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

March 1, 1985

The Hockey News March 1, 1985

<div class="byline">BY RON COBB</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011289/5526877-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="122" height="115"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>ST. LOUIS BLUES</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>S</span>T. LOUIS&mdash;You know a team is hot when people start to wonder if it&rsquo;s peaking to soon. That was the concern expressed by the hosts on a local radio show on a Sunday morning, after the St. Louis Blues had extended their unbeaten streak to seven games going into the All-Star break.</p><p>It boiled down to this: Things were going so well for the Blues that the only thing to worry about was whether things were going too well.</p><p>At the time, the Blues had a nine-point lead over second-place Chicago in the Norris Division, but the Black Hawks reduced it to seven points going into the All-Star break. In their first games after the break, both teams scored victories&mdash;the Blues beating Toronto 5-3 and the Hawks edging Pittsburgh 5-4.</p><p>As usual, the Blues were cleaning up in the Norris. With the win over Toronto they improved their Norris record to 14-3-3. The Blues weren&rsquo;t doing too badly against the Smythe Division, either. With a 4-0 victory over Vancouver on Feb. 6, the Blues completed their schedule against that division with a 9-4-2 record, with three of the losses to Edmonton.</p><p>&ldquo;We still haven&rsquo;t beaten anybody on top,&rdquo; said goalie Mike Liut, &ldquo;but that&rsquo;s good. It&rsquo;s one more thing we have to achieve.&rdquo;</p><p>The Blues are winless (0-9-2) against the top five teams in the overall standings, but they&rsquo;ve been beating the teams they need to beat.</p><p>&ldquo;This is the first bit of success we&rsquo;ve had where we&rsquo;ve been in control of first place,&rdquo; Liut said. &ldquo;How we handle that and how we play in the playoffs will be a better sign of what kind of club we have. It gets harder at the end of the year.&rdquo;</p><p>Liut, who had gone through a nine-game stretch with only one victory and four ties, suddenly was hot. In a 4-2 victory over Minnesota on Feb. 9, he shut out the the North Stars until Ken Solheim scored on a power play at 5:56 of the third period. That snapped a shutout streak for Liut at a career-high 136 minutes, 59 seconds.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been playing pretty well this week,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s not just something that showed up. I feel I&rsquo;ve played as well in other games and didn&rsquo;t win. Everybody makes a big deal of how I play month to month, and with Rick (Wamsley) coming in they&rsquo;ve made even more of it.&rdquo;</p><p>The Blues have been getting good work from everyone: left winger Jorgen Petterson scored twice against Minnesota and followed that up with a natural hat trick against Toronto to raise his total for the season to 20 goals&mdash;that&rsquo;s sub par for the Swede, but he has played better defense this season; right winger Greg Paslawski, whose five-game goal-scoring streak was snapped in the Leaf game, had 10 goals in 10 games; center Doug Wick-enheiser scored big goals against Chicago and Detroit and assisted on two of Pettersson&rsquo;s three goals.</p><p>&ldquo;With the advent of Paslawski,&rdquo; Liut said, &ldquo;we now have two top lines. There&rsquo;s nothing that&rsquo;s going to deter that line or Bernie Federko&rsquo;s line. Those guys are always going to play hard. They&rsquo;ll have tough nights or a bad stretch, but they&rsquo;re not going to give anything away.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what you find with a lot of top lines&mdash;things don&rsquo;t go their way and they wind up costing you or giving things away. When our guys don&rsquo;t score, they don&rsquo;t get scored on.&rdquo;</p><p>After the Blues beat the North Stars, Minnesota coach Glen Sonmor praised Liut, but suggested he was getting more defensive help than he had in the last couple of seasons.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re checking better than we did at the beginning of the year, and certainly better than last year and the year before,&rdquo; Liut said. &ldquo;Every line that goes out there, the center is back helping out, and we re going after every loose puck in our own end.</p><p>&ldquo;Not everybody is going toplay great. but you still can work hard. That&rsquo;s the message that everybody is starting to get.&rdquo;</p><p>Liut credited coach Jacques Demers for keeping injuries to a minimum by not wearing out his players in practice.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very vulnerable to injuries,&rdquo; Liut said. &ldquo;If we get hurt, we&rsquo;re finished. We just don&rsquo;t have the people to put in there.&rdquo;</p><p>Teams such as Chicago and Minnesota have had injuries, but Liut said &ldquo;we have worse than injuries. We missed the draft a couple years ago, and those are players you&rsquo;re never going to get back.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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IN THIS ISSUE

Blues Hope Hot Streak Doesn’t Turn Cold

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03571/5527046-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="131" height="118"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>Q</span>UEBEC CITY&mdash;While Brent Ashton spent the last five years bouncing around from one National Hockey League club to another, he never scored more than 24 goals in one season, and that was in 80 games with the now-defunct Colorado Rockies back in 1981-82.</p><p>Now he has become a major scoring threat with the Quebec Nordiques, popping in 15 goals in 25 games, compared to only seven in 68 games last season with Minnesota. With the extra ice time he&rsquo;s been receiving from coach Michel Bergeron, Ashton, who&rsquo;s also had stops in Vancouver, New Jersey, and Minnesota before joining the Nordiques in December in a trade, is certain to hit a personal best for goals.</p><p>&rdquo;The adjustment in coming to Quebec was not all that difficult for me in the sense that it wasn&rsquo;t the first time I had been traded in the NHL,&rdquo; Ashton said. &ldquo;Since coming to Quebec, I have been getting lots of ice time and I appreciate it when I get the chance to play on the power play as well as my regular shift. It&rsquo;s great when a coach shows that kind of confidence in you.&rdquo;</p><p>The Nordiques made it clear from the start that it was Brad Maxwell they were seeking from the Stars and that Ashton was not their prime target.</p><p>&ldquo;I knew he was a good worker but I never thought he was that good a skater,&rdquo; Bergeron said a few weeks after the trade.</p><p>Ashton, a 24-year-old native of Saskatoon, has suddenly found himself consistently in the right place at the right time, and everything seems to be going in for him.</p><p>&ldquo;When I was in Vancouver I didn&rsquo;t really play all that regularly, and with the North Stars my ice time was limited to the fourth line mainly,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Having to move again and living in a hotel for a while was rough but now we have settled down and we like it in Quebec.&rdquo;</p><p>Ashton was originally drafted by Vancouver in the second round, 26th overall, in 1979. A knee injury caused him to miss half of his first National Hockey League season and he has never equalled his impressive stats in junior. In his draft year, he had 64 goals in 62 games with the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League.</p><p>For some reason, his scoring stats have improved dramatically since coming to Quebec.</p><p>&ldquo;Sometimes a trade can be a really good thing for a player, and I have to think that the deal that brought me to Quebec was the best thing that could have happened to me,&rdquo; Ashton said. &ldquo;I was not playing regularly in Minnesota but with Quebec everyone gets their chance.&rdquo;</p><p>In a 10-4 romp over the Hartford Whalers just before the All-Star break, Ashton not only scored twice, including his 20th of the season, but he also set up Anton Stastny with an open net on a perfect pass through the slot.</p><p>&ldquo;I just want to help the team as much as I can, any way I can,&rdquo; Ashton said.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Ashton Heading For Personal Best

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01550/5529233-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="560" height="2471"></div><h2><b>GOALTENDING LEADERS</b></h2><h3><b>GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02383/5529226-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="557" height="270"></div><h3><b>MOST WINS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03286/5529219-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="557" height="297"></div><h3><b>SAVE PERCENTAGE</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04234/5529212-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="554" height="293"></div><h3><b>MOST SHUTOUTS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05192/5529205-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="557" height="125"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<p><b>BOSTON</b>&mdash;Charlie Simmer, LW, back from injury list.</p><p><b>BUFFALO</b>&mdash;Bill Hajt, D, out indefinitely with shoulder separation. Lindy Ruff, D, back from injury list.</p><p><b>CALGARY</b>&mdash;Gino Cavallini, LW, returned to Moncton of AHL. Kari Eloranta, D, out of lineup after undergoing minor surgery.</p><p><b>CHICAGO</b>&mdash;Al Secord, LW, back from injury list.</p><p><b>DETROIT</b>&mdash;Kelly Kisio, C, out of lineup for five games after being suspended by the NHL. Greg Stefan, G, back from injury list. Dave Williams, LW, placed on waivers.</p><p><b>EDMONTON</b>&mdash;Marc Habscheid, C, returned to Nova Scotia of AHL. Randy Gregg, D, back from injury list. Craig MacTavish, C, signed as free agent for 1985-86 season.</p><p><b>HARTFORD</b>&mdash;Mark Johnson, C, sidelined indefinitely with rib injury. Scot Kleinendorst, D, out with sprained knee.</p><p><b>MINNESOTA</b>&mdash;Tom McCarthy, LW, sidelined indefinitely after suffering concussion. Chris Pryor, D, Brian Lawton, LW, Tim Trimper, LW, and Dirk Graham, RW, recalled from Springfield of AHL.</p><p><b>MONTREAL</b>&mdash;Mark Hunter, RW, out with recurring knee injury. Bobby Smith, C, sidelined with virus.</p><p><b>NY ISLANDERS</b>&mdash;Billy Smith, G, back after six-game suspension. Todd Lumbard, G, returned to Indianapolis of IHL.</p><p><b>NY RANGERS</b>&mdash;Mike Blaisdell, RW, recalled from New Haven of AHL and later returned. Tom Laidlaw, D, back from injury list.</p><p><b>PHILADELPHIA</b>&mdash;Mark Howe, D, back from injury list.</p><p><b>PITTSBURGH</b>&mdash;Wayne Babych, RW, out with knee injury.</p><p><b>ST. LOUIS</b>&mdash;Rik Wilson, D, out with sprained ankle.</p><p><b>TORONTO</b>&mdash;Gaston Gingras, D, recalled from St. Catharines of AHL and traded to Montreal to complete earlier trade for Larry Landon, RW, currently with St. Catharines. Todd Gill, D, returned to Windsor of OHL. Jeff Jackson, LW, sent back to Hamilton of OHL. Bill Stewart, D, and Steve Thomas, RW, recalled from St. Catharines. Bill Root, D, and Wes Jarvis, C, returned to St. Catharines. Al lafrate, D, and Bill Derlago, C, back from injury list. Jim Korn, D, sidelined indefinitely with shoulder separation. Stewart Gavin, RW, out with charley horse.</p><p><b>WASHINGTON</b>&mdash;Lou Fanceschetti, LW, recalled from Hershey of AHL. Darren Veitch, D, back from injury list. Gary Sampson, LW, out with recurring knee injury.</p><p><b>WINNIPEG</b>&mdash;Marc Behrend, G, recalled from Sherbrooke of AHL.</p><h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>FREDERICTON</b>&mdash;Richard Zemlak, RW, and Peter Loob, D, recalled from Muskegon of IHL.</p><p><b>ROCHESTER</b>&mdash;Gates Orlando, C, sidelined indefinitely with sprained knee.</p><p><b>ST. CATHARINES</b>&mdash;Walt Poddubny, LW, out for season with broken thumb.</p><h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>KALAMAZOO</b>&mdash;Brent Jarrett, RW, sidelined with broken toe. Rob Davies, C, out for season with eye injury. Rod Willard, LW, and Doug McGrath, D, secured from Fort Wayne. Lawrie Nisker, C, acquired from Toledo. Chris Trinceri, G, released. Lee MacKenzie, RW, and Bill McNaught, RW, activated from retired list to fill out Wings&rsquo; roster.</p><p><b>MILWAUKEE</b>&mdash;Alan Graves, RW, Louis Begin, LW, and Stan Weir, C, signed as free agents by Chicago and assigned to Admirals.</p><p><b>TOLEDO</b>&mdash;Steve Harrison, D, Grant Rezansoff, C, Kevin Conway, RW, and Blake Stephen, LW, traded to Salt Lake in return for Kurt Kleinendorst, C, and Steve Martinson, LW.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

PLAYER TRANSACTIONS

<p>In the March 8 issue, we&rsquo;ll profile one of the comeback stories of the year&mdash;Randy Carlyle of the Winnipeg Jets.</p><p>A year ago, his name was only mentioned when the Pittsburgh Penguins were talking trade. Today, the former Norris Trophy winner has reasserted himself as a premier defenseman in the NHL.</p><p>In addition to that, we&rsquo;ll present another issue of THN Magazine, featuring an in-depth interview with Marcel Aubut. Marcel Who?, you say. He&rsquo;s only one of the most influential and powerful men in hockey today.</p><p>And with the NHL trade deadline just around the corner, we&rsquo;ll take a close look at the subject of trades&mdash;what it&rsquo;s like to be traded, who&rsquo;s going to be traded and the financial impact on traded players. All that plus much more, including a full color photo essay, the Pros and Cons and the Lighter Side.</p><p>Don&rsquo;t miss it.</p><h2><b>QUOTE OF THE WEEK</b></h2><p><i>&ldquo;In Africa, cannibals live on other people. In Canada, we call them reporters.&rdquo;</i></p><p><b>Oshawa General general manager Sherwood Bassin, commenting on the media&rsquo;s stereotyping of junior hockey. Story on Page 31.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

NEXT WEEK IN THN

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011374/5526129-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Devil rookie Kirk Muller, right, shown here against Boston&rsquo;s Ken Linseman, credits much of his early success to the veteran players on the team. <span class="photo-credit">(Bruce Bennett)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>eroes are often created in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan sports realm long before an athlete deserves such status. Through no fault of their own they are built up to legendary proportions before they ever compile the numbers to match the hefty contracts, the sporting press and demanding fans. If they live up to the lofty expectations it is taken for granted, and if they fail to match their press clippings, everyone has a grand time tearing the &ldquo;heroes&rdquo; down and picking at the bones.</p><p>Kirk Muller walked into this environment eight months ago when the New Jersey Devils selected him second overall in the National Hockey League entry draft behind Mario Lemieux and ahead of Ed Olczyk. The media blitz late that summer and a brief holdout before signing his first pro contact set the familiar scenario into motion.</p><p>But Muller, who turned 19 on Feb. 8, is emerging from it all unscathed. While he may not be compiling the big numbers that Lemieux is in Pittsburgh or other celebrated rookies have in the past, Muller is stabilizing a franchise and living up to his advance billing as a budding superstar. He was selected by Al Arbour to represent the Devils in the All-Star game in Calgary and he is proving that all is not bleak in New Jersey. On the contrary, the outlook is brightening every time the center from Kingston, Ont., laces up his skates.</p><p>How has he done it? Primarily three ways:</p><p>&bull; He has shown previously hidden skills, intelligence beyond his years and an insatiable desire to work on the ice (coach Doug Carpenter has called him &ldquo;a horse.&rdquo;)</p><p>&bull; He has disregarded the pressure factor while handling the media with diplomacy.</p><p>&bull; He has displayed a leadership quality, which usually takes years to acquire, in just 53 games into his NHL career. Muller has gained the respect of the oldest veterans on the team, come to the defense of teammates in numerous fights and on-ice incidents, and raised the quality of play for each player he has skated with, most notably John MacLean and Aaron Broten.</p><p>On the ice, the 5-foot-11, 180 pounder has been a force. He is not poetry in motion, just a very talented and wise player who pushes himself to the limit and has reminded some observers of Bobby Clarke without the stick work.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been different this year as compared to last year,&rdquo; said Muller, whose 40 points at the All-Star break (13-27-40) ranked fourth on the Devils behind three veterans. &ldquo;In junior I played so much it was tough to go all out for an entire game and hit as much as I am now. I just got too tired.</p><p>&ldquo;In junior I&rsquo;d go out and get two or three points in every game and I was always going out in key situations no matter how much I played. That was a little bit of an adjustment. I can&rsquo;t expect to score two or three points in every game so I have to make sure if I don&rsquo;t score, I don&rsquo;t get scored on.</p><p>&ldquo;I also spent a lot of time over the summer lifting weights and building myself up. I was a little smaller in junior and now I&rsquo;m stronger and it&rsquo;s helped my game as far as working in the comers and playing hard.&rdquo;</p><p>Assistant coach Lou Vairo saw Muller in the 1984 Olympics when Vairo coached the U.S. team and Muller played left wing on the Canadian squad which defeated the Americans 4-2 in the opening game at Sarajevo. Vairo saw the potential but admits he is stunned at Muller&rsquo;s quick rise.</p><p>&ldquo;I had no idea how good Muller would be,&rdquo; said Vairo. &ldquo;He was a good defensive player playing a defensive role on the Canadian Olympic team. I didn&rsquo;t think he had the offensive abilities he has. Sometimes I think you&rsquo;ve got to shoot him to stop him. To be honest, he&rsquo;s a surprise to me. I never thought he was this good.&rdquo;</p><p>Muller, who shares a stately Tudor-style home in New Jersey with teammates Joe Cirella, Pat Verteek and MacLean, enjoyed a busy 1983-84 season, spending half a season with the Ontario Hockey League Guelph Platers and Team Canada in the world junior championships in Sweden before joining the Canadian Olympic team on Jan. 5. He returned to Guelph, where he scored 52 goals and 112 points in 66 games the previous season, to finish out his junior career.</p><p>An example of Muller&rsquo;s wizardry with the puck came on Jan. 19 at the Forum in Montreal. With two minutes remaining in regulation time and the Devils trailing the Canadians 4-3, Muller won a vital draw with Pierre Mondou, getting the puck back to Phil Russell at the point for a slap shot that was deflected in by MacLean.</p><p>Five days before that he set up MacLean&rsquo;s game-winning goal in a 2-1 triumph over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, and earlier that month against Vancouver he carried the puck over the blue line and stunned Michel Petit and Doug Lidster with a magnificent move past both Canucks and passed to MacLean for another goal.</p><p>&ldquo;To be effective I&rsquo;ve got to go out and play with confidence,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve also got to be skating hard. On a night I&rsquo;m tired, it&rsquo;ll affect my play. I&rsquo;ve got to create my own chances. In junior I was able to do all the nifty things, but here I&rsquo;m more of a complete player and I find I&rsquo;m more effective.&rdquo;</p><p>Perhaps Muller&rsquo;s most impressive feats have come without the puck.</p><p>&ldquo;You could tell right off the bat he was good without the puck,&rdquo; said Devil captain Mel Bridgman. &ldquo;He has great lateral moves.&rdquo;</p><p><b>M</b>uller, who gained much of his poise in international competition, has avoided pressure much the way he sidestepped Philadelphia&rsquo;s Ron Sutter on Jan. 31 at the Spectrum. A quick-thinking move behind his own net sent Sutter, who had ideas of putting Muller in the fifth row, crashing hard into the end boards by himself.</p><p>Pressure? No problem.</p><p>&ldquo;The way it&rsquo;s situated upstairs (New Jersey&rsquo;s front office) there wasn&rsquo;t the demand to do everything at once,&rdquo; Muller said.</p><p>&ldquo;There wasn&rsquo;t that kind of pressure and that helped. The way they brought me on, slow, was great. As far as adjusting to the league, it made it easy because I started off with two older players (Bridgman and Tim Higgins). I didn&rsquo;t have to go out and be a hero right from the start.&rdquo;</p><p>That was Carpenter&rsquo;s plan. He resisted breaking Muller in at his natural center position and kept him on left wing until a quarter of the season had passed in late November.</p><p>Muller, who joined former Colorado Rockie Barry Beck as the only rookies to ever represent the franchise in an All-Star game, said playing with Bridgman and Higgins helped him make the transition&mdash;off the ice as well as on.</p><p>&ldquo;I just wanted to come in this year and progress each year,&rdquo; said Muller. &ldquo;I never expected to become an All-Star in my first year. It helped me to have the wingers I have now and it helped me to adjust playing with Mel and Tim. I owe a lot of credit to some of the older guys on the team. The way they handle the young guys is great. No jealousy.&rdquo;</p><p>Bridgman, a No. 1 draft choice for the Flyers in 1975, knew what Muller faced. He remembered the resentment of his own lucrative rookie contract and sought to remove that kind of friction with Muller.</p><p>&ldquo;A lot of times a guy comes in as a high pick and some guys resent it,&rdquo; said Bridgman. &ldquo;The players already on the team have gone through the minor leagues to get here and the high pick hasn&rsquo;t. With Kirk you can&rsquo;t help but like him.</p><p>&ldquo;When I broke in with Philadelphia there were a lot of guys who had played in the minors for years and they made me pay my dues. They made sure I wasn&rsquo;t going to be cocky. I was scared to even buy a sports car. I bought a family car, one of the ugliest cars you&rsquo;ve ever seen. It took about four months before I felt accepted. I finally sold the car and bought a sports car.&rdquo;</p><p>Muller, devoid of cockiness, purchased a Datsun 300ZX in early November. As far as respect, he gives it to his teammates and in return was voted the Devils&rsquo; best possible All-Star representative in a poll taken by all 25 New Jersey players.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to make it in this league,&rdquo; said Bridgman. &ldquo;The biggest thing is to gain confidence so when you face a Bryan Trottier or a Wayne Gretzky you can play against them. A lot of it lies in the personality of the player. In Kirk&rsquo;s case, I&rsquo;m sure it was difficult at the start because he&rsquo;s a very shy kid. In a lot of ways he&rsquo;s from the old school in that he respects the players who&rsquo;ve been around.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;At first it&rsquo;s kind of exciting facing some of the players you watched on TV as a kid,&rdquo; said Muller, whose relatives and friends watch his games via satellite. &ldquo;But you can&rsquo;t think about idolizing them or it&rsquo;ll affect your play. You&rsquo;ve got to respect their talents but you can&rsquo;t play in awe of the guys you idolized as a kid.&rdquo;</p><p>Muller is on his way up the ladder. Barring an unforseen disaster, it is not unlikely that the blonde teen with the poster boy good looks will inherit the captaincy when Bridgman&rsquo;s career in New Jersey reaches its end. After all, Muller&rsquo;s already the cornerstone of the franchise.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0003-01

Muller Has A Deal With Devils

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021283/5526160-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Guy Lafleur, with his wife Lise and son Martin, bids adieu to his faithful Forum followers. <span class="photo-credit">(Reuters)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011393/5526167-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="140" height="94"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>MONTREAL CANADIENS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>ONTREAL&mdash;Eighty-three days after he had played his final National Hockey League game, Guy Lafleur, known to teammates and hockey fans everywhere as The Flower, made one final spin in a Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; uniform on the Forum ice.</p><p>The 18,084 hockey fans who had come to love Lafleur&rsquo;s rink-length dashes erupted into a five-minute-22-second standing ovation after the Hah great made his appearance on the ice from the northeast comer of the building.</p><p>It was Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s night, plain and simple. He became the fifth Montreal player to have his number retired and tears glistened in his eyes, as Canadien president Ronald Corey presented him with the game jersey he wore last Nov. 24 against the Detroit Red Wings.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad this is finally over.&rdquo; said Lafleur. &ldquo;I was nervous about this all week. But I&rsquo;m happy because this is quite an honor to have my number retired.&rdquo;</p><p>Lafleur played 19 games at the start of the 1984-85 season and had only two goals to show despite giving an all-out effort. He was clearly frustrated and was having difficulty accepting the fact he could no longer lead his team offensively.</p><p>Two days after the Detroit game, he officially announced he would never play again for the Canadiens, and the scene at the Forum on Feb. 16 confirmed to one and all that Lafleur&rsquo;s decision was irrevocable.</p><p>&ldquo;The decision I took Nov. 26 was final,&rdquo; said Lafleur. &ldquo;After 13 years I did not accept to be number two. I&rsquo;m proud of what I did in the past and I&rsquo;m proud I played for the Canadiens, especially on five Stanley Cup winners.&rdquo;</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>Lafleur admitted that he asked to be traded but was told bluntly that he must finish his career in Montreal.</b></blockquote><p>Lafleur admitted that he had asked managing director Serge Savard about the possibility of a trade but was told quite bluntly that he was going to finish his career in Montreal.</p><p>&ldquo;I was in a slump, and I wasn&rsquo;t scoring much at the time,&rdquo; Lafleur said. &ldquo;I was frustrated. Now that I&rsquo;ve retired I&rsquo;m still with the club and I can&rsquo;t ask for more than I have now.&rdquo;</p><p>Lafleur is working in the Canadiens&rsquo; front office, although he has not been given an exact title and will not be given one before the end of the summer. Among some of his coming projects is a chance to work alongside Francois Seigneur, the Canadiens&rsquo; executive vice-presicent of marketing. It&rsquo;s a new experience which Lafleur seems to be enjoying.</p><p>During the on-ice ceremony on his night, Lafleur was joined by his parents, his wife, Lise, one of his two sons, Martin, and Mrs. Iva Baribeau, his landlady while he was with the Quebec Remparts.</p><p>The 33-year-old native of Thurso, Que., who was the Canadiens&rsquo; No. I choice and first overall in 1971, thanked all those involved in helping him formulate one of the most successful careers in the NHL.</p><p>He admitted openly that he missed playing the game but insisted that he was still happy in his new role.</p><p>&ldquo;For me the main thing now is to be happy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;After 13 years I wouldn&rsquo;t be honest if I said I wasn&rsquo;t missing the game. I miss the challenge of the games and being with the other players.&rdquo;</p><p>After addressing the fans, Lafleur took one more turn around the Forum ice with everyone standing.</p><p>While he took the final spin, the final word he spoke to the multitude had time to sink in.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m leaving the ice, but I want everyone to know that I&rsquo;ll never leave the sport.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0004-02

The Flower’s Last Skate Brings Fans To Their Feet

<div class="byline">By Bruce Hood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011278/5526198-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="341" height="445"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>Q</span>. NCAA rule 6-31-b states that &ldquo;a player in full control of the puck who crosses the blue line ahead of the puck shall <i>not</i> be considered offside.&rdquo; Does the NHL rule book contain a similar statement? Also, I have seen many collegiate games where players in control of the puck have either pulled the puck in behind them or skated in backwards, but I have yet to see the linesman allow this. When does the rule apply?</p><p><b>Jerry Mullane</b>&nbsp;<i>Wallingford. CT.</i></p><p>A. If a player is in actual possession and control of the puck the instant he crosses the blue line, his skates can precede the puck over the line. However, if the puck slips off his stick by several inches and he has to reach back to get it after he has crossed the line, it is likely he will be called offside. The same ruling applies in all hockey.</p><p>Q. If you are not the penalized team and your goalie leaves for the bench and your defenseman has control of the puck behind the goal but his pass to a teammate hits the opposing center in the backside and it ends up in the goal, what&rsquo;s the call?</p><p><b>Oscar P, Martinez</b>&nbsp;<i>St. Louis, MI</i></p><p>A: This has happened, believe it or not, and yes, the goal does count. Besides that, the penalty is still assessed. The reason is that a player of the penalized team must come into possession and control of the puck before play can be stopped. In this instance the player had neither and the goal was caused by the action of the defenseman.</p><p>Should there by any action by the center, either with body movement or use of his stick, that caused the puck to enter the net even though he didn&rsquo;t have possession and control, the goal would not be allowed.</p><p>Q, Last year during a Chicago Black Hawk game, the Hawks had a power play and were in the opposition&rsquo;s zone. The Chicago goalie was banging his stick on the ice to let his offense know the power-play was almost over. While doing this his stick broke. Can the players on the bench throw him another stick? If it&rsquo;s illegal what would the penalty be?</p><p><b>George King</b>&nbsp;<i>Chicago, IL</i></p><p>A. The rules state that anything thrown onto the ice constitutes a bench minor penalty. Further to that the rule states a player must receive a replacemnent stick at his player&rsquo;s bench. However, there are many variations to this and, in fact, a player can, while play is going on, carry a stick to his goalie without a penalty being called. Or he can loan the goalie his stick and get a replacement for himself at the bench. Other situations apply also, but to answer your question, a bench minor would apply for throwing the stick off the bench and also a minor to the goalie for receiving a stick illegally.</p><p><i>If you want your questions answered, write to:</i></p><p><b>ASK THE REFEREE</b></p><p><b>6455 NORTHAM DRIVE, SUITE 100</b></p><p><b>Mississauga, Ont.</b></p><p><b>L4V 1J2</b></p><p><i>All questions will be considered, but only those published will be answered. Personal responses are not possible.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0005-01

ASK THE REFEREE

<p><b>Here&rsquo;s what was happening 20 years ago this week in hockey:</b></p><p>&bull; The Detroit Red Wings called in an engineering firm to study the possibility of adding 2,000-3,000 seats to the Olympia, due to increasing ticket demands. The Olympia&rsquo;s existing seating capacity was 13,000.</p><p>&bull; <b>Gordie Howe, Alex Delvecchio, Tim Horton</b> and three other NHL players consented to conduct a hockey school in Innsbruck, Austria to introduce North American hockey to Europe.</p><p><b>Here&rsquo;s what was happening 15 years ago this week in hockey:</b></p><p>&bull; NHL president <b>Clarence Campbell</b> handed out a total of $7,350 worth of fines against Toronto, Boston and Pittsburgh, in response to several bench-clearing brawls.</p><p>&bull; Montreal winger <b>John Ferguson</b> underwent surgery for a cracked cheekbone suffered&rsquo;in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was expected to be out for at least two weeks.</p><h2><b>Last Week&rsquo;s Trivia Answers</b></h2><p>1. Chicago. 2. Jorgen Pettersson. 3. Glenn Resch. 4. Rick Vaive. 5. Gord and Sheldon Kannageisser. 6. Mike Karakas. 7. Jim Warden. 8. Pat Kelly. 9. 1970-71. 10. 1974-75.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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/f0005-02934/5526260-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="382" height="440"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>WHERE ARE THEY NOW? By Randy Schultz</b></figcaption></div><p>With hockey becoming so specialized these days, it is becoming a thing of the past to hold dual resposibilities with a team.</p><p>There are certain exceptions to the rule in the National Hockey League. Glen Sather of the Edmonton Oilers answers the roles of president, general manager and coach.</p><p>But nobody will ever accomplish what former NHL and World Hockey Association star Pat (Whitey) Stapleton did in 1974-75 when he held the positions of part-owner, president, coach and player with the Chicago Cougars of the WHA.</p><p>&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t something I would ever recommend anyone to try,&rdquo; said Stapleton, who played defense for 10 seasons (1961-63, 1965-73) in the NHL with the Boston Bruins and Chicago Black Hawks and another five seasons with the Cougars, Indianapolis Racers and Cincinatti Stingers. &ldquo;At the time the guys who owned the Cougars decided that they had had enough and were going to just walk away from the team.</p><p>&ldquo;So three of us on the team, including myself, Ralph Backstrom and Dave Dryden, decided to buy the team and try and operate it ourselves.</p><p>&ldquo;We stayed in it until the end of the season. But that was the last season the team was in Chicago. At the end of the season, most of the players were transferred to Denver.</p><p>&ldquo;Owning a team was nice. There were a lot of headaches. But I think if I were wealthy enough and needed a toy to play with, I would buy a team again.</p><p>&ldquo;It was an adventure, to say the least, the first time.&rdquo;</p><p>Stapleton was one of the many NHL stars to make the jump from the NHL to the WHA. Although he, similar to many others, made the jump because of money, there were other reasons for Stapleton, too.</p><p>&ldquo;There Was no doubt in my mind that money was a real consideration in jumping to the WHA,&rdquo; said Stapleton, who won the WHA outstanding de fenseman award in 1974. &ldquo;But the WHA was a challenge.</p><p>&ldquo;By going to the Cougars, that gave me a chance to spend a little more time in Chicago. I loved playing for the Black Hawks. But at the time I didn&rsquo;t know if I was going to be traded or not from the team. Neither my family or myself wanted to leave Chicago.</p><p>&ldquo;So I made the jump.&rdquo;</p><p>Today, Stapleton owns and operates a 500-acre farm in Stathroy, Ont, which is not too far away from his hometown of Sarnia. He is also very involved with an organization called Fundamentals In Action.</p><p>Although no longer involved with the game, Stapleton still follows the game as much as possible.</p><p>&ldquo;I have no thoughts of ever getting back into the game,&rdquo; said the 44-year-old Stapleton. &ldquo;When I got out of the game as a player, I wanted to get out completely. I wanted to clear out all the cobwebs.</p><p>&ldquo;I have no regrets about my pro career. Granted, I never played on any kind of championship teams, but I still had a lot of thrills. We had some good teams with the Black Hawks. We came close several times to winning the Stanley Cup.</p><p>&ldquo;It really didn&rsquo;t bother me that much at the time. But it&rsquo;s more frustrating now to think about how close we came. But you just have to remember that you can work as hard as you want in life, but things won&rsquo;t always fall into place.</p><p>&ldquo;For myself and the Black Hawks, it just wasn&rsquo;t in the cards to win the Stanley Cup. But that&rsquo;s life.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03649/5526253-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="1177" height="847"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Stapleton was a part owner, president, coach and player for the Chicago Cougars of the World Hockey Association.</figcaption></div><h2><b>TRIVIA</b></h2><p>1. What Adams division defenseman had a 16 game point-scoring streak earlier this season?</p><p>2. Name the brother combination on the Rochester Americans&rsquo; defense?</p><p>3. How many times was Dick Irvin the losing coach in the Stanley Cup final?</p><p>4. What Norris Division player registered his 500th NHL point eight years to the day of his debut?</p><p>5. Name the last Stanley Cup winning team to lose its regular season opener?</p><p>6. Name the six teams that had winning records in the 1983-84 NHL playoffs?</p><p>7. What Detroit defenseman is known as &ldquo;Soupy?&rdquo;</p><p>8. What player played the most NHL games without appearing in a Stanley Cup final?</p><p>9. Name the former NHL All-Star defenseman that was voted top defenseman in the IHL in 1967-68?</p><p>10. What current IHL goaltender is a former Vezina Trophy winner?</p><p><b>Answers in next week&rsquo;s issue.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0005-02

Stapleton Did Everything As A Member Of Cougars

<div class="byline">BY BOB DUFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04424/5526291-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg"></div><p>that the most goals scored by a defenseman in one season is:<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0005-04

Did You Know…

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011460/5526346-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="379" height="434"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Frank Orr</b></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HERE WERE &ldquo;NO SHOWS&rdquo;</b> in Chicago Stadium, folks who had paid for their tickets and weren&rsquo;t interested enough in the Black Hawks to appear for games, and their absence earned a &ldquo;don&rsquo;t show&rdquo; for Orval Tessier.</p><p>Gerry Cheevers simply had enough in Boston. The Bruin coach decided that if he had more time to pursue his major interest and investment, thoroughbred horses, at least the by-product he would receive is the real thing.</p><p>Those are the two latest developments in the wild, wacky, wonderful world of coaching in the National Hockey League, a job of such high risk that a team owner said recently he didn&rsquo;t know if he wanted to hire as coach any man crazy enough to take the job.</p><p>Five coaches have been removed from their jobs this season&mdash;Tessier, Cheevers, Bill Mahoney (Minnesota), Bill LaForge (Vancouver) and Herb Brooks (New York Rangers). Along their trails, each man had been a big winner at some level of the game. But for a variety of reasons, different situations in each case, the team they were handling didn&rsquo;t win and when the old bottom line was figured, they were gone like summer wages.</p><p>There has been a major evolution in NHL coaching in the past 15 years&mdash;a break from the &ldquo;old player&rdquo; monopoly on the job, the influx of the &ldquo;thinker&rdquo; mentors from the college ranks and the general upgrading of the profession.</p><p>But Square One&mdash;it&rsquo;s located right at the end of Bottom Line&mdash;is simple: If the team doesn&rsquo;t win when you&rsquo;re in the wheelhouse, you become shark bait.</p><p>There isn&rsquo;t very much of the old Walter O&rsquo;Malley philosophy in hockey, the approach that kept Walter Alston as the baseball Dodgers&rsquo; manager for so long. O&rsquo;Malley always insisted that Alston was as good a manager when the team was sixth as when it won a pennant.</p><p>Frankly, it&rsquo;s hard to see an owner or general manager in hockey making a claim like that. Or do you envision this scenario ever happening?</p><p>A GM calls a press conference to make the following statement: &ldquo;The team is going bad and the man who is paying the bills has to have somebody&rsquo;s ass. The coach is doing a good job with the pukey material we gave him and it&rsquo;s not his fault. Therefore, I&rsquo;m resigning with the recommendation that the coach be retained.&rdquo;</p><p>Coaches in the NHL right now fall into a variety of categories. Here&rsquo;s a look at those loosely-defined areas.</p><p>&bull; Have control of the franchise and can&rsquo;t decide if they want to give up the coaching part of their portfolio: Scotty Bowman (Buffalo) and Glen Sather (Edmonton).</p><p>&bull; GMs of teams that dump coaches who are doing the job themselves and want to get the hell out of it, even though they&rsquo;ll have problems finding anyone better: Bob Pulford (Chicago), Craig Patrick (Rangers), Harry Neale (Vancouver) and Harry Sinden (Boston).</p><p>&bull; Solid in their jobs at this point, a rating that always can change at a moment&rsquo;s notice: Al Arbour (Islanders), Jacques Demers (St. Louis), Jacques Lemaire (Montreal), Bryan Murray (Washington), Bob Johnson (Calgary), Pat Quinn (L.A.) and Doug Carpenter (New Jersey).</p><p>&bull; Solid&mdash;well, reasonably so&mdash;but that&rsquo;s about it: Bob Berry (Pittsburgh), Jack Evans (Hartford), Michel Bergeron (Quebec), Barry Long (Winnipeg) and Dan Maloney (Toronto).</p><p>&bull; Seems solid but then who appeared to be more solid than Quinn and Bob McCammon in the same job? Mike Keenan (Philadelphia).</p><p>&bull; Walking a tightrope over the alligator pool: Glen Sonmor (Minnesota) and Nick Polano (Detroit).</p><p>Don&rsquo;t forget, though, that a coach&rsquo;s situation can change very quickly, depending if the owner&rsquo;s porridge is lumpy on any given morning.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-01

You Have To Be Crazy To Coach

<div class="byline">BY JEFF Z. KLEIN AND KARL-ERIC REIF</div><h2><b>FOR ARGUMENT&rsquo;S SAKE</b></h2><p><b>P</b>lus-minus stats, as they&rsquo;re figured now, are an extremely inaccurate measure of a player&rsquo;s skills.</p><p>For example, anyone could stand on the ice all season for the Edmonton Oilers (wearing double runners) and probably end up with plus figures. It&rsquo;d be simple&mdash;you stand around doing nothing while Gretzky sets up Jari Kurri for 300 even-strength goals, and if the opponents score 290 while you admire the geometric pattern of the rafters, you&rsquo;d still be plus-10.</p><p>Or, you could be highly-skilled players of all-star calibre. But if you&rsquo;re stuck on a team such as Toronto, the best figure you could possibly hope for would be plus-5.</p><p>It&rsquo;s a stupid system as it stands now. It has to be improved. And here&rsquo;s how.</p><p>It&rsquo;s called &ldquo;adjusted plus-minus.&rdquo; First you take the team&rsquo;s overall plusminus figure and divide it by five&mdash;the number of players generally on the ice when an even-strength goal is scored. Then take that number, add or subtract from it (as appropriate) a particular player&rsquo;s plus-minus figure, and you have the player&rsquo;s adjusted plus-minus rating.</p><p>For example, let&rsquo;s say a player on the Leafs has a raw plus-minus figure of plus-5, while the team has an overall mark of minus-70. That player&rsquo;s adjusted plus-minus mark would be plus-19. The excellence of his play, which cannot be properly illustrated by the present plus-minus scheme, is now more accurately highlighted by the &ldquo;adjusted&rdquo; plus-minus system.</p><p>The adjusted plus-minus calculation measures a player&rsquo;s performance <i>rela tive to that of his teammates,</i> rather than to the purely hypothetical, zerobased vacuum currently in use. Under this new system, you can&rsquo;t afford to be a floater on the Oilers, and you can also gauge with greater precision the performances of good players on bad clubs.</p><p>Most important, adjusted plusminus for the first time enables you to accurately compare ratings for players performing on different teams.</p><p>The box below contains the top 12 and bottom 12 in adjusted plus-minus so far this season. Wayne Gretzky, believe it or not, is the leader. But before taking a closer look at this year&rsquo;s ratings, let&rsquo;s look at the &rsquo;83-84 winners and losers.</p><p>Here are the top 10 adjusted plusminus performances of last season:</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03673/5526412-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="585" height="342"></div><p>Now, here are the 10 worst adjusted plus-minus performances of last season:</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04433/5526405-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="586" height="342"></div><p>Both for last season&rsquo;s figures above and this season&rsquo;s figures below, a player must have played in at least two-thirds of his team&rsquo;s games in order to qualify. In addition to this year&rsquo;s top 12 and bottom 12, here is a team-by-team breakdown of the best and worst players in adjusted plus-minus so far this season, through Jan. 27. The number in parentheses next to the listing of each team is that team&rsquo;s overall plusminus figure.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05347/5526398-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="530" height="186"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06250/5526391-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="563" height="1964"></div><h2><b>Adjusted Plus Minus</b></h2><p>(thru 513 of 840 league games)</p><h3>THE TOP 12</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-07141/5526384-1-eng-US/f0006-072.jpg" title="f0006-07" width="546" height="384"></div><h3>THE BOTTOM 12</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0883/5526377-1-eng-US/f0006-082.jpg" title="f0006-08" width="543" height="382"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0006-03

Method To End Plus-Minus Misery

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011306/5526443-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="122" height="116"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>EDMONTON OILERS</b></h2><p>EDMONTON&mdash;Glen Sather has long harbored a reputation of operating somewhat of a half-way house.</p><p>The Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; general manager-coach has always been long on rehabilitation cases. It works twofold: 1. If there&rsquo;s a player who needs another chahce or somebody who&rsquo;s been done wrong&mdash;generally once a highly-skilled prospect&mdash;chances are Sather will give him another opportunity and 2. It keeps with the Sather policy of never resting on his laurels&mdash;even after the Oilers won the Stanley Cup last spring.</p><p>It&rsquo;s a combination of good works and not bad business.</p><p>Back in the World Hockey Association, he brought in veterans such as Bill Goldsworthy, Jim Neilson and Ace Bailey to plug holes and finish out careers.</p><p>Once in the National Hockey League, the average age of rehab cases dropped. Does anybody remember Pat Price? Don Murdoch? Laurie Boschman?</p><p>Sather didn&rsquo;t discriminate against elder statesmen either. A few years ago he brought Derek Sanderson to his summer retreat in Banff, to check the conditioning of the one-time talented center whose skills deteriorated due to abuse of alcohol and drugs.</p><p>His latest project is Craig MacTavish, the ex-Boston Bruin left winger who is currently serving a one-year vehicular homicide sentence at the Essex County House of Correction in Lawrence, MA. The sentence, which began on May 14, 1984, was the result of a rear-end collision on Jan. 25 that claimed the life of Kim Radley.</p><p>Sather reached a two-year agreement with the 26-year-old free-agent forward, who will be released May 13.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a do-gooder.&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;That wasn&rsquo;t the object here. He made a mistake and he&rsquo;s paid for his error. I want him because he&rsquo;s a whale of a player.&rdquo;</p><p>MacTavish, who had 20 goals and 23 assists in his final year with the Bruins, did not fit into Boston&rsquo;s plans.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve talked to (Bruin GM-coach) Harry Sinden a number of times about the situation,&rdquo; said player-agent Bob Murray. &ldquo;Although they would have brought him back to the organization in some capacity, it would have made more sense for him to go to another team.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not as if Boston didn&rsquo;t want him; it&rsquo;s just that it will probably be easier for him to adjust in another city.&rdquo;</p><p>MacTavish is aware of the catcalls that will undoubtedly surface around NHL arenas.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing Craig can do about that,&rdquo; said Murray. &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t tried to deny what happened. By the time he gets back, he&rsquo;ll have done his time and paid his debt to society.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;m being naive but I hope people won&rsquo;t be too hard on him.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how they&rsquo;ll feel&rdquo; said MacTavish, when reached in the institute by a reporter. &ldquo;Hopefully, it won&rsquo;t be too bad.&rdquo;</p><p>But there will be people hooting and howling nevertheless.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard it before and I&rsquo;ll hear it again, I&rsquo;m sure,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Being in Edmonton is going to be good for me. I don&rsquo;t want to seem to be running away from what I did, but it&rsquo;s a chance to be in a new area,&rdquo; said the native of London, Ont., who has been going out to high schools in the Boston area speaking to students about the perils of drinking and driving during his internment period. &ldquo;I think talking to the kids has done some good.&rdquo;</p><p>The Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers were also interested in signing McTavish, a free agent without compensation.</p><p>&ldquo;But we beat them to it,&rdquo; said Sather, who sent assistant GM Bruce MacGregor and scout Ace Bailey to visit MacTavish recently. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good skater, and to me he&rsquo;s the kind of a player you can&rsquo;t say no to. Free agents don&rsquo;t come along every day.</p><p>&ldquo;Plus, don&rsquo;t forget with our organization finishing so high every year, we can&rsquo;t count on players in (the entry) draft helping us right away. We have to work hard to stay where we are, and we couldn&rsquo;t let this opportunity pass.&rdquo;</p><p>MacTavish, who had 44 goals and 66 assists in 217 NHL games, has worked out daily in the prison gymnasium, but hasn&rsquo;t skated. Sather is looking for a summer league in Sweden or Finland to which he plans to dispatch his new project.</p><p>In September, MacTavish will attend training camp for another NHL chance. And, if he doesn&rsquo;t pan out&hellip; well, look at it this way. In exchange for Price, Sather received Pat Hughes. He dealt Murdoch for Don Jackson. Boschman went to Winnipeg for Willy Lindstrom&hellip;</p><p><b>IN THE CREASE</b>&mdash;Defenseman <b>Randy Gregg</b> has returned to the Oilers&rsquo; lineup after missing 17 games with a sprained left knee. The Oilers are now awaiting the return of center <b>Kevin McClellend,</b> who will be out another week or so with a similar injury.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0007-01

Sather To Give MacTavish Second Chance

<p>The International Hockey Weekly Founded in 1947</p><p>Published by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd. 85 Scarsdale Road, #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2.</p><p><b>EGADS, THE</b> National Hockey League has a security leak!</p><p>Yep, there are people out there who are showing no regard for the NHL&rsquo;s obsession with secrecy. Why, just imagine, newspapers such as the <i>Journal de Montreal</i> and London <i>Free Press</i> actually have the nerve to reprint portions of the league&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau&rsquo;s &ldquo;highly-confidential&rdquo; entry draft ratings.</p><p>Actually, publishing the ratings of the top entry draft prospects has become something of a ritual for newspapers in the last few years. As a rule, the <i>Journal</i> and <i>Free Press</i> beat everyone else to the punch since they happen to employ the two best junior hockey reporters in the country&mdash;Marc Lachapelle and John Herbert.</p><p>But the Bureau&mdash;Central Scouting, not the FBI&mdash;not only gets mad, it gets even. It wants to know who is leaking the information to the reporters.</p><p>And it has apparently come up with a system to catch the guilty club(s).</p><p>The lists are coded. That&rsquo;s right, there are variations on the lists which are distributed to the 21 clubs. THE HOCKEY NEWS, in its entry draft reporting, came across three discrepancies on three separate lists.</p><p>It appears that the bottom third or so of the first round varies from team to team. So if the top 21 prospects are reprinted in a newspaper, Central Scouting can check back to its master list to see which list was leaked.</p><p>A stroke of genius, no?</p><p>No.</p><p>For all that effort, the CSB might as well have a called a press conference and announced who the top 15 or 20 prospects are. The league would be getting a good deal more positive publicity. What&rsquo;s the big secret anyway?</p><p>And if it was <i>really</i> concerned with secrecy, then why doesn&rsquo;t the CSB take a page out of junior hockey&rsquo;s draft list and rate the players round-by-round, as opposed to numerically. That way, a player could be anywhere within a range of 21 spots and the media would have to guess.</p><p>So do something constructive or do nothing at all. Coding the lists seems like a tremendous waste of time for everybody concerned. After all, how long will it take a reporter to make a couple of changes of his own to throw off the CSB?<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Pssst! It’s Secret

<p class="dropcap"><b><span>G</span>LEN SATHER&rsquo;S EGO</b> has made a mockery out of the All-Star game. He snubbed such deserving players as Bernie Federko, Joe Mullen, Denis Savard, Bernie Nicholls and Steve Yzerman and picked the minimum number of players from each team and filled out the Campbell Conference roster with players from the Oilers. In my opinion, this shows poor judgment and ignorance of the purpose of the All-Star game on Sather&rsquo;s part.</p><p>Sather&rsquo;s action results in eight Oiler players, some of whose accomplishments are rather obscure, on the Campbell Conference team. This is ridiculous and is not in the best interests of the NHL. While the Oilers would be a good team (but not a great team) Without Wayne Gretzky, the purpose of the All-Star game is not for the designated coach to showcase his players at the cost of the fans and deserving players from other teams.</p><p>With regard to Federko and Mullen, whose Blues are in first place in the Norris Division, could Sather&rsquo;s actions be a psychological ploy in view of the fact that St. Louis could very well be playing Edmonton for the Campbell Conference championship in the playoffs? Sometimes such ploys backfire.</p><p><b>Karl D. Dexheimer</b></p><p><i>Belleville, IL</i></p><h2><b>HOCKEY TUNNEL VISION</b></h2><p>The editorial (The Cardinal Sin) in the Feb. 1 issue demonstrates the tunnel vision the hockey media displays all too often in regard to the problems in the game today.</p><p>The editorial, sans byline, called Jim Nahrgang and the Michigan Tech Huskies quitters, and suggested that the &ldquo;hockey powers that be&hellip;should hit the Huskie coach with a heavy suspension.&rdquo;</p><p>I cannot comment on the incidents that Mr. Nahrgang responded to, since I was not at the game, but anyone who has watched the Huskies over the past decades would not doubt their courage in the face of adversity. If Mr. Nahrgang stated he feared for the safety of his players, I am sure his action was justified.</p><p>Your editorial should have supported this action, since fans of the college game have watched the fast action of the past replaced with the cheapshot-and-grab all too prevelant in the game today.</p><p><b>Kim P. O&rsquo;Brien</b></p><p><i>Saginaw, Ml</i></p><h2><b>MUCH ADO ABOUT MARCEL</b></h2><p>This is in reference to the cover story on Marcel Dionne (Jan. 18), and is addressed to Marcel&rsquo;s detractors mentioned in the article.</p><p>Just look at Marcel&rsquo;s record. It is accomplished by an exceptional hockey player who has been playing for two mediocre (to be charitable) teams (Detroit and Los Angeles).</p><h2><b>FAN FORUM</b></h2><p><b>Let your voice be heard! Send your comments to Fan Forum, THE HOCKEY NEWS, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., Canada M3B 2R2.</b></p><p>Some other hockey greats have achieved outstanding records while playing with good teams. Marcel is doing it without that benefit.</p><p>In my book, Marcel is not only a fine human being but also a hockey superstar in the truest meaning of this often-used expression.</p><p><b>H. de Willigen</b></p><p><i>Glendale, CA</i></p><h2><b>FISCHLER BREAKS RULES</b></h2><p>Stan Fischler, you&rsquo;ve done it again. Billy Smith draws a six-game suspension for an egregious slash on Chicago&rsquo;s Curt Fraser, causing a broken cheekbone. Go ahead, Stan, try to defend Billy.</p><p>Well, according to you, Stan, Billy, somewhere, at some time, complained that goalies aren&rsquo;t given enough protection by the referees. Thus, the act was nothing more than mere justified vigilance. I have a feeling Curt Fraser and others in the league feel that it is not Billy who needs more protection but the players who must contend with him.</p><p>Try this one on, Stan: You break the rules, you pay the price.</p><p><b>Jim Evans</b></p><p><i>Minneapolis, MN</i></p><h2><b>SMARTEN UP, BILLY</b></h2><p>Justice at last! When Brian O&rsquo;Neill suspended Billy Smith on Jan. 28, justice was finally served. I&rsquo;m sure the Islanders&rsquo; stick-swinging goaltender didn&rsquo;t mean to strike Curt Fraser in the face with his stick on Jan. 13, but he did. And he did mean to swing his stick in a reckless manner which he is known so well for doing. Smith is never concerned about seriously injuring anyone because he feels the crease and as far as his stick can reach on his average swing is his land. Anyone who is close to him is unwelcome and will be soon knocked to the ice.</p><p>Billy Smith might be the greatest playoff goalie the game has ever seen, but if he keeps his stick swinging antics up he may be remembered in another way. If Smith had hit Fraser just a little higher on the face with his stick, it might have ended Fraser&rsquo;s career and I&rsquo;m sure this incident would have overshadowed his past playoff greatness. Wise up, Mr. Smith, while you still can.</p><p><b>R. Jeffrey Nossan</b></p><p><i>Port Jefferson, NY</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Sather Snubs Real Stars

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011391/5526522-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="394" height="443"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>Bob McKenzie&rsquo;s</b></p><p><b>Editor&rsquo;s Notebook</b></p></figcaption></div><p>The voice belongs to a well-respected professional who just happens to be a member of the competition.</p><p>&ldquo;All things considered,&rdquo; says the man from Canadian Sports Network, the folks who bring you Hockey Night in Canada, &ldquo;it wasn&rsquo;t a bad job.&rdquo;</p><p>He was, of course, referring to the premier telecast of the NHL on CTV, a Feb. 15 game between the Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, a momentous milestone in hockey history.</p><p>Call it the day the monopoly died. Yes, for the first time since NHL games have been telecast nationally in Canada, a game appeared on a network other than the CBC. No Dave Hodge, no Dick Irvin, no Bob Cole. No, not even Don Cherry&hellip;</p><p>Instead, it was a new team&mdash;Dan Kelly, Dan Matheson, Bobby Taylor and Ed Westfall. And, as the man from the competition says, all things considered, it wasn&rsquo;t bad.</p><p>&ldquo;Actually,&rdquo; says the CSN man, &ldquo;lean sympathize with what they must have gone through. After all, the first time for anything is difficult. And Madison Square Garden, well, let&rsquo;s just say that&rsquo;s a tough rink to work out of. It&rsquo;s better than it used to be, but it&rsquo;s still tough.&rdquo;</p><p>Which is not to say that the CTV network&rsquo;s first effort was in the slick category. And as unfair as it may seem, CTV is going to be measured against Hockey Night in Canada, the state-of-the-art hockey telecast that has had more than 25 years to get its act together.</p><p>&ldquo;There were definitely some things that weren&rsquo;t right,&rdquo; the CSN man adds. &ldquo;If those things aren&rsquo;t corrected in the next four to six weeks, then I think there might be some reason for concern.&rdquo;</p><p>Those &ldquo;things that weren&rsquo;t right&rdquo; ranged from minor miscues to more significant technical troubles.</p><p>For example: the intermission set backdrop looked as if it was hastily assembled, with the tiles not matching up the way they&rsquo;re supposed to; Paul Coffey&rsquo;s name was mispelled (Coffee) on the intermission promo; the audio came on early and stayed on too long, allowing the viewer to hear commentators clearing their throats and extending salutations to intermission guests; the lighting for an interview with James and Steve Patrick was terrible.</p><p>There were other miscues, to be sure, but there was also a lot right with the telecast.</p><p>Dan Kelly is an excellent play-by-play man who provides instant credibility for the new network. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s today&rsquo;s Foster Hewitt,&rdquo; says the CSN man.</p><p>Dan Matheson, the Toronto sportscaster who will undoubtedly be compared to Dave Hodge, did a credible job under what were probably trying circumstances. And the tandem of Bobby Taylor, the ex-Philadelphia Flyer goalie, and Ed Westfall were no better or worse than the standard color commentating fare on HNIC.</p><p>And CTV deserves full marks for trying to come up with something fresh and new. Two Minutes in the Press Box, an intermission feature that gives a print media person an opportunity to editorialize on the air, is an interesting approach.</p><p>Jim Matheson of the Edmonton <i>Journal</i> did a excellent job of presenting his theory on why Glen Sather should be NHL Coach of the Year, though two minutes seems a little too long to listen to a monologue. And the CSN man wonders how many print reporters will be as confident before the camera as Jim Matheson was.</p><p>So all in all, it&rsquo;s clear that CTV&rsquo;s first effort has a long to way to go before it&rsquo;s as polished and smooth as HNIC. Nevertheless, the average viewer&mdash;that is, one who is watching the actual game and not the production&mdash;probably won&rsquo;t be nearly so harsh as the critical reviewers.</p><p>And really, isn&rsquo;t the game the important thing?</p><p>&ldquo;That game (New York&rsquo;s 8-7 victory over Edmonton, which saw the Rangers score five quick goals to erase a 3-1 first-period deficit) was really entertaining,&rdquo; the CSN man concedes. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s what the fan wants to see.&rdquo;</p><p>Yep, all things considered, it wasn&rsquo;t bad at all. And it sure beats <i>Dallas.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-01

CTV Gets Passing Grade For Its First Effort

<div class="byline">BY BOB MCKENZIE</div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>ORONTO&mdash;If the early returns are any indication, the 1985 National Hockey League entry draft will be major junior hockey&rsquo;s chance to thumb its collective nose at its detractors&mdash;and there seem to be plenty of them around these days.</p><p>Nineteen of the top 21 prospects available for the &rsquo;85 draft&mdash;according to the NHL Central Scouting Bureau&rsquo;s so-called confidential ratings list&mdash;are playing in either the Western or Ontario Leagues.</p><p>Only two players&mdash;Michigan State University sophomore center Craig Simpson and Myles O&rsquo;Connor of Notre Dame High School in Wilcox, Sask.&mdash; are considered first-round picks. Simpson is ranked third overall, with a fair shot at being the No. 1 player selected at the draft, scheduled for June 15 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.</p><p>But while it&rsquo;s a good year for the West and Ontario, it&rsquo;s miserable for the Quebec League. The top-rated Quebec players are Drummondville forward Jose Charbonneau and Chicoutimi forward Stephane Roy. Both are considered second-round picks, according to Central Scouting.</p><p>In the past couple of drafts, major junior hockey&rsquo;s development efforts have been overshadowed by those of U.S. high schools and colleges, as well as European leagues.</p><p>As a result, numerous hockey people&mdash;Edmonton Oiler coach and general manager Glen Sather, to name one&mdash;have been critical of junior hockey&rsquo;s aims, attitudes and methods. In short, it&rsquo;s become fashionable to be down on major junior hockey.</p><p>But this year, the U.S. high schoolers and Europeans are nowhere to be found. And while that, perhaps as much as anything else, reflects the cyclical nature of the entry draft, junior hockey operators who have been put on the defensive aren&rsquo;t about to let this slide by unnoticed.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve noticed in the last little while a renewed sense of enthusiasm for our product,&rdquo; says Ontario Hockey League commissioner and Canadian Major Junior Hockey League executive David Branch.</p><p>&ldquo;I think it started with our gold medal win at the world junior championships in Helsinki and now the NHL is showing some interest in revamping the (draft) system that has hurt our product over the years.</p><p>&ldquo;And the majority of the best (pro) prospects are playing major junior. More and more people, I think, are starting to realize that we do have the best development system and that we&rsquo;re <i>thee</i> leader in the field.&rdquo;</p><p>But while it is easy to identify major junior&rsquo;s dominance in this particular draft, it&rsquo;s nearly impossible to decipher who will be the No. 1 player chosen. In fact, it&rsquo;s conceivable that any one of the first 10 picks could go first overall, depending on team preference and what happens between now and mid-June.</p><p>That&rsquo;s a stark contrast to a year ago, when everyone knew Mario Lemieux would be the No. 1 man.</p><p>Nevertheless, here are the top 10 prospects, in order, according to the Central Scouting Bureau.</p><p><b>1. JIM SANDLAK</b>: A 6-foot-3, 204-pound right winger with the London Knights who impressed scouts with a strong performance at the world junior championships in Helsinki.</p><p>He&rsquo;s big, strong and works very hard, although some scouts say his skating needs work. After 47 games, he had 36 goals and 18 assists with 100 penalty minutes.</p><p><b>2. WENDEL CLARK</b>: The 5-foot-11, 187-pound Saskatoon Blades&rsquo; defenseman is being projected as a forward in the NHL. He played there in the world junior championships and responded well.</p><p>He&rsquo;s extremely tough, a hard hitter who also has good offensive abilities as witnessed by his 20 goals, 45 assists and 200 penalty minutes in 49 games.</p><p><b>3. CRAIG SIMPSON</b>: The 6-foot-2, 181-pound London, Ont., native is a sophomore center at Michigan State University. He&rsquo;s extremely intelligent&mdash;how many 18-year-olds do you know who are college sophomores?&mdash;although some scouts question his skating ability. He could be a gamble for some weak teams since he has indicated he may want to play for Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team in 1988.</p><p><b>4. DAN GRATTON</b>: The 6-foot-1, 184-pound Brantford, Ont., native is in his third season with the Oshawa Generals. He played in the world junior championships, although he&rsquo;s been inconsistent this season (22 goals and 33 assists in 44 games). He&rsquo;s regarded as a gamer.</p><p><b>5. DANAMURZYN</b>: At 6-foot-2 and 197 pounds with 23 goals, 46 assists and 176 penalty minutes in 54 games, the Calgary Wrangler is considered a well-rounded defenseman. Scouts say he can play it either physical or offensive.</p><p><b>6. DAVE MANSON</b>: The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Prince Albert Raider defenseman is considered more physical than Murzyn, but doesn&rsquo;t possess the same offensive skills. He had seven goals, 27 assists and 188 penalty minutes after 55 games.</p><p><b>7. YVON CORRIVEAU</b>: The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Welland, Ont., native is a hard-nosed left winger in his rookie season with the Toronto Marlboros. He had 21 goals and 25 assists with 65 penalty minutes after 53 games.</p><p><b>8. RYAN STEWART</b>: The six-foot, 175-pound Kamloops Oiler center has been plagued by injuries this season, scoring 26 goals and 26 assists with 50 penalty minutes in 40 games. He is a finesse player with good hockey sense.</p><p><b>9. DAVID LATTA</b>: The six-foot, 180-pound Kitchener Ranger left winger is a hard worker with a good shot and good puck sense. Scouts say his skating needs some work, but he had 33 goals, 23 assists and 22 penalty minutes after 47 games.</p><p><b>10. CRAIG WOLANIN</b>: The 6-foot-3, 188-pound Kitchener Ranger defenseman is a graduate of the Detroit Compuware system. Though he is rated 10th, a number of hockey people suggest he is a bona fide No. 1 (overall) candidate. He&rsquo;s rapidly improving and showing a great deal in all parts of the game. After 46 games, he had four goals and 13 assists with 67 penalty minutes.</p><p>Toronto Marlboros&rsquo; Sean Burke, who is 6-foot-3, 180 pounds and has a 4.25 goals-against average, is the No. 1 rated goaltender on the Central Scouting list.</p><p>He&rsquo;s been compared favorably to Buffalo Sabre goalie Tom Barrasso.</p><p>Burke is followed by Medicine Hat Tiger goalie Troy Gamble, who is 5-foot-11, 178 pounds, and has a 2.67 goals-against average, while Peterboro Pete Kay Whitmore, six feet and 166 pounds with a 3.50 goals-against average, is No. 3.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011350/5526553-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="551" height="851"><figcaption class="caption-body">London Knight right winger Jim Sandlak is atop the Central Scouting rankings.</figcaption></div><p>Although he isn&rsquo;t rated as highly by Central Scouting, Windsor Spitfire rookie Mark Gowans is said to be tops on several teams&rsquo; goaltending rankings.</p><p><b>NOTES&mdash;</b>In an effort to catch NHL clubs guilty of leaking Central Scouting ratings to the media, this year&rsquo;s lists are coded. THE HOCKEY NEWS came across three different lists, with minor discrepancies between each. The &ldquo;planted&rdquo; ratings appear to be in the bottom half of the first round.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0009-01

Ontario And The West Dominate Draft List

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011431/5526584-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="366" height="454"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>Stan Fischler&rsquo;s</b></p><p><b>ON THE CONTRARY</b></p></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>R</span>ecently, they held a big bash for Rogatien Vachon at the Forum in Inglewood, CA, and Sammy Pollock, the guy most responsible for the whole shebang, wasn&rsquo;t even invited.</p><p>On Feb. 14, in a ceremony worthy of Buckingham Palace, the Kings retired Vachon&rsquo;s sweater number (30). That was very nice, especially if you belong to a religion that believes in jersey retirements. After all, Rogie was the most popular player in King history, whether Marcel Dionne&rsquo;s wife likes it or not.</p><p>But whoa! I&rsquo;m skating away from the issue. That is, Vachon never would have planted his roots in California were it not for one of the dumbest trades since the invention of the round puck. The perpetrator of said stupidity was Pollock, and that&rsquo;s why dear Sam should have been there to shake Rogie&rsquo;s hand. Pollock, whose reputation as a wonderful wheeler-dealer is grossly inflated, was responsible for Rogie&rsquo;s redoutable reign in Lotusland.</p><p>On Nov. 4, 1971, Pollock dealt Vachon to Los Angeles for a collection of stiffs including Denis DeJordy, a washed-up goaltender; mediocre defensemen Dale Hoganson and Noel Price, and worthless forward Doug Robinson. The Habs got quantity, while the Kings came away with one of the last of the great goaltenders.</p><p>Dejordy played in only seven games for Montreal, giving up 25 goals. The other Canadien acquisitions were equally insignificant. Meanwhile, Vachon lavished seven lovely seasons on the California crowd before retiring.</p><p>Question: Was that the worst deal in National Hockey League history?</p><p>Answer: Not quite, although indubitably the worst Pollock ever made.</p><p>Question II: What were the worst trades in NHL history?</p><p><b>THE WORST TRADE EVER: THE ESPOSITO BLUNDER</b>: On May 15, 1967, the Chicago Black Hawks traded Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield to the Boston Bruins for Pit Martin, Gilles Marotte and Jack Norris. We all know how Esposito and Hodge combined with Wayne Cashman to form the most potent scoring line of the early &rsquo;70s and helped bring two Stanley Cups to Boston. The pair produced a grandiose 748 goals in parts of nine seasons. Stanfield, a solid point man, played a key role in the Bruins&rsquo; success, too. Pit Martin was merely an adequate performer for the Hawks before his deportation later in the 1967 season to Vancouver. Marotte spent less than three seasons screening and generally bothering his goalies before being traded to Los Angeles. As for Jack Norris, ugh!</p><p>THE WINNER: Bruin general manager Milt Schmidt.</p><p>THE LOSER: Black Hawk GM Tommy Ivan.</p><p><b>THE WORST ONE-FOR-ONE TRADE EVER: PUTTING KEN HODGE ON BROADWAY</b>: Phil Esposito moped for months after being traded to the Rangers in 1975. To placate Futile Phil and hopefully get some production out of him, Ranger GM John Ferguson figured Espo&rsquo;s old sidekick Hodge would cheer him up and rekindle his scoring prowess, so he sent young Rick Middleton to Boston. As a Ranger, Hodge moved with all the speed of the brontosaurus at the Museum of Natural History. He was out of the NHL within two years. Meanwhile, Middleton, who had been badmouthed as a New York good-for-nothing, merely became one of the most productive right wingers of the late &rsquo;70s and &rsquo;80s and is still a scoring threat in Beantown.</p><p>THE WINNER: Bruin GM Harry Sinden.</p><p>THE LOSER: Ranger GM John Ferguson.</p><p><b>THE TOOTHLESS TIGER AND THE LOSING WINNERS</b>: On Feb. 18, 1980, the Toronto Maple Leafs dealt Tiger Williams and a plodding winger named Jerry Butler to Vancouver for Rick Vaive and Bill Derlago. Williams had one brief swig of success in 1982 and has been no more than a good-for-nothing since. Vaive and Derlago have demonstrated that it&rsquo;s possible to simultaneously be a winner and loser&mdash;they have been productive Maple Leafs on a pathetically unproductive team. As for Jerry Butler, check him out under the Department of Retired Sloths.</p><p>THE WINNER: Leaf GM Punch Imlach.</p><p>THE LOSER: Canuck GM Jake Milford.</p><p><b>CONSTRUCTING A CONTENDER, THE CAPITAL STORY</b>: On Sept. 10, 1982, the Washington Capitals transformed themselves from cellar-dwellers of the Patrick Division into Stanley Cup contenders. The Caps shipped Rick Green and Ryan Walter to the Montreal Canadiens for Rod Langway, Craig Laughlin, Brian Engblom and Doug Jarvis. Langway has won the Norris Trophy the past two seasons and has been named the Capitals&rsquo; MVP each year he&rsquo;s been in Landover. Laughlin has ripened into a useful forward. Engblom, although he spent only a year in the nation&rsquo;s capital, turned out to be valuable trade bait, as he and Ken Houston enabled the Caps to obtain solid Larry Murphy from the Los Angeles Kings. The contemporay iron man is not only one of the better defensive centers in the league, but arguably one of the NHL&rsquo;s most underrated players. For the Habs, injury-plagued Rick Green has played decently when healthy. Ryan Walter has been a keen disappointment.</p><p>THE WINNER: Cap GM David Poile.</p><p>THE LOSER: Canadien GM Irving Grundman.</p><p><b>THE WORST SMALL TRADE IN TWO YEARS</b>: On Jan 17, 1983, nobody paid any mind when the Vancouver Canucks dealt Ivan Boldirev to the Detroit Red Wings for Mark Kirton. The Canucks had misjudged and misused Boldirev. The Red Wings did the opposite. Last year Ivan the Wonderful scored 35 goals and 48 assists for 83 points in 75 games and lifted the Wings into the playoffs. He&rsquo;s still an asset at Joe Louis Arena. Kirton has bounced between Vancouver and the minors, a zilch for the Canucks.</p><p>THE WINNER: Wing GM Jimmy Devellano.</p><p>THE LOSER: Canuck GM Harry Neale.</p><p><b>LOSING BIG-LITTLE M</b>: On June 6, 1969, the Detroit Red Wings traded Peter Mahovlich, the Big M&rsquo;s (Frank Mahovlich&rsquo;s) younger and big brother, and defenseman Bart Crashley to the Montreal Canadiens for Garry Monahan and the amazing Doug Piper. (Doug who?) &ldquo;The Big-Little M&rdquo; didn&rsquo;t get much ice time with the Wings. But with the Canadiens, he scored a ton of goals and also added a little color and controversy. Monahan played 51 games for Detroit, scoring a whopping three goals and four assists. And who is Doug Piper, you ask? Detroit fans are still wondering.</p><p>THE WINNER: Canadien GM Sam Pollock.</p><p>THE LOSER: Red Wing GM Sid Abel.</p><p><b>A HALL OF A GOALIE</b>: On July, 1957, the Detroit Red Wings traded goalie Glenn Hall and Ted Lindsay to the Chicago Black Hawks for John Wilson, Forbes Kennedy, Hank Bassen and William Preston. Although past his prime, Lindsay had a couple of decent seasons in Chicago and made a star out of Stan Mikita. But Hall was the real steal. He gave the Black Hawks prize-winning goaltending for a decade, winning the Vezina Trophy twice, and never exceeding a 2.97 goals-against average. Wilson played parts of two seasons for Detroit; Kennedy bounced up and down from the minors for five seasons while Bassen, one of the worst goalies I&rsquo;ve ever seen, spent most of his six years in the minors. William Preston could have passed himself off as the Phantom of the Opera.</p><p>THE WINNER: Black Hawk GM Tommy Ivan.</p><p>THE LOSER: Red Wing GM Jack Adams.</p><p><b>BENTLEY EQUALS CUP</b>: Early in the 1947-48 season, the Chicago Black Hawks traded Max Bentley&mdash;leaving brother Doug behind&mdash;to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the entire Flying Forts line of Gus Bodnar, Bud Poile and Gaye Stewart, and defenseman Bob Goldham and Ernie Dickens. This was THE TRADE of all time and Bentley won it for Toronto all the way. Aided by Bentley&rsquo;s magic, the Leafs copped three Stanley Cups in the first four years after the trade. Although the new Black Hawks played okay&mdash;Poile was sold to the Rangers the following year&mdash;they did nothing to help the club and Chicago missed the playoffs until the 1952-53 season.</p><p>The Hawks also lost all their glitter, having broken up the dazzling Bentley brothers&rsquo; combination.</p><p>THE WINNER: Maple Leaf GM Conn Smythe.</p><p>THE LOSER: Black Hawk president Bill Tobin.</p><p><b>SCOTTY STEALS TWO</b>: On Dec. 2, 1981, Scott Bowman ripped off the Red Wings when he unloaded Danny Gare, Jim Schoenfeld and Derek Smith for Mike Foligno, Brent Peterson and Dale McCourt. The Wings are left (stuck?) with Gare and nothing else. Foligno is teetering on the brink of superstardom and Peterson is a defensive gem. On top of that Schoenfeld is back and has been useful for Buffalo when healthy.</p><p>THE WINNER: Sabre GM Scotty Bowman.</p><p>THE LOSER: Red Wing GM Jim Skinner.</p><p><b>ALL-INCLUSIVE BOOBY PRIZE: EMILE FRANCIS AND THE NO-CUP RANGERS</b>: Former New York Ranger GM Emile Francis, now boss of the Hartford Whalers, was the culprit on several deals. In 1967, Francis sent Red Berenson and Barclay Plager to St. Louis for Ron Stewart and the fabulous Ron Attwell. Berenson went on to score 245 goals and 368 assists through the 1977-78 season, while Plager successfully crunched opponents of the Blues for nine years. Stewart was a veritable nothing by contrast. Attwell disappointed even faster. On Nov. 30, 1973, Francis dispatched Mike Murphy, Tommy Williams and Sheldon Kannegiesser to Los Angeles for Gilles Marotte and Real Lemieux. Murphy and Williams became King mainstays (Murphy, once the King captain, is now assistant GM). Marotte was miserable&mdash;again&mdash;and Lemieux was gone in less than two months. Others on the list of Francis-Rangers first-rate tradeaways include Curt Bennett, Jim Lorentz, Andre Dupont, Bert Marshall, Brad Park and Jean Ratelle. Francis stayed 10 years in New York, maintaining the rich Ranger tradition of no Stanley Cups since 1940.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-01

Trade Winners, Losers Of Years Gone By

<h2><b>HOCKEY NOTEBOOK</b></h2><p>The National Hockey League is making initial inroads for possible expansion.</p><p>The board of governors has appointed an advisory committee which will study the question of expansion and will report back at the annual meeting in West Palm Beach, FL, in December.</p><p>&ldquo;&hellip;(the committee) will try to make decisions as to whether or not the league is in a business position to expand and whether or not it would make sense to do so,&rdquo; NHL president <b>John Ziegler</b> told the Toronto <i>Globe and Mail&rsquo;s</i>&nbsp;<b>Al Strachan.</b></p><p>Ziegler added the selection of the committee does not necessarily guarantee expansion.</p><p>&ldquo;It may be that their decision is not to expand,&rdquo; Ziegler said. &ldquo;It may be that we should consider expansion two or three years from that point.&rdquo;</p><p>A proposal by the NHL to change the present 18-year-old draft, known as the underage draft, is being given some support by the Ontario Hockey League.</p><p>The plan, still in its formative stages, would allow junior players to select the year&mdash;from the age of 18 to 21&mdash;in which they become eligible for the NHL draft. In other words, if a player does not feel he is ready at the age of 18 to be drafted, he can declare he wishes to be selected at a later year.</p><p>Currently, players automatically become eligible if their 18th birthday is before Sept. 15 of the given draft year.</p><p>The new system basically allows a player to further hone his skills in junior, while taking away some of the pressure which might occur because of the importance of the draft.</p><p>OHL commissioner <b>Dave Branch</b> said he sees the new plan as a &ldquo;positive development.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;We (the OHL) have a meeting scheduled with the NHL in early March and this will probably be discussed then,&rdquo; Branch said. &ldquo;There seems to be a move afoot to protect the best interests of everyone concerned&mdash;the players, NHL clubs and junior operators.&rdquo;</p><p>Branch added that junior hockey and, in turn, the NHL suffers when players are picked before they&rsquo;re ready.</p><p>&ldquo;The key to this,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;is that, in the few years that the 18 year olds have been eligible, everyone has had the opportunity to form an opinion based on the results. For the most part, those results have not been positive for hockey or the players.&rdquo;</p><p>The controversial NHL career of <b>Dave (Tiger) Williams</b> appears to be at its end.</p><p>The Detroit Red Wings, who acquired Williams in an off-season deal for <b>Rob McClanahan</b> in effort to provide leadership and toughness, have placed the veteran left winger on unrecallable waivers. Any team is free to put in a claim for Williams for the asking price. Should Williams clear waivers, he is expected to be assigned to Adirondack of the American Hockey League.</p><p>Williams began his career with Toronto, then was traded along with <b>Jerry Butler</b> to Vancouver in 1979-80 for <b>Rick Vaive</b> and <b>Bill Derlago</b>. Williams&rsquo; departure from the Canucks coincided with the release of his book. <i>Tiger: A Hockey Story,</i> and some negative comments against <b>Arthur Griffiths,</b> the team&rsquo;s assistant to the chairman.</p><p>The falling Canadian dollar has been cited as one of the reasons for the expensive ticket prices of the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; home games.</p><p>&ldquo;The falling Canadian dollar has a substantial impact on the Edmonton Oilers,&rdquo; Oiler p.r. director <b>Bill Tuele</b> told the <i>Canadian Press.</i> &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very expensive and it&rsquo;s one of the reasons ticket prices are so high for a game.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

NHL To Probe Into Expansion Possibility

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011303/5526639-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="157" height="89"></div><h2><b>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>ANDOVER&mdash;In the Washington Capitals&rsquo; 11 th season, the hockey game at last has become a place to be. thereby guaranteeing success in a city ruled by status.</p><p>Before the Capitals left on a two-week Western trip that included a three-day &ldquo;vacation&rdquo; in San Diego, they played before almost 36,000 persons in back-to-back weekend games against Los Angeles and Philadelphia.</p><p>The sellout of 18,130 for the Flyers&rsquo; contest was the fifth of the season, an all-time high, and it boosted the average attendance over 28 home games to 13,735. That is more than 1,300 over the club-record 1982-83 season, when figures were distorted by the Save the Caps campaign.</p><p>The Kings, who rarely attract five-figure turnouts at Capital Center, drew 17,823 this time, despite taking a back seat to the Flyers visit the next night.</p><p>&ldquo;Probably the most startling figure since I&rsquo;ve been here was the one I got at three o&rsquo;clock Friday, that only 1,736 tickets were left for the Kings&rsquo; game,&rdquo; said Lew Strudler, the Capitals&rsquo; marketing director.</p><p>&ldquo;We took a chance playing the Friday-Saturday home games, knowing that the Friday game would be overshadowed by the Flyers. But with no NBA that weekend, we wanted to use both dates and we fell Friday-Saturday would do better than Wednesday-Saturday.&rdquo;</p><p>The tremendous interest generated by the Capitals&rsquo; drive for first place in the Patrick Division focused attention on the distribution of playoff tickets, with Strudler predicting that there would be no public sale.</p><p>Each of the club&rsquo;s 5.951 season-ticket holders was allowed to purchase as many playoff tickets as desired. The 4.125 holders of 10-game plans were guaranteed tickets and with 600 to 800 seats set aside for the NHL, visiting teams and visiting press, the Capital Center&rsquo;s 18,130 capacity seemed likely to be exhausted in a hurry.</p><p>&ldquo;Our initial response, in a very brief time frame, indicates that there will be no public sale,&rdquo; Strudler said. &ldquo;Although some companies are not likely to pick up playoff tickets, because their budgets are based on the regular season only, it appears that the overwhelming number of season-ticket holders will be buying extra tickets.&rdquo;</p><p>There figured to be some negative reaction to the numbers allowed some ticket holders, who were ordering as many as 50 extras for the playoffs, but Strudler said the team felt it owed its season-ticket holders whatever perks i could provide.</p><p>&ldquo;These are the people who are out there when we play Winnipeg on Wednesday night,&rdquo; Strudler said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re the backbone of our operation and we want to treat them right.&rdquo;</p><p>The team&rsquo;s season-ticket base has been rising steadily with success on the ice. In the summer of 1982, when owner Abe Pollin demanded season-ticket sales of 7,500 as one of several conditions for keeping the team in Washington, the actual figure at the close of the &ldquo;successful&rdquo; drive to save the Caps was only 4,583.</p><p>For next season, Strudler has established goals of 7,000 season tickets and 6,000 10-game plans. If they are reached, the next step in the Capital&rsquo;s attendance climb figures to be the absence of public sale for regular-season contests against choice opponents such as Edmonton, the New York Islanders and Philadelphia.</p><p>&ldquo;If we reach our goals, and I believe we will, it will mean the top 10 games will be sold out before public sale,&rdquo; Strudler said. &ldquo;Tickets to see the Caps play Edmonton will be just as hard to get as tickets to see the Redskins play Dallas.&rdquo;</p><p>To help boost the season-ticket base, the Capitals were offering playoff tickets this spring to persons who signed up now for season tickets or partial plans for 1985-86. If that seemed like high-pressure persuasion, at least the Capitals were playing fair with their playoff ticket prices.</p><p>The scale was set at $20, $18 and $14 for divisional playoffs and $24, $22 and $18 for the conference and Stanley Cup finals. Season-ticket holders were given two dollar discounts on their regular seats.</p><p>Although that marked an increase of $1.50 to $4 over last year&rsquo;s playoff prices, it figured to be among the lowest&mdash;if not the lowest&mdash;scales in the NHL. The only other teams with the best seats priced below $20 a year ago were Minnesota ($17), Vancouver ($18) and Buffalo ($19). In each case, prices rose sharply after each round.</p><p>Patrick Division tops for the first round hit $32 for the Islanders, $26.50 for the Flyers and $24 for the New York Rangers</p><p><b>CAPPING IT OFF&mdash;Bobby Carpenter</b>, playing the best hockey of his four-year NHL career, set a mark for goals scored by an American when he notched his 42nd in a 5-3 loss to Winnipeg on Feb. 13. The previous mark was set last season by Joe Mullen of St. Louis.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0011-01

Capitals’ Play Is Status Quo In Washington

<div class="byline">BY RICH FRIEDMAN</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02969/5526670-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="121" height="121"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>NEW YORK RANGERS</b></h2><p>NEW YORK&mdash;It was put-up-or-shut-up time for the New York Rangers.</p><p>Emerging from the All-Star break winless in seven games and with the slimmest of leads over the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins in the race for the final playoff position in the Patrick Division, the Rangers answered their critics with stunning back-to-back offensive explosions over last spring&rsquo;s Stanley Cup finalists.</p><p>In a Friday night showdown at the Madison Square Garden corral, the Rangers beat Stanley-Cup champion Edmonton 8-7, chasing Oiler goalie Grant Fuhr with a team-record five goals in 3:22 in the first period.</p><p>They treated their fans two nights later to a 9-3 blowout of the New York Islanders, scoring three goals in a 2:15 spurt in the second period. Minutes later, a brawl between the two teams resulted in 113 penalty minutes and the ejection of six players, including both starting goalies. John Vanbiesbrouck of the Rangers and the Islanders&rsquo; Kelly Hrudey.</p><p>&ldquo;We were very high for the game against Edmonton,&rdquo; said team captain Barry Beck after the victory over the Islanders. &ldquo;A lot of people had written us off, and we wanted to win it real bad because of the position we had put ourselves in</p><p>&ldquo;We helped each other out of it and we found the spark for it this weekend.. it is more of a team effort now. The guys are starting to realize that everybody has to do their job and contribute.&rdquo;</p><p>The Rangers entered the All-Star break basking in the glow of a seven-game road trip that yielded them one point in the standings, and mouthed a party line that was highly suspect in view of the circumstances.</p><p>&ldquo;You lose five games and you&rsquo;re normally coming apart after the season we had.&rdquo; said Anders Hedberg as the team prepared for the final two games of that road trip&mdash;a 2-2 tie in Hartford, the only point of the the trip, and a 3-2 loss in Philadelphia. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re a lot more of a team today than we were five games ago.&rdquo;</p><p>That theme was echoed by general manager-coach Craig Patrick and other players, and by Hedberg himself, practically verbatim, in a televison interview on the road. Broadcasters Phil Esposito and Sam Rosen repeatedly told viewers that team morale was &ldquo;great,&rdquo; and that they were &ldquo;loose&rdquo; on on the bus rides between the airport, rink and hotel.</p><p>All of which was very nice and all that. True, they did look much better in the weekend games and could have used a break or two, but there was a decidely mixed message from their fans to digest.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a much closer team these days,&rdquo; captain Barry Beck told the New York <i>Times&rsquo;</i> Kevin Dupont after the loss in Philadelphia, which brought their defeat total to 29, equalling losses for all of last season. &ldquo;I know there&rsquo;s a better feeling among the individuals.&rdquo;</p><p>However, seconds before the end of the game, Flyer forward Dave Poulin floored the Rangers&rsquo; Mark Pavelich with a series of elbows to the head&mdash;an act that normally calls for some nose-to-nose jawing, at the very least, at the final buzzer. Not one Ranger made a move in that direction, though, prompting Dupont to close his game story on an unmistakably sarcastic note: &ldquo;But, remember, they&rsquo;re a closer team.&rdquo;</p><p>Even the cartoonists got into the act. Two days later, the <i>Daily News</i> depicted a bulldog&mdash;a dog show was in the Garden that week&mdash;peering out of the judges box at a Ranger, sneaking away with a bag over his head, skates in hand, and a basketball player from the Knicks in a similar state. The cartoon was headlined Three Dog Night.</p><p>&ldquo;You guys in the competition, too?&rdquo; says the Bulldog. &ldquo;OK, but let&rsquo;s see you do something besides roll over.&rdquo;</p><p>Thai hit Gulf and Western, owners of the Garden, the Rangers and the Knicks, at the bottom line.</p><p>The Knicks are in the cellar of their division, and are suffering at the gate. The Rangers are solid at the box office, but missing the playoffs would make many a season-ticket holder think twice when the renewal form arrives in the mail.</p><p>The Rangers face Pittsburgh five more times this season&mdash;twice at home and three times on the road. But the real concern from a public relations point of view is the New Jersey Devils, who plays 10 minutes away across the Hudson River in the Meadowlands.</p><p>Getting beat out by the Devils is a spectre that would have repercussions all the way to the top floor of Gulf and Western, just 25 blocks north of the Garden, should it come to pass.</p><p>And you can&rsquo;t get any more bottom line that.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0011-02

Rangers Silence Critics—For Now

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021170/5526701-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="564" height="788"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gerry Cheevers had offered to resign three weeks before he actually stepped down.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011403/5526708-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="113" height="111"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>BOSTON BRUINS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>OSTON&mdash;It was hardly the setting for a mid-winter hockey story&mdash;the swimming pool of the Los Angeles Marriott Hotel with the temperature in the low 90s and a hot sun beating down and people walking by in swim trunks.</p><p>But the story was as old as the National Hockey League itself. Another coach had bitten the dust. This time it was Gerry Cheevers, whose four-and-a-fraction-year record was a healthy 204-126-46.</p><p>However, that&rsquo;s not good enough in Boston, particularly when the current team is struggling along in fourth place in the Adams Division with a record (2524-7) barely over .500, never mind the injuries that had cost the team 226 man-games and counting.</p><p>&ldquo;Cheesy was doing a great job under the circumstances,&rdquo; said general manager Harry Sinden. &ldquo;But there is a great deal of pressure to win and there had to be a change and, unfortunately, any time there&rsquo;s a change it has to be the coach.</p><p>&ldquo;It was a tough decision, especially after our relationship of the past four or five years since he&rsquo;s been our coach. It was a very difficult thing. I think it was very difficult for Gerry as well.</p><p>&ldquo;I spoke to him last night when I arrived here in L.A. His reaction was one of certainly disappointment, but not a great surprise.</p><p>&ldquo;He was a gentleman and made it very easy for me. Unfortunately, I didn&rsquo;t make it too easy for him.&rdquo;</p><p>Cheevers and assistant coach Gary Doak, who chose to leave with the boss, had departed from Los Angeles before the arrival of the Boston media, which had been at the All-Star game in Calgary.</p><p>But he left behind a prepared statement.</p><p>&ldquo;It was inevitable that this would hap pen,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;As far back as a couple of weeks ago, I talked with Harry about the possibility of me stepping down. I&rsquo;ve greatly enjoyed my years both as a player and coach of the Bruins and I wish them the best of luck.&rdquo;</p><p>Sinden, who took over the coaching reins of the team just as he did in 1980 when Fred Creighton was fired with nine games remaining, explained the events leading up to Cheevers&rsquo; &ldquo;stepping down.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Two or three weeks ago,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;Gerry and I had a conversation in my office, which he initiated, at which time we discussed the fact that the team really wasn&rsquo;t responding and wasn&rsquo;t playing up to the expectations of both Gerry and I.</p><p>&ldquo;He kind of put the suggestion forth that if we didn&rsquo;t get it turned around that a coaching change would be appropriate. At the time I didn&rsquo;t buy it and talked him down and we went on and actually played some good hockey.</p><p>&ldquo;But it appeared we were still spinning our wheels. He agreed when I put it to him that way last night (Feb. 12). We went back to the original conversation in my office and I told him if we were going to do anything we had to do it now. He really didn&rsquo;t take the conversation any further.&rdquo;</p><p>Sinden conceded that Cheevers never really had a fair chance to get the Bruins rollingan the 1984-85 season.</p><p>&ldquo;We lost our very, very key players,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think Gerry Cheevers is probably a better coach today than he was three or four years ago when the team was enjoying more success. I don&rsquo;t feel this should reflect on him like he was the only one involved here. But it&rsquo;s very difficult to get rid of 18 to 20 players.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; said defenseman Mike Milbury, &ldquo;you let the coach down when a team doesn&rsquo;t play well enough to let the guy keep his job.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a trademark of the Bruins&rsquo; organization that when the organization plays well, it does well from top to bottom. When it does not do well, everybody shares the blame. That&rsquo;s the way I feel about today.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;What makes a good coach is the ability to motivate his team,&rdquo; said goalie Pete Peeters. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the key: motivation and the desire to win. This year it&rsquo;s just seemed we never had anything or anyone to rally around.&rdquo;</p><p>Two days later, with coach Sinden behind the bench, the Bruins were motivated to come from behind to tie the Los Angeles Kings 3-3 with two goals in the final period, amid much speculation as to who would coach the Bruins next season.</p><p>The most prominent candidates were Tom McVie, former coach at Washington and Winnipeg, now coaching Maine in the American Hockey League; Jean Ratelie, the Bruins&rsquo; assistant coach who remained when Cheevers and Doak departed; Butch Goring, the 35-year-old center just acquired from the New Islanders and, of course, Sinden.</p><p>&ldquo;I want to get these guys to play the rest of the season with intensity, especially at home,&rdquo; said the man who coached the Bruins to a Stanley Cup in 1970. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll look this summer for a new head coach. There is only the remotest possibility that I would return.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-02

Cheesy Walks Out Of A Hot Spot

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03780/5526739-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="404" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Bill Fleischman</b></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>S</span>TAYING ON THE</b> trail of hockey justice, I wholeheartedly support the idea of suspending a player for as long as the player he deliberately injures is lost to his team.</p><p>Outrage is still simmering on the burner after Billy Smith, the New York Islanders&rsquo; masked villain, was suspended for only six games after smacking Chicago&rsquo;s Curt Fraser in the face with his stick and breaking the latter&rsquo;s cheekbone. Fraser was lucky&mdash;he returned to the Black Hawks&rsquo;s lineup after missing just seven games. But the point is, the Islanders should have been without Smith for as long as Chicago was missing Fraser&rsquo;s contributions.</p><p>I can hear the reaction: duh, does he mean if a guy is injured and misses six weeks that the player who caused the injury should be idle that long, too? Damn right, that&rsquo;s what I mean. As my friend Scott Bowman will tell you, the league needs a serious deterrent to make players think at least a split second longer before a kneejerk (emphasis on jerk) reaction leads to swinging a stick. Four and six-game suspensions aren&rsquo;t doing it, folks.</p><p>&ldquo;It seems cut and dried now,&rdquo; said Bowman, the shrewd Buffalo Sabre general manager-coach. &ldquo;You get at least four games (if found guilty by Brian O&rsquo;Neill). But I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s acting as a deterrent.&rdquo;</p><p>Bowman has read a few ideas he likes.</p><p>&ldquo;If the suspensions were served in the playoffs,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you&rsquo;d have no sticks at all. Another idea was having the suspended player miss periodic games through the season. That might be a better reminder to them.&rdquo;</p><p>Bowman believes the NHL will revise its justice system because &ldquo;enough people in hockey aren&rsquo;t happy with it now.&rdquo; This, he stresses, is not a criticism of O&rsquo;Neill, who has had the unenviable task of singlehandedly administering the league&rsquo;s justice for years. &ldquo;Anybody who has that job can&rsquo;t satisfy everybody,&rdquo; Bowman said.</p><p>I have occasionally wondered if O&rsquo;Neill ever worries whether anyone will show up at his retirement dinner. Anyway, I would like to see the league employ a panel to handle suspensions.</p><p>Include O&rsquo;Neill and his years of experience, perhaps a retired referee such as Wally Harris who would like to stay involved in the game, and perhaps a former player whose judgment is respected by hockey people. A few names that come to mind are Bob Dailey, Bill White. Gary Dornhoefer, Pierre Bouchard and Jean Pronovost.</p><p>&ldquo;Right now,&rdquo; Bowman said, &ldquo;O&rsquo;Neill is boxed in Any judicial system is based on precedent. The reason (Mark) Messier got 10 games is because (Jimmy) Mann broke (Paul)-Gardner&rsquo;s jaw. Maybe the 20 games to (Tom) Lysiak (fork nocking linesman Ron Foyt to the ice) was correct, but then we have a guy break another guy&rsquo;s jaw and he gets 10 games.</p><p>&ldquo;What alarms me,&rdquo; Bowman added, &ldquo;is we&rsquo;re seeing more sticks because we don&rsquo;t have a deterrent.</p><p>&ldquo;The National Football League is a good example of a league with a deterrent: if you fight, you&rsquo;re out of the game. If the National Football League ever allowed fighting, they would have more fights than hockey.&rdquo;</p><p>That&rsquo;s another problem for NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle to worry about. It&rsquo;s lime for the NHL to try another approach to dealing with suspensions and finding a deterrent to stick-swinging. It&rsquo;s long overdue.</p><p>Lightening up a little, one of the season&rsquo;s more fascinating personnel moves was Ken Linseman&rsquo;s arrival in Boston. When Linseman was wearing Philadelphia&rsquo;s orange and black, the Bruins, similar to every other NHL team, wanted to leave the pesky Linseman black and blue.</p><p>Suddenly, over the summer, Linseman is traded by Edmonton to Boston, where he now shares a dressing room, plane space and hotel rooms with the Bruins. Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, the Bruins&rsquo; indefatigable captain, explains how Linesman was accepted in Boston.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always had a very emotional physical rivalry with Philadelphia,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Reilly said. &ldquo;And Kenny Linseman was part of that team. I just didn&rsquo;t have positive feelings about him. When he was traded here, I didn&rsquo;t know what was gonna happen.</p><p>&ldquo;But once a fellow becomes your teammate, you&rsquo;re bound to make an attempt at friendship. Well, it&rsquo;s been just great. On the ice he&rsquo;s just fantastic. He&rsquo;s added a new dimension to our team with his speed and playmaking.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not afraid to say anything. He&rsquo;ll come up to the biggest guy in the league and have some wise thing to say to him. It&rsquo;s great. Off the ice, he has fit right in with the guys. He&rsquo;s a real gem.&rdquo;</p><p>O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;s view proves once again that if players such as Linseman are with you. you love them. If they arc on the other team, you want to run them through the boards.</p><p>I know Vancouver Canuck fans aren&rsquo;t laughing much at Harry Neale&rsquo;s jokes any more, but Neale, who is admirably facing his tenuous position with the organization, is still an entertaining interview. For example, during a recent chat with Phil Esposito, Espo reminded Neale that he had asked what the Canucks were planning to do about a coach for this season. Neale interrupted, saying, &ldquo;I tried to call you, but I couldn&rsquo;t get you.&rdquo;</p><p>What about next season? &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t thought much about it,&rdquo; Neale replied. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to survive this season as a coach and hopefully come back as general manager. But when a team has been as disappointing as we&rsquo;ve been, it&rsquo;s not uncommon for the owners to make some changes.&rdquo;</p><p>Finally, referring to the Team Canada &rsquo;72 reunion that Esposito played in, with proceeds benefitting his foundation to help retired players, Neale brightened again and said, &ldquo;It was the best hockey game I&rsquo;ve seen this week on television&mdash;and I see two or three a night.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-03

Three-Man Panel Needed To Hand Out Suspensions

<p><i>Before entering the contest, read all the rules and regulations below.</i></p><p><i>Then, go through the questions and mark what you believe to be the correct answer on the accompanying coupon. Only the circled answers on the coupon will be considered. Fill out the remaining vital information (name, address, etc.) and answer the skill-testing question.</i></p><p><i>Drop your response in an envelope and mail to:</i></p><p><i>TERRIFIC TRIVIA CONTEST THE HOCKEY NEWS</i></p><p><i>85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100 Don Mills, Ont. M3B 2R2</i></p><p><b>1</b>. What was the proper given name of Boston Bruin Hall of Famer Dit Clapper?</p><p>(a) Harold (b) Frederick</p><p>(c) Arnold (d) Aubrey</p><p><b>2</b>. Name the last Stanley-Cup winning team that did not have a player finish in the top 10 scorers during the regular season?</p><p>(a) Toronto, 1950-51 (b) Montreal, 1967-68</p><p>(c) Detroit, 1954-55 (d) Ottawa, 1926-27</p><p><b>3</b>. Wayne Gretzky finished fifth in the 1978-79 scoring race. Which of the following players did not finish ahead of him?</p><p>(a) Robbie Ftorek (b) Kent Nilsson</p><p>(c) Gordie Howe (d) Real Cloutier</p><p><b>4</b>. Name the last player to win the NHL scoring title with more goals than assists?</p><p>(a) Phil Esposito (b) Bobby Orr</p><p>(c) Toe Blake (d) Bobby Hull</p><p><b>5</b>. Which of the following players was not drafted by the Montreal Canadiens?</p><p>(a) Dave Lumley (b) Chris Nilan</p><p>(c) Doug Jarvis (d) Louis Sleigher</p><p><b>6</b>. Name the only goaltender chosen first overall in an NHL entry draft?</p><p>(a) Michel Plasse (b) Ed Staniowski</p><p>(c) Ken Dryden (d) Tony Esposito</p><p><b>7</b>. Team Canada won four games in the 1972 Super Series against the Soviets. Paul Henderson scored the game-winning goal in three of those victories. Who scored it in the fourth?</p><p>(a) Phil Esposito (b) Yvan Cournoyer</p><p>(c) Frank Mahovlich (d) Peter Mahovlich</p><p><b>8</b>. Who is the oldest rookie in NHL history?</p><p>(a) Johnny Bower (b) Warren Young</p><p>(c) Moe Roberts (d) Connie Madigan</p><p><b>9</b>. Gordie Howe passed Maurice Richard for the NHL&rsquo;s all-time goal-scoring lead in 1963. Whose record did Richard surpass?</p><p>(a) Nels Stewart (b) Toe Blake</p><p>(c) Howie Morenz (d) Hooley Smith</p><p><b>10</b> The New York Rangers lost the Stanley Cup final in 1972 and 1979. What player was on the Ranger roster in both series?</p><p>(a) Rod Gilbert (b) Vic Hadfield</p><p>(c) Walt Tkaczuk (d) Bill Fairbairn</p><p><b>11</b>. Vancouver Canucks have two players on their current roster who were born in Czechoslovakia. One is Jiri Bubla, who is the other?</p><p>(a) Frank Caprice (b) Rick Lanz</p><p>(c) Petri Skriko (d) Garth Butcher</p><p><b>12</b>. St. Louis&rsquo; Red Berenson scored six goals in a November, 1968 game in Philadelphia. Who was the Flyers&rsquo; goaltender?</p><p>(a) Bernie Parent (b) Dune Wilson</p><p>(c) Bruce Gamble (d) Doug Favell</p><p><b>13</b>. What NHL player played the most seasons without winning a Stanley Cup?</p><p>(a) Bill Gadsb? (b) Brad Park</p><p>(c) Dean Prentice (d) Harry Howell</p><p><b>14</b>. Name the only team from outside the NHL to have won the Stanley Cup since 1917-18?</p><p>(a) Vanc. Millionaires (b) Vic. Cougars</p><p>(c) Seattle Metros (d) Sask. Sheiks</p><p><b>15</b>. Who had the most points in an NHL career playing for only one club?</p><p>(a)Alex Delvecchio (b) John Bucyk</p><p>(c) Jean Beliveau (d) Stan Mikita</p><p><b>16</b>. Montreal shut out the NHL All-Stars 3-0 in the 1967 All-Star game. What two netminders shared the shutout for the Habs?</p><p>(a) Gump Worsley and Rogie Vachon (b) Charlie Hodge and Gump Worsley</p><p>(c) Charlie Hodge and Garry Bauman (d) Charlie Hodge and Jacques Plante</p><p><b>17</b>. Which of the following players never captained the California Golden Seals?</p><p>(a) Carol Vadnais (b) Bob Baun</p><p>(c) Joey Johnston (d) Bert Marshall</p><p><b>18</b>. Which of the 1967 expansion clubs was the first to beat an established team in a regular season game?</p><p>(a) St. Louis (b) Minnesota</p><p>(c) Philadelphia (d) Pittsburgh</p><p><b>19</b>. Who was the first NHL goaltender to register an assist?</p><p>(a) Cecil Thompson (b) Harry Lumley</p><p>(c) Johnny Bower (d) Bill Durnan</p><p><b>20</b>. Chicago&rsquo;s Bill Mosienko scored three goals in 21 seconds against the New York Rangers in 1952. Who assisted on all three goals?</p><p>(a) Doug Bentley (b) Max Bentley</p><p>(c) Gus Bodnar (d) Gus Mortson</p><h2><b>RULES AND REGULATIONS</b></h2><p>1. All entries must be on the form printed in THE HOCKEY NEWS. Photographs and replicas will not be accepted. All returns must be postmarked no later than March 25, 1985.</p><p>2. All entries must include the name, address, phone number and signature of the entrant. Canadian entries must also include the answer to the skill testing question provided on the return form. There may be only one entrant per reply. Only replies which conform to these conditions will be accepted.</p><p>3. This contest is run concurrently in both the U.S.A, and Canada. There will be a total of eight (8) prizes awarded: (a) One Grand prize of $500 Cdn. (b) One Second Prize of $250 Cdn. (c) One Third Prize of $100 Cdn. (d) Five consolation prizes of one Trivial Pursuit Master Game (app. retail value $30).</p><p>4. All prizes will be awarded only as stated above by THE HOCKEY NEWS as sponsors of the contest. Only one prize per individual will be awarded.</p><p>5. Judging of the contest will be conducted by THE HOCKEY NEWS. Entries will be judged on the basis of the number of correct answers submitted. In the event of ties, a random draw will be made for the top three prizes. The consolation prizes will be made on the basis of a random draw from all entries received before the deadline date.</p><p>6. The contest is open to residents of Canada (except Quebec) and the continental United States (except Florida and where prohibited by law) 18 years of age or over, except employees of THE HOCKEY NEWS, its affiliated companies, agencies, representatives, vendors and their respective families. Contest offer in the United States (excluding Florida and where prohibited by law) is subject to all federal state and local laws and regulations, and in Canada (excluding Quebec) to all federal, provincial and municipal laws and regulations.</p><p>7. All entries become the property of THE HOCKEY NEWS and no correspondence will be entered into except with the prize winners who will be notified by mail.</p><p>8. By entering the contest, entrants consent to the use of their names and/or photographs in any publicity carried in THE HOCKEY NEWS or elsewhere.</p><p>9. The odds of winning are dependent on the number of ballots received. Canadian residents only are required to answer correctly a mathematical skill-testing question. The winners of the prizes will be required to release THE HOCKEY NEWS from any liability with respect to the prizes.</p><p>10. No additional purchase is required to compete in the contest.</p><p>11. This contest is for the enjoyment and competition of the reading audience of THE HOCKEY NEWS only.</p><p>12. A list of winnrs as well as a summary of the correct answers to the contest questions will be published in the May 10,1985 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Enter The $1,000 Terrific Trivia Contest

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>lthough the New York Rangers are still the best bet for fourth place in the Patrick Division, Manhattan&rsquo;s media wolves are snapping at <b>Craig Patrick</b>&rsquo;s tail and are pushing for <b>Phil Esposito</b> to lake over. The Rangers&rsquo; veep-general manager-coach was virtually booted our of his job in a New York <i>Post</i> story, which was headlined, Esposito Has Inside Track. A couple of Madison Square Garden insiders tell BLUELINES that despite his modest denials, (&ldquo;I think Craig Patrick&rsquo;s doing a good job&rdquo;) Espo is quietly thirsting for Patrick&rsquo;s post. &ldquo;Remember that Phil&rsquo;s pipeline goes directly to the top of the Garden.&rdquo; one source familiar with Phil and the high command tells BLUELINES. &ldquo;That means a lot if the Garden decides to make a change.&rdquo; Despite rubbery rumors such as the <i>Post&rsquo;s</i> belief that no decision will be made until the Rangers&rsquo; season is over, a solid finish and good playoff effort would save Patrick&rsquo;s job&hellip;<b>Alan Eagleson</b>&rsquo;s suggestion that he&rsquo;d accept an NHL superexecutive post, in which he would represent <i>both</i> players and owners, has drawn a suprisingly enthusiastic response from one NHL baron who would like to give NHL president <b>John Ziegler</b> the hook. &ldquo;Eagleson says he doesn&rsquo;t want to move to New York (to become president), but he doesn&rsquo;t really have to,&rdquo; the official tells BLUELINES. &ldquo;He can still live in Toronto and drop into the New York office from time to time. Ziegler has proven you don&rsquo;t have to stay put.&rdquo; Another Eagleson booster points out that unlike the prez. The Eagle would be a much more vigorous and outgoing promoter of the NHL&hellip;Nordique coach <b>Michel Bergeron</b> explains why he did a Diet Coke commercial with his bitter rival, <b>Jacques Lemaire</b> of the Habs. &ldquo;That was business, bread and butter, cash on the table.&rdquo;</p><p>If it were put to a vote at this moment, insiders whisper Canuck assistant coach <b>Ron Smith</b> is among those lining up for the soon-to-be-vacant Rangers&rsquo; coaching job. Other likely prospects (unless Craig Patrick is canned) are playing-assistant coach <b>Robbie Ftorek</b> and <b>Tom Webster</b>, the latter of whom is currently coaching the Rangers&rsquo; New Haven farm team. Being close to Patrick. Ftorek is in the most advantageous position, but his poor sense of public relations and outward hostility toward Rangers&rsquo; fans would militate against such a move.. The future direction of the Red Wing franchise has been the subject of considerable play in Detroit papers. Boss <b>Mike Ilitch</b> says he&rsquo;s &ldquo;lost millions of dollars since buying the team two years ago. If we could get into the second round of the playoffs we could make money this season,&rdquo; says Hitch&hellip;<b>Brian, Ron, Rich, Brent, Duane and Darryl Sutter</b> appeared together on NBC&rsquo;s Today show. Rich was asked to pick the toughest of the six. &ldquo;Brian has proven to be our leader,&rdquo; says Rich. &ldquo;We all look up to him.&rdquo;&hellip;Despite <b>Murray Craven</b>&rsquo;s early success with the Flyers, Red Wing insiders still hope to salvage something out of the <b>Darryl Sittler</b> deal, although the latter&rsquo;s disposition has been punko. &ldquo;If Sittler wins us one round in the playoffs,&rdquo; says a member of the Red Wings inner circle, &ldquo;he&rsquo;ll be worth it. If Craven had stayed with us he&rsquo;d have been in Glen Falls (New York of the American League) all year.&rdquo;&hellip;In its sales pitch to advertisers, the NHL stresses an upscale audience theme. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t want to be regarded as the Ford or Chevrolet&mdash;the extra car,&rdquo; prexy <b>John Ziegler</b> told a Montreal Chamber of Commerce audience. &ldquo;We have a unique product and we wanted to have the Mercedes.&rdquo; Trouble is, one of the league&rsquo;s chief advertisers is Chrysler&hellip;Jet GM <b>John Ferguson</b> boasts that his club has become more attractive on the road. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve sold out Los Angeles twice,&rdquo; says Fergie. &ldquo;People there now know <b>Dale Hawerchuk</b>.&rdquo;</p><p>Sources close to the North Stars indicate that GM <b>Lou Nanne</b> will be coaxed into dealing one of his disappointing aces&mdash;<b>Brian Bellows, Dino Ciccarelli or Steve Payne</b>&mdash;before the trade deadline. <b>Neal Broten</b> would be on the list but he&rsquo;s a big favorite of <b>Herb Brooks</b> and, therefore, figures to be retained for the next season. Brooks is said to admire <b>Aaron Broten</b> even more than Neal. Pressure on Nanne to sign Brooks mounts in the Minny media. Columnist <b>Charley Walters</b> writes that North Star revenues are down almost $200,000 and that a season-ticket holder phoned the team to say he&rsquo;d drop his tix if Brooks isn&rsquo;t hired. Ex-North Star coach <b>Bill Mahoney</b> returned to Bloomington cryptically, noting that he has &ldquo;a few irons in the fire.&rdquo; The North Stars, especially Lou Nanne, got roasted in a Minneapolis <i>Star-Tribune</i> X-ray of the team&hellip;New Jersey&rsquo;s rookie coach <b>Doug Carpenter</b>, operating on a one-year contract, refuses to talk about renewal although reporters keep bugging him about a new pact. The betting is that he&rsquo;ll return to Jersey for 1985-86 and then look elsewhere. <b>Craig Patrick</b> might pitch for Carpenter to fill his vacancy&hellip;At a time when the Devils need all the media help they can get. boss <b>John McMullen</b> has managed to alienate at least one significant reporter&mdash;<b>Bill McLaughlin</b>&mdash;with curious tactlessness. Earlier this season, he displayed obvious favoritism to the Newark <i>Star-Ledger&rsquo;s</i>&nbsp;<b>Rich Chere</b>. inviting him into his private box but barring other newsmen when they attempted to as&rsquo; questions. &ldquo;He (McMullen) said he would get the guards (to throw us out).&rdquo; McLaughlin says. &ldquo;In his business acumen he&rsquo;s bad with the press.&rdquo; McLaughlin says his attempts to arrange one-to-one interviews with McMullen have been fruitless&hellip;<b>Tom Barrasso</b> continues to bridle at questions about his minor league stint in Rochester, but will discuss other aspects of his growth.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY PERRY LEFKO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011383/5526846-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="644" height="540"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021077/5526839-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="583" height="542"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03754/5526832-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="531" height="541"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04517/5526825-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="137" height="145"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>ORONTO&mdash;Greg Terrion and Stew Gavin will never win any scoring derbies. As a matter of fact, both will be lucky to reach the 20-goal plateau&mdash;which neither has done in their five-year National Hockey League careers.</p><p>But don&rsquo;t take that to mean Terrion and Gavin aren&rsquo;t important. If anything, their ability to shut down the other teams&rsquo; top lines has made them two valuable commodities on the Toronto Maple Leafs.</p><p>Ironically, you couldn&rsquo;t find two more compatible players.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re both in the same boat, defensive players, so-called grinders,&rdquo; says Gavin, who was nursing a sore arm. &ldquo;Everything about us is the same, age, careers, even likes.&rdquo;</p><p>Terrion and Gavin have been doing a good job of late killing penalties, and that&rsquo;s helped to make a difference in the Leafs&rsquo; play. For awhile, the penalty killing had been one of the many sour spots on the team, but gradually it&rsquo;s been whittled down to a respectable level and Terrion and Gavin are part of the reason.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a little game inside of a big game,&rdquo; says Gavin. &ldquo;If we can bring it down, it&rsquo;ll win games.&rdquo;</p><p>Terrion, in particular, has stood out with his ability to pounce on miscues by the other teams on the power plays and turn a disadvantage into an advantage. The Leafs, in fact, are among the best in the league in shorthanded goals.</p><p>&ldquo;I get my goals in spurts,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Sometimes it goes bang, bang, bang, other times you get chances and they don&rsquo;t go in.&rdquo;</p><p>Gavin says more and more teams are starting to use a forward on the point during power plays, but because some of the forwards are weak defensively, it helps out the shorthanded team.</p><p>&ldquo;We get a lot of chances on offense because we say, &lsquo;We got it, let&rsquo;s go for it.&rsquo;&rdquo; says Gavin. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing more demoralizing or gets a team going than getting a goal while killing a penalty. It could turn the tempo around.&rdquo;</p><p>Gavin says Terrion plays a &ldquo;dog style.&rdquo; because he&rsquo;s working hard and creating lots of chances, and it&rsquo;s something which is infectious.</p><p>&ldquo;He is a leader in that sense,&rdquo; Gavin says. &ldquo;He works hard and guys notice it on the bench. Everyone in the building notices it, too&hellip;If you work hard and give a good effort, they can&rsquo;t say anything bad against you, win or lose.&rdquo;</p><p>Terrion is more skilled offensively of the two players, and was picked higher&mdash;33rd versus 74th&mdash;when the two were drafted in 1980. Terrion. in fact, had 44 goals and 78 assists in his draft year, although he says that was influenced by power-play duty.</p><p>But he takes pride in his present role and is comparable, to a lesser degree, to John Tonelli of the New York Islanders.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s (Tonelli&rsquo;s) a little stronger and better around the net,&rdquo; Terrion says. &ldquo;I like his style and respect it. It&rsquo;s a winning style.&rdquo;</p><p><b>LEAFLETS</b>&mdash;After beating Montreal in back-to-back games, the Leafs lost games against St. Louis and New Jersey before beating Hartford in overtime. Goalie <b>Ken Wregget</b> started the game in Hartford, as coach <b>Dan Maloney</b> played a hunch that the rookie netminder would rekindle the spark he showed in his first-ever NHL game, when he faced the Whalers, who peppered him with over 50 shots&hellip; <b>Stew Gavin</b> had a good explanation for the Leafs&rsquo; losses to the Blues and Devils. &ldquo;There was a lot of emotion in games against Montreal. A lot of players are ex-Montrealers and the coach (<b>John Brophy</b>), too, and we beat them before. It might have been a little bit of an emotional letdown. But I don&rsquo;t know. If I did, I&rsquo;d market it and sell it. Everytime we go the ice, we try our best, but sometimes the best is not enough on a particular night.&rdquo; Of their pursuit of Detroit for the final playoff spot, Gavin says: &ldquo;If they start winning and we start winning and Minnesota stays the same, it may be Minnesota we&rsquo;re chasing and not Detroit.&rdquo;.&hellip; Maloney was livid after the officials allowed an obvious offside goal by the <b>Devils&rsquo; Phil Russell</b> and disallowed a goal by Gary Leeman at the buzzer. &ldquo;This is the only building in the league where the on-ice officials and the off-ice officials go against us.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-05357/5526818-1-eng-US/f0014-052.jpg" title="f0014-05" width="527" height="649"><figcaption class="caption-body">Greg Terrion&rsquo;s hard work has made the Leafs a threat while they are shorthanded.</figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0014-01

Terrion, Gavin Contribute More Than Goal-Scoring

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02918/5526908-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="142" height="94"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>DETROIT RED WINGS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>ETROIT&mdash;All Darryl Sittler really wants to do is play hockey. He&rsquo;s got 479 goals, including six this season, and 500 is a nice, round number achieved by only 10 others before him.</p><p>That&rsquo;s one of the remaining objectives.</p><p>Another, already stated, is just to get back in the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; lineup and get on with the business of continuing a career that will undoubtedly earn him a place in the Hall of Fame.</p><p>It&rsquo;s been a difficult season for Sittler. From captain of the Philadelphia Flyers in the morning to shunted aside in the afternoon; to still another return to Maple Leaf Gardens and a less welcome visit to Wellesley Hospital a couple of hours later with a fractured cheekbone; to a guaranteed, no-trade contract with the Red Wings and then bench sitting.</p><p>After a seven-game absence, Sittler returned to the Red Wing lineup in a 5-5 tie with the Minnesota North Stars and celebrated it by setting up a goal.</p><p>A five-game suspension against Kelly Kisio, for high-sticking Quebec&rsquo;s Dale Hunter, made room for Sittler and he&rsquo;d like to make the most of the opportunity.</p><p>Sittler disappeared from the Red Wing lineup before a game in Minnesota on Jan. 26. Although all parties concerned denied a conflict, it was widely speculated that Sittler had alienated coach Nick Polano with a painfully straightforward appraisal of the situation confronting the troubled Wings.</p><p>A meeting between Sittler and Polano, and also general manager Jimmy Devaliano was acknowledged by all parties.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know of any coach who wouldn&rsquo;t use a player who could help his team,&rdquo; said Alan Eagleson, Sittler&rsquo;s agent.</p><p>&ldquo;I cannot imagine anybody in this business who is hanging on by his thumbs&hellip;would do something like that.&rdquo;</p><p>Devellano agreed with that assessment.</p><p>&ldquo;As happens anytime someone isn&rsquo;t playing, we meet and talk about it,&rdquo; Devellano said. &ldquo;Nick and I met with Darryl.</p><p>&ldquo;It was just a matter of circumstances. With Dwight Foster returning to the lineup, we had to keep somebody out.</p><p>&ldquo;Hopefully, sometime soon Darryl will be back and will give us a boost.&rdquo;</p><p>Foster, who missed 30 games with a knee injury, returned for the game in Minnesota and immediately provided the Wings with a much-needed spark.</p><p>Sittler did not dress for seven games, missing the sixth in that span to attend the funeral of his father, Ken, in St. Jacobs, Ont.</p><p>Sittler said his discussions with the Wing coach are &ldquo;between Nick and myself.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;If there were only two people in the room, Darryl would not tell me what was said,&rdquo; said Eagleson.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a difficult position in which Darryl finds himself. He&rsquo;s always been able to combine leadership abilities and hockey playing qualities. Suddenly it (the trade) hits him. The Red Wings and Devellano made him feel certain he was wanted and he was working into the system.</p><p>&ldquo;Then the injury and he was back down a notch and now he&rsquo;s trying to come up that notch.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m convinced, knowing Darryl Sittler&mdash;he&rsquo;s a thoroughbred&mdash;that in spite of adversity he&rsquo;ll work his way back into the lineup&mdash;if given the opportunity that is. Obviously, he can&rsquo;t do that if he&rsquo;s benched the rest of the season.</p><p>&ldquo;Darryl isn&rsquo;t a clubhouse lawyer or troublemaker. His problem is he too often tells the truth&hellip;He hasn&rsquo;t changed in three months.&rdquo;</p><p>Eagleson&rsquo;s last comment was in reference to the Wings&rsquo; acquisition of Sittler on the eve of the 1984-85 season. They traded an excellent, young prospect, Murray Craven, along with Joe Paterson to Philadelphia for Sittler. Then, when Sittler balked at reporting to Detroit, the Wings were so determined to sway him, presumably because of what he had to offer the hockey team, that they added a year onto his contract (through the 1985-86 season), a no-trade clause and guaranteed the entire package.</p><p><b>WING WIRE</b>&mdash;General manager <b>Jim Devellano</b> said <b>Kelly Kisio</b>&rsquo;s sentence &ldquo;was a little severe. I thought, and I told (National Hockey League executive vice-president) Brian (O&rsquo;Neill) that.</p><p>&ldquo;Three games would have fit the offense considering Kelly&rsquo;s past and considering the player involved is not an angel. Kelly was starting to pick it (his offensive production) up.</p><p>It&rsquo;s a blow to us.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0015-02

Sittier Odd Man Out In Detroit

<div class="byline">by BOB MCKENZIE</div><p class="dropcap"><span>C</span>ALGARY&mdash;If the 37th annual National Hockey League All-Star game served no other purpose, it at least afforded New York Islander coach Al Arbour an opportunity to look into the future.</p><p>And Arbour, who coached the Wales Conference to a 6-4 win over the Campbell Conference in what may be his last season as a head coach, liked what he saw.</p><p>&ldquo;I think we got an idea tonight of what the future of the game holds,&rdquo; said Arbour, who has hinted at retirement. &ldquo;You had two 19-year-olds (Pittsburgh &lsquo;s Mario Lemieux and New Jersey&rsquo;s Kirk Muller) playing with a veteran (New York Ranger Anders Hedberg) and those two kids were really something. Yes. I would say the future of the game is in good hands.&rdquo;</p><p>Lemieux, chosen as the most valuable player and the winner of a new car, scored two goals&mdash;including the winner&mdash;and added an assist on a goal by Hedberg.</p><p>&ldquo;That one was for (Don Cherry),&rdquo; Lemieux said after being questioned about the Hockey Night in Canada commentator&rsquo;s statement that the rookie forward was &ldquo;the biggest floater in the NHL.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s his opinion, but the Penguins don&rsquo;t ask me to play defensive. The Penguins ask me to play offense. That&rsquo;s my game.</p><p>&ldquo;This is a very big thrill forme. When you play in a game with so many big stars, Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky, you expect those guys to win the MVP. I did not expect to win it.&rdquo;</p><p>But Lemieux&rsquo;s 20-year-old brother. Richard, a Montreal grocery store employee, might have. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll give him the car because he asked for it,&rdquo; Mario said.</p><p>Meanwhile, Muller, who is to the Devils what Lemieux is to the Penguins, remained in the background, which is becoming a common occurrence when the two 19-year-olds get together.</p><p>Last June at the NHL entry draft at the Montreal Forum, Muller and Lemieux&mdash;who went first and second overall, respectively&mdash;were sitting only a few seats apart but the media onslaught had reporters actually muscling Muller out of the way to talk to Lemieux.</p><p>And here it was in Calgary, eight months later, and Muller was playing second fiddle to Lemieux again.</p><p>&ldquo;Oh. I don&rsquo;t mind.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;As far as getting attention. I don&rsquo;t really worry about that. That&rsquo;s not what I&rsquo;m here for. This game is for fun and it&rsquo;s good to come and watch what the best players in the game do. I can learn from them and take that knowledge back to Jersey.&rdquo;</p><p>It was a typical All-Star game&mdash;all skate, no hit&mdash;though the first two periods may have been slower and more uneven than any in recent memory. Hartford&rsquo;s Ron Francis and Philadelphia&rsquo;s Tim Kerr scored to give the Wales a 2-0 lead, but Los Angeles&rsquo; Marcel Dionne and Toronto&rsquo;s Miroslav Frycer tied it up for the Campbells before the first period had ended.</p><p>In the second period, the Lemieux-Muller-Hedberg unit went to work, with Hedberg and Lemieux scoring four minutes apart, giving the Campbells a 4-2 lead heading into the third period.</p><p>Finally, in the third period, the two teams started to show a little emotion, not to mention a bit of <i>deja vu.</i></p><p>Two years ago at Long Island, the game was close until Edmonton&rsquo;s Wayne Gretzky went to work, scoring a record four goals in the third period, leading his team to a 9-3 victory.</p><p>The victim that night was Philadelphia Flyer goalie Pelle Lindbergh, who watched a total of seven goals go by him. The rookie netmmder never really recovered that season from his All-Star shelling.</p><p>So two years later, what happens?</p><p>Gretzky scores midway through the third period and the goalie, of course, is Lindbergh.</p><p>Just seconds after that, Gretzky broke down the ice and, from high in the slot, fired a hard, low shot. Lindbergh made a pad save and, with the flow returning to the other end of the ice. Lemieux scored his second goal on a tremendous individual effort, beating Edmonton goalie Grant Fuhr.</p><p>Had Gretzky scored, though, it would have tied the game and who could not forgive Lindbergh for thinking back to 1983?</p><p>&ldquo;Oh, that never really crossed my mind,&rdquo; deadpanned Lindbergh, who robbed Gretzky again in the waning moments, with the Wales leading 5-4. &ldquo;But if felt good to stop him. I was more nervous than I thought I would be&hellip;I wouldn&rsquo;t say I really learned anything from having played in the (All-Star) game two years ago, but no matter what would have happened out there tonight, I wouldn&rsquo;t have let it affect me the way it did before.&rdquo;</p><p>Winnipeg defenseman Randy Carlyle scored the goal to bring the Campbells within a goal, but Washington&rsquo;s Mike Gartner scored an empty-net goal to ice the victory.</p><p>Edmonton coach Glen Sather downplayed the Campbells&rsquo; loss.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the type of game that you can really coach to win,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t about to start fooling around with the line matchups and sitting certain guys out. There&rsquo;s no point in embarrassing anybody in a game like this. We went with four lines and kept everything pretty even.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ALL-STAR NOTES</b>&mdash;Players from both All-Star teams sang a chorus of the song Tears Are Not Enough, the Canadian music industry&rsquo;s single to benefit the Ethiopian famine relief. Record producer <b>David Foster</b> said hockey players are such an important part of Canadian culture that it was decided to include them on the record and video with recording stars such as <b>Bryan Adams, Neil Young</b> and <b>Carole Pope,</b> to name just a few of the more than 50 who participated in the event&hellip; New Jersey Devil defenseman <b>Phil Russell</b>, who was in Calgary to attend NHLPA meetings, was a last-minute fill-in for Philadelphia de fenseman <b>Brad Marsh</b>, who was snowed in at Toronto on the day of the game. Marsh was a replacement for injured teammate. <b>Mark Howe</b>.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011173/5526946-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="560" height="747"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Mario Lemieux was chosen as the MVP in the All-Star Game.</figcaption></div><h2><b>Tue. Feb. 12</b></h2><h3><b>WALES 6, CAMPBELLS 4</b></h3><p><b>WALES CONFERENCE ALL-STARS</b></p><p>Goal &mdash; Tom Barrasso, Pelle Lindbergh; defense &mdash; Ray Bourque, Rod Langway, Chris Chelios, Mike Ramsey, Scott Stevens, Phil Russell; forwards &mdash; Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier, John Tonelli, Brent Sutter, Tim Kerr, Michel Goulet, Mike Gartner, Anders Hedberg, Ron Francis, Kirk Muller, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Carpenter. Named but unable to play because of injuries were defensemen Mark Howe, Bill Hajt.</p><p>CAMPBELL CONFERENCE ALL-STARS</p><p>Goal &mdash; Andy Moog, Grant Fuhr; defense &mdash; Paul Coffey, Doug Wilson, Randy Carlyle, Al Maclnnis, Paul Reinhart, Kevin Lowe; forwards &mdash; Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, John Ogrodnick, Mike Krushelnyski, Dale Hawerchuk, Paul MacLean, Marcel Dionne, Brian Sutter, Thomas Gradin, Miroslav Frycer, Glenn Anderson, Steve Payne. Named but unable to play because of injury was Tony McKegney.</p><p>Referee &mdash; Andy van Hellamond; linsemen &mdash; Bob Hodges, Gerry Gauthier.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03719/5526939-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="539" height="887"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0016-01

Lemieux, Muller Lead New Wave

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02937/5526977-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="394" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Al Strachan</b></figcaption></div><p><b>THE NATIONAL HOCKEY</b> League has never had a player strike.</p><p>With a bit of luck, it won&rsquo;t have one in the foreseeable future. But the fans and the NHL governors should be warned that when the next set of negotiations start, the players won&rsquo;t be as co-operative as they have been in the past.</p><p>When will those negotiations start? That&rsquo;s not clear yet but when we get the answer to that question, we&rsquo;ll get a good indication of the mood of the players.</p><p>They&rsquo;re currently operating under a collective agreement that expires in 1987. But the players, sometime in the next few months, will officially give notice of their intention to terminate the agreement at the end of the 1985-86 season. They&rsquo;ve watched salaries skyrocket in baseball, basketball and football in the past few years. At the same time they&rsquo;ve noticed that their own salaries haven&rsquo;t done much more than keep pace with inflation.</p><p>Now they want improvements in their financial situations and the best way to show the owners that they&rsquo;re serious is to fire the opening salvo and ditch the current agreement as quickly as possible.</p><p>By doing so, the players will not be acting unreasonably. Over the past decade or so, they have repeatedly made substantial sacrifices for the good of the game. Some people forget that without the players&rsquo; cooperation, the 1979 merger could not have taken place. By acting in a mature and unselfish fashion, the NHLPA ended the instability in the sport and saved the NHL hundreds of thousands&mdash;perhaps millions&mdash;of dollars in legal costs.</p><p>Some owners also forget that without the help of the players, the league would not be as successful as it is today.</p><p>It was the players who made the merger of the Minnesota North Stars and Cleveland Barons possible just as it was the players who accepted a system of free agency that enabled the less wealthy franchises to hang on to their stars.</p><p>Furthermore, it was the players who accepted a buy-out system that enabled owners to unload unwanted huge salaries at a bargain-basement price, an extremely important factor in the stability of a number of franchises after the merger.</p><p>The players made all these concessions because they knew that a lot of NHL teams were in financial trouble. In fact, only three years ago, the average NHL team lost approximately $l million annually.</p><p>But now, things have changed. There are strong indications that only Los Angeles and Pittsburgh will lose money this year. With the league-wide increases in ticket prices, number of paid admissions and television contracts (both on cable and on conventional television), many NHL teams are making huge profits.</p><p>The players justifiably feel that they have contributed substantially towards this succss and they want a better deal.</p><p>And when hockey players are compared to other professional athletes, it&rsquo;s evident that they deserve better. For the most part, the NHL keeps its salary information extremely confidential but depositions filed in St. Louis during the Ralston Purina anti-trust suit against the NHL talk of a secret salary study undertaken by seven teams in the 1981-82 season.</p><p>The teams involved were the Buffalo Sabres, Hartford Whalers, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets. The seven teams found that they averaged $2,907,000 annually in player salaries and a further $597,000 in bonuses. It&rsquo;s safe to assume that about $900,000 of that money went to minor leaguers which would mean that on those teams, in 1981-82, the average player earned about $130,000, bonuses included.</p><p>Allowing an arbitrary&mdash;and probably conservative&mdash;10 per cent annual inflation rate, that would mean that today&rsquo;s average NHL player earns about $173,000.</p><p>That&rsquo;s a lot to most of us. But it&rsquo;s not a lot in baseball where 20 or more players earn a base salary of more than $1 million a year. And without getting bogged down in details, you&rsquo;re a pauper in football or basketball if you earn $173,000 a year.</p><p>Also, hockey players have to have a good year to get $173,000, a figure which includes bonuses. Their actual salary is more in the neighborhood of $140,000.</p><p>In today&rsquo;s world, that is not enough for a star in a successful sport. And the NHL is once again becoming successful.</p><p>Don&rsquo;t be surprised if the players decide to point out to the NHL that there&rsquo;s a price for success.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-02

Players Will Be Tougher At The Bargaining Table

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02810/5527008-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="566" height="721"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Cyr knows his job is in jeopardy if he doesn&rsquo;t continue to score goals.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011066/5527015-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="118" height="117"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO SABRES</b></h2><p>BUFFALO&mdash;The Buffalo Sabres finally seem to be putting everything together.</p><p>Known as a team that plays a tight-checking, defensive-style game, the Sabres have added another weapon to their attack. Scoring.</p><p>Not that they couldn&rsquo;t score goals before. But in the five games they played before the All-Star break, the Sabres won all of them, holding their opponents to an average of three goals or less, and scoring six themselves.</p><p>One player who made a big contribution to the scoring attack was left winger Paul Cyr, who has been having one of those up-and-down scoring seasons, scoring in short spurts, followed by seven goalless games.</p><p>But in the five-game stretch, Cyr scored five goals and seemed to be coming alive. It helped that he was teamed up with Gil Perreault and Mike Foligno, two of the Sabres&rsquo; top goal scorers.</p><p>Before being teamed with Perreault, Cyr was beginning to feel the pressure of not putting the puck into the net.</p><p>&ldquo;Scotty (Bowman, the Sabres&rsquo; coach and general manager) told me that I wasn&rsquo;t having a good year,&rdquo; said Cyr. &ldquo;He more or less told me that there were players in Rochester (the Sabres&rsquo; minor league team) who were having a good year.</p><p>&ldquo;He wanted to get better production out of me. So he put me on a line with Perreault and Foligno. Since then, things have been working pretty well.</p><p>&ldquo;Those two guys are really hard workers. They make you want to perform a lot harder than you think you are able to do. They skate a lot and go into the comers to get to the puck.</p><p>&ldquo;Just watching them makes you want to do the same thing yourself.&rdquo;</p><p>Cyr knows, though, that he has to keep producing or things could change.</p><p>&ldquo;But you just have to remember that it&rsquo;s in the back of the players&rsquo; minds that their job is not locked up here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are other guys down the road (in Rochester) that would just love to have your job.&rdquo;</p><p>Just how much depth the Sabres have will now be seen on defense. The team was dealt a severe blow when defenseman Bill Hajt dislocated his left shoulder in the Sabres&rsquo; game in Calgary just before the All-Star game.</p><p>Hajt, who had the shoulder operated on, will be lost to the Sabres for an indefinite period, possibly the remainder of the season.</p><p>The defenseman was to have played in the All-Star game in Calgary. It was the second time in his career that he had missed an All-Star game because of an injury (the other was in 1981).</p><p>&ldquo;Losing Bill is a real severe blow to the team,&rdquo; said Foligno. &ldquo;He plays a good solid defensive game. We will just have to pull a little tighter on defense in his absence.&rdquo;</p><p>Hajt was the second defenseman to go down to injury. Jim Schoenfeld, the other, is still nursing a foot injury, although he&rsquo;s expected back any day.</p><p><b>SABRE POINTS</b>&mdash;Scott Bowman was honored by the NHL for setting the record for most wins by a coach. On Feb. 18, before a home game against the Edmonton Oilers, Bowman was presented a painting by the NHL. <b>Seymour Knox III</b>, chairman of the board of the Sabres, also presented an award to Bowman. Three other stars were on hand, representing the three teams Bowman has coached. <b>Al Arbour</b> (coach of the New York Islanders) represented the St. Louis Blues; Guy <b>Lafleur</b> represented the Montreal Canadiens and <b>Gilbert Perreault</b> represented the Sabres. The previous record was held by <b>Dick Irvin, Sr.,</b> who had 690 wins.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-02

Cyr Knows He Has To Score More

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04365/5527077-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="124" height="112"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>HARTFORD WHALERS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>ARTFORD&mdash;In most newspapers, the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; demotion of Pat Boutette to Binghamton of the American Hockey League was merely listed in the transactions section.</p><p>When a hard-trying, hard-working winger who turns 33 on March I gets shipped to the minors, it is no big deal. Boutette has played a lot of hockey over the years and perhaps the time has come for him to think about retirement.</p><p>Boutette was&mdash;and is&mdash;a credit to the game. He went as hard as he could for as long as he could and he asked for no quarter. He gave as good as he got and when the bell rang, he answered it.</p><p>The scenario would work if it weren&rsquo;t for one thing&mdash;the trumpets that blared from One Civic Center Plaza when Boutette was acquired on Nov. 16 from Pittsburgh.</p><p>Whaler general manager Emile Francis was proud of his acquisition. Ronnie Francis had struggled almost from the word go, his team-leading point total a credit to his own perseverance more than any other single factor. Francis had played with any number of wingers without great success. Boutette would change that, the GM said.</p><p>In 33 games, Boutette had six goals and 14 points, and now he toils for Binghamton.</p><p>&ldquo;It hurts, but I&rsquo;m on the one-way tick et,&rdquo; said Boutette, whose annual salary of about $ 125,000 will not be affected by the demotion. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to think of my family. It&rsquo;s not so bad.&rdquo;</p><p>But the price the Whalers paid to get Boutette was.</p><p>They gave up Ville Siren, a 20-year-old defenseman who was the 23rd overall pick in the 1983 draft, to get Boutette, who cleared waivers before landing in Binghamton.</p><p>Had the Whalers waited, say, another month, they might have been able to obtain Boutette without giving up much of anything.</p><p>&ldquo;Right,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;Well, we couldn&rsquo;t wait. You think back at the time we made the deal. Look at our left side. David A. Jensen was a big disappointment. That left a hole. Then Sylvain Turgeon went down with that stomach thing and who knew how long he&rsquo;d be out. The same thing kept a big tough guy like (Al) Secord out for almost a year.</p><p>&ldquo;We needed help immediately. We shopped around and Boutette was the best left winger available. He had played in Hartford before and had had success.&rdquo;</p><p>But a 20-year-old defenseman for a 32-year-old veteran?</p><p>&ldquo;You have to deal from somewhere and the only area where we have some numbers is young defensemen,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;We gave up the rights to a guy who isn&rsquo;t here, with no guarantees he&rsquo;s going to be. We&rsquo;re not hurting ourselves right now. Who really knows about Siren? He still has to come across and show that he can play in our league. He hasn&rsquo;t played a game yet.&rdquo;</p><p>If he does, and should he turn out to be a good NHL player, Francis will have to swallow what can only be viewed as a bad deal. Today will pass. With Boutette in the minors, it already has. Tomorrow will come. The Whalers must hope that Siren doesn&rsquo;t come with it.</p><p>But chances are he will.</p><p>&ldquo;Ville&rsquo;s a good prospect,&rdquo; said Barry Fraser, Edmonton&rsquo;s chief scout. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen him play maybe 20 times in the last five years. He&rsquo;s always told me that he wants to play in the NHL someday. I really don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s going to be the problem.&rdquo;</p><p>The worst part of the Boutette development is that it makes Francis and the Whalers look bad.</p><p>&ldquo;Hey, I can&rsquo;t worry about looking bad,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to do what&rsquo;s best for the hockey team. We know what we&rsquo;re doing here and where we&rsquo;re going. We have a plan and a direction. It&rsquo;s not like we&rsquo;re running around chasing our tails.&rdquo;.</p><p>Slipping that one past Patrick Michael Boutette, who did his job as well as his talents would allow, promises to be a little tricky.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-04

Boutette Deal Could Hurt Whalers In The Long Run

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01644/5527108-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="128" height="121"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>ONG ISLAND&mdash;Bill Smith was back&mdash;after completing his six-game suspension for high-sticking Curt Fraser of the Chicago Black Hawks&mdash;and now he was embroiled with another Fraser.</p><p>This time it was referee Kerry Fraser who caused Smith&rsquo;s blood to boil on a wintry night at the Nassau Coliseum.</p><p>A near-capacity crowd of 15,757 welcomed Smith back for the New York Islanders&rsquo; first game after the All-Star game break. The opponents were the Hartford Whalers.</p><p>Before the game was five minutes old, Torrie Robertson of the Whalers straightarmed Smith as he was cutting through the low slot. Smith wound up on the ice.</p><p>The Islanders&rsquo; goalie had barely climbed back on his runners when Kevin Dineen intercepted an attempted clearing pass by Dave Langevin and whipped the puck behind Smith.</p><p>Smith was infuriated by the quick goal. He banged his large goalie stick on the ice three times while shouting imprecations at Robertson and Fraser.</p><p>&ldquo;The referee should have penalized Robertson for interference,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;He knocked me totally out of the play.&rdquo;</p><p>Robertson and Fraser offered different versions of the incident.</p><p>Said Robertson: &ldquo;Smith came out to hit me. It wouldn&rsquo;t have happened if he stayed in his net.&rdquo;</p><p>Said Fraser: &ldquo;Smith tried to cut Robertson off and take the passing lane away from him. Then Smith raised his glove. Whether it was in a defensive manner or not, he initiated the contact. Robertson&rsquo;s momentum carried him into Smith and he knocked him over.&rdquo;</p><p>Another incident involving Smith occurred in the second period. Dineen was helping kill a penalty when he appeared to slash Smith. Again the Islanders&rsquo; goalie complained vehemently to referee Fraser.</p><p>&ldquo;The guy (Dineen) suckered me and the referee told me I was overreacting,&rdquo; Smith said.</p><p>Again Fraser offered a different version.</p><p>&ldquo;One of the Islanders&rsquo; defensemen went to lift Dineen&rsquo;s stick and he did,&rdquo; the referee said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure if anybody got hit, but Smith complained and I told him he was being really dramatic.</p><p>&ldquo;Smith is really ticked off about the suspension and he feels some (opposing) players are going to try and take advantage of him.&rdquo;</p><p>When Dineen was asked if the Whalers tried to &ldquo;bait&rdquo; Smith, he smiled and said: &ldquo;Well, we knew he hadn&rsquo;t played in three weeks and he might be a little rusty. We tried to disrupt him and maybe get his mind off the game.&rdquo;</p><p>Despite his long absence, Smith played reasonably well in the 4-4 standoff. Two of the Whalers&rsquo; goals resulted from giveaways by the Islanders&rsquo; defensemen and another came on a deflection.</p><p>&ldquo;It was a game we should have won,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t feel that great. I was a little jittery.&rdquo;</p><p>Asked if he felt he needed extra work down the stretch, Smith said: &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t mind working a couple of games in a row now and then. But we have another goalie (Kelly Hrudey) playing better than me now, and he might object to that.&rdquo;</p><p>While Smith served time, Hrudey started and finished all six games and had a 4-1-1 record. However, the world came tumbling down on Hrudey during the Islanders&rsquo; weekend visit to Madison Square Garden. The Rangers drilled five pucks behind him in the second period on their way to a 9-3 victory. Hrudey wasn&rsquo;t around at the finish. A brawl erupted near the end of the second period, and Hrudey skated the length of the ice to trade punches with goalie John Vanbiesbrouck of the Rangers. Both were ejected along with four other players.</p><p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to fight John because he&rsquo;s a good guy,&rdquo; Hrudey said. &ldquo;But when he got involved (with Duane Sutter), I had no choice. I had to get into it.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ON THE ISLE&mdash;Dave Langevin</b> was benched for the second time in three games, igniting reports that he and coach <b>Al Arbour</b> were feuding. General manager <b>Bill Torrey</b> denied the reports. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Al is singling anyone out,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Al has benched a lot of players. Dave hasn&rsquo;t played as well as he&rsquo;s capable of playing, but he&rsquo;s only one of many.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-01

Smith Runs Into ‘Other’ Fraser On Return

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02358/5527139-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="151" height="105"></div><h2><b>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>P</span>HILADELPHIA&mdash;If Dave Brown wanted to earn a spot in the hearts of Philadelphia Flyer fans, all he&rsquo;d need to do is drop his gloves once or twice a game, wax somebody, and skate toward the penalty box with their cheers ringing in his ears.</p><p>But if Flyer fans have been watching Brown&rsquo;s hands, they should have been watching his feet. He&rsquo;s hardly going to make you forget Bob Bourne or even Bill Barber, but compared to just a year ago, Brown&rsquo;s skating has improved dramatically&mdash;it looks as if he&rsquo;s finally thrown the refrigerator from his back.</p><p>There was never any question that the 6-foot-5, 210-pound right winger could punch the lights out of any refrigeratorfreezer, but there was some doubt whether he could get to places quicker than a delivery truck. And Brown knows that if he&rsquo;s going to stick in the National Hockey League, it won&rsquo;t be the fine tuning of his knock-out punch which will keep him on a roster&mdash;it&rsquo;ll be his ability to improve his skating and knock in a few goals.</p><p>Under coach Mike Keenan and assistant F.J. McGuire and Ted Sator, Brown has turned into somebody who resembles an every-game player rather than simply a hit man.</p><p>&ldquo;If you watched tapes of me from the beginning of the season until now,&rdquo; said Brown, &ldquo;you&rsquo;d see the improvement. It&rsquo;s the most I&rsquo;ve ever improved in such a short period of time.&rdquo;</p><p>Unfortunately for Brown, who is in his first full season with the club, his improvement has come in areas not easily recognized by the average fan and totally oblivious to the below-average fan who comes to the Spectrum looking for knockout punches. He has become one of the best positional players on the team, &ldquo;almost textbook&rdquo; according to Keenan.</p><p>&ldquo;People have got to realize that I&rsquo;m here to play the game and not just fight,&rdquo; said Brown. &ldquo;The fighting, I&rsquo;ll always be able to do that, and I think that can still help a team. But I want to be a more well-rounded player.</p><p>&ldquo;When the season started, we all had to fill out forms with our goals for the year. My goals were to be play a regular shift and become a more complete player.&rdquo;</p><p>Brown probably got a break when the Flyers fired general manager-coach Bob McCammon last summer and replaced him with Keenan behind the bench. When McCammon was going through his histrionics behind the bench, more often than not Brown would be used as a warlord. Thus, he appeared doomed to a short, fight-filled career, not unlike former Flyer cop, Dave Hoyda.</p><p>Under the calmer approach of Keenan, and as a result of extensive skating drills from Sator, Brown has taken on a more important role, playing regularly on a fourth line and keeping his temper in check. During a recent win at Washington, he was levelled with a clean mid-ice hip check delivered with such force by Scott Stevens that Brown&rsquo;s helmet went flying-</p><p>And he didn&rsquo;t retaliate.</p><p>&ldquo;It was a tight game,&rdquo; said Brown. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t go chasing him, take a dumb penalty and maybe cause a power-play goal. Anyway, Stevens won&rsquo;t fight me, what&rsquo;s the use of trying?&rdquo;</p><p>The only downside to Brown&rsquo;s success&mdash;and it&rsquo;s a big one&mdash;is his lack of scoring.</p><p>&ldquo;Dave understands that if he&rsquo;s going to have an extended NHL career he&rsquo;s going to have to develop a more effective offensive game,&rdquo; said Keenan. &ldquo;But anyone who has improved as much in one season certainly should be able to improve in the future.&rdquo;</p><p><b>NOTES</b>&mdash;The Flyers completed one of their biggest weeks of the season with a 5-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers at the Spectrum, giving them a three-game season series sweep of the Oilers with wins of 7-5, 5-2 and 5-4. The Flyers also extended their streak against the defending Stanley Cup champs to eight games (7-01), dating back to November, 1982.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-02

Flyer Tough Guy Learns To Skate

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01749/5527170-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="128" height="100"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO BLACK HAWKS</b></h2><p>CHICAGO&mdash;If a tie is like kissing your sister, imagine what it would be like if your sister is a bearded lady.</p><p>In this instance it was the Chicago Black Hawks skating to a 4-4 tie with the Detroit Red Wings, who are growing beards in hopes of changing their image as weak-sisters in the National Hockey League.</p><p>The Hawks staged their most powerful offensive performance of the season before a crowd of 17,392 in Chicago Stadium but left feeling cheated.</p><p>Ron Duguay scored three Red Wing goals and set up the other, and goalie Greg Stefan faced 50 shots and lived to tell about it after surviving an all-out Chicago attack in sudden-death overtime.</p><p>&ldquo;No question about it, their goalie played great and deserves a lot of credit,&rdquo; said Hawk center Denis Savard, whose display of derring-do was upstaged by the heroics of Duguay and Stefan.</p><p>&ldquo;Our team gave a great effort. We should have won. Those weren&rsquo;t outside shots we were getting. A lot of them were in close. It hurts your confidence when a goalie keeps making those kind of saves?&rdquo;</p><p>Savard took nine shots and bagged his 30th and 31st goals. The second, which came on a breakaway at 6:29 of the third period, enabled the Hawks to salvage the tie.</p><p>The first three Detroit goals were at the expense of Murray Bannerman. The fourth came against rookie Warren Skorodenski, who relieved the injured Bannerman at the start of the third period. Bannerman pulled stomach muscles while doing some acrobatics in trying to stop a shot that sailed wide late in the second period.</p><p>Skorodenski faced 13 of the Red Wings&rsquo; 29 shots. In the overtime, the Hawks took five shots to Detroit&rsquo;s one. tying a team record for overtime established against the Rangers in New York on Nov. 25, 1941.</p><p>Detroit&rsquo;s fourth goal, scored by Duguay, came on the first shot that Skorodenski faced.</p><p>&ldquo;I should have gotten the puck when it was dumped into the comer on the play, &ldquo;he said. &ldquo;But I was a little cold and didn&rsquo;t want to gamble. Just like everybody else in this dressing room, I&rsquo;m really disappointed with the outcome. We felt we should have won easily, and we didn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p><p>Unlike most of his teammates, the Hawks&rsquo; All-Star defenseman Doug Wilson didn&rsquo;t look upon the deadlock as a downer.</p><p>&ldquo;The effort was there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel we have anything to worry about if we continue to play the way we did today.&rdquo;</p><p>The tie gave the Hawks a 4-1-1 record in the six games in which general manager Bob Pulford has coached the team following the firing of Orval Tessier.</p><p>On the preceding afternoon in Detroit, Stefan and the Red Wings snapped Pulford&rsquo;s four-game winning streak by capturing a 7-4 shootout.</p><p>The weekend marked the return of Al Secord, the domineering left wing who had been sidelined with a groin injury since Dec. 12.</p><p>Secord, who had 54 goals two seasons ago, didn&rsquo;t figure in the scoring in either game. But he played as aggressively as ever. In the game in Detroit, he skir mished with Bob Manno. In Chicago, he got into a high-sticking duel with Claude Loiselle after which they dropped their gloves and fought.</p><p>&ldquo;Chicago is dangerous with Secord back,&rdquo; said Red Wing coach Nick Poia-no. &ldquo;I consider him the Hawks&rsquo; most valuable player. When he&rsquo;s in the lineup, they seem to be a much better team.&rdquo;</p><p>Coach Jacques Demers of the St. Louis Blues, whom the Hawks are trying to overtake in the homestretch of the Norris Division race, feels the same way.</p><p>&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it,&rdquo; said Demers. &ldquo;Al Secord is the heart and soul of Chicago&rsquo;s hockey team.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-01

Hawks Escape Close Shave Against Wings

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02525/5527201-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg"></div><p>The Detroit Red Wings aren&rsquo;t-having a spectacular season, but it isn&rsquo;t because Ron Duguay isn&rsquo;t contributing.</p><p>Duguay scored five goals and two assists in three games to earn THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; Player-of-the-Week honors for the period ending Feb. 17.</p><p>Duguay had a hat trick in a win against the Chicago Black Hawks and, after 59 games, he had 25 goals and 40 assists.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-02

Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01990/5527232-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="129" height="98"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>P</span>ITTSBURGH&mdash;Two Pittsburgh Penguin right wingers may have played their last games in the National Hockey League&mdash;one because of injury and the other because he refused a demotion to the minors.</p><p>Rick Kehoe, Pittsburgh&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer, has missed all but the first six games of the season because of a pinched nerve in his neck that has hindered circulation and affected the feeling in his right arm and hand. The 33-year-old Kehoe also missed the final 23 games of last season with the same injury, but it appeared he had recovered during the off-season only to have the problem recur.</p><p>&ldquo;This is the second time it happened, and it doesn&rsquo;t look good.&rdquo; said Kehoe, who played 14 seasons in the NHL. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just worried right now about getting healthy again. That&rsquo;s the main thing, (to get) where I can live without the pain.&rdquo;</p><p>Kehoe said therapy, traction and a neck brace have helped to reduce the inflammation that caused a spinal disc to pinch the nerve. He has not ruled out an operation, but doctors have given him no guarantee it would help and could make the condition worse.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just waiting to see what the (final) decision is,&rdquo; Kehoe said. &ldquo;Probably when I do make a decision (on retiring), it would be at the end of the season.&rdquo;</p><p>Kehoe has been sitting with general manager Eddie Johnston and director of pro scouting Lou Angotti during recent home games. He has been analyzing opponent&rsquo;s power plays, penalty killing and breakouts and relaying the information to coach Bob Berry between periods.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s doing very well,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve already talked to (Penguin vice president) Paul Martha about using him as much as we can.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m still involved in the game when I&rsquo;m working out with them, charting things on the opposition and giving my point of view,&rdquo; said Kehoe. &ldquo;When I saw the way things were going (with the injury), I told them I&rsquo;d like to help out in the organization.</p><p>&ldquo;It looks pretty easy to play the game when you&rsquo;re sitting in the press box.&rdquo;</p><p>Kehoe came to the Penguins from the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1974 in a trade for right winger Blaine Stoughton and a 1977 first-round draft choice. Kehoe&rsquo;s best season was 1980-81 when he scored a club-record 55 goals and added 33 assists and won the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly conduct and playing ability.</p><p>Meanwhile, Bruce Crowder apparently will retire rather than accept a demotion to Baltimore of the American Hockey League.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to be 28 in March,&rdquo; said Crowder. &ldquo;They sent me down the day after the Toronto game (a 6-5 loss). If I&rsquo;m not going to crack the lineup after that showing, they have no plans for me.&rdquo;</p><p>The Penguins obtained Crowder in the NHL waiver draft in October from the Boston Bruins. He had four goals and seven assists in 26 games, while playing mostly on a checking line. He missed 18 games with a broken toe suffered in a game against Washington, returned to the lineup for three games and was out again because of back spasms. Crowder then was demoted.</p><p>&ldquo;They picked me up from Boston and had to pay money out for me, then they give me 26 games and that&rsquo;s it,&rdquo; Crowder said. &ldquo;I thought I played well when I played and did what I thought they wanted me to do.</p><p>&ldquo;For some reason somebody in the organization doesn&rsquo;t like the way I play the game, and I&rsquo;ve just had enough.&rdquo;</p><p>Crowder, who will be a free agent at the end of the season, hasn&rsquo;t given up completely on playing in the NHL again.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll just shop around this summer, but if no one&rsquo;s interested, well, then I&rsquo;ve done what I wanted to do: I played in the National Hockey League,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>Crowder, who has a teaching certificate from the University of New Hampshire, said he we would return to Boston, where his brother Keith, plays for the Bruins.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-01

Playing Careers Bleak For Kehoe, Crowder

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01861/5527263-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="131" height="112"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>CALGARY FLAMES</b></h2><p>CALGARY&mdash;When Kent Nilsson initially began eating-to-win, he first recorded a loss. A 24-pound loss, to be exact.</p><p>Nilsson, the Calgary Flames&rsquo; leading scorer and semi-regular member of the top 10, touched a nerve locally simply by going on a diet. As the pounds came off and Nilsson&rsquo;s game became the talk of the town, it transcended the sports news. Everybody wanted to know: Why did a professional athlete need to diet?</p><p>&ldquo;Because I was fat,&rdquo; said Nilsson simply.</p><p>So Nilsson, a new father, stuck to the popular eat-to-win diet and dropped from the 206 pounds he weighed in the Canada Cup to his new playing weight, 182. The most immediate change wasn&rsquo;t his waist line; it was the way he played when he got ice time.</p><p>For the first time in anyone&rsquo;s memory, Nilsson had become consistent. That was something that even the Flames&rsquo; management were ready to concede would never happen.</p><p>Now, no one is saying the diet is the only reason Nilsson turned his season around, but&hellip;</p><p>&ldquo;When you start losing weight, you&rsquo;re getting disciplined,&rdquo; analyzed coach Bob Johnson. &ldquo;At times, he&rsquo;s not going to please you. Nobody can every night, noteven (Wayne) Gretzky. He&rsquo;s not a perfect player, but he&rsquo;s had some good road games lately. To be fair to him, you would have to say he has played 10 good games in a row. He&rsquo;s been there. He&rsquo;s going now.&rdquo;</p><p>Previously, in the world according to Nilsson, the only certainty was that you never really knew what to expect. One game, he would be magic. The next, he would magically disappear. Hence, hi double-edged nickname, the Magic Man.</p><p>With Nilsson, the only thing you could really count on was that come February, he would get interested and catch fire. Some used to say it was because his parents made their annual visit to town then. Others would speculate that the games started to become a little more meaningful. But this year, when February rolled around, Nilsson had been smoking for almost a month already.</p><p>&ldquo;I feel the best I&rsquo;ve ever felt right now,&rdquo; said Nilsson. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m skating a lot better than I did a year ago. I&rsquo;ve got my legs.&rdquo;</p><p>Nilsson said the biggest change is he no longer feels tired all the time. Even with the arrival of new baby boy and the disruption in family life that can cause, Nilsson says he needs less sleep and has more stamina than ever before.</p><p>Of all the things said and written about Nilsson&rsquo;s renaissance, perhaps Johnson raised the most interesting point following a lacklustre 5-2 road win over the Hartford Whalers on Feb. 6. Nilsson starred in a game that Johnson called a &ldquo;character&rdquo; win. Over the years, Nilsson has been called many things, but not too often has the phrase &ldquo;character win&rdquo; been uttered in the same breath as &ldquo;Magic Man.&rdquo;</p><p>Over the All-Star break, Johnson suggested that leaving Nilsson off the All-Star team was a real oversight.</p><p>&ldquo;He would be great in this kind of game,&rdquo; said Johnson. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the type of game that really suits his style.&rdquo;</p><p>While the city of Calgary played host to the All-Star game itself, the Flames&rsquo; players slipped into the background, but quietly kept working.</p><p>The team retested everyone except the two All-Stars, defenseman Paul Reinhart and Allan Maclnnis, to see how they&rsquo;ve maintained their conditioning levels.</p><p>Johnson, anticipating that some players had regressed, called the break a mini-camp and skated everybody hard in preparation for the final quarter of the season.</p><p>&ldquo;We went three weeks without a good practice,&rdquo; said Johnson. &ldquo;One day we reviewed team defense. Another day we worked on offense. There was no mental strain at all. It was all physical conditioning.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the important thing. When you play four games in five nights or five games in seven nights, you become mentally tired. I really believe that. They went home from the mini-camp tired physically, but not mentally. The break did them good.</p><p>&ldquo;Probably the only thing that hurt us was the All-Star game. There were too many distractions.&rdquo;</p><p>Maclnnis. who played in his first All-Star game, said the experience made him a better player.</p><p>&ldquo;It was a big confidence builder,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had a shaky first period, but I thought I played steady in the second and third. I was just thinking this morning, &lsquo;There are only 24 games left in the regular season.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s unbelievable. This season has gone so fast. Before you know it, there&rsquo;ll be five games left.</p><p>&ldquo;I want to get my game back on track in the next 20 games so that when the playoffs come, I&rsquo;ll be going in on a high note.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-01

Magic Man Makes Excess Weight Disappear

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03402/5527325-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="173" height="107"></div><h2><b>LOS ANGELES KINGS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>OS ANGELES&mdash;Except for Marcel Dionne, who had a previous engagement in Calgary, the Los Angeles King players and their wives spent the All-Star break relaxing in Las Vegas, unwinding before one final crunch.</p><p>It was a well-deserved rest, too, considering the sorry state of affairs at this time a year ago, when the club was merely playing out the string.</p><p>&ldquo;We were out of it by this time last year,&rdquo; said Bernie Nicholls, the Kings&rsquo; leading goal scorer with 37. &ldquo;Knowing that we have the playoffs to look forward to, I think we&rsquo;re really starting to bear down.&rdquo;</p><p>Nicholls and J.P. Kelly scored third-period goals to wipe out a 3-2 deficit in Pittsburgh on Feb. 10, giving the Kings their 38th victory of the season&mdash;one more than they earned all last year en route to a second consecutive last-place, finish.</p><p>But now, with 24 games still remain&rsquo; ing, the Kings were two games above .500 and only five points out of second place in the Smythe Division.</p><p>Also they needed only two more points to surpass last season&rsquo;s total of 59</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re still in it&rdquo; said Dionne, who suffered a slightly pulled groin muscle against the Penguins but still managed to collect his 33rd goal and 55th assist and move into a third-place tie with Stan Mikita on the career points list with 1,867.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re still in there battling,&rdquo; added Jim Fox, having his best season with 23 goals and 35 assists. &ldquo;We still have a tough schedule coming up but we&rsquo;re hanging in there.</p><p>&ldquo;One thing we&rsquo;re doing much better is our forechecking work. We&rsquo;ve been dumping the puck in and digging it out pretty consistently, keeping the pressure on.&rdquo;</p><p>The result: The Kings, already one of the NHL&rsquo;s best offensive teams, were scoring goals at a club record clip that would give them 357 for the season, surpassing the 1980-81 record by 30.</p><p>But plagued by too many defensive breakdowns for coach Pat Quinn to stomach, the Kings&rsquo; show of offensive force proved quite useful during a 1-1-1 trip that included wiping out a 4-0 deficit in Philadelphia to earn a 4-4 tie and overcoming that third-period deficit in Pittsburgh to escape with a 4-3 victory.</p><p>Still, the Kings were having some trouble with tight-checking teams, their offense really bogging down in losses to Montreal and Washington.</p><p>&ldquo;We get frustrated and wind up getting caught out of position,&rdquo; said captain Terry Ruskowski.</p><p>&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t see those kinds of teams much in our division,&rdquo; Dionne said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have to get tougher there because that&rsquo;s what playoff hockey is all about. We have to be more patient. You usually don&rsquo;t get a whole lot of chances against those teams.</p><p>&ldquo;And second or third place&hellip;we&rsquo;ve got to get one of those,&rdquo; Dionne said. &ldquo;We have to make sure we come prepared for a tough game every night because this is the time of year when all the games are really intense. Everybody&rsquo;s fighting for playoff spots now.&rdquo;</p><p><b>KING NOTEBOOK</b>&mdash;Center <b>Doug Smith</b> hoped to begin skating soon after suffering a partially tom ligament in his right knee on Jan. l6&hellip;Goaltender <b>Darren Eliot</b> has a record of 10-4-3 in his last 17 starts&hellip;<b>Bernie Nicholls</b> wasn&rsquo;t too disappointed at not making the All-Star team despite leading the team in goals. &ldquo;I figured it was between me and <b>Marcel (Dionne)</b> arid he&rsquo;s having a great year and deserved to go,&rdquo; Nicholls said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind.&rdquo;&hellip;Through 56 games a year ago, the Kings were 17-27-12.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-03

Kings Aware Real Battle Only Starting To Happen

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02582/5527294-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="117" height="109"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>WINNIPEG JETS</b></h2><p>WINNIPEG&mdash;It is 5:31 a.m. when the first elevator plunks down, its bell dingling to welcome this early bird to the hotel&rsquo;s barren lobby.</p><p>No teammates are waiting for him. Not even the bus. But Robert Rene Joseph Picard is dressed, packed and ready to go.</p><p>Startled, he sees a figure move. A writer who is either late or uncharacteristically early smiles sheepishly, knowing he has probably spoiled Picard&rsquo;s day, having arrived before him.</p><p>But such a suspicion is painfully presumptuous. He is glad to see you&mdash;cheerful and curious, as always.</p><p>Among the people who call themselves the Winnipeg Jets, Picard is regarded as a novel human being, a would be travel agent and a born-again defenseman, having the best year of his career at the age of 27.</p><p>&ldquo;Robert has found his place in Winnipeg,&rdquo; said general manager John Ferguson. &ldquo;He is having an outstanding season.&rdquo;</p><p>In 57 games, Picard had nine goals and 15 assists and a club-leading plus-20.</p><p>Unlike the Jets, three National Hockey League teams&mdash;Washington Capitals, Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens&mdash;found him frustrating. His play was too erratic and he annoyed teammates and management alike with his controversial statements and remarks.</p><p>&ldquo;In Montreal, he was often misquoted on hot-line shows and by different news publications,&rdquo; said Ferguson. &ldquo;He made himself available to the press, making statements about matters that were none of his business.</p><p>&ldquo;In Washington, he was expected to carry the load. But he could always play hockey.&rdquo;</p><p>Picard was the third player chosen in the 1977 draft (by Washington), with only Dale McCourt and Barry Beck ahead of him.</p><p>After three seasons with the Capitals, he had brief stints in Toronto and Montreal before the Jets acquired him from the Canadiens for a third-round draft choice in 1984.</p><p>Plunked beside Randy Carlyle, the 1981 winner of the Norris Trophy, the Montreal-born Picard has watched his hockey career take off.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a luxurious situation where we can finally keep two veteran defensemen together,&rdquo; said coach Barry Long. &ldquo;Picard has realized all he has to do is his own job. He doesn&rsquo;t have to worry about the other side of the ice.&rdquo;</p><p>An exceptional skater, he possesses an abundance of size and strength, plus a modicum or grace.</p><p>But if he has one distinguishing feature to his game it is his ability to administer an open-ice hit.</p><p>&ldquo;If you count the hits by all the defensemen in the NHL this year, I would predict that Robert Picard has had more hits at center ice than any other defenseman in the league,&rdquo; said Ferguson.</p><p>His act in order, Picard is well respected by his teammates who know he&rsquo;ll be distributing the boarding passes and tending to their every need on the aircraft.</p><p>Carlyle, as always, is the first to treat him with the dignity an eight-year veteran commands.</p><p>&ldquo;I am happy about myself,&rdquo; said Picard, &ldquo;I am not ashamed to look in the mirror.&rdquo;</p><p>The confidence expressed in him by Long is a new experience.</p><p>&ldquo;I have never had the kind of support I am getting from this coach,&rdquo; said Picard. &ldquo;I see myself developing as a better hockey player.&rdquo;</p><p>Goaltender Brian Hayward said an enormous difference in Picard&rsquo;s play is largely attributable to the settled effect he feels in Winnipeg and the arrival of Carlyle.</p><p>&ldquo;He has been helped, as we all have, by the addition of Carlyle,&rdquo; said Hayward. &ldquo;But, in his own right, I feel he deserves some recognition, if not a place on the All-Star team. Everyone was disappointed he didn&rsquo;t get any votes.&rdquo;</p><p>Now entering his option year, Picard has finally found a team and a city where he is most appreciated.</p><p>&ldquo;We all realize he is a valuable part of this team,&rdquo; said Hayward. &ldquo;He is comfortable here. I think he is going to be around for a while.&rdquo;</p><p><b>BENCH BITS&mdash;</b>Goaltender <b>Marc Behrend</b>, a veritable yo-yo, returned to the Jets from another short stint in the minors. This time the Jets intend to play him, which raises some doubt about the future of <b>Mark Holden</b> in the NHL. <b>Brian Hayward</b> had started 12 games in a row as of Feb. 15&hellip;If he is available when the Jets are picking in the first round of the June draft, <b>Keith Gretzky,</b> younger brother of <b>Wayne,</b> will be selected by Winnipeg&hellip;The checking line of <b>Jim Nill, Laurie Boschman</b> and <b>Doug Smail</b> struck for four goals in the Jets&rsquo; second win over Washington&hellip;Coach <b>Barry Long</b> begs not to be considered for the coach-of-the-year award, knowing the jinx that is associated with it.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-02

Picard Hopes Elevator Stops In Winnipeg

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02444/5527356-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="560" height="298"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01674/5527363-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="103" height="100"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</b></h2><p>VANCOUVER&mdash;Easily the most pleasant surprise for the Vancouver Canucks this season has been the steady play of defenseman Doug Lidster.</p><p>While youngsters Garth Butcher, J.J. Daigneault and Michel Petit have had tough stretches, Lidster has been a rock. While Jiri Bubla has often tired from over use, Lidster has been consistent. While Rick Lanz has had a bad back for much of the season, Lidster hasn&rsquo;t missed a game.</p><p>The 24-year-old native of Kamloops, B.C., is anything but flashy. In fact, one of his two weaknesses&mdash;discernable only after watching him a good while&mdash;is his shot. The other is that he doesn&rsquo;t take people out thoroughly and, occasionally, they creep back into the play. He is, however, making excellent progress in both areas.</p><p>&ldquo;I talked to (former Canuck) Harold Snepsts when I first came to Vancouver at the end of last year, and he told me if you establish yourself as a good defensive defenseman. there will always be somebody who wants you,&rdquo; said Lidster. &ldquo;I took that advice to heart.&rdquo;</p><p>Lidster joined the Canucks late last season after doing well with Team Canada at the 1984 Olympic Games. He stepped into the league and played well, but many observers, including some in the Vancouver organization, felt he might have difficulty doing it in the National Hockey League over the long term. While the Canucks have given up the most goals in the league this year, the 6-foot-1, 195-pound Lidster has been a &ldquo;gem,&rdquo; according to general managercoach Harry Neale.</p><p>&ldquo;My main goal coming to camp this year was to make the team,&rdquo; Lidster said. &ldquo;Anything past that would be a bonus. But we&rsquo;ve lost so much, it&rsquo;s been a really tough year. In fact, the most difficult adjustment from the Olympic team to the NHL for me has been all the publicity and bad ink we&rsquo;ve had. Being in the spotlight so much is really different.&rdquo;</p><p>Jack Mcllhargey, the Canucks assistant coach who spends much of his time working with the defenseman since his appointment 22 games into the season, said Lidster is a good student.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know whether it&rsquo;s because he has a college background or not,&rdquo; said Mcllhargey, a former Canuck and Philadelphia defender. &ldquo;But you only have to tell him soemthing once and he remembers. Not only does he remember, he does it. He really wants to learn and improve.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I guess I&rsquo;m a good listener,&rdquo; Lidster said. &ldquo;I like to keep my ears open and take in as much as possible whenever and from whomever I can. I think it&rsquo;s the only way to get better.&rdquo;</p><p>Lidster had a minus-7 at the All-Star break, but had been a plus-15 in the 19 games leading up to it. Not a bad figure considering the start the club had under deposed-coach Bill LaForge.</p><p>&ldquo;I think the improvement in my rating is more a function of the team improvement then anything I&rsquo;m doing,&rdquo; he said modestly. &ldquo;Another reason is that I haven&rsquo;t been out against the other team&rsquo;s top line like Butch (Butcher) and Hawk (Doug Halward) have. Occasionally when I&rsquo;ve been paired with George (Bubla) we have been against the top line, but not game after game.&rdquo;</p><p>Lidster said the club has been more relaxed since Neale took over as coach.</p><p>&ldquo;We got off to such a disastrous start, and it kept getting worse,&rdquo; said Lidster, who lost his share of games before joining the Canucks at Colorado College.</p><p>&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t play with any kind of system at the beginning of the season and we were use to being in the middle of the pack in the league. It really shook us. It took us so long to get the feeling we could still win back into-our heads.&rdquo;</p><p>While Lidster doesn&rsquo;t see too much power-play duty, he has led the club&rsquo;s defensemen in goals with six. But unlike his college and Olympic days when he rushed a lot, Lidster is now content to stay at home more.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been superior us all year,&rdquo; said Neale. &ldquo;I wish we had a couple more like him.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0023-02

Lidster’s Learning Experience Just Begun

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01729/5527394-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>&ldquo;I DID&rsquo;T HAVE TO BEFORE&hellip;&rdquo;</b></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02511/5527401-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="129" height="116"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>LOOMINGTON&mdash;When the Minnesota North Stars play an uninspired game, they get blown out. When they play soundly, they lose. When they play outstanding hockey, they only lose by a goal.</p><p>On rare occasions, they might even get a tie. But they don&rsquo;t win.</p><p>They won a game once, back on Feb. 2, but in their next seven games they lost six and tied one.</p><p>That tie came in Detroit, and was a high-water mark for the month. The Stars were down 3-0 and 5-2 and, since they led the Red Wings by one slender point for third place at the time, the battle lines were clearly drawn.</p><p>The Stars scored three consecutive goals to get a 5-5 tie. Actually, Dennis Maruk scored another one, shown by replays to have gone in off the crossbar to the back of the net and back out.</p><p>The goal judge in Detroit turned the light on, but referee Ron Wicks discussed it with him for five full minutes before deciding he wasn&rsquo;t certain enough, and disallowed the goal.</p><p>But the real fight happened at the end of the first period. Danny Gare had hassled Dino Ciccarelli, and the two fought. Since the benches were emptying for the intermission, everybody else fought, too.</p><p>Greg Stefan, Detroit&rsquo;s reserve goalie who was manning the head phones on the bench in street clothes, grabbed Ciccarelli. Minnesota coach Glen Sonmor saw that and literally plunged onto the scene.</p><p>&ldquo;I saw the guy in street clothes grabbing and punching one of my guys, and if you don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m going to get involved, you don&rsquo;t know me very well,&rdquo; Sonmor said.</p><p>Before Sonmor could get to the Detroit bench, however, he slipped and fell. During the melee somebody stepped on Sonmor&rsquo;s hand with a skate, but he kept going, finally restrained by Red Wing coach Nick Polano on the Detroit bench, and was ejected from the game. He also got 16 stitches in the hand.</p><p>In the same hassle, Tom McCarthy had to be hopitalized when Tiger Williams sucker-punched him and knocked him cold. He had a concussion, a broken nose and suffered from double vision.</p><p>After all that, coming back to get a 5-5 tie with a sure goal disallowed was a strong showing for the Stars. And it kept them one point ahead of Detroit, besides. But not for long.</p><p>Two nights later, the Stars lost 6-4 in St. Louis. The Blues scored three powerplay goals and Joe Mullen connected on a penalty shot when Randy Velischek pounced on the puck in the crease.</p><p>Tom Hirsch, the rookie defenseman who has never seemed fully recovered from a shoulder separation in the Canada Cup, reinjured the shoulder in St. Louis and is out for at least two weeks. Losing players has been as much a trend as losing games this season.</p><p>Detroit, meanwhile, won and tied to slip ahead of the Stars for third in the Norris Division. Next night, back home at the Met Center, the Stars played a strong game against Quebec.</p><p>It was so strong that Neal Broten scored his first goal in eight games for a 1-0 lead. Quebec got the next three goals, but Ciccarelli then scored his first goal in 15 games, and Maruk scored his first goal, that counted, in seven games to tie the game 3-3.</p><p>But with 1:33 left, Maruk dropped a pass blindly in center ice. The play had some merit, because it was a power play, and Gordie Roberts was back there.</p><p>But the power play ended at about that instant, as Michel Goulet leaped on the ice, grabbed the puck and drew two defensemen before he left it for Alain Lemieux, who shot through the screen. Another loss.</p><p>So Minnesota&rsquo;s record slid to 16-31-11. They had 31 losses last season, too, but it was for the whole season. They also had 39 victories. The Stars&rsquo; 16 wins are the fewest of any team in the NHL except Toronto, which had 14 at the same point.</p><p>In scoring, the North Stars ranked with the bottom six teams in the whole NHL.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-01

Frustrated North Stars Fight For Survival

<p>Scott Randall is a 13-year-old goaltender for the Gillam, Man., Chargers bantam hockey club.</p><p>He&rsquo;s been playing net since he was nine, when his team had trouble finding someone to play that position.</p><p>The Chargers play in the Norman Region of Northern Manitoba and travel between 200 and 450 miles to participate in games against other teams.</p><p>Scott, who has attended various goaltending schools in western Canada to improve his skills, has helped his team to be more competitive. This will be the first season they made it to the provincial playoffs.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03339/5527432-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="520" height="802"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Scott Randall</b></figcaption></div><p>Scott admires New Jersey Devil goaltender Glenn (Chico) Resch.</p><h2><b>JOFA Entries</b></h2><p>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.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-03

JOFA

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04210/5527463-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="708" height="978"><figcaption class="caption-body">Buffalo goalie Tom Barrasso credits regional hockey for helping him make it to his present standing.</figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>t seems hard to believe with everything Tom Barrasso has accomplished over the past season-and-a half that just two years ago he was a senior in high school and playing varsity high school hockey.</p><p>Last season, the Buffalo Sabre goalie became only the third individual in National Hockey League history to capture both the Vezina Trophy and Calder Trophies. The Boston, MA, native was also selected to the NHL All-Rookie team, First All-Star team and was THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; Rookie of the Year.</p><p>This season he was picked as the starting goaltender for the Wales Conference in the 37th annual NHL All-Star game in Calgary.</p><p>Barrasso began playing locally organized hockey at the age of five, then moved up to the Assabet Valley Regional team in what would build the solid foundation leading to an eventual career in the NHL.</p><p>&ldquo;I began playing in that league when I was eight and I played in the league for the next seven years of my life,&rdquo; recalled Barrasso, who now resides in Stow, MA, during the off-season.</p><p>&ldquo;The best players from that whole area of Massachusetts played in that league. The league was divided into five levels (or age groups).</p><p>&ldquo;Hockey was taken very serious in this league. So if you weren&rsquo;t real serious about playing hockey you could play in the town leagues. But if you were serious this is where you played.&rdquo;</p><p>Barrasso pointed out that not only was the Assabet Valley league a place where you could build on your hockey skills, it was also a place that could help develop maturity.</p><p>&ldquo;To the parents involved in the league, winning or losing wasn&rsquo;t that important,&rdquo; remarked Barrasso, now 19. &ldquo;But to the players it was a different story.</p><p>&ldquo;To them, there was nothing wrong in wanting to win. And it was not the worst thing in the world to lose. But the kids were competitive.</p><p>&ldquo;We all wanted to win. But if you lost it was something you had to cope with. We played a lot of good competition. We did a lot of travelling as well.</p><p>&ldquo;Because of the schedule we played and the amount of travel we did, we, as players, were always exposed to the best competition available.</p><p>&ldquo;The key thing to remember out of all this was the fact that it was still a lot of fun to the kids and parents involved.</p><p>&ldquo;You have to have fun when you are playing in a league like that. That was part of the process of growing up in that league.</p><p>&ldquo;Not only did the Assabet Valley teams I played for help me develop my skills as a goaltender and hockey player, it also helped develop me as a person as well.</p><p>&ldquo;I will still say to this day that I wouldn&rsquo;t be in the NHL today if it wasn&rsquo;t for the competiton and development I received from this league.</p><p>&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t have made it just playing high school hockey (which he did for Acton-Boxboro High School) or in town leagues.</p><p>&ldquo;They are good. But not good enough if you had the goals set that I had in making it to the NHL.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-04

Minor Hockey Flashback: Tom Barrasso

<div class="byline">BY DICK BAKER</div><p>ST. CATHARINES&mdash;The St. Catharines Saints aren&rsquo;t your ordinary lastplace team. Yes, Saint hockey is hard to figure.</p><p>The cellar-dwellars from St. Elsewhere really aren&rsquo;t as bad as their record would indicate. For example, take their performance in one-goal games. St. Catharines, 17-34-4 overall, is 12-11 in one-goal decisions. Additionally, more than 50 per cent of their losses have been by two goals or less.</p><p>Nothing comes easy in St. Catharines, especially players. The Saints lead the division in want-ad lineage. Anything breathing could help. Games featuring only 13 or 14 skaters are as commonplace as losses are to the parent Toronto Maple Leaf team.</p><p>Then, there&rsquo;s the Leafs&rsquo; conditioning program. It is usually highlighted with a demotion. Walt Poddubny is an example. First the talented scorer agrees to report to St. Catharines to work his bad knee into shape. Then, after a careful chat with his agent, he changes his mind. The Leafs test the waters by asking waivers. At least two teams claim him and the waivers are recalled.</p><p>Poddubny reconsiders the conditioning stint. He&rsquo;s told he&rsquo;ll return to Toronto in 15 days.</p><p>Poddubny&rsquo;s first day with the Saints was a signal of what was to come. After a four-hour travel delay at the Pittsburgh airport, he arrived halfway through the first period of a game at Hershey. It really wouldn&rsquo;t have mattered if he showed at all. The final score read Hershey 11, St. Catharines I.</p><p>The next night, the unpredictable Saints returned home to upset the Rochester Amerks 6-4. Poddubny was voted the third star of the game. Two games later, at Glens Falls against the Adirondack Red Wings, he suffered a broken thumb and is sidelined for up to eight weeks.</p><p>Bill Stewart, who swore at the Leafs&rsquo; management when they demoted him to St. Catharines, was given a reprieve less than two weeks later, but not before he suffered a case of food poisoning after eating a &ldquo;bad steak.&rdquo;</p><p>And then there&rsquo;s rookie sensation Steve Thomas. In the Hershey meltdown, Thomas suffered a broken nose in a bench-clearing brawl at the end of the first period.</p><p>In a game against Rochester the next night, Thomas took a shot in the face with the puck. And just to complete his week, he was slammed into the boards at Glens Falls, a crushing check that won him an overnight stay in the hospital.</p><p>Fearing the worst, Saint coach Claire Alexander decided it was imperative for Thomas to wear a face guard.</p><p>At least Larry Landon was not hurt. Landon, who was loaned to the Saints by the Montreal Canadiens but is now official St. Catharines property after the Leafs dealt Gaston Gingras back to the Habs, jumped into the league&rsquo;s top 10 scorers with a 13-game streak (six goals, 11 assists). He had a five-point night against Rochester and a three-point night in a Sunday loss to Springfield.</p><p>While the season hasn&rsquo;t been a complete loss, the Saints were trailing fourthplace Baltimore by 18 points on Valentine&rsquo;s Day.</p><p><b>DOWN SOUTH</b>&mdash;It looked as though Binghamton was on its way to a sixth consecutive triumph over Baltimore when the two teams met Feb. 13. The Whalers took a 3-0 lead and chased Skipjack starting goaltender <b>Michel Dion</b>. However, with the help of a three-goal game by <b>Tom O&rsquo;Reagan</b>, the Skipjacks, who were also down 4-1, bounced back for an 8-6 victory. The comeback helped avenge an earlier loss the Skip jacks suffered at the hands of the Whalers when the two teams clashed in their first outing of the season. In that game, Baltimore led 5-1 but lost 6-5. Two of Baltimore&rsquo;s losses to Binghamton were in overtime while two were by two goals. O&rsquo;Reagan&rsquo;s hat trick was Baltimore&rsquo;s sixth of the season, a club record. Ironically, the old mark of five was accomplished by one player&mdash;<b>Mitch Lamoureux</b>&hellip;The New Haven Nighthawks had a strange weekend, losing a pair of home games while being outscored 14-8. In between, the Nighthawks hit the road to rout Springfield 9-2&hellip;Hershey&rsquo;s <b>Doug Morrison</b> won player-of-the-month honors with an eightpoint outburst in three games, including five goals&hellip;Springfield goaltender <b>Mike Sands</b> is the league&rsquo;s first 20-game winner (20-11-2) of the season&hellip;Rochester had the league&rsquo;s fewest home losses (four) while Binghamton had the fewest on the road (eight).</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01682/5527494-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="564" height="762"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>St. Catharines&rsquo; rookie sensation Steve Thomas broke his nose in a game against Hershey.</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0026-01

Saints Suffering Player Shortage

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div><p class="dropcap"><span>G</span>LENS FALLS&mdash;If the American Hockey League handed out an award to its most improved player, Adirondack center Ted Speers would be at the head of this season&rsquo;s group of contenders.</p><p>Speers, a 24-year-old native of Ann Arbor, MI, has emerged as one of Adirondack&rsquo;s top players and has played a major role in helping the Wings stay in contention for a division title.</p><p>&ldquo;The way he&rsquo;s playing right now, he&rsquo;s our best hockey player,&rdquo; said Adirondack coach Bill Dineen. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing the body better than everybody else. He&rsquo;s reading defensive coverage better than anybody else. He&rsquo;s forechecking stronger than anybody else. He&rsquo;s doing it all for us.&rdquo;</p><p>In a little over a season and a half, Speers has quietly emerged as a serious prospect in the Detroit organization. It&rsquo;s a remarkable step forward for a player who was signed as a free agent just before the start of training camp in 1983 and was one of the last two or three players selected to the Adirondack roster later that month. A strict attention to defensive coverage and, more recently, his development as a playmaker and scorer makes Speers a very valuable player.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a pretty key guy to have their defensively,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;He gives you the option of playing a lot of different guys out there with him. He covers up for other people&rsquo;s mistakes.&rdquo;</p><p>Speers, a four-year starter at the University of Michigan, has proven to be as durable as he is versatile. Last season, he missed just one game. This year, he&rsquo;s the i only Adirondack player to appear in the first 57 games of the season.</p><p>&ldquo;He started off last year sort of just being there,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;There was gradual improvement through until the middle of January, then there was a real down period for about a month. Then he got stronger when I put him with (Gerard) Gallant and (Andre) St. Laurent.&rdquo;</p><p>The turning point for Speers this season came on New Year&rsquo;s Eve when Dineen moved him to a line with wingers Todd Bidner and Brad Smith. They clicked immediately and have stayed together since. In the last 23 games, the three have combined for 28 goals and 71 points. Smith leads the way with 13 goals and 27 points, Speers has scored seven goals and 23 points, and Bidner is close behind with eight goals and 21 points.</p><p>&ldquo;I play with a couple of guys, one that is real smooth (Bidner) and the other that&rsquo;s kind of wild (Smith),&rdquo; Speers said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, I just try to be the guy that keeps them together. I wish that I could have the scoring touch that Todd has because I&rsquo;ve had a lot of chances lately.&rdquo;</p><p>With a little over a quarter of the season left toplay, Speers will easily surpass the point production of his rookie year. He&rsquo;s already matched the 25 assists and is just two goals shy of the 15 he scored.</p><p>&ldquo;It all really started to come together when we needed it most of all, in the month of January, when we played 10 of 11 on the road.&rdquo; Dineen said. He was just outstanding through that away swing. Plus, he&rsquo;s playing with so much more confidence, doing so many things.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of a cliche, but it&rsquo;s true,&rdquo; Speers said. &ldquo;When you have confidence, when you think that you can beat that player, you&rsquo;re going to look for that nice play&hellip;It helps out a lot if you&rsquo;re playing with a lot of confidence.&rdquo;</p><p><b>AROUND THE DIVISION</b>&mdash; Fredericton continued to slide and fell into a tie with Adirondack&mdash;which won four of five&mdash;for second place. The Express snapped an 11-game winless streak (0-9-2) with a win over Sherbrooke, but dropped games to the surging Canadiens and Rochester Americans before starting a road trip&hellip;Maine moved back into first place with a win and a tie in a two-game series with Moncton. The Mariners earned the tie with 23 seconds to play. During that series, the Mariners killed off 11 consecutive penalties. It helped raise their penalty-killing percentage to 82.8 per cent&hellip; Maine forward Larry Floyd has a seven-game point streak in which he has scored five goals and 10 assists&hellip;Forwards Marc Habscheid and <b>Raimo Summanen</b> were returned to Nova Scotia by Edmonton and <b>Mark Morrison</b> came off the injured list after missing 30 games with a wrist injury. Morrison was injured on his second shift of his first game with the Oilers after being obtained in a trade&hellip;Fredericton recalled rugged winger <b>Richard Zemlak</b> from Muskegon to add some muscle to the lineup. Also returning from Muskegon was defenseman <b>Peter Loob</b>. The Express expect <b>Mike Eagles</b> and <b>Jim Dobson</b> back in the lineup soon. Both have missed a couple of months with knee injuries.. Rookie winger Gino <b>Cavallini</b> was sent back to Moncton after a stint with the parent Calgary Flames. <b>Jim Jackson</b>, who broke his leg earlier this season, has been sent down to Moncton for conditioning work.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Improved Player Helping Speerhead Wings’ Hopes

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div><p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>USKEGON&mdash;The Muskegon Lumberjacks took dead aim at first-place Flint in the International Hockey League&rsquo;s East Division by winning four of five games&mdash;including two victories over the Generals&mdash;to close the gap between the teams to two points as of Feb. 13.</p><p>On Feb. 4 Muskegon trailed the defending Turner Cup champions by six points and led third-place Kalamazoo by four in the East. A week later, sparked by a 15-point performance by left winger Scott Gruhl, the Lumberjacks picked up four points on Flint and put Kalamazoo eight points behind.</p><p>Gruhl, who had 40 goals for Muskegon last season, scored 10 goals and added five assists in the five-game stretch.</p><p>Coach Rick Ley&rsquo;s club started the week with a 10-5 shellacking of Flint at home and ended the period by travelling to Flint and grinding out a 7-3 triumph.</p><p>During that spell Gruhl picked up a pair of hat tricks&mdash;he leads the league with four&mdash;and two shorthanded tallies to up his season output to 34 goals, third best in the IHL behind Kalamazoo&rsquo;s Dave Michayluk (43) and Gilles Thi-baudeau of Flint (42).</p><p>Gruhl also moved into second place in overall scoring with 60 points. Scott MacLeod of Salt Lake City continues to lead the league with 82 points, including a league-high 54 assists. Gruhl is second in that department with 46.</p><p>The 25-year-old native of Port Colborne, Ont., never has had much trouble scoring in three previous IHL seasons. Signed as a free agent by Los Angeles in 1979, Gruhl scored 53 goals for Saginaw in his rookie season.</p><p>He netted 56 goals in 1980-81 and 40 last year. In between those two seasons he played at New Haven of the American League, scoring 28 and 25 goals, and had seven-game stints with the Kings in both 1981-82 and 1982-83. He was signed as a free agent at the start of the current season by the Lumberjacks, who were known as the Mohawks last season.</p><p>Skating on a line with Doug Kyle and Mike Krensing, Gruhl and his mates have 69 goals, 30 percent of the team&rsquo;s offensive output.</p><p>The Lumberjacks are second in the league in scoring with 227 goals in 52 games. Flint, which has played two more games, has 240 goals. But it isn&rsquo;t all offense for Muskegon.</p><p>The return of goalie Brian Ford has strengthened what already was a pretty stingy defense. The Lumberjacks are second in that department, giving up a total of 180 goals; Peoria, the West Division leader, has surrendered 179 goals in the same number of contests.</p><p>Muskegon has a league-high 20 wins at home and only seven losses. They&rsquo;re just below .500 on the road (11-12-2) and have yet to lose a game in overtime in five games.</p><p>Ford was leading the league in goals-against when he was traded earlier this season from Quebec to Pittsburgh. He was 8-4 with the Lumberjacks when he was recalled for duty at Baltimore in the AHL. Since his return a couple of weeks ago he is 8-1 and has returned to the top of the list of the league&rsquo;s goaltenders.</p><p>He is 16-5-0 with a goals-against average of 2.71. Georges Gagnon of Kalamazoo (3.20) and Rick Heinz of Peoria (3.26) are next. Ford&rsquo;s save percentage is a league-high .911.</p><p>The Lumberjacks&rsquo; balance has kept losing streaks to a minimum. They haven&rsquo;t lost more than two games in a row this season, and their record against the Generals&mdash;4-2&mdash;has been a big factor in staying close to the lead in the East. Those two teams will face each other four more times before the regular season comes to a close.</p><p><b>IHL NOTES</b>&mdash;The Indianapolis Checkers drew the largest crowd of the IHL season on Feb. 8 when a turnout of 8,234 fans saw the home team lose a 7-4 decision to Fort Wayne. The game also featured the first-bench clearing brawl of the season. When the penalty minutes were compiled, the total was 120 and included double game misconducts to Fort Wayne&rsquo;s <b>Steve Salvucci</b> and Jim Beaton of the Checkers. Next day both players were suspended for three games each, while the Komets&rsquo; <b>Dale Baldwin</b> and <b>Robbie Laird</b> and <b>Marc Magnan</b> of Indianapolis were handed one-game suspensions.</p><p>The Checkers snapped a three-game losing streak on Feb. 9 at Peoria with a 3-0 win. <b>Rob Holland</b> recorded the shutout. the second time he has blanked the Rivermen on their own ice. He and <b>Georges Gagnon</b> of Kalamazoo share the league lead in shutouts with three apiece.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Lumberjacks Cutting Down Generals’ Lead

<div class="byline">BY BILL CRAWFORD</div><p>SAULT STE. MARIE&mdash;In the words of the impish comic-strip character Dennis the Menace, &ldquo;Who&rsquo;d a thunk it?&rdquo;</p><p>Three years ago, when Frank Anzalone took over the reins as head honcho of the Lake Superior State College hockey program, the ship had just been righted and new sails installed.</p><p>The Lakers have now clinched second place in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and are about to cruise into the playoffs with their best crew ever.</p><p>While former coach Bill Selman, a Bligh-like disciplinarian, deserves a lot of the credit for bailing out the once-sinking Laker ship and plotting the proper course, the 29-year-old Anzalone should be credited for steering the proper course since and for having the Lakers in their first home-ice playoff series ever.</p><p>The talent that Selman recruited four years ago has matured into the solid team leadership of captain Chris Dahiquist, slick playmaking defenseman Chris Guy and scoring ace Alan Butler.</p><p>Anzalone, who worked as assistant to Selman for half a season before taking the head job, has carried on the high-level recruiting with the likes of Paul Jerrard, Matt Cote and GrantClark, a trio of sophomore defensemen from the Notre Dame Hounds&rsquo; high school program in Wilcox, Sask.</p><p>Toss in juniors Keith Martin (20 goals), Scott Johnson (16 goals), Nick Palumbo and Mark Vichorek, sophomores Jim Roque, Dean Dixon, Mike Wants and Randy Exelby (3.45 GAA with two series to go) and freshmen Craig Hewson (10 goals), Steve Hurt, Kim Mclvor, Jerry Johannson and Brian Michaud and you&rsquo;ve got a boatload of Lakers in the CCHA. The Lakers are eighth in the national media poll, seventh in the coaches&rsquo; poll and sixth (as of Feb. 14) in the NCAA coaches&rsquo; poll.</p><p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;re easily the most-improved team in our league,&rdquo; says Michigan State coach Ron Mason, whose Spartans are concluding their best season ever.</p><p>These Lakers are a far cry from the rag-tag groups that floundered about as a CCHA also-ran and downright doormat for so long in the late &rsquo;70s.</p><p>They&rsquo;re a team learning how to win and trying to accept their new-found success.</p><p>Anzalone spends half his time playing down the record, warning anyone who&rsquo;ll listen that &ldquo;anything can happen in college hockey&rdquo; and that &ldquo;the pressure is beginning to wear me out.&rdquo;</p><p>The rest of the time, he&rsquo;s chiding the local media for not paying enough attention to his team until it hit the national limelight and wanting to know when the next &ldquo;up close and personal&rdquo; interview is scheduled.</p><p>But success breeds popularity and the Lakers are pretty popular around the Sault Ste. Marie, Ml, area now. Their season-ending series with Michigan State is all but sold out (3,400 tickets) and their playoff series, the first ever here, is selling fast.</p><p>Anzalone wants the &ldquo;winners&rdquo; label for his team, but he&rsquo;s a bit hesitant to take it. Only in the playoffs will it be determined if the Lakers can win a <i>big</i> one.</p><p>But they&rsquo;ve already proven they&rsquo;re a good Division I team in a proven collegiate league, with a promising program mapped out for the future. The sailing is pretty smooth at Lake Superior State these days.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Anzalone Keeps Lakers Sailing Smoothly

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div><p>HOUGHTON&mdash;It may be easier to become a legend than to replace one.</p><p>That&rsquo;s the harsh lesson Michigan Tech hockey coach Jim Nahrgang learned recently when he discovered it was one thing to follow in the footsteps of the legendary John Maclnnes, but quite another thing to fill his shoes.</p><p>So Nahrgang, nearing the end of his third season as coach of the Huskies, resigned effective May 31.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been thinking about it from the start of the season,&rdquo; Nahrgang said. &ldquo;You have to have satisfaction from your work, no matter what you do. And in hockey, the satisfaction comes from the number of wins you have, nothing else.</p><p>&ldquo;For me, the only way I could feel satisfied would be to have a substantially larger number of wins than losses. And as the number of losses mounted and the number of wins wasn&rsquo;t far ahead, the losses became tougher to take and the wins less fun. It became an emotional rollercoaster for me, something that made me question whether I should be in coaching.&rdquo;</p><p>Had Nahrgang not replaced a legend in Maclnnes, the pressure might not have gotten to him.</p><p>But Nahrgang joins many others in finding that following a legend has lots of hazards. Bart Starr couldn&rsquo;t fill Vince Lombardi&rsquo;s shoes with the Green Bay Packers, Ray Perkins struggles under the great Bear Bryant at Alabama and even the ex-Marine, Les Steckel, fought a war he couldn&rsquo;t win after replacing Bud Grant with the Minnesota Vikings.</p><p>It was no different for Nahrgang at Tech, where Maclnnes won 555 games and seven NCAA titles in his 26 seasons as coach from 1956-82.</p><p>&ldquo;I think I underestimated the pressures there would be on me going into the job,&rdquo; Nahrgang said. &ldquo;The expectations of the fans who follow Tech&rsquo;s program were the same and there was a lot of pressure I put on myself to meet those standards.&rdquo;</p><p>Nahrgang came under fire recently for pulling his team off the ice in a game against Boston University to protest what he felt was unfair officiating. The move cost his team the game.</p><p>&ldquo;I want to make it clear that I did not intend to forfeit the game,&rdquo; Nahrgang said. &ldquo;When I pulled the team off the ice, it was the correct decision to make.</p><p>&ldquo;Now that I&rsquo;ve had several weeks to think about it, I feel I was half to blame for not knowing about the rule that you have three minutes to put your team back on the ice or else the game is forfeited.</p><p>&ldquo;But I feel the officials were half to blame, too. They mishandled the situation by never communicating with me. They stayed on the ice the whole time and never came down to the locker room to talk to me until they came and said they were calling a forfeit. That would have never happened with WCHA officials.&rdquo;</p><p>Recently, Michigan Tech issued a formal apology to Boston University. At the same time, the WCHA announced that further action may be taken against Michigan Tech once the case is reviewed at the league meetings in April.</p><p>&ldquo;The WCHA never handled the situation,&rdquo; Nahrgang said. &ldquo;They sat on it and the school sat on it. You&rsquo;ve got to take action when it happens, not to sit on it for three months. That was kind of the icing on the cake for me decide to get out now.&rdquo;</p><p>When the WCHA put Michigan Tech&rsquo;s&mdash;and Nahrgang&rsquo;s&mdash;status in limbo for three months, he decided the time was right for him to be someplace else&mdash;as in out of coaching.</p><p>&ldquo;Ever since the incident in Boston, we&rsquo;ve found that some schools are going around telling our recruits that they don&rsquo;t want to go to Tech, that Tech will be suspended from the league for a year,&rdquo; Nahrgang said. &ldquo;That kind of speculation has to be put to rest right now. With my resignation, I think whether the league will take any further action becomes a moot point.&rdquo;</p><p>Nahrgan, 33, has no future plans yet.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure there are parts of hockey I&rsquo;ll miss, but it&rsquo;ll be nice to have the weekends free and not have to work 8090 hours every week during the season,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This was just a good time to end all the speculation, both for the benefit of the university and for our recruiting.&rdquo;</p><p><b>WCHA NOTES</b>&mdash;When Minnesota swept a Friday-Saturday series from Northern Michigan in Minneapolis, it marked the first time since Nov. 9-10 that the Gophers had swept a weekend series and the first time the Gophers had won on a Saturday since then.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Nahrgang Quitting Michigan Tech

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01655/5527642-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="390" height="507"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JOHN CULLEN BU</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>HOCKEY EAST</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>oston University sophomore center John Cullen picked up seven points as the Terriers recorded 7-4 and 7-2 wins over the Maine Black Bears, earning HOCKEY EAST Performer-of-the-Week honors.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02463/5527635-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="382" height="512"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>AL HILL Clarkson</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>ECAC</b></h2><p>Clarkson&rsquo;s Al Hill scored three goals in a 6-3 win over Yale and added two points in a 7-2 win over Brown to earn ECAC Performer-of-the-Week honors.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03332/5527628-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="397" height="515"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MARK CHIAMP Michigan</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>CCHA</b></h2><p>University of Michigan goalie Mark Chiamp made 76 saves to lead the Wolverines to a 4-1, 6-4, sweep ofOhio State and earn CCHA Performer-of-the-Week honors. Chiamp has a 4.41 GAA for the season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04236/5527621-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="403" height="515"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PAUL HOUSTON Wisconsin</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>WCHA</b></h2><p>University of Wisconsin senior center Paul Houston scored a game-winner and added a shorthand gbal, along with three assists, to lead his team to a 6-1, 7-2, sweep of Northern Michigan and earn WCHA Performer-of-the-Week honors.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0028-01

FIT FOR PERFORMANCE

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>OSTON&mdash;No, it&rsquo;s not true that they&rsquo;re going to make a movie about the Northeastern hockey team, starring John Forsythe as Femie Flaman.</p><p>Thousands of hockey fans in the city of Boston think that it might be a good idea, however. Northeastern&rsquo;s upstart Huskies rose to the occasion in the Beanpot Tournament, convincingly defeating Boston University 4-2, before the usual sellout crowd of 14,653 in the Boston Garden. It&rsquo;s a little Dynasty, anyway, something that would have been unthinkable for the first quarter century of the Beanpot competition.</p><p>Northeasten successfully defended its 1983 Beanpot title, thus becoming the first of the four Boston teams to do so since BU did it in 1979. The Beanpot is 33 years old, but NU has only been in the final round half a dozen times. Four of those times, and the Huskies&rsquo; only three titles, have been since 1980 when Wayne Turner and Dale Ferdinandi potted overtime goals to lead the Hounds to their first crown ever.</p><p>As usual, the favorites bombed out. Boston College and Harvard were both eliminated in the first round. Northeastern had been a rather disorganized, inconsistent crew for the previous two months, dropping nine of their first 11 games. For them, the Beanpot became a whole new season.</p><p>Flaman and his assistants redifined the checking responsibilities for the Beanpot, throwing two attackers at the puckcarrying defenseman and letting the third man hang back. The new system was a tonic to the players, who had let the long grind of practices wear away at their enthusiasm.</p><p>&ldquo;It got to the point where we wanted to come to practice again,&rdquo; said senior Jim Madigan, a self-appointed spokesman who&rsquo;s come on strong lately. &ldquo;We were doing different things and really got into it. We know we&rsquo;re better than our record.&rdquo;</p><p>The aggressive checking approach led to the game-breaking goals by Northeastern&rsquo;s excellent sophomore right winger. Mark Lori. Perhaps fittingly, it was center Rod Isbister, an offensive whiz who has had to retool his entire game around the defensive aspects, who set up Lori each time. Isbister has led Hockey East for most of the year in scoring, despite a broken thumb sustained when a BU player slashed his gloveless hand on Nov. 24.</p><p>Isbister has worn a cast on the thumb ever since and has sacrificed a good deal of stick mobility since the injury. But he hasn&rsquo;t lost his instincts for the game. With the score tied 2-2 midway through the third period, he forechecked BU defenseman Jay Octeau into making a hurried pass. First switching his own stick onto the backhand as he closed in, then whipping it around to his forehand, he anticipated Octeau&rsquo;s outlet pass. He knocked it right back onto Octeau&rsquo;s stick, then the BU defender released it again, hurriedly, right back onto the blade of Lori, closing in from the blue line. Lori put a backhander through BU goalie Bob Deraney for the game winner.</p><p>A few minutes later, Isbister again sent Lori in alone for the clincher with 4:24 to go.</p><p>Freshman goalie Bruce Racine, tabbed to start in place of last year&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player, Tim Marshall, earned MVP honors this time around. His quick glove saves staved off three sure BU goals and helped him make a total of 32 saves on the evening. The writers and photographers clustered around Lori and Racine, but Isbister was the real hero.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had to make my game about 50 per cent offense and 50 per cent defense,&rdquo; he said a few nights after his team had earned a 2-2 in Hockey East action in Providence. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s frustrating, sometimes, just not being able to get a handle on the puck when you&rsquo;ve got good scoring opportunities, but you&rsquo;ve got to adjust.&rdquo;</p><p><b>NOTES&mdash;Rod Isbister</b> made the key play in the Huskies&rsquo; tie at Providence, sending <b>Jim Madigan</b> away through defenseman <b>Pete Taglianetti</b> and <b>Shawn Whitlam</b> for a shorthanded score with less than four minutes to play. PC had been undefeated in its last six games, so the point was a crucial one for Northeastern. That same evening, Boston College defeated Lowell 4-2 on late goals by <b>Kevin Stevens</b> and <b>John Devereaux</b> to help NU&rsquo;s playoff hopes. The Beanpot Tournament games did not count in Hockey East standings, of course, so the newly-revived Huskies face a three-way battle for the third and final home-ice playoff spot, fourth place in the league. With just a handful of games remaining, here&rsquo;s how that race shapes up: Northeastern, 11-19-1 for 23 points, has games left with BC, BU and New Hampshire. Lowell, 10-20 for 20 points, plays UNH twice, Providence and BU. UNH is also 10-20 and plays PC, NU and Lowell twice. Boston College is in at the top and Maine is in the cellar. Providence has an outside shot at nailing down second spot. The Friars are three points behind BU.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Northeastern Starting Dynasty At Beanpot

<div class="byline">BY TOM BOGGIE</div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>ROY&mdash;In a league dominated by goaltenders and a handful of sharpshooting snipers, the defensemen of the Eastern Colleges Athletic Conference have been going about their business rather quietly.</p><p>That suits Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute senior Ken Hammond just fine. The spotlight&rsquo;s not for him. He&rsquo;d rather put in a good day&rsquo;s work and then get ready for the next game.</p><p>Hammond, a native of London, Ont., has been the steadiest member of RPI&rsquo;s defense this season and is one of the reasons the second-ranked Engineers put together a 20-game win streak through the middle of February. Although he admits he&rsquo;s been concentrating more on his defensive play this season, his play at both ends of the ice has been superb.</p><p>&ldquo;If there&rsquo;s a player on that team who will go to the NHL, it&rsquo;s Ken Hammond,&rdquo; said Brown coach Herb Hammond (no relation). &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the most underrated player on that team.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;The guys who have risen to a height I can&rsquo;t believe are Ken Hammond and Tim Friday,&rdquo; said RPI coach Mike Addesa. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve put together a string of outstanding, almost flawless games. If they can keep it up, it&rsquo;s like money in the bank.&rdquo;</p><p>Hammond, a 6-foot-1, 190 pounder, has been a regular on the blue line in all four of his years at RPI. He played some left wing last season when the team needed help on that side, responding with a career-high (at the time) five goals and 11 assists. But through 25 games this season, he had six goals and 20 assists.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried to concentrate a little more on my defense than I have in the past, but I&rsquo;ve been given a little more freedom offensively,&rdquo; Hammond said. &ldquo;Especially when I&rsquo;m paired with Tim Friday, the coach has told us when we see an opening, to take it. That&rsquo;s why I love to be out there when it&rsquo;s four-on-four or three-on-three.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Things are going a little bit better for me this year,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I think one of my problems last year had to do with my captaincy. I had a lot of things on my mind and it affected my play. This year, with Sadegh (senior Mike Sadeghpour) and Mike Dark sharing more of the responsibility, I think more about the system, what I&rsquo;m supposed to be doing in front of the net when it&rsquo;s one-on-one or two-on-two. If you get preoccupied, it takes away from your defensive game. I&rsquo;ve had time to really think about my play this year and it&rsquo;s helped out my defensive game.&rdquo;</p><p>So did a summer of lifting weights and numerous sessions with power skating instructor Paul Vincent. Hammond has become more physical, a definite asset if he wants to jump to the Los Angeles Kings, who drafted him following his freshman season. His favorite move is to chase a forward into the comer and throw him off with one arm while controlling the puck with the other.</p><p>&ldquo;Mr. Vincent taught me that move,&rdquo; he stated. &ldquo;He really helped me with my skating and balance.&rdquo;</p><p>There&rsquo;s no doubt that Hammond has all the tools. Former Washington Capitals&rsquo; coach Jim Anderson, now a scout for the Kings, confirmed that when he came to Troy to see Hammond play earlier this season.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got good size, handles the puck well and is a real tough kid,&rdquo; said Anderson.</p><p>&ldquo;One of the reasons we drafted him was because he likes to dig the puck out of his own zone. He always manages to find a way to get the puck out of the zone.&rdquo;</p><p>Despite the glittering accolades, Hammond doesn&rsquo;t consider himself a pro prospect, not yet anyway.</p><p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t think of myself as a pro prospect unless this team has a good playoff and we can get to Boston (for the ECAC champioships).&rdquo;</p><p>Even if the Engineers get back to Boston, you can be sure Hammond will avoid the limelight and let his play speak for itself.</p><p><b>ECAC NOTES</b>&mdash;Streaks continue all around the ECAC. RPI ran its win streak to 20 with wins over Brown (7-2) and highly-regarded Yale (8-2). making both games look easy. Cornell picked up its eighth consecutive win when the Big Red defeated Clarkson 4-2. <b>Duanne Moeser</b> had two power-play goals in that game as Cornell improved its record to 12-6-2. The previous night. Big Red freshman <b>Joe Nieuwendyk,</b> making a strong bid for ECAC rookie-of-the-year honors, had a hat trick to lead Cornell past St. Lawrence.. Another streak continued, but Colgate coach <b>Terry Slater</b> probably wished it hadn&rsquo;t, as his Red Raiders lost to St. Lawrence, extending their losing streak to five games. That skid is their longest since the 1977-78 season&hellip;RPI will average more than 5,000 fans per game at Houston Field House this season. Who said there would be no interest in ECAC hockey?.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Hammond Plays Without Glory

<h2><b>HOCKEY EAST CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 19)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01645/5527868-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="532" height="234"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Sun. Feb. 10</b></p><p><b>Providence 4 at New Hampshire 2</b></p><p><b>Wed. Feb. 13</b></p><p><b>Northeastern 2 at Providence 2</b></p><p><b>Thu. Feb. 14</b></p><p><b>Boston College 4 at Lowell 2</b></p><p><b>Fri. Feb.15</b></p><p><b>Maine 4 at Boston University 7</b></p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 16</b></p><p><b>Maine 2 at Boston University 7</b></p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 17</b></p><p><b>New Hampshire 4 at Providence 1</b></p><p><b>Northeastern 1 at Boston College 5</b></p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02468/5527861-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="536" height="329"></div><h2><b>ECAC CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri. Feb. 22)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03321/5527854-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="540" height="383"></div><p><b>(*Completed conference schedule)</b></p><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tue. Feb. 12</b></p><p><b>Middlebury 3 at Vermont 6</b></p><p><b>Thu. Feb. 14</b></p><p><b>AIC 5 at Army 6</b></p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 15</b></p><p><b>RPI 6 at Princeton 3</b></p><p><b>Colgate 0 at Harvard 3</b></p><p><b>Crnell 6 at Dartmouth 2</b></p><p><b>Brown 2 at Clarkson 7</b></p><p><b>Yale 3 at St. Lawrence 2</b></p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 16</b></p><p><b>Cornell 5 at Harvard 4</b></p><p><b>Colgate 4 at Dartmouth 1</b></p><p><b>Yale 3 at Clarkson 6</b></p><p><b>Brown 2 at St. Lawrence 3</b></p><p><b>Merrimack 1 at Army 2</b></p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 17</b></p><p><b>Vermont 3 at Princeton 4</b></p><p><b>BEANPOT TOURNAMENT</b></p><p><b>Consolation</b></p><p><b>Harvard 6, Boston College 5</b></p><p><b>Championship</b></p><p><b>Northeastern 4, Broston Univ. 2</b></p><p><b>(Northeastern wins tournament)</b></p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04220/5527847-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="540" height="205"></div><h2><b>WCHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri. Feb. 22)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05150/5527840-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="532" height="264"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Fri. Feb.15</b></p><p><b>Colorado College 1 at North Dakota 4</b></p><p><b>Minnesota 4 at Denver 5</b></p><p><b>Mich Tech 5 at Min-Duluth 7</b></p><p><b>N. Michigan 1 at Wisconsin 6</b></p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 16</b></p><p><b>Colorado College 1 at North Dakota 6</b></p><p><b>Minnesota 7 at Denver 2</b></p><p><b>Mich Tech 3 at Min-Duluth 4</b></p><p><b>N. Michigan 2 at Wisconsin 7</b></p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-06116/5527833-1-eng-US/f0030-062.jpg" title="f0030-06" width="533" height="320"></div><h2><b>CCHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri. Feb. 22)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0792/5527826-1-eng-US/f0030-072.jpg" title="f0030-07" width="538" height="299"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Fri. Feb. 8</b></p><p><b>Bowling Green 1 at Mich State 15</b></p><p><b>Miami 2 at W. Michigan 5</b></p><p><b>Mchigan 3 at Lake Superior 5</b></p><p><b>Ohio State 5 at Ferris State 2</b></p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 9</b></p><p><b>Miami 3 at W. Michigan 3</b></p><p><b>Michigan 2 at Lake Superior 6</b></p><p><b>Mich State 3 at Bowling Green 1</b></p><p><b>Ohio State 3 at Ferris State 0</b></p><p><b>Fri. Feb.15</b></p><p><b>Illinois-Chicago 2 at Mich State 6</b></p><p><b>Miami 4 at BowlingGreen 8</b></p><p><b>Michigan 4 at Ohio State 1</b></p><p><b>W. Michigan 3 at Ferris State 2</b></p><p><b>Mich-Dearborn 0 at Lake Superior 11</b></p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 16</b></p><p><b>Ferris State 1 at W. Michigan 4</b></p><p><b>Illinois-Chicago 7 at Mich State 4</b></p><p><b>Miami 5 at Bowling Green 6</b></p><p><b>Michigan 6 at Ohio State 4</b></p><p><b>Mich-Dearborn 3 at Lake Superior 4</b></p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0882/5527819-1-eng-US/f0030-082.jpg" title="f0030-08" width="530" height="316"></div><h2><b>ECAC CONFERENCE</b></h2><h3><b>DIVISION II</b></h3><p><b>EASTERN DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0973/5527812-1-eng-US/f0030-092.jpg" title="f0030-09" width="529" height="467"></div><p><b>WESTERN DIVITION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1064/5527805-1-eng-US/f0030-102.jpg" title="f0030-10" width="527" height="437"></div><h3><b>DIVISION III</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1158/5527798-1-eng-US/f0030-112.jpg" title="f0030-11" width="536" height="869"></div><h2><b>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 18)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1254/5527791-1-eng-US/f0030-122.jpg" title="f0030-12" width="538" height="406"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>McMaster 8, Western 5</b></p><p><b>RMC 3, Queen&rsquo;s 3</b></p><p><b>Guelph 3, York 2</b></p><p><b>Western 3, Toronto 0</b></p><p><b>Guelph 7, Brock 3</b></p><p><b>Laurier 4, Waterloo 3</b></p><p><b>Windsor 10, Ryerson 1</b></p><p><b>Laurentian 6, Queen&rsquo;s 3</b></p><p><b>Laurier 10, Waterloo 1</b></p><p><b>Toronto 3, Windsor 3</b></p><p><b>Guelph 7, Ryerson 3</b></p><p><b>York 7, Brock 2</b></p><p><b>Laurentian 5, Queen&rsquo;s 4</b></p><h2><b>ATLANTIC CONFERENCE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1351/5527784-1-eng-US/f0030-132.jpg" title="f0030-13" width="533" height="296"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Mt. Allison 5, St. Thomas 5</b></p><p><b>Dalhousie 9, St. F. Xavier 4</b></p><p><b>St. Mary&rsquo;s 8, Acadia 4</b></p><p><b>Mt. Allison 8, St. Mary&rsquo;s 5</b></p><p><b>Acadia 13, Mt. Allison 3</b></p><p><b>Dalhousie 4, Moncton 3</b></p><h2><b>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1447/5527777-1-eng-US/f0030-142.jpg" title="f0030-14" width="530" height="179"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Chicoutimi 4, T-Rivieres 2</b></p><p><b>Chicoutimi 6, McGill 5</b></p><p><b>Ottawa 6, T-Rivieres 2</b></p><h2><b>GREAT PLAINS CONFERENCE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1547/5527770-1-eng-US/f0030-152.jpg" title="f0030-15" width="528" height="145"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Regina 10, Lakehead 5</b></p><p><b>Regina 5, Lakehead 4</b></p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1639/5527763-1-eng-US/f0030-162.jpg" title="f0030-16" width="529" height="209"></div><h2><b>CANADA WEST CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 18)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1738/5527756-1-eng-US/f0030-172.jpg" title="f0030-17" width="534" height="177"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Alberta 13, Calgary 0</b></p><p><b>Alberta 8, Calgary 2</b></p><p><b>Saskatchewan 8, Lethbridge 1</b></p><p><b>Saskatchewan 8, Lethbridge 4</b></p><p><b>EXHIBITIONS</b></p><p><b>Northern Arizona 7, UBC 6</b></p><p><b>UBC 9, Northern Arizona 3</b></p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1832/5527749-1-eng-US/f0030-182.jpg" title="f0030-18" width="544" height="298"></div><h2><b>ONTARIO COLLEGES</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Feb.18)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1926/5527742-1-eng-US/f0030-192.jpg" title="f0030-19" width="532" height="268"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Seneca 5, Georgian 1</b></p><p><b>Centennial 7, Conestoga 5</b></p><p><b>Sheridan 8, Georgian 5</b></p><p><b>Humber 12, Conestoga 3</b></p><p><b>Sheridan 5, Seneca 0</b></p><p><b>Canadore 3, Centennial 0</b></p><p><b>Humber 5, St. Clair 4</b></p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-2022/5527735-1-eng-US/f0030-202.jpg" title="f0030-20" width="534" height="327"></div><h2><b>WEST PENN CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri. Feb. 1)</b></p><p><b>GREATER PITTSBURGH DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-2116/5527728-1-eng-US/f0030-212.jpg" title="f0030-21" width="534" height="204"></div><p><b>WEST PENN DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-2214/5527721-1-eng-US/f0030-222.jpg" title="f0030-22" width="540" height="184"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0030-01

HOW THEY STAND

<div class="byline">BY JOHN HERBERT</div><p class="dropcap"><span>K</span>ITCHENER&mdash;Often portrayed inaccurately as a haven for dropouts and deadenders, the Ontario Hockey League used its annual All-Star game to launch a program which will present a more accurate picture of itself.</p><p>Commissioner Dave Branch and Oshawa Generals&rsquo; general manager Sherry Bassin released details of the &ldquo;Choice. Opportunity, Success&rdquo; program designed to combat the OHL&rsquo;s image of a hockey meat market.</p><p>And the new program got some quick and unexpected support at the All-Star banquet, when Molson&rsquo;s Brewery, a strong supporter of the OHL. donated $10,000.</p><p>The program features a well-researched brochure which illustrates and supports with statistics the OHL&rsquo;s commitment to player development, not only as hockey players but people, too. The league also hopes to use the brochure to attract young players who might otherwise opt for U.S. colleges.</p><p>&ldquo;What we try to point out is when you come to play hockey in the OHL, you come to work on a career,&rdquo; said Bassin. keynote speaker at the annual All-Star banquet after the Emms Division beat the Leyden 5-4 before a crowd of 2.415. &ldquo;Take a look at our record. I don&rsquo;t think there is an owner or a coach or a manager&mdash;sure we&rsquo;ve got our good ones and bad ones&mdash;and there isn&rsquo;t one profession that doesn&rsquo;t support our league with education.</p><p>&ldquo;We specifically wanted to publish some of the benefits and very positive things instead of, it seems, so many negative things. I was very disappointed when I read some articles in the (Toronto) <i>Globe and Mail</i> (one has Edmonton&rsquo;s Glen Sather ripping junior hockey during the Canada Cup). They made some comments about junior hockey being a slick production. I guess they would have been happier if it was a sloppy production.</p><p>&ldquo;Cannibals live in Africa on other people. In Canada, we call them reporters.&rdquo;</p><p>The OHL brochure goes into depth in several areas, particularly in the field of education. A chart showed each of the 15 OHL teams exceeds the provincial average in the percentage of school enrolments. In the 1983-84 season. 86 percent of all OHL players were enrolled in provincial schools, compared with an Ontario-wide average of 61 per cent for the 16-20 age bracket.</p><p>It also includes profiles on former players, parents and league officials endorsing the OHL. There&rsquo;s also a section on why those players seeking hockey as a profession should choose the OHL. That reason is, of course, the OHL&rsquo;s success rate in providing the National Hockey League with 35 per cent of its players. As of December, 1983, the OHL had supplied 175 of the NHL&rsquo;s 493 players.</p><p>Three of the more interesting comments in the brochure come from Dave Gagner, Brad Shaw and John Tucker.</p><p>Gagner, who played on Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team and was a first-round pick of the New York Rangers via the Brantford Alexanders, was one player who is glad he chose the OHL route over U.S. college.</p><p>&ldquo;Brantford told me there would be no problem getting an education and they gave me every opportunity to help me out in that area,&rdquo; Gagner said. &ldquo;They helped me with my finances along the way so it made it a lot easier on me.</p><p>&ldquo;The OHL is not a route, it is <i>the route</i> to the NHL.&rdquo;</p><p>Shaw, who captained the Ottawa 67s to the Memorial Cup and is now playing in the International League, is happy to have played in the OHL.</p><p>&ldquo;It gave me the opportunity to play for the Canadian Junior team and play against juniors from around the world,&rdquo; Shaw said. &ldquo;The three years in the OHL has helped me tremendously in developing as a hockey player and as a person.&rdquo;</p><p>Would he do it again?</p><p>&ldquo;For sure. If I had the chance. I&rsquo;d do it all over again. It&rsquo;s a part of my life I&rsquo;ll never forget and I&rsquo;m just happy I had the choice.&rdquo;</p><p>Tucker, the league&rsquo;s most valuable player last year with the Kitchener Rangers, is another supporter. Asked if he&rsquo;d do it again, the Buffalo Sabre center answered: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d say, &lsquo;When do you want me to start?&rdquo;&rsquo;</p><p>In keeping with the theme of education and development of players as well-rounded individuals, the OHL also unveiled its 1985 winner of the Bobby Smith Trophy as scholastic player of the year and its scholastic team of the year.</p><p>Goalie Craig Billington of Belleville Bulls, the most valuable player for Team Canada in its recent gold medal victory at the world junior championships in Finland, was decorated again. The second year goalie was chosen Leyden Division MVP in the All-Star game and the scholastic player of the year, awarded to the player who best combines academic excellence and high standards of play.</p><p>A grade 13 student at Quinte Secondary School in Belleville, Billington averaged 78 percent last semester in four courses.</p><p>Each club in the 15-team OHL nominated one player and the winner was chosen by a panel consisting of a representative from the OHL. the NHL and the provincial ministry of education.</p><p>The scholastic team for 1985 includes Billington, Joe Reekie of Cornwall, Guy Larose of Guelph, Phil Priddle of Hamilton, Chris Clifford of Kingston, Mike Bishop of Kitchener, Doug Theil of London. Peter Abric of North Bay, Mark Haarmon of Oshawa, Bill Bennett of Ottawa, Randy Burridge of Peterborough. Scott Mosey of Sault Ste. Marie, Sean Evoy of Sudbury, Mike Rowe of Toronto and Mike Neill of Windsor.</p><p>The OHL banquet was also a time for the league to salute nine members who played for Team Canada in Finland.</p><p>Bassin, in his speech, said how impressed he was with each of the players and how, as general manager of Team Canada, he saw them live through an incredible experience overseas. He said they were a reflection of the OHL product, which it hopes to market.</p><p>&ldquo;When you see a kid like Billington win this award (the Bobby Smith Trophy), I feel very good because I was with them in Europe,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I saw them perform as hockey players. I saw them perform as people. I see before me young men, who. if they don&rsquo;t make it in hockey, will be successful in the business world.&rdquo;</p><p>The Emms victory was their seventh in nine meetings with the Leyden group.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01594/5527899-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="564" height="755"><figcaption class="caption-body">Belleville goalie Craig Billington won the Bobby Smith Trophy for scholastic achievement.</figcaption></div><p>A goal by Dave Latta of the Kitchener Rangers with 40 seconds remaining gave the Emms team, coached by Don Boyd of London, the win and sent coach Larry Mavety of the Leyden team limping home for more than one reason. Mavety kicked a door the night before the AllStar game in a fit of anger after a 9-8 Bellville loss to Ottawa and broke his foot.</p><p>Dr. Robert Vaughan, the Bulls&rsquo; owner. put a cast on Mavety&rsquo;s foot during the warmups for the All-Star game.</p><p>Mike Millar and Jeff Jackson of Hamilton and Graeme Bonar and Wayne Groulx of the Soo scored the other Emms goals. Dune MacIntyre of Belleville, Scott Tottle of Peterborough, Greg Johnston and Fabian Joseph of Toronto scored for the Leyden.</p><p>Goalie Peter Abric of the Emms team and Billington were the MVPs selected by NHL scouting chief Jim Gregory.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0031-01

Ontario League Image Conscious

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02414/5527944-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="531" height="538"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MIKE STAPLETON Cornwall</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>ONTARIO LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>Mike Stapleton</b> of the Cornwall Royals hopes to follow in his father&rsquo;s footsteps as a member of the Chicago Black Hawks.</p><p>The 18-year-old center, who was drafted by the Hawks in 1984, would like nothing better than to make it in Chicago where his father, Pat, starred on defense. The younger Stapleton was chosen the OHL Player of the Week after he scored eight times in three consecutive wins by the Royals. Stapleton raised his season record to 72 points in 42 games.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03303/5527937-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="418" height="543"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>TERRY HOULDER Lethbridge</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>WESTERN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>Terry Houlder</b> is a rookie in the Western Hockey League this season but already he&rsquo;s gaining a reputation as a scorer.</p><p>The 17-year-old center, who plays for the Lethbridge Broncos, was selected as the WHL Player of the Week after he scored seven goals, including two hat tricks, in three games.</p><p>The 6-foot, 183-pound Houlder ranks fourth in WHL rookie scoring this season. In his first 53 games, he has scored 29 times and assisted on another 30 for 59 points.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04226/5527930-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="527" height="537"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>CLAUDE GOSSELIN Quebec</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>QUEBEC LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>Claude Gosselin</b> was bypassed by NHL teams in the 1984 entry draft, but this season he&rsquo;s making a determined effort to be noticed.</p><p>The 19-year-old Quebec Remparts&rsquo; left winger, who totalled 140 points in 1983-84, has already hit the 100-point plateau. After a productive nine-point outburst he won the nod as the QHL Player of the Week.</p><p>Gosselin scored four times as Quebec beat Laval 7-5 to raise his season totals to 42 goals and 58 assists.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0031-02

JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div><p>REGINA&mdash;Imagine it&rsquo;s Feb. 10, 1985 and you&rsquo;re a Western Hockey League general manager.</p><p>As you brace yourself for news that the enemy has secured additional firepower for the impending battle for playoff spots and post-season supremacy, nothing happens. Absolutely nothing.</p><p>It&rsquo;s all quiet on the western front.</p><p>The annual WHL trading deadline is looked upon like a bomb with a long fuse. The transactions which usually take place on that fateful date either vault contenders into the promised land or blow up in their faces the following season&mdash;when foresaken young talent comes back to haunt them.</p><p>The only deals completed anywhere near the deadline this season came days before the day of reckoning. The Kelowna Wings sent defenseman Todd Voshell to Portland for forward Dan Stanisavljevic.</p><p>&ldquo;Certainly I can&rsquo;t remember no trades on Feb. 10,&rdquo; said WHL executive assistant Richard Doerksen. &ldquo;Usually there&rsquo;s at least a minor deal or two and a major one.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s surprising that teams eliminated from playoff contention like Moose Jaw and Brandon didn&rsquo;t deal. Their older players might have helped other teams down the stretch. And with all the talk I heard out of Regina, it&rsquo;s surprising nothing happened.&rdquo;</p><p>The rumor in Regina had the third-place Pats making some major moves to take a better run at the Eastern Division&rsquo;s front-running Prince Albert Raiders and the red-hot Medicine Hat Tigers.</p><p>&ldquo;If you go to a dance and you&rsquo;re the only one who shows up, and even if there&rsquo;s music, you can&rsquo;t dance alone,&rdquo; said Regina general manager and coach Bob Strumm. &ldquo;When you lose six of eight games before the trading deadline it&rsquo;s not surprising we did have some discussions with people. Kamloops did a lot of talking but it was a lot of thunder and no lightning.</p><p>&ldquo;The league has changed a lot. A lot of people aren&rsquo;t prepared to take a chance.&rdquo;</p><p>Another team expected to test the trading water was the Kamloops Blazers.</p><p>Although the Blazers were in first place at the Feb. 10 deadline with a 38-15 Western Division mark, 10 points up on the second-place New Westminster Bruins, the defending league champions have been decimated by injuries. And, as expected, they&rsquo;ve struggled in the second half of the regular season.</p><p>The Blazers had eight regulars out of the lineup as the deadline approached. Defenseman Brian Benning is out for the season with a broken thigh bone while rearguard Gord Mark is a question mark with a serious knee injury.</p><p>&ldquo;We were in an addition-deletion phase,&rdquo; said rookie Kamloops coach Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;We really couldn&rsquo;t add anybody without deleting a body. Although a guy looks like he&rsquo;s going to be alright it&rsquo;s hard to make a decision when everybody already there is doing such a great job.</p><p>&ldquo;The guys we have hurt are the guys everybody wants. We&rsquo;re just going to have to suck it up and go from there. There wasn&rsquo;t one deal we were considering where I didn&rsquo;t have to pay hard down the line&mdash;now or later.</p><p>&ldquo;If we get everybody back&mdash;if they follow their recovery schedule&mdash;we&rsquo;ll be okay. No problem.&rdquo;</p><p><b>WHL WEEK&mdash;Dan Hodgson</b> of Prince Albert and <b>Simon Wheeldon</b> of Victoria were named players of the month for January in the Eastern and Western Divisions, respectively. Hodgson had 12 goals and 27 assists in 12 games. The Raiders were 11-0-1 in January with Hodgson in their lineup.</p><p>Wheeldon had eight goals and 23 assists in 11 games. He had six-point and seven-point games and went on a 14-game point streak.</p><p><b>Cliff Ronning</b> of New Westminster continued to lead the scoring parade with 134 points, including a league-high 62 goals.</p><p>In goaltending, <b>Troy Gamble</b> of Medicine Hat was tops with a 2.64 goals against average and a league-leading three shutouts.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

All’s Quiet On Western League Trade Front

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>ULL&mdash;Shawinigan Cataractes&rsquo; coach Ron Lapointe appeared ready to go to battle again with Johnstown of the old Eastern minor pro league following his club&rsquo;s recent 7-6 loss to Hull Olympiques.</p><p>Lapointe crossed the ice to the dressing room after the game wearing a hockey helmet and carrying a stick as his players surrounded him. Debris ranging in eggs to a chair were heaved onto the ice as one of the most explosive rivalries in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League provided the expected pyrotechnics in the teams&rsquo; final meeting this season.</p><p>&ldquo;Beer, I don&rsquo;t mind, but eggs and golfballs are something else,&rdquo; said Lapointe, who was restrained at center ice from fighting Hull coach Pat Bums.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to believe,&rdquo; said QMJHL president Dr. Guy Morissette of Hull, surveying the littered ice. &ldquo;The only way you can put some sense into an adult&rsquo;s head is with sanctions and I&rsquo;m definitely considering sanctions (against the coaches).</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really proud of some of the spectators, either. That kills the image you&rsquo;re trying to build of major junior hockey.&rdquo;</p><p>And when the QMJHL discipline committee got together, it handed out two-game suspensions and two $300 fines to the two coaches.</p><p>The antagonism between the teams began during Hull&rsquo;s first visit to Shawinigan on Oct. 10 when a Hull player was struck by a fan during a fight near the boards. A similar situation occured in Hull&rsquo;s last visit on Jan. 18 and police were called in to restore law and order at both games.</p><p>Despite the loss, the Cats have an 11-point lead in the regular schedule and the league has all but conceded the pennant to the well-balanced club.</p><p>The QMJHL voted unanimously to back Shawinigan as the site of this year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had the best defensive team in the league for the third year in a row, we&rsquo;ve prided ourselves on ourdefense,&rdquo; said Lapointe, whose club has allowed 202 goals in 55 games, 23 less than Chicoutimi. &ldquo;Our offense is the big surprise. After our disappointing loss to Drummondville in the quarterfinals last year, outshooting them almost two to one and losing one-goal games, we decided we needed to boost our offense.</p><p>&ldquo;Our third-round pick, 16-year-old Stephane Lebeau, and fourth rounder Patrick Lefebvre, 17, have something like 115 points between them.</p><p>&ldquo;Mario Belanger came back this year after leaving at Christmas last season to play collegiate AAA hockey and Marc Damphousse has really come on strong.&rdquo;</p><p>The Cataractes also lead the league in goals with 306, five more than Hull. Damphousse is third in league scoring (5269-121), followed by linemate Sergio Momesso (45-70115).</p><p>Third-year veterans Yves Beaudoin and Pat Murray have anchored a solid defense in front of goaltenders Robert Desjardins (3.35) and Marc Desbiens (3.60).</p><p>&ldquo;We were very worried with our goaltending when Dave Quigley jumped to the University of Moncton a week before training camp,&rdquo; Lapointe said. &ldquo;Desjardins was our fifth pick and nobody expected him to be able to step in at 17 and play as well as he has. We got Desbiens, 19, as a backup to Quigley last season and he has come on well, too.&rdquo;</p><p>Dejardins is just 5-foot-5, 130 pounds. A trade with Drummondville last season has also proved instrumental in the team&rsquo;s success.</p><p>&ldquo;Last year we were criticized when we traded Guy Beniot for Damphousse, Stephane Ledu and Eric Leveille,&rdquo; Lapointe said.</p><p>&ldquo;If you look a year later, I think we were the winner. Damphousse is third in league scoring, Ledu has been one of our top four defensemen, and we traded Leveille for the rights to Alain Bisson.&rdquo;</p><p>Bisson played left wing in Laval on a line with Mario Lemieux last year, scoring 31 goals and 82 assists for 113 points. He is playing collegiate AAA with St. Georges de Beauce this season and will join Shawinigan in March.</p><p>&ldquo;We also scored a coup when we got defenseman Graham Herring, Longueuil&rsquo;s best after (Vancouver Canucks&rsquo;) Jean-Jacques Daignault last season, 15 minutes before the Jan. 10 trading deadline. He was a fourth-round pick by St. Louis. He&rsquo;s been hurt but we expect him back soon.</p><p>&ldquo;We also got an experienced defenseman from Longueuil in Gilbert Poulin.&rdquo;</p><p>Damphousse 19, a 6-foot, 192-pound left winger, has been one of the biggest surprises for the Cataractes.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s offensive-minded and very dangerous, he can score from anywhere on the ice,&rdquo; Lapointe said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very strong physically and is a good skater.</p><p>&ldquo;It will be suggested to the Washington Capitals that he deserves at least a tryout,&rdquo; said Lapointe, who scouts for the Capitals.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s our MVP and should be the MVP in the league, him or (goaltender) Daniel Berthiaume, who has done a lot for Drummondville.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Post-Game Pyrotechnics Hardly The Cats’ Meow

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1371/5528495-1-eng-US/f0033-132.jpg" title="f0033-13" width="866" height="325"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1287/5528502-1-eng-US/f0033-122.jpg" title="f0033-12" width="175" height="244"></div><h2><b>OVERALL LEADERS</b></h2><h2><b>TOP DEFENSEMEN</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1464/5528488-1-eng-US/f0033-142.jpg" title="f0033-14" width="868" height="323"></div><h2><b>TOP ROOKIES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1555/5528481-1-eng-US/f0033-152.jpg" title="f0033-15" width="867" height="259"></div><h2><b>BOSTON</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1649/5528474-1-eng-US/f0033-162.jpg" title="f0033-16" width="860" height="150"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1747/5528467-1-eng-US/f0033-172.jpg" title="f0033-17" width="863" height="150"></div><h2><b>CALGARY</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1841/5528460-1-eng-US/f0033-182.jpg" title="f0033-18" width="856" height="151"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1936/5528453-1-eng-US/f0033-192.jpg" title="f0033-19" width="859" height="152"></div><h2><b>DETROIT</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-2032/5528446-1-eng-US/f0033-202.jpg" title="f0033-20" width="861" height="148"></div><h2><b>EDMONTON</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-2130/5528439-1-eng-US/f0033-212.jpg" title="f0033-21" width="862" height="147"></div><h2><b>HARTFORD</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-2224/5528432-1-eng-US/f0033-222.jpg" title="f0033-22" width="861" height="147"></div><h2><b>LOS ANGELES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-2317/5528425-1-eng-US/f0033-232.jpg" title="f0033-23" width="865" height="147"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-2417/5528418-1-eng-US/f0033-242.jpg" title="f0033-24" width="864" height="147"></div><h2><b>MONTREAL</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-2515/5528411-1-eng-US/f0033-252.jpg" title="f0033-25" width="867" height="152"></div><h2><b>NEW JERSEY</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-2614/5528404-1-eng-US/f0033-262.jpg" title="f0033-26" width="863" height="152"></div><h2><b>NY ISLANDERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-2714/5528397-1-eng-US/f0033-272.jpg" title="f0033-27" width="858" height="151"></div><h2><b>NY RANGERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-2813/5528390-1-eng-US/f0033-282.jpg" title="f0033-28" width="865" height="152"></div><h2><b>PHILADELPHIA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-2912/5528383-1-eng-US/f0033-292.jpg" title="f0033-29" width="867" height="155"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-3011/5528376-1-eng-US/f0033-302.jpg" title="f0033-30" width="872" height="156"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-3111/5528369-1-eng-US/f0033-312.jpg" title="f0033-31" width="861" height="150"></div><h2><b>ST. LOUIS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-3211/5528362-1-eng-US/f0033-322.jpg" title="f0033-32" width="857" height="150"></div><h2><b>TORONTO</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-3311/5528355-1-eng-US/f0033-332.jpg" title="f0033-33" width="859" height="149"></div><h2><b>VANCOUVER</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-3411/5528348-1-eng-US/f0033-342.jpg" title="f0033-34" width="856" height="150"></div><h2><b>WASHINGTON</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-3510/5528341-1-eng-US/f0033-352.jpg" title="f0033-35" width="859" height="150"></div><h2><b>WINNIPEG</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-367/5528334-1-eng-US/f0033-362.jpg" title="f0033-36" width="862" height="146"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0033-13

EMERY TROPHY PLUS-MINUS

<h2><b>Wed. Feb. 13</b></h2><p><b>WASHINGTON 3, WINNIPEG 5</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01559/5528303-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="541" height="762"></div><h2><b>Thu. Feb. 14</b></h2><p><b>HARTFORD 4, NEW JERSEY 0</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02401/5528296-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="551" height="617"></div><p><b>QUEBEC 3, PHILADELPHIA 6</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03293/5528289-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="541" height="384"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04233/5528282-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="545" height="445"></div><p><b>PITTSBURGH 4, CHICAGO 5</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05192/5528275-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="550" height="819"></div><p><b>WASHINGTON 4, CALGARY 3</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06160/5528268-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="542" height="588"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07143/5528261-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="538" height="177"></div><p><b>TORONTO 3, ST. LOUIS 5</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-08118/5528254-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="542" height="208"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-09102/5528247-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="539" height="438"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1094/5528240-1-eng-US/f0033-102.jpg" title="f0033-10" width="541" height="179"></div><p><b>MINNESOTA 5, DETROIT 5</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1190/5528233-1-eng-US/f0033-112.jpg" title="f0033-11" width="541" height="179"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01604/5528226-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="555" height="1116"></div><p><b>BOSTON 3, LOS ANGELES 3</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02472/5528219-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="535" height="880"></div><h2><b>Fri. Feb. 15</b></h2><p><b>MONTREAL 4, BUFFALO 3</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03377/5528212-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="546" height="911"></div><p><b>EDMONTON 7, RANGERS 8</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04309/5528205-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="529" height="499"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01577/5528198-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="543" height="622"></div><h2><b>Sat. Feb. 16</b></h2><p><b>BOSTON 2, VANCOUVER 3</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02428/5528191-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="563" height="803"></div><p><b>HARTFORD 4, ISLANDERS 4</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03347/5528184-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="543" height="1022"></div><p><b>BUFFALO 4, MONTREAL 3</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04261/5528177-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="541" height="794"></div><p><b>QUEBEC 8, PITTSBURGH 1</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05210/5528170-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="557" height="1155"></div><p><b>NEW JERSEY 6, TORONTO 3</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06180/5528163-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="541" height="706"></div><p><b>EDMONTON 4, PHILADELPHIA 5</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07168/5528156-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="540" height="912"></div><p><b>WASH. 2, LOS ANGELES 5</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08160/5528149-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="550" height="917"></div><p><b>CHICAGO 4, DETROIT 7</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-09152/5528142-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="536" height="1054"></div><p><b>MINNESOTA 4, ST. LOUIS 6</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-10149/5528135-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="531" height="264"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-11145/5528128-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="554" height="744"></div><p><b>WINNIPEG 4. CALGARY 8</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-12137/5528121-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="527" height="201"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01503/5528114-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="535" height="340"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02367/5528107-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="576" height="379"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03284/5528100-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="558" height="212"></div><h2><b>Sun. Feb. 17</b></h2><p><b>TORONTO 5, HARTFORD 4</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04235/5528093-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="541" height="85"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05205/5528086-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="545" height="376"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06176/5528079-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="536" height="328"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06163/5528072-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="563" height="181"></div><p><b>QUEBEC 4, MINNESOTA 3</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07146/5528065-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="566" height="867"></div><p><b>ISLANDERS 3, RANGERS 9</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-08132/5528058-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="581" height="626"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-09116/5528051-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="593" height="750"></div><p><b>NEW JERSEY 2, WINNIPEG 2</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-10101/5528044-1-eng-US/f0039-102.jpg" title="f0039-10" width="605" height="708"></div><p><b>DETROIT 4, CHICAGO 4</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1188/5528037-1-eng-US/f0039-112.jpg" title="f0039-11" width="572" height="301"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1280/5528030-1-eng-US/f0039-122.jpg" title="f0039-12" width="581" height="354"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1372/5528023-1-eng-US/f0039-132.jpg" title="f0039-13" width="566" height="369"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0033-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02490/5528841-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="580" height="637"></div><h2><b>BOSTON BRUINS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01638/5528848-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="122" height="112"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO SABRES</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03381/5528834-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="116" height="118"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04279/5528827-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="584" height="681"></div><h2><b>CALGARY FLAMES</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05218/5528820-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="136" height="121"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06188/5528813-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="584" height="696"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO BLACK HAWKS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07173/5528806-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="131" height="117"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08162/5528799-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="584" height="688"></div><h2><b>DETROIT RED WINGS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09148/5528792-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="146" height="98"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10143/5528785-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="580" height="202"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-11133/5528778-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="588" height="462"></div><h2><b>EDMONTON OILERS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-12129/5528771-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="122" height="119"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-13119/5528764-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="596" height="634"></div><h2><b>HARTFORD WHALERS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-14115/5528757-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="131" height="117"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-15110/5528750-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="585" height="684"></div><h2><b>LOS ANGELES KINGS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-16108/5528743-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="179" height="109"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1799/5528736-1-eng-US/f0034-172.jpg" title="f0034-17" width="600" height="632"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1894/5528729-1-eng-US/f0034-182.jpg" title="f0034-18" width="133" height="114"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1988/5528722-1-eng-US/f0034-192.jpg" title="f0034-19" width="588" height="651"></div><h2><b>MONTREAL CANADIENS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2078/5528715-1-eng-US/f0034-202.jpg" title="f0034-20" width="133" height="93"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2168/5528708-1-eng-US/f0034-212.jpg" title="f0034-21" width="592" height="682"></div><h2><b>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2261/5528701-1-eng-US/f0034-222.jpg" title="f0034-22" width="104" height="86"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2356/5528694-1-eng-US/f0034-232.jpg" title="f0034-23" width="592" height="679"></div><h2><b>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2449/5528687-1-eng-US/f0034-242.jpg" title="f0034-24" width="130" height="125"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2540/5528680-1-eng-US/f0034-252.jpg" title="f0034-25" width="589" height="677"></div><h2><b>NEW YORK RANGERS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2633/5528673-1-eng-US/f0034-262.jpg" title="f0034-26" width="114" height="124"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2728/5528666-1-eng-US/f0034-272.jpg" title="f0034-27" width="580" height="197"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2821/5528659-1-eng-US/f0034-282.jpg" title="f0034-28" width="579" height="560"></div><h2><b>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2918/5528652-1-eng-US/f0034-292.jpg" title="f0034-29" width="137" height="101"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-3015/5528645-1-eng-US/f0034-302.jpg" title="f0034-30" width="592" height="635"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-3112/5528638-1-eng-US/f0034-312.jpg" title="f0034-31" width="136" height="122"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-3211/5528631-1-eng-US/f0034-322.jpg" title="f0034-32" width="600" height="612"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-3310/5528624-1-eng-US/f0034-332.jpg" title="f0034-33" width="118" height="118"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-348/5528617-1-eng-US/f0034-342.jpg" title="f0034-34" width="582" height="705"></div><h2><b>ST. LOUIS BLUES</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-358/5528610-1-eng-US/f0034-352.jpg" title="f0034-35" width="119" height="120"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-367/5528603-1-eng-US/f0034-362.jpg" title="f0034-36" width="592" height="378"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-376/5528596-1-eng-US/f0034-372.jpg" title="f0034-37" width="580" height="282"></div><h2><b>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-386/5528589-1-eng-US/f0034-382.jpg" title="f0034-38" width="140" height="142"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-396/5528582-1-eng-US/f0034-392.jpg" title="f0034-39" width="588" height="684"></div><h2><b>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-406/5528575-1-eng-US/f0034-402.jpg" title="f0034-40" width="99" height="104"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-416/5528568-1-eng-US/f0034-412.jpg" title="f0034-41" width="588" height="657"></div><h2><b>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-426/5528561-1-eng-US/f0034-422.jpg" title="f0034-42" width="158" height="94"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-436/5528554-1-eng-US/f0034-432.jpg" title="f0034-43" width="584" height="654"></div><h2><b>WINNIPEG JETS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-446/5528547-1-eng-US/f0034-442.jpg" title="f0034-44" width="118" height="119"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-455/5528540-1-eng-US/f0034-452.jpg" title="f0034-45" width="576" height="624"></div><h2><b>Top Scorers</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-465/5528533-1-eng-US/f0034-462.jpg" title="f0034-46" width="564" height="616"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-02

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

<h2><b>BOSTON</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>31 &mdash; KEANS, Doug</p><p>1 &mdash; PEETERS, Pete</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>33 &mdash; BLUM, John</p><p>7 &mdash; BOURQUE, Ray</p><p>34 &mdash; CURRAN, Brian</p><p>26 &mdash; MILBURY, Mike</p><p>20 &mdash; O&rsquo;CONNELL, Mike</p><p>21 &mdash; SIMONETTI, Frank</p><p>27 &mdash; THELIN, Mats</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>28 &mdash; FERGUS, Tom</p><p>22 &mdash; GORING, Butch</p><p>11 &mdash; KASPER, Steve</p><p>13 &mdash; LINSEMAN, Ken</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>18 &mdash; CROWDER, Keith</p><p>16 &mdash; MIDDLETON, Rick</p><p>24 &mdash; O&rsquo;REILLY, Terry - Cpt.</p><p>25 &mdash; SLEIGHER, Louis</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>32 &mdash; COURTNALL, Geoff</p><p>29 &mdash; DONNELLY, Dave</p><p>12 &mdash; LUKOWICH, Morris</p><p>36 &mdash; REID, Dave</p><p>23 &mdash; SIMMER, Charlie</p><h2><b>BUFFALO</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>30 &mdash; BARRASSO, Tom</p><p>28 &mdash; SAUVE, Bob</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>31 &mdash; FENYVES, Dave</p><p>24 &mdash; HAJT, Bill</p><p>4 &mdash; KORAB, Jerry</p><p>26 &mdash; MALONEY, Dave</p><p>27 &mdash; PLAYFAIR, Larry</p><p>5 &mdash; RAMSEY, Mike</p><p>13 &mdash; SCHOENFELD, Jim</p><p>3 &mdash; VIRTA, Hannu</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>15 &mdash; CREIGHTON, Adam</p><p>6 &mdash; HOUSLEY, Phil</p><p>11 &mdash; PERREAULT, Gil - Cpt.</p><p>20 &mdash; PETERSON, Brent</p><p>7 &mdash; TUCKER, John</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>25 &mdash; ANDREYCHUK, Dave</p><p>29 &mdash; DAVIS, Mai</p><p>17 &mdash; FOLIGNO, Mike</p><p>32 &mdash; LACOMBE, Norm</p><p>12 &mdash; McKENNA, Sean</p><p>16 &mdash; SEILING, Ric</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>18 &mdash; CYR, Paul</p><p>9 &mdash; HAMEL, Gilles</p><p>10 &mdash; RAMSAY, Craig</p><h2><b>CALGARY</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>1 &mdash; EDWARDS, Don</p><p>31 &mdash; LEMELIN, Rejean</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>4 &mdash; BAXTER, Paul</p><p>28 &mdash; BOURGEOIS, Chas.</p><p>20 &mdash; ELORANTA, Kari</p><p>3 &mdash; KONROYD, Steve</p><p>2 &mdash; MacINNIS, Allan</p><p>34 &mdash; MACOUN, Jamie</p><p>23 &mdash; REINHART, Paul</p><p>5 &mdash; SHEEHY, Neil</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>7 &mdash; EAVES, Mike</p><p>8 &mdash; RISEBROUGH, D.-Cpt.</p><p>10 &mdash; QUINN, Dan</p><p>15 &mdash; TAMBELLINI, Steve</p><p>33 &mdash; WILSON, Carey</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>19 &mdash; HUNTER, Tim</p><p>9 &mdash; McDONALD, L-Cpt.</p><p>14 &mdash; NILSSON, Kent</p><p>11 &mdash; PATTERSON, Colin</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>27 &mdash; BEERS, Ed</p><p>26 &mdash; BOZEK, Steve</p><p>22 &mdash; KROMM, Richard</p><p>12 &mdash; LOOB, Hakan</p><p>24 &mdash; PEPLINSKI, Jim</p><h2><b>CHICAGO</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>30 &mdash; BANNERMAN, M.</p><p>1 &mdash; SKORODENSKI, W.</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>2 &mdash; BERGEVIN, Marc</p><p>4 &mdash; BROWN, Keith</p><p>25 &mdash; DUPONT, Jerome</p><p>3 &mdash; FEAMSTER, Dave</p><p>6 &mdash; MURRAY, Bob</p><p>5 &mdash; O&rsquo;CALLAHAN, Jack</p><p>23 &mdash; WILSON, Behn</p><p>24 &mdash; WILSON, Doug</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>14 &mdash; GARDNER, Bill</p><p>12 &mdash; LYSIAK, Tom</p><p>19 &mdash; MURRAY, Troy</p><p>26 &mdash; PATERSON, Rick</p><p>18 &mdash; SAVARD, Denis</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>28 &mdash; LARMER, Steve</p><p>11 &mdash; Mac MILLAN, Bob</p><p>15 &mdash; YAREMCHUK, Ken</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>8 &mdash; FRASER, Curt</p><p>31 &mdash; FRAWLEY, Dan</p><p>29 &mdash; LUDZIK, Steve</p><p>7 &mdash; McMURCHY, Tom</p><p>16 &mdash; OLCZYK, Ed</p><h2><b>DETROIT</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>1 &mdash; MICALEF, Corrado</p><p>41 &mdash; MIO, Eddie</p><p>30 &mdash; STEFAN, Greg</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>3 &mdash; BARRETT, John</p><p>4 &mdash; CAMPBELL, Colin</p><p>29 &mdash; LADOUCEUR, Randy</p><p>28 &mdash; LARSON, Reed</p><p>22 &mdash; PARK, Brad</p><p>5 &mdash; SMITH, Greg</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>20 &mdash; FOSTER, Dwight</p><p>16 &mdash; KISIO, Kelly</p><p>15 &mdash; LOISELLE, Claude</p><p>27 &mdash; SUTLER, Darryl</p><p>19 &mdash; YZERMAN, Steve</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>21 &mdash; CERNIK, Frank</p><p>10 &mdash; DUGUAY, Ron</p><p>18 &mdash; GARE, Danny-Cpt.</p><p>14 &mdash; LAMBERT, Lane</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>12 &mdash; BOLDIREV, Ivan</p><p>17 &mdash; GALLANT, Gerrard</p><p>23 &mdash; MANNO, Bob</p><p>25 &mdash; OGRODNICK, John</p><h2><b>EDMONTON</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>31 &mdash; FUHR, Grant</p><p>35 &mdash; MOOG, Andy</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>7 &mdash; COFFEY, Paul</p><p>2 &mdash; FOGOLIN, Lee</p><p>21 &mdash; GREGG, Randy</p><p>22 &mdash; HUDDY, Charlie</p><p>29 &mdash; JACKSON, Don</p><p>4 &mdash; LOWE, Kevin</p><p>28 &mdash; MELNYK, Larry</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>20 &mdash; CARROLL, Bill</p><p>99 &mdash; GRETZKY, W. - Cpt.</p><p>26 &mdash; KRUSHELNYSKI, M.</p><p>24 &mdash; McCLELLAND, Kevin</p><p>11 &mdash; MESSIER, Mark</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>9 &mdash; ANDERSON, Glenn</p><p>16 &mdash; HUGHES, Pat</p><p>17 &mdash; KURRI, Jari</p><p>8 &mdash; LUMLEY, Dave</p><p>18 &mdash; NAPIER, Mark</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>12 &mdash; HUNTER, Dave</p><p>19 &mdash; LINDSTROM, Willy</p><p>10 &mdash; POUZAR, Jaroslav</p><p>27 &mdash; SEMENKO, Dave</p><h2><b>HARTFORD</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>30 &mdash; MILLEN, Greg</p><p>31 &mdash; WEEKS, Steve</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>21 COTE, Sylvain</p><p>33 &mdash; FUSCO, Mark</p><p>27 &mdash; HOWE, Marty</p><p>24 &mdash; KOTSOPOULOS, C.</p><p>35 &mdash; KLEINENDORST, S.</p><p>3 &mdash; QUENNEVILLE, Joel</p><p>5 &mdash; SAMUELSSON, Ulf</p><p>8 &mdash; SILTANEN, Risto</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>26 &mdash; FERRARO, Ray</p><p>10 &mdash; FRANCIS, Ron</p><p>12 &mdash; JOHNSON, M. - Cpt.</p><p>29 &mdash; MacDERMID, Paul</p><p>14 &mdash; MALONE, Greg</p><p>20 &mdash; ZUKE, Mike</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>25 &mdash; CRAWFORD, Bob</p><p>18 &mdash; CROMBEEN, Mike</p><p>29 &mdash; DINEEN, Kevin</p><p>17 &mdash; NEUFELD, Ray</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>11 &mdash; FENTON, Paul</p><p>32 &mdash; ROBERTSON, T.</p><p>15 &mdash; TIPPETT, Dave</p><p>16 &mdash; TURGEON, Sylvain</p><p>23 &mdash; WEIR, Wallv</p><h2><b>LOS ANGELES</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>35 &mdash; ELIOT, Darren</p><p>1 &mdash; JANECYK, Bob</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>4 &mdash; ANDERSON, Russ</p><p>5 &mdash; ENGBLOM, Brian</p><p>3 &mdash; GALLEY, Garry</p><p>20 &mdash; HARDY, Mark</p><p>28 &mdash; LAPOINTE, Rick</p><p>2 &mdash; REDMOND, Craig</p><p>24 &mdash; WELLS, Jay</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>16 &mdash; DIONNE, Marcel</p><p>14 &mdash; MILLER, Bob</p><p>9 &mdash; NICHOLLS, Bernie</p><p>10 &mdash; O&rsquo;DWYER, Bill</p><p>8 &mdash; RUSKOWSKI, T.Cpt.</p><p>23 &mdash; SMITH, Doug</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>19 &mdash; FOX, Jim</p><p>21 &mdash; HAKANSSON, Anders</p><p>17 &mdash; KELLY, John-Paul</p><p>18 &mdash; TAYLOR, Dave</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>27 &mdash; MacLELLAN, Brian</p><p>12 &mdash; MOKOSAK, Carl</p><p>11 &mdash; SHUTT, Steve</p><p>7 &mdash; SYKES, Phil</p><h2><b>MINNESOTA</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>33 &mdash; BEAUPRE, Don</p><p>1 &mdash; MELANSON, Roland</p><p>27 &mdash; MELOCHE, Gilles</p><h3><b>Defencemen</b></h3><p>2 &mdash; GILES, Curt - Cpt.</p><p>22 &mdash; HIRSCH, Tom</p><p>36 &mdash; PRYOR, Chris</p><p>29 &mdash; RICHTER, Dave</p><p>10 &mdash; ROBERTS, Gord</p><p>3 &mdash; ROUSE, Bob</p><p>28 &mdash; SNEPSTS, Harold</p><p>6 &mdash; VELISCHEK, Randy</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>12 &mdash; ACTON, Keith</p><p>7 &mdash; BROTEN, Neal</p><p>9 &mdash; MARUK, Dennis</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>23 &mdash; BELLOWS, Brian</p><p>17 &mdash; BERGLUND, Bo</p><p>20 &mdash; CICCARELLI, Dino</p><p>29 &mdash; GRAHAM, Dirk</p><p>24 &mdash; PLETT, Willi</p><p>26 &mdash; SHERVEN, Gord</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>8 &mdash; LAWTON, Brian</p><p>11 &mdash; McCarthy, Tom</p><p>25 &mdash; McKEGNEY, Tony</p><p>44 &mdash; PAYNE, Steve</p><p>13 &mdash; TRIMPER, Tim</p><h2><b>MONTREAL</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>37 &mdash; PENNEY, Steve</p><p>1 &mdash; SOETAERT, Doug</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>2 &mdash; CARLSON, Kent</p><p>24 &mdash; CHELIOS, Chris</p><p>5 &mdash; GREEN, Rick</p><p>18 &mdash; KURVERS, Tom</p><p>17 &mdash; LUDWIG, Craig</p><p>19 &mdash; ROBINSON, Larry</p><p>25 &mdash; SVOBODA, Peter</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>21 &mdash; CARBONNEAU, Guy</p><p>29 &mdash; FLOCKHART, Ron</p><p>6 &mdash; MONDOU, Pierre</p><p>31 &mdash; NEWBERRY, John</p><p>15 &mdash; SMITH, Bobby</p><p>8 &mdash; TURCOTTE, Alfie</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>12 &mdash; BOISVERT, Serge</p><p>27 &mdash; DeBLOIS, Lucien</p><p>20 &mdash; HUNTER, Mark</p><p>30 &mdash; NILAN, Chris</p><p>14 &mdash; TREMBLAY, Mario</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>23 &mdash; GAINEY, Bob - Cpt.</p><p>35 &mdash; McPHEE, Mike</p><p>26 &mdash; NASLUND, Mats</p><p>11 &mdash; WALTER, Ryan</p><h2><b>NEW JERSEY</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>33 &mdash; KAMPPURI, Hannu</p><p>30 &mdash; LOW, Ron</p><p>1 &mdash; RESCH, Chico</p><h3><b>Defense</b></h3><p>2 &mdash; CIRELLA, Joe</p><p>23 &mdash; DRIVER, Bruce</p><p>21 &mdash; HOFFMEYER, Bob</p><p>28 &mdash; HIEMER, Uli</p><p>25 &mdash; LEWIS, Dave</p><p>4 &mdash; LORIMER, Bob</p><p>8 &mdash; P1CHETTE, Dave</p><p>5 &mdash; RUSSELL, Phil</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>24 &mdash; ADAMS, Greg</p><p>10 &mdash; BROTEN, Aaron</p><p>16 &mdash; MEAGHER, Rick</p><p>27 &mdash; MULLER, Kirk</p><p>12 &mdash; VERBEEK, Pat</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>20 &mdash; HIGGINS, Tim</p><p>29 &mdash; LUDVIG, Jan</p><p>15 &mdash; MacLEAN, John</p><p>19 &mdash; PRESTON, Rich</p><p>26 &mdash; TROTTIER, Rocky</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>18 &mdash; BRIDGMAN, Mel-Cpt</p><p>17 &mdash; GAGNE, Paul</p><p>9 &mdash; LEVER, Don</p><p>22 &mdash; SULLIMAN, Doug</p><h2><b>NY ISLANDERS</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>30 &mdash; HRUDEY, Kelly</p><p>31 &mdash; SMITH, Billy</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>4 &mdash; BOUTILIER, Paul</p><p>29 &mdash; DIDUCK, Gerald</p><p>2 &mdash; DINEEN, Gord</p><p>3 &mdash; JONSSON, Tomas</p><p>24 &mdash; LANE, Gord</p><p>26 &mdash; LANGEVIN, Dave</p><p>45 &mdash; LEITER, Ken</p><p>7 &mdash; PERSSON, Stefan</p><p>5 &mdash; POTVIN, D. - Cpt.</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>46 &mdash; HOWSON, Scott</p><p>32 &mdash; KORTKO, Roger</p><p>16 &mdash; LAFONTAINE, Pat</p><p>21 &mdash; SUTTER, Brent</p><p>19 &mdash; TROTTIER, Bryan</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>22 &mdash; BOSSY, Mike</p><p>8 &mdash; FLATLEY, Patrick</p><p>9 &mdash; GILLIES, Clark</p><p>23 &mdash; NYSTROM, Bob</p><p>12 &mdash; SUTTER, Duane</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>14 &mdash; BOURNE, Bob</p><p>17 &mdash; GILBERT, Greg</p><p>20 &mdash; HALLIN, Mats</p><p>28 &mdash; KALLUR, Anders</p><p>27 &mdash; TONELU, John</p><h2><b>NY RANGERS</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>1 &mdash; HANLON, Glen</p><p>34 &mdash; VANBIESBROUCK, J.</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>5 &mdash; BECK, Barry - Cpt.</p><p>13 &mdash; BROOKE, Bob</p><p>4 &mdash; GRESCHNER, Ron</p><p>27 &mdash; HUBER, Willie</p><p>2 &mdash; LAIDLAW, Tom</p><p>30 &mdash; LEDYARD, Grant</p><p>3 &mdash; PATRICK, James</p><p>41 &mdash; RICHMOND, Steve</p><p>29 &mdash; RUOTSALAINEN, R.</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>8 &mdash; FTOREK, Robbie</p><p>10 &mdash; LAROUCHE, Pierre</p><p>16 &mdash; PAVELICH, Mark</p><p>17 &mdash; ROGERS, Mike</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>15 &mdash; HEDBERG, Anders</p><p>37 &mdash; McPHEE, George</p><p>11 &mdash; PATRICK, Steve</p><p>28 &mdash; SANDSTROM, T.</p><p>25 &mdash; SUNDSTROM, Peter</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>20 &mdash; ERIXON, Jan</p><p>22 &mdash; FOTIU, Nick</p><p>26 &mdash; HEATH, Randy</p><h2><b>PHILADELPHIA</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>&mdash; JENSEN, Darren</p><p>31 &mdash; LINDBERGH, Pelle</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>29 &mdash; COCHRANE, Glen</p><p>3 &mdash; CROSSMAN, Doug</p><p>9 &mdash; DVORAK, Miro</p><p>27 &mdash; ERIKSSON, Tom</p><p>17 &mdash; HOSPODAR, Ed</p><p>2 &mdash; HOWE, Mark</p><p>10 &mdash; McCRIMMON, Brad</p><p>8 &mdash; MARSH, Brad</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>20 &mdash; POULIN, Dave</p><p>14 &mdash; SUTTER, Ron</p><p>6 &mdash; YOUNG, Tim</p><p>25 &mdash; ZEZEL, Peter</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>12 &mdash; KERR, Tim</p><p>22 &mdash; TOCCHET, Rick</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>21 &mdash; BROWN, Dave</p><p>18 &mdash; CARSON, Lindsay</p><p>32 &mdash; CRAVEN, Murray</p><p>26 &mdash; PROPP, Brian</p><p>23 &mdash; SINISALO, Ilka</p><p>24 &mdash; SMITH, Derrick</p><h2><b>PITTSBURGH</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>1 &mdash; HERRON, Denis</p><p>30 &mdash; ROMANO, Roberto</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>33 &mdash; BODGER, Doug</p><p>7 &mdash; BUSKAS, Rod</p><p>27 &mdash; CHARLES&rsquo;WTH, T.</p><p>20 &mdash; MANTHA, Moe</p><p>4 &mdash; MAXWELL, Bryan</p><p>25 &mdash; McCarthy, Kevin</p><p>2 &mdash; McDonnell, Joe</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>22 &mdash; BULLARD, Mike</p><p>9 &mdash; CHABOT, John</p><p>12 &mdash; LAMOUREUX, Mitch</p><p>66 &mdash; LEMIEUX, Mario</p><p>16 &mdash; TAYLOR, Mark</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>26 &mdash; BABYCH, Wayne</p><p>24 &mdash; BELANGER, Roger</p><p>14 &mdash; SHEDDEN, Doug</p><p>15 &mdash; RISSLING, Gary</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>10 &mdash; ERREY, Bob</p><p>11 &mdash; LONEY, Troy</p><p>35 &mdash; YOUNG, Warren</p><h2><b>QUEBEC</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>35 &mdash; BOUCHARD, Dan</p><p>33 &mdash; GOSSELIN, Mario</p><p>1 &mdash; SEVIGNY, Rich</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>6 &mdash; BELL, Bruce</p><p>28 &mdash; DONNELLY, Gord</p><p>22 &mdash; MAROIS, M. - Cpt.</p><p>4 &mdash; MAXWELL, Brad</p><p>21 &mdash; MOLLER, Randy</p><p>7 &mdash; PRICE, Pat</p><p>5 &mdash; ROCHEFORT, N.</p><p>25 &mdash; WESLEY, Blake</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>23 &mdash; GILLIS, Paul</p><p>32 &mdash; HUNTER, Dale</p><p>14 &mdash; LEMIEUX, Alain</p><p>11 &mdash; SAVARD, Andre</p><p>26 &mdash; STASTNY, Peter</p><p>15 &mdash; SAUVE, J.F.</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>24 &mdash; GAULIN, J.M.</p><p>17 &mdash; KUMPEL, Mark</p><p>27 &mdash; PAIEMENT, Wilf</p><p>18 &mdash; STASTNY, Marian</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>17 &mdash; ASHTON, Brent</p><p>19 &mdash; COTE, Alain</p><p>16 &mdash; GOULET, Michel</p><p>20 &mdash; STASTNY, Anton</p><h2><b>ST. LOUIS</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>1 &mdash; LIUT, Mike</p><p>30 &mdash; WAMSLEY, Rick</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>25 &mdash; BOTHWELL, Tim</p><p>27 &mdash; DELORME, Gilbert</p><p>26 &mdash; JOHNSON, Terry</p><p>2 &mdash; LEVIE, Craig</p><p>35 &mdash; PAVESE, Jim</p><p>5 &mdash; RAMAGE, Rob</p><p>4 &mdash; WILSON, Rik</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>17 &mdash; CHOUINARD, Guy</p><p>24 &mdash; FEDERKO, Bernie</p><p>9 &mdash; GILMOUR, Doug</p><p>14 &mdash; WICKENHEISER, D.</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>6 &mdash; BARR, Dave</p><p>19 &mdash; GANCHAR, Perry</p><p>61 &mdash; HICKEY, Pat</p><p>7 &mdash; MULLEN, Joe</p><p>28 &mdash; PASLAWSKI, Greg</p><p>15 &mdash; REEDS, Mark</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>12 &mdash; ANDERSON, Perry</p><p>23 &mdash; DUFOUR, Luc</p><p>22 &mdash; PETTERSSON, J.</p><p>21 &mdash; SCHOFIELD, Dwight</p><p>11 &mdash; SUTTER, Brian - Cpt.</p><h2><b>TORONTO</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>1 &mdash; BERNHARDT, Tim</p><p>30 &mdash; ST. CROIX, Rick</p><p>31 &mdash; WREGGET, Ken</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>3 &mdash; BENNING, Jim</p><p>33 &mdash; IAFRATE, Al</p><p>26 &mdash; KITCHEN, Bill</p><p>4 &mdash; LEEMAN, Gary</p><p>15 &mdash; McGILL, Bob</p><p>2 &mdash; NYLUND, Gary</p><p>21 &mdash; SALMING, Borje</p><p>17 &mdash; STEWART, Bill</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>16 &mdash; COURTNALL, Russ</p><p>24 &mdash; DAOUST, Dan</p><p>19 &mdash; DERLAGO, Bill</p><p>18 &mdash; IHNACAK, Peter</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>14 &mdash; FRYCER, Miroslav</p><p>9 &mdash; GAVIN, Stewart</p><p>32 &mdash; STRONG, Ken</p><p>25 &mdash; THOMAS, Steve</p><p>22 &mdash; VAIVE, Rick - Cpt.</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>10 &mdash; ANDERSON, John</p><p>23 &mdash; BRUBAKER, Jeff</p><p>20 &mdash; KORN, Jim</p><p>7 &mdash; TERRION, Greg</p><h2><b>VANCOUVER</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>35 &mdash; BRODEUR, Richard</p><p>30 &mdash; CAPRICE, Frank</p><p>31 &mdash; GARRETT, John</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>29 &mdash; BUBLA, Jiri</p><p>5 &mdash; BUTCHER, Garth</p><p>15 &mdash; DAIGNEAULT, J.J.</p><p>2 &mdash; HALWARD, Doug</p><p>4 &mdash; LANZ, Rick</p><p>3 &mdash; LIDSTER, Doug</p><p>24 &mdash; PETIT, Michel</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>23 &mdash; GRADIN, Thomas</p><p>16 &mdash; KIRTON, Mark</p><p>7 &mdash; LUPUL, Gary</p><p>8 &mdash; McNAB, Peter</p><p>17 &mdash; SUNDSTROM, Pat.</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>21 &mdash; NEELY, Cam</p><p>12 &mdash; SMYL, Stan-Cpt.</p><p>9 &mdash; TANTI, Tony</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>10 &mdash; GILLIS, Jere</p><p>14 &mdash; LEMAY, Moe</p><p>25 &mdash; MacADAM, Al</p><p>26 &mdash; SKRIKO, Petri</p><h2><b>WASHINGTON</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>35 &mdash; JENSEN, Al</p><p>31 &mdash; MASON, Bob</p><p>1 &mdash; RIGGIN, Pat</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>19 &mdash; ANDERSSON, Peter</p><p>17 &mdash; BLOMQVIST, Timo</p><p>5 &mdash; LANGWAY, R.-Cpt.</p><p>2 &mdash; McEWEN, Mike</p><p>8 &mdash; MURPHY, Larry</p><p>3 &mdash; STEVENS, Scott</p><p>6 &mdash; VEITCH, Darren</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>10 &mdash; CARPENTER, Bobby</p><p>27 &mdash; CHRISTIAN, Dave</p><p>12 &mdash; CURRIE, Glen</p><p>25 &mdash; JARVIS, Doug</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>11 &mdash; GARTNER, Mike</p><p>23 &mdash; GOULD, Bobby</p><p>15 &mdash; HAWORTH, Alan</p><p>18 &mdash; LAUGHLIN, Craig</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>22 &mdash; ADAMS, Greg</p><p>14 &mdash; DUCHESNE, Gaetan</p><p>24 &mdash; ERICKSON, Bryan</p><p>32 &mdash; FRANCESCHETTI, L.</p><p>16 &mdash; GUSTAFSSON, B.</p><p>20 &mdash; SAMPSON, Gary</p><h2><b>WINNIPEG</b></h2><h3><b>Goaltenders</b></h3><p>29 &mdash; BEHREND, Marc</p><p>1 &mdash; HAYWARD, Brian</p><p>30 &mdash; HOLDEN, Mark</p><h3><b>Defensemen</b></h3><p>44 &mdash; BABYCH, Dave</p><p>4 &mdash; CAMPBELL, Wade</p><p>8 &mdash; CARLYLE, Randy</p><p>5 &mdash; DOLLAS, Bobby</p><p>2 &mdash; ELLETT, Dave</p><p>6 &mdash; KYTE, Jim</p><p>3 &mdash; PICARD, Robert</p><p>7 &mdash; WATTERS, Tim</p><h3><b>Centers</b></h3><p>16 &mdash; BOSCHMAN, Laurie</p><p>10 &mdash; HAWERCHUK, D.-Cpt.</p><p>35 &mdash; STEEN, Thomas</p><h3><b>R. Wings</b></h3><p>22 &mdash; LUNDHOLM, Bengt</p><p>15 &mdash; MacLEAN, Paul</p><p>20 &mdash; McBAIN, Andrew</p><p>17 &mdash; NILL, Jim</p><h3><b>L. Wings</b></h3><p>11 &mdash; ARNIEL, Scott</p><p>12 &mdash; LUKOWICH, Morris</p><p>19 &mdash; MULLEN, Brian</p><p>9 &mdash; SMAIL, Doug</p><p>27 &mdash; TURNBULL, Perry</p><p>24 &mdash; WILSON, Ron</p><p><b>INJURED PLAYERS</b> &mdash; Mike Gillis, Gord Kluzak, Barry Pederson, (Bos), Bill Hajt, Jim Schoenfeld (Buf), Kari Eloranta, Dave Hindmarch, Doug Risebrough (Cal), Keith Brown, Dave Feamster, Bob MacMillan, Darryl Sutter (Chi), Kevin McClelland (Edm), Bobby Crawford, Mark Johnson, Scot Kleinendorst, Chris Kotsopoulos (Har), Doug Smith (LA), Craig Hartsburg, Paul Holmgren, Tom McCarthy, Tony McKegney, Dan Mandich, Terry Martin, Dave Richter (Min), Kent Carlson, Lucien DeBlois, Ken Flockhart, Mark Hunter, Bobby Smith (Mtl), Ron Low, John MacLean, Doug Sulliman (NJ), Bob Bourne, Roger Kortko, Ken Morrow (NYI), Mike Allison, Don Maloney, Mark Osborne, Simo Saarinen (NYR), Bill Barber, Brad McCrmmon (Pha), Wayne Babych, Rick Kehoe, Moe Mantha (Pit), J.M. Gaulin, Andre Savard (Que), Kevin LaValSlee, Rik Wlson (StL), Stewart Gavin, Jim Korn, Ken Strong (Tor), Frank Caprice, Ron Delorme, Taylor Hall (Van), Al Jensen<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

NHL TEAM ROSTERS

<h2><b>FEBRUARY</b></h2><p>Mon. 18 Edmonton at Buffalo</p><p>Pittsburgh at Philadelphia*</p><p>Tue. 19 Hartford at Winnipeg</p><p>Montreal at St. Louis</p><p>Los Angeles at Quebec</p><p>Calgary at NY Islanders</p><p>New Jersey at Vancouver</p><p>Edmonton at Toronto</p><p>Wed. 20 Boston at Minnesota</p><p>Montreal at Chicago</p><p>Calgary at Pittsburgh</p><p>St. Louis at Detroit</p><p>Thu. 21 Hartford at NY Rangers</p><p>Winnipeg at NY Islanders</p><p>Los Angeles at New Jersey</p><p>Toronto at Philadelphia</p><p>Washington at Vancouver</p><p>Fri. 22 St. Louis at Buffalo</p><p>Quebec at Edmonton</p><p>NY Rangers at Pittsburgh</p><p>Chicago at Minnesota</p><p>Sat. 23 Boston at NY Islanders</p><p>Los Angeles at Hartford</p><p>Winnipeg at Montreal</p><p>Quebec at Vancouver</p><p>Calgary at New Jersey*</p><p>Pittsburgh at Minnesota</p><p>Washington at Edmonton</p><p>Toronto at Detroit*</p><p>Sun. 24 St. Louis at Hartford*</p><p>Los Angeles at Buffalo</p><p>NY Islanders at Montreal</p><p>Calgary at Philadelphia</p><p>Detroit at Chicago*</p><p>Mon. 25 Winnipeg at NY Rangers</p><p>Minnesota at Pittsburgh</p><p>Chicago at Toronto</p><p>Tue. 26 Philadelphia at Hartford</p><p>Buffalo at New Jersey</p><p>Vancouver at Washington</p><p>Wed. 27 Buffalo at St. Louis</p><p>Montreal at Edmonton</p><p>Quebec at Los Angeles</p><p>NY Islanders at Calgary</p><p>New Jersey at Chicago</p><p>Winnipeg at Pittsburgh</p><p>Minnesota at Toronto</p><p>Vancouver at Detroit</p><p>Thu. 28 Philadelphia at Boston</p><p>Washington at NY Rangers<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

NHL GAMES TO COME

f0036-13

National League Rookie Leaders

<p><b>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 18)</b></p><h2><b>CAMPBELL CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>NORRIS DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-15125/5528986-1-eng-US/f0036-152.jpg" title="f0036-15" width="536" height="179"></div><p><b>SMYTHE DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-16122/5528979-1-eng-US/f0036-162.jpg" title="f0036-16" width="537" height="184"></div><h2><b>WALES CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>ADAMS DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-17116/5528972-1-eng-US/f0036-172.jpg" title="f0036-17" width="551" height="183"></div><p><b>PATRICK DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-18110/5528965-1-eng-US/f0036-182.jpg" title="f0036-18" width="535" height="211"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tue. Feb. 12</b></p><p><b>Wales All-Stars 6, Campbell All-Stars 4</b></p><p><b>Wed Feb. 13</b></p><p><b>Washington 3 at Winnipeg 5</b></p><p><b>Thu. Feb. 14</b></p><p><b>Boston 3 at Los Angeles 3 (OT)</b></p><p><b>Hartford 4 at New Jersey 0</b></p><p><b>Quebec 3 at Philadelphia 6</b></p><p><b>Pittsburgh 4 at Chicago 5</b></p><p><b>Washington 4 at Calgary 3</b></p><p><b>Toronto 3 at St. Louis 5</b></p><p><b>Minnesota 5 at Detroit 5 (OT)</b></p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 15</b></p><p><b>Montreal 4 at Buffalo 3 (OT)</b></p><p><b>Edmonton 7 at NY Rangers 8</b></p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 16</b></p><p><b>Boston 2 at Vancouver 3 (OT)</b></p><p><b>Hartford 4 at NY Islanders 4 (OT)</b></p><p><b>Buffalo 4 at Montreal 3</b></p><p><b>Quebec 8 at Pittsburgh 1</b></p><p><b>New Jersey 6 at Toronto 3</b></p><p><b>Edmonton 4 at Philadelphia 5</b></p><p><b>Washington 2 at Los Angeles 5</b></p><p><b>Chicago 4 at Detroit 7</b></p><p><b>Minnesota 4 at St. Louis 6</b></p><p><b>Winnipeg 4 at Calgary 8</b></p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 17</b></p><p><b>Toronto 5 at Hartford 4 (OT)</b></p><p><b>Quebec 4 at Minnesota 3</b></p><p><b>NY Islanders 3 at NY Rangers 9</b></p><p><b>New Jersey 2 at Winnipeg 2 (OT)</b></p><p><b>Detroit 4 at Chicago 4 (OT)</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0036-15

THE NHL SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07153/5529017-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="568" height="1024"></div><p>When the New Jersey Devils were known as the Colorado Rockies, they were not famous for being too shrewd with their draft picks.</p><p>So it&rsquo;s something of a bonus that the Devils have West German-born defenseman Ulrich Hiemer in their lineup this season.</p><p>Hiemer, a member of the West German national team which competed in the 1984 Canada Cup, was taken by the Rockies in the 1981 National Hockey League entry draft, going 48th overall.</p><p>But it wasn&rsquo;t until this past summer that the Devils decided to offer the young West German a contract. Since then, he&rsquo;s responded well in a limited role. After 36 games, he had five goals and 15 assists with a plus-3 rating.</p><p>And as an added bonus, the Devils didn&rsquo;t even have to pay the West German hockey federation a cent for Hiemer&rsquo;s service, since the NHL doesn&rsquo;t have a working agreement with West Germany.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0037-07

Chrysler Rookie Spotlight

<h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 19)</b></p><p><b>SOUTHERN DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01582/5529174-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="551" height="234"></div><p><b>NORTHERN DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02455/5529167-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="542" height="207"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tue. Feb. 12</b></p><p><b>Rochester 3 at Fredericton 1</b></p><p><b>Wed. Feb. 13</b></p><p><b>Springfield 5 at Adirondack 6</b></p><p><b>Binghamton 6 at Baltimore 8</b></p><p><b>Maine 3 at Hershey 3</b></p><p><b>Rochester 2 at Nova Scotia 5</b></p><p><b>Fredericton 4 at Sherbrooke 4</b></p><p><b>Thu. Feb. 14</b></p><p><b>Adirondack 6 at St. Catharines 6</b></p><p><b>Fri. Feb.15</b></p><p><b>Maine 5 at Baltimore 4</b></p><p><b>St. Catharines 5 at Binghamton 5</b></p><p><b>Rochester 2 at Moncton 4</b></p><p><b>Nova Scotia 5 at New Haven 2</b></p><p><b>Fredericton 3 at Springfield 5</b></p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 16</b></p><p><b>Sherbrooke 2 at Adirondack 6</b></p><p><b>Binghamton 6 at Hershey 3</b></p><p><b>Nova Scotia 3 at Maine 3</b></p><p><b>New Haven 8 at St. Catharines 1</b></p><p><b>Fredericton 2 at Springfield 7</b></p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 17</b></p><p><b>Baltimore 3 at Binghamton 6</b></p><p><b>Nova Scotia 0 at Maine 3</b></p><p><b>Rochester 2 at New Haven 4</b></p><p><b>Fredericton 4 at Sherbrooke 6</b></p><p><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03367/5529160-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="539" height="380"></div><h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 19)</b></p><p><b>EAST DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04282/5529153-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="539" height="144"></div><p><b>WEST DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05203/5529146-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="533" height="175"></div><p>(Teams get point for overtime loss)</p><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Sun. Feb. 10</b></p><p><b>Salt Lake 3 at Fort Wayne 4</b></p><p><b>Muskegon 7 at Flint 3</b></p><p><b>Peoria 3 at Kalamazoo 5</b></p><p><b>Tue. Feb. 12</b></p><p><b>Muskegon at Indianapolis (ppd. snow)</b></p><p><b>Salt Lake 4 at Peoria 7</b></p><p><b>Wed Feb. 13</b></p><p><b>Milwaukee at Fort Wayne (ppd. sow)</b></p><p><b>Indianapolis at Muskegon (ppd. snow)</b></p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 15</b></p><p><b>Peoria 5 at Milwaukee 6</b></p><p><b>Kalamazoo 2 at Indianapolis 4</b></p><p><b>Sat. Feb 16</b></p><p><b>Muskegon 7 at Milwaukee 2</b></p><p><b>Toledo 5 at Peoria 6</b></p><p><b>Fort Wayne 5 at Indianapolis 3</b></p><p><b>Hint 5 at Salt Lake 4</b></p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 17</b></p><p><b>Indianapolis 5 at Fort Wayne 4</b></p><p><b>Milwaukee 2 at Kalamazoo 7</b></p><p><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06164/5529139-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="545" height="354"></div><h2><b>ATLANTIC COAST LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 19)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07150/5529132-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="542" height="183"></div><p><b>(Teams get point for overtime loss)</b></p><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tue. Feb. 12</b></p><p><b>Virginia 5 at Carolina 6</b></p><p><b>Wed Feb. 13</b></p><p><b>Erie 4 at Mohawk Valley 7</b></p><p><b>Thu. Feb. 14</b></p><p><b>Pine Bridge 6 at Virginia 11</b></p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 15</b></p><p><b>Virginia 4 at Erie 12</b></p><p><b>Pine Bridge 1 at Mohawk Valley 7</b></p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 16</b></p><p><b>Erie 4 at Mohawk Valley 7</b></p><p><b>Carolina 8 at Virginia 3</b></p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 17</b></p><p><b>Pine Bridge 5 at Erie 3</b></p><p><b>Mohawk Valley 4 at Carolina 5</b></p><p><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-08129/5529125-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="554" height="321"></div><h2><b>WESTERN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 19)</b></p><p><b>EASTERN DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-09117/5529118-1-eng-US/f0038-092.jpg" title="f0038-09" width="545" height="264"></div><p><b>WESTERN DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-10108/5529111-1-eng-US/f0038-102.jpg" title="f0038-10" width="545" height="215"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Mon. Feb. 11</b></p><p><b>Kamloops 4 at New Westminster 6</b></p><p><b>Tue. Feb. 12</b></p><p><b>Calgary 5 at Medicine Hat 6</b></p><p><b>Regina 6 at Saskatoon 2</b></p><p><b>Lethbridge 2 at Brandon 4</b></p><p><b>Kamloops 4 at Victoria 2</b></p><p><b>Wed. Feb 13</b></p><p><b>Lethbridge 6 at Moose Jaw 3</b></p><p><b>Saskatoon 4 at Prince Albert 13</b></p><p><b>New Westminster 7 at Portland 6</b></p><p><b>Thu. Feb. 14</b></p><p><b>Medicine Hat 7 at Brandon 2</b></p><p><b>Fri. Feb.15</b></p><p><b>Victoria 4 at Kelowna 5</b></p><p><b>Medicine Hat 3 at Regina 5</b></p><p><b>Brandon 5 at Moose Jaw 9</b></p><p><b>Saskatoon 2 at Calgary 9</b></p><p><b>Portland 6 at New Westminster 10</b></p><p><b>Victoria 4 at Kamloops 8</b></p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 16</b></p><p><b>Moose Jaw 3 at Prince Albert 11</b></p><p><b>Lethbridge 3 at Calgary 4</b></p><p><b>Portland 4 at Kelowna 7</b></p><p><b>New Westminster 5 at Seattle 2</b></p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 17</b></p><p><b>Regina 2 at Medicine Hat 6</b></p><p><b>Saskatoon 4 at Lethbridge 7</b></p><p><b>Prince Albert 8 at Calgary 7</b></p><p><b>Portland 2 at Kamloops 5</b></p><p><b>Victoria 3 at Seattle 7</b></p><p><b>Kelowna 3 at New Westminster 6</b></p><h2><b>ONTARIO LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Thu. Feb. 21)</b></p><p><b>LEYDEN DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-11101/5529104-1-eng-US/f0038-112.jpg" title="f0038-11" width="539" height="237"></div><p><b>EMMS DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1294/5529097-1-eng-US/f0038-122.jpg" title="f0038-12" width="539" height="263"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tue. Feb. 12</b></p><p><b>Cornwall 5 at Toronto 10</b></p><p><b>Thu. Feb. 14</b></p><p><b>Toronto 2 at Peterborough 8</b></p><p><b>Guelph 4 at Windsor 4</b></p><p><b>Oshawa 3 at North Bay 5</b></p><p><b>London 8 at Hamilton 7</b></p><p><b>Belleville 11 at Cornwall 5</b></p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 15</b></p><p><b>Hamilton 1 at London 6</b></p><p><b>Oshawa 3 at Sudbury 1</b></p><p><b>Kitchener 4 at S.S. Marie 12</b></p><p><b>Ottawa 6 at Kingston 7</b></p><p><b>Windsor 5 at Guelph 3</b></p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 16</b></p><p><b>Cornwall 5 at Belleville 4</b></p><p><b>Ottawa 4 at Toronto 1</b></p><p><b>Hamilton 4 at Peterborough 7</b></p><p><b>Kitchener 3 at Sudbury 6</b></p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 17</b></p><p><b>Belleville 9 at Toronto 3</b></p><p><b>Kingston 3 at Oshawa 10</b></p><p><b>Kitchener 8 at North Bay 5</b></p><p><b>Peterborough 9 at Cornwall 3</b></p><p><b>Windsor 2 at S.S. Marie 7</b></p><p><b>Guelph 4 at London 7</b></p><p><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1385/5529090-1-eng-US/f0038-132.jpg" title="f0038-13" width="535" height="323"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 18)</b></p><p><b>LEBEL DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1478/5529083-1-eng-US/f0038-142.jpg" title="f0038-14" width="545" height="180"></div><p><b>DIUO DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1574/5529076-1-eng-US/f0038-152.jpg" title="f0038-15" width="545" height="206"></div><p><b>(Teams get point for losing in overtime)</b></p><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Mon. Feb. 11</b></p><p><b>Hull 3 at Chicoutimi 6</b></p><p><b>St. Jean 5 at Laval 7</b></p><p><b>Tue. Feb. 12</b></p><p><b>Laval 3 at Longueuil 4</b></p><p><b>Wed. Feb. 13</b></p><p><b>Chicoutimi 5 at Quebec 3</b></p><p><b>St. Jean 5 at T-Rivieres 9</b></p><p><b>Shawinigan 6 at Hull 7</b></p><p><b>Verdun 5 at Drummondville 8</b></p><p><b>Fri. Feb.15</b></p><p><b>T-Rivieres 3 at Drummondville 11</b></p><p><b>Verdun 10 at Granby 0</b></p><p><b>Longueuil 4 at Shawinigan 9</b></p><p><b>Quebec 4 at St. Jean 6</b></p><p><b>Laval at Chicoutimi (ppd. snow)</b></p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 16</b></p><p><b>Laval 1 at Chicoutimi 4</b></p><p><b>Quebec 1 at Hull 8</b></p><p><b>Shawinigan 4 at St. Jean 7</b></p><p><b>Longueuil 4 at Verdun 1</b></p><p><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1670/5529069-1-eng-US/f0038-162.jpg" title="f0038-16" width="551" height="267"></div><h2><b>NEW ENGLAND JUNIOR</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 6)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1765/5529062-1-eng-US/f0038-172.jpg" title="f0038-17" width="568" height="300"></div><p>(Games against Buffalo Junior Sabres count in regular NEJHL standings)</p><p><b>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</b></p><p><b>(Standings on Sun. Feb. 17)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1860/5529055-1-eng-US/f0038-182.jpg" title="f0038-18" width="539" height="268"></div><p><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1958/5529048-1-eng-US/f0038-192.jpg" title="f0038-19" width="551" height="159"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0038-01

MINOR SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01273/5529337-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="364" height="348"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02179/5529330-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="384" height="328"></div><h2><b>MONTREAL</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03129/5529323-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="496" height="200"></div><h2><b>TORONTO</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04100/5529316-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="484" height="196"></div><h2><b>WINNIPEG</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0582/5529309-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="500" height="192"></div><h2><b>CALGARY</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0670/5529302-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="492" height="208"></div><h2><b>EDMONTON</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0762/5529295-1-eng-US/f0040-072.jpg" title="f0040-07" width="480" height="192"></div><h2><b>VANCOUVER</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0855/5529288-1-eng-US/f0040-082.jpg" title="f0040-08" width="480" height="196"></div><h2><b>Segment Winners In Lead</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>ORONTO&mdash;Four of the six third segment winners in the Molson Cup three-star competiton were holding firm as the overall leaders with the 1984-85 hockey races headed into the final six weeks of the season.</p><p>Wayne Gretzky of Edmonton, Winnipeg&rsquo;s Dale Hawerchuk, Dan Daoust of Toronto and Vancouver&rsquo;s Richard Brodeur were all in first place, either alone or sharing the lead at the start of the fourth-segment voting.</p><p>Three of the four players were fresh from winning third-segment balloting and the $ 1,000 prize money that accompanies the honor. Brodeur had to share the award with Tony Tanti after the two ended up tied for first place. Defenseman Rick Green of Montreal and center Mike Eaves of Calgary were the other two winners in the third segment but Green was not among the overall top five on the Canadiens and Eaves was only fifth in the Calgary voting.</p><p>Here&rsquo;s a city-by-city breakdown of the three-star voting:</p><p><b>MONTREAL</b>&mdash;Goaltender Steve Penney continued as the overall Molson Cup leader among the Canadiens with 60 points. Guy Carbonneau and Mats Naslund were tied with 45 each. Penney narrowly lost third-segment honors to Green after he had previously won the second.</p><p><b>TORONTO</b>&mdash;Little Dan Daoust was involved in a three-way battle as the top Maple Leaf with Miroslav Frycer and Rick Vaive. Each bad 30 points overall with Greg Terrion close behind with 25. Daoust had to beat out rookies Al lafrate and goalie Tim Bernhardt for the third-segment voting.</p><p><b>WINNIPEG</b>&mdash;Center Dale Hawerchuk, who like Gretzky has won all three segments of the Molson Cup sweepstakes, was entrenched in first place in the overall voting with 85 points, 35 ahead of Thomas Steen.</p><p><b>CALGARY</b>&mdash;Veteran Kent Nilsson was still the people&rsquo;s choice as the leader of the Flames. Nilsson had collected 60 points to lead rookie Carey Wilson, who followed with 50.</p><p><b>EDMONTON</b>&mdash;The Great Gretzky continued as the runaway overall three-star leader, pacing the Oilers with 130 points, almost double his linemate, Jari Kurri, who had 70.</p><p><b>VANCOUVER</b>&mdash;Goalie Richard Brodeur, who won the Canucks&rsquo; second-segment voting after sharing the third with Tanti, was still the overall leader among Vancouver players with 45 points. Patrick Sundstrom followed with 40.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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March 1, 1985

Blues Hope Hot Streak Doesn’t Turn Cold

Ashton Heading For Personal Best

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