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.

December 21, 1984

The Hockey News December 21, 1984

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IN THIS ISSUE

The Hockey News BookShelf

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-12129/5353630-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="855" height="352"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-11137/5353637-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="221" height="277"></div><h2>OVERALL LEADERS</h2><h2>TOP DEFENSEMEN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-13126/5353623-1-eng-US/f0036-132.jpg" title="f0036-13" width="854" height="323"></div><h2>TOP ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-14119/5353616-1-eng-US/f0036-142.jpg" title="f0036-14" width="852" height="263"></div><h2>BOSTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-15118/5353609-1-eng-US/f0036-152.jpg" title="f0036-15" width="852" height="148"></div><h2>BUFFALO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-16115/5353602-1-eng-US/f0036-162.jpg" title="f0036-16" width="851" height="153"></div><h2>CALGARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-17109/5353595-1-eng-US/f0036-172.jpg" title="f0036-17" width="851" height="149"></div><h2>CHICAGO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-18104/5353588-1-eng-US/f0036-182.jpg" title="f0036-18" width="848" height="148"></div><h2>DETROIT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-19102/5353581-1-eng-US/f0036-192.jpg" title="f0036-19" width="851" height="148"></div><h2>EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2097/5353574-1-eng-US/f0036-202.jpg" title="f0036-20" width="848" height="154"></div><h2>HARTFORD</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2188/5353567-1-eng-US/f0036-212.jpg" title="f0036-21" width="845" height="152"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2285/5353560-1-eng-US/f0036-222.jpg" title="f0036-22" width="851" height="148"></div><h2>MINNESOTA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2379/5353553-1-eng-US/f0036-232.jpg" title="f0036-23" width="854" height="148"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2471/5353546-1-eng-US/f0036-242.jpg" title="f0036-24" width="858" height="150"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2567/5353539-1-eng-US/f0036-252.jpg" title="f0036-25" width="856" height="151"></div><h2>NY ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2664/5353532-1-eng-US/f0036-262.jpg" title="f0036-26" width="851" height="148"></div><h2>NY RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2757/5353525-1-eng-US/f0036-272.jpg" title="f0036-27" width="861" height="146"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2851/5353518-1-eng-US/f0036-282.jpg" title="f0036-28" width="850" height="144"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2948/5353511-1-eng-US/f0036-292.jpg" title="f0036-29" width="857" height="147"></div><h2>QUEBEC</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3045/5353504-1-eng-US/f0036-302.jpg" title="f0036-30" width="855" height="147"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3143/5353497-1-eng-US/f0036-312.jpg" title="f0036-31" width="859" height="150"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3238/5353490-1-eng-US/f0036-322.jpg" title="f0036-32" width="853" height="146"></div><h2>VANCOUVER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3335/5353483-1-eng-US/f0036-332.jpg" title="f0036-33" width="858" height="144"></div><h2>WASHINGTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3430/5353476-1-eng-US/f0036-342.jpg" title="f0036-34" width="852" height="156"></div><h2>WINNIPEG</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3523/5353469-1-eng-US/f0036-352.jpg" title="f0036-35" width="857" height="150"></div> &#9632;

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EMERY TROPHY PLUS-MINUS

Here&rsquo;s what was happening 20 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; A touring Soviet national team beat the reinforced Montreal Junior Canadiens 3-2 and Canada&rsquo;s national squad 4-0, in the first two games on an eight-game Canadian exhibition tour. Soviet coach Anatoli Tarasov said the Canadian pros haven&rsquo;t improved since he had last seen them several years ago. &ldquo;It is like when a tree stands by itself. It gets lonely and dries out. So with your pros. They have no opponents, so they get no stronger.&rdquo; However, Tarasov praised Toronto Maple Leaf defenseman Tim Horton and winger Ron Ellis.&bull; Glenn Hall, the veteran goalie of the slumping Chicago Black Hawks, asked the team&rsquo;s management for a rest, and Denis DeJordy was called up from the minors.Here&rsquo;s what was happening 15 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; Vancouver and Buffalo were given conditional franchises for the 1970-71 NHL season. &#9632;

THIS WEEK…20 Years Ago

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>GLENS FALLS&mdash;Although he failed to provide the quick fix in each of the last two seasons, center Claude Loiselle&mdash;at the ripe old age of 21&mdash;is hard at work laying a solid foundation for his major league career.He&rsquo;s doing it with versatility and, most notably, scoring for the Adirondack Red Wings, a team that has not had a full lineup yet this season and requires a little something extra from the players that are available. Loiselle has thrived under those conditions and emerged as one of the steadiest socrers in the AHL. He held or shared the top spot in the league throughout November, and carried the league&rsquo;s season-high point scoring streak of 11 games into the second weekend of December.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the dominant player in the league right now,&rdquo; Adirondack coach Bill Dineen said. &ldquo;What has he scored in, 10 or 11 games in a row? He&rsquo;s not having the peaks and valleys. His consistency has improved a great deal. His skills have improved, things like his backhand passing, and he has a better awareness of the overall picture and reaction to it.&rdquo;Loiselle, the Wings&rsquo; top pick in 1981, was given a cup of coffee with Detroit in the 1981-82 season, but was quickly sent back across the river to resume his career with the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. The next season, the stint was longer, but he again was returned to the Spitfires to complete his eligibility.Last season, Loiselle attended the Detroit camp confident that he would crack the team&rsquo;s roster. When he was quickly dispatched to Adirondack, it took him some time to make the adjustments and begin to show his abilities. By the middle of December, he was at full stride, averaging a point a game, and had earned a promotion to Detroit.Then his luck changed.Two games after reporting to Detroit, Loiselle suffered a shoulder injury that put him out for six games. When he returned, he picked up a six-game suspension from the league for a high-sticking incident with the Flyers&rsquo; Bobby Clarke. He saw spot duty in what was left of the unrewarding season, However, a chat with his boss, Detroit general manager Jimmy Devellano, helped put matters in perspective.&ldquo;The big thing was that 1 had a talk with Jimmy Devellano at the end of the season and he said that they had made a mistake and brought me up and had not played me enough,&rdquo; Loiselle said.Devellano also told him to expect to be assigned to Adirondack this season, a piece of information Loiselle believes made a big difference in helping him to get off to such a good start.&ldquo;This year, they told me, more or less, what was going to happen,&rdquo; Loiselle said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t get down on myself like I did last year when I didn&rsquo;t make Detroit, and all summer long I worked hard to get ready.&ldquo;Another big thing is that I lost a few pounds during the summer. At the end of last season, I weighed 198, but I came to camp at 192 and I think that has made a big difference. Also, Detroit had a skating program this summer and that helped me a lot. They didn&rsquo;t feel that my starts were what they should be, and I feel that I&rsquo;ve improved a lot in that area.&rdquo;Dineen has double-shifted Loiselle all season, has given him work on the power play and penalty-killing units, and sends him out for all the important faceoffs. He is convinced that Loiselle is doing exactly what is being asked of him&mdash;developing.&ldquo;I think that Claude has improved in every area of the game,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s improved defensively and in the neutral zone, with and without the puck. Of course, his scoring speaks for what he&rsquo;s doing in the offensive zone.&ldquo;He comes and gives it to you every night, you know what to expect. He plays over a lot of injuries and he&rsquo;s mentally tough, and that&rsquo;s what I like about him.&rdquo;AROUND THE DIVISION&mdash;Brad Smith continued his strong offensive play for Adirondack, scoring two goals each in home wins over St. Catharines and Maine. Smith got the game-winner against the Saints in overtime when he dove and poked the puck out of the glove of goalie Rick St. Croix. The Wings started their home game against the Mariners on Dec. 5 with 14 skaters and finished with 12, after Mike Stern was ejected and Stephane Lefebvre fractured his wrist. Lefebvre may be out for the season. Dineen signed former Binghamton defenseman Tom Cronin to a tryout contract so that he would have four defensemen. Earlier in the week, right winger Dennis Polonich broke a bone in his left ankle, and defensemen Ted Huesing and Rick Zombo were sidelined with knee injuries&hellip;The Wings ended Maine goalie Hannu Kampurri&rsquo;s four-game winning streak and stopped Rocky Trottier&rsquo;s six-game point streak. During that stretch, Trottier had seven goals and 11 points. Glen Merkosky increased his streak to three games in which he has five goals and eight points&hellip;The Mariners will retire coach John Paddock&rsquo;s playing number (8) in a ceremony before a game with Hershey on Dec. 30&hellip;Nova Scotia stopped Fredericton&rsquo;s seven-game and 11-game (10-0-1) unbeaten streak. Nova Scotia linemates Pat Conacher and Ray Cote moved into a tie with Claude Loiselle and Moncton&rsquo;s Pierre Rioux for the AHL scoring lead. Forward Mark Morrison, obtained by the Oilers from New Haven, fractured his wrist on his second shift with his new team and is out for three months. The Oilers released Czech forward Jan Tabor, who wanted to return to West Germany&hellip;Goalie Richard Brodeur and defenseman Gord Donnelly were recalled by Vancouver and Quebec, respectively, the 18th and 19th players recalled from Fredericton this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01531/5352549-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="586" height="824"><figcaption class="caption-body">Adirondack&rsquo;s Claude Loiselle is developing all facets of his game in the AHL.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Loiselle Rising To The Challenge

In next week&rsquo;s issue, we&rsquo;ll take a look at the high-flying Philadelphia Flyers with an in-depth profile of their sensational scoring machine, Tim Kerr.When Kerr played junior hockey with the Kingston Canadians, no one thought enough of him to draft him. Since then, he&rsquo;s turned out to be one of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s most gifted goal scorers and he&rsquo;s a leader on a team that has taken the NHL by storm this season.On top of that, THN columnist Jay Greenberg will take you through 1985 with a peerless prediction of what will be going down in the year ahead.Complete NHL statistics, trivia, flashbacks, plus all the news and views that matter are the reasons you won&rsquo;t want to miss next week&rsquo;s issue.<h2>QUOTE OF THE WEEK</h2>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a long way to go to catch Scotty Bowman. But the way things are going for Scotty, I may catch him anyhow.&rdquo; &mdash;St. Louis Blue interim assistant coach Bob Plager, who lost his head-coaching debut to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Story on Page 21. &#9632;

NEXT WEEK IN THN

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011331/5351335-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="762" height="1338"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021082/5351328-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="756" height="1336"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03704/5351321-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="760" height="1338"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04400/5351314-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="762" height="1338"><figcaption class="caption-body">With players such as, left to right, Mark Johnson, Ray Neufeld, Sylvain Turgeon and Ronnie Francis, the Whalers have a good nucleus to build around. But optimism is always tempered by the fact the Whalers are in the tough Adams Division with strong divisional opponents Boston, Buffalo, Quebec and Montreal.</figcaption></div>The gap between the Hartford Whalers of today and the Whalers of yesterday is widening, and the players love it.So does Emile Francis, the team&rsquo;s 58-year-old president and general manager, who vows that his primary goal is &ldquo;to bring the Stanley Cup to Hartford before I&rsquo;m through.&rdquo;When Francis came to town in May of 1982, he found a team and an organization badly in need of revision. He still has his work cut out for him if his team is to come within reach of the &ldquo;Holy Grail,&rdquo; a term he uses to describe the coveted cup&mdash;a prize he says is &ldquo;what it&rsquo;s all about.&rdquo;First, of course, the Whalers must make the playoffs. Considering that 16 of 21 NHL teams qualify each year, the playoffs are hardly an exclusive club. But the Whalers are located in the Adams Division, where Boston, Buffalo, Montreal and Quebec view the playoffs as the first step, not as any sort of lasting achievement. To reach the final 16, something the Whalers have managed to do just once, in 1979-80, their first NHL campaign, they must beat out one of those teams.It won&rsquo;t be easy.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t sit back and hope for a team to have a bad year, like Montreal had last year,&rdquo; Francis says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not up to them. It&rsquo;s up to us. We have to improve.&rdquo;The chances of the Whalers, currently in their 13th year overall and their sixth in the NHL, reaching the playoffs seem more realistic this time around. In Francis&rsquo; first year at the helm, they won more games (28) than in any prior NHL season, compiled a downright respectable 22-224 record outside their division, and went 13-14-4 in their last 31 games, a positive indication that things would continue to improve this year.&ldquo;Nobody folded the tents, that&rsquo;s the big thing,&rdquo; Francis says. &ldquo;We let the league know that Hartford no longer would be easy.&rdquo;In the early going this year, the Whalers looked the part of a playoff contender. Despite playing seven of their first 10 games on the road, they jumped to a 6-3-1 start, the first time they&rsquo;ve been three games over .500 in the NHL. But a 2-10-2 slide, which coincided with the loss of Sylvain Turgeon, the team&rsquo;s most authentic goal scorer who went down with one of those confounded pulled stomach muscles that everybody seems to know how to get, but nobody seems to know how to get rid of, sobered the early-season optimism.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question we miss Sly,&rdquo; says linemate and team captain Mark Johnson. &ldquo;He opens everything up. Without him, defensemen don&rsquo;t hesitate to pinch in. When he&rsquo;s there, defensemen are afraid to pinch in. One step and he&rsquo;s gone.&rdquo;Turgeon scored 40 goals in his rookie season, was named to the NHL All-Rookie Team, and down the road, could turn out to be any sort. He has a wealth of talent.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll guarantee you that Sly will score 60 goals in this league someday,&rdquo; says defenseman Chris Kotsopoulos. &ldquo;He got 40 last year easy&mdash;I mean, real easy. It&rsquo;s scary what he&rsquo;s capable of doing.&rdquo;Turgeon hasn&rsquo;t played since Nov. 2. The Whalers have tried everything, including five days of hospitalization to eliminate movement, to get their 19-year-old left winger back in the lineup. He is expected back around the first of the year, and perhaps sooner. Still, this stomach muscle stuff is a risky business.&ldquo;Of course, we want him back as soon as possible,&rdquo; Francis says. &ldquo;But Sylvain has a great career ahead of him. The important thing is not to endanger that.&rdquo;In 12 games, despite being restricted, Turgeon reached seven goals and 13 points.The Whalers have tried virtually everybody, from veteran Tony Currie, since departed, to rookie Paul Fenton, in Turgeon&rsquo;s spot, but Johnson and right winger Ray Neufeld, two of the team&rsquo;s key players, just haven&rsquo;t looked the same.If there is to be a second-half resurgence, it&rsquo;ll most likely begin with the return of Turgeon. With him, the Whalers may not have enough firepower. Without him, they definitely don&rsquo;t.To hear the players tell it, though, the Whalers have enough to make a serious run at the playoffs.&ldquo;This is the first time in my four years here that I honestly think we can make the playoffs,&rdquo; Kotsopoulos says.&ldquo;We have a much stronger nucleus this year,&rdquo; Johnson says.&ldquo;We have proven that we can play against the big teams,&rdquo; Ronnie Francis says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a big boost. We&rsquo;ve been through some tough times, but nobody&rsquo;s throwing in the towel.&rdquo;&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t think as individuals,&rdquo; defenseman Joel Quenneville says. &ldquo;We have to think as a team. We have to remember what made us successful. If everybody doesn&rsquo;t show up to work, it&rsquo;s tough for us to win.&rdquo;&ldquo;It begins in the mirror,&rdquo; veteran center Mike Zuke says. &lsquo;&lsquo;Each guy has to account for himself. Hard work only gets you a pat on the back. It doesn&rsquo;t mean you&rsquo;ll move up in the standings. We&rsquo;ve got to reach the next plateau. At times, this team lacks confidence. We&rsquo;ve got to win some of the tough ones.&rdquo;The Whalers unloaded a huge monkey from their backs by beating Montreal, 5-3, Dec. 5. It was the first time they&rsquo;ve knocked off the Canadiens since Feb. 17, 1983. They tied one and lost nine in the interim.&ldquo;If we had let them beat us in our own building, we would have been in real trouble,&rdquo; says Francis, who picked up four assists in the victory, his most productive game of the season up to that point. &ldquo;It won&rsquo;t be all downhill from here, but a least the monkey&rsquo;s off our back.&rdquo;Francis, who showed 266 career points (87 goals) in 235 games, has found a pair of unlikely wingers&mdash;Dave Lumley, claimed in the waiver draft from Edmonton, and Pat Boutette, acquired from Pittsburgh for the rights to 20-year-old defenseman Ville Siren.&ldquo;That line can play against any line in the league,&rdquo; coach Jack Evans says. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m not talking as a checking line, either. They can check and they can score. I wouldn&rsquo;t hesitate using them against anybody. They&rsquo;ve played great together.&rdquo;The best long-range news is that rookie defenseman Mark Fusco, a 23-year-old American Olympian, looks to be a player,&ldquo;Fusco has been a tower of strength since day one,&rdquo; Evans says. &ldquo;You beat him and he gets mad. He never stops. He&rsquo;s got great determination and that&rsquo;s what you have to have to play in this league.&rdquo;Through 25 games, the Whalers had used 28 players. They began with five rookies&mdash;Fusco, Dave Tippett, Sylvain Cote, David A. Jensen and Ulf Samuelsson. Fusco and Tippett appear well prepared to handle the rigors of the NHL, while Cote has been brought along slowly. His potential, however, is obvious. Both Jensen and Samuelsson are in Binghamton.The failure of Jensen to provide immediate help is the most discouraging long-range news. In 12 games, he had but four assists. But at 19, he&rsquo;s permitted to learn his craft in the minors. The speed he possesses cannot be taught.Two other rookies, right winger Kevin Dineen and left winger Fenton, were recalled from Binghamton as the Whalers want to make sure they avoid the trap of losing with the same faces.&ldquo;Things are definitely looking up,&rdquo; Evans says.The clouds are parting in Hartford. In Francis and Turgeon, they have two bona fide stars. One is 21. The other is 19. In Cote, Fusco and Jensen, they have a trio of comers. How far they actually come will weigh heavily in the Whalers&rsquo; future. In Johnson, Neufeld, Kotsopoulos, Quenneville, Risto Siltanen and goaltender Greg Millen, they have a handful of proven performers, all of whom are in their mid-20s. Their primes await.It was only yesterday, remember, that the Whalers were promising in a stream of press conferences that they would bite the bullet, that they would deal with losing and that they would show patience. Before their fifth NHL season, they had fired four coaches, two GMs and had switched captains five times. The only thing the Whalers led the league in was press conferences.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll admit things got pretty screwed up,&rdquo; says Howard Baldwin, the club&rsquo;s chairman and managing general partner. &ldquo;I made some bad decisions and I&rsquo;ve got no one to blame but myself. I can&rsquo;t be any more honest than that.&rdquo;Slowly and steadily, the Whalers are pushing those days into the distant past. There&rsquo;s no question that today they are better than they were. That&rsquo;s what makes tomorrows so enticing. &#9632;

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Hartford Ain’t So Hopeless Any More

THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded in 1947 by Kenneth W. McKenziePUBLISHER Dean HeineBUSINESS MANAGER Tony DobranowskiEDITOR IN CHIEF Bob McKenzieEDITORIAL DIRECTOR Charlie HalpinASSISTANT EDITOR Perrv LefkoCONTRIBUTING EDITORS Stan Fischler. Frank OrrDIRECTOR ADVERTISING SALES Danny LewickiADVERTISING SALES MANAGER Randy GreenADVERTISING SERVICES MANAGER Esther SumkaADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVESFor Canadian Consumer Advertising Only Call:CCMC, Cliff Ki vell, 287 MacPherson Ave.Toronto. Ontario M4V 1A4(416) 928-2909SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES MANAGER Patricia BackNEWSSTAND SERVICES MANAGER Esther SumkaCIRCULATION DEPARTMENT Judy Hartman Rosanne TaninoACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT Tom Moffat Mary CarubiaSPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGERHughes Marketing Hockey News Bookshelf(416) 499-8227ADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL OFFICES85 Scarsdale Rd.. Suite 100Toronto. Ontario. Canada M3B 2R2(416) 445-5702EXECUTIVE OFFICE850 Third AvenueNew York. New York10022NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTORDistributed nationally by Disticor &#9632;

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">Frank Orr</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011354/5351390-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="382" height="452"></div>THE WORLD ALWAYS receives a little break anytime Don Cherry delivers his latest treatise on life&rsquo;s vicissitudes, a sociological and psychological outburst that, indeed, enlightens us all. Even if it does travel to where it&rsquo;s going via New Yrok, there&rsquo;s always something to improve the mind in what Grapes has to say.Take his recent pontifications on these pages. Revealing and educational is the only way to describe what the man had to say. Good heavens! Where else would you learn that there are pseudointellectuals in the National Hockey League? You never knew where the term &ldquo;red-neck&rdquo; originated until you heard it from Grapes, did you?Ol&rsquo; Grapes admits to being a red-neck and is proud of it. And here everyone figured that he got his red neck&mdash;and red face, too&mdash;because his natty vests are too tight and so are the collars on those nifty shirts he wears. Natty, nifty, spiffy, the man is all those things!Grapes also is a global thinker. In the article in question, he examines the sociological implications of the NHL&rsquo;s metamorphasis into a polyglot makeup. And, in his extensive research into the subject, Grapes discovers that he doesn&rsquo;t especially care for Swedish, Finnish and Czechoslovakian hockey players.Oh, he does concede that the Europeans have some hockey skill&mdash;quite a lot, in fact&mdash;but he doesn&rsquo;t want them on his team. Like the barren old grouch who says she loves children as long as they&rsquo;re someone else&rsquo;s, Grapes claims that Europeans are fine as long as they&rsquo;re playing on teams in Europe.Cherry also insists that he&rsquo;s not anti-European. He passes off his viewpoint as being pro-American and pro-Canadian, not provincial and chauvinistic.Grapes&rsquo; view seems to be that it&rsquo;s very difficult for an NHL team to win in the Stanley Cup playoffs if it has Swedes or Finns or Czechs, which makes the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; Stanley Cup triumph last spring very remarkable because they had one of each&mdash;Willy Lindstrom, Jari Kurri and Jaroslav Pouzar.He doesn&rsquo;t come right and say it in so many words, but Cherry hints strongly that Europeans &ldquo;choke&rdquo; in pressure situations. He says: &ldquo;Now, you tell me the name of one top-notch European who had a good playoff last year.&rdquo; Okay, Grapes, challenge accepted! How about Kurri, Jorgen Pet-tersson, Peter Stastny and Mats Naslund?Think not? Well, by my standards, which, of course, probably aren&rsquo;t as high as Cherry&rsquo;s, they did! Kurri led the playoffs in goals scored with 14, and his 14 assists gave him a total of 28 points in 19 playoff games. That&rsquo;s 70 points in 49 games. Pet-tersson was a big reason why the St. Louis Blues pushed the Minnesota North Stars to overtime in Game Seven of the division final with a 7-3-10 mark in 11 games.Stastny had nine points in nine Cup games for Quebec Nordiques, and Naslund led Montreal&rsquo;s scorers in their comeback spring with a 6-8-14 point total in 15 games.Of course, that isn&rsquo;t the judgment of an expert such as Cherry, who appears on Hockey Night In Canada and everything. But to the untrained eye, it seems that those chaps had decent springs.Because Cherry claims that he likes Canadian and American players better than Europeans, it must have been a cruel blow to him when Sweden beat Team USA in the Canada Cup playoffs and also won a round-robin game from Team Canada, plus extended the Canadians to the limit in the second game of the final.Cherry was coach of the Boston Bruins in the late 1970s when, for three seasons, the Bs were the second-best team in the NHL, losing the final twice and a seven-game semi-final to the Canadiens.The Bruins were an admirable team, the lunchpail crew that Cherry loved to glorify. But against the Canadiens, the Bruins simply didn&rsquo;t have enough skill, enough pure talent, to win. If the Bruins had had two or three Swedes or Finns to raise that skill level a little, they might have won a couple of Cups.The Bruins certainly had the ambition and muscle to integrate into the team two or three Europeans who would have taken them over the top. Stefan Persson, Anders Kallur and Tomas Jonsson didn&rsquo;t mug anyone or start many fights for the New York Islanders, but their presence on the Isles&rsquo; roster lifted that team&rsquo;s talent level to the championship plateau.A little bit of everything is necessary to produce a championship team. A Finn or two and a Swede might have supplied the small pieces that Cherry&rsquo;s Bruins lacked. &#9632;

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Cherry Could Have Used Europeans

<div class="byline">BY JEFF Z. KLEIN AND KARL-ERIC REIF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021248/5351421-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg"></div><h2>FOR ARGUMENT&rsquo;S SAKE</h2>It was the best of times, it was the worst of times&hellip;Dickens was referring to the French Revolution when he wrote that, but he might as well have been referring to the popular, free-scoring anarchy that is the state of affairs in the National Hockey League today.More markets&hellip;more money&hellip;publicity, attendance, ticket prices, player salaries, all at all-time highs. A Stanley Cup dynasty in the suburbs of New York and the beatification of Wayne Gretzky are recent, happy and profitable events for the business of hockey. And in the last several years, the NHL has been rocked by a scoring explosion, which has also drawn the sudden attention of the casual fan.But to many of that seemingly-dwindling minority with any true understanding and appreciation of the game itself, this goal-scoring blitz is not a positive thing; it instead signals a major collapse in the quality of play throughout the NHL.This is what is found in examining the league goal-scoring average throughout its 67-year history: Less skill means more scoring. The graph below shows the scoring trends in terms of average goals scored by both teams per game.Three times league-wide scoring has reached unrestrained levels; twice it has been brought dramatically under control.The NHL&rsquo;s first few years were a free-scoring time. The talent pool was diluted to a great extent by the rival Pacific Coast League, and to a lesser degree by World War I. Rules governing play then strongly favored offense and restricted defense. And these were years of chaos, too, because those rules were being endlessly revised, often changing radically from season to season.The NHL stabilized, and its reservoir of talent grew deeper. Rules and playing styles further continued to throttle scoring until a nadir of 2.92 total goals by both teams per game was reached in 1928-29. Forward passing inside the attacking zone was made legal the next season and offense reawakened. Between the 1929-30 season and 1940-41, NHL teams combined for a pretty steady 4.98 goals a game.World War II took scores of players from the NHL&rsquo;s six clubs into military service, including more than two dozen players of top-flight ability. Toronto, New York and Boston were nearly picked clean, and minor leaguers and marginal players manned NHL rosters to provide a sort of ersatz hockey. Scoring skyrocketed to 7.13 GPG between 1941-42 and the time order was restored, after 1945-46, with the return home of quality players. The inflated scoring of the war years still causes the scoring achievements of players during that span to be regarded somewhat less than seriously. The 1943-44&rsquo;s GPG figure of 8.17, highest of the modern era, represents the depths of the absurd in this category&mdash;so far.From 1946-47 through the first NHL expansion, offensive output varied little from one year to the next, averaging 5.61 GPG until 1969-70. But further expansion, and the creation of the World Hockey Association in 1972, again drained dry the well of majorleague talent. From 1970-71 to 197778, NHL teams combined for 6.53 goals a game. Over the last four seasons, the average NHL game has produced 7.82 goals, a far sloppier product than even the score-happy war years.By contrast, the graph indicates the goals-per-game average of all NHL seasons combined is 6.04. Without the wildly fluctuating first dozen years following World War I, the aberrant scoring of the World War II era, and the years since the NHL&rsquo;s last official expansion in 1974-75, the average for the 40 years of NHL stability is 5.49.<h2>Goal-Scoring Average &#9632;</h2>

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Offense Is The Winner In This War

<div class="byline">By Bruce Hood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011235/5351452-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="345" height="446"></div>Q: In a recent junior game, a two-minute penalty was called on a goalie. A player went off the ice to serve the penalty, play continued, and 30 seconds later the same goalie received another minor penalty. The referee added that two minutes to the player already in the box. Most people felt another player should have left the ice. What is correct?William McClanaham Waterloo. Ont.A: Wow, that&rsquo;s an interesting one! If the play happened as you say it did, there&rsquo;s no question that another player on the ice at the time of the second infraction should have gone into the penalty box.Q: If the NHL or a team can use a videotape as proof when handing out punishments, such as the Don Beaupre incident, why can&rsquo;t specific teams use videotapes when they feel that a referee or linesman has disregarded the rules?In addition what, if any, punishment was given to referee Andy van Hellemond for failing to call a penalty when the Don Beaupre incident first occurred?Do the NHL director of officials in any way punish referees for obvious violations of the rules?John Kreeger Philadelphia, PAA: Videotapes are regularly used to observe the work of officials in the NHL. Sometimes they are sent in by a team with regard to a particular play. If a referee or linesman (or all three in a given situation) misinterprets the application of any rule during a game, then he is subject to a fine.Q: If an offensive player is on a breakaway and the defenseman hooks him or trips him and he loses control of the puck, is the offensive player awarded a penalty shot? If so, can anyone on the team take the shot?Bill Jones Kingston, Ont.A: In order for a penalty shot to be awarded in this situation, the offensive player must meet these five conditions: (I) be in control of the puck, (2) on the opponents&rsquo; side of the center red line, (3) have no opponent to pass other than the goalkeeper, (4) tripped or otherwise fouled from behind, (5) have had a reasonable scoring opportunity taken away. If these conditions prevail, the referee can award the penalty shot and the player fouled is to take the shot, unless he was injured on the play. If that happens, a teammate who was on the ice at the time will be allowed to take the shot.If you want your question answered, write to:ASK THE REFEREE 6455 Northam Drive, Suite 100 Mississauga, Ont. L4V 1J2All questions will be considered, but only those published will be answered. Personal responses are not possible. &#9632;

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ASK THE REFEREE

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02909/5351514-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="389" height="451"></div>It seems each year that a certain rookie comes into the National Hockey League with the &ldquo;can&rsquo;t miss&rdquo; label.Then hockey experts begin comparing the player to other former greats using phrases such as &ldquo;he&rsquo;ll be the next Bobby Orr,&rdquo; or &ldquo;this guy&rsquo;s got a shot like Bobby Hull.&rdquo;Such was the case with former NHL star, Orland Kurtenbach, who played in the NHL for 13 seasons (1960-1974) with the Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks.Kurtenbach came out of junior hockey and into the professional ranks as &ldquo;the million-dollar prospect&rdquo; and &ldquo;the next Jean Beliveau.&rdquo; Unfortunately, they were labels that Kurtenbach never quite matched.&ldquo;I had some outstanding years during my junior career,&rdquo; said Kurten-bach. &ldquo;I guess the reason I was compared to Beliveau was because 1 was big and tall like him and was a center.&ldquo;To me it didn&rsquo;t matter at the time. I just tried to ignore the comparisons and try and make the NHL with the Rangers.&ldquo;Of course, one of the reasons I didn&rsquo;t make it as the &lsquo;next Jean Beliveau&rsquo; was because of my skating. I was not a fast moving or smooth skater like he was.&ldquo;But I knew I was going to be going to the minors. I needed to develop my skills a little more and get a chance to adjust to professional hockey.&ldquo;Even after I made it to the NHL, I found it tough to adjust to it. And I still think that was partially due to the fact of my skating ability.&rdquo;But just making the Rangers was tough enough for Kurtenbach at the time. For him it was a very frustrating situation, one over which he had no control.&ldquo;It just seemed as though that no matter how hard I tried or how well I did in training camp each season, I was always being sent back to the minor leagues again,&rdquo; Kurtenbach said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mind playing with their minor league teams in Vancouver and Buffalo; I had some good years there.&ldquo;But each season for a couple of years, the Rangers and (Montreal) Canadiens would get together for a trade or two, and just when you thought you would have a chance to make the Rangers roster, they would get a couple of more players from Montreal to fill in the gap.&rdquo;After finally making the Rangers in 1960 and then being traded a couple of times, Kurtenbach returned to New York in 1966 for four seasons, before returning &ldquo;home&rdquo; again and finishing his career in Vancouver.&ldquo;I had gone through a back fusion two years before I went to Vancouver in the expansion draft (1970),&rdquo; said Kurtenbach. &ldquo;Because of that I missed almost one full season (1968-69).&ldquo;When I came back the following season I knew that my days would be numbered with the Rangers because they had so much good, young talent.&ldquo;So when the expansion draft came along, I didn&rsquo;t know if Buffalo or Vancouver would take me. But I was glad when Vancouver did.&rdquo;The Cudworth, Sask., native liked Vancouver so well that today he lives in Burnaby, B.C., north of Vancouver.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03637/5351507-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="1208" height="1032"><figcaption class="caption-body">Orland Kurtenbach was supposed to be a great player, but spent much of his career bouncing from team to team.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0005-02

Kurtenbach Falls Short Of Great Expectation Label

1. WhichoftheNHL&rsquo;stop-10career scorers currently has a nephew playing in the AHL?2 When was the last season in which the Rangers had more points than the Islanders?3. What team finished the &lsquo;83-84 season above .500, yet allowed more goals than it scored?4. Which NHL team was Edmonton assistant coach John Muckier once the head coach of?5. What current NCAA basketball coach&rsquo;s son, John, plays hockey for Providence College?6. Name the captain of the Muskegon Lumberjacks?7. What New York Ranger player answers to the nickname &ldquo;Mickey Finn&rdquo;?8. Which Pittsburgh Penguin defenseman is known as the &ldquo;bus driver&rdquo;?9. What current NHL captain led the WHA Birmingham Bulls in scoring in 1978-79?10. What was the nickname of the Buffalo franchise in the old North American Hockey League?Answers in next week&rsquo;s issue.<h2>Last Week&rsquo;s Trivia Answers</h2>1. Anders Hedberg. 2. Rogie Vachon. 3. Ron Low. 4. Gilles Ville-mure. 5. Detroit, Winnipeg (6-6). 6. Billy. 7. Allan Bester. 8. Quebec Bulldogs, Joe Malone, 1919-20. 9. Bob Berry and Jacques Lemaire. 10. Joe Mullen. &#9632;

TRIVIA

<div class="byline">BY BOB DUFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04416/5351569-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg"></div>that, as of the beginning of this season, the youngest NHL teams by players&rsquo; age are: &#9632;

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Did You Know…

<div class="byline">Stan Fischler&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011417/5351600-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="375" height="441"></div>It all started when I called not-so-tall referee Kerry Fraser a Little Lord Fauntleroy. It got worse when I said that he got me so angry one night that I felt like punching him in the mouth.This, he didn&rsquo;t like.The disagreement snowballed from there. Kerry Fraser is a proud, young official, and I am a proud, young writer. We were on a collision course.We finally collided recently, and the argument that followed 1 bring you through the miracle of newsprint. Here&rsquo;s how our dispute (somewhat edited to keep it from becoming longer than The Encylopedia Britannica) unfolded:ME&mdash;What&rsquo;s so terrible about the Little Lord Fauntleroy dig?FRASER&mdash;Take a look at my physical stature. I&rsquo;m so small, as referees go, yet in my job I have to have a certain amount of confidence. There are times when there are 20,000 people in a building watching me and another million on television scrutinizing my calls, I have to be confident with them.ME&mdash;What does that have to do with Little Lord Fauntleroy?FRASER&mdash;There&rsquo;s the idea that I&rsquo;m arrogant, cocky. Because I&rsquo;m small in physical stature, the feeling of confidence I show could be misconstrued as arrogance and cockiness. It&rsquo;s something I struggled with initially, and am very conscious of; that is, the size factor.ME&mdash;Meaning what?FRASER&mdash;I&rsquo;m in a game that has a lot of big guys. In any situation the big guy is going to try to intimidate the little guy. My job will not allow me to be intimidated, because if that happened it would throw my whole refereeing process out the window and I&rsquo;d have no value as an official. Sometimes little men go on the attack, and that&rsquo;s the aggressive nature that I&rsquo;ve been very careful not to project. What you may think is defensive on my part may be confidence.ME&mdash;Are you trying to tell me I can&rsquo;t criticize you?FRASER&mdash;When you say I have a &ldquo;chip on my shoulder&rdquo; and you call me a Lord Fauntleroy, you&rsquo;re attacking me personally and you&rsquo;ve never taken the time to meet me personally.ME&mdash;I don&rsquo;t have to interview you to form an opinion that I got from watching you from the stands.FRASER&mdash;You&rsquo;re entitled to attack my work on the ice, but when you attack my personality and attack what makes Kerry Fraser tick, I&rsquo;ll criticize that.ME&mdash;What I delivered when I called you Fauntleroy and when I wrote I wanted to punch you out was an honest reaction. You don&rsquo;t mind an honest reaction, do you?FRASER&mdash;No, I realize that you have to take a position, most often critical, because that&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s going to sell papers. Your position will always be negative.ME&mdash;Now you know why you got me so mad. You&rsquo;re wrong! Don&rsquo;t you realize I can also be positive. Ask Paul Coffey, I batted him around pretty good until I realized that he&rsquo;s worthy of the Norris Trophy&mdash;and I wrote it. What the hell is negative about that?FRASER&mdash;You should be as objective as possible. Every time the officiating issue comes up in your column it has been negative.ME&mdash;I&rsquo;m reflecting the fan&rsquo;s view. Every game I watch, I get mad at the ref. Officiating drives me nuts, not because I think the refs are at fault, it&rsquo;s the system. One guy can&rsquo;t properly officiate a game today; too much is going on too fast. If people like me don&rsquo;t complain then the system will never be improved.FRASER&mdash;There&rsquo;s where you&rsquo;re wrong. If we called every penalty that&rsquo;s in the rulebook&mdash;which is what you want&mdash;then hockey wouldn&rsquo;t be an action game anymore. There wouldn&rsquo;t be any flow to it. What sells hockey, among other things, is the fast pace, the flow, the good body contact. If we called every penalty we&rsquo;d handcuff the players and the game wouldn&rsquo;t be entertaining.ME&mdash;Applesauce. Lemme give you an example of what&rsquo;s wrong. It happened in a game you reffed, and you remember the incident. What it boils down to is that the real artists of the game aren&rsquo;t protected from cheap hooking, interference and holding. That is what drives me up the wall.FRASER&mdash;Give me the example.ME&mdash;Mike Bossy was being fouled up, down and sideways by Gaetan Duchesne without a penalty being called. A couple of seconds later you give them each two minutes for high sticking. Are you kidding? You&rsquo;d better have a good explanation for that one.FRASER&mdash;Here&rsquo;s what happened. Bossy was going by Duchesne, and Duchesne reached out with his elbow and hooked onto him to restrain him. Bossy broke stride and was breaking free and Duchesne, again, gave him a little touch. Bossy got upset and whirled around and used his stick up high on Duchesne. Then, Duchesne came right back with his high stick.ME&mdash;So, why wasn&rsquo;t Duchesne called for two right off the bat?FRASER&mdash;You have to understand our philosophy. Penalties are broken into three catagories. One is that we&rsquo;re to call all penalties that would hold someone from having a reasonable scoring opportunity. The other would be an aggressive foul that would result in an injury. The last category is all flagrant fouls occurring at any time.ME&mdash;Well, how does that apply to the Bossy business?FRASER&mdash;It was not an out-and-out tackle by Duchesne. It was a restraining situation for Bossy, but it didn&rsquo;t fall into any of those catagories. Now, had the puck been coming to Mike, there would have been a penalty to Duchesne for interference or holding or whatever. But it didn&rsquo;t fall into any of those categories. A little while later Bossy was crosschecked from behind just as the puck was coming to him. I had a penalty on that because it fell into the category.ME&mdash;I don&rsquo;t care what you say, but you simply can&rsquo;t deny that there is outrageous inconsistency in the officiating.FRASER&mdash;You&rsquo;ll always have that because no two people think alike. What I strive for is consistency within myself, so that I&rsquo;m not confusing the players. I want them to know that the line is drawn, and if they step over that line&mdash;as fine a line as it is&mdash;they&rsquo;ll be penalized. They should have the fear that, yes, Fraser will call a penalty late in a hockey game, late in a tie game, yes he will call it. When these lines are drawn, we&rsquo;re getting closer to consistency.ME&mdash;Maybe in your estimation it is, but there&rsquo;s no way a ref can expect the kind of respect he&rsquo;d like when he blows calls like one I saw this season. Now, listen: The Islanders were shorthanded and Anders Kallur was penalty-killing. He lost his stick. The puck was near the blue line and he dove at it, trying to push it over the line. Instead, the puck didn&rsquo;t go over so he pulled it into his stomach. It was an obvious delay-of-game, yet no call. It was so blatant, it was laughable.FRASER&mdash;The problem of the &ldquo;second penalty&rdquo;, after the first one has been called, is a sensitive area for us, just like penalty shots. For years we had this idea ingrained in us that after the first penalty was called against a team and they were still shorthanded, the shorthanded team could do almost anything it wanted without having the &ldquo;second penalty&rdquo; called. Despite what you may think, that&rsquo;s changed for the better. More &ldquo;second penalties&rdquo; are being called and, obviously, more penalty shots are being called. We have a new attitude, a new approach.ME&mdash;So, how do you explain the incident with Kallur?FRASER&mdash;I wasn&rsquo;t there, but I can tell you that the official has to decide: does he have to call it? Is Kallur scrambling around on his stomach if the puck is under him. That&rsquo;s not your typical &ldquo;good second penalty,&rdquo; let&rsquo;s put it that way. It&rsquo;s not like a guy taken a two-hander in front of the net and whacks the attacking player. That&rsquo;s an easy call. From what you say it was a penalty. And I&rsquo;ll bet you that in that split-second that he had to decide he didn&rsquo;t react to it.ME&mdash;What you&rsquo;re telling me is that there are situations where callable infractions are not called.FRASER&mdash;Let me give you an example. I was handling a Rangers&rsquo; Blues&rsquo; game in St. Louis last year. Now, picture this: The Rangers were a man short, Dave Maloney was out there killing the penalty for New York and he lost his stick. For some reason&mdash;which he couldn&rsquo;t explain&mdash;he thought I had blown the whistle, but I hadn&rsquo;t. Suddenly, he picked the puck right off the ice and was going to hand it to me. I was shocked. Now, am I going to give him a penalty that will put them two in the hole because he&rsquo;s going to give me the puck? I just signalled. &ldquo;Move it!&rdquo; and he threw the bloody thing in the comer.ME&mdash;What would your superiors say to that?FRASER&mdash;So happens our supervisors have us in to look at videotapes once a year, and one day Frank Udvari showed that one. I said, &ldquo;Frank, before you run it, I know it was a penalty.&rdquo;ME&mdash;Many fans&mdash;and myself&mdash;have little patience with refs. What message do you have for us?FRASER&mdash;The fan sitting in the seats and you sitting in the press box think differently than I do on the ice. The fan is there to cheer his team, and he&rsquo;d be a bad fan if he didn&rsquo;t get upset with a call that went against his team. 1 agree with that. Because of that I realize I&rsquo;m not going to be a popular figure because I&rsquo;m going to make decisions against his team. It&rsquo;s when they go overboard&hellip;Cripes! Last year I had a death threat against me&mdash;and over a nothing game. The Rangers got beaten by Winnipeg. Nothing controversial happened, but a fan called me up at two in the morning and wanted to kill me.ME&mdash;How can I change that?FRASER&mdash;Columns where you call me Little Lord Fauntleroy and say you feel like punching me in the mouth don&rsquo;t help the situation.ME&mdash;Tell me how I should look at officiating.FRASER&mdash;Objectively.ME&mdash;How can I be objective about penalties that are blatant and not called?FRASER&mdash;If there&rsquo;s a call you&rsquo;re incensed about, establish some communications with the official. Go to his room, say, &ldquo;I have a question, may I come in?&rdquo; Give the official the opportunity to give you his version. Maybe he didn&rsquo;t see the so-called infraction. Or, maybe he had a reason for not calling it.ME&mdash;You wanna know what the bottom line of this argument is?FRASER&mdash;Sure.ME&mdash;As an official, you make mistakes.FRASER&mdash;Sure. No question.ME&mdash;And, as a writer, I make mistakes. We&rsquo;ve reached a middle point. Let&rsquo;s shake on it. &#9632;

f0006-01

Officials Aren’t Perfect, But Neither Am I

Nineteen of the 21 National Hockey League teams have agreed in principle to a revenue-sharing agreement which will mean more hockey on TV for Canadian viewers.Montreal and Toronto, which earned the largest share of revenue from Hockey Night In Canada under the existing Trans Border Agreement, are the only two teams to oppose the new deal. If approved by the league governors in West Palm Beach, FL, on Dec. 11, the latest proposal could dispose of the $22-million exclusivity lawsuit filed by six of the seven Canadian clubs (Quebec Nordiques are the lone exception) in the Supreme Court of Ontario in July.&ldquo;This is a historic sharing of TV revenue regardless of the border,&rdquo; NHL president John Ziegler said. &ldquo;Canadian clubs will now share in U.S. television revenue and American clubs will share part of the Canadian television revenue.&ldquo;The biggest thing is that the NHL will be negotiating network deals on behalf of the clubs, which, hopefully, will result in more money for everyone concerned.&rdquo;Ziegler is hopeful Leaf president Harold Ballard and Hab counterpart Ronald Corey will follow suit.&ldquo;I sincerely hope Harold will join up with his fellow owners, as will the Montreal Canadiens,&rdquo; Ziegler said. &ldquo;They, too, stand to benefit by the new agreement.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s expected that the agreement of the 19 teams, along with a few considerations to the Leafs and Canadiens, will pave the way for Carling O&rsquo;Keefe to institute its national network, likely a weekly Friday night game on the CTV network.Scott Bowman has tied Dick Irvin&rsquo;s all-time NHL record for most victories by a coach&mdash;or has he?Bowman had apparently tied Irvin, the former great coach of the Montreal Canadiens, when the Buffalo Sabres beat Boston Bruins 3-1 on Dec. 8 for career victory number 690. But now someone is saying Bowman hasn&rsquo;t matched the record, and that someone is none other than Scott himself.Confusing? Well, Bowman claims he was credited with some victories when, in fact, he was not officially behind the bench. Bowman told THN&rsquo;s Buffalo correspondent Randy Schultz that he will not officially break Irvin&rsquo;s record until January, and that if he doesn&rsquo;t do it by February, he quipped, he won&rsquo;t be coaching at all.Members of Team Canada &lsquo;72 will join together on Jan. 25, 1985 for a game against a team of hockey greats at Maple Leaf Gardens in benefit of the Phil Esposito Foundation for NHL alumni.&ldquo;The response from the guys has been fantastic,&rdquo; said Esposito, who was one of the leaders of the famous team which beat the Soviets in the inaugural Summit Series.Players who have confirmed their participation for Team Canada include Esposito, his brother, Tony, Bob Clarke, Frank Mahovlich, Pat Stapleton, Bill White, Ron Ellis and Dennis Hull. Their opponents include stars such as Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Bobby Orr, Henri Richard and Andy Bathgate.Hamilton has won over bids by Alberta and Manitoba to be the primary host of the 1986 world junior tournament.Hamilton, currently putting the finishing touches to a new, 18,000-seat arena which it hopes will help to inspire interest for a possible NHL team, will play host to the major games, with portions also going to neighboring cities such as Toronto, Kitchener, London, Oshawa and Belleville. &#9632;

NHL’s TV Wars Look To Be Near An End

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;He is tall (6-foot-1), husky (195 pounds) and extremely mature for his age (19).His name is Gerald Diduck, and a year ago he was playing junior hockey for the Lethbridge Broncos of the Western Hockey League. Now he is earning raves as a professional defenseman and an amateur chef.The fuzzy-cheeked teenager is one of the reasons the New York Islanders have tightened their defense in the past month. In splitting its first 14 games, the team allowed 71 goals, or an average of 5.07 per game. Following a 5-4 overtime loss to the New York Rangers on Nov. 9, the Islanders put together an 8-3-1 record while allowing only 40 goals, or an average of 3.33 per game.Diduck&rsquo;s improvement on defense has coincided with the Isles&rsquo; overall improvement. He was a minus-5 player when coach Al Arbour beched him after the Islanders&rsquo; first seven games. Diduck watched five games from the stands. He wasn&rsquo;t happy about the benching, but didn&rsquo;t pout.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;Like in preparing a sauce, I&rsquo;ve learned when to stop adding flour and when to stop beating it. You learn from that ex-perience.&rsquo;</blockquote>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no fun sitting but, in retrospect, I&rsquo;m sure it helped me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A lot of things were going through my mind then. There was talk about the team trading for another defenseman, and that bothered me. I finally got those thoughts out of my mind and I was better prepared when I came back.&rdquo;Diduck, who had been playing alongside Dave Langevin, was paired with Denis Potvin upon his return to the lineup. The switch didn&rsquo;t bother Diduck.&ldquo;Dave plays a basic style&mdash;he likes to stay close to home,&rdquo; Diduck said. &ldquo;Denis likes to move up, and he can do so many things, but I adjusted to that.&rdquo;While Didcuk has been adjusting, he has improved his plus-minus figure to plus-6. And though he hasn&rsquo;t scored his first NHL goal yet, he is satisfied with his progress.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m making less mistakes now,&rdquo; he said with a shy grin.Arbour has noticed that. The coach scolded Didcuk earlier in the season for &ldquo;disappearing&rdquo; in front of the Islanders&rsquo; net on occasion.&ldquo;The kid was overanxious then and was getting caught out of position,&rdquo; Arbour said. &ldquo;At his age, we know he would make mistakes. He&rsquo;s correcting them now as he goes along.&rdquo;Potvin has helped in Diduck&rsquo;s development.&ldquo;Some people said Gerald was struggling early in the season,&rdquo; the team captain said. &ldquo;He wasn&rsquo;t struggling. He was just learning the game and that takes time. I just hope that the time he spends on the ice with me is helpful.&rdquo;Diduck and Pat LaFontaine both were first-round picks in the 1983 entry draft. LaFontaine was the third player chosen and Diduck was drafted 16th. Now the teenagers are sharing a condominium on Long Island.It was LaFontaine who revealed his roomie&rsquo;s ability as a chef.&ldquo;Gerald is a heckuva fine cook,&rdquo; the 19-year-old center said. &ldquo;He prepares most of our meals. I try to keep the place clean and he does the grocery shopping.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s great with salads and chicken dishes. And he bakes, too. He once baked five pumpkin pies from one pumpkin.&rdquo;When Diduck was questioned about the five pies, he smiled and said, &ldquo;Well, it was a pretty big pumpkin.&rdquo; Diduck said he learned to cook out of necessity.&ldquo;There are six kids in our family and my mom and dad worked, so I used to be in charge of supper,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My mom would leave a roast for me to put in the oven and tell me how long to cook it.&rdquo;Diduck has moved from roasts to more advanced cooking.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always enjoyed it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I read cook books and stick to the basics. But the books don&rsquo;t tell me everything. Like in preparing a sauce, I&rsquo;ve learned when to stop adding flour and when to stop beating it. You learn that from experience.&rdquo;Gerald Didcuk is learning how to play defense the same way.ON THE ISLE&mdash;John Tonelli totalled five goals on the Isles&rsquo; four-game tour through Western Canada, including a pair in the first 41 seconds against the Oilers. However, the Isles lost 6-4 to finish the trip with a 2-0-2 record&hellip;Mike Bossy had 27 goals in 25 games, his best start ever&hellip;Dave Langevin was back in the lineup after missing six games with a broken bone in his right thumb. &#9632;

Diduck Cooking In More Ways Than One

The International Hockey WeeklyFounded in 1947Published by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd85 Scarsdale Road, #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2.<h2>The TV Truce</h2>THE WORLD OF professional hockey could not have gotten a better Christmas present than the one which National Hockey League president John Ziegler announced in the first week of December.That is, of course, that 19 of the NHL&rsquo;s 21 teams have agreed in principle to an agreement that would see the clubs share television revenues in both countries and generally live in peaceful coexistence.Depending upon where you live, the agreement, which is expected to be fine-tuned at the board of governors&rsquo; semi-annual meeting in mid-December at West Palm Beach, FL, may have any where from little or no impact on you to it being the best news you&rsquo;ve heard since the Soviet Union was dethroned in the Canada Cup.In Canada, if all goes as expected, it means hockey fans will see more hockey more often.The agreement between the 19 clubs&mdash;Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens are the two loners who refuse to enter into the pact&mdash;paves the way for Carling O&rsquo;Keefe Breweries to implement its national network concept and show a Friday night Game of the Week on the CTV network.If you live in the United States, you won&rsquo;t be seeing any more hockey as a direct result of the new agreement. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean you are unaffected.The television pie and how it was being divided was a major point of contention with NHL teams. In fact, the TV wars, as they&rsquo;ve become known over the past year, are the most divisive issue in the game today.Solving that large problem proves that the NHL owners, 19 of them anyway, are interested in working together as a single unit in the best interests of the game, not just their own little individual kingdoms.And as for the Maple Leafs and Canadiens, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why they don&rsquo;t want to be part of the new deal. They&rsquo;ve always been the biggest benefactors of the Canada Sports Network monopoly.Unfortunately for them, these are changing times and TV sports monopolies are a thing of the past.Long live the new deal. &#9632;

Being a confirmed &lsquo;&lsquo;hockey nut,&rdquo; I have read THE HOCKEY NEWS religiously for several years and have always been of the opinion that the reporting was of a high level. That is until I read a small tid-bit of information in Bluelines in the Nov. 23 issue.Now I do not mind controversy, what I object to is inaccurate reporting. The article states, &ldquo;Seattle Breaker boss Stan Goodall has his 14-year-old son, Glen, playing in the major junior hockey league.&rdquo; For your information, I am in no way connected with the Seattle Breakers management.Being a student of the game of hockey, I realize, if you don&rsquo;t, that there is no room for bureaucratic patronage in sports. To my knowledge, success in the sports field, at least at the playing level, depends on ability, not &ldquo;pull.&rdquo;For your information, my son is presently on the team because the coach, Marc Boileau, believes he belongs there. It was his decision, not mine, to place Glen on the roster of a WHL team.Needless to say, there has been much controversy surrounding myself and my son. It is not always easy being the father of a talented son, but it should not be too difficult for a professional sports writer to get his facts straight. As I see it, Mr. Fishcler is very outspoken in his opinions and, as such, should not resent having his inefficiencies pointed out to him.Of course, I will continue to be a subscriber to THE HOCKEY NEWS and also to read Mr. Fischler&rsquo;s columns if it is the only game in town&mdash;but please try to get your facts straight.Stan Goodall Thompson, Man.<h2>MORE MINOR LEAGUE NEWS</h2>I find your minor hockey league coverage&hellip;only after a great deal of searching. In other words, very little or minimal space is being given to the 13 American Hockey League and nine International Hockey League clubs.I want to read more&mdash;more on the AHL, the IHL and the ACHL. Let&rsquo;s change the minor league coverage from inadequate to enlightening, please.Michael E. Dempsey Norwich, CT<h2>APOLOGIES ACCEPTED, STAN</h2>This comes as a response to Stan Fischler&rsquo;s Nov. 30 column in which he announced a change of heart towards Oiler defenseman Paul Coffey.To have written the original Coffey versus Langway article last spring and report the opinions of those he polled was fine. Nor would I have found anything wrong had he chosen to add his own opinions since the purpose of his column is to do just that. On the other hand, to turn the situation into a ridiculous string of pot-shots directed at Coffey in two following columns was uncalled for and rather childish on Fischler&rsquo;s part.As a devoted Oiler follower since their entry into the league, I angrily contemplated taking pen in hand to inform Mr. Fischler that his remarks were getting a bit out of hand.However, in his Sept. 28 column (&ldquo;The Coffey Mess&rdquo;) he made a partial attempt at reconciliation and now professes to have seen the light and says, &ldquo;&hellip;Coffey is the more valuable player, so I am hereby switching my vote.&rdquo;What prompted Fischler to suddenly change his mind about Paul Coffey? The advice of his &ldquo;superduper, expert stat man,&rdquo; Coffey&rsquo;s outstanding play against the Soviets in the Canada Cup and through the first 20 games of this season, or a lot of angry letters in his mailbox?Whatever your reasons, Mr. Fischler, this Oiler fan accepts your apology and applauds your recognition of the league&rsquo;s top defenseman.J. Flash Willowdale, Ont.<h2>EXTEND TV COVERAGE</h2>This letter concerns CBC&rsquo;s Hockey Night In Canada and their lack of consideration for the many viewers of the show.While HNIC goes to the trouble of having a hookup during every Saturday night game (an update game), when they switch over to the update game after the original is over, very often they don&rsquo;t show it until the end.For instance, now that the NHL has overtime, I don&rsquo;t think the CBC recognizes it during these situations.So why can&rsquo;t the game go a few minutes past the three-hour deadline instead of cutting off an exciting update game that many fans care about while it&rsquo;s just going into overtime?Andy Hardy Hinton, Alta.<h2>FAN FORUM</h2>Let your voice be heard! Send your comments to Fan Forum, THE HOCKEY NEWS, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., Canada M3B 2R2. &#9632;

Check The Facts, Stan

<div class="byline">Tom Murray&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011350/5351727-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="413" height="431"></div>It&rsquo;s probably a little too late to be devoting a column to the unfortunate, face-spearing incident which took place between Minnesota&rsquo;s Paul Holmgren and Hartford&rsquo;s Torrie Robertson on Oct. 27. But it is very definitely not too late to, once again, admonish the powers that be at the National Hockey League offices for their reluctance or sheer inability to correctly and courageously handle this situation.A quick review of the facts: Holmgren and Robertson came into contact alongside the Hartford bench while chasing the puck into the Whalers&rsquo; zone. On that much they&rsquo;ll both agree. After that, their version of the foreplay preceding the main event differs.Holmgren: &ldquo;The butt end of his stick hit me on the side of the head, and he rubbed his glove in my face as we went into the boards.&rdquo;Robertson: &ldquo;I held him up from breaking in on the defense. He pushed me with a backhander and I pushed him back. It&rsquo;s something that happens 20 times in a game.&rdquo;Both players had their sticks up as they balefully stared at each other, and the crowd and their respective teammates tensed for what looked like a sure fight. But the gloves were never dropped. Before that could happen, Holmgren lashed out with his stick, cutting Robertson over the left eyebrow and on the eyelid itself. For that he received a 10-minute match penalty, which requries an automatic hearing with Brian O&rsquo;Neill, the league&rsquo;s designated disciplinarian.As the date for the hearing approached, there were those who naively believed that this time the league would really put its foot down, really show that this kind of behavior would not be tolerated. After all, they said, this was a blatant attempt to injure. After all, a player nearly lost an eye. After all, the offender, Holmgren, was a familiar face around O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s office. He&rsquo;d been suspended before, for another stick-swinging incident and for taking a swing at a referee. This was obviously someone upon whom the league&rsquo;s system of justice seemed to have little or no affect, and it seemed to be the perfect opportunity to set a new precedent by imposing a tough punishment that no one could argue with. The guesses ranged anywhere from a 20-game suspension to a scenario which had Holmgren on the sidelines for the rest of the season.We should have known better, of course. Holmgren, as we all know, was suspended for a measly 10 games (without pay, of course) and, as usual, O&rsquo;Neill took the heat for yet another spineless, wishy-washy verdict. But he&rsquo;s really not to blame. He&rsquo;s merely the point man for the governors, the designated &ldquo;hitee,&rdquo; the guy who earns the bulk of his salary by consistently taking abuse from the media every time a decision such as Holmgren&rsquo;s is handed down.But O&rsquo;Neill can only work within the parameters outlined for him by the governors and the league. And until the league really makes up its mind about how it wants to handle incidents such as the one between Holmgren and Robertson, they will continue to occur.Right now, it&rsquo;s as simple and as complicated as this: The NHL is confused about it all. And if they&rsquo;re confused, where does that leave the fans and the players? &#9632;

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O’Neill Taking Heat For Weak Hierarchy

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;If it was a dream, Peter Zezel didn&rsquo;t want to be awakened. Here he was, a 19-year-old rookie, playing center for the Philadelphia Flyers as if he was the pre-ordained answer to Bobby Clarke&rsquo;s absence.He had the whole world in his hand&mdash;and then his hand broke.He suffered the broken hand when he ran into a teammate in practice early in November. At the time, just a dozen games into the season, he had already established himself as the club&rsquo;s best playmaker with three goals and 10 assists.But when his seemingly minor injury was diagnosed as a break, Zezel began to worry if the dream was over.&ldquo;Everybody was saying I was having such a great start and all,&rdquo; said Zezel, &ldquo;things were really going good. Then, the injury. Yes, I worried a little bit about coming back, what I&rsquo;d play like.&rdquo;Well, it didn&rsquo;t take Zezel long to assure the Flyers that his early-season spurt was no fluke. He returned to the lineup on Dec. 3, after missing 11 games, and he picked right up where he left off. In his first three games back, Zezel scored at least one point in each game, totalling two goals and four assists for six points.He was once again right in the middle of things as the Flyers sandwiched impressive wins against the New York Rangers with a tie against the Quebec Nordiques.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Peter Zezel had help from his roommates when he was sidelined with a broken hand.</blockquote>Zezel began his first week back to work with a goal and an assist during a 6-2 Monday night bludgeoning of the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, kept up the pace with an assist on the lone goal during a 1-1 tie with the Quebec Nordiques at the Spectrum on Wednesday night, then added another goal and two assits on Saturday night when the Flyers whipped the Rangers 4-2 at the Spectrum.With that win, the Flyers increased their Patrick Division lead to an impressive nine points (39-31) over the second-place New York Islanders. However, more important than the short-term outlook is the long-term prognosis of the club with rookies such as Zezel, Derrick Smith and Rick Tocchet.&ldquo;The thing I like about the three of them,&rdquo; said Flyer defenseman Brad Marsh, &ldquo;is that they are grinder-type players. If you&rsquo;re going to go with young guys, I think that&rsquo;s the type to go with.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying a guy like (Pittsburgh&rsquo;s) Mario Lemieux isn&rsquo;t going to be a great player, but I think guys like Zezel can help a team come together quicker.&ldquo;Look, I think these guys are kind of like I was when I came up. They&rsquo;re not really fancy, finesse guys; I&rsquo;m sure they weren&rsquo;t the best players on their teams at every level. They had to work at it, and I think that makes them better players.&rdquo;In fact, one of the keys to Zezel&rsquo;s quick return to form after the hand injury was his work habits during the injury. The very first day after the X-rays diagnosed the break, Zezel was at the Flyers&rsquo; training site working with weights and peddling the stationary bike.And, it was only a few days after that when he appeared at the non-contact parts of practice, wearing an old sock over his cast to protect it from the cold.Still, he didn&rsquo;t feel like part of the team and wondered about making a comeback when he returned.&ldquo;I remember we had that big (7-5) win over the Oilers,&rdquo; said Zezel. &ldquo;I came in the locker room afterwards and tried to be part of the celebration, but I couldn&rsquo;t be a part of it. Not really. I didn&rsquo;t feel like I had contributed anything.&ldquo;I was kind of feeling down about it. I was worried about coming back, if I&rsquo;d play as well, everything like that.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you what really helped was my roommates. I live with Dave Brown and Rick Tocchet, and they really helped to keep me up. You know, when the hand was broken I couldn&rsquo;t do much of anything. They did all the cooking and everything, and they kept telling me not to worry, everything would be all right.&rdquo;Still, Zezel worried that the bubble had burst.&ldquo;I started thinking about the great start I had&mdash;and then the broken hand,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I thought, &lsquo;This can&rsquo;t really be happening.&rsquo;&rdquo;But it really did happen, and after the way he&rsquo;s played since coming back from the injury, it looks as if he&rsquo;s ready to make it all happen again.NOTES&mdash;Goalie Bob Froese played in both wins over the Rangers, improving his record to 7-1-0 and a league-leading, 2.18 goals against average. The Flyers other goalie. Pelle Lindbergh, improved his record to 10-3-5 with a 2.46 average. Overall, the Flyers gave up only 64 goals in their first 26 games, holding the opposition to three goals or fewer in 22 of those games&hellip;Defenseman Brad McCrimmon continued to have an impressive season, both defensively and offensively, as he added two assists and a goal during the week for 20 points on the season. He also leads the club with a plus-27 rating&hellip;The tie with the Nordiques was the club&rsquo;s fifth overtime game of the season, and all have ended in ties&hellip;Tim Kerr added to his league-leading power-play goal total, scoring his 11 th of the season against Quebec&hellip;Ilkka Sini-salo&rsquo;s overtime goal in the first win over the Rangers ended an 0-for-22 dry spell for the Flyers on the power play. &#9632;

Zezel Returns To Lineup In Scoring Form

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THE YEAR IN REVIEW

<div class="byline">Joe Falls</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011365/5351820-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="373" height="445"></div>EVERY CHRISTMAS I think of my Uncle Hans. He was a good man. We lived in a road house in New York City, and he lived upstairs with my grandmother and grandfather while we lived downstairs. I&rsquo;m talking abut the 1940s, when I first learned to love this game of hockey.I was a nut. I lived on roller skates and played from morning until night. I went to every New York Rangers&rsquo; game, 15 in a row, until my brother got married and broke the streak. On the days, if it was snowing or raining and we couldn&rsquo;t put our skates on, I&rsquo;d sit at the dining room table and play my Lester Patrick Hockey Game. I think I loved that more than anything else in my life.It was a simple board game&mdash;just two dollars at the sporting goods store. It came with a pair of dice and a small plastic puck, and what&rsquo;d you do is roll the dice and move the puck around the squares on the board. The board was painted in the shape of a hockey rink and came with faceoff circles, blue lines, creases and little red and blue players.One of the dice had numbers on it&mdash;one to four&mdash;the other had letters on it&mdash;such as F for forward, R for right, L for left, RD for right diagonal, and LD for left diagonal.You&rsquo;d roll the dice and they&rsquo;d read something like LD-4. That meant you&rsquo;d move the puck four places in a left diagonal direction. You kept possession of the puck until it went into the square of one of the opposing players, then they got the puck and you&rsquo;d roll the dice for them. The trick was to get the puck into the one space opening on either side of the goalie.&ldquo;Whatcha got there?&rdquo; my Uncle Hans said to me one day.I told him it was the Lester Patrick Hockey Game.&ldquo;You really like it, don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;Yeah,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;I like it a lot.&rdquo;He had seen me sitting at that dining room table playing the game and what fascinated him, I suppose, is that I also broadcasted the games. That was the best part. You could sit in The Gondola at Maple Leaf Gardens or in the mezzanine at Madison Square Garden and call all the plays as they happened.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s Apps over the blue line&hellip;into the comer&hellip;he passes out in front&mdash;Drillon shoots, he scores!&rdquo;Nothing in my life ever matched those moments at the dining room table.I even used to cut out lineups from the New York Times and paste them into a scrap book and write down all the goals and assists. I used to play whole seasons&mdash;48 games plus the playoffs. The one thing I could never figure out was how Foster Hewitt used to call the Montreal right winger, &ldquo;Joe Ben-wah,&rdquo; while the lineups of the Times clearly called him, &ldquo;Joe Benoit.&rdquo;My Uncle Hans saw a look of concern on my face one day.&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter?&rdquo; he asked.&ldquo;Aw&hellip;it&rsquo;s just that when they score a goal in the game, a red light goes on.&rdquo;He smiled. He knew what I was after. Uncle Hans liked to tinker with things, such as old radios, and he had all kinds of tools and tubes and wires around the house.&ldquo;Okay,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll fix you up some lights.&rdquo;He wired up two small lights, which 1 painted red and taped to each end of the board, and now I could turn on a light every time a goal went in.&ldquo;All right?&rdquo; he asked.&ldquo;Well&hellip;when the period ends, they&rsquo;ve got these two green lights which they turn on.&rdquo;He added another switch and two more lights, which I painted green.&ldquo;Satisfied?&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s great, but they also have a buzzer which sounds at the end of the period&hellip;&rdquo;&ldquo;Okay, okay,&rdquo; he said. He took the whole thing apart and came up with a master-control board, and now I could light the red lights and flash the green lights, while sounding a buzzer at the same time.&ldquo;Anything else?&rdquo; he asked.&ldquo;Well, as you know, before the start of the games, they play the national anthem&hellip;&rdquo;That night he went out and bought a recording of the Star Spangled Banner, and the next morning you-know-who stood at attention at the dining room table while the record played on the family victrola.My Uncle Hans smiled and said, &ldquo;Well, young man, you&rsquo;ve got it all.&rdquo;&ldquo;Oh, yes&hellip;thank you so much&hellip;but if you happen to come across a recording of O, Canada&hellip;&rdquo;My Uncle Hans is gone now, but if you don&rsquo;t mind I&rsquo;d like to wish him a Merry Christmas. &#9632;

f0012-01

A Merry Christmas To My Uncle Hans

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>MONTREAL&mdash;Mats Naslund just stood and admired what he had accomplished. It was four minutes and 14 seconds into the third period and Naslund had just scored his fourth goal of the evening, beating Hartford goaltender Steve Weeks and helping the Montreal Canadiens to a 9-3 rout of the Hartford Whalers on Dec. 3.&ldquo;I hit the puck very well and I felt it in my whole body,&rdquo; Naslund said. &ldquo;I was happy. I didn&rsquo;t jump like I did last year in the playoffs, but that was a way of showing I was happy too.&rdquo;It was quite an evening for Naslund and linemates Mario Tremblay and Pierre Mondou. Tremblay had two goals and three assists while Mondou had a goal and three assists. That brought the line&rsquo;s total to 61 points in 16 games since they were reunited on Oct. 29.Two nights later in a 5-3 loss at Hartford, Tremblay had a goal and an assist and Naslund had a goal while the following night Naslaund popped his sixth goal in three games, helping the Habs to a 3-1 victory at Boston.Since, in 1982, becoming the Canadiens&rsquo; first European player, Naslund has become a crowd favorite at the Forum. They like his speed, his flair. There have been occasions when Naslund has bowed politely to the man who has set him up for a goal. He jumps in the air at other times and gives the Swedish version of the high five.Is Mats Naslund going to be the man to replace Guy Lafleur in the hearts of Montreal fans?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anyone is going to electrify the crowd like Flower did,&rdquo; Naslund said. &ldquo;We have great goaltending from (Steve) Penney and (Doug) Soetart, from (Chris) Chelios on defense all the way up to the forwards, there are a lot of guys I hope the fans will cheer, too.&rdquo;Certainly Naslund has enjoyed his share of cheers since he came to Montreal from Timra. In his rookie season, the 5-foot-7, 165-pound left winger had 26 goals and 45 assists followed by 29 goals and 35 assists last season.Naslund and his linemates got off to a stuttering start this season with Naslund getting just two goals in the first 10 games. For the first eight, Naslund was playing with a variety of people as coach Jacques Lemaire experimented.&ldquo;Jacques wants everyone to be able to play with everybody,&rdquo; Naslund said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good to be back with Mario and Pierre. We get along well together.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing with two great teammates. They feed me and they really wanted me to score that fourth goal against Hartford. It&rsquo;s a great feeling when you sense the guys like you a lot. &ldquo;Naslund&rsquo;s six-point effort against the Whalers was his best single evening in the league. He had a five-point soiree in Winnipeg on Oct. 19, 1982 as the Canadiens hammered the Jets 12-2.&ldquo;This one is a little better because it came in front of the home fans,&rdquo; said Naslund, referring to the crowd of 16,007 which included Lafleur, who was making his first appearance in the Forum since his retirement. Lafleur drew thunderous applause and a two-and-a-half minute standing ovation as he appeared with 47 Forum employees who were honored for their 25 years of service.While the cheers were for &ldquo;Guy, Guy, Guy&rdquo; at the start, they were for &ldquo;Mats, Mats, Mats&rdquo; at the end. Lafleur spoke to Naslund briefly after the game and jokingly warned the Swede he had better be careful because the Montreal fans would be expecting similar performances every night.&ldquo;I know things are going well for me right now,&rdquo; said Naslund, who had a three-goal game against Detroit on Nov. 24. &ldquo;I hit the net when I shot the puck against Hartford. There are some nights when you have to really work hard just to get one goal.&ldquo;I hope this streak is going to continue. I know this game, though, and there are going to be weeks when you get cool like a fridge.&rdquo;Naslund&rsquo;s recent efforts have led Hab watchers in this city to speculate that he could get more than 50 goals and be the natural scorer which the Canadiens need. The little left winger is doing his best to downplay that talk. He does not need that extra pressure right now.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just worried about the next game,&rdquo; he said after his six-point effort. &ldquo;My only personal objective is to get a point per game. It&rsquo;s been that way since I have come to play here.&rdquo;IN PASSING&mdash;Mario Tremblay picked up his 500th career point in the loss at Hartford on Dec. 5&hellip;The Canadiens will retire Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s No. 10 jersey at a special ceremony at the Forum on Feb. 16. Lafleur is expected to be named honorary captain for the Prince of Wales Conference all-stars in Calgary Feb. 12&hellip;Kent Carlson continues to be used sparingly by coach Jacques Lemaire. Carlson was dressed for the game in Hartford, but was back in a designated sitter&rsquo;s role the next night in Boston&hellip;Ron Flockhart, acquired in the deal which sent John Chabot to the Pittsburgh Penguins, sat out three of five recent games. He played against Boston only becuase Guy Carbonneau fell ill with suspected food poisoning&hellip;Steve Penney and Chris Chelios were co-winners of the first segment of the Molson Cup three-star selections&hellip;Normand Baron, the former bodybuilder and Mr. Quebec, has been suspended by the Sherbrooke Canadiens. Apparently, Baron would not pay a $300 fine for missing a team practice and team bus&hellip;Defenseman Jean Hamel, who suffered an eye injury Oct. 4 in a pre-season game at Boston may have to undergo corrective surgery on the damaged eye, which has only 10 per cent vision. &#9632;

Fans Cheer For Naslund With Lafleur’s Departure

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Montreal&rsquo;s French press has gone to war with National Hockey League prez John Ziegler over an alleged slight he committed against Guy Lafleur upon the latter&rsquo;s retirement. Scribes such as Bert&nbsp;(Journal de Montreal)&nbsp;Raymond and Rejean&nbsp;(La Presse)&nbsp;Tremblay charge that Ziegler botched up his role in the Lafleur retirement. The problem started when a Montreal broadcaster phoned Ziegler for a few words on Guy&rsquo;s adieu. Told that Ziegler was tied up in a meeting, the radio man reported that the prez has &ldquo;no comment.&rdquo; Later Ziegler issued a formal statement warmly lauding the Habs&rsquo; ace, but many in the Montreal media failed to receive it. Raymond and the rest accuse Ziegler of insensitivity, and further assert that he overlooked Lafleur in an extemporaneous talk about stars at last year&rsquo;s Hall of Fame banquet. &ldquo;It (Ziegler&rsquo;s handling of the Lafleur retirement) was badly done,&rdquo; Raymond tells BLUELINES. &ldquo;Even if he was at a meeting, he should have taken time out for a brief statement on the radio. He forgot Lafleur at the banquet and seemed to forget Lafleur all the time. If Wayne Gretzky was in the same situation you can bet Ziegler wouldn&rsquo;t have forgotten. The written statement didn&rsquo;t solve the problem.&rdquo; A spokesman for Ziegler rebuts that the Montreal press is treating him &ldquo;unfairly,&rdquo; adding that the prez feels warmly toward Lafleur and that the &ldquo;no comment&rdquo; reported by the French broadcaster was misinterpreted. As for the supposed slight at the All-Star banquet, the spokesman says: &ldquo;I clearly remember him mentioning Lafleur.&rdquo; But Raymond disagrees and adds that Hab bosses Ron Corey and Serge Savard &ldquo;were mad at Ziegler for forgetting about Lafleur.&rdquo;Chicago coach Orval Tessier has moved ahead of Washington counterpart Bryan Murray as the NHL&rsquo;s leading ref-baiter. Within a week, Tessier delivered a pair of 21-gun salutes against the zebras. Tessier charges that refs have been out to nail his team ever since Tom Lysiak dumped linesman Ron Foyt last season. After the Hawks played the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 1 at the Meadowlands, Tessier had a screaming match with supervisor Frank Udvari over a Chicago two-man disadvantage. Ref overseer John McCauley tells BLUELINES: &ldquo;A guy (Udvari) can only take so much (from someone like Tessier). As for a vendetta, it&rsquo;s a figment of Tessier&rsquo;s imagination. A confrontation like that should be done man-to-man, privately, but not in a public hallway. &ldquo;&hellip;Minnesota insiders whisper that Brian Lawton is shaping down as the biggest top draft bust since Greg Joly. Lawton&rsquo;s critics have nicknamed him &ldquo;Zamboni,&rdquo; because he&rsquo;s moving horizontally so often, appearing to be cleaning up the ice. Lawton&rsquo;s defenders argue that nobody has bothered to properly instruct him since he arrived in Bloomington&hellip;An insider reports that the Penguins would be willing to deal the previously-untouchable Mike Bullard for the right price.Despite official NHL moaning about money, only four clubs&mdash;Los Angeles, Washington, Pittsburgh and St. Louis&mdash;suffered losses as far as a cash-in-cash-out basis is concerned. All 17 other clubs profitted, according to an inside source privy to the league fiscal structure. Even the oft-lamenting Caps are on smile street thanks to a new cable tv deal involving owner Abe Pollin&rsquo;s hockey team and the basketball Bullets. Pollin reportedly is pulling in a cool $1 million-plus a year for both clubs on that one&hellip;Even if his Kings aren&rsquo;t packing them in, boss Jerry Buss grosses $350,000-a-game on his basketball Lakers&hellip;Within the NHL high command, the whisper is that the Canucks&rsquo; problems transcend the general manager&rsquo;s level and go right to the top where the buck stops at the father-son desks of Frank and Arthur Griffiths&hellip;No matter how deep his Canucks plummet, general manager Harry Neale is on easy street with a five-year deal&hellip;Competition among agents to land clients who belonged to the recently-deceased Norm Caplan continues. One rep, who had shied away from the NHL, tells BLUELINES: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking at hockey now because of Norm&rsquo;s death. There&rsquo;s a void right now.&rdquo;&hellip;Bill LaForge&rsquo;s hasty exit did not meet with total gloom among his coaching colleagues. One, who had watched a Canucks&rsquo; workout under LaForge, says he was appalled at the harshness of the language directed at many of the players. &ldquo;It might have worked in junior hockey,&rdquo; the coach tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;but not with mature pros.&rdquo;A Philadelphia source predicts that former Philly ace Bill Barber will not return as an active player. &ldquo;There are two reasons,&rdquo; the man says. &ldquo;One, Barber&rsquo;s age (32) and, two, because I&rsquo;m told that Barber will get a $300,000 insurance payoff on top of his salary.&rdquo;&hellip;During a Bobby Clarke testimonial banquet, a highlight film was shown which included a Dave Schultz brawl. At that point, someone yelled: &ldquo;Schultz, you fight better than you write!&rdquo;&hellip;Last month New York Ranger coach Herb Brooks mentioned that hustling vet Robbie Ftorek would make a good coach when he retires. Now, Ftorek is being mentioned as Brooks&rsquo; heir apparent if Herbie moves out of New York next fall&hellip;Without any fuss or fanfare, Ron Duguay hosted senior citizens from a Manhattan retirement home at Grannie&rsquo;s Restaurant on Manhattan&rsquo;s Upper East Side. Duguay&rsquo;s also hosting a weekly hockey radio show in Detroit&hellip;Maine Mariner coach Tom McVie says he&rsquo;s incensed at the rumor-monger who spread the nonsense that he couldn&rsquo;t get along with American players. &ldquo;I have three sons who were bom in the United States,&rdquo; McVie tells BLUELINES. &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY PERRY LEFKO</div>TORONTO&mdash;Mike Palmateer has received lots of calls from friends and wellwishers, but the people he most wants to hear from are Harold Ballard, Gerry McNamara and Dan Maloney&mdash;the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; management.The Leaf brass has shut out the veteran goalie since early in training camp, when he balked at practising the day after games. It was a heated issue at the time, although it cooled off somewhat in the early going when the Leafs&rsquo; two rookie netminders, Allan Bester and Ken Wreg-get, started off with wins in the team&rsquo;s first two games. Since that time, however, the Leafs have recorded only one victory (Oct. 24 against Detroit), and their winless streak has since climbed to 10 games.Wregget, who&rsquo;d been having some problems on long shots, was in goal for the Leafs&rsquo; worst loss this season, a 7-6 setback to Detroit on Dec. 5. Toronto was leading 6-2 in the final period before the proverbial roof caved in. The next night, Tim Bernhardt, a castoff from the Calgary Flames who signed with the Leafs as a free agent in the summer after playing for Toronto&rsquo;s farm team in St. Catharines last season, was called up and Wregget was demoted. In three consecutive games&mdash;including a return match against Detroit which the Leafs lost 4-2&mdash;Bernhardt posted an 0-2-1 record and allowed 14 goals.There had been some talk that Ballard, who stated before the start of the season that Palmateer was no longer a Leaf as far as he was considered, would changed his mind if the gregarious goalie would give him a call. Palmateer, however, says he and his agent, Alan Eagleson, have contacted the Leafs on a regular basis via letters, but there&rsquo;s been no response.Palmateer wants to come back, but he&rsquo;s not about to beg.&ldquo;They haven&rsquo;t lost my number&hellip;I don&rsquo;t think,&rdquo; Palmateer says. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re the ones who told me to sit tight by the phone. I&rsquo;m not about to come back crawling.&rdquo;As for the issue about not practising after the games, Palmateer, who has a history of knee problems, says: &ldquo;If they want me to practise, I&rsquo;ll practise, but they&rsquo;re not going to get the results they want to see&hellip;I think most people know that. It&rsquo;s nothing new. The players never minded it either. As long as you do the best you can in game situations that&rsquo;s all you can ask.&rdquo;The practice alibi is something which may have been a justifiable excuse at the time&mdash;paricularly if Dan Maloney didn&rsquo;t want to show favoritism in his first year as the Leafs&rsquo; coach&mdash;but Palmateer says he was willing to come in early and and stay late doing office workouts.&ldquo;I can play back-to-back games if I don&rsquo;t have to practise the next morning,&rdquo; says Palmateer.Palmateer was recently given support on that issue by former Boston coach-tumed-TV-commentator, Don Cherry, who said he used to rest Bruin goalie Gerry Cheevers the morning after a game.Because of the Leafs&rsquo; plight, and considering they&rsquo;ve demoted a rookie goalie and called up a replacement who has a total of nine National Hockey League games to his credit since turning pro in 1978, it would seem logical to give Palmateer a call. After all, they&rsquo;re presently paying him $220,000 (U.S.) to basically operate the grill at his newly-established burger joint.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011341/5351930-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="579" height="781"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Palmateer says he could be ready in about two weeks if he&rsquo;s asked to play.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It would make sense, but I don&rsquo;t know what their plans are,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been able to figure them out from the start.&rdquo;Despite the fact the Leafs have prevented Palmateer from picking up his equipment and, essentially, working out competitively, he says he could be ready to play in game situations in about &ldquo;10 days to two weeks.&rdquo;In the meantime, he&rsquo;ll keep collecting his salary (&ldquo;don&rsquo;t like to get paid under these circumstances but it&rsquo;s better than not getting paid at all&rdquo;) and hoping the Leafs give him a call.&ldquo;I know one thing: I have been getting lots of support from fans and friends, people saying, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve missed you,&rsquo;&rdquo; Palmateer says. &ldquo;All I have to say is, 1 hope I can come back and help the Leafs out.&rdquo;LEAFLETS&mdash;Of his demotion to St. Catharines, Ken Wregget said: &ldquo;Right now, I&rsquo;m not happy with going down, but what can you do. I&rsquo;m going down&hellip;and hopefully I can work my way back up.&rdquo; As for as the Leafs&rsquo; bringing back Mike Palmateer, Wregget said: &ldquo;&hellip;Maybe that will be good for Palmy, but it&rsquo;s not good for me.&rdquo;&hellip;After the Leafs lost back-to-back games to Detroit, coach Dan Maloney said: &ldquo;We have lots of soul-searching to do.&rdquo; When asked if the Leafs are thin on talent, he said: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re definitely going to have to do something.&rdquo; Asked if that &ldquo;something&rdquo; was trades, Maloney responded: &ldquo;Whatever!&rdquo; Maloney put his troops through two workouts the following day&hellip;Rick Vaive missed three games with a knee injury, but injured center Peter Ihnacakis back&hellip;Maloney verbally lashed out on Red Wing forward Lane Lambert, who wears a helmet with a visor, after he fought the Leafs&rsquo; Jim Benning. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s (Lambert) a real tough guy. He picks on a guy and leaves his mask on&hellip;It&rsquo;s a Goddamn shame. He&rsquo;s got no guts.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-01

Palmateer Sits By Phone Waiting For Leafs To Call

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011255/5351961-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Krushelnyski finds a lot of similarities between his onetime line in Boston and his latest one in Edmonton.</figcaption></div>EDMONTON&mdash;The endorsement came early from Wayne Gretzky&mdash;the royal stamp of approval that left absolutely no doubt in the E. F. Hutton-like opinion of number 99.No sittin&rsquo; on the fence for this young fella&hellip;&lsquo;&lsquo;No question,&rdquo; deadpanned Gretzky, throwing his whole-hearted support behind left-wing candidate Mike Krushel-nyski&rsquo;s season, although it was less than three weeks old.In Krushelnyski, Gretzky saw a 6-foot-2, 200-pound answer to the left-wing puzzle the Edmonton Oilers haven&rsquo;t been able to solve since The Great One was in diapers&hellip;well, at least able to vote.&ldquo;This is the first time in six years here there hasn&rsquo;t been talk of finding a left winger for our line,&rdquo; said Gretzky, whose right side has been more than capably handled by Finnish sidekick, Jan Kurri. &ldquo;Mike has been doing just a tremendous job.&rdquo;Certainly based on the showing of the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; first 25 games in the National Hockey League season, Krushelnyski undoubtedly has the job for the asking. It&rsquo;s just that he might be advised to not take out a mortgage on that mansion on the hill. Not just yet. It seems we&rsquo;ve seen this movie somewhere before.Shall we flash back to the April 3 editions of the Edmonton Sun.&ldquo;People have been saying for years,&rdquo; Gretzky said, &ldquo;that we need a left winger for me. Well, we&rsquo;ve got the guy there to do the job.&rdquo;The topic at the time was Gretzky&rsquo;s pre-playoff appraisal of Raimo Summanen, who was dashing and daring&mdash;in joining Finnish countryman Kurri&mdash;as the Oilers went on to sweep Winnipeg in their preliminary playoff step towards the Stanley Cup. The rookie Finn&rsquo;s effectiveness was drastically reduced, however, in the congested traffic of Round Two against the Calgary Flames.Unable to pass the test of time that is demanded by general manager-coach Glen Sather&mdash;a steadfast believer in paying your dues&mdash;Summanen has been in the minors since the season&rsquo;s outset.Krushelnyski has already served a 182-game apprenticeship in the American League.He&rsquo;s also logged duty on the Boston Bruins&rsquo; No. 1 line with Rick Middleton and Barry Pederson, but nothing in the past rates with the offensive potential of performing alongside Gretzky and Kurri.It was like Hartford Whaler GM Emile Francis was to quip after the line engineered five second-period goals in an 8-2 romp over the Los Angeles Kings back on Oct. 26: &ldquo;I heard some guy say, &lsquo;When Krushelnyski got traded here, he must of thought he died and went to heaven.&rsquo;&rdquo;Krushelnyski, with 13 goals and 15 assists after 25 games, admits there aren&rsquo;t any deep, dark secrets to his success.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d be a liar if I said I wasn&rsquo;t enjoying it,&rdquo; said the 24-year-old, who&rsquo;s been on a goal-scoring binge. &ldquo;They key on Wayne. As soon as he steps on the ice, two players undoubtedly go to him. The same with Jari, he&rsquo;s a sniper. Sometimes maybe they forget about me, and I just go to the holes.&rdquo;If that&rsquo;s the case, the hard-to-miss Krushelnyski&rsquo;s been all too modest. For the imposing shadow that he does cast is most difficult to overlook&mdash;even in the statistical department. He&rsquo;s been on a scoring spree of late, although he was held goalless in one game&mdash;against his former teammates in Boston.&ldquo;When I went out there, I was so excited I was worried about my job, Wayne&rsquo;s job and Jari&rsquo;s job,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t do it all. You just have to do your own job. But thank God we won.&rdquo;The 4-2 victory marked a milestone of sorts for the Oilers, who had previously never emerged triumphant out of the Boston Garden&mdash;that last frontier in this regard.Krushelnyski may have been blanked versus the Bruins, but was largely responsible for a 4-2, come-from-behind victory the following night in Hartford. He scored twice during the final period and, following a five-day layoff, made a brilliant athletic play as the Oilers returned home to top the New York Islanders 6-4 in a rematch of last season&rsquo;s Stanley Cup finalists. Krushelnyski knocked Gretzky&rsquo;s knee-high, goal-mouth pass out of the air in one swift motion to stake the Oilers to a 4-3 lead.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been getting easier,&rdquo; said Krushelnyski. &ldquo;I have a much better tendency to know where they are going now. And, I try to do it by playing a triangle. If Jari&rsquo;s on one side, I go to the other. Or, if he goes deep, I stay up high.I&rsquo;m getting a much better idea when to take off and when to hang back.&rdquo;Krushelnyski admits the enjoyment of performing with Kurri and Gretzky is familiar to his front-line stint in Boston.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m having fun the way I did with Rick and Barry,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They crisscross and roam, leaving me to cover whatever ice is left. It&rsquo;s sort of that way with Wayne and Jari. too. Wayne&rsquo;s a dipsy-doodler and Jari&rsquo;s got that great shot, that quick release. Wherever the opening is, that&rsquo;s where they try to go.&rdquo;And, Krushelnyski&rsquo;s been tagging along quite nicely, thank you.IN THE CREASE&mdash;Injured Oiler center Mark Messier, who suffered a badly-sprained left knee in Winnipeg on Nov. 4, has been medically cleared to return to the lineup in Los Angeles on Dec. 13. &ldquo;When I was hurt they said I&rsquo;d be out six weeks, well the 13th is close enough,&rdquo; said Messier. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m fired up. I&rsquo;m just getting sick of sitting around.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-01

Krushelnyski Solves The Riddle Of Oilers

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>LANDOVER&mdash;At the 20-game mark, as scheduled, it was reward and punishment time for the Washington Capitals and their farmhands at Binghamton. It mattered not that game No. 20 was a 5-0 rout of Chicago, the first time all season Washington had held an opponent under two goals.Up from the farm came defenseman Mike McEwen, center Dean Evason and winger Greg Adams. Joining the Whalers for some bus rides were centers Glen Currie and Paul Gardner.The result? Over the next five games. with the three newcomers playing key roles, the Capitals continued the winning way they had displayed against the Black Hawks.In McEwen&rsquo;s first game, at Quebec, he was on the ice for six Washington goals in a 9-2 romp. In a 9-1 breeze past Pittsburgh, he was on ice for five. In the five games, he posted a plus-nine rating and five assists.McEwen benefited from a spur-of-the-moment decision in Quebec by coach Bryan Murray. Dissatisfied by a slow reaction by Peter Andersson that helped the Nordiques&rsquo; score, Murray teamed McEwen with Rod Langway. The two complemented each other well, with Langway rock-steady defensively and McEwen providing needed offensive thrusts.&ldquo;There are areas of my game that I could pick up,&rdquo; McEwen said. &ldquo;But so far I&rsquo;ve been okay in my end of the ice. Playing with Roddy helps&mdash;the results seem to come a little quicker.&ldquo;I played left defense in training camp, but I was on the right side in Binghamton and I built up some confidence playing there. It&rsquo;s carried over playing right defense here. You&rsquo;re always disappointed to go to the minors, but it was nice to go to Binghamton and more or less lead them. I was playing in all situations and playing all the time.&rdquo;Evason was scheduled for possible promotion after Christmas, but that was accelerated following a glowing scouting report by assistant coach Terry Murray. Evason made Murray look good by scoring two goals and two asissts in the five games, and making some nifty moves on the ice. Since Evason had been up for a game earlier and the Capitals won that, too, he was 6-0 in the NHL this fall.Evason deflected a Darren Veitch shot for his first NHL goal to start Washington&rsquo;s comeback from a 3-0 deficit that eventually resulted in a 5-4 overtime victory at Boston. He also clicked on an impressive backhander for the second goal against Pittsburgh.&ldquo;Every day I come in the dressing room, I feel more comfortable,&rdquo; Evason said. &ldquo;On the ice, I try to take it shift by shift, let my instincts take over and play the same way 1 always have.&lsquo;&lsquo;I think the three of us coming up like this may have showed some of the guys that there are players in the minors who can play well and move in here if they let up at all. I think the last few games ignited a spark that was always there, but it was a matter of starting it, and we had a little bit to do with that.&rdquo;Adams&rsquo; forechecking set up Bryan Erickson for a big goal in the comeback at Boston, then he scored twice himself in a 4-1 triumph over New Jersey. The two goals matched his entire output in 57 games with Washington a year ago.&ldquo;Last year was an experience,&rdquo; Adams said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t play as good as I could have, and I didn&rsquo;t get a lot of ice time in certain situations.&ldquo;In the minors, I got to carry the puck more. I got more ice time and 1 built up my confidence. I brought that up with me. The game&rsquo;s the same here, just the faces are different. I&rsquo;ve been getting good ice time, and 1 feel a lot more confident out there. The more time you get, the more confidence you get. It has a steamroller effect.&rdquo;Murray said he felt the team was turning things around before the multiple moves, but that the newcomers had made an important contribution in several areas.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011134/5351992-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="571" height="876"><figcaption class="caption-body">Journeyman Mike McEwen was called up from Binghamton and helped improve the Caps.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Very definitely, some eyes were opened,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;Everyone realized we meant it when we said good play would be rewarded and poor play would be penalized. We had made the decision based on evaluation after the first 20 games, and after the Chicago game we had second thoughts. But the decision was based on overall performance, and we did not feel one satisfactory outing should change it.&ldquo;The individuals we brought up have definitely helped, not just by scoring points but in overall enthusiasm on the ice and in puck movement on the ice. Otherwise, we&rsquo;d probably be second-guessing ourselves.&rdquo;CAPPING IT OFF&mdash;Coach Bryan Murray was fined $1,000 for his second gross misconduct penalty. He had escaped with a warning after the first&hellip;When minor injuries put wingers Alan Haworth and Bryan Erickson out of action, defenseman Peter Andersson moved up to left wing and performed well. &#9632;

f0016-01

Capitals Shuffle To Winning Beat

<div class="byline">Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02906/5352023-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="366" height="510"></div>THE NEW YORK RANGERS&rsquo; eighth loss in an 11-game stretch may have been the most distressing yet.The Philadelphia Flyers, who had been bringing out the best in Herb Brooks&rsquo;s team the last three seasons, this time brought out the worst. It was every bit as bad as losing 6-2 on home ice on Dec. 5 would suggest. No false advertising here. The Rangers looked like a 9-12-2 hockey team.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sick and tired of our club getting the puck into the zone and coming out with nothing,&rdquo; Brooks said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t get shots, we don&rsquo;t get the opportunity to tip and screen in front, we don&rsquo;t keep the puck in front of us.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been saying it since I&rsquo;ve been here. If we don&rsquo;t clear this thing up&hellip;what we should do is take them and give them to Mr. (Sonny) Werblin. Maybe Holiday on Ice needs them.&rdquo;In the dressing room, Dave Maloney, who two days later became a Buffalo Sabre, sat, hitting his head on the wall. Literally.&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t the element on a young team like this to pull together when times are tough,&rdquo; he said. Then he leaned back and gave the wall another shot.The wall refused to give&mdash;just as the New York Islanders have for four straight years when they have met the Rangers in the playoffs. Last year it couldn&rsquo;t have been any closer, a fifth-game overtime that suggested the gap had been all but sealed.And now, seven months later, the Rangers were playing like a fourth-place team. Everything had changed and nothing had changed. They have finished fourth three of the last four years. The Rangers are getting closer. They are not any closer at all.What&rsquo;s wrong? Maybe nothing that a healthy Mark Pavelich, Don Maloney, Ron Greschner and Mark Osborne couldn&rsquo;t fix. And maybe everything. Maybe Dave Maloney making a calculated &ldquo;get me outta here&rdquo; speech was merely offering generic comments that fit any slumping team. Maybe he was hitting a bulls-eye.He suggested that a group that contained six Europeans that had to function admist all the distractions that are New York could never attain the kind of togetherness necessary to take a real run at a Stanley Cup.Of course, losing teams always look for excuses but the Rangers have more than most at their disposal. The rumors here are rampant.One is the differences between general manager Craig Patrick and Brooks. Both say they are nothing more than just the little tugs that any coach and manager will always have. But so much has been said in little off-the-record remarks that one has to wonder about a deeper philsophical chasm.It is interesting that Brooks, at the end of last season, said that his team, remolded over three seasons in his Olympic philosophy of speed and motion, now needed more size and role players. It took two extra months, but Patrick finally got big Steve Patrick in the Buffalo trade.By his selection of the team that started the season, Brooks may have been saying that Patrick didn&rsquo;t go out and get the bigger, tougher guys he needed. Overachievers such as defenseman Steve Richmond, center Robbie Ftorek and winger George McPhee were cut. Tomas Sandstrom and Simo Saarinen were kept.Brooks, if anyone could get him on the record, would insist that this wasn&rsquo;t a case of his trying to prove he could revolutionize the NHL, but that Richmond and McPhee weren&rsquo;t the answers, so he might as well go with the better players, regardless of their birthplaces.Is Brooks, a a wild-eyed theorist, determined to do it his way? Or is he simply trying to make the best of what he&rsquo;s got. Look at the last three or four Ranger drafts and it&rsquo;s apparent that their best scouting is being done in Europe, not in the Ontario or Western Leagues.It&rsquo;s odd that chief scout Danny Summers, a leftover from the discredited Fred Shero reign, survives. But it would also be wrong to suggest that Brooks has had no hand in the trades and free-agent signings that have shaped this present Ranger team.And if Brooks leaves at the end of the season&mdash;as a lot of persons very close to the team believe&mdash;it is going to be a rough hand for his successor to play. Conventional NHL wisdom is that two to four Europeans add a level of skill to any club, but that five or more reach the point of dimi-nishing returns.Then again, all these points might be moot if Dan Maloney and Pavelich had not been injured. Both are more than skilled players, and are feeders for other Rangers who are currently struggling. Center Mike Allison is gritty and effective when Maloney is in there. Without him, Allison looks slow and lost. Reijo Ruotsalainen, a dynamic weapon, meanders aimlessly without Pavelich.There have been other factors in the slow start. Pierre Larouche has been getting his points, but has not been the force of last season. Is he following his career form of one good season each place he&rsquo;s been? Time will tell.James Patrick, probably the best young defensive prospect in the league, was eye-opening in the playoffs last year. Now, he is feeling his way, like a lot of rookies. Mike Rogers has his ups and downs. Recent No. 1 picks such as Dave Gagner and Chris Kontos can play in this league, but will they develop into key players?Steve Patrick, a former No. 1 pick but an extra winger in Buffalo, will, along with Osborne, give Brooks some size on the wings.And maybe all it will take is time, better health, or another playoff against the Flyers to bring out the best in the Rangers again.Brooks, whose family is back in Minneapolis, probably wants out. But he doesn&rsquo;t want to go out embarrassed. That the Rangers will play better is a given. How much better remains the question. &#9632;

f0016-02

How Much Can Rangers Really Turn It Around

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY&mdash;Time for trivia!As November turned into December, which Calgary Flames&rsquo; player led the team in goal scoring?Was it: a) Kent Nilsson, a semipermanent resident of the top 10; b) Carey Wilson, the early favorite for Rookie-of-the-Year honors; c) Eddy Beers, last season&rsquo;s leader in that department; d) Lanny McDonald, the player with more than 400 NHL goals or e) none of the above.The correct answer is e) none of the above.Almost one-third of the way through the regular season, the Flames&rsquo; leading goal scorer was sophomore right winger Colin Patterson. That&rsquo;s right, Colin Patterson, a 24-year-old free agent who managed to surpass his scoring total of last season&mdash;13 goals&mdash;in 24 games.Unbelievable? Almost, before the start of the season, all of Patterson&rsquo;s old buddies from Toronto called him for scouting reports on the players in the National Hockey League. They were preparing for their hockey pools. Did any of his friends choose Patterson?&ldquo;Not one,&rdquo; said the personable Patterson. &ldquo;Of course, I don&rsquo;t blame them. I don&rsquo;t think I would have picked me either.&rdquo;Patterson&rsquo;s emergence as a bonafide scorer is one of the reasons for the Flames&rsquo; effective play this season. A year ago, he failed to make the team in training camp and was sent to the Canadian Olympic team for a tryout. He didn&rsquo;t make the Olympic team either and eventually was sent to the minors.Now, Olympic coach Dave King figures he made a mistake and Flames&rsquo; coach Bob Johnson does nothing but rave about the strides that Patterson has made this season.&ldquo;What ay ear he&rsquo;s having,&rdquo; said Johnson. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always been a good steady hockey player, but now he&rsquo;s becoming more. Hey, this kid&rsquo;s getting better too. He hasn&rsquo;t levelled off.&ldquo;Here&rsquo;s a guy who was never drafted, never dreamt of playing in the NHL,&rdquo; added Badger Bob. &ldquo;And not only is he playing in the league, he&rsquo;s playing well.&rdquo;All of this production occurred despite the fact that a problem wrist kept Patterson off the scoresheet for five consecutive games. Patterson received a slash on the arm from Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; defenseman Randy Carlyle in a Nov. 16 meeting between the two teams.Originally, the Flames feared Patterson&rsquo;s wrist might be broken, but X-rays later showed it was only tendonitis. Patterson was fitted with a fibreglass cast and didn&rsquo;t miss a game. However, his effectiveness diminished because he could not properly shoot the puck. The chances were there; he just couldn&rsquo;t convert.The mini-slump dropped Patterson out of the top 10, but that did not appear to bother him.&ldquo;The funny thing is I had the chances to stay there too,&rdquo; he said philosophically. &ldquo;I guess I&rsquo;m a little surprised with the way things have gone as far as the goals and production. I really don&rsquo;t know why. I&rsquo;ve been getting the right bounces, and a lot of my goals haven&rsquo;t been pretty but at least they&rsquo;re going in.&rdquo;Ironically, Patterson made it to the NHL as a defensive specialist. He received his chance when an eye injury to Jamie Hislop created an opening on the roster. Hislop never properly regained his vision and Patterson never let up.&ldquo;You know, in some ways, all the injuries he had were probably a blessing in disguise,&rdquo; said Johnson. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s had a chance to work on the power play and to kill penalties.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a smart player. You wait, he&rsquo;ll score 30.&rdquo;IN BRIEF&mdash;With Lanny McDonald and Mike Eaves back from stomach and shoulder injuries, respectively, the Flames returned rookie winger Yves Courteau to Moncton of the AHL. McDonald scored in his first game in six weeks, an 8-4 decision over Minnesota North Stars. To the relief of everyone in the organization, he pronounced himself fit and healthy following two weekend matches in the first week of December. &#9632;

Even Patterson Can’t Believe It’s For Real

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;The impact Randy Carlyle has had on the Winnipeg Jets is immense.Among those who can draw comparisons, the effect of his presence on the team would seem to sit somewhere between Bobby Hull and Serge Savard.At 28, Carlyle is five years younger than Hull was when he shocked the hockey world by jumping to the Jets of the World Hockey Association in 1972, after 15 seasons in the National Hockey League with the Chicago Black Hawks.Savard, on the other hand, was seven years older than Carlyle, when he was signed by the Jets after his selection in the 1981 waiver draft.Hull&rsquo;s charms and talents were totally unique as hockey players go, while Carlyle may be the best defenseman who has ever played for the Jets.&ldquo;His greatest contribution to this team goes unseen by most people, and that&rsquo;s his leadership,&rdquo; said Bryan Hayward, one of the Jets&rsquo; goalies. &ldquo;He&rsquo;saguy who motivates others. He is not a bit afraid to stand up and say what&rsquo;s on his mind. He makes dam sure we&rsquo;re ready to play. We&rsquo;ve missed that kind of person in the past.&rdquo;Carlyle is known by two nicknames&mdash;Kitty, after the actress, Kitty Carlyle, on the television series Gunsmoke and, more, recently, Boss Hog, after the cigar-toting mayor in the series, The Dukes of Hazzard.He has three goals and 14 assists and a plus-seven after 24 games, but the statistic that pleased him most was the team&rsquo;s record&mdash;12-9-3.&ldquo;All I am trying to do is help any way 1 possibly can, solidifying the defense and assisting on the power play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Things have gone well for my partner and me. Robert Picard has been a bonus for me. He&rsquo;s been there whenever I made a mistake. The whole team is acting the same way.&rdquo;Carlyle looked worn and unhappy as he reported to the Jets the day after he was traded by Pittsburgh last March. He hadn&rsquo;t played for weeks, his weight was up, he suffered from a knee injury, and his contract was expiring.Now, he is 23 pounds lighter, playing 20 minutes every game, his knees are healthy, his status is solidified on the team, and he has a new contract.&ldquo;Giving up a first-round draft choice for him was fair, I thought,&rdquo; said assistant coach Bill Sutherland. &ldquo;But giving up a player (Moe Mantha), too, I thought was a little steep. But I&rsquo;m changing my mind. If he continues to play like this, it&rsquo;ll be the best deal this team has ever made.&rdquo;Left winger Doug Smail said Carlyle&rsquo;s leadership has been contagious.&ldquo;This is my fifth year with the team,&rdquo; said Smail. &ldquo;We started growing up as a hockey club when Serge Savard joined us. He helped us mature. But Randy has an air about him that creates an atmosphere of confidence that spread from the dressing room to the ice.&rdquo;Rick Bowness, the Jets&rsquo; other assistant coach, considers Carlyle a complete player.&ldquo;If there is any trouble in our zone, he&rsquo;ll be there,&rdquo; said Bowness. &ldquo;When his defense partner is going for the puck, he&rsquo;ll run interference for him. He puts himself in the open for a pass and anticipates better than most. He&rsquo;s making that great contribution to this team.&rdquo;Winnipeg has never sent more than one player to the NHL&rsquo;s mid-season AllStar game, this year slated for the Saddledome in Calgary on Feb. 12.This would seem to be the year. Team captain Dale Hawerchuk and Carlyle are bonafide choices. Picard would merit consideration, too.But, can Carlyle expect much recognition playing in one of the NHL&rsquo;s smallest markets?&ldquo;Personally, I don&rsquo;t think he can,&rdquo; said Sutherland. &ldquo;Defensive specialists are always overlooked.&rdquo;Hayward disagrees.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s starting to get more recognition now than he ever did playing in Pittsburgh,&rdquo; said Hayward.BENCH BITS&mdash;Thinking they had finally beaten Reggie Lemelin after nine unsuccessful tries, the Jets learned to their dismay that the losing goaltender in a 8-6 victory over the Calgary Flames was actually Don Edwards. The Jets were leading 6-3 when Lemelin left the game. The winning goal was given up by Ed wards&hellip;Dale Hawerchuk continues to hold a hot hand. He had six goals and eight assists in a six-game span&hellip;After their first 12 road games, the Jets were 6-3-3. &#9632;

Carlyle Draws Lofty Comparisons

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011034/5352102-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Sabres&rsquo; big trade with New York coincided with Jim Schoenfeld&rsquo;s decision to abandon coaching and return to playing defense.</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;If the Buffalo Sabres need some inspiration to get them going again, they will certainly get it with the addition of veteran defensemen Dave Maloney and Jim Schoenfeld.In a move made because of a combination of injuries and an eight-game winless streak, Sabre general manager-coach Scott Bowman traded right winger Steve Patrick and defenseman Jim Wiemer to the New York Rangers for Dave Maloney and minor-league defenseman Chris Renaud.In addition, Bowman surprised everyone by bringing Schoenfeld up from his coaching position with the Rochester Americans (the Sabres&rsquo; minor-league team) and activating him again as a player.The move couldn&rsquo;t have come at a better time. The Sabres were up to their crossed swords and buffalo with injuries.Left winger-defenseman Lindy Ruff is sidelined approximately eight weeks following shoulder surgery; right winger Mike Foligno has a bruised shoulder; defenseman Phil Housley has a bruised shoulder; center Dave Andreychuk suffered a knee injury and defenseman Mike Ramsey has a cut on the back of his leg.To top everything, team captain and center Gil Perreault broke a knuckle in his hand and will be out of action indefinitely.With no other recourse at the time, Bowman dipped into the farm team and brought up centers Claude Verret and Gates Orlando, right wingers Mike Moller and Normand Lacombe, and defenseman Timo Jutila.Following that came the addition of Maloney and Schoenfeld.&ldquo;We were looking stability,&rdquo; said Bowman of the veteran additions. &ldquo;We were looking for experienced defensemen. He (Maloney) was their captain at one time. It was a situation where you take a look at a player.&ldquo;I think his pride was hurt in New York. I think he&rsquo;ll bounce back here.&ldquo;We (Schoenfeld) talked during the summer. He wanted to come back. He asked if we wanted his services on the team. We didn&rsquo;t at the time.&ldquo;But I asked him if he would keep his mind open about it if we ran into trouble.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t consider him until recently.&rdquo;Bowman also assessed what both players could mean to the team, both in the present and the future.&ldquo;Both will add some stability to the team,&rdquo; said Bowman. &ldquo;Both have similar styles, not on the ice, but in other ways. Both are team oriented.&ldquo;They could be awfully good players in the playoffs.&rdquo;What Bowman is referring to is that both Maloney, 28, and Schoenfeld, 32, will add a lot of heart and soul to a team that right now can use a little of both. Both are proven team leaders.And most importantly, both are proven veterans, something that the Sabres don&rsquo;t have much of, considering that the majority of the players on the team are under the age of 25.Maloney feels that he can make a contribution to the Sabres and their young team.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really glad to be coming to a team like Buffalo, which I feel has a shot at winning the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; said Maloney. &ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t know that much about the team right now, other than the fact that they have had a little losing streak and have had some injuries.&ldquo;But I do know that they have some good, young talent on the team. I think they&rsquo;re just struggling right now.&ldquo;I could have certainly been traded to a lot worse situation. Their situation isn&rsquo;t that bad.&ldquo;I have said I wanted to play on a Stanley Cup team before I retire. I hope this is the team.&rdquo;SABRE POINTS&mdash;While six players remain on the injured list, a seventh, John Tucker, has resumed skating with the club after recovering from a broken bone in his ankle. When he will play again was not known&hellip;Chris Renaud will join his brother, Mark, in Rochester to play for the Amerks. &#9632;

f0018-01

Sabres Find Leadership They’re Missing…

<div class="byline">Steve Simmons</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02781/5352133-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="402" height="438"></div>THE RETIREMENT CAME, and with it followed the appropriate tributes. Guy Lafleur had touched so many in the hockey world, with his style, his grace, his ability, but he touched no one closer or more deeply than a young boy from Calgary named Cory Gumsey.This story began on a sad January day in the winter of 1980. Gumsey, nine years old at the time, was walking home from Victoria School, much like he did every other day. He was grabbed, then stabbed&mdash;several times, in fact&mdash;the victim of an awful assault.In serious condition in hospital, Cory was obviously upset, about his condition and oddly about a hockey sweater that had been destroyed.Boys have a way of attaching a certain worth to such sweaters. This was an important sweater. It was a Montreal Canadien sweater, with the No. 10 on the back.A reporter named Bob Beaty, who then worked for the old Albertan and now has his desk opposite mine at the Calgary Herald, was aware of the assault and phoned the Canadiens&rsquo; public relations department and informed them of Cory&rsquo;s troubles. Not only did the Canadiens&rsquo; send a new sweater, but Lafleur himself phoned the boy in hospital.At the time, Cory&rsquo;s parents attributed the speed of his recovery to the knowledge that Lafleur was about to phone.But that phone call was just the beginning of a relationship that developed bewteen Lafleur and Cory.On the phone, in Babe Ruth fashion, Lafleur promised to score a goal for Cory in a televised game between Toronto and Montreal. He did. The puck was mounted on a plaque and presented to him. A child had his greatest treasure. Later, Lafleur scored again for Cory.Because of the efforts of so many, Cory was flown to Montreal and treated as a guest of the Canadiens at a Saturday night game between the Habs and Canucks. On that night, with Cory sitting in the VIP seats behind the Canadiens&rsquo; bench, Lafleur blasted a slap shot past Glen Hanlon, then sighed.&ldquo;I was nervous,&rdquo; Lafleur told reporters afterwards, &ldquo;afraid I might not get it.&ldquo;I guess it was the only thing on my mind when the game started.&ldquo;We do a lot of work in children&rsquo;s hospitals. I was lucky enough to score a goal one night for (scout) Doug Robinson&rsquo;s boy. He was in a Toronto hospital. He had cancer. It wasn&rsquo;t a happy ending. The boy died. He was only nine.&ldquo;This wasn&rsquo;t any easier. But it swung his thinking away from what happened to him. A kid like that goes through what he went through and he needs something to take his mind off it.&rdquo;That night, Cory posed with Lafleur for post-game pictures. Since that night, he&rsquo;s received an &lsquo;official&rsquo; Guy Lafleur jersey and the two have had lunch together on some of Lafleur&rsquo;s stops in Calgary.The memories of Lafleur are always personal. Some will remember his skating up ice, with his hair blowing in the breeze. Some will remember the Stanley Cups, the Dionne comparisons, the passes that seemed uncanny, the brief time in the Canada Cup of 1981 when he played on a super line with Gretzky and Perreault. There are so many visions of Lafleur, but one stands out.It was on a television screen, he was bent over picking up a puck, then the camera panned to a nine-year-old boy in a Canadiens&rsquo; jersey whose smile hid any pain he might have felt.Much has changed in the five years since Cory first visited Lafleur: Wayne Gretzky became the greatest; the Flames moved from Atlanta to Calgary; Lafleur went through troubled times; so have the Gumseys.The tributes to Guy Lafleur began to pour in on a Monday afternoon. And each included the statistic: 518 goals scored.Two of those goals will never be forgotten by a boy named Cory Gumsey. Those goals were for him.Of Guy Lafleur, you remember the good times, not the end. And not the beginning.He had such an odd career. Three seasons of finding his touch. Then six seasons of brilliance, where he was the game&rsquo;s greatest player. He looked good, but didn&rsquo;t produce.It was almost three careers in one: development; then brilliance; then he aged, before his time.Watching Lafleur in his final season was not sad, like watching many players age. It was puzzling. He looked like Lafleur. He skated like Lafleur. He did everything like Lafleur, but explode.Still, there was not one more magical to watch. Wayne Gretzky, at his greatest, will never have such flare. &#9632;

f0018-02

Lafleur And Calgary Boy: Hockey’s Babe Ruth Story

<div class="byline">BY RICH FRIEDMAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;It had been in the wind for weeks for the New York Rangers as they struggled to a 2-8-2 record in their last 12 games. But for 28-year-old defenseman Dave Maloney, the Dec. 6 trade which sent him to Buffalo just 12 days short of the 10th anniversary of his first game as as Ranger had been in the wind for years.And while that deal united two sets of brothers and split up a third, it also separated two men who had become friends in difficult circumstances, a rookie defenseman and a veteran who took him under his wing despite the fact that the younger man&rsquo;s presence was taking away the older man&rsquo;s job.The brothers who joined their siblings were Chris Renaud&mdash;also included in the Ranger end of the swap&mdash;whose brother, Mark, is with Buffalo&rsquo;s farm team in Rochester, and right winger Steve Patrick, who joins younger brother, James. Defenseman-left winger Jim Wiemer was also dealt by the Sabres.The brothers who were split up, of course, were Dave and Don Maloney, the latter who was in Florida recuperating after suffering a broken leg and ankle.But for James Patrick, who joined the Rangers late last season from the Canadian Olympic Team, the trade was emotionally upsetting because Dave Maloney had been more helpful to him than almost any other Ranger, inviting him to his Connecticut home, making him feel welcome in an alien environment&mdash;all the more incredible when you consider that his arrival was among the reasons that Maloney&rsquo;s trade was inevitable.When Maloney was informed of the trade by Ranger general manager Craig Patrick, he immediately asked where. The answer was among the best alternatives and least disruptive locations he could have hoped for, considering that his wife&rsquo;s family is from Connecticut and that they are raising a son, Dave Jr., who is now two-years-old. The fact the Sabres are a contending team also lessened the blow.&ldquo;The change for me is the best thing at this time,&rdquo; Maloney admitted, composed at that moment but breaking down and crying at times that day as the emotion of the event hit him.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m an emotional guy, I&rsquo;m upset and I&rsquo;m frustrated,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;ll go with an open mind and I hope I can help. Years down the road this will take a more rational evolution. Tomorrow, I have to be there and practise. Things go on.&ldquo;Really, I&rsquo;ve only wom one uniform the last 15 years of my life,&rdquo; said Maloney, who played his junior hockey for his hometown Kitchener Rangers and had his first training camp with the New York Rangers in Kitchener when they still spent pre-seasons there. At 18, he was the youngest Ranger ever to play in the NHL, and at 22 he was the team&rsquo;s yougest captain.For the past several summers he has worked for a Wall Street brokerage house&mdash;as well as operating a suburban hockey school with Don&mdash;and he and his family will continue to make New York their home.&ldquo;I have to look at the positive points, and there are plusses more than minuses,&rdquo; Maloney said, adding, &ldquo;watch out for those pesky Sabres!&rdquo;Maloney had broken down and cried moments after Ken Morrow&rsquo;s overtime goal had eliminated the Rangers in last spring&rsquo;s memorable playoff confrontation with the Islanders. A television reporter in that funereal Nassau Coliseum dressing room asked Maloney if he had just played his last game as a Ranger, and sitting just a few feet away was James Patrick. That was a tough moment for the young rookie too, and the day of the trade was equally hard for him.&ldquo;I hate to say it, but I feel worse more than good,&rdquo; said Patrick just a few hours after the team was told the news. He was obviously broken up, and spoke hesitantly and in barely a murmur.&ldquo;I love both those guys,&rdquo; he said of his older brother Steve and his friend Dave Maloney. &ldquo;I feel in the middle. I&rsquo;ve never seen a guy who had the Ranger emblem on his heart more that Dave Maloney. I&rsquo;m disappointed and disguste-d&hellip;I&rsquo;ve never been on a team where a trade was involved. I&rsquo;ve got to get used to it.&rdquo;Asked if the trade would help the team, Patrick replied: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m definitely in a state of shock&hellip;I can&rsquo;t think about what I&rsquo;m gonna do, just about what&rsquo;s happened.&rdquo;He and his brother have not played together since James was 10. He is now 21 and Steve will be 24 in February. But the two are close, and they spent the summer together in Winnipeg before James left for the Canada Cup.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d cheer for him more than me,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always wanted him to have success; it comes easier for me. I hope he plays well. I know he&rsquo;ll work hard, but here, I&rsquo;m thinking about what happened with Dave.&rdquo;The addition of Steve Patrick gives the Rangers a 6-foot-4, 200 pound forward, but they need more than that.Earlier in the week, Dave Maloney had spoken out on the lack of chemistry on the team, and the fact that the players&mdash;spread out geographically in the metropolitan area and of such diverse backgrounds&mdash;spend relatively little time together off the ice. Those sentiments, though, were unlikely to have accelerated his departure, which really was a foregone conclusion considering his lack of ice time.Maloney played little in his last game as a Ranger&mdash;a 4-4 tie with the Calgary Flames on Dec. 5, and in the scoreless overtime coach Herb Brooks went with four defensemen&mdash;captain Barry Beck, Reijo Ruotsalainen, Tom Laidlaw and, fittingly enough, James Patrick.&ldquo;He stood at the end of the bench in front of Glen Hanlon,&rdquo; said one observor of Dave Maloney, &ldquo;he never sat down, and he never stopped shouting. That is how I will remember Dave Maloney.&rdquo; &#9632;

…While Rangers Add Badly-Needed Brawn

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;When the Quebec Nordiques announced their Player-of-the-Month award for November, the winner was just as surprised as most of the players, media reps and general public assembled for the occasion. The winner was not the team&rsquo;s leading scorer, Michel Goulet, but rather defenseman Randy Moller, who had one goal and 11 assists in his first 25 games this season.&ldquo;I just played my regular style, and I didn&rsquo;t think that I had stood out that much in November,&rdquo; said Moller after receiving the award. &ldquo;I know that as a team we play a lot better in November than in October, but I was still very surprised when they annoucned I was the winner. 1 would like to thank my teammates and those who voted for me.&rdquo;Moller even managed to say a few words in French while accepting his honor, surprising and impressing many in the audience, all French except for his fellow teammates.While the Nords are faltering in the Adams Division, Moller believes there&rsquo;s still a long season ahead and the first-place Montreal Canadiens are not out of reach.&ldquo;If we can beat Montreal in our two games against them in late December, it will be a whole new race,&rdquo; Moller said.The fact that Moller has started speaking French in public appearances shows just how much he has adapted to playing in Quebec. He has been a leader for the team this season behind the blue line and, at 21, he has also greatly impressed assistant coach Guy Lapointe with his poise.&ldquo;I think all he needs is a little more confidence and he will really stand out,&rdquo; said Lapointe. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like comparisons, but he reminds me of a young Larry Robinson when I watch him play. All he needs is a little more time because he already has the ability.&rdquo;Moller continues to play his best hockey when teamed with rookie Bruce Bell.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big responsibility playing with someone so young,&rdquo; said Moller recently, obviously forgetting that he is only two years older than Bell, although he has two full seasons of National Hockey League experience under his belt. &ldquo;Bruce has lots of talent, and that makes it easier for me. He is going to be a great player in a few years.&rdquo;The Nordiques rebounded well recently after being bombed 9-2 by Washington. Quebec coasted to an 8-4 triumph over the Whalers and then fought Boston to a 3-3 draw. The win over the Whalers saw Marian Stastny make an impressive return after being sidelined two weeks with an injury. The Stastny brothers contributed 13 points, including three goals and two assists for Marian.As a defenseman, Moller said he can appreciate the work of the Stastnys on offense.&ldquo;We know we need them to be playing well if we want to win consistently,&rdquo; Moller said. &ldquo;Marian has been working hard in practices all year, and it was great to see him explode against Hartford. When the three brothers are relaxed and happy they play better, and that can only help us.&rdquo;The fine play of Moller has taken some of the pressure off teammate Mario Marois. The Nordiques&rsquo; captain and leader on defense last season came under heavy criticism from general manager Maurice Filion during a radio interview on the station which broadcasts all Quebec games.&ldquo;The word got around that he had been mentioned in trade talks, and that is a fact,&rdquo; said Filion. &ldquo;He is a much better player than he has demonstrated so far this season, and I just wish the real Mario Marois would show himself. He is a great competitor and he has played well for us, but he must be aggressive to be effective. We have told him this often in meetings.&rdquo;The Nordiques are anxious for Marois to return to the peak form that earned him an invitation to the Team Canada tryouts last summer.&ldquo;Nothing seems to be working for him,&rdquo; added Filion. &ldquo;That is why his name came up in talks. We want a greater effort on his part, and we think he can do better.&rdquo;It is rare a GM uses a public forum to get a message through to his players, but it obviously had an effect on Marois.&ldquo;I certainly don&rsquo;t like the idea of changing teams again,&rdquo; said Marois, who has played for a few teams in his pro career.The play of Moller and Bell has made the Quebec management realize that they can demand more from the veterans. Gord Donnelly was recalled from Fredericton to add some of the aggresiveness he has shown in the American League. Donnelly said he will not let up after a few games as he did last year when he lost his regular spot on the team. No one is getting extra ice time in Quebec based on last year&rsquo;s performances, especially not on defense. &#9632;

Nords’ Honor Catches Moller By Surprise

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01823/5352188-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="556" height="1020"><figcaption class="caption-body">Charlie Simmer says the players are sticking together despite the bad times.</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;Charlie Simmer shrugged at the question.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve just gotta keep our spirits up and play the same way we&rsquo;ve been playing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been playing well outside of the scoring aspects. We&rsquo;ve been good defensively. Pete&rsquo;s come up big in the nets. We&rsquo;re sticking together.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing good, hard hockey and one of these nights the puck bounces off four players and goes in the net and we&rsquo;re out of it. Either a good goal will get you out of it or a fluky one. If we stick together and keep shooting, the puck&rsquo;s going to go in for us.&rdquo;Those brave words were the most hopeful words heard around Boston Garden after the Bruins dropped a 3-1 decision to Montreal on Dec. 6 to continue one of their worst slumps in recent years and fall 11 points behind the surprising Montreal Canadiens in the Adams Division race.In their last dozen games, the Bruins had won two, lost seven and tied three&mdash;seven points out of a possible 24. The last time they did that was in 1980-81, Gerry Cheevers&rsquo; first season as coach. Before that you have to go back to 1966-67, when they were 2-9-1 in the last 12 games of the season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s frustrating,&rdquo; said Pete Peeters, who was the victim in the Bruins&rsquo; goal. &ldquo;I look down at the other end and 1 see that the opportunities are there for us to put it in the net. But I don&rsquo;t know what it is that we just can&rsquo;t seem to scrape up enough goals to win.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re working hard and working hard and then all of a sudden bingo! bango! it&rsquo;s in the net&mdash;our net. We&rsquo;re working hard and we&rsquo;re playing well, but we might have a little letup or lose the puck in the comer and they two-on-one us in front of the net. It&rsquo;s frustrating.&rdquo;It was more frightening than frustrating at 18:53 of the third period when Peeters went down after taking a shot off the stick of Larry Robinson. He was the only experienced goalie available in the whole Bruins&rsquo; system at the time.&ldquo;I got down close to the ice because I knew it was going to be a rocket,&rdquo; said Peeters, soaking the index finger of his left hand in a cup of ice. There was a five stitch cut in the middle of his forehead.&ldquo;It was coming right for my head. My reaction was to try to catch it but I couldn&rsquo;t turn my hand over fast enough and it just went off the finger and then hit me in the head. It ripped the fingernail back a bit.&rdquo;Don Sylvestri, just up from Indianapolis of the International League, played the last minute and seven seconds and had one save in his first appearance in an NHL net.Sylvestri was filling in for backup goalie Doug Keans, who was struck in the groin area by a Barry Pederson shot during a practice and underwent surgery Dec. 6 at Massachusetts General Hospital for testicle damage. He&rsquo;ll be out from four to six weeks.The Montreal game was the third of four contests in what Cheevers called &ldquo;the most critical week I&rsquo;ve seen&hellip;the toughest I can ever remember.&rdquo;The Bruins were at Quebec on Monday, at Buffalo on Wednesday and home for Montreal on Thursday and Buffalo again on Saturday afternoon, all key games against Adams Division foes. They tied the first two and lost the third, two points out of a possible six. They scored seven goals, allowed nine. Hardly a championship pace. What&rsquo;s the answer?&ldquo;First of all,&rdquo; said Cheevers, &ldquo;the answer isn&rsquo;t to quit working. If you&rsquo;re not achieving what you want to achieve with this effort, you&rsquo;re not going to achieve it with less effort. We just gotta keep plugging away. We&rsquo;re getting the opportunities but the puck is not going in.&rdquo;One that did go in, thus providing the high point of an otherwise sullen week, was a rare goal by defenseman Mike Milbury that came with 20 seconds left in the game and tied Buffalo 3-3. It was Milbury&rsquo;s first goal of the season, his third in two years and the 39th in his nine-year NHL career.It was a typical Milbury goal, which means it wasn&rsquo;t pretty, or it wasn&rsquo;t an oil painting, as Cheevers is wont to say. In fact, Milbury is hardly ever on the ice in the last minute of play with the Bruins trailing by a goal.As it happened, Mike O&rsquo;Connell stumbled off the ice, exhausted. Milbury jumped on, put his head down and headed for the Buffalo net. Tom Fergus shot from far out, Rick Middleton tipped it off Sabre goalie Tom Barrasso and Milbury batted it in from mid-air. &#9632;

f0020-01

Bruins Can’t Shake Awful Slump

<div class="byline">BY RON COBB</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01612/5352243-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The resurgence of the Blues can partially be attributed to improved scoring, with Alain Lemieux contributing a hat trick.</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;When the St. Louis Blues lost 7-4 to the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Dec. 5, coach Jacques Demers watched the game on TV from his home in St. Louis. He was there on doctors&rsquo; orders because of a bad case of the flu.Seeing the Blues give up seven goals to a team that hadn&rsquo;t won in nine games couldn&rsquo;t have made Demers feel any better. For three weeks, his club had been priding itself on defense.Over their previous eight games, the Blues were 6-1-1 with a goals-against average of 2.75. Included in those eight games was a 7-6 loss in a shootout at Edmonton.But all good things apparently must come to an end. Four goals and two assists by Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Mike Bullard put the Blues back in their place.&ldquo;It was brutal,&rdquo; said goaltender Mike Liut. &ldquo;Seven goals to Pittsburgh. Bullard? Bullard was lucky. In the second period, I have a defenseman (Gilbert Delorme) sitting on my face when the guy has the puck in the slot. Then in the third period, I make the save and the puck bounces four feet in front of me, and Bullard comes out of nowhere and puts it in. I don&rsquo;t know where he came from.&rdquo;With Demers out of action and assistant coach Barclay Plager in St. Louis undergoing treatment for a tumor, Bob Plager moved up from interim assistant coach to acting head coach. His coaching debut wasn&rsquo;t the kind that dreams are made of.&ldquo;If we had won, I&rsquo;d have taken credit for it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So when we lose, I guess I have to take the blame. I&rsquo;ve got a long way to go to catch Scotty Bowman. But the way things are going for Scotty, I may catch him anyhow.&rdquo;A 2-2 tie with Winnipeg the night before the Pittsburgh game had moved the Blues into a tie with Chicago for first place in the Norris Division, with the Blues having two games in hand.The highlight of the Blues&rsquo; surge was a sweep over Detroit in back-to-back games on Nov. 30 and Dec. I. After a 5-3 victory in Detroit which gave the Blues a 4-1 road trip, they returned home and blasted the Red Wings 10-5. In the space of two days, the Blues had Susie Mathieu, their public relations director, busily thumbing through the record room.&bull; The 4-1 road trip was the most successful in Blues&rsquo; history, matched only by the eight points the club earned on a six-game trip in 1968.&bull; Their six goals in the first period against Detroit set a club record for most goals in a period.&bull; Their 10 goals in that same game equalled the Blues&rsquo; record, which had been set in 1982 in a 10-6 victory over Winnipeg.&bull; The week was capped fittingly when center Bernie Federko was named the NHL&rsquo;s Player of the Week. In three games, Federko contributed two goals and seven assists.&ldquo;We hit some teams at the right time,&rdquo; said Ron Caron, the director of hockey operations, noting that the Blues had beaten the napless Canucks twice in eight days, and the Flames while they were without several key players. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the luck of the draw, and we took advantage of it.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve developed a better killer instinct. The guys believe in themselves more than last year. I&rsquo;m not talking about Federko, (Brian) Sutter and (Joe) Mullen, but the rest of the team.&rdquo;The Blues have had hat tricks this season from such players as Dave Barr, Kevin LaVallee, Mark Reeds and Alain Lemieux. Doug Wickenheiser, who had seven goals in 45 games with the Blues last season, already had 10 by game No. 22.&ldquo;I think we have more depth than last year,&rdquo; Caron said. &ldquo;Last year, if they stopped our big line, we&rsquo;d have a tough time scratching for points.&rdquo;Their improved goal production noth-withstanding, the Blues know that they will sink without defense.&ldquo;What I always tell the guys is that the bottom line is goals-against, especially on the road,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;It would sure be nice to be in the top eight in the league, and that&rsquo;s where we are right now.&rdquo;BLUENOTES&mdash;Defenseman Rob Ramage leads the team with 62 shots, but is still looking for his first goal of the season&hellip;Left winger Perry Anderson missed three games because of a hand injury&hellip;Right winger Greg Paslawski missed four games because of a Charley horse. &#9632;

f0021-01

One-Game Lapse Mars Blues’ Impressive Stretch

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div>CHICAGO&mdash;Happiness is being in first place in the Norris Disivion and knowing you have six games left with the Toronto Maple Leafs.To the delight of 17,023 partisans in Chicago Stadium, the Black Hawks moved back into the penthouse suite, evicting pesky St. Louis for the second time within a week.They did it by outskating, outworking and outfighting the Maple Leafs, the weakest team east of Vancouver and west of the moon.The score was 7-2, and it was only close early in the first period before the hockey game interrupted the fighting.&bull; Denis Savard, with three goals and one assist, and Doug Wilson, with two goals and one assist, furnished the figurative punch.&bull; Literally speaking, Behn Wilson and Al Secord provided the punch.Big Behn fought with Bob McGill in the first period and had a rematch in the third.Secord wasn&rsquo;t choosy. He came to blows with Stewart Gavin early in the opening period, Gary Nylund at the outset of the final period and Jeff Brubaker later in the period.In the latter instance, Behn Wilson was pounding McGill at one end of the ice, while Secord was taking down Brubaker at the other.The game was never in doubt after Savard hit the Maple Leafs with a double-whammy within a 19-second span in the first period.He broke away from center ice after taking Doug Wilson&rsquo;s pass from behind the Chicago net to score the game&rsquo;s first goal. Then, he beat goalie Tim Bernhardt, converting a pass from Ed Olczyk from close quarters. Savard&rsquo;s third goal came on a power-play shot set up by Keith Brown in the third period.It was Savard&rsquo;s second hat trick this year and the third of his five-year National Hockey League career.&ldquo;Savard was flying,&rdquo; said Toronto coach Dan Maloney. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s just a great hockey player.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a hockey team designed for this building (which is smaller than 20 of the 21 NHL rinks). Except for those speedy centers, there&rsquo;s not much speed. But they have good, strong and aggressive people, and the defensemen pinch very well.&rdquo;Before meeting the Maple Leafs, the Hawks played 15 of 18 games on the road.Point wise, they have been no worse than tied for first in the division since Oct. 24, but percentage wise they lost the lead twice to the Blues in the week preceding the Toronto game.Despite their dominance against the Leafs, the Hawks didn&rsquo;t gloat.&ldquo;When you get down the way they are, frustration sets in and it&rsquo;s that much harder,&rdquo; said Secord, who contributed a goal and an assist in addition to his heavy hitting.&ldquo;I was frustrated myself. I had a six-game stretch with no goals and no assists.&ldquo;Tonight was a good example of what we have to do for the rest of the year to get back where we were two years ago&mdash;we have to take the body all night long. The way the schedule is for the rest of December and January and February we should be able to stay in first place.&rdquo;HAWK TALK&mdash;A perusal of the NHL history books reveals that the Hawks&rsquo; stretch of 15 of 18 games on the road was unusual but not unique. For example, Boston played 15 of 16 on the road in 1974 and Los Angeles played 15 of 17 in 1981-82. The 1973-74 Hawks lived out of their suitcases early in the season and again late in the year. They were away for 10 of 12 in October and November and for 12 of 16 in February and March. Still, they wound up with 105 points in a 78-game season to finish second behind Philadelphia in the West Division and went to the Stanley Cup semi-finals before being eliminated by the Bruins&hellip;Hawk goalie Murray Ban-nerman&rsquo;s 23-save triumph at the expense of Toronto gave him a lifetime record of 14-2-3 versus the Leafs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01712/5352274-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="588" height="1026"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Secord refused to ridicule Toronto because he has had some frustrations of his own.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

Hawks’ Happiness Shows In Standings

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02505/5352305-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg"></div>The Montreal Canadiens are experiencing great success this season and part of the credit should go to their speedy, little left winger Mats Naslund.The swift Swede, who is the first European to play for the Habs, scored seven goals and three assists in a four-game span as Montreal emerged with three victories.That effort, which also included two game-winning goals and a four-goal effort against Hartford, earned Naslund THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; Player-of-the-Week honors for the period ending Dec. 9. &#9632;

f0022-02

Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;Everyone has heard the Dino Ciccarelli story. When Ciccarelli was snatched away from junior hockey by the astute gamble of general manager Lou Nanne, he got so tired of the story that he tried to downplay it.In that one, Ciccarelli&rsquo;s explosive junior hockey scoring career was cut short by a fluke broken bone in his thigh. He fell in practice and crashed into the end boards. It couldn&rsquo;t be repaired without insertion of an 18-inch metal rod, the diameter of a quarter.Nanne took a chance on the kid with the magic scoring touch, and Ciccarelli played and scored in large quantities. In fact, in his first four years of pro hockey, he never once missed a single game because of injury.And so it is that in this season of frustration for the Minnesota North Stars, Ciccarelli has become the prime example of that frustration.Surgery to correct a hammertoe condition before this season meant breaking all his toes at the knuckles and inserting small metal pins to straighten them out&mdash;the price Ciccarelli paid for hockey players&rsquo; habit of wearing skates too small.He tried to play in exhibition games, and occasionally took his skate off to find he had to pour the blood out. Then he sprained an ankle, but wasn&rsquo;t about to let that cause him to miss the start of the season.When it was obvious he couldn&rsquo;t walk without limping on an ankle that was swollen the size of a tennis ball, he sat out a few games. He returned, and ran into a careless stick against New Jersey. The result was a scratch on his eye. Out again.He returned to the lineup about the time Glen Sonmor was inheriting the task of getting the team on a winning course from Bill Mahoney.Ciccarelli&rsquo;s third game back was Sonmor&rsquo;s second. It was in Toronto. Gary Nylund&rsquo;s hit caught Ciccarelli high and awkwardly on the shoulder. The blow damaged some ligaments in Ciccarelli&rsquo;s shoulder, and while the team continued its road trip, Ciccarelli went home and into a hospital bed.The Stars continued to struggle. They just couldn&rsquo;t seem to score goals. Several experiments had failed, as had several rumored trades. The only deal Nanne made was to send Brian Lawton, who had been totally ineffective, to Spring field of the American League.And Ciccarelli, the man who is certainly their best pure goal-scorer, had only played 11 of their first 25 games, with three goals and three assists.Ciccarelli returned when the Stars were playing at Edmonton. Good time to get a goal-scorer back. But it would have been nice if he could have stayed in the lineup more than three shifts.On the replay, it didn&rsquo;t look to be too severe. Ciccarelli was behind the net, the puck in the comer, and as he broke out toward the circle, trying for possession, defenseman Lee Fogolin gave him a twohanded chop.It didn&rsquo;t seem any worse than a dozen similar chops you see in an NHL game. About a foot-high back swing and a quick chop. Fogolin&rsquo;s stick, however, broke cleanly. So did Ciccarelli&rsquo;s right wrist.He will be out anytime from three weeks to two months, depending on which doctor you listen to, and how much pain he can stand when he returns.&ldquo;At first Doc Rose didn&rsquo;t think it was broken,&rdquo; Ciccarelli said. &ldquo;I knew it was.&rdquo;He also knew it was his right wrist, the bottom one on the stick, and that if he can return within a month, it will be tough to have the strength in that hand needed on a right-hander&rsquo;s shot.Incidentally, the Stars played well in that game but lost 6-3. That left them 8-12-6. One year ago, the Stars were 14-9-3, and had won their 26th game of the season when Ciccarelli scored the winner against Boston.Next day they were off to Winnipeg. They were outshot 19-4 in the first period and 40-17 for the game but lost only 4-2 because of Gilles Meloche&rsquo;s heroics in goal. That made the Stars 8-13-6, yet they talked of bad luck in losing that one.Amazingly, the game stood 2-2 when Tim Watters slashed Brian Bellows, who slashed back. Bellows was given a major for his slash, Watters got nothing. Robert Picard scored the game-winner on the major.It was Meloche&rsquo;s first loss in six games (4-1-1). Ciccarelli felt sorry for Meloche, and his teammates. But he was already back home, looking at a cast on his right arm and at least a month off. &#9632;

Another Injury Worsens Ciccarelli’s Season

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;It&rsquo;s been an up-and-down season for veteran Pittsburgh Penguin goaltender Michel Dion.After a 2-2 start, Dion&rsquo;s play tailed off and he left for Baltimore of the American Hockey with a 4.67 goals-against average and a 3-6 record.General manager Eddie Johnston said the move was made to help Dion &ldquo;get his confidence back. We think he needs to get some work.&rdquo;Of his demotion, Dion said: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to make some people happy in this town.&rdquo;But it didn&rsquo;t take long for the Penguins to recall Dion.Roberto Romano, who had a 4.59 goals-against average and a 6-11 record in 18 games with the Penguins last season, suffered a knee injury shortly after being recalled and the Penguins were forced to promote Dion sooner than they had wanted.To fill the void left in Baltimore, the Penguins traded defenseman Tom Thombury to Quebec for goalie Brian Ford.Penguin coach Bob Berry had alternated alternated Dion and Denis Herron for the first 13 games of the season. However, Dion didn&rsquo;t start again following a 7-6 loss in Vancouver in which he gave up a number of what Berry called &ldquo;soft&rdquo; goals.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had a rough time in this town the last two years,&rdquo; Dion said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to be able to play the way I can play in a steady way, not just play a great game and come back and play a poor one. (I&rsquo;d like) to play the way I&rsquo;ve played most of my career&mdash;steady.&rdquo;The 30-year-old Dion is in his sixth National Hockey League season and fourth with Pittsburg&mdash;he also played five seasons in the World Hockey Association&mdash;and while last season was tough, this season has been equally, if not more, straining.&ldquo;I thought I had a lot of mental strain after training camp,&rdquo; said Dion, who was divorced in the off-season. &ldquo;But I realized that maybe some of the decisions that I&rsquo;ve had to make in my life the last few months maybe are a little harder than I thought.&rdquo;Dion started for the Prince of Wales team in the All-Star game three years ago, and almost led Pittsburgh to an upset of the Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders in the preliminary round of the playoffs. However, the last two seasons his average swelled to 4.26 and 5.33, respectively.&ldquo;Management has been very kind-&hellip;the players have&hellip;the fans, media, certain people have been kind, certain people haven&rsquo;t. Those people know who they are,&rdquo; he said.PENGUIN TRACKS&mdash;Defensemen Greg Hotham and Marty McSorley, center Tom O&rsquo;Regan and left winger Jim Hamilton were all assigned to Baltimore. Hotham has missed all season with mononucleosis. O&rsquo;Regan suffered a knee injury in training camp. McSorley was converted to right wing during training camp but will play defense in Baltimore&hellip;After a 6-3 loss to Chicago, coach Bob Berry was asked what he would do considering it was the team&rsquo;s seventh straight game (0-5-2) without a win. &ldquo;I wish I knew,&rdquo; Berry said. &ldquo;Maybe the Fort Pitt Bridge with whistle and hat.&rdquo; &#9632;

It’s Been Up And Down For Penguins’ Netminder

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;For nearly three months, Mike Kitchen bit his tongue and remained faithful to the organization that was phasing him out of the picture. All he got for his loyalty and eight seasons of steady albeit unspectacular defense was a one-way ticket to the American League and a sore tongue.After playing 13 games for the Mariners, Kitchen packed up his skates and returned home to Toronto on Dec. 5 feeling betrayed by the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; front office.&ldquo;I thought I would&rsquo;ve gotten better treatment,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;For playing eight years in that organization I thought 1 would&rsquo;ve had a chance to play myself off the team instead of having the decision made for me already before I even got to camp. That&rsquo;s the difficult part to accept.&rdquo;That opportunity was never presented to the 28-year-old defenseman, the organization&rsquo;s last remaining link to the old Kansas City Scouts (he was K.C.&rsquo;s second choice in the 1976 draft). After appearing in two pre-season games Kitchen never dressed for a regular season-contest under new coach Doug Carpenter. On Oct. 25, the Devils assigned him to Maine and he reported eight days later after giving the move some thought.&ldquo;When I did go to Maine I wanted to see if any other teams were interested,&rdquo; said Kitchen. &ldquo;But it just didn&rsquo;t seem to be working out the right way. My heart wasn&rsquo;t in the game down there. It wouldn&rsquo;t have been fair to the players down there or the coach. You know how competitive Tommie (McVie) is.&rdquo;Carpenter never gave a definitive reason for not giving Kitchen a chance to play, but general manager Max McNab explained his thinking when the demotion was made.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a matter of change for the sake of change,&rdquo; said McNab. &ldquo;We were a 40-point hockey team last year and there had to be a reason for it. Every good hockey team starts from the blue line. You have to get x number of shots on net and we&rsquo;re getting 11 to 12 shots on net from our point men now, which we weren&rsquo;t getting.&rdquo;Did Kitchen get a fair chance?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if anything of that nature is written in stone,&rdquo; McNab added. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if Kitch thought he really got a fair shake. But when you miss 40 games the year before, your game is not as sharp. We haven&rsquo;t been unhappy with our defensive alignment right now.&rdquo;The reference to last season&rsquo;s injuries (Kitchen missed 11 games with a hip pointer suffered on Jan. 15 and then had the tendon in his right middle finger severed by Aaron Broten&rsquo;s skate blade while sitting on the bench in Pittsburgh Feb. 11) angered the defenseman.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like Max&rsquo;s excuse,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Max&rsquo;s big reason was I missed half the season last year so how can I be sharp? That&rsquo;s a pretty poor excuse. A lot of guys are out part of a season and all summer and come back the next year. The injuries I had weren&rsquo;t career-ending injuries. They weren&rsquo;t from old age. They were real freak accidents. Physically, I felt great this year.&rdquo;Mentally, he hit rock bottom after his demotion.&ldquo;When he got off the plane he came walking down the corridor and he didn&rsquo;t look like Kitch,&rdquo; recalled McVie. &ldquo;That old nip and drive wasn&rsquo;t there. He was there in body but his heart wasn&rsquo;t in it.&ldquo;I had quite a lot of discussions with him,&rdquo; McVie added, &ldquo;but it was sort of a shocker. He came in just before we were leaving for Adirondack and said he was going home to think it out. He didn&rsquo;t think he was contributing to the team and he didn&rsquo;t want to be in the way.&rdquo;There were no feelers from other NHL clubs.&ldquo;Other GMs go with the idea that if he can&rsquo;t make New Jersey, he can&rsquo;t make our team,&rdquo; said Kitchen. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t agree with that line of thinking. I think it&rsquo;s harder to play on a team like New Jersey. It&rsquo;s not easy playing in an organization like that. You talk to any older players coming from other organizations and they say, &lsquo;Holy geez, how&rsquo;d you ever handle it?&rsquo; It is difficult. It&rsquo;s a tough situation to put players in.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d still love to play in the NHL. I have the attitude I can still play in the NHL. Maybe I&rsquo;m getting too old, 1 don&rsquo;t know. They seem to be phasing a lot of players out. I don&rsquo;t think 28 is old. It used to be that at 27, 28, 29 you were just getting into your prime. Because of the 18-year-old draft I&rsquo;m 10 years older than the youngest players coming into the league. By their standards, I guess I am getting old.&rdquo;Kitchen realized that playing at Maine was a dead end for him. His proposal to do some scounting for the Devils while helping to bring along the younger players was turned down.&ldquo;They gave me two exhibition games at Troy and Binghamton,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I never got a shot at Byrne (Meadowlands Arena). It was kind of like they wanted people to forget about me.&rdquo;After 474 games for the same organization, it won&rsquo;t be easy.HOT STUFF&mdash;Rich Chernomaz saw his brief recall end Nov. 27. Ligament and cartilage damage to his knee required surgery&hellip;Devil coach Doug Carpenter used Joe Cirella at right wing in two games before recalling Rocky Trottier from Maine&hellip;Carpenter criticized goalie Chico Resch after an overtime loss in Minnesota and 5-3 loss to Black Hawks Dec. 1. &ldquo;Maybe their guy (Murray Bannerman) outplayed our guy tonight.&rdquo; Resch promptly met with the coach to &ldquo;clear the air.&rdquo; &#9632;

Kitchen Quits Devils Feeling Betrayed

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01645/5352408-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">&ldquo;FINISH GETTING YOUR STUFF ON STANLEY, I FOUND SOME KIDS TO PLAY US!&rdquo;</figcaption></div>DETROIT&mdash;It&rsquo;s a scary thought. Where would the Detroit Red Wings be without the Toronto Maple Leafs?In a lot of trouble.But, thanks to those lovable, laughable Maple Leafs, the Wings survived some rocky patches to build a sevenpoint cushion over the last-place Leafs in the lovable, laughable Norris Division.The Wings hit rock bottom with a 10-5 loss in St. Louis&mdash;but even rock bottom doesn&rsquo;t mean the Norris Division cellar, not as long as the Leafs are around.The defeat, the second in two nights against the Blues, touched off a tirade by Wing general manager Jimmy Devel-lano.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very, very hurt with their performance,&rdquo; Devellano said.&ldquo;And I&rsquo;m very, very sorry for Mike amd Marian Hitch (Wing owners). They pay these players a helluva salary and don&rsquo;t deserve what they got.&rdquo;Devellano went so far as to use the word &ldquo;quit&rdquo; in his post-game explosion.The players didn&rsquo;t share that viewpoint.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to think anybody here is a quitter,&rdquo; Ron Duguay said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve not seen it in the past on this team. I don&rsquo;t like to think that&rsquo;s the case. We just didn&rsquo;t play well.&rdquo;Added Ivan Boldirev: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know&hellip;we just got down. We tried to come back. Nobody&rsquo;s got confidence right now. Any time they get the puck, it&rsquo;s like a hot potato.&rdquo;The Blues had a 5-0 lead before the game was 16 minutes old.&ldquo;We got down so fast,&rdquo; said defenseman Randy Ladouceur. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a case of quitting. We didn&rsquo;t get a lot of bounces while they got some goals that really killed us.&ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t sharp. We were down five goals before we knew what was going on.&rdquo;Said goaltender Greg Stefan: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it was a case of quitting. I don&rsquo;t think the guys are playing with a lot of confidence.&rdquo;It was at that point that the struggling Wings, by the grace of the NHL schedulemaker, were given relief. The Leafs showed up for a pair of back-to-back, home-and-home games on Dec. 4 and 5.For 40 minutes of the first game, however, there was no relief at all as the Leafs skated to a 6-2 lead.But the Wings, with John Ogrodnick scoring three goals in a five-goal third period, rallied for a 7-6 victory at home.But for two periods, it was a nightmare for the Wings, for Devellano and for coach Nick Polano, who had to endure choruses of &ldquo;Goodbye, Nick.&rdquo;&ldquo;It was the quietest I&rsquo;ve ever heard the dressing room after two periods,&rdquo; Ogrodnick said.&ldquo;It (the comeback) couldn&rsquo;t have happened at a better time. I got the third goal but Frank (Cemik) scored the big one (the Wings&rsquo; fourth). That&rsquo;s the one that got us going.&rdquo;Devellano admitted afterwards that had the Wings lost he would have had to make some changes.&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t have stood still,&rdquo; he said.The next night in Toronto, the Leafs skated to a 2-0 lead but that was a molehill compared to the mountain of a lead they had 24 hours earlier.The Wings knew they could wipe that out in no time&mdash;and they did. Darryl Sittler scored the winning goal after goals by Ivan Boldirev and John Ogrodnick had tied it.&ldquo;We needed it badly,&rdquo; defenseman John Barrett said of the doubleheader victory that did as much for the Wings mentally as it did for them in the standings.&ldquo;I was a little worried after the first period. We were a bit on the sleepy side again&hellip;but we did the things we have to do to win.&rdquo;So the Wings had their four-point sweep at the expense of the Leafs (who at that stage had won just once in 19 games) and a cushy seven-point lead.Seven points. That&rsquo;s about six weeks worth for the Leafs, so the Wings can enjoy the holidays.WING NOTES&mdash;Defenseman Larry Trader ripped up his left knee in a loss to St. Louis and underwent surgery.<h2>The Snowbirds</h2><h2>JOFA Entries</h2>You can submit a player for consideration for the JOFA Minor Player Showcase. Just enclose a photograph, along with all the pertinent information and mail to: JOFA SHOWCASE, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont. M3B 2R2. &#9632;

f0026-01

Wings Would Be In Trouble Without Leafs

Jimmy Compton is 10 and in his second year with the Greenwood (Nova Scotia) Atom Bombers. He has played all of his minor hockey in the Greenwood minor hockey system.He played with the novice all-stars for two years, winning the team MVP in his last year, before moving up to the atom Bombers last year. In his rookie season with the Bombers, Jimmy led the team in assists, was third in pointsand won the team&rsquo;s rookie-of-the-year award.This year, Jimmy is the captain and one of the leaders of his team. He is a big, strong righthanded shooting center who is very good on faceoffs and a fine playmaker. Jimmy also possesses a hard slap shot, and plays the right point on the power play. He also kills penalties. After eight games, he is tied for the team lead with eight goals and nine assists.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02450/5352439-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="508" height="608"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jimmy Compton</figcaption></div>Jimmy enjoys all sports, especially hockey and baseball, and does very well in school. Last year he won a sports award and citizenship award in school. Jimmy is a big Edmonton Oiler and Wayne Gretzky fan. &#9632;

f0026-02

JOFA

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03367/5352470-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="724" height="996"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Yzerman went straight from the provincial bantam tournament to the midget nationals.</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s always interesting to ask a star player who his hero was when he was growing up. In the case of Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; Steve Yzerman, the answer is Bryan Trottier of the New York Islanders.Ironically, Yzerman, who was chosen for Team Canada in the Canada Cup in September, would have been playing alongside his idol had Trottier not decided to exercise his native right and play for Team USA.Yzerman still talks fondly of his hero.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s still a thrill to play against him and watch him,&rdquo; Yzerman said.At the tender age of 19, Yzerman has leaped into the upper echelon of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s talent corps. In fact, he could very well be the idol of many future stars in the NHL. He has a bright future, and many are predicting greatness&mdash;if it isn&rsquo;t already apparent.He finished second in the rookie balloting to Buffalo&rsquo;s Tom Barrasso in 1983-84, but Red Wing owner Mike Hitch, aiming to capture the glory of yesteryear Detroit, rewarded his prize talent with a generous $25,000 bonus.This season, Yzerman has not been affected by the sophomore jinx and has been one of the few pleasant points in an otherwise disappointing time in Detroit.Jim Devellano, the Red Wing general manager, once said he prays to the heavens for Peteberough Petes&rsquo; coach Dick Todd, who guided Yzerman in his junior days.But Devellano may wish to thank a few other people, too. Yzerman, you see, just didn&rsquo;t become good in junior. He had a lot of help along the way, it&rsquo;s just that few people knew about it outside of the province of Ontario, and specifically Yzerman&rsquo;s home town of Nepean, near Ottawa.&ldquo;Every coach helped me out, taught me a lot of strategies, but I&rsquo;d have to say my father, Ron, had the most significance on my career,&rdquo; Yzerman said.Yzerman, who may not be the biggest player in the pros at 5-foot-11, 175 pounds, is one of the most gifted scorers. He plays on the Wings&rsquo; top line with Ron Duguay and John Ogrodnick, and that trio was a big hit last season in Detroit and around the league.One has to wonder if Yzerman was as successful in his minor hockey career as he has been in the pros, and the answer is yes.&ldquo;I was fortunate to play on a lot of good teams, a lot of first-place clubs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We had a lot of strong clubs, and a lot of the guys 1 played minor hockey with went on to junior.&rdquo;Yzerman had one weekend in minor hockey which he won&rsquo;t forget.&ldquo;I played minor hockey in Nepean, and our bantam team was going to the All-Ontario championships on the weekend,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The day that ended, our midget team was going to the Air Canada Cup. We finished third in the bantam championship and fifth in the midget. It was a thrill for me.&rdquo;Does the talented Yzerman have any tips for youngsters playing hockey?&ldquo;Go out and enjoy the game,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

f0026-03

Minor Hockey Flashback: Steve Yzerman

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Sitting at home, listening to his teammates lose to Winnipeg on the radio as he sweated out a 103-degree fever, wasn&rsquo;t exactly Doug Smith&rsquo;s idea of a good time.&ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s a long season, but I hate to miss even one game,&rdquo; said the 21-year-old Smith. &ldquo;But I was also worried about infecting the whole team.&rdquo;Two nights after recovering from his bout with intestinal flu, only his play was contagious. He scored two goals and an assist as the Los Angeles Kings set several club records with a 12-1 pounding of the Vancouver Canucks.Ten players enjoyed multiple-point evenings as the Kings broke team records for goals in a game (12), power-play goals in a game (six) and highest margin of victory (11).&ldquo;We played really well, but we&rsquo;ve lost games like that,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t make a habit of laughing or getting cocky.&rdquo;For the former No. 1 draft pick&mdash;Smith was selected second overall in 1981&mdash;it has been a year to smile about. He&rsquo;s playing regularly for the first time in his career and making the most of it.&ldquo;He played a hell of a game,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;Maybe we sould give the whole team the flu.&rdquo;Smith had asked to be traded early last season and immediately after it ended because he felt he was wasting his career.But Quinn, during training camp, rolled out the welcome mat and Smith has responded in a big way.He&rsquo;d shown flashes of raw talent before, but never like this. Skating with tremendous confidence in his first 21 games, Smith had nine goals and 17 points. His career highs are 16 and 36.&ldquo;I know people have been waiting three or four years for him, and he just might be at the point where he can stand up and say, &lsquo;Hey, I&rsquo;m going to be a good hockey player.&rsquo;&rdquo; Quinn said.&ldquo;I hope so, because we need that type of skill. When he&rsquo;s moving and jumping like that&hellip;boy, there are not many people who can control him. He has come a long way, even from training camp.&ldquo;You know as well as I that the organization was down on him. One of my feelings coming out was to give the kid a chance.&ldquo;I did some research, asked a lot of people about him, and 1 was convinced if we gave him the opportunity and a little help maybe he could be as good as he thinks he is.&rdquo;Smith, obviously, is as happy as ever.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe it, I just want to keep playing consistent,&rdquo; said Smith, who is centering a line with rookie Phil Sykes and recently-acquired veteran Steve Shutt. &ldquo;But Phil is always working and Steve is always flying. Having a veteran always helps a line.&ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m contributing. All lever wanted was to play. I want to be the best that I can be, skate a regular shift.&ldquo;He (Quinn) gave me the chance, and 1 sure want to play well for him. He&rsquo;s the type of guy you want to play for, and I think that&rsquo;s one reason why the team is playing so well.&rdquo;KING NOTEBOOK&mdash;Rookie goal-tender Darren Eliot suffered a strained right hamstring and his status was being listed as day-to-day. Mike Blake was called up from New Haven on an emergency basis to take his spot on the roster. Said Blake on the difference between the new regime and the old: &ldquo;They treat the guys in New Haven real well. In the past, no one saw you or cared. Now they watch you and they call you from time to time. I&rsquo;m happy about how things are going.&rdquo;&hellip;Bernie Nicholls extended his point-scoring streak to 20 games, one short of Dave Taylor&rsquo;s three-year-old club record, with three assists in the rout of Vancouver. &#9632;

Smith’s Scoring Fever Spreads To Mates

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;Hockey lost one of its finest ambassadors and most honest workers when Darcy Rota retired from the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 4.The 31-year-old, 11-year veteran of the National Hockey League has taken the advice of three doctors who said he would risk permanent damage to his neck if he were to play again.Rota was originally injured last February on a check by the Kings&rsquo; Jay Wells in front of the Los Angeles net. Rota rested the injury, then reinjured it in a fight. He returned again after another layoff and played in the post season, but was never 100 per cent healthy.&ldquo;Right from the time I was first hit, I had no peace,&rdquo; said Rota. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t sleep at night, and there was pain all down my arm. But I wanted to keep playing, so over the summer we decided to do the surgery (spinal fusion). I was in a hard collar which allowed no movement for five weeks, and then another three weeks in a soft collar. It was a miserable summer. In fact, it was good the Olympics were on because otherwise I would have gone crazy.&rdquo;After all the gear came off, Rota began the long road back to build himself up to playing form, which he did by midNovember. He had scheduled his return for Dec. 3 against the New York Islanders and had even invited Dr. Kurt van Petegham, his well-respected surgeon, to watch him play.But, during the workouts two weeks before his planned return he had the misfortune of going through Bill LaForge&rsquo;s now-infamous gauntlet drill. This had all the players lined up one step away from the boards and another player trying to get past them. Rota didn&rsquo;t feel he should duck the drill, but felt considerable pain after he went through it.&ldquo;Actually, I have no animosity towards Bill on the drill,&rdquo; Rota said. &ldquo;In fact, I&rsquo;m glad I found out then that I still was going to have discomfort when 1 got hit. It was better to be happening in practice then to have it hurt in a game somewhere where I could really have hurt my-self.&rdquo;Rota went through about five days of soul-searching before retiring with 256 NHL goals, 120 of them with the Canucks, ard 495 career points.He has always been one of the more popular players around the league, able to remember reporters&rsquo; names and, in some cases the names of their kids. He always seemed to have time for the doorman or the maid, and was considered one of the most eligible bachelors in the league.&ldquo;I finally have peace of mind that I can&rsquo;t play anymore,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The decision is final, and I only hope I&rsquo;m as sure, of myself when 1 get married as I am with this decision. I&rsquo;ve enjoyed just about everyone I&rsquo;ve ever met in hockey. I&rsquo;m leaving with no animosity towards anyone. I&rsquo;m going to be able to stay in the organization. I&rsquo;ll be in the p.r. department&mdash;in community relations&mdash;but eventually I would like to get into the front office in hockey. But I don&rsquo;t want to leave Vancouver. So if what I want in hockey doesn&rsquo;t come along here, I&rsquo;ll be trying something else.&rdquo;Rota&rsquo;s most memorable goal was one scored in Chicago in Game Five of the Campbell Conference final in 1982, when Vancouver eliminated the Hawks and advanced to the Stanley Cup finals against the Islanders.&ldquo;That one put us up 5-2 in the third period, and really clinched the final for us,&rdquo; Rota said. &ldquo;To get into the final, right there in Chicago, after I had bought all those tickets (42) for my friends and then to score a goal, was just super. My only regret in all the years I played is that I never played for a Stanley Cup winner.&rdquo;Rota was bom in Vancouver and had stays in Kelowna and Prince George before moving to Edmonton to play junior for the Oil Kings. He was drafted by Chicago and was traded to Atlanta and later Vancouver, along with longtime friend, Ivan Boldirev.&ldquo;I called Ivan (now with Detroit) and Harold Snepsts (Minnesota) the night I made the decision, and then I told the players the next day,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want them finding out any other way.&rdquo;Rota always did make sure things happened the right way. &#9632;

Neck Injury Finishes Rota’s Career

<div class="byline">BY DICK BAKER</div>SPRINGFIELD&mdash;When Randy Velis-chek was growing up in Montreal, he didn&rsquo;t have too many friends. Actually, he didn&rsquo;t have any.Now it wasn&rsquo;t that he was a bad kid or anything. He just couldn&rsquo;t speak English. He couldn&rsquo;t speak French either. And if you can&rsquo;t speak English or French in Montreal, what do you speak?&ldquo;German,&rdquo; answered the red-hot defenseman of the Springfield Indians. &ldquo;That was pretty rough. I had a lonely childhood. I started learning English when I went to elementary school. Later I picked up on the French. By the time I was 10, I was speaking all three languages.&rdquo;Velischek, whose parents came over from Austria 25 years ago, learned his English and French well. He was magna cum laude at Providence College, where he starred for the Friars. One of his majors was French, the other was marketing.Velischek&rsquo;s start this season was like his early days of language learning&mdash;slow.In his first 13 games, he was a minus-11 while playing for the undermanned Indians. The Tribe went with only four defensemen for a seven-game stretch and once were down to as few as three defensemen.&ldquo;I usually always like to play,&rdquo; said Velischek. &ldquo;But it seemed like you had already played two games after playing only one period. When you heard the horn to start the second or third period it was tough to get up and go back out.&rdquo;Velischek was also disappointed about being sent down by the parent Minnesota North Stars at the start of the season. He acknowledged that it might have affected his early play with the Indians.But if there was an adjustment period, it&rsquo;s over. Velischek has rewritten his statistics. In a 10-game span, he was a plus-17, including his first two goals of the season in a road victory against the New Haven Nighthawks. In another game, he was a plus-six against the Maine Mariners.As Velischek&rsquo;s play sharpened, so did the Indians&rsquo; record. TheTribe went 8-4-1 in a period of 13 games after going 2-9-1 in the first 12. Loss number nine had been the low point of the year, a 10-1 drubbing at the hands of the Binghamton Whalers at the Springfield Civic Center.&ldquo;If we can get to .500, then maybe we can start working our way gradually up the standings,&rdquo; said Velischek. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t see Rochester or Binghamton falling apart, and Baltimore is a strong club. So we&rsquo;re going to have to play pretty good hockey and hope we can lose some of the other teams behind us.&rdquo;There was reason for optimism. Through 25 games, the Indians had played 16 on the road and only nine at home, but were only three games under .500 (10-13-2). Additionally, they got the short-term benefit of former first-round draft pick Brian Lawton on loan from Minnesota. Lawton had only two goals and five assists in 24 games with Minnesota and needed more ice time to sharpen his offensive skills.All of a sudden the once short-handed Indians were three over the limit, a healthy situation in any language.DOWN SOUTH&mdash;Are the Rochester Amerks in trouble? Once 11-0, the Amerks cooled off to a 6-6-2 pace. More frightening than the record was the loss of No. 1 goaltender Jacques Cloutier, who is gone for the season following a collision with Terry Martin in a game against Nova Scotia. Cloutier was 10-2-1 with a goals against average of 2.69. Backup Bob McNamara had been running hot and cold (3-3, 5.17) and the continuation of Amerk powerhouse hopes were left in the hands of Mike Craig, up from Flint. Craig yielded only five goals in his first five periods of work. Buffalo recalled five players in one day (Claude Verret, Mike Moller, Norm Lacombe, Timo Jutila, Gates Orlando), leaving the Amerks praying some or all would return for a Friday game against Hershey&hellip;Most respected team in the division is now Binghamton. The Whalers added David A. Jensen, Paul Gardner, Glen Currie and Marty Howe to an already tough AHL cast. Paul Fenton got his long-awaited call to Hartford along with Kevin Dineen as the NHL Whalers attempted a shake up-&hellip;The New Haven Nighthawks drew 4,667 for their old-timers game, but Springfield spoiled the evening by ex-ploding for three third-period goals to break open a one-goal game.. Rochester attendance was at 85,764 for 14 dates, an average of 6,126.Binghamton goaltender Peter Sidorkiewicz won five straight games, lowering his average to 3.1&hellip;Hershey was hurt by a 4-10-3 mark within the division. &#9632;

Velischek’s Play Does His Talking

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div>KALAMAZOO&mdash;The Kalamazoo Wings weren&rsquo;t in first place in the International League&rsquo;s East Division at the start of December, but no one could blame goaltender Georges Gagnon.Tke K-Wings compiled 23 points with a 10-8-2 record in their first 20 games, and would be atop their division were it not for an eight-game win streak by Flint, which led all teams with 26 points. West Division leader Peoria had 24 points, two better than second-place Salt Lake, which won three of seven road games&mdash;including a two-game weekend sweep of Indianapolis&mdash;to climb past the Checkers and into contention for the top spot in the West.Gagnon, meanwhile, was doing a little bit of everything for Kalamazoo, including picking up an assist to up his season&rsquo;s total to two, tops among goalies in the IHL.More importantly&mdash;and even more impressive&mdash;Gagnon was the No. 1 goaltender in the league with a 2.80 goals-against mark in 12 games. On top of that, his save percentage was a league-high .917. He went seven games without a loss (6-0-1), including posting two shutouts, to establish a Kalamazoo record.The streak was ended Nov. 30 on the road at Fort Wayne, where the Komets won 5-3.&ldquo;One team we seem to have trouble with is Fort Wayne,&rdquo; explained Gagnon. &ldquo;When we go in there we have a little problem with the big ice surface. They have a lot guys who like to play high up on the ice.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s not only the Fort Wayne rink which has given the Wings a problem this season, though. They have won but twice on the road, losing eight and settling for a tie in one.At home, it&rsquo;s a different story.The Wings are the only team which had yet to lose a game on home ice as of Dec. 5. Seventeen of the Wings&rsquo; points were earned in Kalamazoo (8-0-1), and they allowed a paltry 18 goals in nine of those games.&ldquo;Our record at home has helped the attendance,&rdquo; Gagnon explained. &ldquo;Our crowds have been pretty good. We&rsquo;re in competition now with a soccer team, but we&rsquo;ve got a new look, a new coach and we&rsquo;re offering new excitement and the fans are showing their appreciation by coming out to the games.&rdquo;The Wings reported an increase of more than eight per cent in attendance in the early season.Gagnon, a native of MacGregor, Ont., is in his sixth season with Kalamazoo and may be ready to have his best season ever.&ldquo;My best year was last season, when I won 31 games,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think I lost 30 (for the fifth-place Wings), but I was third in goals-against with a 3.47 average.&rdquo;The 25-year-old goalie played a season at Windsor, then was traded to the Oshawa Generals where he played for two years before joining Kalamazoo.&ldquo;Those weren&rsquo;t the greatest years,&rdquo; Gagnon explained of his tour with Oshawa. &ldquo;I had been having a problem seeing the puck and I didn&rsquo;t realize it until near the end of my last year.&rdquo;Contact lenses have since taken care of that problem.Gagnon admits he&rsquo;s starting faster than ever.&ldquo;I generally start out in the low threes (goals against), then level off,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This year I&rsquo;m below three already. But the whole team is playing well and that makes things easier. I don&rsquo;t try to play flashy, just to be consistent and get in position to let the puck hit me.&rdquo;One might think with a record for consistency such as Gagnon has compiled, and with an early-season showing which places him at the forefront of the IHL&rsquo;s goaltenders, that a team from one of the higher up leagues would be eyeing him.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gone to a couple of NHL training camps in the past,&rdquo; Gagnon said of Detroit and Pittsburgh, &ldquo;but both of those teams had lots of players under contract and I ended up back in Kalamazoo.&rdquo;In the meantime, he&rsquo;s doing the best job he can and it has helped the K-Wings to be a contender, as well as provide lots of excitement for a growing number of fans in Wings&rsquo; Stadium. &#9632;

Gagnon Seeing Things More Clearly Now

<div class="byline">BY PAT LYON</div>PINE BRIDGE&mdash;What a difference a year has made for the Pine Bridge Bucks.The Bucks were mired in last place all of last season in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League, but it&rsquo;s a different story this time around, with the team challenging the Carolina Thunderbirds for first place.A talented crop of rookies has infused new blood into the Bucks and, along with several returning veterans, has helped make Pine Bridge the talk of the league.In the high-scoring ACHL, an outstanding defense is a rarity, but that is just what the Bucks possess. They have given up only three goals per game.While some credit goes to the defensemen, the Bucks boast two of the top three goalies, statistically speaking. Both veteran Steve Heittola and rookie Ray Leblanc have goals-against averages of three or under. Heittola also has the only shutout this season, as he blanked high-scoring Virginia, 6-0.&ldquo;The big difference is that the talent is there, a coach is only as good as his players,&rdquo; said player-coach Frank Perkins. &ldquo;The first-year players are intense. They&rsquo;re here to prove themselves, and not just collect the pay check.&rdquo;The league&rsquo;s rookie draft was set up to help the weaker teams, and it certainly has done its job as far as turning around the Bucks&rsquo; fortunes. Rookies Dan Potter and Scott Robbins are among the top-10 in scoring. Both players collected four points in a 6-2 over Mohawk Valley, while veteran Rob Clavette led the way with a hat trick.Perkins, 24, replaced Don Luce early last season and feels it&rsquo;s a big advantage to be around from the beginning of the year.&ldquo;Being here at the start of the season gives you a thumb on what&rsquo;s going on, and winning certainly makes things more enjoyable,&rdquo; Perkins said.The stingy Bucks&rsquo; defense could get even better with the addition of Bob Dore, who was acquired for rookie Gor-don MacDougall and the Bucks&rsquo; next assigned pro.AROUND THE LEAGUE&mdash;Virginia&rsquo;s new arena was completed, and the Lancers responded with victories over Pine Bridge (5-3) and Erie (3-1), after going winless in their first eight games on the road. The win over Erie was a big one for Carey Walker, as he beat the team he played with for so many years. The Lancers also picked up Andre Chartrain, who scored two goals in his first game. Player-coach Paul O&rsquo;Neil, a natural forward, is one of the league&rsquo;s top scorers as a defenseman.. The Blades had a reason to celebrate, as they stopped Carolina&rsquo;s 10-game winning streak and handed the T-Birds their first loss of the season. Erie rookie Don Shaw recorded his first professional hat trick in a 7-4 win over Mohawk Valley. Erie winger Paul Mancini had his point-scoring streak snapped at four games&hellip;Mohawk Valley&rsquo;s Dan Lane was selected Player of the Week for scoring nine points in four games. Through 11 games, Lane had 27 points. Eleven of the points were goals, three of them shorthanded. Rookie Ed Rauseo is also in the top-10 with 21 points. Goalie Mike Bloski made 55 saves in a 6-2 loss at Pine Bridge&hellip;Carolina&rsquo;s started another string, by bouncing the Blades 5-3 and Virginia 12-2. &#9632;

Pine Bridge Bucking For Raise To Ton Of League

<div class="byline">BY BILL CRAWFORD</div>SAULT STE. MARIE&mdash;It&rsquo;s about midway through the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and time to reassess the nine-team Division One circuit, especially in light of the pre-season prognostications so boldly staked out.With a week left before the Christmas break, Michigan State is riding appropriately atop the pack, as predicted earlier. Lake Superior State is a bit of a surprise, well entrenched in the first division, with Ohio State raising a few eyebrows, Illinois-Chicago stunning just about everyone, Bowling Green making a late first-half move and just about everybody else a negative surprise of one degree or another.The Spartans had a powerhouse on paper, and they are proving just as tough on the ice. They&rsquo;ve lost a rare game or three, but Ron Mason is not one to panic over a first-half setback or two. He traditionally maps strategy for a second-half surge that generally finds his team peaking just as playoffs start.The big surprise of the first half is easily Illinois-Chicago, but perhaps the Flames&rsquo; impressive start shouldn&rsquo;t come as such a shock. This is a team with a good blend of veteran and inexperienced players, a third-year coach (Val Belmonte) whose system is now understood by at least half the club, surprisingly-solid first-year goaltending, and some underclassmen wingers who are scoring up a storm. Winger Ray Staszak leads the league in scoring and, at 6-feet, 200 pounds, is outmuscling opposing players in the comers.Lake Superior has been a bit of a surprise, reeling off five consecutive wins late in the half, including four in a row on the road, to actually share top spot with MSU for a week.Bowling Green is a team to watch in the second half. The talent is definitely there, it&rsquo;s just going to take time for the freshmen to adjust to coach Jerry York&rsquo;s system. The Falcons should be very tough again come playoff time.The biggest surprises of the season thus far may be more negative than positive.What&rsquo;s with Western Michigan, a team picked by all the so-called experts to finish well up in the standings? Or Ferris State, which is floundering near the cellar? Or what about Miami, with so many returnees?Truth is, after Michigan State, the CCHA is a virtual toss-up. Division One is getting to be that way in all its leagues. Anybody can beat anybody else. Western Michigan has some problems that aren&rsquo;t showing on paper. All-American Dan Dorion had a horrendous first half (for him) and, until recently, the Broncos have too.But they&rsquo;ve got the stuff to come on in the second half, if they get together.Same with Ferris State. One good game leads to three poor ones. And this is a team with enough people returning at key positions to be better than seventh or eighth place.Miami is hurting both in goal and on the blue line, and it shows.Again, this is a second-half team, and Miami isn&rsquo;t that far off being right there with any of the others chasing Michigan State.Michigan is struggling with new coach Red Berenson&rsquo;s &ldquo;work ethic,&rdquo; and has struggled even more with specialty teams in the first half. Berenson has the right idea, but he needs time and some personnel changes to accomplish the big goal.Ohio State is a surprise to a certain extent. The Buckeyes lost a lot to graduation, but coach Jerry Welsh still has them playing very aggressively, especially in their own building, known as the &ldquo;phone booth&rdquo; elsewhere in the CCHA. OSU has received some outstanding play out of freshmen such as Darcy Gryba and will be tough in the second half.CCHA CHATTER&mdash;Ohio State moved into a third-place tie with Chicago by winning and tying at Michigan, and Darcy Gryba continued his point streak, assisting on Bob Gruhl&rsquo;s power-play goal in the 4-3 overtime win. Gryba has at least one point in all 16 OSU games and had 27 points as of that series&hellip;Spartan coach Ron Mason was none too pleased with his counterpart Val Belmonte, when Illinois-Chicago laid out MSU goalie Norm Foster a couple of times in one of two MSU wins at Chicago. &#9632;

Michigan State Living Up To Predictions

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div>DULUTH&mdash;Just what does the University of Minnesota-Duluth have to do to get some respect?The Bulldogs are unbeaten in their last 12 games with 11 wins and one tie and they&rsquo;ve moved all the way up from the basement of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association into second place.Yet Coach Mike Sertich says it&rsquo;s the same old story everyplace the Bulldogs go&mdash;they get no respect.&ldquo;The only place we get any is when we play in Grand Forks,&rdquo; Sertich says.It&rsquo;s been years since Duluth&rsquo;s program was of the quality that it deserved great respect. Last year, the Bulldogs won the WCHA for the first time ever and went on to place second in the nation, losing in four overtimes to Bowling Green in the longest game ever played in an NCAA tournament.Yet the official NCAA program listed Duluth&rsquo;s coach as George Sertich instead of Mike Sertich, the Bulldogs were the only team not introduced at a banquet honoring tourney teams, the public address announcer kept referring to them as the University of Minnesosta and the Bulldogs were given the worst housing of any of the tournament teams.So while the Bulldogs have been kicked around plenty, they&rsquo;re doing plenty of kicking back now, as shown by the 12-game streak, the best of any team in the country.Sertich, ever the realist, says that while the Bulldogs are winning, he sees need for improvement. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing okay,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But we really haven&rsquo;t played anybody yet. Our power play and our penalty killing still have lots of work to be done. But we have made marvellous improvement since the start of the year.&rdquo;Duluth figured to get off to a rapid start, since just four players were lost from the team that took the WCHA by storm a year ago. But after two weeks of the season, the only way you could find the Bulldogs on top was by turning your newspaper upside down and reading the standings. The Bulldogs, you see, salvaged just one tie out of their first four games. But since righting themselves, they&rsquo;ve been untouchable.Junior winger Bill Watson, the WCHA scoring champion a year ago, has gotten himself untracked, too, to move into third in league scoring. He, too, notes the improvement of the Bulldogs.&ldquo;Early in the season, I think we forgot what made us successful last year,&rdquo; Watson says. &ldquo;That was a good work ethic and team play. We fell apart defensively in the first three or four games. The defensemen didn&rsquo;t stand up at the blue line to meet the play and our forwards weren&rsquo;t coming back and helping out like we should have. But we just kept working through it and it all came together.&rdquo;WCHA NOTES&mdash; Four WCHA teams are ranked nationally in the latest poll. Minnesota is ranked No. 1, Minne-sota-Duluth No. 3 and Colorado College and Michigan Tech share ninth place&hellip;Wisconsin showed signs of rebounding from its disasterous start by sweeping North Dakota 6-5 in overtime and 3-2 recently in Madison as Paul Houston led the Badgers with two goals and two assists in the overtime victory&hellip;For Duluth, the line of Bill Watson, Matt Christensen and Tom Herzig has accounted for 26 of Duluth&rsquo;s 55 league goals&hellip;There are two players in the league averaging a goal a game or more. They are league scoring leader, Minnesota&rsquo;s Pat Micheletti and Wisconsin&rsquo;s Tony Granato. &#9632;

Lack Of Respect Bothers Bulldogs

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01553/5352714-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="526" height="484"><figcaption class="caption-body">ADAM OATES RPI</figcaption></div><h2>ECAC</h2>The RPI Engineers have their goal set on winning the ECAC Conference title this season and one of their key figures is junior center Adam Oates.The returning RPI All-American collected 10 points to become the ECAC Performer of the Week, as he led the way in an 8-0 whitewash of Army and a 12-4 romp over Princeton.Oates is also tied for the league point lead with teammate Mark Jooris. Each has 19 points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02388/5352707-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="466" height="486"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRENT SMITH Miami</figcaption></div><h2>CCHA</h2>The Miami Redskins weren&rsquo;t expecting goalie Brent Smith to play a major role in their bid to become a contender in the CCHA Conference this season, but Smith had other ideas.The sophomore netminder was on the hot seat both nights as Miami grabbed three out of four points from Ferris State on the road, a feat that won Smith the nomination as CCHA Performer of the Week.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03284/5352700-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="482" height="488"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL WATSON Min-Duluth</figcaption></div><h2>WCHA</h2>The Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs are hot in pursuit of leading Minnesota in the WCHA Conference race this season, and because of the presence of players such as Bill Watson they are a serious threat.Watson, who has collected 27 scoring points in 14 games, added six points as the Bulldogs split a pair with North Dakota. Watson, who had 35 goals in 40 games last season, was chosen as the WCHA Performer of the Week.THE BAUER PERFORMERS OF THE WEEK &#9632;

f0031-01

Bauer FIT FOR PERFORMANCE

<h2>ECAC CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Dec. 12)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01584/5352857-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="529" height="380"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Nov. 27Princeton 4 at Army 1Yale 4 at Brown 3Fri. Nov. 30RPI 7 at Yale 3Vermont 1 at Brown 4Colgate 5 at St. Lawrence 2Cornell 1 at Clarkson 3Sat. Dec. 1Vermont 0 at Yale 8RPI 4 at Brown 3Cornell 2 at St. Lawrence 4Colgate 1 at Clarkson 4<h3>NON-CONFERENCE GAMES</h3>Harvard 5, Toronto 4Harvard 7, Western 2Princeton 6, Holy Cross 3Army 3, Middlebury 2Tue. Dec. 4Boston College 9 at Brown 3Colgate 9 at Hamilton 5Fri. Dec. 7Princeton 4 at Vermont 1Army 0 at RPI 8St. Lawrence 4 at Brown 3Clarkson 6 at Yale 1Sat. Dec. 8Dartmouth 3 at Colgate 10Harvard 5 at Cornell 5Army 3 at Vermont 4Princeton 4 at RPI 12Clarkson 6 at Brown 3St. Lawrence 2 at Yale 3Sun. Dec. 9Harvard 6 at Colgate 5Dartmouth 4 at Cornell 10<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02428/5352850-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="537" height="207"></div><h2>HOCKEY EAST CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Dec. 11)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03284/5352843-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="528" height="233"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Nov. 19Boston College 11, Holy Cross 2Tue. Nov. 20Lowell 4, Northeastern 3Fri. Nov. 23Min.-Duluth 6, New Hampshire 2Colorado Coll. 4, Providence 3Minnesota 8, Boston College 2N. Michigan 6, Maine 3Lowell 2, Mich Tech 1Sat. Nov. 24Boston Univ. 3, Northeastern 1Min-Duluth 2, New Hampshire 1Providence 10, Colorado Coll. 1Minnesota 4, Boston College 2N. Michigan 6, Maine 4Mich Tech 3, Lowell 2Tue. Nov. 27New Hampshire 2 at Boston Univ. 3Fri. Nov. 30Boston College 4 at Mich Tech 2Boston Univ. 1 at Colorado College 4Lowell 3 at Minnesota 6Maine 2 at Min-Duluth 6Northeastern 6 at N. Michigan 5Sat. Dec. 1Boston College 6 at Mich Tech 2Boston Univ. 1 at Colorado College 7Lowell 3 at Minnesota 5Maine 2 at Min-Duluth 7Providence 3 at New Hampshire 2Northeastern 2 at N. Michigan 7Fri. Dec. 7N. Michigan 2 at Boston College 3Colorado Coll. 9 at Lowell 7Wisconsin 4 at Maine 1Mich Tech 2 at New Hampshire 8Providence 2 at Northeastern 5Sat. Dec. 8N. Michigan 3 at Boston College 7Denver 4 at Boston University 4Colorado Coll. 1 at Lowell 4Wisconsin 8 at Maine 6Mich Tech 3 at New Hampshire 5Sun. Dec. 9Denver 2 at Boston University 3<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04174/5352836-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="541" height="294"></div><h2>CCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 14)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05115/5352829-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="533" height="289"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Nov. 23Ferris State 6 at Ohio State 3Lake Superior 1 at Michigan 0Mich State 4 at Bowling Green 1W. Michigan 4 at Miami 7Illinois-Chicago 4 at Denver 8Sat. Nov. 24Bowling Green 4 at Mich State 3Ferris State 3 at Ohio State 6Lake Superior 6 at Michigan 3W. Michigan 6 at Miami 3Illinois-Chicago 2 at Denver 5Thu. Nov. 29Mich State 8 at Ill-Chicago 2Fri. Nov. 30Bowling Green 10 at Miami 4Ferris State 2 at W. Michigan 6Mich State 8 at Ill-Chicago 4Ohio State 4 at Michigan 4Sat. Dec. 1Bowling Green 5 at Miami 3Ohio State 4 at Michigan 3W. Michigan 4 at Ferris State 1Fri. Dec. 7Illinois-Chicago 2 at Bowling Green 7Lake Superior 2 at Mich State 7Miami 2 at Ferris State 2Michigan 3 at W. Michigan 4Windsor 5 at Ohio State 6Sat. Dec. 8Illinois-Chicago 5 at Bowling Green 6Lake Superior 3 at Mich State 6Miami 3 at Ferris State 2W. Michigan 0 at Michigan 3<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0687/5352822-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="532" height="319"></div><h2>WCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Thu. Dec. 13)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0772/5352815-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="527" height="259"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Nov. 23Colo. College 4 at Providence 3Mich. Tech 1 at Lowell 2Min-Duluth 6 at New Hampshire 2Boston College 2 at Minnesota 8N. Michigan 6 at Maine 3Illinois-Chicago 4 at Denver 8RPI 6 at North Dakota 7Yale 6 at Wisconsin 7Sat. Nov. 24Colo. College 1 at Providence 10Mich. Tech 3 at Lowell 2Min-Duluth 2 at New Hampshire 1Boston College 2 at Minnesota 4N. Michigan 6 at Maine 4Illinois-Chicago 4 at Denver 8RPI 8 at North Dakota 2Yale 3 at Wisconsin 2 Fri. Nov. 30Boston Univ. 1 at Colorado Coll. 4Boston College 4 at Mich Tech 2Maine 2 at Min-Duluth 6Lowell 3 at Minnesota 6No. Dakota 5 at Wisconsin 6Northeastern 6 at N. Michigan 5Sat. Dec. 1Boston Univ. 1 at Colorado Coll. 7Boston College 6 at Mich Tech 2Maine 2 at Min-Duluth 7Lowell 3 at Minnesota 5No. Dakota 2 at Wisconsin 3Northeastern 2 at N. Michigan 7Fri. Dec. 7Colorado Coll. 9 at Lowell 7Denver 4 at Boston University 4Mich Tech 2 at New Hampshire 8Min-Duluth 4 at North Dakota 3N. Michigan 2 at Boston College 3Wisconsin 4 at Maine 1Sat. Dec. 8Colorado College 1 at Lowell 4Denver 2 at Boston University 3Mich Tech 3 at New Hampshire 5Min-Duluth 5 at North Dakota 6N. Michigan 3 at Boston College 7Wisconsin 8 at Maine 6<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0863/5352808-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="532" height="298"></div><h2>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0953/5352801-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="536" height="414"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>York 6, Toronto 2Laurier 5, Brock 1Laurentian 6, Ryerson 1Brock 4, Queen&rsquo;s 3Laurentian 7, RMC 5Waterloo 7, Guelph 5Laurentian 6, RMC 1Guelph 5, Western 3Toronto 7, Waterloo 2York 5, Brock 3Windsor 8, Waterloo 6Laurentian 9, McMaster 6Laurier 8, Windsor 2Laurentien 9, McMaster 3Toronto 14, Waterloo 3<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1048/5352794-1-eng-US/f0032-102.jpg" title="f0032-10" width="534" height="356"></div><h2>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1141/5352787-1-eng-US/f0032-112.jpg" title="f0032-11" width="532" height="184"></div><h2>ATLANTIC CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1240/5352780-1-eng-US/f0032-122.jpg" title="f0032-12" width="530" height="306"></div><h2>GREAT PLAINS CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1337/5352773-1-eng-US/f0032-132.jpg" title="f0032-13" width="528" height="154"></div><h2>CANADA WEST CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1434/5352766-1-eng-US/f0032-142.jpg" title="f0032-14" width="532" height="186"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1530/5352759-1-eng-US/f0032-152.jpg" title="f0032-15" width="538" height="382"></div><h2>ONTARIO COLLEGES</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 10)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1630/5352752-1-eng-US/f0032-162.jpg" title="f0032-16" width="530" height="270"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Seneca 7, Georgian 4Centennial 8, Conestoga 2Seneca 11, Humber 5Canadore 4, Humber 3Seneca 4, St. Clair 3<h2>Team Canada, Soviet Games</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1727/5352745-1-eng-US/f0032-172.jpg" title="f0032-17" width="434" height="330"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

HOW THEY STAND

<div class="byline">BY TOM BOGGIE</div>HAMILTON, NY&mdash;For four years now, goalie Jeff Cooper has been making big saves and winning games for Colgate University. If Red Raiders&rsquo; coach Terry Slater is any judge of talent, he&rsquo;ll be doing the same thing next season in the National Hockey League.Cooper, a native of Nepean, Ont., who has a habit of doing things with a flair, recently became the winningest goalie in Colgate history, and as usual. he did it in style, turning aside 41 shots to hand previously-undefeated St. Lawrence its first loss of the year, 5-2. The win was the 40th of Cooper&rsquo;s career, breaking the record of 39 set by Guy Lemonde.&ldquo;In my mind, and I&rsquo;ve told guys I know in the pros this, this kid (Cooper) is a professional goaltender,&rdquo; said Slater, who was head coach of the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association before coming to Colgate. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen the two kids from Cornell who are now in the pros play (Darren Eliot of the Los Angeles Kings and Brian Hayward of the Winnipeg Jets) and I think Jeff is as good or better than both of them.&rdquo;After posting a 6-2-1 record while acting as Lemonde&rsquo;s backup as a freshman, Cooper became Colgate&rsquo;s starting goaltender as a sophomore and has refused to give up the job. He compiled a 12-10-1 sophomore record with a 4.03 goals-against average and put numbers of 18-12-1 and 3.88 on the board last year in leading the Red Raiders to a 20-14-1 record and a berth in the ECAC playoffs.Included among the Colgate records that he already holds are shutouts in a season (two), career shutouts (five), most victories in a season (18), most minutes played in a season (1873:49) and most games played in a season (32). Those last two statistics may be the ones that open the doors of the NHL to Cooper.&ldquo;Jeff is very strong,&rdquo; said Slater. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a 200-pounder, but he has endurance, and that&rsquo;s something the pro scouts look for. They want to know that a guy can play more than 40 games a year. They want to know he can get off a long plane ride and be ready to play. Jeff is very strong in that way. I&rsquo;ve used him on Friday and Saturday and then have thrown him in again on Wednesday and he&rsquo;s won two of three for me. That will be a real benefit for him.&rdquo;Another benefit is that Cooper is a free agent and a good year with the Red Raiders will help him write his own ticket. &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t been drafted and that&rsquo;s an advantage for him,&rdquo; Slatersaid. &ldquo;All the way through minor hockey, in the Central (Ontario) Junior League, he was always the best goaltender. Mac McLean, who was his coach, said to me four years ago, &lsquo;Terry, you can&rsquo;t go wrong with him.&rsquo; He had decided at that time that he wanted to come to college and the pros sometimes overlook that first year of college. Jeff was in the era where he was overlooked because he was in school. I&rsquo;m certain if he had played tier two or major junior he would have been drafted. There&rsquo;s no one better.&rdquo;ECAC NOTES&mdash;Senior goalie Scott Relick of Yale recorded the first shutout of his career when the Elis blanked Vermont, 8-0&hellip;St. Lawrence&rsquo;s 7-1-1 start was the direct product of great play by Mike McShane&rsquo;s freshman class. After nine games, the Saints&rsquo; leading scorer was freshman Peter Buckeridge with four goals and nine assists while rookie goal tender Scott Yearwood had a 2.68 goals-against average. After missing the first game of the year with an injury, junior winger John Carter has come on strong for RPI. He had four goals and an assist in a win over Yale and came back the next night with a hat trick, including the game-winner in overtime, as the Engineers turned back determined Brown, 4-3&hellip;Gord Sharpe put together a nine-game scoring string to lead Clarkson to an early 7-1-1 record. &#9632;

Colgate’s Super Cooper Eyes Pro Career

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>DURHAM&mdash;Hockey is a beautiful game. It&rsquo;s a game of intricate patterns, artistic subtleties, sweeping waves of emotions&hellip;It is also a game of winning and losing. While the University of New Hampshire&rsquo;s hockey team has all of the finesse and aesthetic finery that it&rsquo;s had for 16 years under Charlie Holt, it doesn&rsquo;t have any of the winning. Only losing. And there doesn&rsquo;t seem to be anything that Holt and his staff can do about it. They&rsquo;ve just got to wait for the tide to turn.Going into a home weekend series with Michigan Tech, the Wildcats had lost eight games in a row, making their overall slate 4-13 and their Hockey East mark 1-12. To make matters worse, they had to forfeit their only league win and two of their three non-league wins because they&rsquo;d used an ineligible player.Junior defenseman Kirk Lussier had withdrawn from one course without the staff&rsquo;s knowledge and was taking fewer credits than necessary to remain eligible for sports.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re moving the puck as well as we ever have,&rdquo; said a slightly bewildered Holt. &ldquo;We just don&rsquo;t get the key goal at the proper time. We&rsquo;re playing well. It&rsquo;s just not well enough to win.&rdquo;No one factor can be blamed. Goalie Bruce Gillies, pre-season pick for player of the year in the league, injured a knee in the first game of a series with streaking Minnesota-Duluth. Untested junior Greg Rota stepped in and yielded just eight goals in the next three contests to UMD, Boston University, and Providence, three of the hottest teams in college hockey at the moment. But UNH only scored five times themselves in those games, dropping all three of them by a single goal.&ldquo;This has been the most unbelievable experience I&rsquo;ve ever been through in hockey,&rdquo; added Holt&rsquo;s assistant, Bob Kullen. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t blame anybody&mdash;not the referees, the injuries, the players for not working hard, not Bruce Gillies&rsquo; injury because it hasn&rsquo;t been a factor, not bounces of the puck.&ldquo;Usually, when you have so many one-goal games in a year, you win about half of them. We&rsquo;ve lost them all&mdash;eight&mdash;so far. How many times when you&rsquo;ve given up eight goals in three gameshave you lost all three times?&rdquo;The 3-2 loss to Providence in Durham was typical. The Wildcats tied the game on a goal by freshman Mike Rossetti with 4:02 to play. But a minute and a half later, PC defenseman Nowel Catterall led a charge down the boards, blasted a slap shot off the side of the cage, and cruised into the corner. The puck caromed into the comer, right back onto his stick, and he shot again. This time the puck hit the back of Rota&rsquo;s glove, fell into the crease, and trickled over the line.Earlier in the year, UNH lost a 4-3 game to visiting Boston College when two senior defensemen collided at the Wildcat blue line, leaving the puck free for a BC forward to score the game winner.Scoring production has indeed been off, and Holt has juggled his lines several times. The usual, happy-go-lucky net busting just hasn&rsquo;t come, especially from the upperclassmen in the forward positions. You have to look down six places on the stat sheet to find senior Dan Muse with six goals and five assists.New Hampshire has always been slow starting. Indeed, a common refrain around the Downtown A.C. in Durham has always been &ldquo;Wait &lsquo;Til Christmas.&rdquo; Maybe it ought to be &ldquo;Do Not Open &lsquo;Til Christmas.&rdquo;&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re a good team,&rdquo; said Kullen, still sounding convinced.If that&rsquo;s true, woe betide the home-ice playoff team that draws New Hampshire in the quarter-finals. There won&rsquo;t be any-thing else that can possibly go wrong.HOCKEY EAST NOTES&mdash;Only two points separate the top three teams in the league. Providence retained first place with its win over UNH. All three goals were scored by defensemen&hellip;Boston College was minus five players but still swept Michigan Tech in Houghton. Junior Doug Brown had a power-play and a short-handed goal for the series, which had BC winning 4-2 and 6-2. Coach Len Ceglarski tabbed Brown as his team&rsquo;s most improved player during the three-game win streak, which also included a 9-3 non-league victory at Brown&hellip;Boston University&rsquo;s attack is sputtering, as the Terriers scored only twice in dropping a pair of games to Colorado College. Before that series, coach Jack Parker moved defenseman Chris Matchett to wing, and the junior responded with the overtime winner against&mdash;you guessed it&mdash;New Hampshire. &#9632;

Holt Can’t Stop Wildcats’ Losing

<div class="byline">BY JOHN HERBERT</div>TORONTO&mdash;At least Harold Ballard&rsquo;s got one hockey team riding the top of the herd.Toronto Marlboros, the club the Leafs&rsquo; rotund owner has always said was his first love, has moved in front of the Ontario Hockey League&rsquo;s Leyden Division standings with a 15-7-0 record, passing the Peterborough Petes. Last season the Marlies shot out of the gate under new coach Tom Martin to a 30-5-1 start and 14-point lead over the Ottawa 67s, then collapsed.Another big story around the Leyden Division was the one out of Ottawa that former 67s&rsquo; coach Cliff Stewart was planning to sue the club for failing to pay him as part of a verbal contract.Back to that later.In the happy Marlies&rsquo; camp, Martin says he&rsquo;s learned from his &ldquo;rookie mistakes&rdquo; of last year.&ldquo;It was my first year and as a first-year coach, you&rsquo;ve got your own concepts to try out and you run with them,&rdquo; said Martin, reflecting back to last year when his club peaked early. &ldquo;You want to see what happens if you try this and that The fellows responded quickly. Now I realize I had a lot to learn, we peaked early.&ldquo;It was a mental thing. We started to slide and we couldn&rsquo;t stop it. We couldn&rsquo;t get going again.&rdquo;The league&rsquo;s only non-fulltime coach, Martin manages the family mirror business in Milton.Needless to say, he&rsquo;s looked in the mirror countless times since his club was knocked out of the playoffs last spring.&ldquo;This year we&rsquo;re starting slower, with a purpose,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re working on a few defensive things, picking up your man, worrying about your winger and your end of the ice. We&rsquo;ve spent two and a half months on it and it&rsquo;s starting to pay off. Now we&rsquo;ve got two systems we can execute.&rdquo;Of course, one of the reasons Martin is relying more on old-fashioned defensive hockey instead of last year&rsquo;s infamous brand of &ldquo;Swanadian&rdquo;&mdash;a combination of the Canadian and Swedish brands&mdash;is the loss of several key gunners, including Peter Zezel, who had 48 goals and 86 assists, to the Philadelphia Flyers. He had a year of junior eligibility remaining.Also departing were 50-goal sniper Steve Thomas, and 40-goal men Kevin Robinson and Garry Lacey, who was an all-star winger and member of the Canada&rsquo;s junior team in Sweden a year ago.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re together as a team more than ever,&rdquo; Martin said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve learned that everybody has to do their jobs. There are certain things I demand and we execute the system. Basically that&rsquo;s it. That&rsquo;s the key to our team.&rdquo;The Marlies have filled their holes quite nicely, adding Fabian Joseph and Jack MacKeigan, both 19, who played last season for the Victoria Cougars of the Western Hockey League. Both were Marlie midget draft picks out of the Mari-times a couple of seasons back, but decided to go West before being lured back this year by general manager Frank Bonello.Both are major contributors to the offense, with Joseph leading the team with a 14-19 slate for 33 points and MacKeigan with 14-18 for 32. Veteran John Del Col, one of the Marlies cornermen, is next with 15 goals. Goalie Shawn Burke, a rookie third-round pick from St. Mike&rsquo;s Junior B Buzzers, has a 3.69 average in 13 games.Martin plays rookie draft Yvon Corriveau from Welland on left wing with Joseph.Defensively, hard-hitting Mike Rowe has been a major surprise.&ldquo;You wouldn&rsquo;t recognize him,&rdquo; said Martin of the former undisciplined tough guy. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m amazed. He just changed. The last two games he&rsquo;s put three guys out of the lineup and didn&rsquo;t get a penalty doing it. He just levelled them.&rdquo;The only drawback for Martin&mdash;and the Marlies&mdash;is they can&rsquo;t seem to win over any of the Maple Leaf customers to watch their brand of hockey.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the unfortunate thing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe it. Why don&rsquo;t people get off the Leaf wagon and come down and see a decent team which plays entertaining hockey. I guess it&rsquo;s because Toronto is a professional town and we&rsquo;re not professional.&rdquo;Meanwhile, in Ottawa, where the 67s&rsquo; fired Stewart after a 3-1-21 start and replaced him with Bob Ellett, the ex-coach said he had an oral agreement with 67s&rsquo; co-owners Howard Darwin and Earl Montagano, and has refused to accept an offered settlement. He has hired Ottawa lawyer Hugh Fraser.&ldquo;What they&rsquo;ve offered me is six weeks salary when I still had 10 months to go on my one-year contract to coach the team,&rdquo; Stewart said. &ldquo;What I had with the club is a verbal one-year contract for $28,000. I would have been willing to accept something in the area of seven months salary but certainly not six weeks. The suit will ask for reimbursement of expenses I had moving (to Ottawa), then moving back to Thunder Bay.&rdquo;Darwin and his lawyer, Larry Kelly, had no comment.Soo Greyhounds (23-6) continued to rip apart the Emms Division, opening a 10-point lead on the London Knights.Bob Probert led the Greyhounds to their 14th consecutive home-ice win with a goal and two assists in a 6-1 win over Sudbury Wolves on Dec. 5, sending Andy Spruce&rsquo;s club its sixth straight game without a win. Tyler Larter, Mike Oliverio, Wayne Groulx, Graeme Bonar and Marc Tournier also scored for Sault Ste. Marie, which has won 17 of its last 19 games.The Hounds felt they had been jinxed by Sudbury goalie Sean Evoy until breaking through in the third period.For two periods, Evoy frustrated the Grehounds as he blocked 36 of the 39 shots sent his way before surrendering three goals in the final period.&ldquo;We spent all night trying to solve the mystery of Sean Evoy,&rdquo; said Greyhounds&rsquo; coach Terry Crisp. &ldquo;Finally in the third period, a couple of our guys managed to give us some breathing room.&ldquo;For a while, it was like trying to get into Fort Knox and the handful of keys we were trying to use weren&rsquo;t working.&ldquo;Twenty-four shots in one period (the second) and the guy just stood his ground. And it certainly wasn&rsquo;t from a lack of effort on our part.&rdquo;The Hounds helped reintroduce Bill LaForge to the OHL, defeating the Hamilton Steelhawks 4-2, handing the former Vancouver coach his first loss with Hamilton. LaForge made his debut at home in an 8-5 win a couple nights earlier over the Marlboros, as Jeff Jackson scored a goal and two assists in his first game back from the Toronto Maple Leafs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01597/5352936-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="580" height="838"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marlie coach Tom Martin concedes his team peaked far too early last season.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s good to be playing again,&rdquo; said the 19-year-old Jackson who had dressed but not played much in 16 games with the Leafs. &ldquo;I learned a lot but you have to play. If you&rsquo;re sitting on the bench, it eats away at your confidence. You start to question you abilities.&rdquo;Kitchener&rsquo;s Shawn Burr, the OHL rookie of the year, must have felt the same way.He scored his first two goals since re-turning to junior from the Detroit Red Wings a couple of weeks earlier in a 6-5 loss to the Windsor Spitfires.NOTES&mdash;North Bay goalie Peter Abric. who leads the OHL with a 2.96 average, was dissapointed he wasn&rsquo;t among 46 players invited to the Team Canada training camp Dec. 10-13 in Belleville, where the 20-player team will be chosen for the world junior championships in Finland, Dec. 23-Jan. 1. &#9632;

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Here’s A Toronto Team That Wins

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02465/5352981-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="550" height="565"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARK TEEVENS Peterborough</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>The Peterborough Petes boast the best offense in the Leyden Division of the Ontario Hockey League and much of the scoring punch has been provided by Mark Teevens.The 18-year-old Teevens was the hot man for the Petes, collecting eight scoring points, four of them goals, in 8-3 and 10-4 romps over Kingston to win the nod as the OHL Player of the Week.Teevens, drafted fourth by Pittsburgh in 1984, has moved into a tie for sixth place in the league with 46 points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03359/5352974-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="555" height="564"><figcaption class="caption-body">GORD WALKER Kamloops</figcaption></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>Gord Walker of the Kamloops Blazers hopes the hockey trail leads to the NHL next season and a spot with the rebuilding New York Rangers.A 20-year-old left winger who made an impression at the Rangers&rsquo; training camp this year, Walker put together a nine-point performance for the Blazers to become the WHL Player of the Week.Walker ranks sixth in the WHL in scoring with 54 points. He has 25 goals in 28 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04260/5352967-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="529" height="566"><figcaption class="caption-body">YVES HEROUX Chicoutimi</figcaption></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>The Chicoutimi Sagueneens are struggling to put together a more productive offense this season and the answer to their problem could be young Yves Heroux.The Chicoutimi right winger, drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in 1983, came up with four goals in a pair of wins over Drummondville and Verdun to capture QHL Player-of-the-Week honors.Heroux has racked up 15 goals and 41 scoring points in 27 games for the Sagueneens, who have won only nine games this season.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>NEW WESTMINSTER&mdash;Last time the Memorial Cup championship was staged in Vancouver&rsquo;s Pacific Coliseum, the New Westminster Bruins laid claim to major junior hockey supremacy in Canada.That was 1977.Nine years later, the Memorial Cup will again be staged in the Pacific Coliseum and the Bruins will be there, too. Well, at least they hope to be.Although it hasn&rsquo;t officially been decided, it&rsquo;s expected the 1986 national classic will likely include a host club&mdash;the Bruins. And as soon as the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and Canadian Major Junior Hockey League approve the Dec. 3 decision to play host to the event in Vancouver, it&rsquo;s expected the Bruins can start preparing to be seen in the prestigious tourney.In voting by all 14 WHL clubs, New Westminster beat bids from Portland, Lethbridge and Calgary.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just really excited about it,&rdquo; understated New Westminster general manager and coach Al Patterson. &ldquo;Certainly having it here will be a showcase for major junior hockey and it will do some good, positive things for our organization&mdash;re-implementing our stature on a national basis.&rdquo;The transplanted Nanaimo Islanders&rsquo; franchise is attempting to rekindle the junior hockey flame in New Westminster. People still talk about the old glory days, when the big, bad Bruins won consecutive Memorial Cup championships in 1977 and &lsquo;78.There were positive signs last season when major junior was reborn in New Westminster. Now getting the Cup can only add to the junior hockey hype.&ldquo;Certainly the initial reaction is one of elation, but then when you consider the presentations the other cities put in you have to realize there has to be some dis-appointment for others,&rdquo; said Patterson.&ldquo;There were so many questions going through our minds. We knew an Eastern Division team would want it and, of course, Portland did such a bang-up job last time (1983). It would have been easy to go back there (Portland) again.&ldquo;The big thing is we realize that we&rsquo;re pleased with the opportunity to play in the Cup. But there&rsquo;s a lot of hard work ahead for us. But we&rsquo;ve had a lot of cooperation from the mayors of two cities, Expo &lsquo;86, the Pacific National Exhibition and the Vancouver Canucks.&rdquo;League officials admit the Bruins had a lot of factors working in their favor.&ldquo;I would say they (Bruins) had two things going for them,&rdquo; said WHL ex-ecutive assistant Richard Doerksen. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re tying it (Memorial Cup) in with Expo &lsquo;86, and that&rsquo;s a drawing attraction, too. People will have something to do during the day and attend games at night.&ldquo;Of course, the other is the facility. With 15,500 seats you have the opportunity to draw big crowds. In 1977, the final drew more than 14,000, which is the largest crowd in Memorial Cup history.&rdquo;Patterson said it&rsquo;s too early to project where his Bruins will be in the standings next season.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ll have a competitive team, but I don&rsquo;t think anybody can predict now how a team will be,&rdquo; said Patterson, whose Bruins were in second place in the Western Division entering the second week of December.Lethbridge, which has yet to host the Cup, was thought to have a good chance of landing the national playdown if league voting favored a smaller rink. The Sportsplex in Lethrbidge seats 5,026.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re disappointed but not discouraged,&rdquo; said Lethbridge general manager Dennis Kjeldgaard. &ldquo;We thought we put an excellent proposal together to have it in a medium-sized facility, but the league looked at the other end.&ldquo;I have to give New Westminster credit. As it turned out their presentation won. It&rsquo;s part of the ups and downs of sports and you have to accept it. We didn&rsquo;t go to the meeting crying it was our turn.&ldquo;The fears we had were it would come down to generating dollars and you have to credit the people in the league&mdash;they looked at it like businessmen. It&rsquo;s tough to argue when there&rsquo;s a big cheque and little cheque sitting there.&rdquo;Will Lethbridge bid again?&ldquo;Right now, I don&rsquo;t think I would,&rdquo; said Kjeldgaard. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a matter of the amount of work you have to put into a bid. Places with smaller rinks are banging their heads against the wall in competition with big buildings.&rdquo;WHL WEEK&mdash;Cliff Ronning of New Westminster led the scoring parade with 69 points, including a league-high 35 goals. Al Conroy of Medicine Hat was second with 64 points, including a league-leading 45 assists. Dan Hodgson of Prince Albert and Greg Evtushevski of Kamloops were next with 61 points apiece, followed by Byron Lornow of Brandon, 54, Ray Podloski of Portland, 52. Gord Walker of Kamloops, 49, Tony Grenier of Prince Albert, 45, Ken Morrison of Prince Albert, Derek Laxdal of Brandon, Len Nielsen of Regina and Mark MacKay of Moose Jaw all all had 44 points.In goaltending, Troy Gamble of Medicine Hat and Ward Komonsky of Prince Albert shared the lead with 2.77 goals-against averages. Gary Johnson of Medicine Hat was next at 2.83, followed by Lance Carlsen of New Westminster, 3.36 average, Drago Adam of Lethbridge, 3.47 and Daryl Reaugh of Kamloops, 3.48.In Canadian Major Junior Hockey League top-10 rankings based on winning percentage, Kamloops was first with a 21-5 mark and.808 percentage. Prince Albert was second at.792. Medicine Hat was fifth at.712, and Regina ninth at.611.Ronning and Conroy were named players of the month for November in the Western and Eastern Division, respectively.In transactions, Portland dealt 19-year-old defenseman John Kordic to Brandon for 18-year-old rearguard Jim Agnew. Kordic, 6-foot-2, 190pounds, is a fourth-round Montreal Canadien draft pick while Agnew, 6-feet, 170pounds, is an eighth-round Vancouver draft.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01562/5353012-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="580" height="796"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bruin GM and coach Al Patterson is thrilled with the 1986 Memorial Cup plans.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0035-01

Bruins Aim For Glory And The Cup

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;Quebec Major Junior Hockey League officials are upset over the cancelling of a two-game, all-star series with the Ontario Hockey League.&ldquo;We got to the point of talking about the color of the sweaters and if the names of the players would be on them,&rdquo; said QMJHL president Dr. Guy Morissette of Hull. &ldquo;I was talking to (OHL commissioner) Dave Branch and asked him about reserving rooms and the reply was that they weren&rsquo;t coming. Was I ever frustrated.&rdquo;The proposed series between the best of the undrafted players from both leagues called for a game in Quebec City on Jan. 5, followed by a return match in Kitchener on Feb. 9.&ldquo;Ontario is always saying they are the best, I think it was time to prove it,&rdquo; said Hull Olympiques&rsquo; coach Pat Bums, an admirer of OHL hockey who was to have coached the QMJHL squad. &ldquo;The scouts are disappointed. It was almost a mini-Memorial Cup.&rdquo;&ldquo;We wanted to prove the two leagues could do something together,&rdquo; Morissette said. &ldquo;I discussed the idea with Branch over coffee at the first Canadian Major Junior Hockey League meeting in September, and he came back to me and said they agreed.&rdquo;Each team was to be responsible for its own expenses. Claude Carrier, the QMJHL&rsquo;s assistant director-general, said 8,000 tickets for the Quebec City game had been printed and two sponsors had been lined up.Branch said the reason the game was called off was because of the air schedule into Quebec City.&ldquo;Going back two or three years ago, we attempted to have an interlocking allstar game and Quebec was unreceptive at that time,&rdquo; Branch pointed out. &ldquo;Dr. Morissette brought it up at the CMJHL meeting in Toronto Sept. 24 and said his league would be interested.&ldquo;In a letter dated Sept. 26,1 wrote to Dr. Morissette, saying 1 believed the OHL was in favor and that such a contest would be a tremendous boost to both leagues. I heard back Oct. 15 that the Quebec board of governors accepted the idea.&ldquo;Following that, I polled our teams and they were in favor,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;We looked into travel arrangements into Quebec City but we didn&rsquo;t realize it was so inaccessable by air.&ldquo;We have six games scheduled for Friday Jan. 4, one on Saturday Jan. 5 and seven on Sunday Jan. 6. We&rsquo;d have to leave Toronto on Saturday at 6:50 a.m., get into Quebec at 9:30, play at 1 p.m. and catch the last flight out at 4:30 p.m.&ldquo;I reviewed that with my people and they said it was too tight a schedule, that it was unreasonable to expect our team to perform under those conditions.&rdquo;Branch said he sent a message to Morissette Nov. 9 saying that the situation didn&rsquo;t appear reasonable but that he would check into the possibility of chartering an aircraft.&ldquo;It was very costly and depending on the weather, sometimes they won&rsquo;t fly when a commercial flight will,&rdquo; Branch said. &ldquo;There was too much risk. I said we would be willing to look at alternatives, but 1 didn&rsquo;t hear anything after that.&rdquo;&ldquo;I was under the impression that he was still coming in,&rdquo; Morissette said. &ldquo;But he didn&rsquo;t get back to me.&rdquo;La Journal de Montreal quoted Dr. Robert Vaughan, owner of the Belleville Bulls and chairman of the OHL board of governors, as saying: &ldquo;The idea of having the best from the two leagues face each other is very interesting. But it should be incorporated into the schedule of the two leagues when it is being drawn up and not as we go along.&rdquo;Vaughan is reported as saying that the OHL schedule was reduced to 66 games from 70 this season and that adjustments had to be made for the world junior championships. Starting in January, an OHL game will be televised on Saturdays and an OHL all-star game is part of the package.Morissette said his league faced many of the same restraints. &#9632;

Ontario Vs. Quebec Contest Dies

<h2>Mon. Dec. 3 BOSTON 3, QUEBEC 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01537/5353438-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="560" height="758"></div><h2>HARTFORD 3, MONTREAL 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02405/5353431-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="560" height="931"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 5, VANCOUVER 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03327/5353424-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="565" height="91"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04243/5353417-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="595" height="648"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 6, RANGERS 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05194/5353410-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="610" height="782"></div><h2>Tue. Dec. 4 NEW JERSEY 1, WASH. 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06164/5353403-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="607" height="379"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07155/5353396-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="595" height="268"></div><h2>TORONTO 6, DETROIT 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08150/5353389-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="601" height="130"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-09144/5353382-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="600" height="431"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-10141/5353375-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="565" height="380"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01466/5353368-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="569" height="212"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 2, ST. LOUIS 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02339/5353361-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="566" height="672"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES 2, MINNESOTA 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03257/5353354-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="571" height="703"></div><h2>Wed. Dec. 5 BOSTON 3, BUFFALO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04212/5353347-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="560" height="823"></div><h2>MONTREAL 3, HARTFORD 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05184/5353340-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="562" height="882"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06159/5353333-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="607" height="91"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 4, EDMONTON 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07137/5353326-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="603" height="885"></div><h2>CALGARY 4, RANGERS 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-08113/5353319-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="601" height="881"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 4, PITTSBURGH 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0998/5353312-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="597" height="328"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1091/5353305-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="595" height="590"></div><h2>DETROIT 4, TORONTO 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1175/5353298-1-eng-US/f0037-112.jpg" title="f0037-11" width="592" height="540"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1264/5353291-1-eng-US/f0037-122.jpg" title="f0037-12" width="564" height="326"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES 5, CHICAGO 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1358/5353284-1-eng-US/f0037-132.jpg" title="f0037-13" width="566" height="152"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01242/5353277-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="567" height="913"></div><h2>Thu. Dec. 6 MONTREAL 3, BOSTON 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02162/5353270-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="558" height="820"></div><h2>QUEBEC 1 PHILADELPHIA 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03112/5353263-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="590" height="558"></div><h2>Fri. Dec. 7 PITTSBURGH 4, RANGERS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0486/5353256-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="590" height="710"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0569/5353249-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="592" height="178"></div><h2>CALGARY 3, NEW JERSEY 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0657/5353242-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="590" height="760"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 7, WASHINGTON 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0751/5353235-1-eng-US/f0040-072.jpg" title="f0040-07" width="590" height="1018"></div><h2>CHICAGO 4, DETROIT 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0845/5353228-1-eng-US/f0040-082.jpg" title="f0040-08" width="592" height="674"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0941/5353221-1-eng-US/f0040-092.jpg" title="f0040-09" width="570" height="242"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 3, EDMONTON 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1041/5353214-1-eng-US/f0040-102.jpg" title="f0040-10" width="564" height="914"></div><h2>Sat. Dec. 8 BUFFALO 3, BOSTON 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1140/5353207-1-eng-US/f0040-112.jpg" title="f0040-11" width="568" height="616"></div><h2>HARTFORD 4, ISLANDERS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1237/5353200-1-eng-US/f0040-122.jpg" title="f0040-12" width="560" height="274"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01199/5353193-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="567" height="351"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02128/5353186-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="595" height="377"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES 7, MONTREAL 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0388/5353179-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="599" height="327"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0474/5353172-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="601" height="372"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0562/5353165-1-eng-US/f0041-052.jpg" title="f0041-05" width="557" height="344"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01202/5353158-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="569" height="183"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY 3, QUEBEC 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02148/5353151-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="575" height="970"></div><h2>RANGERS 2, PHILADELPHIA 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03123/5353144-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="570" height="764"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0496/5353137-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="568" height="91"></div><h2>CALGARY 4, PITTSBURGH 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0585/5353130-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="574" height="829"></div><h2>TORONTO 3, ST. LOUIS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0672/5353123-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="605" height="790"></div><h2>EDMONTON 2, VANCOUVER 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0769/5353116-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="580" height="238"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0858/5353109-1-eng-US/f0043-082.jpg" title="f0043-08" width="596" height="485"></div><h2>Sun. Dec. 9 QUEBEC 4, BUFFALO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0955/5353102-1-eng-US/f0043-092.jpg" title="f0043-09" width="601" height="767"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1049/5353095-1-eng-US/f0043-102.jpg" title="f0043-10" width="590" height="273"></div><h2>DETROIT 0, WASHINGTON 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1143/5353088-1-eng-US/f0043-112.jpg" title="f0043-11" width="584" height="563"></div><h2>TORONTO 2, CHICAGO 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1240/5353081-1-eng-US/f0043-122.jpg" title="f0043-12" width="582" height="443"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1337/5353074-1-eng-US/f0043-132.jpg" title="f0043-13" width="578" height="529"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 2, WINNIPEG 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1437/5353067-1-eng-US/f0043-142.jpg" title="f0043-14" width="566" height="793"></div> &#9632;

f0036-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01543/5353703-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div><h2>GOALTENDING STATISTICS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01512/5353696-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="580" height="2358"></div><h2>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h2><h3>GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02357/5353689-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="562" height="298"></div><h3>MOST WINS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03263/5353682-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="557" height="234"></div><h3>SAVE PERCENTAGE</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04215/5353675-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="557" height="171"></div><h3>MOST SHUTOUTS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05174/5353668-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="561" height="378"></div> &#9632;

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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06148/5353734-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL TEAM ROSTERS

<h2>DECEMBER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07131/5353786-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="566" height="378"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-08119/5353779-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="556" height="404"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-09107/5353772-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="540" height="412"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1094/5353765-1-eng-US/f0039-102.jpg" title="f0039-10" width="550" height="410"></div> &#9632;

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NHL GAMES TO COME

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1335/5353824-1-eng-US/f0040-132.jpg" title="f0040-13" width="529" height="359"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1428/5353817-1-eng-US/f0040-142.jpg" title="f0040-14" width="536" height="369"></div> &#9632;

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National League Rookie Leaders

BOSTON&mdash;Fergus 13,14,15, Middleton 11, Sleigher3, Pederson 2, Milbury 1, Simmer 14. Winning goals-none.BUFFALO&mdash;McKenna 3, 4, 5, Playfair 1, Hamel 5, Peterson 5, 6, Davis 11, Cyr 5, Ramsay 6. Winning goals-Hamel.CALGARY&mdash;Tambellini 13,14, Beers 13,14, Peplinski 9, Maclnnis6, Patterson 16, Bozek 1, McDonald 2,3, Loob 11. Winning goals-none.CHICAGO&mdash;Larmer 15, 16, 17, Fraser 9, 10, 11, Yaremchuk 3, Sutter 11,12, D. Wilson 6, 7, 8, Savard 13,14,15, Secord 7. Winning goals-Sutter.DETROIT&mdash;Park 5, Lambert 4, Ogrodnick 12, 13, 14, 15, Cernik 3, Yzerman 11, 12, Boldirev 11, 12, Sittler 4, Kisio 7, 8, Gare 8, Duguay 14. Winning goals-Ogrodnick, Yzerman, Sittler.EDMONTON&mdash;Kurri 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, Gretzky 25, 26, Hughes 6, Krushelnyski 13, Anderson 17, Fogolin 2, Carroll 2, 3, Habs-cheid 4. Winning goals-Kurri, Fogolin.HARTFORD&mdash;Francis 8, Kotsopoulos 5, Crawford 8, 9, Lumley 4, 5, Siltanen 5, 6, Johnson 10, Zuke 3, Neufeld 8, Malone 5. Winning goals-Johnson, Malone.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Fox 10,11,12, Nicholls 17, 18,19, 20, Shutt 5, 6, Sykes 8, Taylor 12, Mac-Lellan 13, Dionne 15, Galley 5. Winning goals-none.MINNESOTA&mdash;Payne 10, Plett 5, Broten 6, McCarthy 8, 9, Napier 5, Bellows 11. Winning goals-none.MONTREAL&mdash;Ludwig 3, Tremblay 6, 7, Naslund 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, Smith 8, 9, 10, Mondou 5, 6, Nilan 5, Hunter 7, McPhee 3, Robinson 4, 5, DeBlois 5, Flockhart 4, Carbon-neau 7, Gainey 8. Winning goals-Naslund 2, Gainey 1.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Lorimer 1, Trottier 1, Gagne 6, 7, Sulliman 10, 11, Pichette 4. Winning goals-none.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Gilbert 3, 4, B. Sutter 18, Tonelli 13,14, 15, Bossy 26, 27, Flatley 9, Kallur 6, Jonsson 6, Persson 2. Winning goals-Flatley.NY RANGERS&mdash;Erixon 3, Sandstrom 9, J. Patrick 3,4, 5, Gagner 3, Hedberg 9, Allison 6, 7, 8, Beck 2. Winning goals-none.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Propp 16, 17, Sinisalo 10, Poulin 6, 7, Smith 6, Zezel 4, 5, Kerr 24, McCrimmon 5, Craven 9. Winning goals-Poulin, Zezel.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Bullard 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, Taylor 2, 3, 4, Shedden 11, 12, Belanger 2, Hillier 1, Young 19, 20, Bodger 4, Chabot 4, Brickley 3. Winning goals-Bullard, Hillier, Chabot.QUEBEC&mdash;M. Stastny 5,6, Goulet 17,18,19, Bell 2, A. Stastny 15, 16, Hunter 4, P. Stastny 11, 12, McKegney 11, 12, Moller 2, Marois 3. Winning goals-A. Stastny.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Mullen 12, 13, Gilmour 7, 8, Paslawski 2, Federko 9, 10, Amderson 3, LaVallee 9. Winning goals-none.TORONTO&mdash;Courtnall 6, Gavin 3, Salming 2, 3, Derlago 9, 10, 11, Frycer 12, 13, 14, Poddubny 4, Brubaker 1, Anderson 5. Winning goals-none.VANCOUVER&mdash;Skriko 6, Sundstrom 6, Lemay 9, Gradin 8, 9, Tanti 11, McNab 10. Winning goals-McNab.WASHINGTON&mdash;Carpenter 19, 20, 21, Adams 1,2, Duchesne 3, Christian 9, McEwen 1, Langway 1, Murphy 4, 5, Stevens 5, Jarvis 3. Winning goals-Adams, Carpenter.WINNIPEG&mdash;Wilson 4, Hawerchuk 15, 16, Turnbull 4, 5, Millen 10, 11, Boschman 12, Steen 8, Picard 4, 5, MacLean 12, Ellett 4. Winning goals-Picard 2.Four-goal games&mdash;Naslund (Mtl), Bullard (Pit), 1 each.Hat tricks&mdash;Ogrodnick (Det). McKenna (Buf), Nicholls (LA), Kurri (Edm), Savard (Chi), 1 each.Overtime winners&mdash;Hillier (Pit), Malone (Har), McNab (Van), 1 each &#9632;

NHL SCORERS THIS WEEK

(Standings on Mon. Dec. 10)<h2>CAMPBELL CONFERENCE</h2><h3>NORRIS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1528/5353900-1-eng-US/f0040-152.jpg" title="f0040-15" width="531" height="175"></div><h3>SMYTHE DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1626/5353893-1-eng-US/f0040-162.jpg" title="f0040-16" width="534" height="176"></div><h2>WALES CONFERENCE</h2><h3>ADAMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1723/5353886-1-eng-US/f0040-172.jpg" title="f0040-17" width="531" height="174"></div><h3>PATRICK DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1820/5353879-1-eng-US/f0040-182.jpg" title="f0040-18" width="534" height="204"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Dec. 3Boston 3 at Quebec 3 (OT)Hartford 3 at Montreal 9NY Islanders 5 at Vancouver 4Philadelphia 6 at NY Rangers 2Tue. Dec. 4New Jersey 1 at Washington 4Toronto 6 at Detroit 7Winnipeg 2 at St. Louis 2 (OT)Los Angeles 2 at Minnesota 2 (OT)Wed. Dec. 5Boston 3 at Buffalo 3 (OT)Montreal 3 at Hartford 5NY Islanders 4 at Edmonton 6Calgary 4 at NY Rangers 4 (OT)St. Louis 4 at Pittsburgh 7Detroit 4 at Toronto 2Los Angeles 5 at Chicago 5 (OT)Thu. Dec. 6Montreal 3 at Boston 1Quebec 1 at Philadelphia 1 (OT)Fri. Dec. 7Pittsburgh 4 at NY Rangers 3 (OT)Calgary 3 at New Jersey 3 (OT)Winnipeg 7 at Washington 5Chicago 4 at Detroit 5Minnesota 3 at Edmonton 6Sat. Dec. 8Buffalo 3 at Boston 1Hartford 4 at NY Islanders 3Los Angeles 7 at Montreal 9New Jersey 3 at Quebec 7NY Rangers 2 at Philadelphia 4Calgary 4 at Pittsburgh 6Toronto 3 at St. Louis 3 (OT)Edmonton 2 at Vancouver 3 (OT)Sun. Dec. 9Quebec 4 at Buffalo 4 (OT)Detroit 0 at Washington 4Toronto 2 at Chicago 7Minnesota 2 at Winnipeg 4 &#9632;

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THE NHL SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-19" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1918/5353952-1-eng-US/f0040-192.jpg"></div><h2>NORRIS DIVISION</h2><h2>SYMTHE DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-2017/5353945-1-eng-US/f0040-202.jpg" title="f0040-20" width="1075" height="182"></div><h2>ADAMS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-2117/5353938-1-eng-US/f0040-212.jpg" title="f0040-21" width="1078" height="182"></div><h2>PATRICK DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-2217/5353931-1-eng-US/f0040-222.jpg" title="f0040-22" width="1076" height="219"></div> &#9632;

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How NHL Teams Rate

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0656/5353983-1-eng-US/f0041-062.jpg" title="f0041-06" width="553" height="1475"></div>The Toronto Maple Leafs are struggling, but rookie Al lafrate has shown glimpses of being one of their better players in the next few years.lafrate, 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, is a native of Livonia, Ml, and played on the midget team which won the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States national championship in 1983.From there, lafrate joined the 1984 United States Olympic team, and was one of the youngest players on that squad.Drafted fourth overall by the Leafs in the &lsquo;84 entry draft, lafrate was considered too good a prospect to return to his junior team, the Belleville Bulls of the Ontario Hockey League.lafrate, who possesses outstanding offensive skills and is extremely fast for his size, has two goals and seven assists in 25 games. &#9632;

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Chrysler Rookie Spotlight

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Dec. 11)<h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01205/5354140-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="532" height="236"></div><h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02143/5354133-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="532" height="210"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Dec. 5Maine 3 at Adirondack 5Hershey 3 at Baltimore 4Sherbrooke 4 at Moncton 3Thu. Dec. 6Sherbrooke 4 at Nova Scotia 5Binghamton 2 at St. Catharines 3Fri. Dec. 7Adirondack 0 at Baltimore 3St. Catharines 3 at Binghamton 4Moncton 4 at New Haven 5Hershey 4 at Rochester 4Maine 0 at Springfield 6Sat. Dec. 8Baltimore 3 at Adirondack 3Rochester 2 at Binghamton 6Sherbrooke 3 at Fredericton 2St. Catharines 3 at Hershey 2New Haven 6 at Maine 4Moncton 3 at Springfield 6Sun. Dec. 9Moncton 4 at New Haven 5Sherbrooke 7 at Nova Scotia 3Rochester 2 at St. Catharines 10<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03107/5354126-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="536" height="324"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Dec. 12)<h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0482/5354119-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="530" height="146"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0569/5354112-1-eng-US/f0042-052.jpg" title="f0042-05" width="536" height="208"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Dec. 5Indianapolis 1 at Fort Wayne 6Milwaukee 2 at Flint 6Muskegon 3 at Kalamazoo 0Toledo 2 at Salt Lake 6Fri. Dec. 7Kalamazoo 5 at Flint 5Fort Wayne 3 at Milwaukee 3Peoria 3 at Indianapolis 3Toledo 1 at Salt Lake 6Sat. Dec. 8Flint 5 at Fort Wayne 7Indianapolis 2 at Muskegon 5Peoria 3 at Kalamazoo 2Toledo 3 at Salt Lake 3Sun. Dec. 9Fort Wayne 3 at Flint 1Muskegon 2 at Toledo 6Indianapolis 1 at Milwaukee 5Kalamazoo 6 at Peoria 8<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0662/5354105-1-eng-US/f0042-062.jpg" title="f0042-06" width="530" height="294"></div><h2>NO. ONTARIO JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 10)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0757/5354098-1-eng-US/f0042-072.jpg" title="f0042-07" width="532" height="206"></div><h2>ATLANTIC COAST LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Dec. 11)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0850/5354091-1-eng-US/f0042-082.jpg" title="f0042-08" width="536" height="180"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Dec. 4Virginia 2 at Carolina 12Wed. Dec. 5Pine Bridge 4 at Erie 14Thu. Dec. 6Carolina 5 at Virginia 4Pine Bridge 8 at Mohawk Valley 6Fri. Dec. 7Mohawk Valley 4 at Erie 6Carolina 5 at Pine Bridge 0Sat. Dec. 8Erie 3 at Mohawk Valley 4Virginia 4 at Pine Bridge 7Sun. Dec. 9Carolina 12 at Virginia 1<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0947/5354084-1-eng-US/f0042-092.jpg" title="f0042-09" width="534" height="294"></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Dec. 12)<h3>LEYDEN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1042/5354077-1-eng-US/f0042-102.jpg" title="f0042-10" width="530" height="242"></div><h3>EMMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1137/5354070-1-eng-US/f0042-112.jpg" title="f0042-11" width="530" height="276"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Dec. 4Toronto 4 at Oshawa 3Wed Dec. 5Sudbury 1 at S.S. Marie 6Thu. Dec. 6Ottawa 2 at Peterborough 5North Bay 3 at Windsor 4Oshawa 3 at Hamilton 8Guelph 2 at Cornwall 3Fri. Dec. 7Belleville 5 at Kitchener 1Peterborough 6 at Ottawa 3North Bay 3 at London 4Guelph 4 at Kingston 5S.S. Marie 5 at Sudbury 0Sat. Dec. 8Windsor 2 at Belleville 6S.S. Marie 4 at Peterborough 7Cornwall 5 at Peterborough 7London 3 at Kitchener 6Sun. Dec. 9Belleville 5 at Toronto 3Kingston 4 at Oshawa 8Windsor 3 at Cornwall 10Sudbury 4 at North Bay 12Kitchener 3 at London 5Guelph 2 at Ottawa 6S.S. Marie 4 at Hamilton 7<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1232/5354063-1-eng-US/f0042-122.jpg" title="f0042-12" width="534" height="272"></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 10)<h3>LEBEL DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1327/5354056-1-eng-US/f0042-132.jpg" title="f0042-13" width="538" height="184"></div><h3>DILIO DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1425/5354049-1-eng-US/f0042-142.jpg" title="f0042-14" width="532" height="237"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Dec. 3Verdun 1 at Chicoutimi 4Shawinigan 5 at Laval 4Tue. Dec. 4Quebec 4 at Longueuil 3Wed. Dec. 5Granby 4 at Hull 5Drummondville 8 at Laval 2Shawinigan 6 at St. Jean 3Longueuil 1 at T-Rivieres 8Fri. Dec. 7Quebec 1 at Chicoutimi 5Hull 4 at Drummondville 6T-Rivieres 7 at Granby 3Longueuil 4 at Shawinigan 6Laval 7 at St. Jean 6Sun. Dec. 9Chicoutimi 6 at Hull 5Granby 6 at Quebec 7St Jean 2 at Shawinigan 8Drummondville 5 at Verdun 7<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1524/5354042-1-eng-US/f0042-152.jpg" title="f0042-15" width="532" height="328"></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Dec. 11)<h3>EASTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1624/5354035-1-eng-US/f0042-162.jpg" title="f0042-16" width="531" height="265"></div><h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1723/5354028-1-eng-US/f0042-172.jpg" title="f0042-17" width="540" height="205"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Dec. 4Regina 5 at Saskatoon 6Lethbridge 2 at Brandon 3Prince Albert 8 at Moose Jaw 3Kamloops 6 at Victoria 3Seattle 1 at New Westminster 4Wed. Dec. 5Calgary 2 at Medicine Hat 6Lethbridge 2 at Regina 3Saskatoon 3 at Prince Albert 7Kamloops 7 at Portland 2Thu. Dec. 6Lethbridge 1 at Moose Jaw 6Fri. Dec. 7Prince Albert 0 at Regina 1Saskatoon 4 at Brandon 2New Westminster 4 at Portland 3Kelowna 9 at Kamloops 6Sat. Dec. 8Medicine Hat 3 at Kelowna 2Portland 6 at Victoria 1Sun. Dec. 9Medicine Hat 4 at Kamloops 5Brandon 3 at Regina 8Moose Jaw 4 at Calgary 10Prince Albert 13 at Saskatoon 5Victoria 5 at Portland 10Kelowna 10 at Seattle 3<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1821/5354021-1-eng-US/f0042-182.jpg" title="f0042-18" width="532" height="560"></div><h2>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 10)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1918/5354014-1-eng-US/f0042-192.jpg" title="f0042-19" width="538" height="266"></div> &#9632;

f0042-01

MINOR SCOREBOARD

<h2>BEAVER TALES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1533/5354185-1-eng-US/f0043-152.jpg" title="f0043-15" width="603" height="537"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1631/5354178-1-eng-US/f0043-162.jpg" title="f0043-16" width="571" height="535"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1727/5354171-1-eng-US/f0043-172.jpg" title="f0043-17" width="603" height="534"></div><h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Don Sylvestri, G, recalled from Indianapolis of IHL as replacement for Doug Keans, G, who is sidelined for 4-6 weeks after undergoing knee surgery. Ken Linseman, C, and Lyndon Byers, RW, back from injury list.BUFFALO&mdash;Steve Patrick, RW, and Jim Wiemer, D, traded to the NY Rangers for Dave Maloney, D, and Chris Renaud, D, who was recalled from New Haven of AHL. Sabres sent Renaud to Rochester of AHL. Timo Jutila, D, Claude Verret, C, Gates Orlando, C, Mike Moller, RW, and Normand Lacombe, RW, all recalled from Rochester. Jim Schoenfeld, D, relieved of coaching duties at Rochester and activated as a player by the Sabres. Schoenfeld&rsquo;s coaching assistant, John Van Boxmeer, stepped up as head coach. Real Cloutier, RW, and Jutila, assigned to Rochester. Gilles Perreault, LW, sidelined indefinitely with broken knuckle. Phil Housley, D, out indefinitely with shoulder injury. Mike Foligno, RW, also out with bruised shoulder. Brent Peterson, C, back from injury list.CALGARY&mdash;Paul Reinhart, D, sidelined indefinitely with back injury. Carey Wilson, C, out indefiniately with pulled groin. Richard Kromm, LW, sidelined indefinitely with concussion. Yves Courteau, RW, assigned to Moncton of AHL.CHICAGO&mdash;Ken Yaremchuk, RW, recalled from Milwaukee of IHL. Dan Frawley, RW, re-turned to Milwaukee. Jack O&rsquo;Callahan, D, back from injury list.DETROIT&mdash;Larry Trader, D, out of action for 10-12 weeks after undergoing knee surgery. Colin Campbell, D, sidelined with throat injury. Milan Chalupa, D, back from injury list.HARTFORD&mdash;Kevin Dineen, RW, and Paul Fenton, LW, recalled from Binghamton of AHL.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Darren Eliot, G, back from injury list. Mike Blake, G, returned to New Haven of AHL.MINNESOTA&mdash;Brian Lawton, C, assigned to Springfield of AHL for two-week conditioning period.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Rich Chernomaz, c, sidelined indefinitely with sprained knee. Mitch Wilson, RW, assigned to Maine of AHL. Rocky Trottier, RW, recalled from Maine. Mike Kitchen, D, advised Devils he was quitting Maine and returned to his home in Toronto. Pat Verbeek, C, back from injury list.NY RANGERS&mdash;Randy Heath, LW, recalled from New Haven of AHL but later returned.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Tim Young, C, returned to Hershey of AHL. Peter Zezel, C, back from injury list. Derrick Smith, LW, sidelined with strained knee.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Mario Lemieux, C, back from injury list. Michel Dion, G, recalled from Balti-more of AHL as replacement for Roberto Romano, G, who injured his knee and will be out indefinitely. Penguins recalled Tom Thornbury, D, from Baltimore and traded him to Quebec for Brian Ford, G, and sent Ford to Baltimore to replace Dion. Nordiques assigned Thornbury to Fredericton of AHL. Jim Hamilton, LW, returned to Baltimore.QUEBEC&mdash;Blake Wesley, D, sent to Fredericton of AHL. Gord Donnelly, D, recalled from Fredericton as a replacement. Wilf Paiement, RW, back from injury list.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Greg Paslawski, C, back from injury list.TORONTO&mdash;Tim Bernhardt, G, and Wes Jarvis, RW, recalled from St. Catharines of AHL. Jarvis later returned to AHL team along with Ken Wregget, G, Gaston Gingras, D, Craig Muni, D, and Steve Thomas, LW. Jim Korn, LW, and Peter Ihnacak, C, back from injury list. Rick Vaive, RW, sidelined for week with knee injury.VANCOUVER&mdash;Richard Brodeur, G, recalled from Fredericton of AHL as replacement for Frank Caprice, G, who is out of action for a month with torn hamstring muscle. Andy Schliebener, D, assigned to Fredericton of AHL. Darcy Rota, LW, announced retirement from hockey on advisement from team doctors after off-season surgery on serious knee injury. Tony Tanti, RW, back from injury list.WASHINGTON&mdash;Bengt Gustafsson, LW, back from injury list.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>ADIRONDACK&mdash;Stephane Lefebvre, D, out indefinitely with broken wrist. Dennis Polonich, RW, sidelined indefinitely with broken bone in his foot. Tom Cronin, D, signed as free agent.NEW HAVEN&mdash;Dave Ross, G, recalled from Toledo of IHL.NOVA SCOTIA&mdash;Mark Morrison, RW, out in-definitely with broken wrist. Jan Tabor, RW, released outright to return to his native West Germany.<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>MILWAUKEE&mdash;Bill McCreary, RW, released outright. Jeff Smith, RW, sidelined indefinitely after undergoing knee surgery. &#9632;

f0043-15

PLAYER TRANSACTIONS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-01197/5354265-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg" title="C0004-01" width="289" height="294"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-02117/5354258-1-eng-US/c0004-022.jpg" title="C0004-02" width="328" height="302"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0364/5354251-1-eng-US/c0004-032.jpg" title="C0004-03" width="470" height="238"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0434/5354244-1-eng-US/c0004-042.jpg" title="C0004-04" width="478" height="234"></div><h2>WINNIPEG</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0520/5354237-1-eng-US/c0004-052.jpg" title="C0004-05" width="472" height="238"></div><h2>CALGARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0618/5354230-1-eng-US/c0004-062.jpg" title="C0004-06" width="476" height="246"></div><h2>EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0713/5354223-1-eng-US/c0004-072.jpg" title="C0004-07" width="472" height="238"></div><h2>VANCOUVER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0810/5354216-1-eng-US/c0004-082.jpg" title="C0004-08" width="470" height="236"></div><h2>Gretzky Top Star In Voting</h2>EDMONTON&mdash;The first segment of the 1984 Molson Cup competition has ended and not too much has changed as far as Wayne Gretzky is concerned.At the conclusion of the opening segment, Gretzky compiled 60 points, 25 more than any other player in the overall three-star voting, to capture first place among the Edmonton Oilers. The win was worth $1,000 to The Great One.Gretzky was the only one of last year&rsquo;s six Canadian cities&rsquo; finalists to hold his own in the new year voting. Patrik Sund-strom of Vancouver, the 1984 winner among the Canucks, had to share the first segment lead this time around with rookie Petri Skriko.Here&rsquo;s a team-by-team breakdown of the first segment voting and the ultimate winners:MONTREAL&mdash;Rookie defense sensation Chris Chelios and netminder Steve Penney finished in a tie for the lead with 20 points each and will share the $1,000. Mats Naslund, also had 20 points, but had to settle for runner-up and pocketed $500. Both Chelios and Penney had more first-place votes than the little Swede to qualify for the top prize.TORONTO&mdash;Goaltender Allan Bester survived the turmoil that has engulfed the Maple Leafs on the ice this season and walked off with the first Cup segment win and $1,000. Bester had 20 points, five more than Dan Daoust and Jim Benning. Daoust was awarded second place and the $500 bonus based on more first-place picks.WINNIPEG&mdash;Jet captain Dale Hawerchuk, who narrowly lost out to Boschman in the final windup last season, came away from the first segment voting this year with 35 points to get first place and $1,000. Thomas Steen with 30 points was second, while Boschman finished third 25.CALGARY&mdash;Rookie Carey Wilson established his superiority early in the Molson Cup voting this season with the Flames. He finished with 30 points to collect the winning $1,000 bonus money, by edging Kent Nilsson, who was awarded the runnerup prize after he was locked in a thre-way tie with Jim Peplinski and Colin Patterson.EDMONTON&mdash;There is no stopping i Gretzky in the three-star voting. He has never relinquished first place in recent years to any of his teammates, and at the conclusion of the first-segment he had 60 points, 25 more than linemate Jari Kurri, who won the $500 second prize. Glenn Anderson was third with 30 points.VANCOUVER&mdash;The lowly Canucks haven&rsquo;t been too exciting on the ice this season, and that&rsquo;s reflected in the Cup standings. The best Petri Skriko and Pat rik Sundstrom could do was 15 points each. Molson Cup officials decided that due to the lack of three stars at the team&rsquo;s games, Skriko and Sundstrom would share both the first and second place bonus money. &#9632;

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December 21, 1984

The Hockey News BookShelf

EMERY TROPHY PLUS-MINUS

THIS WEEK…20 Years Ago

Loiselle Rising To The Challenge