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

April 26, 1985

The Hockey News April 26, 1985

<div class="byline">BY JEFF Z. KLEIN AND KARL-ERIC REIF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031089/5506826-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg"></div><h2>FOR ARGUMENT&rsquo;S SAKE</h2>It&rsquo;s always been fitting that the playoffs begin around April Fool&rsquo;s Day. This year&rsquo;s playoffs have been pushed back a week, but it doesn&rsquo;t change anything. Teams that have beat their brains out for six months to make first place will be eliminated in the preliminary round, and 80 games&rsquo; worth of hard work will be reduced to ashes in just three games. That&rsquo;s April Fool&rsquo;s.But as ridiculous as hockey&rsquo;s playoff system is, one thing has remained refreshingly true, at least in the NHL: one of the two best teams in regular season usually goes on to win the Stanley Cup.A detailed study of each post-season since the &rsquo;67 expansion has revealed that there is a definite pattern followed by Cup-winning teams. It boils down to a set of three main criteria, which you&rsquo;ll find in the accompanying table. According to the track records of each of the 17 Cup-winning teams since 1967-68, a club must meet each of these three criteria to win the Cup this season.On the surface, it seems too pat; but in 17 years, only once has a team failed to meet any one of these conditions and gone on to win Lord Stanley&rsquo;s Grail. Cup winners, then, have met 50 out of 51 criteria since &rsquo;67-68. Therefore, we can give virtually a rubber-stamp guarantee that one of the teams who meet all three conditions set down in the box below will win the Cup this year. To the rest of the teams in the playoffs, we have only this to say:&ldquo;Hey, your skate&rsquo;s untied. April Fools.&rdquo;Now, for an avalanche of facts:&bull; Of the last 17 Stanley Cup winners, 11 finished first in the overall regular-season standings. Three finished second, one fourth, one fifth and one sixth.&bull; The average winning percentage for Stanley Cup-winning teams in the regular season of their Cup championship year is .707 (113 points in an 80-game schedule). The average winning percentage of the losing Cup finalist is .633 (101).&bull;Only four times in the last 17 finals have the team with the worse regular-season record beaten the team with the better regular-season record. In &rsquo;71. Montreal (97) beat Chicago (107); in &rsquo;74. Philadelphia (112) downed Boston (113); in &rsquo;80, the Islanders (91) defeated the Flyers (116) and in &rsquo;83 the Isles (96) beat Edmonton (106).&bull; Cup-winning teams have shown an unmistakably steady improvement in the three regular seasons prior to winning the Cup. On the average, they&rsquo;ve had a winning percentage of .606 three years before their Cup win, .648 two years before, .688 one year before and .707 in the regular season of their Cup victory.&bull; Fourteen of the past 17 Cup champions made it at least to the semifinals the year before their Cup win. The only three who haven&rsquo;t were Montreal, which missed the playoffs by a single point (it bounced back to win the Cup the next year), in &rsquo;70; Boston, in &rsquo;71, which was knocked out in the quarter-finals (it rebounded to win in &rsquo;72) and Montreal in &rsquo;72, which also fell in the quarter-finals (it redeemed itself with a win in &rsquo;73).In a nutshell, then, the team that wins the Stanley Cup must be a very good regular-season team, must have shown a steady improvement over recent years and must have done reasonably well in the previous year&rsquo;s playoffs.So fans of the Flyers, Jets, Blues, Sabres, Kings, Black Hawks, Red Wings and Rangers better not raise their hopes too high. Any one of these clubs could reach this year&rsquo;s final (certainly the Flyers have an excellent chance to get that far and, to a lesser degree, the Jets, Blues, Sabres or Kings, too) but, according to the track record for Cup winners, none can win the Cup.Fans of the eight other playoffbound teams can check the accompanying table to see how their heroes measure up against the track record.FUN FACTS TO KNOW AND TELL&mdash;The following players have led their teams in scoring for the most consecutive seasons: Bernie Federko of the Blues won his seventh straight team scoring title, which moves him up to a tie for fourth place on the alltime list. Wayne Gretzky won his sixth consecutive team scoring championship to move into a sixth-place tie on the list&hellip;Denis Potvin holds the consecutive team-scoring championship record for defensemen, and has paced the Islanders in each of his first four NHL seasons.<h2>Stanley Cup Criteria &#9632;</h2>

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IN THIS ISSUE

Criteria For Winning Stanley Cup

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01651/5508197-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="525" height="550"><figcaption class="caption-body">JASON LAFRENIEREHamilton</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>The Hamilton Steelhawks made it to the Emms Division final round with Jason Lafreniere playing the role of scoring leader.Lafreniere, who had 95 points in 59 regular-season games, was hot in the playoffs as he collected 12 scoring points in the four-game series victory over London to win the nod as OHL Player of the Week.The Steelhawks&rsquo; center scored five times in the four starts against London, including three in one game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02459/5508190-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="522" height="544"><figcaption class="caption-body">GORD HYNESMedicine Hat</figcaption></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>Gord Hynes wasn&rsquo;t among the top 25 scoring defensemen during the course of the regular Western Hockey League season, but the Medicine Hat rearguard was hot in the playoffs.The 6-foot-2, 175-pound Hynes scored six goals, including two gamewinners, in the Tigers&rsquo; five-game series win over Regina to be named WHL Player of the Week.Hynes finished the 72-game schedule with 18 goals, 45 assists and 63 scoring points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03329/5508183-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="534" height="544"><figcaption class="caption-body">GUY BENOITDrummondville</figcaption></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>Guy Benoit of Drummondville was among the seven-highest goal scorers in the Quebec Hockey League during the regular season, and he has&rsquo;t let up with the playoffs in full swing.Benoit was chosen as the QHL Player of the Week after he counted four goals and three assists in the two windup games to help eliminate Trois-Rivieres from the playoffs.At the end of the current season. THE HOCKEY NEWS will select a Micron Junior Player of the Year. &#9632;

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JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07141/5508688-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="516" height="1084"></div>This may be the second consecutive season that Winnipeg Jet goaltender Marc Behrend has participated in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but he&rsquo;s still considered a rookie in the National Hockey League.Behrend joined the Jets immediately after the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, where he was a memberof the U.S. team.He played in six regular season games last season, winning two, losing four and recording a goals-against average of 5.47. In the playoffs, he played in two games, losing both, while recording a 4.46 mark.This season, Behrend played behind No. 1 man Brian Hayward, seeing action in 24 games with a goals-against average of 4.48. In the playoffs, he took over from the injured Hayward in game three against the Calgary Flames and played all of the decisive fourth contest, which put the Jets into the Smythe Division final against the Edmonton Oilers.Hayward&rsquo;s strong showing this season certainly overshadowed Behrend, but the University of Wisconsin grad is still being counted upon as a future star. &#9632;

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Chrysler Rookie Spotlight

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02729/5507825-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="495" height="667"></div>Boston Bruin center Ken Linsemnan scored four goals and six assists in four games to earn THE HOCKEY NEWS NHL Player-of-the-Week honors for the period ending April 14.The feisty Bruin was the leading scorer at the end of the first week of the Stanley Cup playoffs. And he was a big reason the Bruins and Montreal Canadiens needed a fifth game to decide their playoff series. &#9632;

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Player Of The Week

In the May 3 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, we&rsquo;ll examine a most difficult question&mdash;who has been the best goalie in the National Hockey League this past season?Ask four or five different people that question and you&rsquo;ll likely get four or five different answers.All of which may tell you something about attempting to rate goaltenders in the 1980s.So who will it be? Tom Barrasso? Pelle Lindbergh? Steve Penney? Brian Hayward? Reggie Lemelin? You&rsquo;ll see next week.In addition to the goaltenders&rsquo; sweepstakes, we&rsquo;ll have a special section previewing THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; Awards, all of which will be announced at a June 27 banquet in Toronto.In this issue, we&rsquo;ll take a look at each of the 10 awards&mdash;ranging from the NHL to minor pro to major junior to college to international to youth hockey&mdash;and the possible winners.<h2>QUOTE OF THE WEEK</h2>&ldquo;Gallantry means nothing. Winning is everything.&rdquo;Isles&rsquo; Billy Smith, commenting on his team&rsquo;s dramatic comeback wins against Washington. Story on Page 19. &#9632;

NEXT WEEK IN THN

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div>On April 4, before the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; last home game, they honored Pelle Lindbergh as their most valuable player of the 1984-85 season.He then went out and showed exactly why, stopping 34 New York Islander shots in a brilliant 3-0 shutout. One simply couldn&rsquo;t play goal any better than this. Because it was particularly appropriate on this night, someone inevitably asked Lindbergh if all of it&mdash;his 3.02 goals-against average, his 40 victories, his MVP award, and the Flyers&rsquo; league-leading 113 points&mdash;seemed too good to be true.&ldquo;Not really,&rsquo;&rsquo; Lindbergh shrugged. &ldquo;It was last year that was too bad to be true.&rdquo;Lindbergh wasn&rsquo;t aware of it, of course, but he was acting as spokesman for Team Comeback, a three-man unit (goalie, defenseman and forward) deemed by THE HOCKEY NEWS to have made the most dramatic improvement from a season ago. Joining Lindbergh on the team are Winnipeg Jet defenseman Randy Carlyle and Quebec Nordique forward Brent Ashton, who both suffered through their own personal hells in 198384. This past season, however, has been different.For these comeback players&mdash;especially Lindbergh, who is the only one of the three to have remained at the scene of last year&rsquo;s crime&mdash;all has been forgiven.Obviously, none of the 17,191 lovers and other assorted strangers and hypocrites who now chant &ldquo;Pelle! Pelle!&rdquo; were within 100 miles of the Spectrum 14 months ago when, at the height of his agony, he kicked the tying goal in off the backboards and then fanned on a winning goal that no Vancouver player actually shot. If someone would have had a rope and a horse that night, we would have had one dead Swede on our hands.Nah, it&rsquo;s an entirely different crowd at the Spectrum this year and a different Lindbergh, too. A year ago he was that little creep foreigner, part of a Bob McCammon plot to ruin the franchise. Now Pelle is as huggable as a Care Bear.What happened last year, when Lindbergh faded to the black of a sophomore&rsquo;s 4.05 average? It actually started half way through Lindbergh&rsquo;s fine rookie season.He was at the very top of his game in early January when a Soviet player&rsquo;s skate boot bent back his hand and broke a bone.Lindbergh missed five weeks, and returned with a misleading 2-0 shutout in Los Angeles. Three nights later he played in the All-Star game. Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s four goals that night at Uniondale was snow on the roof. It caved in.The Layoff, the embarrassment from the AllStar debacle, and the fine play of Bob Froese in Lindbergh&rsquo;s absence set the vicious cycle in motion. He never got enough starts to get his confidence back and with the way he played in those starts, he didn&rsquo;t deserve the No. 1 job back.Actually, Lindbergh got off to a pretty good start last year, but the team got the jumps and Pelle caught them, too. Froese, as always, was doing the job, Lindbergh wasn&rsquo;t, and things went from bad to worse. The Vancouver debacle was the ultimate. The Flyers sent him to Springfield after that game to play three games, but it didn&rsquo;t do much good.Not until the last two weeks of the season did he win another game. Froese was the obvious choice to play in the playoffs.&ldquo;I think I got a little lazy last year,&rdquo; Lindbergh said. &ldquo;I started off well and maybe I got into some bad habits. At first I wasn&rsquo;t listening and then maybe I was listening too much.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011369/5506764-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="734" height="876"><figcaption class="caption-body">Both Randy Carlyle and Brent Ashton used trades to spark their comebacks. (Photos by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021111/5506757-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="722" height="872"><figcaption class="caption-body">Netminder Pelle Lindbergh simply set out to avoid disaster and play to his potential.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03716/5506750-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="1512" height="1012"></div>&ldquo;The coach and the goaltending coach (Bernie Parent) and the assistant coach (Ted Sator) were all trying to be helpful and I&rsquo;m trying to be nice and listen to everybody. Everybody&rsquo;s telling you something different.&rdquo;What turned it around? A few things. First, determined to come to camp in the best possible mood, he passed up the Canada Cup. &ldquo;It takes a lot out of you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My first job was here.&rdquo;He didn&rsquo;t have a great camp, he never really has, but a new coach, Mike Keenan, started him in 19 of the first 26 games. When Lindbergh hit a little slump and Keenan had to make a decision, there was no decision to make. Froese had just suffered a knee injury that would put him out for two months. It was Lindbergh or nobody. And this time, nobody messed with his head.Keenan, seeing the problem as tiring in the third periods, merely picked up Lindbergh&rsquo;s practice workload. He bounced back and he put together a season worthy of Vezina Trophy consideration.&ldquo;The big thing, I think, is that I got to play almost every game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Last year I would get nervous, knowing if I let in a bad goal or two I might not play for a while. I have to play a lot to play my best.&rdquo;Lindbergh&rsquo;s colleagues on Team Comeback have had equally impressive turnabouts, though in both cases it was a trade that acted as the catalyst.Carlyle, the 1982 winner of the Norris Trophy in Pittsburgh, found new, winning surroundings in Winnipeg and keyed the Jets to the fifth-best record in the NHL.A guy who appeared to be going through the motions as the Penguins bottomed out last year, Carlyle came to Winnipeg&rsquo;s camp with a new svelte look and assumed a position of leadership, earning a mid-season All-Star berth.The price the Jets paid was steep&mdash;a first-round pick (Doug Bodger) and defenseman Moe Mantha&mdash;but Carlyle&rsquo;s strong play has made Jet GM John Ferguson look good.&ldquo;Giving up a first-round draft choice for him I thought was fair,&rdquo; said Bill Sutherland, a Winnipeg assistant coach. &ldquo;But giving up a player (Mantha) as well was a little steep, I thought. But I have changed my mind. The way Randy has played for us, I would have to say this is the best deal this team has ever made.&rdquo;As far as Carlyle is concerned, last season&rsquo;s hard times can be simply explained, though he bristles at the implications that were made a year ago and at those who kicked him when he was down. But that obviously helped to motivate him in Winnipeg.&ldquo;Making the (mid-season) All-Star team this season was a credit to me because a lot of peoplehad counted me out before I came to Winnipeg,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I hope I&rsquo;ve proved some people wrong.&ldquo;Last year, there was a lot of crap said about my knees. I&rsquo;ve never had tom knee ligaments. I had a bruised knee and Pittsburgh tried to get me back into the lineup too quickly. It was that simple.&ldquo;I looked at coming to Winnipeg as a fresh start. I wrote off the last two years in Pittsburgh as down years. I just wanted to come here and try to help as much as possible. The trade was good for me, for Pittsburgh and the Jets.&rdquo;So good for the Jets that Ferguson cannot help but enthuse about the future of his team and the astounding effect Caryle has had on its maturation into a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.&ldquo;Randy is a smart hockey player who&rsquo;ll be around here for at least four or five more years,&rdquo; Ferguson said. &ldquo;He plays so well, he could play for us in a wheelchair.&ldquo;Randy has hockey smarts. And in the dressing room, he is a real leader. He has made a lot of youngsters into pretty big men this year.&rdquo;As for the forward on Team Comeback, it was never any great secret around the league that Brent Ashton was a better player than he had demonstrated since being the Canucks&rsquo; second-round draft pick, 26th overall, in the 1979 entry draft. That&rsquo;s why he was traded so much&mdash;Vancouver to Winnipeg (where he never played a game) to Colorado-New Jersey to Minnesota, and finally Quebec.In Colorado, he showed much promise on the strength of a 24-goal, 60-point season, which may not seem like astronomical numbers for many players, but please remember he accomplished this feat while with the Rockies.Finally, the Nordiques, who acquired Ashton and Brad Maxwell from the North Stars in exchange for Tony McKegny and Bo Berglund, struck gold. Ashton scored 51 points, including 27 goals, in his 49 games with the Nordiques this year. He had only 11 points in 29 games with the Stars this season and had only seven goals and 10 assists with the Stars last season.His credentials for Team Comeback are impeccable. Just ask Nordique general manager Maurice Filion, who recently admitted that Ashton was something of a throw-in in the trade, Maxwell being the sought-after commodity.&ldquo;We knew he was a good worker but we never thought he was such a good skater or checker,&rdquo; Quebec coach Michel Bergeron said.But it wasn&rsquo;t as though Ashton was cursed with hands of stone or had a mind more suited for Team Cementhead. He was something of a scoring sensation as a junior in Saskatoon.&ldquo;I know I can get my share of points,&rdquo; Ashton said. &ldquo;I was able to score regularly as a junior.&ldquo;The trade was the best thing that could have happened to me. In Minnesota, I was not among the core of players being used regularly. In Quebec, it has been the opposite. The Nordiques use all their players as much as possible.&ldquo;In Minnesota, it was as if the players and team felt a little too comfortable, a little too complacent. In Quebec, you don&rsquo;t get a chance to rest on your laurels.&rdquo;Now, Ashton, playing regularly for much of the season on a line with Paul Gillis and Wilf Paiement, even sees some power-play duty.&ldquo;We resemble one another in terms of style of play,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;We try to pressure the defensemen to create openings and scoring chances. Each game, one of us gets a few good chances.&ldquo;Things couldn&rsquo;t have turned out better.&rdquo;Which just about sums up the feeling of all three comeback players. Certainly, this is an honor they don&rsquo;t want to earn again. &#9632;

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’84-85 Comeback Players Of The Year

<div class="byline">by Frank Orr</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021280/5506795-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="385" height="430"></div>TO A CHAP in Toronto, a city where playoff participation is as scarce as road apples at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, could there be anything better than being assigned to write the first draft of history on a series between the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins? Thank you, boss, and don&rsquo;t worry: I won&rsquo;t get any shoe polish on your white socks!Ah, Montreal and Boston in the spring, especially the Athens of America, when the blossoms on The Common and the college girls are in full bloom. St. Catherine Street or Place Ville Marie at noon aren&rsquo;t exactly dog-biscuit city, either.Enthusiasm for the project isn&rsquo;t exactly choked off when the chap in the ticket office at Symphony Hall says: &ldquo;Yes, we do have tickets available for the Ella Fitzgerald concert.&rdquo;Of course, the Canadiens and Bruins no longer are the top dogs in the NHL, the way they were back in the &rsquo;70s when they produced some memorable Stanley Cup confrontations, including a couple of the finest, most-interesting sets ever played. But they&rsquo;re good enough to create considerable excitement, and to get to two of the best towns on the globe more than makes up for the fact that there&rsquo;s no No. 99 involved.Of course, there have been an assortment of splendid playoff series over the years and no spring passes without a couple more going on the list. For instance, last spring&rsquo;s battle of New York, most notably the Islanders&rsquo; last-game overtime win against the Rangers, ranks right at the top of any list of dandies.Personally, though, Canadien-Bruin sawoffs stand out because they crammed great hockey, excellent personalites, interesting sociology and extreme competition into seven games.Probably the series that stands out most in this memory was the 1971 opening round that matched the &ldquo;can&rsquo;t-be-beaten-and-there&rsquo;s-no-argument&rdquo; Bruins, who had set 37 team and individual records in a great season, against the Canadiens, an aging, troubled squad that had Al MacNeil as an interim coach.The Bs had it all, more even than Bogey and Bacall, led by Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr at the peak of their game. They were the rollicking, big, bad Bruins, certain to defend their Stanley Cup of 1970.However, the Canadiens produced a secret weapon. His name was Ken Dryden. The elongated, young goalie had spent the season with Montreal Voyageurs of the American League and at McGill law school, playing only six NHL games at the end of the season.Dryden wrote a little history by anchoring a seven-game win over the unbeatable Bruins and going on to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs&rsquo; top player and then the Calder as the best rookie the next season.A key time in the series was 25 minutes in game two after the Bruins had taken a 5-1 lead. Led by Jean Beliveau and John Ferguson, two great ones in their last hurrah, the Canadiens won it 7-5.While Dryden earned most of the accolades, the series was a showcase for the marvelous talents of Frank Mahovlich, who had been kicked through Toronto and Detroit before winding up in Montreal where he played some wonderful hockey.In the seventh game on a Sunday afternoon in Boston, the Big M played an extraordinary game as the Canadiens won the series, then talked about what it was like to be a member of that team.&ldquo;With the Canadiens, pride is instilled even in the ratholes of the Forum,&rdquo; Mahovlich said.I can&rsquo;t think of a better individual playoff performance&mdash;or one at any other time&mdash;than the Canadiens&rsquo; Guy Lafleur staged in the seventh game against the Bruins in that splendid 1979 semi-final, the one the Bs had won until a penalty for too many players on the pond allowed the Canadiens to tie it and force overtime.Lafleur simply wouldn&rsquo;t allow the Canadiens to lose the game and the series. He never seemed to leave the ice and the overtime lasted 9:33 until Yvon Lambert scored. The Flower played 7:45 of it. The pride came out the ratholes that night.This year&rsquo;s Bruins-Canadiens series produced some moments to go in the old memory bank. More than that, though, a Montreal-Boston confrontation is how it should be in the game.No matter what else happens, this spring is going tn he okay. &#9632;

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Another Boston-Montreal Beauty

<div class="byline">By Bruce Hood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011274/5506881-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="338" height="447"></div>Q. My friends and I had a discussion about this and most agree that when a player breaks his stick, he must drop it immediately or receive a minor penalty. But some think that you can use or carry a broken stick if you are not actively engaged in the play. What is the rule on playing with or using a broken stick in the NHL, and does it also apply to college and minor hockey?Bob FarrellFolcroft, PAA. A player can carry a broken stick and not get a penalty, and he can carry the stick to the bench, too. But, if he participates in the play in any way, he would get a penalty. That is the situation in the NHL, but in college and minor hockey the player must drop the stick immediately.Q. A friend of mine is interested in becoming an NHL referee. Could you please tell me how long you must go to school for this and how much does the average NHL referee make?Lara SleczekCanaan, NYA. You must start out working as many games as you can in minor hockey and attend clinics and schools every chance you get. Watch others and learn (the good points) from them and get as much experience as you can to move up the ladder. The average NHL referee salary is approximately $65,000.Q. In a game between the Chicago Black Hawks and the Minnesota North Stars, a strange thing happened. With 10 seconds left in the period, Doug Wilson wound up from the point and blasted the puck by goalie Roland Melanson. The shot went in very close to the crossbar, and came out much like it had only hit the crossbar. The goal judge signalled a goal but the referee waved it off and kept the play going. When the period ended, the Hawks protested and argued with the referee. Their argument paid off and the goal counted. Now, to get to the questions:1) Can the referee overrule the goal judge in this case?2) Can the referee change his decision once it is made?Mike SiddersCollegeville, MNA. A very interesting situation, indeed! Yes, the referee can overrule the goal judge (at any time&mdash;the ref is the boss!), but it is not normal for him to change his decision. I assume one of the linesmen confirmed it was a goal and, therefore, the change of ruling.If you want your questions answered, write to:ASK THE REFEREE16 Martin StreetMilton, Ont.L9T 2P9All questions will be considered, but only those published will be answered Personal rcsnonses are not possible. &#9632;

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ASK THE REFEREE

Here&rsquo;s what was happening 20 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; Former NHL star defenseman Roger Leger died of a heart attack at the age of 46. The former Montreal Canadien played in 207 NHL games in his career.&bull; Detroit star Ted Lindsay announced that he would retire permanently from hockey at the end of the season. Lindsay, 39, had retired four years earlier, but came back for one last season with the Red Wings and scored 14 goals and 28 points in 69 games.Here&rsquo;s what was happening 15 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; The Pittsburgh Penguins, led by rookie Michel Briere, swept the Oakland Seals in four straight games in the opening round of the playoffs, and went on to meet the Chicago Black Hawks in the divisional finals.&bull; International Hockey League commissioner Bill Beagan announced that the IHL&rsquo;s attendence figures for 1969-70 topped 1,003,400, and that he expected it to climb to 1,040,000 by the end of the season. &#9632;

THIS WEEK… 20 Years Ago

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02929/5506943-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="383" height="449"><figcaption class="caption-body">WHERE ARE THEY NOW?By Randy Schultz</figcaption></div>When Andy Hebenton was a young boy growing up in Winnipeg, Man., he would watch his father go to work every day, no matter how cold it might have been or if the snow was blowing and drifting. It didn&rsquo;t matter what the situation was, he would never miss work.It was the same story with the younger Hebenton and grade school. Although he did not like school, he never missed a day.So it is not surprising that Hebenton played nine consecutive seasons in the National Hockey League (1955-64) with the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins and never missed a single game. Hebenton was the NHL&rsquo;s Iron Man, playing in 630 consecutive games and breaking John Wilson&rsquo;s record of 580 consecutive games.Although Hebenton&rsquo;s record was later broken by Garry Unger (who played 914 consecutive games), Craig Ramsay (776) and Doug Jarvis (800), he hasn&rsquo;t forgotten it.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m proud of what I accomplished in the NHL as far as the consecutive game streak is concerned,&rdquo; said Hebenton, who won the Lady Byng Trophy in 1957. &ldquo;I did it as a member of the old six-team NHL. I had to be doing something right to have lasted that long because there weren&rsquo;t as many jobs available in the NHL back then as there are today.&rdquo;Ironically enough, the consecutive game streak didn&rsquo;t end because of an injury. Hebenton was sent to the minor and he never returned.&ldquo;I was upset at the time,&rdquo; recalled Hebenton, a right winger. &ldquo;I was 35 years old at the time and the Bruins were going through a youth movement. So they sent me down to the minors in Portland, (OR, in the old Western Hockey League) and brought up some younger players. And I really didn&rsquo;t think that the players they brought up were any better than me.&rdquo;Before being sent to the minors, the closest Hebenton had ever come to missing a game was during the 1961-62 season as a member of the Rangers.&ldquo;All I remember is that we were playing against the Black Hawks in New York and somebody from Chicago accidently hit me in the eye with their stick,&rdquo; said Hebenton. &ldquo;My eye swelled up and I couldn&rsquo;t see out of it very well. But I made the trip with the team that same night for a game the following night in Montreal.&ldquo;When I got to Montreal I went to see the Canadiens&rsquo; doctor, who put some drops in my eye. By game time the eye was opened enough so that I could see out.of it. That was as close as I ever came to missing a game.&rdquo;What is even more amazing about the consecutive game streak is that after being sent to the Portland Buck-aroos, Hebenton went on the play 10 more seasons with them, missing only two games, before retiring in 1974 at the age of 45.&ldquo;The only two games I missed came in my first season with Portland,&rdquo; said Hebenton. &ldquo;And the only reason I missed two games was not because of injury but because my dad died. Other than that, I never missed another game.&rdquo;Although he is proud of the record he set in the NHL, there was one thing missing from his career.&ldquo;I would have gladly given up the record if I could have played on just one Stanley Cup championship team,&rdquo; said Hebenton, who lives with his wife and family in Portland and is a partner in A&I Construction. &ldquo;The Stanley Cup is what the game is all about.&ldquo;I enjoyed playing in every game, but the Rangers never did anything while I played for them. I thought they might the first season I played with them and we finished second, but then they made a couple of poor trades after that and it was all downhill from there. We never came close again.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03645/5506936-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="1174" height="746"><figcaption class="caption-body">Although his streak for consecutive games has been shattered, Andy Hebenton still takes pride in it.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Bruins Stopped Hebenton From Prolonging Streak

1. Mario Lemieux set a scoring record for Pittsburgh Penguin rookies this season. Whose record did he surpass?2. Name the goaltender who played all of the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; playoff games in 1974-75?3. When was the first NHL Stanley Cup playoff game?4. Name the first NHL club to win an NHL All-Star game?5. What season was the William Jennings Trophy introduced by the NHL?6. Name the only non-Canadian-born player to play for Team Canada 1972?7. Name the last team the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated in a Stanley Cup semi-final series?8. Who was the first European-born NHL player to score 50 goals in a season?9. What season did the Chicago Black Hawks last miss the playoffs?10. Who is the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; career leading scorer?<h2>Last Week&rsquo;s Trivia Answers</h2>1. Howie Young. 2. Allan Bester. 3. Andy Brannigan. 4. Darwin McCutcheon, PEL 5. Ron Sutter. 6. Jimmy Mann. 7. Los Angeles Kings. 8. Mark Pavelich. 9. Hartford. 10. Gord Donnelly and Terry Johnson. &#9632;

TRIVIA

<div class="byline">BY BOB DUFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04420/5506998-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg"></div>That the most game-winning goals scored by a player in one playoff season is: &#9632;

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Did You Know…

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011456/5507029-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="387" height="449"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Fischler&rsquo;sON THE CONTRARY</figcaption></div>Frightening, isn&rsquo;t it. You blink an eyelash and a National Hockey. League player grabs his head, reeling to the ice with still another eye injury.Check them out&mdash;if you have the stomach for it.Anders Hedberg.Jamie Hislop.Paul Boutilier.Pierre Mondou. And that&rsquo;s not half of them.Up goes the stick, down goes the stickhandler.Sometimes he never sees the NHL again. Ask Glen Sharpley. For him it was finis at the age 25.Sharpley, Hislop and Bob Gladney went down for the count. Hedberg was lucky&mdash;if you call having your sight reduced from 20-20 to 20-200 (in one swoop of Scott Arniel&rsquo;s stick) lucky.I&rsquo;m scared for these guys. The stick-in-the-face problem has gone from critical to epidemic in its proportions and there are signs it will get worse.I often get the feeling that these well-paid fellows who run the NHL wear blinders when it comes to dealing with the high sticks. It&rsquo;s almost as it they regard it with the same concern they have for the yak shortage in Nepal.Meanwhile, so-called-geniuses such as Fred Shero talk about the high stick as if they&rsquo;re dealing with a powder puff instead of a weapon.Asked by Calgary Herald reporter Gyle Konotopetz how to stop Wayne Gretzky, Shero, the Socrates of savagery, said, &ldquo;You can frustrate Gretzky by waving your stick in his face.&rdquo;If Gretzky ever fell to the ice screaming after a stick in the eye, we&rsquo;d hear the uproar all the way to Hindustan. From Shero, too.Just for the hell of it, I phoned to see if lord-high-referee boss Scotty Morrison was as worried as I am.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s concern that these injuries are occurring,&rdquo; says Morrison.That&rsquo;s nice, now what is he going to do about it?Morrison talks about changing the rules. If a player gets a two minute high-sticking penalty, he remains in the box whether a goal is scored or not.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d have to have an agreement from the rules committee and the Players&rsquo; Association,&rdquo; he adds.The keeper-of-the-zebras also agrees that increased use of helmets has inspired promiscuous use of the high-stick.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a carelessness creeping in.&rdquo; Morrison warns, &ldquo;and the only thing we can do is take a tougher stand on high-sticking.&rdquo;Junior and collegiate hockey are blamed for fostering a laissez-faire feeling among stick-wielders.&ldquo;I am appalled at the stick work I see at that level,&rdquo; says Morrison.So we&rsquo;re both appalled, now what?&ldquo;I was talking to Mats Naslund of the Canadiens,&rdquo; says Morrison, &ldquo;and he says it&rsquo;s all up to the referees. I don&rsquo;t buy that. Sure, the refs have an important part in this but the players do too.&rdquo;And so do the coaches, the managers and the owners. Let&rsquo;s move away from the superficialities. That&rsquo;s all we&rsquo;re getting now from the NHL with respect to a matter that deserves the most urgent attention.Check it out. There&rsquo;s just no time left for blather.Since 1979 the eye injury total has more than doubled and will continue to increase unless Morrison and Co. get damn serious&mdash;and specific&mdash;about it.They make it seem as if a severe crackdown on high sticks is as complicated as splitting the atom, when all they have to do is make the punishment commensurate with the crime&mdash;devastation of a career.To put it another way, let the players know up front, in high decibels, that the sticks have to stay down.Tell them in training camp.Yell it at them again before the first puck is dropped so there&rsquo;s no question.And then enforce the rule: give a five-minute major every time the stick comes above the shoulders. That would cut out the eye-threatening stick faster than you can say detached retina.SITUATION WANTED&mdash;Excuse me. John Muckier, but the line forms at the left for the next coaching job.As everyone knows there will be a bazillion coaching vacancies in the NHL starting next month and there are, by actual count, two bazillion applicants for the jobs.In order to save time and the unneccesary agent commisions, I I am shortening the process and listing the most appealing coaching prospects without regard for race, color, creed or number of vowels in the name.&bull;JOHN MUCKLER&mdash;All right, already. Let&rsquo;s find out once and for all how much Muckier really did contribute to the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; starship. On experience alone he rates first crack at an opening. If he doesn&rsquo;t get one there ain&rsquo;t no justice.&bull; BOB MCCAMMON&mdash;He&rsquo;s my personal favorite. A little emotional maybe, but then again so is Glen Sather. Witty Bob did more for the Flyers than he got credit for.&bull; TOM McVIE&mdash;Once&mdash;only once&mdash;I would like to see this solid fellow with a decent NHL team (not the Devils) and I&rsquo;ll bet you he&rsquo;ll come up with a winner.&bull; ROGER NIELSON&mdash;I refuse to believe this thinker should be limited to second-banana in Chicago, or anywhere.&bull; HERB BROOKS&mdash;Because of allergies&mdash;he is allergic to 20 NHL cities&mdash;Herb is limited to Bloomington, MN. But why not? He is made for the North Stars, although the North Stars are not made for him.&bull; TED SATOR&mdash;This is the poor man&rsquo;s Mike Keenan. He could be NHL coach of the year in 1985-86.&bull; HARRY NEALE&mdash;He&rsquo;s a bummer when it comes to picking coaches, but let Harry get behind your bench and, guaranteed, you&rsquo;ll beat Edmonton.&bull; JIM ROBERTS&mdash;He&rsquo;s understudied on some good ones and more recently a lemon. I suspect he would do well in the right milieu.&bull; TOM WATT&mdash;The smarts are there and so&rsquo;s the experience, although he didn&rsquo;t exactly wow &rsquo;em in Winnipeg. Still&mdash;similar to Pat Quinn&mdash;he rates another shot.CUSTOMIZED COACHING&mdash;One of the problems with coaching is that certain personalities, who will be at home with some teams would be out to lunch coaching others. That is why it is very important to fit the right personalities with the right team. So without further ado I will utilize the best sociological theories I obtained at Brooklyn College and list which persons are best suited to coach various teams.&bull; VANCOUVER CANUCKS&mdash;John Muckier, Ron Smith, the McKenzie Brothers (Bob and Doug) or the pilot of Air Canuck.&bull; CHICAGO BLACK HAWKS&mdash;Bob Pulford, Don Cherry (he could handle his television assignments between periods) or John Muckier.&bull; BOSTON BRUINS&mdash;Harry Sinden, Senator Edward Kennedy, Butch Goring or Doug Flutie.&bull; NEW YORK RANGERS&mdash;Liberace, Duran Duran, Walter Gretzky (they&rsquo;ve always wanted a Gretzky on Broadway), John Muckier, Prince, Ed Koch or Geraldine Ferraro.&bull; TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS&mdash;Anne Murray (since she will be banned from the Leaf dressing room, a telephone hookup will be provided to the players), King Clancy, Tiny Tim or John Muckier.&bull; MINNESOTA NORTH STARS&mdash;Lou Nanne, Patty (Mrs. Herb) Brooks (who is smarter than Herb), Walter Mondale, John Muckier or Paul Bunyan. (And Babe).&bull; BUFFALO SABRES&mdash;Scotty Bowman, governor Mario Cuomo or John Muckier.&bull; NEW JERSEY DEVILS&mdash;Frank Sinatra, Brendan Byrne (so he can coach in his own arena), Bruce Springsteen or Lou Muckier.&bull; PITTSBURGH PENGUINS&mdash;Mario Lemieux or Frosty the Snowman. (If these don&rsquo;t work, the Japanese have just come up with a life-sized, transistorized, semi-bald replica of Jacques Lemaire that can be placed behind any bench and will automatically open and shut the door every two minutes. Batteries not included).FOR PETE&rsquo;S SAKE&mdash;Boy, did we ever laugh at Keith Allen when Philadelphia traded supposed super-goalie Pete Peeters for Brad McCrimmon in 1982.When Peeters won the Vezina Trophy in 1982-83 and produced eight shutouts. Brad McWho could easily have been Larry Hale, John Miszuk or any other of the Flyers&rsquo; Lost Battalion of years past.In the subsequent years there has been a rather arresting turnabout; Brad McWho has become Brad McCrimmon whereas Pete has virtually petered out in Boston&mdash;which only goes to prove that a fair assessment of a trade often requires several years. Unfortunately, the manager who was proven right in the long run may already have been axed in the short one.A LEMIEUX REVIEW: I don&rsquo;t know about you but I think the world of Mario Lemieux.I like the way Le Magnifique fulfilled the extraordinary expectations set for him last September. I like the way he was as available to the media off the ice as he was arresting on the ice.I had only one question of Lemieux last fall&mdash;would he be as effective a rookie as Jean Beliveau was three decades ago when JB broke in with the Montreal Canadiens enroute to Hall of Famedom?That was asking a hell of a lot from Mario. Turns out he was better than Beliveau.When Beliveau skated into the NHL, he was the biggest thing since Rocket Richard. And I mean that literally as well as physically.Like Lemieux. Beliveau towered over his opposition. Unlike Beliveau, Lemieux has not had the luxury of age or aces.Mario broke into the NHL diretly frrom junior hockey at age 19. But Beliveau went from junior to the exceptionally strong Quebec Senior League before signing with the Canadiens at 22. That&rsquo;s quite a difference.Furthermore, Beliveau bummed out in his rookie year where-as Mario has been magnificent, scoring 43 goals and 57 assists with one of the crummiest teams since the Kansas City Scouts.That&rsquo;s another difference in Mario&rsquo;s favor. Beliveau had a cast of superstars to carry him. There was the Rocket, Boom Boom Geoffrion, Doug Harvey, Dickie Moore, Jacques Plante. A phenomenal outfit.You know who carried Lemieux. Warren Young. &#9632;

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Don’t Turn A Blind Eye To Stick Penalties

<h2>HOCKEY NOTEBOOK</h2>Former Detroit Red Wing owner Bruce Norris has filed for bankruptcy, endangering more than $1 million in deferred salaries owed to six former members of the National Hockey League team.Nick Libett, Mickey Redmond, Dennis Hextall, Dennis Hull, Red Berenson and Ted Garvin, the former Red Wing general manager who sued the club after he was fired in 1979, could collectively lose &ldquo;well over a million&rdquo; in back pay, according to Brian Smith, who represents some of the former Wings.Norris, 59, told a bankruptcy court that his Miami-based Norris Grain Co., which contracted with the players, was unable to meet its obligations despite assets of about $27.4 million.Some of the six former Wings thought their contracts were taken over by Mike Ilitch after he purchased the club from Norris two years ago.&ldquo;Our contracts were with the Detroit hockey club, not Norris Grain,&rdquo; Berenson told the Toronto Star&rsquo;s&nbsp;Ken McKee. &ldquo;Somehow, it seems Hitch didn&rsquo;t take them.&rdquo;Hextall is convinced that neither he nor the other five will not receive anything.&ldquo;&hellip;I assume we will eventually get something, but how much and how much it will cost us to get it, I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We will have to hire a bankruptcy lawyer and find out what is going on in Florida.&rdquo;The provincial government of Saskatchewan will chip in 70 per cent of the first $17 million towards what is being termed a &ldquo;multi-purpose facility&rdquo; for Saskatoon.Rumors persist that the plan will be to build a structure that will hold up to 16,000 seats. Originally only 7,000 seats would be put in place, with expansion taking place if necessary.It was the lack of a quality facility that played a major role in Saskatoon&rsquo;s failure to have the NHL St. Louis Blues move to the city in 1983.Bill Hunter, kingpin behind the 1983 NHL bid, was in Florida at the time of the announcement and unavailable for comment.The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia will appeal a B.C. Supreme Court decision awarding more than $644,000 to the widow of hockey player Don Ashby. Ashby was killed May 30, 1981 in a head-on crash in the B.C. interior. The Supreme Court recently awarded his widow, Terry, the lump sum, which included compensation for money he would have received as a member of the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; organization plus additional revenue he could have earned playing in Europe.Boston Bruin center Barry Pederson, who missed most of the season after surgery to remove a tumor from his arm, will be able to continue his playing career next season.&ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t lose all that muscle in the operation,&rdquo; said Bruin general managercoach Harry Sinden. &ldquo;The doctors didn&rsquo;t have to touch the bicep at all. and they hardly had to touch the tricep. He should be okay for next year.&rdquo;The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has purchased the Laval Voisins from the husband-and-wife team of Claude and Susan Fournel and will operate with 10 teams instead of 11 next season.The Voisins, which won the league championship last season on the strength of Mario Lemieux, missed the playoffs this season and lost an estimated $150,000 after averaging only 626 fans per game.Natalie Rivard became the first girl to participate in the Ontario major provincial peewee championships.Rivard, a 5-foot-8 defenseman with the South Nation team representing the Ottawa District Minor Hockey Association, was allowed to participate in the tournament at Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., because of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association rule adopted last year that permits girls 12 and under to play on integrated teams if there is no other team for girls in the immediate area.&ldquo;She is legally there,&rdquo; Fran Rider, president of the Ontario Women&rsquo;s Hockey Association told the Toronto Star&rsquo;s&nbsp;Lois Kalchman. &ldquo;We know about her. The closest girls&rsquo; team to her is about 50 miles away.&rdquo; &#9632;

Norris’ Bankruptcy Claim Hits Ex-Wings

<div class="byline">BY RON COBB</div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011301/5507084-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="116" height="116"></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;After busting their collective guts for 80 games to win the Norris Division, the St. Louis Blues were a bust in the playoffs. A three-game sweep by Minnesota put a damper on what was otherwise a memorable season in St. Louis.&ldquo;I feel so bad for our guys,&rdquo; coach Jacques Demers said with moist eyes after it was over. &ldquo;We worked our butts off and have this happen in the first round of the playoffs.&rdquo;Based on how poorly the Blues had played over the last month of the season, an early exit was not entirely unexpected. But nobody thought the end would come so quickly.Down the stretch, as they struggled to nail down their first division title in four years, the Blues lost twice to Toronto and twice to Hartford. Minnesota, meanwhile, had shrugged off the regular season and was gearing everything toward the playoffs.Although they outplayed the North Stars in games one and two in St. Louis, Minnesota prevailed by scores of 3-2 and 4-3 behind the exceptional goaltending of Gilles Meloche. The combined shot totals in the first two games was Blues 84 Minnesota 56.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;Winning in the playoffs is more important than winning the division.</blockquote>Meloche is a nemesis of the Blues from way back. His career record against them is 20-11-15, including 14-1-13 at the Met Center.In game three, the Blues were shut out 2-0 after losing center Bernie Federko in the opening minutes of the game. He suffered a mild concussion, cuts on the nose and above the eyes and blurred vision after taking a high stick from defenseman Dave Richter.The Blues had 27 shots in game three, but hardly any were quality scoring chances. A strong performance by Blue goalie Greg Millen, who had replaced Rick Wamsley after games one and two, prevented a rout.&ldquo;Meloche was the difference in the first two games,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;They had the momentum, and they&rsquo;re tough to beat in their building. In the two games in St. Louis, we not only dominated in shots but also territorially.&rdquo;Next to Meloche, the outstanding player in the series was Minnesota winger Willi Plett, who had two goals and two assists and led a physical assault against the undersized Blues.&ldquo;They have a big, solid club and take the body and, eventually, our players wore down,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;In the next few days we&rsquo;ll sit down and talk about the size of our hockey club. It got to us a little bit. You saw what Minnesota did to us.&ldquo;We have a great nucleus, and we&rsquo;ll be division champions for a year and we&rsquo;ll defend it with pride. But we&rsquo;ve got to improve because everybody else in our division is improving.&rdquo;Lack of depth has been a problem all season, but the Blues have been fortunate to avoid any series of injuries. The loss inJanuary of left winger Kevin LaVallee, headed toward a 30-goal season, was a blow, and then the loss of Doug Wick enheiser in mid-March took a toll. From that point on, the Blues were 4-10-1, counting the playoffs.&ldquo;I believe in our nucleus,&rdquo; Demers said, &ldquo;but the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th players were going to have to improve in that area because that&rsquo;s where we got beat.&rdquo;Ron Caron, the Blues&rsquo; director of hockey operations, has indicated he may trade his number one draft choice to get immediate help. The Blues have not drafted in the first round since 1981, when former president Emile Francis selected Marty Ruff.Meanwhile, the Blues&rsquo; season ended at the Met Center for the second consecutive season. Only seven days earlier, the Blues had been sipping champagne at the Met Center after clinching the Norris championship.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a nice accomplishment,&rdquo; said defenseman Tim Bothwell, &ldquo;but to me,personally, winning in the playoffs is more important than winning the division. Like Jacques says, though, you have to finish first and win the division before you get anywhere else.&ldquo;Winning the division gives you a bit of an advantage, but winning in the playoffs is what it&rsquo;s all about. Nobody ever remembers who won the division.&rdquo;BLUENOTES&mdash;The two games in St. Louis drew crowds of only 10,833 and 11,725. The opening-game crowd was the smallest in the Blues&rsquo; playoff history. The big reason was a ticket-price increase of seven dollars across the board. &#9632;

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Blues Turn From Division Busters To Busts

The International Hockey WeeklyFounded in 1947Published by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd.85 Scarsdale Road, #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2.THERE ARE TWO ways of looking at this year&rsquo;s superb National Hockey League Stanley Cup playoffs. Either they show us what a sham the regular season is&mdash;a popular notion these days&mdash;or they tell us a more positive story, that of parity in the NHL.The Edmonton Oilers swept the Los Angeles Kings but all the games were close. Winnipeg required four hard-fought games to dispose of the Calgary Flames. The Philadelphia Flyers swept the New York Rangers but, like the Edmonton-L.A. series, it wasn&rsquo;t easy. The Minnesota North Stars upset the St. Louis Blues, but, again, it was close.And the Montreal-Boston, Quebec-Buffalo and Washington-New York Islander series all went to fifth and deciding games, despite earlier prognostications that none would go the distance.The only blowout came when the Chicago Black Hawks manhandled the obviously inferior Detroit Red Wings.The fact of the matter is that picking playoff winners this spring, in most cases, is more guesswork than anything else. The NHL has evolved to a point where there is little to choose between two teams. Anyone who claims to be able to pick all the winners is either a liar or lucky, perhaps both.The Oilers, who relinquished first place overall to the Flyers this season, and their road to the Stanley Cup final are a prime example of parity.It used to be that the Smythe Division was the butt of many a cruel joke. The Oilers, it was said, could sleep through the season and awake just in time to limp through the division, without working up a sweat.No more.The Oilers had to work hard to beat the Kings and the ensuing series against the Winnipeg Jets was expected to be a competitive one. Edmonton, of course, is still favored to win, perhaps go all the way, but the notion that they can glide to the finals would appear to be ancient history.And in the Adams and Patrick Divisions, whoever emerges will have earned victories in closely contested series that pushed all the participants to the limit.Only the Norris Division, the NHL&rsquo;s tenement slum, is a second-class citizen, but that&rsquo;s only because of hard times in Toronto, Detroit and Minnesota. St. Louis, despite their playoff fall, and Chicago are sound, competitive teams.Yes, the seeds of parity are coming to fruition. &#9632;

Playoff Parity

<h2>FAN FORUM</h2>Let your voice be heerd! Send your comments to Fan Forum, THE HOCKEY NEWS, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., Canada M3B 2R2.I KEEP READING these letters about the Toronto Maple Leafs &ldquo;rebuilding.&rdquo; Could you please tell me exactly what they are rebuilding? I believe they have had enough time to rebuild Rome. So what are they doing? Is it a city or is it a building? If you could tell me, I would like to go and see it when it is completed. Also, do you have any idea when this might be, so I could plan ahead? Thanks so much.Pat MacDonaldRegina, Sask.<h2>STOP SUPPORTING LEAFS</h2>Readers like Carol Ramphf (March 15) and Andy Appleton (March 29) who blame Leaf fans for the fate of the woebegone Toronto team are burying their heads in the sand. The problem is the basic supportive and blase nature of the fans&mdash;and their willingness to keep filling owner Harold Ballard&rsquo;s moneybags. (Can you imagine Ballard in Montreal?)The Toronto franchise needs new, sane ownership, a competent GM and a Tessier-type coach, but most of all an end to their fans fatuous alibis for their &lsquo;heroes.&rsquo;Willem Moisant,Nakina. Ont.<h2>KINGSTON FOR COLLECTORS</h2>We at the International Hockey Hall of Fame in Kingston, Ont., took interest in your recent feature on the Hockey Collectibles Craze.Our recently-renovated shrine boasts a wide range of hockey memorabilia that is viewed by hockey fans throughout North America year-round. We&rsquo;re operated by the city of Kingston and all our artifacts have been loaned to us by people who want to give everyone the chance to enjoy them. Many of the items not on display were once collecting dust in an attic or basement.So if you&rsquo;re a hockey collector, why not consider contacting us and arrange to share some of your memorabilia with all hockey fans.Mark PotterPublic Relations DirectorInternational Hockey Hall of FameP.O. Box 82Kingston. Ont.K7L 4V6<h2>DUDLEY DOES RIGHT</h2>In the April 5 issue, you discuss the annual THN Awards. I would personally like to nominate Rick Dudley as the THN minor league coach of the year. Dudley is the Coach of the Carolina Thunderbirds of the Atlantic CoastHockey League. If you check the team&rsquo;s regular season record (53-11-0, 107 points), his qualifications should speak for themselves. Moreover, the Carolina Thunderbirds have won the regular season ACHL title for three years in row, something that is almost unheard of in this day of parity in professional sports. Dudley&rsquo;s knowledge of hockey talent has brought to the hockey fans of Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point, NC, not only a winning team but an interesting team to watch and support.Jim RiggsWinston-Salem, NC<h2>SIMMONS A ZERO</h2>In reference to Steve Simmons&rsquo; article (March 22) about the Norris Trophy debate, to make the comment &ldquo;no other defensemen are deserving&rdquo; without mentioning the likes of Doug Wilson, Randy Carlyle or Paul Reinhart is beyond belief. He can express his opinions without giving ZERO credit apparently to the rest of all NHL defensemen, especially two weeks before their playoff time. How can anybody not realize that Doug Wilson, especially, should be a leading contender for the Norris Trophy? In my opinion, the only person deserving of ZERO is Steve Simmons and that&rsquo;s as in READERS!Mark J. CrenshawChicago, IL<h2>COVER IS SEXIST</h2>I would like to express my dismay at seeing the cover of your March 29 issue, The Collectibles Craze, featuring a photo of two women wearing little more than hockey jerseys. It seems to me that there were a number of ways you could have illustrated your cover story without resorting to such blatant sexism. It is 1985, fellows, and many of us have grown very tired of depictions of women that suggest they add little to the world besides pretty looks.Instead of such nonsense, I&rsquo;m sure I am not the only person who would be more interested in coverage of the many women and girls who are actively involved in this great sport as players, coaches or whatever, with an emphasis on their achievements, not their looks.Richard MannArcata. CA &#9632;

Leafs Under Construction

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011388/5507163-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="396" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie&rsquo;sEditor&rsquo;s Notebook</figcaption></div>Can you believe this? We&rsquo;ve come across a Ripley&rsquo;s Believe It Or Not that is totally unbelievable. Believe it or not!Normally, Ripley&rsquo;s tales of extraordinary truths do not grace these pages&mdash;lucky Mr. Ripley&mdash;but while perusing through the Toronto Star recently we came across a hockey-related item in the syndicated cartoon strip.&ldquo;Wayne Gretzky, hockey star of the Edmonton Oilers, was skating at the age of three, made an all-star team at five and became a pro at 17! The 99 on his jersey indicates his multi-million dollar contract runs until 1999.Believe it or not!&rdquo;Well, we&rsquo;re left with no other course but to challenge Mr. Ripley on this one.No, we won&rsquo;t quibble about the ages&mdash;they may or may not be exactly right, but they&rsquo;re close enough to convey the image of a boy wonder. No, what&rsquo;s amiss with this startling tidbit of information is the reason Gretzky wears No. 99.Any self-respecting Gretzky fan knows that he started wearing No. 99 with the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario League. Gretzky had always worn No. 9&mdash;the same number ashis idol, Gordie Howe&mdash;but when he arrived in the Sault Ste. Marie, No. 9 was already taken.Angelo Bumbacco, then general manager and part-owner of the team, suggested he wear No. 99. He did and the rest, as they say, is history.Now, for the real trivia buffs out there, who wore No. 9 the same season that Gretzky started wearing No. 99?The answer is at the bottom of this column.If you&rsquo;re a hockey fan in Canada and you don&rsquo;t have a remote control unit to change television channels, then you may want to invest in one just for the Stanley Cup playoffs.Now that both the CBC and CTV have equal rights to NHL telecasts, the viewer is the big winner&mdash;as long as he can figure out the complicated game-sharing arrangement conceived in a long meeting between the rival networks.Let&rsquo;s start with the Stanley Cup finals.CTV, by virtue of a victory in the coin toss (seriously), gets to choose between showing a package of games one, two and six or games three, four and five. Should there be a seventh game, each network, using all its own commentators, will cover the game.In the Conference championships, CBC gets first crack at which one it wants to cover.Of course, you have to remember that all games emanating out of Quebec City go to CTV (Carling O&rsquo;Keefe) and all games originating from Montreal go to CBC (Molson).The division finals will be where things get complicated. If Montreal and Quebec sqaure off, CBC andCTV split the games accordingly. If the Canadiens meet the Sabres, CBC will carry the entire series, with CTV going west to cover Edmonton against Winnipeg. But if Quebec meets Boston, then CTV will carry that series (except the first game, which would be pre-empted by the mini-series Space) and CBC will go west for the Smythe Division final.But wait, there&rsquo;s more.If, for example, the Habs meet the Sabres (CBC), which means CTV gets the Oilers-Jets, there will be duplicate telecasts in each city. Since Molson&rsquo;s owns all local rights, with the exception of Quebec, they will likely exercise them in the division finals. In other words, CTV will carry the Oiler-Jet confrontation nationally, but CBC has the option of doing a regional broadcast in Edmonton and Winnipeg, too.That about sums it up. If you&rsquo;re confused, you are not alone.TRIVIA ANSWER: The Soo Greyhound who wore No. 9, resulting in Wayne Gretzky wearing No. 99, was Brian Gualazzi. Brian who?Actually, Gualazzi was a junior scoring star, scoring 76 goals the year after Gretzky left the Greyhounds to turn pro. Gualazzi, a native of the Soo, was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars, but chose to attend Dalhousie University on a scholarship.He eventually had a cup of coffee with the Stars and their farm team, but no longer plays pro hockey.Believe it or not! &#9632;

f0008-01

Ripley’s Got It Wrong—Believe It Or Not!

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011345/5507194-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="127" height="114"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 127px">MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</figcaption></div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;Goaltender Gilles Meloche had reason to feel rejected this season when the Minnesota North Stars had acted only mildly interested in retaining his services.But with three consecutive outstanding performances to lead the North Stars to a playoff sweep of the St. Louis Blues in the Norris Division semi-finals, Meloche became his team&rsquo;s main man.Meloche started out playing sparingly in training camp, and general manager Lou Nanne didn&rsquo;t seem to interested in trying to sign him, letting him play out his contract and later reportedly trying to trade him to Winnipeg.The 34-year-old Meloche later wound up in a three-man rotation along with Eton Beaupre, when the Stars acquired Roland Melanson. But when Meloche, who hadn&rsquo;t played more than two games in a row throughout the dismal regular season, received the chance to start in the playoffs, he seized the opportunity. Meloche stymied the Norris Division-champion Blues, and the North Stars advanced to the division finals against Chicago.The Stars had also won only 25 of their 80 regular-season games, a testimony to a withering string of injuries and a lethargic protrayal of underacheivement.As is traditional with the North Stars, the goaltender was more of a victim than the problem, so Meloche didn&rsquo;t mind the extra work.&ldquo;When you win, you don&rsquo;t get tired,&rdquo; Meloche said. &ldquo;But I didn&rsquo;t do it alone. We won with 20 guys in this room.&rdquo;It was just a few years ago that people said nasty things about teams such as Boston and Philadelphia for intimidating the meek, mild-mannered Stars. But this time, the Stars bombed the Blues with repeated violent hits by giant Dave Richter, hostile Harold Snepsts, a rejuvenated Willi Plett and a sore-shouldered Paul Holmgren.The Blues didn&rsquo;t seem to be affected by Minnesota&rsquo;s version of goon warfare through the first two games. They kept skating and making all the pretty plays through games one and two. But Meloche wouldn&rsquo;t allow them to gain rightful rewards for their work.He hopped around in the crease to save 39 of 41 Blue shots, and the Stars won the first game 3-2.Next night in the St. Louis Arena, Meloche was even better. The Blues battled to a 2-0 lead midway through the game, but it could have been a blowout by then. Instead, Meloche stopped 18 of 19 shots in the first 11 minutes of the second period, and made 40 saves altogether in the 4-3 win.Keith Acton, who had a goal in the first game, potted two in the second, and Plett produced the other two.That sent the series to Minnesota, and an appreciative Met Center crowd saw the Stars jump ahead 2-0 on goals by Tony McKegney and Craig Hartsburg in the first six minutes. Plett, once again Minnesota&rsquo;s most dominant forward, assisted on both goals.Meloche did the rest. The Blues went down easy in the second period, outshot 16-2 by the rollicking Stars. But in the third period St. Louis had 15 shots.Meloche was unruffled, even though he was penalized for his stick-shaft being too wide with three minutes to go. Facing a six-on-four attack, Meloche was provoked into a fight with Dwight Schofield, who speared him in the midsection with 1:32 to go.But he simply stopped everything to gain the shutout and complete the sweep.Later Meloche was asked about his team&rsquo;s rough style of play.&ldquo;That was our game plan,&rdquo; he said.The North Star fans had to wonder where their free-wheeling heroes had been during the regular season, and if the rugged style would continue in the series against Chicago. &#9632;</div>

f0009-01

North Stars Prove They’re No Pushovers

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021093/5507256-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="391" height="453"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Fleischman</figcaption></div>I AM OFFICIALLY jumping on the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; bandwagon. Hand me a red, white and blue uniform guys, I&rsquo;m coming along for a skate.Regardless of how the Jets do in these Stanley Cup playoffs. I think they are headed in the right direction. As long as Wayne Gretzky can skate, the Jets may never win a Smythe Division pennant. But that didn&rsquo;t mean they won&rsquo;t be serious Stanley Cup contenders. As Marcel Dionne says, in a short series anything can happen.From fourth place and a dreary 31-38-11, 73-point record a year ago, Winnipeg rode a Season-ending 13-game unbeaten streak to an impressive 43-27-10, 96-point, second-place Smythe finish this season. Only three other teams had higher point totals than the Jets. We are talking dazzling improvement here.How can you not like a team that has Dale Hawerchuk, the NHL&rsquo;s third-leading scorer this season with neon bright 53-77-130 figures?How about a record-tying six 30-goal scorers?Or Brian Hayward, a goaltender who still looks young enough to be a freshman at Cornell, his alma mater, was runner-up to Philadelphia&rsquo;s Pelle Lindbergh in victories with 33.This is a team patiently assembled by John Ferguson, the former Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; tough guy&mdash;that seems like ages ago, doesn&rsquo;t it?&mdash;trained as a general manager on Broadway with the New York Rangers. When that tour didn&rsquo;t work out. Fergie moved west to Winnipeg.It never has been my pleasure to visit Winnipeg, but colleagues tell me it isn&rsquo;t exaclty Manhattan, and I don&rsquo;t mean Manhattan. KS. I&rsquo;m told you wouldn&rsquo;t want to spend more that one mid-winter week in Winnipeg, but Fergie has been on the job since 1978.His years in the Jets&rsquo; GM chair haven&rsquo;t been all smooth sailing. Fans grew restless when the club didn&rsquo;t show sufficient progress, but Fergy remained committed to his program&mdash;building through the draft. Two of the Jets&rsquo; 30-goal scorers&mdash;Paul MacLean and Laurie Boschman&mdash;were obtained through trades. But Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen (30 goals) and Brian Mullen (32) were draft choices, and Doug Smail (31) was signed as a free agent. Several other key players&mdash;Dave Babych. Scott Amiel and Hayward&mdash;were draft selections, while Randy Carlyle, a Norris Trophy winner in Pittsburgh of all places, was acquired via a trade.The Jets are one of the NHL&rsquo;s youngest teams, which means they will be stalking Gretzky and Co. for several more years. The NHL needs developing teams such as the Jets. Philadelphia, Calgary and Washington to stimulate interest. Unless Edmonton is ready to succeed the Islanders with four consecutive championships, there aren&rsquo;t any NHL dynasties on the horizon. Teams such as Winnipeg will keep the league lively.Keeping in the mood with &ldquo;nice&rdquo; hockey stories, another in the file is Ray Staszak. Unless you are a collegehockey fan or spend your evening memorizing the NHL free-agent lists, you&rsquo;ve probably never heard of Staszak.Staszak is hockey&rsquo;s Rocky. Raised in Philadelphia. Staszak was turned onto hockey when the Flyers won their Stanley Cups. Like most American metropolitan areas, Philadelphia is a baseball-basketball-football city. But when the Flyers were at their swaggering best&mdash;before this year&rsquo;s bunch of orange-and-back clad youngsters recaptured the city&rsquo;s hockey hearts&mdash;children were suddenley forsaking jump shots for slapshots. From the Main Line to Staszak&rsquo;s blue collar neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia, kids were playing hockey.Staszak, who has grown into a rugged 6-foot, 200-pound winger, played at Archbishop Ryan High, then migrated to the United States League where he played for the Austin (MN) Mavericks. Between high school and the Mavericks, Staszak worked as a threader operator in a steel mill in Philadelphia.Enter Vai Belmonte, who had returned to his alma mater, the University of Illinois-Chicago, as head coach after serving as an assistant at Harvard. A staph infection had spoiled Staszak&rsquo;s season at Austin but, according to Belmonte, &ldquo;a friend told me he was a good, solid player. And, he was a little older. We needed some maturity.&rdquo;At UIC, a growing school of 25,000 commuter students, Staszak developed into a potential NHL winger who has attracted the intense attention of many teams, including Philadelphia, Hartford and Pittsburgh. Bob Clarke, the Flyers&rsquo; first-year GM, was interested in signing Stazak, who is a free agent.&ldquo;It would be great if we could get him because he&rsquo;s come through the Philadelphia program,&rdquo; Clarke said in mid-winter. &ldquo;It would be a helluva shot in the arm to coaches and players in our area.&rdquo;Clarke, however, couldn&rsquo;t promise that Staszak would move directly into the Flyers&rsquo; lineup. Either Hartford or Pittsburgh, with less talent on their varsities, is a more likely destination for Staszak. Whichever team he signs with will be getting a young man who believes in succeeding the old-fashioned way&mdash;by working his ears off.From Archbishop Ryan, to one of the leading college scorers in the country, to a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as the best U.S. college player, Rocky would love it. &#9632;

f0010-02

Two Of The ‘Nice’ Stories Include Winnipeg, Staszak

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011427/5507225-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="116" height="114"></div>BUFFALO&mdash;If anything, the Quebec Nordiques learned to expect the unexpected from Buffalo Sabre general manager-coach Scott Bowman.Before the start of the Adams Division semi-final series, the Sabres had announced that they weren&rsquo;t sure of the services of Dave Andreychuk, their leading goal scorer in the regular season who had been sidelined since March 21 with a fractured collarbone.But when the series opened in Quebec, the 6-foot-3 Andreychuk stood tall on the Sabres&rsquo; bench.Andreychuk, in fact, played a pivotal role in the Sabres&rsquo; coming back to win both the third and fourth games and forcing a fifth and deciding one.&ldquo;The three shots I took, some nights they go in and some nights they don&rsquo;t.&rdquo; Andrevchuk said after recording a hat trick in game four. &ldquo;I got some wood on them when I shot. I got to tee up on my shots a little more than I have in previous games.&rdquo;As for his playing left wing instead of the customary center position, Andreychuk said it &ldquo;throws a little different look at them (the Nordiques). I played in that position (left wing) for most of the season, so I didn&rsquo;t feel awkward at it.&rdquo;Bowman had nothing but praise for Andreychuk&rsquo;s play, realizing he&rsquo;s still suffering from the injury.&ldquo;There is no doubt that Dave is a good playoff player,&rdquo; said Bowman. &ldquo;He is a big type of guy who can do a lot of damage to the opposition around their net.&ldquo;He is still playing with a sore shoulder. It has got to feel better after scoring the hat trick.&rdquo;Another player earning Bowman&rsquo;s praise was goalie Tom Barrasso.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been strong for us throughout the entire series,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;Tommy kept us in both games we won. In that third game, Quebec threw a lot at us in the second period. He (Barrasso) was great in the nets for us in that period, stopping Quebec when it was needed.&rdquo;Barrasso sees this year&rsquo;s playoffs in a different light than last season&rsquo;s, which saw the Sabres&rsquo; lose in three straight to the Nordiques.&ldquo;After those first two games in Quebec (this year) we were supposed to be down and people were writing us off,&rdquo; said Barrasso. &ldquo;But in these past two games (at home) we have shown what we can do.&ldquo;In both of those games the first two periods we played were sloppy. But in both games we really Dut together two great third periods that more than made up for those other periods.&ldquo;Last season we lost in three straight. We were bums. I found out real fast that if you don&rsquo;t do really well in the playoffs, people forget real fast how well you did in the regular season.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want that to happen again this year.&rdquo;In game one, which the Sabres lost 5-2, Buffalo&rsquo;s normally-steady defense crumbled, but the absence of All-Star defenseman Bill Hajt influenced that. Following the Sabres&rsquo; final game of the regular season, Hajt aggravated the same shoulder he had undergone surgery on back in February and had to miss the opening game of the series.Bowman rested defensemen Hannu Virta and Dave Maloney and started veteran defensemen Jerry Korab and Jim Schoenfeld, hoping their muscle and size would make a difference.It didn&rsquo;t, Three of the Quebec goals were scored from close range on Barrasso, who faced 39 Nordique shots and kept the game respectable for Buffalo.In game two, Nordique goaltender Mario Gosselin was the big difference in Quebec&rsquo;s 3-2 victory. Gosselin stopped 19 of the 21 shots fired at him, including a breakdown by Craig Ramsay and Ric Seiling later in the game.Then came two of the most spectacular, come-from-behind, third-period victories ever witnessed by Sabre fans at Memorial Auditorium.The Sabres recorded five-goal third periods, leading the way to 6-4 and 7-4 wins, respectively.&ldquo;After the second period (of the first game) I told the guys then if we have to play desperate hockey, you have to do it,&rdquo; said Bowman. &ldquo;I told them the same thing in game four. We had our backs against the wall.&rdquo;SABRE POINTS&mdash;In a surprise move, the Sabres called up defenseman Bob Halkidis from the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League for game two of the playoffs. It was the NHL debut for Halkidis, the Sabres&rsquo; fourth-round draft pick in 1984&hellip;In game two, Sabre general manager-coach Scott Bowman called for a measurement of Quebec defenseman Mario Marois&rsquo; stick in the closing moments of the third period. Referee Kerry Fraser found the stick to be acceptable and the Sabres were given a two-minute bench penalty&hellip; A power failure at the Quebec Colisee delayed game one for about 20 minutes midway through the third period&hellip;Bowman has coached in 185 playoff games, trailing the late Dick Irvin, by five games. &#9632;</div>

f0010-01

Andreuchuk Shoulders A Load For Sabres

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03707/5507287-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="119" height="117"></div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;Nordique defenseman Pat Price said that a five-game series between Quebec and Buffalo in the Adams Division semi-final should not have come as a surprise to anyone.&ldquo;We finished only one point ahead of the Sabres after 80 regular-season games and so we had to expect a tight series against them,&rdquo; Price said after game four.Both teams won twice on home ice, forcing a fifth and final meeting in Quebec. The low-scoring Sabres not only pumped 13 goals by Dan Bouchard and Mario Gosselin in just two games, but they also took a page from Quebec&rsquo;s offensive approach, beating the Nordiques at their own game. Gosselin had held Buffalo to only four goals while winning the first two games of the series.Including the regular season and the start of the playoffs, the Nordiques lost only twice in games they led starting the third period. The Sabres quickly turned the tables on that statistic, scoring five times in the third period on successive nights while handing Quebec two defeats.In all four games, the Nordiques actually opened the scoring (and on the woeful power play, too), forcing the Sabres to open up a little on offense. In the two games played in Quebec, Gosselin held his ground and made all the key saves.In game three, however, he looked tired in the third period, and in game four Bouchard didn&rsquo;t help his own cause by taking two penalties with less than five minutes remaining in the game. The Nordiques were only down by one goal when Bouchard picked up the minors.&ldquo;Yes, those were bad penalties,&rdquo; said Quebec coach Michel Bergeron, &ldquo;but you must expect a player will show his frustration now and then. Bouchard had not played much recently and it probably hurt his effectiveness.&rdquo;The opening round of the playoffs proved to be quite painful for Peter and Anton Stasny. Peter took 18 stitches above the eye because of a deflected shot from Anton&rsquo;s stick in game one. In the third game, Anton broke a bone in his cheek just under the eye when the Sabres&rsquo; Mike Ramsey caught him with his stick. Peter continued to play with a visor, but Anton was operated upon and did not dress for game four.One of the Nordiques&rsquo; problems that became evident in the series was lack of depth. Bergeron did not want to call upon older brother Marian to replace Anton Stastny because the elder Stastny has played very little in the last three months. Bergeron had to settle for Blake Wesley, recalled for about the eighth time from Fredericton of the American League this season, a journeyman defenseman hardly capable of replacing a 40-goal scorer.In the history of the NHL, no team had lost a five-game series after taking a 2-0 lead, and the Nordiques did not want to be the first in that department. Bergeron did his best to take pressure off his team with more complaints about the refereeing, about the injury to Anton Stasny and about disallowed goals. He knew he did not have to say anything about the importance of game five.NORDIC NOTES&mdash;The Quebec management said Marian Stastny was ill and that is why he was not called up to replace injured brother Anton. Marian has had the longest flu bout&mdash;three months&mdash;in the history of the league&hellip;Michel Goulet, with five goals in four games, has finally answerwed all doubters who have accused him in the past of wilting under playoff pressure&hellip;Trevor Stienburg, the Nords&rsquo; top draft pick in 1984. has signed a four-year deal with the Nordiques. &#9632;</div>

f0010-03

Nords Expected A Tough Series

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011299/5507318-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="164" height="92"></div>LANDOVER&mdash;When 21-year-old Bob Carpenter was taking a penalty shot against Bill Smith with 30 seconds left in the fourth game of the Patrick Division semi-finals at Nassau Coliseum, it was perhaps as pressure-packed a situation as is possible to face in sports. Washington needed a goal to force overtime.Just to show what kind of player Carpenter is, he wanted the opportunity. In fact, he waged an argument with referee Andy van Hellemond to maintain his right to shoot.In the end, he did not lift the puck high enough, Smith stopped it and an empty-net goal later, the New York Islanders earned a 6-4 victory, forcing a fifth and decisive game in the series.All concerned agreed that they could not imagine a more demanding circumstance for a professional athlete unless the opportunity had occurred in the fifth game.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s tough,&rdquo; said Doug Jarvis, whose four Stanley Cup rings testify to a lot of tough spots. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t think of anything tougher than going one-on-one with the game on the line.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;d have taken it if they&rsquo;d told me to, but I don&rsquo;t think anybody would want to take a penalty shot in that situation,&rdquo; said Mike Gartner, the last Capital to take&mdash; and make&mdash;a penalty shot five years earlier.The unusual play occurred after the Islanders had wiped out a 4-2 deficit and moved in front on third-period goals by Patrick Flatley, Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier. The Capitals lifted goalie Al Jensen for a sixth skater and applied such intense pressure on Smith that defenseman Paul Boutilier deliberately displaced the net with 30 seconds remaining.Since there was insufficient time to serve the usual-minor penalty for the offense, van Hellemond awarded Washington a penalty shot under Rule 50 (d). Coach Bryan Murray designated Carpenter as the shooter, but the official scorer did not list him as being among the players on the ice.&ldquo;They took a look at the video and came up with five guys,&rdquo; Carpenter said. &ldquo;What they overlooked was that we&rsquo;d pulled the goalie. There was one guy missing and it was me. I knew I&rsquo;d been out there and I argued until they said it was okay.&ldquo;I wanted to take it. Bryan put enough faith in me to pick me and I felt it was time for something to happen. I felt I could do it.&ldquo;The problem is there&rsquo;s more pressure on the shooter at the end of a period because he knows you have to take a shot. If you try to make a move, you&rsquo;re liable to lose the puck on bad ice.&rdquo;Carpenter took no time to deliberate. He quickly scooped up the puck, headed toward the net and tried to lift it over Smith, who turned it aside with his right arm.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to forfeit the shot in any way, so I went right in there,&rdquo; Carpenter said.&ldquo;You want to make sure you hit the net. You want it high enough to get on the net, but you want to be sure you don&rsquo;t go over. I guess I wanted to be sure I hit the net, rather than try to pick the corner.&ldquo;Billy Smith went back into the net. As he went down, I dropped my shoulder and went high, but I wasn&rsquo;t high enough.&ldquo;That was my first penalty shot in the NHL, but I&rsquo;ve had a lot of them before. I only missed one, an exhibition in high school playing against a college team, when the puck rolled off my stick.&rdquo;Murray gave short shrift to second guessers who felt Gartner was a more logical choice than Carpenter. Gartner had scored a goal in each of the four games, connecting on a breakaway earlier in that contest.&ldquo;Bobby is our best goal scorer (53 in the regular season) and a guy who in practice usually puts it up under the crossbar,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t put it up, maybe because of pressure, maybe because Smith made a big play.&rdquo;&ldquo;He really didn&rsquo;t have that much to shoot at,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;I went back into the net in case he wanted to deke. He came in and made one or two head fakes and went to his forehand. I got it with my arm.&rdquo;The penalty shot was the 13th in Stanley Cup play and only three have been successful&mdash;Wayne Connelly of Minnesota in 1968, Anders Hedberg of the New York Rangers in 1981 and Wayne Gretzky of Edmonton in 1984.The only previous playoff penalty shot involving the Capitals occurred in 1983, when Washington goalie Pat Riggin stopped Denis Potvin of the Islanders. &#9632;

f0011-01

Carpenter Wins Battle, Loses Showdown

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021166/5507380-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="399" height="454"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Strachan</figcaption></div>ALL RIGHT FANS, it&rsquo;s that time of the year again. Time to acknowledge those bastions of brutality, those rogues of the rink, those perpetrators of pugilism who make hockey what it is today.It&rsquo;s time for (drum roll please) the 1984-85 Team Cementhead.While other players were skating and checking and scoring their way through an 80-game season, these vaunted villains hacked, speared, punched and slashed their way to immortality.The magnitude of this feat should not be underestimated. One doesn&rsquo;t make it to Team Cementhead merely by playing dirty.Anybody can play dirty. Just ask Torrie Robertson, who amassed an astonishing 337 penalty minutes, or Jim Korn, who in only 41 games this year managed to accumulate more penalty minutes than Jari Kurri has been assessed in his entire career.And people such as Al Secord, who get a lot of penalties but balance them with a lot of points, are invaluable to the game. Not only do they help a team to win but they provide the kind of hard, rugged hockey that fans love to see.No, to make Team Cementhead requires that rare combination of brutality and ineptitude not often found in today&rsquo;s hockey.There is no guess work in the manner in which this honor is awarded. It&rsquo;s simply a ratio of penalty minutes to scoring points. Candidates must accumulate at least 100 penalty minutes&mdash;a qulification none of them ever finds challenging&mdash;in order to prove that their elevated status is no fluke.And now, the envelopes please. This year&rsquo;s winner of the Hurt Trophy as the cementhead&rsquo;s MVP (Most Violent Player) is Brian Curran of the Boston Bruins with a remarkable points-to-penalty minutes ratio of 158.If we tell you that Brian had 158 penalty minutes, try to figure out how many points he had. If you can&rsquo;t do it without turning blue, you too may be on Team Cementhead some day.Brian showed promise last season when, in only 16 games, he accumulated 57 penalty minutes. But his rookie inexperience was evident as he foolishly allowed himself to somehow get credited with a goal and an assist and thereby ruin his ratio. No such backsliding this year. He dauntlessly persevered and clung to that lonely assist to seal his selection.Naturally, Brian will have as his teammate the man who is becoming an established regular on Team Cementhead, the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; Bob McGill, who has never averaged fewer than four penalty minutes per game during his NHL career (if &ldquo;career&rdquo; is not too strong a word). He is the penalty-minute leader on Team Cementhead this year with 250. A bit of a sub-par year for Bob, but let&rsquo;s not be too harsh on him. It&rsquo;s getting tougher all the time to perform up to par with these bozos in the league office suspending you every time you try to contribute to your team.Bob&rsquo;s qualifying ratio was a snappy 50, thanks to his five assists. And again, let&rsquo;s not be too harsh on Bob for accumlating all those points. Don&rsquo;t forget that he had an awful lot of ice time this year and a pylon could have had that many points under those circumstances.A somewhat astonishing qualifier for Team Cementhead is the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; Harold Snepts. A Canuck for 10 years, Harry was furious when he was dealt to Minnesota. Ever since that momentous day, Harry has taken out his anger on anybody he met on the ice.His classy total of 232 penalty minutes, the highest of his career, shows the extent of Harry&rsquo;s bad temper. His scoring total, 0-7-7, the lowest of his career, shows how hard he had to work to accumulate his qualifying ratio of 33.From the Winnipeg Jets, with three assists and 111 penalty minutes for a ratio of 37, comes Jim Kyte. Similar to Snepts, Kyte is a pleasant, quiet man off the ice. On the ice, he&rsquo;d terrify Jason. (It&rsquo;s no accident that Jason wears a hockey mask, you know.)Kyte is a genuine tough guy. He gave Mario Lemieux a concussion, and then to prove that it was not just a fluke resulting from the fact that he had been swinging at such a large head. Kyte celebrated his return from suspension by administering a one-punch kayo to Garth Butcher. Kyte is a rookie on Team Cementhead, but he promises to be a regular if he can overcome that penchant for competence he started to display late in the season.And rounding out this enviable lineup is the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; Dwight Schofield, a 29-year-old who worked hard for this honor by spending 10 years of his life being a cementhead in almost every league in North America.Unfortunately, there is a black mark on Schofield&rsquo;s record that simply refuses to go away. He had a goal this year. The judges were tempted to disqualify him, but this is the age of liberalism, and even with his four assists, his 184 penalty minutes still gave him a ratio of 37. Congratulations. Dwight, but let&rsquo;s not forget that if you&rsquo;re really serious about Team Cementhead, a goal is not something you score, it&rsquo;s something you ram an opponent&rsquo;s head into.You guys will all be getting your Redi-Mix Trophies in the mail. We&rsquo;ve learned from experience that it&rsquo;s best not to have you all in one hall for an awards ceremony.Your stupendous total this year is one goal (sorry to bring it up again Dwight), 20 assists and 935 penalty minutes.,How can we put this spectacular performance by Team Cementhead into perspective? Well, it&rsquo;s hard. But there is this to consider: Team Cementhead managed to accumulate those 935 penalty minutes in one season. Four overrated stiffs such as Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Dale Hawerchuk and Mike Bossy only have 751 minutes to show for their entire careers. &#9632;

f0012-02

Penalties, Little Offense Total Team Cementhead

<div class="byline">BY RICH FRIEDMAN</div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03777/5507411-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="118" height="123"></div>NEW YORK&mdash;&ldquo;The lesson we learned here is, you can&rsquo;t turn it on in the playoffs and expect to be champions. We can make lots of excuses, but excuses are for losers.&rdquo;Those were the words of New York Ranger general manager-coach Craig Patrick, summing up his team&rsquo;s three-game sweep at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers in the Patrick Division semi-finals.&ldquo;A terrible season, too many injuries, too many sore bodies,&rdquo; added Don Maloney, huddled in his comer in the Rangers&rsquo; funeral-like dressing room. &ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s poetic justice they took us three straight.&rdquo;Player attrition was only a small part of the downfall of this team, and now it knows it. The injuries provided a subconscious and deadly crutch, with the players hoping things would turn around with a healthy roster. But bodies are not enough, particularly in the absence of hearts and minds.Patrick put his own neck on the line by firing coach Herb Brooks in January, and then failed to instill the confidence, consistency and character the team needed in the playoffs to make up for a shameful season. His job, then, is not any more secure than the players.In game one, the Rangers failed to take the game to the Flyers in overtime after battling back from a 3-0 deficit. They were outshot 9-1 in overtime as the Flyers forced numerous faceoffs in the Ranger zone. And then the Rangers&rsquo; Reijo Ruotsalainen, whose defensive deficiencies all season long overshadowed his offensive prowess, allowed Ron Sutter to escape his grasp behind New York&rsquo;s net and set up Mark Howe&rsquo;s game-winner. Ruotsalainen looked nonchalant as he advanced to the crease in time to watch the shot sail past him. Final score, Flyers 5, Rangers 4.In game two, a 3-1 setback, the Flyers attacked the Rangers&rsquo; most vulnerable bodies&mdash;captain Barry Beck, battling a broken bone in his shoulder which is expected to need surgery; Willie Huber, who is likely to need knee surgery, and Ron Greschner, who sustained a case of whiplash from former teammate Ed Hospodar&rsquo;s crosscheck.That incident led to a first-period fight between Hospodar and the Rangers&rsquo; George McPhee and contributed to the brawl at the end of the second period which resulted in fines of $5,000 to each team by league president John Ziegler.Returning from the Spectrum to the Garden for game three, the Rangers voiced the same denial of their circumstances they had expressed all season, talking of pride and the expected boost from home ice. But they got very little from their fans and did not give enough to extend the career of Anders Hedberg, who announced before the start of the season that he was going to retire after this campaign but who genuinely believed he would be back in Philly for a fifth game.The Rangers sandwiched two respectable periods around a second-period that was a record-breaker for Flyer forward Tim Kerr, who scored four consecutive goals. Third-period goals by Maloney and Hedberg narrowed the gap to 6-5, but it was simply not enough.&ldquo;A little bit too late,&rdquo; said Patrick, following that with an explanation that had been heard countless times in the regular season. &ldquo;In that second period, at about the five-minute mark, we stopped doing some of the things we have to do to be successful. We weren&rsquo;t taking the body and that cost us dearly. Then we weren&rsquo;t able to make it up.&rdquo;The Rangers thought they had narrowed the gap between themselves and the crosstown Islanders after last spring&rsquo;s emotional, five-game series in the Patrick Division finals, but there was a chasm between the Rangers and the Flyers this spring. Goalie Glen Hanlon&rsquo;s major deficiency, his inability to handle the puck, was costly as he made weak clearing passes, setting up Kerr&rsquo;s go-ahead goal in the third period of game one, as well as Kerr&rsquo;s second goal in the final game. &#9632;</div>

f0012-03

Rangers Finally Out Of Excuses

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011399/5507349-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="145" height="104"></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;When it was over and the New York Rangers had finally stopped twitching, Pelle Lindbergh peeled off a sweaty undershirt, looked over his shoulder and smiled.&ldquo;Looks like the monkey&rsquo;s gone,&rdquo; said the Flyer goaltender. &ldquo;No monkey on my back anymore.&rdquo;Indeed, the monkey of past playoff failures was banished from the Flyers&rsquo; dressing room as they completed a three-game sweep of the New York Rangers with a 6-5 victory at Madison Square Garden.The clinchinn victory was due in great part to Tim Kerr, who set two playoff records and tied a third, with a four-goal performance. Kerr, who scored 54 goals during the regular season, exploded out of a mini-slump and scored all of his goals, including three on power plays, during an eight-minute, 16-second span in the second period.The outburst set NHL individual playoff records for goals in one period (four) and power-play goals in one period (three). It also tied the league record for power-play goals in one playoff game.Kerr&rsquo;s four goals pumped the Flyers to a 6-3 lead going into the final period. Considering that the Flyers had a 45-1 record over the regular season in games that they led after two periods, a three-goal lead looked like a big, fluffy cushion.However, that cushion suddenly flattened out when the Rangers scored twice within the first four minutes of the last period to cut the Flyers&rsquo; lead to 6-5.&ldquo;Nervous?&rdquo; gasped Lindbergh. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to say now I wasn&rsquo;t nervous but it was scary.&ldquo;Typical Ranger goals, you know. Pucks bouncing around, strange. Typical.&rdquo;But the ending was not typical&mdash;not for the Flyers of recent seasons, anyway.The Flyers completely shut down the Rangers over the last 16 minutes, giving up just four shots the rest of the way, and simply stifling the Rangers with a strangling defense. With the win, the Flyers clinched their first playoff series since April 1981, when they defeated the Quebec Nordiques, three games to two in the first round.And the sweep marked the first time the Flyers had swept a playoff series since they blanked the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 in the first round of the 1980 playoffs, which kicked off their drive to the Stanley Cup finals.Although it was oa three-game sweep, the Flyers hardly crushed the Rangers. Instead they needed overtime to win 5-4 in the first game and they barely escaped with a 3-1 win in the second game, both played at the Spectrum.Despite the closeness of the series, Flyer coach Mike Keenan, as usual, was talking about the bottom line.&ldquo;The reality of the situation,&rdquo; Keenan said, &ldquo;is that we swept them 3-0.&rdquo;The reality was also the impressive fact that the three wins extended the Flyers&rsquo; mastery of the Rangers to 10 consecutive games this season, and 12 over the last two seasons. No small feat for any club.&ldquo;We lost to the best team in hockey,&rdquo; said Anders Hedberg, the Rangers&rsquo; classy right winger, who was playing his last game before retirement. &ldquo;I wish I could go out a different way, but we played them close. The difference tonight was they had Tim Kerr and we didn&rsquo;t&mdash;unfortunately.&rdquo;With the Rangers holding a 3-2 lead, Kerr began to crack open the game when he scored a power-play goal with nine minutes, 54 seconds remaining in the second period. Kerr was fed a nice pass in the slot by rookie center Peter Zezel, who also assisted on two of Kerr&rsquo;s next three goals.&ldquo;When a guy&rsquo;s hot,&rdquo; Zezel said, &ldquo;you just keep feeding him the puck. That&rsquo;s all I did.&rdquo;And Zezel did just that, feeding him on two more power plays which led to a 6-3 lead at the end of the period, which they nursed until the end of the game.Despite Kerr&rsquo;s record-breaking effort, the most impressive aspect of the Flyers&rsquo; first-round effort was its balance of youngsters and veterans.Defenseman Mark Howe, whose playoff contributions often had been quesitioned, won the first game with an overtime goal.In the second game, one of the Flyers&rsquo; four rookies, Todd Bergen, scored two goals, including the game-winner.In game three, the Flyers played without captain Dave Poulin, one of their two best penalty killers, who had a strained knee. And without Poulin to stop them, the Rangers scored three power-play goals. However, the Flyers scored four, one by Zezel, who had four points and the three by Kerr.All the while Lindbergh was keeping the Flyers in all the games, center Ron Sutter further fortified his leadership capabilities.The monkey is gone, and the Flyers are on their way to a place they haven&rsquo;t been in four years&mdash;the second round.NOTES&mdash;The three wins over the Rangers extended the Flyers&rsquo; winning streak against Patrick Division teams to 16 games&hellip;The Flyers expected captain Dave Poulin for either the first or second game of the second round&hellip;Right winger Ilkka Sinisalo suffered a pulled groin in game three and was questionable for the first game of the second round. &#9632;</div>

f0012-01

Flyers Stop Their Annual Monkey Business

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011318/5507442-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="114" height="114"></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;Stealing glances at the clock, an astonished Ron Wilson continued to plug along.&ldquo;That third period was the longest of my life,&rdquo; said the hard-working utility forward of the Winnipeg Jets. &ldquo;I swear the clock was going backwards some of the time.&rdquo;Wilson and his teammates had just won their first-ever series in Stanley Cup playoff competition, eliminating the Calgary Flames in four games to advance to the Smythe Division finals against the Edmonton Oilers.Breaking new ground in playoffs, the Jets also won their first-ever game in the Saddledome, dumping the Flames 5-3 to wrap up the best-of-five series.Systematically, they checked the Hames to a standstill using a lineup lacking two of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s best players.Dale Hawerchuk, their 130-point center and the team captain, was sidelined with a cracked rib on his left side, while Brian Hayward, a 33-game winner in goal, nursed a pulled groin.The injury to Hawerchuk was the worst of his career. Leaping as he crossed the Calgary blue line in the third period, he took a stiff crosscheck to the midsection from Flame defenseman Jamie Macoun.No penalty was called.&ldquo;You see that check 100 times a game,&rdquo; said referee Terry Gregson.Caught in midair, Hawerchuk was definitely vulnerable.Depth being their weakest suit, the Jets appeared to be &ldquo;dead in the water&rdquo; according to Calgary folk.Adding a swift but passive forward, Bengt Lundholm, a tall but slow defenseman, Wade Campbell, and a goaltender who hadn&rsquo;t won since Dec. 14, Marc Behrend, the Jets came up with their most magnificent victory as an NHL team.Behrend was making his first start since Feb. 19.&ldquo;I said a little prayer to myself, &lsquo;Just do your best.&rsquo; I got every break in the book and here we are.&rdquo;But the tall goaltender from Madison, WI, was too modest. He made half a dozen outstanding saves while his posts stopped three others and a shot that might have been a goal seemed to pass through the net. But no hole could be found.&ldquo;You must believe in us now,&rdquo; said Barry Shenkarow, the team president, rushing into the room to collect a 25-cent bet from one who doubted the Jets could win in the Saddledome without Hawerchuk and Hayward in the lineup.Minister of defense Randy Carlyle, the team&rsquo;s most powerful leader, explained the significance of the victory to the assembled Calgary media.&ldquo;For this hockey club, this is a stepping stone,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was our first series win and our first win in the Saddledome. It&rsquo;s a healthy sign that this could happen with two of our key people gone.&rdquo;His voice all but gone, coach Barry Long complimented his players who handed out and withstood an immense amount of physical punishment in the series between two teams among the top five in the league&rsquo;s overall standings this season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure some of their bodies are sore, too.&rdquo; Long said.Initiate and instigate were the key words in the Jets&rsquo; approach to the series. They hardly won a fight but started all of them.Proudly, general manager John Ferguson stalked through the room, congratulating each one of his players.&ldquo;Nobody could be surprised we finally won here,&rdquo; said Ferguson. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve won in the Gardens, the Garden, the other Garden, the Coliseum, both Forums, a Stadium and the Civic Centre, so there was no reason why we couldn&rsquo;t win in the Saddledome, too. We just left it to the right time.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0013-01

Jets Finally Ridina Hiah In Saddledome

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02958/5507473-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="134" height="116"></div>CALGARY&mdash;Perhaps the hardest part for the Calgary Flames to accept was that they really thought this would be their year.&ldquo;In the playoffs, you are living for the moment,&rdquo; said team captain Jim Peplinski, just after the Winnipeg Jets eliminated the Flames from the Smythe Division semi-finals in four games.&ldquo;I think our team had a darn good chance to put in a real showing this year. It may be one of the best chances we get in a while. I look at it that some of our better players may be retiring in three or four years. It could be our last chance in a while. I&rsquo;m not saying it is&mdash;I hope it isn&rsquo;t&mdash;but it could be.&rdquo;In completing their fifth season in Calgary, the Flames established several franchise records, including most points and most road wins. Five days into the playoffs, everything they achieved came crashing down.Ultimately, it was the team&rsquo;s season-long bugaboo, the shorthanded goal, that came back to haunt them one final time. They surrendered two in the seasonending, 5-2 loss. As a team, the Flames enjoyed many highs this season but it was a league record&mdash;most shorthanded goals against (21)&mdash;that will be remembered five weeks from now when the Flames watch the Stanley Cup final on television from some holiday hot spot.&lsquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a funny thing,&rdquo; said Flame coach Bob Johnson in all seriousness, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;d really thought we&rsquo;d improved in that area of the game.&rdquo;&ldquo;Granted, if we didn&rsquo;t have two shorthanded goals scored against us, the results could have been different,&rdquo; said Peplinski. &ldquo;But I think that was a fluke of nature more than anything else.&rdquo;Whether it was or wasn&rsquo;t, the two goals accounted for the Jets&rsquo; edge in the final game.The Flames played the final game without their inspirational leader, Lanny McDonald, who reinjured his knee in a collision with the Jets&rsquo; Perry Turnbull in the third game, won 4-0 by the Flames.That game had apparently signalled a turnaround in the Flames&rsquo; fortune. Johnson made a dramatic move, benching his leading scorer, Kent Nilsson, as well as Richard Kromm, trying to get the Flames going. With Nilsson out and McDonald in, the Flames completely shut down the Jets&rsquo; offense.In the end, it was probably a case of too little, too late. The Flames had held a 4-1 lead in the opening match and eventually lost 5-4 in overtime. Blowing that lead probably cost the Flames the series.In discussing his controversial decision to &ldquo;rest Nilsson.&rdquo; Johnson said: &ldquo;We were playing survival hockey. We had to go with the lineup to win the game. It was very simple. It was not a hard decision. We won six playoff games last year without him. This is a team game. Remember that, it&rsquo;s the most important thing.&ldquo;Kent isn&rsquo;t going. When he&rsquo;s going, he plays a lot. He&rsquo;s not going right now. We hope he can get going soon.&rdquo;The other major development in the third game was the Jets&rsquo; loss of Dale Hawerchuk because of a cracked rib. Flame defenseman Jamie Macoun crushed Hawerchuk with a crosscheck as Hawerchuk skated across the Flames&rsquo; blue line. In the Flames&rsquo; minds, the loss of Hawerchuk put a new perspective on the series. In retrospect, though, it didn&rsquo;t work out that way. Other Jets picked up the slack.&ldquo;He was cutting across as I went to him,&rdquo; said Macoun. &ldquo;He jumped up and just as I hit him, his side opened up. I meant to hit him but I didn&rsquo;t intentionally try to hurt him. He just hopped up in the air. That&rsquo;s part of playoff hockey. All along, our team lost key players and we came back with other players filling in the void. Injuries are going to happen.&rdquo;In winning their first-ever game in the Olympic Saddledome and their initial playoff series, the Jets received excllent efforts from a pair of munchkins up front, Doug Smail and Ron Wilson, plus a solid performance from second-string netminder Marc Behrend. Brian Hayward, the Jets&rsquo; No. 1 goalie, was hit in the head twice in the third game and missed the fourth game with a groin injury.Ironically, Behrend played for Johnson at the University of Wisconsin. Brian Mullen, who scored the winning goal for the Jets in overtime in the first game, was another of Johnson&rsquo;s proteges at Wisconsin.What did Johnson say when Behrend went over to shake hands after the series ended?&ldquo;He said: &lsquo;Good game, kid.&rsquo; Those have been his three words to me since I have started playing for him. He&rsquo;s a big reason why I&rsquo;m in the NHL.&rdquo;IN BRIEF&mdash;The day after the Flames were eliminated, two players, defensemen Jamie Macoun and Steve Konroyd, joined Team Canada for the world championships in Prague. Originally, a third defenseman, Al Maclnnis, was also supposed to go, however the Flames vetoed the move because they wanted the team doctor to examine Maclnnis&rsquo; injured knee. Defenseman Paul Reinhart was also unavailable because of an undetermined stomach problem. &#9632;</div>

f0013-02

Shorthanded Goals Snuff Flames

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Here are two insiders&rsquo; reports on why a pair of sensational moves were made this year. First the firing of Herb Brooks: According to the Madison Square Garden sources, Brooks had been ordered to play Nick Fotiu, whom he didn&rsquo;t even want on the team. The edict was delivered by general manager Craig Patrick and Brooks refused, which subsequently led to his firing. Second, the trading of Greg Millen and Mark Johnson from Hartford to St. Louis. An insider tells BLUELINES that Millen was asked by a Whaler official about the club&rsquo;s problems. Millen reportedly singled out coach Jack Evans as the source of the club&rsquo;s inertia. Millen&rsquo;s explanation supposedly was relayed to the man who hired Evans. Emile Francis, who traded Millen&hellip;If Mel Bridgman remains a Devil&mdash;it&rsquo;s a 50-50 possibility depending on who&rsquo;d want him &mdash; he&rsquo;s likely to lose the captaincy to Rich Preston. The feeling among Jersey railbirds is that Bridgman played only when he felt like, which wasn&rsquo;t often enough&hellip; The ESPN sports network is expected to make an energetic bid to win the NHL Game-of-the-Week contract from the USA Network which now holds the pact. The word along TV row is that Ted Turner&rsquo;s group also might be interested&hellip;Former Ranger Ulf Nilsson has an interesting revelation in the coming issue of New York Sports. Nilsson claims his buddy Anders Hedberg erred in announcing his retirement during the winter. According to Nilsson, it wasn&rsquo;t good for the club. &ldquo;If your teammates know you&rsquo;re leaving,&rdquo; says Nilsson, &ldquo;it creates a strange relationship.&rdquo;Reverberations from Phil Esposito&rsquo;s Borje Salming put-down (&ldquo;he&rsquo;s a quitter, always was, always will be&rdquo;) continue to be felt. Salming counterattacked that Espo&rsquo;s jealous because he&rsquo;s not playing anymore, to which Espo responded: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s crazy,&rdquo; Esposito tells BLUELINES. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s 34 and he&rsquo;ll be lucky if he plays another year or two. If I made the amount he&rsquo;s making, I&rsquo;d keep my mouth shut!&rdquo;&hellip;A director of the Canucks was overheard recently at a Manhattan restaurant explaining the &ldquo;killing&rdquo; the club made in selling Air Canuck, the team jet. According to the exec, repairs were being made to the craft in Florida when some unidentified men approached and offered $2.5 million cash for the jet&hellip;A conflict appears to be brewing among Madison Square Garden bosses over who should manage the club next season. One honcho favors Craig Patrick, but another, with a more showbiz flair, reportedly wants Phil Esposito to both manage and coach&hellip;Jim Roberts tells BLUELINES that he feels ready for a head-coaching slot after being second banana with the Penguins&hellip;Oiler aide John Muckier, who has had more experience than most coaching applicants, would leave Edmonton for the right deal&hellip;An established league baron tells BLUELINES that only the intervention of the Nordiques&rsquo; Marcel Aubut and the Canadiens&rsquo; Ron Corey prevented the shuttering of the NHL&rsquo;s Montreal office&hellip;The saucy photo of super-model Carol Alt, now appearing on 23-by-35 inch posters across the continent, was selected by her hubby, Ron Greschner, of the Rangers. &ldquo;I picked out the print,&rdquo; says the defenseman. &ldquo;She worked hard at her profession and this should help her. Posing is part of the game.&rdquo;&hellip;Though he&rsquo;s due to become a free agent, the Devils&rsquo; Chico Resch says he expects to sign a one-year deal and does not want to leave Jersey&hellip;As the playoffs unfold, NHL execs are studying the effects on their players of last year&rsquo;s Canada Cup competition. One insider tells BLUELINES: &ldquo;The Canada Cup destroyed a good part of the season in terms of its effects on some players.&rdquo;The NHL will not make its amateur scouting guide available to the public. &ldquo;So much is confidential,&rdquo; says league p.r. head John Halligan. &ldquo;Some of the things are negative and it would be embarrassing to print that.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Word from on high is that the Bruins, denials to the contrary, are for sale. The hook is that the current owner, Jeremy Jacobs, wants to tie up the concessions for 35 years&hellip;In the Chicago Stadium corridors there&rsquo;s talk that Hawk boss Bill Wirtz wants Bob Pulford to coach as well as manage next season and will provide sufficient assistant managerial aid&hellip;Robbed of draft picks when the club was pulled from the brink by Harry Ornest, the Blues have a winner in Tony Hrkac from the University of North Dakota. Hrkac was picked by Blues&rsquo; GM Ron Caron in the second round, 32nd overall, and Caron figures he&rsquo;s the equivalent of a first-rounder. The Blues figure he&rsquo;s two years from the NHL, at least&hellip;The Kings will ban smoking at NHL games next season. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re doing it in response to public opinion,&rdquo; says Forum p.r. director Bob Steiner. That will put an end to GM Rogie Vachon&rsquo;s press box cigars&hellip;Calgary native Myles O&rsquo;Conner is expected to be the first Canadian high schooler picked in the first round of the NHL entry draft. The 17-year-old defenseman currently is playing in Wilcox, Sask., and is rated a potential All-American by Michigan U. coach Red Berenson. &ldquo;We considered him the most desireable player for our program in all of Canada,&rdquo; says Berenson, who&rsquo;d love him go to Ann Arbor&hellip; Wayne Gretzky tells BLUELINES he&rsquo;s given kid brother Keith advice to remember when he is bugged about living up to the Great One&rsquo;s standard. &ldquo;I tell him that all he can do is his best. And that every team has players who are there to do a particular job, and that there&rsquo;s room for him.&rdquo;&hellip;Michael Griffin. Campbell Conference director of information, has left the NHL&rsquo;s Montreal office to join the Houston Group p.r. firm in Toronto. &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021074/5507528-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="564" height="649"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s 100 points was the only positive thing about the Penguins&rsquo; season.</figcaption></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011379/5507535-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="128" height="104"></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Last. Next to last.A pessimist would say Pittsburgh Penguins haven&rsquo;t made much progress in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s overall standings the last three seasons. However, even the most optimistic person would be hard-pressed to say the Penguins improved, finishing 21st two seasons ago, 21st last season and 20th this season.Pittsburgh&rsquo;s 24-51-5 record is a 15-point improvement over last season&rsquo;s 1658-6 mark, but it&rsquo;s the first time in NHL history a team has lost 50 or more games three consecutive seasons.What makes this season all the more discouraging is the team tied last season&rsquo;s 38-point plateau at the halfway mark of the 80-game schedule. The first halfs 17-19-4 record was followed by a 7-32-1 second half, identical to a season ago, the worst in the club&rsquo;s ,18-year history.&ldquo;Some of the players on this team played very well for us in the first half of the season,&rdquo; said first-year coach Bob Berry. &ldquo;Whether or not they were on adrenalin or motivation, I don&rsquo;t know. But the second half of the season has been most discouraging for me.&ldquo;The reason why we started quickly was we had a very hard training camp, and we came out ready to play. We caught hockey teams earlier in the year that were better teams and we beat them because we were in great shape and we were ready. But once they started to tune up and go 100 per cent we just didn&rsquo;t have anywhere to go. I don&rsquo;t think a slow start would have guaranteed that we would have improved as the season went on.&rdquo;The shining star for the Penguins was center Mario Lemieux, the NHL&rsquo;s No. 1 choice in the 1984 entry draft, who is the prohibitive favorite to win the Calder Trophy as the league&rsquo;s rookie of the year. He led all Penguin scorers with 43 goals and 57 assists, the third freshman in NHL history to register 100 or more points in a season.But with few exceptions, Lemieux often played on a line with less-talented teammates.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s probably five or six guys on our team that are solid, sound National Hockey Leaguers,&rdquo; said Berry. &ldquo;So there&rsquo;s got to be some changes, obviously.&rdquo;Even with Lemieux on the team, Pittsburgh finished last in power-play goals. The Penguins scored 62 times in 364 man-advantage opportunities and had a team record 22 shorthanded goals against them.&ldquo;We shoot when we should pass, and we pass when we should shoot,&rdquo; said Berry about the power play.But Berry, whose friends accused him of being senile or spending too much time in the sun when he took the Penguin coaching job last summer, is cautiously optimistic about the future.&ldquo;At the beginning, I don&rsquo;t think the expectations were that we were going to end up in first place,&rdquo; Berry understated. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve improve our team in a number of areas, and there&rsquo;s still an awful lot of areas that need improvement.&ldquo;We definitley have something to build on. That&rsquo;s the key thing. If we didn&rsquo;t, it would be most discouraging. We do have a nucleus to build on.&rdquo;The Penguins will have second choice overall in June&rsquo;s entry draft and are expected to pick either right winger Jim Sandlak of London of the Ontario Hockey League or left wing-defenseman Wendel Clark of Saskatoon of the Western Hockey League. The Penguins are also interested in a number of collegiate free agents.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t given much thought to the draft,&rdquo; Berry said. &ldquo;I know the free agents coming out of college, there&rsquo;s an awful lot of teams after them because they&rsquo;re, in most cases, 21- or 22-year-old players that are going to be able to step in and contribute right away as opposed to drafting someone who&rsquo;s 18 and hoping he comes along and plays that first year.&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be a busy summer for us.&rdquo;PENGUIN TRACKS&mdash;Mario Lemieux won four team awards: rookie of the year, leading scorer, booster club three star and player of the year&hellip;Warren Young was voted the players&rsquo; player and Mitch Lamoureux the unsung hero. &#9632;

f0014-02

Penguins Make History For The Wrong Reason

And then there were six&hellip;Dave King, Hockey Canada&rsquo;s travelling salesman who&rsquo;s pitching the Olympic ideal to talented young Canadians, will make that announcement before the end of April at a press conference in Toronto.It will signify three more additions to Hockey Canada&rsquo;s national team, the nucleus of which will be used to ice the Team Canada lineup for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have an exact date for it (the press conference) but it will be before the end of the month,&rdquo; said King, who in March showcased the first three recruits&mdash;Jeff Greenlaw, Don McLaren and Doug Clarke&mdash;just before leaving with a squad of collegians, juniors and semi-pros to compete in the Pravda Cup in Leningrad.Immediately after the tournament. King spent a week on a scouting mission in Canada, which resulted in commitments from more players.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very excited,&rdquo; added King. &ldquo;We have got two college players who are definitely committed to the program and one junior player who we are optimistic about getting. All three are excellent players.&rdquo;He did, however, refuse to identify them until the press conference.In fact, more than six players&mdash;Greenlaw, MacLaren. Clarke and the three to be announced in late April&mdash;have already made commitments to King, but their names are sealed in a time vault and will be released intermittently until training camp begins in August.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d rather trickle them (the names) out and try to keep people constantly aware of the program and what we&rsquo;re trying to do,&rdquo; said King, who holds the title of coach and general manager but may be angling for a marketing, public relations or salesman&rsquo;s job, too.&ldquo;Actually, as far as trying to sell the program, we&rsquo;re using a soft sell. So far, that seems to be the best way to do it. All we do is lay out the facts for the boys. We don&rsquo;t want to get into a high-pressure situation.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very important for us to know that when a boy makes a commitment, he&rsquo;s doing it because he wants to do it, not because we forced him into it. That&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m very hesitant to apply any pressure. Up until now, that approach has paid dividends for us.&rdquo;Which is not to say King has signed up every player he&rsquo;s gone after.He wanted Perry Berezan of the University of North Dakota, but the speedy winger chose to turn pro with the Calgary Flames. And he would like to have a couple more North Dakota Fighting Sioux&mdash;junior defenseman Brad Berry and sophomore left winger Bobby Joyce&mdash;but probably won&rsquo;t get them.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve spoken to them both but they have said they want to return to North Dakota,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;Which is fine. I&rsquo;d dearly love to have them, but I got a chance to lay out the program to them and after that I can&rsquo;t ask for anything more.&rdquo;Naturally, U.S. college coaches and major junior operators are wary of King and his program. While he intends them no harm or malice, it&rsquo;s his job to compete for the best prospects and since he&rsquo;s touting his program as &ldquo;the most competitive outside of the National Hockey League&rdquo;, they&rsquo;ve got reason to worry. He&rsquo;s also armed with Hockey Canada scholarships at the University of Calgary.&ldquo;Actually, the college coaches have been pretty good,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re concerned, but they&rsquo;re calling up to get all the facts so they can let their boys know exactly what they&rsquo;re getting into. They realize the final decision is up to the boy.&ldquo;The junior operators are concerned, too, but I really don&rsquo;t think they&rsquo;ll lose many players to our program. Maybe a few, but we&rsquo;re being realistic and taking only boys we believe will be able to play in &rsquo;88. We&rsquo;re not out to screw up anybody&rsquo;s program by taking someone out of it for one year and then sending them back.&rdquo;&ldquo;Plus, at this point, we don&rsquo;t claim to have all the answers about our own program. It&rsquo;s new, so we haven&rsquo;t even run across some of the problems. How can I honestly tell someone what they are? That&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;re looking for a special player, one who has an enormous amount of self-confidence and knows what he wants to do. So far, those are the types of players we&rsquo;ve got.&rdquo; &#9632;

King Using ‘Soft Sell’ To Enlist Recruits

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011168/5507590-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="141" height="97"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Nothing has come easy for the Montreal Canadiens this season, so why should the playoffs be any different?It took the Canadiens until the second-last night of the regular season to clinch first place in the Adams Division. And in their division semi-final against the Boston Bruins, the Canadiens were forced to a fifth and deciding game in the best-of-five series.It didn&rsquo;t have to be that way. The Canadiens held a 2-1 series lead after the third game in Boston and were leading 4-1 after 20 minutes of game four. It certainly looked as though they had locked up a berth in the Adams Division final.But the air started leaking out the Habs&rsquo; balloon when rookie defenseman Chris Chelios was caught in a crush between the Bruins&rsquo; Geoff Courtnail and Terry O&rsquo;Reilly at 3:24 of the second period. Chelios had to be helped off the ice and didn&rsquo;t play the rest of the game. Neither did the Canadiens.Chelios suffered a sprained knee, which was expected to keep him out of game five. That left coach Jacques Lemaire scrambling to put together a solid defensive unit for the deciding game.&ldquo;Any team who loses a player of Chris&rsquo; caliber is going to suffer,&rdquo; said rookie defenseman Tom Kurvers. &ldquo;I think it was more than that against the Bruins.&ldquo;They jumped on us. We made a few errors and they made some good plays. You can&rsquo;t let a team play in your own zone for minutes at a time. The result was the puck ended up in our net too many times.&rdquo;With Chelios gone, Lemaire was down to a five-man defensive unit and quickly cut it to four, benching Rick Green. He got on for 30 seconds during a penalty midway through the third period but, for the most part, Lemaire used Larry Robinson with Petr Svoboda and Kurvers with Craig Ludwig, Chelios&rsquo; regular partner.&ldquo;When Chelios got hurt, we played a little soft,&rdquo; said Lemaire. &ldquo;We were aggressive in the first period and we wanted the puck. In the second period, it changed.&ldquo;Losing Chelios didn&rsquo;t help us. I don&rsquo;t have to explain to anyone how good Chelios is, especially controlling the puck.&rdquo;The Canadiens&rsquo; 7-6 loss in game four left the players shaking their heads as they quickly dressed to catch a charter flight back to Montreal. Some talked of panic. Others talked of the Bruins&rsquo; aggressive play as Boston mounted one of the more dramatic comebacks since the Canadiens&rsquo; overcame a 5-1 deficit in Boston in 1971, beating the Bruins 7-5 in the second game of their East Division quarter-final.It put something of a damper on an otherwise exciting weekend for Steve Rooney, the Providence College grad who was married in the Boston suburb of Canton just hours before game three.Rooney, a New England native who planned the wedding a year ago, had never expected to be with the Canadiens at this time of this year. But he was signed immediately after the NCAA playoffs and, fortunately, the Habs&rsquo; playoff arrival in Beantown coincided with his wedding day.Immediately after the service, he was whisked to the Garden, with a police escort, no less, and went out to score his first playoff goal in the Habs&rsquo; 4-2 victory.&ldquo;It was an exciting day for me,&rdquo; said Rooney. &ldquo;I knew I had to prepare for the game and scoring here was just a thrill.&rdquo;But Rooney, like the rest of the Canadiens, was stunned by what happened in game four.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no excuse for this,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They came back because we gave them the chances to. We helped them.&rdquo;The Bruins won the opening game of the series 5-3, surprising Montreal with their team discipline. Boston appeared on its way to a 2-0 series lead it took a 3-2 lead late in the second period of game two.But Montreal stormed back with three unanswered goals in the third period and carried the momentum over to all of game three and the first period of game four.Then the Bruins rallied and it came down to game five.No one said it was going to be easy.IN PASSING&mdash;Pierre Mondou decided his injured eye was giving him too much trouble and pulled himself out of playoff action before it even began. Mondou consulted with a Toronto-based eye doctor who suggested that he not play for the rest of this season. The Hab center suffered the eye injury March 9 against Hartford and played the final two games of the regular season. He was set to participate against the Bruins before the doctor warned him of the risks&hellip;Serge Boisvert, who helped the Canadiens&rsquo; American League farm team in Sherbrooke reach the playoffs, was recalled for the Stanley Cup playoffs and moved into a spot on the right wing alongside Bobby Smith and left winger Steve Rooney&hellip;Ron Flockhart was the designated sitter for the first four games against the Bruins. &#9632;</div>

f0016-01

Canadiens Discover Nothing Comes Easy

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03715/5507621-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="542" height="926"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Linseman&rsquo;s two penalties resulted in goals, but he made amends with four points.</figcaption></div><h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02933/5507628-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="121" height="117"></div>BOSTON&mdash;At 13:17 of the first period, with his Boston Bruins facing elimination in their Adams Division semi-final series with the Montreal Canadiens, Ken Linseman took a penalty for roughing. Mats Naslund scored on the power play.At 19:05, Linseman took another penalty, this time for interference, and Bobby Smith scored with three seconds left in the period to give Canadiens a seemingly-insurmountable 4-1 lead.Then, in the second period, Linseman tied a National Hockey League playoff record with four points, two goals and two assists, to lead the Bruins into a 6-6 tie.And, in the third period, he circled the Montreal net, tried to pass to teammate Geoff Courtnall in front and wound up shooting the game-winning goal off the leg of Canadien defenseman Larry Robinson.&ldquo;Actually,&rdquo; said Linseman, &ldquo;I was just trying to even the score for my penalties.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve taken &ldquo;dumb penalties before, but I&rsquo;ve held my composure better. I just lost my composure. The first penalty was kind of questionable, but they were stupid penalties no matter which way you look at it. I was just happy to win the game.&rdquo;So was general manager-coach Harry Sinden, particularly over the way his team came back against the closechecking Canadiens. Only the night before, Montreal had run up a quick 3-0 lead, then turned on the defensive burners for a 4-2 victory that put the Bruins on the brink of elimination in their own building.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d have to say,&rdquo; said Sinden, &ldquo;that in a playoff game, facing elimination, you&rsquo;re not going to find a team do much more than they did tonight after the first period.&ldquo;Hockey brings out the best in an athlete. There&rsquo;s just no other sport that can touch it for that kind of effort. These kids, their lives have been spent trying to do things like that and every once in a while they do it. I&rsquo;m really proud of them.&ldquo;I guess we&rsquo;ve come from three goals down before, but not facing elimination, and not as a fourth-place club, either.&rdquo;Linseman, said the Bruin coach, &ldquo;was probably the talk of press row up there after the first period. I can just see you now writing your leads.&ldquo;But Kenny&rsquo;s a game little competitor. He thought he was going to be the goat by taking a penalty he was sorry for and he came back and was the star of the game. You were ready to give it to him, I&rsquo;m sure. Maybe I was, too.&ldquo;He was kind of in a hole after the penalties, but it didn&rsquo;t bother us. Strangely enough, it doesn&rsquo;t bother the players on the team. It doesn&rsquo;t bother me.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to see cheap penalties, but you couldn&rsquo;t take him out of the game by blaming him for all that stuff, so we just let him do his thing and he came back.&rdquo;Actually, Linseman is at his best in the Stanley Cup playoffs.He helped the Edmonton Oilers win the Cup for the first time last season with 10 goals, second only to Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s 13.When he was traded to the Bruins for Mike Krushelnyski over the summer, he picked right up where he left off in the opener of the 1985 playoffs, scoring the third Boston goal and then setting up Keith Crowder&rsquo;s game-winner in a 5-3, upset-win over the Canadiens in the first game of the series.&ldquo;Once you win the Stanley Cup you can enjoy the summer so such more,&rdquo; said Linseman. &ldquo;You know you only have to win 15 games to win it. And once you do win it, you know what it takes, you have that confidence.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easier to get ready for the big games. I enjoy them. It&rsquo;s fun. It&rsquo;s tough to play every game hard. It&rsquo;s easier to get everything together in the playoffs.&rdquo;&ldquo;This was the first playoff game he&rsquo;s played for us and he was terrific,&rdquo; said Sinden. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way he&rsquo;s been all year. In games we felt we absolutely had to win, he was always one of our better players. He needs that extra incentive to bring out the best in him.&rdquo;WHAT&rsquo;S BRUIN&mdash;Boston police told the Boston Globe that former Bruin coach Gerry Cheevers is under investigation in connection with an illegal sports lottery after he appeared to testify in the case of Patrick J. Considine, a former Bruin employee who worked in the penalty box, who was in court on gaming charges.&ldquo;Everybody who appeard in court as possible witnesses for the defense are now targets of our investigation, including Gerry Cheevers.&rdquo; the Globe quoted detective Dennis Carey as saying.</div><div style="clear: both;"> &#9632;</div>

f0016-03

Linseman Atones For Dumb Deeds

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011025/5507659-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="99" height="97"></div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;Tom McVie, general manager-coach of the Maine Mariners, was raving about young Greg Adams when the season was only a few weeks old. McVie, a strong judge of talent, was predicting that New Jersey&rsquo;s free-agent acquisition was likely to be playing for the parent Devils before the season was over.Devil general manager Max McNab and director of player personnel Marshall Johnston knew of Adams&rsquo; potential, but most everyone surrounding the Devils was preoccupied with the debut of top draft pick Kirk Muller and rookie coach Doug Carpenter, and wondering if 1982 top draft pick Rocky Trottier would crack the roster. Adams was the name of the future.But the future, you might say, came quickly for Adams and the Devils. Adams arrived on Jan. 13 and convinced everyone in his 36 NHL games (12-9-21) that he can play for the Devils, who faced a critical 1985-86 season.&ldquo;He showed enough that it gives us hope for more balance at center ice,&rdquo; said McNab. &ldquo;It appears as though he&rsquo;s going to be one of the better National League skaters, and he&rsquo;s a smart boy. If he can improve his upper body strength that should keep him in this league for a number of years. If you&rsquo;re only weakness is upper body strength, you can consider yourself blessed. That&rsquo;s easy to correct. It&rsquo;s hard to teach goal scoring, and it&rsquo;s tough to change a player&rsquo;s stride to improve his skating.&rdquo;</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">Adams tied a Devil record by scoring in four consecutive games.</blockquote>While the Devils finished fifth in the Patrick Division with a record of 22-48-12, an improvement of 13 points over last season and a 31.7 per cent increase (third best in the league), Adams was among the most impressive players. He scored 12 goals and 16 points in his last 18 games to close the season before returning to Maine to help the Mariners in the American League playoffs.&ldquo;I felt comfortable out there,&rdquo; said Adams, a Nelson. B.C. native. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a feeling you get when you realize you can play here. I can&rsquo;t explain it other than to say every game you get more confident and you get to know your limitations, what you can and can&rsquo;t do.&rdquo;Adams, 21, came from a questionable college hockey background at Northern Arizona University and appeared frail on the ice. The Devils wondered about his limitations, but it didn&rsquo;t take him long to convince them of his abilities.&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t look very heavy but he&rsquo;s a strong kid,&rdquo; said teammate Rick Meagher. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been impressed with him from the very beginning. We played him in an exhibition game when we had a round-robin tournament in training camp. Greg scored three goals against us and I was impressed with him from that day on.&rdquo;&ldquo;He was the MVP of that tournament,&rdquo; added McNab. &ldquo;We knew about his competitive background, although sound, and we saw weaknesses in his defensive game. We thought 40 games at Maine would be good for him and he learned defense under Tommy (McVie) and John (Paddock, assistant coach). He learned professional hockey first and National League hockey second. There was absolutely no pressure on him.&rdquo;The Devils&rsquo; number one weakness is goal scoring and Adams showed signs of helping out in that area. His 12 goals in his first 36 NHL games is encouraging, as are his five power-play markers. He&rsquo;s a mobile center with outstanding stickhandling abilities and he doesn&rsquo;t get pushed off the puck easily.&ldquo;If there&rsquo;s one thing I can do,&rdquo; said Adams, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s put the puck in the net. I&rsquo;m an offensive-style player rather than defensive.&rdquo;In a four-game period, between Feb. 26 and March 3, Adams tied the Devils&rsquo; record held by Tim Higgins by scoring goals in four consecutive games.Carpenter was happy with the rookie&rsquo;s play at both ends of the ice.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s certainly coming into his own,&rdquo; said the coach. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m pleased with the progress he&rsquo;s made from college to the pros in one year. I thought he was our best player during one stretch (in early March).&rsquo;&rsquo;After 41 games at Maine, Adams joined the Devils and scored two goals in his first three games. But he did not score another goal in the next 15 games and began to worry.&ldquo;I was wondering what was happening,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s always been my game to score goals. I was a little disappointed in myself, but I&rsquo;ve been somewhat of a streak player in the past. I&rsquo;ve gone on streaks before and the goals finally started coming. I know I can play with these guys now.&rdquo;He was a bright spot in an optimistic season for the Devils; now everyone is waiting to see how good he can really become.HOT STUFF&mdash;Greg Adams was eligible to play for Maine because he was sent to the Mariners at the trading deadline in a paper transaction and recalled under emergency conditions, although he never physically left the Devils&hellip;A-lan Hepple and Ken Daneyko were both recalled from the minors to play in the Devils&rsquo; season-ending 6-1 loss to the Flyers. Daneyko was involved in a fight with Lindsay Carson&hellip;The Devils set or equalled numerous franchise or New Jersey records this season, including points in a season while tying the franchise mark of 22 victories held by Colorado in 1980-81&hellip;Kirk Muller established a Devil record for most points as a rookie (54), while Aaron Broten set a franchise mark for consecutive games played at 210. &#9632;

f0017-01

Adams Should Stay Longer Next Season

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011062/5507739-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="305" height="297"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02807/5507732-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="325" height="321"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03568/5507725-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="471" height="193"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04363/5507718-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="474" height="196"></div><h2>WINNIPEG</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05249/5507711-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="468" height="187"></div><h2>CALGARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06200/5507704-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="471" height="193"></div><h2>EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-07172/5507697-1-eng-US/f0018-072.jpg" title="f0018-07" width="468" height="196"></div><h2>VANCOUVER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-08147/5507690-1-eng-US/f0018-082.jpg" title="f0018-08" width="476" height="206"></div> &#9632;

f0018-01

FINAL THREE-STAR STANDINGS

TORONTO&mdash;For the second consecutive year there is a definite new look to the winner&rsquo;s circle in the 1985 Molson Cup competition.Four of the six Canadian cities sported new cup champions, with only the great Wayne Gretzky of Edmonton and Calgary goaltender Rejean Lemelin surviving the title purge.Gretzky again enjoyed the distinction collecting the most overall points in the three-star voting as well as winning his sixth straight Edmonton team title. Gretzky finished with 175 points. Winnipeg&rsquo;s Dale Hawerchuk was second with 135.Gretzky, Lemelin, Hawerchuk, Montreal goalie Steve Penney, center Bill Derlago of Toronto and Vancouver netminder Richard Brodeur are the 1985 Molson Cup winners. Each receives $1,000 from Molson&rsquo;s, which donates the prize money to the charity of the player&rsquo;s choice. Runners-up in the voting also get $500.Fifth-segment winners were also presented with checks for $1.000 as well. Guy Carbonneau of Montreal, Derlago, Hawerchuk, Lemelin and Gretzky were the clearcut winners. Patrik Sundstrom and Petri Skriko divided the Vancouver prize after ending in a tie.Here&rsquo;s a final city-by-city breakdown of the voting:MONTREAL&mdash;Penney and Carbonneau engaged in a two-man battle most of the season for the Molson Cup, with the Canadiens&rsquo; goalie winning by the narrow margin of 80-75 in points. Carbonneau was last year&rsquo;s club winner.TORONTO&mdash;Derlago came on strong to pick up the overall cup win among the Maple Leafs as he won $2,000 as the combined champion and fifth segment leader. Rick Vaive, the 1984 cup winner, finished second.WINNIPEG&mdash;Hawerchuk was an easy winner among the Jets with 135 points as he, too, was awarded $2,000 as the overall leader and fifth-segment champion. Laurie Boschman was second in the voting with 70 points.CALGARY&mdash;Goalie Lemelin defended his Molson Cup win despite finishing tied with Kent Nilsson, each with 75 points. Lemelin got the nod because he had more first-place votes. The Flames&rsquo; goaltender earned $2,000 doubling as the fifth segment winner and overall champion.EDMONTON&mdash;Gretzky was again the dominant figure among all the Molson Cup competitors as he racked up 175 points. However, defenseman Paul Coffey won the fifth segment over Gretzky to capture the $ 1,000 prize money.VANCOUVER&mdash;Just as had been the case all season, the Canucks&rsquo; cup voting was a toss-up with goalie Brodeur managing to pull out the ultimate overall win in the tangled voting and the $ 1,000 bonus. Sundstrom ended second with 60 points to Brodeur&rsquo;s 65. &#9632;

Four New Faces Post Cup Wins

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01986/5507794-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="133" height="126"></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;The New York Islanders have changed since they lost their bid for a fifth consecutive Stanley Cup last spring.There have been changes in personnel and, in some cases, changes in attitude.But when the playoffs roll around, the heroics are usually produced by the same people.Bryan Trottier&hellip;Mike Bossy&hellip;Bill Smith. Heroes all.On two successive nights at Nassau Coliseum, they pulled the fans out of their seats with remarkable performances and they pulled the Islanders even with Washington in the semi-finals of the Patrick Division playoffs.It was Trottier who steered the Islanders to a 2-1 victory in the third game. He broke a goalless tie at the end of a two-on-one breakaway with Bossy at 5:11 of the third period, and Brent Sutter produced the winning goal eight minutes later. Smith, meanwhile, held the Capitals in check until Mike Gartner ruined his shutout bid with 41 seconds remaining.Trottier, Bossy and Smith came through again the following night. The Isles, again facing elimination, staged a scintillating comeback. They entered the final period trailing 4-2 and pulled out a 6-4 victory to send the series back to Landover, MD, for a decisive fifth game.Bossy scored twice in the Islanders&rsquo; four-goal comeback. Trottier contributed the winning goal and Smith electrified the capacity crowd of 16,002 by stopping Bobby Carpenter&rsquo;s penalty shot with 30 seconds left to play.&ldquo;I find it interesting that the same key players are always involved in key plays,&rdquo; said Islander general manager Bill Torrey.Islander coach Al Arbour disclosed that his team held a &ldquo;discussion&rdquo; during the intermission between the second and third periods of the fourth games.&ldquo;Everybody agreed that we had to find a way to win the game,&rdquo; Arbour said. &ldquo;And they did find a way.&rdquo;Trottier, Bossy and Smith found a way.It&rsquo;s more than a coincidence that when the Islanders had to get a goal to tie the score or face the onset of an early summer vacation. Bossy was there. When they needed a goal to break the tie or face the sudden-death overtime, Trottier answered the call.And when only one man could stop Carpenter&rsquo;s penalty-shot attempt while the crowd drew in its breath in a collective gasp. Smith did it.&ldquo;People may never see all these things happen in another hockey game for the rest of their lives,&rdquo; Trottier said. &ldquo;Me either.&rdquo;Added Arbour: &ldquo;That game had everything&hellip;it showed the drive and desire and determination that these players have.&rdquo;Bossy agreed.&ldquo;This is a team that keeps coming back,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;One reason is that we&rsquo;ve got good players. A good hockey team didn&rsquo;t give up after losing the first two games (of the series).&rdquo;When somebody suggested to Smith that the Islanders had displayed gallantry in deadlocking the series, the veteran goalie grinned and said. &ldquo;Gallantry means nothing. Winning is everything.&rdquo;Yet, there were some Islanders who had no illusions about what the end of the season would mean.&ldquo;There are some guys who won&rsquo;t be back,&rdquo; said Bob Bourne, nearly 31 and coming off a serious hand injury. &ldquo;There are guys who&rsquo;ve played together for 10, 11 years. There are definitely going to be changes.&rdquo;ON THE ISLE&mdash;The two goals Mike Bossy scored in the fourth game rasied his career playoff total to 81, one shy of Maruice Richard&rsquo;s all-time record&hellip;Denis Potvin, who played some of his best hockey in the past month, was hit in the throat by a deflected shot late in the same game and was carried off the ice. &#9632;</div>

f0019-01

Heroes Come Through For Isles In Clutch

<div class="byline">BY PERRY LEFKO</div><h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03401/5507918-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="146" height="142"></div>TORONTO&mdash;Jeff Jackson thinks he can play in the National Hockey League&mdash;even if some people think otherwise.In a recent item in a Toronto daily newspaper, it was suggested that the Maple Leaf management had erred in bypassing other players in favor of Jackson, an aggressive left winger with the Brantford Alexanders (now the Hamilton Steelhawks) in the second round of the 1983 draft. The claim was also made that Jackson did not have the skills toplay at the NHL level.Jackson, who played in 17 games with the Leafs and viewed several others from the press box before he was returned to junior, stuck around Toronto long enough to know how critical the media can be. For that reason alone, he&rsquo;s learned to read everything with a &ldquo;grain of salt.&rdquo;&ldquo;If they want to criticize me they can. but I think I can help Toronto, and hopefully they&rsquo;ll let me prove it next year,&rdquo; said Jackson.Dave Draper, the Steelhawks&rsquo; president, is a big Jackson supporter. When asked if he felt Jackson is NHL bound next season, Draper said. &ldquo;Yes, especially the way he&rsquo;s playing now.&rdquo;A few months back. Gerry McNamara, the Leafs&rsquo; taciturn general manager, listed Jackson, along with defenseman Todd Gill, as the Leafs&rsquo; two best junior prospects.Jackson, the acting captain of the Steelhawks in place of Shayne Corson, has played a dominant role in his team&rsquo;s advancement to the Emms Division finals against league-leading Sault Ste. Marie.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s provided incredible leadership on and off the ice,&rdquo; said Draper, the former coach of the Alexanders and now interitn coach with the suspension of Bill LaForge. &ldquo;He played his best hockey I&rsquo;ve seen him play in junior against North Bay and especially against London.&rdquo;Against London, the cards were definitely stacked in the Knights&rsquo; favor. But the Steelhawks showed plenty of pluck, and Jackson, for one, had more than one reason for wanting to do well.&ldquo;I wanted to beat London because they beat us the last two seasons (in the playoffs), plus I wanted to show Toronto&rsquo;s management that I was working hard and I wanted to be back next year.&rdquo; he said.Jackson didn&rsquo;t have much time to pout after the Leafs returned him to junior in December. Team Canada coach Terry Simpson recruited him for the world junior championship, where the Canadians won the gold medal.&ldquo;Being sent back from the NHL, plus winning the championship against the Russians was kind of a double adjustment,&rdquo; Jackson said of his return to Hamilton. &ldquo;The first few games I was really having a hard time. Finally I got used to it and decided I had to work hard. Then I got a knee injury.&rdquo;The knee injury, however, did not prove to be serious and Jackson came back after a brief spell on the sidelines. He worked on his offense, the one aspect of his game the Leaf management felt needed improvement, and feels &ldquo;it&rsquo;s worked out well.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0020-03

Jackson Wants To Prove He’s Maple Leaf Material

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02580/5507887-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="182" height="110"></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;If you exclude the historical factor of three years ago when they stunned the hockey world by beating the Oilers in the first round of the playoffs, the Los Angeles Kings really had nothing else going for them in their series against Edmonton this time around.To be sure, the Kings had proved to more than a few teams&mdash;and countless hockey people&mdash;that in the coming years, with continued sound management and coaching. Los Angeles will no longer be an easy two points. But in the Smythe Divison semi-finals against the Oilers, the Kings needed much more to upset the defending Stanley Cup champions.So, even though they lost in a three-game sweep to Edmonton, the Kings had reason to skate away from the series with their heads held high, although you could appreciate their dejection.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed, but there&rsquo;s more than one way to look at this,&rdquo; said veteran DaveTaylor. &ldquo;We had a good season, we played good playoff hockey. If there&rsquo;d been a couple more breaks we&rsquo;d still be playing.&ldquo;We have to be optimistic about our future. We made a lot of great strides this year. I&rsquo;m happy about the way we played. I&rsquo;m not happy about the net result, but we never quit.&rdquo;Quinn, who left his law studies to get back into coaching, summed up the series with his usual cerebral analysis.&ldquo;We played as well as we could,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My heart&rsquo;s full of pride with the effort we put out. But we learned that heart and spirit are not enough. It must be combined with discipline. We&rsquo;ll be back.&rdquo;Marcel Dionne, the longtime veteran who is the embodiment of the Kings, knows his hockey years will be coming to a close within the next few years&mdash;although he is one player whom you can truly say seems to improves with age&mdash;but remains optimistic about his and the club&rsquo;s future.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s always the hope to get better, I just want to get my chance,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Once you get past the first round, everything gets easier.&rdquo;The Kings put up a stiff front in the series. They lost the first game 3-2 in overtime and the second one 4-2 on an empty-net goal. Then the teams moved to L.A. for game three.The Kings were losing that game 3-1 at the start of the third, but Dave Taylor and Garry Galley scored goals to tie it up and send it into overtime, which lasted only 46 seconds when the Oilers&rsquo; Glenn Anderson ended it all.The Kings have plenty of good things to look back upon in the next few months. They held Wayne Gretzky goalless, although he did total five assists, the Oilers failed to convert a single powerplay chance in 10 opportunites (the Kings, who led in that department, were not much better with only one goal in 16 attempts), and rookie goalie Bob Janecyk did as good a job for L.A. as Grant Fuhr did for the Oilers.&ldquo;We knew we had a good goaltender,&rdquo; said Dionne, &ldquo;there was never a doubt about that. But he proved in this series that we&rsquo;ve got a major-league goaltender.&rdquo;Six rookies, including three on defense, played for the Kings, but given time they should improve. &#9632;

f0020-02

Kings Can Hold Their Heads High

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>Louisville HockeyLouisville Hockey<h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01857/5507856-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="126" height="118"></div>EDMONTON&mdash;There&rsquo;s one aspect of professional athletics that even money can&rsquo;t buy&mdash;experience.The past six years have taught the Edmonton Oilers that particular exercise in reality. The Oilers, not ones to save such a priceless lesson to carry through life, in turn spent three April nights relaying the message to the Los Angeles Kings.And, make no mistake, experience was the primary reason the Oilers disposed of the pesky Kings in the quickest manner possible in the best-of-five Smythe Division semi-final series.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to shed a few tears, have a few hardships,&rdquo; said defenseman Lee Fogolin in the wake of the Oilers&rsquo; sweep of the Kings, that included two overtime victories surrounding game two that wasn&rsquo;t settled until Jari Kurri&rsquo;s empty-net goal.&ldquo;Learning is a big thing. You&rsquo;ve got to learn how to win. You have to be put through certain situations to properly know how to cope with them. If you&rsquo;ve never experienced them before, you won&rsquo;t know how to react. That&rsquo;s when you make the mistake that winds up costing you a game.&rdquo;Which is the reason the competitive world of pro athletics rarely writes Cinderfella tales.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t see a young team win the whole thing very often,&rdquo; echoed Fogolin, the scoring hero at 3:01 of suddendeath overtime in Edmonton&rsquo;s 3-2, game-one victory. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not just in hockey, but in every aspect of professional sports.&rdquo;The Oilers have paid their dues enroute to last spring&rsquo;s Stanley Cup championship. They extended the No. 1 seeded Philadelphia Flyers to two overtime games&mdash;including one double session&mdash;before bowing out in three straight in 1980.&ldquo;We played with as much enthusiasm and heart as we could,&rdquo; recalled Fogolin, &ldquo;but when it came down to it they ended on top. The same happened to L.A. this year.&rdquo;The Oilers&rsquo; second venture into the Stanley Cup tournament saw them upstage the much-favored Montreal Canadiens and then take the New York Islanders to six games. But, it was nothing more than a tease to show how close a championship really could be. Then, once again, how far away in 1982 when the Oilers were upended by the Kings in round one.You know the rest&mdash;how the Oilers advanced to the final in 1983 and won it all last year.Now, they&rsquo;re passing on this experience to others.&ldquo;No question that was a different Saturday night,&rdquo; said winger Mark Napier, whose second-period goal staked the Oilers to a 3-1 lead the Kings were to erase during the third period. &ldquo;They came out like gangbusters in the third and tied it up, but then they let up and sat back. This gave us time to regain our composure and play well again after that.&rdquo;The winning overtime goal came from Glenn Anderson on a three-on-two break along with speedy accomplices Mark Messier and Paul Coffey.&ldquo;They were like poetry in motion,&rdquo; marvelled defenseman Don Jackson, who replaced the injured Kevin Lowe (charleyhorse) before the game.Jackson was in the penalty box in the company of the Kings&rsquo; Bernie Nicholls when Anderson concluded the series 46 seconds into overtime.&ldquo;That was the time to do it.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We were four on four, there was a lot of open ice, and those guys were able to put it to them.&rdquo;Ironically, before the series. King coach Pat Quinn warned of such situations.&ldquo;Sometimes they&rsquo;ll take a penalty deliberately and take a guy off with them just to get a four-on-four,&rdquo; cautioned Quinn, whose team did not allow the Oilers a power-play goal in 10 opportunities.The Messier-Anderson-Napier line accounted for the Oilers&rsquo; offense in the series-concluding 4-3 triumph. Messier led the way with two goals, including one shorthanded effort.&ldquo;That line had been struggling and it was great to see them get going, especially Glenn,&rdquo; said Oiler general managercoach Glen Sather. &ldquo;He made a superb athletic play, he missed it. and then came back in a manner in which not too many players could. A guy has a tendency after missing, to keep going. But he stopped and came back, and I don&rsquo;t think there are 10 players in the league who could do that.&rdquo;Actually, Anderson had help. The Oilers&rsquo; gained possession of the puck in their own zone when King ace Marcel Dionne attempted to kick it to linemate Dave Taylor but Coffey intercepted.&ldquo;Paul got it to Mark, who got it to me in the Kings&rsquo; zone,&rdquo; explained Anderson. &ldquo;But Janecyk (King goalie Bob Janecyk) pokechecked me. Luckily. Paul got it behind the net and threw it out in front.&rdquo;And that was the end of the series, enabling the Oilers to erase the haunting memory of the Kings&rsquo; stunning five-game upset three years ago.&ldquo;I want to ask a question,&rdquo; scowled Sather to an Edmonton reporter who had been serving constant reminders of the &rsquo;82 series. &ldquo;Do you think this will eliminate the series from three years ago, or will we have to live with it some more for a while longer?&rdquo;IN THE CREASE&mdash;The Oilers had four days before opening the Smythe Division final series against the Winnipeg Jets. They charged the time off to the charleyhorse Kevin Lowe suffered when he crashed into a goalpost in game one, and aggravated in the second game of the series. The team doctor, Gord Cameron, advised strongly against Lowe playing in the third game, but the veteran defenseman should be ready to face Winnipeg&hellip;Goaltender Andy Moog reinjured his left knee during the pre-game skate before game three, setting back the 25-year-old&rsquo;s recovery progress yet again. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have to start over where I was 10 days ago,&rdquo; said Moog, who suffered ligament damage to both knees against L.A. back on March 1&hellip;As an emergency replacement, the Oilers have recalled goaltender Mark Zanier from Nova Scotia of the American League. &#9632;</div>

f0020-01

Oiler Credo No Substitute For Experience

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01746/5507949-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="119" height="109"></div>HARTFORD&mdash;In two sessions under Emile Francis&rsquo; guidance, the Hartford Whalers, let the record show, have set a record for setting records.Last year they set or tied 57 team and individual records, and this year they set or tied 58. Talk of shattering experiences. All this and they still missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. Only Colorado-New Jersey has been excluded longer.If the Whalers&rsquo; 30-41-9 season proved anything, it&rsquo;s that chief statistician Frank Polnaszek is a player. He goes the full 60 and obviously digs in the comers. Where else could he find 58 records to go on top of last year&rsquo;s 57? The guy&rsquo;s a gamer, no question.But the good news for Whaler fans is that Polnaszek didn&rsquo;t find all the records in the dimly-lit sections of the rink. Some he found front and center, at the top of the slot, right where they belong.The Whalers&rsquo; 30 wins were the most in six NHL seasons and their play over the last 14 games was downright inspirational. Perhaps it is easier to play when the pressure of making the playoffs is off. but what the Whalers did in the last month of the season cannot be ignored. They finished with a 9-3-2 run. which included a pair of 2-1 losses to Buffalo, and they went nine games undefeated at one point, reeling off seven straight victories, one of those magically multiplying records.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re a hungrier team than I&rsquo;ve ever seen in Hartford,&rdquo; said Ray Neufeld, the only player remaining from the team&rsquo;s original NHL draft in 1979. &ldquo;We felt good at the end of last year, but I think as a whole we have a better attitude at the end of this season.&rdquo;The Whalers went 13-14-4 over their last 31 games a year ago.&ldquo;There were tough times this year,&rdquo; Neufeld said, &ldquo;but we came through them. Somehow, some way, we did it. It&rsquo;s going to be all right.&rdquo;March was the Whalers&rsquo; best month in history. They posted eight wins and earned 18 points, both records, naturally.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t pin it on one guy&rsquo;s back, but (Mike) Liut&rsquo;s been a big influence in the locker room,&rdquo; Neufeld said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got everybody thinking about things a lot more than before. Instead of making excuses, you face reality more. Hey, we hit a long, bad stretch that was just played terrible. I don&rsquo;t even know how long it lasted.&rdquo;During one span, the Whalers went 1-12-1 and won just five of 29 games, going 5-20-4.&ldquo;I really think we came out of it at the end,&rdquo; Neufeld said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to be positive about it.&rdquo;After the All-Star game in February, the Whalers went 13-11-3 and allowed only 77 goals, a 2.85-per-game average, while scoring 88 (3.26). In that uplifting 14-game span, they had three shutouts, two by Steve Weeks and one by Liut, a 40-save dazzler against Washington, and seven overtime games. Eight of the 11 losses were by one by goal and five of the 13 wins were by three goals or better.Undeniably, the Whale fought the good fight to the end.&ldquo;I think a good part of it is the young players,&rdquo; said Liut, who finished at 4-71 with a 2.95 goals-against average in Hartford. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve come in as real gamers. Young guys like (Kevin) Dineen. Too many of the young players who come into the game feel that hockey and the NHL owes them something.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like that with these guys. That&rsquo;s refreshing.&rdquo;The Kiddie Korps, most notably Dineen, who scored 25 goals in 57 games, Ulf Samuelsson and Ray Ferraro made its presence felt. The Whalers played with eight rookies through much of the season.Yet the prospect of overcoming Montreal, Quebec, Buffalo or Boston to reach the playoffs next year remains partly cloudy. Or is it partly sunny?&ldquo;Put it this way,&rdquo; said Greg Malone, &ldquo;when you go into something, you&rsquo;ve got to go in with a positive attitude. This year the bad slump put the playoffs out of reach, but hey, I&rsquo;m optimistic. &#9632;</div>

f0022-01

Records Give Whalers Hope For Future

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01671/5507980-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="101" height="97"></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;The management of the Vancouver Canucks has essentially degenerated into a guessing game.The Thursday before the season ended, Canuck general manager Harry Neale met with owner Frank Griffiths and his son Arthur, the assistant to the chairman, who collectively told him he was no longer wanted by the club and that he was free to look for employment elsewhere. In the meantime, however, they told him to hang around and tend to the day-to-day chores of his general manager job.But it appears as though Neale is through with those functions too, as his job title has been changed from GM to director of hockey operations, and that someone else is to replace him. although that person has yet to be appointed. Many names have been bandied about, including John Ferguson, Harry Sinden, Scotty Bowman and Al Arbour, but none admit to being free to even consider such an offer.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t had time to look for another job, but I&rsquo;m going to now,&rdquo; Neale said.Alan Eagleson, Neale&rsquo;s newly-retained advisor, could probably find him positions in Hartford, Chicago, New York or Boston given the right circumstances, although nothing is definite. In the meantime. Neale sits idly wondering when the Griffiths will make the proper move and buy out his contract.&ldquo;It sounds to me as if they have more than a passing interest in somebody already,&rdquo; Neale said. &ldquo;I have no idea who it might be. If they get him I guess they&rsquo;ll have to fire me. I&rsquo;ve told him (Frank Griffiths) I probably wouldn&rsquo;t want to stay on as coach. A director of operations wouldn&rsquo;t want me around in any other capacity anyway.&rdquo;Neale said he wasn&rsquo;t particularly surprised the club told him about its search for a new man, but appreciated their forthright manner.&ldquo;We had a lousy season, so I can&rsquo;t blame them for trying to get someone to better the organization if they believe that&rsquo;s the direction that has to be taken.&rdquo; he said, realizing the Canucks finished their 15th National Hockey League season in last place in the Smythe Division, 20 points behind fourth-place Los Angeles. &ldquo;I appreciate that they let me know what they are doing and they have told me my contract would be honored.&rdquo;That seems to be the rub, because rather than having him hang on while they look for someone new, he should probably be paid off in some form. Permission to look for another job leaves him wondering what he should do about acceptance and what would happen to the $150,000-per-year salary on the two years remaining on his contract if he took the job.&ldquo;Meanwhile I&rsquo;ve been told to continue as I&rsquo;ve been doing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I presume I&rsquo;ll still have a job here if they don&rsquo;t come up with a director of hockey operations.&rdquo;That would leave him operating over a year as the GM the club didn&rsquo;t want but couldn&rsquo;t find any one better. Presumably when it does hire a new boss, that person&rsquo;s first task will be hiring a coach, the fifth in three years, if you count Neale&rsquo;s three separate tries.Ron Smith, the associate to Neale this past year and in two seasons previously with Roger Neilson, has applied for the job. His chances are two&mdash;slim and none.Neale, who fired coach Bill LaForge 20 games into the season, finished with a 21-32-7 record after he took over a completely disheartened and disorganized team. &#9632;</div>

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Canucks Leave Neale Standing In Limbo

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div><h2>CHICAGO BLACK HAWKS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01725/5508011-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="118" height="109"></div>CHICAGO&mdash;The Chicago Black Hawks didn&rsquo;t defeat the Detroit Red Wings in their best-of-five Norris Division semifinal series. They annihilated them.With 17,252 shell-shocked spectators in Detroit&rsquo;s Joe Louis Arena looking on, the Hawks completed their three-game reign of terror by wasting the Wings 8-2.Chicago&rsquo;s 23 goals&mdash;scored by 13 different players&mdash;set a National Hockey League record for a three-game sweep. The previous record was 20, set by Minnesota against Boston in 1981.And now the Hawks are renewing their arch-rivalry with Minnesota in the best-of-seven Norris final.&ldquo;Minnesota has a good hockey team,&rdquo; said Bob Pulford, the Hawks&rsquo; general manager-coach. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have to play every bit as well as we did in this series if we hope to win.&rdquo;Detroit coach Nick Polano said he can&rsquo;t see how the Hawks could play any better.&ldquo;We studied tapes over and over and we couldn&rsquo;t find any weakness,&rdquo; said Polano. &ldquo;They were solid in every department, from goaltending on out.&ldquo;During the regular season, we forced the defense into mistakes. In this series, I don&rsquo;t think their defenseman had a single giveaway.&ldquo;Their checking was fierce, their power play was right on from the start and their penalty killing was superb. We just came up against an extremely-strong team.&ldquo;The Hawks can go all the way.&rdquo;Greg Stefan, the Hawks&rsquo; goaltending nemesis during the regular season, was supposed to be a factor in the series. The singer who whipped Chicago Stadium faps into a frenzy when he sang the National Anthem was probably more of a factor.Stefan was bombed out of the first game by the Hawks and kicked out of the last game by referee Ron Fournier.The ejection came on a match penalty at 10:13 of the third period when Stefan took a swing with his stick at Al Secord while the Hawks&rsquo; left winger was on the ice pummelling Greg Smith.The first goal of the final game typified the way the Hawks played throughout the series.At 14:09 Steve Ludzik had to go to the dressing room after receiving a bad gash above his forehead when he was wrestled to the ice by Detroit&rsquo;s Danny Gare, who received a roughing penalty.The Hawks were unsuccessful on the ensuing power play, but the power-play unit still was on the ice when Ludzik returned to the bench and was sent out to begin a line change.Tom Lysiak worked the puck to Troy Murray, who made a move on the net from the right side. Meanwhile, Ludzik rushed to the goal mouth from the left to take a pass from Murray and sent the puck between Stefan&rsquo;s legs into the net.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the goal that really got us going,&rdquo; said Denis Savard, Chicago&rsquo;s leading scorer in the series with seven points. &ldquo;We saw Stevie get smashed pretty good, and he was hurting bad, yet he came back out there and got the goal.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been five years with this organization, but I&rsquo;ve never been as intense as I am right now. I feel I owe the organization and my teammates something.&rdquo;Goalie Murray Bannerman won all three games. He was replaced by Warren Skorodenski at 6:45 of the third period of the opener in which the Hawks set a team playoff record by winning 9-5. Pulford called it &ldquo;a precautionary measure,&rdquo; after Bannerman aggravated the strained stomach muscles that have bothered him for the last two months.Bannerman returned to win the second game 6-1.An important element in the Hawks&rsquo; sweep was the performance of the penalty-killing forwards&mdash;Bill Gardner, Rick Paterson, Ludzik and Troy Murray. In the two games in Chicago, they stopped all nine Detroit power plays. In the last game in Detroit, they wiped out five of seven, including a three-minute stint at the start of the second period. &#9632;</div>

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Flawless Hawks Shooting For The Stars

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02507/5508042-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="141" height="98"></div>DETROIT&mdash;Is that all there is?That&rsquo;s the question the Red Wings and their followers were asking after Detroit was swept out of the National Hockey League playoffs in three games by the Chicago Black Hawks.The Black Hawks scored 23 goals total (to only eight by the Wings) to set an NHL record as the highest-scoring team in a three-game series.The kindest thing that can be said about the Wings was that they were never, ever in any game&hellip;or the series.&ldquo;It was all Chicago,&rdquo; coach Nick Polano said after the Black Hawks put the finishing touches on an 8-2 victory at Joe Louis Arena in the third and deciding game of the Norris Division semi-finals.&ldquo;I never saw such flawless hockey in three games in my life. From the goaltender out, they made no mistakes. They outclassed us.&ldquo;The way the played against us, they should make it to the (conference) finals.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very disappointed,&rdquo; the Red Wing coach continued. &ldquo;I thought we were ready.&rdquo;The Wings were KO&rsquo;d in the first two games at Chicago Stadium, losing 9-5 and 6-1. They hoped and expected the return home would partially remedy at least some of their ills and perhaps enable them to prolong the series.On the contrary. The only thing that changed was the Black Hawks&rsquo; margin of victory&mdash;and it grew, from four goals in the first game to five in the second and, finally, six in game three.The Wings knew right from the beginning what they were in for against the Black Hawks, one of the NHL&rsquo;s best teams through the final six weeks of the regular season. Still, hope springs eternal&hellip;especially in spring when the playoffs begin.But the Red Wings never had a chance.In each of the three games, the Black Hawks had a 4-0 lead before the Wings scored.The series was promoted as a hot team going against a hot goaltender, the Wings&rsquo; Greg Stefan.It took the Black Hawks all of eight-and-a-half minutes to nick Stefan for a 3-0 lead in game one on goals by Doug Wilson, Curt Fraser and Denis Savard, and less than 29 minutes to chase him from the game entirely.That set the tone for the entire series.&ldquo;The Hawks were at the top of their game,&rdquo; Polano said. &ldquo;They were outfacing us to the puck at both ends. We seemed hesitant and that hesitation cost us.&rdquo;Stefan, who was replaced by Corrado Micalef in that first game, returned for game two and played exceptionally well. But it wasn&rsquo;t good enough against the fast-skating, hard-checking Hawks.Everybody agreed the Black Hawks played even better in the second game.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s as good as we&rsquo;ve played,&rdquo; Chicago goaltender Murray Bannerman said.Coach Bob Pulford called it a technically superior performance&mdash;&rdquo;much more solid.&rdquo;&ldquo;I thought Chicago played a flawless game, even better tonight,&rdquo; Polano said.At that point in the series, the Wings&rsquo; ability to make a contest of it seemed doubtful. Emotionally, they were down.&ldquo;We have to be sure we&rsquo;re mentally ready (for game three),&rdquo; said Wing defenseman Reed Larson. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s hard to do after you&rsquo;ve been devastated.&ldquo;I think when you get 9-5 and 6-1 games and you look around the league to the other playoff series and see all those games with 3-2 scores or going into overtime&hellip;it&rsquo;s one thing to lose, another not to be in the games at all.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty aggravating to lose, but I&rsquo;d be lying if I said we weren&rsquo;t devastated. We didn&rsquo;t threaten in any part of the game.&rdquo;But there remained the conviction that things could be different once the series switched to Joe Louis Arena.&ldquo;I think we can go back home and win two games in Detroit, then we have to come back here and play the game of our lives,&rdquo; Polano said after game two.The Wings never got the chance to play the game of their lives. They were too busy watching the Black Hawks.WING WIRE&mdash;John Ogrodnick, the Wing&rsquo;s 55-goal scorer, left game three in the first period with a groin pull and did not return&hellip;The crowd for the lone playoff game in Detroit was 17,252, even below the season average of 17,414, which certainly would indicate the fans didn&rsquo;t think much of the Wings&rsquo; chances of coming back to win the series&hellip;Both playoff games last season against St. Louis were sellouts&hellip;The fans started booing at the 18-minute mark of the first period. &#9632;</div>

f0024-02

Wings Are ‘Devastated’After Lopsided Loss

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>Louisville HockeyLouisville HockeyGLENS FALLS&mdash;One of the wildest races&mdash;if not the wildest&mdash;in American Hockey League history concluded April 7, the final day of the season, when the Nova Scotia Oilers and Sherbrooke Canadiens posted one-goal victories that put them in the playoffs.While the Southern Division matchups for the playoffs were established a few weeks before the season ended, the Northern Division struggle went down to the final minutes of the two games involving teams from the division on the last night of the season.Nova Scotia withstood a furious comeback by Moncton in the third period to defeat the Golden Flames 4-3 at Halifax to secure its berth in the playoffs. An hour later at Sherbrooke, the Canadiens completed a come-from-behind, 5-4 victory over Springfield and grabbed the final spot in the post-season tournament.With the wins, the Oilers and Canadiens vaulted over the Adirondack Red Wings, who had completed their schedule two nights earlier and were at the mercy of the three teams still in the hunt for a berth. Adirondack, which had beaten Maine and Baltimore on consecutive nights to move into second place and keep its playoff hopes alive, finished its sixth AHL season with an 8-3 loss at Binghamton.That loss left the door open for the Fredericton Express to clinch a berth the next night in their final game of the seasaon, and they accomplished that objective with a 2-1, overtime victory over the Oilers. Defenseman Tom Thornbury scored with 1:19 left to give the Express a 36-36-8 record, 80 points and second place in the division.Sherbrooke, a last-place team its first two years in the league, moved a step closer to the playoffs that same night with an 8-5 win at Moncton. Coach Pierre Creamer&rsquo;s players completed their drive to the playoffs in the final game of the season after falling behind 2-0. With a 37-38-5 record, the Canadiens finished with 79 points and placed third.Nova Scotia also finished with 79 points, but landed in the fourth position because, with a record of 36-57-7, it had one less win than the Canadiens. The Oilers, who face division-champion Maine in the first round of the playoffs, raced out to a 4-0 lead in their final game against archrival Moncton. The Golden Flames answered with three goals in six minutes early in the third period against goalie Marco Baron but were unable to produce the tying goal.Adirondack completed its season with a 35-37-8 record and 78 points, which left the Wings close, but not quite close enough.&ldquo;You finish with 78 points. It&rsquo;s the first time that the team hasn&rsquo;t made the playoffs and it&rsquo;s the second-best points record that the team has ever had,&rdquo; Adirondack coach Bill Dineen said. &ldquo;The league is tougher and the division is tougher.&rdquo;The Wings created their own problems when they fell into a poorly-timed slump with three weeks left in the season. They lost eight of their last 11 games to fall out of a position to challenge for first place and, ultimately, out of the playoff picture.Moncton finished sixth in the division with a 32-40-8 record and 72 points, which left it just seven points away from the final two playoff berths. The Golden Flames were alive throughout the middle of the final week of the season, but their inability to win games on the road (8-27-5) cost them a shot at the playoffs.Maine finished with a 38-32-10 record and secured its fourth Northern Division title. The Mariners wrapped up the season with a 5-4 win at Springfield and used two goals by Steve Tsujiura in the final 40 seconds of its final game to tie Binghamton 3-3.AROUND THE DIVISION&mdash; Moncton winger Pierre Rioux was the top-scoring player in the division with 25 goals and 91 points in 69 games&hellip;Swedish defensemen Peter Loob and Roger Haegglund left the Fredericton Express a day after the season ended and headed for Florida even though they had been told they were still under contract and could be used in the playoffs under emergency conditions&hellip;The Express entered the playoffs with Blake Wesley, Yvon Vautour, Dave Shaw and Neil Belland nursing injuries. Wesley pulled a groin after he was tossed out of the final game following a fight with Nova Scotia&rsquo;s Jim Playfair. As he headed down the runway toward the Express dressing room, Wesley kicked at his own helmet that he had thrown to the pavement and suffered the injury. New Jersey recalled Maine defenseman Allan Hepple and Ken Daneyko and used them in the last NHL game of the season. Hepple, Daneyko and rookie center Greg Adams were returned to the Mariners for the playoffs&hellip;Adirondack was in one of the top four positions in the division for 22 of the 26 weeks of the season&hellip;Nova Scotia defenseman Dave Allison finished the season with a career total of 390 games played in the AHL and 1,283 minutes in penalties, which puts him in fifth place on the all-time list. Oiler teammate Archie Henderson has picked up 1,232 minutes in 316 AHL games and is 30 minutes shy of seventh place on the list, which is held by Roger Cote&hellip;Sherbrooke forward Serge Boisvert slipped past Fredericton goalie Clint Malarchuk to win the Tim Horton Award, based on the three-star selections by the media in each of the Canadian cities. Boisvert clinched the award on the final night of the season when he was named the first star against Springfield.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01679/5508073-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="549" height="787"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nova Scotia goalie Marco Baron barely held off Moncton&rsquo;s third-period barrage.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

Oilers, Canadiens Wing It To The Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY DICK BAKER</div>BALTIMORE&mdash;The Baltimore crowd ticked off the seconds, but they had to stop at three.That&rsquo;s when Rochester&rsquo;s Timo Jutila knocked in the tying goal in game one of the opening round Calder Cup series between the Amerks and Baltimore. The Amerks went on to win 3-2 as Norm Lacombe tallied less than two minutes into the overtime session. The winning goal came only 10 seconds after Baltimore&rsquo;s Marty McSorley was called for tripping, the type of infraction that is sometimes waived in do-or-die situations.The three-second equalizer wasn&rsquo;t all that made the loss painful for Baltimore. Only 10 seconds before Jutila&rsquo;s tally, Baltimore&rsquo;s Bob Errey was staring into an empty Rochester net from just in back of the Amerks&rsquo; blue line. However, Errey&rsquo;s shot bounced off the left goal post.The Skipjacks also limited the Amerks to only 18 shots during regulation time, including just three in the first period. But each team tallied once in that period as Baltimore&rsquo;s Greg Hotham and Rochester&rsquo;s Mike Moller exchanged markers.Steve Gatzos scored in the second period to put Baltimore ahead. That lasted until the countdown stopped and Baltimore lost its home-ice advantage.Meanwhile in Binghamton, the division-champion Whalers took a 1-0 series lead over the fourth-place Springfield Indians by virtue of a 4-2 victory.Indian goaltender Mike Sands did all he could do, stopping 41 of 45 shots. In the Binghamton goal, Peter Sidor-kiewicz needed to make only 15 saves.&ldquo;But his first save set the tone,&rdquo; said Whaler coach Larry Pleau. &ldquo;Our players relaxed knowing he was there as usual. It doesn&rsquo;t take much to change a game around.&rdquo;The Whalers led 2-0 when Springfield&rsquo;s Ken Solheim scored early in the third period to cut the deficit in half. However, the Whalers bounced right back with two goals of their own to take a 4-1 lead and regain control of the contest.The line of Paul Gardner, Mike Siltala and Bryan Erickson contributed nine of Binghamton&rsquo;s 10 points. Gardner, despite being closely guarded, and Erickson each produced a goal and two assists. Siltala had three assists.&ldquo;We were tentative in the first period.&rdquo; said Indian coach Lome Henning. &ldquo;I guess our young players were afraid to make a mistake. But if we had scored when it was 2-1, it might have been a different story.&rdquo;Unfortunately for Springfield, the story has been pretty much the same each time they have played the Whalers, who&rsquo;ve won four of five regularseason games.Before the series started. Springfield, which was swept in four straight by Baltimore a year ago, was optimistic about its chances.&ldquo;Our players will be ready to play, they will want it,&rdquo; predicted Indian owner Peter Cooney.Cooney, crediting the job done by Henning through the transaction-filled season, said the Indians would win in six games or less.&ldquo;They need a split in Binghamton,&rdquo; said Hartford front-office man Bob Crocker of Springfield&rsquo;s chances for an upset.&ldquo;If they can come out of the box down there (Binghamton), they&rsquo;ll be tough.&rdquo;DOWN SOUTH&mdash;The Whalers finished the regular season only 12 goals short of the 400-mark, which would be an average of five goals per game&hellip;Paul Gardner, who had 51 goals, ended up with a total of 130 points, breaking the all-time mark by four&hellip;Binghamton drew only 2,349 for its opener against Springfield. The Skipjacks had 3,039. Both teams were expecting bigger crowds for their weekend games. The Skipjacks already had 2,600 advance seats sold for game two. The Skipjacks, with Jon Casey in goal, wrapped up the Hap Holmes Trophy as the team allowing the fewest goals against. Casey&rsquo;s name will appear alone on the trophy as no other Baltimore goaltender appeared in enough games to qualify. &#9632;

Jutila’s Third-Period Goal Ticks Off Skipjack Crowd

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div>Louisville HockeyLouisville HockeyPEORIA&mdash;The Peoria Rivermen scored three victories in four games to win the Ullyot Trophy as the West Division regular-season champions in the International Hockey League.The Rivermen, who also became the first 1HL club this season to reach the 100-point mark (46-24-8), will meet fourth-place Indianapolis in the first round of the Turner Cup playoffs.Peoria beat Milwaukee 5-4, Salt Lake City 5-3 and Toledo 5-1, while losing 3-1 to East Division leader Muskegon. The Checkers, who had won only three of their last 12 games (all the wins coming against last-place Milwaukee), defeated the Admirals in Indianapolis to claim the (final playoff position.The remaining playoff pairing in the West pits Fort Wayne against Salt Lake, with the Komets needing a combination of two wins or two losses by the Golden Eagles to ensure home-ice advantage in that series.According to IHL commissioner Bud Poile, a series involving the Golden Eagles would be a 2-3-2 format, assuming seven games are necessary. Indianapolis and Peoria will alternate home ice in their best-of-seven format, with the Rivermen scheduled to play host to the (first game.The playoff picture was not as clear in the East Division with only Toledo settled in position. The Goaldiggers finished fourth and will play either Muskegon or fast-closing Kalamazoo in the opening round.The Lumberjacks went into the final week of the regular season with a six-point lead over the K-Wings, and Flint, the defending Turner Cup champions, trailed Kalamazoo by four points. At the time, Muskegon and Kalamazoo had four games each remaining, while Flint had five.Poile wanted the playoffs to start by April 17, with the first four games completed by April 22. If that happened, the final rounds in the respective divisions could start by the last weekend of the month.Peoria won the West with only one player at the top of the league&rsquo;s individual achievement categories. Goalie Rick Heinz has the best goals-against average in the league, a stingy 3.02. Darrell May, his backup, has the second-best mark in the league, 3.16, but played in only 17 games.Coach Pat Kelly had to rely mainly on a balanced offense and steady efforts defensively to win the West.Peoria has given up the fewest goals in the league, is second to Muskegon in goal scoring (349-340) and is unbeaten in overtime games. The Rivermen are the best in power-play efficiency and second in penalty killing.Conversely, Indianapolis is the lowest-scoring team in the league (3.2 goals a game). Led by Rob Holland in goal, however, Indianapolis has been solid defensively. Holland has a goals against average of 3.29 a game, while the Checkers&rsquo; overall average is 3.8, fourth best in the IHL.Commissioner Bud Poile reported that the league is talking with city officials in Saginaw in order to obtain a lease and &ldquo;find local interests&rdquo; who might take over a franchise there&hellip;In other league matters, the governors voted to present a coach-of-the-year award and to initiate another award to be presented to the most valuable player in the Turner Cup final playoff series.NOTES&mdash;Charlie Skjodt of Indianapolis set a team record with seven points (four goals, three assists) in a 7-1 Checker victory over Milwaukee. Skjodt shared player-of-the-week honors with Muskegon&rsquo;s Scott Gruhl, who totalled five goals and five assists in five gamess &hellip; Wally Schreiber of Fort Wayne scored a hat trick to raise his total in that department to 50, and Milwaukee&rsquo;s Tom McMurchy scored four goals against Indianapolis&hellip; Scott MacLeod set an alltime Salt Lake record when he notched his 85th assist and was one goal shy of the team record of 48 goals by a center, set by Doug Palazzari in 1979-80. &#9632;

Teamwork Makes Peoria Best In The West

<div class="byline">BY JOHN HERBERT</div>Louisville HockeyLouisville HockeyHAMILTON&mdash;Rookie right winger Brad Dalgamo wrote &ldquo;Make My Day&rdquo; on his longjohns with a magic marker when Hamilton Steelhawks&rsquo; suspended coach Bill LaForge asked his players to come up with motivational slogans for the playoffs.After upsetting London 6-2 in the Emms Division six-point, semi-final series the Steelhawks certainly have made LaForge&rsquo;s day and created the Ontario Hockey League&rsquo;s version of Dirty Harry.The &lsquo;Hawks now face the league-leading Soo Greyhounds for the OHL&rsquo;s Emms Division championship.Meanwhile, the Belleville Bulls got some great goaltending from world junior tournament star Craig Billington as they won three in a row over the Cornwall Royals after dropping the opener to win the Leyden Division semi-final series. The Bulls now meet the Peterborough Petes in the Leyden final.In another development, Windsor Spitfires called a press conference to announce coach Mark Craig was parting because of a difference with general manager Jim Rutherford over the club&rsquo;s coaching.More on that later.For the Knights, the playoff setback was a Knightmare. Coach Don Boyd made a pair of trades late in January, landing veterans Garnet McKechney, Trevor Stienburg and Greg Puhalski to hopefully advance to the finals against the Soo. But in the end, they took a skate down memory lane.Dave Draper, who coached two Brantford Alexanders playoff wins over London in recent seasons, was in on this upset as well. He replaced LaForge behind the bench while the general manager-coach sits out an OHL season-long suspension imposed after the brawl March 10 against the Soo. Draper was also GM of the 1977-78 Hamilton Fincup team which knocked division champion London out of the playoffs.Goaltending was the main reason for the Steelhawks&rsquo; success in the first two rounds of the playoffs.Ex-Knight Chris Pusey, who played a major role in Hamilton&rsquo;s overtime win in the eighth and deciding game with North Bay in the preliminary round, improved with each outing against the Knights. In the final game, a 6-3 win at Hamilton before a sellout crowd of 2,500, Pusey was superb.But he had help.The Hamilton line of Mike Millar, Jeff Jackson and Jason Lafreniere figured in all six goals in the final game, with Lafreniere netting three. In the series, the line produced 17 of Hamilton&rsquo;s 22 goals and outgunned London&rsquo;s big line of Brian Bradley, Dave Lowry and Brian Dobbin, which had only six.Even sweeter for the Steelhawks was their ability to play without captain Shayne Corson, sidelined with a shoulder injury.&ldquo;I think hard work can beat talent if talent doesn&rsquo;t work,&rdquo; was LaForge&rsquo;s explanation of the outcome. &ldquo;That was our motto in the series.&rdquo;Nobody on the London side could disagree.Boyd said he tried three different line combinations but couldn&rsquo;t halt the Jackson line. Boyd bowed out with class, saying he had no &ldquo;lame-duck&rdquo; excuses about what went wrong. He felt his club just couldn&rsquo;t bury the puck on Pusey.LaForge attributed much of the success to Jackson.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been so good and I don&rsquo;t just mean on the ice,&rdquo; LaForge said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been everywhere when we needed him. We were programmed not to be the favorites when they (London) made those trades and we figured we couldn&rsquo;t give up anything with us going into the new building next year. We needed the players so we couldn&rsquo;t trade.&ldquo;Our kids worked hard. I have nothing against London. They were one of the best teams on paper. On paper we shouldn&rsquo;t have been able to touch them.&rdquo;Nothing epitomized the Knights&rsquo; fortunes more than watching Jim Sandlak, one of the country&rsquo;s top-rated juniors, sitting at the end of the bench with a bruised knee. He took only one shift the final game. Tears streamed down the cheeks of some players, including Lowry and Greg Smyth, who along with Bob Halkidis and Pete McLeod were London&rsquo;s top workers. Smyth couldn&rsquo;t find words to describe what he felt.&ldquo;You always think you can come back, no matter what,&rdquo; he said.A Hamilton fan had a dummy of Smyth on a rope and hung him in effigy during one game, then threw it on the ice where the Steelhawks&rsquo; mascot kicked it. In the final game, the Smyth dummy appeared again&mdash;in a coffin.The Knights were buried soon after.While the Emms final matched a pair of Brantford-based goalies&mdash;Pusey and London&rsquo;s Jeff Reese&mdash;the Leyden semifinal featured London minor products Billington and Steve Titus of Cornwall in goal.The pair of London-groomed products work together in the summer at a goaltenders&rsquo; school in London. Billington, a sophomore, is co-owner of the school and Titus is one of the instructors.Titus said he found it strange playing against Billington because he has always looked up to the Belleville netminder and learned from him.&ldquo;If I wanted my career to go a certain way. I&rsquo;d want to follow his,&rdquo; Titus said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a level-headed guy with a great attitude and an excellent goaltender, so in that respect I&rsquo;m following in his footsteps. He&rsquo;s helped me over the rough spots.&rdquo;Titus was instrumental in Cornwall&rsquo;s playoff win over Toronto. The rookie netminder prompted Marlie coach Tom Martin to say: &ldquo;He just stoned us.&rdquo;Billington approached the series with this view: &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll depend on how the teams play in front of us, especially the defense. Then it&rsquo;ll come back to Steve and I because we&rsquo;re the last line of defense. It&rsquo;ll depend how we&rsquo;re the last line of defense. It&rsquo;ll depend on how we play.&rdquo;Spoken like a true goalie.The Belleville-Cornwall series also featured a matchup between Bull coach Larry Mavety and the Royals&rsquo; Floyd Crawford, captain of the 1959 Belleville McFarlands world championship club. Crawford is a resident of Belleville in the off-season.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t look at it as going against him,&rdquo; Mavety said. &ldquo;I was going against Cornwall.&rdquo;Meanwhile, the departure of Craig in Windsor came as an aftermath to the Spits&rsquo; quick exit in the playoffs, a four-game sweep by the Knights. Craig, 32, who coached Detroit Compuware midgets to three U.S. national titles, has accepted a sales position with the Birmingham, MI, Compuware Corp., a computer software giant.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04234/5508152-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="555" height="717"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hamilton goalie Chris Pusey carried over his success from the North Bay series against London.</figcaption></div>One name which quickly surfaced as a possible coaching candidate in Windsor was Walt McKechnie, a long-time friend of Rutherford&rsquo;s and a 16-year NHL player. Some insiders say McKechnie would make a very good junior coach, and McKechnie, player-coach in Salt Lake City of the now-defunct Central League last season, is anxious to coach in the OHL.Craig said his split with the Spits &ldquo;was mutual.&rdquo;&ldquo;They are the finest hockey organization I&rsquo;ve been involved in,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s got to be pulling in the same direction. I don&rsquo;t think that was happening this season.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0028-04

’Hawks Give London Knightmare

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div>Louisville HockeyLouisville HockeySEATTLE&mdash;You might say Earl Hale has the proper prerequisites to enter the Western Hockey League ownership game.Hale, the majority owner of a Calgarybased group which purchased in principle the financially-plagued Seattle Breakers on April 2, is in the gas and oil exploration business. Hale has enjoyed much success in that endeavor and is hoping for much of the same in major junior hockey.But, just as the exploration game can leave you dry, so can the uncertainty of junior hockey ownership. The Breakers are a prime example of a resource which has yet to be properly tapped. They missed the playoffs this season and have had trouble drawing fans in a thriving sports city. The WHL took over the franchise from previous owner John Hamilton and had been looking for a suitable buyer.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an opportunity to turn it (the franchise) around,&rdquo; said Hale, who heads a four-member ownership board. &ldquo;We have to put together the proper team and we have to be competitive. They have tremendous fans in Seattle, although not everybody likes them.&ldquo;We look at it as a business. There&rsquo;s a good chance to be successful. We look at franchises like Prince Albert and Portland and how successful they&rsquo;ve been. What we have to do is develop players and work with them.&ldquo;We have a lot of ground to cover. Other teams have lists which are stronger than ours. A lot of things have to be covered in the next three months.&rdquo;League president Ed Chynoweth said there are still a lot of loose ends to tie up in the purchase, such as clearing debts and reaching a suitable agreement with the Seattle Center Arena.&ldquo;You try to get somebody who&rsquo;s financially stable and concerned with keeping the franchise in Seattle like we are,&rdquo; said Chynoweth. &ldquo;And of course we&rsquo;re concerned about the people they&rsquo;re hiring.&rdquo;Sheldon Ferguson has been appointed general manager, while Marc Boileau remains as coach and Jake Goertzen as director of player personnel. Ferguson has been a Quebec Nordique scout for six years arid previously owned the nowdefunct Billings franchise in the WHL. He coached the tier II Red Deer Rustlers to a Centennial Cup title.&ldquo;They will carry the ball,&rdquo; said Hale of his front-office appointments. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll outline what the philosophy and approach should be.&rdquo;The Breakers, who finished fifth in the Western Division with a 25-44-3 record, have some bright spots to look on for next season. They&rsquo;ll lose only two players and figure to be competitive in the six-team division.&ldquo;We can build on what we&rsquo;ve got coming back,&rdquo; said Hale. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not overly big, but we&rsquo;ll have a good skating club. Everybody needs goaltending and so do we, and we could use a big, tough right winger. If we get that we think we can play with anybody in the league.&rdquo;Hale is no newcomer to hockey. He has coached amateur teams in Calgary on various levels for eight years and this season also served as a director of the tier II Calgary Canucks.&ldquo;The way I look at it there&rsquo;s a new crowd getting involved with the WHL,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;More business people are taking action.&rdquo;WHL WEEK&mdash;At an April 2 meeting in Calgary, league governors gave the green light to increasing the number of overage (20-year-old) players on each roster from two to three. Inter-divisional play will remain intact next season and so will the 72-game schedule.In Western Division playoffs, defending league champion Kamloops Blazers disposed of the Portland Winter Hawks 5-1 in their best-of-nine division semifinal series. Kamloops opened with 9-3 and 7-4 home-ice wins before losing 4-3 in game three in Portland. But Kamloops stormed back to take the next three games&mdash;4-3 at Portland in overtime, 133 at home and 6-1 in Portland&mdash;to earn a berth in the division final with the New Westminster Bruins.The Bruins eliminated Kelowna Wings 5-1 in the other division semifinal. New Westminster won 5-3 and 5-4 in overtime at Kelowna to take a two-game lead, before Kelowna managed a 6-4, home-ice win. But the Bruins won 6-1 at home and 4-3 in Kelowna to wrap up the series.In the Eastern Division playoffs, the favored Prince Albert Raiders lived up to their top-ranked billing by beating the Calgary Wranglers in straight games in their best-of-seven division final. Prince Albert won 9-2 and 8-1 on home ice, then won 8-6 and 6-2 in Calgary to earn a berth in the best-of-seven division final.NOTES&mdash;Kamloops has found the range in playoff scoring. Four of its players occupied spots in the top-10 in scoring, including forwards Greg Evtushevski and Rob Brown, who were tied for top spot with 15 points apiece. Evtushevski and New Westminster forward Cliff Ronning shared the goalscoring lead with eight each in six games. &#9632;

Hale Hopes To Break Oil Barrier In Seattle

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div>DRUMMONDVILLE&mdash;The Drum-mondville Voltigeurs&rsquo; playoff return from the dead is unequalled in the 16-year history of the Quebec Major Junior League quarterfinals.After losing the first three games of, their best-of-seven series against the sixth-place Trois-Rivieres Draveurs, the third-place Voltigeurs found themselves going into overtime killing a penalty in the fourth game at Trois-Rivieres. Steve Pepin&rsquo;s slapshot, from just inside the blue line four minutes into the extra session, put Drummondville back into the series with a 7-6 win and on the way to four consecutive victories.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have too many chances to make mistakes,&rdquo; said Voltigeur coach Michael Parizeau, whose team lost 7-5 and 3-2 and 5-4 in overtime, then rallied with 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 and 4-2 performances.&ldquo;I think the main reason we came back is because nobody thought we&rsquo;d lose.&rdquo;Second-place Chicoutimi Sagueneens clinched their quarterfinal against seventh-place St. Jean Beavers in five games (5-2, 5-3 loss, 8-5, 7-3, 7-5) and claimed the opening game of the best-of-seven semifinals with a 2-1 decision over Drummondville before 4,181 hometown fans. Regular-season champion Shawinigan Cataractes dropped their semifinal opener 4-1 at home to fourth-place Verdun Junior Canadiens.&ldquo;Our morale was good all season and we had a get-together before the fourth game,&rdquo; said Parizeau, a forward with the World Hockey Association Quebec Nordiques who played his junior hockey in Drummondville.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t play a very smart game, it was probably our worst along with the first.&ldquo;We were leading 6-4 and dominating in the third period, then took bad spearing and slashing penalties in the last six minutes and they scored two power-play goals. Then we took another penalty with a minute left.&ldquo;I was afraid (Draveurs&rsquo; goaltender Alain) Raymond would come up big again. We had 62 shots on him in one game, 17 in overtime and still lost 5-4.&rdquo;Centers Guy Benoit (11-6-17) and Pepin (6-7-13), second and sixth in playoff scoring, powered the offense and goaltender Jude Labiliois rebounded from a shaky start. Experienced defensemen Mario Carrier and Tom Karalis returned from suspensions to bolster the defense.Parizeau praised the Draveurs&rsquo; disciplined play after Trois-Rivieres was one of the most penalized teams in the league during the regular season.&ldquo;They played a very intelligent game for the talent they had and they worked hard.&rdquo;Not one fight broke out during the series.&ldquo;It was really good hockey,&rdquo; said Trois-Rivieres&rsquo; coach Andre (Moose) Dupont, the former Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; defenseman.&ldquo;They had more experience and depth with 11 19 year olds. We have 17 players coming back. They had two good lines offensively and were a little stronger on defense.&ldquo;We had our chances in the last four games. Martin Desjardins played very well and we&rsquo;re expecting a lot from him.&rdquo;Desjardins, a center, was the first pick overall in the 1984 QMJHL draft and is seventh in playoff scoring with four goals and eight assists.&ldquo;Last year, we finished in 11 th place,&rdquo; Dupont said. &ldquo;This year, we finished sixth and brought one of the best teams in the league to seven games.&rdquo;Parizeau said having the Memorial Cup tournament in Drummondville hasn&rsquo;t been a blatant motivating factor as yet.&ldquo;We never heard a word about Chicoutimi in the dressing room until the first game. Maybe at the bottom it really helps, but nobody is talking about it.&rdquo;Pepin opened the scoring late in the second period against Chicoutimi, but then Carl Larouche tied the score with 39 seconds left in the period and Luc Duval added the winner for the Sags early in the third.Both Labiliois and Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Daniel Berthiaume faced 38 shots in the close-checking, goaltenders&rsquo; battle.&ldquo;I think we had an edge on defense but with Steve Duchesne out (shoulder separation against Trios-Rivieres), it&rsquo;s evened up,&rdquo; Parizeau said. &#9632;

Voltigeurs Bounce Back To Stun Trois-Rivieres

<h2>Wed. Apr. 10</h2>BOSTON 5, MONTREAL 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01643/5508577-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="552" height="828"></div>BUFFALO 2, QUEBEC 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02467/5508570-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="566" height="708"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03320/5508563-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="554" height="87"></div>RANGERS 4, PHILADELPHIA 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04219/5508556-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="554" height="944"></div>ISLANDERS 3, WASH. 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05149/5508549-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="564" height="514"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-06115/5508542-1-eng-US/f0030-062.jpg" title="f0030-06" width="594" height="590"></div>MINNESOTA 3, ST. LOUIS 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0791/5508535-1-eng-US/f0030-072.jpg" title="f0030-07" width="570" height="880"></div>DETROIT 5, CHICAGO 9<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0881/5508528-1-eng-US/f0030-082.jpg" title="f0030-08" width="592" height="1202"></div>LOS ANGELES 2, EDMONTON 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0972/5508521-1-eng-US/f0030-092.jpg" title="f0030-09" width="554" height="534"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1063/5508514-1-eng-US/f0030-102.jpg" title="f0030-10" width="579" height="235"></div>CALGARY 4, WINNIPEG 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1157/5508507-1-eng-US/f0030-112.jpg" title="f0030-11" width="590" height="1008"></div><h2>Thu. Apr. 11</h2>BOSTON 3, MONTREAL 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1253/5508500-1-eng-US/f0030-122.jpg" title="f0030-12" width="570" height="962"></div>BUFFALO 2, QUEBEC 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1350/5508493-1-eng-US/f0030-132.jpg" title="f0030-13" width="590" height="854"></div>RANGERS 1, PHILADELPHIA 3First PeriodNo scoring.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1446/5508486-1-eng-US/f0030-142.jpg" title="f0030-14" width="361" height="68"></div>ISLANDERS 1, WASH. 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1546/5508479-1-eng-US/f0030-152.jpg" title="f0030-15" width="568" height="828"></div>MINNESOTA 4, ST. LOUIS 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1638/5508472-1-eng-US/f0030-162.jpg" title="f0030-16" width="550" height="760"></div>DETROIT 1, CHICAGO 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1737/5508465-1-eng-US/f0030-172.jpg" title="f0030-17" width="582" height="854"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01590/5508458-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="567" height="100"></div>LOS ANGELES 2, EDMONTON 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02411/5508451-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="558" height="799"></div>CALGARY 2, WINNIPEG 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03301/5508444-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="564" height="994"></div><h2>Sat. Apr. 13</h2>MONTREAL 4, BOSTON 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04224/5508437-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="567" height="682"></div>QUEBEC 4, BUFFALO 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05177/5508430-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="546" height="217"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06142/5508423-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="567" height="634"></div>PHILADELPHIA 6, RANGERS 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-07123/5508416-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="551" height="97"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-08107/5508409-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="552" height="778"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0962/5508402-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="544" height="179"></div>WASH. 1, ISLANDERS 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1057/5508395-1-eng-US/f0032-102.jpg" title="f0032-10" width="549" height="727"></div>(Washington leads best-of-five series 2-1)ST. LOUIS 0, MINNESOTA 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1150/5508388-1-eng-US/f0032-112.jpg" title="f0032-11" width="549" height="730"></div>CHICAGO 8, DETROIT 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1249/5508381-1-eng-US/f0032-122.jpg" title="f0032-12" width="558" height="331"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1345/5508374-1-eng-US/f0032-132.jpg" title="f0032-13" width="564" height="769"></div>(Chicago wins best-of-five series 3-0).WINNIPEG 0, CALGARY 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1442/5508367-1-eng-US/f0032-142.jpg" title="f0032-14" width="546" height="910"></div>(Winnipeg leads best-of-five series 2-1)EDMONTON 4, LOS ANGELES 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1537/5508360-1-eng-US/f0032-152.jpg" title="f0032-15" width="546" height="439"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1636/5508353-1-eng-US/f0032-162.jpg" title="f0032-16" width="552" height="505"></div>(Edmonton wins best-of-five series 3-0).<h2>Sun. Apr. 14</h2>MONTREAL 6, BOSTON 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1731/5508346-1-eng-US/f0032-172.jpg" title="f0032-17" width="558" height="1108"></div>(Best-of-five series tied 2-2).QUEBEC 4, BUFFALO 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1825/5508339-1-eng-US/f0032-182.jpg" title="f0032-18" width="546" height="469"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1921/5508332-1-eng-US/f0032-192.jpg" title="f0032-19" width="567" height="631"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-2020/5508325-1-eng-US/f0032-202.jpg" title="f0032-20" width="564" height="271"></div>(Best-of-five series tied 2-2)WASH. 4, ISLANDERS 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-2118/5508318-1-eng-US/f0032-212.jpg" title="f0032-21" width="543" height="235"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01556/5508311-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="552" height="332"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02398/5508304-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="550" height="370"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03291/5508297-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="522" height="61"></div>WINNIPEG 5, CALGARY 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04231/5508290-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="544" height="212"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05190/5508283-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="546" height="358"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06158/5508276-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="556" height="362"></div>(Winnipeg wins best-of-five series 3-1) &#9632;

f0030-01

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF SUMMARIES

<h2>ADAMS DIVISION</h2><h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01622/5508657-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="549" height="93"></div>(Best-of-five series tied 2-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 10Boston 5 at Montreal 3Thu. Apr. 11Boston 3 at Montreal 5Sat. Apr. 13Montreal 4 at Boston 2Sun. Apr. 14Montreal 6 at Boston 7GAMES TO COMETue. Apr. 16Boston at Montreal<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02454/5508650-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="545" height="95"></div>(Best-of-five series tied 2-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 10Buffalo 2 at Quebec 5Thu. Apr. 11Buffalo 2 at Quebec 3Sat. Apr. 13Quebec 4 at Buffalo 6Sun. Apr. 14Quebec 4 at Buffalo 7<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Apr. 16Buffalo at Quebec<h2>PATRICK DIVISION</h2><h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03304/5508643-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="545" height="95"></div>(Philadelphia wins best-of-five series 3-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 10NY Rangers 4 at Philadelphia 5 (OT)Thu. Apr. 11NY Rangers 1 at Philadelphia 3Sat. Apr. 13Philadelphia 6 at NY Rangers 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04190/5508636-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="535" height="92"></div>(Best-of-five series tied 2-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apri. 10NY Islanders 3 at Washington 4 (OT)Thu. Apr. 11NY Islanders 1 at Washington 2 (OT)Sat. Apr. 13Washington 1 at NY Islanders 2Sun. Apr. 14Washington 4 at NY Islanders 6<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Apr. 16NY Islanders at Washington<h2>NORRIS DIVISION</h2><h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05130/5508629-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="549" height="85"></div>(Minnesota wins best-of-five series 3-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 10Minnesota 3 at St Louis 2Thu. Apr. 11Minnesota 4 at St. Louis 3Sat. Apr. 13St. Louis 0 at Minnesota 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06100/5508622-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="540" height="92"></div>(Chicago wins best-of-five series 3-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 10Detroit 5 at Chicago 9Thu. Apr. 11Detroit 1 at Chicago 6Sat. Apr. 13Chicago 8 at Detroit 2FinalsCHICAGO vs MINNESOTA(Best-of-seven series)Thu. Apr. 18Chicago at MinnesotaSat-Sun Apr. 20-21Chicago at MinnesotaTue. Apr. 23Minnesota at ChicagoThu. Apr. 25Minnesota at ChicagoSat-Sun Apr. 27-28Chicago at MinnesotaTue. Apr. 30Minnesota at ChicagoThu. May 2Chicago at Minnesota<h2>SMYTHE DIVISION</h2><h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0784/5508615-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="535" height="91"></div>(Edmonton wins best-of-five series 3-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 10Los Angeles 2 at Edmonton 3 (OT)Thu. Apr. 11Los Angeles 2 at Edmonton 4Sat. Apr. 13Edmonton 4 at Los Angeles 3 (OT)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0872/5508608-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="542" height="88"></div>(Winnipeg wins best-of-five series 3-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 10Calgary 4 at Winnipeg 5 (OT)Thu. Apr. 11Calgary 2 at Winnipeg 5Sat. Apr. 13Winnipeg 0 at Calgary 4Sun. Apr. 14Winnipeg 5 at Calgary 3FinalsWINNIPEG vs EDMONTON(Best-of-seven series)Thu. Apri. 18Winnipeg at EdmontonSat.-Sun. Apr. 20-21Winnipeg at EdmontonTue. Apr. 23Edmonton at WinnipegThu. Apr. 25Edmonton at WinnipegSat-Sun. Apr. 27-28Winnipeg at EdmontonTue. Apr. 30Edmonton at WinnipegThu. May 2Winnipeg at Edmonton &#9632;

f0032-01

STANLEY CUP SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02486/5509034-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="600" height="586"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01634/5509041-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="124" height="124"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03377/5509027-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="124" height="116"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04277/5509020-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="594" height="604"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05216/5509013-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="136" height="122"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06186/5509006-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="588" height="603"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07171/5508999-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="129" height="116"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACK HAWKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08160/5508992-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="592" height="553"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09146/5508985-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="141" height="105"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10141/5508978-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="584" height="477"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-11131/5508971-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="593" height="113"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-12127/5508964-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="120" height="118"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-13117/5508957-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="599" height="555"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-14113/5508950-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="177" height="115"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-15108/5508943-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="600" height="550"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-16106/5508936-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="129" height="113"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1797/5508929-1-eng-US/f0034-172.jpg" title="f0034-17" width="592" height="522"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1892/5508922-1-eng-US/f0034-182.jpg" title="f0034-18" width="139" height="100"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1986/5508915-1-eng-US/f0034-192.jpg" title="f0034-19" width="588" height="530"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2076/5508908-1-eng-US/f0034-202.jpg" title="f0034-20" width="130" height="125"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2166/5508901-1-eng-US/f0034-212.jpg" title="f0034-21" width="587" height="426"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2259/5508894-1-eng-US/f0034-222.jpg" title="f0034-22" width="597" height="160"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2354/5508887-1-eng-US/f0034-232.jpg" title="f0034-23" width="585" height="913"><figcaption class="caption-body">Philadelphia Flyer Tim Kerr scored five goals in three games against the Rangers.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2447/5508880-1-eng-US/f0034-242.jpg" title="f0034-24" width="117" height="124"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2538/5508873-1-eng-US/f0034-252.jpg" title="f0034-25" width="589" height="129"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2631/5508866-1-eng-US/f0034-262.jpg" title="f0034-26" width="600" height="519"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2726/5508859-1-eng-US/f0034-272.jpg" title="f0034-27" width="141" height="100"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2819/5508852-1-eng-US/f0034-282.jpg" title="f0034-28" width="595" height="578"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2916/5508845-1-eng-US/f0034-292.jpg" title="f0034-29" width="120" height="116"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-3013/5508838-1-eng-US/f0034-302.jpg" title="f0034-30" width="596" height="571"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-3110/5508831-1-eng-US/f0034-312.jpg" title="f0034-31" width="119" height="117"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-329/5508824-1-eng-US/f0034-322.jpg" title="f0034-32" width="590" height="622"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-338/5508817-1-eng-US/f0034-332.jpg" title="f0034-33" width="166" height="87"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-346/5508810-1-eng-US/f0034-342.jpg" title="f0034-34" width="590" height="425"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-356/5508803-1-eng-US/f0034-352.jpg" title="f0034-35" width="595" height="206"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-365/5508796-1-eng-US/f0034-362.jpg" title="f0034-36" width="115" height="116"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-374/5508789-1-eng-US/f0034-372.jpg" title="f0034-37" width="594" height="605"></div><h2>LEADING ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-384/5508782-1-eng-US/f0034-382.jpg" title="f0034-38" width="594" height="501"></div><h2>GOALTENDING RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-394/5508775-1-eng-US/f0034-392.jpg" title="f0034-39" width="595" height="1084"></div><h3>BEST AVERAGES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-404/5508768-1-eng-US/f0034-402.jpg" title="f0034-40" width="592" height="148"></div><h3>MOST WINS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-414/5508761-1-eng-US/f0034-412.jpg" title="f0034-41" width="592" height="324"></div><h3>SAVE PERCENTAGE</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-424/5508754-1-eng-US/f0034-422.jpg" title="f0034-42" width="588" height="208"></div><h2>Top Scorers</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-434/5508747-1-eng-US/f0034-432.jpg" title="f0034-43" width="592" height="759"></div><h3>MOST GOALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-444/5508740-1-eng-US/f0034-442.jpg" title="f0034-44" width="592" height="238"></div><h3>MOST ASSISTS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-453/5508733-1-eng-US/f0034-452.jpg" title="f0034-45" width="588" height="208"></div><h3>POWER PLAY GOALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-463/5508726-1-eng-US/f0034-462.jpg" title="f0034-46" width="598" height="322"></div><h3>MOST SHOTS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-472/5508719-1-eng-US/f0034-472.jpg" title="f0034-47" width="592" height="214"></div> &#9632;

f0034-02

NHL PLAYOFF SCORING

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2><h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>NORTHERN DIVISIONSemi Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01601/5509233-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="551" height="93"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thu. Apr. 11Nova Scotia 4 at Maine 3Sun. Apr. 14Nova Scotia 3 at Maine 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed Apr. 17Mine at Nova ScotiaFri. Apr. 19Maine at Nova ScotiaSat. Apr. 20Nova Scotia at MaineTue. Apr. 22Maine at Nova ScotiaThu. Apr 24Nova Scotia at Maine<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02470/5509226-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="547" height="89"></div>(Sherbrooke leads best-of-seven series 2-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thu. Apr. 11Sherbrooke 5 at Fredericton 2Fri. Apr. 12Sherbrooke 3 at Fredericton 2<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Mon. Apr. 15Fredericton at SherbrookeWed. Apr. 17Fredericton at SherbrookeSat. Apr. 20Sherbrooke at FrederictonMon. Apr. 22Fredericton at SherbrookeWed. Apr 24Sherbrooke at FrederictonSOUTHERN DIVISIONSemi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03375/5509219-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="546" height="88"></div>(Bringhamtom leads best-of-seven series 30)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 10Springfield 2 at Binghamton 4Fri. Apr. 12Springfield 5 at Binghamton 9Sat. Apr 13Binghamton 6 at Springfield 1<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Apr. 16Binghamton at SpringfieldWed. Apr. 17Springfield at BinghamtonSat. Apr. 20Binghamton at SpringfieldThu. Apr. 25Springfield at Binghamton<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04307/5509212-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="546" height="82"></div>(Baltimore leads best-of-seven series 2-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thu. Apr. 11Rochester 3 at Baltimore 2Sat. Apr. 13Rochester 5 at Baltimore 6Sun. Apr. 14Baltimore 8 at Rochester 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. Apr. 17B. Baltimore at RochesterSat. Apr. 20Rochester at BaltimoreTue. Apr. 23Baltimore at RochesterThu. Apr. 25Rochester at Baltimore<h3>LEADING PLAYOFF SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05254/5509205-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="535" height="388"></div><h2>ATLANTIC COAST LEAGUE</h2><h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06229/5509198-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="533" height="88"></div>(Best-of-seven series tied 2-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. Apr. 6Erie 2 at Carolina 3Mon. Apr. 8Erie 4 at Carolina 8Tue. Apr. 9Carolina 3 at Erie 5Wed. Apr. 10Carolina 1 at Erie 3<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Apr. 16Erie at CarolinaThu. Apr. 18Carolina at ErieSat. Apr. 20Erie at Carolin<h3>LEADING PLAYOFFS SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07214/5509191-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="552" height="362"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08191/5509184-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="540" height="387"></div>(Teams qet point for overtime loss)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Apr. 8Flint 2 at Salt Lake 6Tue. Apr. 9Kalamazoo 3 at Milwaukee 5Wed. Apr. 10Muskegon 5 at Toledo 3Kalamazoo 3 at Peoria 5Flint 4 at Salt Lake 2Indianapolis 5 at Fort Wayne 4Thu. Apr. 11Milwaukee 0 at Muskegon 11Fri. Apr. 12Fort Wayne 4 at Flint 6Toledo 5 at Kalamazoo 3Peoria 4 at Milwaukee 5Salt Lake 3 at Indianapolis 1Sat. Apr. 13Peoria 1 at Fort Wayne 1Flint 3 at Kalamazoo 2Salt Lake 5 at Toledo 6Muskegon 3 at Indianapolis 2Sun. apr. 14Salt Lake 4 at Muskegon 6Toledo 2 at Flint 5Fort Wayne 3 at Milwaukee 0Indianapolis 2 at Peoria 7(End of regular schedule)<h2>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09179/5509177-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="546" height="328"></div><h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>EAST DIVISIONSemi-FinalsINDIANAPOLIS vs PEORIA(Best-of-seven series)Wed. Apr. 17Indianapolis at PeoriaFri. Apr. 19Peoria at IndianapolisSat. Apr. 20Indianapolis at PeoriaSun. Apr. 21Peoria at IndianapolisTue.-Wed. Apr. 23-24Indianapolis at PeoriaThu. Apr. 25Peoria at IndianapolisFri. Apr. 26Indianapolis at PeoriaSALT LAKE vs FORT WAYNE(Best-of-seven series)Wed. Apr 17Salt Lake at Fort WayneSat. Apr. 20Salt Lake at Fort Wayne(Other dates undetermined)WEST DIVISIONSemi-FinalsTOLEDO vs MUSKEGON(Best-of-seven series)Wed. Apr. 17Muskegon at ToledoFri. Apr. 19Toledo at MuskegonSun. Apr. 21Toledo at MuskegonMon. Apr. 22Muskegon at ToledoWed. Apr. 24Toledo at MuskegonSun. Apr. 28Muskegon at ToledoMon. Apr. 29Toledo at MuskegonKALAMAZOO vs FLINT(Best-of-seven series)Fri. Apr. 19Kalamazoo at FlintSat. Apr. 20Flint at KalamazooSun. Apr. 21Kalamazoo at Flint(Other dates undetermined)<h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2><h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>Semi-FinalsLEYDEN DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10157/5509170-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="552" height="82"></div>(Belleville wins six-point series 6-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 3Cornwall 3 at Belleville 2Thu. Apr. 4Belleville 9 at Cornwall 5Sat. Apr. 6Cornwall 1 at Belleville 5Mon. Apr. 8Belleville 7 at Cornwall 4Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-11142/5509163-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="552" height="92"></div>(Peterborough leads eight-point series 6-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thu. Apr. 11Belleville 2 at Peterborough 6Sat. Apr. 13Peterborough 4 at Belleville 3Sun. Apr. 14Belleville 1 at Peterborough 4<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. Apr. 17Peterborough t BellevilleThu. Apr. 18Belleville at PeterboroughSat. Apr. 20Peterborough at BellevilleTue. Apr. 23Belleville at PeterboroughWed Apr. 24Peterborough at BellevilleEMMS DIVISIONSemi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-12126/5509156-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="537" height="92"></div>(Hamilton wns six-point series 6-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Apr. 2Hamilton 5 at London 3Thu. Apr. 4London 6 at Hamilton 8Fri. Apr. 5Hamilton 3 at London 7Tue. Apr. 9London 3 at Hamilton 6Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-13112/5509149-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="542" height="92"></div>(S.S. Marie leads eight-Doints series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Apr. 12Hamilton 4 at S.S. Marie 6Sun. Apr. 14S.S. Marie 6 at Hamilton 4<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Tue. Apr. 16Hamilton at S.S. MarieThu. Apr. 18S.S. Marie at HamiltonSat. Apr. 20Hamilton at S.S. MarieMon. Apr. 22S.S. Marie at HamiltonWed. Apr. 24Hamilton at S.S. MarieThu. Apr. 25S.S. Marie at Hamilton<h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2><h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1494/5509142-1-eng-US/f0035-142.jpg" title="f0035-14" width="550" height="88"></div>(Verdun leads best-of-seven series 3-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Apr. 9Verdun 4 at Shawinigan 1Fri. Apr. 12Shawinigan 3 at Verdun 6Sun. Apr. 14Verdun 2 at Shawinigan 1<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. Apr. 17Shawinigan at VerdunFri. Apr. 19Verdun at ShawiniganSun. Apr. 21Shawinigan at VerdunMon. Apr. 22Verdun at Shawinigan<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1584/5509135-1-eng-US/f0035-152.jpg" title="f0035-15" width="550" height="84"></div>(Chicoutimi leads best-of-seven series 2-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Apr. 9Drummondville 1 at Chicoutimi 2Fri. Apr. 12Chicoutimi 2 at Drummondville 5Sun. Apr. 14Drummondville 2 at Chicoutimi 8<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. Apr. 17Chicoutimi at DrummondvilleFri. Apr. 19Drummondville at ChicoutimiSun. Apr. 21Chicoutimi at DrummondvilleMon. Apr. 22Drummondville at Chicoutim<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2><h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>EASTERN DIVISIONSemi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1678/5509128-1-eng-US/f0035-162.jpg" title="f0035-16" width="544" height="88"></div>(Medicine Hat wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Apr. 2Regina 2 at Medicine Hat 3Wed. Apr. 3Regina 3 at Medicine Hat 5Fri. Apr. 5Medicine Hat 4 at Regina 3Sun. Apr. 7Medicine Hat 3 at Regina 4Tue. Apr. 9Regina 3 at Medicine Hat 4Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1762/5509121-1-eng-US/f0035-172.jpg" title="f0035-17" width="542" height="86"></div>(Prince Albert leads best-of-seven series 2-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Apr. 12Medicine Hat 2 at Prince Albert 6Sun. Apr. 14Medicine Hat 1 at Prince Albert 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. Apr. 17Prince Albert at Medicine HatFri. Apr. 19Prince Albert at Medicine HatSun. Apr. 21Medicine Hat at Prince AlbertWed. Apr. 24Prince Albert at Medicine HatFri. Apr. 26Medicine Hat at Prince Albert<h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1855/5509114-1-eng-US/f0035-182.jpg" title="f0035-18" width="544" height="90"></div>(Kamloops leads best-of-seven series 2-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Apr. 12New Westminster 3 at Kamloops 8Sun. Apr. 14New Westminster 4 at Kamloops 7<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. Apr. 17Kamloops at New WestminsterFri. Apr. 19Kamloops at New WestminsterSat. Apr. 20New Westminster at KamloopsSun. Apr. 21Kamloops at New WestminsterTue. Apr. 23New Westminster at KamloopsWed. Apr 24Kamloops at New WestminsterFri. Apr. 26New Westminster at Kamloops<h2>ALLAN CUP</h2><h3>EASTERN CANADA FINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1949/5509107-1-eng-US/f0035-192.jpg" title="f0035-19" width="543" height="86"></div>(Cornerbrook leads best-of-seven series 3-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Cornerbrook 9, Dundas-Hamilton 8Cornerbrook 10, Dundas-Hamilton 2Cornerbrook 6, Dundas-Hamilton 4<h2>WESTERN CANADA ANALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2046/5509100-1-eng-US/f0035-202.jpg" title="f0035-20" width="541" height="94"></div>(Spokane leads best-of-seven series 2-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Spokane 5, Thunder Bay 2Spokane 4, Thunder Bay 3Thunder Bay 6, Spokane 2<h2>CENTENNIAL CUP</h2><h3>EASTERN CANADA</h3>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2139/5509093-1-eng-US/f0035-212.jpg" title="f0035-21" width="546" height="82"></div>(Aurora leads best-of-seven series 1-0)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2232/5509086-1-eng-US/f0035-222.jpg" title="f0035-22" width="545" height="85"></div>(Pembroke leads best-of-seven series 3-2)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2331/5509079-1-eng-US/f0035-232.jpg" title="f0035-23" width="537" height="86"></div>(Cole Harbour leads best-of-seven series 2-0)<h2>WESTERN CANADA</h2>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2426/5509072-1-eng-US/f0035-242.jpg" title="f0035-24" width="539" height="91"></div>(Best-of-seven series tied 1-1) &#9632;

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April 26, 1985

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