title="f0031-11" width="542" height="446"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01487/4905082-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="554" height="412"></div><h2>DETROIT 7, LOS ANGELES 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02356/4905075-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="542" height="1170"></div><h2>BUFFALO 6, NEW JERSEY 0</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03234/4905068-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="556" height="124"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04137/4905061-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="580" height="590"></div><h2>HARTFORD 3, QUEBEC 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0585/4905054-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="580" height="706"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0661/4905047-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="586" height="88"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH 0, WASH. 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0749/4905040-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="578" height="724"></div><h2>BOSTON 5, MONTREAL 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0843/4905033-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="580" height="788"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 4, ISLANDERS 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0933/4905026-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="584" height="894"></div><h2>RANGERS 5, PHILADELPHIA 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1028/4905019-1-eng-US/f0032-102.jpg" title="f0032-10" width="578" height="94"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1123/4905012-1-eng-US/f0032-112.jpg" title="f0032-11" width="570" height="842"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 7, EDMONTON 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1222/4905005-1-eng-US/f0032-122.jpg" title="f0032-12" width="576" height="876"></div><h2>Sun. March 25 TORONTO 4, CHICAGO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1319/4904998-1-eng-US/f0032-132.jpg" title="f0032-13" width="580" height="360"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01443/4904991-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="545" height="530"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 2, EDMONTON 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02317/4904984-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="544" height="414"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03226/4904977-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="601" height="95"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04172/4904970-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="593" height="98"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05141/4904963-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="599" height="92"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06116/4904956-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="567" height="94"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01474/4904949-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="566" height="242"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 5, BUFFALO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02377/4904942-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="562" height="739"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY 1, PHILAD. 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03295/4904935-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="559" height="763"></div><h2>MONTREAL 2, RANGERS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04246/4904928-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="554" height="645"></div><h2>QUEBEC 6, HARTFORD 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05201/4904921-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="564" height="216"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06182/4904914-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="601" height="972"></div><h2>WASH. 4, PITTSBURGH 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07171/4904907-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="586" height="889"></div><h2>CALGARY 4, VANCOUVER 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08151/4904900-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="597" height="856"></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01511/4905316-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"></div><h2>GOALTENDING STATISTICS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01474/4905309-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="580" height="2792"></div><h3>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h3>GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02335/4905302-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="553" height="202"></div><h3>MOST WINS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03248/4905295-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="498" height="292"></div><h3>SAVE PERCENTAGE</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04184/4905288-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="538" height="175"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05150/4905347-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0031-05

NHL TEAM ROSTERS

<h2>Top Rookies In The NHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1417/4905385-1-eng-US/f0032-142.jpg" title="f0032-14" width="501" height="358"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1516/4905378-1-eng-US/f0032-152.jpg" title="f0032-15" width="496" height="352"></div> &#9632;

f0032-14

<h2>NORRIS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1616/4905437-1-eng-US/f0032-162.jpg" title="f0032-16" width="532" height="174"></div><h2>SMYTHE DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1714/4905430-1-eng-US/f0032-172.jpg" title="f0032-17" width="531" height="178"></div><h2>ADAMS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1812/4905423-1-eng-US/f0032-182.jpg" title="f0032-18" width="535" height="176"></div><h2>PATRICK DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1910/4905416-1-eng-US/f0032-192.jpg" title="f0032-19" width="538" height="208"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Mon. Mar. 19Chicago 1 at Montreal 2Philadelphia 4 at New Jersey 3Tue. Mar. 20Hartford 1 at Calgary 4Quebec 3 at Los Angeles 1New Jersey 2 at Islanders 5Boston 6 at Rangers 4Winnipeg 3 at St. Louis 9Detroit 6 at Vancouver 3Wed. Mar. 21Montreal 2 at Buffalo 4Winnipeg 2 at Chicago 6Hartford 3 at Edmonton 5Toronto 1 at Pittsburgh 3Minnesota 1 at Washington 5Thu. Mar. 22Islanders 3 at Boston 3 (OT)Detroit 6 at Calgary 4Rangers 5 at New Jersey 3Pittsburgh 4 at Philadelphia 13Fri. Mar. 23Vancouver 4 at Winnipeg 3 (OT)Sat. Mar. 24St. Louis 7 at Edmonton 1Detroit 7 at Los Angeles 9Boston 5 at Montreal 2Buffalo 6 at New Jersey 0Minnesota 4 at Islanders 4 (OT)Rangers 5 at Philadelphia 6Hartford 3 at Quebec 2 (OT)Chicago 3 at Toronto 7Pittsburgh 0 at Washington 6Sun. Mar. 25Islanders 5 at Buffalo 3Toronto 4 at Chicago 5Winnipeg 2 at Edmonton 3Quebec 6 at Hartford 6 (OT)Montreal 2 at Rangers 3New Jersey 1 at Philadelphia 4Washington 4 at Pittsburgh 3Calgary 4 at Vancouver 4 (OT) &#9632;

f0032-16

THE NHL SCOREBOARD

BOSTON&mdash;K. Crowder 20, 21, 22, 23, Kasper 2, Middleton 45, 46, Pederson 32, 33, Bourque 28, 29, 30, O&rsquo;Connell 18, Fergus 24. Winning goals-K. Crowder, Pederson.BUFFALO&mdash;Andreychuk 35, 36, 37, Hamel 20, Ruff 13, Peterson 9, Tucker 7,8,9, Housley 31, Foligno 32, McKenna 20, Hajt 3. Winning goals-Ruff, Tucker.CALGARY&mdash;Quinn 17, 18, Loob 29, 30, Maclnnis 9, 10, Reinhart 6, McDonald 30, 31, 32, Macoun 8, 9. Winning goals-Loob.CHICAGO&mdash;Savard 34, 35, 36, 37, Ludzik 9, S. Larmer 32, 33, 34, 35, T. Murray 13, 14, Lysiak 14, 15, B. Murray 11, B. Wilson 10. Winning goals-Savard, S. Larmer.DETROIT&mdash;Duguay 31, 32, Lambert 18, 19, 20, Yzerman 36, 37, 38, Foster 9, Dunlop 7, Larson 22,23, Manno 9, Gare 12, Boldirev 30, 31, 32, 33, Kisio 21. Winning goals-Yzerman, Gare.EDMONTON&mdash;Anderson 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, Kurri 51, Gretzky 84, 85. Winning goals-Anderson, Gretzky.HARTFORD&mdash;Crawford 34, 35 Kotsopoulos 5, Johnson 35, Malone 16, Pierce 6, Currie 12, 13,14, 15, Neufeld 25, Turgeon 40, Tippett 1. Winning goals-Currie.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Dionne 35, 36, MacLellan 25, Taylor 19,Simmer 41,Ruskowski 7, Hardy 8, Hakansson 15, Fox 28, Harris 9. Winning goals-Fox.MINNESOTA&mdash;Maruk 17, Ciccarelli 36, Plett 14, Payne 28, MacAdam 19. Winning goals-none.MONTREAL&mdash;Chabot 16, 17, Carlson 3, Naslund 28,29, Shutt 14, Smith 29, McPhee 4. Winning goals-Carlson.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Ludvig 21, 22, Verbeek 19, MacMillan 17, Lever 14, Merkosky 1, Brumwell 7, Higgins 18, Russell 9. Winning goalsnone.ISLANDERS&mdash;Trottier 37,38,39, Tonelli 26, 27, Gilbert 29,30,31, Bossy 46,47,48, Potvin 21, LaFontaine 10,11, Bourne 20,21, B. Sutter 30. Winning goals-Tonelli, B. Sutter.RANGERS&mdash;Stoughton 27, 28, Osborne 22, 23, Pavelich 23, 24, 25, Larouche 45, 46, 47, Hedberg 28,29,30, Huber 9, Rogers 23, Ruotsalainen 20, Don Maloney 23. Winning goals-Larouche, Osborne.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;ropp 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, Kerr 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, Guay 1, Howe 17, 18, Poulin 28, 29, 30, 31, Ron Sutter 18, Hachborne 9, 10, 11, Sinisalo 25, 26, 27, Eriksson 11, Allison 7, Rich Sutter 15. Winning goals-Propp 2, Howe, Hachborn.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Roulston 16, Hrynewich 4, Brickley 18, Boutette 14, Hotham 5, Rissling 4, Flockhart 26, Shedden 20,21, Schmidt 4. Winning goals-Hrynewich.QUEBEC&mdash;Marois 12, 13, P. Stastny 43, 44, 45, 46, Sauve 9, Cote 17, Paiement 39, A. Stastny 22, 23. Winning goals-P. Stastny.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Sutter 32, Mullen 37, 38, 39, Paslawski 9, Chouinard 12, Wilson 6, Pettersson 27, Gilmour 24, 25, Federko 39, 40, 41, Reeds 11, Hickey 9, Johnson 2. Winning goals-Federko, Chouinard.TORONTO&mdash;Anderson 35, 36, Vaive 51,52, Derlago 36, 37, 38, Martin 11, Poddubny 11, Farrish 4, McCourt 19. Winning goals-Derlago.VANCOUVER&mdash;Rota 28, Neely 16, Sundstrom 37, Gradin 20,21,Tanti 43, Williams 15, Halward 7, Bubla 6, Petit 6, Gillis 7. Winning goals-Halward.WASHINGTON&mdash;Andersson 3, Gartner 37, 38, Sampson 1, Gould 18,19,20, Haworth 23, 24, Duchesne 16, Carpenter 26, Christian 28, 29, Stevens 13, Erikson 11. Winning goals-Gartner, Haworth.WINNIPEG&mdash;Lukowich 27, 28, 29, Hawerchuk 34, 35, Campbell 6, McBain 11, Boschman 27, 28, Smail 20. Winning goals-none.Hat tricks-McDonald (Cal), Mullen (StL), Larouche (NYR), Poulin (Pha), Sinisalo (Pha), Boldirev (Det), Federko (StL), one each. &#9632;

NHL SCORERS THIS WEEK

<h2>AT HOME</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-209/4905541-1-eng-US/f0032-202.jpg" title="f0032-20" width="272" height="639"></div><h2>ON THEROAD</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-219/4905534-1-eng-US/f0032-212.jpg" title="f0032-21" width="268" height="638"></div><h2>POINTS RACE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-228/4905527-1-eng-US/f0032-222.jpg" title="f0032-22" width="527" height="634"></div><h2>HOW THEY DID IN THEIR LAST TEN GAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-238/4905520-1-eng-US/f0032-232.jpg" title="f0032-23" width="208" height="150"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-248/4905513-1-eng-US/f0032-242.jpg" title="f0032-24" width="199" height="151"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-255/4905506-1-eng-US/f0032-252.jpg" title="f0032-25" width="201" height="152"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-264/4905499-1-eng-US/f0032-262.jpg" title="f0032-26" width="202" height="149"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-273/4905492-1-eng-US/f0032-272.jpg" title="f0032-27" width="199" height="177"></div> &#9632;

f0032-20

HOW NHL TEAMS RATE

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE (Standings on Tue. Mar. 27)</h2><h3>Northern League</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01500/4905771-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="541" height="202"></div><h3>Southern Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02396/4905764-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="538" height="203"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Mar. 19Sherbrooke 4 at Springfield 7Tue. Mar. 20Moncton 2 at Fredericton 6Sherbrooke 2 at St. Catharines 8Wed. Mar. 21St. Catharines 6 at Adirondack 5Binghamton 5 at Hershey 2Baltimore 4 at Moncton 6Springfield 7 at New Haven 11Maine 4 at Nova Scotia 3Sherbrooke 3 at Rochester 5Thu. Mar. 22Maine 0 at Fredericton 4Fr. Mar. 23St. Catharines 8 at Binghamton 9Sherbrooke 3 at New Haven 6Hershey 1 at Rochester 10Sat. Mar. 24Springfield 5 at Binghamton 3Baltimore 4 at Fredericton 5Maine 2 at Moncton 4Hershey 1 at St. Catharines 3Sun. Mar. 25Adirondack 4 at Hershey 2Binghamton 3 at New Haven 6Maine 3 at Nova Scotia 8Springfield 5 at Rochester 4 (OT)Baltimore 11 at Sherbrooke 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Mar. 27Springfield at St. CatharinesWed. Mar. 28Springfield at St. CatharinesBaltimore at HersheySherbroke at MaineNova Scotia at MonctonThu. Mar. 29Moncton at FrederictonFri. Mar. 30Hershey at BinghamtonAdirondack at SherbrookeMaine at SpringfieldSat Mar. 31Rochester at BinghamtonAdirondack at MaineFredricton at MonctonBaltimore at St. CatharinesSherbrooke at SpringfieldSun. Apr. 1Binghamton at AdirondackNew Haven at HersheyMoncton at Nova ScotiaBaltimore at RochesterSpringfield at Sherbrooke(end of regular schedule)<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03298/4905757-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="544" height="319"></div><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE (Standings on Tue. March 27)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04206/4905750-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="541" height="176"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Mar. 19Colorado 3 at Montana 4Tue. Mar. 20Colorado 4 at Montana 2Indianapolis 4 at Salt Lake 5 (OT)Thu. MarssOilers 2 at Colorado 6Indianapolis 10 at Salt Lake 4Fri. Mar. 23Oilers 7 at Montana 6Colorado 4 at Salt Lake 8Sat. Mar. 24Salt Lake 2 at Colorado 9Oilers 3 at Montana 4Sun. Mar. 25Oilers 4 at Salt Lake 5 (OT)<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Mar. 27Salt Lake at MontanaWed. Mar. 28Montana at ColoradoThu. Mar. 29Montana at ColoradoSalt Lake at IndianapolisFri. Mar. 30Salt Lake at IndianapolisSat. Mar. 31Oilers at ColoradoMontana at Sait Lake(end of regular schedule)<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05160/4905743-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="534" height="322"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE (Standings as of Tue. March 27)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06134/4905736-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="539" height="236"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Mar. 19Fort Wayne 1 at Flint 8Wed. Mar. 21Kalamazoo 5 at Muskegon 6Toledo 4 at Milwaukee 5 (OT)Fri. Mar. 23Kalamazoo 1 at Hint 8Fort Wayne 3 at Milwaukee 13Sat. Mar. 24Fort Wayne 3 at Muskegon 1Peoria 2 at Flint 7Toledo 5 at Kalamazoo 6 (OT)Sun. Mar. 25Fort Wayne 6 at Kalamazoo 7Peoria 4 at Toledo 10Flint 5 at Milwaukee 9<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Mar. 27Flint at MilwaukeeWed. Mar. 28Muskegon at Fort WayneKalamazoo at ToledoHint at PeoriaThu. Mar. 29Peoria at MilwaukeeFri. Mar. 30Toledo at Fort WayneMuskegon at FlintMilwaukee at KalamazooSat. Mar. 31Peoria at Fort WayneToledo at HintMuskegon at KalamazooSun. Apr. 1Flint at ToledoMuskegon at MilwaukeeKalamazoo at Peoria<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07124/4905729-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="541" height="320"></div><h2>ATLANTIC COAST LEAGUE (Final Standings)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08116/4905722-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="540" height="209"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. Mar. 18Mohawk Valley 1 at Virginia 5Carolina 2 at Erie 9Mon. Mar. 19Pine Bridge 2 at Virginia 7Tues. Mar.&rsquo;2OVirginia 7 at Pine Bridge 4Erie 2 at Mohawk Valley 3 (OT)Wed. Mar. 21Pine Bridge 11 at Virginia 5Erie 3 at Mohawk Valley 1Fri. Mar. 23Virginia 5 at Pine Bridge 7Carolina 3 at Mohawk Valley 6(end of regular schedule)<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>PLAYOFFSSEMI-HNALSSeries &ldquo;A&rdquo;Carolina vs. Mohawk ValleyWed. Mar. 28Carolina at Mohawk ValleyFri. Mar. 30Carolina at Mohawk ValleySat. Mar. 31Mohawk Valley at CarolinaSun. Apr. 1Mohawk Valley at CarolinaTue. Apr. 3Mohawk Valley at CarolinaThu. Apr. 5Carolina at Mohawk ValleyFri. Apr. 6Mohawk Valley at CarolinaSeries &ldquo;B&rdquo;Erie vs. VirginiaWed. Mar. 28Erie at VirginiaThu. Mar. 29Erie at VirginiaSat. Mar. 31Virginia at ErieSun. Apr. 1Virginia at ErieWed. Apr. 4Virginia at ErieThu. Apr. 5Virginia at ErieFri. Apr. 6Virginia at Erie<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3>(Final)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09104/4905715-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="544" height="322"></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE (Final Standings)</h2><h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10101/4905708-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="542" height="263"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1194/4905701-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="537" height="203"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. March 20Lethbridge 2 at Medicine Hat 5Brandon 6 at Saskatoon 4Victoria 9 at Kelowna 6Wed. March 21Medicine Hat 3 at Lethbridge 2Victoria 5 at Kamloops 7Seattle 3 at New Westminster 2Brandon 4 at Prince Albert 7Winnipeg 1 at Regina 14(End of regular schedule)<h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1291/4905694-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="550" height="324"></div><h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>Sudden Death PlayoffFri. Mar. 23Calgary 8, Saskatoon 7 (OT)Quarter-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1382/4905687-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="544" height="120"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Mar. 23Seattle 3 at Kamloops 9Sun. Mar. 25Seattle 1 at Kamloops 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Mon. Mar. 26Seattleat KamloopsTue. Mar. 27Kamloops at SeattleSat. Mar. 31Seattle at KamloopsSun. Apr. 1Kamloops at Seattle<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1478/4905680-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="537" height="116"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Mar. 23Portland 7 at New Westminster 3Sat. Mar. 24Portland 3 at New Westminster 6<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Mon. Mar. 26New Westminster at PortlandWed. Mar. 28New Westminster at PortlandSun. Apr. 1Portland at New Westminster<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1575/4905673-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="536" height="118"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. Mar. 25Calgary 4 at Regina 9<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Mon. Mar. 26Calgary at ReginaWed. Mar 28Regina at CalgaryFri. Mar. 30Regina at CalgarySat. Mar. 31Calgary at ReginaSun. Apr. 1Regina at Calgary<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1675/4905666-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="538" height="117"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. Mar. 24Prince Albert 3 at Medicine Hat 11Sun. Mar. 25Prince Albert 5 at Medicine Hat 4 (OT)<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Mar. 27Medicine Hat at Prince AlbertWed. Mar. 28Medicine Hat at Prince AlbertFri. Mar. 30Prince Albert at Medicine HatSat. Mar. 31Medicine Hat at Prince AlbertSun. Apr. 1Prince Albert at Medicine Hat<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1769/4905659-1-eng-US/f0034-172.jpg" title="f0034-17" width="543" height="117"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Mar. 23Lethbridge 3 at Brandon 2Sat Mar. 24Lethbridge 1 at Brandon 6<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Mar. 27Brandon at LethbridgeWed. Mar. 28Brandon at LethbridgeFri. Mar. 30Lethbridge at BrandonSun. Apr. 1Brandon at Lethbridge<h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>PLAYOFFSEMMS DIVISION<h3>Quarter-Hnals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1865/4905652-1-eng-US/f0034-182.jpg" title="f0034-18" width="539" height="115"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Mar. 20Windsor 3 at S.S. Marie 6Thu. Mar. 22S.S. Marie 6 at Windsor 1Sat. Mar. 24Windsor 3 at S.S. Marie 11<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1962/4905645-1-eng-US/f0034-192.jpg" title="f0034-19" width="538" height="112"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Mar. 20North Bay 1 at London 6Thu. Mar. 22London 1 at North Bay 4Fri. Mar. 23North Bay 4 at London 5Sun. Mar. 25London 8 at North Bay 7<h3>LEYDEN DMSION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2054/4905638-1-eng-US/f0034-202.jpg" title="f0034-20" width="529" height="115"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Mar. 21Cornwall 2 at Peterborough 5Thu. Mar. 22Peterborough 5 at Cornwall 4Sat. Mar. 24Cornwall 4 at Peterborough 9<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2146/4905631-1-eng-US/f0034-212.jpg" title="f0034-21" width="536" height="115"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Mar. 20Belleville 3 at Oshawa 5Wed. Mar. 21Oshawa 5 at Belleville 3Fri. Mar. 23Belleville 0 at Oshawa 3Semi-Finals<h3>EMMS DIVISION</h3>(eight-point series)S.S. Marie vs. Brantford<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Thu. Mar. 29S.S. Marie at BrantfordSat Mar. 31S.S. Marie at BrantfordWed. Apr. 4Brantford at S.S. MarieThu. Apr. 6Brantford at S.S. MarieSun. Apr. 8S.S. Marie at BrantfordTue. Apr. 10Brantford at S.S. MarieWed. Apr. 11S.S. Marie at BrantfordThu. Apr. 12Brantford at S.S. MarieLondon vs. KitchenerDates unavailable<h3>LEYDEN DMSION</h3>Ottawa vs. Oshawa<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Fri. Mar. 30Oshawa at OttawaSun. Apr. 1Ottawa at OshawaTue. Apr. 3Oshawa at OttawaThu. A r. 5Ottawa at OshawaFri. Apr. 6Oshawa at OttawaSun. Apr. 8Ottawa at OshawaTue. Apr. 10Oshawa at OttawaPeterborough vs. TorontoDate unavailable<h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>PLAYOFFS<h3>Quarter-Hnals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2241/4905624-1-eng-US/f0034-222.jpg" title="f0034-22" width="538" height="120"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. Mar. 18St. Jean 6 at Verdun 11Fri. Mar. 23Verdun 7 at St Jean 5Sun. Mar. 25St. Jean 3 at Verdun 8<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2338/4905617-1-eng-US/f0034-232.jpg" title="f0034-23" width="534" height="118"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Mar. 19Granby 2 at Laval 7Fri. Mar. 23Laval 6 at Granby 2<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Mon. Mar. 26Granby at LavalFri. Mar. 30Laval at GranbyMon. Apr. 2Granby at LavalWed. Apr. 4Laval at GranbyFri. Apr. 6Granby at Laval<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2434/4905610-1-eng-US/f0034-242.jpg" title="f0034-24" width="542" height="116"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Mar. 20Quebec 2 at Longueuil 5Fri. Mar. 23Longueuil 7 at Quebec 3Sun. Mar. 25Quebec 2 at Longueuil 4<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. Mar. 28Longueuil at QuebecSun. Apr. 1Quebec at LongueuilTue. Apr. 3Longueuil at QuebecThu. Apr. 5Quebec at Longueuil<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2526/4905603-1-eng-US/f0034-252.jpg" title="f0034-25" width="540" height="142"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Mar. 23Drummondville 4 at Shawinigan 3Sun. Mar. 25Shawinigan 2 at Drummondville 4 &#9632;

f0034-01

MINOR SCOREBOARD

BOSTON&mdash;Steve Kasper. C, back from injury list.BUFFALO&mdash;Gil Perreault. C. back from injury list. Gates Orlando. C, recalled from Rochester of the AHI.CALGARY&mdash;aul Reinhan. 0. and Lanny McDonald, RW, back from injury list. Colin Patterson, RW. sidelined two weeks with bruised shoulder. John Harrington, C, assigned to Colorado of CHL.CHICAGO&mdash;Al Secord. LW, Curt Fraser. LW, and Behn Wilson, D, back from injury list.EDMONTON&mdash;Don Jackson, D, back from injury list.MINNESOTA&mdash;Don Beaupre. G. sidelined indefinitely with knee injury. Jon Casey, G, on tryout from University of North Dakota. Paul Holmgren, RW. back from injury list. Randy Velischek, D, called up from Salt Lake of (XL. Tim Coulra. LW, Dirk Graham. RW, returned to Salt Lake.MONTREAL&mdash;Chris Nilan. RW. back afte&rsquo; three-game suspension. Alfie Turcotte. C, back from Injury list. Normand Baron. LW, and Dave Allison, D. called up from Nova Scotia of the AHL and signed to contract.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Glenn Merkosky, C. and Garry Howatt, LW, returned to Maine of AHL. Paul Gagne. LW. and Rick Meagher, C, back from injury list. John Johannson, C, signed contract and completing season st University of Wisconsin.NY RANGERS&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck. G, recalled from Tulsa of CHL. Pierre Larouche, C, back from injury list.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Frank Bathe. D, recalled from Maine of AHL.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Darren Lowe. RW, released outright after pro trial. Mike Bullard. C, tide-lined with Charley horse.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Perry Anderson. LW. track from injury listTORONTO- John Anderson. LW. and Gas ton Gingras. D, back from injury list.VANCOUVER&mdash;eter McNab, C. and Michel Petit D, back from injury listWASHINGTON&mdash;Al Jensen. G. back &lsquo;rom injury list Bengt Gustafsson, LW, sidelined for throe to four weeks with knee injury. Lou Frenceschetti, RW, recalled from Hershey of AHL.WINNIPEG&mdash;Dave Babych, 0. back from injury list. John Gibson. 0, and Don Spring. D. recalled from Sherbrooke of AHL. JyrkiSep-pa. D. demoted to Sherbrooke. &#9632;

PLAYER TRANSACTIONS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1385/4905987-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="860" height="414"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1299/4905994-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="219" height="280"></div><h2>OVER ALL LEADERS</h2><h2>TOP DEFENSEMEN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1470/4905980-1-eng-US/f0035-142.jpg" title="f0035-14" width="865" height="352"></div><h2>TOP ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1560/4905973-1-eng-US/f0035-152.jpg" title="f0035-15" width="863" height="349"></div><h2>BOSTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1654/4905966-1-eng-US/f0035-162.jpg" title="f0035-16" width="861" height="145"></div><h2>BUFFALO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1742/4905959-1-eng-US/f0035-172.jpg" title="f0035-17" width="865" height="152"></div><h2>CALGARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1838/4905952-1-eng-US/f0035-182.jpg" title="f0035-18" width="857" height="143"></div><h2>CHICAGO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1933/4905945-1-eng-US/f0035-192.jpg" title="f0035-19" width="866" height="142"></div><h2>DETROIT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2032/4905938-1-eng-US/f0035-202.jpg" title="f0035-20" width="858" height="148"></div><h2>EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2126/4905931-1-eng-US/f0035-212.jpg" title="f0035-21" width="866" height="145"></div><h2>HARTFORD</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2220/4905924-1-eng-US/f0035-222.jpg" title="f0035-22" width="866" height="146"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2320/4905917-1-eng-US/f0035-232.jpg" title="f0035-23" width="856" height="118"></div><h2>MINNESOTA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2417/4905910-1-eng-US/f0035-242.jpg" title="f0035-24" width="865" height="174"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2516/4905903-1-eng-US/f0035-252.jpg" title="f0035-25" width="858" height="146"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2615/4905896-1-eng-US/f0035-262.jpg" title="f0035-26" width="865" height="150"></div><h2>NY ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2713/4905889-1-eng-US/f0035-272.jpg" title="f0035-27" width="868" height="206"></div><h2>NY RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2813/4905882-1-eng-US/f0035-282.jpg" title="f0035-28" width="870" height="205"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2913/4905875-1-eng-US/f0035-292.jpg" title="f0035-29" width="857" height="204"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-3013/4905868-1-eng-US/f0035-302.jpg" title="f0035-30" width="859" height="143"></div><h2>QUEBEC</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-3113/4905861-1-eng-US/f0035-312.jpg" title="f0035-31" width="867" height="180"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-3212/4905854-1-eng-US/f0035-322.jpg" title="f0035-32" width="865" height="148"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-3312/4905847-1-eng-US/f0035-332.jpg" title="f0035-33" width="865" height="208"></div><h2>VANCOUVER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-3410/4905840-1-eng-US/f0035-342.jpg" title="f0035-34" width="863" height="175"></div><h2>WASHINGTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-359/4905833-1-eng-US/f0035-352.jpg" title="f0035-35" width="862" height="146"></div><h2>WINNIPEG</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-369/4905826-1-eng-US/f0035-362.jpg" title="f0035-36" width="859" height="113"></div> &#9632;

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April 6, 1984

Chrysler Rookie Award

ON THE CONTRARY

THIS WEEK…20 Years Ago

NHL GAMES TO COME