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 28, 1984

The Hockey News December 28, 1984

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02910/5355930-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="390" height="456"></div>Okay hockey trivia buffs, who was the last player to wear the number four for the Boston Bruins before Bobby Orr?If you said Albert (Junior) Langlois you are either older than most of the players currently in the National Hockey League, a loyal Bruin fan, or just a great trivia expert.Whatever the case, Langlois played defense in the National Hockey League for parts of nine seasons (19571966) with the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings and Boston. His last season was in 1965-66 with the Bruins, in which he wore the now-famous number four.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad to know today that I&rsquo;m part of a trivia question,&rdquo; said Langlois jokingly. &ldquo;The fact that my sweater is retired in Boston is fine with me.&ldquo;Seriously, they couldn&rsquo;t have given the sweater to a better player than Orr. I&rsquo;ll never forget the first time I saw him wear it during a game.&ldquo;I happened to look down on the ice and saw this young kid wearing the number. But for some reason that number was moving faster on the ice than it ever had with me wearing it.&ldquo;In fact, he (Orr) was moving faster than any other player that night. I knew he would be good the first night I laid eyes on him.&rdquo;Another great that Langlois had the privilege of playing with was Hall-of-Famer Doug Harvey. Langlois and Harvey were paired together on defense for almost six full seasons in Montreal and New York.&ldquo;Tome, Doug was the best defenseman I ever saw play the game,&rdquo; said Langlois. &ldquo;Nobody could control the game the way Doug did. He could control the tempo of the game by slowing things down or speeding them up.&ldquo;I can remember one game against Detroit when Doug and I were still with the Canadiens. The Red Wings came out and were really playing a very fast-paced game.&ldquo;All he said to me was that these guys were going too fast for him and he would have to slow things down. And that&rsquo;s just what he did. He took the puck and skated up to the blue line with it, turned around and then skated towards our net with it. He just slowed things right down.&ldquo;That forced Detoit into playing our game, which we eventually won.&rdquo;Langlois never forgot the night he played his first game with Montreal in Detroit either.&ldquo;I was scared silly,&rdquo; recalled Langlois, who was nicknamed Junior because he was named after his father, Joseph Albert Langlois. &ldquo;The first time I.was on the ice Gordie Howe came at me one-on-one. It was what they called a knee-knocking situation.&ldquo;Fortunately, I knocked the puck off Howe&rsquo;s stick and took him into the comer and out of the play. I did have sense enough to watch out for one of Howe&rsquo;s flying elbows.&rdquo;Today, Langlois works as an account executive in Westwood, CA.Although he played for four Stanley Cup teams in Montreal, Langlois still has one regret.&ldquo;In all the times I was around the Stanley Cup during team celebrations and all, I never had my picture taken alone with the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; said the 50-year-old native of Magog, Que., who now resides in Beverly Hills, CA. &ldquo;That would really have meant a lot to me because its something that every boy dreams about.&ldquo;Maybe someday I&rsquo;ll go to where they keep the Cup and get my picture taken with it.&ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t be too late to do that.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03638/5355923-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="1202" height="886"><figcaption class="caption-body">Albert (Junior) Langlois&rsquo; only regret is that he never had a picture taken of himself beside the Stanley Cup.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Langlois Wore The Number Before It Became Famous

<h2>DECEMBER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06149/5357872-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="550" height="364"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07132/5357865-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="548" height="416"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-08120/5357858-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="544" height="408"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-09108/5357851-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="554" height="416"></div> &#9632;

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NHL GAMES TO COME

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;When Mike Bullard was named captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins before the season began, he was expected to lead the team that finished last in the National Hockey League the past two seasons.But after the first eight weeks of the season about the only thing Bullard was leading was the negative end of the NHL&rsquo;s plus-minus ratings and the number of rumors concerning where he would be traded.Bullard may have put an end to the trade rumors, however, with a four-goal and two-assist performance against the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 5. The four goals tied a team record held by Paul Gardner, and the six points tied a club mark held by Ron Stackhouse and Greg Malone.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been playing the best of hockey so far in Pittsburgh.&rdquo; admitted Bullard, who entered the game with a league-leading minus-23 rating. &ldquo;Everybody was getting on me. I kind of went back home and I just said, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s about time I started showing the way I can play the game.&rsquo;&rdquo;The 23-year-old Bullard scored 51 goals and 41 assists last season. He admits the trade rumors have hurt his concentration.&ldquo;More or less that&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;ve been down,&rdquo; he said about the talk of him being dealt to Buffalo, Quebec, Washington or the New York Rangers. &ldquo;Day in and day out I&rsquo;ve been coming down to the rink and someone has come up to me and said. &lsquo;Did you hear you&rsquo;re going to so and so&hellip;It&rsquo;s a little frustrating.&ldquo;I had a long talk with Bob (coach Bob Berry) and E.J. (general manager Eddie Johnston) and they said they&rsquo;re not going to trade me. I&rsquo;ve got a home in Pittsburgh, and I really like the town. I needed to hear it from the coaching staff and the general manager that they have no plans of dealing me. That&rsquo;ll give me a lot of confidence. I&rsquo;d just like to play here. We&rsquo;ve got a pretty good team here when we get it together.&rdquo;Berry said Bullard has been improving offensively and defensively lately.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-01198/5358309-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg" title="C0004-01" width="578" height="1358"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pittsburgh&rsquo;s big gun Mike Bullard has had several things on his mind this season.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Mike, the last two or three games, has played very, very well for us,&rdquo; Berry said. &ldquo;You know he can score goals, and he&rsquo;s been working in both ends of the rink.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the first game I&rsquo;ve been plus in a decade,&rdquo; Bullard laughed after the St. Louis game in which he was plus-1. &ldquo;I have some bad luck with the minus. It&rsquo;s a stat that I think is a little misleading, but I&rsquo;ve been trying to work on it.&rdquo;The six-point game gave Bullard 14 goals and 10 assists in his first 24 games.In addition of having to deal with criticism of his play and constant trade rumors, Bullard also is playing in the option year of his contract.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d lie if I said I don&rsquo;t really put it aside,&rdquo; Bullard said about the inability to reach a new contract agreement. &ldquo;I would love to sign tomorrow, but it&rsquo;s just one of those things. A lot of things have to be ironed out.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just going to let my agent (Gus Badali) work all that out. Just let me go out and produce. The more I produce, the more it&rsquo;ll get solved quicker.&rdquo;The Penguins&rsquo; first-round choice in 1980 from Brantford of the Ontario Hockey League, Bullard makes his home year-round in Pittsburgh. But the Steeltown fans have not been too kind this season.&ldquo;I know I haven&rsquo;t played the best of hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they realize what was on my mind. I was getting a lot of boo-birds. I don&rsquo;t blame them. I wasn&rsquo;t playing the best, but I thought they&rsquo;d kind of stick with me and give me a break.&ldquo;But I guess they pay their money and they&rsquo;ve got the right to say anything the want. It&rsquo;s just about time now that I show them I&rsquo;m a good player.&rdquo;PENGUIN TRACKS&mdash;Right winger Bruce Crowder suffered a broken toe on his left foot and was expected to be out at least two weeks. Center Mario Lemieux returned to the lineup after missing seven games with a sprained knee. Left winger Gary Rissling was recalled from Baltimore of the American Hockey League where he was leading the Skip jacks in scoring with nine goals and 17 assists. &#9632;

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Bullard Slowly Breaking Out Of Bad Spell

<h2>Mon. Dec. 10 LOS ANGELES 2, RANGERS 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01538/5357730-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="562" height="740"></div><h2>DETROIT 4, MINNESOTA 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02406/5357723-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="562" height="768"></div><h2>Tue. Dec. 11 VANCOUVER 4, QUEBEC 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03328/5357716-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="588" height="728"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY 7, ISLANDERS 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04244/5357709-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="596" height="818"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 4, WINNIPEG 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05195/5357702-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="590" height="1054"></div><h2>WASHINGTON 3, ST. LOUIS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06165/5357695-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="590" height="498"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07156/5357688-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="580" height="162"></div><h2>Wed. Dec. 12 BOSTON 3, RANGERS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08151/5357681-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="584" height="908"></div><h2>BUFFALO 2, HARTFORD 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-09145/5357674-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="584" height="416"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-10142/5357667-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="554" height="356"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 3, PITTSBURGH 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-11138/5357660-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="552" height="826"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 3, TORONTO 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-12130/5357653-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="552" height="354"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01467/5357646-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="566" height="442"></div><h2>WASHINGTON 3, MINNESOTA 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02340/5357639-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="572" height="794"></div><h2>DETROIT 1, CHICAGO 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03258/5357632-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="564" height="706"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 2, CALGARY 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04213/5357625-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="564" height="240"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05185/5357618-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="594" height="790"></div><h2>Thu. Dec. 13 QUEBEC 5, BOSTON 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06160/5357611-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="596" height="936"></div><h2>VANCOUVER 5, MONTREAL 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07138/5357604-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="588" height="530"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-08114/5357597-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="601" height="409"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 4, NEW JERSEY 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0999/5357590-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="584" height="907"></div><h2>EDMONTON 2, LOS ANGELES 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1092/5357583-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="575" height="758"></div><h2>Fri. Dec. 14 DETROIT 4, BUFFALO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1176/5357576-1-eng-US/f0037-112.jpg" title="f0037-11" width="578" height="122"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1265/5357569-1-eng-US/f0037-122.jpg" title="f0037-12" width="584" height="708"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1359/5357562-1-eng-US/f0037-132.jpg" title="f0037-13" width="566" height="186"></div><h2>TORONTO 4, WINNIPEG 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1453/5357555-1-eng-US/f0037-142.jpg" title="f0037-14" width="570" height="444"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02163/5357548-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="556" height="499"></div><h2>Sat. Dec. 15 VANCOUVER 1, BOSTON 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03113/5357541-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="564" height="789"></div><h2>MONTREAL 3, HARTFORD 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0487/5357534-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="568" height="387"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0570/5357527-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="583" height="644"></div><h2>QUEBEC 3, NEW JERSEY 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0658/5357520-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="583" height="674"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0752/5357513-1-eng-US/f0040-072.jpg" title="f0040-07" width="588" height="294"></div><h2>PHILAD 2, ISLANDERS 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0846/5357506-1-eng-US/f0040-082.jpg" title="f0040-08" width="596" height="780"></div><h2>RANGERS 2, WASHINGTON 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0942/5357499-1-eng-US/f0040-092.jpg" title="f0040-09" width="580" height="670"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH 5, TORONTO 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1042/5357492-1-eng-US/f0040-102.jpg" title="f0040-10" width="576" height="900"></div><h2>CHICAGO 5, MINNESOTA 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1141/5357485-1-eng-US/f0040-112.jpg" title="f0040-11" width="560" height="698"></div><h2>EDMONTON 8, ST. LOUIS 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1238/5357478-1-eng-US/f0040-122.jpg" title="f0040-12" width="554" height="1016"></div><h2>CALGARY 5, LOS ANGELES 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1336/5357471-1-eng-US/f0040-132.jpg" title="f0040-13" width="563" height="331"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01200/5357464-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="568" height="325"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02129/5357457-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="594" height="378"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0389/5357450-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="599" height="102"></div><h2>Sun. Dec. 16 VANCOUVER 2, BUFFALO 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0475/5357443-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="600" height="181"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0563/5357436-1-eng-US/f0041-052.jpg" title="f0041-05" width="614" height="376"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0657/5357429-1-eng-US/f0041-062.jpg" title="f0041-06" width="561" height="87"></div><h2>MONTREAL 3, PHILAD. 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0751/5357422-1-eng-US/f0041-072.jpg" title="f0041-07" width="569" height="213"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01203/5357415-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="566" height="517"></div><h2>WASHINGTON 6, RANGERS 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02149/5357408-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="568" height="1013"></div><h2>DETROIT 2, WINNIPEG 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03124/5357401-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="560" height="702"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 5, CHICAGO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0497/5357394-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="598" height="809"></div> &#9632;

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NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

In next week&rsquo;s issue, we&rsquo;ll bring back the popular feature of a year ago, entitled &ldquo;In The System.&rdquo; That&rsquo;s where each of the 21 NHL team stories will update the progress of the team&rsquo;s top two or three prospects, whether they&rsquo;re in the minors, junior, high school or college.And on top of that, we&rsquo;ll have an exciting cover story on the number of exceptional rookie defensemen who have burst onto the NHL scene this season. It&rsquo;s a phe-nomenom which has some people wondering if Montreal Canadien defenseman Chris Chelios will the first player to win the Calder (rookie) and Norris (top defenseman) in the same season.And, last but not least, our junior hockey correspondents will be giving you the early line on the 1985 entry draft prospects in the West, Ontario and Quebec.Don&rsquo;t miss it.<h2>QUOTE OF THE WEEK</h2>&ldquo;&hellip;the idea that you&rsquo;ll never hear from me again has occurred to me.&rdquo;NHL veteran Tony Currie, on becoming a minor leaguer with the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; organization instead of a fringe player with the Hartford Whalers. Story on Page 15. &#9632;

NEXT WEEK IN THN

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011332/5355751-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"></div>For a guy whom nobody wanted to draft a few years ago, everybody is certainly trying to grab a piece of Tim Kerr now.Let&rsquo;s see, every time the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; burly right winger and leading scorer moves toward the slot, he&rsquo;s got guys grabbing his arms, clutching him around the shoulders, holding him by the legs, and doing just about everything short of roping him like a steer.He sure gets a lot of attention following his 54-goal campaign last season, a healthy new contract, and an opening-season spurt which had him on a goal-a-game pace through 24 games this season and a league-leading 11 power-play goals. And, with more than a quarter of the season gone, it doesn&rsquo;t look as if anybody is going to figure out a way to stop this man who turns into Phil Esposito around the net.Not bad for a guy nobody wanted in the 1979 entry draft, huh?&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been amazing,&rdquo; said Washington Capitals&rsquo; general manager David Poile while watching a game at the Spectrum. &ldquo;He just stands in that slot and gets the shot on net.&ldquo;It looks like he&rsquo;s having one of those years; even the soft shots are going in, and nobody&rsquo;s moving him out of there too quickly.&rdquo;Indeed, he might look like a steer being roped by the opposition, but nobody&rsquo;s gonna&rsquo; tell this big dogie to &ldquo;move &lsquo;em out.&rdquo;&ldquo;You try to move him out,&rdquo; said Caps&rsquo; assistant coach Terry Murray, who was a teammate of Kerr&rsquo;s on the Flyers, &ldquo;and it&rsquo;s like leaning against a tree; a redwood tree.&ldquo;And, it&rsquo;s not just his strength. It&rsquo;s that shot. Yeah, he reminds you of Espo around the net.&rdquo;Imagine, the Flyers got themselves a Phil Esposito-clone, and they didn&rsquo;t even have to use a draft choice to land him. What a deal, they got their own classic garbage man by scouring the left-over junior products after the 1979 entry draft.The Flyers were able to scoop him up for a $10,000 signing bonus because the NHL was going through a transistion period in the age of player eligibility. On their way to what would eventually be an 18-year-old draft, the NHL lowered the age from 20 to 19 in 1979 and, in doing so, shortened the draft from 10 to six rounds.Having only six rounds to draft, nobody&mdash;including the Flyers&mdash;wanted to take a chance on the clumsy kid from Kingston who had scored only 17 goals and 25 assists in his first year of junior hockey.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t surprised,&rdquo; said Ken. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have great numbers and, to be honest, I didn&rsquo;t have the greatest work habits. Yeah, I kept myself in shape, but I didn&rsquo;t push myself the way I do now.&rdquo;Even if he hadn&rsquo;t pushed himself, the Flyers saw the width of Kerr&rsquo;s shoulders, studied the muscles within a massive, 6-foot-3, 225-pound frame, and figured he was worth a chance.Knowing that there would be kids left over from the shortened draft, the Flyers went out with free-agent contracts in hand. They eventually signed six, including Ron Flockhart and Greg Adams, but Kerr turned into the real steal, and they almost had to steal him away from the Detroit Red Wings.&ldquo;I was talking to Detroit,&rdquo; said Kerr. &ldquo;You know, it&rsquo;s near my home and all. And then (former Flyer scout) Eric (Colville) talked to me at (junior) training camp in 1979.&ldquo;He told me about the benefits of playing with a proven organization like the Flyers instead of Detroit. To be honest, I didn&rsquo;t think too much about it being easier to make the Detroit team; I didn&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d be in the NHL that quickly, anyway.&rdquo;And, to be honest, the Flyers didn&rsquo;t really think they&rsquo;d found an honest-to-goodness diamond. Their chief scout, Jerry Melnyk, even looked at Kerr and thought he might be &ldquo;just another big, lazy kid.&rdquo;But once free of Kingston and his junior coach, Jim Morrison, Kerr began to develop not only a scoring touch, but an inner drive to match his size.He showed up at training camp in 1980 fully expecting to play in the American Hockey League with the Maine Mariners, and then earned a spot on the Flyers&rsquo; roster when Ken Linseman suffered a broken leg during training camp. Still cast as a center-right winger, Kerr turned in a 22-goal season with 45 points.However, just as misfortune opened the door for him, it almost made it appear that the door would never be fully agape. You see, it wasn&rsquo;t always the opposition which was trying to knock Kerr out of the lineup; for a couple of seasons Kerr did a pretty good job of keeping himself out with injuries.And, knowing the hockey mentality toward injuries, it wasn&rsquo;t long before people began to talk about Kerr and whisper the phrase &ldquo;injury prone&rdquo;.During his first three seasons, Kerr missed 87 out of a possible 240 games with various injuries and scored only a total of 54 goals&mdash;exactly the total he accumulated last season.For a man of such imposing physical strength, it was truly ironic that he would have such trouble staying healthy. Former Flyers&rsquo; coach Bob McCammon even wondered if maybe Kerr wasn&rsquo;t &ldquo;too strong for his own good.&rdquo;&ldquo;Nah, it was nothing like that,&rdquo; said Kerr. &ldquo;It was just bad luck. Things just happened.&rdquo;Some of the &ldquo;things that happened&rdquo; included cartilage damage in his left knee, which eventually required surgery, a shoulder problem (which has also caused him to miss two games this season), a lower back problem, a hernia and even impacted wisdom teeth. Things got so bad that after he initially injured his knee in November, 1982, he underwent surgery, returned to score six points in seven games, and then broke his right leg.And that is why nobody really ever paid much attention to Tim Kerr until last season, when he finally stayed healthy and swatted in 54 goals, mostly from within the front of the net.&ldquo;Timmy&rsquo;s got the same kind of strength around the net as Espo did,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; general manager Bob Clarke, &ldquo;and he&rsquo;s got the great shot, the quick release. He gets the puck away and&mdash;zap&mdash;it&rsquo;s in the net.&rdquo;Indeed, it might be Kerr&rsquo;s size and strength which earns him squatter&rsquo;s right&rsquo;s in the slot, but if it weren&rsquo;t for his quick, supple wrists all he would be is a nuisance instead of a major threat.Flyer goalie Pelle Lindbergh isn&rsquo;t so impressed with Kerr&rsquo;s shot as much as his ability to get it away.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good shot, but not unbeliEEEvable,&rdquo; said Lindbergh. &ldquo;The big thing is that he gets it away so fast. It&rsquo;s a wrist shot, and he takes it so fast, you don&rsquo;t have time to get set. It&rsquo;s a heavy shot, but the really unbelievable thing is that he can even get it away with one arm.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s a good thing he can because in the words of Flyer coach Mike Keenan: &ldquo;They take him down inside the 10-yard line an awful lot.&rdquo;At the beginning of this season, there was some concern that Kerr might not be so willing to plow through the would-be tacklers as he was a year ago. After all, he had just signed a multiyear contract with the club (an estimated $200,000 per season) and there was some concern that he wasn&rsquo;t going to go out and bang heads with all that money already in his pocket.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got too much pride to just sit back and rest,&rdquo; said Kerr. &ldquo;I know what got me here, and I know what I have to do in order to continue to be valuable to this team.&ldquo;1 knew some people would say that I would get lazy after the contract, but I have to prove them wrong. -&ldquo;It felt funny to start talking about scoring 50 goals last season. All I really wanted was to have a healthy year, and to prove I could produce.&ldquo;Now, the important thing is for me to keep going. I don&rsquo;t want to have one big year, and that&rsquo;s it. I have to prove I can keep it going.&rdquo;And maybe prove he should have been a first-round pick. &#9632;

f0003-01

ESPO REVISITED

THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY Founded in 1947 by Kenneth W. McKenziePUBLISHERDean HeineBUSINESS MANAGERTony Dobra nowskiEDITOR IN CHIEFBob McKenzieEDITORIAL DIRECTORCharlie HalpinASSISTANT EDITORPern LefkoCONTRIBUTING EDITORSStan Fischler, Frank OrrDIRECTOR ADVERTISING SALESDanny LewickiADVERTISING SALES MANAGERRandv GreenADVERTISING SERVICES MANAGEREsther SumkaADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVESFor Canadian Consumer Advertising Only Call: CCMC, Cliff Kivell, 287 MacPherson Ave. Toronto, Ontario M4V 1A4 (416) 928-2909SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES MANAGERPatricia BackNEWSSTAND SERVICES MANAGEREsther SumkaCIRCULATION DEPARTMENTJudy Hartman Rosanne TaninoACCOUNTING DEPARTMENTTom Moffat Mary CarubiaSPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER Hughes MarketingHockey News Bookshelf (416) 499-8227ADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL OFFICES85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100 Toronto. Ontario. Canada M3B 2R2 (416) 445-5702EXECUTIVE OFFICE850 Thiid Avenue New York. New York 10022 &#9632;

The Hockey News

WHEN MAJOR LEAGUE baseball held its annual meeting recently in Houston, the trade winds blew to hurricane force. Seldom did an hour pass without a trade, often involving a player of considerable stature, being made, accompanied, of course, by a couple of dozen hot rumors for each deal actually completed.Many of the rumbles were accurate. The players and possible swaps were being discussed, and the men who run baseball don&rsquo;t seem to mind that the rumor-mills are as much a part of the game as the double play.Compare that to the National Hockey League&rsquo;s annual meeting, and it&rsquo;s a funeral parlor instead of baseball&rsquo;s circus. The NHL people seem to think it&rsquo;s a big sin to generate publicity with any discussion of possible deals, and reporters covering the annual congress hear denials by the dozen.Of course, baseball has free agency to loosen up the marketplace. But there&rsquo;s much more to it than that: Baseball has a much deeper talent pool from which to draw its talent than hockey, which reduces the fear that a less-than-advantageous deal will shake a franchise for several seasons.This autumn perhaps has produced more trade rumors than the NHL has heard in recent years. But it&rsquo;s been almost all wind and no action. There has been a great deal of trade talk, no doubt about that, and some big names have been tossed around. But the trade talks have been about as productive as the U.S.-Soviet Union detente chats.Recently, a couple of NHL executives offered some thoughts on the reasons for a lack of trade action.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011355/5355806-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="381" height="460"><figcaption class="caption-body">Frank Orr</figcaption></div>Ron Caron, director of hockey operations for the St. Louis Blues, feels that the lack of trade action is due to the fact that 16 teams qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs, which kills much of the urgency for teams to improve.&ldquo;There really isn&rsquo;t much competition for playoff spots, so teams aren&rsquo;t inspired to make deals in an effort to improve enough to get into the playoffs,&rdquo; Caron said.&ldquo;If the top three teams in each division or, especially, the top two were in the playoffs, you would see all sorts of trades about this point of the season as teams tried to get better for a run at the playoffs.&ldquo;But now 16 teams are in and the clubs that are going to be out of the playoffs are pretty well resigned to the fact. They just want to hold on to their draft picks and try to get better that way.&rdquo;Contrast that with baseball where only four teams participate in post-season play and it&rsquo;s easy see why teams try to improve. Also, if bad clubs simply stand pat, their fans quickly would lose interest. But wheeling and dealing their.250 hitters and 8-11 pitchers for someone else&rsquo;s.250 hitters and 8-11 pitchers makes it appear that they&rsquo;re trying to improve and gives the fans a talking point.Chicago Black Hawk general manager Bob Pulford feels that a lack of depth in most NHL organizations is the inspiration for the trade market inertia.&ldquo;Most teams in the NHL don&rsquo;t like to admit it but they simply don&rsquo;t have much depth on their rosters and, as a result, they have very little to deal,&rdquo; Pul ford said.&ldquo;Many teams want badly to deal to try to improve their clubs, but when I talk to another general manager, in most cases, I find out that the type of players he wants to trade are almost identical to the type of players I&rsquo;m trying to move.&ldquo;Often, we&rsquo;ll throw a few names around, but because we don&rsquo;t have much selection on our rosters there&rsquo;s not much leeway in the packages we can try to put together. If you wanted to include your young players and draft choices, you would have a better chance of dealing, but teams are very reluctant to do that these days. There&rsquo;s too much strong evidence that it never works.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an old story: Many teams want to trade three veterans whose play is in decline and who carry big tickets for one front-line player. I know because I&rsquo;ve tried to make deals like that myself.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0004-01

Lack Of Talent Hurts Trades Talks

<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/f0004-021249/5355837-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg"></div><h2>FOR ARGUMENT&rsquo;S SAKE</h2>A few weeks ago, we unveiled our new, ultra-sophisticated method for rating goalkeepers&mdash;better than goals-against-average or efficiency (also known as save percentage)&mdash;a statistic we call perseverance.According to this new stat, last year&rsquo;s best goalie in the National Hockey League was Roland Melanson, and wouldn&rsquo;t you know it, he&rsquo;s traded (to Minnesota). If only we&rsquo;d gotten our ratings out sooner, Melanson might still be on Long Island.A netminder&rsquo;s perseverance index is calculated this way:(Efficiency &times; 6) Avg. shots per gameThen, through some additonal mathematical maneuvering, the figure is placed on a scale of 1000.In the box below, we&rsquo;ve listed the perseverance rating for all NHL goalies who have played in at least one-third of their team&rsquo;s games this season, through Dec. 2.Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog of Edmonton are the leaders. They&rsquo;ve each stopped about 91.5 per cent of the incredibly high number of shots they&rsquo;ve faced. The Oilers are allowing 33.8 shots per game, and only Pittsburgh, Chicago and Toronto are allowing more.Now, the fact that Edmonton have the second-best goals-against average in the NHL has led a lot of savants to conclude that the Oilers are playing good defense these days. But this high shot total shows that the Oilers are as carefree in their own end as they always have been.What one THN columnist recently hailed as a &ldquo;superb&rdquo; Edmonton defense is just a mirage. The real reason for the Klondike Kids&rsquo; low goals-against is the excellent play of their goalers, Fuhr and Moog, who are turning aside an amazing percentage of shots, considering the heavy workload they&rsquo;ve being forced to handle.Season&rsquo;s Greetings! And for all you last-minute shoppers looking for a present to give to your favourite sports fan, we now present the following public service. There are loads of great new sports books on the market for Christmas, and we&rsquo;ve listed them below.His Majesty Wayne&mdash;by Stan Fischler. All the Great Gretzky hype you could want.The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread&mdash;by Stan Fischler (with Shirley Fischler). More Great Gretzky hype than you can stand.A Magnificence Beyond Comprehension&mdash;by Stan and Shirley Fischler (with 25 freshmen from Columbia Univeristy&rsquo;s writing seminars).Ballard: Maniac Or Monster?&mdash;A former Maple Leaf season-ticket holder presents a theory that Harold Ballard is an alien being bent on the destruction of hockey in Toronto.Miracle Of The Tar Sands: Unto Us Thou Hast Given A Being Of Heaven&mdash;An Edmonton priest offers theological proof that Wayne Gretzky is the fourth person of the Trinity.Icing!&mdash;by Leon Stickle (with Dick Johnston). Veteran linesman recalls his most exciting moments in NHL officiating.Confessions Of The Great One&mdash;by Fr. Larry Dietrich. Stunning expose by the Gretzky family&rsquo;s parish priest reveals Wayne once had an impure thought.Molars! The Dental Charts Of A Hockey Immortal&mdash;by Dr. Bob Reig-stad, D.D.S. Edmonton team dentist offers new insights into the Great Gretzky, and claims Wayne once actually had a cavity. Includes 16 pages of X-rays.Another Hundred Points Shot To Hell: The Story Of The Buffalo Sabres&mdash;Examines how a team that has averaged 101 points a season since 1975 has only made it past the quarterfinals once in the last 10 years.Only The Puck Was Black&mdash;A history of black players in pro hockey. Four pages. Companion volume to Only The Charity Stripe Was White, the history of white players in pro basketball (three pages).Gretzky The Master&mdash;by Spot (with Clark Blaise). The Great One&rsquo;s boyhood companion reminisces about their early days together playing pond hockey in Brantford. With a special section on training your own dog to retrieve pucks from snowbanks &ldquo;the Spot way.&rdquo;And, for you baseball fans, we add these tomes:The Greatness Of Their Image&mdash;The large-format picture-book sequel to The Image of Their Greatness.The Greatness Of Their Bigness&mdash;The sequel to The Hugeness of Their Largeness, The Bigness of Their Hugeness, and The Greatness of Their Enormity.The Odor Of Their Greatness&mdash;A scratch-and-sniff book of aromas from the lockers of Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner and other baseball immortals.We Were All Bigots Then&mdash;Ty Cobb and many other great oldtimers tell in their own words how much they hate blacks, Jews, Germans, immigrants and &ldquo;everybody who ain&rsquo;t American.&rdquo;It Was A Heckuva, Helluva Time&mdash;New York Daily News columnist MikeLupica&rsquo;s reflections on the Yankees, of whom he writes, &ldquo;are doing just fine, thank you. And, hey, the Mets are also doing just fine, thank you.&rdquo;O&rsquo;er The Wheatfields And The Diamonds&mdash;John Turner, the Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister of Canada for 78 days, tries for his U.S. citizenship papers with essays equating baseball with love and humanity, and hockey with fascist militarist dictatorship.O Merciful God, Thou Hast Created Baseball As A Balm Unto Thy People&mdash;Roger Angell is reduced to tears by &ldquo;the ineluctable beauty&rdquo; with which Carlton Fisk spits out a stream of three-hour-old chewing tobacco.I Shot A Man In Reno, Just To Watch Him Die&mdash;A history of the old Nevada Instructional League, written by beat reporter Choo Choo Hemingway, &ldquo;a man who went in the company of other men to watch men play baseball against men, in a league comprised of men. Men wrote about it, and it was good.&rdquo;<h2>Perseverance Rating &#9632;</h2>

f0004-02

The Right And The Wrong Stuff

<div class="byline">By Bob Duff</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011236/5355868-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="402" height="449"></div>Q: Who captained the Chicago Black Hawks to their last Stanley Cup in 1960-61?James Dean Halifax, N.S.A: The Black Hawks ended a 23-year drought with that Cup win in 1961, as they downed the Detroit Red Wings in six games. Although that Chicago roster included two National Hockey League superstars (Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita) and two current NHL head coaches (Al Arbour and Jack Evans) the captain was a rather non-descript forward by the name of Eddie Litzenberger.Litzenberger was let go by Chicago after that Cup-winning season, and picked up by the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs used him sparingly as an extra forward, but he still managed to play on three successive Stanley Cup clubs in Toronto before leaving the NHL scene for good after the &lsquo;63-64 season.Q: Who was the last NHL goaltender to play without a mask? I believe it was Andy Brown of Detroit.Ralph EspositoMiddletown, CNA: You&rsquo;re right, Ralph. During the 1972-73 season, there were three maskless goalkeepers&mdash;Brown, Lome &lsquo;&lsquo;Gump) Worsley of Minnesota, and Joe Daley of the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s Winnipeg Jets. The following season, both Daley and Worsley donned facial protection, leaving Brown as the only maskless netminder in professional hockey. And he stayed that way right up until the end of his career, with the Indianapolis Racers of the WHA in the 1976-77 season.Q: What is the NHL record for combined shutouts by all goaltenders in one season?Norman Autio Sudbury, Ont.A: The 1928-29 season is known as the year of the shutout, and rightly so. NHL netminders racked up no less than 119 zeroes that season.Leading the way was the incomparable George Hainsworth of the Montreal Canadiens, who totalled a record 22 shutouts. Roy (Shrimp) Worters of the New York Americans and New York Rangers&rsquo; John Ross Roach each compiled 13 of their own, while Cecil (Tiny) Thompson of the Boston Bruins and Lome Chabot of the Toronto Maple Leafs both managed a dozen.The goal-scored per-game average in the NHL that season was 2.92. Hainsworth tabulated an incredable 0.98 goals against average to top the league. At the other end of the scale was Chicago&rsquo;s Charlie Gardiner. His 1.93 GAA was the worst among all regular netminders.If you want your question answered, write to:ASK THE DUFFER 115 3rd Avenue South, 316 Saskatoon, Sask. Canada, S7K 1L7All letters will be read, but only those published will be answered. Personal responses are not possible. &#9632;

f0005-01

ASK THE DUFFER

Here&rsquo;s what was happening 20 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; Toronto Maple Leaf general-manager-coach Punch Imlach said he would make changes to his struggling team were it not for the holiday season. &ldquo;&hellip;They&rsquo;re all family men and I&rsquo;d have to be a real louse to send them to Rochester or Victoria or Tulsa. But after Christmas, it&rsquo;ll be different.&rdquo;&bull; Detroit&rsquo;s Gordie Howe broke the worst the slump of his 19-year career with two goals and two assists in a Red Wing win against Detroit. The Rangers, meanwhile, lost out on bonus money ($250 per player) for failing to reach management&rsquo;s goal of 26 points in 25 games.&bull; American League president Jack Riley said he would be contacting official scorers throughout the league to cut down on &ldquo;cheap&rdquo; assists. Here&rsquo;s what was happening 15 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; The last-place Los Angeles Kings relieved coach Hal Laycoe and gave him the newly-created post of director of player personnel. Johnny Wilson, the former NHL &ldquo;Iron Man,&rdquo; took over as coach. &#9632;

THIS WEEK…20 Years Ago

1. What rink did the Montreal Canadiens play in prior to moving to the Forum?2. What NHL team elected to sit out the 1931-32 season?3. What club had three players in the NHL top-10 scorers in 1975-76?4. Which of the 1967 expansion teams was the first to play.500 hockey in a season?5. Name the only American-born referee currently in the league?6. Name the only current Flame player that was bom in Calgary?7. Who was the last left winger to win the NHL scoring title?8. What Chicago Black Hawk player scored five goals in a 1981-82 game vs. St. Louis?9. Who was the first expansion player to finish in the top-10 NHL scorers?10. Name the only NHL coach who has a son actively playing in the league?Answers in next week&rsquo;s issue.<h2>Last Week&rsquo;s Trivia Answers</h2>1. Johnny Bucyk&rsquo;s nephew, Randy, with Sherbrooke. 2. 1973-74. 3. Calgary. 4. Minnesota. 5. Don DeVoe, Tennessee. 6. Don Murdoch. 7. Mikko Leinonen. 8. Greg Hotham. 9. Rick Vaive. 10. The Norsemen. &#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/f0005-04417/5355985-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg"></div>That the following junior teams had the most players selected in the 1984 entrv draft. &#9632;

f0005-04

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/f0006-011418/5356016-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="376" height="442"></div>It&rsquo;s been a while&mdash;and I know you&rsquo;ve been waiting patiently&mdash;so, without further ado, let&rsquo;s get to the winter edition of the fascinating business called, Action-Reaction.ACTION&mdash;VANCOUVER CANUCKS ANNOUNCE CHANGE IN UNIFORM DESIGNREACTION&mdash;This is good. As everyone knows, the only reason the Canucks aren&rsquo;t in first place is because their Darth Vader funnysuits somehow attract invisible lint that hovers over the ice and slows them down. The new uniforms are guaranteed to turn the Vancouver fortunes upward&mdash;provided they are filled with Wayne Gretzky, Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier. Denis Savard and Rod Langway.ACTION&mdash;TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS DO NOT ANNOUNCE CHANGE IN UNIFORM DESIGNREACTION&mdash;This is bad. As everyone knows, the only reason the Maple Leafs aren&rsquo;t going to win the Stanley Cup is because they have that silly piece of flora stuck smack on the front of their jersey. In this day and age of psychology, it&rsquo;s important to psych out the enemy. Who can be intimidated by a maple leaf? Substitute a picture of Darth Vader&mdash;better yet, Harold Ballard&mdash;and Toronto&rsquo;s troubles are over.ACTION&mdash;HERB BROOKS REPORTEDLY WILL LEAVE THE NEW YORK RANGERS AT SEASON&rsquo;S END AND RETURN TO MINNESOTA.REACTION&mdash;This is good for Minnesota and bad for New York. As everyone knows, it takes 50 years for normal hockey players in New York to understand Brooks&rsquo; quasi-continental-Russian-American-Canadian system and he has been the Rangers&rsquo; coach for only three years. But in Minnesota, where they learn hockey 50 times faster than New Yorkers, no problem.ACTION&mdash;LOU VAIRO RUMORED TO SUCCEED HERB BROOKS AS NEXT RANGER COACHREACTION&mdash;This is good for the Italian-American Hysterical Society but potentially awful for Scandinavian hockey players in Manhattan. As everyone knows, what the Rangers need most of all is a good Italian-American coach. (They&rsquo;ve never had one before.) Since Geraldine Ferraro isn&rsquo;t interested, that leaves Vairo. Which brings us to the next problem&mdash;there are six Scandinavians on the Rangers who have no idea what the quasi-continental-Russian&mdash;Canadian system is all about, and no Italian-Americans who do. A paisano such as Brooklyn Louie would take care of that by getting back to basics, (italics) &ldquo;You shoota da puck; you scorea da goals.&rdquo;ACTION&mdash;CHICAGO COACH ORVAL TESSIER CHARGES THAT REFEREES DISCRIMINATE AGAINST HIS BLACK HAWKSREACTION&mdash;Another ethnic story. Tessier says the zebras are anti-Black. This is bad. As everyone know, Orval is never wrong, but this time he&rsquo;s really right. Referees do discriminate against the Black Hawks. Trouble is, they also discriminate against the Bruins, Flames, Canucks, Blues, Nordiques, Flyers, Penguins, Oilers, Islanders, Jets, Rangers, Kings, North Stars, Maple Leafs. Whalers, Canadiens, Sabres, Red Wings, Capitals and Devils. That&rsquo;s the name of the game&mdash;discrimination.ACTION&mdash;DON CHERRY BYPASSED FOR COACHING JOBS IN MINNESOTA AND VANCOUVERREACTION&mdash;Like I said, that&rsquo;s the name of the game&mdash;discrimination.CIVICS-HISTORY-PHYSICS LESSON&mdash;The other day my six-year-old son, Simon, was asking about the power of free speech. The next day, Rangers&rsquo; defenseman Dave Maloney, in an extraordinary demonstration of free speech on Broadway, blasted his clique-riddled team and openly questioned their powers of recuperation. The day after that I explained to Simon that the power of free speech on the Rangers is the equivalent of the thrust of three powerful jet engines that fly non-stop to Buffalo where Maloney was deported for his exercise in free speech.PREDICTION: Mark Fusco of the Hartford Whalers will win the Norris Trophy as the top defenseman within five years. Within 10 years he&rsquo;ll be president of the players&rsquo; union.30-SECOND THIRD DEGREE&mdash;Jay Wells of the Los Angeles Kings, will you please take the stand.Q: How do you feel about the Los Angeles media and fans?WELLS: They&rsquo;re so familiar with first-place clubs, they don&rsquo;t take second-best. It&rsquo;s a bit of a front-running town, but when we&rsquo;re winning, they&rsquo;re behind us 100 per cent. We&rsquo;re starting to get good write-ups. We hope to turn this into a hockey town in three or four more years.Q: After your career is over, how do you want to be remembered?WELLS: I want to be known a a defensive defenseman. I&rsquo;d also like to be known as a hip-checker. I like giving hip checks; I catch some guys pretty good.Q: You scored one of the slowest goals in NHL history.WELLS: It was my second year in the NHL (80-81) and we were playing Winnipeg. Prior to that I had gone a whole year being dry (of a goal). On this particular night, the puck came back to me at the point and I blasted what I had hoped would be this big, powerful shot. But just as I swung my stick the puck hopped. Instead of flying on a direct line, the puck took an endless amount of time to reach the net. It went end over end. It went so slow that two players even took swipes at it and both&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know how&mdash;missed. It jumped over their sticks. Marcel Dionne was in front of the net for us, just waiting for that darn puck to come. By the time six seconds must have gone by and the goalie thought Marcel was going to finally take the puck and shoot it. When it went by Marcel like a turtle he pretended to shoot it. But he didn&rsquo;t touch the puck&mdash;nobody, especially the goalie, could believe that&mdash;and it just dribbled into the comer of the net. I jumped so high I could have hit the ceiling.Q: You&rsquo;re an antique collector.WELLS: I have a few old Victrolas (phonographs). The wind-up kind and trashy things like that. I&rsquo;m going to buy a nice 1932 Chevy coupe like the one my father used to drive when he was young. I like old things. I don&rsquo;t know why. I&rsquo;ve got a 1963Corvette that just sits in the garage. If I want to get happy, I wash the car and make it look good. I don&rsquo;t really use it because I&rsquo;m afraid I might break the thing.Q: Pick your single biggest hockey thrill.WELLS: I&rsquo;ve always sided with the underdog, ever since I started rooting. When we played Edmonton in the 1982 playoffs we were really underdogs. Beating them in that fifth game was the biggest thrill. I was so proud of our team and my personal play.THE WILTED LEAFS&mdash;Having been a devoted Maple Leaf fan from age 10 through my young adult life, I take the plight of the current Toronto Make Believes very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that I am now wondering whether they qualify for a special niche in hockey history. Is this, in fact, the worst team in Maple Leaf history?Perhaps I should put it another way: Can anyone name a Toronto sextet more enfeebled than this one? Let us check the records, bearing in mind that NHL teams played shorter schedules in the past.The first bad Toronto clubs that come to mind were the residue of the once-great Gashouse Gang of the late &lsquo;30s, after The Kid Line of Charlie Conacher, Joe Primeau and Busher Jackson had gone to pot. Although they had faded, these Leafs at least hovered around the.500 level while rebuilding to the 1942 Cup-winners.The first relatively lousy Leaf club I remember seeing was the one which finished in fifth place and out of the playoffs in 1945-46. But they finished only five games under.500, which was not too bad. That team was light years ahead of the contemporary contemptibles.A contender for the All-Worst Toronto Team was the Billy Reay-coached last-placers (21-38-11) of 1957-58. This one had such abject failures in-terms-of-promise, such as the Cullen Brothers (Brian and Barry) up front and Marc Reaume on defense. Still, the club also had significant quality including Frank Mahovlich, George Armstrong and Bob Baun. No comparison. They were infinitely better than today&rsquo;s Make Believes.Also in contention is the 1981-82 outfit run by Mike Nykoluk. They wound up in fifth and last place (20-44-16) in the Norris Division. Their leading scsorer, John Anderson, didn&rsquo;t even average a point-a-game. It would be difficult to discern the difference between that Toronto defense (Salming, Manno, Benning, Boimistruck, McGill) and the chorus of Saturday Night Live. Goaltending was no bargain, (10 wins apiece) split terribly between Bunny Larocque and Vince Tremblay.Which brings us to the 1984-85 Make Believes. Are they all-time Toronto Terribles?After 27 games, they had won only four times. Yet, some sensible Leaf-watchers insist that (a) the manpower is better than other Toronto Terribles; (b) coach Dan Maloney is not at fault and (c) it&rsquo;s too soon to pass judgment.It is possible that something good will happen to the Make Believes between now and April that will force me not to designate them the All-Worst Leafs. To get off the Snit List the Leafs must, however, do the following:&bull; Win no less that 10 out of 80 games. (Granted that&rsquo;satough order, but then again these are tough times.)&bull; Finish within 15 points of fourth place (next-to-last) place in the Norris Division. (Granted that&rsquo;s an even tougher order, but then again these are even tougher times.)&bull; Persuade Borje Salming to come out of retirement. &#9632;

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Canucks Need More Than Uniform Change

When the National Hockey League board of governors, by a 19-2 margin, approved a dramatic, new broadcasting agreement on Dec. 11 in West Palm Beach, Fla., it marked the end of an era in Canada, Ever since NHL games were televised in Canada, the broadcasts have been synonymous with Molson and Hockey Night in Canada.But the new agreement, opposed only by the Molson-owned Montreal Cana-diens and longtime Molson ally Toronto Maple Leafs, ended what had been a virtually unchallenged monopoly.Starting sometime in the new year, a new national hockey network, backed by Carling O&rsquo;Keefe Breweries, will present a weekly game on the CTV network on Friday night.So, in the space of one year, which is how long Quebec Nordique president Marcel Aubut has been actively putting the package together, Molson&rsquo;s and HNIC have gone from being guaranteed a No. 1 berth in their field to No. 2.Because not only did the NHL governors end Molson&rsquo;s monopoly, they also took playoff television rights away from the individual clubs. That means that Molson&rsquo;s, if it&rsquo;s going to broadcast playoff games, will have to pay the league a rights fee and share coverage with Carling O&rsquo;Keefe, as opposed to the clear monopoly it has had in the past.Originally, the six Canadian teams (excluding the Carling-O&rsquo;Keefe-owned Nordiques) lined up against the Nords and their 14 American partners. But after much backroom politicking, which threatened to disrupt the league more than any other single issue, the Vancouv er Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames agreed to join the Carling network camp.Those teams will also share in the television revenues generated from the USA cable network in the United States. There is still some speculation that the Canadiens and Maple Leafs will join the fold, too. Emotionally, it will be difficult because of the beer-company competition. But from a business standpoint, they&rsquo;ll be missing out on TV dollars which could be their&rsquo;s.&ldquo;I think this is one of the most significant and demonstrative decisions this league has ever made because of the partnership attitude,&rdquo; NHL president John Ziegler told Al Strachan of the Toronto Globe and Mail.&ldquo;It was historic&hellip;I started representing the Red Wings in 1959, and what we were dealing with today was a problem back then and has been a problem ever since. This is the first time that there is sharing and co-operation without regard to borders. And I think this is only the beginning.&rdquo;In other business at the governors&rsquo; semi-annual meeting, it was decided to alter Rule 67, which deals with abuse of the officials. Rule 67 called for either a three-or 20-game suspension for players guilty of abusing an official. A 10-game sentence was introduced in addition to the three and 20-game suspension-s&hellip;Hartford will play host to the 1986 NHL All-Star game while the 1987 contest goes to the Quebec Nordiques in Quebec City.Sam LoPresti, a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame and a former Chicago Black Hawk goaltender died of a heart attack at his Eveleth, MN., home on Dec. 11. He was 67.LoPresti was best known for making 80 saves against the Boston Bruins on March 4, 1941, as the Bruins beat the Black Hawks 3-2. He appeared in 74 games during two seasons for Chicago, posting five shutouts, including one in the playoffs, and a goals-against average of 3.11 in 27 games in 1940-41 and 3.23 in 47 games in 1941-42. &#9632;

Molson And HNIC Big Losers In TV Wars

<div class="byline">BY RICH FRIEDMAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;Despite some encouraging signs in mid-December, the New York Rangers remained in a holding pattern, awaiting the return of key players while fielding a very young team in the interim, hoping that several veterans who ordinarily would be counted on for scoring punch to tide them over would begin to find the net.And all of this was happening with the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins closing in on them in the race for that fourth and last Patrick Division playoff berth. First place in the division&mdash;normally an important goal for this team&mdash;was fading into the far distance.After a full month in which they had repeatedly pronounced themselves as having &ldquo;hit bottom,&rdquo; the Rangers crashed through the floor with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Penguins on Dec. 7 at Madison Square Garden.How they lost the dreadfully dull game, and their fans&rsquo; reaction, was as damaging as the score itself. They had allowed the Penguins to draw within one on a goal with 53 seconds left in the second period. And they allowed the tying goal with 1:32 left in the third period.While the Garden crowd in recent overtimes had taken on all the endearing characteristics of a lynch mob, this crowd spoke even more eloquently when hundreds fled for the exits before an overtime period that lasted just more than 90 seconds.The Rangers managed to skate with the Flyers in a losing 4-2 effort the next night in Philadelphia. And then at the Garden, in their third game in four nights, they beat the Kings, 4-2. It was appropriate, since it was a loss to the Kings that began the Rangers&rsquo; 2-10-2 slide in the 14 games since their stirring. 5-4 victory in overtime over the New York Islanders at the Garden on Nov. 9.They beat the Kings by resisting&mdash;not completely, but enough&mdash;the inclination to panic that came in the face of two goals midway through the third period that closed a 3-0 lead to 3-2.&ldquo;There was a lot more running around than you would like to see at that point,&rdquo; Anders Hedberg admitted. &ldquo;Maybe you can expect that after so many bad experiences. It made us nervous&mdash;not a very good feeling, I can assure you that.&rdquo;They committed just 10 turnovers at the offensive blue line in that game, coach Herb Brooks pointed out, whereas in previous weeks they had committed that many turnovers in that spot in one period. They made intelligent use of the boards, utilizing the entire width of the ice in their attack, and the forwards, for once, were waiting for the defensemen as the team made the transition from de fense to offense.Two nights later, that offensive blue line again provided the focal point as the Rangers rebounded from a 3-0 deficit to tie the Bruins 3-3 at the Garden. While it was far from a flawless night, the game was the most enjoyable to watch at the Garden in well over a month&mdash;in fact, since that win over the Islanders.That was the good news. The bad news was that they were unable to take advantage of a very nervous Boston goaltender, Don Sylvestri, who had replaced an injured Pete Peeters midway through the second period after playing just one mi nute the entire season.And that in a word is the Rangers&rsquo; problem. Even when they go to the net, as they did against the Bruins, nothing happens when they get there. Put aside for a moment the fact that this was a game between two up-tight teams; the Rangers were playing to win, for a change, rather than playing to avoid a loss. But their anemic offense and their youth has been doing them in.On any given night, there are a dozen players 23 or younger in the lineup, half-a-dozen Europeans, and more than half-a-dozen first-and-second-year players,most of them forwards&mdash;Peter Sund-strom, Jan Erixon, Dave Gagner, Chris Kontos and Bob Brooke&mdash;who cannot he counted on for scoring. The exception so far has been Tomas Sandstrom, a Swedish rookie with 10 goals in his first 25 games.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t go to the well with players who are making a transition in their career,&rdquo; Brooks said, &ldquo;getting their feet wet, making the transition to the NHL.&ldquo;Our Larouches, Hedbergs and Rogers have to be the leaders; you can&rsquo;t expect first-or second-year players, or defensive forwards, to shoulder that load.&rdquo;But a look at the statistics of those players was equally disheartening&mdash;Hedberg with two goals in 12 games, Pierre Larouche with one in 15 before a virus took him out of the lineup, Mike Rogers with two in 10 games, the team scoring 14 goals in 13 games, and failing to score more, than four in a game since Nov. 9.Mike Allison, who had begun to score, left the lineup for at least a week with a swollen knee&mdash;the same one he had hurt earlier this season&mdash;beginning with the Bruin game. And the core of the team, missing in action, was to come back only in stages&mdash;Ron Greschner was expected back before Christmas, Mark Pavelich sometime in January, and Don Maloney in February at the earliest. Mark Osborne, with a hip muscle injury, is impossible to predict.And everyone knows that captain Bar-ry Beck, who separated his left shoulder during last spring&rsquo;s playotts and again early this season, is playing at less than 100 percent.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s good enough,&rdquo; said a defensive Beck, sitting with a precautionary icepack on the shoulder after the Kings game.But the captain maintained that he did see some good signs after the tie against the Bruins.&ldquo;We bounced back, we showed a little emotion, we got involved,&rdquo; said Beck. &ldquo;It was an important step for us.&rdquo; &#9632;

Rangers Crashing Through ‘Rock Bottom’

The International Hockey Weekly Founded in 1947Published by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd.85 Scarsdale Road, #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2.<h2>Glad Tidings</h2>AS 1984 DRAWS to a close, there are a number of reasons for the world of hockey to be happy.Two of them come immediately to mind.First, if Wayne Gretzky isn&rsquo;t the most amazing story in our game today, then something is drastically wrong. As this issue was going to press, The Great Gretzky was only two points away from 1,000 career points.The fact that he is in only his sixth National Hockey League season makes his accomplishment all the more amazing. Because he maintains such an incredible level of excellence on an almost daily basis, there is a tendency to sometimes take his efforts for granted.We&rsquo;ll even plead guilty to overlooking The Great One from time to time, but let the record show that no one in the game today comes even close to duplicating his excellence, both on the ice as a player and off it as an ambassador.The second reason to be of good cheer is the new NHL television agreement. Boiled down to its most basic form, it means that Canadian hockey fans will have twice as many games to watch and the 19 teams who have entered into the agreement will receive more broadcast rights money than ever before.The architect of the dramatic new TV agreement is Quebec Nordique president Marcel Aubut, the same man who was a driving force to get regular-season overtime reinstitutad.While the folks at Molson&rsquo;s and Canada Sports Network, who have both taken a big tumble as far as mixing hockey, TV and beer goes, may not think too much of Aubut and his Carling-O&rsquo;Keefe-backed hockey network, it&rsquo;s the best thing for the game and the fans.So it&rsquo;s hats off to Marcel Aubut and all those responsible for putting an end to the TV Wars of 1984.We should be so lucky in 1985 to match the accomplishments of Gretzky and Aubut.<h2>A Message To Our Readers</h2>THIS ISSUE marks the end of THN&rsquo;s calendar year and we&rsquo;ve two messages to pass along.First, we&rsquo;ll be taking a week off so the next issue you will receive will be dated Jan. 11, 1985. There will be no issue dated Jan. 4, 1985.Second, and more importantly, we&rsquo;d like to thank all our readers for their support in 1984. We anticipate an even better year in 1985 and we&rsquo;d be honored if you&rsquo;d join us for that too. Once again, thank you and best wishes for the New Year. &#9632;

I AM ONLY 15 years old, but I was devastated, as many fans were, when my idol, Guy Lafleur, announced his retirement. I have been crying over it for 24 hours, but I guess it was for the best. If he wasn&rsquo;t having fun there wasn&rsquo;t any sense in him continuing, but now it won&rsquo;t be the same when I watch the Canadiens. Guy was the most exciting player I ever saw.I wish the league would let him play in the All-Star game as an honorary captain. I would love to see him on the ice once more. They could let Bobby Clarke be the other captain. It would make many, many fans happy.I hope Guy stays involved with hockey, I know he loves the game. I wanted more than anything for Guy to do well. Thanks for all the excitement, Guy, but you know, I think you&rsquo;re going to miss getting another Stanley Cup ring this year.Andy ConradHalifax. N.S.<h2>HOMAGE TO LAFLEUR</h2>I&rsquo;m writing this letter to grant my respect to a hockey player who brought a lot of joy to many people who had the opportunity to watch him play the game good and cleanly. That player is none other than Guy Lafleur, one of the most exciting players to ever play the game.He is sure going to be missed by his loving fans everywhere, myself especially. I&rsquo;ve always enjoyed watching him play, he brought a lot of joy and excitement to the game. It&rsquo;s always hard to see a great hockey player such as Lafleur hang up his skates. He will always be remembered in many homes as the best player that ever lived.Bert BoydWhite Dog, Ont.<h2>BE PATIENT, LEAFS&hellip;</h2>I have been a loyal Toronto Maple Leaf fan for the past six years and am disgusted at the trade rumors I am hearing. I can tell you as well as anyone that you can&rsquo;t turn a club around overnight by a trade.Rumors have it that either Rick Vaive or Borje Salming will be put on the trading block to relieve this pressure and turn the club around. I feel that this is a stupid move because Vaive, a three-time 50-goal scorer, and Salming, a six-time all-star, are the two key cogs in the Leaf playoff picture.If the Leafs aren&rsquo;t patient with young talent and instead opt for trades, Harold Ballard might not be around to see his Toronto Maple Leafs win a Stanley Cup, or even make the playoffs for that matter.John KnoopEast Amherst, NY<h2>&hellip;OR FIRE, MCNAMARA</h2>It seems to this hockey fan the trouble with the Toronto Maple Leafs lies with their general manager, Gerry McNamara.It is as if Mr. McNamara is afraid to make a major move for fear of making a mistake. The Maple Leafs haven&rsquo;t made a major deal since Punch stole Rick Vaive and Bill Derlago from Vancouver for Dave Williams and Jerry Butler. Sure Punch made mistakes, but he wasn&rsquo;t shy of the marketplace either. Look at Harry Sinden of the Boston Bruins, there&rsquo;s a GM who isn&rsquo;t afraid to make a move when one is needed.The moves Mr. McNamara has made haven&rsquo;t been too fruitful and that may be why he is hesitant to go into the marketplace. He was robbed in the Darryl Sittier trade. Wilf Paiement for Miroslav Frycer and a seventh-round round draft choice, come on! The Leafs need a gutsy GM, not new coaches.Mark MitchellSt. Catharines, Ont.<h2>GIVE FISCHLER THE GONG</h2>It intrigues me that a publication such as THE HOCKEY NEWS would let Stan Fischler use it as a means to wage his vendetta against the Edmonton Oilers.It&rsquo;s disturbing how a columnist could be so paranoid about one team in the NHL. Tell me a team who gives a 100 per cent effort to entertain and win games more than the Oilers do. They put people in the stands. Fischler should re-direct his attacks on teams that cheat their fans by the way they play on the ice. Expose their weak points consistently, hopefully it would motivate them to perform their job efficiently.Every year, he&rsquo;s been predicting Oilers&rsquo; demise. Imagine strongly forecasting they can&rsquo;t win the Stanley Cup with Glen Sather and Wayne Gretzky. What has Fischler to gain by consistently attacking the Oilers? It&rsquo;s very obvious and it&rsquo;s sickening to think about it. He is using them to make himself known.Get rid of him, he is an opportunist, arrogant, conceited, self-proclaimed expert who has always been wrong in his so-called forecast on the Oilers.Reynaldo Lau-aPine Point, N. W. T.<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;

Make Lafleur An All-Star

<div class="byline">Terry Jones&#x2019;</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011351/5356143-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="296" height="451"></div>Sooner or later everybody will have to concede that Wayne Gretzky is hockey&rsquo;s Babe Ruth. And Gretzky is insisting it will be sooner.With 1,000 points. The Great Gretzky is, likely by the time you read this, The Grand Gretzky and, more than a month from his 24th birthday, he&rsquo;s winning the test of time by laps, not lengths.To Gretzky, the 1,000-point figure has a ring all it&rsquo;s own, and is a rung all its own.&ldquo;When I came into the league, the thing I wanted to do the most was prove I could do it over the long haul,&rdquo; he said on the eve of his latest accomplishment.&ldquo;I think it shows I came to play every night.&ldquo;And I think a figure like that separates the good players from the great players.&rdquo;Gretzky, at 22, went into the season in 23rd place on the all-time scoring race. Last year he passed Yvan Coumoyer, Ted Lindsay, Bernie Geoffrion, Mike Bossy and many more.He started this season by knocking off Bobby Orr. Then Bryan Trottier. Then Maurice (Rocket) Richard. Then Andy Bathgate. And, with five points in the first Stanley Cup rematch against the New York Islanders, he passedDave Keon to move into 13th place. Orr played 657 games. Trottier had played his 701 st game. Richard played 978. Bathgate performed in 1,069. And Keon played in 1,296. The night he moved past Keon, Gretzky was playing his 418th game. Everybody still ahead of him had played 14 or more seasons in the National Hockey League.He&rsquo;s already more than half-way to catching the immortal Gordie Howe and seems certain to do so well before the time he turns 30.Howe ended up with 1,850 NHL points in 1,767 games in 26 NHL seasons.&ldquo;Gordie was as great a player as there ever was,&rdquo; said Gretzky. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the greatest I&rsquo;ve ever met in my life.&ldquo;I have a few more years left. And I&rsquo;m going to get a lot more points. But I&rsquo;ll be entirely satisfied with my career if I end up second to him.&rdquo;Wayne Gretzky may break every record in the book but one. There&rsquo;s no way he&rsquo;s going to go for Howe&rsquo;s record of 22 seasons scoring 20 goals or more.In the last few weeks, Gretzky admits he&rsquo;s been thinking more and more of the day when he&rsquo;ll call it quits. While that might sound a little ridiculous for a 23-year-old, Gretzky always has been way ahead of himself.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m more and more involved in looking after my own affairs and my own businesses,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;With The Flower (Guy Lafleur) having retired recently, I&rsquo;m more and more conscious of the fact that every time I step on the ice now, it&rsquo;s one less time I have in hockey.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long way away because every time I step on the ice is still more fun than the time before. But I&rsquo;m definitely thinking, now, about what I want to do when I&rsquo;m finished. Hopefully it won&rsquo;t be for four or five more years,&rdquo;It&rsquo;s becoming more and more obvious that Gretzky will retire young.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not trying to make predictions,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I was thinking about it the other day. The Flower played 14 seasons and he was kind of frustrated in his last three. Fourteen seasons. I&rsquo;m in my seventh season as a pro. That&rsquo;s half way.&ldquo;LaFleur was put on a pedestal. When he stopped scoring, despite how well he was playing other parts of the game, people viewed him as playing poorly. When you are used to scoring from the time you are five to the time you are 30, well&hellip;when it stops, it takes the fun out of it.&rdquo;If that should happen to Gretzky in three or four years, and he&rsquo;s still 100 or so points shy of Gordie Howe&rsquo;s record&hellip;&ldquo;I know right now I won&rsquo;t hang on for a record,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I finish second to Gordie, to me that will be like finishing first.&rdquo;But if he stays healthy, you know he&rsquo;s going to get it.And while Gordie Howe is still The Greatest to Gretzky, the test of time will prove that it is Gretzky, the greatest of all time. &#9632;

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The One Record Gretzky Might Not Break

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>LANDOVER-The ballots have been issued for player selection to the Campbell and Prince of Wales rosters for the annual National Hockey League All-Star game, and the Washington Capitals have presented the participating Wales&rsquo; writers with an interesting dilemma.With eight victories and a tie in a 10-game stretch, the Capitals climbed to third among Wales teams and were threatening to shoot right to the top. Their best player over the first 29 games was Bob Carpenter and his statistics&mdash;22 goals and 11 assists&mdash;normally would assure his selection.The catch is trying to figure out what position to assign Carpenter for All-Star purposes. He started 16 of the 29 games as a center, 13 as a left wing, and often flopped from one to the other during the course of a game.Least disturbed of all by the prospect of a split vote keeping him away from the festivities in Calgary is Carpenter, although he has never earned any type of All-Star consideration in his previous three NHL seasons.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;The All-Star thing is a little far-fetched, it&rsquo;s too soon. I&rsquo;d be honored, but I think it&rsquo;s a little too early.&rsquo;</blockquote>&ldquo;The All-Star thing is a little farfetched, it&rsquo;s too soon,&rdquo; Carpenter said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d be honored, but I think it&rsquo;s a little early. I&rsquo;ve never really thought about it. I&rsquo;m just trying to become a better player than I showed the last three years.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know where they could put me anyway. They&rsquo;ve got (Michel) Goulet at left wing and they&rsquo;ve got plenty of centers. Maybe I could be a middleman, play wherever somebody needs a rest.&rdquo;Actually, Carpenter probably would be a reasonable choice at center, where he had played most of the time during the Capitals&rsquo; recent surge. The only challengers appeared to be Brent Sutter and Tom Fergus, while the Wales stock of standout left wingers included Brian Propp, John Tonelli, Mats Naslund and Warren Young, in addition to Goulet.Carpenter was a high-school center and played that role for his first month as a Capital in the fall of 1981, until Bryan Murray became the coach and shifted Carpenter to the less demanding leftwing spot, a move he initiated to &ldquo;pro-I tect&rdquo; the youngster as he adapted to NHL pressure.Carpenter clearly needs no protection now. He has become a dominant figure, going to the net with determination and racing back to make important plays in his own end.&ldquo;Bobby Carpenter has really come on this season,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s much more poised and he&rsquo;s so confident out there. He&rsquo;s a highly-skilled individual and he does great things with the puck.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s trying different things out there and now they&rsquo;re working. He&rsquo;s becoming the player who was envisioned when he was drafted in the first round three years ago.&rdquo;During his three previous season, Carpenter resisted moves to the wing. However, he is much more mature this year at 21 and when he played all three forward positions during the Canada Cup, he realized that such versatility made him a better player, rather than limiting his potential.&ldquo;Playing both keeps your mind into the game and makes you feel important,&rdquo; Carpenter said. &ldquo;You know the coach trusts you when he moves you around like that.&ldquo;It gets you into things and you have to think more. On the wing, you have to go up and down and it can get to you mentally. But if you&rsquo;re switching, you have to think, &lsquo;Do I go up and down or doI go all over?&rsquo; If you&rsquo;re thinking all the time out there, you&rsquo;re going to be a better player.&rdquo;There is no doubt that Carpenter is a better player. In a game at Minnesota, he made a sudden dash to his left, cut between two North Stars and, as he was hooked down, dove forward to lift a shot at the net. That the puck spun over the crossbar did not detract from the effort.A startling aspect of Carpenter&rsquo;s performance has been his determination during practice sessions. He works on various moves, rather than going through the motions, and often leaves his team mates shaking their heads at his accomplishments.If Carpenter should make the Wales All-Star team, he no doubt would be joining teammate Rod Langway, who has regained his oldtime defensive dominance after a slow starat. Goalie Pat Riggin, defenseman Scott Stevens and right winger Mike Gartner are longshot possibilities, but their chances are reduced by the glut of conference talent at those positions and New York Islanders&rsquo; coach Al Arbour&rsquo;s history of selecting his own players to fill vacancies after each team is guaranteed a representative. &#9632;

Carpenter Plays Versatile Role For Caps

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011391/5356212-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div>When Lou Nanne said he could offer THE HOCKEY NEWS a deal on a crystal ball, how could we refuse?Louie insisted it had been used only by a gypsy lady named Claire Voyant, who used to service the Cleveland Barons between carnival gigs. It turns out the ball had a few years on it and a crack the size of the Canucks&rsquo; defense, but if you hold it up to the light of the Oakland Seals&rsquo; drafting record, one can make a few things out.Yes, 1984 was a great year for the National Hockey League, but 1985 is going to be even better.<h2>JANUARY</h2>16&mdash;James and Steve Patrick have led the New York Rangers to five consecutive victories. So, in an attempt to foster what general manager Craig Patrick calls a &ldquo;family feeling,&rdquo; every member of the club takes on the surname &ldquo;Patrick.&rdquo;&ldquo;You have to make sacrifices for the team,&rdquo; says captain Barry (Bubba) Patrick.26&mdash;With his surprising Kings six points ahead of Edmonton in the Smythe Division race, owner Jerry Buss finally figures out that his coach, Pat Quinn, is the same Pat Quinn whom he once villified for goon tactics with the Flyers.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m flabbergasted,&rdquo; Buss says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to petition the board of governors to censure the Kings. I&rsquo;ll do it right after the next Laker road trip.&rdquo;30&mdash;In his latest attempt to shake up his slumping club, Buffalo coach Scotty Bowman sends Phil Housley, Dave Andreychuk, Mike Foligno and Mike Ramsey to Rochester.&ldquo;We aren&rsquo;t doing much up here,&rdquo; Bowman says. &ldquo;But we have a helluva shot to win a championship down there.&rdquo;<h2>FEBRUARY</h2>11&mdash;As part of its All-Star festivities in Calgary, the NHL holds its annual black-tie dinner with a Western-wear motif. Highlights include the first public viewing of NHL president John Ziegler without a handkerchief in his left pocket and Jimmy Devellano, the Detroit GM, riding a mechanical bull.Entertainment (and sandwiches) are provided by the singing of Roy Rogers and the comedy of Jack (Tex) Evans.12&mdash;Wayne Gretzky scores 18 goals as the Campbell Conference defeats the Wales, 45-38. This was almost the first All-Star Game in history played without goalies. The ones voted to play in the game&mdash;Pelle Lindbergh, Steve Penney, Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog&mdash;refused to play unless the players agreed to try to check each other.&ldquo;You gotta be kidding,&rdquo; Lindbergh said when informed of his selection. &ldquo;It took me two years to get over the last one.&rdquo;Every goalie in the league was then asked to fill in, but only Hannu Kampurri and Richard Sevigny accepted. Disaster is averted when Fem Rivard and Lindsay Middlebrook agree to come out of retirement and play the game.19&mdash;The Rangers trade Peter Sundstrom to Vancouver for his brother, Patrik. He is renamed Patrik Patrick. GM Craig Patrick vows he will leave no stone unturned in the search for the missing &ldquo;C&rdquo;.25&mdash;Toronto&rsquo;s losing streak reaches 33 games with 16-2 loss to Chicago. The late Conn Smythe replaces Dan Maloney as coach. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re dead anyway,&rdquo; says owner Harold Ballard, &ldquo;why not?&rdquo;28&mdash;With the Sabres still slumping, Bowman sends himself to Rochester.<h2>MARCH</h2>12&mdash;St. Louis GM Ron Caron beats the NHL trading deadline with a blockbuster. He sends Mike Liut and Bernie Federko to Montreal for Chris Nilan, Mark Hunter, Mario Tremblay and Craig Ludwig. The Blues also announce they are changing their name to the Senior Canadiens, but Caron, who now has 15 former Habs on his team, denies he has a fetish for Montreal players he once drafted.&ldquo;As long as they work cheap,&rdquo; Caron says, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care if they come from Yugoslavia.&rdquo;13&mdash;Bobby Clarke comes out of retirement, then trades himself to Detoit for Shawn Bum.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good deal for us or them,&rdquo; says Clarke, who is now both a Red Wing player and the Flyers&rsquo; GM.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m bitter, obviously the Flyers think I&rsquo;m too old,&rdquo; Clarke tells the Detoit media. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to prove them wrong.&rdquo;&ldquo;How could I pass up a chance to get a kid who was a No. 1 draft pick for a has-been?&rdquo; Clarke tells the Philadelphia media.Asked about the possible conflict of interest between the same person managing one team while playing for another, NHL president John Ziegler says &ldquo;This is not without precedent. The Norris family used to own every team in the league. But I will have Brian O&rsquo;Neill look into it.&rdquo;18&mdash;Paul Baxter, the Flames&rsquo; defensemansportswriter, is barred from the Calgary clubhouse for the first 10 minutes following each game.&ldquo;We need a cooling off period,&rdquo; coach Bob Johnson says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll wait outside like the rest of the writers.&rdquo;Baxter files a protest with Ziegler.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have Brian O&rsquo;Neill look into it,&rdquo; the president says.28&mdash;The Vancouver Canucks win a game.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have Brian O&rsquo;Neill look into it,&rdquo; Zeigler says.<h2>APRIL</h2>3&mdash;The Sabres are eliminated from a Stanley Cup playoff berth, but Rochester makes it. Bowman, still one game short of tying Dick Irvin&rsquo;s record for career victories, breaks the AHL record instead.6&mdash;The Rangers finish the season in fourth place, 85 points behind their first-round playoff opponent, the Philadelphia Flyers. Vegas bookies list New York as a prohibitive favorite.12&mdash;The Rangers, led by a dazzling performance by Reijo Patrick, completes a three-game sweep of the Flyers. Fans at the Spectrum, frustrated by another first-round loss to the hated Rangers, chant, &ldquo;Bob (McCammon) must go,&rdquo; even though McCammon already went a year ago.14&mdash;Detroit is eliminated by Chicago.&ldquo;Considering our injury problems,&rdquo; Devellano says, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t be too disappointed.&rdquo;John Ogrodnick missed the fifth game with a shoulder separation and several of the veteran Wings were felled by prostate problems.In other first-round pairings, Minnesota puts out St. Louis, Los Angeles defeats Calgary, Edmonton wipes out Winnipeg, Washington avenges the Islanders and Rochester handles Quebec. Results of the Boston-Montreal series are still pending; the two teams remain scoreless in the first game. As the contest drags into its ninth day and 216th overtime, the ultraconservative Canadiens have attempted only one shot on goal.18&mdash;The Capitals draw 2,693 for a playoff game against the Rangers.&ldquo;Hockey is a tough sell in this town,&rdquo; GM David Poile shrugs. &ldquo;The Redskins are holding a mini-camp today and don&rsquo;t forget we&rsquo;re competing against the Easter egg roll on the White House Lawn.&rdquo;28&mdash;The amazing Kings upset the Stanley Cup champion Oilers in six games. Unprecedented hockey fever grips Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times runs a hockey story on page three of its sports section. &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; the piece asks.Tom Lasorda is invited by Buss to coach the team in the next series. Tom Selleck is invited to play in it.Boston is finally awarded a victory over Montreal on the basis of shots on goal, but fall to Rochester in four. The Rangers, who are contracted to play well in only one series each playoff, fall meekly to Washington in five.<h2>MAY</h2>10&mdash;The Kings, forced to play all games of their semi-final series with Chicago on the road because of a conflict of home dates with the Lakers, lose in six. The Hawks will play Washington, which dumps Rochester in five, in the finals.28&mdash;Washington wins the Stanley Cup. A crowd of 6,852 witnesses the clinching at the Capital Centre.&ldquo;Considering everything,&rdquo; Poile says, &ldquo;the crowd could have been worse. The Orioles are home this week and you have to remember this isn&rsquo;t an election year.&rdquo;30&mdash;The Stanley Cup parade is held, but the motorcade gets lost in Capital Beltway traffic.<h2>JUNE</h2>10&mdash;Bill LaForge is elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.16&mdash;The NHL Entry Draft is held in Toronto. Increasing influence of American and European talent is apparent. No Canadian players are taken in any of the 12 rounds.Minnesota&rsquo;s Lou Nanne pulls off a complex deal. He flip-flops No. 1 picks in 1988 with Winnipeg for an extra third-rounder in 1993, then moves the extra Winnipeg pick to Philadelphia on the condition that the Jets make the playoffs that year. Otherwise, Buffalo, which receives the North Stars&rsquo; 1989 first-rounder in exchange for the rights to any of Brian Lawton&rsquo;s children, will get Philadelphia&rsquo;s choice.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have Brian O&rsquo;Neill look into it,&rdquo; Ziegler says.&ldquo;By that time, nobody will be able to figure whose pick that is,&rdquo; Nanne says. &ldquo;So I&rsquo;ll get it back. Hey, anybody want a deal on stereo equipment?&rdquo;<h2>JULY</h2>8&mdash;The Vancouver Canucks, who won only six games the entire 1984-85 season, announce their eight-month search for a coach to replace LaForge is over. He is 32-year-old Punch Heffle-finger, who directed the Junior C Barrie Bullies to a championship and a record 1,857,653 penalty minutes. Hefflefinger, who was once suspended for six games for stealing hubcaps and served three years on a morals charge, denies that he&rsquo;s going to turn the Canucks into a goon team.&ldquo;But I guarantee we won&rsquo;t back down from anybody as soon as we get rid of all our chicken Swedes,&rdquo; he says.Hefflefinger, considered one of the bright young minds in the game, brought several innovations to the junior ranks. He was the first ever to coach from the penalty box.<h2>AUGUST</h2>6&mdash;Saying he&rsquo;s willing to let bygones be bygones, Edmonton GM Glen Sather attends the wedding of Calgary Herald columnist Steve Simmons.&ldquo;Her father can give away the bride,&rdquo; Sather says. &ldquo;I want to give away the groom&mdash;as far away as possible.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011268/5356205-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="746" height="1276"><figcaption class="caption-body">When the Detroit Red Wings fold, look for Steve Yzerman to go high in the dispersal draft.</figcaption></div>To wish the happy couple the best, Sather joins in the traditional Jewish nuptial ceremony of breaking the glass. He uses Simmons&rsquo;s glasses&mdash;with Simmons wearing them.<h2>SEPTEMBER</h2>23&mdash;The Detroit Red Wings, who received valiant efforts by several of their veterans to make the playoffs again last May, announce the acquisistion of Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, Gilbert Perreault, Butch Goring, Carl Brewer and Turk Broda. All receive life-time contracts and all the pepperoni and mushrooms they can eat.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02951/5356198-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="740" height="1270"><figcaption class="caption-body">When the Devils make a deal with the Devil, captain Mel Bridgman will surrender his soul.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We will never trade a draft choice,&rdquo; Devellano says. &ldquo;Of course, we won&rsquo;t play any of them either.&rdquo;<h2>OCTOBER</h2>8&mdash;The NHL&rsquo;s waiver draft is held. Hartford&rsquo;s Emile Francis selects 20 players, 18 of whom are former St. Louis Blues. Everybody else passes.23&mdash;The Kings are off to an excellent start, but Buss, reacting to public criticism of Quinn&rsquo;s system by Magic Johnson, fires his coach. Pat is immediately signed to coach the Rangers, who have also recently acquired Pat Riggin, Pat LaFontaine and Pat Flatley. GM Craig Patrick says he is finished making deals.&ldquo;The Rangers,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;can now finally stand pat.&rdquo;<h2>NOVEMBER</h2>16&mdash;The New Jersey Devils, frustrated by their inability to make the playoffs in the tough Patrick Division, announce a one-year deal with a new sponsor&mdash;the Devil himself.In exchange for allowing the team one good run at the Stanley Cup, the Devil receives the souls of Phil Russell and Mel Bridgman, the eternal damnation of team president Bob Butera and a percentage of the parking and concessions at Byrne Meadowlands Arena.<h2>DECEMBER</h2>5&mdash;The Detroit Red Wings are declared brain dead. Nanne gives Devellano one last chance to trade a draft choice and get some players to stay in business, but Devellano stubbornly refuses.A dispersal draft is held for the only Detroit players under 45&mdash;Steve Yzerman, Lane Lambert and Greg Stefan.&ldquo;We were on our way,&rdquo; Devellano says. &ldquo;I asked for 10 years to build a contender, but we just ran out of time.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-01

In The Year 1985

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011366/5356243-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chico Resch beat his former team for the second time this season, but one of his ex-teammates duped him on a goal.</figcaption></div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;From the earliest days it has been a franchise which measured success by how small each setback happened to be. The smaller the disaster, the brighter the picture looked&mdash;for the Scouts, Rockies and Devils.Finally, the New Jersey Devils are beginning to add positive chapters to the franchise&rsquo;s sorry history. In barely more than a quarter of a season under first-year coaches Doug Carpenter and Lou Vairo, the Devils have already recorded three major firsts:&bull; In the season opener on Oct. 12, the Devils stunned the New York Islanders 7-2 at the Meadowlands Arena. The triumph was the first for the Devils over the Islanders since they moved to New Jersey (1-4-0) and, for goalkeeper Chico Resch, his first-ever against his former teammates (1-13-1) since being traded to Colorado in March, 1981.&bull; On Nov. 29 in Philadelphia&rsquo;s Spectrum, Aaron Broten scored twice in the third period as the Devils and Ron Low defeated the Patrick Division-leading Flyers 2-1. It ended a 25-game winless streak by the franchise at the Spectrum (0-24-1), where the only previous point was a 4-4 tie on March 16, 1980, when the Rockies battled back for a 4-4 tie.&bull; Most recently, on Dec. 11, Resch and the Devils upset the Islanders for the second time this season, 7-5. This time it came at the Nassau Coliseum, where the franchise had gone winless in 26 previous games (0-24-2) in any carnation, including 0-8 as the Devils.Combined with their stunning 6-0 victory over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 18, the Devils appear to be making great strides.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have to get lucky anymore to win games like that,&rdquo; said Jan Ludvig after the shocker at Nassau Coliseum. &ldquo;We can beat anybody in this league now.&rdquo;After 26 games last season, the Devils posted a 4-21-1 record. At the same juncture this year, they were 8-15-3, an improvement of 10 points in the standings.While they remained in last place in the Patrick Division, the Devils were close behind the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers and have actually enjoyed more success within their division (6-6-1, including a 5-3-0 record on the road against Patrick clubs) than outside it. Last season the Devils won only four Patrick-Division games, fashioning a 428-3 ledger.&ldquo;The reason we are where we are in the standings as compared to last year&rsquo;s team is they only got four wins last year in this division,&rdquo; said Carpenter. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re at.500 now. When you only get 11 points in your own division, you haven&rsquo;t got a snowball&rsquo;s chance in hell.&rdquo;Carpenter has avoided making comparisons to last year&rsquo;s team. He has complimented Tom McVie&rsquo;s job of taking a 2-18-0 team and making it competitive. But the differences are there.&ldquo;I hoped we&rsquo;d avoid what happened last year when they were eliminated after the first 20 games,&rdquo; said Carpenter. &ldquo;They dug themselves a hole last year. But I don&rsquo;t want to dwell on last year.&rdquo;He much prefers writing a new chapter of firsts this year.HOT STUFF&mdash;The Islanders&rsquo; Bob Bourne stole a goal from former teammate Chico Resch when the goalie went behind net to stop the puck along end boards Dec. 11. Holding the puck, Resch heard a familiar voice and backhanded the disc behind net, where Bourne was waiting at the other side of the goal. He walked out and scored into the open goal. &ldquo;I assumed if anyone was off to the other side it would be our guy,&rdquo; said Resch. &ldquo;Boumie was behind the net yelling, &lsquo;Chico, Chico,&rsquo; I just dumped it back. When I looked and saw it was him, you don&rsquo;t know how I felt.&rdquo; Tim Higgins added: &ldquo;An old teammate, you hear a voice pattern and it clicks in.&rdquo;Rick Meagher suffered a concussion in Quebec when he was checked into the boards and banged the side of his head. &ldquo;I got hit by either Dale Hunter or Wilf Paiement. Three or four shifts later I started getting a blurry left eye. That&rsquo;s kind of a scary feeling. I&rsquo;ve had concussions before, but that blurriness&hellip;it was a delayed reaction.&rdquo;&hellip;Rocky Trottier was recalled Dec. 6 when Rich Chernomaz underwent arthroscopic surgery on left knee Nov. 27 and Trottier scored in his first game up this season. &#9632;

f0012-01

Devils Adding To List Of Franchise Firsts

<div class="byline">Bill Fleischman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021139/5356274-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="396" height="443"></div>SOME HOLIDAY SEASON likes and dislikes, and I hope Santa brings more victories in 1985 for Glen and the North Stars, Harry and the Canucks and Gerry and the Bruins.&bull; I&rsquo;ve always liked being around Phil Russell. His National Hockey League trail has taken him from Chicago to Atlanta to Calgary and now to New Jersey. At age 32, Russell still maintains his enthusiasm and, most nights, a high level of ability on the ice. He knows what his role is with the Devils.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it,&rdquo; Russell said, &ldquo;a few of us here are dinosaurs. If we can do anything, we hope we can add some character to the organization.&rdquo;Beating the Flyers in Philadelphia and the Islanders in Nassau Coliseum are achievements Russell thinks will solidify the Devils&rsquo; foundation. Until this season the Devils-Kansas City Scouts-Colorado Rockies had never won in the Spectrum.&ldquo;This should be a game our kids can look back on when things are tough,&rdquo; Russell said. &ldquo;They can remember winning here and it should help them.&rdquo;Russell knows that although the Devils are improving, they aren&rsquo;t exactly feared around the NHL.&ldquo;When the New Jersey Devils come to town there aren&rsquo;t a lot of TV crews waiting at the airport,&rdquo; Russell said. &ldquo;The only guy who gives a bleep is the guy who fills the bus with gas. Some teams take us lightly.&rdquo;After breaking in with the Black Hawks of Hull and Mikita days, adjusting to a losing team wasn&rsquo;t easy for Russell.&ldquo;When I was a kid, there were TV crews everywhere,&rdquo; he recalled. &ldquo;I thought it was great.&rdquo;But now, Russell has settled down. Reaching into his boot for his wallet, he proudly displayed a photo of his five-year-old daughter, Amy Ann.&ldquo;If that doesn&rsquo;t want to make you come home, nothing will,&rdquo; he said loudly.The Russells have a home in Wayne, NJ, one of the nice towns that NHL turnpike commuters never see. How much longer will he play?&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told people it will take a crane and chains to drag me off the ice,&rdquo; he said.&bull; The list of dislikes is small during the holiday season, but topping the list is the nickname Devils. I know it&rsquo;s familiar to New Jersey residents, but to outsiders it doesn&rsquo;t make much sense. And to some, it&rsquo;s simply offensive, which is something that can&rsquo;t be said about the low-horsepower Devils in the scoring department. Anyway, I don&rsquo;t have any brilliant alternatives at the moment. But, when I think of some, I&rsquo;ll let Devil president Bob Butera and general manager Max McNab know.&bull; The NHL lost another of its good guys when DarcyRota retired from the Vancouver Canucks. Ironically, Rota and Russell were teammates in Chicago and were traded to Atlanta in the deal that brought Tom Lysiak to the Black Hawks. Rota scored 42 goals two years ago and finished his NHL career with a respectable 256 goals, but I&rsquo;ll always remember him for his spirit on and off the ice. He always had a smile and candid comments for the press. I&rsquo;ll miss him.&bull; Another guy with zest for the game is Ron Flockhart. I hope he finds a home with the Montreal Canadiens. Now with his third NHL team after such an exciting start in Philadelphia, the 24-year-old Flockhart is worried that he&rsquo;ll become a Trivial Pursuit answer to the question of the only player to toil for all 21 NHL teams? I know Flocky Hockey has its flaws, but I hope he&rsquo;ll work on his weaknesses and play in Montreal for years.&bull; Freddie (the Fog) Shero was in rare form recently. Among the gems Shero, now a commentator for the Devils, filed during a radio interview with Steve Coates in Philadelphia were:&mdash;The Washington Capitals are the best team in the NHL without the puck; Edmonton is the worst.&mdash;Zinging the Great Gretzky and Edmonton GM-coach-everything Glen Sather. Shero recalled a game last season when the Oilers were beating the Devils 8-1. &ldquo;With about one minute to go, Gretzky, who had a temperature, was on the ice,&rdquo; Shero said. &ldquo;Either he&rsquo;s a fool, or his coach is, or both.&rdquo;&mdash;The Capitals are over-playing Rod Langway: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s already exhausted;&rdquo; the North Stars are playing selfishly; the Patrick Division is &ldquo;the toughest division in the world&rdquo; and the Smythe Division is a &ldquo;powder-puff&rdquo; division.Too bad Shero doesn&rsquo;t have many opinions any more.&bull; One minor dislike I have is hockey writers who continually list the players who are scratched for games. I know it&rsquo;s a good note for morning-paper writers who have to file copy before games, but c&rsquo;mon&mdash;frequently guys who aren&rsquo;t playing get their names in the papers more than guys who play every game but don&rsquo;t score much. &#9632;

f0012-02

Puts Some Wins In Socks Of Badly-Needing GMs

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;The Vancouver Canucks took advantage of a five-day break in their schedule to put together something of a training camp more than a quarter of the way into the season.It&rsquo;s not that they didn&rsquo;t have a training camp; it&rsquo;s just that they changed their emphasis from trying to outscore teams to getting back to their old defensive style of working hard and playing for the breaks.Whether it was the result of this minicamp or not, the Canucks gained the biggest wins of their season, at home against Edmonton and against the Quebec Nordi-ques and Montreal Canadiens, breaking a 13-game road winless streak.&ldquo;Three wins is hardly going to get you in the record book, but for us it&rsquo;s pretty exciting,&rdquo; said Harry Neale, the Canucks&rsquo; general manager-coach. &ldquo;The playoffs are a long way off and we will need an awful lot of help if we are going to catch Winnipeg or Los Angeles. But we can&rsquo;t be worrying about how other teams are playing; we have to be concerned about ourselves.&rdquo;The biggest boost Vancouver has received lately is the awakening of their star center, Patrik Sundstrom. The 23-year-old Swede has not been himself since suffering a fractured wrist at the end of the Canada Cup tournament in September, and his lack of performance has really hurt the Canucks&rsquo; offense.He gained three assists in the victory over the Nordiques despite the fact his normal linemate Tony Tanti was unable to play because of a severe nose bleed. But just to see some points on the score sheet from the man who should be the Canucks&rsquo; best forward was encouraging.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;Three wins is hardly going to put you in the record book, but for us it&rsquo;s pretty exciting. The playoffs are an awful long way off and we will need a lot of help if we are going to catch Winnipeg and Los Angeles.&rsquo;</blockquote>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always nice to get some points, but I can still play a lot better than I have been,&rdquo; said Sundstrom. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what the problem has been. I just don&rsquo;t seem to be able to beat anyone, to go around a guy when I should be. I guess I don&rsquo;t have the confidence I should.&rdquo;Peter McNab, who scored a key power-play goal in the win over Quebec, agreed Sundstrom is essential to any possible revival to the Canucks.&ldquo;With his youth and talent, he has to be our 100-point man,&rdquo; said McNab, who is piecing together a pretty good season of his own with 11 goals and 20 points. &ldquo;If Sunny can&rsquo;t come through with those figures, we have to get another 20 points from someone else, and that is asking a lot. But it won&rsquo;t be long before you start to see him score. He&rsquo;s got just great skills.&rdquo;One of the biggest problems Sundstrom is facing is the continuing injury saga of his right winger Tanti. The young Toronto native has already been through two separate two-week knee strains and now his problems are losing blood, the result of a nose bleed that just won&rsquo;t quit.To most people a nose bleed is just an inconvenience, but to Tanti it has reached the serious stage. It started after a bang to the nose in practice, at which time it bled slightly and swelled up. After a long plane ride to Quebec, Tanti found himself trying to lace up his skates for the pre-game practice. His nose started to bleed and didn&rsquo;t stop until he had lost two pints of blood and needed two transfusions in the hospital. He was released from there with a promise that he could play two nights later in Montreal if he felt strong enough, but at practice it started to bleed again and he was back again.&ldquo;It came out like a gusher,&rdquo; said coach-trainer Larry Ashley. &ldquo;Most of the guys were pretty amazed, they&rsquo;d never seen anything like it. We had the bleeding stopped for a while, but then it started again.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011288/5356312-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="586" height="1374"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02939/5356305-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="584" height="1368"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrik Sundstrom (left) has improved his production, but linemate Tony Tanti (right) is suffering from a mysterious nose bleed.</figcaption></div>NOTES&mdash;The Canucks are debating whether to allow the Team Canada juniors the services of defenseman Jean-Jacques Daigneault for the world championship in late December. &#9632;

f0013-01

Sundstrom Finding Form; Tanti Can’t Stop Bleeding

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Although the trade of Dave Maloney to Buffalo caused a geographic split among the Maloney brothers, it didn&rsquo;t necessarily have to be. An NHL source privy to trade negotiations tells BLUELINES the Rangers would have been quite willing to offer Don Maloney in a package with his older brother. In their continuing quest for speed and youth, the Rangers appear willing to sacrifice Don Maloney&rsquo;s checking and scoring ability. Word is that the Rangers will try to move Don&mdash;if they can get a buyer&mdash;after his injury heals in late winter&hellip;A double-Rick deal&mdash;Vaive for Middleton&mdash;has been bruited about at the National Hockey League meetings&hellip;The decline-and-fall of the Maple Leaf empire has started talk that Toronto boss Harold Ballard will try to pry general manager Harry Sinden away from Boston. Pal Hal and Bruin biggie Paul Mooney are close friends. Sinden reportedly works on a year-to-year contract with a &ldquo;window&rdquo; allowing him to become a free agent. Although Sinden originally hails from the Toronto area, his roots are firmly planted in Boston. A move, therefore, is unlikely although not impossible&hellip;Calgary GM Cliff Fletcher&rsquo;s prestige has mounted so dramatically in a year that word from Vancouver has it that the Canuck ownership tandem of Frank and Arthur Griffiths have been leaning on Fletcher for ways and means of lifting the Canucks out of their tar pit. The tipster adds that Fletcher was asked to produce a list of potential GMs to the Griffiths but the Flame GM reportedly phoned Canuck counterpart, Harry Neale, later and denied having done anything like it&hellip;The Bruins&rsquo; early December slump set off some rarely-heard anti-Gerry Cheevers whispers that the dressing room is dead between periods and the goalie-cum-coach is not assertive enough.New York hockey writers formally beefed to the NHL over the Rangers locking their dressing room for 80 minutes&mdash;violating a league by-law&mdash;after a loss in Quebec. In response, NHL prexy John Ziegler slapped a $500 fine on the Rangers, adding: &ldquo;I should make note that when, as in this case, the room is locked by player action, I deem it a discretionary matter as to whether a fine should be imposed. In this instance, because of the duration, I deemed it appropriate to invoke the resolution.&rdquo;&hellip;The Penguins&rsquo; Greg Malone says that GMs such as Scotty Bowman and Glen Sather &ldquo;have mastered the art of intimidating officials. &ldquo;&hellip;Wayne Gretzky, Kevin Lowe and Mark Messier have a bet going, with the winner being the bachelor who stays unmarried the longest. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question,&rdquo; Lowe tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;that I&rsquo;m going to win.&rdquo;&hellip;Rod Langway&rsquo;s &ldquo;lifetime contract&rdquo; with the Caps is defined by his agent, Art Kaminsky: &ldquo;It is intended to mean for the lifetime of a career and a reasonable time thereafter. It&rsquo;s more or less a never-ending commitment to each other in which the athlete gets a lot of money over a lot of years.&rdquo; After hearing about Langway&rsquo;s deal, Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser humorously noted that Langway&rsquo;s fringe benefits&mdash;the perks and incentive clause&mdash;form the most interesting part of the contract. &ldquo;The Capitals agreed to lease Langway their penalty box,&rdquo; jokes Kornheiser, &ldquo;and to give him ownership of their Zamboni machine and buy him the entire state of North Dakota!&rdquo;&hellip;Writing in the first issue of Canada&rsquo;s MVP magazine. Don Cherry puts down the Sabres: &ldquo;With the exception of guys like Larry Playfair and Mike Foligno, the Sabres aren&rsquo;t tough enough to go anywhere in the playoffs.&rdquo;&hellip;Most underrated good deal of the year was the Blues&rsquo; acquisition of Rick Wamsley from the Canadiens. &ldquo;Rick,&rdquo; says coach Jacques Demers, &ldquo;has played as well as the faith we put in him when we made the deal (first-round draft choice to Montreal).&rdquo;The man who would best know about the Lou Vairo-to-the-Rangers-next-spring rumor is agent Art Kaminsky, who represents Vairo as well Herb Brooks and Rangers&rsquo; general manager Craig Patrick. Kaminsky tells BLUELINES that there&rsquo;s &ldquo;no truth&rdquo; to the report, but adds that &ldquo;it&rsquo;s a reasonable thing to speculate about considering that Lou is on a one-year contract with the Devils and Herb&rsquo;s contract with the Rangers is expiring. But no one has done anything about it.&rdquo; Kaminsky suggests that he doubts that any concrete decisions will be made until spring. &ldquo;People (Patrick) don&rsquo;t look that far ahead. I suspect that when the time comes&mdash;and assuming they want to make a change&mdash;Craig will look at a lot of people with Jack Krumpe (Ranger prexy).&rdquo;&hellip;American-based recipients of the pension plan funds continue to gripe that the NHL keeps paying them in devalued Canadian currency instead of U.S. bucks&hellip;The fact some refs are wearing helmets while others are not displeases assistant director of officiating John McCauley. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to see it (wearing or not wearing helmets) go one way or the other,&rdquo; McCauley tells BLUELINES. &ldquo;Either all refs wear them or none. Personally, I think that in about five years they&rsquo;ll all wear them.&rdquo; McCauley opines that one problem with the new, magnetic nets, which get dislodged so easily, is the maintenance men in the various rinks. &ldquo;The guys putting them in don&rsquo;t know what the hell they&rsquo;re doing,&rdquo; McCauley asserts&hellip;Few teams have better player-coach rapport than the Blues with Jacques Demers. &ldquo;The player love him,&rdquo; says one St. Louis insider&rdquo;&hellip;Mike Krushelnyski still bears a needle for the Bruins, telling friends he can&rsquo;t figure out why he was lifted from the Barry Pederson-Rick Middleton line last season and eventually dealt to Edmonton. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good question,&rdquo; he told Joe Fitzgerald of the Boston Herald. &ldquo;If you ever get the answer, let me know.&rdquo; &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011342/5356367-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Maloney says it&rsquo;s a lot easier to understand the Sabres&rsquo; system than the one he left behind in New York.</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;Although he&rsquo;s been with the Buffalo Sabres for only a short time, newly-acquried defenseman Dave Maloney has had enough time to assess the team, which, to say the least, has been struggling.In an 11-game stretch, the Sabres won one, tied five and lost five. Those are not exactly statistics with which you win playoff spots, let alone think of Stanley Cups.To take a closer look, three of the five losses have been by one goal. In two of the five ties, the Sabres held the lead in the game with less than a minute to go.Those are the kind of statistics that can get a team frustrated. But Maloney views it a different way.&ldquo;There are a lot of good signs here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everybody seems to want to win. That&rsquo;s important. If you don&rsquo;t want to win then you shouldn&rsquo;t be here.&ldquo;Things aren&rsquo;t so complicated here. In New York (with the Rangers) I was used to all of the X&rsquo;s and O&rsquo;s being drawn. Here, it is much more like oldtime hockey. The preparation is good, but it isn&rsquo;t so complicated.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a lot of good preparation and then go out and win.&rdquo;Maloney also pointed out something else he has found out about the Sabres. Their depth.&ldquo;The thing that New York was always counting on was their depth, something I really don&rsquo;t think they had that much of,&rdquo; said Maloney. &ldquo;But here they had five guys out, called a few of their young guys up from Rochester and they are still competitive.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s real depth.&rdquo;Many of the injured have now returned, including centers Gil Perreault (broken knuckle) and Dave Andreychuk (knee), right winger Mike Foligno (head and shoulder), and defenseman Mike Ramsey, who had returned earlier than the other three from a cut behind his knee.The depth Maloney spoke of came from Rochester recalls Claude Verret, Gates Orlando, Mike Moller and Normand Lacombe. Verret and Orlando have been sent back to Rochester.But while the four were here, they seemed to breathe some life into what was becoming a very frustrated hockey team.&ldquo;These guys came into a real hot situation,&rdquo; said Sabres&rsquo; left winger-assistant coach, Craig Ramsey. &ldquo;They played some real good, aggressive hockey for the team.&ldquo;Their enthusiasm showed through real well. They wanted to be up here and show us that they belonged here. Maybe they did show us a thing or two.&rdquo;General manager-coach Scott Bowman commented on what the addition of defensemen Maloney and Jim Schoenfeld (who continues to prepare for his return to the Sabres) means to the team.&ldquo;There is no doubt that with the addition of Maloney and Schoenfeld there will be more experience back at the blue line,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;It will also give us eight defensemen to use.&ldquo;With eight defenseman (the other six being Ramsey, Bill Hajt, Dave Fenyves, Larry Playfair, Phil Housley and Hannu Virta), I can move a couple of them up to forward spots.&ldquo;Larry can play some left wing for us and give us some muscle in the comers, and Phil can play center and give us a little more scoring power.&ldquo;That can really help us.&rdquo;SABRE POINTS&mdash;Goaltender Tom Barrasso has been seeing lots of action lately, starting six consecutive games (Montreal twice, Boston twice, Quebec and Hartford), leaving the rotation system Bowman had started earlier in the season up in the air. Since returning from Rochester on Nov. 5, Barrasso&rsquo;s goals-against-average has gone from 4.09 to 3.05&hellip;John Tucker continues skating with the team after recovering from his foot injury. His return to the lineup is unknown&hellip;Mike Moller and Normand Lacombe are still with the Sabres after being recalled from Rochester&hellip;Rookie center Adam Creighton is on loan to Team Canada for the coming world junior championships in Finland&hellip;In their recent six games against Adam Division foes, the Sabres earned six of a possible 12 points. That included a tie and a loss to the Canadiens, a tie and a victory against the Bruins, and ties against the Nordiques and Whalers. &#9632;

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New Sabre Maloney Gets Handle On Team Depth

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div>HARTFORD&mdash;Don&rsquo;t tell Tony Currie old soldiers never die.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a good shot you&rsquo;ll never hear from me again,&rdquo; says Currie, a 27-year-old right winger who was claimed on waivers from the Hartford Whalers by the Edmonton Oilers and immediately dispatched to their American League farm team in Halifax.Currie&rsquo;s got a point. If he couldn&rsquo;t play regularly for the Whalers, how in the world can he expect to find ice time in Edmonton?&ldquo;I think Edmonton was looking for some death down below,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like they&rsquo;re counting on me to help their power play.&rdquo;For every Mark Messier, the National Hockey League produces countless Tony Curries, ones who play by the rules, on and off the ice, without ever landing in the limelight.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;I&rsquo;ve no complaints about my time in Hartford. It&rsquo;s just that the guys here were really good. I&rsquo;m going to miss them the most.&rsquo;</blockquote>&ldquo;Most people see the good side of hockey, all the fame and money,&rdquo; Currie says. &ldquo;But this is the cruel side. My wife&rsquo;s home packing boxes again and I&rsquo;ve got to say goodbye to another group of guys. That&rsquo;s the worst part. You meet guys, you make friends and then you&rsquo;re gone, just like that.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got no complaints about my time in Hartford. It&rsquo;s just that the guys here were really good. I&rsquo;m going to miss them the most.&rdquo;Currie has played parts of eight seasons in the NHL, first with St. Louis, then Vancouver and finally Hartford. His offensive record is surprisingly good. In 240 NHL games, Currie has 92 goals and 211 points. He played 45 games with the Whalers over two seasons after being signed as a free agent, and scored 15 goals and 39 points. There are some players currently on the Whaler roster who would take 15 goals and 39 points for a season, let alone, 45 games, and never ask for a recount. This year, despite sitting out often, Currie had three goals and 11 points in 13 games.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny, really,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;They kept rotating the same six or seven guys in and out of the lineup depending on whether we won or lost. But the six or seven guys never got that much ice time.We weren&rsquo;t the reason the team won or lost. If the big gunners don&rsquo;t do it. what chance do we have? But, you can&rsquo;t sit them down.&ldquo;Listen, my head&rsquo;s screwed on right. I understand the big picture. I can handle part-time duty, some players can&rsquo;t. It&rsquo;s tough, though, when they start looking at you after a loss. I mean, it&rsquo;s like, c&rsquo;mon now, who&rsquo;s kiddin&rsquo; who?&rdquo;Currie, who originally was drafted 63rd overall by the Blues in 1977, was a prolific scorer in junior, accounting for 73 goals and 125 points in his last year with the Portland Winter Hawks of theWestern League. In his only full season in St. Louis in 1980-81, he scored 23 goals and 55 points.The next year he was swapped to Vancouver along with Jim Nill, Rick Heinz and a fourth-round draft pick (Shawn Kilroy) for goaltender Glen Hanlon.&ldquo;I really liked Vancouver, but Vancouver didn&rsquo;t like me,&rdquo; he says.Vancouver, in this case, was general manager Harry Neale.The knock on Currie is that he&rsquo;s not tough enough, just the sort of player that makes someone such as Neale reach for a telephone&mdash;or an axe.&ldquo;My claim to fame is that I have the worst body in the NHL,&rdquo; says Currie with a smile.Neale released Currie last January, and the Whalers signed him almost immediately thereafter.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t knock the Cat,&rdquo; Currie says of Emile Francis, the Whalers&rsquo; general manager-president. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always been good to me.&rdquo;In the depths of a 2-10-2 slide, Francis placed a handful of what he considered his fringe players on waivers to see if anyone would bite. Edmonton did.&ldquo;Look, I can tell you how great it is to be going to an organization like Edmonton,&rdquo; Currie says. &ldquo;It is flattering that an organization like that wants you no matter what your role is going to be I&rsquo;ll give it my best shot in Halifax. I&rsquo;ve never given anything less.&ldquo;But the idea that you&rsquo;ll never hear from me again has occurred to me.&rdquo;When generals retire, nights are planned to commemorate their career. When good soldiers such as Currie are discharged, someone ought to say something.As long as it&rsquo;s not, old soldiers never die. &#9632;

Currie Finds It Difficult To Say Good-Bye

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>MONTREAL&mdash;It is late in the afternoon. Two lone figures are on the ice at the Forum, one in a coach&rsquo;s sweatsuit, the other in a sweat-soaked jersey.Jacques Laperriere, the coach in charge of the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; defense, is putting sophomore Kent Carlson through his post-practice paces. It is something Carlson is getting used to in his second season in the National Hockey League as he finds himself the seventh man on a six-man defense.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult,&rdquo; admits Carlson, who celebrates his 23rd birthday on Jan. 11. &ldquo;For me, every day I come in and think that if I don&rsquo;t work hard, drop down and give a 100 percent, I won&rsquo;t be happy with myself for the rest of the day. I am going to be more down than I would be from just playing.&ldquo;Not playing is tough enough, but if you don&rsquo;t put in a big effort in practice you feel as though you are wasting time. You are not going to improve and you will be going nowhere.&rdquo;Carlson has the tools to become a good defenseman in the NHL. Packing 200 pounds on a 6-foot-3 frame, Carlson might find himself a starter on other teams. He is in Montreal, however, playing behind Larry Robinson, Craig Ludwig, Chris Chelios, Tom Kurvers, Petr Svoboda and Rick Green. Three of them&mdash;Chelios, Kurvers and Svoboda&mdash;were not with the Canadiens when Carlson began his hockey career in September, 1983. Their arrival has pushed him out of a job.Last season, Carlson appeared in 65 games, scoring three goals and seven assists. When the playoffs arrived, Carlson was cast aside for all 15 games, although he warmed up a few times. It was a harbinger of things to come for the Concord, NH native.&ldquo;I started worrying in the exhibition season when I wasn&rsquo;t getting a chance to play,&rdquo; says Carlson, who appeared in eight of the Canadiens&rsquo; 28 first games. &ldquo;When it looked like I made the team, I felt that I wouldn&rsquo;t be playing all the time, but I would be dressing and getting somewhat of a chance.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really think it would be like this. Its been tough, but I understand the situation. There is a lot of depth, and now every game there are two guys sitting out. Its good for the team in a way because it keeps everyone playing well and wanting to play well. They know if they have a bad game they are going to be out of the lineup.&rdquo;In recent weeks, Carlson has been participating in more of the Canadiens&rsquo; pregame warmups, but has found himself alone in the dressing room changing into his street clothes while the referee is dropping the puck to start the game. When he has played, Carlson has been used as a left winger or a right winger instead of playing defense.&ldquo;From my talk with coach (Jacques)&rsquo; Lemaire, he said the present is going to be on the wing for me,&rdquo; Carlson says. &ldquo;Depending on what happens in the future, maybe I will go back. He has told me to keep working hard and watching game films of wingers and what they do. He&rsquo;s told me to watch the wingers closely during the game to see what they do and try to learn from it.&rdquo;Lemaire must feel there is some potential in Carlson because he has kept him with the NHL team rather than sending him to Sherbrooke as he did with Ric Nattress, a semi regular last season. There was speculation during training camp that Carlson would be in Sherbrooke this season, especially after he had played for the American Hockey League team against the parent NHL club in a pre-season game.&ldquo;I hear the coach has said to people that I am improving,&rdquo; Carlson says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad he thinks so. I believe my skating has improved by working hard. &ldquo;Carlson played two years at St. Lawrence University and would have been a senior at the Canton, NY school this season had he not elected to become a professional last winter. There are those who feel he might have been better off staying in Univerisity the additional two years, but Carlson has no regrets making the move to join the team which drafted him 33rd overall in the 1982 amateur draft.&ldquo;I think about that but I am sure I made the right decision,&rdquo; Carlson says. &ldquo;If I had come this year after doing a junior year in college it would have been really tough.&ldquo;I would have to have made a really big impression because people such as Kurvers and Svoboda are here. They would have known me only as defenseman and wouldn&rsquo;t known anything of me as a possible forward.&ldquo;I came in here last year at a good time when they needed changes. I felt I had a fairly decent season as a rookie. Even if I get hurt and never play another game, I can say at least I played in the NHL which is an accomplishment.&rdquo;Carlson had a chance to return to a defense job when Svoboda and Green were injured in a 5-4 loss to Vancouver on Montreal ice. Green suffered a pulled muscle in his right hip while Svoboda was also hurt in the same general area.IN PASSING&mdash;Lucien DeBlois snapped a 10-game goalless drought with single goals against Los Angeles on Dec. 8 and Vancouver Dec. 13. He had not scored since Nov. 3 against Boston&hellip;Ryan Walter was going through a similar slump, goalless in nine games as the Canadiens prepared for a rare weekend away from Montreal in Hartford and Philadelphia&hellip;Speculatation continues to grow that veteran defenseman Jean Hamel will retire in the coming days because of an eye injury suffered Oct. 4 in Boston. &#9632;

Carlson Needs Hard Work To Feel Satisfied

<div class="byline">Al Strachan</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011135/5356446-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="391" height="446"></div>OLD-TIME NEWPAPER EDITORS, when approached with a story idea, often asked, &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the peg?&rdquo;In other words, why should we run this story now? Usually, especially if the story happened to be generally complimentary, no worthwhile answer was forthcoming. The appropriate peg was never found.But this is the Christmas season, a time to be of good cheer and as good a time as any to say something that is often said privately but rarely written. Hockey players, as a group, are by far the friendliest, most accommodating and most polite group of individuals in any North American sport.There are some classy people in baseball and in football too for that matter. But overall, National Hockey League players are in a group all their own.Last year&rsquo;s All-Star game in New Jersey provided a perfect example. At noon, the players gathered in a large room and made themselves available for press interviews. Then they trooped downstairs to a buffet luncheon which was open to the ticket-buying public. For almost two hours, the players signed autographs, posed for pictures and chatted with fans. And these were the top players in the game, not a bunch of kids hoping to catch on with a last-place team. Some of them even handled the cameras for fans who wanted to have their picture taken with another player. They all did it willingly and with good grace.Do you know what would happen if baseball tried to do the same thing with its players at an All-Star game? There would be great screams of outrage, contract clauses would be invoked and grievances would be threatened. The players would not only refuse, they would tell the organizers in no uncertain terms where they could stuff their idea.But hockey players do it and have fun in the process.In what other sport but hockey do players agree to do full-fledged TV interviews in the middle of a game? Occasionally, in the Canadian Football League, there are sideline interviews, but those are singularly brief. And CFL players don&rsquo;t do half-time interviews. In baseball, you&rsquo;re lucky if a player will condescend to do a post-game interview. It often depends on what kind of day he&rsquo;s had and what kind of gift the station offers.But in hockey&mdash;with the notable exception of Toronto Maple Leafs who are ordered by their general manager not to do between-periods interviews lest it detract from their winning ways&mdash;the players not only make themselves available, they provide thoughtful, interesting answers to the questions.The other sports are full of people who develop a very high opinion of themselves once they make it to the ranks of the professionals. But hockey players, with very few exceptions, never lose their touch with the average man.Who&rsquo;s the most accessible superstar in sports today? Wayne Gretzky. He&rsquo;s available to every broadcaster in every town the Oilers visit. Think of superstars in other sports and ask yourself how many times you&rsquo;ve seen them co-operating with your local sportscaster.There are many theories why hockey players display such worthwhile qualities. One is that they&rsquo;re often smalltown boys who haven&rsquo;t learned the cynicism of the city. But that theory has its obvious exceptions.It has also been suggested that the hockey players know their sport is not number one so they try harder. That&rsquo;s possisble.And there&rsquo;s also the theory that hockey is a rugged game. Anyone who gets too uppity will pay a physical price.Perhaps the truth is a combination of all those ideas. Hockey players come through a system which forces many of them to live in small towns, even if they didn&rsquo;t grow up in one. As a result, they&rsquo;re a part of a small community, answerable to anyone they might meet in the street.On the other hand, the big-time athletes in baseball or football often went through the United States college system where they were recruited in high school then taken to college and treated like superstars. They were paid big money, given cars, housed in separate dormitories and led to believe they were a cut above the rest.But whatever the reasons may be, the fact remains that the NHL has great cause to be proud of its players. They&rsquo;re friendly, intelligent and co-operative and they provide 99 per cent of the positive publicity the league receives.They are indisputably the single biggest asset the league possesses. &#9632;

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NHL Players Are The Best When It’s Interview Time

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01994/5356477-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The play of Peter Stastny (above) and his brothers has been encouraging, but the Nordiques are still battling their own inconsistency.</figcaption></div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;The Quebec Nordi-ques are playing at least as well so far this year as they did last season, when they finished with a record-high 94 points in regular-season play. But they are also falling behind Montreal in the race for first place in the Adams Division, and much of it has to do with inconsistency.Through mid-December, the Nordi-ques had hoped to move close enough to the division-leading Canadiens so that they might capitalize on two games late in the month with their arch-rivals. Two draws on the road versus Buffalo and Philadelphia looked encouraging, especially combined with a 7-3 triumph over the New Jersey Devils at the Colisee. But a 4-3 loss to Vancouver on Dec. 11&mdash;after the Nords were leading 3-1 at one point&mdash;has hurt their planning.Nordique coach Michel Bergeron once again proved that he can skate around issues as effectively as Michel Goulet can sometimes outrace an opposition defenseman.&ldquo;We have players who perform well against very good teams by giving the maximum effort, but a weaker team arrives and suddenly they think they are champions and we lose,&rdquo; Bergeron said. &ldquo;Some of my players just don&rsquo;t seem to react well against a tight-checking team.&rdquo;Bergeron continues to name names when he praises one of his players and to speak in generalities when he is unsatisfied. General manager Maurice Filion recently lashed out at team captain Mario Marois, and the veteran defenseman responded positively, playing his best hockey of the season in the weeks that followed.On the positive side, the Stastny brothers&mdash;Peter, Marian and Anton&mdash;have suddenly started producing again and defenseman Bruce Bell is still manning the point effectively on the power play.&ldquo;Bruce moves the puck well, and he has been working a lot with our line in games and in practices,&rdquo; said Anton Stastny. &ldquo;He is very talented and should be around for quite a while in the NHL.&rdquo;Bell says he appreciates all the ice time Bergeron has given him and does not mind trying to inspire the Stastnys on offense. In fact, he has been enjoying the challange.&ldquo;Those Stastnys are real magicians with the puck,&rdquo; Bell said. &ldquo;Guy Lapointe (assistant coach) has been telling me to move with the puck a little more in recent weeks and that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve been trying to do.&rdquo;Bell noticed that when things aren&rsquo;t going so well, it&rsquo;s sometimes because he stops playing his regular game.&ldquo;I know I must play more defensively in the NHL than I did in junior hockey, but I&rsquo;m also starting to carry the puck like I used to,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s my game and that&rsquo;s what I have to do.&rdquo;Peter Stastny has been very effective in Quebec in his first four NHL seasons, feeding the puck to his brothers and to defensemen such as Bell who have potential on offense. Peter picked up 313 assists in his first four years in the NHL, including 93 in 1981-82.Goaltender Glenn Resch of the Devils has had the chance to watch Peter Stastny from close range for a few years, and he knows how difficult a task it is to pass to the talented center in the slot.&ldquo;Many of the Stastny goals are identical and come on similar plays,&rdquo; Resch said. &ldquo;Peter holds onto the puck and his brothers circle like sharks going in for a kill. When they are not open, Peter simp ly looks a little further back for the defenseman.&rdquo;Bergeron says he likes to play Bell with the Stastnys because the rookie rearguard&rsquo;s passing is something the Nords need. The Quebec coach also wishes the rest of his team, and the Stastnys as well on certain nights, would only keep that offense working, no matter what the opposition. &#9632;

f0017-01

Nords Put Cramp In Plans By Playing Inconsistently

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>EDMONTON&mdash;Jaroslav Pouzar has coaching aspirations.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m training to be a coach,&rdquo; said the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; big left winger from Czechoslovakia. &ldquo;One day I&rsquo;ll say I&rsquo;m tired and quit hockey. It&rsquo;s not easy to say, &lsquo;1 quit hockey.&rsquo; It&rsquo;s a different life than normal, but every player must quit.&rdquo;Pouzar, who turns 33 on Jan. 23, has already taken the initial steps to becoming a coach in Czechoslovakia. During his final three years of playing for Ceske Budejovice, he attended university two days a week (eight a m. to five p.m.) in Prague, where he studied psychology and the anatomy of the human body in addition to on-ice coaching.He&rsquo;s learned the all-important tactics of dealing with individual personalities.&ldquo;You say to some guys, &lsquo;You bleeping hammerhead, you play!&rsquo; Other guys are quiet, nervous, you treat them differently,&rdquo; Puzar said. &ldquo;We were also working with young guys&mdash;12 to 15 years (of age) on the ice practising everything.&rdquo;Pouzar plans to play for two more years, probably in Switzerland, and then get into coaching&mdash;most likely in his homeland. He admits it&rsquo;s becoming increasingly difficult as the odd man out of the Oilers&rsquo; lineup.&ldquo;This year I&rsquo;m not playing too much,&rdquo; said Pouzar, who has suited up foronly 10 of the Oilers&rsquo;29 games. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s boring just practising. I&rsquo;m not lazy from practice, but practice all year is not much fun.&rdquo;Playing for another National Hockey League team doesn&rsquo;t appeal to him&mdash;not after winning a Stanley Cup and taking a turn on Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s line for the better part of two seasons before being bumped this time around in favor of Mike Krushelnyski.&ldquo;I had my big chance to play in the NHL. I was lucky to come here. I was lucky to be drafted (in the fourth round in 1982) by Edmonton,&rdquo; said Pouzar, whose future in Switzerland is being negotiated by Prago Sport, a Czechoslovakian company that handles the affairs of hockey and soccer players that leave the country.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to play hockey in Edmonton, but I don&rsquo;t get the chance to play all the time.&rdquo;Why coaching? Don&rsquo;t they fire coaches in Czechoslovakia, too?&ldquo;I like hockey,&rdquo; reasoned Pouzar, who started playing in Czechoslovakia&rsquo;s top league when he was 17. &ldquo;I need hockey for my life. I can&rsquo;t go into a different life sitting in an office. It&rsquo;s not easy to get out of hockey. I like to be a coach, that&rsquo;s my dream, okay? But maybe it won&rsquo;t come true.&rdquo;Pouzar&rsquo;s stint in North America has not only been lucrative financially (in excess of $100,000 annually), but his ability to grasp the English language doesn&rsquo;t necessarily restrict his coaching aspirations solely to his homeland.&ldquo;The first year (in the NHL in 198283) I spoke nothing,&rdquo; he said, pointing out that the initial plan was to study English in school. But Oiler chief scout Barry Fraser dismissed that idea because Pouzar&rsquo;s outgoing personality allowed him to pick up the language quite quickly.&ldquo;Then I went to Vancouver and (Juri) Bubla and Ivan (Hlinka) said they were going to school. I went to Philadelphia and (Miroslav) Dvorak, he said he was going to school.&ldquo;The second year I got a dictionary and Randy Gregg, my roommate, he started teaching me English.&rdquo;Pouzar, the son of a fisherman, was bom in a tiny village of less than 100 people (&ldquo;Twenty houses&rdquo;), he wore hand-me-down skates from his brother (who&rsquo;s now a carpenter) until he was 13 (&ldquo;That&rsquo;s when I got my own pair&rdquo;) for Christmas.&ldquo;Just like me.&rdquo; chipped in goalieAndy Moog. &ldquo;I was 13 when I got my first pair.&rdquo;Pouzar&rsquo;s family moved to Prague when he was 13, at which time he started playing hockey. By the time he was 21 he made the national team. Now he desires to become a coach. Is the ultimate dream to coach the Czech Nats?&ldquo;It would be funny to come back (for a Canada Cup tournament) and see guys like Gretz and Andy,&rdquo; Pouzarsaid. &ldquo;But to be coach for my country, it is not easy. There&rsquo;s lots of pressure; more pressure than here. That&rsquo;s the job everybody wants. Lots of big players are going to school and they&rsquo;d like to coach the national team. Hlinka (who is closing out his playing career in Switzerland) wants to become a coach, too.&rdquo;IN THE CREASE&mdash;As this issue was going to press, Wayne Gretzky was closing in on the 1,000-point mark, the youngest and fastest player to ever do so. With 998 career points (388 goals, 610 assists) heading into a Dec. 17 match in New Jersey, Gretzky had an opportunity to beat the previous fastest player (Marcel Dionne) by almost four full seasons. Dionne did it with Los Angeles in his 740th game. The Jersey game for Gretzky, who came off a five-goal explosion in St. Louis two nights earlier, was No. 423&hellip;Randy Gregg is injured with a brusied left shoulder. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an injury similar to the one Wayne had last season.&rdquo; said therapist Peter Millar of the bruise that sidelined Gretzky for six games. Larry Melnyk was recalled from Nova Scotia as a replacement&hellip;Mark Messier returned to the lineup in Los Angeles on Dec. 13, six weeks after suffering a badly sprained knee, and scored a goal and an assist in St. Louis two nights later. &#9632;

Pouzar Wants To Coach After Playing Days

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>BOSTON&mdash;A shot to the groin, a shot to the head, and suddenly the Boston Bruins were faced with the unsettling prospect of playing an extended stretch of games with two goaltenders who had faced a grand total of 63 shots in only 109 minutes and 31 seconds of NHL play.Backup goalie Doug Keans went first, out for up to six weeks following surgery for a damaged testicle. Then, in the midst of a game with the New York Rangers, Pete Peeters suffered a dizzy spell, probably as a delayed result of taking a Larry Robinson shot to the head in a previous Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; game.All that stood between the slumping Bruins and an empty net was Don Sylvestri, with a minute and seven seconds of NHL experience, and Cleon Daskalakis, some 400 miles away in Hershey, who had one full game and parts of two others under his belt.&ldquo;I had aknot in my throat,&rdquo; said Sylvestri, who was thrown into the breech at 8:58 of the second period in Madison Square Garden without warmup to spell Peeters.&ldquo;Coming in wasn&rsquo;t on my mind at all until Pete left, but maybe it&rsquo;s easier this way. When you have too much time to think about it, your mind can play too many tricks.&rdquo;Sylvestri responded by stopping 12 of 13 shots, allowing a goal by Reijo Ruot-salainen on only the second shot he faced in the NHL. The Bruins emerged with a 3-3 tie, their seventh winless game in a row.&ldquo;I think standing there for almost 10 minutes without a shot hurt me,&rdquo; said Sylvestri. &ldquo;It was a good shot. It was floating but it was a simple play; maybe I tried too hard to make a great save.&rdquo;Coach Gerry Cheevers was satisfied.&ldquo;He seems to have a personality that going in like that doesn&rsquo;t bother him,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He held his ground. All I said to him was, &lsquo;Stand up in there. When in doubt, if there&rsquo;s any hesitation, freeze it.&rsquo; He did the job.&rdquo;Sylvestri went the 70-minute route in the next game, a 5-5 tie with Quebec, with Daskalakis and his 108 minutes, 24 seconds of NHL experience as backup.Fortunately, it appeared that Peeters&rsquo; ailment was not serious. He spent the day of the Quebec game in Massachusetts General Hospital, being poked and product by neurosurgeons, who reported that all neurological signs were negative and he was cleared to return to the Bruins&rsquo; net in the next game.Meanwhile, the Bruins suffered another loss when rookie Geoff Court-nall, sent down to Hershey with Nevin Markwart, decided that he had had it and retired from hockey at the age of 22 to work in the family construction business in Victoria, B.C.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not worth it to me to go to the minors again,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tough thing to do, quit, but I think I&rsquo;ll be happier in the long run career-wise. I&rsquo;ll finish my education and get on with my business, so I think I&rsquo;ll be all right. I&rsquo;ll miss hockey. I want to play&mdash;and I long to play&mdash;but you can&rsquo;t have everything.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to come out of the game with nothing in two or three years. I know a lot of the guys I played with last year at Hershey wish they had done it. They said you go to the minors one year, or you just keep doing it every year and you get used to it. That&rsquo;s not for me.&rdquo;Courtnall, who was signed as a free agent in July, 1983 after he was not drafted, had three goals and 10 assists in 25 games with the Bruins.The Bruins, who were 0-4-4 after the tie with Quebec, were mired in their worst slump since possibly the 1966-67 season and it even cast some doubt on the future of coach Cheevers, who was asked if he had given any thought to quitting.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never step down,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I may get kicked down but I won&rsquo;t step down. Certainly a coach questions himself at times, but I don&rsquo;t question myself being a good coach. I feel that I am. There are times when I question my methods and this is one of them.&rdquo;One of his responses to those questions was three-hour practice sessions for the Bruins.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t want to resort to two and three-hour practices and screaming workouts but you have to put the hammer down,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This is what we have to do to win. This is a good hockey team, not a bunch of bums.&rdquo;And he added:&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been through times like this before. I didn&rsquo;t have 20 years of smooth sailing.&rdquo; &#9632;

Raw Rookies Assume Bruin Jobs

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;The New York Islanders took the hint&mdash;and just in time, too, according to their coach.First, Al Arbour subjected his players to the &ldquo;Sword Fighters Drill,&rdquo; one of hockey&rsquo;s most punishing exercises. Holding their sticks by the wrong end, the defensemen had to defend their net in one-on-one rushes against the forwards at practice.It&rsquo;s a drill that emphasizes bodychecking over poke-checking, and it left some of the Islanders rubbing body bruises.Arbour didn&rsquo;t stop there. He also instituted some changes in the team&rsquo;s forward lines, aimed at shaking up his players.The maneuvering worked as the Islanders broke a four-game losing streak by walloping Philadelphia 6-2 at Nassau Coliseum on Dec. 15.Following the game, Arbour was asked if he thought the &ldquo;Sword Fighters Drill&rdquo; had helped straighten out the team.&ldquo;Who knows? But they did check better,&rdquo; Arbour grinned.John Tonelli, who scored twice in that game, said: &ldquo;That drill got to the point, all right. Al put it bluntly. He felt some of the veterans might be getting complacent&hellip;We also have some young guys on the the team and we have to blend together.&rdquo;Arbour had been distressed by the Islanders&rsquo; lack of body checking in consecutive losses to Edmonton, Hartford, New Jersey and Pittsburgh.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re not taking the body,&rdquo; he moaned after a particularly galling 7-5 loss to the Devils.&ldquo;The drill was to instill the fact that we&rsquo;ve got to eliminate the man with the puck,&rdquo; Denis Potvin said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;skindofa psychological move. When a guy gets beat, he hears a lot of oohs and aahs, and nobody wants to hear those.&rdquo;Under Arbour&rsquo;s shake-up move, utility forward Mats Hallin was tested at left wing on the Bryan Trottier-Mike Bossy line. Bob Bourne took over at right wing on the Brent Sutter-Tonelli line, while Greg Gilbert moved to left wing on the Pat LaFontaine-Patrick Flatley line.Arbour also interrupted his goalie rotation by resting Bill Smith, who had allowed 13 goals in two starts, and giving Kelly Hrudey two consecutive starts for the first time.Hrudey confessed he was surprised when Smith was bypassed.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t ask why&hellip;but I was happy to play,&rdquo; Hrudey said. &ldquo;I felt a little tight playing at home before. Now I feel more comfortable.&rdquo;LaFontaine also felt more comfortable after snapping out of a nine-game, goalscoring slump against the Flyers. His first goal since Nov. 20 was a beauty. The 19-year-old center took a pass from Potvin and broke in alone on goalie Pelle Lindbergh. LaFontaine faked left and deposited the puck into the right hand comer.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been as fortunate as I&rsquo;d like to be this season,&rdquo; LaFontaine said. &ldquo;But you have to keep trying. If you let it (a slump) bother you, well, it only gets worse. This isn&rsquo;t an easy league, and it&rsquo;s been a big adjustment for me.&rdquo;Things appeared easier for LaFontaine when he broke in with the Islanders last February after representing the United States in the winter Olympics. He scored 13 goals in his first 16 games and also performed well in the playoffs.This season, LaFontaine had four goals in the first seven games, then suffered through a 10-game scoring slump. He snapped out of it with a goal against the Flyers at Philadelphia Nov. 18, scored in the next game against the Capitals, then hit the skids again.Through it all, LaFontaine kept smil ing, though it was probably eating at him inside. Arbour, meanwhile, has been extremely patient with the teenager.&ldquo;Pat has to learn to relax,&rdquo; the coach said. &ldquo;So much is expected from him, and when things don&rsquo;t go right with his line or the team, he assumes he&rsquo;s to blame. I keep telling him, &lsquo;Look, Pat, you&rsquo;re doing well,&rsquo; And he has done well. He&rsquo;s so good with the puck. I&rsquo;m not disappointed with him at all.&rdquo;ON THE ISLE&mdash;Gord Lane suffered bruised ribs during the Isles&rsquo; 4-3 loss at Pittsburgh and missed the next game against the Flyers&hellip;Tomas Jonsson moved up to right wing for the New Jersey game, then returned to his normal defensive position&hellip;Pat Flatley said he wants to be known as Patrick instead of Pat. &ldquo;Patrick sounds better,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You ought to hear my father pronounce it. He&rsquo;s got a real Irish brogue.&rdquo; &#9632;

Islanders Live By The Sword Against Philly

<div class="byline">BY PERRY LEFKO</div>TORONTO&mdash;&rdquo;Albert, Albert, Albert&hellip;&rdquo;For weeks, patrons at Maple Leaf Gardens have been beckoning for this commercial hero, the one whom no one wants to play with when he&rsquo;s young and he grows up to be a star.Well, three days after some fly-bynight hucksters sold bags with the message, &ldquo;Albert, we need you,&rdquo; the king of celluloid came. But, sorry to say, not even Albert could save the Leafs. In fact, the guy in the commercial who says, &ldquo;Sure wish, we had a few like Albert,&rdquo; may very well be Toronto coach Dan Maloney.But more on Albert. Courtesy of The Toronto Star, the elder Albert&mdash;the one whose face is never seen&mdash;was flown to Toronto for the Leafs&rsquo; game against Pittsburgh on Dec. 15. Along with three lucky people whom he accompanied to the game, Albert, whose real name is Bill Stewart (ironically, the Leafs have a player by that name, too), saw first-hand how dismal the Leafs are (they lost the game 5-2). He wore a sweater that said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m the real Albert,&rdquo; and he signed autographs for youngsters who think he&rsquo;s more valuable to the Leafs than Rick Vaive.Stewart, 23, is actually a real hockey player&mdash;at least he was up until a while ago. Born in The Pas, Man. Stewart played university hockey at Denver and was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars in the seventh round of the 1980 draft. He played most of last season with Salt Lake of the now-defunct Central League, although he did have a brief tryout with the Canadian Olympic team. This season, he&rsquo;d been with Indianapolis of the International League, but he&rsquo;s been in retirement since the first week of November after a contract dispute with North Star general manager Lou Nanne.Stewart is currently awaiting a visa so he can work in the States, but, unfortunately for the Leaf fans who are looking for him to rescue their fallen team, he is through with hockey.&ldquo;When I retired from hockey, I said, &lsquo;That&rsquo;s it, it&rsquo;s time to find a real job. get serious, get on with my life,&rdquo; he said.Stewart, who arrived with a pair of shiners following recent nose surgery, had the look of a hockey player. That, along with the multitude of interviews and photo sessions he&rsquo;s had since his cover was broken, have made him quite recognizable.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not used to the attention, but I&rsquo;m getting used to it in a hurry,&rdquo; said Stewart, who described himself as a &ldquo;kind of laid-back person who shies away from the limelight.&rdquo;When the producers of the commercial were looking for a hockey player, Stewart was recommended by Denver coach Ralph Backstrom and assistant Ron Grahame. who appeared in a beer commercial. He never thought, however, that the commercial would achieve its present cult status.&ldquo;I was surprised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I played hockey in Salt Lake, then was called to play for Team Canada on a four-game tryout. At the end of October. I went to Calgary and all the guys knew about it&hellip;I didn&rsquo;t think anything would come of it.&rdquo;Stewart said he grew up watching the Leafs and Montreal on Hockey Night In Canada (although the feeds were a week late in Manitoba and he knew the results ahead of time), and dreamed of one day playing for either of the Canadian teams.Although he may secretly still want to play for Toronto, he&rsquo;s keeping a lid on it. He does, however, have a few words of advice for the Leaf management.&ldquo;Continue to work hard and stay with the youth and build with it,&rdquo; he said.Funny, but that&rsquo;s what the Leafs have been saying, too.LEAFLETS&mdash;Bill Stewart, the Albert, says he&rsquo;s been confused with Bill Stewart, the Leaf. &ldquo;Some lady sent me hockey cards of Bill Stewart from his Buffalo days and asked me to sign them.&rdquo; Stewart played junior hockey with the Leafs&rsquo; Bob McGill and against Jeff Brubaker in the pros&hellip;Rookie goalie Allan Bester was demoted to St. Catharines, where he joins Ken Wregget. Bester, who was &ldquo;shocked&rdquo; by the move, was told by management that the Leaf situation was a &ldquo;bad environment&rdquo; for the young goalies. Rick St. Croix was promoted from the minors and beat his ex-team, Philadelphia, 6-3 in his first game to snap the Leafs&rsquo; 10-game losing streak. But the Leafs began another spell by losing 6-4 to Winnipeg and 5-2 to Pittsburgh. Bill Derlago, however, scored a hat trick in the loss. The Leafs had a total of three shorthanded goals in the games against the Jets and Penguins-&hellip;Captain Rick Vaive missed all three games with a knee injury. &#9632;

Not Even Albert Can Save Leafs

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01613/5356604-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hawk defenseman Dave Feamster went to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota where it was discovered he had a serious back injury.</figcaption></div>CHICAGO&mdash;Black Hawk defenseman Dave Feamster believes he has been playing hockey with a stress fracture in his fifth lumbar vertebra.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t do anything for two months,&rdquo; Laid Feamster after returning from an examination at the the world-famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. &ldquo;No jogging, no riding the stationary bike, no nothing.&ldquo;The four doctors at the Mayo Clinic all concurred that it was a stress fracture. Then they did a bone scan to see if it was healing.&ldquo;They shot radioactive dye into my arm. If there&rsquo;s healing, there&rsquo;s heat, and the dye will go to heat-sensitive areas. But there was no sign of healing, so they told me I had to take a complete rest.&rdquo; That wasn&rsquo;t what Hawk general manager Bob Pulford originally had in mind.Pulford farmed out Feamster to the Hawks&rsquo; Milwaukee affiliate in the International League on Nov. 29, but the former Colorado College star never reported. Because he complained of feeling fatigued and experiencing discomfort in the lower back, he was given a physical examination by the Hawks&rsquo; medical team. However, Feamster said the exam failed to diagnose his injury.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know what was wrong but I knew I didn&rsquo;t feel right,&rdquo; said Feamster.I &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure when it happened&mdash;when I was preparing for the Canada Cup or during the season. You get hurt so often that you don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s serious and what isn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;d be on the ice for only 20 seconds and I&rsquo;d be out of gas. After two, three strides. I&rsquo;d have no power in my legs.&ldquo;When I was farmed out, I said to Bob Pulford, &lsquo;What took you so long? I was waiting for this for a month and a half because I&rsquo;ve been playing awful. I&rsquo;ve never dogged it. Something is wrong with me, I know my body.&rsquo;&ldquo;The team doctors tested me mainly for mono, anemia and diabetes and nothing showed. They couldn&rsquo;t find a thing wrong. I started thinking maybe Pully was right and it was all in my head.&ldquo;But deep down I knew something had to be wrong. So, I went on my own to a doctor who was recommended to me, Dr. Mitchel Sheinkop. He discovered the stress fracture.&ldquo;I went back and told Pully but he must have thought I was trying to put something over on him. He said: &lsquo;I still think it&rsquo;s all in your head; you&rsquo;re either going to report to Milwaukee by noon Friday (Dec. 7) or you&rsquo;re suspended!&rsquo;&ldquo;Then, I contacted the Players&rsquo; Association and the people there were able to come to an agreement with our team for a third independent evaluation at the Mayo Clinic.&rdquo;Pulford was enraged when Feamster went public with his story in the Chicago Tribune. &ldquo;Have you seen the medical report?&rdquo; demanded Pulford. &ldquo;It could have been other things. How can you say Feamster has been playing hockey with a stress fracture? How do you know that? There&rsquo;s a great possibility that this is a hereditary thing.&ldquo;How come when they did the bone scan that there was no sign of healing? Maybe that should tell you that it&rsquo;s hereditary and not a hockey injury.&ldquo;I played hockey 16 years with the same kind of hereditary condition. It&rsquo;s common.&rdquo;The Hawks&rsquo; orthopedist, Dr. Louis Kolb, presented the team&rsquo;s version in a Chicago Sun-Times article.&ldquo;We knew exactly what he had,&rdquo; said Dr. Kolb. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a condition called spondylolysis, which consists of a defect. You&rsquo;re not bom with it, but you inherit the tendency toward it. Some people believe it to be a stress fracture.&ldquo;We sent him to a neurologist. All the results were normal. The neurologist was not of the opinion spondylolysis would cause anything more than a bad backache, that there was no sign of neurological impingement.&rdquo;Feamster, 26, joined the Hawks midway through the 1981-82 season and has been with them ever since. This year, in 14 games, he scored one goal, assisted on three and had a plus-minus rating of plus five, second-best among the Chicago defensemen.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t given the injury any time to heal, so I&rsquo;m hoping it will get better and I&rsquo;ll be able to resume my career,&rdquo; said Feamster. &ldquo;If it doesn&rsquo;t heal the way it should, I&rsquo;d have to make a decision on whether or not to have a spinal fusion operation.&rdquo;HAWK TALK&mdash;The possibility of a grey cloud lurked lurked every so slightly on the Chicago horizon after perhaps their most glowing all-around performance of the season. Efficiently and impressively, they outclassed the Detroit Red Wings 5-1, but one of their most valuable players, left winger Al Secord, suffered a groin injury. But the 54-goal scorer in 1982-83 said not to worry. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the same location (as last season&rsquo;s severely pulled stomach muscles),&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This is my abductor muscle. I hurt it in practice and I just aggravated it tonight. I&rsquo;ll be okay.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0021-01

Feamster Finds Problem Is In His Back, Not Head

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;Glen Sonmor is still a man of enthusiasm, but while he prefers to show that quality in bubbly happiness, he was angry with considerable enthusiasm as the Minnesota North Stars went winless for seven consecutive games.After the North Stars lost to Washing ton at Met Center, managing only a feeble five shots in the third period and only one until a power play with five minutes left, Sonmor was storming.&ldquo;I thought, when I came in here, the team was coming together, that we could do it,&rdquo; said Sonmor. &ldquo;But now I don&rsquo;t see it. Not with these guys. Our play is worse than it seems because Gilles Meloche has been just outstanding in goal.&ldquo;You&rsquo;d think,&rdquo; Sonmor added, &ldquo;if we were going to lose, we&rsquo;d lose while making a frantic effort. I didn&rsquo;t see much of that.&rdquo;Trade rumors were flying. Brad Maxwell, the center of several of them, faced the press with sort of a weary sarcasm.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost funny,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve probably been rumored to be going in a trade a hundred times in my years with the North Stars. Everybody else has been traded, but I&rsquo;m still here.&rdquo;The next day, he was gone. The veteran defenseman, who had the most years here of any player on the roster, was sent to Quebec along with Brent Ashton for Tony McKegney and Bo Berglund, who is recovering from a separated shoulder.Maxwell had been an enigma in Minnesota. He has a hard, accurate, low shot from the point, can make brilliant outlet passes, is ornery in front of the net, and is a devastating fighter. Those are the attributes of an all-star, but Maxwell had trouble combining his assets into consistent performance.Ashton is a willing, hard-working team contributor who is a solid checker. In his short stay with the Stars, he seemed to have a good touch with the puck, too, right up until he got near the goal. His inability to convert the chances left him a symbol of frustration that typifies this season for the Stars.There was more to the stage-setting for a crucial Dec. 15-16, back-to-back series with Norris-leading Chicago. Two other factors were Paul Holmgren and Craig Hartsburg.Holmgren, with his shoulder reconstructed by extensive surgery last spring, had slam-banged his way to a new shoulder injury and hadn&rsquo;t played for two weeks.Plus, it had gotten to the point that Holmgren suffered when he turned his head. He flew to Los Angeles to see a shoulder specialist, and was to undergo exploratory arthroscopic surgery on Dec. 17, following the weekend Hawk series. A quick turn of his head could induce numbess in his shoulder.Hartsburg, meanwhile, had been suffering since he hit the top of the boards with his hip in an exhibition game at Edmonton. After playing and putting up with some pain, he came off two weeks ago complaining of sharp pains.Some careful searching disclosed a small fracture in his femur. By playing on it, the bone never healed.With Tom Hirsch sent down, Dirk Graham, Bob Rouse and Randy Velis-chek all called up, and Maxwell and Ashton traded, Dave Richter came up with a back injury as the Stars faced Chicago.Amazingly, Holmgren volunteered&mdash;practically demanded&mdash;to play. The Stars let him, and he was actually used for several shifts early in the game. Only Holmgren would choose an NHL game as preparation for surgery two days later.After the trades and injuries and recalls, two other figures were prominent in the drama, Mark Napier and Don Beaupre.Napier is a reluctant hero with the Stars this season. Not because he is reluctant, but because the Stars seem reluctant to play him regularly on a line expected to be productive. He was killing penalties and working effectively at every chance under Bill Mahoney.And Sonmor sat him out to look at younger players. Once he got the chance, Napier continued to skate and hustle and score. In the loss to Washington, Napier got both Minnesota goals.Then came the Chicago set. The Stars lost 5-3 to the Black Hawks at the Met Center, but Napier had a goal and an assist.The next night in Chicago, the Stars won 5-3 (both games involved empty-net goals) and Napier had a neat goal and made great passes to directly set up three others. That&rsquo;s four goals, four assists in three games when the Stars only scored 10 goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01713/5356635-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="580" height="900"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brad Maxwell joked that he&rsquo;d be traded and was sent the next day to Quebec.</figcaption></div>Beaupre tended goal in the victory, which broke the winless streak. He gave up three goals to Denis Savard, but was otherwise sharp. He had not played in 11 games, because of a six-game suspension and a five-game session as a spectator while newly-acquired Rollie Melanson played.The victory was vital, because the fourth-place Stars were able to stay nine points behind Chicago. A loss would have left them 13 back. &#9632;

f0022-01

Maxwell Ashton Traded To Nords

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02506/5356673-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg"></div>As this issue was going to press, Edmonton Oiler scoring machine Wayne Gretzky was just two points shy of the 1,000-point mark in his young pro career, which means he&rsquo;s bound to have gotten it by the time you read this.To get within two points of the milestone, though, he had an outstanding effort, scoring five goals in Edmonton&rsquo;s 8-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues. So in two games, Gretzky had six goals and two assists, giving him 32 goals and 52 assists after 29 games and earning him THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; Player-of-the-Week honor for the period ending Dec. 16.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03385/5356666-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="1188" height="1160"></div> &#9632;

f0022-02

Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY RON COBB</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Eighteen months ago, the St. Louis Blues were as shaky as a franchise can be without actually going under. But now, by signing coach Jacques Demers to a three-year contract extension, they&rsquo;ve taken another step toward stability.The club announced on Dec. 14 that Demers, 40, will be under contract through the 1987-88 National Hockey League season. Terms were not dis closed, but Demers said the contract called for a &ldquo;substantial raise.&rdquo;&ldquo;What this provides to me is security for my kids, who are the most important thing in my life,&rdquo; said the coach, who has two daughters and a son.Coming out of the American League last year, Demers had been among the NHL&rsquo;s lowest-paid coaches. Because he wanted to return to the NHL so badly, having once coached the Quebec Nordi-ques, and because he knew the Blues were starting from scratch, he hadn&rsquo;t put a high priority on salary.But the Blues&rsquo; success last season and their good start this fall convinced him&mdash;and obviously the Blues&rsquo; ownership&mdash;that he deserved something more.Of owner Harry Omest, Demers said, &ldquo;(he) really proved to me that he wants to keep me in St. Louis. I want to finish what I started.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an upper,&rdquo; Omest said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s positive. More than anything, he has the respect and good fellowship of his players. If you have both, you&rsquo;ve got a leg up.&rdquo;Demers was in the second year of a two-year contact, with the club holding the option for next year.&ldquo;The only way I would have left St. Louis was if I had to, not because I wanted to,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They say there&rsquo;s no loyalty in sports, buy my dad brought me up to be loyal. I&rsquo;m loyal to people who&rsquo;ve done good things for me, like my players, like Ron Caron, and certainly Mr. Omest.&rdquo;Demers was especially grateful to Caron, the Blues&rsquo; director of hockey operations. He had been Caron&rsquo;s personal choice in August, 1983, when Omest was putting the team together after buying the franchise.&ldquo;The most important thing to me is that I did not let that man down,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;I have a fear of failing, but when I came to the NHL, I knew I could do it. Ron Caron gave me the opportunity, and for that I owe him my career. I could not have lived with myself if I had let him down.&ldquo;I have to credit Ron for making great trades and providing me with better players than I had in the first two and a half months last year.&rdquo;While he was at the podium in a press conference, Demers asked assistant coach Barclay Plager to join him. Plager, who is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor, had been watching from the wings.&ldquo;One of my biggest concerns, when I negotiated my contract, was the situation regarding Barclay Plager,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;Jack Quinn (executive vice president), who was very fair, and Mr. Omest assured me that they would take care of him. As long as I&rsquo;m coaching the St. Louis Blues, Barclay Plager will be the assistant coach. We may add a third guy, but Bare will always be my right-hand man.&rdquo;High on Demers&rsquo; list of people to thank were his players.&ldquo;I owe this contract to my players, to a great captain in Brian Sutter, who has supported me tremendously since I&rsquo;ve been here, and to the other 22 players,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Without the total effort that they gave me, I couldn&rsquo;t have been in the situation I&rsquo;m in today.&rdquo;Sutter, who attended the press conference with Pat Hickey, Rob Ramage and Bernie Federko, said: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s worked hard. You like to see people get what they deserve.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s more of a friend than anything,&rdquo; Federko said. &ldquo;I think he should be very proud of himself. The way coaches are falling in this league, it&rsquo;s a tough job.&rdquo;BLUENOTES&mdash;Left winger Kevin LaVallee missed two games because of a mild concussion.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01642/5356704-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="583" height="1453"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jacques Demers thanked several people after he was given a three-year contract extension.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0023-01

Blues Give Demers Extension On Contract

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY&mdash;He wears the right number and spells the name the same way. The mannerisms are identical to last year and so is the pattern.Only the production has changed.So far this season, the man in sweater No. 24 isn&rsquo;t even a reasonable facsimile of the Jim Peplinski who played for the Calgary Flames last season. He is faster, stronger and lasts longer at the end of an extra-strenuous shift.Everybody agrees with this assess ment&mdash;his teammates, the coaches, the press and the players on other teams.Everyone agrees, that is, except Peplinski himself, who genuinely does not believe there&rsquo;s much of a change between his play this season and last.&ldquo;People say: &lsquo;Gee, why are you playing so well?&rsquo;&rdquo; said Peplinski. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing a little more and scoring a little more, but I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s much difference between what I&rsquo;m doing now and what I did the last two months of last year.&ldquo;People see the scoring and tend to notice you more, I&rsquo;m also getting a chance to kill penalties and that has worked out. Things are just falling into place. There&rsquo;s no magic to it.&rdquo;Olympic Saddledome regulars would dispute Peplinski&rsquo;s point. In terms of scoring, Peplinski had the poorest season of his four-year career last year, counting just 11 goals and 22 assists in 74 games. A third of the way through this season, he had nine goals and 13 assists.Perhaps more importantly, Peplinski&rsquo;s play to date is reminiscent of the 1981-82 season, which was by far his best in the league. The parallels between then and now are obvious.Three years ago, the Flames lost their two top centers, Kent Nilsson and Guy Chouinard, for long periods of time. Peplinski became the No. 1 center and took up the slack&mdash;leadership and scoring&mdash;especially in the 39 games Nilsson missed with a dislocated shoulder.Peplinski scored 32 goals that season and played with authority, the same thing he&rsquo;s playing with now. He isn&rsquo;t tentative. His confidence is high. His tunnel vision is gone. He is finding the open winger&mdash;usually Steve Tambellini&mdash;and the latter is getting all kinds of scoring chances that simply weren&rsquo;t there a year ago.Moreover, Peplinski is taking advantage of his strength. Instead of tip-toeing to the net, he drives. He draws penalties and creates openings.The explanation for the changes is quite simple actually. More was asked of Peplinski three years ago and he responded by giving more. In the next two years, his role&mdash;and consequently his effectiveness&mdash;diminished.With co-captains Doug Risebrough and Lanny McDonald sidelined for most of the season, coach Bob Johnson handed the &lsquo;G&rsquo; to Peplinski and was rewarded for the decision with Peplinski&rsquo;s good start.&ldquo;He thrives on the added responsibility,&rdquo; said teammate Paul Baxter. &ldquo;His leadership qualities have become quite evident with the absence of some of our older players.&ldquo;The difference is like night and day,&rdquo; added goaltender Reggie Lemelin.The only question now is can Peplinski keep it up, especially with McDonald back in the lineup.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see why not,&rdquo; answered Peplinski. &ldquo;That year, when Kent came back, they put me on a line with Gary McAdam.&rdquo;And McAdam had one of the finest months of his pro career.With Risebrough still out, McDonald is back as sole captain of the team. McDonald&rsquo;s return helped spark the Flames&rsquo; power play. Of his first three goals, two came with the man advantage and the third came just as a penalty expired.&ldquo;I feel great, said McDonald, who missed seven weeks with a jammed hip and pulled stomach muscle. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not having any problems at all.&rdquo;IN BRIEF&mdash;The injury bug bit the Flames again following the conclusion of a five-game eastern road trip (1-2-2). Carey Wilson pulled a groin against the New Jersey Devils and was expected to miss two weeks. Paul Reinhart was in and out of the lineup because of back spasms, a particularly significant injury because he missed 57 games last season with a back problem. &#9632;

Flames’ Peplinski Rises To Responsiblity

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;Sudden-death overtime tends to bring out the best in Paul MacLean.The husky right winger of the Winnipeg Jets scored his fourth overtime winner in two seasons, defelecting a shot by Dale Hawerchuk for a 5-4 victory over Philadelphia Flyers on Dec. 11.A year ago, he led the National Hockey League with three overtime goals. No records are kept of such feats.How, then, does he explain this rash of dramatic deeds?&ldquo;I figure if you are going to get only two or three shifts in overtime, you better make the most of it while you are out there,&rdquo; MacLean said.Typically, MacLean played furiously during his first shift. Once, he drove Pel-le Lindbergh deep into his own net, knowing that the puck might follow him. On another occasion, he threw himself on top of a pileup, thinking the puck might squirt out.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll admit I was a little more ticked off than usual,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Watching our 4-2 lead disappear bothered me. I thought we had the game won. Our line didn&rsquo;t play much near the end of regulation play, so we could give it our best shot.&rdquo;As Brian Mullen forechecked, the puck sprung free to Lindsay Carson of the Flyers. However, Dale Hawerchuk was on top of him quickly. Attempting to clear, Carson fired the puck off the boards, though his angle was not great.Jet defenseman Tim Watters alertly nudged a pass ahead to Hawerchuk. He whirled and fired. Lindbergh threw out his left pad, thinking he had the save made, only to see the puck&rsquo;s direction altered slightly by MacLean&rsquo;s probing stick.The win was a landmark victory for the Jets. For the first time since coming into the NHL in 1979, they were six games (15-9-3) over.500. Only a year ago, at the same juncture, the Jets were precisely the opposite (9-15-3).&ldquo;We have got to the point where we think we can beat anyone at anytime,&rdquo; said MacLean. &ldquo;We are starting to believe in ourselves. We can be as good as we want to be.&rdquo;MacLean felt he got off to a slow start, but upon examining his statistics after 27 games he had 14 goals and 24 assists compared to nine goals and eight assists a I year ago.Hawerchuk is surging, too. At the 27-game mark he had 17 goals and 27 assists for 44 points, good for fifth place among the NHL&rsquo;s scoring leaders. In a nine-game stretch he had eight goals and 13 assists, clicking for at least a point every night.&ldquo;We are growing up together,&rdquo; said MacLean. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t wait for someone else to do it anymore. We have started to realize that we can go out and make it happen.&rdquo;If MacLean seemed happy after his fourth overtime winner, goaltender Marc Behrend was ecstatic.&ldquo;I had been involved in six overtimes since turning pro and I have never been able to win one until now,&rdquo; said the big goaltender from Madison, Wl. &ldquo;When I saw the red light flashing at the other end, I couldn&rsquo;t believe it had finally happened.&rdquo;BENCH BITS&mdash;Out of desperation, Philadelphia coach Mike Keenan asked to have the curvature of Dave Ellett&rsquo;s stick measured. It was ruled illegal and the Flyers scored on the ensuing powerplay. &ldquo;I guess some people call that good coaching,&rdquo; said Winnipeg coach Barry Long. &ldquo;I call it something else. Whatever the case, players are responsible for their own sticks. A mistake like this could have cost us second place.&rdquo; Ellett said he does not doctor his stick. &ldquo;I use them just as they come to me from the factory,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Defenseman Wade Campbell, who was brought up from Sherbrooke, drew assists on both Winnipeg goals. &#9632;

Overtime Brings Best In MacLean

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;Win, lose or draw, slump or streak, there&rsquo;s been one constant for the Detroit Red Wings this season.Ron Duguay.The 27-year-old right winger is enjoying a banner season. Statistically, he&rsquo;s on course to surpass last season&rsquo;s career-high 80 points, which included 33 goals.But even Duguay&rsquo;s fast statistical start&mdash;15 goals and 32 points in 28 games, a pace that&rsquo;s about 10 goals ahead of last season&rsquo;s output at this juncture&mdash;doesn&rsquo;t truly reflect his contribution to the Red Wing effort.Game in and game out, he&rsquo;s been the Wings&rsquo; most consistent and hardest-working player.&ldquo;I just really have my mind on hockey right now,&rdquo; Duguay said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m in my prime seasons now and I want to get the most out of myself that I can. In order to do that, I have to work hard.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a natural goal scorer. I have to depend on my legs, on hard work, on being ready to play. I&rsquo;ve decided to try to do the best I can from now until my career is over.&rdquo;Since coming to the Red Wings two summers ago in the six-player trade with the New York Rangers, Duguay has been a model team player&mdash;dedicated, determined, inspired and inspirational.Those things weren&rsquo;t often said about him in New York but Duguay has earned, and deserves, the kudos in Detroit.He&rsquo;s one of the Wings&rsquo; leaders, albeit a quiet leader. He just does his job and about anything else asked of him.&ldquo;Nick (Polano) is giving me the opportunity to play and contribute&rsquo;&rdquo; Duguay said of the Wings&rsquo; coach. &ldquo;I get plenty of ice time and I love it.&rdquo;That means working his regular shift on the No. I line alongside Steve Yzer-man and John Ogrodnick, working every power play, occasionally taking a double shift and, when called upon, killing penalties.&ldquo;I love plenty of ice time; I love being depended on; I love being needed and being able to contribute,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just want to get more out of myself.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one side of it; the other is that we were in a slump, the team wasn&rsquo;t going well and I&rsquo;m one of the players they depend on. I had to rise to the occasion.&rdquo;Duguay&rsquo;s performance the past few weeks helped the Wings escape an early-season tailspin and put together some victories&mdash;four in five games, including a four-game Norris Division-winning streak that moved them into third place.During that span, the Wings lived or died with the No. 1 line carrying the scoring burden.Stop Yzerman&rsquo;s line, and you stop the Red Wings.It was as simple as that.For example: The Washington Capitals held the unit to only five shots on goal, and one in the final two periods, en route to an easy 4-0 victory.The next night, Yzerman. Ogrodnick and Duguay each scored a goal&mdash;they had 13 shots between them&mdash;in a 4-3 Red Wing victory in Minnesota.Two nights after that, they were blanked again as Chicago limited them to just five shots&mdash;and none at all before the Hawks owned a two-goal lead. The final: Chicago 5, Detroit 1.It&rsquo;s possible to take the streak back even longer. Yzerman scored the winning goal in a 5-4 triumph over the Black Hawks in Detroit. Duguay also scored.And it was a three-goal hat trick by Ogrodnick in the final period against the Toronto Maple Leafs that capped a five-goal rally for a 7-6 victory. Yzerman chipped in with a goal during the comeback.Not surprisingly, Wing games have been chess matches lately with opposing coaches matching their best checking lines against Yzerman on the road.&ldquo;Being able to get the (Doug) Jarvis line against Yzerman all the time didn&rsquo;t allow them many privileges,&rdquo; said Washington coach Bryan Murray.Chicago&rsquo;s Orval Tessier echoed the sentiments.&ldquo;We fully realized the Yzerman line has burned us in the past,&rdquo; Tessier said.&ldquo;The (Tom) Lysiak line did an excellent job on Yzerman,&rdquo; Polano said after the 5-1 setback. &ldquo;We couldn&rsquo;t get the line change to get them away.&rdquo;WING TIPS&mdash;Defenseman Milan Chalupa suffered a relapse of the groin injury that&rsquo;s kept him out for a large part of the season. Another defenseman, Colin Campbell, returned after missing a few games with a bruised throat. Before his return, the Wings were down to five defenseman for the game in Minnesota. The Detroit forwards have been remarkably free of injury, especially the big guns. &#9632;

Duguay ‘Loves’ Many Roles With Wings

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01646/5356807-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;It began on Oct. 16 in Landover, MD with his first goal of the season.It continued on Nov. 12 in Quebec, with an incredible four-goal performance, then was extended on Dec. 5 in Chicago with three more goals.And the Kings&rsquo; Bernie Nicholls still hasn&rsquo;t stopped. A third-period goal on Dec. 10 in New York gave the 23-year-old center at least one point in 25 consecutive games, a club record and the fourth longest in National Hockey League history.&ldquo;You think about it a little, it&rsquo;s nice to score in all those games but it&rsquo;s even nicer because we&rsquo;ve been winning most of them,&rdquo; Nicholls said.After drawing blanks in the Kings&rsquo; first three games of the season, he accumulated 21 goals and 19 assists in the last 25, tying the streak put together by New York Islanders&rsquo; center Bryan Trottier in 1981-82.It was during that season that right winger Dave Taylor set the Kings&rsquo; record at 21, but Nicholls broke that with a game-tying goal on Dec. 4 in Minnesota.&ldquo;It was nice to set the record,&rdquo; said Taylor, who celebrated his 29th birthday the night Nicholls took the mark away. &ldquo;I was very proud of it, and now we&rsquo;re all very proud of Bernie. He&rsquo;s been help ing to carry the team, getting big goals or assists almost every night.&rdquo;For Nicholls, scoring goals is hardly news. He had 41 in only 55 games at New Haven his first year as a pro in 1981-82, then collected three consecutive hat tricks shortly after being called up by the Kings.Nicholls wound up with 14 goals and 18 assists in 22 games, followed that up with 28-22 in 71 games, then finished with 41-54 in 78 last year, despite playing with a fractured jaw wired shut for over a month.And now this. Playing on a line with Jim Fox on the right and captain Terry Ruskowski on the left, he&rsquo;s played a big part in the Kings&rsquo; surprising success the first quarter of the season.&ldquo;I think we work well together,&rdquo; Nicholls said. &ldquo;They both work hard and they&rsquo;re both great in the comers. It isn&rsquo;t too difficult to score when they&rsquo;re constantly getting you the puck.&rdquo;Nicholls has always had a nose for the net, anyway, since his rookie season when he began entertaining the Forum faithful with his &ldquo;Pumper-Nicholl&rdquo; routine after scoring a goal.When some folks began labelling him a showboat of sorts, however, he toned down the act, pumping his right arm up and down while skating on one leg only after particularly important goals.Former Canadien Steve Shutt said he&rsquo;s been surprised by Nicholls&rsquo; play.&ldquo;I never really thought he was that good of a hockey player until I began to see him every night,&rdquo; Shutt said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been unbelievable. And he&rsquo;s tough; he&rsquo;ll give a bump and take a bump.&rdquo;Coach Pat Quinn knew all about Nicholls&rsquo; offensive reputation, but has been pleasantly surprised by his improvement in the defensive zone.In the Kings&rsquo; first 28 games, Nicholls was among the club leaders in plusminus with a plus-8.&ldquo;Last year he scored a lot of points, but he was still a minus player,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;Now he&rsquo;s not and that&rsquo;s a big step in his advancement. He&rsquo;s becoming a solid, two-way hockey player and has the potential to be a real outstanding player in this league.&rdquo;Playing defense under Quinn comes with the territory, of course, and Nicholls said he&rsquo;s made a concerted effort to improve in this area.&ldquo;I have been concentrating there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re starting to learn that playing well defensively will actually lead to good offensive changes. I don&rsquo;t just want to be known as a scorer.&rdquo;As for setting his sights on Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s record 51-game streak&mdash;a seemingly unreachable feat for anyone other than No. 99&mdash;Nicholls said: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the furthest thing from my mind. I&rsquo;d just like to keep playing with some consistency.&rdquo;<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;

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Winning Makes Streak Sweet For Nicholls

<div class="byline">Kim Ratushny</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02451/5356838-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="554" height="1025"></div>Kim Ratushny is a 15-year-old left winger who plays for the Ottawa-Nepean Raiders and her goal this year is for her team to win the gold medal at the Ontario Winter Games in St. Catharines in March.For the first time, the Winter Games will feature a girls&rsquo; midget hockey championship.Kim was inspired to play hockey by her two brothers and her father, who is a coach. She has taken power skating lessons and attends summer hockey schools. Last year, she led her team in scoring.She, along with a teammate on the Raiders, helps to instruct disabled people to play &ldquo;sledge hockey.&rdquo;An excellent student, Kim would one day like to get a hockey scholarship and play at the university level. &#9632;

f0026-02

JOFA

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03368/5356869-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="729" height="1009"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tim Kerr&rsquo;s size is an advantage now, but in minor hockey it caused him some problems.</figcaption></div>There are some hockey players who, from the first day they stepped on the ice as a youngster, you knew they were headed for stardom in the National Hockey League.Philadelphia Flyer right winger Tim Kerr has attained star status as a pro, but he&rsquo;s quick to point out that he was never a &ldquo;natural&rdquo; from day one.&ldquo;To be perfectly honest,&rdquo; Kerr says, with a smile, &ldquo;I was never really very good in minor hockey.&rdquo;It wasn&rsquo;t that Kerr didn&rsquo;t have the skills to be a great player as a youngster. It was just that he lacked the coordination to execute them.&ldquo;1 was a very big kid,&rdquo; says Kerr, who at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds is one of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s biggest men. &ldquo;1 grew very quickly and was a lot bigger than other kids my age. When that happens, you&rsquo;re not as coordinated as you should be. It takes time to get used to your size. I was six feet tall and 210 pounds in my first year of midget.&rdquo;Kerr, a native of Tecumseh, Ont., a town of 5,200 in southwestern Ontario near Windsor, played in the Shoreline Minor Hockey Association.Since he was so big, it was not unusual for him to play in an older age category.&ldquo;I played midget when I was a bantam and I think I played bantam when I was a peewee,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Being so big, I was always moved up. I guess, looking back on it now, that helped me to develop.&ldquo;When you play against older guys, better competition, then you get to be better. I enjoyed it.&rdquo;The highlight of Kerr&rsquo;s minor hockey career came during his bantam years when his Shoreline team went to the all-Ontario finals against Hespeler.&ldquo;We lost but I remember that as the biggest thrill that I had as a kid,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We won a championship in peewee and that was good, too.&rdquo;But perhaps the most vivid recollection of his days as a minor hockey player was more general than a specific goal or championship.&ldquo;When I think of my minor hockey days,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;I think of Friday nights at the local arena. All the (Shoreline) travelling teams played at home on Friday night.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d play my game and then my brother, who was two years older than me, would play his game. My parents would always be there. It was a whole night out and that, I guess, is what I remember most about playing minor hockey.&rdquo;Kerr, who scored 54 goals for the Flyers last season and is continuing that torrid pace this season, doesn&rsquo;t get a chance to see a lot of minor hockey these days, but still sees some.&ldquo;It just seems to be taking off in the United States,&rdquo; Kerr says. &ldquo;From what I&rsquo;ve seen in my area, it isn&rsquo;t as sophisticated as it is at home in Canada.&ldquo;But in both places, it seems like there&rsquo;s a greater emphasis on skating now than there was when I was kid. A lot of kids now seem to be learning how to skate before they start playing hockey.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0026-03

Minor Hockey Flashback: Tim Kerr

<div class="byline">BY DICK BAKER</div>NEW HAVEN&mdash;In these double-up days of dual affiliations, it&rsquo;s pretty tough to transact a trade on the minor-league level. There are too many parties to deal with, too many contract complications and generally too little interest from National Hockey League teams who have their own concerns.So when the New Haven Nighthawks and Nova Scotia Oilers recently flipflopped four talented skaters, it brought back memories of long ago when American Hockey League lords such as Eddie Shore would swap five or six players at a clip and throw in another for a new goal net.The Nighthawks have been a new team since center Gerry Minor and winger Rob Tudor came to town in exchange for right winger Dean Hopkins and center Mark Morrison. Nova Scotia might have made out as well, but Morrison suffered a broken wrist on the second shift with his new team.And while New Haven general manager Roy Mlakar and Nova Scotia&rsquo;s Larry Kish engineered the deal, Mlakar noted that this type of trade couldn&rsquo;t have been made without the cooperation of the parent teams&mdash;New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers.&ldquo;Larry and I had talked before about our needs,&rdquo; said Mlaker, &ldquo;and it didn&rsquo;t look like we&rsquo;d be able to make any kind of deal, but then we lost two straight and so did they. So one afternoon Larry called back. We started throwing out names. They were only possibilities, naturally, I was going to have to contact Craig Patrick (Ranger GM) and Rogie Vachon (King GM) for approval. Without their approvals, there would have been no deal.&rdquo;The trade made sense for both struggling squads. Minor, a cagey veteran, could even be expected to help the Rangers, if needed, as an excellent penaltykiller and faceoff man. Tudor, a team player, complemented the type of spirit coach Nick Beverley was trying to instill in his charges.&ldquo;Hopkins&rsquo; statistics and Morrison&rsquo;s speed speak for themselves,&rdquo; said Mlakar as to what the Oilers could expect from the former Nighthawks.Minor erupted for eight points (four goals and four assists) in his first six games with New Haven. During that span, the Nighthawks were 4-2, including a three-game winning streak (two home victories against Moncton and an upset win at Maine). Tudor had three goals and one assist in his first four games.In the first victory over Moncton, a Friday night affair, Minor was voted the game star (two goals and an assist) while Tudor was tabbed as second star.The next day, both played strong defensive games as the Nighthawks beat the Mariners for only their second home loss of the season. Sunday, Tudor scored the tying goals with three minutes remaining and then notched the game-winner in the last minute. He was named first star, Minor, with four points, was second star.Mlakar got a preview of the Minor-Tudor tandem in 1979 when his good friend, John Muckier, was coaching Dallas of the Central Hockey League. Dallas went on to capture the CHL title.The Nighthawks lifted their record to 11-12-3, only three points out of third place.&ldquo;Our team play has picked up,&rdquo; said Beverley. &ldquo;We seem to have given up the idea of being strangers to one another.&ldquo;Our penalty-killing has done a good job. We&rsquo;re getting a lot of penalties in a row, but we&rsquo;ve been able to kill off most of them.&rdquo;Bill O&rsquo;Dwyer, the only Nighthawk in the top 20 scorers, has been steady, notching 30 points in 26 games.Blaine Stoughton has also provided some extra scoring punch.&ldquo;In some ways he&rsquo;s exceeded our expectations,&rdquo; said Beverley. &ldquo;No complaints.&rdquo;And no complaints on Minor and Tudor, either.DOWN SOUTH&mdash;Call them the Bad News Bears. Hershey extended its winless skein to 10 games by blowing a 5-2 lead to Adirondack. They lost 6-5, giving up the game-winner with only 44 seconds to go. All of that after the news that Geoff Courtnail, 22, was quitting hockey to go into the fencing business. His announcement came after being sent down by the Boston Bruins. Courtnail had only 26 points in 74 games last year for Hershey. Nevin Markwart was also dispatched to Hershey and scored the fifth Hershey goal in the Adirondack game. Dave Donnelly was recalled&hellip;The same night the Bears bowed to the Red Wings, seven Binghamton policemen and a police dog were needed to break up a pre-game stick fight between the Whalers&rsquo; Ulf Samuelsson and Nova Scotia&rsquo;s Ken Berry&hellip;The city of Rochester was buzzing over the recall of Amerks&rsquo; head coach Jim Schoenfeld to the Buffalo Sabres. John Van Boxmeer took over as head coach with Don Luce being named as the new assistant.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01616/5356900-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="582" height="910"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gerry Minor has been making a good contribution since coming over to New Haven.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

Nighthawks’ Move Works Wonders

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>PORTLAND&mdash;Steve Tsujiura is proof that the quality of the product cannot be judged by the size of the package.The Maine Mariners&rsquo; 5-foot-5, 165-pound center&mdash;&rdquo;I&rsquo;m almost 5-foot-6&rdquo;&mdash;is off to his best start in three pro seasons, producing the kind of numbers that should silence the skeptics that say small jjen can&rsquo;t play the game. Through 27 came, the 22-year-old from Coalville, Alta., had 12 goals and 28 points, seven points off the pace set by Moncton&rsquo;s Pierre Rioux.It is the kind of performance that Maine coach Tom McVie expected from his prize pupil. McVie believes that Tsujiura can complete his climb up the hockey ladder and isn&rsquo;t too small to play in the National Hockey League.&ldquo;As a matter of fact, I don&rsquo;t think they Should put a size on a person like Steve Tsujiura, or on a lot of other guys, but not on Steve Tsujiura, especially,&rdquo; McVie said. &ldquo;The way I feel about Steve Tsujiura is that most players should have to come to camp and make the hockey club. The way this guy works and tries, he should be given a spot and made to work himself off the hockey team.&ldquo;They said he couldn&rsquo;t play juvenile hockey,&rdquo; McVie continued. &ldquo;And then they said, he&rsquo;ll never play junior. So he set scoring records in junior (55 goals and 139 points in 72 games with Medicine Hat in 1980-81). Then they said wait till he tries to play pro, he&rsquo;ll never make it. So now he plays in the American League and gets 80 points a year.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s like water: he goes to the level of what the container might be.&rdquo;While his size makes him special, Tsu-jiura&rsquo;s oriental heritage makes him unique in professional hockey in North America. He is the only player of Japanese decent active at the pro level.Tsujiura is a sansei&mdash;a third-generation Japanese-Canadian. His grandparents emigrated from Japan early in this century and his parents were bom in Vancouver. Although he understands only a few words of Japanese and has yet to visit Japan, Tsujiura does have an interesting link with the homeland of his grandparents, a stong background in judo&mdash;he holds a black belt&mdash;the martial art developed in Japan in the 19th century.After spending the past two seasons in the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; organization, Tsujiura signed with the New Jersey Devils after being assured that he was considered a prospect and not simply a drawing card in Portland, where he is extremely popular. He turned in a strong performance in training camp, was one of the last players cut, and feels that he might be a bit closer to realizing his objective.&ldquo;They gave me a look and I&rsquo;m hoping that if I work hard, just like the rest of the guys on this club, that I think there is an opportunity for movement,&rdquo; Tsujiura said. &ldquo;You think about the National League because that is why you play the game, mostly.&rdquo;Tsujiura is ready for the inevitable question about size and whether it will restrict his progress. The ever-present smile grows a bit wider.&ldquo;I hear that. When I was in the Philly organization, size was definitely a factor, but I can&rsquo;t buy that yet because I haven&rsquo;t played in the National League,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I played maybe 40 games in the National League, I think I would be smart enough to know that maybe my size with my skills, which definitely is a factor, isn&rsquo;t enough. If I could score 100 goals if I was 4-foot-2, I don&rsquo;t think it would matter. I can&rsquo;t do that. I do have some skills, but not exceptional skills.&ldquo;I would think that it&rsquo;s hard for me to buy that because I haven&rsquo;t been matched against everyone I would like to be.&rdquo;AROUND THE DIVISION&mdash;Adirondack signed one free-agent defenseman, former Whaler Tom Cronin, but failed to land another prize, Joe McDonnell of Baltimore, when it was determined that he was still under contract to the Skipjacks. The Red Wings, down to three defensemen due to injuries to Stephane Lefebvre (broken wrist), Ted Huesing (knee surgery) and Rick Zom-bo (knee), added Cronin on a tryout basis. McDonnell, who had completed a 25-game pro tryout with Skipjacks and was the team&rsquo;s leading scorer, agreed to sign with the Wings and was in Glens Falls ready to play. However, league officials ruled that he was still the property of the Skipjacks since he agreed to accept a contract&mdash;should it be offered&mdash;at the end of the tryout period. The Skipjacks made the offer, he refused, and assumed he was free to sign with another team&hellip;Goalie Hannu Kamppuri was recalled by the Devils from Maine. Sam St. Laurent, who had missed three weeks with a shoulder injury, returned from the injured list. Also returning to the Mariners&rsquo; roster is forward Kevin Maxwell, sidelined since Oct. 22&hellip;Nova Scotia signed free-agent center Norm Aubin and received winger Tony Currie from the parent Edmonton Oilers. Aubin scored a goal in each of his first three games with the team&hellip;Moncton, which snapped a seven-game losing streak by beating division-leading Fredericton, recalled goalie Marc D&rsquo;Amour from Salt Lake City. Winger Yves Corteau was reassigned to Moncton from Calgary&hellip;With center Murray Eaves sparking the offense, Sherbrooke won three of four games in its most recent swing through the Maritimes. Eaves had a goal and nine assists in seven games with Sherbrooke, and linemate Claude Larose pumped in five goals and two assists during the road trip&hellip;Sherbrooke rookie defenseman Jocelyn Gauvreau retired&hellip;Fredericton has lost but two of its 12 home games this season, but both of the losses have been to Sherbrooke&hellip;The AHL board of governors met Dec. 10 to draft a new bylaw to replace the controversial 8a., which prohibits players from Europe from returning to the league. League officials asked their lawyers to give the rule some legal clout. &#9632;

Maine’s Mini-Mariner A Big Success Story

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div>TOLEDO&mdash;Teams in the International Hockey League won&rsquo;t have the Toledo Goaldiggers to kick around anymore if Ted Garvin has anything to say about it.Garvin, who coached the Goaldiggers to three Turner Cup championships during five seasons at the helm between 1974-75 and 1978-79, was rehired by the club on Dec. 11.At the time, Toledo was in the fourth and last spot of the East Division with a record of 7-14-4 and second only to the Indianapolis Checkers in offensive futility. The Goaldiggers really were having to dig deep for goals. They had only 76 in 25 games under rookie coach Tony Piros-ki, a former goaltender for Toledo. Indianapolis scored only 74 times in 24 games.Toledo also allowed 115 goals in that time, most in the league. The Goaldiggers, although trailing in the East, had more points than Milwaukee in the West. The Admirals had compiled 17 points, Toledo 16.For the Goaldiggers&rsquo; management, it was a case of too few points and too few fans in the early going. At the start of the season, general manager Jerry Francis estimated the team would have to average between 3,200 and 3,500 fans a game to stay in the black. Attendance at the first 10 Toledo home games averaged around 2,300, and in two games just 1,400 people paid.Garvin vowed to bring back the fans by returning to the physical style that made the Goaldiggers so popular when he was their coach. He said he wouldn&rsquo;t tolerate &ldquo;lace pants&rdquo; hockey.His 1976-77 teams set two records at that time. A then-IHL record of more that 221,000 fans attended Goaldiggers&rsquo; games during the season, for an average home attendance of 4,600, also a record at the time.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01608/5356955-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="589" height="829"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ted Garvin is back as coach of the Goaldiggers and plans to emphasize tough play.</figcaption></div>Francis, who revised his estimate of the number of fans needed to break even to 3,000, indicated there still may be more changes in personnel, both on and off the ice, in order to bring more spectators into the arena. He admitted hiring Garvin solves but half the problem. The remainder depends on promotions and a new marketing campaign.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what we&rsquo;ve got, but we&rsquo;re going to play physical hockey,&rdquo; Garvin explained. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not goon hockey, but we&rsquo;re going to wear the other team down; we&rsquo;re going to be on them. I&rsquo;ve got a guy counting hits and between periods 1&rsquo; 11 let the guys know how they&rsquo;re doing.&rdquo;His philosophy, he acknowledged, was to &ldquo;beat up a team in the first period, then beat them in the second and third.&rdquo;In going over the Goaldiggers&rsquo; brief history this season, Garvin said he noticed the team &ldquo;went something like 5-3-3 before the cut (final roster date), and then was 2-10-1 after that.&rdquo;Garvin, who said he had been fishing and playing golf for the last year and a half, added: &ldquo;1 told the guys at our first practice that from now on, every day would be cut day.&rdquo;Garvin said his contract with the Goaldiggers isn&rsquo;t long term.&ldquo;Jerry was in trouble with the team, and he called me,&rdquo; Garvin said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be here only until the end of the season.&rdquo;Just long enough, Goaldigger management hopes, to pick up a few victories and put a lot more people in the building.NOTES&mdash;Fort Wayne is soaring, going six games (5-0-1) without a loss and outshooting their opponents 30-17 to climb over faltering Indianapolis for third place in the West as of Dec. 10. Komet goaltender Alain Chevrier earned Player-of-the-Week honors with a 3-0-1 record and a 2.45 goals-against average. The Komets defeated Flint 7-5 at home on Dec. 8 to halt a nine-game Flint winning streak, then won their first game on the road this season by beating Flint 3-1.Fort Wayne&rsquo;s Ron Leef was one of four IHL players to score hat tricks during the week ending Dec. 10. The others were Brent Sapergia of Salt Lake City, Perry Pelensky of Milwaukee and Scott Gruhl of Muskegon. The latter two got their hat tricks against Indianapolis on consecutive nights.The Checkers&rsquo; winless streak reached seven with losses at Muskegon (5-2) and Milwaukee (5-1).Flint&rsquo;s Gilles Thibaudeau continued to lead goal scorers with 18 in 22 games. Salt Lake&rsquo;s Scott MacLeod, the Central League scoring leader a season ago, took over the IHL overall scoring lead with eight goals and a league-high 26 assists.Georges Gagnon of Kalamazoo retained his lead with a 2.82 goals-against&rsquo; average, and Chevrier and Rick Knickle of Flint lowered their marks to 3.19. &#9632;

f0030-01

Starvin’ Goaldiggers Hire Garvin To Coach

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>BOSTON&mdash;It&rsquo;s mid-term examination time, and Boston University&rsquo;s hockey team is right where people expected it to be&mdash;tied with Boston College for first place in Hockey East.The Terriers rode into the break with a 7-3 win at Providence College. Sophomore John Cullen, who&rsquo;d been mired in a terrible slump, broke through with four goals against the Friars.Cullen led BU in scoring last year, chalking up 56 points on 23 goals and 33 assists. But through 16 contests this year, he&rsquo;s only clicked six times, and coach Jack Parker finally benched him for a F game to get him to stop pressing. It worked, obviously, and Cullen, son of former NHL player Barry Cullen, is talking about breaking the sophomore jinx.Indeed, scoring has been BU&rsquo;s biggest problem throughout the first half, but it still has a record of 9-5-2 in league play and 10-6-2 overall. Amazingly, even with a winning record, they&rsquo;ve yielded 68 goals while scoring only 65.Ed Lowney, Cullen&rsquo;s linemate and classmate, was another who was having problems, but he busted loose in BU&rsquo;s home series with Denver. Lowney scored three goals and one assist as the Terriers downed the Pioneers 3-2 and tied them 4-4.&ldquo;They were both trying to force the issue,&rdquo; said Parker of Lowney and Cullen. &ldquo;They were pressing, then they weren&rsquo;t skating well when they didn&rsquo;t have the puck. I think we&rsquo;ve got them back now.&rdquo;Defense has carried the Terriers thus far. Not so much the play of the individual defensemen, according to Parker, but the overall effort of both the forwards and backliners, has contributed to BU&rsquo;s stinginess. He praised big sophomore Scott Shaunessy as the team&rsquo;s best rearguard to date. At 6-foot-4 and 223 pounds, Shaunessy sometimes looks like the Incredible Hulk on skates, but he has been handling the puck extremely well and clearing the zone better than anyone.The defense has been so effective and is overstocked with talent to the extent that two defensemen, junior Chris Matchett and freshman Tom Ryan, have been moved to forward slots.Matchett, moved to left wing, scored the overtime winner in a 3-2 BU victory over then-luckless New Hampshire. Ryan had his first collegiate goal at Providence, playing on a line with Kevin Mutch and Peter Marshall. Mutch is another converted defenseman who has spent most of the past two seasons up at forward.The most serious obstacle for BU thus far has actually been the goalie situation. Sophomore Terry Taillefer is out indefinitely, nursing a hip ailment originally thought to be bursitis. Fortunately, freshman Peter Fish has come on strong much earlier than Parker originally expected.HOCKEY EAST NOTES&mdash;No sooner do we feature the tribulations of New Hampshire than do the Wildcats blast from their own little slump, beating Michigan Tech 8-2 and 5-3. Senior Dan Muse increased his season goal output 50 percent by tallying three in the series. New Hampshire&rsquo;s defense continues to shine, despite the absence of stellar goalie Bruce Gillies, the departure of freshman Gary LuePann and the eligibility problems of junior Kirk Lussier. LuePann has left UNH to attend chiropractic school while Lussier dropped a course and rendered himself ineligible. UNH forfeited one league win in which Lussier played early in the season. Still, the Wildcats have given up only 13 goals in their last five games. &#9632;

Terriers Right Where They Wanted To Be

<div class="byline">BY BILL CRAWFORD</div>EAST LANSING&mdash;The dictionary defines a Spartan as a person of great courage and fortitude.Add to that definition something about &ldquo;great depth,&rdquo; and you&rsquo;d be right on the money in describing the 1984-85 Michigan State Spartans, leaders in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, ranked second in the nation, and odds-on favorites to be in the thick of things come the national finals.Michigan State fills Biggie Munn Arena in East Lansing for every home game and rarely disappoints the legions of green and white. Not since coach Ron Mason moved north from Bowling Green have the Spartans failed to mature as a collegiate hockey power.And the MSU throngs literally take over Joe Louis Arena each spring for the CCHA playoffs. This year, they get a shot at the nationals there also.In recent weeks, the Spartans have laid waste to the CCHA, mugging their closest competition, and building an eight-point lead in the fight for first place at Christmas. Michigan State has never won the regular-season CCHA title and Mason, who coached previously at both Lake Superior State and Bowling Green, has that goal at the top of this season&rsquo;s list.Michigan State marched into Chicago a few weeks back and doused the Uni-veristy of Illinois at Chicago 8-2 and 8-3, when the Flames were within two points of the top. The Spartans then beat Lake Superior 7-2 and 6-3 at home, just when the upstart Lakers were riding the crest of a five-game win streak and within four points of MSU.The Spartans played that series minus top centers Bill Shibicky and Gord Flegel.Both are integral parts of the Spartan power play, both see regular duty on MSU&rsquo;s top two lines and both are superb faceoff men. Enter bench-warmers Rick Fernandez and Dan Beaty, exit the Lakers.The Spartans have no big weaknesses, this is a well-coached team that executes as well as it wants, almost all the time. It is a team with four balanced lines, six strong defensemen and two of the best goaltenders in college hockey&mdash;sophomores Bob Essensa and Norm Foster.Essensa was the No. 1 goalie in Division One as of the Dec 14 weekend, with Foster sixth, and they were first and second, respectively, in the CCHA. Lake Superior&rsquo;s Randy Exelby was third, but was bombed for 13 goals by MSU in two games.Former U.S. Olympian Gary Haight, senior Dan McFall, junior Brad Beck, sophomore Don McSween (the best of the bunch) and promishing freshmen Tom Tilley and Sean Clement form the defense.Up front are a plethora of stickhandlers, playmakers, muckers and hustlers who can play it any way.CCHA CHATTER&mdash;MSU should get high-scoring Bill Shibicky back in time for the annual Great Lakes Invitational this month at Joe Louis Arena, featuring the Spartans, Michigan Tech, Bowling Green and Michigan. BG scored three shorthanded goals in a 7-2 win game against Illinois-Chicago. Ferris State&rsquo;s recent overtime tie with Miami was its 10th consecutive OT game without a loss&hellip;Michigan defenseman Jeff Norton, with his team a man short, dove to knock away a sure WMU goal from crossing the line behind netminder Mark Chiamp. Norton then blocked the ensuing shot with his facemask and sprawled to block a third shot before single-handedly clearing the puck to the neutral zone, all in a span of less than 15 seconds. The shutout was Chiamp&rsquo;s first in four years at Michigan. He allowed five goals in three games and sported a 1.58 goals-against mark and.946 save percentage. Ohio State&rsquo;s 20-year-old freshman, Darcy Gryba. collected a point in an exhibition game against the University of Windsor and has scored a point in 17 consecutive Buckeye games. &#9632;

MSU Defined By Great Depth

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01554/5357079-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="414" height="524"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN CULLEN BU</figcaption></div><h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>Boston University sophomore forward John Cullen scored four goals to lead the Terriers to a 7-3 win over Providence and earn Performer-of-the-Week honors for Hockey East.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02389/5357072-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="412" height="528"><figcaption class="caption-body">AL HILL Clarkson</figcaption></div><h2>ECAC</h2>Left winger Al Hill scored two goals, including the game winner, as Clarkson beat St. Lawrence University 4-3 to earn ECAC Peformer-of-the-Week honors.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03285/5357065-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="416" height="526"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEITH MARTIN LSSC</figcaption></div><h2>CCHA</h2>Junior left winger Keith Martin scored three goals and set up the tying goal as the Lake Superior State Lakers beat the UIC Flames 7-6, earning Performer-of-the-Week honors in the CCHA.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04212/5357058-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="362" height="524"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOE WEST NMU</figcaption></div><h2>WCHA</h2>Sophomore winger Joe West scored five goals, leading Northern Michigan to a 9-4 win over Colorado College, and tying a WCHA single-game scoring record, plus earning WCHA Per-former-of-the-Week honors.THE BAUER PERFORMERS OF THE WEEK &#9632;

f0031-01

Bauer FIT FOR PERFORMANCE

<div class="byline">BY TOM BOGGIE</div>TROY&mdash;Everyone is familiar with the old hockey cliches concerning line combinations. A line with two good wingers but no center is a donut line. A line with a good center and no wingers is a helicopter line. But what do you call a combination that has totalled 36 goals and 46 assists in 10 games?In Troy, it&rsquo;s known as the Electric Company.Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute&rsquo;s Electric Company line, comprised of juniors Adam Oates, John Carter and Mark Jooris, has been lighting up the scoreboard in Houston Field House this season as RPI has gotten off to an 8-2 start in defense of its ECAC championship.The numbers that this group of players has been putting on the board is amazing. Oates, who is the conductor in this marvelously-orchestrated line, had 11 goals and 21 assists in the first 10 games to lead the country in scoring with an unbelievable 3.2 points per game average. Carter, who missed the first game of the year, had 15 goals and during one stretch, scored hat tricks in four consecutive games while Jooris was the only Engineer to score in all of RPI&rsquo;s first 10 games.The key to this line&rsquo;s success is Oates, a native of Schomberg, Ont. He&rsquo;s made a habit of making those around him look spectacular, and this year is no exception. As he takes dead aim at the Hobey Baker Award, he&rsquo;s taking Carter and Jooris with him.Look at what Oates has accomplished in a little over two years at RPI. As a freshman, he dished out enough assists (33) to help linemate George Servinis win the ECAC Rookie-of-the-Year award. Last season, he broke singleseason records at RPI for assists (57) and points (83).He could easily break the career record for assists in RPI&rsquo;s Invitational Tournament on Dec. 28-29 and the record for points in a career is well within his reach.&ldquo;Adam Oates, and I&rsquo;ve said this many times, is the best player I&rsquo;ve ever coached, and I&rsquo;ve coached some great players,&rdquo; said RPI coach Mike Addesa.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s unusually creative and I assess him more as an assistant coach than I do a player. In practice, he teaches. On the ice, he teaches. In the locker room, he teaches. I think Mark Jooris, John Carter, Bob DiPronio and George Servinis are fine players that Adam has helped them to be even better. There&rsquo;s no question they&rsquo;ve developed under his guidance. But more importantly, he&rsquo;s the most unselfish player I&rsquo;ve ever coached.&rdquo;ECAC NOTES&mdash;Although RPI got off to a 5-1 start in the league, the Engineers still trailed Harvard, which improved its record to 7-0-1 (5-0-1) in the league with a 6-5 overtime win over Colgate on Dec. 9. The MacDonald brothers played important roles for both teams, as Lane, a freshman at Harvard, had a pair of goals while Lowell, a sophomore at Colgate, had a shorthanded goal for the Red Raiders. &#9632;

Electric Company Lights Up RPI

<h2>ECAC CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 17)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01585/5357215-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="544" height="376"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>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 4NON-CONFERENCE GAMESHarvard 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 10Wed. Dec. 12Clarkson 4 at St. Lawrence 3Fri. Dec. 14Harvard 11 at Dartmouth 1US Int&rsquo;11 at Princeton 3Sat. Dec. 15US Int&rsquo;12 at Princeton 8<h2>HOCKEY EAST CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 17)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02429/5357208-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="536" height="236"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Sat. 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 CoH. 1 at Lowell 4Wisconsin 8 at Maine 6Mich Tech 3 at New Hampshire 5Sun. Dec. 9Denver 2 at Boston University 3Tue. Dec. 11US Int&rsquo;10 at Lowell 6Boston Univ. 7 at Providence 3Wed. Dec. 12US Int&rsquo;16 at Lowell 4Thu. Dec. 13Denver 5 at New Hampshire 4Fri. Dec. 14Denver 2 at New Hampshire 3Min-Duluth 7 at Northeastern 6Sat. Dec. 15Min-Duluth 0 at Northeastern 4<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03285/5357201-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="538" height="324"></div><h2>CCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04175/5357194-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="542" height="294"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Thu. 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 3Fri. Dec. 14Bowling Green 4 at Ferris State 3Illinois-Chicago 4 at Lake Superior 6Miami 2 at Michigan 1Michigan State 7 at Ohio State 0 Sat. Dec. 15Bowling Green 3 at Ferris State 5Illinois-Chicago 6 at Lake Superior 7Miami 5 at Michigan 6Michigan State 9 at Ohio State 1<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05116/5357187-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="542" height="358"></div><h2>WCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Dec. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0688/5357180-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="538" height="262"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Sat. Nov. 24Colo. College 1 at Providence 10Mich. Tech 3 at Lowell 2Min-Duluth 2 at New Hampshire 1Fri. 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 6Thu. Dec. 13 Denver 5 at New Hampshire 4Michigan Tech 3 at Wisconsin 6Fri. Dec. 14 Denver 2 at New Hampshire 3Michigan Tech 5 at Wisconsin 4Colorado College 6 at N. Michigan 10Minnesota 1 at North Dakota 4Min-Duluth 7 at Northeastern 6Sat. Dec. 15Colorado Collge 4 at N. Michigan 9Minnesota 5 at North Dakota 3Min-Duluth 0 at Northeastern 4<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0773/5357173-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="538" height="326"></div><h2>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 17)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0864/5357166-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="548" height="412"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>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<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0954/5357159-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="536" height="358"></div><h2>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1049/5357152-1-eng-US/f0032-102.jpg" title="f0032-10" width="532" height="182"></div><h2>ATLANTIC CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1142/5357145-1-eng-US/f0032-112.jpg" title="f0032-11" width="540" height="298"></div><h2>GREAT PLAINS CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1241/5357138-1-eng-US/f0032-122.jpg" title="f0032-12" width="532" height="150"></div><h2>CANADA WEST CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1338/5357131-1-eng-US/f0032-132.jpg" title="f0032-13" width="536" height="186"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1435/5357124-1-eng-US/f0032-142.jpg" title="f0032-14" width="538" height="384"></div><h2>ONTARIO COLLEGES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1531/5357117-1-eng-US/f0032-152.jpg" title="f0032-15" width="538" height="268"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>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/f0032-1631/5357110-1-eng-US/f0032-162.jpg" title="f0032-16" width="434" height="324"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

HOW THEY STAND

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div>MARQUETTE&mdash;Northern Michigan joined the Western Collegiate Hockey Association earlier this year, in part, to battle with such WCHA powers as Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin, traditionally among the best collegiate teams in the country.What Northern Michigan didn&rsquo;t plan on as part of the package was trips to such places as Lowell, MA, Orono, ME, and Newton, MA, places where Hockey East schools are located.So it&rsquo;s been a difficult adjustment for Northern Michigan in its first year in the WCHA after leaving the Central Collegiate Hockey Association following the 983-84 season.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t join the WCHA to play Maine,&rdquo; said Northern Michigan coach Rick Comley.The WCHA is in its first year of a two-year agreement with Hockey East that calls for each WCHA school to play an interlocking 14-game schedule against members of Hockey East with all results to count in the standings of each league.&ldquo;I think the affiliation is very positive for hockey in general,&rdquo; Comley said. It&rsquo;s given college hockey a lot of rational publicity. We would, however, like to cut back on the schedule with Hockey East so we can play more games against teams from the WCHA.&rdquo;Northern Michigan, which finished second in the NCAA tourney to North Dakota in 1980 and made it to the Final Four again in 1981, has struggled since.&ldquo;We peaked in the 1979-80 season, though we were good again in 1981,&rdquo; says Comley. &ldquo;We struggled for a while since then, but we&rsquo;ve gotten progressively better. Pretty soon, I think we&rsquo;ll have a very good team once again.&rdquo;The Wildcats have proven themselves able against WCHA foes. They swept Wisconsin early in the season in Marquette, split a home-and-away series with Michigan Tech, and lost twice on the road against Denver University for a 3-3 mark against league rivals.&ldquo;By playing Hockey East, we&rsquo;re facing the best teams from the East,&rdquo; says Comley. &ldquo;It certainly has made our schedule more difficult, but I don&rsquo;t think the alignment with Hockey East has made a major difference in our results so far. We haven&rsquo;t seen any team that&rsquo;s been dated by coming into our arena to play and we haven&rsquo;t had problems on the road, although you may notice some differences playing on Minnesosta&rsquo;s large ice sheet or Boston College&rsquo;s small rink.&rdquo;WCHA NOTES&mdash;When Boston College bombed Northern Michigan 7-3 on Dec. 8 in Newton, Northern Michigan goalie John Corrigan made a schoolrecord 57 saves&hellip;Minnesota&rsquo;s Pat Micheletti had his consecutive game scoring streak halted at 33 when Lowell University kept him off the scoresheet recently. But Minnesota-Duluth&rsquo;s Bill Watson is still going strong, running his scoring streak to 32 games by collecting points in both games of a weekend series in North Dakota&hellip;Junior forward Chris Cichocki, who played for the U.S. junior team in the 1982-83 world championships, continues to lead Michigan Tech in scoring with 14 goals and 11 assists through 18 games. The two most penalized players in the WCHA are among the most productive scorers. Minnesota&rsquo;s Pat Micheletti, who leads the league in scoring with 39 points in 16 games, and North Dakota&rsquo;s Jim Archibald, who is 11th in scoring with 21 points in 14 games, both have 66 minutes in penalties, tops in the league&hellip;Minne sota&rsquo;s Corey Millen is on a hot streak, having collected 21 points in 14 games. The best and the worst in the WCHA: Minnesota leads in both scoring goals and preventing them, averaging 5.3 goals per game and giving up just 2.8. Michigan Tech and Denver are averaging 4.4 goals per game, the lowest in the league, and Northern Michigan is giving up 4.8 per game, the highest in the league&hellip;North Dakota halted Minnesota-Duluth&rsquo;s 10-game winning streak and 13-game unbeaten streak recently by beating the Bulldogs 6-5 in Grand Forks when freshman center Tony Hrkac figured in on every Sioux goal, collecting one goal and five assists to win Player-of-the-Week honors. By beating Duluth, the Sioux snapped a four-game losing streak, three of the losses coming by one goal. &#9632;

NMU Didn’t Count On West Meeting East

<div class="byline">BY JOHN HERBERT</div>BELLEVILLE&mdash;An impressive presentation by representatives of the city and the Steelhawks of the Ontario Hockey League played a major part in the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League granting next year&rsquo;s world junior hockey championships to Hamilton over bids from Calgary and Winnipeg.The tournament, which will happen in late December, is expected to mark the official opening of the new Vic Copp Trade Center and Arena, an 18,000-seat facility presently under construction in downtown Hamilton.It marks the first time the world junior championships will be staged in Ontario.OHL commissioner Dave Branch, who was in Montreal for the meeting along with an eight-person Hamilton delegation headed by mayor Bob Morrow, said the project will be a joint venture of the OHL and Ontario Hockey Association. Hamilton will serve as tournament headquarters and the locale of major games, including the nationally-telecast championship game.&ldquo;Mayor Bob Morrow and his people did a tremendous job,&rdquo; Branch said. &ldquo;Their support certainly went a long way to bring it (the tourney) to Ontario. It&rsquo;s an opportunity to bring a world class event not only to major junior fans but all hockey fans, at all levels in southern Ontario.&ldquo;As well, I believe eastern Canada over the last couple of years had not had the opportunity to see a lot of international hockey because of Calgary becoming headquarters from the Olympic program.&ldquo;The owners of our league unanimously supported the aspect of a joint bid with the OHA. I believe the arrangement will serve to support each other. When you&rsquo;re talking 28 games in a short time, you have to draw on all resources to maximize potential for success.&ldquo;Many of the 28 scheduled games and pre-toumey exhibition games will best staged in other OHL and OHA cities.&rdquo;Kitchener has been designated as a possible site for four games while two will probably be played in London, including a major game involving Team Canada. Other OHL cities sharing in the games could be Toronto, North Bay, Guelph, Belleville and Oshawa. Branch also anticipates one game would be awarded to OHA cities, too.&ldquo;We would deal in all cases with the OHL or OHA team concerned.&rdquo; Branch said, stressing the sites are only tentative.Meanwhile, Terry Simpson, coach of this year&rsquo;s Team Canada entry in the world journey tourney, began preliminary drills Dec.10, hoping to find the right blend of personnel for this month&rsquo;s tourney, Dec. 23-Jan. 1 in Helsinki, Finland. Mike Millar and Jeff Jackson from the Steelhawks and Bruce Cassidy of the Ottawa 67s were among late recruits to replace some Canadians playing for U.S. college teams who rejected invitations, plus injured Toronto Marlie Fabian Joseph. In addition, the Buffalo Sabres offered the services of Adam Creighton, last year&rsquo;s most-valuable player in the Memorial Cup and still eligible to return to the 67 s.The three OHL additions were hardly fill-ins. Jackson was returned by the Toronto Maple Leafs the day after the original list of 46 was announced; Cassidy, an all-star and former rookie of the year in the OHL as well as a member of last year&rsquo;s Canadian team, recently returned from a knee injury, and Millar leads the OHL in scoring.Organizers were also scrambling to avert a last-minute crisis which developed when Kitchener Rangers&rsquo; coach Tom Barrett became upset after learning Michigan State&rsquo;s Craig Simpson, of London, had been granted permission to skip camp.Simpson, one of the top-rated players for next summer&rsquo;s National Hockey League draft, said he was reluctant to leave his school team and miss league games, but would play for Team Canada if he were allowed to bypass the camp. He later declined the invitation completely.The same privilege was not granted to CMJHL players.Barrett felt he sould be allowed to use his three players at camp&mdash;Dave Latta, Brian Wilks and Shawn Burr&mdash;when the Rangers played a league game in Belleville on Dec. 13.&ldquo;The Simpson thing is what&rsquo;s bugging me,&rdquo; Barrett said. &ldquo;Then they try to spread the story he was writing exams during camp.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s ludicrous that our players are sitting in Belleville and can&rsquo;t play. We&rsquo;re paid to put the best team we can in front of the Kitchener fans. It&rsquo;s not like camp is in Victoria or Calgary. It&rsquo;s close enough the players should be able to play in league games at night.&rdquo;Branch said if any player played for his junior club during camp, he would be considered AWOL and would be ineligible to return.London coach Don Boyd had mixed feelings as his five players packed their bags for Belleville and possibly Finland.&ldquo;I guess it&rsquo;s all right to wave the flag and be patriotic, but nobody&rsquo;s going to remember it at the end of the season when, say, two points separate us from another team,&rdquo; Boyd said.There was plenty of action on the ice which left Branch busy.Brawls depleted several lineups. Kitchener and London engaged briefly in the pre-game warmup at the Memorial Auditorium, the Steelhawks and Soo Greyhounds piled up 300 minutes in a fight-filled game which cost each club five players, and the Sudbury Wolves battled with North Bay.After a 5-1 loss to Belleville upped the Rangers&rsquo; winless streak at home to four, Barrett called his club&rsquo;s effort &ldquo;chicken-hearted&rdquo; and vowed things would change.The ink was barely dry when Kitchener&rsquo;s Joel Brown and London&rsquo;s Tim Mara-cle battled to trigger the warmup episode.TRADE TALK&mdash;Sudbury Wolves picked up goalie Greg Coram from Ottawa and dealt 19-year-old rookie Mike Morrison to Hamilton, a player who could fit into Bill LaForge&rsquo;s plans&hellip;The 67s obtained Scott Morrison from London for future considerations plus cash. Morrison, the Knights&rsquo; MVP last season, has been playing for York University&hellip;Sudbury also sent Ed Smith to Windsor for Tim Burgess. &#9632;

City Rallies Together To Help Hamilton Bid

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01598/5357308-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="556" height="566"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE MacLEAN Belleville</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>Dave MacLean is a 20-year-old who hopes the trail will lead to the NHL next season with the Hartford Whalers.MacLean, who was drafted by the Whalers as their fifth pick in 1983, was named the OHL Player of the Week after he turned in a nine-point performance for the Belleville Bulls.The Belleville winger had six goals and three assists in three games and he is one of the reasons the Bulls are a contender in the Leyden Division.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02466/5357301-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="550" height="562"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLIFF RONNING New Westminster</figcaption></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>Cliff Ronning is on a torrid pace this season with the New Westminster Bruins.The 19-year-old center set a Western Hockey League goalscoring record as he counted in his 16th straight game to shatter the mark held by both Dale Der-katch and Brian Propp. The feat earned Ronning the nod as WHL Player of the Week.Ronning, who was a 1984 draft pick of the St. Louis Blues, has now scored in all 28 New Westminster games this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03360/5357294-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="552" height="556"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARCEL MONGEAU Laval</figcaption></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>Little Michel Mongeau doesn&rsquo;t have the stature of some Quebec Hockey League players but it hasn&rsquo;t stopped him from becoming a force with the Laval Voisins.Mongeau, who is only 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds, was picked as the QHL Player of the Week after he collected 11 scoring points in three games for Laval.Mongeau is the seventh-ranked scorer in the league with 30 goals and 65 points and has high hopes that an NHLteam will draft him in 1985. &#9632;

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MICRON JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01563/5357339-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="582" height="816"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Mackey has been one of the key acquisitions for Portland this season.</figcaption></div>PORTLAND&mdash;It&rsquo;s often been said you have to pay the price to win. Portland Winter Hawks are continuing to learn the hard way that Western Hockey League proficiency doesn&rsquo;t come without an expensive price tag.The 1983 Memorial Cup champions have struggled since being crowned cream of the junior crop. Last season the Winter Hawks were without many of their stars in an up-and-down 33-39 campaign, and this season they&rsquo;ve been, well, nothing to write home about. At least not yet.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve lost 10 guys who are 18 and 19 years of age,&rdquo; said Portland general manager Brian Shaw of the National Hockey League recalls and college decisions over the last year which have stripped his once-proud lineup.&ldquo;My suggestion to the NHL is let&rsquo;s both be smart.&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t stop the drafting, but we can stop the signing of underages. It takes pressure off the players. Right now it&rsquo;s destroying the superstars in junior hockey. The NHL has also got to stop bowing to the player agents.&ldquo;If they (players) are good enough to be there (NHL) and are making a contribution, fine. But look around, attendance is down in junior hockey. We&rsquo;re down 4,000 fans a game. Had we not been strong financially last season, a lesser team would have gone under.&rdquo;Portland was 9-18-1 after its first 28 games this season.The first rumblings came last season when Cam Neely was summoned by the Vancouver Canucks, Richard Kromm by the Calgary Flames, Ken Yaremchuk by the Chicago Black Hawks and Alfie Turcotte by the Montreal Canadiens. Terry Jones decided to return to school.This season NHL recall rules have changed but Craig Butz, Tim Lorenz, John Bekkers and Sean Harder decided to take the college route.&ldquo;Asa result we had to put bandages on major surgery,&rdquo; said Shaw of his wheeling and dealing this season.In addition to those who took the college route, players gone from last year&rsquo;s team via the trade winds include Jeff Rohlicek, Gord Walker, Brian Benning, Bryan Walker, Rick Davidson and John Kordic.Key acquisitions in the wheeling and dealing have been Greg Davies, Dave Mackey, Dave McLay and Jim Agnew.&ldquo;People who should have been leaders didn&rsquo;t live up to expectations and we had to make some changes,&rdquo; said Shaw. &ldquo;This year there will be no more bandage trades. Right now we&rsquo;re a relaxed hockey club. We have the right personnel and we certainly have the right attitude.&ldquo;There is some light at the end of the tunnel and it isn&rsquo;t a train. All we want to do is be in the playoffs&mdash;she&rsquo;s a little different season then before. We&rsquo;ve been down in the valley long enough.&rdquo;If this season doesn&rsquo;t work out Shaw can look forward to the next. He only loses two players.WHL WEEK&mdash;Cliff Ronning of New Westminster earned a place in the record books when he scored in his 15th consecutive game, Dec. 7, to equal the WHL mark held by Brian Propp and Dale Derkatch. Propp&rsquo;s streak ran from Sept. 19 to Nov. 4, 1978 with Brandon, while Derkatch&rsquo;s went from Sept. 19 to Nov. 7, 1982 with Regina.Kamloops&rsquo; record 29-game unbeaten streak at home (overlapping seasons) came to an end Dec. 7 with a 9-6 loss to Kelowna. Kamloops was 14-0 this sea son at home before the setback.Dan Hodgson of Prince Albert moved into first place in league scoring with 75 points. Ronning was second with 73 points, including a league-high 37 goals. Al Conroy of Medicine Hat was in third place with 67 points, including a leagueleading 67 points. Greg Evtushevski and Gord Walker of Kamloops had 66 and 59 points, respectively, while Ray Podloski of Portland had 58; Byron Lomow of Brandon, 57 and Mark MacKay of Moose Jaw, 52; Ken Morris of Prince Albert, 51, Tony Grenier of Prince Albert and Doug Trapp of Regina, 50; Dwaine Hutton of Kelowna, 49; Derek Laxdal of Brandon and Len Nielsen of Regina, 48; Doug Moffat of Calgary and Terry Zaporzan of Kelowna. 45.In goaltending, Gary Johnson of Medicine Hat moved back into top spot with a goals-against average of 2.78. Teammate Troy Gamble and Ward Komonosky of Prince Albert tied for second place with 2.82 averages. Lance Carlsen of New Westminster was next at 3.33 average, followed by Jamie Reeve of Regina, 3.43.In Canadian Major Junior Hockey League top-10 rankings based on winning percentage, Kamloops remained first for the third-consecutive week with a.800 percentage. Prince Albert was second at.786 while Shawinigan of the QMJHL was third at.773. Medicine Hat (.707) was sixth and Regina (.629) was 10th.In transactions, Regina dealt 20-year-old center Kurt Wickenheiser to Lethbridge. &#9632;

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Winter Hawks Pay Price For Proficiency

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div>QUEBEC&mdash;The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is experimenting with a newformatfor its All-Star game Jan. 5 in Quebec City, as undrafted players from the LeBel and Dilio Division will play against one another.&ldquo;Some people are saying it&rsquo;s not a true all-star game because not all of the best rplayers in the league are playing,&rdquo; said Shawinigan Cataracte coach Ron Lapointe, who was selected by his division counterparts to direct the Dilio squad.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to sell our product and we tried to get as many draftable players in the game as possible. My philsophy is that drafted players treat the game as a picnic, a chance to get together and have a beer after the game.&ldquo;There are only maybe five or six 19-year-olds in the whole game,&rdquo; Lapointe said.The Cataractes have bolted to a 27-7-1record, and their.773 winning percentage is the third-best in major junior hockey. Lapointe has five of his own players on his squad along with six members of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.&ldquo;Bobby Dejardins, 17, is one of the better young goalies in the league and he has a high percentage of stops playing behind a good defense,&rdquo; Lapointe said. &ldquo;Two 19-year-olds, Marc Damphousse and Mario Belanger, are key offensive players for us.&rdquo;Damphousse and Belanger are third and fifth, respectively, in league scoring.Some have questioned the drawing power of a contest featuring many lesser lights in the league at the 15,000-seat Quebec Colisee, where the Quebec Rem-parts have been averaging only about 1,000 fans a night, according to Quebec coach Guy Charron.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a difficult situation,&rdquo; said Charron, the former Washington Capital forward who landed Terry McLean, Alain Cote and Stephane Brochu for the Dilios. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good to expose the younger players, and we have to improve the number of players that get drafted. The big question is how many people are going to come and see the young players?&ldquo;Terry also will play against the Russians with the midget team and is an excellent 16-year-old who is a regular on our power play. He&rsquo;ll be a future star in the league. Alain is a 17-year-old that&rsquo;s got it all but he hasn&rsquo;t played to his full potential yet.&rdquo;One scout wondered why an entertaining player such as the Remparts&rsquo; Claude Gosselin, 19, wasn&rsquo;t selected. He was invited to the Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; training camp, is eighth in league scoring and is a strong local draw.&ldquo;The place is going to be loaded with scouts,&rdquo; said former National Hockey League goaltending great Gump Wors-ley, now scouting for the Minnesota North Stars. &ldquo;The game is good for us because we can get another look at the youngsters. I&rsquo;d like to see (Terry) McLean go up against Verdun Junior Canadiens&rsquo; Jim Carson at center.&ldquo;I was there last year at the Montreal Forum when I was scouting for the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau and there were some surprises among the young players,&rdquo; said St. Jean Beavers&rsquo; coach Ron Harris, a former NHL veteran who was named to guide the LeBel team.&ldquo;We would have liked it better to play against the Ontario Hockey League, but we&rsquo;ve got a good bunch of kids and it&rsquo;s a good idea.&rdquo;Plans for a two-game series of all-star games in Quebec and Kitchener involving the Ontario and Quebec leagues&rsquo; undrafted players fell through recently but may happen next season.&ldquo;There is no one guy standing out in the league this year like Mario Lemieux and Pat LaFontaine did during the past couple of years,&rdquo; Harris said.The QMJHL&rsquo;s leading scorer, Guy Rouleau of the Longueuil Chevaliers, injured a shoulder in practice and may not be back in time for the contest.Harris also coached the OHL&rsquo;s Windsor Spitfires and the Spokane Flyers of the Western Hockey League before moving behind the bench of the Beavers, who are in third place in the LeBel.His all-star team will feature seven Hull Olympiques, including first-and second-draft picks Jean Bergeron and Marc Dumont and goaltender Steve Averill.&ldquo;I voted for (Olympique coach) Pat Burns to coach this team,&rdquo; Harris said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s done a very good job.&rdquo;The league&rsquo;s coaches initially picked Harris and Burns as co-coaches of the team that was to have taken on the OHL. Harris has three of his own players on his squad, including Philippe Bozon from France.&ldquo;I think it is going to be a hell of a game,&rdquo; Harris said. &#9632;

Quebec League Allowing Non-Stars To Strut Stuff

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01544/5357789-1-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/f0039-01513/5357782-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="570" height="2395"></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/f0039-02358/5357775-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="560" height="352"></div><h2>MOST WINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03264/5357768-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="560" height="322"></div><h2>SAVE PERCENTAGE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04216/5357761-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="560" height="350"></div> &#9632;

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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05175/5357820-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL TEAM ROSTERS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1429/5357910-1-eng-US/f0040-142.jpg" title="f0040-14" width="556" height="357"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01243/5357917-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="190" height="187"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1529/5357903-1-eng-US/f0040-152.jpg" title="f0040-15" width="554" height="358"></div> &#9632;

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National League Rookie Leaders

<h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 17) CAMPBELL CONFERENCE</h2><h3>NORRIS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1627/5357969-1-eng-US/f0040-162.jpg" title="f0040-16" width="532" height="174"></div><h3>SMYTHE DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1724/5357962-1-eng-US/f0040-172.jpg" title="f0040-17" width="535" height="178"></div><h2>WALES CONFERENCE</h2><h3>ADAMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1821/5357955-1-eng-US/f0040-182.jpg" title="f0040-18" width="532" height="173"></div><h3>PATRICK DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1919/5357948-1-eng-US/f0040-192.jpg" title="f0040-19" width="538" height="204"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Dec. 10Los Angeles 2 at NY Rangers 4Detroit 4 at Minnesota 3Tue. Dec 11Vancouver 4 at Quebec 3New Jersey 7 at NY Islanders 5Philadelphia 4 at Winnipeg 5 (OT)Washington 3 at St. Louis 3 (OT)Wed. Dec. 12Boston 3 at NY Rangers 3 (OT)Buffalo 2 at Hartford 2 (OT)NY Islanders 3 at Pittsburgh 4Phladelphia 3 at Toronto 6Washington 3 at Minnesota 2Detroit 1 at Chicago 5Winnipeg 2 at Calgary 9Thu. Dec. 13Quebec 5 at Boston 5 (OT)Vancouver 5 at Montreal 4St. Louis 4 at New Jersey 4 (OT)Edmonton 2 at Los Angeles 7Fri. Dec. 14Detroit 4 at Buffalo 4 (OT)Toronto 4 at Winnipeg 6Sat. Dec. 15Vancouver 1 at Boston 2 (OT)Montreal 3 at Hartford 4 (OT)Quebec 3 at New Jersey 8Philadelphia 2 at NY Islanders 6NY Rangers 2 at Washington 4Pittsburgh 5 at Toronto 2Chicago 5 at Minnesota 3Edmonton 8 at St. Louis 2Calgary 5 at Los Angeles 6Sun. Dec. 16Vancouver 2 at Buffalo 2 (OT)Montreal 3 at Philadelphia 2Washington 6 at NY Rangers 3Detroit 2 at Winnipeg 5Minnesota 5 at Chicago 3 &#9632;

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THE NHL SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-20" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-2018/5358021-1-eng-US/f0040-202.jpg"></div><h2>NORRIS DIVISION</h2><h2>SMYTHE DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-2118/5358014-1-eng-US/f0040-212.jpg" title="f0040-21" width="1009" height="177"></div><h2>ADAMS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-2218/5358007-1-eng-US/f0040-222.jpg" title="f0040-22" width="1013" height="179"></div><h2>PATRICK DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-2316/5358000-1-eng-US/f0040-232.jpg" title="f0040-23" width="1015" height="223"></div> &#9632;

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How NHL Teams Rate

BOSTON&mdash;Simmer 15, Middleton 12, 13, Bourque6, Silk7, Crowder 7, Kasper 6, O&rsquo;Reilly 6, O&rsquo;Connell 8, Linseman 8. Winning goals-Linseman.BUFFALO&mdash;Ramsay 7, Cyr 6, 7, 8, Andreychuk 12, Foligno 8, Hamel 6, Tucker 6. Winning goals-none.CALGARY&mdash;Beers 15,16, Baxter 3, Loob 12, Nilsson 12, 13, 14, 15,16, Eaves 2, McDonald 4, Hunter 5, Tambellini 15, Bozek 3. Winning goals-Loob.CHICAGO&mdash;Savard 16,17,18,19&bdquo;T. Murray 11, D. Wilson 9, Larmer 18, 19, Sutter 13, 14, Fraser 12, Ludzik 4, Olczyk 9. Winning goals-T. Murray, Olczyk.DETROIT&mdash;Ogrodnick 16, 17, 18, Duguay 15, Williams 2, Yzerman 13, 14, Lambert 5, Park 6, Cernik 4, Smith 1. Winning goals-Yzerman.EDMONTON&mdash;Gretzky 27,28,29,30,31,32, Kurri 30, Coffey 8, Krushelnyski 14, Messier 14. Winning goals-Gretzky.HARTFORD&mdash;Johnson 11, Robertson 5, Crawford 10, Dineen 1, Francis 9, Boutette 4. Winning goals-Boutette.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Taylor 13, 14, Nicholls 21, Shutt 7, 8, 9, Mac Lellan 14, Smith 10, Dionne 16, 17, Ruskowski 7, Fox 13, 14, Hardy 5, 6. Winning goals-Shutt, Hardy.MINNESOTA&mdash;Broten 7,8,9, Plett 6, Napier 6, 7, 8, 9, Payne 11, 12, 13, McCarthy 10, Bellows 12. Winning goals-Napier.MONTREAL&mdash;DeBlois 6, Hunter 8, 9, Nas-lund 20, 21, Mondou 7,Tremblay 8, Walters, Nilan 6, Kurvers 5. Winning goals-Kurvers.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Ludvig 4, 5, Sulliman 12, 13, Muller 5, Bridgman 6, 7, 8, Preston 6, Broten 8, Gagne 8,9,10&bdquo;MacLean 1,2,Pichet-te 5, 6, Lever 5, Verbeek 7. Winning goals-Broten, MacLean.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Goring 1, 2, Bourne 3, Trottier 6, 7, Potvin 4, Bossy 28, 29, 30, Flatley 10, Tonelli 16, 17, LaFontaine 7, B. Sutter 19. Winning goals-Tonelli.NY RANGERS&mdash;Ruotsalainen 8, 9, 10, Sandstrom 10, Rogers 10, Beck 3, S. Patrick 3, Gagner 4, Huber 1, Wiemer 4, Hedberg 10, Larouche 8. Winning goals-Sandstrom.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Propp 18, Ron Sutter 5, Carson 6, 7, Sinisalo 11, 12, 13, Craven 10, Brown 2, McCrimmon 6, Poulin 8. Winning goals-none.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Shedden 13, Lemieux 6, Brickley 4, 5, Charlesworth 1, Mantha 7, Young 21, Taylor 5, McCarthy 2. Winning goals-Charlesworth, Brickley.QUEBEC&mdash;Hunter 5, 6, 7, Goulet 20, 21, A. Stastny 17, P. Stastny 13,14, Bell 3, Paiement 5, Cote 5. Winning goals-none.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Delorme 1, Gilmour 9, Barr 5, Mullen 14, Federko 11,12, Pettersson 9, Wick-enheiser 11, Schofield 1. Winning goals-none.TORONTO&mdash;Gavin 4, 5, Ihnacak 7, 8, Der-lago 12, 13, 14, 15, Frycer 15,16, Anderson 6, Poddubny 5. Winning goals-none.VANCOUVER&mdash;MacAdam 6, 7, McNab 11, Neely 6, Butcher 2, Lanz 2, Gradin 10, 11, 12, Lemay 10, Sundstrom 7, Kirtqn 3. Winning goals-Butcher, Kirton.WASHINGTON&mdash;Gartner 15, 16, Jarvis 4, Carpenter 22, 23, 24, 25, Gustafsson 1, 2, Sampson 8, McEwen 2, Haworth 9, Duchesne 4, Christian 10, 11, Erickson 10. Winning goals-Carpenter, Gustafsson, McEwen.WINNIPEG&mdash;Mullen 12, 13, 14, MacLean 13,14,15, Wilson 5, Hawerchuk 17,18,19,20, Turnbull 6, Lundholm 6, Steen 9, Smail 12, Boschman 13, McBain 3, Arniel 10. Winning goals-Hawerchuk, MacLean.Five-goal games&mdash;Gretzky (Edm).Hat tricks&mdash;Shutt (LA), Hawerchuk (Wpg), Derlago (Tor), Nilsson (Cal), Savard (Chi), 1 each.Overtime winners&mdash;MacLean (Wpg), Linseman (Bos), Boutette (Har).Milestone goals&mdash;Dionne (LA) 600th of his career. &#9632;

NHL SCORERS THIS WEEK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0842/5358076-1-eng-US/f0041-082.jpg" title="f0041-08" width="560" height="1216"></div>There are a number of promising young defensemen who have come into the National Hockey League this season and Los Angeles King rearguard Craig Redmond is no exception.The 19-year-old native of Dawson Creek, B.C., was the sixth player taken in the 1984 entry draft. The Kings, who traded away the third pick overall to get goalie Bob Janecyk from the Chicago Black Hawks, made it clear that Redmond was their man all along and likely wouldn&rsquo;t have made the deal unless they knew they&rsquo;d get the grad of the Canadian Olympic team.After a slow start this season, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound has scored two goals and and 13 assists in 30 games. Just as importantly, the young defenseman had a plus-minus rating of plus one as the Kings are flourishing under coach Pat Quinn&rsquo;s disciplined system.Redmond is known as an offensive catalyst and once he gets used to the pace at the NHL level, it&rsquo;s expected that stardom will be just around the corner. &#9632;

f0041-08

Chrysler Rookie Spotlight

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE (Standings on Tue. Dec. 18)</h2><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01206/5358233-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="536" height="235"></div><h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02144/5358226-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="538" height="203"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. 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 10Tue. Dec. 11Nova Scotia 3 at Adirondack 1Wed. Dec. 12Rochester 5 at Baltimore 6Nova Scotia 2 at Binghamton 5Adirondack 6 at Hershey 5Fredericton 2 at Moncton 3Thu. Dec. 13Springfield 5 at St. Catharines 1Fri. Dec. 14Maine 2 at New Haven 3Springfield 3 at Rochester 2Nova Scotia 6 at Sherbrooke 5Sat. Dec. 15New Haven 2 at Adirondack 5St. Catharines 1 at Baltimore 2Moncton 2 at Fredericton 6Rochester 4 at Hershey 8Nova Scotia 6 at Maine 2Binghamton 9 at Springfield 6Sun. Dec. 16Rochester 5 at Baltimore 4Maine 4 at Moncton 4Adirondack 1 at New Haven 1Fredericton 3 at Nova Scotia 3Hershey 4 at St. Catharines 5Binghamton 9 at Sherbrooke 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03108/5358219-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="530" height="321"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE (Standings on Mon. Dec. 17)</h2><h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0483/5358212-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="539" height="149"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0570/5358205-1-eng-US/f0042-052.jpg" title="f0042-05" width="534" height="201"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. Dec. 8Hint 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 Wed. Dec. 12Kalamazoo 5 at Toledo 5Salt Lake 3 at Milwaukee 2Flint 4 at Peoria 5Fri. Dec. 14Kalamazoo 1 at Muskegon 3Fort Wayne 4 at Toledo 7Flint 0 at Peoria 8Salt Lake 1 at Indianapolis 3Sat. Dec. 15Toledo 2 at Fort Wayne 4Peoria 1 at Muskegon 2Salt Lake 2 at Kalamazoo 4Indianapolis 4 at Milwaukee 4Sun. Dec. 16Salt Lake 2 at Fort Wayne 6Milwaukee 3 at Flint 5Peoria 3 at Toledo 6<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0663/5358198-1-eng-US/f0042-062.jpg" title="f0042-06" width="530" height="347"></div><h2>ATLANTIC COAST LEAGUE (Standings on Tues. Dec. 18)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0758/5358191-1-eng-US/f0042-072.jpg" title="f0042-07" width="532" height="205"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED Thu. Dec. 6</h3>Carolina 5 at Virginia 4Pine Bridge 8 at Mohawk Valley 6Fri. Dec. 7Mohawk Valley 4 at Erie 6Carolina 5 at Pine Bridge 0 Sat. Dec. 8Erie 3 at Mohawk Valley 4Virginia 4 at Pine Bridge 7Sun. Dec. 9Carolina 12 at Virginia 1Tue. Dec. 11Pine Bridge 3 at Carolina 5Wed. Dec. 12Virginia 6 at Erie 4Carolina 5 at Mowhawk Valley 4Fri. Dec. 14Erie 2 at Carolina 6Virginia 5 at Mowhawk Valley 6Sat. Dec. 15Erie 4 at Virginia 5Pine Bridge 4 at Carolina 5Sun. Dec. 16Carolina 8 at Pine Bridge 3Mohawk Valley 7 at Virginia 6<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0851/5358184-1-eng-US/f0042-082.jpg" title="f0042-08" width="532" height="321"></div><h2>NO. ONTARIO JUNIOR (Standings on Mon. Dec. 17)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0948/5358177-1-eng-US/f0042-092.jpg" title="f0042-09" width="547" height="208"></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE (Standings on Mon. Dec. 17)</h2><h3>LEYDEN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1043/5358170-1-eng-US/f0042-102.jpg" title="f0042-10" width="534" height="231"></div><h3>EMMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1138/5358163-1-eng-US/f0042-112.jpg" title="f0042-11" width="535" height="263"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. Dec. 8Windsor 2 at Belleville 6S.S. Marie 4 at Peterborough 7Cornwall 5 at Peterborough 7Sun. 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 7Wed. Dec. 12Kitchener 3 at Belleville 4Thu. Dec. 13Belleville 4 at Peterborough 3Cornwall 8 at Windsor 5London 6 at Hamilton 9Guelph 2 at North Bay 4Fri. Dec. 14Windsor 3 at Kitchener 4Oshawa 2 at Ottawa 0Cornwall 4 at London 5Guelph 2 at Sudbury 5Kingston 4 at S.S. Marie 6Sat. Dec. 15Peterborough 6 at Belleville 5Cornwall 5 at Toronto 7Kingston 2 at Sudbury 5Sun. Dec. 16Hamilton 3 at Toronto 3London 4 at Oshawa 1Kingston 1 at North Bay 7Guelph 1 at S.S. Marie 7Peterborough 1 at Kitchener 3<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1233/5358156-1-eng-US/f0042-122.jpg" title="f0042-12" width="530" height="353"></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE (Standings on Tue. Dec. 18)</h2><h3>EASTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1328/5358149-1-eng-US/f0042-132.jpg" title="f0042-13" width="531" height="263"></div><h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1426/5358142-1-eng-US/f0042-142.jpg" title="f0042-14" width="535" height="207"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Dec. 11Medicine Hat 8 at Victoria 3Lethbridge 3 at Calgary 6Saskatoon 7 at Moose Jaw 9Kamloops 7 at Kelowna 6Wed. Dec. 12Medicine Hat 2 at New Westminster 3Brandon 1 at Prince Albert 7Moose Jaw 5 at Saskatoon 9Seattle 4 at Portland 8Thu. Dec. 13Regina 3 at Calgary 4Fri. Dec. 14Medicine Hat 3 at Seattle 0Regina 3 at Lethbridge 6Brandon 2 at Saskatoon 9New Westminster 6 at Kelowna 7Sat. Dec. 15Medicine Hat 3 at Portland 4Prince Albert 7 at Moose Jaw 3New Westminister 2 at Kamloops 6Victoria 6 at Seattle 3Sun. Dec. 16Saskatoon 3 at Regina 8Prince Albert 2 at Brandon 1Calgary 6 at Lethbridge 3Portland 3 at New Westminster 8Kelowna 5 at Victoria 6<h2>CENTRAL JUNIOR LEAGUE (Standinas on Mon. Dec. 17)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1525/5358135-1-eng-US/f0042-152.jpg" title="f0042-15" width="542" height="262"></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE (Standings on Mon. Dec. 17)</h2><h3>LEBEL DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1625/5358128-1-eng-US/f0042-162.jpg" title="f0042-16" width="545" height="175"></div><h3>DILIO DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1724/5358121-1-eng-US/f0042-172.jpg" title="f0042-17" width="540" height="232"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Dec. 10Chicoutimi 4 at Laval 6Tue. Dec. 11Granby 6 at Longueuil 2Wed. Dec. 12Quebec 7 at Hull 5Verdun 2 at Laval 4Shawinigan 3 at T-Rivieres 6Fri. Dec. 14Longueuil 0 at Chicoutimi 7Quebec 4 at Drummondville 4Laval 4 at Granby 6Verdun 5 at Shawinigan 4Hull 3 at St. Jean 4Sun. Dec. 16Drummondville 4 at Chicoutimi 6Longueuil 5 at Quebec 7Granby 10 at St. Jean 7Shawinigan 6 at Verdun 4<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1822/5358114-1-eng-US/f0042-182.jpg" title="f0042-18" width="535" height="316"></div><h2>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE (Standings on Mon. Dec. 17)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1919/5358107-1-eng-US/f0042-192.jpg" title="f0042-19" width="541" height="262"></div> &#9632;

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MINOR SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0586/5358278-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="591" height="526"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0673/5358271-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="474" height="526"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0770/5358264-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="676" height="528"></div>BOSTON&mdash;Cleon Daskalakis, G, and Dave Donnelly, C, recalled from Hershey of AHL. Nevin Markwart, LW, and Geoff Courtnall, LW, both assigned to Hershey. Courtnall informed Bruins he would retire and was suspended by the team.BUFFALO&mdash;Mike Foligno, RW, Dave Andreychuk, C, Gilbert Perreault, LW, Phil Housley, D, and John Tucker, C, all returned from injury list. Claude Verret, C, and Gates Orlando, C, returned to Rochester of AHL. Adam Creighton, C, released to perform with Team Canada Juniors. Will return to Sabres Jan. 2.CALGARY&mdash;Paul Reinhart, D, back from injury list.CHICAGO&mdash;Al Secord, LW, sidelined indefinitely with groin injury. Dave Feamster, D, assigned to Milwaukee of IHL, was returned to NHL team and admitted to Mayo Clinic suffering from exhaustion and lower back injury.DETROIT&mdash;Colin Campbell, D, back from injury list.EDMONTON&mdash;Mark Messier, C, back from injury list.MINNESOTA&mdash;Brad Maxwell,D, and Brent Ashton, LW, traded to Quebec in exchange for Tony McKegney, LW, and Bo Berglund, RW. Dino Ciccarelli, RW, returned to injury list until mid January after suffering broken wrist. Bob Rouse, D, Randy Velischek, D, and Dirk Graham, RW, recalled from Springfield of AHL. Tom Hirsch, D, sent to Springfield but later recalledNEW JERSEY&mdash;Rick Meagher,&rsquo; C, sidelined indefinitely after suffering concussion.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Dave Langevin, D, back from injury list.NY RANGERS&mdash;John Vanbies-brouck, G, sidelined with pulled hamstring muscle but later returned to lineup. Ron Scott, G, recalled from New Haven of AHL but later returned.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Tim Kerr, RW, returned from injury list. Derrick Smith, LW, back from injury list. Craig Piette, RW, assigned to Hershey of AHL for pro tryout.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Bruce Crowder, LW, sidelined indefinitely with broken toe. Roberto Romano, G, back from injury list.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Rik Wilson, D, sidelined with bruised knee. KevinLaVallee, LW, out after suffering mild concussion.TORONTO&mdash;Bill Stewart, D, back from injury list. Rick St. Croix, G, Bill Kitchen, D, and Steve Thomas, LW, recalled from St. Catharines of AHL. Allan Bester, G, sent to St. Catharines.VANCOUVER&mdash;Tony Tanti, RW, sidelined indefinitely with nose injury. Dave Morrison, RW, returned to Fredericton of AHL.WASHINGTON&mdash;Glen Currie, C, and Dave Shand, D, recalled from Binghamton of AHL. Dean Evason, C, and Greg Adams, LW, returned to Binghamton. Al Jensen, G, sidelined indefinitely with muscle spasms in his back.WINNIPEG&mdash;Wade Campbell, D, recalled from Moncton of AHL. Bobby Dollas, D, released to perform with Team Canada junior team. Dave Babych, D, out indefinitely with back-spasms.AMERICAN LEAGUEST. CATHARINES&mdash;Bruce Dowie, G, assigned to Muskegon of IHL.SHERBROOKE&mdash;Marco Baron, G, signed as free agent. &#9632;

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December 28, 1984

Langlois Wore The Number Before It Became Famous

NHL GAMES TO COME

Bullard Slowly Breaking Out Of Bad Spell

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES