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.

February 1, 1985

The Hockey News February 1, 1985

Wells Hill Sports Group Inc., the North American importer and distributor of Torspo Hockey Sticks, would like to introduce you to the world&rsquo;s lightest wooden hockey stick.Three years of intensive research into trying to find the right combinations of wood and fibreglass have culminated in a superior hockey stick. This stick offers a combination of incredible lightness, excellent durability and unsurpassed feeling. The feeling of the Torspo Ultra will sell itself.<h2>PRO ULTRA</h2>The name Ultra best describes the features of this model. Torspo developed the Ultra with three requirements in mind:1. The Ultra had to be extremely light.2. It had to be extremely durable.3. It had to have tremendous &ldquo;feel.&rdquo;We succeeded in every way. The Ultra is the lightest wooden stick on the market today, weighing as little as 19 ounces. It is extremely durable, yet allows the player to feel the puck and have superb control.The Ultra uses a new type of light weight wood core in the shaft. This special core is what makes the stick so incredibly light. On either side of the core are 11 veneer laminations which control the stiffness and durability of the shaft.The blade of the Torspo Ultra consists of nine laminations, five of wood and four of fibreglass, with the fibreglass lams set inside the blade (not just wrapped), resulting in the most durable blade in hockey today.<h2>PRO 500 (OUR LARGEST VOLUME STICK)</h2>The Pro 500 is the most popular stick in Europe today, used by most Elite and First Division teams. This is the stick that is used by Mats Naslund and current National Hockey League players who use Torspo. The Pro 500 has a nine-lam blade (five lams fibreglass, four lams birch). The shaft is a box-lam construction with a laminated birch core and 11 birch laminated veneers on each side of the core. This is a light durable stick that gives optimum qualities for its value. &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

TORSPO

&ldquo;Just because you lead the league in penalties doesn&rsquo;t mean you&rsquo;re a goon.&rdquo;Hartford Whaler tough guy Torrie Robertson. Story on Page Page 32. &#9632;

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY RICH FRIEDMAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011176/4953021-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="586" height="175"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2>NEW YORK&mdash;In a coming issue of Goal magazine, jazz flutist Herbie Mann speaks eloquently of the similarity between his profession and hockey.There is &ldquo;an organization to what they guys were doing on the ice, but still room for an individual to do his own thing,&rdquo; explains Mann, a Ranger fan since the &rsquo;40s and a season-ticket holder at Madison Square Garden.However, after the first period of the Ranger-Buffalo game on Jan. 16 at the Garden, Mann had a decidely different view. The Rangers had been outshot 17-7 and were on their way to a 2-2 tie, yet another listless performance and yet another game in which they had been outshot by a wide margin, 47-28.&ldquo;We should have talked about dissonance,&rdquo; Mann said.Both on and off the ice, he might have added. This was the week after The Week. The Rangers had just returned from a brief road trip to Winnipeg and St. Louis that could have been an opportunity for them to regroup but clearly wasn&rsquo;t.<blockquote class="pullQuote">The &lsquo;coward controversy&rsquo; was a dead issue as far as Brooks was concerned, but Beck still had some thoughts on the matter.</blockquote>Just before they had left town, New York Times reporter Craig Wolff had written a comprehensive analysis of this lost season that contained a bombshell: the assertion, attributed to two unnamed sources, that coach Herb Brooks had referred to team captain Barry Beck as a &ldquo;coward.&rdquo;However, after Beck confronted Brooks at the team&rsquo;s Rye, NY practice rink, the matter was put to rest and Beck proclaimed that his coach was &ldquo;in control&rdquo; of the team.The media circus that resulted served what could have been an important purpose: drawing attention away from just how badly this team has been playing since early November. That week away could have united the team, giving them the mental fortitude to fight an uphill battle to make the playoffs. At their current pace, the possibility of the Rangers not participating in any post-season play is very real.The first game back, the Rangers managed but 13 shots against New Jersey at the Garden, relinquished a 1-0 lead in the third period, and allowed John MacLean to score the game winner for the Devils with 1:17 remaining. It ruined what was an otherwise good effort by rookie goalie John Vanbiesbrouck.&ldquo;Way to go, Beezer,&rdquo; Brooks told his goalie that night. &ldquo;Sorry we couldn&rsquo;t get you a little more help out there.&rdquo;As for the &ldquo;coward controversy,&rdquo; it was a dead issue as far as Brooks was concerned&mdash;&ldquo;You guys had your holiday with that story, it&rsquo;s over&rdquo;&mdash;and Wolff stood by what he had written. But Beck still had some thoughts on the matter.&ldquo;If it happened, I might as well throw the sweater in the basket right now and walk out the door,&rdquo; Beck said when asked if he had been labelled a coward by one of his teammates. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe somebody said it. Whoever it is is even more of a coward. Let him come forward.&rdquo;Brooks, however, has been critical of his players lately&mdash;both on and off the record. That has done little to make the players feel good about themselves, both individually and collectively. And even on those occasions that might ordinarily provide relief from the gloom&mdash;such as a rare early opening goal, or a shutout of listless Vancouver&mdash;the players have not been given much time to feel good.The result: the players have been struggling with their own emotions, and a near-complete loss of confidence that no amount of &ldquo;head games&rdquo; by the coach of whatever team leaders are left will likely be overcome before the playoffs.Meanwhile, the team&rsquo;s injury list continued to grow in tragic-comic proportions. In the Devils&rsquo; game, Mike Allison skated&mdash;or attempted to skate&mdash;in obvious great discomfort. Not surprisingly, the 23-year-old center who has suffered with knee problems for the past two seasons underwent surgery three days later to repair ligament damage in his right knee and will be out for the season.NOTES&mdash;Prior to the Sabre game, former Ranger Bryan Hextall, the man who scored the overtime goal that gave New York their last Stanley Cup in 1940, received posthumously the third annual Ranger Alumni Association Award. Hextail died last summer, and the award was accepted by his son, Dennis, a Ranger from 1967-69. &#9632;

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Rangers Aren’t Any Better After Road Trip

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0824/4955172-1-eng-US/f0044-082.jpg" title="f0044-08" width="552" height="1210"></div>The Quebec Nordiques round the answer to their power-play problems when they started using defenseman Bruce Bell on the point.Bell, 19, is no stranger to this specialty squad, as he manned the right side for the Brantford Alexanders of the Ontario Hockey League last season. The Nordiques, however, are using Bell on the left side, but the youngster was made the transition as if he&rsquo;d be playing there for years.Bell, drafted by the Nordiques in the second round in 1983, came to training camp expecting to be returned to junior. But the Nordiques were too impressed to send him back, and after 41 games the is proving why, with three goals and 21 assists, with a plus-18 rating, tops among NHL rookies.While Bell is slowly adapting to the language and the ways of Quebec, he is gaining a legion of popularity among the fans, his teammates and the Nordiques&rsquo; brass. Not only that, people around the league are noticing, too&mdash;particularly other teams when the Nordiques score on the power play. &#9632;

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Chrysler Rookie Spotlight

In the Feb. 8 issue, we&rsquo;ll take a lookatthe rejuvenated St. Louis Blues&rsquo; franchise. Two years ago, it appeared as if hockey was dead in St. Louis. Now, the Blues are atop the Norris Division and the future appears solid, if not spectacular.We&rsquo;ll also feature THE HOCKEY NEWS Magazine, which includes an in-depth interview with National Hockey League president John Ziegler.All that plus much, much more. &#9632;

NEXT WEEK IN THN

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div>Ouch.Injuries, vintage 1984-85, have become a real pain in the National Hockey League. It has not been a very good year.No, it is not a mirage. Although injuries have received more recognition this season because of the big names falling victim, it is not publicity hype. The nagging number of knees, shuddering sum of shoulders and bevy of broken bones have been on an alarming rise.Those who report on goals and assists have become fluent in tibias and fibulas. No longer do we run to the medical textbooks to distinguish between a grade one and grade two separation. This season we can easily elect an all-star team, an all-rookie team and an all-abdominal muscle-pull squad.Arthroscopy is an easy word to spell.Thanks mainly to the New York Rangers (192 man-games lost), Calgary Flames (153), Minnesota North Stars (152), Boston Bruins (128), Vancouver Canucks (118), Philadelphia Flyers Cl 10) and New York Islanders (105), the NHL&rsquo;s medical report showed an 18 per cent increase in the number of man-games lost (each game a player misses equals one man-game) between Christmas 1983 and Christmas 1984.&ldquo;Injuries?&rdquo; deadpanned Ranger general manager Craig Patrick, who somehow has managed to keep his sanity and sense of humor. &ldquo;Why would you want to talk to me?&rdquo;The Rangers&rsquo; team picture was shot by an X-ray machine. The New Yorkers spent more time in Manhattan&rsquo;s Lenox Hill Hospital than they did in Madison Square Garden or their Rye, NY, training base. In their first 43 games, they had lost 23 different players to 37 different injuries for a whopping 262 man-games lost. Ron Greschner (separated shoulder), Anders Hedberg (eye), Tom Laidlaw (ruptured spleen), Don Maloney (broken leg), Mark Osborne (hip flexor), Mark Pavelich (broken leg) and Simo Saarinen (tom knee ligaments) were hit with major injuries. Everybody else&mdash;only Mike Rogers and Reijo Ruotsalainen did not miss any of the first 43&mdash;had at least one minor ill.Calgary has (or had) lost Jamie Macoun (fractured cheekbone), Lanny McDonald (stomach muscles) and Doug Risebrough (groin).Minnesota has (or had) missed Dino Ciccarelli (broken wrist), Craig Hartsburg (hip), Paul Holmgren (shoulder surgery) and Willi Plett (dislocated shoulder).Boston is without Gord Kluzak (knee) and Barry Pederson (broken hand followed by tumor surgery) for the season.Vancouver has (or had) missed Ron Delorme (tom knee ligaments), Rick Lanz (twisted neck), Peter McNab (damaged knee) and Patrik Sundstrom (broken wrist).Philadelphia has been without Bill Barber (knee surgery), Peter Zezel (broken hand), Ilkka Sinisalo (back spastps), and Glen Cochrane (fractured kneecap) has only recently returned.The Islanders are currently without Pat LaFontaine (mononucleosis), Bobby Nystrom (band), Bob Bourne (hand), Tomas Jonsson (shoulder) and Ken Morrow (knee).And that&rsquo;s just a sampling. Want more? Quebec&rsquo;s Michel Goulet (broken thumb), Washington&rsquo;s Al Jensen (back), Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Rick Kehoe (pinched nerve in neck), Edmonton&rsquo;s Mark Messier (knee), Winnipeg&rsquo;s Brian Mullen (knee), Detroit&rsquo;s Brad Park (knee), Buffalo&rsquo;s Lindy Ruff (shoulder surgery), Montreal&rsquo;s Bobby Smith (broken jaw), Chicago&rsquo;s Darryl Sutter (broken ankle), Al Secord (stomach muscles), Curt Fraser (fractured cheekbone), Bob MacMillan (separated shoulder), Hartford&rsquo;s Sylvain Turgeon (stomach muscles), and Toronto&rsquo;s Bill Derlago (fractured shoulder).The growing problem was on the agenda when the 21 general managers met in Chicago in December. The league plans to take an extensive look at the injury report analysis that is filed at the end of each season and the GMs plan to examine equipment and training camp methods.Everybody wants to know why there&rsquo;s an increase in injuries.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you can say it&rsquo;s one thing or another yet,&rdquo; said Buffalo Sabre coach and GM Scott Bowman. &ldquo;Unless we get conclusive evidence, we&rsquo;re just talking. But it seems like there&rsquo;s quite a lot of knee and shoulder injuries.&rdquo;Bowman was speaking one afternoon in New York. That night, in a 2-2 tie with the Rangers, the Sabres temporarily lost right winger Sean McKenna (hit through the Sabres&rsquo; bench door by Grant Ledyard) and defenseman Jim Schoenfeld (bruised right ankle after stopping a shot). The Rangers played half that game without Tomas Sandstrom, who absorbed a Jerry Korab elbow and suffered a bruised cheekbone.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting to the point where you pretty well need a taxi squad,&rdquo; Bowman said after the game. &ldquo;The Islanders, you saw what happened to them last season when they were hit hard by injuries. When I was in Montreal, we always had four or five guys in the stands. By the end, they were the ones who helped us win it. Guys play hard and injuries are part of the game. If you play hard, you get hurt.&rdquo;Why so many this season?Hypotheses run rampant whenever trend weaves its way through the NHL&rsquo;s threads. Doctors, trainers, GMs and coaches have come up with four possible reasons for the growing sick list.1. Protective equipment has not been improved enough to keep pace with today&rsquo;s bigger and faster player.2. The 23-day training camp demands too much, too soon from a player.3. Weight training has done more harm than good.4. The Canada Cup.<h2>THE EQUIPMENT</h2>&ldquo;Equipment has not kept close (to the players&rsquo; needs),&rdquo; said Rangers&rsquo; team physician Dr. Norman Scott. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s terrible. Shoulder equipment is useless. Most of the equipment is point contact. The force of a check is being directed right at a particular part of the body.&rdquo;&ldquo;Take a picture of a football player today as compared to 10 years ago,&rdquo; said Edmonton&rsquo;s athletic therapist, Peter Millar.&ldquo;Look at the difference. Take a picture of hockey players 10 years apart. There hasn&rsquo;t been anything drastically redesigned. There&rsquo;s lighter material, but nothing dramatic.&rdquo;&ldquo;Today&rsquo;s gloves are light as a feather,&rdquo; said New Jersey general manager Max McNab. &ldquo;You throw them up in the air and they don&rsquo;t come down. And the skates are razor-sharp. I don&rsquo;t know how the players skate with them.&rdquo;In an ever-competitive age, players seek an edge. They want the sharpest skates, the lightest gloves and pants, the most comfortable shoulder, elbow and leg pads.They are only hurting themselves, say three representatives from large equipment manufacturers.&ldquo;We can make whatever the NHL wants,&rdquo; explained Jim Geary, the liason to the NHL for Cooper Canada, Ltd., the Toronto-based manufacturer that supplies a majority of the NHL&rsquo;s equipment.&ldquo;But we make what the players will wear. Why should we make it if they&rsquo;re not going to wear it? Somebody has to tell us to make it.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve come up with a redesigned shoulder pad that is designed to prevent separations and dislocations. About 15 pair are being worn throughout the league, four by Boston. This pad&rsquo;s been out a year, but (a majority of) the players won&rsquo;t wear it. What you&rsquo;re seeing now, though, is the GMs are starting to force them to wear it. Now there&rsquo;s a little interest because of the injuries.&rdquo;Bill Else, vice president of sales for CCM, said that his company can supply whatever the NHL requests. The fault, he said, lies with the players.&ldquo;Players doctor equipment,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Some forwards wear shin pads we could sell to children 10 to 12 years old. It&rsquo;s come to the point where we have to control what players are wearing. What looks to be finally happening is that the GMs are saying, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s a serious problem. Let&rsquo;s do something about it.&rsquo;&rdquo;David Angas, North American sales and marketing manager for JOFA, echoed the sentiments of his competitors.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re dealing with the male, macho image,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;These guys think they&rsquo;re iron men and they can get away wearing less protective equipment. But it&rsquo;s the owners&rsquo; fault, really. From a business point of view, I wouldn&rsquo;t want to be paying a six-figure salary to a guy who&rsquo;s hurt all the time. It&rsquo;s up to the owners, as the players&rsquo; employer, to make them wear the best equipment available. It&rsquo;s out there. It&rsquo;s just that the owners and managers are ignorant to it.&rdquo;<h2>TRAINING CAMP</h2>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s absolutely ridiculous for management and the players&rsquo; association to agree on that kind of training camp,&rdquo; said Ranger coach Herb Brooks, discussing the 23-day schedule that was written into the last contract between the owners and the NHLPA. &ldquo;Training camp should be what it says, a time to train. These are the assets of our corporation, the players&rsquo; bodies. We can&rsquo;t throw their bodies to the wolves.&rdquo;The players demanded a shorter training camp. Owners demanded the dollars raked in from pre-season exhibition games. It was pure greed on both sides.So what you have is an exhaustive training camp schedule that sees teams playing pre-season games less than a week after camp opens. Too much, too soon.&ldquo;Players are going into camp in better shape,&rdquo; Patrick said, partially refuting this theory. &ldquo;But in years gone by, camps were longer.&rdquo;Players who are fatigued are more susceptible to muscle injuries. Although they may arrive at training camp in excellent shape, they are hardly ready for the pace of four games per week&mdash;not to mentiog intrasquad games designed to gauge ability.Rookies competing for jobs that veterans are trying to hold set a tempo that creates the nagging ills.<h2>WEIGHT TRAINING</h2>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe players who should weigh 170 or 180 can carry the weight when they bulk up to 190 or 200 pounds,&rdquo; said Doug Carpenter, New Jersey&rsquo;s freshman head Coach. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think their knees can carry the extra weight.&rdquo;But the stakes are high, so everybody looks for an edge. An athlete needs to be bigger and stronger. But when something gives, it tends to be his musculature.&ldquo;I had guys come out of junior and into Salt Lake City very fluid,&rdquo; Hartford coach Jack Evans said early this season, referring to his association with the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; old Central Hockey League affiliate. &ldquo;They&rsquo;d go up to St. Louis, get into those weights, and I&rsquo;d get them back the next year and couldn&rsquo;t believe it was the same player. They look like King Kong, but they couldn&rsquo;t handle the stick.&rdquo;&ldquo;We are probably guilty of overtraining,&rdquo; said Dr. Scott.&ldquo;We have to find a balance. But it&rsquo;s tough for a young kid, trying to find a job on a team, to listen to someone saying, &lsquo;Take it easy. Go slow.&rsquo;&ldquo;Down the road,&rdquo; Scott added, &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re going to have to establish a standard training program. Or at leastguidelines agreed to by the 21 teams. You just don&rsquo;t say go and do Nautilus all summer.&rdquo;<h2>CANADA CUP</h2>The last Canada Cup year (1981) was a bad one for us,&rdquo; Dr. Scott recalled. &ldquo;We lost (Anders) Hedberg and (Ulf) Nilsson. They were hurt, and badly. These guys cannot expect to stay in shape at the level we expect all-year round. We&rsquo;re taxing their physical stamina and ability for too long a time.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a well-known fact. You can make a graph of the body at maximum peak condition. After that peak, there is a precipitous drop and there&rsquo;s the injury factor.&rdquo;Scott was referring to those players injured after the tournament, which asked NHL players (who had completed the 1983-84 season only a few months earlier) to report for their country&rsquo;s training camps in July and August.Millar, who was a member of Team Canada&rsquo;s training staff, disagreed with the Canada Cup hypothesis. Eight Edmonton Oilers&mdash;Glenn Anderson, Paul Coffey, Grant Fuhr, Randy Gregg, Wayne Gretzky, Charlie Huddy, Kevin Lowe and Mark Messier-competed. Only Messier and Gregg suffered a major injury this season.The fact of the matter is that nobody has the answers to a question stuffed with variables.&ldquo;This is a completely new project,&rdquo; said Phil Scheuer, the director of administration in the NHL&rsquo;s Montreal office and the man who will head the injury investigation. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re just beginning, really. We want to find out how many knees there are compared to shoulders, how many injuries are the result of penalized infractions as opposed to unpenalized infractions. There are no conclusions, nothing close to them yet.&rdquo;The ambulance siren is wailing. The NHL limps on.<h2>The Injury Report</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011236/4952212-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="907" height="790"></div> &#9632;

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Call An Ambulance! The NHL’s Facing An Injury Epidemic

<div class="byline">Frank Orr</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011271/4952267-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="380" height="433"></div>AS YOU MAY have read in Jay. Greenberg&rsquo;s column last week, the Toronto Globe and Mail decided the National Hockey League hadn&rsquo;t named its conferences and divisions properly and decided to correct the matter. No longer does the NHL have Campbell and Prince of Wales conferences with Smythe and Norris, Adams and Patrick Divisions. The paper lists them as Western and Eastern conferences with Pacific and Central, Northern and Atlantic divisions.Now, having Canada&rsquo;s self-proclaimed &ldquo;newspaper of record&rdquo; claim that its hockey team was in the Pacific Division has caused heavy confusion for the folks in Winnipeg. Several people there have gone bonkers trying to find the beach on which to open a perogi stand.NHL president John Ziegler reportedly is upset by the paper&rsquo;s move, claiming that the names are intended to maintain the league&rsquo;s traditions. Ziegler wondered where it would stop and if the NHL would be called the National Slippery Ice League by the paper in the future.Hmmm! Come to think of it, that has a nice ring to it.Ziegler, as it turns out, has plenty about which to be concerned with the paper in question. It seems the change in conference and division names is just the tip of the iceberg.At great risk, THE HOCKEY NEWS has obtained a transcript of a meeting that involved the paper&rsquo;s sports editor and its staff of hockey writers. If all the plans discussed at that conflab became reality, far-reaching changes will be suggested for the NHL.Here&rsquo;s what was said:SPORTS EDITOR: &ldquo;The NHL truly needs our help. Cripes, its names are lousy and why things have been allowed to reach such a stage of disaster is beyond comprehension. If the hockey writers&rsquo; association can&rsquo;t do anything about this either, we&rsquo;ll take matters into our own hands. With the names the league has now, none of our readers know what we&rsquo;re talking about.&rdquo;UNIDENTIFIED WRITER: &ldquo;But boss, in Montreal they had no trouble understanding the NHL&rsquo;s names.&rdquo;S.E.: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s Montreal. But our paper is a national force. If we make the change, then all papers will follow our example and this problem will be solved.&rdquo;WRITER: &ldquo;What other area of the NHL has poor names, chief?&rdquo;S.E.: &ldquo;All over the place. Oh, sure, a few people in Canada might recognize the names but the NHL is trying to be big in the U.S. and the people there are in a fog about all NHL names. As an example, the NHL gives the Hart Trophy to its most valuable player. Hart? Who knows what that means? From now on, the NHL&rsquo;s award for the MVP will be called the Babe Ruth Trophy in this paper. Everyone knows who he was. The Bill Jennings Trophy to the best goalies? Bill Jenings? Did he ever stop a puck? From here on, that will be called the Johnny Bench Trophy. The Lady Byng Trophy? Give me a break? Lady Byng! Who was she? Could she slap a puck? That one is the Jane Fonda Trophy from now on. We must be consistent in this. The Smythe and Norris Trophies are now called the Pacific and Central Trophies.&rdquo;WRITER: &ldquo;Where is it going to end?&rdquo;S.E.: &ldquo;The changes will be far-reaching, as I have said. Look at the names of the players. What chance does a league&mdash;or the guys who write about it&mdash;have with names like the NHL players have. Take the No. 1 star as an example. Is there any hope for a league that has Wayne Gretzky as its best player. Wayne? Forget it! From now on in this paper, that little wimp will have a real name. We can&rsquo;t tamper with Gretzky because his mother might get upset but his first name is now Spike. Mike Bossy now will be known as Chase Bossy. That kid with the Leafs, where Teeder and Wild Bill once played, that Rick Vaive is now Lance Vaive and I&rsquo;ll have the full list ready by the end of the week.&rdquo;WRITER: &ldquo;Is that all? Where will this end?&rdquo;S.E.: &ldquo;The best is yet to come. This paper can no longer tolerate weak names on its hockey-writing staff, any more than we can in the NHL. So changes will be made. Bill, you will now be known as Baz. James, you&rsquo;re now called Elmer. Al, we&rsquo;ve decided the name Dink is suitable for you. Stan, as a young guy starting out, your career will flourish if your name is Red.&rdquo;WRITER: &ldquo;Boss, that has to be the end of it.&rdquo;S.E.: &ldquo;Well, just about. There&rsquo;s one more change From now an call me Geoffrey.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0004-01

There’s Nothing New In A Name

<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/f0004-021186/4952298-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg"></div>Last May 19, there was an important 10th anniversary that went virtually unnoticed in hockey circles&mdash;it had been exactly a decade since the Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup and forever ended the dominance of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s six original teams.The Flyers became the first expansion club ever to win the Cup when they beat the Boston Bruins on May 19, 1974. The palace coup had begun&mdash;the old guard was overthrown, to be replaced by a new order dominated by expansion clubs.In the decade since the Flyers&rsquo; first Cup victory, three of the four franchises that have won the Cup have been young expansion teams. Until the Flyers&rsquo; triumph, the NHL&rsquo;s expansion teams had been nothing but weak sis-ters to the six established clubs. From 1967 thru the &rsquo;73 playoffs, expansion sides had gone only 6-40 in post-season play against the old clubs.All of this was brought to mind this past New Year&rsquo;s Day, when the standings revealed the trail-blazing Flyers doing surprisingly well. So we decided to look at the 10&mdash;year regular-season records of all NHL teams, to see whether the expansion sides&rsquo; success in the playoffs has been mirrored by a similar success during the regular schedule.It has. The table in the box below lists the records of all NHL club franchises in the decade since the esta-lished teams&rsquo; monopoly on power was brought to a close. Of the six clubs at the top, only two&mdash;Montreal and Boston&mdash;are old-guard pillars of the Establishment. The other four are expansion teams with Philadelphia once again leading the charge.As for the individual teams themselves, the table highlights some interesting facts:&bull; The Flyers and Buffalo, who have consistently presented some of the best hockey over the last 10 years, have always had among the very lowest ticket prices in the league. Yet neither team sell out very often anymore.&bull; The Sabres have the dubious honor of being the biggest underachievers in the NHL. Though they have a .621 record over the last decade, they&rsquo;ve only made it past the quarter-finals twice&mdash;in &rsquo;75 when they made it to the final, and in &rsquo;80, when they made it to the semi-final. No wonder the Aud doesn&rsquo;t sell out anymore.&bull; The Kansas City Scouts/Colora-do Rockies/New Jersey Devil franchise have been almost inconceivably bad since it was spawned, but even worse is the miserable record of once-proud Detroit (who have actually been terrible for some 15 years). That 18,000 and more consistently show up for their games says something special about Detroit-area fans&mdash;mainly, that theur faithfulness to the wretched Dead Wings borders on spritual martyrdom.&bull; Despite all the talent Minnesota have had on their roster over many of the past 10 seasons, their winning percentage is just .456. This year&rsquo;s horrible performance marks a fitting end to the high expectations everyone has held for the North Stars.&bull; Vancouver&rsquo;s league-high number of ties over the course of the decade betrays an almost perverted love of sister-kissing. Boston have had the fewest designs on their sister, playing 29 fewer draws than the incestuous Canucks.&bull; Distant Los Angeles must travel far more than any other team in the league and, as a result, their schedule is annually the most gruelling. They&rsquo;ve paid for it, too&mdash;their 10-year road record stands at .412. But they make up for it at home, and overall they have a surprisingly good mark of .494 for the decade. This year&rsquo;s Kings should boost that figure as they enjoy a remarkable renaissance.FUN FACTS TO KNOW AND TELL&mdash;Do you ever wonder about NHL referees? Check out these figures and judge for yourself.Last season, the Islanders were the least-penalized team in the league, taking only 14.5 penalty minutes penalty minutes per game. But the Islanders were shorthanded a full 80 more times than they were a man up (360 times shorthanded vs. 280 power-play advantages). No other team had such an unfavorable disparity.Meanwhile, Toronto, whose 21.0 minutes in penalties per game was the third-worst in the league, actually had one more power-play chance than penalty-killing situation. (So far this season, Toronto is the second most-penalized team in the league, with 23.2 PIM per game, yet they&rsquo;ve actually gotten 24 more manpower advantages than disadvantages.)Here&rsquo;s another one, not so bad:During the &rsquo;83-84 regular season, NHL arbiters doled out a total of 30,457 minutes in penalties, resulting in 7,062 manpower advantages. The home team were given 52.4 per cent of those advantages, and 47.6 per cent went to the visitors.So far this season, the zebras have given the home club the manpower advantage 52.3 per cent of the time.Finally, this strange fact, which really has much more to do wih Bryan Murray and his inability to control his temper than it has to do with referees: Through 39 games this year, Washington was by far the least-penalized team in the NHL. Yet, according to the league&rsquo;s official statistics, the Caps had taken twice as many bench minors as any other team.Believe it, or not.<h2>10-Year Ratings</h2><h3>TEAMS&rsquo; REGULAR-SEASON RECORDS, &rsquo;74-75 THRU &rsquo;83-84 &#9632;</h3>

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Original Six Can’t Match Expansion Team Efforts

<div class="byline">By Bruce Hood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011136/4952329-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="342" height="452"></div>Q: More tripping, holding and interference seems to go on in the late stages of a close game than at any other time. Infractions that are penalties in the first two periods are ignored late in the game, unless they are flagrant. This gives an incredibly unfair advantage to the more physical teams in the league, and in my view helps contribute to the high number of tie games in the NHL, even with overtime.With the game at stake, players seem to know that the parameters of their activity are wider than they were earlier. Offensive players trying to set up or shoot are regularly held, tripped and interfered with, usually with no penalty call. The interference against them effects the outcome of the game as much (or more) than a penalty call would.It doesn&rsquo;t seem appropriate that penalties be as subjective as they are. Whether a goal is imminent or not, if a foul is committed a penalty should be called. The uncertainty of fans and players alike about the subjective calling of penalties is, in my view, very bad for the game of hockey.Martin L. Platt Montgomery, ALA: In the short time this column has appeared, I have received several letters and many have had the same areas of concern as yours. I chose to print this one because it sums up the thoughts of many.Q: In a game Nov. 28 between the Rangers and Caps, referee Denis Morel called a delay of game penalty against Scott Stevens for lifting the net off its moorings with 11 seconds to go. It is my understanding that if there is insufficient time to serve the penalty at the completion of a game, a penalty shot should be called.Has this rule recently been changed or did the referee make a mistake? If he made a mistake, could the Rangers have protested the game and had it replayed from the point of mistake?Karl Thomason Warren. NJA: If a player deliberately displaces the goal from its normal position during play, he is to receive a minor penalty for delaying the game. However, if he does so at a time in the game when the total penalty time could not be served in its entirety before the end of the game, the rule states that a penalty shot shall be awarded.The rule has not been changed, but as to whether the referee made a mistake, perhaps there were other circumstances involved in the play.As for the protest, there is none in accordance with the National Hockey League by-laws.If you want your question answered, write to:ASK THE REFEREE 6455 Northam Drive, Suite 100 Mississauga, Ont. L4V 1J2All questions will be considered, but only those published will be answered. Personal responses are not possible. &#9632;

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ASK THE REFEREE

Here&rsquo;s what was happening 20 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; Chicago Black Hawks&rsquo; co-owner Jim Norris speculated that all NHL teams soon would soon have to dress two goalies in regular-season games in order to prevent delays in the game if one becomes injured.&bull; Boston Bruin president Weston W. Adams said that the NHL&rsquo;s top four teams should have the number of protected players decreased from 18 to 16, while increasing the fifth- and sixth-place teams protected players to 19 and 20, respectively. He said this would be the quickest way to provide parity in the league.Here&rsquo;s what was happening 15 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; Chicago&rsquo;s Tony Esposito won the Vezina Trophy for the first half of the season and called it a &ldquo;team effort.&rdquo;&bull; Former Toronto Maple Leaf general manager-coach Punch Imlach was given the same duties with the expansion Buffalo Sabres for the 1970-71 season. &#9632;

THIS WEEK…20 Years Ago

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02832/4952391-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="386" height="446"></div>One of the greatest scoring lines ever assembled in the history of the National Hockey League was the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; Production Line of Ted Lindsay, Gordie Howe and Sid Abel.At the time the line was put together, Abel was 29, and had been with the Wings seven years. A veteran of World War II, Abel had just gone&rsquo; through a shaky year the previous season. There were some people who felt that the war had diminished Abel&rsquo;s skills, but that was before Howe (age 19) and Lindsay (age 22) came along. Abel reacted to his two linemates like he had sipped from the fountain of youth.&ldquo;Those two guys were the best two things that ever happened to me during my playing career,&rdquo; said Abel, who played with the Red Wings from 193843 and 1945-52, and one season, 195253, with Chicago. &ldquo;They were the two best guys a player like me could ever ask for.&ldquo;Gordie was a control player: He could control the puck and the game. Ted was a digger: He wasn&rsquo;t afraid to go into the comer with anybody.&ldquo;When (coach) Tommy Ivan put us together for the first time (1947-48 season), we just clicked. We worked very well together. We passed the puck around very well and could put it in the net as well.&ldquo;We were together for five seasons. For me it was just like starting my career all over again. I was just like a kid.&rdquo;Except for a short stint as coach of the Black Hawks (1952-54) and St: Louis Blues (1971) and as general manager of the Blues (1971-73) and Kansas City Scouts (1973-76), Abel has been in Detroit and a member of the Red Wing organization in one form or another.Take away the additional two seasons he missed because of military duty and Abel has been part of the Red Wings for 38 seasons as a player, coach, GM and broadcaster.&ldquo;I am a Detroit Red Wing, there is no doubt about that,&rdquo; said Abel. &ldquo;I enjoyed my stay in the other cities I was in, including Kansas City, which I thought was a real good hockey city.&ldquo;They had some good fans. The biggest thing wrong with the Scout franchise was that they had poor ownership. They really weren&rsquo;t organized very well.&rdquo;But Abel&rsquo;s first love is still Detroit. Today, as a color commentator for Red Wings games on radio and television, Abel can talk all he wants about his favorite city and team.&ldquo;I really enjoy making comments on the game itself,&rdquo; said Abel, 66, who was born in Melville, Sask., and now resides with his wife in a suburb of Detroit. &ldquo;This is a nice way of staying associated with the game I love.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m still like a player. I get nervous before a game begins. But once it&rsquo;s underway I really get into it.&ldquo;To me, Detroit has always been a great hockey city. The fans are great.&ldquo;But the thing I really miss now is the Olympia (the arena the Red Wings played in before Joe Louis Arena). The people seemed to be so much closer to the players and the action, not quite like today.&ldquo;I still enjoy being a part of the team. The flying is enjoyable, but the travel can get pretty tough at times.&ldquo;So, as long as my health holds out I would like to keep doing what I&rsquo;m doing (broadcasting) in Detroit.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a Red Wing and always will be.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03581/4952384-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="1199" height="914"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sid Abel was paired with two younger linemates and the Detroit trio went on to become the great Production Line.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0005-02

Howe, Lindsay Gave Abel New Lease On His Career

1. Name the three members of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Buzz Saw line?2. What was Gordie Howe&rsquo;s first NHL sweater number?3. Who was the first father-son combination elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame?4. What Los Angeles King answers to the nickname Roscoe?5. What original Kansas City Scout plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins?6. Name the first NHL player to score a Stanley Cup-winning goal in overtime?7. Who scored the first goal in the history of the WHA?8. What WHA team did New Jersey goalie Hannu Kampurri play for?9. Name the last player from a nowdefunct team to make the NHL&rsquo;s first all-star team?10. Who was the first NHL player to score a hat trick this season?Answers in next week&rsquo;s issue.<h2>Last Week&rsquo;s Trivia Answers</h2>1. Bryan Hextall, 1939-40. 2. Turk Broda, Toronto, 1940-41. 3. 975. 4. Lou Nanne and Curt Bennett. 5. Toronto Arenas, 1918-19. 6. Peter Morris. 7. Art Ross (Montreal Wanderers and Hamilton). 8. Montreal. 9. Curt Ridley. 10. 1928-29, (2.92). &#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/f0005-04390/4952446-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg"></div>that the most penalty minutes recorded in one season by a player is: &#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/f0006-011317/4952477-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="382" height="446"></div>Has the statute of limitations run out on Don Cherry&rsquo;s love affair with the Boston Bruins?Some people in Boston think so. They believe that the Bruin logo, supposedly tattooed for life on Grapes&rsquo; left buttock, now resembles a Hockey Night in Canada crest.A Boston Herald TV-sports columnist has even listed specific Bruin put-downs delivered by Cherry on the air during a Toronto-Boston game, Dec. 22.The Herald&rsquo;s Jim Baker calls it, &ldquo;Cherry&rsquo;s undressing of the Bruins.&rdquo; Furthermore, Baker suggests that Grapes never would have levelled the charges against Gerry Cheevers, Ray Bourque and Pete Peeters if he had known &ldquo;someone from Boston was listening.&rdquo;So let&rsquo;s get down to business and find out whether Grapes has, once and for all. turned in his Bruin gold-and-white for HNIC&rsquo;s greenbacks. Get on the witness stand, Grapes.STAN: &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe you said that Ray Bourque will go along for 10 games and be fine. Then in the 11th game, he&rsquo;ll be the worst player on the ice.&rdquo;DON: &ldquo;Absolutely. In that game he gave away the first goal and then got a penalty for the second goal. Bourque is like the little girl with the curl: when he&rsquo;s good, he&rsquo;s very very good, and when he&rsquo;s bad, he&rsquo;s very very bad, and everybody in the NHL knows it. By the way, I also think he&rsquo;s the best defenseman in the NHL.&rdquo;STAN: &ldquo;Then, you rapped the hell out of Pete Peeters, said, &lsquo;He has double vision&mdash;looks like he&rsquo;s got it again.&rsquo; Is this the real Don Cherry talking about the Bruins?&rdquo;DON: &lsquo;&lsquo;I&rsquo;m one of those guys who would even say that Rick Middleton&mdash;one of my boys&mdash;had a bad game if he was having one.&rdquo;STAN: &ldquo;You even gave your old buddy. Gerry Cheevers, the business. What&rsquo;s this about saying he shouldn&rsquo;t play Terry O&rsquo;Reilly on left wing?&rdquo;DON: &ldquo;He shouldn&rsquo;t play left wing because Terry&rsquo;s the type who has his head down a lot and he cuts to his right and he&rsquo;s blind and he got hurt twice doing that.&rdquo;STAN: &ldquo;You&rsquo;re second-guessing Cheevers.&rdquo;DON: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s my job in the TV booth. That&rsquo;s why everybody loves me. If I make a mistake I say it. If I don&rsquo;t like Terry on the left wing I say it.&rdquo;STAN: &lsquo;&lsquo;I couldn&rsquo;t believe you, Don Cherry, would ever say the fight had gone out of the Bruins.&rdquo;DON: &ldquo;What I meant is that the Bruins aren&rsquo;t as tough as they used to be. You can take advantage of &lsquo;em. If I was the coach when the players came back to the bench, I&rsquo;d throw water on &lsquo;em!&rdquo;STAN: &ldquo;Some Boston people do not take kindly to what you&rsquo;ve said.&rdquo;DON: &ldquo;IfGerry Cheevers ismad at me, that&rsquo;sjust too bad. If the Boston Bruins are mad at me, that&rsquo;s just too bad. My advice to them is to quit being mad at sports announcers and get mad at somebody on the ice.&rdquo;STAN: &ldquo;Answer me. Grapes: Has the statute of limitations on your loving the Bruins run out? Do you love them less than you did four years ago?DON: &ldquo;Of today&rsquo;s Bruins, the only ones I really know are Ricky Middleton, Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, Mike Milbury and the coach. My feeling about them is different. I loved them when Stanley (Jonathan) was there and Peter (McNab) and guys like that. Why should I have any closeness now that I know only three players?&rdquo;STAN: The Boston Herald columnist, Baker, made it seem as if you were &lsquo;caught in the act,&rsquo; bad-mouthing the Bruins.&rdquo;DON: I wouldn&rsquo;t care if the mayor of Boston was listening, let alone some little twit named Baker who I never heard of, who sits home and has the nerve to write that I didn&rsquo;t know anybody was listening.&rdquo;STAN: &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;DON: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not afraid of anybody in the Boston organize tion. There&rsquo;s nothing more that could be done against me or my reputation that the Bruins haven&rsquo;t done. I have no qualms about anybody hurting me in the Bruins&rsquo; organization.&rdquo;STAN: &ldquo;Do you regret anything that you said on the broadcast?&rdquo;DON: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t regret a thing. When a coach like Gerry Cheevers tells the press, &lsquo;A midget team could have beat us tonight,&rsquo; and the GM (Harry Sinden) tells his club, &lsquo;Boys, we&rsquo;ve hit rock bottom,&rsquo; what am I supposed to do, praise them? If the Bruins play well I&rsquo;ll praise them. If the Bruins play badly, I won&rsquo;t praise them.&rdquo;STAN: &ldquo;I assume that you do not want to coach the Bruins.&rdquo;DON: &ldquo;You got it right!&rdquo;The statute of limitations has run out.BRILLIANT IDEA BUREAU I: The Sabres&rsquo; Scott Bowman has a clever amendment to the cut-out-the-fighting arguments. He says when a player drops to his knee (any knee) the fight should be ended under severe penalty to anyone who would continue swinging.BRILLIANT IDEA BUREAU II: Far, far too much time is allowed to the idiotic wrestling that follows the one or two punches that constitute a hockey fight. As soon as the wrestling begins, linesmen should move in and immediately break up the fight. Instead, they seem to delight to waiting around as the combatants&mdash;most of whom wish they weren&rsquo;t wasting their time on such nonsense&mdash;pull jerseys, butt heads and generally make like Neanderthals. Break them up immediately and everybody&rsquo;ll be happy.PLAYING FAVORITES: Several hockey folks whom I respect believe that certain referees play favorites. For example:NHL OWNER: &ldquo;Bryan Lewis will favor the home team.&rdquo; NHL PUBLICIST: &ldquo;The veteran coaches, like Scott Bowman, will get more breaks from the refs than a rookie coach.&rdquo;NHL PLAYER: &lsquo;&lsquo;Linesmen will favor certain players when breaking up a fight.&rdquo;I asked ref supervisor Matt Pavelich whether any of the above was true. Guess what he told me?&ldquo;No.&rdquo;BROTHERHOOD BUREAU: There hasn&rsquo;t been a sweeter story told than the one about the marriage of former Bruin Johnny (Pie) McKenzie&rsquo;s daughter, Bette, amd New England Patriot&rsquo;s lineman Brian Holloway. The tale was woven by the Boston Herald&rsquo;s Joe Fitzgerald and is about the problems Pie endured when he discovered that his daughter was in love with a black athlete and about the first meeting between Pie and Brian.&ldquo;The more we talked,&rdquo; Pie told Fritz, &ldquo;the more I couldn&rsquo;t help liking him. He was so sensitive to my feelings, so understanding, and it was obvious to me that they were very much in love.&ldquo;Before the night was over, I thought, hey, I might lose some friends over this&mdash;but if that happens, I&rsquo;ve gotta ask myself, &lsquo;What kind of friends were they anyway?&rdquo;&lsquo;Bette and Brian were married, and now have a son, David, who is a year old. Pie is a very proud grandfather but no one said it better than about grandpop better than his daughter.&ldquo;We had just gone down the aisle,&rdquo; Bette said. &ldquo;Dad was about to give me away when he squeezed my hand and whispered, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m proud of you, kid. You made an excellent choice.&rsquo; That was one moment I&rsquo;ll always remember.&rdquo;WHO WON THE TRADE?: The date was Nov. 2, 1979. The deal was called a &ldquo;blockbuster&rdquo; and rightly so. Here&rsquo;s how it went: Colorado Rockies trade defenseman Barry Beck to the New York Rangers for left winger Pat Hickey, right winger Lucien DeBlois, defensemen Mike McEwen and Dean Turner, and future considerations (Bobby Crawford, a center).When the deal was made, Ranger coach Fred Shero predicted that Beck would do for his club what Max Bentley did for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the biggest deal in NHL history. (Five Maple Leafs to the Black Hawks for Bentley, Nov. 4, 1947). That is, Bentley won three Stanley Cups for Toronto and Beck would win at least one for New York.Shero was wrong. In spades. Make that double spades. Bentley was and continued to be one of the greatest players of all time. Beck was and continues to be an honest workman, sometimes approaching all-star status but never quite reaching it.RESULTS: Beck has remained a Ranger since the deal; the others have been vagabonds.To begin with, none of the ex-Rangers did much to improve the Rockies, but, then again, some have been extremely significant with other teams. McEwen was a positive facet on three Stanley Cup-winning New York Islander teams. DeBlois emerged as a formidable scorer with Winnipeg last year before being traded to Montreal. Hickey has been bounced around but remains an effective utility player with St. Louis. Crawford (not to be confused with Hartford&rsquo;s Bobby Crawford) and Turner faded from NHL view.McEwen has found a new life and has helped the Washington Capitals battle Philadelphia for the Patrick Division lead. DeBlois has been somewhere between average and blah with the Canadiens.LONG-RANGE RESULTS: With Hickey, McEwen and the rest, the Rangers were a cohesive team that had marched to the Stanley Cup finals in 1979. Hickey, for one, believes they might have done it in 1980 had they not panicked into the deal.&ldquo;The Rangers felt they needed a big defenseman like Larry Robinson to win the Cup,&rdquo; says Hickey. &ldquo;But they traded away the heart and soul of the team. They finished 17th that next year and lost in the first round of the playoffs so they must have needed something they didn&rsquo;t have.&rdquo;WINNER: The Rangers by default. The Rockies (now the Devils) held onto none of the acquisitions and, today, have precious little to show for it. Beck remains the most valuable defenseman for the Rangers, still trying to bring them the Stanley Cup that Fred Shero promised in 1979. &#9632;

f0006-01

Cherry’s No Longer In Love With Bruins

Herb Brooks controversial tenure with the New York Rangers was cut short when he was fired just as this issue was going to press.Brooks, who was on the final year of his contract and was believed to be headed to Minnesota (either to coach and/or manage the North Stars or return to his alma meter, the University of Minnesota, in some capacity) where he could rejoin his family, was relieved of his duties by Ranger GM Craig Patrick, Brooks&rsquo; assistant when the two guided the United States to a gold medal at the 1980 winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY.&ldquo;This is no reflection on Herb Brooks, he&rsquo;s a proven coach,&rdquo; said Patrick on Jan. 21. &ldquo;Herb Brooks is a good coach. A change is being made in the best interest of the team.&rdquo;Patrick will take over the coaching duties on an interim basis with Robbie Ftorek as his playing assistant. No decision was made concerning the futures of Brooks&rsquo; assistants, Carol Vadnais and Wayne Thomas.Last season, the Rangers came within a goal of defeating the crosstown rival New York Islanders in the division final, and much was expected of them this season. But injuries to several key players, most notably Mark Pavelich and Don Maloney, the Rangers&rsquo; record&mdash;fifth place in the Patrick Division&mdash;and rumors of dissension on the team led to Brooks&rsquo; firing.Craig Wolff of the New York Times recently wrote an article using two unnamed sources who claimed Brooks called Ranger captain Barry Beck a &ldquo;coward&rdquo; (see page 15). And before that, Dave Maloney, the onetime captain of the team and believed to be at odds with Brooks&mdash;although some believed it was more with Vadnais&mdash;was traded to Buffalo.Marcel Dionne, the veteran center of the Los Angeles Kings and a future Hall of Famer, added yet another achievement to the many he&rsquo;s accummulated in his 13-year career when he scored a goal in a 4-3 loss to Toronto on Jan. 16 to tie Bobby Hull for third place on the National Hockey League&rsquo;s all-time goal-scoring list.Dionne, the 33-year-old native of Drummondville, Que., who broke into the NHL the same year (1971) as the recently-retired Guy Lafleur of Montreal, tied Hull with his 610th regularseason goal (27th of this season) when he beat Toronto goalie Tim Bernhardt at 2:37 of the first period.Meanwhile, Gil Perreault, one of Dionne&rsquo;s rivals when the two were starring in minor and major junior hockey, will soon pass Bobby Clarke for 11th place on the NHL&rsquo;s all-time points list. Perreault, 34, recorded a goal against the New York Rangers on Jan. 16 to tie Clarke for 11th-place.Harry (Red) Foster, a longtime sportsman, died in Toronto after a lengthy illness. He was 79.Foster, deeply committed to the Special Olympics, was involved in charity hockey games between the Montreal and Toronto Oldtimers, and was the driving force behind a 21-team NHL-replica floor hockey tournament at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1978, all for the Special Olympics. &#9632;

Patrick Takes Over After Firing Brooks

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011171/4952532-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="582" height="181"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2>EDMONTON&mdash;Glen Sather figures it&rsquo;s high time the National Hockey Leauge looked into its judicial system.In fact, the often-controversial general manager-coach of the Edmonton Oilers has proposed a tribunal be formed to deal with the ever-menacing presence of hockey violence.The latest bit of advance thinking from Sather was prompted when Oiler center Mark Messier drew a 10-game suspension for cracking the cheekbone of Jamie Macoun of the Calgary Flames with a crushing blow on Dec. 26.Sather, whose feelings concerning Messier&rsquo;s suspension had mellowed from outrage to frustration during the 24hour period following its announcement on Jan. 14, said the trial by judge, with NHL executive Brian O&rsquo;Neill presiding, is an antiquated system that dates back to 1945.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to see a tribunal, like we have now for (incidents between players and) referees,&rdquo; said Sather, whose extensive evidence compiled during hockey fights was overlooked by O&rsquo;Neill at Messier&rsquo;s hearing. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to see a long-time hockey player on it; O&rsquo;Neill, because he&rsquo;s been doing it for a long time; and somebody knowledgeable about the legal system of Canada and the United States on it&mdash;like a judge.&rdquo;The day before O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s announcement, Sather had predicted Messier would draw &ldquo;four or six&rdquo; games, but when the disclosure of 10 came down his dander was aroused. He harped on Messier&rsquo;s innocence, claiming the attack came from the side and not behind.Sather further argued that Messier was dealt with as severely in past incidents with Keith Magnuson and Jimmy Mann. But in those incidents, the injured party was out four to six weeks; Macoun only missed three games.Sather&rsquo;s idea of a tribunal will be presented at the NHL&rsquo;s board of governors&rsquo; meeting in cunjuction with the All-Star game in Calgary.&ldquo;Have you ever lived under a dictator? I have!&rdquo; maintained Sather, jerking his thumb back toward himself. &ldquo;We presented him with a thousand arguments. He didn&rsquo;t even look at the tapes of what Macoun did to Mark.&rdquo;The second-period incident was preceded by a boarding penalty to Macoun late in the first period, in which Messier sustained bruises to his hip and elbow.&ldquo;I guess if I would have gone after him right there and then, nothing would have happened,&rdquo; reasoned Messier, who maintains his robust style of play won&rsquo;t be altered. &ldquo;But I couldn&rsquo;t get up. I also had the wind knocked out of me.&rdquo;Sather said the Oilers presented a package of &ldquo;about 20&rdquo; fights that the teams (Calgary and Edmonton) have been involved in to back the case.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no pattern to how fights start,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;When they do start, what&rsquo;s the intent? To injure. But they keep talking about fighting like it&rsquo;s an accepted part of the game. I asked O&rsquo;Neill if he was trying to tell me there are no premeditated acts in the NHL. He only recognizes what he wants to see. I told him, &lsquo;With all due respect, I don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;re right.&rsquo;&rdquo;In the end, though, Sather reluctantly resigned himself to the decision&mdash;which is to say, previous hints of an appeal were quickly dispelled.&ldquo;The chances of the league going against Brian O&rsquo;Neill are like baying at the moon,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t really appeal. You would have to call a special board of governors&rsquo; meeting. Then, (if the appeal is lost), you&rsquo;d have to pay the expenses of flying the governors in.&rdquo;&ldquo;The best thing for us to do is win the 10 straight and forget about it.&rdquo;Winning 10 straight was out of the question. But in their first three games without Messier, the NHL&rsquo;s overall leaders were undefeated (1-0-2).Sather also realized the skate could be on the other foot.&ldquo;If you turn it around and say Jamie Macoun had given Wayne Gretzky or Jan Kurri a broken cheekbone, you don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;d be crying for 10 games or more?&rdquo;As for Messier, whose last hurrah before sentencing was scoring the tying and winning goals in the third period of a 5-4 game in Buffalo on Jan. 13, it&rsquo;ll mean watching until Feb. 6 in Winnipeg. During a previous stint in Winnipeg, three months, in fact, to the day, Messier suffered a sprained knee and missed 15 games.IN THE CREASE&mdash;Joining previously-injured Randy Gregg and Kevin McClelland (sprained knees) was Gregg&rsquo;s replacement, Larry Melnyk, who suffered a twisted knee on Jan. 16 against the New York Islanders. It wasn&rsquo;t considered serious&hellip;Jari Kurri returned to the Oilers&rsquo; lineup on Jan. 18 after missing three games with a bruised tailbone. He scored three goals in the Oilers&rsquo; home-and-home series against Vancouver and had 44 after 46 games in the pursuit for 50 in 50 games. Wayne Gretzky had 47 at the same stage. &#9632;

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Messier Suspension Has Sather Up In Arms

The International Hockey Weekly Founded in 1947Published by W.C: C. Publishing Ltd.85 Scarsdale Road, #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2.<h2>The Cardinal Sin</h2>HOCKEY HAPPENINGS in this new year have given editorial writers a veritable smorgasborg of topics on which to ponder and pontificate.Topping the menu is the 10-game suspension of Edmonton Oiler Mark Messier for sucker-punching Calgary&rsquo;s Jamie Macoun. Or how about New York Islander goalie Billy Smith&rsquo;s stick-swinging display that fractured the face of Chicago&rsquo;s Curt Fraser?Not to be forgotten are the assorted bench-clearing brawls that seem to sprout up in bunches.Having said all that, it should come as some surprise that the event which begs the most commentary happened outside the not-so-cozy confines of the NHL.The incident in question happened on Jan. 12, in an interlocking college game at Boston between Hockey East&rsquo;s Boston University Eagles and the WCHA&rsquo;s Michigan Tech Huskies. Huskie coach Jim Nahrgang, citing the safety of his players (who were losing 5-1 at the time), pulled them off the ice in the second period, after the officials made some calls he didn&rsquo;t like. The Huskies didn&rsquo;t return and BU was awarded a 1-0 forfeit.This action&mdash;not stickswinging or a bench-clearing brawl&mdash;is the most heinous crime one can commit, not only in hockey, but in all of sport.First, it should be noted that Division One college hockey is much more than a pickup game at the neighborhood rink. It&rsquo;s a sophisticated league, one which charges fans an admission fee. Therefore, when someone arbitrarily decides to forfeit a game, it impacts on a lot of people.Most importantly, though, there is simply no excuse for not finishing a game once it has started. It is called quitting and that it would happen in a Division One college game, where the players are supposed to be learning something about sportsmanship and competition, is incomprehensible.Nahrgang may have felt that he was doing what was best for his players and if this is indeed the case, then so be it. But that should make little difference to the college hockey powers that be, who should hit the Huskie coach with a heavy suspension.This incident should be used as an example that it&rsquo;s a cardinal sin not to finish a game once it&rsquo;s started. Picking up your puck and going home shouldn&rsquo;t be tolerated at any level of hockey, and unless severe disciplinary action is taken, this juvenile tactic might as well be given official sanction. &#9632;

The Hockey News

As a longtime subscriber of THE HOCKEY NEWS, I was appalled at reading a recent article written by Jay Greenberg in the Dec. 28 issue. The piece, which featured the 1985 predictions of Lou Nanne, was utterly tasteless.Aside from several futile attempts at humor, one section has a horrifying line stating that the late Conn Smythe will replace Dan Maloney as Leaf coach because the team is dead anyway. How crass can you get?In another section Mr. Greenberg and Mr. Nanne have the audacity to write that a couple of New Jersey Devils sell their souls to the Devil. That&rsquo;s poor journalism.I&rsquo;m really surprised that a fine publication like THE HOCKEY NEWS would permit the printing of such a ludicrous article.Jim Ritorto Brooklyn, NY(Ed. note: Jay Greenberg&rsquo;s 1985 forecast was written tongtie-in-cheek and, in fact, Lou Nanne had nothing to do with Mr. Greenberg&rsquo;s prediction lampoon.)<h2>MAKE UP YOUR MIND, STAN</h2>Stan Fischler appears a bit confused these days. In the January, 1985 issue of Hockey Digest, he wrote an article stressing that Rod Langway is a better defenseman than Paul Coffey, which he used to state often in THE HOCKEY NEWS.However, in the Nov. 30 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, he wrote a column stressing that Paul Coffey is a better defenseman than Rod Langway.Stan should make up his mind, or is it that he is kissing Coffey&rsquo;s fanny in THE HOCKEY NEWS so that the conceited crybaby would be nice to him again?It&rsquo;s important for a columnist to stick to his guns, but Stan didn&rsquo;t. He was intimidated by Coffey, who couldn&rsquo;t handle being second best, which was overrating him as it was.It&rsquo;s usually a pleasure to read Stan Fischler&rsquo;s columns because he states a strong opinion and backs down to nobody. But he looked bad in his Nov. 30 column. It seemed like an apology to Coffey and it contradicted Fischler&rsquo;s concurrent opinion in Hockey Digest.Jonathan Erbst Pac. Palisades, CA<h2>MIGHTY MAPLE LEAFS</h2>I would like to express my feelings on something I heard that made the Toronto Maple Leafs the butt of a joke in a Toronto newspaper. The joke implied that neither the Leafs nor the Toronto Blue Jays of baseball can skate. Remember when the Mets of baseball were horrible in the mid &rsquo;60s? Well, they were called the &ldquo;Amazing Mets&rdquo; (sarcastically). So how about calling the Leafs the &ldquo;Mighty Maple Leafs&rdquo; instead of making fun of this failing franchise.Todd Bank East Meadow, NY<h2>CRITICISMS OF LINESMEN</h2>Remember when the centers actually took faceoffs? The linesman would blow the whistle and drop the puck, and two players who practised the art of the draw would battle for possession.Now, tell me why linesmen in the league today think fans want to watch players shifting around to decide who&rsquo;s going to take the draw when the centers are thrown out?Every fan knows that all faceoff men try to cheat to get the advantage, so why all the delay? Let&rsquo;s drop the puck faster so that a two-hour game doesn&rsquo;t take all night. And a five-second face-off doesn&rsquo;t take 30 seconds or a full minute.The other complaint I have also concerns the linesman. Why is it that the linesman doesn&rsquo;t blow his whistle immediately on a play which will be icing. In fact, when a team is offside it should bring the faceoff back in their own zone. Maybe then we will see fewer offsides and fewer arguments over whether it is a deliberate offside or not.The delays do not help make for an exciting sport.Brian W. King S. Dartmouth, MA<h2>THANK YOU, VAN HELLEMOND</h2>I recently attended a Los Angeles King hockey game, and Andy van Hellemond was the referee. He made me a fan of his forever.During the second period I asked for a game puck, he shrugged and said he didn&rsquo;t have it. I said how about next period. Sure enough, he remembered me throughout the entire third period. At the end of the game he handed me the puck.That was the greatest thrill for this fan.Once again, thank you, Andy!Eric Olsen Huntington Beach, CA &#9632;

How Crass Can You Get?

<div class="byline">Rod Beaton&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011255/4952611-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="402" height="448"></div>It&rsquo;s about time readers of THE HOCKEY NEWS get a primer on trade rumors. I&rsquo;m a reformed purveyor of trade rumors. I admit that once I wallowed in the insidious world of the rumor. I created packages. I whispered speculation. I worked out three-way deals. I badgered general managers and coaches into the odd confession that, &ldquo;Well, yes, I think we&rsquo;d be interested in Wayne Gretzky.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s the stuff notebooks are filled with. It&rsquo;s generally the stuff toilets should be filled with. Here&rsquo;s why:1. Who makes trades anymore? Hardly anyone.The day of the blockbuster is fading fast. It has been almost 10 years since the Bruins sent Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais to the New York Rangers for Jean Ratelle, Brad Park and the legendary Joe Zanussi.Free agents don&rsquo;t move, so no one trades them before their contract runs out.General managers subscribe to the theory that if you can get someone in a deal, there must be something wrong with him.The formula for winning the Stanley Cup has long been established&mdash;cultivate your own draft choices. No one really has traded his way to a Cup, although the odd, well-timed deal (Butch Goring to the New York Islanders; Kevin McClelland to Edmonton) can enhance your chance.2. Where do rumors come from?Do you think Craig Patrick ever called up a writer and said, &ldquo;Hey, listen you ink-stained wretch, I&rsquo;m putting together a package of my can&rsquo;t-score, can&rsquo;t-check, worthless Europeans for Rick Vaive?&rdquo; No way, Jose. Do you think Gerry McNamara called up the Toronto Globe and Mail&rsquo;s Bill Houston and said: &ldquo;What do you think of that Rangers&rsquo; package?&rdquo; Sure, McNamara calls writers&mdash;he calls them unprintable things. Maybe the always-personable Bob Pulford tips his hand. I doubt it. As Bob Plager noted, Pulford gets kicked out of bars for happy hour.First of all, GMs won&rsquo;t tell us who they want. It&rsquo;s tampering. They won&rsquo;t tell us who they would trade. How can they expect one of their players to be happy and contribute if he knows he&rsquo;s on the block? Only a few GMs&mdash;they&rsquo;re hard to miss&mdash;tell us who other teams are trying to get/trade. It&rsquo;s bogus information more often than not.So where do we turn? To each other.Writers create rumors. Writers pass rumors.3. Are the rumors legit?Sometimes it&rsquo;s based on informed speculation.If an advance scout from the Buffalo Sabres sticks with the Leafs for a few games, it&rsquo;s not likely he&rsquo;s looking at Rick St. Croix. He&rsquo;s probably scoping Rick Vaive.If a player is bad-mouthing management or if management is bad-mouthing him, it&rsquo;s usually safe to say he&rsquo;s available. The same goes for a holdout, suspended player, player who demands a trade (Charlie Simmer), or one who deliberately goes into the tank (Blaine Stoughton&rsquo;s final days in Hartford.)Sometimes it&rsquo;s based on wishful thinking.A lot of beat writers like to put together imaginative packages of marginal players from the team they cover. These miraculous packages always are going to deliver a Rick Vaive, Brian Sutter or John Ogrodnick. Last year, a New York-area writer wrote the Rangers were going to get Vaive for a package led by Chris Kontos. LED by Chris Kontos. That means Kontos was the best of the bunch. C&rsquo;mon now. Baz Bastien, rest his soul, is no longer with us. George McGuire is out. Even Gerry McNamara isn&rsquo;t that dumb. Look out for these homer-rumors.Some of the beat writers like to put together three- and four-way deals. One guy in particular, not content with the rumors spoon-fed by the GM of the Norris Division team he covers, is an expert at these. A knowledgeable, veteran hockey man, he lets his imagination run a little too wild. Can anyone remember the last NHL three-way-deal? The last I remember was between Philly, Boston and Toronto. The Flyers got Bruce Gamble, Mike Walton and a No. 1 from Toronto for Bemie Parent and a No. 2. They shipped Walton to the Bruins for Danny Shock and Rick MacLeish. That was in 1971. That&rsquo;s 14 years ago, if you&rsquo;re counting.Maybe during those 14 years, a few trade rumors you&rsquo;ve read came true. They ought to. Fire enough shotgun pellets, you have to hit sooner or later.Trade rumors can&rsquo;t be real popular with Morris Lukowich and Borje Salming. They&rsquo;ve been involved in rumors for years. Some sense of security they have. Rumors are fun to write. They&rsquo;re fun to read. And they&rsquo;re about as reliable as the Maple Leafs&rsquo; defense. &#9632;

f0008-01

Facts From A Frustrated Rumor Mongerer

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03647/4952680-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg" title="f0009-03" width="574" height="170"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2>LOS ANGELES&mdash;The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; prospective lawyer, Pat Quinn, was sounding very much like a prosecuting attorney.Oh, and did he have plenty of incriminating evidence, his club committing one transgression after another in turning a 4-1 third period lead into a 6-5 loss to the Winnipeg Jets with third place in the Smythe Division at stake.Worse, 10,668 Forum patrons had witnessed the crime, meaning the Kings had no alternative but to plead guilty.&ldquo;It was shameful&hellip;to play two periods like that and then&hellip;crap&hellip;that&rsquo;s what you say when your team performs like that,&rdquo; Quinn charged. &ldquo;We played defense like it was the second game of the season, with guys standing around with their sticks up their behinds.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to control myself right now,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been so angry with this hockey team.&rdquo;Problem was, Quinn had watched his team go into its Jekyll and Hyde routine several times before:&bull; Oct. 13: Leading Vancouver 5-2 late in the second period, the Kings wind up losing 6-5 in overtime.&bull; Oct. 14: Despite taking a 2-0 lead in the opening four and a half minutes against St. Louis, they lose 3-2.&bull; Oct. 18: Wiping out the Canadiens in Montreal to the tune of 3-0, they&rsquo;re outshot 22-2 in the third period, give up the tying goal with two seconds remaining and settle for a 3-3 tie.&bull; Dec. 27: Comfortably in front of Boston by a 4-0 margin after one period, 6-2 after two, they&rsquo;re fortunate to escape with a 6-6 tie.&bull; Jan. 3: After grabbing a 2-0 lead in the opening seven minutes against Minnesota, they wind up on the short end of an 8-3 wipeout.&bull; Jan. 7: Rallying from a 2-0 second-period deficit, they take a 4-3 lead into the final minute, then give up a fluke goal to the Bruins with 59 seconds left in regulation before losing 5-4 with only 39 seconds left in overtime.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been panicking instead of just playing the same way,&rdquo; Doug Smith said. &ldquo;We get disoriented and run around. We get mad and try to do everything ourselves when all we have to do is play the same way as we did from the start.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen us do this so many times before,&rdquo; Marcel Dionne said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s criminal. I think we do it because we feel we&rsquo;ve got to get a fifth or a sixth goal when all we really have to do is keep the damned puck out of our own net.&rdquo;&ldquo;No one seems to be able to get control of themselves,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;You tell me, because I certainly don&rsquo;t understand it.&rdquo;Is there an analyst in the house? Contact general manager Rogie Vachon&mdash;immediately.KING NOTEBOOK&mdash;Russ Anderson, who had played in only four of the Kings&rsquo; first 41 games, was sent to New Haven of the American Hockey League, leaving the club with six defensemen&hellip;Rogie Vachon, who owns virtually every club goaltending record, was scheduled to have his No. 30 jersey retired during Forum ceremonies on Feb. 14 before the game with Boston. He&rsquo;ll be the first King to be so honored&hellip;Trainer Pete Demers was honored before the Kings&rsquo; game against Toronto on Jan. 16 for having worked 1,000 games&hellip;Despite recent problems, the Kings were 9-75 in their first 21 Smythe Division games. They finished 9-18-5 within the division last year. &#9632;

f0009-03

Evidence Proves Kings Are Guilty

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011237/4952649-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="592" height="668"><figcaption class="caption-body">Capital defenseman Darren Veitch says the key to his success is avoiding injuries.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02934/4952642-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="576" height="168"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2>LANDOVER&mdash;The Washington Capitals&rsquo; defensive corps contains four first-round draft picks and, no, Rod Langway is not one of them.The elite four are Scott Stevens, Larry Murphy, Dave Shand and Darren Veitch. For the Capitals and Veitch, it has not been easy to reflect over the past four seasons that he was selected ahead of people such as Paul Coffey, Mike Bullard, Brent Sutter and Barry Pederson.Now, in his fifth NHL campaign, it is all coming together for Veitch. Instead of taking an extra second to think about what to do with the puck, Veitch is making quick, crisp passes to set up teammates and clear the puck out of the Washington zone.As a result, Veitch has become one of the men coach Bryan Murray depends on in the toughest situations, such as defending five-on-three power plays and killing off the last minute of one-goal games. Veitch has also emerged as the Capitals&rsquo; best plus-minus man, with a rating of plus-26.&ldquo;From day one of the regular season, Darren has played well,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been solid. I have more than enough confidence in him now to put him in any situation and he responds well.&rdquo;In each of Veitch&rsquo;s four previous seasons, he spent time in the American League, as indecisive play and injuries kept him from fulfilling the potential he showed in leading the Regina Pats, coached by Murray, to the 1980 Memorial Cup final.Trying to bounce back from a knee injury suffered in last year&rsquo;s playoffs, Veitch was anything but a training-camp standout and seemed destined for yet another stretch in the minors. Suddenly, in the concluding exhibition game against Philadelphia, Veitch turned a comer. The plane ticket to Binghamton was withheld and Veitch opened the season with the Capitals.He has played in all of the Caps&rsquo; first 46 games and has improved steadily, especially in his defensive play. Veitch came to the NHL with a reputation as an offensive defenseman, but Murray was more interested in shutting down the opposition and Veitch was forced to adjust his style.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t start out too good, but they stuck with me and gave me confidence,&rdquo; Veitch said. &ldquo;David (Poile) kept me here and Bryan played me. He&rsquo;s been playing me in key situations and that boosts my confidence.&ldquo;Being healthy helps, too. It just feels good to be able to play every game and not have to worry about it. The way I kept getting hurt the last couple of years, it was hard to keep from worrying about it happening again.&ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s playing so well, you just go out and do your job. It makes it easier on everybody. I&rsquo;m trying to concentrate on playing well defensively. If the points come, fine, but that&rsquo;s not the big thing.&ldquo;I try to get it out of our zone and get it up to our forwards. I try to move the puck as quick as I can. A lot of guys are starting to score more goals, which has helped my plus-minus move up. It&rsquo;s nice to see, that&rsquo;s for sure.&rdquo;When Veitch talks about &ldquo;getting hurt the last couple of years,&rdquo; he is not understating the case. Two seasons ago, he played only 10 games, having twice broken his collarbone. Last year, after missing 34 regular-season games with a cracked rib and various knee problems, The stretched ligaments in his left knee during the playoffs against the New York Islanders.After that mishap. Veitch wore a cast for six weeks and spent the month of June exercising in Washington before returning home to Regina.&ldquo;When I went home, I did a lot of biking,&rdquo; Veitch said. &ldquo;I must have biked a million miles. And I kept up weight training on my upper body, to maintain my strength. I also did a little running and I came to camp in good shape.&ldquo;I think my biggest problem in camp was just worrying about getting injured. Now that I&rsquo;ve pretty well got that out of my mind, things are going fine. There&rsquo;s just one thing: I don&rsquo;t want to read any more Darren Veitch injury stories.&rdquo;Just to make his winter complete, Veitch&rsquo;s wife, Connie, gave birth to their second child and first son, Dustin, on Jan. 14.CAPPING IT OFF&mdash;Bob Carpenter recorded his 33rd goal, a career high, in a 6-2 victory over Pittsburgh. Goalie Bob Mason earned his eighth consecutive victory in the same game.. Dave Christian extended his scoring streak to 10 games&hellip;Defenseman Peter Andersson, a Canada Cup standout for Sweden, was assigned for two weeks to Binghamton. &#9632;

f0009-01

It’s Coming Together For Veitch

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011295/4952718-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="592" height="736"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob MacMillan suffered a separated shoulder to add to the Hawks&rsquo; injury problems.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021004/4952711-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="580" height="180"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACK HAWKS</h2>CHICAGO&mdash;What&rsquo;s a nice guy such as Bob MacMillan doing in the Illinois Masonic Hospital?MacMillan, who&rsquo;s one of the finest gentlemen in the game of hockey and can prove it with the Lady Byng Trophy he won in 1979, entered the hospital on Jan. 17 for surgery to repair a separated right shoulder.The mishap took place the previous night when MacMillan was checked by David Babych in the first period of Chicago&rsquo;s 6-3 victory over Winnipeg.MacMillan didn&rsquo;t even know the player responsible for the first major injury of a 13-year pro career that has taken him to six teams and eight cities.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was a clean hit.&rdquo;It was a typical response by MacMillan, the only current Hawk to receive the coveted award given annually to the player combining sportsmanship and gentlemanly play with a high standard of Play.In late November, Chicago general manager Bob Pulford didn&rsquo;t think the 32-year-old MacMillan was doing enough and farmed him out to Milwaukee of the International League.Then, injuries hit, and even before they became an epidemic, MacMillan was back in Chicago.Now, the 13-year professional is part of the Hawks&rsquo; sick bay which currently has left wingers Al Secord, Darryl Sutter and Curt Fraser as patients.This season MacMillan has been getting plenty of ice time and working hard but his production doesn&rsquo;t reflect his perspiration. In 36 games, he had five goals and seven assists.But in the Hawks&rsquo; 4-3 victory over Minnesota on Jan. 9, MacMillan scored the winning goal and was chosen the game&rsquo;s No. 2 star. Then, before getting hurt in the Winnipeg game, he scored the first goal, deflecting in Doug Wilson&rsquo;s point shot in the opening minute.MacMillan&rsquo;s best season was the one in which he earned the Lady Byng, when he had 37 goals and 71 assists, the fifth highest total in the league. Two years later, the Flames were moved from Atlanta to Calgary. They eliminated the Hawks in the opening round of the playoffs and advanced to the semifinals and MacMillan was in the forefront with eight goals and six assists in 16 playoff games.He began his pro career by playing two years for Minnesota in the now-defunct I World Hockey Association. In 1974-75 he jumped to the National Hockey League, where he played for the New York Rangers and St. Louis before being traded to Atlanta. MacMillan later moved with the Flames to Calgary, then was traded to Colrado and again was uprooted when the franchise was transplanted to New Jersey.In June, MacMillan was acquired by the Hawks for veteran winger Rich Preston and minor-league defensemen Don Dietrich. The deal was part of Pulford&rsquo;s earlier manipulations to make certain the Devils didn&rsquo;t draft Ed Olczyk.There was no chip on MacMillan&rsquo;s shoulder when the Hawks exiled him to Milwaukee to ride the buses in the IHL.&ldquo;I did a lot of thinking on those bus trips but I wasn&rsquo;t bitter,&rdquo; said MacMillan. &ldquo;I had no complaints at all. I just was disappointed in myself for not producing, even though I couldn&rsquo;t have worked any harder than I did.&rdquo;&ldquo;The people here (Pulford and coach Orval Tessier) have been great to me all year, they treated me like gold. I couldn&rsquo;t ask for a better opportunity.&rdquo;Now, just when MacMillan was showing signs of jelling, opportunity has been usurped by adversity. The separted shoulder couldn&rsquo;t have come at a worse time for him or the Hawks.HAWK TALK&mdash;With Curt Fraser on the sidelines for four to six weeks after New York Islanders&rsquo; goalie Billy Smith whacked him in the face with his stick and caused multiple fractures, the Hawks recalled winger Jeff Larmer from Milwaukee. The younger brother of high-scoring Steve Larmer had 11 goals and 20 assists in 26 games up on the farm. &#9632;

f0010-01

Opportunity Hurts Hawk Nice Guy

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03665/4952749-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="578" height="186"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2>DETROIT&mdash;The irony didn&rsquo;t scare Ed Mio.On Jan. 7, 1984, in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers at Joe Louis Arena, Mio stretched to make a save on Bobby Clarke and suffered a serious hamstring injury that knocked him out for the 1983-84 season. Actually, he missed 25 games before returning for a cameo performance in the playoffs, but for all intents and purposes his season ended on that January evening.On Jan. 7, 1985, Mio&rsquo;s expulsion to the minor leagues&mdash;Adirondack of the American Hockey League&mdash;ended when he was recalled to Detroit to replace Greg Stefan, who was sidelined by a shoulder injury.Nine nights later, in his first National Hockey League start in nearly three months, Mio returned to the Red Wing goal at JLA as a starter&hellip;against Philadelphia, naturally, and turned aside 32 of 33 shots as Detroit skated to a 1-1 tie.That was the Wings&rsquo; first point in seven games in 1985 and the Wings, desperately looking for something to get them untracked, may have found it&mdash;a hot goaltender named Mio.Actually, Mio earned the start with 40 minutes of shutout work in Quebec in relief of Corrado Micalef in the Wings&rsquo; previous game. Detroit lost that, 5-2 after falling behind 4-1 in the first period. Quebec&rsquo;s last goal was into an empty net after Mio was pulled for an exta attacker.&ldquo;He played well, well enough to earn a start,&rdquo; coach Nick Polano said.Including the Flyer game, Mio had given up just one goal&mdash;by Peter Zezel&mdash;in five periods of hockey since his recall.&ldquo;It felt good&hellip;a little nervous,&rdquo; Mio said. &ldquo;I wanted to get a little rhythm going early and I got so much help from the guys in front of me.&rdquo;Typically, the JLA crowd responded to Mio&rsquo;s heroics by chanting, &ldquo;Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.&rdquo;&ldquo;It makes you feel good,&rdquo; Mio said.&ldquo;The fact that it was Philadelphia that I got hurt against, you try not to think about those things but it was in the back of my mind. It was a good, team-oriented tie. We&rsquo;re still winless but at least we got a point out of it.&rdquo;Predictably, the first meeting between the Wings and the Flyers focused on Murray Craven and Darryl Sittier, who traded uniforms on the eve of the 1984-85 season. Sittier scored the Detroit goal against his former teammates and had a couple of other good chances.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re slumping and I just wanted to go out and help this club,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I do it aganst the Flyers, that&rsquo;s fine. When you do it against a top team, it means a little more. When the Wings got me it was because of my scoring, and I haven&rsquo;t been. Things are starting to go better and I&rsquo;m beginning to feel like my old self.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not for me to say whether it was a good trade of not. I&rsquo;m glad for Murray. He got his chance with the Flyers.&rdquo;Despite their slide, the Wings retained a comfortable lead over Toronto in the Norris Division. That was a saving grace, but the slump was still a cause for concern.One player who continued to flourish despite the drought (0-7-2) was left winger John Ogrodnick. He moved to 11th in the NHL&rsquo;s individual scoring list with 58 points and 29 goals, was on a career-high 14-game scoring streak with 24 points (13 goals), had 18 goals in 20 games and was within a goal of his fourth 30-goal season. Only two other Red Wings have ever reached that level that often&mdash;Gordie Howe 14 times, and Ted Lindsay, four.WING WIRE&mdash;Joe Kocur, a 20-year-old first-year pro, was called up from Adirondack for his first tour of NHL duty only to discover that his injured right hand was severely infected. He immediately underwent surgery&hellip;Defenseman Larry Trader, who underwent knee surgery, is back skating with the Wings. He&rsquo;s due back by late February or early March&hellip;Craig Norwich, a former NHL and WHA defenseman, has signed to play for Adirondack, where injuries continue to decimate coach Bill Dineen&rsquo;s lineup&hellip;Pierre Aubry, who cleared waivers and was sent down to Adirondack when Kocur and goalie Ed Mio were recalled, suffered a shoulder injury in an AHL same. &#9632;

f0010-03

Mio, Sittler Catch Philly Feeling

<div class="byline">BY RON COBB</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-04485/4952780-1-eng-US/f0010-042.jpg" title="f0010-04" width="582" height="182"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Last season, two months into the National Hockey League schedule, St. Louis coach Jacques Demers began a campaign to win recognition for his prize rookie center, Doug Gilmour.Demers went so far as to promote him for Rookie of the Year, even though it was obvious the Calder Trophy would go to a more notable player.That&rsquo;s how impressive Gilmour was last season. But this season, both he and Demers have been strangely quiet. Until recently, Gilmour hadn&rsquo;t given his coach much reason to rave about him.On Jan. 16, in a 4-4 tie with Minnesota, Gilmour played with the kind of spark he showed through much of last season.He had a goal and one assist, and was easily the best player on the ice.The goal was his 12th of the season and the assist his 11th. That left him slightly behind the pace he set last season, when he had 25 goals and 28 assists despite concentrating on defense.&ldquo;He certainly hasn&rsquo;t played poorly,&rdquo; said Gilmour&rsquo;s linemate, Brian Sutter. &ldquo;But sometimes the second year is tough. It was that way for me and Bernie (Federko). The first year you know you&rsquo;ve got to come ready every night. and the second year it&rsquo;s hard to stay up to that emotional level.Several reasons have been suggested for Gilmour&rsquo;s slow start. For one thing, his wife, Robyne, is pregnant with their first child, and Sutter thinks that may have been on the sophomore player&rsquo;s mind. The baby is due June 26, one day before Doug&rsquo;s birthday, and one day after Robyne&rsquo;s birthday.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re young, it&rsquo;s only natural that you&rsquo;re going to think about things like that,&rdquo; Sutter said.Demers&rsquo; theory is that Gilmour was set back because of a concussion he suffered in a car accident just before training camp.&ldquo;I believe in him too much to think that what he did last year was a fluke,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I think it was a severe concussion rather than a mild one, and it took him a while to get organized.&rdquo;Gilmour accepts those theories to an extent. Of the car accident, he said: &ldquo;I hit the windshield pretty hard. It didn&rsquo;t affect me in training camp, but I felt it in the first few games of the season. I was sluggish for a while.&rdquo;He also had a heal infection, and then the flu, but what really slowed him down, he said, was his style of play.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that I wasn&rsquo;t trying,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I was doing the wrong things. I thought they wanted me to play more offensively, and I was waiting for the breaks to come to me instead of working for them. Now I&rsquo;m skating more and going to get the puck.&rdquo;Gilmour has been coming on for several weeks, since he was teamed with Sutter and right winger Greg Paslawski. In recent games, that line has been the Blues&rsquo; best.&ldquo;If Dougie shows the fire he did against Minnesota, it&rsquo;s going to be a big boost for the hockey team,&rdquo; Sutter said.What the team needs, in particular, is a boost at home. Similar to Norris Division rival Chicago, the Blues are much improved on the road over last season but only .500 at home.&ldquo;It is a bit odd,&rdquo; said defenseman Tim Bothwell. &ldquo;But I was with the Rangers one year when we won more games on the road than we did at home.&ldquo;In terms of confidence, it&rsquo;s better to win more on the road than the other way around, like last year. If you&rsquo;re a decent team, you&rsquo;re going to win your share at home.&rdquo;By mid-January. the Blues were 1010-3 on the road and 7-7-5 at home.&ldquo;I really believe we&rsquo;re going to turn it around at home,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played too well on the road not to put it together.&rdquo;BLUENOTES&mdash;Center Guy Chouinard, who was not invited to training camp but is being paid a reported $200,000 on the last year of his contract, has been working out in hopes of rejoining the team. The Blues say there is an outside chance they will activate him to help their struggling power play&hellip;Center Bernie Federko missed two games be cause of a bruised chest&hellip;Defenseman Rik Wilson has missed three games be-cause of an ankle injury. &#9632;

f0010-04

Gilmour Putting To Rest Theories For Slow Start

<div class="byline">BY PERRY LEFKO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011268/4952818-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="564" height="180"></div><h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2>TORONTO&mdash;When the Toronto Maple Leafs reflect on their 1984-85 season, they may look back on a Jan. 19 game against Norris Division rival St. Louis as the make-it-or-break-it point.The Leafs defeated the Blues 6-1 to extend their winning streak to a season-high three games after victories on the road against Vancouver and Los Angeles, but it wasn&rsquo;t so much the win, or the bench-clearing brawl which developed with 1:23 left in the game, which made it so pivotal; it was the Leafs&rsquo; ability to regain the support of their fans.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to get the two points, and to get this place screaming and yelling is a great feeling as well,&rdquo; said Leaf captain Ritk Vaive.Vaive, in particular, was hoping to have a good game, after he was singled out by the fans for the Leafs&rsquo; poor play at home. In a five-game homestand prior to the brief road trip, the Leafs failed to record a point, and Vaive, a three-time, 50-plus goal scorer and unquestionably the team&rsquo;s best player, felt the brunt of the fans&rsquo; booing.While on the road, Vaive shot back, saying the fans weren&rsquo;t doing the team any good with their lack of support. And feeling more relaxed and at ease away from the pressure in Toronto, Vaive responded with two assists against Vancouver and two goals against L. A. In the win against the Blues, he recorded a goal and an assist and was named the game&rsquo;s first star.Afterward, Vaive said he wasn&rsquo;t too concerned about any repercussions from the fans following his remarks on the road.&ldquo;No, not at all,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I felt I was right.&rdquo;Vaive, a perennial slow starter who always seems to play better in the second half of the season, has been helped recently by the play of veteran linemates John Anderson and Dan Daoust, both of whom have felt their fare share of pressure this season.Anderson had three assists against the Blues, which gave him seven points in his last three games, while Daoust had three points in that span. Their production has helped Vaive, according to Leaf coach Dan Maloney.&ldquo;Ricky got off to a slow start but he was working hard,&rdquo; Maloney said, &ldquo;and now that the other guys are producing, he&rsquo;s getting more room.&rdquo;Vaive, incidentally, was the focal point of the brawl which erupted in the latter part of the game. Vaive and the Blues&rsquo; Perry Anderson entangled in a mild skirmish and moments later Jeff Brubaker and Gary Nylund of the Leafs cleared the boards after St. Louis&rsquo; Dwight Schofield manhandled the much smaller Daoust.By the time it was over and three players from each team were ejected from the game&mdash;even the two starting goalies were given minors for leaving the crease&mdash;the fans were cheering for the same team they had booed the week before.&ldquo;The fans liked it, and perhaps that&rsquo;s what we needed to get them going again,&rdquo; Vaive said. &ldquo;All in all, it was a great night.&rdquo;LEAFLETS&mdash;Bill Kitchen scored his first goal of the season against Los Angeles, while Gary Nylund connected for his first on a fluke shot that beat St. Louis&rsquo; Mike Liut. Ken Strong also scored his first against the Kings, and added his second against the Blues after a deft setup by Greg Terrion&hellip;The Leafs&rsquo; Bob McGill and the Blues&rsquo; Dwight Schofield tangled in a fight that seemed like a scene from Slap Shot. Afterward McGill said: &ldquo;He looked a little funnyl dancing around like a boxer. It&rsquo;s a little different than boxing&rdquo;&hellip;John Brophy, the Leafs&rsquo; assistant coach, had joined coach Dan Maloney behind the bench&hellip;Ron Caron, the Blues&rsquo; director of operations, said the Leafs can make the playoffs if they maintain the same kind of play they showed in the first two periods of the game against the Blues. However, he didn&rsquo;t take too kindly to the brawling at the end and said: &ldquo;Enjoy it while it lasts, we&rsquo;ll be back.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021064/4952811-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="579" height="726"><figcaption class="caption-body">Maple Leaf captain Rick Vaive was the focal point of a brawl against St. Louis.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0012-01

Fans’ Jeers Turn To Cheers For Vaive

<div class="byline">Bill Fleischman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03717/4952849-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="400" height="445"></div>ONE OF THE more distressing sights in sports is watching a winner play for a loser. It happened to Ernie Banks in baseball and, until recently, with Walter Payton in football.In hockey, Brian Sutter, Boije Salming, Chico Resch, Dave Taylor and Stan Smyl are among those with winning character who have suffered through losing season after season with their teams. Unlike most self-centered baseball players, however, you rarely hear a hockey player wail, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t stand playing with these stiffs any more&mdash;trade me! Please!&rdquo;Smyl&rsquo;s team, the brightly-decorated Vancouver Canucks, have only had a winning record in two of their 15 NHL seasons. But, as recently as three years ago, the Canucks were in the Stanley Cup finals. This development was a surprise to everyone, including the Canucks. Even though they had another losing record (30-33-17), through the generosity of the NHL&rsquo;s playoff system and the Los Angeles Kings upset of Edmonton, the Canucks qualified for the finals.Predictably, the Canucks lost to the Islanders in four consecutive games. No disgrace there. The idea was to take advantage of the experience and return the following season stronger, and with more enthusiasm than ever. Unfortunately for the Canucks, similar to the Minnesota North Stars the year before, they were unable to use their appearance in the finals as a foundation for greater success.Instead, two more losing seasons and two third-place division finishes followed. And this season, the Canucks staggered from the gate with a start you wouldn&rsquo;t wish on Harold Ballard. Well, some people may wish such a start on ol&rsquo; Harold. The Canucks were 1-8-0 after nine games. When Los Angeles, which also was several skate strides slow at the opening gun, began winning, the Canucks were doomed before Christmas to a last-place finish.Last place in the NHL means an OOP future, as in Out Of the Playoffs. In this league, where playoff paradise is available to all but the feeble and wretched, to be an OOP team is to be shamed&mdash;at least through the following summer.These Vancouver Canucks are by no stretch of a scenic Pacific Northwest fantasy an above-average team. However, it does have some good players&mdash;the names Thomas Gradin, Patrik Sundstrom, Tony Tanti and Smyl come to mind. Injuries, the retirement of Darcy Rota, the decision to go with young players and the wrong choice for a coach have left the Canucks reeling.To face another interminable season eats at a winner like Smyl, but he remains the loyal soldier.&ldquo;I think the Canucks are going in the right direction,&rdquo; Smyl said. &ldquo;When we got to the finals, the opportunity was so close and yet so far. I believe I&rsquo;ll get that opportunity again and, this time, capitalize on it.&rdquo;Bill LaForge only had 20 games behind the Vancouver bench before general manager Harry Neale said, &ldquo;Enough.&rdquo; What I&rsquo;ll remember most about LaForge was his line after Philadelphia had hammered the Canucks 13-2. &ldquo;Ron Delorme got hit in the head,&rdquo; LaForge said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s lucky. He doesn&rsquo;t remember a thing.&rdquo;Smyl, 27, thinks LaForge will remember the mistakes he made and receive another NHL coaching opportunity. &ldquo;I guess he expected too much from certain players,&rdquo; Smyl said. &ldquo;He has a lot to learn about guys playing professional hockey, but he didn&rsquo;t have the players he wanted to play his style. He likes a wide-open game with a lot of hitting. Every guy was thinking he had to get his five hits and it got them away from their game.&rdquo;Smyl&rsquo;s playing style is similar to other effective captain&rsquo;s such as Washington&rsquo;s Rod Langway, Boston&rsquo;s Terry O&rsquo;Reilly and Detroit&rsquo;s Danny Gare: work, work and, when you&rsquo;re having an off night, work harder.&ldquo;I just have to play my own way,&rdquo; Smyl said, &ldquo;and, hopefully, it wears off. If I get discouraged, I can&rsquo;t let it show. And, when I get down after a game, that&rsquo;s when others on the team have to help out.&rdquo;Neale knows that Smyl has helped the Canucks through their tough times. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not easy to be the captain of a team that&rsquo;s struggled the way we have this year,&rdquo; Neale said. &ldquo;Stan has always been a leader by example. It&rsquo;s pretty tough to watch him play most nights and not be inspired. He&rsquo;s a sensible young man who seems to be able to think clearly when times are difficult.&rdquo;Times have been difficult in Vancouver this season, for Smyle, Neale and everyone else. But Neale, while admitting that he &ldquo;doubled the risk&rdquo; of losing his position with the Canucks by taking over again as coach, still thinks the club is on the right path.&ldquo;To catch Edmonton, which is our immediate goal,&rdquo; Neale said, &ldquo;you have to try to at least match their speed and a little production. We&rsquo;ve gotten away from having a slow, grind &lsquo;em team and tried to increase our team speed and acquire people who can score. Maybe we got rid of too quickly too many of the tougher, grinder types. But these guys sometimes looked like they were in quicksand when against Edmonton. You have to do it via the draft.&rdquo;Neale reminds people that they should not have been shocked when the Canucks reported for duty in the 1982 finals.&ldquo;As great as it was for this franchise,&rdquo; Neale said, &ldquo;in beating Calgary, L.A. and Chicago, we may have set a record that will never be equalled. That is, we got to the Stanley Cup finals without ever playing a team that ended ahead of us, and we only got 77 points. With the teams we had to play, it shouldn&rsquo;t have been looked upon as an upset.&rdquo;Maybe not, but once you reach the finals, your fans are spoiled and look for continued improvement. Despite the Canucks&rsquo; miseries, Neale is convinced they are making progress.&ldquo;We have gone for some bigger, stronger guys in the last two drafts,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re gonna start getting them next year. But it&rsquo;s hard to get faster, increase your production and increase your size and toughness at the same time.&ldquo;After five years you ought to be able to see if your philosophy is working&hellip;if you can maintain your job for five years.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-03

Captain Canuck Working To Regain Winning Glory

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02884/4952911-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="582" height="147"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;Goaltender Richard Sevigny had to sit around day in and day out for two and a half months with an inflated goals-against average of 9.00 while Dan Bouchard and Mario Gosselin shared the work in goal for Quebec through the first half of the 1984-85 season. All that changed recently as Sevigny not only started a few games, but made three consecutive starts in goal for the Nordiques.&ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t know if I can expect to play a lot more in the second half of the season than I did in the first half,&rdquo; said Sevigny after shutting out the Calgary Flames 4-0 at the Colisee on Jan. 11. &ldquo;I just want to do everything I can to help the team keep winning, and whether I play or not depends entirely on the coaches.&rdquo;The shutout registered by Sevigny was the first time the Flames had been held goalless in over two years of regularseason play.Sevigny did not start a game for two and a half months after giving up nine goals against Edmonton on Oct. 14. Even though Quebec coach Michel Bergeron said he didn&rsquo;t blame Sevigny for any of the goals scored by the Oilers, the 27-year-old veteran had to sit out for a long time with that exaggerated average.Bergeron had only praise for Sevigny&rsquo;s attitude during that long waiting period.&ldquo;He is a real professional in every sense of the word,&rdquo; said Bergron. &ldquo;His attitude was great and he did everything asked of him even though he wasn&rsquo;t playing. He kept working hard in practices and he gets along well with our other two goaltenders. I have no complaints at all, and carrying three netminders has not been a problem for us this season.&rdquo;After playing two games with the Canadian Olympic hopefuls against a touring Russian team in December, Sevigny suddenly found out that he had to return to Quebec. League rules state that he should have gone through waivers first and there was no way the Nordiques were going to do that.Sevigny was disappointed at first that the series against the Soviets ended so suddenly, but disappointment became happiness when Bergeron decided to start him New Year&rsquo;s Eve in Montreal against his former teammates. The Canadiens got lucky goals in the final minute of the third period, but Sevigny impressed, leading Quebec to a 4-4 draw.A few days later, Sevigny was once again in goal and led Quebec to victory in Washington. He then shut out Calgary before losing a 2-1 squeaker to Montreal. The loss against the Canadiens hurt, because at the time, the Nordiques had moved to within three points of the Adams Division-leading Habs. Even though he lost 2-1, Sevigny once again looked good while facing 28 shots and was named first star in the game.After five starts, the veteran netminder had lowered his goals against from 9.00 to a respectable 3.57 per game.&ldquo;Losing to Montreal is not especially bad because a loss is always a loss whomever it is,&rdquo; said Sevigny. &ldquo;What does make it hurt is because Montreal is in our division. On the other hand, when we are three, five or seven points behind them we will keep fighting to catch them or whomever is in first place.&rdquo;Sevigny said the Nordiques knew exactly what they were doing when they picked him up as a free agent without compensation from Montreal last summer.&ldquo;They wanted to bring Mario Gosselin along slowly and Dan Bouchard isn&rsquo;t getting any younger either,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Also, I was extra insurance in case of injury and could be useful in trade tftlks. No one even knows what the future holds and that is why I have been patient.&rdquo;The Nordiques will now go with three goaltenders for the remainder of the season. The big difference between 1984 and 1985 for Sevigny is that he will be playing and not only practising with the team. If he continues to sparkle as he did in early January, he can expect to see lots of ice time during games as well. &#9632;

f0013-02

Sevigny Makes It An Ideal Trio

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011194/4952880-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="578" height="170"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;Mario Tremblay&rsquo;s coach says the veteran right winger is playing the best hockey of his National Hockey League career.No one is about to argue with the assessment of coach Jacques Lemaire. On a team where offense is at a rare premium, Tremblay has become one of the Canadiens&rsquo; offensive leaders.&ldquo;At the start of the season, my objective was 25 or 30 goals,&rdquo; Tremblay said recently. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to put any extra pressure on myself by extending those objectives. Let&rsquo;s say that any goal I get over my original objective will be considered a bonus.&rdquo;Tremblay&rsquo;s 1984-85 season did not get off to the most promising of starts. He was a designated sitter opening night in Buffalo amid rumors that the Winnipeg Jets were interested in acquiring his services. He played the next three games, gaining an assist and then was out the next four games with a groin injury.He didn&rsquo;t return to action until the Quebec Nordiques made their first appearance at the Forum on Oct. 29 and he found himself reunited with center Pierre Mondou and left winger Mats Naslund, his regular linemates last season.Since that night, Tremblay has had 18 goals and 23 assists, including a two-goal effort in Quebec on Dec. 27 and a three-goal peformance against the New York Rangers two nights later. More recently, he got the game-winning goal as the Canadiens snapped a seven-game winless streak with a 2-1 victory in Quebec.Tremblay&rsquo;s role has changed somewhat since he first joined the Canadiens from the Nova Scotia Voyageurs during the 1974-75 season. He was considered one of the Canadiens&rsquo; plumbers then and, along with Doug Risebrough and Yvon Lambert, was a useful player for then-coach Scott Bowman.Tremblay&rsquo;s best season was 1981-82, when he scored 33 times and had 40 assists. Last season was one of frustration&mdash;just 14 goals and 25 assists.As was the case with the majority of Montreal players in 1283-84, Tremblay stumbled. As is the case with most of the Canadiens this year, Tremblay is flourishing under Lemaire&rsquo;s supervision.Mondou and Naslund have played well under Lemaire, especially since they were reunited with the man they call the &ldquo;Bleuet Bionique,&rdquo; because he comes from the Saguenay-Lac St. Jean region, which is famous for its blueberries.Naslund had 24 goals and 20 assists in the 35 games since the line was reunited while Mondou had 13 goals and 27 assists. It&rsquo;s not a Wayne Gretzky-scoring pace but for mere mortals on a defensive-minded team, the numbers are good.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s important jiat we continue to work hard,&rdquo; added Tremblay, who received one of the loudest cheers at the recent banquet honoring the Canadiens&rsquo; silver anniversary. &ldquo;People won&rsquo;t be upset if they see the effort is there.&rdquo;The Canadiens had been turning in solid work efforts even though it took 15 days before they won their first game in 1985. They were solid defensively in a 1-1 tie on home ice against the Sabres and frustrated the Nordiques again in Quebec City, assuring themselves of the season series (4-0-1) against their provincial rivals.A 5-4 victory over Hartford followed and the Canadiens, who ha^seen their lead shrink to two points over second-place Buffalo, had a little more breathing room atop the Adams Division.One of the reasons the Canadiens are where they are is a 10-year veteran who was rumored to be bound for Winnipeg in exchange for Morris Lukowich or a first-round draft choice.It&rsquo;s a deal managing director Serge Savard is proud he did not make.IN PASSING&mdash;Ron Flockhart will be lost to the Canadiens for four weeks with a sprained left shoulder while Chris Chelios missed games against Hartford and New Jersey with a sprained ankle. Chelios had his left ankle placed in a cast&hellip;Bobby Smith returned to the Canadiens&rsquo; lineup for the game against the Whalers and picked up an assist. Smith suffered a broken jaw 32 days earlier in Philadelphia, but did not lose any weight during his absence&hellip;Center John Newberry, 45th-choice overall in the 1980 draft, was playing in only his seventh NHL game and fourth since being called up this season&hellip;Close to $35,000 was raised for two charities as a result of the banquet honoring the 75th anniversary of the Canadiens. Close to 1,400 people attended the $125-a-plate affair, which included the introduction of the all-time team as well as speeches by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and NHL president John Ziegler, Jr. &#9632;

f0013-01

Tremblay Seems Headed For Bonus Year

Scott Bowman will close out his coaching career at the end of the season. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s too much to do,&rdquo; he tells BLUELINES. &ldquo;I should be doing more scouting in Europe, for one thing, not to mention all the other business of managing.&rdquo; Bowman&rsquo;s aide, Joe Crozier, would be the logical successor&hellip;Wayne Gretzky rejected photographer Bruce Bennett&rsquo;s suggestion that he pose atop a hockey net for a national publication. Gretzky figured it would make him look too much like a hot dog. Gretzky will appear in an interview in the March issue of Playboy&hellip;Were the Rangers suckered on the deal that brought Mark Osborne to New York? Some Detroit people think so. They&rsquo;re not surprised he&rsquo;s been sidelined this season due to a hip injury but were surprised he played as much as he did last year&hellip;Montreal boss Ron Corey is another NHL biggie who favors the best-of-seven (not best-of-five) opening playoff round. &ldquo;But,&rdquo; Corey tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;nothing will happen to change things this spring.&rdquo; Corey says his personal all-time Canadien dream team includes: Jacques Plante or Bill Duman in goal; Doug Harvey&mdash;&ldquo;the best NHL defenseman ever&rdquo;&mdash;Larry Robinson. Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe on defense; Rocket Richard, Jean Beliveau and Dickie Moore up front&hellip;St. Louis coach Jacques Demers describes himself as a &ldquo;blue-collar&rdquo; worker, adding, &ldquo;I work like a blue-collar because I&rsquo;m not worrying about dirtying my hands!&rdquo;&hellip;The Whalers&rsquo; Binghamton farm club is up for sale. Hartford wants Binghamton business types to take over the team&hellip;Canuck general manager Harry Neale on top pick J. J. Daigneault: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got great anticipation. He&rsquo;s got eyes all over his head. Trouble is, most of them he can&rsquo;t use!&rdquo;Marcel Dionne confesses he never meant to leave Detroit when he became a free agent in 1975, and blames NHL prexy John Ziegler (then the Wings&rsquo; vice-president) for that. &ldquo;Ziegler was in charge of that and screwed it up,&rdquo; Dionne told Bernie Czamiecki of the Detroit Free Press. &ldquo;He (Ziegler) said, &lsquo;Why don&rsquo;t you go out and shop around?&rsquo; When he said that, things got into complications. And then they (Wing management) had to use an excuse of saying, &lsquo;Well, he didn&rsquo;t like the city,&rsquo; which was not true. I would have come back but the management made it tough. I thought I&rsquo;d finish my career in Detroit.&rdquo; Confronted with the quotes, Ziegler tells BLUELINES that Dionne&rsquo;s statement is &ldquo;untrue&rdquo; and adds: &ldquo;The truth is that Al Eagleson (Dionne&rsquo;s agent) and I had agreed on a contract and he was to check with Marcel. I kept calling to find out what was happening and then Marcel began talking to another agent, then he went back to Al and, finally, he came to camp and, eventually, Marcel said he wanted to go somewhere else. I don&rsquo;t think I met with Marcel at any time.&rdquo; Ziegler, enthusing over attendance increase, cites these reasons: &ldquo;The product, competition, marketing and promotion.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Ranger broadcaster Sal Messina ridiculed Washington&rsquo;s goaltending as &ldquo;mediocre&rdquo; in last year&rsquo;s playoffs. He reminded goalie Pat Riggin of his remark recently to which Riggen replied: &lsquo;&lsquo;You&rsquo;re entitled toyour opinion; I&rsquo;ve been called worse. Nobody knew it, but I played (in the playoffs) with a sore arm.&rdquo;&hellip;The Rangers&rsquo; Pierre Larouche takes a poke at his Whaler alumni: &ldquo;The only way we would have made the playoffs is if some other team&rsquo;s plane crashed and they had to put us in there to fill out the schedule. So what was I supposed to do, lie? Maybe I should have said what they (management) wanted to hear.&rdquo; Larouche says the two words he hates most are &ldquo;my reputation.&rdquo;NHL officials, with the exceptions of Ron Wicks, Kerry Fraser and Dave Newell, took a beating in Doug Gould&rsquo;s column headlined. Can&rsquo;t Anyone Here Referee This Game?, which ran as a weekend special in the the New York Post. Gould, similar to Winnipeg Jet GM John Ferguson, pushes for TV replays of disputed plays. John Ziegler tells BLUELINES he opposes such a plan. &ldquo;The eyes of the camera,&rdquo; says Ziegler, &ldquo;are no different than the eyes of the referee. Three different cameras will show you three different things. So what have you gained? There&rsquo;s distortion by lens and distortion by angle. Technology is not infallible.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;The Sabres&rsquo; Dave Maloney on the Rangers&rsquo; scene before he was dealt to Buffalo: &ldquo;In New York we started slow and 10 guys wanted to commit suicide, 10 guys wanted to shoot the coach and 10 guys wanted to quit. Here (in Buffalo) it was the same (bad start) and guys weren&rsquo;t on top of the panic button. That&rsquo;s a good sign.&rdquo;Montreal&rsquo;s gifted defenseman, Chris Chelios, says there&rsquo;s no way he&rsquo;d have been able to make the jump from junior hockey to the NHL. &ldquo;I needed to develop my skating,&rdquo; says Chelios, &ldquo;and that all happened in college (University of Wisconsin).&rdquo; Chelios allows that the biggest problem playing for the Canadiens is taxes. &ldquo;You get taxed both in Canada and the States. But we get treated real well in Montreal and that makes up for it. It&rsquo;s a first-class organization.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Vancouver Province columnist Jim Taylor trumpets Tom McVje for the Canucks&rsquo; coaching job. Now. &ldquo;The new man,&rdquo; say&rsquo;s Taylor, &ldquo;should be here for the rest of the season to assess the talent and situation. Bring McVie in to motivate and teach.&rdquo;&hellip;The latest from the Bob Plager joke book. The Blues&rsquo; assistant coach went behind the bench when Jacques Demers was ailing but checked with his ailing brother Barclay beforehand. &ldquo;I told Bare, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m so nervous I don&rsquo;t even know what to wear.&rsquo; Bare said, &lsquo;Bob, Napolean was a great leader. When he went into battle he wore red so in case he got shot, his men wouldn&rsquo;t see the blood and stop fighting. Bob, did you bring any brown pants?&rsquo;&rdquo; &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011246/4952966-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="572" height="152"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;The reports from Tommie McVie at Maine were encouraging. Greg Adams, according to the Mariners&rsquo; general manager and coach, was a bonafide National Hockey League prospect.What most people wondered was how smoothly the 21-year-old center&mdash;not the Washington Capital Greg Adams, that is&mdash;could make the jump from the American League to the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; lineup in the midst of the team&rsquo;s fight for a Patrick Division playoff position. When Adams was recalled from Maine on Jan. 13, just in time for a Madison Square Garden showdown with the New York Rangers the following night, he had plenty of time to ponder the promotion himself.&ldquo;I was nervous for two days. I was shaking,&rdquo; admitted Adams, who had 15 goals and 20 assists in 41 games for Maine. &ldquo;I was a little bit surprised when Tommie (McVie) told me that I was coming up. I was hoping to get a chance but I didn&rsquo;t really have any timetable.&rdquo;Devil coach Doug Carpenter shocked Adams and virtually everbody else when he used the young center on a regular shift in New Jersey&rsquo;s 2-1 triumph over the Rangers. Not only did he create several scoring opportunities, but Adams also won 13 of 14 faceoffs against Ranger opponents.The very next night, Adams scored his first NHL goal and added an assist on a Tim Higgins&rsquo; goal, although the Devils lost 3-2 to the Boston Bruins.&ldquo;I heard about Adams when he was playing college hockey for Northern Arizona,&rdquo; said Ranger coach Herb Brooks. &ldquo;I saw him play in training camp rookie games. I like the way he plays.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s a wonder anyone saw or heard of Adams during his career at Northern Arizona. He had 44 goals and 23 assists in just 26 games for Northern Arizona last season, leading the NCAA in scoring, but it was far from a hockey hotbed and some hockey experts questioned the competition and the short, weak schedule.&ldquo;I was worried about not being seen, being where Northern Arizona is, and not playing the big teams all the time,&rdquo; said Adams, who played two seasons of Canadian tier two hockey for the Kelowna Buckaroos and went undrafted before choosing college.&ldquo;But I knew that if you&rsquo;re good enough, you&rsquo;re always going to get looked at and get a chance. I didn&rsquo;t hurt my chances by going to Northern Arizona. Everything worked out just great.&ldquo;One of the reasons I didn&rsquo;t get drafted was because I didn&rsquo;t mature as quickly as some other players and that could be a problem with the draft. It&rsquo;s so low (in age) that it doesn&rsquo;t give some playuers enough time to mature. Not being drafted, I wanted to play more hockey and I also wanted to go to school. That&rsquo;s important to me. I didn&rsquo;t want to play another year of tier two hockey and I decided I wasn&rsquo;t going to waste any more time in junior hockey.&rdquo;The Devils had the 6-foot-2, 185-pound native of Nelson, B.C., pegged as a prospect, but they didn&rsquo;t expect him to make the jump from the AHL so quickly. After all, as Devil general manager Max McNab pointed out, he&rsquo;s played only 26 and 29 games in each of his last two seasons.&ldquo;The American League was a totally different kind of hockey coming from college,&rdquo; said Adams. &ldquo;Tommie (McVie) and John (Paddock) worked with me on defense and that&rsquo;s what I had to learn.&rdquo;Apparently, Adams has learned his trade well, in such a short time.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really expect that much playing time against the Rangers,&rdquo; said Adams. &ldquo;The more you play, the more it helps get rid of the butterflies. I was thinking all the time. I didn&rsquo;t want to make a mistake out there.&rdquo;&ldquo;I thought he played very well,&rdquo; added Carpenter. &ldquo;He handles the puck well and he&rsquo;s good on faceoffs.&rdquo;His first NHL goal, scored on Jan. 15 against the Bruins, will no doubt add to Adams&rsquo; confidence.&ldquo;That one made me feel pretty good,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a feeling I won&rsquo;t forget for a long time.&rdquo;Nor Boston goalie Pete Peeters.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very impressed with that Adams,&rdquo; said Peeters. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m impressed with the way he came to the net. He made me challenge him.&rdquo;Seems Adams has impressed a lot of folks. &#9632;

f0014-01

Adams Impressive After Promotion From Minors

BOSTON&mdash;Lyndon Byers, LW, and Brian Curran, D, sent to Hershey of AHL.BUFFALO&mdash;Jerry Korab, D, and Mai Davis, RW, recalled from Rochester of AHL. Bob Sauve, G, back from injury list. Mike Craig, G, returned to Rochester.CALGARY&mdash;Lanny McDonald, RW, out of the lineup for three games after NHL suspended him. Gino Cavallini, LW, recalled from Moncton of AHL. Jamie Macoun, D, and Steve Tambellini, C, back from injury list.CHICAGO&mdash;Bob MacMillan, RW, sidelined with shoulder separation. Jeff Larmer, LW, recalled from Milwaukee of IHL. Keith Brown, D, and Jerome Dupont, D, both back from injury list.EDMONTON&mdash;Mark Messier, C, to miss next 10 games after being suspended by the NHL. Marc Habscheid, C, Gord Sherven, RW, Raimo Summanen, LW, recalled from Nova Scotia of AHL. Ray Cote recalled from Nova Scoita and later returned. Steve Smith, D, ajso returned to Nova Scotia. Andy Moog, G, back from injury list. Daryl Reaugh, G, returned to Kamloops of WHL.HARTFORD&mdash;Steve Weeks, G, assigned to Binghamton of AHL. Ed Staniowski, G, recalled from Binghamton as replacement.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Doug Smith, C, out with partially torn knee ligaments. Bob Miller, C, sidelined with sprained ankle.MINNESOTA&mdash;Dave Jensen, D, and Bo Berglund, RW, recalled from Springfield of AHL. Brian Lawton, C, and John Marked, LW, returned to Springfield.MONTREAL&mdash;Bobby Smith, C, back from injury list. Stephane Richer, C, recalled from Chicoutimi of QHL and later returned.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Ron Low, G, returned from injured list. Greg Adams, C, recalled from Maine of AHL.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Tomas Jonsson, D, sidelined with shoulder separation. Bob Bourne, LW, sidelined with cut tendons in hand. Mike Bossy, RW, sidelined day-to-day with pulled muscle. Gord Dineen, D, sidelined indefinitely with bruised ribs.NY RANGERS&mdash;Mario Proulx, G, and Chris Kontos, C, recalled from New Haven of AHL. Mike Allison, C, sidelined after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery. Steve Patrick, RW, out of action with broken nose.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Glen Cochrane, D, recalled from Hershey of AHL. Bob Froese, G, Ed Hospodar, D, llkka Sinisalo, LW, back from injury list. Tim Young, C, returned to Hershey. Mark Howe, D, sidelined with bruised shoulder. Len Hach-born, C, Todd Bergen, C, Darren Jensen, G, all demoted to Springfield of AHL.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Joe McDonnell, D, recalled from Baltimore of AHL. Greg Hotham, D, sent to Baltimore. Keith Crowder, LW, Doug Bodger, D, back frpm injured list.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Alain Lemieux, C, assigned to Peoria of IHL. Perry Ganchar, RW, recalled from Peoria.VANCOUVER&mdash;J.J. Daigneault, D, sidelined with sprained ankle. Neil Belland, D, recalled from Fredericton of AHL.WASHINGTON&mdash;Peter Andersson, D, sent to Binghamton of AHL.WINNIPEG&mdash;Marc Behrend, G, Wade Campbell, D, and Jordy Douglas, LW, assigned to Sherbrooke of AHL. Brian Mullen, LW, back from injured list. &#9632;

PLAYER TRANSACTIONS

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011047/4953052-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="584" height="196"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2>LONG ISLAND&mdash;Earlier this season, Gordie Lane of the New York Islanders spent most of his free time on a road trip reading Close Encounters, a book authored by television personality Mike Wallace. It had nothing to do with hockey, yet this title carried a special meaning for the 31-year-old defenseman.&ldquo;I suppose you could say it&rsquo;s ironic, as far as my career is concerned,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had some close encounters.&rdquo;As an example of that, Lane was left unprotected in last October&rsquo;s waiver draft but went unclaimed. He feared then that the Islanders would attempt to demote him to the minors and said, &ldquo;Hell, no, I won&rsquo;t go.&rdquo; Four weeks into the season, it was reported in several precincts around the National Hockey League that Lane had retired.&ldquo;That was more amusing than anything else,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I guess they figured it was inevitable. I took a lot of kidding about that from the guys. They wanted to know why I didn&rsquo;t tell them I&rsquo;d retired.&rdquo;Instead of retiring, Lane has worked his way back into the Islanders&rsquo; regular lineup. A versatile player, he filled in at left wing when Greg Gilbert was injured, then moved back to defense. He even scored a goal, his first since the 1983 playoffs, in an early season game against New Jersey.Last season, Lane got into 38 games. The previous season, he logged 44 games. This lack of activity pried on his mind.&ldquo;I was getting awfully tired of worrying and bellyaching about it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve put that out of my mind now and decided that this might be my final season and I want to finish with a positive attitude.&rdquo;Brian Kilrea&rsquo;s appointment as the Islanders&rsquo; new assistant coach was welcomed by Lane.&ldquo;I owe Brian a lot for the way things have turned out,&rdquo; the defenseman said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always in my comer. He kept telling me that if I worked hard there was every possibility of getting back into the regular lineup. Nobody ever said that to me before. In fact, they hardly acknowledged my presence. I was just there as an extra body at practice.&rdquo;Kilrea admires Lanes&rsquo; perserverance.&ldquo;Gordie has worked very hard,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He always shows up early (for practice) and so do I and we&rsquo;ve formed a friendship. He&rsquo;s got a lot of skills. He&rsquo;s a good defensive defenseman, and he knows his limitations. He&rsquo;s not going to try and skate through anybody. He moves the puck to the forwards and concentrates on his defensive work.&rdquo;Lane is in the option year of his contract and will become a free agent without compensation in June.&ldquo;If the Islanders don&rsquo;t have plans for me, I&rsquo;ll be able to try and find a job for myself,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I guess it depends on how I perform and how much they let me perform. They have to show confidence in me. If they don&rsquo;t, I lose confidence in myself and don&rsquo;t play that well.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy with the way things have gone so far this season. I think I&rsquo;m playing capable hockey. They&rsquo;re using me to kill penalties now and I&rsquo;m playing a regular shift. When you come to the rink and play only one shift in the first period and another shift in the second period, well, it&rsquo;s tough to get used to that.&rdquo;If the Islanders don&rsquo;t renew his contract and no other team is interested in his services, Lane will be prepared to enter the business world. He has been a beekeeper during the off-season in his native city of Brandon, Man., and markets honey. He also is interested in antique furniture reproduction.&ldquo;I have a few alternatives,&rdquo; Lane said. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t want to pack my bags yet.&rdquo;ON THE ISLE&mdash;The Islanders suffered four more casualties during a four-game western swing (1-2-1). Tomas Jonsson separated his left shoulder in Chicago, Gord Dineen suffered bruised ribs in Vancouver, Mike Bossy pulled a muscle in his left side in Edmonton, and Bob Bourne cut tendons in his right hand in Los Angeles that required surgery. Six other regulars were missing from the lineup when the Islanders concluded their road trip with a 6-5 overtime loss to the Kings. They were Ken Morrow, Stefan Persson, Clark Gillies, Pat LaFon-taine, Anders Kallur, and Bob Nys-trom. &#9632;

f0016-01

Isles’ Rearguard Survives Life In Slow Lane

<div class="byline">Al Strachan</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03657/4953114-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="390" height="451"></div>BACK IN WHAT now seems like the Dark Ages of hockey, when the World Hockey Association was alive (sort of) and Clarence Campbell was the National Hockey League&rsquo;s president and Harold Ballard was making a fool of himself (some things never change), there was a plan to expand the NHL to 24 teams.At that time, there were 14 teams in the league. The expansion to 16 came about when the New York Islanders and the Atlanta Flames were created. Then the Washington Capitals and Kansas City Scouts pushed the total to 18.But at that point, the long-range expansion plan was dropped&rsquo;Two teams merged to reduce the number of NHL franchises to 17 and the four WHA survivors came aboard to bring the total to the present 21. But there were no plans to go any further.Sometimes, the governors discuss the matter at cocktail parties, admitted NHL president John Ziegler, and sometimes speculative newspaper stories bring the matter up. But for the forseeable future, the NHL will have 21 teams. No more. No less.Lawyers could change that. Lawyers can change anything that is sensible and works well. And one fact must be faced: When the NHL does get around to expanding, the lawyers will have a lot to do with it.At this moment, a legal decision based upon the case of the Memphis Grizzlies in the defunct World Football League says that no sports league is under any obligation to expand.As a result, the NHL doesn&rsquo;t feel the need to rush into areas which have indicated some interest in an NHL team&mdash;Saskatoon, Seattle-Tacoma, San Francisco-Oakland, Dallas or Hamilton among others.And it doesn&rsquo;t seem likely either that any existing team will move because most of the governors are happy with the league the way it is.But what if somebody decides to move his team anyway, the way Al Davis did with the Oakland Raiders? Technically, he can&rsquo;t. The NHL constitution says: &ldquo;No member shall transfer its club and franchise to a different city or borough.&rdquo; Any amendment of the NHL Constitution requires a unanimous vote. This is where the lawyers come in. The NFL required a unanimous vote as well and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to overturn lower court rulings which said that such a requirement is unconstitutional. Therefore, for the time being at least, the Raiders are in Los Angeles.But the decision the Supreme Court refused to overturn was only part of the case. There are damages to consider. And the &ldquo;eminent domain&rdquo; concept. There&rsquo;s also the matter of state laws regarding &ldquo;fair dealing.&rdquo;Professional Supreme Court watchers feel that the nine judges will indeed rule on the Raider case. And they&rsquo;ll make some firm decisions. But they won&rsquo;t hear the case bit by bit. They&rsquo;ll hear it all at once. And that&rsquo;s where the lawyers enter directly into the NHL expansion plans.If the lawyers who contend that a team can move at random win their case, the NHL may act quickly. It may decide to put teams into some of those cities mentioned above to prevent established teams from going there.But, on the other hand, if the other set of lawyers can convince the court that a league has the right to say where its franchises will be located, the NHL will stay where it is.Probably, a victory for the latter group would be better for the fans. It&rsquo;s hard to argue with the gradual, but steady improvement in the quality of NHL play over the past decade or so.The game has become faster and much more competitive. Even horrible teams can beat the top teams once in a while now. Winning streaks that have remained intact for years are being ended with regularity.It was to achieve this end that the league dropped its 24-team expansion plan. It felt quite simply that there were not enough good players to go around. It was a wise decision because even though the league still does not have parity, it is closer to it than it has been since the days of the six-team league.Eventually, the people who run the NHL will decide that there is an excess of talent and that the time is ripe for expansion.That&rsquo;s when they&rsquo;ll expand and not before. Unless the lawyers get into the act. &#9632;

f0016-03

Any Hope For Expansion Depends On The Lawyers

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02840/4953083-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="578" height="172"></div><h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;The excuses, after a while, don&rsquo;t work in the face of harsh, statistical reality.The Minnesota North Stars could still make a determined run and win the Norris Division title, but after 45 games of promise and potential, the bottom line&mdash;performance&mdash;simply hasn&rsquo;t been there.The Stars had two big games with Chicago and St. Louis, and while losing both, they played well. But then they sagged.They lost 6-3 to Washington. No disgrace. Then they came home and started off with a bang, outshooting St. Louis 10-1 in the first 10 minutes. But Rollie Melanson, a good guy who has been fighting Dame Fortune as well as the puck since being obtained from the New York Islanders, gave up one.St. Louis went up 4-1, and then general manager Lou Nanne, who talks loudly and often about not interfering with the coaching of his club, went into the dressing room between the second and third periods and offered the front-office view of the current events.The Stars responded for third-period goals by Tony McKegney, Bob Rouse and Tom McCarthy with 1:14 remaining to salvage a 4-4 tie. Still no disgrace.Philadelpia came next, and the Stars jumped to a 1-0 lead on Gordie Roberts&rsquo; second goal of the season. But the Minnesota power play backfired for two shorthanded goals by the Flyers, which made it three shorthanded goals against in two games, and Philly romped to a 4-1 victory at the Met Center.Taken individually, the losses and ties aren&rsquo;t awful. It is in the context of the whole 45-game span that things get grim.For example:&bull; The Stars are 14 points behind last year&rsquo;s pace for 45 games. They are 1423-8 compared to last year&rsquo;s 23-18-4.&bull; They&rsquo;ve only won four games when the other team has scored first, standing 4-19-4 in those cases.&bull; The Stars have scored 40 fewer goals, 159 compared to last year&rsquo;s 207, meaning the opponents have more chances to score first.&bull; Once invincible at home, the Stars are only 7-12-5 this year at the Met Center, including a paltry 3-6-1 in their last 10. They are actually doing better on the road, with a 7-11-3 mark.&bull; Only three times have the Stars won twice in a row, and on one of those games they extended it to a season&rsquo;s-best three in a row. They have, meanwhile, had five losses in a row, and two other winless strings of eight and seven games. At the 45-game mark, they had gone 1-4-2 in their last seven games.Individually, injuries have hurt, no question. Neal Broten, who is generally best at making his wingers come alive, has missed Tom McCarthy and Dino Cic-carelli, who&rsquo;ve been sidelined most of the year. In his last eight games, Broten had nine points (two goals, seven assists), because his linemates are back. Since returning, Ciccarelli has five goals and two assists in six games.But for the season, Broten has 12 goals, 22 assists for 34 points. Last year at this time, Broten was 17-36-53. Brian Bellows, the current scoring leader on the team with 19-24-43, had 25-27-52 this time last year at this time. Curt Giles, the temporary captain in Craig Hartsburg&rsquo;s absence, has been the club&rsquo;s best defenseman. And, going into the week with a game at Chicago, Giles was left home with a pulled muscle in his hip.It&rsquo;s been that kind of year. &#9632;

f0016-02

Stars Struggling To Regain Pace

Major equipment manufacturers are not convinced that hockey&rsquo;s finest players&mdash;National Hockey League pros&mdash;are wearing the most protective equipment available (see story on Page 3).But they do know that the growing number of oldtimers and participants in men&rsquo;s leagues across Canada and the United States are.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re trying to identify one trend in our industry that sticks out above all the others, that&rsquo;s it,&rdquo; says an executive from a major North American hockey manufacturer. &ldquo;The guys who are playing recreational hockey, once or twice a week, are going out and buying the absolute best equipment available, from the $200 skates to the most expensive helmets and gloves.&ldquo;You go out to a kids&rsquo; game and there&rsquo;s no question that the majority of kids are wearing top-notch skates,&rdquo; the executive said. &ldquo;Parents feel that it&rsquo;s important to get their child high quality skates because that can make a difference in his play.&ldquo;But if you go into a dressing room, take off those skates and strip away the socks and sweaters, you find an awful lot of kids wearing equipment that is substandard. It&rsquo;s crazy, really, because safety should be the No. 1 priority.&rdquo;Of course, this equipment executive did point out that every child shouldn&rsquo;t be getting top-of-the-line&mdash;and top-dollar&mdash;equipment. But he says that a parent doesn&rsquo;t have to spend a fortune to ensure his son&rsquo;s safety.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s often a matter of spending&ldquo;The fact of the matter is that he can&rsquo;t afford to be injured. He can&rsquo;t afford time off work. Pro hockey players can&rsquo;t either, but they sometimes choose to sacrifice protection to gain a competitive edge.&rdquo;So, based on that bit of information, one would assume that youth hockey players would be doing the same thing. You know, like father, like son&hellip;&ldquo;Not necessarily,&rdquo; adds the manufacturing executive. &ldquo;You would think that a father who goes out and buys himself the most protective equipment available would do the same for his son. But it isn&rsquo;t always so.&rdquo;It only seems like that sometimes, an impression which, in large part, is due to the consumers&rsquo; purchasing habits in the skate field. just a few more dollars or getting the equipment sized properly,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And if the parent plays hockey, too, and is getting himself the best stuff on the market, then there&rsquo;s no excuse why he isn&rsquo;t doing it for his son.&rdquo;This executive would like to see the day when all hockey equipment&mdash;not just helmets&mdash;receives Canadian Standards Approval.&ldquo;The first step is for the industry, all the manufacturers, to start policing itself and setting up some standards of quality,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it, this game isn&rsquo;t getting any softer. We could use a general upgrading.&rdquo;These are busy days for hockey equipment manufacturers in North America. They&rsquo;re preparing for the Canadian Sporting Goods Association trade show in Montreal, Feb. 10-13.This show is the only one which gives a heavy emphasis on hockey equipment and the manufacturers will be working overtime, presenting and promoting their products to the many retailers who will come from all over North America to see the latest industry developments.In the following pages of this THN advertising supplement, you&rsquo;ll get a sneak peak at what the manufacturers will be pushing at the CSGA show. The products displayed at the show are likely to appear at your local sporting goods store in June, July or August. &#9632;

Adult Players Will Not Sacrifice Quality

Jofa AB, part of the Volvo Group of Companies, with manufacturing facilities in Sweden, Norway and Canada, is one of the world leading suppliers of hockey equipment.We have attained this status by designing protective equipment that is functional rather than cosmetic in the belief that protection should be more than skin deep.The following hockey equipment items are but a few of the any new and innovative products that Jofa will be manufacturing in 1985.<h2>SHOULDER PADS</h2>Jofa shoulder pads are designed incorporating the SHOCK SPREADING theory; the concept of diverting the impact away from bones and joints and spreading it over muscle and tissue. Anatomically designed shoulder caps and the latest technology in high energy absorbing and lightweight materials are used in the construction of all models.The new shoulder cap design unloads impact better and contours to the shoulder for a more exact fit.<h2>360 Sr&mdash;365 Intermediate Professional Model</h2>The ultimate in protection against impact incorporating high density polyethyline inserts over the shoulders and in the chest area.Lightweight, adjustable straps for exact fit, this model features a ventilated nylon mesh backing for maximum comfort.Constructed with thermal-molded foam laminated with reinforced fiber mesh for durability.<h2>320 Junior</h2>This shoulder pad offers excellent protection for the Pee Wee hockey player. It features adjustable shoulder caps and side straps and is constructed from the same material as our pro models.<h2>SHIN PADS</h2>Jofa shin pads feature oversized high density polyethylene knee caps with air cushion design for maximum protection. The size and shape of the cap also protects the side of the knee. The molded shin protectors are made of the same high quality polyethylene material. All models feature extra sturdy protection at the hinge area between the knee cap and the shin and a protec; tive lip which is designed to! cover and protect the ankle.<h2>170 Series&mdash;Custom Pro</h2>These shin pads have the following features:&bull; High density polyethylene knee caps.&bull; Thermo-plastic extra thick shin guards.&bull; Knee flap protector at crucial joint area.&bull; Extended calf flaps&bull; Adjustable shin insert for exact sizing.&bull; Double layer knee pad foam.&bull; Nylon scrim and cotton reinforced hammock.<h2>160 Series&mdash;Intermediate</h2>Many of the sane features of the 170 Custom Pro Series combined with traditional felt construction.<h2>GLOVES</h2>Jofa hockey gloves incorporate the highest quality materials available in order to provide maximum protection and comfort. Every model features a three piece reinforced thumb to protect against hyperextension injuries and high density polyethylene inserts in the back rolls to safeguard against impact. All models are preformed for maximum stick control and easy break-in time.<h2>644 Leather/nylon hockey glove</h2>Size&mdash;14&rdquo; (36 cm)Cuff&mdash;3 vertical rolls 420 denier oxford nylon.Cuff roll&mdash;Floating 3 oz. top grain cowhide.Finger rolls&mdash;Pre-curved with knucke inserts. 3 oz top grain cowhide.Gussets&mdash;400 denier doubleknit oxford nylon.Palm&mdash;1.3 ml Clarino for maximum comfort and durabilityIndex protector&mdash;3 piece.Lining&mdash;Brushed nylon with foam backing. &#9632;

JOFA

Since its founding in 1977, Micron has been an industry leader in the use of modern materials and manufacturing techniques.From the first generation skates molded of polyurethane and hinged together in two pieces, the Micron skate has been evolved and developed continuously.Newer, more sophisticated materials have been developed that give outstanding flexibility and &ldquo;feel.&rdquo; Designs have been refined and sculpted to create sleeker, more aerodynamic shapes and manufacturing techniques have been brought to a level of sophistication unmatched in the skate industry.The most current designs being offered include a totally new concept called &ldquo;Medalic&rdquo; Series. These Hi Tech skates have been designed to use the best possible materials for each area of the foot and to yield the maximum performance.The lower sections are molded in a one-piece &ldquo;unibody&rdquo; technique to give unparalleled durability, lightness and protection to the highly vulnerable toes and forefoot area. The uppers are crafted by hand of the best quality top grain leathers for excellent suppleness and control. And joining the two sections is a semifloating device called the &ldquo;Constant Flex Control Panel&rdquo; that maintains an exact degree of flexibility, never softening or breaking down. The interior of the skate is lined with soft leathers, backed up by strategically placed foam pads and shock absorbing linings. The Medalic Series is available in a full range of junior and senior sizes in the &ldquo;Gold&rdquo; and &ldquo;Silver&rdquo; models.The Quadraflex Model provided by Micron is the ultimate development of the two-piece molded concept first introduced some 10 years ago. This skate does not bear much resemblance, however, to those original models and anyone who has not tried a pair of molded skates in a number of years has a real treat in store once a pair of Micron Quadraflex are laced on.These skates are super light, offer outstanding protection, and are extremely flexible. They have a removable inner lining of foam and brushed nylon so they can be dried out between uses. The Quadraflex is currently being worn by a dozen pros who either are not aware or don&rsquo;t care that it is considered a medium priced skate with a typical retail price of just over $100.00.In addition to designing and manufacturing state of the art products for all levels of forwards and defensemen, the Micron company has developed a line of goalie skates that virtually dominates professional ranks. Over 80 per cent of all goalies in the professional leagues find the Micron Master Goalie Skate gives them tremendous protection as well as the comfort and performance they demand. Micron also makes an M-1 Goalie Skate&mdash;both models being available in a full range of sizes.Micron is dedicated to continuing the development and evolution of the hockey skate and is continuously seeking new ideas, new materials and new manufacturing techniques.<h2>MICRON NEWS</h2>1. Warrington Products Inc. has acquired controlling interest of Pony Sporting Goods Ltd. Micron/Lange and will represent the Pony brand of shoes to consumers across Canada through a network of retailers.2. Steve Morris, former Ontario pro representative for Micron Sports Products, has moved to Detroit. Tony MacDonald has taken over as Ontario pro services representative.3. Micron/Lange has strengthened their service team in Ontario by the hiring of two new company sales repre-sentatives&mdash;Al Andrew and Paul Domm.4. Newly-appointed Real Paiement has been added to the Quebec staff as a promotional services representative. &#9632;

MICRON

Riedell Shoes, Inc. is recognized as one of the leading manufacturers of skating boots by top professionals, top competitors and amateurs throughout the world.The key to this outstanding success is due to combining today&rsquo;s trends and technology with 40 years of valuable shoe-making expeience.RiedelI&rsquo;s most recent achievement is the overnight success of the Custom Pro III hockey skate. Designed for the top players who demand the finest in balance, control. fit and durability, it was researched and tested by pro hockey players, coaches and college players througout the USAand engineered to promote their criteria.The new pro-last offers sizes 6-13 in C/AA, D/A, E/B widths in stock. The fit of the new last is complemented by our own new molded socklining that gives outstanding control and comfort. New advanced foams are placed within the lining allowing comfort and fit without painful pressure and will not absorb moisture which can cause excess weight and quick deterioration.The Custom Pro III will also be available in two optional styles for 1985. It will be offered in black leather with Kangotan quarters and white leather trim with black nylon quarters.Riedell has made a geat comeback in the hockey industry with their new line of hockey skates and plans further penetration into the market with extensive advertising, dealer support and new programs involving pro-fessional hockey players and college players. &#9632;

RIEDELL

Tackla Sport O.Y. of Finland is the fastest growing hockey pant manufacturer in the world. Just recently construction of a second factory has been completed to keep up with world demand.The popularity of Takla-Pro is due to several original design factors that have proven their worth through many seasons of play around the world. Design and high quality workmanship have resulted in a pant that is not only durable but lightweight. While cool and comfortably fitting for freedom of movement, these pants are known for their superior protection.<h2>OVERLAPPING PANEL</h2>Takla-Pro hockey pants are a unique one piece design with overlapping panels that create a &ldquo;protective armour&rdquo; within the pant.Tackla is not a girdle, nor does it have the nylon lycra related problems of stretching and allowing protective pads to shift exposing vulnerable areas, or the perspiration and chafing related to girdles. The overlapping panels are one with the pant, not the body, thus dispersing impact over a wider area and reducing the severity of the blow. The interior of the pant is made of durable lightweight material that does not absorb odors or moisture.Of the models available, it was the Pro-2000, still Tackla&rsquo;s top selling pant, that established the company&rsquo;s reputation. The Pro-3000 itself, the top professional model, was developed from this popular original design. Now worn by many NHL, national, top college and junior A and B teams, the Pro 3000 is not for the casual player, though it is being favoured by more serious among the injury conscious over-30 group.<h2>PERFECT FIT</h2>Differing slightly from the 2000 and the almost identical but smaller 1000, the Pro-3000 is higher in the kidney area, Vz inches longer in the thigh area, has a larger sectional tail-bone protec-toer, and comes with two belts.The &ldquo;Keeper&rdquo; is Tackla&rsquo;s goalie pant and has additional padding in the inner thigh area as well as a floating knee protectior knee protector. An optional belt is available for the 1000, 2000 and &ldquo;Keeper&rdquo; models. Suspender holders are provided, though the majority of players prefer the belt. All models are available in short or convertable long sizes in addition to a good selection of stock colors. Three junior and six senior sizes give an almost custom fit.<h2>MONTREAL: THINNER BLADE&mdash;BETTER FEEL</h2>The popularity of Montreal Hockey sticks is also on the rise.The Montreal 66 HMP is found increasingly in NHL ranks. Innovative construction, superb workmanship and the use of the finest materials has established Montreal of Finland as a manufacturer of durable, lightweight sticks that are known for their &ldquo;feel.&rdquo;Seven laminations of birch, ash and fibreglass provide durability for a thin resilient blade. Various models differ in the construction of the handles. The 66 HMP and the 44 HMP both have fibreglass reinforced handles that are light, very strong and constructed from blade to handle in a similar way, only on a smaller scale. Both Tackla and Montreal products are imported to Canada and the United States by Finn-sport Canada Ltd. of Whitby, Ontario and Montreal Hockey Company of Connecticut, respectively. Both products are found exclusively in hockey specialty stores throughout North America. &#9632;

FINNSPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01629/4953296-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The new Louisville Laser providing both the lightness and stiffness required by the advanced player.</figcaption></div>The emphasis for 1985 shows Louisville change direction from a predominantly ash line of hockey sticks to an all new makeup of laminated or reinforced models. The 1985 Louisville Hockey line features hockey sticks constructed with graphite and fibreglass reinforced models in higher price points, Finnish high tech laminates in a medium price range, and domestic laminates in the more competetive models. This total restructuring in components, along with a redesigned larger blade and exiting new dominant graphics make the entire 1985 Louisville stick line one that pro teams, amateur teams and all consumers will be giving a second look like never before.Following a very successful 1984 seson, Louisville is, once again, offering a team program which enables any team or association to virtually custom design their sticks to match their uniforms. For 1985, teams or associations can &ldquo;complete&rdquo; their uniforms with stick cosmetics of up to three colours along with their name and/or association between the bands.<h2>LOUISVILLE &ldquo;PRO&mdash;3D&rdquo;</h2>Louisville Hockey, the innovators of the colored goal stick, have done it again. Louisville is introducing an exciting new &ldquo;Optic-3D&rdquo; goal stick. The &ldquo;Optic 3-D&rdquo; provides a team with the opportunity to take its &ldquo;complete&rdquo; uniform colors and match it to its sticks. Stock colors are available along with colour program designed to outfit any team.The Optic 3-D look is available on the &ldquo;PRO&mdash;LOUISVILLE&rdquo; Series which features a 57&rdquo; laminated handle complete with a graphite heel for added strength and durability. This &ldquo;Optic 3-D&rdquo; look is available in the following stock color combinations: Blue/White/Orange, Red/White/Blue, Blue/White/Red, and Black/White/Red.This exciting &ldquo;3-D&rdquo; concept is currently being used and well accepted by many NHL players and over half the goaltenders on such teams as Minnesota, St. Louis, Hartford, Detroit, Vancouver and Toronto with such newcomers as Steve Penney (Montreal), John Vanbies-brouck (New York) and Murray Bannerman (Chicago).<h2>LASER</h2>Louisville Hockey has entered the &ldquo;high tech&rdquo; hockey stick market with its introduction of the all new LASER. The Laser features a 57 inch reinforced handle providing both the lightness and stiffness required by the advanced player. The blade on the Laser is completely wrapped in graphite fibres for added durability. This &ldquo;stick of tomorrow&rdquo; comes complete with &ldquo;space-age&rdquo; cosmetics done in solid black with white lettering.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02448/4953289-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="388" height="438"></div>NOTHING BEATS ICE IN THE SUMMER! 1985 marks our 20th season of providing a great hockey and summer camp experience, now with specialized programs for boys and girls. Revised dates for 1985&mdash;July 14 through August 24&mdash;bring Camp even closer to the start of a new hockey season. 12 hours of experienced on-ice coaching instruction each week PLUS the fun and excitement of a summer camping experience. Special guest visits to the Camp by NHL Stars. For information: Box 631, Thornhill, Ontario, Canada L3T 4A5 or (416) 731-6116. An accredited member of the Ontario Camping Association. &#9632;

f0022-01

Louisville Changes To New Line Of Sticks

Having experienced outstanding worldwide sales increases throughout the entire product range in 1984, Bauer will continue to place emphasis on the fundamentals by offering a strong product line, an aggressive advertising and promotional program, and excellent service to maintain this momentum of growth for 1985.No other skate company has invested as much time and effort studying the principles of fit and biomechanics to guarantee every component in a skate is designed to ensure proper fit for optimum skating performance.The Supreme Custom 100, featuring the exclusive Flolite ankle support and Superfeet anatomic footbed system, has been upgraded through technical improvements to its components to provide for increased support and durability. The &ldquo;100&rdquo; will be highighted in its fifth anniversary year through an extensive trade campaign which will involve the many dealers who have continued to support the skate from its introduction. Introduced for 1985 is an upgraded goalie skate, the Supreme Custom 100 Goal, featuring the Supreme qualities and the aesthetics of the 100 boot in a new white ICN integrated goalie shell and blade.With continued leadership and commitment to the Supreme Line, it is not surprising that more professional hockey players wear Bauer Supremes than any other brand of skates in the world. As supplied by the independent Canadian Gallup Poll, for April 1984, the skate use by brand for the National Hockey League was Bauer 42 per cent, CCM 25, and Daoust 11.The low and mid-range skates will offer increased value through the utilization of improved material throughout the skates, new styling on certain models and the introduction of the new Comp Plus blade.The sewn figure skate program has been totally redesigned for 1985 to emphasize Bauer&rsquo;s commitment to this market. The program features, in certain styles, exclusive Aquatuff leather uppers for a scuff and waterresistant finish, new lasting with regular and wide width and the world-famous Wilson blade.The TUUK hockey helmet program has been strengthened for 1985 with the introduction of a Senior and Junior wire face mask. Designed for maximum ventilation and ultra lightweight, all TUUK helmets are certified by the Canadian Standards Association. The models available are the TUUK Senior and Junior and a unique Pro model which offers a double density liner and a Velcro-fastened, removable sweatband over the forehead.The hockey line will be complemented through Bauer brand products such as the expanded hockey equipment bag line, and a new clothing line. With the request for the Bauer brand name to be associated with sportswear often found on hockey players during leisure hours, Bauer introduces a quality line of sportswear which also includes functional items like hockey socks and custom hockey underwear.Bauer will expand its Point of Purchase materials, introducing four professional hockey player action posters and a new calendar featuring players and products. Bauer will continue its strong advertising and promotional program to both the trade and consumer.Thus, with an expanded product line, increased emphasis on providing the best product quality and value to the skate line and continued strong support programs and services, Bauer looks for steady growth in 1985. &#9632;

Bauer®

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02429/4953382-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg"></div>Tim Kerr is starting to collect hat tricks like antiques.Kerr, the big, lumbering winger of the Philadelphia Flyers, connected for five goals (four of which gave him his third hat trick of the season and second &ldquo;pure&rdquo; hat trick) in two games to be selected the HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; Player of the Week for the period ending Jan. 20.Kerr&rsquo;s production helped keep the Flyers on pace with Washington in the race for the division lead in the Patrick and gave him 39 goals for the season, third in the NHL. &#9632;

f0024-02

Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01605/4953351-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="584" height="166"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;The longer the season goes on, the more obvious it becomes that this kid who passes so fancy is no passing fancy.Nope, Peter Zezel looks like, the real thing&mdash;Larry Bird on skates; a kid who sets up goals with passes so nimble, it makes you believe he could slide a camel through the eye of a needle.Along with fellow rookies Rick Toc-chet and Derrick Smith, Zezel is one of the major reasons the Flyers have been playing leapfrog with the Washington Capitals for first place in the Patrick Division.After suffering through a mid-season mini-slump because of a nagging persisting viral infection, Zezel, 19, is finally regaining his strength and his touch. And he put on a clinic on the art of passing on Jan. 17 at the Spectrum when he set up three goals in a 7-5 win over the Detroit Red Wings.Even though Tim Kerr scored four goals for his third hat trick of the season (including his second &ldquo;natural&rdquo; hat trick), many of the Spectrum&rsquo;s fans left the building remembering Zezel&rsquo;s passes instead of Kerr&rsquo;s goals.Kerr might have been the guy pulling the trigger, but Zezel was doing a good job providing the bullets: once on Kerr&rsquo;s first goal, and twice on goals by llkka Sinisalo.By the time the night was over, Ken-had tied Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders for third place in league scoring with 38 goals, and Zezel had picked up assists Nos. 24, 25 and 26 while playing just 32 games around injury and illness.&ldquo;On my first goal,&rdquo; said Kerr, &ldquo;Peter just set it up so nice, it was impossible to miss. He led everybody to believe he was going to pass one way, and then he went the other.&ldquo;It was such a perfect pass. That&rsquo;s they way it is with him. When you get a pass from him, a lot of times it&rsquo;s so good you find yourself looking into an empty net. The first goal tonight, it was so easy. If I had missed that, I think I would have retired.&rdquo;&ldquo;The big thing about Peter is that he&rsquo;s a cool, calculating player,&rdquo; said Flyer assistant coach E.J. McGuire. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got guys like the Sutters (Ron and Rich) and Rick Tocchet who depend on emotion, and then we&rsquo;ve got Peter who kind of studies everything before he makes a pass.&rdquo;No doubt Zezel&rsquo;s ability to pass is due largely to playmaking skills he developed while playing soccer. He was good enough to be invited to join Canada&rsquo;s national team, but opted for hockey, where the goals come far more frequently.Then, too, he has a bulky, 5-foot-10 frame into which he packs 200 burly pounds of muscle. With that stature, when opposing players try to move him off the puck, it&rsquo;s like trying to knock over a bowling ball.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always liked setting up plays,&rdquo; said Zezel, who had 133 points in 68 games with the Toronto Marlies last season. &ldquo;But in the NHL, it&rsquo;s a lot tougher, everything and everybody is just moving so much faster.&rdquo;Zezel has quickly discovered that things slow down just a bit when he scoots behind the net, and it&rsquo;s from there that he makes like a blackjack dealer in nearby Atlantic City, dealing out passes to his teammates in the slot for winning hands.Although his stats aren&rsquo;t overly impressive, remember that he missed some time with a neck injury, 11 games with a broken hand, and then suffered through 15 games while fighting off a virus which sapped some strength. Still, after the three assists against the Red Wings he had 33 points in 32 games&mdash;not bad for a rookie.NOTES&mdash;Goalie Bob Froese rejoined the team for their recent three-game road trip to Minnesota, Los Angeles and Winnipeg. Froese had missed 18 consecutive games since suffering strained ligaments in his left knee on Dec. 11. Defenseman Ed Hospodar, who had missed 15 games with a broken right hand, also rejoined the team. Earlier in the week, the Flyers added left winger/defenseman Glen Cochrane to the lineup. Cochrane had missed the first 42 games of the season while going through rehabilitation for a surgically repaired right knee. After missing 10 consecutive games because of back spasms, winger Ilkka Sinisalo made a triumphant return by scoring two goals and four points in his first two games back, both against the Red Wings. After missing eight games with a sprained shoulder, center Len Hachbom was sent down to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League. The second-year player had been a disappointment, scoring only one goal in his first 26 games before the injury. The Flyers also sent down rookie center Todd Bergen, who had suffered abdominal pains, and goalie Darren Jensen, who did not play a single game while sitting in for Froese&hellip;The prognosis on Bill Barber&rsquo;s return from major reconstructive knee surgery has gone from optimistic to mediocre at best,, according to team sources. After a quick start, Barber had hit a problem in his recovery, and the knee is only &ldquo;65-70 per cent.&rdquo; Barber is now shooting for a return in the playoffs. &#9632;

f0024-01

Zezel’s Passes Woo Fiver Fans, Teammates

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01534/4953462-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="285" height="294"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02361/4953455-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="302" height="285"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03241/4953448-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="468" height="242"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-04166/4953441-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="464" height="226"></div><h2>WINNIPEG</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-05139/4953434-1-eng-US/f0025-052.jpg" title="f0025-05" width="466" height="228"></div><h2>CALGARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-06116/4953427-1-eng-US/f0025-062.jpg" title="f0025-06" width="470" height="232"></div><h2>EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-07107/4953420-1-eng-US/f0025-072.jpg" title="f0025-07" width="466" height="232"></div><h2>VANCOUVER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0897/4953413-1-eng-US/f0025-082.jpg" title="f0025-08" width="464" height="238"></div><h2>Goalies Hot In Molson Cup Voting</h2>&ldquo;MONTREAL&mdash;The gallant men who wear the big goalie pads in the National Hockey League are starting to flex&rsquo; their muscles in the Molson Cup three-star voting.Montreal&rsquo;s Steve Penney and veter-lan Richard Brodeur of Vancouver, a past Molson Cup segment winner, have jumped into sole possession of first place in their respective cities while a third goalie, Calgary&rsquo;s Rejean Lemelin, is in a two-way tie for the rlead in the Flames&rsquo; balloting.While the NHL goalies shot back into three-star prominence, the sensational Wayne Gretzky is still the big overall leader. The Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; superstar is the first to reach the 100point plateau in the voting with Winning&rsquo;s Dale Hawerchuk a distant second with 65.Here&rsquo;s how the voting looks in the six Canadian cities:MONTREAL&mdash;Netminder Penney, one of the big reasons the Canadiens have become such a force this season, has opened up a l5-point lead over Mats Naslund, who has 40 points. Guy Carbonneau holds third spot with 35 followed by Mario Tremblay and Pierre Mondou, each with 30.TORONTO&mdash;Even though he&rsquo;s laid up with an injured shoulder that will sideline him for the next five weeks, Bill Derlago jumped into the three-star voting race for the first time. He shares first place with Greg Terrion, Allan Bester, who is languishing in the minors with St. Catharines, and Stewart Gavin. All four have 20 points.WINNIPEG&mdash;Still the most popular of all the Jets, Dale Hawerchuk&rsquo;s scoring heroics have brought on a flood of Molson Cup votes. The Jets&rsquo; captain leads with 65 points, with Thomas Steen second, 20 points behind. Laurie Boschman ranks third with 30.CALGARY&mdash;Two old faces on the Calgary hockey scene, Kent Nilsson and Reggie Lemelin, are locked in a crowded first-place tie with rookie Carey Wilson and young Colin Patterson, for the lead. Each has 40 points.EDMONTON&mdash;Just as he has done so often in the past five years, Gretzky continues to dominate the Oilers&rsquo; voting. He hit the 100-point mark and is easily the team leader. Linemate Jari Kurri trails the Great One with 60 points.VANCOUVER&mdash;Goaltender Richard Brodeur is holding his second-segment lead in the three-star balloting with 35 points, five more than Moe Lemay. &#9632;

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THREE-STAR STANDINGS

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01560/4953493-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="581" height="173"></div><h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2>BOSTON&mdash;When the Boston Bruins trimmed their defense roster to six by sending Brian Curran to Hershey, it left them with a situation that would have been incomprehensible only a few years ago.Half of their defense corps grew up within 25 miles of Boston Garden.There are the veterans&mdash;Mike Mil-bury, from Walpole, and Mike O&rsquo;Connell, from Cohasset. And there is Frank Simonetti from Stoneham, who was known as Frank Who? when trining camp opened in September.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got an awful long way to go but he is one hell of a prospect,&rdquo; said general manager Harry Sinden, which is a lot to say for a 22-year-old who played college hockey in obscurity at Division Two Norwich in the wilds of Vermont.Since he was called up from Hershey two days before Christmas, when Mats Thelin suffered a groin injury, Simonetti has played steady, sometimes spectacular hockey, mostly paired with Ray Bourque, the perennial all-star.&ldquo;He handles the puck real well,&rdquo; said Bourque. &ldquo;He skates very well with the puck. When he gets a little more confidence, he&rsquo;ll do more things out there.&rdquo;Simonetti grew up in Stoneham, a suburban hockey hotbed, at a time when every pee wee in metropolitan Boston wore No. 4 on his sweater and visions of Bobby Orr danced in their heads.&ldquo;I remember my first days on the ice,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Six years old, skating at the rink in Medford and my father there with me. No one likes to get up at 4:30 in the morning but my dad was always there. He&rsquo;s put a lot of time into it and it looks like it&rsquo;s paying off.&rdquo;He went to Norwich for a very simple reason&mdash;no other college was interested in him.&ldquo;Norwich was the only school that recruited me,&rdquo; he said. &lsquo;&lsquo;It&rsquo;s sort of a military school. Between your sophomore and junior years, you have to choose between the armed services and a civilian degree. I chose the latter.&ldquo;I skate well, that&rsquo;s probably the thing I do best. I developed that tremendously through college. In high school, I wasn&rsquo;t one of the faster players. I worked hard on it in college. I was a four-year soccer player at Norwich and that helped.&rdquo;Coming out of college, Simonetti found himself roundly ignored by the pro teams, too.&ldquo;New Jersey and Washington showed a mild interest but, with all this shakeup in the Central Hockey League, free-agent, walk-ons from a Division Two school were not very marketable,&rdquo; he said.He snapped at a chance when Joe Lyons, the Bruins&rsquo; New England scout, offered him a spot on one of the teams in a summer league in suburban Quincy where college players and some local pros work out once a week.&ldquo;Midway through the league,&rdquo; said Simonetti, &ldquo;Joe offered me a spot in taining camp with the hope that I could at least make it to Hershey. They signed me on the bus going to the next-to-last exhibition game in Providence.&ldquo;I had to re-learn my defensive role at Hershey. In high school and in my first two years of college. I was a very defensive player. Then one of the offensive-oriented defensemen graduated and I had to step into an offensive role.&ldquo;I found that I skated well enough so I could make up for any defensive lapse on a rush up ice. Here, in the pros, they capitalize on a mistake 60 to 70 per cent of the time, so you have to concentrate on defense with only an occasional burst of offense.&ldquo;When I first went to Hershey, they stressed the defensive aspects of the game. They didn&rsquo;t want me to skate with the puck or make offensive plays. It was only toward the end of my stay at Hershey that I skated out and helped the wings.&ldquo;One of the key things I learned at Hershey was to maintain body contact. You may blow the play, but if you get a piece of the body, you can take the man out of the play and give the rest of the team a chance to regroup.&rdquo;Simonetti played and learned well enough in Hershey to gain a spot on the Bruins over other defensemen with more experience.His first shift in Boston was on the power play. Coach Gerry Cheevers does not hesitate to use him in the late minutes of a close game.&ldquo;Skating is his No. 1 asset,&rdquo; said Sinden. &ldquo;He has an excellent attitude and outlook. He&rsquo;s fresh and enthusiastic. He doesn&rsquo;t take foolish penalties. He playa the man well. He&rsquo;s difficult to beat to the outside.&ldquo;Like I say, he&rsquo;s one hell of a prospect.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0026-01

Bruin Defense Grew Up Near The Garden

St. Lawrence Manufacturing, commonly referred to as SLM, will be introducing a new line of blades, the SL-6000 series. According to company sources, this is just the first of a number of new products, all aimed at the per-performance segment of the hockey skate industry. This marks a return of emphasis on the North American market for SLM as the company has been focusing its attention on Europe over the past Jew years.SLM was established in 1945 and began producing quality blades as early as 1948. At that time, the company had a strong reputation for quality metal work and was encouraged to enter the blade business by independent skate manufacturers who had no access to domestic blade production. SLM began to supply these Canadian independents. As the quality of their blade became recognized as superior to others, demand grew. SLM expanded its facilities and began to export blades to the USA and Europe.By 1963, SLM had become the largest blade manufacturer in the world. Their reputation for quality at competitive prices forced many U.S. and European suppliers out of business. They revolutionized the European retail skate market, where until then, the common practice was to purchase the boot from one retailer and the blade from a hardware specialist. SLM proved to European skate manufacturers they could provide a complete product at a competitive cost. As a result, SLM&rsquo;s growth in Europe was frantic.All this came to an abrupt halt with the forming of the European Common Market. Duty skyrocketed from 7 percent to 19.5 percent and a decade of hard fought business suddenly disappeared. At the same time, new competitors were popping up in North American.The SLM strategy was to first concentrate on recapturing Europe. They purchased the famous Mitchel and King Company in England, maker of the MK blade. Through Mitchel and King, the company had its entry into the Common Market and back into hockey&mdash;while still building shares in the figure skate segment with the MK blade.In North America, the company retrenched and began to develop a new generation of blades; products which would lead the industry in terms of strength and quality.One of the critically important decisions was to ensure that its performance entries all adhered to or surpassed the ASTM specifications. As a result, SLM is one of a few companies meeting these standards for plastic holders. To do so required a major investment in new engineering, equipment and quality control.The first fruit of these efforts is now available to Canadians with the SL-5000 Dynasteel L.F. This is a low-friction blade which goes through four separate heat treatments, the last of which heats the bottom of the edges to well above 50 degrees Rockwell. The result is a nonbrittle blade with an extremely hard edge. The fine grain which results from this heat process coupled to a super lightweight Zytel plastic holder results in a skate which is fast, light and more responsive.This Dynasteel entry is the first generation of newly engineered products from SLM. The company is so confident of its success that it has committed itself to a major consumer campaign to make the Dynasteel L.F. name synonymous with superior performance this coming fall. &#9632;

The newest JET ICE innovation features JET ICE nonmigrating, non-insulating ice paint that can be applied with the ice resurfacer as easily as you would apply a normal flood.This type of ice paint application is exclusive to JET ICE installations and cannot be done successfully with any other type of ice paint currently on the market.One of our preliminary efforts was in Arnprior, Ont., at their community arena and a testimonial was forwarded as follows:&ldquo;I just wanted to let you know how pleased we are with the success we had in painting our ice surface in Arnprior with the ice machines. A great idea, which I am sure other arenas will pick up on&hellip;Yet another reason for using JET ICE.&rdquo;Recently the JET ICE application was employed at our installation in the Capital Centre, home of the Washington Capitals. A blue tint was introduced to complement the JET ICE application and delivered extremely pleasing results. It is now an integral part of their ice-making procedures when changing over for professional basketball, NHL hockey and other various functions performed at the Capital Centre.The time and money saved in man hours by utilizing this innovation is certainly another positive reason to consider an investment in JET ICE. &#9632;

Jet Ice Product Easy To Apply

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01459/4953572-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="580" height="174"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2>WINNIPEG&mdash;What happens when you put three left wingers on the same line?Mass confusion.&ldquo;Oh, I wouldn&rsquo;t say that, even though all of us lined up on the same side of the ice for our first faceoff,&rdquo; said a severely-reunded Scott Amiel.Ultimately, Amiel became the line&rsquo;s cauht winger, with Doug Smail on the left and Perry Turnbull in the middle.The unlikely combination was introduced for the first time at the start of a game in Los Angeles. A few minutes Ater, the Winnipeg Jets were putting the finishing touches on a remarkable, five-goal outburst that brought the team from a 4-1 deficit to a 6-5 victory.Surprisingly, the line provided the main thrust in the comeback, threatening every shift, as they combined for three goals&mdash;two by Smail and another by Turnbull.The Kings&rsquo; coach, Pat Quinn, was livid. He admonished his team. He dismissed the line shuffling by the Jets as a &ldquo;panic measure.&rdquo;Barry Long, the Jets&rsquo; coach, shortened his bench to 13 skaters&mdash;three forward lines and four defensemen.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t sure we had the fibre to come back from a 4-1 deficit,&rdquo; said Long. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen us come back in a lot of hockey games but never to this extent. This one showed me the kind of character &bull;he players have.&rdquo;Arniel had played beside Laurie Boschman almost from the day the feisty center had arrived in Winnipeg. When Lucien DeBlois was traded to Montreal, it was Amiel who moved over into his right wing spot to accommodate a new left winger, Turnbull.However, the line went cold. Amiel couldn&rsquo;t finish a chance and he wasn&rsquo;t playing hard. Boschman was laid back. Turnbull was as undisciplined as the greenest junior.Amiel was not so naive as to think the Jets had struck upon some magical combination that would last for years, despite 20 minutes of dominance.&ldquo;Twenty minutes, I realize, is not an honest test,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But for the time together we were flat-out, gung-ho, dump-it-over, first-there type of skaters.&ldquo;Barry Long asked us to play as if it were a playoff game. It wasn&rsquo;t hard to relate, knowing that fourth place ultimately means (meeting) the Edmonton Oilers in the playoffs.&ldquo;That was enough incentive to win.&rdquo;Amiel has lost favor in the eyes of general manager John Ferguson. Though the Jets&rsquo; GM scoffs at suggestions, Amiel&rsquo;s name has been frequently mentioned in trade rumors.&ldquo;All that has been said or written about me is done,&rdquo; said Amiel. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to let it affect me. All I intend to do is concentrate on my work and make my chances count.&rdquo;A goal and an assist in Los Angeles had ended an 11-game point drought and 13-game scoring silence.&ldquo;Sometimes people overlook a player&rsquo;s worth,&rdquo; said Amiel. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t always have to be goals or assists but a great defensive play can help, too.&rdquo;Long thinks Amiel has much to offer the team over the second half of the season.&ldquo;Scott is one of those guys who has to be on top of his game to appreciated,&rdquo; Long said. &ldquo;Yes, he has struggled, but we know he has the talent to play and play well. If this happens to be the line that suits him best, that&rsquo;s fine with me.&rdquo;BENCH BITS&mdash;The Jets have officially recalled goaltender Mark Holden from Nova Scotia of the American League. Holden was with the team for three games before GM John Ferguson decided to add him to the roster. To make room for him, the Jets sent Marc Behrend to Sherbrooke. Behrend, who got off to a 7-1-1 start, gradually lost his confidence, which he claims is 50 percent of goaltending. He had lost five in a row and his record had dipped to 8-9-1 when the Jets made the move. Behrend was touched for five goals in a 17-shot barrage by the Chicago Black Hawks in the first period of what resulted in a 6-3 loss. Holden played extremely well over the last two periods&hellip;Jordy Douglas was sent back to Sherbrooke when Brian Mullen returned to the lineup following a knee injury. Douglas had been called up on an emergency basis&hellip;The production of Dale Hawerchuk and Paul MacLean slipped noticeably in the 25 days missed by Mullen, their regular left winger. &#9632;

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Jets’ Makeshift Line Show Leftist Leaning

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01521/4953603-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="586" height="176"></div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2>CALGARY&mdash;The bus was so late on the Calgary Flames&rsquo; most recent road trip that everybody was doing what they do best&mdash;standing and waiting in the hotel lobby.The majority of Flame players were front and center, but not Hakan Loob. He and Kart Eloranta were standing together off to one side.&ldquo;I knew I&rsquo;d find you here,&rdquo; someone said to Loob.&ldquo;Hiding in the comer?&rdquo; asked Loob.&ldquo;Hiding? That&rsquo;s the first time I&rsquo;ve seen you in a comer all year.&rdquo;&ldquo;That&rsquo;s it,&rdquo; said Loob, with mock seriousness. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all over now. They better trade me.&rdquo;&ldquo;No, don&rsquo;t write that down,&rdquo; said a now-horrified Loob, as Eloranta started to laugh uncontrollably. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll think I&rsquo;m serious.&rdquo;No one in the Flames&rsquo; organization is taking Loob&rsquo;s mediocre play too seriously. Loob didn&rsquo;t attend any of the summit meetings the team held during a two-day stop in Hartford. He was invited only to those that dealt with general matters of concern&mdash;such as why isn&rsquo;t Loob scoring more? Why isn&rsquo;t he scoring more important goals.The measure of Loob&rsquo;s effectiveness this season is easy to see. Loob is always on the periphery, never in the center of action.In Calgary, nobody says &ldquo;Looooooob&rdquo; much anymore. The absence of Loobing, more than anything else, summarizes the disappointing season of the second-year right winger.&ldquo;Yeah, it&rsquo;s over with, I guess,&rdquo; says Loob withashrug. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s different between now and the Canada Cup. I don&rsquo;t have a clue.&ldquo;Am I happy with my season? No, it could be a lot better, I&rsquo;m not tired at all. Every game, I get a couple of chances and they&rsquo;re just not going in. Oh, I have tried to be more aggressive, but I have to have some luck, too.&ldquo;If I had scored on 50 per cent of my chances&mdash;and I&rsquo;m not saying that I should always score that often&mdash;then I would have a lot of goals. The thing t4h me is, if I score, my confidence would come up. That&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m here, to score goals. I haven&rsquo;t scored too many this year.&rdquo;When other players struggle, even star players, coach Bob Johnson puts them on the bench or in the press box where they can consider their sins or shortcomings. Not Loob. With the exception of benching him for one period in Vancouver on a night when Loob came back to score the winning goal, the diminutive Swed hasn&rsquo;t missed a shift all year.Johnson believes if he stays with Loob the goals will eventually come.&ldquo;He gets three of four chances every night. Someday, they&rsquo;re going to go in,&rdquo; Johnson says.Loob isn&rsquo;t alone in his season-long slump. With Reggie Lemelin back in allstar form, goalie Don Edwards has been relegated to opening and closing the Flames&rsquo; gate.So far this season, Edwards has been the victim of the system. Earlier, where he was hot and Lemelin was not, Johnson rotated the two.&ldquo;I have to get Reggie going,&rdquo; Johnson would say.Later, when Lemelin got hot and Edwards not, Johnson changed the system&rdquo; to accommodate Reggie&rsquo;s winning ways.&ldquo;Three games in the last 14,&rdquo; says Edwards. &ldquo;I have been sitting for awhile. It&rsquo;s tough you know. It&rsquo;s tough because I really didn&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d been playing that bad.&rdquo;Johnson, once an advocate of the college try, is now firmly committed to the bottom line. It is the most dramatic change in his philosophy in two and a half years of profession hockey.In Edwards&rsquo; case, the bottom line is the problem. On Oct. 27, he had a 5-1 won-loss record. He was 6-4 on Nov. 15, but since then he has just one win&mdash;Dec. 1 against Minnesota&mdash;in his last nine decisions. Now his record stands at 7-12-1, included is one loss against Winnipeg that he absorbed because Calgary cored enough goals to get Lemelin, the starter, off the hook.&ldquo;My thinking is that sometimes the goaltender can play fairly well, but all of a sudden be on the losing side,&rdquo; said Edwards. &ldquo;The onus is put on the goaltender. It almost seems like you&rsquo;re the scapegoat; I&rsquo;m sure that&rsquo;s not what the coaches think, but sometimes that is what the goaltender is thinking.&rdquo;IN BRIEF&mdash;The Flames have called up forward Gino Cavallini from their American League farm team in Moncton. &#9632;

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Loob, Edwards Struggling To Find Groove

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01478/4953634-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="566" height="153"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2>VANCOUVER&mdash;Similar to many Vanoccouver Canuck players this season. Cam Neely has found life extremely difficult. I While the constant losing has sapped the efforts of so many of his teammates. Neely has been further plagued by a setting&rsquo; injury. It is only recently the 200-pound right winger has come out of the datums to play his best hockey in a canuck uniform.When the season began it looked as though the 19-year-old from Maple Ridge, a Vancouver suburb, would have a tremendous year. With Peter McNab at center and Taylor Hall at left wing, the line was the team&rsquo;s most productive the first two weeks. Then all three were sidelined with injuries. Hall&rsquo;s tom knee ligaments were the worst, but Neely&rsquo;s dislocated kneecap, the result of a check by New York Islanders&rsquo; Denis Potvin on the same night Hall was hurt, put him out seven weeks and ruined his good start.&ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m not playing well, but I don&rsquo;t know why,&rdquo; said Neely about six weeks ago.But doctor Ross Davidson, the orthopedic surgeron who supervised Neely&rsquo;s return to the lineup, said it was perfectly reasonable that Neely would struggle.&ldquo;The injury he suffered was very serious and it was bound to do something to anybody&rsquo;s confidence,&rdquo; Davidson said. &ldquo;He got back into the lineup very quickly and it&rsquo;s a lot longer back then he first thought.&rdquo;It wasn&rsquo;t until a mid-January game against the Islanders in Vancouver that Neely made it all the way back. In that 6-5 win he had several crunching hits, including one on Potvin, two goals and the first-star selection. It was the best single performance by Neely in his two shortened seasons with the Canucks, and it went a long way towards restoring the faith everyone in the organization originally placed in the former Portland Winter Hawk when he was drafted in the first round in 1983.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t explain why I haven&rsquo;t been hitting like I was before,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In the back of my mind I guess I felt I was a goal scorer and I didn&rsquo;t have to hit people to do well offensively.&ldquo;I had a talk with (general managercoach Harry Neale) and he opened my eyes to what I have and haven&rsquo;t been doing. I&rsquo;ve started to try and prepare myself earlier before each game and to think about the things I have to do. I&rsquo;m realizing for the scoring chances to come, I have to play physically.&rdquo;Neely can indeed make or break the line he plays on now with Thomas Gradin and Moe Lemay, the club&rsquo;s top unit over the past month.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a force when that fire starts coming out of his nose and he roars up and down the wing whacking guys,&rdquo; said associate coach Ron Smith &ldquo;It has a big effect on the other guys when they see 200 pounds of raw-boned muscle hurtling at them.&rdquo;Neely&rsquo;s biggest concern now is to build on this last month and begin to show signs of consistency in his play. At his age, it&rsquo;s not easy for any player, but at least he seems to be aware of what us necessary to make it happen.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely capable of making the classic hit,&rdquo; said Neale, who has juggled the rest of his lines but has left the Gradin-Neely-Lemay line intact. &ldquo;We could use a couple more like him when he&rsquo;s going like that, and so could everybody&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The Canucks have had a couple of key injuries on defense. J.J. Daigneault suffered a sprained ankle in a game against Toronto on Jan. 13 and is shelved for at least 10 days. Rick Lanz has been having trouble with a strained neck, a recurring problem for him. He&rsquo;s been out since just before Christmas, and while he&rsquo;s skating he remains out indefinitely. &#9632;

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Neely Proving To Be Big Hit In Vancouver

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01496/4953672-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="588" height="212"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2>BUFFALO&mdash;If there is one thing that Mike Foligno, right winger for the Buffalo Sabres, likes to do, it&rsquo;s celebrate goals.But until recently, Foligno, known for his famous &ldquo;jump&rdquo; following a goal, hadn&rsquo;t had much to celebrate.Through the early part of December, Foligno had scored only seven goals, with all of them coming in three games (two two-goal games and one three-goal game). And in the rest of December, he added two more.Then, beginning with a two-goal game against the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 28, Foligno went on to score goals in eight consecutive games (for nine goals) before being stopped by the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 13.The streak established a club record, surpassing the old mark of seven, first set by Richard Martin and Rene Robert in 1974-75 and later matched by Gilbert Perreault in 1976-77.Foligno looked at the record-ending streak with mixed emotions.&ldquo;It was kind of heartbreaking not to score a goal (against Edmonton),&rdquo; said Foligno, who had 18 goals and 12 assists for 30 points. &ldquo;But they are just stats. The team is what counts.&ldquo;I had been in a drought before I started scoring all of those goals. I thought I was working hard. But when they (the coaching staff) put me with(Phil) Housley and Perreault, it made me realize that I wasn&rsquo;t working hard enough.&ldquo;So I had to bear down a little harder.&rdquo;The Foligno-Housley-Perreault line has been one of the hottest lines for the Sabres in recent games. Foligno said one of the big reasons for his increased production is because the line is being kept intact for an extended period of time.&ldquo;Phil at center is a good playmaker, there is no doubt about that,&rdquo; said Foligno. &ldquo;And Gil can put the puck on your stick from, it seems like, anywhere. He just has a knack of doing it.&ldquo;The big reason our line has stayed together is because we&rsquo;ve worked hard. We want it to work as a line. We like playing together.&ldquo;We knew from the day Scott (Bowman, coach and general manager of the Sabres) put us together we could make things work together on the ice.&ldquo;And we talk together a lot after practices and games. Gil likes to prepare a little bit differently for each game and opponent.&ldquo;All the work and preparation makes it possible to do the thing we were put together to do and that is to score goals.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what we aim to do.&rdquo;SABRE POINTS&mdash;Gil Perreault scored his 1,210th point of his career with a goal against the New York Rangers (Jan. 16). That tied him with Bobby Clarke for 11th place on the NHL&rsquo;s alltime scoring list&hellip;Defenseman Jerry Korab returned to the Sabre lineup against the Rangers. It was the first time Korab had skated with the team since the playoffs last April against the Quebec Nordiques&hellip;Goalie Tom Barrasso was unbeaten in 10 starts (8-0-2) before losing to Edmonton (Jan. 13). His goals-against during those games was 1.67. He had started 14 consecutive games and 20 of 22. Barrasso had held 20 of his last opponents to three goals or less and had three shutouts in an 11-start period&hellip;7 the Edmonton game also saw Perreault&rsquo;s club record for assists in consecutive games end at 10. That broke the old mark of nine, which he first set in 1974-75 and was later equalled by Danny Gare and Derek Smith&hellip;Goaltender Bob Sauve returned to uniform after missing eight games with a sprained back. The last game he played was on Dec. 16 (a 2-2 tie with Vancouver).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02363/4953665-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="576" height="868"><figcaption class="caption-body">Buffalo Sabre Mike Foligno has overcome an early-season goa scoring drought.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

Sabres’ Foligno Back In Celebrating Spirit

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03241/4953703-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="580" height="176"></div><h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2>HARTFORD&mdash;The difference between Torrie Robertson and other National Hockey League tough guys is that he seldom picks his spots. If the bell rings, he answers it.&ldquo;If somebody sticks me or one of our players, I&rsquo;m going to try and get that guy,&rdquo; says Robertson, a left winger for the Hartford Whalers who is 5-foot-11, 198 pounds. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t plan it months in advance.&rdquo;Robertson was the league leader in penalty minutes at the midway point with 197 in 41 games. He doesn&rsquo;t take great pride in the feat, but rather looks at it as part of the job, that is, his job on an undersized team.If he wins a fight, fine. If he loses, so be it. The results, good or bad, won&rsquo;t deter him. Call his number and he&rsquo;ll be there.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;I&rsquo;m not trying to mold myself exactly after Terry O&rsquo;Reilly.&rsquo;</blockquote>&ldquo;All leading the league in penalties would mean is I&rsquo;d go into the record books,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not my lifetime ambition. It would be something I could show my kids, if I ever had kids. I&rsquo;d rather get 30 goals or even 20.&ldquo;Just because you lead the league in penalties doesn&rsquo;t mean you&rsquo;re a goon.&rdquo;Robertson had five goals and 20 points through 41 games.Overall, the Whalers aren&rsquo;t quite big enough or strong enough, and that puts added pressure on somebody such as Robertson. It is hard, very hard, to do what he has to do every night, but in his second year with the Whalers and in his fourth pro season, he remains willing. His massive heart won&rsquo;t allow him to be anything but that.&ldquo;You&rsquo;d never see me in the Ice Capades,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;For starters, you&rsquo;d never even get me into a pair of those skates.&rdquo;Robertson was acquired by the Whalers from the Washington Capitals for Greg Adams on the day of the waiver draft before the start of last season. The deal has turned out to be one of general manager&rsquo;s Emile Francis&rsquo; best.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a fast skater,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I know what my role is. I know I&rsquo;m expected to hit.&rdquo;Robertson has played next to center Greg Malone and right winger Bobby Crawford for more than 100 games. He likes his line and his linemates.&ldquo;Greg is probably the best center I could play with,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;He talks to me, helps me. Crawf has 14 goals. I know he&rsquo;d like to have more, but 12 of them have come at even strength. If Bobby gets 35 or 40 goals and Greg gets 60 points and I get, say, 35, I&rsquo;d be happy.&rdquo;Although Robertson once scored 45 goals and 111 points in junior while playing next to Barry Pederson in Victoria, his offensive totals aren&rsquo;t as important to the Whalers as his effort. He is, first and foremost, a banger, a Terry O&rsquo;Reilly man from the word go.It is not surprising that O&rsquo;Reilly is the player Robertson most respects.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying I&rsquo;m trying to mold myself exactly after Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, but when I was a kid he was my favorite player,&rdquo; says Robertson, who is 23 and single. &ldquo;When Montreal and Boston used to play for the Stanley Cup, I loved the way he played. One year, he led Boston in penalty minutes and points. Look how long he&rsquo;s been in the NHL. And he didn&rsquo;t start with the greatest skills.&rdquo;Robertson&rsquo;s skills are improving, but he still breaks an occasional stick. If he busts one more in practice, word has it, he&rsquo;ll tie the world&rsquo;s record.&ldquo;Finesse is not the best part of my game,&rdquo; he says.He scored a hat trick against the Bruins last year, one of his career highlights, but his moments in the spotlight have been few and far between.He is &ldquo;one of the lesser lights,&rdquo; he says.In other words, he is proud of being an honest laborer, a guy who punches the clock every day and gives it his best shot.&ldquo;The game has changed,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;There are a lot of guys who finish with 130 penalty minutes who are big and tough nowadays. You don&rsquo;t run teams out of the rink anymore. The little, fast guys are running the big guys out of the game.&rdquo;Perhaps. But there&rsquo;s one big guy who walks tall on the left side for the Whalers, who&rsquo;ll let those little guys&mdash;and anyone else who stands in his way&mdash;know that he&rsquo;s been around. &#9632;

f0032-03

Robertson Answers Bell Whenever Number Called

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>GLENS FALLS&mdash;By an 11-2 vote, theAierican Hockey League has amended controversial eligibility rule regarding players returning from European leagues and has instituted an amendment intended to prevent teams from attacking Heir rosters late in the season.The league&rsquo;s board of governors approved the changes in bylaws 8 and 11 in the voting completed on Jan. 4 and created a new final regular roster. Maine and Springfield were the two teams that voted against the changes.Under the old policy, which was instivoted in December, 1983, players who had played in the AHL in one season and went to Europe the following year were not eligible to return to the league in that second season. The bylaw did not exclude players who had never played in the AHL and were coming back from Europe, nor did it prohibit the signing of free agents in North America, whether they were former pros or amateurs.The legality of the bylaw was questioned on two occasions for different clients by Boston attorney and player agent Brian Burke, and the league granted exemptions in both cases. Following the second challenge made on behalf of Ross Lambert in late October, league officials referred the matter to their legal counsel and asked the attorneys to draft a stronger rule.What they produced was an amendment to bylaw 11, which permits teams to sign players until 66 days before the end of the regular-season schedule. On that day this year (Jan. 31), AHL teams must submit a list to the league office of 22 players in residence, enroute (within 72 hours) or on emergency recall to a National Hockey League team. Thereafter, no players may be added to the roster except amateurs on a tryout or players on NHL and AHL reserve lists. Players from the reserve lists may be used only when a team is in an emergency condition of having less than 18 skaters and two goaltenders. At no time can an AHL team have more than 22 players on its roster.Burke said he had mixed emotions about the rule changes.&ldquo;Obviously, my position all along has been that I would like to have no restrictions,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;From a player agent point of view, any restriction is undesirable, but I think from an anti-trust point of view, if, in fact, they have put in a rule that applies to all classes of players similarity, that they are better off as far as treatment under anti-trust law.&rdquo;Springfield owner Peter Cooney, the only remaining independent operator in the league, voted against the rule because he felt the league had already spent enough money trying to enforce one rule and shouldn&rsquo;t get involved with another that might involve a legal battle. Ironically, the other dissenting vote was cast by Maine, which prompted league officials to deal with the matter in the first place after signing of a number of free agents at the end of the 1982-83 season.&ldquo;Our preference is that there not be any bylaw specifically aimed at the European playing market, and for that reason we voted no,&rdquo; Mariner president Ed Anderson said. &ldquo;We can certainty live with the new bylaw. This adds a new wrinkle, another consideration and another list to be submitted (in addition to the Clear Day Roster 26 days before the end of the season). We&rsquo;re still not sure how that will impact on the ability of players to go up and down.&rdquo;The only change Burke would make in the new rule would be to allow teams to reserve one or two roster positions for players in Europe and be able to use them when they complete their obligations in Europe. Under those conditions, an AHL team would run the risk of playing shorthanded until the players arrive from Europe, or of not getting them all should they be injured after their names were submitted. Still, Burke believes the league has moved in the right direction.AROUND THE DIVISION&mdash;Fredericton center Grant Martin was named the AHL Player of the Week. He had two goals and two assists, including the game winner in an overtime victory over Baltimore, and contributed a goal and an assist in a loss to Nova Sco-tia&hellip;The Oilers, who had reeled of four wins in five games and outscored opponents 33-16 in those five games, lost their top line of Marc Habscheid. Gord Sherven and Raimo Summanen, leading scorer Ray Cote and defenseman Larry Melnyk on recall to Edmonton. To make matters worse, Terry Martin will be out for a month with a shoulder injury&hellip;Despite losing its top goal scorer, Gino Cavallini, on recall to Calgary, Moncton ended a four-game losing streak to Adirondack, by whipping the Wings 7-1. Defenseman Dale Degray scored two goals to pace the Golden Flames&hellip;Adirondack right winger Jody Gage suffered a groin pull in the game and joined Greg Joly (shoulder), Rick Zombo (knee), Dennis Polonich (ankle), Paul Woods (hip and back), Eddie Johnstone (stomach) and Mike Stern (back) on the injured list. A day later, with 13 skaters the Wings gained a 2-2 tie at Fredericton. &#9632;

American League Amends European Rule

<div class="byline">BY DICK BAKER</div>SPRINGFIELD&mdash;The decision was Wiade in a bar, so the story goes.Someone had to replace American Hockey League president Jack Riley, who was on his way out to join the management of the Pittsburgh Penguins for he first year of the National Hockey League expansion.At the time, the powers at be in the AHL were Springfield owner Eddie Shore and Providence Reds&rsquo; kingpin Lou Pieri.&ldquo;What about your guy?&rdquo; Pieri was said to have asked Shore of the then springfield general manager, Jack But-verfield.In those days, whatever Shore and Pieri said went. They were like Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly. So it was decided that Jack Butterfield, Shore&rsquo;s non-stop working nephew, would leave his role as the Indians&rsquo; &ldquo;Jack of all trades&rdquo; to become the league president.That was 18 years ago and he&rsquo;s still there.Butterfield was recently rewarded for his contributions to the game of hockey in the United States with the 1985 Lester Patrick award by the National Hockey League.The presentation will be officially made Feb. 11 at the Calgary Convention Center, the site of the NHL all-star game.It&rsquo;s the second major award Butterfield has won since taking over the American Hockey League presidency. In 1980, he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.&ldquo;I guess the high point of my career was getting elected to the Hockey Hall of &ldquo;Fame,&rdquo; said Butterfield. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ll never forget. I feel that way because I&rsquo;m in the AHL and not the NHL. So to get that vote of recognition is very satisfying.&rdquo;Butterfield&rsquo;s name in hockey history is linked mostly to his reign as AHL prexy. However, one cannot overlook his early days as a team administrator. Springfield won three consecutive Calder Cups with Butterfield as general manager (1960-62).Working under the demanding Shore, Butterfield was responsible for all aspects of the hockey operation. He not only handled the team, but the operation of the building&mdash;the Eastern States Coliseum&mdash;as well. Shore leased the Big E from the Eastern States Exposition, a non-profit organization.Between the Indians, high school hockey and the Ice Capades, the Coliseum was always busy. Butterfield&rsquo;s days were long and hard. In his role as AHL president, the workload hasn&rsquo;t slackened.&ldquo;Jack&rsquo;s in the office every day at seven a.m. and he&rsquo;s usually there until five,&rdquo; said league vice-president Gordie Anziano, Butterfield&rsquo;s right-hand man the last 17 years. &ldquo;Jack&rsquo;s a workaholic. But he still manages to find time to help the Shriners hospital. He&rsquo;s largely responsible for the new wing they have there.&rdquo;The hard work has paid off. The AHL, once in danger of falling to five teams as the result of the World Hockey Association purge of the &rsquo;70s, is now a thriving 13-team league. Nine of the franchises are owned by National Hockey League teams as the AHL has successfully made the transition to a developmental league without losing its identity. Through it all, Butterfield has remained one of the most respected figures in the game.&ldquo;When we were down to five teams, Jack and I were talking half seriously about opening up a barbecue shop,&rdquo; said Anziano. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t know if we were going to have jobs. I had managed a hamburger stand (the Colony Restaurant&mdash;only a couple of blocks from the site of the current Civic Center) and Jack said he always had wanted to get into the restaurant business.&rdquo;Butterfield&rsquo;s reputation is tough and decisive. He likes to stay in the background, leaving Anziano to handle most of the media relations and league diplomacy.&ldquo;I always looked up to Clarence Campbell,&rdquo; said Butterfield. &ldquo;I tried to pattern myself after him He always exercised good judgment. He always thought before he spoke.&rdquo;Butterfield was not only a GM, he also served briefly as the Indians&rsquo; coach during the 1965-66 season when Shore quickly released old friend Alan Murray after a slow start. The Indians went on to the Calder Cup playoffs and swept Hershey in the first round before bowing to Cleveland.&ldquo;The league is realty run by the board of governors,&rdquo; said Butterfield. &ldquo;They are the guiding light. As president, they give you the dice once in a while and you throw it.&rdquo;Butterfield said the toughest part of the job is trying to make a disciplinary decision based only on reports conflicting from the referee and coaches.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind making a decision when I&rsquo;m there to see the incident,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t mind making it if I have reliable videotapes. What&rsquo;s hard is when you get a report from the referee and a report from each of the coaches and they are all different.&ldquo;Even with the tapes, it can be tough. It&rsquo;s totally amazing. I&rsquo;m not saying they&rsquo;re doctoring the tapes, but if a home player is the offensive player, you&rsquo;ll get a great view of the fans in the stands right at the time of the incident. If it&rsquo;s a visiting player, you&rsquo;ll get a great picture.&rdquo; Butterfield is not ready to retire.&ldquo;Governor (Michael) Dukakis was talking the other day about letting people work over 70 without being forced to retire, so I guess I&rsquo;m going to be safe,&rdquo; he laughed. &ldquo;No, I have no timetable to retire.&rdquo;DOWN SOUTH&mdash;Chris Kontos had a hat trick, but New Haven still lost a 9-7 shootout to Springfield on Jan. 13, as the Indians&rsquo; Dave Jensen had three goals and two assists. Kontos and Jensen were later recalled by the New York Rangers and Minnesota, respectively. &#9632;

Butterfield Given Another Honor

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div>INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;&ldquo;We certainly have good races in each division and our attendance is up very modestly.&rdquo;That was the news from International Hockey League commissioner Bud Poile at the mid-season point.&ldquo;Muskegon has really been impressive,&rdquo; Poile noted. &ldquo;It has more than doubled its attendance this season over last. It&rsquo;s averaging about 3,200 fans a game and that&rsquo;s what helps bring the league attendance up overall.&rdquo;Peoria is also drawing well.&ldquo;The Rivermen drew the biggest individual crowd the league has had so far this season,&rdquo; Poile said of the 6,265 fans who showed up for the Jan. 11 game against Milwaukee.&ldquo;And since (Ted) Garvin took over in Toledo, their attendance has shown improvement,&rdquo; Poile added.The Goaldiggers drew their largest crowd of the season for a Sunday meeting against Flint (Jan. 13) but the 4,900 spectators had to sit through a 7-4 loss.Only two teams, according to Poile, have shown a drop in attendance. Salt Lake City and Indianapolis&mdash;the new guys on the block&mdash;are down slightly from last season&rsquo;s average. Both, of course, were members of the former Central League a year ago.&ldquo;From my standpoint, the league is fairly successful overall,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;Milwaukee may have been a bit of a disappointment to Chicago, but watch out for them.&rdquo;Milwaukee, the principal minorleague team of the Black Hawks, reached the season&rsquo;s midpoint with a record of 10-26-5 in the West Division, good for 28 points but 20 behind division leader Peoria, which had 48 points.The remaining teams in the league were separated by 13 points from top to next to last, and Flint had won more than half its 38 games (22). The Generals, the defending Turner Cup champions, led the East Division with 48 points, followed by Kalamazoo, Muskegon and Toledo.In the West, Peoria held a four-point lead over Fort Wayne; Indianapolis was next with 41 points and Salt Lake was fourth with 35 points, seven more than Milwaukee.No one is running away and hiding fronm the league despite both Flint and Peoria leading their respective divisions for most of the season. Both Kalamazoo and Muskegon have challenged the Generals for the East&rsquo;s top spot, and Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and Salt Lake all have had brief shots at first in the West.All in all, it&rsquo;s a situation which Poile finds encouraging.The combined goals-against average for the eight goalies who have played 22 or more games is a respectable 3.51. Kalamazoo&rsquo;s Georges Gagnon sports the best average at 2.90; Rick Heinz of Peoria has won 18 games.Rob Holland of Indianapolis was in the net as the Checkers swept three in a row at Salt Lake City and upped his record to 33-33-2. He was IHL Player of the Week for the period ending Jan. 13.Gilles Thibaudeau, the 21-year-old center of Flint, may be on the way to a 70-goal-season. In 38 games he had a league-leading 35 goals.The IHL&rsquo;s semi-annual general business meeting will be Feb. 5 in Indianapolis. The agenda will include the &ldquo;Saginaw situation.&rdquo; Commissioner Bud Poile said that franchise is now out of bankruptcy and owner Wren Blair has until the semi-annual meeting to declare his plans under his &ldquo;semi-option&rdquo; with the franchise.At the same time, Poile said the board of governors is supposed to receive an application from Keith Sprunk for a franchise in Cincinnati.Sprunk was associated with a CHL team from that city in the past.The IHL announced its mid-season All-Star team, as picked by the coaches, led by Flint&rsquo;s Gilles Thibaudeau. who is tied for the overall scoring lead at 56 points with Scott MacLeod of Salt Lake City. MacLeod leads the league in assists with 40. Others on the team include: Rob Holland of Indianapolis in goal; Lee Norwood of Peoria and Pat Ribble of Salt Lake on defense; wingers Scott Gruhl of Muskegon and Wally Schreiber of Fort Wayne.MacLeod headed the list of second-team selections. Others were: goal Rick Heinz and winger Perry Ganchar of Peoria; defenseman Brian Tutt and winger Dave Michayluk of Kalamazoo, and defenseman Randy Boyd of Milwaukee.After his team dropped a 7-2 decision to Flint on Jan. 9., Toledo boss Ted Garvin announced he had fined all 17 players $50 apiece. The loss was the 12th in a row to the Generals over the last two seasons. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to stand still and let these guys steal money from our fans,&rdquo; Garvin said. &ldquo;This team mug learn to play on the road.&rdquo; &#9632;

International League Up In Attendance

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>BOSTON&mdash;Lies, damn lies and statistics. Who was it that equated the three of them?It&rsquo;s time to sit back and ponder some statistics, hockey fans, before the marriage of Hockey East and Western collegiate Hockey Association hits the shoals. It&rsquo;s been a great first time around, subjectively speaking, but it has had its bumpy moments, like all marriages do. One partner snores, the other leaves the toothpaste uncapped. Let&rsquo;s just consider a few little things, and for heaven&rsquo;s sake let&rsquo;s keep talking.Catalyst for this plea is the rather un-Bual incident that took place at Boston University&rsquo;s Walter Brown Arena on Jan. 12. Trailing 5-1 with 7:24 left to go in the second period, Michigan Tech coach Jim Nahrgang pulled his team from the ice and didn&rsquo;t return. Tech lost by a 1-0 forfeit score and dropped into the cellar of the WCHA, having lost to BU 6-5 the previous night.An altercation between Tech goalie Tiger Pierce and BU defenseman Scott Shaunessy was the final straw. The two had a run-in after Shaunessy made a rush and a follow-up scoring bid. The BU ayer received a double minor penalty while Pierce got his with a five-minute high sticking major.Nahrgang later told reporters that he was afraid for his players&rsquo; safety and that something bad was building up. He also complained about the lack of consistency in the officiating, because a different crew of referees had worked the Friday night game.Several &ldquo;observers, including BU coach Jack Parker, stated that the game was not a particularly bruising one. If that&rsquo;s true, then Nahrgang&rsquo;s move was much too extreme. It was indeed extraordinary, in any case. But what else is going on here?At the root is fundamental dissatisfaction with the refereeing job done in intersectional games. Eastern coaches complain that they get jobbed when they go West; the Westerners gripe about Eastern home cooking. At worst, this could lead to a cooling of the agreement between the two leagues: at best, it&rsquo;s a spat that can be resolved by a little harder work on the parts of the coaches themselves.Parker summed it up accurately when he said that &ldquo;most coaches don&rsquo;t believe they&rsquo;re being treated fairly in the other guy&rsquo;s back yard. But it&rsquo;s nothing we can&rsquo;t solve. It only seems like a major problem at the moment. I always think I&rsquo;m getting shafted anyway.&rdquo;Nahrgang had blown his stack and received a bench minor earlier in the forfeited game when he questioned another call. His state of mind, his dissatisfaction with the refs, rather than fear for his players&rsquo; safety, seems the more likely motivating force behind his move.Parker got a bench minor himself at the end of regulation time a couple of weeks ago when BU visited Northern Michigan. The penalty led to Northern&rsquo;s winning goal. Parker also got ejected from a game at Colorado College back in December. It was a 7-1 loss that saw 26 penalties whistled on the Terriers; Parker labelled it a &ldquo;farce.&rdquo; So he&rsquo;s been there too, and many coaches echo these feelings off the record.Are they justified? You decide. Here are the figures. When Western teams have come East and competed with Hockey East squads under the eyes of Hockey East officials, they have been assessed an average of 10.58 penalties per game, so the WCHA boys get 53.3 per cent of the penalties called against them.Now, when the Hockey East teams play in games officiated by WCHA referees, they receive 8.85 penalties per game. Western officials call 16.4 penalties per contest, however, so the Easterners get 53.96 per cent called against them. &#9632;

Conferences’ Marriage Hits A Rough Spot

<div class="byline">BY TOM BOGGIE</div>PROVIDENCE&mdash;The slumbering Bear of the Eastern College Athletic Conference has come out of hibernation.The Bears of Brown University, a perennial ECAC doormat, are starting to dish out some lumps of their own. Buoyed by the confidence gained from a mid-January, five-game win streak, Brown has climbed back into the hunt for one of the eight ECAC playoff berths.Although Brown&rsquo;s resurgence may have come as a surprise to a lot of followers of ECAC hockey, third-year coach Herb Hammond knew all along that the Bears were ready to turn the comer.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been on the brink all year,&rdquo; said Hammond. &ldquo;We played RPI well here (the Engineers needed overtime to turn back the stubborn Bears) and we went into overtime against St. Lawrence. We lost to Yale 4-3 at home. Of the first 14 games, we&rsquo;ve had eight or nine one-goal games.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been on the brink, but I think we turned it around at the Downeast Tournament in Maine. Granted, Bowdoin and Colby (the two teams Brown beat for the tournament title) are Division II, but I think they rank with Union and Pittsburgh as the best in Division II.&rdquo;Brown&rsquo;s double overtime victory over Bowdoin in the championship game gave the Bears their first tournament title since 1967 and, three nights later, the Bears came back with an impressive 4-3 victory over crosstown rival Providence. Add to that wins over Army and Princeton (Brown&rsquo;s first win over the Tigers in 11 years) and you have Brown&rsquo;s first five-game win streak since 1978, which, ironically, was the last time the Bears went to the ECAC playoffs.&ldquo;The tournament seemed to give us a little extra confidence, and then against Providence, we played very well,&rdquo; said Hammond. &ldquo;Frankly, I think they were a little on the weary side because of their schedule. They may have been looking past us but we were waiting for them. Providence had beaten us regularly the last seven or eight games, so everything was to our advantage. That gave us the respectability we&rsquo;ve been striving for.&rdquo;The key to Brown&rsquo;s resurgence has been the play of goalie John Franzosa, a senior from Reading, MA.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the backbone for us,&rdquo; Hammond stated. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got his goals-against average down to 3.21 and he&rsquo;s never been below 4.00 for me before. He was even up over five for a while last year. That&rsquo;s an indication that our defense is playing better.&rdquo;The defense has been anchored by senior captain Scott Whitmore and freshman Bruce McColl, who made the alltournament team in Maine. Up front, sophomore Dan Allen has been consistent all year long, picking up 19 points in the first 14 games while junior Al Ban-daccio, who spent a year and a half in Brown&rsquo;s jayvee program before being promoted to the varsity, was the team&rsquo;s leading goal-scorer.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an unsung hero-type of story,&rdquo; said Hammond.In fact, many of the Bears are overachievers.&ldquo;We have no superstars,&rdquo; said Hammond, &ldquo;But everyone is working hard. We&rsquo;re fighting a tremendous battle with Harvard and Yale for kids, so we have to build from within. Take the Bums kids (identical twins Kelly and Karl), they already have three game-winning goals and they played with the jayvees until just before Christmas. They&rsquo;re really Division II players who have developed within the program.&rdquo; &#9632;

Bears Come Out Of Hibernation

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01483/4953875-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="410" height="480"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRUCE GILLIES New Hampshire</figcaption></div><h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>New Hampshire&rsquo;s senior goaltender Bruce Gillies made a total of 74 saves, 45 of them in one game, as the Wildcats turned back Boston College and Northeastern on successive nights to get the nod as Hockey East Performer of the Week.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02384/4953868-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="405" height="480"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAULYSEBAERT Bowling Green</figcaption></div><h2>CCHA</h2>Bowling Green forward Paul Ysebaert scored scored six times, including four in one game, as he collected seven points to lead the Falcons to a split against Ohio State and become the CCHA Performer of the Week. Ysebaert pushed his season totals to 33 points, 18 of which have been goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03302/4953861-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="410" height="474"><figcaption class="caption-body">RANDY WOOD Yale</figcaption></div><h2>ECAC</h2>Yale&rsquo;s junior center Randy Wood scored four goals and two assists as the Bulldogs beat Colgate 7-3 to move into sixth place in the ECAC. The six-point effort earned Wood selection as the ECAC Perfomer of the Week.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04253/4953854-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="414" height="474"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL WATSON Min-Duluth</figcaption></div><h2>WCHA</h2>Minnesota-Duluth Bulldog junior winger Bill Watson scored four goals and five assists as UMD beat and tied the University of Minnesota Gophers to gain possession of first place. The nine-point effort earned Watson honors as WCHA Performer of the Week.THE BAUER PERFORMERS OF THE WEEK &#9632;

f0035-01

Bauer FIT FOR PERFORMANCE

<h2>HOCKEY EAST CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Jan. 22)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01460/4954011-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="530" height="235"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Jan. 16New Hampshire 4 at Boston College 3Northeastern 3 at Providence 4Fri. Jan.18Boston University 5 at Lowell 2Sat. Jan. 19Boston College 5 at Providence 2Northeaster 4 at New Hampshire 7Sun. Jan. 20Boston University 6 at Maine 4<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02348/4954004-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="526" height="325"></div><h2>WCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Jan. 22)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03274/4953997-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="524" height="263"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Jan. 18N. Michigan 2 at Mich Tech 3North Dakota 3 at Colorado Coll. 4Wisconsin 8 at Denver 7Minnesota 6 at Min-Duluth 6Sat. Jan. 19North Dakota 5 at Colorado Coll. 2Wisconsin 3 at Denver 10Minnesota 6 at Min-Duluth 8Mich Tech 8 at N. Michigan 6<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04199/4953990-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="530" height="294"></div><h2>CCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Jan. 25)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05158/4953983-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="526" height="294"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. Jan. 5Lake Superior 1 at Bowling Green 9Michigan 3 at Ferris State 9Mich. State 7 at W. Michigan 3Ohio State 3 at Illinois-Chicago 4Sun. Jan. 6Michigan 5, Spartak 4Mon. Jan. 7USSR Spartak 9, Bow. Green 4Tue. Jan. 8Alaska-Fairbanks 3 at Mich State 13Fri. Jan. 11Illinois-Chicago 0 at W. Michigan 3Miami 2 at Mich State 3Michigan 4 at Bowling Green 9Ohio State 2 at Lake Superior 5Sat. Jan. 12Bowling Green 6 at Michigan 8Illinois-Chicago 2 at W. Michigan 8Miami 1 at Mich State 5Ohio State 1 at Lake Suprerior 9Alaska-Fairbanks 0 at Ferris State 8Fri. Jan. 18Bowling Green 3 at Ohio State 7Illinois-Chicago 6 at Miami 7Lake Superior 3 at W. Michigan 2Mich State 3 at Ferris State 1Michigan 2 at RPI 5Sat. Jan. 19Ferris State 3 at Mich State 7Illinois-Chicago 10 at Miami 6Lake Superior 2 at W. Michigan 3Ohio State 4 at Bowling Green 7Michigan 1 at RPI 5<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06136/4953976-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="528" height="320"></div><h2>ECAC CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Jan. 25)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07128/4953969-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="530" height="442"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Jan. 11Princeton 2 at Yale 2Army 3 at Brown 6Harvard 2 at Clarkson 1Dartmouth 2 at St. Lawrence 4Cornel 2 at RPI 6Colgate 2 at Vermont 0 Sat. Jan. 12Army 2 at Yale 4Princeton 0 at Brown 1Dartmouth 1 at Clarkson 5Harvard 4 at St. Lawrence 3Colgate 0 at RPI 6Cornell 5 at Vermont 3Mon. Jan. 14Merrimack 3 at Vermont 2Tue. Jan. 15Michigan 2 at RPI 5Wed. Jan. 16Michigan 1 at RPI 5McGill 4 at Dartmouth 5Buffalo State 2 at Army 15Fri. Jan. 18Yale 7 at Colgate 3Brown 2 at Cornell 3St. Lawrence 2 at Clarkson 5Sat. Jan. 19Brown 1 at Colgate 5Yale 4 at Cornell 5Sun. Jan. 20Buffalo State 3 at Army 6<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08123/4953962-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="526" height="176"></div><h2>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-09117/4953955-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="532" height="410"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>McMaster 8, Guelph 7York 7, Western 0Toronto 5, Queen&rsquo;s 3Western 6, Brock 3Toronto 10, Windsor 4Guelph 6, RMC 2Laurier 8, Queen&rsquo;s 4Laurier 11, RMC 0<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-10114/4953948-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="534" height="348"></div><h2>CANADA WEST CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-11110/4953941-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="524" height="175"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Saskatchewan 8, Lethbridge 2Saskatchewan 7, Lethbridge 3Saskatchewan 5, UBC 4UBC 6, Saskatchewan 4Alberta 7, Calgary 4Alberta 5, Calgary 2Alberta 8, Lethbridge 3Alberta 12, Lethbridge 5Saskatchewan 4, UBC 0Saskatchewan 8, UBC 4Calgary 8, Brandon 4Calgary 7, Brandon 5<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-12106/4953934-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="527" height="323"></div><h2>ATLANTIC CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-13103/4953927-1-eng-US/f0036-132.jpg" title="f0036-13" width="529" height="292"></div><h2>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1497/4953920-1-eng-US/f0036-142.jpg" title="f0036-14" width="527" height="175"></div><h2>GREAT PLAINS CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1596/4953913-1-eng-US/f0036-152.jpg" title="f0036-15" width="527" height="148"></div><h2>ONTARIO COLLEGES</h2>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1693/4953906-1-eng-US/f0036-162.jpg" title="f0036-16" width="527" height="265"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Georgian 9, Centennial 5Centennial 5, Sheridan 2Seneca 6, Can ado re 3Canadore 7, Conestoga 0St. Clair 6, Sheridan 0 &#9632;

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HOW THEY STAND

<h2>HOCKEY EAST FEBRUARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1787/4954063-1-eng-US/f0036-172.jpg" title="f0036-17" width="528" height="708"></div><h2>CCHA FEBRUARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1883/4954056-1-eng-US/f0036-182.jpg" title="f0036-18" width="516" height="236"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1981/4954049-1-eng-US/f0036-192.jpg" title="f0036-19" width="514" height="324"></div><h2>ECAC FEBRUARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2077/4954042-1-eng-US/f0036-202.jpg" title="f0036-20" width="521" height="722"></div> &#9632;

f0036-17

GAMES TO COME

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div>GRAND FORKS&mdash;It&rsquo;s not hard to figure out why freshman Scott Brower of the university of North Dakota became a goaltender. When you grow up in a small Canadian prairie town and six of your peers are brothers bent on hockey, someone needs to don the pads for target prac-race.The Sutter brothers&mdash;Brian, Duane, Darrvl. Brent. Rich and Ron&mdash;are all from Viking, Alta., a town of 1,200 which also&rsquo;includes Brower. The six Sutter brothers are now all in the National Hockey League, and if Brower ever gets there his mates in minor hockey will have helped him.Hockey isn&rsquo;t the only thing keeping Viking alive, but there&rsquo;s no question that hockey put Viking on the map.&ldquo;Everywhere you go in Canada and mention Viking, it&rsquo;s instant recognition because of the Sutters,&rdquo; Brower said. &ldquo;You mention Viking and they say, &lsquo;Oh yeah, Sutterville.&rsquo; It opens doors for you. Down here very few people pick up the association between Viking and the Sutters.&rdquo;The Sutter twins, Rich and Ron&mdash;both with the Philadelphia Flyers&mdash;are among Brower&rsquo;s closest friends. They combined to advance to the highest level in the playoffs in peewee, bantam and midget before they went their separate ways, the Sutters to the NHL, Brower to college. &ldquo;In one sense, it&rsquo;s good to be from Viking because of what the SuttersTiave done,&rdquo; Brower said. &ldquo;But in another sense it makes it hard because I can&rsquo;t touch what they&rsquo;ve done. It gives me inspiration, though, and something to work for. I saw how they got to the NHL, just by hard work.&ldquo;In peewee and bantam, Ron and Rich were just average players, or below average. They worked extra hard to get where they are today. Just to see them go up so high and do so well is plenty of incentive for me.&rdquo;That incentive shows in Brower&rsquo;s strong work ethic.&ldquo;There are three ways you can have success,&rdquo; said UND coach Gino Gasparini. &ldquo;You can inherit it, you can marry it or you can work hard for it.&rdquo;Since Brower hasn&rsquo;t exercised his first two options, he&rsquo;s attaining his through the third.Bower credits the Sutters for helping him become a better goaltender.&ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t really give me tips, but they gave me plenty of mental support,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They always asked, &lsquo;How are you doing?&rsquo; and told me to keep working hard. They&rsquo;ve always had words of encouragement for me.&rdquo;But it was Brower&rsquo;s father, not the Sutters, who was instrumental in him becoming a goalie.&ldquo;My dad coached a youth team in Viking and he always brought the goalie equipment home,&rdquo; Brower said. &ldquo;He needed a goalie, and he asked me if I&rsquo;d try it. I&rsquo;d go down to the basement with my two older brothers and they&rsquo;d stand trie up against the wall and shoot at me. I tried it and I liked it and I&rsquo;ve been a goalie ever since.&rdquo;Brower has come on strong to establish himself as North Dakota&rsquo;s No. 1 goalie. He&rsquo;s lowered his goals-against average to 3.28 and raised his save percentage to a solid .900 while starting 14 of UND&rsquo;s last 15 games. In his last four starts, he&rsquo;s given up just five goals.WCHA NOTES&mdash;Scott Brower&rsquo;s hot play has helped North Dakota vault back into the WCHA race as the Sioux are now just five points behind leagueleading Minnesota after once trailing the Gophers by nine points&hellip;The WCHA may take action against Michigan Tech and coach Jim Nahrgang after the latter pulled his team from the ice and forfeited the game in disgust with the officiating in a recent game against Boston University&hellip;WCHA scoring leader Pat Micheletti, who had been sidelined with the flu, came off the sick bed to pop in five goals as the Gophers split a big series in Minneapolis against Wisconsin. &#9632;

North Dakota’s Brower Born In ‘Sutterville’

<div class="byline">BY BILL CRAWFORD</div>DETROIT&mdash;One would assume that it&rsquo;s a long way from officiating mite league hockey in suburban Detroit to working Division One college hockey, but it&rsquo;s been a quick trip for Brian Hart.Eleven years ago, his playing days over, Hart took up officiating as a means of &ldquo;getting closer to the action&rdquo; than croaching. Today, at 35, he is the top official in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and works the occasional Western Collegiate Hockey League series also.In a league (the CCHA) where many a critic claims that the level of officiating hasn&rsquo;t yet caught up to the standard of play, Hart stands out. His is the name most often mentioned with the descriptive adjectives &ldquo;capable&rdquo; and &ldquo;competent.&rdquo;He was working junior games in the Great Lakes League five years ago, when both Michigan State coach Ron Mason and then-Michigan coach John Giordano approached him about officiating in the CCHA.&ldquo;I was just in the right place at the right time,&rdquo; Hart said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way it is with everything. I started officiating just as a means of getting some exercise and to stay close to the game. I never dreamed I&rsquo;d referee at the college or junior level.&rdquo;Hart is well respected in the U.S. He lists his biggest officiating thrill as having worked the European Cup in 1982, with the World Junior Championships in &rsquo;83 a close second.Hart officiates the CCHA and NCAA regionals and finals each season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just like it is for the players,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You set goals each year and one of mine is to work the finals. I&rsquo;ve been there every year the last few.&rdquo;Hart is employed full-time as a plant superintendent with the Diamond Tool Division of the Northern Company in Warren, ML His position permits him the luxury of carrying out full-time officiating duties in the CCHA-WCHA and at the junior level.&ldquo;The officiating is very demanding,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;You start preparing Monday for a Friday game or series. It&rsquo;s always on your mind. And you&rsquo;ve got to belong to an athletic club or something similar so you can stay in good physical shape. I spend hours each week reading the rulebook, keeping sharp. You deal in split seconds on the ice. You&rsquo;ve really got to work at it.&rdquo;Referees in the CCHA earn $200 a game, plus expenses and, this year, the CCHA is using a one-referee, two linesmen system, a change from years past.&ldquo;I prefer the two-referee system,&rdquo; said Hart. &ldquo;The game moves too quickly, especially with no red line, for one guy. But the CCHA never paired guys to where consistency would show. They almost always worked a stronger official with a weaker one and you rarely worked with the same guy more than twice a season. You didn&rsquo;t always know what to expect each weekend.CCHA CHATTER&mdash;Ferris State ran its win streak to four games by shutting down Steve Moria and his Alaska-Fairbanks club 8-0 on Jan. 12. Moria had a 72-game scoring streak heading into the contest at Big Rapids, ML The record of 79 games still belongs to Michigan State&rsquo;s Tom Ross, set in the &rsquo;70s&hellip;Tom Nowland registered the win and also a record low eight saves when MSU stopped the same Alaska-Fairbanks crew 123 the previous Monday&hellip;Michigan&rsquo;s Chris Seychal scored his 50th career goal Jan. 12 against Bowling Green State&hellip;Western Michigan&rsquo;s Glenn Healy recorded his third career shutout. &#9632;

CCHA Ref Hart Earns Respect

<div class="byline">BY JOHN HERBERT</div>LONDON&mdash;The Ontario Hockey League calls players such as Rick Barko-vich of the London Knights, Chris Felix of Soo Greyhounds, Mike Tomlak of Cornwall Royals, Tim Salmon of Kingston Canadians and Scott Morrison of Ottawa&rsquo;s 67s &ldquo;overage.&rdquo;Washed up at 20?Well, not exactly.Mature students might be a better way of describing players in junior hockey&rsquo;s recycling project; players designated by the OHL as &ldquo;overage.&rdquo; Each team is permitted one, and only the Kitchener Rangers have failed to declare an overage player this season.Generally, these players ae considered too small, too slow, don&rsquo;t skate well enough, etc. to be candidates for the National Hockey League.However, around the junior league, they&rsquo;re making their mark.For example, Soo Greyhound general manager Sam McMaster wonders where his club would be without versatile captain Felix. McMaster&rsquo;s Greyounds tied the league record, set by St. Catharines Fincups in the 76-77 season, with their 20th consecutive home-ice victory, defeating Oshawa 6-2.Felix was an all-star last season on defense who is playing left wing much of this season and shares the points lead in the group with 61. Tomlak is also having a great year with 61 points for the Cornwall Royals.Barkovich has 31 goals, tops among the crop of overage players.Salmon returned recently from Austria when his team folded and the Canadians quickly snapped up last year&rsquo;s OHL scoring champion, even if it meant dropping Rick Fera, who had 40 points.Morrison, the top scorer and most valuable player in London the past two seasons, was playing a role in the turnaround of the 67s&rsquo; fortunes, making them a playoff contender with nine goals and eight assists through 13 games.Center Shaun Reagan supplies all-around help in Windsor and had 45 points. Rob Nichols, a solid player offensively and defensively for North Bay, has chipped in 20 goals and 27 assists. Sudbury was getting improved goaltending from Greg Coram, picked up from Ottawa; Kevin Hopkins was stirring things up for the pesky Platers in Guelph with some great checking; and playmaker John Hutchings was added by Bill LaForge to provide the spark for Hamilton&rsquo;s power play and experience on defense.That&rsquo;s just a sampling of some of the overage stars in the Emms Division.A glance at the Leyden Division shows more top players.Dune MacIntyre is headed for a 40-goal season for Belleville as the Bulls charged into the Leyden lead; ex-Comwall and Hamilton forward Brent Loney was producing for Oshawa; Peterborough added hard-working former Pete John Vecciarelli just before the signing deadline from Dixie&rsquo;s Tier II club, and defenseman George Spezza was obviously playing a major role as captain of the Toronto Marlies.None consider themselves outsiders and they certainly aren&rsquo;t treated that way by their teammates.Most general managers and coaches don&rsquo;t like the name overage, but nobody&rsquo;s come up with a better tag yet.&ldquo;It almost sounds like you&rsquo;re babysitting for one more year and a lot of times it&rsquo;s not fair,&rdquo; said Soo coach Terry Crisp.&ldquo;I know a lot of times the overage playuer could be in the IHL (International League) making good money but they chose to finish in our league hoping to improve their skill level and also get a crack at pro ranks the following season if they really pour it on.&ldquo;Look at the kids. Go around the league and most of them are dam good players.&rdquo;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like it at all,&rdquo; offered Kingston GM Ken Slater.Nobody argues the merits of overage players, but unfortunately few have gone on to NHL careers. Ex-Peterborough goalie Greg Millen is one but others have found themselves back in the minor pros, in school, Europe or the working force the following year.&ldquo;I feel there has been a few careers enhanced,&rdquo; said Pete GM-coach Dick Todd. &ldquo;We had Greg Millen (in goal) and he went on to be a tremendous NHL player. Take a guy like Barkovich. He didn&rsquo;t get three years in the league but has shown much improvement each year.&rdquo;Whatever the future holds, the overage players are among the most important players on junior clubs.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to be selective in the ones you take,&rdquo; said Belleville GM-coach Larry Mavety. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got to be good hockey players but most of them are also leaders. I think it&rsquo;s good for the league. It allows us to replace the ones we lose to the NHL underage. You can&rsquo;t replace those kids with a young kid because they haven&rsquo;t developed.&ldquo;A lot of players develop late and it gives them an extra year of junior.&rdquo;McMaster said one of the main reasons his club was in first place is Felix, who produced 32 goals and 93 points last season on defense. This season, the club&rsquo;s captain was playing both wing and defense.&ldquo;I guess they (the pros) don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s big enough but he&rsquo;s the best in our league and an outstanding candidate for the Olympic program in my opinion. We&rsquo;re 33-9-1. There&rsquo;s got to be a reason. He&rsquo;s one of them.Barkovich, 20, said he doesn&rsquo;t mind being labelled. He broke into the OHI a year later than most rookies, costing him a year&rsquo;s eligibility.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t bother me because I don&rsquo;t feel like an overage anyway because its only my third year in the league,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Normally, every player gets three years in the league. I just go out and do my job and block out the rest and let the chips fall wherever they fall.&rdquo;Barkovich hopes that it pays off with a pro trial.&ldquo;I feel I&rsquo;ve had a good year and I&rsquo;ve found that my scoring touch around the net is a little sharper,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing on a good club and that has given me a lot of confidence in myself and team.&rdquo; &#9632;

Felix, Tomlak Head Fine Overage Crop

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01472/4954180-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="550" height="570"><figcaption class="caption-body">WAYNE GROULX S.S. Marie</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>Wayne Groulx of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds has set his sights on establishing an OHL career point record before he leaves junior hockey for the pros next season.The veteran Greyhound center, who was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in 1983, came up with an eight-point performance to win OHL Player of the Week honors and enhance his chances of erasing Dale McCourt&rsquo;s league record of 477 points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02374/4954173-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="544" height="570"><figcaption class="caption-body">SIMON WHEELDON Victoria</figcaption></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>Simon Wheeldon&rsquo;s 1983-84 season with Victoria was nothing to write home about but the Cougars&rsquo; young center is making up for it this year.The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder scored 12 points in three games for Victoria to win the nod as WHL Player of the Week and push him into seventh spot in the league scoring race with 73 points in only 37 games.Last season, the 1984 Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; draft pick had only 38 points in 56 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03297/4954166-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="560" height="564"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARC DAMPHOUSSE Shawinigan</figcaption></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>Marc Damphousse of Shawinigan could end up as the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League scoring champion at his present pace, which isn&rsquo;t bad for a guy who wasn&rsquo;t even in the top 25 scorers last year.The high-scoring right winger went over the 100-point mark for the season as he had nine points in three games to take QMJHL Player-of-the-Week honors for the third time. Last year the Cataractes&rsquo; center collected only 65 points.At the end of the current season. THE HOCKEY NEWS will select a Micron Junior Plavcr of the Year. &#9632;

f0038-01

MICRON JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div>MOOSE JAW&mdash;The Pittsburgh Penawns have Warren Young. The Moose Warriors have Mark MacKay.The scoring exploits of Young, a 28-year-old National Hockey League rookie who is among the league&rsquo;s better scorers, have been well documented this season, while he&rsquo;s commanded the pro spotlight, MacKay, a 20-year-old rookie with the Western Hockey League Warriors, is doing the same at the amateur level.In an era where there&rsquo;s a marked trend to younger talent both in the National hockey League and the Western Hockey Association, MacKay is living proof pre&rsquo;s room for the older player in a young man&rsquo;s game.The 5-foot-9, 180-pound Winnipeg native, who played the last two seasons with University of Manitoba Bisons, was tied for fifth in WHL scoring after 41 games with 83 points, including 38 goals. Not only is MacKay helping his own stock rise, he&rsquo;s a big reason the transplanted Winnipeg Warriors, who set a league record last year with 63 losses, have been rejuvenated. Moose Jaw was 12-29-1 after 42 games and still has a Slot at an Eastern Division playoff spot. &ldquo;I think the 20-year-old players can really help the young guys come along and gain the confidence they need,&rdquo; said MacKay. &ldquo;Hopefully my play will rub off on the younger guys and I think it has. don&rsquo;t think they&rsquo;re afraid to come and talk to me and that&rsquo;s important.&rdquo;But why major junior after two years of university hockey?&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t want to think five or 10 years from now that I had a chance to play major junior and didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said MacKay. &ldquo;I also knew the situation I was coming into and was prepared to accept it. I wanted to prove I could play in the WHL, and I know chances of maybe playing in Europe next year are better if we make the playoffs.&ldquo;If I have a good year it will open a lot of doors because you get a lot of exposure in this league.&rdquo;While coach Graham James unloaded several veterans and went with the youth movement, he knew some glue was needed to hold his inexperienced squad together. Enter MacKay.&ldquo;Every game we have he plays so hard,&rdquo; said James of his center who was named the division player of the month nor December after collecting 30 points in 11 games, including a record-tying seven-goal game. &ldquo;We got beat 15-5 by Prince Albert and he still got three goals&mdash;the last in the final few minutes. It sort of typifies what he&rsquo;s all about. He embarrasses guys into playing harder.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never coached anybody like him. He&rsquo;s extremely tough but wants to stay out on the ice and provide the leadership. I can&rsquo;t really compare him to anybody. He&rsquo;s not really talented, he&rsquo;s not a great skater but he works hard with the puck and he&rsquo;s one of the most determined players I&rsquo;ve ever seen. Sort of like the Sutters but with better puck-handling ability.&ldquo;Probably working hard has created a lot of opportunities,&rdquo; said MacKay. &ldquo;Keeping a high intensity level has helped, too.&rdquo;What James, who has known McKay since he was 14, also likes about his player is his off-ice leadership.&ldquo;You couldn&rsquo;t ask for a better guy,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll go out and do anything you want to sell the team. He&rsquo;ll go to dinners and do promotions two or three times a week. He&rsquo;s never turned down an opportunity to help the team. It&rsquo;s good to have a guy like that in our league.&rdquo;Sounds like the kind of stuff a division MVP is made of?&ldquo;Certainly for us he&rsquo;s our MVP but after that I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said James. &ldquo;If he keeps getting points and we make the playoffs he might have a shot at it.&rdquo;MacKay often works with left winger Kent Hayes, who had 68 points after 32 games, and right wingers Jay Johnston and Kurt Lackden.MacKay played on a bantam team in St. Boniface, Man., with outstanding WHL grads Darren Boyko and Dale Der-katch. In tier II, MacKay had WHL grads Ron Dreger and Cam Douglas on his club.MacKay wasn&rsquo;t invited to the Warriors&rsquo; camp in the 1982-83 season and elected to play in the Great Plains Athletic Conference with the Bisons. He was GPAC rookie of the year and led the scoring parade. MacKay had more than 100 points in his two seasons of university hockey.The following year MacKay was wooed by the Warriors but chose to stay with the Bisons who had a European trip planned and a good shot at a national hockey title, too. He has a year left to complete a physical education degree.This season MacKay followed James to Moose Jaw.WHL WEEK&mdash;WHL governors unanimously voted on Jan. 14 to purchase the struggling Seattle Breakers and keep them in the American city. Settle owner John Hamilton had accepted an offer and down payment from a Swift Current, Sask., group headed by Patty Ginnell. However, citing losing a team from one division to another, governors agreed it would be in the best interest of the WHL to operate the club until Seattiearea buyers can be found.Cliff Ronning of the New Westminster continued to lead the scoring race with 97 points. Greg Evtushevski of Kamloops was second at 90 points while Al Conroy of Medicine Hat had 87. Gord Walker of Kamloops had 85 points, Dan Hodgson of Prince Albert and Mark MacKay of Moose Jaw, 83. Ray Podloski of Portland and Dwaine Hutton of Kelowna had 71, Simon Wheeldon of Victoria and Ken Morrison of Prince Albert, 68. Ronning and Walker led in goals with 47 each, Conroy topped assists with 61.In goaltending, Troy Gamble of Medicine Hat led with a 2.94 goals-against average, teammate Gary Johnson, 3.19; Lance Carlsen of New Westminster, 3.22; Royden Gunn and Ward Komonosky of Prince Albert, 3.31 and 3.37, respectively.In Canadian Major Junior Hockey League top-10 rankings, Prince Albert remained on top with a .816 winning percentage based on a 30-6-2 mark. Kamloops was third (.767), Medicine Hat sixth (.679), Regina ninth (.616) and New Westminster 10th (.600). &#9632;

MacKay Goes Against Game’s Youth Trend

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div>CHICOUTIMI&mdash;Stephane Richer, the focal point of the biggest trade in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this season, is also the subject of a storm in a beer glass.Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; managing director Serge Savard called up the slick, six-foot-two, 190 pounder two games after he arrived in Chicoutimi in a recent five-for-two deal with Granby Bisons, sparking a protest that included a fledgling boycott against Molson Breweries, which owns the Canadiens.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re panicking for nothing,&rdquo; said Savard after two of the Sags&rsquo; shareholders said they would refuse to sell Molson products in their bars and were going to ask others to join the boycott. &ldquo;The rules oblige me to return Richer. He won&rsquo;t even miss one of the Sagueneens&rsquo; games.&rdquo;Chicoutimi coach Mario Bazinet was glad to see the 18-year-old Quebec native get the call.&ldquo;When Stephane was called up, it seemed like the end of the world here,&rdquo; said Bazinet, who obtained Richer and 18-year-old left winger Greg Choules for left winger-center Stephane Roy, 17, left winger Marc Bureau, 18, goaltender Lee Duhemee, 17, defenseman Sylvain Demers, 17, and defenseman Rene Lecuyer, 19.&ldquo;People here are a bit frustrated. They haven&rsquo;t had a good team for four of five years and have watched players like Gilbert Delorme (St. Louis), Normand Leveille (Boston) and Luc Dufour (Boston) called up before their junior eligebil-ity was over, and Marc Bergevin is up with Chicago this season.&ldquo;Now we&rsquo;re starting to have a decent team (second in the Dilio Division) and we&rsquo;ve only lost two games in our last 20.&rdquo;The club drew about 7,000 fans for Richer&rsquo;s first two games, almost double its average.The controversy arose because of a lack of understanding of a new agreement between the National Hockey League and the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League this season.Under this agreement, an NHL club can recall an underage junior only when three players are out of the lineup with injuries. The junior player must be returned when any of the injured players rejoin the team.Richer, a Montreal second-round pick in the 1984 draft, was called up for a game against the. Quebec Nordiques when Bobby Smith, Ron Flockhart and Mike McPhee were sidelined with injuries.Not the bashful type, Richer told reporters before the game that he had a strong dislike for the Nordiques. He didn&rsquo;t look out of place skating with Ryan Walter and Mark Hunter during his limited apperance, which included some time on the power play.&ldquo;I think Stephane is possibly the most talented player in the league and I think he deserved the break,&rdquo; Bazinet said.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an outstanding playmaker and can really skate, although it might not show all the time.&rdquo;&ldquo;Stephane was less-heralded than some but he really came up big for us offensively and defensively,&rdquo; said Ron Lapointe, assistant coach of Canada&rsquo;s world champion national junior team and coach of the first-place Shawinigan Cataracts. &ldquo;He was one of our best forwards.&rdquo;&ldquo;Stephane is a spectacular player but I wasn&rsquo;t satisfied with the wy he played for me,&rdquo; said Claude St. Saveur, coach of the Dilio Division-leading Bisons. &ldquo;He was too concerned about his own play.St. Saveur said he thought he had obtained one of the best 17-year-olds in the league in Roy, brother of Granby goaltender Patrick Roy, a third-round pick of the Canadiens in 1984.&ldquo;Bureau is giving me as much as Stephane (Richer) did. I wouldn&rsquo;t have let him go unless I felt I had the upper hand in the trade.&rdquo;Roy and Bureau are considered two of this year&rsquo;s leading NHL draft prospects. Duhemee was playing Junior AA in Abitibi, Demers junior AA for Montreal Northand Lecuyer collegiate AA in Chicoutimi.The Sags also strengthened themselves considerably by acquiring goaltender Dan Berthiaume from Drum-mondville Voltigeurs for No. 1 draft pick Simon Masse, a right winger, at the end of October. Most NHL scouts consider Berthiaume the top QMJHL goaltending prospect.But the Richer trade will lose some of its impact for Chicoutimi if the center sticks with the Canadiens next year. &#9632;

Richer Recall Has Sag Fans Upset

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1123/4954780-1-eng-US/f0040-112.jpg" title="f0040-11" width="845" height="317"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1024/4954787-1-eng-US/f0040-102.jpg" title="f0040-10" width="220" height="282"></div><h2>OVERALL LEADERS OFFENSIVE DEFENSIVE</h2><h2>TOP DEFENSEMEN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1221/4954773-1-eng-US/f0040-122.jpg" title="f0040-12" width="849" height="321"></div><h2>TOP ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1319/4954766-1-eng-US/f0040-132.jpg" title="f0040-13" width="845" height="291"></div><h2>BOSTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1415/4954759-1-eng-US/f0040-142.jpg" title="f0040-14" width="845" height="143"></div><h2>BUFFALO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1515/4954752-1-eng-US/f0040-152.jpg" title="f0040-15" width="842" height="144"></div><h2>CALGARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1614/4954745-1-eng-US/f0040-162.jpg" title="f0040-16" width="842" height="148"></div><h2>CHICAGO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1712/4954738-1-eng-US/f0040-172.jpg" title="f0040-17" width="845" height="146"></div><h2>DETROIT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1810/4954731-1-eng-US/f0040-182.jpg" title="f0040-18" width="843" height="142"></div><h2>EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-198/4954724-1-eng-US/f0040-192.jpg" title="f0040-19" width="845" height="143"></div><h2>HARTFORD</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-208/4954717-1-eng-US/f0040-202.jpg" title="f0040-20" width="847" height="142"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-218/4954710-1-eng-US/f0040-212.jpg" title="f0040-21" width="848" height="142"></div><h2>MINNESOTA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-228/4954703-1-eng-US/f0040-222.jpg" title="f0040-22" width="847" height="146"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-237/4954696-1-eng-US/f0040-232.jpg" title="f0040-23" width="842" height="145"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-247/4954689-1-eng-US/f0040-242.jpg" title="f0040-24" width="842" height="145"></div><h2>NY ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-255/4954682-1-eng-US/f0040-252.jpg" title="f0040-25" width="842" height="148"></div><h2>NY RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-264/4954675-1-eng-US/f0040-262.jpg" title="f0040-26" width="846" height="146"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-273/4954668-1-eng-US/f0040-272.jpg" title="f0040-27" width="840" height="145"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-282/4954661-1-eng-US/f0040-282.jpg" title="f0040-28" width="842" height="144"></div><h2>QUEBEC</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-292/4954654-1-eng-US/f0040-292.jpg" title="f0040-29" width="844" height="146"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-302/4954647-1-eng-US/f0040-302.jpg" title="f0040-30" width="838" height="142"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-312/4954640-1-eng-US/f0040-312.jpg" title="f0040-31" width="836" height="146"></div><h2>VANCOUVER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-322/4954633-1-eng-US/f0040-322.jpg" title="f0040-32" width="840" height="146"></div><h2>WASHINGTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-332/4954626-1-eng-US/f0040-332.jpg" title="f0040-33" width="838" height="148"></div><h2>WINNIPEG</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-342/4954619-1-eng-US/f0040-342.jpg" title="f0040-34" width="842" height="143"></div> &#9632;

f0040-11

EMERY TROPHY PLUS-MINUS

<h2>Mon. Jan. 16 NEW JERSEY 2, RANGERS 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01197/4954588-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="550" height="614"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 3, WASH. 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02123/4954581-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="548" height="442"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0381/4954574-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="566" height="528"></div><h2>Tue. Jan. 17 BOSTON 3, NEW JERSEY 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0459/4954567-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="598" height="584"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0544/4954560-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="580" height="178"></div><h2>CALGARY 5, HARTFORD 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0637/4954553-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="580" height="216"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0732/4954546-1-eng-US/f0040-072.jpg" title="f0040-07" width="562" height="434"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0828/4954539-1-eng-US/f0040-082.jpg" title="f0040-08" width="568" height="110"></div><h2>MONTREAL 2, QUEBEC 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0924/4954532-1-eng-US/f0040-092.jpg" title="f0040-09" width="560" height="212"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01163/4954525-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="552" height="570"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 5, VANCOUVER 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02118/4954518-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="558" height="1148"></div><h2>Wed. Jan. 16 BUFFALO 2 RANGERS 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0396/4954511-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="560" height="798"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 3, EDMONTON 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0476/4954504-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="552" height="866"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 1, DETROIT 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0290/4954497-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="546" height="440"></div><h2>WASH. 5, PITTSBURGH 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0359/4954490-1-eng-US/f0046-032.jpg" title="f0046-03" width="548" height="870"></div><h2>TORONTO 4, LOS ANGELES 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0448/4954483-1-eng-US/f0046-042.jpg" title="f0046-04" width="554" height="785"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 3, CHICAGO 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0534/4954476-1-eng-US/f0046-052.jpg" title="f0046-05" width="547" height="814"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 4, MINNESOTA 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0627/4954469-1-eng-US/f0046-062.jpg" title="f0046-06" width="556" height="66"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0723/4954462-1-eng-US/f0046-072.jpg" title="f0046-07" width="570" height="938"></div><h2>Thu. Jan. 17 CALGARY 4, BOSTON 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0813/4954455-1-eng-US/f0046-082.jpg" title="f0046-08" width="563" height="784"></div><h2>HARTFORD 4, MONTREAL 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0912/4954448-1-eng-US/f0046-092.jpg" title="f0046-09" width="554" height="874"></div><h2>DETROIT 5, PHILADELPHIA 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1010/4954441-1-eng-US/f0046-102.jpg" title="f0046-10" width="569" height="920"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH 2 WASH. 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1110/4954434-1-eng-US/f0046-112.jpg" title="f0046-11" width="575" height="958"></div><h2>Fri. Jan. 18 CHICAGO 3, BUFFALO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-128/4954427-1-eng-US/f0046-122.jpg" title="f0046-12" width="569" height="728"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-137/4954420-1-eng-US/f0046-132.jpg" title="f0046-13" width="561" height="142"></div><h2>RANGERS 9. NEW JERSEY 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-147/4954413-1-eng-US/f0046-142.jpg" title="f0046-14" width="561" height="1270"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 6, WINNIPEG 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-157/4954406-1-eng-US/f0046-152.jpg" title="f0046-15" width="564" height="779"></div><h2>EDMONTON 4, VANCOUVER 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-167/4954399-1-eng-US/f0046-162.jpg" title="f0046-16" width="575" height="955"></div><h2>Sat. Jan. 19 BOSTON 3, QUEBEC 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-177/4954392-1-eng-US/f0046-172.jpg" title="f0046-17" width="560" height="813"></div><h2>BUFFALO 2, HARTFORD 0</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-187/4954385-1-eng-US/f0046-182.jpg" title="f0046-18" width="559" height="62"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01148/4954378-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="547" height="340"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02100/4954371-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="602" height="266"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY 4, MONTREAL 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0365/4954364-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="593" height="74"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0450/4954357-1-eng-US/f0044-042.jpg" title="f0044-04" width="599" height="386"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0541/4954350-1-eng-US/f0044-052.jpg" title="f0044-05" width="602" height="382"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0634/4954343-1-eng-US/f0044-062.jpg" title="f0044-06" width="563" height="97"></div><h2>ISLANDERS 5, LOS ANGELES 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0732/4954336-1-eng-US/f0044-072.jpg" title="f0044-07" width="559" height="205"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01125/4954329-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="567" height="849"></div><h2>RANGERS 1, WASHINGTON 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0284/4954322-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="569" height="847"></div><h2>PHILAD 4, MINNESOTA 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0358/4954315-1-eng-US/f0045-032.jpg" title="f0045-03" width="576" height="271"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0441/4954308-1-eng-US/f0045-042.jpg" title="f0045-04" width="579" height="559"></div><h2>CHICAGO 4, PITTSBURGH 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0532/4954301-1-eng-US/f0045-052.jpg" title="f0045-05" width="571" height="1141"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 1, TORONTO 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0626/4954294-1-eng-US/f0045-062.jpg" title="f0045-06" width="593" height="356"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0724/4954287-1-eng-US/f0045-072.jpg" title="f0045-07" width="602" height="531"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 8, DETROIT 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0817/4954280-1-eng-US/f0045-082.jpg" title="f0045-08" width="568" height="940"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0915/4954273-1-eng-US/f0045-092.jpg" title="f0045-09" width="584" height="122"></div><h2>VANCOUVER 5, EDMONTON 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-1012/4954266-1-eng-US/f0045-102.jpg" title="f0045-10" width="582" height="418"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-1112/4954259-1-eng-US/f0045-112.jpg" title="f0045-11" width="550" height="588"></div> &#9632;

f0040-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Jan. 22)<h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01162/4954930-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="536" height="236"></div><h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0296/4954923-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="536" height="204"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 15Adirondack 1 at Moncton 1Wed. Jan. 16Adirondack 2 at Fredericton 1Springfield 1 at Maine 5Binghamton 5 at New Haven 2Hershey 2 at Sherbrooke 6Thu. Jan. 17Rochester 5 at St. Catharines 2Fri. Jan. 18Sherbrooke 4 at Binghamton 5Adirondack 6 at Moncton 9St. Catharines 3 at New Haven 4Baltimore 4 at Rochester 3Hershey 2 at Springfield 5Sat. Jan. 19Adirondack 4 at Fredericton 3Sherbrooke 1 at Hershey 4Binghamton 5 at Maine 4Nova Scotia 5 at Moncton 3Baltimore at St. Catharines (ppd. snow)New Haven 4 at Springfield 3Sun. Jan. 20Adirondack 4 at Nova Scotia 1Baltimore 4 at Rochester 4<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0370/4954916-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="532" height="234"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 21)<h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0456/4954909-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="532" height="146"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0546/4954902-1-eng-US/f0041-052.jpg" title="f0041-05" width="534" height="208"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 15Fort Wayne 4 at Salt Lake 4Wed. Jan. 16Toledo 5 at Peoria 6Muskegon 7 at Indianapolis 5Thu. Jan. 17Fort Wayne 4 at Salt Lake 4Fri. Jan. 18Milwaukee 2 at Muskegon 4Flint 2 at Peoria 8Kalamazoo 5 at Indianapolis 1Sat. Jan. 19Kalamazoo 4 at Fort Wayne 7Flint 5 at Muskegon 3Peoria 2 at Toledo 3Indianapolis 1 at Milwaukee 5Sun. Jan. 20Flint 4 at Milwaukee 2<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0640/4954895-1-eng-US/f0041-062.jpg" title="f0041-06" width="534" height="324"></div><h2>ATLANTIC COAST LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Jan. 22)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0737/4954888-1-eng-US/f0041-072.jpg" title="f0041-07" width="528" height="206"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Jan. 16Virginia 2 at Erie 4Thu. Jan. 17Erie 4 at Carolina 2Virginia 8 at Mohawk Valley 7Fri. Jan. 18Erie 3 at Pine Bridge 1Carolina 10 at Virginia 1Sat. Jan. 19Virginia 1 at Carolina 8Pine Bridge 9 at Mohawk Valley 4<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0829/4954881-1-eng-US/f0041-082.jpg" title="f0041-08" width="530" height="203"></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 21)<h3>LEYDEN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0921/4954874-1-eng-US/f0041-092.jpg" title="f0041-09" width="533" height="236"></div><h3>EMMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1020/4954867-1-eng-US/f0041-102.jpg" title="f0041-10" width="533" height="262"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 15North Bay 5 at Sudbury 4Toronto 4 at Guelph 5Wed. Jan. 16Oshawa 2 at S.S. Marie 6Thu. Jan. 17Belleville 1 at Peterborough 6London 5 at Windsor 2Kingston 1 at Hamilton 6Oshawa 2 at North Bay 4Kitchener 0 at Guelph 5Sudbury 4 at Cornwall 7Fri. Jan. 18Guelph 6 at Kitchener 3Sudbury 4 at Ottawa 6Hamilton 6 at London 4North Bay 1 at S.S. Marie 4Toronto 2 at Kingston 1Sat. Jan. 19London 2 at Belleville 10Ottawa 4 at Toronto 7Sudbury 1 at Peterborough 5Sun. Jan. 20Kingston 1 at Toronto 8S.S. Marie 5 at North Bay 3Guelph 0 at Hamilton 11Peterborough 8 at Cornwall 7<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1120/4954860-1-eng-US/f0041-112.jpg" title="f0041-11" width="528" height="264"></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 21)<h3>EASTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1214/4954853-1-eng-US/f0041-122.jpg" title="f0041-12" width="532" height="262"></div><h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1310/4954846-1-eng-US/f0041-132.jpg" title="f0041-13" width="533" height="205"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Jan. 15Brandon 1 at Moose Jaw 2Lethbridge 3 at Prince Albert 5Kelowna 6 at Victoria 6Wed. Jan. 16Moose Jaw 2 at Medicine Hat 5Regina 2 at Prince Albert 3Lethbridge 2 at Saskatoon 3Kelowna 5 at Portland 7Victoria 6 at New Westminster 10Fri. Jan. 18Medicine Hat 4 at Lethbridge 1Saskatoon 1 at Regina 4Prince Albert 7 at Moose Jaw 2Victoria 9 at Portland 5New Westminster 1 at Kamloops 4Sat. Jan. 19Lethbridge 1 at Medicine Hat 6Brandon 8 at Saskatoon 7New Westminster 4 at Kelowna 3Victoria 5 at Seattle 3Sun. Jan. 20Regina 10 at Moose Jaw 5Brandon 3 at Prince Albert 8<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-149/4954839-1-eng-US/f0041-142.jpg" title="f0041-14" width="536" height="318"></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2><h3>LEBEL DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-159/4954832-1-eng-US/f0041-152.jpg" title="f0041-15" width="533" height="175"></div><h3>DIUO DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-166/4954825-1-eng-US/f0041-162.jpg" title="f0041-16" width="536" height="235"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Jan. 16Drummondville 7 at Granby 6Shawinigan 3 at Hull 2St. Jean 3 at T-Rivieres 5Longueuil 3 at Verdun 4Fri. Jan. 18Granby 3 at Drummondville 5T-Rivieres 6 at Quebec 0Hull 1 at Shawinigan 8Chicoutimi 2 at St. Jean 8Sun. Jan. 20Laval 2 at Drummondville 4Longueuil 3 at Granby 5T-Rivieres 0 at Hull 3St. Jean 3 at Shawinigan 7Quebec 2 at Verdun 7<h2>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Jan. 21)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-174/4954818-1-eng-US/f0041-172.jpg" title="f0041-17" width="538" height="263"></div> &#9632;

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MINOR SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01164/4954961-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0566/4954992-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL TEAM ROSTERS

<h2>JANUARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0654/4955044-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="554" height="382"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0752/4955037-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="564" height="412"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0843/4955030-1-eng-US/f0043-082.jpg" title="f0043-08" width="546" height="414"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0941/4955023-1-eng-US/f0043-092.jpg" title="f0043-09" width="546" height="422"></div> &#9632;

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NHL GAMES TO COME

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-197/4955082-1-eng-US/f0046-192.jpg" title="f0046-19" width="558" height="352"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01125/4955089-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="193" height="188"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-206/4955075-1-eng-US/f0046-202.jpg" title="f0046-20" width="563" height="361"></div> &#9632;

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National League Rookie Leaders

(Standings on Mon. Jan. 21)<h2>CAMPBELL CONFERENCE</h2><h3>NORRIS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-216/4955141-1-eng-US/f0046-212.jpg" title="f0046-21" width="528" height="172"></div><h3>SMYTHE DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-224/4955134-1-eng-US/f0046-222.jpg" title="f0046-22" width="534" height="172"></div><h2>WALES CONFERENCE</h2><h3>ADAMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-234/4955127-1-eng-US/f0046-232.jpg" title="f0046-23" width="527" height="176"></div><h3>PATRICK DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-243/4955120-1-eng-US/f0046-242.jpg" title="f0046-24" width="529" height="205"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Jan. 14New Jersey 2 at NY Rangers 1Minnesota 3 at Washington 6Tue. Jan. 15Boston 3 at New Jersey 2Calgary 5 at Hartford 2Montreal 2 at Quebec 1NY Islanders 5 at Vancouver 6 (OT)Wed. Jan. 16Buffalo 2 at NY Rangers 2 (OT)NY Islanders 3 at Edmonton 3 (OT)Philadelphia 1 at Detroit 1 (OT)Washington 5 at Pittsburgh 4Toronto 4 at Los Angeles 3Winnipeg 3 at Chicago 6St. Louis 4 at Minnesota 4 (OT)Thu. Jan. 17Calgary 4 at Boston 3Hartford 4 at Montreal 5Detroit 5 at Philadelphia 7Pittsburgh 2 at Washington 6Fri. Jan. 18 IChicago 3 at Buffalo 4NY Rangers 9 at New Jersey 6St. Louis 6 at Winnipeg 2Edmonton 4 at Vancouver 4 (OT)Sat. Jan. 19Boston 3 at Quebec 4Buffalo 2 at Hartford 0New Jersey 4 at Montreal 4 (OT)NY Islanders 5 at Los Angeles 6 (OT)NY Rangers 1 at Washington 7Philadelphia 4 at Minnesota 1Chicago 4 at Pittsburgh 5St. Louis 1 at Toronto 6Winnipeg 8 at Detroit 5Vancouver 5 at Edmonton 7Sun. Jan. 20No games scheduled. &#9632;

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THE NHL SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-1212/4955217-1-eng-US/f0045-122.jpg" title="f0045-12" width="600" height="530"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-1310/4955210-1-eng-US/f0045-132.jpg" title="f0045-13" width="538" height="535"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-147/4955203-1-eng-US/f0045-142.jpg" title="f0045-14" width="613" height="538"></div> &#9632;

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BEAVER TALES

<div class="byline">By CHUCK MOODY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0296/4955255-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg" title="f0047-02" width="566" height="162"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2>PITTSBURGH&mdash;It doesn&rsquo;t surprise thn Chabot that he has scored better an a point a game since he came to the ttsburgh Penguins in November from lontreal, even though he was obtained ainly for his defensive skills.&ldquo;I got a point a game last year in lontreal when I played regularly,&rdquo; said habot, who was traded to the Penguins prevnter Ron Flockhart. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a point of being cocky that I think I&rsquo;m more offensive. I think I can play both ends of he rink.&ldquo;I can probably take the draws as long they play defensively and go out and, set a few points offensively and try and help them out. My job is primarily to play defensively here, but I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m a slug when it comes to playing forward and trying to get some goals.&rdquo;The 22-year-old center scored six goals and added 27 assists in his first 27 games for the Penguins. He had one goal and six assists in 10 games for the Cana-diens before the trade.&ldquo;Getting the opportunity to play is the key,&rdquo; said Chabot, who scored 18 goals and 25 assists last season for Montreal. &ldquo;I played a lot last year the last 30 games in Montreal, the same as I&rsquo;m playing here. I came out with at least a point a game. I was leading the team those 30 games in scoring. This year I was leading the team again and they decided they were going to trade me, I guess, and they stopped playing me.&ldquo;I came here and Bob (coach Bob Berry) and E.J. (general manager Eddie Johnston) have given me all the ice time I want. Hopefully I&rsquo;m making them feel the trade was good.&rdquo;Chabot was Montreal&rsquo;s third choice in the 1980 National Hockey League entry draft. He was the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player in 1980-81 when he scored 34 goals and 109 assists.Chabot was born in Summerside, P.E.I., one of the few players in the NHL to come from that province. He is part Algonquin Indian and has a card that allows him to cross freely to and from Canada and the United States.Chabot said he was happy to be traded by the Canadiens, especially to Pittsburgh.&ldquo;It was about time I got out of Montreal,&rdquo; he said. &lsquo;.&rsquo;I wasn&rsquo;t playing there, so I was glad to get out for that aspect. I was just as glad to come to Pittsburgh, because I talked to Eddie on the phone and I talked to Bob and they told me I would be playing.&rdquo;The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Chabot had played under Berry for the Canadiens.&ldquo;Things have worked out for the best,&rdquo; Chabot said. &ldquo;He was happy to get me, and I was happy to come.&ldquo;When I came here I immediately went back to the way I was playing last year&mdash;bolding onto it, (the puck) all the time and making the play and not giving it away as I was doing in Montreal. It seems to be working out for the best.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting more and more confidence.&rdquo;The pair joked last summer about Chabot being traded to Pittsburgh after Berry was named the Penguins&rsquo; coach.&ldquo;We had been joking in the summer,&rdquo; Chabot recalled. &ldquo;He had come into the Montreal Forum and he was talking to a few people there. I walked in to get a summer check for the playoffs last year.&ldquo;I saw him and I said, &lsquo;Hi, Bob. How&rsquo;s it going,&rsquo; and we started chatting. I said, &lsquo;What are you doing in the Forum?&rsquo; He said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m here to try and work out a trade for you.&rsquo; I started laughing, and I said, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t ask for too much because I&rsquo;m not that good of a hockey player.&rsquo; He just laughed. We left it at that.&ldquo;Two months later he traded for me and that&rsquo;s the first thing I thought of, was what he told me. I said, &lsquo;Was he joking, or was he telling the truth?&rsquo; And I wasn&rsquo;t too sure about that. When I came here he told me he was just joking.&rdquo;PENGUIN TRACKS&mdash;Center and team captain Mike Bullard had a chip fracture in his right shoulder and was expected to miss at least three weeks. Rookie defenseman Doug Bodger suffered a slight shoulder separation and was expected to be out at least 10 days.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01144/4955248-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="1158" height="1341"><figcaption class="caption-body">ASKED HIM ABOUT BILLY GETTING MORE ICE TIME, and he said he&rsquo;d let him ride on the zamboni.&rdquo;</figcaption></div><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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February 1, 1985

TORSPO

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