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.

June 14, 1985

The Hockey News June 14, 1985

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02126/5524255-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="587" height="605"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01187/5524262-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="119" height="120"></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/f0044-0387/5524248-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="116" height="121"></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/f0044-0467/5524241-1-eng-US/f0044-042.jpg" title="f0044-04" width="584" height="601"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0556/5524234-1-eng-US/f0044-052.jpg" title="f0044-05" width="131" height="113"></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/f0044-0648/5524227-1-eng-US/f0044-062.jpg" title="f0044-06" width="584" height="595"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0745/5524220-1-eng-US/f0044-072.jpg" title="f0044-07" width="131" height="115"></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/f0044-0834/5524213-1-eng-US/f0044-082.jpg" title="f0044-08" width="585" height="630"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0932/5524206-1-eng-US/f0044-092.jpg" title="f0044-09" width="148" height="99"></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/f0044-1030/5524199-1-eng-US/f0044-102.jpg" title="f0044-10" width="581" height="475"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1124/5524192-1-eng-US/f0044-112.jpg" title="f0044-11" width="585" height="105"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1222/5524185-1-eng-US/f0044-122.jpg" title="f0044-12" width="118" height="116"></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/f0044-1320/5524178-1-eng-US/f0044-132.jpg" title="f0044-13" width="584" height="631"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1419/5524171-1-eng-US/f0044-142.jpg" title="f0044-14" width="176" height="111"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1519/5524164-1-eng-US/f0044-152.jpg" title="f0044-15" width="582" height="553"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1618/5524157-1-eng-US/f0044-162.jpg" title="f0044-16" width="130" 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/f0044-1718/5524150-1-eng-US/f0044-172.jpg" title="f0044-17" width="588" height="628"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1817/5524143-1-eng-US/f0044-182.jpg" title="f0044-18" width="132" height="97"></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/f0044-1915/5524136-1-eng-US/f0044-192.jpg" title="f0044-19" width="589" height="630"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-2013/5524129-1-eng-US/f0044-202.jpg" title="f0044-20" width="130" height="130"></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/f0044-2112/5524122-1-eng-US/f0044-212.jpg" title="f0044-21" width="584" height="349"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-2212/5524115-1-eng-US/f0044-222.jpg" title="f0044-22" width="585" height="306"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-2310/5524108-1-eng-US/f0044-232.jpg" title="f0044-23" width="602" height="819"><figcaption class="caption-body">Edmonton Oiler sniper Jari Kurri leads all playoff goal scorers with 18.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-298/5524101-1-eng-US/f0044-292.jpg" title="f0044-29" width="122" 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/f0044-308/5524094-1-eng-US/f0044-302.jpg" title="f0044-30" width="584" height="506"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-317/5524087-1-eng-US/f0044-312.jpg" title="f0044-31" width="587" height="128"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-327/5524080-1-eng-US/f0044-322.jpg" title="f0044-32" width="142" height="105"></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/f0044-336/5524073-1-eng-US/f0044-332.jpg" title="f0044-33" width="586" height="648"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-346/5524066-1-eng-US/f0044-342.jpg" title="f0044-34" width="119" height="119"></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/f0044-354/5524059-1-eng-US/f0044-352.jpg" title="f0044-35" width="590" height="654"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-364/5524052-1-eng-US/f0044-362.jpg" title="f0044-36" width="119" height="116"></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/f0044-373/5524045-1-eng-US/f0044-372.jpg" title="f0044-37" width="588" height="621"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-382/5524038-1-eng-US/f0044-382.jpg" title="f0044-38" width="155" height="94"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-392/5524031-1-eng-US/f0044-392.jpg" title="f0044-39" width="581" height="624"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-402/5524024-1-eng-US/f0044-402.jpg" title="f0044-40" width="119" height="111"></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/f0044-41/5524017-1-eng-US/f0044-412.jpg" title="f0044-41" width="579" height="245"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-42/5524010-1-eng-US/f0044-422.jpg" title="f0044-42" width="593" height="400"></div><h3>LEADING ROOKIES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-43/5524003-1-eng-US/f0044-432.jpg" title="f0044-43" width="563" height="448"></div>MOST GOALS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-44/5523996-1-eng-US/f0044-442.jpg" title="f0044-44" width="557" height="98"></div>MOST ASSISTS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-45/5523989-1-eng-US/f0044-452.jpg" title="f0044-45" width="554" height="125"></div>MOST SHOTS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-46/5523982-1-eng-US/f0044-462.jpg" title="f0044-46" width="558" height="274"></div><h2>GOALTENDING RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-47/5523975-1-eng-US/f0044-472.jpg" title="f0044-47" width="560" height="1323"></div><h3>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h3>GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-48/5523968-1-eng-US/f0044-482.jpg" title="f0044-48" width="563" height="151"></div>MOST WINS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-49/5523961-1-eng-US/f0044-492.jpg" title="f0044-49" width="562" height="175"></div>SAVE PERCENTAGE<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-50/5523954-1-eng-US/f0044-502.jpg" title="f0044-50" width="565" height="150"></div><h2>Top Scorers</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-249/5523947-1-eng-US/f0044-242.jpg" title="f0044-24" width="562" height="704"></div>MOST GOALS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-259/5523940-1-eng-US/f0044-252.jpg" title="f0044-25" width="557" height="181"></div>MOST ASSISTS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-268/5523933-1-eng-US/f0044-262.jpg" title="f0044-26" width="561" height="146"></div>MOST POWER PLAY GOALS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-278/5523926-1-eng-US/f0044-272.jpg" title="f0044-27" width="560" height="117"></div>MOST SHOTS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-288/5523919-1-eng-US/f0044-282.jpg" title="f0044-28" width="560" height="148"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

NHL PLAYOFF SCORING

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01643/5522832-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"></div><h2>PLAYOFF FORMAT &mdash; ALL GAMES AT OAXES PARK</h2>Sun. 23 10:00 a.m. GAME #1 4th place vs. 5th place 2:00 p.m. Winner #1 vs. Winner #211:00 a.m. GAME #2 3rd place vs. 6th place 3:00 p.m. Winner #3 vs. Winner #412:00 p.m. GAME #3 2nd place vs. 7th place 4:30 p.m. Final for Championship1:00 p.m. GAME #4 1st place vs. 8th place<h2>SPECIAL EVENTS SAT. 22 &mdash; OAKES PARK</h2>10:00 a.m. POWER HITTING CONTEST11:00 a.m. NHL ALL-STAR GAME &mdash; CANADA vs. U.S.A. &#9632;

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SCHEDULES • TIMES • SITES FOR TOURNAMENT

<h2>PLAYOFF STANDINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01160/5524590-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="536" height="499"></div><h2>WALES CONFERENCE</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02116/5524583-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="532" height="89"></div>(Philadelphia wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. May 5Philadelphia 1 at Quebec 2 (OT)Tue. May 7Philadelphia 4 at Quebec 2Thu. May 9Quebec 2 at Philadelphia 4Sun. May 12Quebec 5 at Philadelphia 3Tue. May 14Philadelphia 2 at Quebec 1Thu. May 16Quebec 0 at Philadelphia 3ADAMS DIVISIONFinals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0380/5524576-1-eng-US/f0046-032.jpg" title="f0046-03" width="491" height="83"></div>(Quebec wins best-of-seven series 4-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thu. Apr. 18Quebec 2 at Montreal 1 OT)Sun. Apr. 21 Quebec 4 a Montreal 6Tue. Apr. 23Montreal 6 at Quebec 7 (OT)Thu. Apr. 25Montreal 3 at Quebec 1Sat. Apr. 27 Quebec 5 at Montreal 1Tue. Apr. 30Montreal 5 at Quebec 2Thu. May 2 Quebec 3 at Montreal 2Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0467/5524569-1-eng-US/f0046-042.jpg" title="f0046-04" width="530" height="88"></div>(Montreal wins best-of-five series 3-2)<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 7Tue. Apr. 16Boston 0 at Montreal 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0549/5524562-1-eng-US/f0046-052.jpg" title="f0046-05" width="539" height="87"></div>(Quebec wins best-of-five sries 3-2)<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 7Tue. Apr. 16Buffalo 5 at Quebec 6PATRICK DIVISIONFINALS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0641/5524555-1-eng-US/f0046-062.jpg" title="f0046-06" width="536" height="89"></div>(Philadelphia wins best-of-seven series 4-1)GAMES COMPLETEDThu. Apr. 18NY Islanders 0 at Philadelphia 3Sun. Apr. 21NY Islanders 2 at Philadelphia 5Tue. Apr. 23Philadelphia 5 at NY Islanders 3Thu. Apr. 25Philadelphia 2 at NY Islanders 6Sun. Apr. 28NY Islanders 0 at Philadelphia 1Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0734/5524548-1-eng-US/f0046-072.jpg" title="f0046-07" width="533" height="85"></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/f0046-0823/5524541-1-eng-US/f0046-082.jpg" title="f0046-08" width="534" height="92"></div>(NY Islanders win best-of-five series 3-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 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 6Tue. Apr. 16NY Islanders 2 at Washington 1<h2>CAMPBELL CONFERENCE</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0921/5524534-1-eng-US/f0046-092.jpg" title="f0046-09" width="527" height="91"></div>(Edmonton wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Chicago 2 at Edmonton 11Tue. May 7Chicago 3 at Edmonton 7Thu. May 9Edmonton 2 at Chicago 5Sun. May 12Edmonton 6 at Chicago 8Tue. May 14Chicago 5 at Edmonton 10Thu. May 16Edmonton 8 at Chicago 2NORRIS DIVISIONFinals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1019/5524527-1-eng-US/f0046-102.jpg" title="f0046-10" width="496" height="85"></div>(Chicago wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thu. Apr. 18Minnesota 8 at Chicago 5Sun. Apr. 21Minnesota 2 at Chicago 6Tue. Apr. 23Chicago 5 at Minnesota 3Thu. Apr. 25Chicago 7 at Minnesota 6 (OT)Sun. Apr. 28Minnesota 5 at Chicago 4 (OT)Tue. Apr. 30Chicago 6 at Minnesota 5 (OT)Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1119/5524520-1-eng-US/f0046-112.jpg" title="f0046-11" width="534" height="89"></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/f0046-1216/5524513-1-eng-US/f0046-122.jpg" title="f0046-12" width="532" height="91"></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 2SMYTHE DIVISIONFINALS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1314/5524506-1-eng-US/f0046-132.jpg" title="f0046-13" width="540" height="93"></div>(Edmonton wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thu. Apr. 18Winnipeg 2 at Edmonton 4Sat. Apr. 20Winnipeg 2 at Edmonton 5Tue. Apr. 23Edmonton 5 at Winnipeg 4Thu. Apr. 25Edmonton 8 at Winnipeg 3Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1414/5524499-1-eng-US/f0046-142.jpg" title="f0046-14" width="540" 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/f0046-1514/5524492-1-eng-US/f0046-152.jpg" title="f0046-15" width="542" height="91"></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 3 &#9632;

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STANLEY CUP SCOREBOARD

<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/f0034-01637/5523183-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="116" height="112"></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;Minneapolis-based Mike Smith, once a coach of the Winnipeg Jets, has become the No. 2 man in the organization, succeeding Mike Doran as general manager John Ferguson&rsquo;s assistant.Doran was critically injured in a car accident on Nov. 1 while driving to an Ontario Hockey League game in Peterborough. Hopes of a full recovery have faded. He is severely disabled.&ldquo;Certainly, he would be Mike Doran&rsquo;s choice, too,&rdquo; said Ferguson. &ldquo;They had worked so well together.&rdquo;The appointment of Smith would seem to re-affirm the Jets&rsquo; philosophy of drafting players either enrolled in U.S. colleges or on their way there.The concept was Doran&rsquo;s.Ten members of the Jets&rsquo; lineup during the recent playoffs received their training in American colleges. Twenty-tour others are still in school, playing and studying at campuses as far east as the University of New Hampshire and as tar west as Colorado College.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to go out of the organization to find an assistant,&rdquo; said Ferguson. &ldquo;He knows exactly what we&rsquo;re looking for in players. I know he&rsquo;ll do the job well.&rdquo;Since the accident, Ferguson has sent Smith on some of the scouting trips Doran would have taken. Smith attended both the world and world junior championships in Europe, not to mention the major college tournaments.An academic, whose approach to hockey is largely scientific, Smith was one of the New York Ranger scouts who followed Ferguson to Winnipeg in 1979. Joining him were Doran and Tom Savage.The 1980-81 Jets were floundering when Smith was appointed interim coach. Tom McVie had been fired and Bill Sutherland was asked to face the ignominy of being the man behind the bench when the club set the NHL record for playing its 30th game without a win. Under Smith, the Jets were only marginally better, posting a 7-32-7 record.The following year Winnipeg made the greatest improvement in NHL history, finishing at the .500 level with a 33-33-14 record, a rookie named Dale Hawerchuk, 12 other newcomers and an award-winning coach, Tom Watt.Before his appointment. Smith had the title of director of recruitment.He is backed by chief scout Les Binkley, eastern-based Savage, western-based Charlie Hodge, Bill Lesuk of Winnipeg, Joe Yanetti of Boston, Dave Peterson of Minneapolis and Bill Heffernan and John O&rsquo;Flaherty, both of Toronto.Since the end of the 1984-85 season, their most successful ever, the Jets have signed four veterans to new contracts. Negotiations are under way with two others, left winger Doug Smail and defenseman Robert Picard.Signed were center Laurie Boschman. left wingers Perry Turnbull and Bengt Lundholm and right winger Jim Nill.Turnbull and Nill were playing out their options when the Jets acquired them in trades from the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins, respectively.The burly Turnbull had 22 goals and 21 assists in 66 games with the Jets. Their biggest left winger, he played exceedingly well in the Jets&rsquo; series victory over the Calgary Flames.Nill had eight goals and eight assists in 20 games with the Jets who dealt Morris Lukowich to the Bruins in the trade.A tenacious checker. Nill demons trated a determination and courage that brought out the best in his teammates. A rib injury deprived the team of Nill&rsquo;s full effectiveness in the playoffs.Boschman is coming off his finest season ever, compiling 32 goals and 44 assists. He appeared in every game despite his reckless, feisty style.Lundholm. a swarming checker, scored 12 goals and added 18 assists. Now 29, and the Jets&rsquo; oldest player, he is exceptionally quick in open ice and tricky in close-knit situations.A strong performance in the playoffs convinced Ferguson that he deserved to have the opportunity to play for the Jets again.BENCH BITS&mdash;The Jets have raised the price of their most expensive seats at Winnipeg Arena. A $3 increase has been imposed on 2.100 of the best seats. Other seats, apart from the upper decks, have been raised $.50, while the remainder remain unchanged. &#9632;</div>

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Fergy Doesn’t Look Far For Assistant GM

<div class="byline">BY JIM CHRISTIE</div>Three images endure from the 1985 world hockey championships in Prague. One is of a Polish reporter sitting among the press tribunes. Tears of joy ran down his face as he listened to the Czechoslovak national anthem. The host Czechs had just stood up to the Soviet Union in the medal round and he kept murmuring over and over, &ldquo;Thank you, Czechoslovakia.&rdquo;The second snapshot memory is of Canada&rsquo;s Mario Lemieux, youthful elegance on ice, breaking in alone on Vladimir Myshkin with long and confident strides. The Soviet defenders had their heads down, partly in strain to catch up, partly in shame for being caught out of position. One deft move by Lemieux and the puck rocketed past Myshkin and the Canadians went on to beat the Soviets for the first time in a world championship since 1961.The third image is distilled from the first two. It is of Viktor Tikhonov, the impassive Master of Soviet sport, turning from the ice and pleading frantically with his players for goals that do not come. His hands and the shock of hair over his forehead are shaking. The Soviets&rsquo; only medal-round win would come in a bloodbath for the bronze medal against the United States.This is what the 1985 world hockey championships were all about. They were political and emotional. They represented a changing order in the hockey world. Most significantly, they completed the devastation of the Soviet hockey empire. The Czechs are the world champions. The Canadians own the world junior championship, the Spengler Cup and the Canada Cup.The Czechoslovak triumph on home ice was the perfect swan song for outgoing national team coach Ludek Bukac, who will now pursue a coaching job in the National Hockey League. The Czech team was aging and hurting as it went into the world championship medal round, but it was also proudly defiant and played a tactically perfect game against the Soviets, who had taken 19 of 24 previous world and Olympic titles.Then came May Day, 1985, the day when 14.000 Czechoslovak fans in the Julius Fucik Sport Hall shouted down Soviet chants of &ldquo;Shaibu&rdquo; and made up their own words to O Canada. Doug Carpenter, Tom Watt and Ron Smith had-devised the perfect defense to snap the teeth off the infamous Soviet pinwheel attack at center, then stacked the Canadian blueline with four men to keep the Soviets at bay. The Canucks forechecked in a 1-2-2 pattern&mdash;one man going forth to force the pass out of the Soviet zone and four men available to cut off the pass before it got the swirling Soviets in motion at center.Still, the fact that the Czechs and Canadians deposed the Soviets seems a puzzle to hockey theorists. On paper, this was a bigger, stronger Big Red Machine than the one which the Soviets dispatched to the Canada Cup. Tikhonov had been given leave from coaching Red Army in the Soviet elite division to prepare his team. This team also had captain and wheelhorse defenseman Vyacheslav Fetisov back in harness. Man for man the Soviets seemed to have more talent at every position (except goal) than any other team.To say that the defeat of the Soviets was unexpected is an understatement. They rolled over every opponent in seven preliminary round games. But perhaps they had won too easily. It hadn&rsquo;t mattered that Myshkin was bouncing out rebounds like a trampoline, or that Soviet faceoff men were horrendous in the circle. Tikhonov&rsquo;s juggernaut was able to bury the opposition without varying its attack.But in the end, these were the very factors at the root of the Soviets&rsquo; undoing and the triumph of Czechoslovakia&rsquo;s and Canada&rsquo;s simple competence. The Soviets have no substitute for the retired Vladislav Tretiak and Myshkin&rsquo;s large rebounds and unsteadiness on skates led directly to goals. Their collective weakness on faceoffs meant the Soviets had less possession of the puck to commit their usual wizardry. The Soviets, always frontrunners, saw their classy game picked apart when they were unable to come from behind in the tight medalround games.Tikhonov, almost never faced with needing a late goal to even the score, was unfamiliar with the tactic of lifting a goalie for an extra attacker. Moreover, he kept his top five-man unit of Fetisov. Alexei Kasatonov, Igor Larionov, Sergei Makarov and Vladimir Krutov on the ice for too long at a time. Tikhonov was desperate, and failed to show any offensive imagination. He kept sending his stars out to do the same thing but they were too tired to do the job. Bukac essentially admitted his team had played possum during the preliminary round, sacrificing the European title to have something left in reserve for the world medal round.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011373/5521826-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="570" height="874"><figcaption class="caption-body">Czechoslovak coach Ludek Bukac admitted his club played possum in the early games.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We knew we couldn&rsquo;t beat them twice in a short span but we knew the result of the preliminary match wouldn&rsquo;tcarry over,&rdquo; the Czech coach said. &ldquo;We were able to concentrate fully and our players played with great enthusiasm.&rdquo;Perhaps the most enthusiastic of them was 215-pound winger Oldrich Valek (whom the Canadians dubbed Eddie Shack) who was able to lean on and wear down the slick Makarov, and Jiri Sebja, a grinder who found glory in setting up the winning goal by Vladimir Ruzicka against the Soviets and then netting three against the Canadians in the gold-medal match.They provided a spark that kept the rest of the cast high. Pavel Richter was off the team and then brought back because of a manpower shortage. Both he and veteran goalie Jiri Kralik are old enough to seek professional employment in Western Europe next season. Vincent Lukac played despite a shoulder injury and high-scoring Petr Klima and Petr Rosol were both out with in juries. Bukac had to play with a short bench, but still pulled off a coup.The Canadians did the job with the usual assortment of volunteers who either missed or were quickly dispatched from the Stanley Cup playoffs and a coaching triumvirate that was collectively more inventive than Tikhonov. May Day was one for the workers&mdash;Canadian workers&mdash;and though two days later the color of the Canadian medal was silver, the memory of knocking off the Soviets was pure gold. &#9632;

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WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 1985: Soviet’s Big Red Machine Needs Overhaul

<div class="byline">BY JIM CHRISTIE</div>As the seconds ticked down in the medal-round match between Canada and the Soviets in Prague, a magnificently symbolic event occurred.Rick Vaive passed the puck to John Anderson in the slot and his Toronto Maple Leaf teammate, wearing a red emblem instead of blue one, smashed a frighteningly hard slapshot at the Russian goal.Vladimir Myshkin stood motionless as the puck crashed with great force into the crown of his helmet, with a noise that could be heard throughout the arena. The puck flew off into the upper deck and still, Myskin stood there, stunned, still staring forward. Then his knees began to wobble and his rump, parked deep in the crease, thudded to the ice.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Team Canada and Team USA redeemed the North American style of play.</blockquote>Four years ago, that goalie might have been Mike Liut and the rump on the cold ice might have represented North American hockey. Four years ago. the Soviets trashed Canada&rsquo;s best pros in the Canada Cup, 8-1.But in 1985, North Americans need make no apologies for their game or for the heart with which they play it. Call them playoff rejects, if you will, but the Canadians who won the silver medal and the U.S. pros who combined with college kids to earn a spot in the medal round&mdash;ahead of the Swedes, ahead of the Finns&mdash;have redeemed the North American style of hockey.North Americans hadn&rsquo;t given themselves enough credit for the type of game they play, or for their talents. They spent a long time admiring the patterned efficiency of the Soviets and trying to bring discipline and flow and motion into their game. But it was the differences, more than the similarities between the North American and European games, that put the North Americans in the medal round.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011392/5521857-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="566" height="1212"><figcaption class="caption-body">Team USA&rsquo;s Mark Johnson said the team exhibited great amounts of pride and desire.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;And we have our talents, too. We aren&rsquo;t just some bunch of humpty-dumpties,&rdquo; insisted U.S. coach Dave Peterson, a retired high school physical education teacher from Minneapolis, MN.Certainly, it was emotion that helped turn U.S. goalie John Vanbies-brouck of the New York Rangers into a tournament all-star, following an I l-l embarrassment against the Soviets in the first game. It was youthful enthusiasm that made fledgling Rangers Kelly Miller, Clarke Donatelli and Tony Granato the U.S. team&rsquo;s most effective forechecking unit. They hounded the opposition into turnovers that led to wins over more talented Canadian. Czechoslovakian and Swedish teams during the preliminary round.And there was leadership from Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Moe Mantha on defense and St. Louis Blue Mark Johnson up front. Johnson was the only member of the U.S. team who was also part of the 1980 Miracle on Ice at Lake Placid.&ldquo;But the makeup of this team was much different.&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;In 1980. we had all lived together for six months under Herb (Brooks). We were just like the Russians. In this case, we had to throw this team together in three days, as the playoffs went on. We had guys flying in without their skates.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unexplainable, really. The pros didn&rsquo;t know the college players and some of us (pros) didn&rsquo;t know each other. But there&rsquo;s an intensity, and emotion and a confidence. If there&rsquo;s a chemistry, it&rsquo;s just in being an American and all the qualities we have over there&mdash;the pride, the desire.&rdquo;On the Canadian side there was more talent but no less desire to win. Pat Riggin came in after the Washington Capitals were eliminated and was activated to tend goal for the medal round. He left behind his wife, seven-and-a-half months pregnant, to attend.The St. Louis Blues&rsquo; Rick Wamsley, who had helped get the Canadians that far, stepped aside with a chronic bad back, making way for Riggin.Mario Lemieux, the lone French Canadian on the team, felt lonely, isolated and worried after he suffered the first injury of his career (groin) in the opening game. He was prepared to go home, but stayed on and wound up leading the team and making the second all-star team.&ldquo;That kid&rsquo;s going to be a superstar. I didn&rsquo;t have enough respect for him when I came over here,&rdquo; Riggin said of Lemieux. &ldquo;Now I have to respect him for next season.&rdquo;Kirk Muller of New Jersey showed the rugged two-way play that will make him the Bryan Trottier of a new generation, and Hartford&rsquo;s Kevin Dineen played fearlessly along the walls like a man twice his size.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m proud of the Canadian team for what they accomplished,&rdquo; said head coach Doug Carpenter. &ldquo;They came here and made an account of themselves. They stood up.&rdquo;Carpenter&rsquo;s adversary in the final match, Prof. Ludek Bukac of Czechoslovakia, was also lavish with his praise.&ldquo;We have seen many Canadian teams and players like Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky. But 1 can say this team sent to Czechoslovakia was very strong and played its best, with high spirit and discipline and close checking. It is the best Canadian team 1 have met in my coaching career.&rdquo; &#9632;

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North Americans Need Not Offer Apologies

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02933/5521888-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="380" height="428"><figcaption class="caption-body">Frank Orr</figcaption></div>MANY CHAPS AROUND the National Hockey League representing all segments&mdash;players, coaches and management&mdash;of the game are seriously questioning the decision to extend the season past the merry month of May.Not only is the length of the playoffs, which could run from April 10 to June 4 (55 days), a hot topic but the light scheduling also upsets some teams which didn&rsquo;t like the Thursday-Sunday, Saturday-Tuesday sets of games in some series.Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; Wayne Gretzky is one important player who thinks the playoff set-up needs revamping.&ldquo;The playoffs are too drawn-out,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;The owners claim they need 16 teams in the playoffs and all these games to make money. But you wonder about it and the way it&rsquo;s organized.&ldquo;Somebody asked me who I thought would win the other semi-final between Philadelphia and Quebec. I said that I thought it would be tough for Quebec opening in Philly. I didn&rsquo;t even know that the Flyers were opening in Quebec.&ldquo;I thought that because they had the best record in the league the Flyers naturally would get homeice advantage. But there&rsquo;s this thing about the Nordiques&rsquo; division having a better record than the Flyers&rsquo;. It&rsquo;s crazy. The Flyers busted their tails to get 114 points during the season. What for?&ldquo;Look at the Minnesota North Stars, who had about the 16th best record during the season. But with a couple of bounces they could have advanced to the Stanley Cup semi-finals instead of the Chicago Black Hawks. Is that how it should be?&rdquo;Gretzky feels that the length of the playoffs makes it very difficult to create and sustain interest that baseball and football enjoy for their championship series.&ldquo;There are a lot of reasons why the NHL playoffs are the way they are but the arrangement makes it very difficult to keep the fans interested,&rdquo; Gretzky added. &ldquo;After the first round, the series stretched too long and that meant we had a nine-day layoff between games. That&rsquo;s too long for us and it means that fan interest drops off. We had eight games in approximately four weeks and there has to be a way to prevent that.&ldquo;Most guys in the game don&rsquo;t like what&rsquo;s happening so everyone&mdash;players, management and owners&mdash;needs to sit down and talk it out.&rdquo;The playoffs open with best-of-five divisional semi-finals and some owners think those should become seven-game series. The schedule has four games in five nights to open the series and, this year, three series went the limit. They provided dandy entertainment, competitive hockey played at a high intensity, like one big game with long intermissions.Bob Pulford, the Hawk general manager, is opposed to the light schedule of three games in seven days his team hit several times times during the playoffs.&ldquo;We have to change a few things in the playoffs and the waiting around is one of them,&rdquo; Pulford said. &ldquo;Instead of spreading out the first four games of a series the way we have been, why not play the first two back to back in one building, take a day for travel and a day for a good practice, then play the next two games in two nights in the other team&rsquo;s building.&rdquo;Back-to-back games, four in five nights, are scheduled to open the first round and the NHL feels that&rsquo;s enough of that hectic pace because if the divisional finals are opened in a similar fashion, the players would be exhausted and that increases the risk of injury.Oiler defenseman Lee Fogolin likes the hectic schedule with a slight modification.&ldquo;Four in five nights in two successive series isn&rsquo;t good so why not play four games in six nights, taking two days off in between the sets of game,&rdquo; Fogolin said. &ldquo;That cuts down the boredom of roadtime at a time in the season when you don&rsquo;t want to practise much but (want to) play games. And it keeps the fan interest alive.&rdquo;Oiler boss Glen Sather feels that the playoff schedule should be structured so that games are played on more nights of the week.&ldquo;We should have a playoff game on just about every night,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;That way. the game is on television and in the papers, in front of the public as much as possible.&rdquo;You can expect some lively discussion during the off-season, the very short off-season, that is, to find a better way. &#9632;

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June And Cup Playoffs Don’t Mix

<div class="byline">By Bob Duff</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011459/5521943-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="424" height="448"></div>Q,: In the history of the NHL or WHA, has there ever been a goaltender who has captained his club?Paul Lubrenecki.&nbsp;Norristown. PA.A.: There have been six goaltenders to wear the &ldquo;C&rdquo; and all were captains in the NHL before the 1950s.The list is as follows: John Ross Roach, Toronto St. Patrick&rsquo;s (1924-25); Roy Worters, Pittsburgh Pirates (1926-28); George Hainsworth, Montreal Canadiens (1932-33); Alex Connell, Ottawa Senators (1932-33); Charlie Gardiner, Chicago Black Hawks (1932-34) and Bill Durnan. Montreal Canadiens (1947-48).Shortly after Durnan&rsquo;s reign, the NHL passed a bylaw prohibiting netminders from wearing the &ldquo;C&rdquo; because it was felt they would waste too much time trudging back and forth from their net to dispute officials&rsquo; calls.Q.: I have a few questions for you:When and why was it decided that a player serving a minor penalty should return to the ice if his team is scored upon? What is the worst regular-season record posted by a Stanley Cup-winning team? Has a sub-.500 team ever won the Stanley Cup? Since the NHL&rsquo;s birth in 1917, what is the best single-season winning percentage posted by a team? Could you run a list of all active NHL players that were born in Sweden?Todd Bank,&nbsp;East Meadow, NJA.: The NHL decided that players receiving minor penalties should return after one power-play goal before the 1956-57 season. This was caused mainly by the potent Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; power-play unit, which was regularly scoring two or three goals during opposition penalties.The worst record posted by a Stanley Cup winner belongs to the 1937-38 Chicago Black Hawks, who finished a dismal 14-25-9 on the regular sesaon. They made the playoffs, however, because the Detroit Red Wings (12-25-11) were even worse. Chicago then surprised everyone by advancing to the Stanley Cup finals, and upsetting Toronto. Incidentally, the 1948-49 Toronto Maple Leafs are the only other sub-.500 Cup winner. They finished fourth at 22-25-13.The best single-season winning percentage was posted by the 1929-30 Boston Bruins, who had a 38-5-1 record, for a winning average of .875.As for active Swedish-born NHLers, here&rsquo;s a team-by-team list of those who played during the 1984-85 season:Boston: Mats Thelin; Calgary: Hakan Loob, Kent Nilsson; Hartford: Ulf Samuelsson; Los Angeles; Anders Hakansson; Minnesota; Bo Berglund; Montreal; Mats Naslund; Thomas Rundqvist; NY Islanders; Tomas Jonsson; Anders Kallur; Bob Nystrom; Stefan Persson; Mats Hallin; NY Rangers; Tomas Sandstrom; Jan Erixon; Peter Sundstrom; Anders Hed-berg (recently retired); Philadelphia; Tommy Eriksson; Pelle Lindbergh; Quebec; Peter Loob; Roger Haegglund; St. Louis; Jorgen Pettersson (recently traded to Hartford); Toronto; Borje Salming; Vancouver; Patrik Sundstrom, Thomas Gradin; Washington; Peter Andersson, Bengt Gus-tafsson; Winnipeg; Bengt Lundholm, Thomas Steen; Edmonton; Willy Lindstrom. &#9632;

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ASK THE DUFFER

Here&rsquo;s what was happening 20 years ago this month in hockey:&bull; Chicago&rsquo;s spectacular Bobby Hull won both the Lady Byng and Hart trophies for the 1964-65 season. This fare double win made Hull the first player since Buddy O&rsquo;Connor of the 1947-48 New York Rangers to win the Byng and Hart awards in the same season. Other trophy-winners were Chicago&rsquo;s Pierre Pilote (Norris) and Stan Mikita (Art Ross) and Detroit&rsquo;s Roger Crozier (Calder).&bull; Al Arbour, defenseman and assistant coach of the American Hockey League&rsquo;s Rochester Americans, was awarded the Eddie Shore Plaque as the league&rsquo;s most valuable rearguard.Here&rsquo;s what was happening 15 years ago this month in hockey:&bull; Boston star Bobby Orr scored the winning goal in overtime, as the Bruins defeated the St. Louis Blues in four straight games to win the Stanley Cup. Orr won the Conn Smythe Trophy, as well as the Hart and Norris trophies. It was Boston&rsquo;s first Cup win since 1941. &#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/f0006-021040/5522005-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="384" height="450"></div>Bobby Orr revolutionized the game of hockey like no other player has ever done in the history of the sport.During his heyday with the Boston Bruins in the 1960s and 1970s. Orr transformed a defenseman&rsquo;s role from one defensive-oriented to another more offensively-inclined.But someone had to &ldquo;stay at home&rdquo; while Orr &ldquo;visited&rdquo; the offensive zone with more and more frequency. That someone was Don Awrey.Awrey played for all or parts of 16 seasons (1963-1979) in the NHL with the Bruins, St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers and Colorado Rockies.Known as a defensive defenseman, Awrey enjoyed his place beside Orr on the blueline.&ldquo;I knew what my role was and what Bobby&rsquo;s was,&rdquo; recalls Awrey, a native of Kitchener, Ont. &ldquo;Bobby was a special type of player.&ldquo;To see Bobby play the game, either as his defensive partner or sitting on the bench, there were never enough words to describe him. There was no doubt in my mind that he was head and shoulders above any other player in the league before or during his time.&ldquo;It was an honor to play alongside him.&rdquo;Known as &ldquo;Elbows&rdquo; during his playing days. Awrey had a way of getting physical with opponents.&ldquo;I was not well-liked by most of the guys I played against, especially the right wingers,&rdquo; chuckles Awrey, who spent 10 of his 16 seasons in the NHL with the Bruins.&ldquo;Guys going into the corners with me would try to punish me at the same time.&ldquo;So when that happened I would just raise my elbows a little to protect myself. I used to have some pretty good battles in those comers.&ldquo;And there is one (player) I can pick out who really gave me the roughest time and that was (former New York Rangers&rsquo; right winger) Bill Fairbairn. Billy and I used to beat the living daylights out of each other in the corners. We never made things easy on each other.&ldquo;If Billy went into the corner first I would really give it to him. And if I went into the comer first he would really give it to me. But we never really had any physical fights against each other.&ldquo;If anything, we really respected one another.&rdquo;Now 41, Awrey is a sales representative for Don Awrey&rsquo;s Sales Agency in Concord, N.H. He also runs the Sports Elite Distributing Company.&ldquo;Probably the greatest thrill for me came when I was chosen to play on Team Canada in 1972,&rdquo; says Awrey, who today lives in Concord. &ldquo;To be chosen to play for your country is a great honor.&ldquo;When I got the call, the poor guy who asked me if I wanted to play on the team didn&rsquo;t even get the question out of his mouth when I said &lsquo;Sure, when do I report?&rsquo; That&rsquo;s how bad I wanted to play in that series.&ldquo;Playing on two Stanley Cup winners in Boston was great, although I did play on a third Stanley Cup team in Montreal (1975-76) but never got my name on the Cup itself.&ldquo;I missed the last two or three games of the season and never got into a playoff game. Because I never got into a playoff game, my name wasn&rsquo;t on the Cup. Ironically, a year or two later they changed that rule. But I guess that&rsquo;s life.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03672/5521998-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="1174" height="944"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Awrey, who spent most of his career in Boston with the Bruins, was a physical, stay-at-home defenseman.</figcaption></div><h2>TRIVIA</h2>1. Name the first team the Philadelphia Flyers won a playoff series from?2. What two NHL teams won the Stanley Cup in their second season of existence?3. On what date was the last tie game in Stanley Cup history played?4. Who was the first NHL player to register 400 career goals?5. How many coaches have Los Angeles had during Marcel Dionne&rsquo;s career with the Kings?6. Name the last NHL team to go through the entire playoffs unbeaten?7. What current Washington Capital forward had six assists in a 1982 NHL playoff game?8. How many times has the Stanley Cup-winning goal been scored in overtime?9. Name the first NHL defenseman to score a hat-trick in a Stanley Cup game?10. Name the last team to record a shutout in a Stanley Cup final game and not go on to win the Cup?Answers in next week&rsquo;s issue.<h2>Last Week&rsquo;s Trivia Answers</h2>1. Hank Bassen. 2. Phoenix Roadrunners. 3. Alex Delvecchio. 4. Cornwall Royals, 1980-81. 5. Pierre Lacroix. 6. Mats Naslund. 7. Boston. 8. Claude Verret. 9. St. Louis. 10. George Armstrong. &#9632;

f0006-02

Skating In The Shadow Of Orr Never Bothered Awrey

<div class="byline">BY BOB DUFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04432/5522036-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg"></div>that the most overtime games played by one NHL team in one playoff year is: &#9632;

f0006-04

Did You Know…

<h2>EDMONTON vs PHILADELPHIA</h2>Tue. May 21 Edmonton at PhiladelphiaThu. May 23 Edmonton at PhiladelphiaSat. May 25 Philadelphia at EdmontonTue. May 28 Philadelphia at EdmontonThu. May 30 Philadelphia at EdmontonSun. June 2 Edmonton at PhiladelphiaTue. June 4 Edmonton at Philadelphia(Best-of-seven series)<h3>SEASON RECORD AGAINST EACH OTHER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02912/5522140-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="682" height="97"></div><h3>SCORES OF GAMES</h3>Nov. 11 Edmonton 5 at Philadelphia 7Jan. 2 Philadelphia 5 at Edmonton 2Feb. 16 Edmonton 4 at Philadelphia 5<h3>SEASON RECORD FOR EACH TEAM</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03616/5522133-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="684" height="91"></div><h3>SHOTS ON GOAL FOR THREE GAMES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-04429/5522126-1-eng-US/f0007-042.jpg" title="f0007-04" width="711" height="91"></div><h3>SCORES BY PERIODS FOR THREE GAMES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-05302/5522119-1-eng-US/f0007-052.jpg" title="f0007-05" width="709" height="91"></div><h3>SCORERS FOR THREE SEASON GAMES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-06231/5522112-1-eng-US/f0007-062.jpg" title="f0007-06" width="328" height="265"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-07177/5522105-1-eng-US/f0007-072.jpg" title="f0007-07" width="331" height="181"></div><h3>GOALTENDING RECORD FOR THREE GAMES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-08144/5522098-1-eng-US/f0007-082.jpg" title="f0007-08" width="687" height="95"></div> &#9632;

f0007-02

STANLEY CUP FINAL DATES

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>Like a cagey card shark, Glen Sather knew when to hold them.He kept one ace up his sleeve.&ldquo;Do you think,&rdquo; mused the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; manager-coach, &ldquo;that I played Moog against Philadelphia entirely by accident?&rdquo;Goaltender Any Moog drew the playing assignment in Edmonton&rsquo;s three losses to the Philadelphia Flyers during the National Hockey League&rsquo;s regular season.Sather was planning for the long term, looking ahead to the possibility of the Flyers and Oilers meeting in the Stanley Cup final.Then would be the time to show his ace.So, Grant Fuhr will be in goal, as he has been for the start of Edmonton&rsquo;s 13 playoff games heading into the final series.&ldquo;They haven&rsquo;t seen Grant,&rdquo; said Sather, always searching for the edge. &ldquo;I had a feeling about Philly. I think I got it the day they traded for Craven and Paterson.&rdquo;In an 11th-hour move before the season, rookie Flyers&rsquo; GM Bob Clarke sent Darryl Sittler to the Detroit Red Wings for promising rookies Murray Craven and Joe Paterson.The move came like a bolt out of the blue&mdash;since earlier in the day Sittler had been appointed Flyers&rsquo; captain.That was going on eight months ago, about the time Sather was basking in the glory of a Canada Cup conquest.But that&rsquo;s typical Sather&mdash;an advance thinker. He was also preparing to defend the Oilers&rsquo; Stanley Cup.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll have to go back a long time to find films of me playing against the Flyers,&rdquo; said Fuhr, &ldquo;I think the last time was early in the season a couple of years ago. If they watch films all they&rsquo;ll get to see is me sitting on the bench a lot. To me, the bottom line is to stop pucks, and if they don&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;m going to do&hellip;&rsquo;But, you can be assured the Flyers have caught Fuhr on film from the Campbell Conference final against the Chicago Black Hawks.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s okay,&rdquo; shrugged the 22-year-old, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they&rsquo;ll learn too much from that. I didn&rsquo;t play very well in three of those games.&rdquo;Actually, the Oilers as a whole didn&rsquo;t excel in three meetings with the Flyers.They blew a 4-3 lead, bowing 7-5 for their first season loss on Nov. 11 after establishing a record for the quickest burst from the gate, going 15 games without a loss. At home the Oilers were beaten 5-2 on Jan. 2 when the Flyers were minus ace defenseman Mark Howe. Edmonton also lost 5-4 in Philadelphia on Feb. 16.In fact, the Oilers haven&rsquo;t beaten the Flyers in eight straight games (0-7-1), dating back to Nov. 13, 1982, when the since-departed Kenny Linseman returned to the Spectrum in Edmonton silks.Edmonton&rsquo;s career log (5-13-2) against the Flyers is nothing to write home about. The figure in the loss column swells to 16 if you toss in three setbacks&mdash;albeit two in overtime&mdash;during the Oilers&rsquo; first NHL playoff appearance in 1980.But if there&rsquo;s concern about the three most recent setbacks to Philadelphia, the Oilers aren&rsquo;t showing it.&ldquo;It means bleep all,&rdquo; snorted defenseman Paul Coffey, Edmonton&rsquo;s leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy through three playoff rounds. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s better that we lost those three games. This way there&rsquo;s no fear of overconfidence.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s little doubt that justice was served by the fact the Flyers and Oilers are preparing for the final. The NHL, despite it wide-open playoff format, landed on its feet with the number one (Flyers, 113 points) and two (Oilers, 109 points) seeds meeting. The top team even drew home-ice advantage.&ldquo;If there&rsquo;s going to be any justice, that&rsquo;s the way it should be,&rdquo; said Sather, who figures the Oilers are in for a physical debate.&ldquo;But, the physical part doesn&rsquo;t scare me. It&rsquo;s the clutching and the holding that I don&rsquo;t like. The officials are going to have to call that stuff.&rdquo;Sather singled out Flyers&rsquo; defenseman Brad Marsh in this regard.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s awkward and is a clumsy skater but he&rsquo;s very effective at slowing guys down,&rdquo; spat Sather. &ldquo;They have a terrific defense, but they got away with a lot of crap against Quebec. (Ed) Hosopodar went around spearing guys. But our team is tough. They won&rsquo;t be able to get away with that against us.&rdquo;Someone asked if such was the coaching philosophy of Mike Keenan?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know Keenan from a hole in the ground,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;But it must be his style, he&rsquo;s coaching them.&rdquo;The ominous clouds of battle are once again lurking on the horizon.IN THE CREASE&mdash;Paul Coffey, who through three rounds of the playoffs had already broken Denis Potvin&rsquo;s record for most points in one playoff year by a defenseman, was still feeling the ill-effects of a bruised instep suffered when slashed by Winnipeg&rsquo;s Jim Kyte late in the last game of the Smythe Divison final. &ldquo;It won&rsquo;t be completely healed until I get time off in the summer. It&rsquo;s just something I have to put out of my mind,&rdquo; said Coffey, whose nine goals also tied the record for blueliners shared by Bobby Orr and Brad Park&hellip; Another Oiler defenseman, Lee Fogolin. played the Chicago series with a broken thumb which he suffered in practice. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s better now. It happened quite awhile ago,&rdquo; said Fogolin, playing down the injury. In fact, Fogolin. normally a low-scoring rearguard, popped two goals in the last two games against Chicago. It was also the 30-year-old&rsquo;s overtime gamewinner that provided the Oilers with their first win of the playoffs back on April 10. &#9632;

Oilers Show The Ace In Bid To Keep Cup

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011305/5522067-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">At the beginning of the season, no one expected that Flyer coach Mike Keenan (right) and assistant Ted Sator would be able to guide the club to the Cup finals.</figcaption></div>At the beginning, it was the same pipedream conjured up by all new regimes and all young players.The new coach, Mike Keenan, hung a picture of the Stanley Cup on the bulletin board outside the dressing room at the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; practice rink. Everybody said the right things.They said they believed they could win. They said that youth would work for them, not against them. They said anything was possible.And everybody else said they were dreaming.Now, here they are with an average age of 24.4, competing in the Stanley Cup finals.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not dreamers any more,&rdquo; said center Ron Sutter. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re believers.&rdquo;They believe they can defeat the Edmonton Oilers. Just like they believed they could win the Patrick Division title, and then mow down the Rangers, Islanders and Nordiques on their way to the finals.It doesn&rsquo;t matter that one of their four top defensemen, Brad McCrimmon, will be unavailable because of a separated shoulder. Nor does it matter that they&rsquo;ll have to shoulder the extra load of inexperience.After all, this club has already gained access to several places to which they weren&rsquo;t supposed to have membership. What&rsquo;s one more door to break down?&ldquo;All year long people kept saying we had to face this test and that test,&rdquo; said Brad Marsh. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d play a good team, and people would wait to see how we played against another good team&hellip;Same thing with the playoffs: Could we finally win a game? A series? Beat the Islanders? Beat Quebec with all our injuries?&ldquo;And we&rsquo;ve always come through.&rdquo;If they do go on to beat the Oilers, the first player destined to get his hands on the Cup is captain Dave Poulin. Although he missed most of the Rangers&rsquo; series, the entire Islanders&rsquo; series and three games of the Quebec series with injuries, Poulin has been a prominent contributor to the Flyers&rsquo; regular-season and playoff success.It was Poulin&rsquo;s crushing goal, while the Flyers were two men short, that broke the spirit of the Nordiques in the Flyers&rsquo; 3-0 victory in the sixth and final game of the Wales Conference finals.Poulin, who had finally overcome a strained left knee and bruised ribs, stole a pass from Quebec&rsquo;s Mario Marois while Quebec had a five-on-three advantage. Then, he outraced Marois and Peter Stastny through the neutral zone and into the Nordiques&rsquo; end before launching a perfect shot over the glove of goalie Mario Gosselin for a 2-0 lead.It was Poulin&rsquo;s second shorthanded goal of the series and it simply buried the Nordiques.Less than a week before Poulin had been unable to play because he re-strained his left knee in game two&mdash;a contest in which he also suffered bruised ribs from a cross-check.On the flight back to Philly after that game his chest muscles contracted so tightly, he could hardly breathe, never mind play.Already playing without their leading scorer, Tim Kerr, who suffered a strained right knee in the first game of the series, and McCrimmon, the Flyers breathed easier when Poulin was pronounced fit for games four and five.It might be a team without stars, but Poulin does manage to kick their speed into gear and he makes them aggressive in four-on-four and shorthanded situations.&ldquo;Take his heart, his muscle and his competitive spirit and you have the ultimate professional athlete,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; conditioning coach Pat Croce, who kneaded Poulin back into playing condition.Apart from being team captain in only his second year in the NHL, Poulin also faced the added pressure of being the first Flyer to wear the &lsquo;C&rsquo; after Bobby Clarke left the ice to become Bob Clarke, the general manager.Instead of trying to do it all himself, Poulin often went to teammate Brad Marsh, a former captain with the Calgary Flames for advice. Not usually a screamer, Poulin presided over a club meeting before the clinching game with the Nordiques.&ldquo;I told them that if we were going to do it, let&rsquo;s do it in style,&rdquo; said Poulin. &ldquo;You know we&rsquo;ve played well all season, but it seemed like it would be a few guys carrying us through stretches.&ldquo;I said, &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s see what happnes if everybody plays great.&rsquo;&rdquo;What happened was a symphony on ice as the Flyers held Quebec to just 15 shots. The performance represented a reward of sorts for goalie Pelle Lindbergh, who recorded his third playoff shutout with one of his easiest nights of the season.&ldquo;I just wanted all of us to play well together,&rdquo; said Poulin. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d been putting far too much pressure on The Little Swede back there.&rdquo;The Little Swede was responding quite well. He finished the Quebec series with a 1.97 goals-against-average (12 goals) and entered the finals with an 11-3 record and a 2.26 playoff average.&ldquo;Our defense and forwards played unbelievably well,&rdquo; said Lindbergh. &ldquo;Any time you can shut down guys like Peter Stastny and Michel Goulet like that, that&rsquo;s saying something.&rdquo;After playing Bryan Trottier to a virtual standstill in the Islanders&rsquo; series, Flyers center&rsquo; Ron Sutter covered Peter Stastny like a sunburn not only at the Spectrum but even at Le Colisee where Keenan&rsquo;s bench coaching skills provided the Flyers with the match-ups they desired.When it was all over, Stastny only had one goal and seven shots on net over the six games. Goulet was held without a goal.As has been customary throughout the playoffs, Mark Howe played flawlessly through the series, and forwards such as Murray Craven and Joe Paterson&mdash;both acquired from Detroit in the pre-season trade for Darryl Sittler&mdash;helped make up for the absence of Kerr.Still, even after Quebec had been disposed of, there was a sense that this was too good to be true. They&rsquo;d come too far, too fast.&ldquo;I think we really started to believe in ourselves during that early March, back-to-back series when we beat Washington twice,&rdquo; said Marsh. &ldquo;We took off from there.&rdquo;Those two wins occurred toward the beginning of a club-record 11-game winning streak. The wins over Washington were preceded by the first game of that winning streak&mdash;a 5-4 overtime triumph over the Islanders.And the player who scored the overtime winner was none other than Dave Poulin&mdash;the same player who wants to be the first to get his hands on the 1985 Stanley Cup.NOTES&mdash;The clinching win over the Nords set a club record for 64 wins in a season. &#9632;

f0007-01

Young Flyers Progress So Far, So Fast

The International Hockey Weekly Founded in 1947Published by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd85 Scarsdale Road, #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2.THE QUEBEC NORDIQUES are one of the most progressive organizations in all of professional sport. And they&rsquo;re not shy about pointing it out for all to see.Team president Marcel Aubut is a dynamic young man with a suitcase full of innovative ideas on how to make this game better. Off the ice, they&rsquo;re first class in every way. On the ice, with talented stars such as Peter Stastny and Michel Goulet, they rank with the best in the National Hockey League.But the Nordiques now lead the league in another department&mdash;carping and complaining, hissing and moaning, not to mention pouting.And that is due mainly to the antics of coach Michel Bergeron, le petite tigre, as he is known in the la belle province.Bergeron, who has just finished his fifth season behind the Nordiques&rsquo; bench, has done a wonderful job of molding his team into an entertaining cohesive unit. And he has deservedly earned accolades as one of the league&rsquo;s bright young hockey minds.But, as his performance in this year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs indicate, he&rsquo;s becoming better known for referee-baiting, post-game histrionics and diatribes than he is for his coaching accomplishments.Of course, it&rsquo;s within any coach&rsquo;s right to complain about the officiating if he thinks it is sub-standard. And no one really minds the little behind-the-bench theatrics that are part of the game. Always have been, always will be.But when Bergeron suggested that the officials and the league were conspiring against his team, that they were going to all lengths to prevent the Nordiques from getting to the Stanley Cup final, well, he went too far. Way too far.NHL president John Ziegler fined the Nordiques $5,000 for Bergeron&rsquo;s outburst. It should have been $20,000 and with a warning that if Bergeron continued to question the integrity of the league and its officials, he&rsquo;d be suspended.Bergeron&rsquo;s whining took something away from the Wales Conference final. It got to the point where fans were talking about that instead of the game.And that&rsquo;s bad for hockey, not to mention the image-conscious Nordiques, who spend a great deal of time, effort and money to be first class.It would be a shame to waste all that because of a coach that doesn&rsquo;t know when to button his lip. &#9632;

Muzzling Michel

<h2>FAN FORUM</h2>Let your voice be heard! Send your comments to Fan Forum, THE HOCKEY NEWS. 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., Canada M3B 2R2.BEING ONE OF the millions of NHL fans caught up in Stanley Cup playoff fever, I am beginning to wonder why the NHL even has a regular season.When you consider that &ldquo;everybody&rdquo; makes the playoffs, and some of the teams (i.e. Minnesota, N.Y. Islanders) are just horsing around during the regular season, waiting to knock off a top team, the NHL has reduced the regular season to nothing more than a long 80-game exhibition schedule in which the fans have to suffer through before the &ldquo;real&rdquo; season starts in April.If the NHL did do away with the regular season, and started with the playoffs in April, it would make about as much sense as the way the league is set up now.Kevin Maynard&nbsp;Dartmouth. N.S.<h2>THANKS FOR THE MEMORABILIA</h2>I really enjoyed your Collectibles Craze issue and am rather sorry that many of your readers failed to appreciate the issue for its immensely valuable content as they were seemingly &ldquo;blinded&rdquo; by your innovative cover design.On the other hand, true collectors in general, and the International Hockey Hall Of Fame (April 26 Fan Forum) surely have benefitted from the information related in that issue. I am hoping that individual collections will grow and that also loans and donations to the IHHOF will increase.So, on behalf of collectors everywhere, I would like to thank you for setting a precedent with your Collectibles Craze issue. Also, on behalf of hockey fans everywhere, I am thanking you for the service which you give to the great sport of ice hockey.Ted Straub,&nbsp;Enola. PA.<h2>FIE ON FICKLE FISCHLER</h2>Stan Fischler has once again lived up to my expectations of him by jumping on the bandwagon. Namely, the Edmonton Oiler bandwagon. Last year, after the Oilers had won the Cup. Stan commented on a New York TV show (Sports Extra) that the Oilers better enjoy it because they were not going to see it again. Now, Stan says that the Calgary Flames are a poor man&rsquo;s Oilers. In one year, after his comment degrading the Oilers, Stan has reversed his field to the point where the Oilers are the standard by which the rest of the league is judged. I&rsquo;m looking forward to the day when Stan becomes consistent in his views on hockey.Tommy Longstreet.&nbsp;Middle Village. NY<h2>HOT AT THE HAWKS&rsquo; OWNER</h2>Once again, the Wirtz family has proven that its primary reason for retaining the Black Hawks is greed. It is bad enough that Chicago fans are &ldquo;fortunate&rdquo; to be packed into folding box &ldquo;seats&rdquo; like sardines at $20 a crack to watch a mediocre team in a pathetic division. Now we have to contend with local cable television blackouts, a phenomenon previously unheard of for home playoff games. What makes this situation more irritating is that Sportsvision, the cable channel in question, offered to buy up the remaining 6,000 seats for the Detroit series in order to get the games on television. Wirtz refused the offer.Earlier this year it was interesting to learn that Wirtz considered a coaching change only when he spotted empty spaces in his sardine can and became nervous that he&rsquo;d lose money if his beloved ticket-holders didn&rsquo;t reserve those spaces for next season.It seems the Hawks are rapidly becoming a team in the mold of the Halasera Bears: as long as the house if full, who cares what the team does on the ice? If Wirtz wants to subscribe to this philosophy, he&rsquo;s welcome to do it. but not with my blessing and certainly not with my money. We deserve better treatment than this and maybe it&rsquo;s time to jump ship. A team that is revamped according to attendance figures doesn&rsquo;t need my support. As they say, there&rsquo;s a lot of fish in the sea&hellip;Keith Podhradsky.&nbsp;Westmount. IL.<h2>XAVIER NEVER HOOKED</h2>On page 10 of the April 5th issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS there is an &ldquo;alphabet article&rdquo; by Joe Falls. There, he states that if anyone can suggest a name with &ldquo;x&rdquo; to send it in. If I am not mistaken, Frank Boucher&rsquo;s second name is Xavier. Some of us who are older identify him with the New York Rangers and the Lady Byng Trophy.Allan Severson&nbsp;Camrose. Alta. &#9632;

Ripping The Regular Season

<div class="byline">Bill McGraw&#x2019;s</div>When it comes to hockey, I prefer mine in the language of Moliere and Rene Lecavalier.Here in Detroit (in suburban Canada, where part of Ontario is south of the American border) we have four choices for some playoff games: English-Canadian TV, French radio, French TV and USA Cable.If you love hockey, it&rsquo;s the best of three worlds.Having lived in Montreal (and various American cities). I&rsquo;m partial to French. I&rsquo;ll take &ldquo;La Soiree du Hockey&rdquo; over &ldquo;Hockey Night in Canada,&rdquo; not because HNIC is lacking, but because the French-network broadcasts are breaths of fresh airwaves. They are different than sports-on-the-air elsewhere in North America&mdash;north of the Rio Grande, anyway.The French are low-key, wide-ranging, highly analytical and frequently more critical than their English-language counterparts. In French, there are no gimmicks, no loudmouths, no one singing in the booth. They don&rsquo;t knock a guy because he won&rsquo;t fight or because he happens to be Swedish-born. There&rsquo;s simply lots of well-presented information.Take, for example, game five of the Montreal-Boston series.HNIC color man Don Cherry, Canada&rsquo;s answer to Archie Bunker, likes his hockey rough. Reacting to Keith Crowder&rsquo;s refusal to fight Chris Nilan, Cherry went off &ldquo;like a loon&rdquo;&mdash;in the words of sidekick Dave Hodge&mdash;even though Crowder had suckered Nilan into a penalty in a 0-0 game.&ldquo;I am incensed,&rdquo; groused Cherry, the veins in his neck bulging inside one of those bizarre shirt collars. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a disgrace to the Boston Bruin uniform.&rdquo;I turned Cherry&rsquo;s volume down and tuned in Windsor&rsquo;s CBEF-AM, the local outlet of Radio-Canada&rsquo;s French network. There was Lecavalier and color man Gilles Tremblay giving a three-part analysis of why the Canadiens had been forced to play game five. Their conclusion: The whole team had collapsed.It was the no-nonsense kind of reporting a listener to French hockey has come to expect.Lecavalier is a broadcasting veteran who does betwecn-period commentary in the beautiful French you may have heard in your high school language lab. Tremblay, the former Canadiens&rsquo; left winger, provides intricate detail that makes for some of the best game color I have heard by any announcer in any sport.Claude Quenneville was doing the play-byplay on radio that night in a crisp baritone voice that is often refreshingly opinionated.&ldquo;(Rick) Green has had an atrocious series from every point of view,&rdquo; Quenneville said of the Montreal defenseman in game four. &ldquo;Despite the whistle, (Ken) Linseman comes up with his shoulder, as usual,&rdquo; Quenneville said later.Quenneville&rsquo;s partner through much of the Boston-Montreal series was Yvon Pedneault, a columnist for the newspaper, Le Journal de Montreal.That&rsquo;s another difference between the French and English networks; the French makes generous use of Montreal newspapermen who bring their aggressive scoop mentalities to the air, a refreshing change from the predictable wisdom of retired jocks.Pedneault. like his boss. Journal sports editor Bertrand Raymond, and Tom Lapointe, from La Presse (both of whom are also radio commentators), can be irreverent and nosy, a combination that makes for highly entertaining listening.During game five, they were honing in on Cherry, who has been described in the past on the French network as a &ldquo;clown&hellip;who puts on a show for TV.&rdquo;On the night Cherry denounced Crowder on English TV during the first intermission, Raymond reported Cherry&rsquo;s comments to the French radio audience during the second intermission. Then, during the third period, color man Pedneault was back on the air reporting that Cherry had informed English TV viewers that Nilan was playing with a badly injured hand.That led into a brief discussion by Quenneville and Pednault about the NHL&rsquo;s backwardness in the reporting of player injuries.It was an amusing way to watch a fine game. That&rsquo;s one of the reasons I often switch to le hockey en francais.Vive la difference.Bill McGraw is a Detroit Free Press news reporter who used to cover the Red Wings and NHL &#9632;

This American Fan Says, ‘Vive La Difference!’

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02977/5522298-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="122" height="124"></div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;When it was finally over, the Quebec Nordiques didn&rsquo;t really feel as if they had been eliminated by a single loss.True, the Flyers had knocked them out of the playoffs in game six at the Spectrum, but the Nordiques felt it was more a case of the cumulative than the singular catching up to them.They had taken it to the limit too many times. Finally, the gas tank was empty.The full five games against Buffalo. The seven-game civil war against Montreal with three overtime wins. And even the series with the Flyers needed an extra effort when Peter Stastny scored in overtime.But how many times could Stastny come running with that extra can of gasoline to again fire up the engine? How many times before the Nordiques had nothing left to push their battered vehicle across the finish line?&ldquo;Maybe we were tired tonight,&rdquo; said Quebec coach Michel Bergeron after the final game. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t play well because maybe we were physically and mentally tired.&ldquo;Butfmreally proud of our team. We played three tough, physical series. And we showed we have a lot of character.&rdquo;Also, there was a feeling that the Nordiques had not been eliminated in the sixth game as much as they were knocked out after game five at Le Colisee. It was then that Bergeron berated the game officials.The outburst featured a video show highlighting controversial calls&mdash;a performance which later earned the Nordiques a $5,000 fine.He and the Nordiques were exasperated. They had outplayed the Flyers for most of the first two periods, carried a 1-0 lead into the last period and lost 2-1.&ldquo;That was probably the series,&rdquo; said Michel Goulet who played with a nagging injury to his derriere and didn&rsquo;t score in six games. &ldquo;We had just beaten the Flyers at the Spectrum (game 4) and we knew what was at stake.&ldquo;If we had won that game, the pressure would have been on them. It would have been different, but they won. I think it probably took something out of us.&rdquo;&ldquo;We discussed that game a great deal,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;We played a helluva game that night, and still lost by a goal. What can I say?&rdquo;After game six, there was very little they could say. The sounds of whining about the officials which followed the fifth game were replaced by the hiss of the showers as they got ready for their summer vacations&mdash;vacations which came earlier than they wanted, but later than many expected.&ldquo;We won&rsquo;t hang our heads over this,&rdquo; said goalie Mario (Goose) Gosselin, who distinguished himself throughout the playoffs.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re disappointed about this, sure,&rdquo; said Gosselin. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s always painful when you lose. But we can say we went against a great hockey team.&ldquo;The Flyers and Oilers finished the season with the two best records in the league. So, maybe they deserve to be in the finals.&ldquo;If the Flyers win, we can say that the best team beat us, that we would have been the champions if we made the finals.&rdquo;Looking at them, they would have been exhausted champions. &#9632;</div>

f0009-02

Valiant Nordiques Run Out Of Gas

<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/f0009-011349/5522267-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="120" height="110"></div>CHICAGO&mdash;For the third time in four years, the Chicago Black Hawks reached the Campbell Conference finals.The circumstances were far from ideal but they gave it their best shot. It wasn&rsquo;t good enough.Edmonton&rsquo;s sultans of skate ended the charge of Chicago&rsquo;s limp brigade with a decisive 6-2 triumph in game six of the best-of-seven series.After being outscored 18-5 in the first two games in Northlands Coliseum, the Hawks came back to wild and crazy Chicago Stadium and discovered their fanatic followers had kept the faith.Led by Denis Savard. Darryl Sutter and Jack O&rsquo;Callahan, the Hawks got the message and surmounted their injuries. They won the third game by two&mdash;in a noteworthy defensive performance&mdash;and then beat Edmonton at its own game by winning an 8-6 shootout.But emotion can only take a team so far, and in this case, Edmonton was too far. Early in the second period of game five at the Northlands Coliseum, the Hawks lost their momentum and wound up being trounced 10-5.Back to Chicago the teams went. But this time the Oilers flaunted the style that has made them the highest-scoring team in National Hockey League history. And Chicago couldn&rsquo;t cope.&ldquo;We played a great hockey team. If they played the way they played tonight, I don&rsquo;t think they can be beaten,&rdquo; said Bob Pulford, the Hawks&rsquo; coach and general manager, after his team was eliminated. &ldquo;We played hard but we weren&rsquo;t quite good enough. They deserved to win.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an excuse, but if we were healthy, maybe we could have done better.&rdquo;Amazingly, the two triumphs in Chicago were accomplished without two of the Hawks&rsquo; top defensemen. The missing VIP&rsquo;s, were Doug Wilson, the best allround player on the team, and Keith Brown, one of the few swift skaters on a club that&rsquo;s slow by Edmonton&rsquo;s standards.In addition, Bill Gardner, the Hawks&rsquo; most versatile forward and ace penaltykiller, had his season terminated early in the first victory. A check by Jaroslav Pouzar left him with tom knee ligaments and surgery had to be performed the following day.&ldquo;Our team was proud of Chicago because they played so well with all the injuries they had,&rdquo; said Glen Sather, coach and GM of the defending Stanley Cup champion Oilers.&ldquo;That was the talk of our team: &lsquo;How can they play so well with so many injuries?&rsquo; I thought Dougie Wilson was incredible in the games he played.&rdquo;Wilson was able to play in only three of the six games, and his effectiveness was diminished by a severely pulled groin muscle suffered when he was checked by Dino Ciccarelli in the last divisional playoff contest against Minnesota.Brown was wiped out by a check throwm by Mark Messier early in the opener. He tried to return in game five but it proved to be an exercise in pain and frustration.Meanwhile, fellow defensemen Behn Wilson, Marc Bergevin, and O&rsquo;Callahan played but suffered from assorted injuries that probably would have kept them off the ice under normal circumstances.Then, there was Murray Bannerman, in goal for all but 33 minutes of the 15 playoff games. He went into the playoffs with a groin injury and came out with puck fatigue.In the Edmonton series, the Oilers averaged 38 shots per night, 10 more than the Hawks. Letting the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson and Messier take that many shots is tantamount to selfdestruction.At times in games three and four, the illusion arose that the Hawks had discovered ways and means of holding down. The Great Gretzky and Co. But, in the final analysis, what the Hawks proved in these days of run-and-gun hockey was the extent of damage the Oilers&rsquo; big guns can inflict.By scoring a combined total of 69 goals&mdash;44 for Edmonton and 25 for Chicago&mdash;the teams set an NHL record for most goals in a six-game series. Ironically, the old record of 62 was just set in the Chicago-Minnesota series.The warning signals flashed every time the goal light went on in the Minnesota series.After eliminating the North Stars, however, the Hawks thought they saw the light at the end of the tunnel. It turned out to be a speeding locomotive, and it crushed them. &#9632;</div>

f0009-01

Hawk ‘Limp Brigade’ Succumbs To Oilers

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011430/5522329-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="366" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Fischler&rsquo;sON THE CONTRARY</figcaption></div>What&rsquo;s a nice, Jewish boy doing at the helm ot a hot hockey team?If his name is Jay Snider, he is doing very well, Thank you, piloting the Philadelphia Flyers to unexpected flights of fancy if not a Stanley Cup. He is all of 27, a former goaltender io less, who at last encounter was hobbling around on crutches, courtesy of a tennis mishap.What is. perhaps, most remarkable about Jay Snider running he Flyers&mdash;and running them well&mdash;is that he&rsquo;s had ample opportunity to fall on his nose. He had to follow a pretty good ict. his dad&rsquo;s.Ed Snider masterminded Philly hockey from the pre-historic Lou Angotti years through the Rick Foley morass and into the golden age of Bobby Clarke, Bernie Parent and a pair of (197475) Stanley Cups.&ldquo;I remember them well,&rdquo; says the bespectacled Jay. &ldquo;After ill, I grew up with those clubs.&rdquo;Growing up with the Flyers is one thing but regenerating them is another more difficult task and that is precisely what Jay was asked to do in April, 1983 when he became the youngest club president in NHL history.Though respectable, the Flyers had perfected the act of dancing out of the playoff picture faster than you could say Fred Astaire. This was not only embarrassing to the Sniders, it was very embarrassing.Enter Jay Snider.The first word I had on him was &ldquo;hothead&rdquo;. They said Krakatoa had nothing on Jay Snider.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m a hothead,&rdquo; Jay purrs. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just that I jumped into the job instead of sitting back. Besides. I had proved myself in other businesses.&rdquo;The ink had hardly dried on his Wharton School diploma from the University of Pennsylvania when he launched his own Spec-taGuard security firm, which is now big, big, big in Pa.But rebuilding the Flyers was another story and one which could have had an unhappy ending if Jay Snider wasn&rsquo;t using his head. The annual rapid exit from the playoffs last spring could have inspired Steinbrenner reflex-and-disaster moves. But Jay Snider has a good head on his shoulders.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the brightest young men in sports, says Blues&rsquo; owner Harry Omest. &ldquo;When he says something, he&rsquo;s logical and objective.&rdquo;His logic was at the forefront when he named Bob Clarke general manager last spring and endorsed the employment of Mike Keenan as coach. But if anything symbolizes the Flyers&rsquo; success, it&rsquo;s youth across the board from Clarke to Keenan to Snider. They took a calculated risk last fall, opting for greenhorns and the Zezels, Sutters and Crossmans came through.&ldquo;The two biggest surprises,&rdquo; says Snider, &ldquo;were Derrick Smith and Ron Sutter.&rdquo;Smith was so lightly regarded last September he was buried on page 65 of the Flyers&rsquo; yearbook.&ldquo;Nobody figured him to make the team,&rdquo; Snider recalls. &ldquo;He was a darkhorse but he developed and turned into a consistent left winger. With Ron Sutter it was different. At the beginning of the season he didn&rsquo;t start strong and we figured he was going backwards from last year. But then he got stronger and stronger.&rdquo;And has become a peerless playoff performer.In just a couple of years in the executive suite, Snider also has impacted on the league&rsquo;s Board of Governors. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not afraid to speak up,&rdquo; says Omest. &ldquo;His dad has indoctrinated him very well.&rdquo;Ed Snider always was a good idea man. It was Ed who tried to head off the NHL-WHA war during its earliest stages. If the NHL brass&mdash;president Clarence Campbell in particular&mdash;had tuned in to Snider the league would not have been bled white in one of the costliest battles in sports history. Smart man, Ed Snider. The kid, clearly, is a chip off the old block. Here are some of Jay&rsquo;s ideas:PLAYOFFS: &ldquo;It hurts (the league) to have so many teams in the playoffs. The number should be lowered. I&rsquo;m working to get playoff revenues from the earlier rounds shared.&rdquo;INTERNATIONAL: &ldquo;We should bridge the gap between the NHL and international hockey in a meaningful way. If it means shortening our playoffs then let&rsquo;s do it. We should make up a world-wide final championship. We&rsquo;ll have to depart from tradition but we&rsquo;ll get greater media attention. That should be a priority for us.&rdquo;REFEREEING: &ldquo;The referees have brought confusion to the players&rsquo; minds. Players don&rsquo;t know when to hit and when not to hit. They (refs) are inconsistent but it may be that the game today is too fast, too much for one man to handle.&rdquo;PROMOTION: &ldquo;We suffer from a lack of identity. A Doug Flutie becomes a media superstar in football yet there are collegiate hockey players on Flutie&rsquo;s level who should get attention. We&rsquo;ve got to do a lot more work on promoting the game. It&rsquo;s automatically sold in Canada so we&rsquo;ve got to concentrate on the United States. We need a guy to work on promoting the stars.&rdquo;RULE CHANGES: &ldquo;Helmets should not be made mandatory; they should be optional. They&rsquo;ve taken a lot away from the sport. Granted, that might be an unpopular position but look at the players without helmets. Brad Marsh on our team doesn&rsquo;t wear one and he&rsquo;s tremendously popular.&rdquo;THE DRAFT SITE: &ldquo;It shouldn&rsquo;t be limited to Canada. We should have the draft at Madison Square Garden some time. Can you imagine the media attention wed get doing that. The problem with an idea like that is moving the traditionalists.&rdquo;RESEARCH: &ldquo;Why is it that the NHL is not doing any research into things like the puck or aluminum sticks? I spent a thousand dollars to commission an analysis of three pucks. I don&rsquo;t think the NHL should leave these things to chance.&rdquo;Those privy to the Flyers&rsquo; front office will tell you that little at the Spectrum is left to chance. &ldquo;They run a terrific operation,&rdquo; says Omest.They have helluva hockey team.And Jay Snider, who was in a position to wreck it instead of revive the club, rates a standing for his efforts.Or, as we Jews like to put it: Mazel tov!PENGUIN PAINS&mdash;I have to laugh every time I hear another rumor about the Penguins leaving Pittsburgh.Not that I think it&rsquo;s particularly amusing to any hockey fan who patronizes the Igloo or who has suffered with this long-running mediocrity disguised as a big-league franchise.What tickles me is the misconception that by transferring the Penguins to Denver or Hamilton or wherever, it will suddenly cure the ill, which happens to be one lousy hockey club in a good hockey city.That&rsquo;s right. There is absolutley nothing wrong with Pittsburgh as a home to an NHL club. Pittsburgh&rsquo;s hockey heritage pre-dates that of most big-league clubs. Its townsfolk know the game and therein lies the dilemma; no amount of hype can convince them that the Penguins are winners when they are not.It&rsquo;s Ed DeBartolo&rsquo;s misfortune to be stuck with a mess that may require years to cure. Moving that mess to Hamilton or Denver is not the way to make it better.If DeBartolo won&rsquo;t see the team through, certainly there should be some other Pittsburgh investors who&rsquo;ll take over the team.And if I&rsquo;m mistaken then maybe the Penguins will have to move but that certainly is not the fault of Pittsburgh. It&rsquo;s the fault of the product which the city&rsquo;s hockey-smart fans have avoided.RANGER CONCERNS&mdash;Although the Rangers are in no danger of leaving Madison Square Garden or Manhattan at the moment, they present a unique but no less troublesome problem to the NHL.Simply put, when the Rangers are stinko&mdash;as they certainly were during the 1984-85 season&mdash;it damages the entire NHL public relations apparatus.The Rangers&rsquo; fortunes dictate the tone and scope of a considerable amount of hockey coverage on a continental level. That includes advertisements which feature hockey stars, stories in national magazines such as Sport and Inside Sports and interest generated by other marginal but important media representatives such as the NBC, CBS, and ABC networks. A depressing Ranger team means a depressed market for hockey in these areas.A lousy Ranger team means a lousy year in these pivotal areas because the movers and shakers of Madison Avenue will drift, instead, over to the United States Football League and other diversions. The results of the swing often are intangible but they are there nonetheless.To regain the limelight one of two things has to happen to the Blueshirts. They must become a contender and, that failing, come up with some colorful personalities who generate attention. The current Rangers are colorless from top to bottom and many are not co-operative. Example: Their top scorer, Reijo Ruotsalainen, has made a career of copping out on the media.The Rangers&rsquo; future ranges from the bleak to mildly optimistic, depending on how much value is placed on the spate of injuries suffered this past season and the true quality of the personnel, not to mention the psychological problems which have afflicted the club. They will miss the vitality of Anders Hedberg and must find a way to bridge the leadership gap.The front-office situation is at the same level it was during the decline and fall of the Fred Shero era&mdash;with one notable difference. It is curable. Can Dr. Craig Patrick cure it? That&rsquo;s the key question.OUTLOOK: At their worst, the Rangers stumbled into the playoffs. With a recuperated Barry Beck, Mark Pavelich, Don Maloney, Simo Saarinen and Tom Laidlaw, they figure to come closer to the pack. The choice of coach will be pivotal but they appear far from the glory days of 1979 when they marched to the Cup finals and commanded and transmitted the media attention hockey lacks but so richly needs and deserves. &#9632;

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Junior Snider At Home In Executive Suite

<h2>HOCKEY NOTEBOOK</h2>Quebec Nordique coach Michel Bergeron may think twice before he invites the watch movies with him.That&rsquo;s what Bergeron did after the fifth game of the Nordique-Philadelphia Flyer Wales Conference championship series in Quebec City. His aim was to show the media the calls he believed referee Kerry Fraser failed to make.And a few days later, NHL president John Ziegler made a call of his own&mdash;a $5,000 fine against the Nordiques for &ldquo;certain actions and remarks by an employee.&rdquo;Bergeron&rsquo;s video screening was the culmination of repeated hints and innuendo that the NHL and its officials did not want the Nordiques to make the Stanley Cup final, a) because they were from Quebec and, b) because it didn&rsquo;t want an all-Canadian final.John Mariucci and Rudy Pilous have been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the builders&rsquo; category.Brian O&rsquo;Neill, chairman of the board of governors and executive vicepresident of the National Hockey League, made the announcement in May. The additions of Mariucci and Pilous increase the Hall&rsquo;s membership to 249&mdash;67 builders, 173 players and nine referees.Mariucci, a 68-year-old native of Eveleth, MN., has been a tremendous builder of U.S. hockey in his home state at the high school, college and pro levels. The former Chicago Black Hawk player, already a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, currently holds the position of assistant general manager of the Minnesota North Stars.Pilous, a 70-year-old native of Winnipeg, has spent the last 42 years as a playfer, scout, coach, manager and owner. He holds the distinction of guiding the Chicago Black Hawks to their last Stanley Cup win, in 1961.Pilous is currently the general manager of the St. Catharines Saints, Toronto&rsquo;s farm team in the American League.Three players to be inducted into the Hall of Fame will be announced in June during the NHL Congress in Toronto.Shortly after midnight on May 13, Craig MacTavish walked out of a Massachussetts jail, having served his one-year sentence for vehicular homicide.The former Boston Bruin forward, who was recently signed as a tree agent by the Edmonton Oilers, will now try to re-establish himself in the National Hockey League.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not over and it&rsquo;s not behind me,&rdquo; said MacTavish of his ordeal which was brought about when the car he was driving last spring crashed into another vehicle, resulting in the death of 26-year-old Kim Radley. MacTavish pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and driving while under the influence of alcohol.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want anyone to think I&rsquo;m trying to run away from Boston,&rdquo; he added.He could have gone back and played in Boston,&rdquo; said MacTavish&rsquo;s lawyer Bob Murray. &ldquo;We talked to (general manager) Harry Sinden about it. We felt getting a fresh start a good distance away might be just a little bit easier on him.&rdquo;Edmonton Oiler Wayne Gretzky and Pittsburgh Penguin Mario Lemieux have been chosen as The Sporting News&rsquo; NHL player of the year and rookie of the year, respectively.Boston Bruin captain Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, after a meeting with general manager Harry Sinden, said he is contemplating retirement.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to hang on too long,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know which way I&rsquo;m leaning. We talked over a lot of options. Playing was one of them. I don&rsquo;t know if I could help the team on a regular basis That&rsquo;s my main concern.&rdquo; &#9632;

Nordiques’ Video Show Costs Them $5,000

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02917/5522415-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg"></div>1. Toronto2. Pittsburgh3. New Jersey4. Vancouver5. Hartford6. Minnesota or Isles7. NY Rangers8. Detroit9. L.A.10. L.A. (from Boston)11. Chicago12. St. Louis13. Islanders14. Buffalo15. Quebec16. Montreal17. Calgary18. Winnipeg19. Washington20. Edmonton21. PhiladelphiaNOTE: The Islanders have the option of taking or passing on Minnesota&rsquo;s first-round pick this year. If the pass on it, they get the Stars&rsquo; No. 1 pick in 1986. &#9632;

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Order Of Selection

<div class="byline">BY BOB McKENZIE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011288/5522384-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"></div>All bets on the 1985 National Hockey League entry draft are off.The fearless forecasters who ordinarily tap dance past the chainsaws out onto the limb are suddenly wary, wondering not how far to go, but whether they should even bother trying to climb the tree.NHL Draft &rsquo;85&mdash;call it the Year of Living Uncertainly.Last fall, when the Toronto Maple Leafs took those first giant steps towards earning the No. 1 pick overall, respected scouts, such as Edmonton&rsquo;s Barry Fraser, were calling it the worst field in the history of the draft.Since then, however, Fraser has changed his mind. So have many others. Suddenly, the names that will be collected by the 21 NHL clubs on June 15 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre have taken on an air of respectability.And that, among other things, has resulted in the annual lottery becoming even more difficult than usual to get a handle on.&ldquo;The biggest difference between this year and past years is that there isn&rsquo;t one player who stands above the crowd,&rdquo; says Boston Bruin director of scouting Bob Tindall. &ldquo;Last year, it was a given that Mario Lemieux would go No. 1 and Kirk Muller would go No. 2.&ldquo;And it was pretty certain that the next few guys would be (Ed) Olczyk, (Al) Iafrate and (Craig) Redmond.&ldquo;This year, there isn&rsquo;t that one big name. Any one of four or five guys could go first overall and after that it&rsquo;s still really wide open. A lot will depend on what each team is looking for.&rdquo;The No. 1-rated player, according to the NHL Central Scouting Bureau&rsquo;s final confidential rankings, obtained by THE HOCKEY NEWS, is center Craig Simpson, the 6-foot-2, 181-pound junior center from Michigan State University.But that isn&rsquo;t to say the London, Ont., native will be the first player selected. Only the Maple Leafs know for sure and they, of course, aren&rsquo;t in the habit of telling anybody what they&rsquo;re doing.Many of the NHL team scouts surveyed by THE HOCKEY NEWS concur with Central Scouting&rsquo;s placement of Simpson&mdash;though it&rsquo;s by no means overwhelming&mdash;but say they&rsquo;ll be surprised if Toronto selects him.That&rsquo;s because Simpson could pass on a pro career until 1988&mdash;should he decide to play for Canada in the Winter Olympics in Calgary&mdash;or the spring of 1977, when his NCAA eligibility expires.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see how the Leafs can afford to take that chance,&rdquo; says an NHL scout who requested anonymity.&ldquo;If I was in their position, I&rsquo;d want Simpson signed, sealed and delivered ahead of time. They need immediate help and they need a player who wants to play for them.&rdquo;Which is why the Leafs are expected to take either Calgary Wrangler defenseman Dana Murzyn or Saskatoon Blade defenseman-winger Wendel Clark. They are No. 2 and 3, respectively, on Central Scouting&rsquo;s list.However, just weeks before the draft, a rumor surfaced that Murzyn had already committed to Dave King&rsquo;s pre-OIympic team. That was something the Leafs had to check into.Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils, who pick second and third, respectively, are in a similar position to the Leafs. Neither team can afford to take a player who may not be available for two or three years.Therefore, Pittsburgh is expected to take Clark or Murzyn, whichever one is available. After that, though, predicting who&rsquo;s going to whom is nothing more than a guessing game.Which is what it is every year. But talk to a dozen different scouts and you get a dozen different perspectives on how it will unfold. One scout raves about Player A, the next dismisses him out of hand. This isn&rsquo;t rare by any means, but getting consensus this season is more difficult than in recent memory.As an example, THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; survey resulted in four players&mdash;Simpson, Clark, Murzyn and Kitchener Ranger Craig Wolanin&mdash;being rated No. 1 by various clubs.Aside from the lack of a big name, a la Lemieux, the biggest difference between this draft and others is the minimal number of players who will make the immediate jump to the NHL.Naturally, that number will ultimately depend on who drafts whom&mdash;sometimes a certain player is suited to a certain team that needs immediate help and he plays&mdash;but no more than four or five (Simpson, if he turns pro, Murzyn, Clark, Jim Sandlak, Dan Gratton and Wolanin) have a real good shot at it.And yet another factor which will determine which players go to which team is the trade market. Some general managers, Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Eddie Johnston and St. Louis&rsquo; Ron Caron, to name two, haven&rsquo;t ruled out the possibility of trading away their first-round picks for some proven help.Nevertheless, Washington Capital director of scouting Jack Button isn&rsquo;t sure there&rsquo;ll be much activity in that vein.&ldquo;There could be,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but the problem you run into trading first-round picks today is that it&rsquo;s difficult to figure out exactly what they&rsquo;re worth.&ldquo;The team that is giving it up expects to get a real proven star from another team. The team that is trying to get it usually isn&rsquo;t willing to part with that proven star because they&rsquo;re not even sure if the player they pick with the draft choice will ever play, never mind be a star. So the difference in the value perceived by the two teams is usually so great that the deals fall through.&rdquo;This year, the majority of first-round prospects hail from the Western and Ontario Leagues. Only one Quebec League player&mdash;Drummond-ville&rsquo;s Jose Charbonneau&mdash;is rated in the first round and he&rsquo;s tabbed as No. 21.The top U.S. high school player is Chris Biotti, a defenseman from Belmont Hill in Massachussetts. He&rsquo;s ranked No. 20. With the exception of Simpson, the No. 1 player, the other first-round candidates are from Ontario or the West.Of course, it should be noted that the CSB list is only a guideline. It&rsquo;s generic in nature and doesn&rsquo;t take into account the individual wants and needs of each team.Therefore, the CSB list of the top 42 prospects (on page 15) doesn&rsquo;t accurately reflect what will happen on draft day. It does, however, give a good outline of the best players available.This year&rsquo;s draft, with a limited public seating capacity of less than 5,000, begins at 1 p.m. DST, two hours earlier than a year ago at the Montreal Forum. The early part of the draft will be carried live across Canada by CBC-TV&rsquo;s Sports weekend. &#9632;

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Just Call This The Year Of Living Uncertainly

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011172/5522446-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="537" height="805"><figcaption class="caption-body">MSU&rsquo;s Craig Simpson exhibits great maturity, both on and off the ice.</figcaption></div>Craig Simpson may be the closest thing to a franchise player eligible in this year&rsquo;s National Hockey League entry draft.The long-range prognosis from one NHL scout is that Simpson has the ability to dominate in the league once &ldquo;he gets his feet wet.&rdquo;The Michigan State Spartan star, rated the No. I prospect by the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau, has the vital statistics to back up that pre-dicition.Simpson is 6-foot-2, 185 pounds and in 41 games this year he scored 31 goals and added 53 assists for 84 points to lead the Spartans in all offensive categories.As would be expected, he played in all crucial situations. Among his markers were five game-winning goals, eight power-play efforts and three shorthanded goals.Simpson has two strengths which rise above all others in his game.He has what hockey experts label as &ldquo;soft, playmaking hands.&rdquo; When paired with goal-scoring wingers, his pin-point passing gives them ample opportunities to fill the net.The other attribute which excites hockey experts is his mind.&ldquo;The best thinking, hockey player in the draft.&rdquo; says one scout.This thinking man&rsquo;s approach to hockey has been mirrored in his school work, both at Michigan State and at high school in London, where he played his minor hockey. He took Grade 11 and 12 in the same year so he could accept an athletic scholarship at Michigan State, where he is an excellent student.If maturity is what many other first-round picks lack, it&rsquo;s another of Simpson&rsquo;s strengths.Thinking hockey comes naturally to Craig, whose brother Dave was selected as the Canadian Major Junior Hockey player of the year in 1982.He is an ideal player to quarterback the power play because of his intelligence and playmaking skills. And he&rsquo;s no slouch when it comes to shooting the puck.If there is a hole in Simpson&rsquo;s game it&rsquo;s his acceleration and quickness. Scouts rate his skating strong and are impressed with his agility. Their concern is that quickness and acceleration are not attributes which can be improved dramatically. Simpson doesn&rsquo;t possess the breakaway speed or first-step quickness of some of the other top-rated draftable players.Simpson created a furor earlier this season when he declined an invitation to join the eventual gold medalwinning Canadian national junior team for the world junior championships.Simpson didn&rsquo;t want to miss six Spartan league game and the Great Lakes college tournament. Many believed his refusal to join the national team would leave Simpson open to criticism about his desire to play.&ldquo;Some people questioned that,&rdquo; said one scout. &ldquo;But when you come right down to it, it isn&rsquo;t going to affect his standing (in the draft) at all. No one is going to let that kind of prospect go.&rdquo;He played against Moscow Dynamo in a Christmas tour of the Soviet squad and despite an injured groin, proved he could play with the big boys. He is a durable player. &#9632;

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1. CRAIG SIMPSON

Dana Murzyn&rsquo;s transformation from diamond in the rough to polished hockey player has made him a brilliant National Hockey League prospect.So precious have his skills become, the Calgary Wranglers&rsquo; defenseman could be the first player taken in the draft.Murzyn, 6-foot-4, 200 pounds, has come a long way since fighting with a teammate over icetime during training camp this season. Or verbally harassing teammates and referees alike in the midst of games.There was a time when nobody seemed immune from Murzyn&rsquo;s wild Jekyll-and-Hyde outbursts&mdash;he is very personable and quiet off the ice but given to ill-tempered moments on the ice.But Wranglers&rsquo; coach Sandy Hu-cul stepped in and helped inject discipline where once there was none in Murzyn&rsquo;s talented game.The change is reflected in the numbers posted next to the Western Hockey League sophomore&rsquo;s name. In 72 games, Murzyn earned 32 goals and 60 assists for 92 points.<blockquote class="pullQuote">At the beginning of the season, Murzyn was undisciplined and regressing. A few benchings and lectures by his coach set him straight</blockquote>Add 231 penalty minutes and you get some notion of the wide swath Murzyn cut this past season in the (wild, wild) west.As Murzyn&rsquo;s talents flourished, so did comparisons to NHL greats Rod Langway of the Washington Capitals and Larry Robinson of the Montreal Canadiens.Murzyn has the physical stature of both Langway and Robinson. He can be as physically punishing as Langway in defending the crease and as deceivingly quick as Robinson in moving the puck from his zone.Clearly, there is something for every scout in the Murzyn package.So versatile is Murzyn. for instance, that during a period of three weeks this winter when several forwards were sidelined with injuries he was plucked from the blueline and moved up to left wing. He didn&rsquo;t look out of place.And, in fact, more than one scout has suggested that he&rsquo;d make a better forward than defenseman.Hucul, once a rugged rearguard himself in the American Hockey League, is perhaps most responsible for the development of Murzyn.Under the patient guidance of Hucul, who used benchings and lectures to get his points across, Murzyn became a more disciplined and effective hockey player.Defensively, he left much to be desired early in the year when suddenly he was making mistakes that he didn&rsquo;t during his rookie seasonIt was Hucul who quickly detected and corrected the flaws and helped transform Murzyn into a certain first-round pick&mdash;something the eightyear-old Wrangler franchise has never before produced.Murzyn is sure to make Wrangler history on June 15.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02936/5522477-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="540" height="808"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wrangler defenseman Dana Murzyn chalked up plenty of points and penalties.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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2. DANA MURZYN

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03718/5522508-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="543" height="844"><figcaption class="caption-body">Saskatoon Blade Wendel Clark may make a better pro forward than defenseman.</figcaption></div>He has been labeled a can&rsquo;t-miss prospect. Others have tagged him as the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; latest savior. But Wendel Clark hasn&rsquo;t let all the attention get to him.&ldquo;You know the scouts are out there watching,&rdquo; says the 18-year-old native of Kelvington, Sask., &ldquo;but you can&rsquo;t be worried about it. You just have to go out and play your own game, more or less, and do the best you can.&rdquo;Clark, defenseman-cum-left winger with the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League, has been tabbed by many hockey experts as the player most likely to be chosen first overall in the NHL entry draft.Despite the fact it was a bad year for the Blades, Clark has excelled and drawn some wide attention.It was his goal which earned Canada a tie with Finland at the world junior championships at Helsinki in January. That tie gave Canada the gold medal.Terry Simpson, coach of the national junior team and the Memorial Cup champion Prince Albert Raiders, believes Clark will definitely play in the NHL next season.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Clark has all the tools to become a solid pro. He just needs to learn to utilize his teammates better.</blockquote>&ldquo;Talent-wise, there isn&rsquo;t any question he&rsquo;s ready&hellip;but I think the idea is to draft him now and transform him into a hockey player.&rdquo;Clark has it all&mdash;he is a strong skater, possesses a big-league shot and thrives on physical play. His only weakness is that he doesn&rsquo;t use the other players on the ice as effectively as he should, but that is a skill that can be learned.&ldquo;Wendel isaleaderon our club,&rdquo; says Blades&rsquo; coach Marcel Comeau. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a hard worker. He displays good work in practice and sets a good example for his teammates.&rdquo;Apparently, Clark also set a good example for other WHL coaches who named him defenseman of the year. He was also chosen to the Eastern Division first all-star team.He was, of course, the Blades&rsquo; top defenseman and MVP.In Finland, Simpson used Clark on left wing and he performed admirably. Late in the season, the Blades followed suit, which left some scouts wondering at what position he would best fit in an NHL club&rsquo;s lineup.That, however, is of little concern to Clark. He just wants the chance to play.&ldquo;I prefer to play defense,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ll play forward if I have to. If they (NHL teams) think it would be easier for me to adapt (on the wing), then I&rsquo;m all for it. The position is fun to play and. after all. that&rsquo;s the name of the game&mdash;to have fun.&rdquo;Clark, who is 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, came to the Blades from the Notre Dame High School midget program which has produced a plethora of NHL players&mdash;Gord Kluzak. James Patrick, Gary Leeman. among them.&ldquo;I just want to get drafted. Just to be there, that&rsquo;s the main thing. It doesn&rsquo;t matter by who or when. If a club drafts you, that means they&rsquo;re interested. That&rsquo;s what counts.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-03

3. WENDEL CLARK

Jim Sandlak of the Ontario Hockey League&rsquo;s London Knights has all the qualities to become a consummate National Hockey League winger.Sandlak, a right winger, has taken enormous strides since he was drafted in the third round out of Kitchener two years ago. His improvement has been &ldquo;unbelievable,&rdquo; says one scout of Sandlak&rsquo;s progress from rookie last year to a member of Canada&rsquo;s national gold medal-winning junior team at the world junior championship this year.And one of his most marketable attributes is the likelihood that he will continue to improve as time goes on.His value increased substantially when he proved he could play on the big ice surfaces in Europe, where he made believers out of many who didn&rsquo;t think he was a strong enough skater.Sandlak&rsquo;s balance and strength are NHL calibre but he is lacking in agility and quickness.In 58 games for the Knights, Sandlak had 40 goals and 24 assists along with 128 minutes in penalties. He scored eight power play goals.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Sandlak&rsquo;s stock rose dramatically after he proved he could handle the swift skating at the world junior championships in Finland. But his strength is a heavy shot while driving to the net from the wing.</blockquote>Sandlak&rsquo;s most prominent assets are his size&mdash;he&rsquo;s 6-foot-3, 205 pounds and growing&mdash;and formidable shot.The 18-year-old can be a dominant player when he goes to the net because his size and strength prevent defenders from easily moving him off the puck.Sandlak, who has been rated as high as No. 1 by the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau, is also extremely strong along the boards.When Sandlak does make the NHL. it will be as a winger. During the playoffs the Knights, desperate for centers, moved Sandlak into that position.Although he showed he can play a strong defensive game, his offensive production was harmed by the move. He doesn&rsquo;t handle the puck well enough to play in the middle. He is much more effective getting the puck on the wing and heading for the net.Attitude is an important part in any decision on whom to draft. Sandlak accepted his move to center in an effort to help the team without complaint. His venture overseas also left him a confident and more mature person.The final line on Sandlak is that he isn&rsquo;t as good a player as top-rated Craig Simpson, at least not as a center, and he may never become a dominant player in the NHL.But he&rsquo;s got all the tools to become a solid NHLer who will eventually become an asset to any team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011028/5522539-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="540" height="856"><figcaption class="caption-body">When the Knights moved Jim Sandlak to center, he never complained about it.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0017-01

4. JIM SANDLAK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02806/5522570-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="537" height="853"><figcaption class="caption-body">Oshawa&rsquo;s Dan Gratton struggled at times, but came up big in important games.</figcaption></div>Before the 1984-85 Ontario Hockey League season, Oshawa General center Dan Gratton was tabbed by many as the top junior prospect eligible for this year&rsquo;s NHL entry draft.But by the end of an uneven term, Gratton stood at No. 5 on the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau ratings.The Brantford, Ont., native is one player who has seen his fortunes rise and fall in the hockey world.Taken as a 15-year-old minormidget from the Tier II Guelph Platers, Gratton was the Generals&rsquo; first pick (and 12th overall) in the OHL&rsquo;s 1982 midget draft.In his rookie season with the Memorial Cup-bound Generals, Gratton earned a regular job, scoring 15 goals and 28 assists. He improved to 40 goals and 34 assists during an impressive sophomore season.His numbers and steadily-improving play helped set the stage for the current season in which he figured to be one of the OHL&rsquo;s dominant players. The high expectations received a jolt when the 6-foot-l, 190-pounder got off to a slow start with just nine goals in his first 24 games.But Gratton&rsquo;s stock rose once more at the world junior championships in Helsinki, where he redeemed himself with an exceptionally strong performance for Canada&rsquo;s gold medal-winning team.Overseas, Gratton was used primarily as a left winger and it seems likely he will be competing for a job at that postiion in the NHL.Upon returning to the Generals, Gratton regressed and finished the season with just 24 goals and 48 assists.One explanation for Gratton&rsquo;s unspectacular season is that after three years in the OHL, boredom became a factor but Oshawa general manager Sherry Bassin dismisses that suggestion.&ldquo;If I could only say one thing about Dan, it&rsquo;s that he just loves to play the game,&rdquo; says Bassin. &ldquo;Sure, we expected more out of him statistically this year but you have to remember one big factor was our power play wasn&rsquo;t effective. Maybe 40 goals is a reasonable plateau for him along with all the other things he does so well.&rdquo;It is Gratton&rsquo;s large repertoire of skills that has most hockey people impresssed. He&rsquo;s an excellent skater and puck-handler who&rsquo;s not afraid of the comers, works both ends of the rink and plays well away from the puck.Not a gifted scorer, Gratton is said to lack creativity in the offensive zone but some people think that if teamed with a good center he would become very effective.His creative deficiencies were most noticeable this past season when, despite concerted efforts which produced ample scoring opportunites, Gratton failed to connect time and again.His technical skills aside, what scouts and coaches most like about Gratton is that he&rsquo;s a money player. He has the ability to perform well in important games.Gratton has matured into a solid junior but more than once required disciplinary action. On at least one occasion he was sent home by coach Paul Theriault.Whether he can step right into the NHL is a question that only time will answer. &#9632;

f0017-02

5. DAN GRATTON

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011065/5522650-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="566" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body">Troy Gamble</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02809/5522643-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="570" height="895"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sean Burke</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03570/5522636-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="570" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kay Whitmore</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04364/5522629-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="564" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body">Daryl Gilmour</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05250/5522622-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="561" height="901"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Ranford</figcaption></div>Nineteen-eighty-two was the year of the Brian Bellows Derby. Nineteen-eighty-three was the Year of the American Invasion (Brian Lawton, Pat LaFontaine and Tom Barrasso) and 1984 belonged to Mario Lemieux.When the 1985 entry draft is all said and done, what will be the net result?Exactly that. That is to say that this year&rsquo;s draft is expected to produce a rash of goaltenders.In fact, there is an excellent chance that three goalies will be taken in the first round.&ldquo;If not in the first 21, then certainly in the first 25,&rdquo; said an NHL scout.Which is not to say there will be three more Tom Barrasso-clones in the NHL next season. The entire draft is a lottery and when you&rsquo;re dealing with goalies, the ability to identify future stars is even more difficult.&ldquo;It just so happens that there are at least three guys (goalies) who have shown the potential to be good No. 1 goalies in the NHL one day,&rdquo; added the scout.The big three, if you will, are Medicine Hat Tiger Troy Gamble; Toronto Marlboro Sean Burke and Peterboro Pete Kay Whitmore. That&rsquo;s the order that the NHL Central Scouting Bureau ranks the goalies on their final confidential list, obtained by THE HOCKEY NEWS.But talk to different NHL clubs and you fail to get a consensus. One team rates Burke No. 1, the next prefers Whitmore and still another likes Gamble. And some clubs surveyed said they rank other goalies, who are further down on the CSB list, at the top of their respective lists.Here&rsquo;s a rundown on the top candidates, as ranked by the CSB:TROY GAMBLE: The Wetaskwin, Alta., native is considered a good stand-up netminder who plays his angles well but still has excellent reflexes. He&rsquo;s 5-foot-11, 170 pounds and in 37 games, he recorded a goals-against average of 2.86 with a record of 27-6-2. He was injured through most of the playoffs.SEAN BURKE: A native of Toronto, Burke stands tall at 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds. But while his physical make-up is similar to Barrasso&rsquo;s, he&rsquo;s more often compared to Ken Dryden.He doesn&rsquo;t exude the same air of cockiness as Barrasso, but is nonetheless the picture of grace under pressure. He&rsquo;s technically sound and plays his angles well. In 49 games for the Marlies, he had a 4.24 goals-against average, which is low considering how often he was deserted this past season. His record stands at 25-21-3.KAY WHITMORE: The Sudbury, Ont., native, who is 6-foot, 168 pounds, is another goalie who fails to get down when he lets in a bad goal. Scouts talk in reverence about his ability to block out everything but the matter at hand&mdash;stopping pucks. In 53 games, he had a 3.35 goals-against average with a 35-16-2 record, including two shutouts. While he plays his angles well, he relies more on his outstanding reflexes.Other prospective netminding draft picks, as ranked by the CSB, include: Moose Jaw&rsquo;s Daryl Gilmour., a 6-foot, 160-pound native of Winnipeg who played in 58 games, recording a 5.93 goals-against average; New Westminster&rsquo;s Bill Ranford, a Penhold, Alta., native with a 4.19 GAA in 38 games; Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Daniel Berthiaume, a 5-foot-8, 135-pounder from Longueuil, Que., who had a 3.85 mark in 59 games; Cornwall&rsquo;s Steve Titus. 5-foot-11, 150-pound native of London who had a 5.07 GAA in 47 games and Windsor&rsquo;s Mark Gowans, a 6-foot, 150-pounder from Novi, ML, who had a 4.60 GAA in 36 appearances.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06201/5522615-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="567" height="895"><figcaption class="caption-body">Daniel Berthiaume</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-07173/5522608-1-eng-US/f0018-072.jpg" title="f0018-07" width="564" height="895"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Titus</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-08148/5522601-1-eng-US/f0018-082.jpg" title="f0018-08" width="567" height="895"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Gowans</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-01

Net Result Of ’85 Draft May Be Netminders

If Keith Gretzky, younger brother of you-know-who, is drafted in the first round of the 1985 National Hockey League entry draft, as a number of rumors indicate he will be, then some club could be taking more than a calculated risk.At least that&rsquo;s the impression you get if you look at where Gretzky, the Windsor Compuware Spitfires&rsquo; third-year Ontario Hockey League center, is ranked on the Centreal Scouting Bureau&rsquo;s confidential ratings list.The CSB ranks Gretzky 59th, the equivalent of a late third-round pick.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say that&rsquo;s a pretty fair assessment of him,&rdquo; added a scout for an NHL club. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really understand how anyone could say he&rsquo;s a first rounder. That isn&rsquo;t to say he won&rsquo;t play in the NHL one day, but, to this point anyway, he hasn&rsquo;t shown an ability to dominate in junior. And to me, that&rsquo;s what a first rounder, especially an offensive player, should be doing.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;d be better off if he wasn&rsquo;t taken in the first round,&rdquo; added another NHL scout. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s already got enough pressure on him. Being a first-rounder will only add to that and, realistically, he&rsquo;s not a first rounder. If his name wasn&rsquo;t Gretzky, we wouldn&rsquo;t even be talking about him going in the first round.&rdquo; &#9632;

Gretzky No. 59 On CSB List

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>The Black Hawks&rsquo; coaching scenario will go like this: Chicago boss Bill Wirtz will &ldquo;insist&rdquo; that general manager Bob Pulford remain as coach. Pully will beg off on the grounds that it&rsquo;s bad for his health. (&ldquo;He can&rsquo;t take the strain all season,&rdquo; says one friend.) The pair will hammer out a compromise with Pulford elevating Roger Neilson to &ldquo;co-coach&rdquo;. The likelihood is that Neilson will handle all coaching duties but that Pully will move behind the bench for games. Those with an intimate knowledge of Neilson&mdash;Scotty Bowman for one&mdash;says Roger cannot communicate with players but relief for Pulford is imperative. Those close to the Black Hawks&rsquo; general manager say his pre-game &ldquo;suffers&rdquo; are as intense as anyone&rsquo;s in the business. After watching Pulford staring blankly at a wall before a game another hockey man observed: &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t have to worry about this guy next year, he won&rsquo;t live that long.&rdquo; The health issue will persuade Wirtz to use Neilson as the reliever&hellip;With the NBA Knickerbockers landing Patrick Ewing, pressure is mounting on the Rangers to come up with a big name to prevent an exodus from ice to baskets&hellip;Stu Hackel, who has extensive hockeywriting experience and recently edited a cable-TV mag, has the inside track for the editorship of the NHL&rsquo;s GOAL magazine.Could Tony Esposito be the next prexy of the NHLPA, succeeding Al Eagleson? The Bruins&rsquo; Mike Milbury thinks so. Mike&rsquo;s theory is that the Eagle signed Esposito as his aide last fall for good reason. &ldquo;My suspicion is that he&rsquo;s working on Tony (for the presidency),&rdquo; adds Milbury. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the direction he&rsquo;s going.&rdquo; Then, a derisive snicker, &ldquo;And what a parlay that would be.&rdquo; Milbury&rsquo;s opinion is that Esposito would not be warmly received in that role. Milbury scoffs at a Toronto Globe and Mail report that he might be Eagleson&rsquo;s successor. &ldquo;Al would never allow me to become president (of the union),&rdquo; Milbury tells BLUELINES&hellip;Despite Eagleson&rsquo;s denials about presidential aspirations and John Ziegler&rsquo;s silence on the subject of his retirement, the possibility of an upheaval remains, particularly since Ziegler does not have the warm backing of all his bosses, the governors.Despite the Rangers&rsquo; losingest year, GM Craig Patrick singles only one Blueshirt for public criticism. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed in Pierre&rsquo;s (Larouche) play,&rdquo; Patrick tells BLUELINES. &ldquo;He had a poor year and I told him so after the season was over. He&rsquo;s capable of so much more than he showed and I know he can do a heck of a lot more.&rdquo; The inside word in Rangerville is that Larouche will be traded in a minute&mdash;if Patrick can find a buyer with a fat wallet&hellip;Canucks&rsquo; front-office confusion is the laughing stock. Nobody seems to want the GM or coaching job.&rsquo;A cash offer of $24 million was made to both the Penguins and the Devils to move their franchise to Hamilton&hellip;The Hartford grapevine indicates that John Cuniff will become assistant coach of the Whalers&hellip;Mike Griffin&rsquo;s exit from his Montreal NHL job was prompted by a better financial deal with the Houston Group outfit he joins in Toronto. Griffin had hit a dead-end with the NHL. He&rsquo;ll be replaced by Gary Meagher&hellip;They&rsquo;re still talking about the grief a New Jersey off-ice official gave a referee and the zebra&rsquo;s non-disinfected comeback&hellip;Devils boast they averaged more than 13,000 customers this year but the nononsense insider&rsquo;s word is that the club dropped $2 million&hellip;Speculation about Nick Polano&rsquo;s coaching future is sufficient enough to inspire doubt about his future with the Red Wings. GM Jimmy Devellano said he was troubled over the fact that Detroit News hockey writer Vartan Kupelian had been so relentlessly critical of Polano. &ldquo;It makes my blood bubble,&rdquo; says Devellano. &ldquo;He (Kupelian) made it very awkward (for Polano). He kept harping on him and then everyone picks it up.&rdquo; The tone of Devellano&rsquo;s conversation did not suggest emphatic support for his coach. Jimmy D adds that he would like to shake up the Red Wings roster with deals. &ldquo;No one wants to make massive changes more than I do,&rdquo; he chuckles, &ldquo;but the other general managers won&rsquo;t co-operate with me.&rdquo;To avoid tampering charges, vis-a-vis Flyers&rsquo; assistant coach Ted Sator, the Rangers reportedly are going through channels to determine ways and means of luring him to Broadway. The last time the Blueshirts messed around with a Flyers&rsquo; coach in advance (Fred Shero), the Rangers had to deal a top draft choice for Freddie&rsquo;s rights. Because of Sator&rsquo;s role in the Flyers&rsquo; success, he has become the top choice of GM Craig Patrick. Sator tells BLUELINES that he does not have an agent, but if he gets into high-finance talks with the Madison Square Garden people, chances are he&rsquo;ll get one fast&hellip;If Fred Shero cannot land himself some kind of coaching job&mdash;which he. says he prefers&mdash;The Fog will be welcomed back to the Devils broadcast team&hellip;The North Stars&rsquo; Brian Bellows is unperturbed about his &ldquo;most over-rated&rdquo; ranking. &ldquo;I guess,&rdquo; replies Bellows, &ldquo;you have to be rated to be over-rated.&rdquo;&hellip;Bellows&rsquo; ex-coach Bill Mahoney rented his Bloomington pad while revving up his Ontario hockey schools. Mahoney still seethes over his early ouster as North Stars&rsquo; coach. &ldquo;I was trying to get a substantial change of mood,&rdquo; says Mahoney, &ldquo;From the individual to team concept, but I was short-circuited.&rdquo;Wayne Gretzky still is somewhat of an unknown in parts of the States. Walter Scott, in his popular Parade magazine column, runs this question from a reader: &ldquo;I saw the name Wayne Gretzky. His occupation was given as &lsquo;athlete.&rsquo; Do you have any information on Gretzky?&rdquo; &#9632;

BLUELINES

<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/f0020-01860/5522729-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="140" height="118"></div>CALGARY&mdash;Unlike past years and past playoff disappointments, the collapse of &rsquo;85 may signal the end of the line for Kent Nilsson.For the first time, Calgary Flames&rsquo; general manager Cliff Fletcher has openly conceded that Nilsson is &ldquo;not an untouchable.&ldquo;He could be part of a trade,&rdquo; admitted Fletcher. &ldquo;That is something that may or may not develop.&rdquo;For Fletcher, an essentially conservative, hands-off manager, making Nilsson available&mdash;even if he does not actively market him&mdash;represents a change in philosophy.In the past, the Flames accepted Nilsson for what he was&mdash;a talented, but erratic player who generally could not be depended upon when the playoff race began. The thinking was that Nilsson could be part of a Stanley Cup winner but not necessarily the catalyst in a Stanley Cup drive.Nilsson, the team&rsquo;s leading scorer this season and highest-paid player, played poorly in the Flames-Winnipeg Jets series. In the meantime, Dale Hawer-chuk, his scoring counterpart with the Jets, played excellent hockey until an injury during the third game knocked him out of the series.Hawerchuk, however, played long enough for everyone watching to draw a comparison between the two. Ultimately, there was no comparison.&ldquo;The pressure was on him (Nilsson) and it should be on him,&rdquo; said coach Bob Johnson. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s our leading scorer. He&rsquo;s a highly-skilled player. That&rsquo;s why there&rsquo;s pressure on him.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no different than a guy batting third in the World Series and then going O-for-27.&ldquo;I honestly thought he would play well against Winnipeg. Traditionally, he&rsquo;s played well against Winnipeg.&rdquo;Johnson did not go so far as to call Nilsson uncoachable, but it is clear that Nilsson&rsquo;s eccentricities weigh heavily on Johnson&rsquo;s mind. Johnson likes to surround himself with players he calls &ldquo;100 percenters,&rdquo; men like Doug Risebrough, Mike Eaves or Lanny McDonald.Nilsson does not remotely fit into that category.&ldquo;His personality is of a very low intensity,&rdquo; said Johnson. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s his make-up. He&rsquo;s a gifted athlete. Everything he&rsquo;s done is easy. He is the real opposite of some of our other players who have to be over-achievers to stay in the league.&ldquo;I see him do things in practice that I can&rsquo;t believe. Maybe the best thing to do is not watch him practice.&rdquo;For his part, Fletcher refused to make Nilsson the scapegoat for the playoff loss.&ldquo;To say Kent didn&rsquo;t play well is accurate,&rdquo; said Fletcher. &ldquo;To blame him for losing the series is not fair. He had a lot of company. Our club didn&rsquo;t play a good series. Their goaltending was better than ours. Their key players played better than ours. Plus, our nemesis all season, the shorthanded goals-against, came back to haunt us.&rdquo;Nilsson, as was his habit over the final weekend of the season, brushed past reporters after the team&rsquo;s break-up party at the Olympic Saddledome.In assessing the 1984-85 season, team management had to view the year with mixed feelings. On the one hand, the Flames made significant strides during the regular season. And on the other, they were eliminated from the playoffs one round and five post-season wins earlier than a vear apoFletcher, who has now gone almost two years since making a trade, said the team might re-enter the trade market to upgrade its corps of defensemen.&ldquo;We have extra depth at forward, but we could use help on the back end,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Making a deal for a defenseman would be our No. 1 priority. I don&rsquo;t look for a lot of moves, but we could do something over the summer.&rdquo;Another player who could be on his way out is goaltender Don Edwards. Edwards, who has been a disappointment since arriving in a trade from the Buffalo Sabres three summers ago, hardly played in the late stages of the season&mdash;something that did not sit well with him.He intends to meet with Fletcher sometime this summer to discuss his future in the organization. &#9632;</div>

f0020-01

Nilsson’s Poor Playoffs Wearing Thin On Flames

<div class="byline">BY PERRY LEFKO</div>There will be a new wrinkle&mdash;or make that diamond&mdash;in this year&rsquo;s Mol-son-NHL Slo-Pitch Challenge.In the past four years, the charitable tournament for organizations in the Niagara Peninsula has been restricted to softball diamonds in Niagara Falls, Ont., St. Catharines and Welland.But on this, the fifth anniversary&mdash;that&rsquo;s wood for those of you who are into sentimentality&mdash;it will branch out to Thorold, which is about a &ldquo;nine-iron&rdquo; from St. Catharines, according to tournament director Bob Lavelle.&ldquo;Last year we played in three cities and the days just became too long,&rdquo; says Lavelle, pointing to the fact that the tournament was also filmed for TV and included an AllStar game.To facilitate matters, the tournament annexed Thorold or more specifically, MacMillan Park, which Lavelle says is &ldquo;major league.&rdquo;But this added feature is really nothing new; every year, the tournament adds a different ingredient to the recipe and the end product is usually a smorgasborg enjoyed by all.Last year, in conjunction with the Canadian TV show. Thrill of a Lifetime, a 15-year-old girl from Saskatoon was flown to the tournament so she could meet her hockey idol, Dale Hawerchuk of the Winnipeg Jets. The segment turned out to be so heartwarming that it was broadcast several times, Lavelle says.This year, the tournament will again be filmed for commercial use on TV and there will again be a plethora of activities on the field&mdash;such as the home-run competition and All-Star game&mdash;plus off-field attractions&mdash;the annual auction of players&rsquo; equipment is always a major happening&mdash;to maintain fan interest.And to the fans, the tournament is really a big deal. Lavelle says last year he sold tickets in all 10 of the Canadian provinces, plus 33 states in the U.S.&mdash;including Nebraska and Texas, which aren&rsquo;t exactly hockey hotbeds. Lavelle says he even had people fly over from Brighton, England for the tournament.This year, one fan came into Lavelle&rsquo;s office and plunked down $50 U.S. for tickets. Unfortunately, there wasn&rsquo;t enough money in petty cash for change, so Lavelle&rsquo;s secretary had to give the fan $25 Canadian out of her own pocket.The secretary felt bad about shortchanging the fan on the difference between the Canadian and U.S. rates, but the fan cheerfully said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care. I&rsquo;ll spend it here.&rdquo;Lavelle boasts that although we are in the midst of inflationary times, ticket prices haven&rsquo;t increased in three years. A weekend pass for two adults and two kids costs $25, which Lavelle says is &ldquo;pretty good.&rdquo; He computes that if they see all the games, it only costs about 15 cents a game.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been able to keep ticket prices down due to recruiting new associate sponsors, that helps defray expenses,&rdquo; Lavelle says, adding the inclusion of TV has given the local event &ldquo;credibility nationwide.Last year, there was a turnstile count of 75,000, and Lavelle&mdash;touching the wooden anniversary&mdash;is hoping for 100,000 this year.&ldquo;Hopefully, God-willing, the weather will be good and there will be 100,000, and it will continue to grow in leaps and bounds.&rdquo;<h2>MINOLTA & MINOLTA TOWER</h2>Minolta of Canada is recognized as the &ldquo;Official Camera&rdquo; of the Molson NHL Slo-Pitch Challenge. A company representative will be presenting the Minolta Most Valuable Player Award at the conclusion of the tournament to the player judged to be the most outstanding in the tournament.The Minolta Tower in Niagara Falls will again be hosting a private buffet lunch for the teams on Saturday.Minolta MVP Award: 1984: Greg Terrion&mdash;Toronto Maple Leafs.1983: Bill Derlago &mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs.1982: Bernie Nicholls &mdash; Los Angeles Kings.1981: Willie Huber &mdash; Detroit Red Wings. &#9632;

Tourney Expands To Include A Fourth Site

<div class="byline">BY JACK GATECLIFF</div>If it&rsquo;struethatittakesabig man for a big job then John Ross fits perfectly into his key role&mdash;he&rsquo;s in charge of travel arrangements&mdash;at the Molson NHL Slo-Pitch Challenge.When Mr. T looks for a new partner in his next tag-team wrestling rpatch, the Niagara Falls travel agent would be an ideal choice. At least in the bulk department.At 6-foot-7, (a full two inches taller than NHL skyscrapers Willie Huber and Dave Brown) and 335 pounds, Ross truly does have a big-ger-than-life appearance.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t very often get on the scales,&rdquo; says the former Niagara Regional police constable. &ldquo;But by the time the Molson Slo-Pitch is over, I&rsquo;m convinced I&rsquo;ve lost at least 50 pounds. &ldquo;Mind you I enjoy every minute of it and it doesn&rsquo;t do my Niagara Falls travel business any harm. It&rsquo;s our biggest account. But it keeps me and my staff working 12-hour days for three or four months arranging all the various schedules for the players, their wives and fans.&ldquo;The players come from as far as Los Angeles and Vancouver in the West to Prince Edward Island and Halifax in the East. Last year we handled travel packages for more than 400 players and their families plus NHL followers who came from every province and even Alaska among the 33 States which were represented here.&ldquo;The effect on the economies of Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Welland and Thorold from the tournament is a real shot in the arm to start off the summer season,&rdquo; Ross continues.The mayors of the four communities involved couldn&rsquo;t agree more with John Ross.One of the chief boosters of the Molson Challenge is Mike Baker, a St. Catharines native who is Ontario deputy minister of tourism and recreation.&ldquo;The Molson Slo-Pitch Tournament combines both tourism and recreation,&rdquo; he says from his Toronto office. &ldquo;It brings thousands of people into Ontario from the States and other parts of Canada. My experience has been absolutely positive after working three years with Molson&rsquo;s and the $20,000 we provide is not really a donation but it gives us promotional consideration to use such things as our logo: &lsquo;Ontario, Yours to Discover&rsquo;.&ldquo;At the same time it makes people who attend the games think about getting into some type of recreational activity themselves.&ldquo;We started working with the Challenge later than people like Bob Lavelle and Norm Webb who set the wheels in motion five years ago but I can see our ministry staying with this project for a long time.&rdquo;Now if Lavelle, Webb, Gaye Ste wart, Ed Calhoun, Obie O&rsquo;Brien and the other Molson types would bring in two tournaments a year, it would mean an annual 100-pound weight loss for travel agent John Ross and, perhaps, a permanent sideline as a partner with Mr. T in the tag-team wrestling business. &#9632;

Niagara Welcomes NHLers With Open Arms

<div class="byline">BY PERRY LEFKO</div>Toronto Maple Leafs may not be the best hockey team, but when it comes to slo-pitch, they are undeniably champions.The Leafs, who finished last overall in the National Hockey League standings in 1984-85, won the Molson NHL Slo-Pitch tournament in &rsquo;84.The championship was their second straight.The big question is, how come the Leafs get better results on the diamond than on the ice?&ldquo;Maybe we&rsquo;re all meant to be ball players,&rdquo; jokes Greg Terrion.Stew Gavin has a different&mdash;and more serious&mdash;view.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s two distinctively different sports&rdquo;, says Gavin. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think baseball is as much of a team game as hockey. Baseball&rsquo;s more individual, especially in this tournament.&rdquo;Adds Walt Poddubny: &ldquo;It&rsquo;stough to compare the two. It&rsquo;s a pretty good bunch of guys, whether it&rsquo;s slo-pitch or hockey.&rdquo;Podubbny and Bill Derlago are certainly the best of the bunch and are two important reasons for the Leafs&rsquo; success in slo-pitch. Both spurned potential careers in baseball for hockey, although Poddubny jokingly says, &ldquo;When I see some of the money those guys (ball players) are making, I figure maybe I made the wrong move.&rdquo;Poddubny will exercise his right to free agency June 1, but hockey, unlike baseball, makes it tough for a player to move from one team to the another. Therefore, it&rsquo;s a good possibility Poddubny will be in the Leafs&rsquo; lineup for the Slo-Pitch tournament.And Poddubny knows his teammates will be counting on him for his solid play.&ldquo;I want to do what I can and I know what I can do,&rdquo; Poddubny says. &ldquo;Bill Derlago can hit the ball, and that makes it a lot easier when it&rsquo;s spread around a bit.&ldquo;I expect a lot of myself when I play. There is an underlying competitiveness (in Slo-Pitch). You don&rsquo;t want to go through the motions, even if it&rsquo;s just for fun.&rdquo;While the Leafs admit they come to the tournament to have fun, they also want to do well.&ldquo;Most guys are competitive, they have to be to get where they are in pro hockey,&rdquo; says Gavin. &ldquo;But a team such as Edmonton which last year had won a cup just two weeks before (the tournament), it was on a high. The Cup was still on their minds: they could care less about winning.&ldquo;For us, the season ends on a downer. We&rsquo;re looking for something to make up for the season. It doesn&rsquo;t replace hockey, it just makes us feel good.&rdquo;While some teams leave themselves little time for practising, the Leafs, many of whom live year-round in Toronto, can usually be found honing their skills at least a month before the tournament.Interestingly enough, while the Leaf management has been blamed for leaving the team intact despite its woeful on-ice performances, it has allowed the ball team to practically stay the same.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a good nucleus of guys who come to play each year and these guys know their positions,&rdquo; says Gavin. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not too many changes.&ldquo;The first practice there might be a few new guys, but that depends on who&rsquo;s in town and who&rsquo;s around.&ldquo;We tried to limit our team to 12, 13 guys. You&rsquo;re only allowed to play 10, so there&rsquo;s a lot of guys (on other teams) sitting.&ldquo;You go there to play ball. When you sit around, it&rsquo;s not as much fun.&rdquo;The Leafs&rsquo; lineup will basically be comprised of: Gavin (pitcher), John Anderson (catcher), Captain Rick Vaive (first base), Bill Derlago (second), Walt Poddubny (third), former Leaf Dave Gardner (shortstop), Terrion and Dan Daoust (outfield). Two more are allowed to play in the outfield. Gary Leeman, Steve Thomas and Ken Strong are among the possible players. There&rsquo;s an outside chance Borje Salming may play, too.Piloting the team will be Rick Sutcliffe.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s (Sutcliffe) competitive, he has a feisty nature to him,&rdquo; Poddubny says. &ldquo;He gets pretty serious. He doesn&rsquo;t mind giving you a kick in the butt or a pat sometimes.&rdquo;<h2>PANASONIC</h2>Hockey fans familiar with the Panasonic Play of the Game highlight on the Saturday Hockey Night in Canada telecasts, will see the spotlighted replay featured during the Molson-NHL Slo-Pitch tournament.A Panasonic representative will present, at the conclusion of the Saturday All Star Game, the Panasonic &ldquo;Play of the Game Award&rdquo; to the player deemed instrumental in making the play judged most outstanding during the all star game between Team Canada and Team U.S.A.Panasonic &ldquo;Play of the Game&rdquo; All Star Game award winners (since 1983).1984: Bob Manno, Detroit Red Wings1983: Darcy Rota, Vancouver Canucks &#9632;

Maple Leafs Find Their Niche On Diamond

Fan attendance during the tournament and its related events is a major factor in the overriding success of this tournament and the amount of net proceeds that are raised for charities. However, without the financial and promotional support of the major sponsor, Molson Ontario Breweries Ltd., and the many other fine associate sponsors, the event would simply never take place.It is with due cause that we should offer our sincere thanks to. these sponsors and recognize their efforts toward making the fifth Molson NHL Slo-Pitch Challenge what we hope will be the most successful tournament to date.<h2>MAJOR SPONSOR</h2>Molson Ontario Breweries Ltd.<h2>ASSOCIATE SPONSORS</h2>&bull; Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Recreation&bull; Panasonic&bull; Minolta and Minolta Tower&bull; Pepsi-Cola (Thames Valley Beverage)&bull; Citech Quartz Co. (Citizen Watches)&bull; Maple Leaf Village&bull; General Motors (Chevrolet Division)&bull; Stanfield&rsquo;s Ltd.&bull; Pony/Micron&bull; Jelinek Sports<h2>MOLSON ONTARIO BREWERIES</h2>As the major sponsor of the tournament, Molson will present the Molson Cup to the championship winning team.Past Molson Cup winners.1984: Toronto Maple Leafs1983: Toronto Maple Leafs1982: Los Angeles Kings1981: Detroit Red Wings &#9632;

TOURNAMENT SPONSORS

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div>If there is one thing the Molson NHL Slo-Pitch Challenge doesn&rsquo;t lack, it&rsquo;s enthusiasm.Not just in fan support&mdash;70,000 spectators watched the three-day tournament last season&mdash;but from those players participating in the event.Never before has anything like this softball event been welcomed with such open arms by National Hockey League players.Why has the Molson NHL SloPitch Challenge, now in its fifth year, become so popular with the players?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s special,&rdquo; says Marcel Dionne, center for the Los Angeles Kings and a member of the Kings&rsquo; softball team in the tournament. &ldquo;I know that all of our players look forward to it.&ldquo;It is a chance to meet and talk to other players from the other teams you play during the regular hockey season. It is especially fun when you get to hear all the trade rumors going around in the summer. A lot of scoops come out of that tournament. I know that all of our players look forward to it.&ldquo;To me, having that many teams and that many players together is quite an accomplishment.&rdquo;Larry Playfair, a defenseman with the Buffalo Sabres and a member of their softball team as well, looks at the tournament in a different light.&ldquo;I really look forward to it, there is no doubt about that,&rdquo; remarks Playfair. &ldquo;It is a chance to get together with your teammates again, but in a more relaxed atmosphere.&ldquo;The only thing that is tough for me in the tournament is that I really don&rsquo;t try and get too close to the opposition as far as talking to them is concerned.&ldquo;Not that I don&rsquo;t like them or anything. There are a lot of great guys from the different teams. But these are the same guys, that within a few months from now, I will be doing battle with again on the ice.Playfair points out one factor that makes the Molson NHL Slo-Pitch Challenge especially favorable to the players.&ldquo;The tournament has a lot of safety factors built into it,&rdquo; says Playfair. &ldquo;There are a lot of safety rules set up to really protect the players from injury when playing softball.&ldquo;Somebody really took the time to think this out.&rdquo;One of those persons is tournament co-ordinator Bob Lavelle.&ldquo;We realized at the time we were originally planning for the first tournament that if there was any type of injury suffered by a player it could jeopardize any future tournaments we may want to have,&rdquo; recalls Lavelle.&ldquo;The rules have been set up to prevent any type of physical contact.&rdquo;Lavelle adds the tournament has grown in other ways.&ldquo;This year is the second year in a row we will have a U.S. All-Star squad to take on a Canadian AllStar squad as part of the tournament,&rdquo; says Lavelle. A player playing for the U.S. team doesn&rsquo;t have to be born in the U.S. All he has to do is play for a U.S. team.&ldquo;Plus, the tournament will be televised again and aired as part of a 90-minute special on television.<h2>General Motors (Chevrolet Division)</h2>General Motors (Chevrolet Division) are the official transportation supplier to the 1985 Molson NHL Slo-Pitch Challenge. The participating teams in this year&rsquo;s tournament will travel to and from their games in the all-new-size Chevy Astro vans.Also on display at the ball parks will be the Chevy Hot Air Balloon. It stands over five storeys tall and 50 feet wide. Licensed balloonists will take fans up and give them a bird&rsquo;s-eye view of the action on the ball field. After touch down, passengers will receive lapel pins and &ldquo;I rode in the Chevy Balloon&rdquo; certificates, as mementos of their ride. &#9632;

NHL Players Welcome The Chance To Play

<div class="byline">BY DAVID RIGBY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01632/5522911-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg"></div>The Molson NHL Slo-Pitch Tournament offers fans almost as much off the field as it does on the field.On Friday, the opening day of the tournament, a luncheon is held at the Niagara Falls arena. Tickets are sold individually or in groups of 10 per table.The occasion provides a rare opportunity for fans to meet the hockey players, collect autographs and listen to the likes of Brian McFarlane and Alan Thicke&mdash;both of whom have been keynote speakers in the past.Since its inception, the luncheon has been a sellout and has been a big help in terms of raising funds for charity.This year the luncheon is all but sold out. Businesses and fans alike have purchased most of the tickets already.And it&rsquo;s a good year to get a seat&mdash;the guest speaker is Danny Gallivan, the former voice of the Montreal Canadiens. Also at the head table and bound to be a big hit is retired Canadien superstar Guy Lafleur.Tickets for the luncheon are $15 each or $130 per table of 10.Perhaps the wildest event of the weekend is the auction of hockey objects supplied by teams and officials. Teams are generous in supplying Bob Campbell, the committee chairman for the event, with excellent items to auction to collectors and others from across North America.Collectors pay big bucks, especially for sweaters. Last year Winnipeg&rsquo;s Dale Hawerchuk sweater sold for $475. Teammate Dave Babych&rsquo;s jersey went for $425.A Wayne Gretzky-autographed garter belt had a reserve bid on it for $100.This year&rsquo;s will be the third auction and Campbell says things are moving along well.He hopes to have many of the articles in town prior to the tournament so they may be placed on display at Niagara Square, a Niagara Falls shopping mall.Campbell is helped by Bill Stewart with Archie Katzman and his son Barry handling the actual auction.Last year the event raised about $10,000 compared to $5,000 the first year. The cost to enter the auction is $5.The Friday night dance at the arena is one of the busiest events of the weekend. With a local top band, Shoes, providing entertainment fans get a chance to meet with the players while they aren&rsquo;t running to catch a bus or getting ready for their next softball game of the day. The atmosphere is relaxed and everyone has an excellent time.The players are usually good in attending all the events tied in with the tournament. Tickets to the dance are priced at $5 each.One other extra to the action on the field is the Breakfast with the Stars held Saturday and Sunday mornings at Maple Leaf Village.Combined with the action on the field and the sights of Niagara Falls, it all makes for a busy weekend.For advance ticket sales, make postal money order or bank draft to:&ldquo;MOLSON NHL SLO-PITCH CHALLENGE&rdquo;5034 VICTORIA AVENUENIAGARA FALLS, ONTARIOL2E 4E1<h2>NO PERSONAL CHEQUES WILL BE ACCEPTED. &#9632;</h2>

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Tourney Offers Plenty Of Off-Field Events

<div class="byline">BY PERRY LEFKO</div>&ldquo;I give them (the volunteers) more credit, outside of the players, for the way the event&rsquo;s gone, and the only reason the players supercede them, is because they are the show.&rdquo;&mdash;Molson-NHL Slo-Pitch director Bob Lavelle.It should come as no surprise that Bob Lavelle mentions the National Hockey League players and tournament volunteers in the same breath. They are practically inseparable.In fact, when Lavelle talks of the two, he is prone to using words such as &ldquo;dedication&rdquo; and &ldquo;loyalty.&rdquo;Dedication is a player who was supposed to be married the weekend of the tournament, but delayed his plans so he could play ball.Dedication is a volunteer who can work the entire weekend without seeing a single inning or a player.But it&rsquo;s as Lavelle says: Both the players and volunteers are needed desparately to make the tournament a success.This year, there will be an increase in the number of stars participating.&ldquo;Last year, there were not as many in terms of stars because of the Canada Cup,&rdquo; Lavelle says. &ldquo;This year, we&rsquo;re looking at the rosters and it&rsquo;s right up there. The Marcel Dionnes, Lanny McDonalds, Michel Goulets, they&rsquo;re all coming.&rdquo;And Lavelle says there would probably be countless more stars, but some just can&rsquo;t make it.As for the volunteers, there are an average of 20 of them on 22 separate committees.Some of the duties for the volunteers include acting as liasons for the teams, and this requires establishing contact with player representatives during the NHL season.&ldquo;Some of the people associated with a team for that weekend (of the tournament) have built up real good friendships, such that they visit during the season. I&rsquo;ve seen it happen.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s interesting to note that both the players and the volunteers are keenly aware that besides having fun, there&rsquo;s a real purpose for the tournament&mdash;raising money for charitable organizations in the Niagara Peninsula.&ldquo;They (the players) are there to have fun, but when they&rsquo;re asked to do things&hellip;I doubt there are any athletes in any sport that can be more accommodating.&rdquo;As for the volunteers, this year they have collectively made a pledge to the Niagara General Hospital building fund for $36,000, which will be used to buy a piece of equipment used for arthroscopic knee surgery. Lavelle says the pledge is the largest the hospital has raised from any organization in the two years of its campaign.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the highlight of amassing one of the best committees you could ever put together and whose dedication is over and above the the slo-pitch tourney,&rdquo; Lavelle says.Speaking of dedication, there&rsquo;s an interesting story about a woman in Calgary who wanted to hold an Appreciation Night for the six Sutter brothers from Viking, Alta., but had to abandon it because some of the brothers&rsquo; teammates who would have wanted to attend are committed to playing in the tournament.Or the story about Edmonton Oiler Dave Semenko, who swapped his jersey for an oldtimers&rsquo; so several years down the road, when he&rsquo;s no longer active as a player, he&rsquo;ll still be part of a team in the tournament.<h2>PONY/MICRON</h2>Pony Sporting Goods and Micron Sports Products are recognized as the &ldquo;Official Footwear&rdquo; and the exclusive skate manufacturer associated with the 1985 Molson NHL Slo-Pitch Challenge.Pony and Micron will sponsor the 1985 home run hitting contest which will take place Saturday morning at Oakes Park in Niagara Falls. Kevin Huckle, the director of sales and marketing for Pony and Micron will present the 1985 trophy and prize to the top point getter in this year&rsquo;s home run hitting contest.Home-Run Hitting Contest winner:1984: Ed Olczyk &mdash; Chicago Black Hawks. &#9632;

Players And Volunteers Make Tourney Tick

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01563/5522966-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="124" height="114"></div>BOSTON&mdash;&ldquo;Just once in my career,&rdquo; said Boston Bruin general manager Harry Sinden, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to stand up at a press conference and surprise you guys with an announcement.&rdquo;This was not the time.Perhaps the most poorly-kept secret of the year in Boston was the appointment of Butch Goring as the Bruins&rsquo; coach&mdash;a move that was revealed, analyzed and accepted as fact for a couple of weeks before May 6, when Sinden got around to announcing it formally.The only surprise of the news conference was the naming of Mike Milbury as the Bruins&rsquo; assistant coach.&ldquo;To be candid,&rdquo; said Sinden, &ldquo;we&rsquo;ve felt since late in the season that Butch was the guy we wanted. It&rsquo;s his approach to the whole hockey business. He knows it&rsquo;s not a game where you can just show up and take batting practice. It&rsquo;s a total, total effort. Not all players are like that.&rdquo;Goring, 35, and in his 16th National Hockey League season, came to the Bruins Jan. 8 from the New York Islanders for the $2,500 waiver price as a fill-in for Barry Pederson, the star center who had undergone surgery for a tumor on his arm.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;I&rsquo;ve made it no secret that hockey is my profession and Coaching is what I want to do.&rsquo;</blockquote>Goring was just that, a fill-in, until coach Gerry Cheevers was fired on Feb. 11 and Sinden went behind the bench to coach (as well as manage) for the remainder of the season.&ldquo;As a coach I became a lot closer to the team than I ever would have just as a general manager,&rdquo; said Sinden. &ldquo;At practices, between periods of games, in airports, you see and hear and observe an awful lot about your players.&ldquo;I learned a lot about Butch Goring. The more I was around him, the more convinced I became that he was the leading candidate for coach. By the time the season ended there was no doubt in my mind.&rdquo;The only thing that stood in the way of Goring&rsquo;s immediate appointment was the physical condition of Barry Pederson. Had the Bruins not been assured that Pederson was fully recovered from surgery, Goring would still have been &ldquo;needed in a player capacity. The necessary assurance came May 1.&ldquo;Barry passed his last test terrifically,&rdquo; said Sinden. &ldquo;We based our decision on the premise that Barry&rsquo;s going to be fine, so we felt comfortable taking Butch out of a playing role.&rdquo;Goring, who played 10 years for the Los Angeles Kings, most of them under coach Bob Pulford, and five years for the New York Islanders under coach Al Arbour, has made no secret of an ambition to coach when his playing career ended.&ldquo;A couple of years ago,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;when the rumors started that Al Arbour was thinking about retiring, I went to Bill Torrey and told him I thought I should be the next coach of the New York Islanders. I thought I was ready then.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played under two very good coaches in Bob Pulford and Al Arbour. I learned a lot about hockey fundamentals from Pully and a lot from Al about how to handle people. I paid attention and I think I&rsquo;ve learned my lessons well.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve made it no secret that hockey is my profession and coaching is what I want to do. This is a lifelong dream for me.&rdquo;Goring actually applied for the Bruins&rsquo; job shortly after Cheevers was fired.&ldquo;Basically, I went up to Harry and told him that my priority was to coach a hockey team. Harry was his usual cool self. He said, Well, I&rsquo;ll keep you in mind,&rdquo; said Goring.Sinden had already recognized Goring as a &ldquo;player in synch with the Bruins&rsquo; style of play.&ldquo;That was a big part of why he was the frontrunner for the coach&rsquo;s position,&rdquo; said Sinden. &ldquo;The fans demand a certain type of team that plays a certain way. We want the team to stay that way and Butch Goring plays that style.&rdquo;Goring said he was so concerned about getting the job that he hadn&rsquo;t given much thought to plans for next season.&ldquo;But we&rsquo;ll still play the same aggressive style,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t get around a hitting style in a small rink.&ldquo;There is room for improvement. The Islanders were a very hard-working team on and off the ice. My own personal life has been one of discipline. I&rsquo;ve seldom been late for anything. Usually, I&rsquo;ve been early.&ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t think that as soon as you become a coach you have to become a jerk. I don&rsquo;t want that. There can be a good relationship between a coach and his players. I won&rsquo;t be a taskmaster but our players will expect some discipline.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0029-01

Goring Aims To Prove His Worth As Coach

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01644/5522997-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="333" height="517"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jay Greenberg</figcaption></div><h2>RANDOM PLAYOFF THOUGHTS.</h2>&bull; Sing no sad songs for the Islanders. Denis Potvin may have had the most correct post-mortem of all when he said: &ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t too old, we just lost our youth (Greg Gilbert and Pat Flatley).&rdquo; Bill Torrey has a couple of fast Finns coming and guys like Paul Boutillier, Roger Kortko and Pat LaFontaine are going to get better. In Kelly Hrudey, it looks like the Isles have got a goalie. If they are luckier with injuries next year, they can continue to make a very orderly transition, especially now that Al Arbour is coming back.&bull; May Mark Howe&rsquo;s critics forever hold their peace. The best way to describe his playoff performance is not spectacular, but flawless.&bull; Here&rsquo;s the coach of a team with Dale Hunter on it, showing tapes of Eddie Hospodar atrocities to the media? If someone wanted to put together a highlight film of Hunter dirt, how long would it run? As long as Gone With the Wind?&bull; Sources tell me that Bob McCammon has a legitimate shot to get the Vancouver GM job. The farther the Flyers go, the better McCammon looks. How may guys with GM&rsquo;s experience are floating around anyway? The Canucks could do a lot worse.&bull; A lot of writers are misreading Mike Keenan&rsquo;s intensity as arrogance. He&rsquo;s a very organized guy who doesn&rsquo;t suffer fools (stupid questions) or wastes of his time easily. Anyone who catches him after a practice, rather than a game, finds a much different guy. Anyway, Keenan&rsquo;s wife gave him a bunch of static for getting testy during one press conference. She&rsquo;ll straighten him out.&bull; I don&rsquo;t think that deep down, Dave Poileand Bryan Murray were surprised that the Caps came up a strong forward or two short. They just couldn&rsquo;t find one at the right price.&bull; It was really surprising to see Harry Sinden go with Butch Goring as his new coach. Especially after the Bruin GM admitted that he suffered with Gerry Cheevers for a year while he learned on the job. Maybe Harry was remembering that the last time he went for an &ldquo;outsider&rdquo;&mdash;Fred Creighton&mdash;he was rejected by the players. Times change, though. You get the right guy, like a Keenan, and it doesn&rsquo;t matter whether he comes from the Ontario Hockey League or Mars.&bull; One can&rsquo;t help but think that Herb Brooks and Lou Nanne are still going to get together, no matter what they said recently. Brooks wants to coach in the NHL in his hometown and Nanne needs him to straighten that team out. Can they get along? Who knows, but it&rsquo;s too convenient for them not to find out.&bull; Bob Pulford, whether you like it or not, you can flat-out coach. You were smart enough to hire Roger Neilson as an assistant and you will find a way to use him so you can tend to your GM&rsquo;s duties, too.&bull; I&rsquo;m not sure Flyer assistant Ted Sator will take the Ranger job, but I&rsquo;m pretty sure he&rsquo;s going to be asked. Sator is going to make an intelligent guess as to whether he can win before he jumps into any situation.&bull; What&rsquo;s hard to understand is all the sniping heard all year about Mario Lemieux. Here&rsquo;s a 19-year-old kid who scored 100 points without a top-notch winger. So he pops off every once in a while. He&rsquo;s not used to the losing and that&rsquo;s a good sign. One of the big problems with the Penguins is that too many of them are more interested in a good time than winning. Put another year under Lemieux&rsquo;s and Doug Bodger&rsquo;s belts and weed out the losers around them, and it will change. The worst is over in Pittsburgh. It would be a shame to see the Penguins run out on the city now.&bull; A lot of the questions being asked by the press in Hartford about the Emile Francis regime are legitimate. The Whalers have turned over some young players, sure, but there are some grey areas. Are they playing them enough? Are they getting the right coaching? Time will tell whether they gave up on David Jensen too soon. But don&rsquo;t you wonder when Francis will admit that trading a prospect like Ville Siren for Pat Boutette&mdash;who can&rsquo;t play at an NHL level anymore&mdash;was a mistake? The siege mentality doesn&rsquo;t speak well of Francis. Still, two years isn&rsquo;t enough time to fairly judge any rebuilding program. And the Whalers did play fairly well down the stretch.&bull; And hey, I just want to say how proud I was to be a Canadian when we beat the Soviets at the world tournament. But why couldn&rsquo;t you beat the Czechs? &#9632;

f0030-01

Spare No Pity For The Rebuilding Islanders

<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/f0031-02413/5523059-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="174" height="108"></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Southern California, of all places, has become a cradle of National Hockey League coaches. Call it the Bob Pulford Connection.When the Boston Bruins introduced 35-year-old Butch Goring as their new head coach on May 6, he became the fourth member of Pulford&rsquo;s Los Angeles teams of the 1970s to advance that far in management.Make that five if you count former Kings&rsquo; assistant Ralph Backstrom, who now serves as head coach at Denver University.And five other Pulford pupils have progressed to the ranks of assistant coach, one of whom (Rogie Vachon) moved on to become the Kings&rsquo; general manager.The other head coaches are Bob Berry (Kings, Montreal, Pittsburgh,) Barry Long (Winnipeg) and Dan Maloney (Toronto) and the other assistants, Backstrom, Bob Murdoch (Calgary), Mike Corrigan (Pittsburgh), Terry Harper (Colorado) and Mike Murphy (Kings).The plethora of former Kings coaching is no mere coincidence, says Murphy, who spent five of his 10 seasons in L.A. playing under Pulford, the current general manager-coach in Chicago.&ldquo;Bob had a tremendous impact on all of us,&rdquo; said Murphy, whose time, no doubt, as a head coach will come in the not-too-distant future. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great organizer and a great teacher. And you can&rsquo;t over-emphasize the teaching part because so many 18- and 19-year-olds come into the league every year.&ldquo;The qualities you need in a good coach are patience, intelligence, honesty, the ability to communicate&mdash;Pully has them all.&rdquo;Pulford, who left for Chicago following the 1976-77 season, put together a 178-150-66 record during his five years with the Kings. The high point was a 105-point season in 1974-75 when his team finished 42-17-21.This was hardly a great unit&mdash;Bob Nevin led the team in scoring with 72 points&mdash;but Pulford used coaching, exceptional goaltending from Vachon and Gary Edwards (they combined for a 2.31 average), and a grinding, intelligent cast to post the best record in club history.Eight of Pulford&rsquo;s proteges played on that team of over-achievers.&ldquo;It never occurred to me at the time,&rdquo; Murphy said, &ldquo;but looking back, we did a lot of extraordinary things without a whole lot of raw talent that year, which just goes to show that we had a lot of high-quality, character people.&ldquo;And that&rsquo;s what an organization looks for in a coach&mdash;level-headed people who are willing to put in an honest day&rsquo;s work.&ldquo;A lot of us used to sit down and pick Pully&rsquo;s brain. He never tried to be the Albert Einstein of hockey, but he&rsquo;s always been very fundamentally sound. After he left here, whenever we were playing in Chicago, I&rsquo;d go into his office and discuss different theories, different ideas. We did quite a bit of that over the phone this year. You learn a lot from these sessions.&ldquo;I suppose that&rsquo;s apparent by the number of us who now have coaching jobs.&rdquo;Goring, by the way, still ranks second in games (659) and goals (275) on the Kings all-time lists. He&rsquo;s third in assists (384) and points (659).KINGS NOTEBOOK&mdash;General manager Rogie Vachon, coach Pat Quinn and assistant Mike Murphy scouted the Memorial Cup finals in Drummondville, Que&hellip;The Kings were encouraged by the play of Peterborough Petes&rsquo; defenseman Bruce Shoebottom during his final year of junior eligibility. A third-round pick (the Kings&rsquo; first overall) in the 1983 entry draft, the 6-foot-2, 200 pounder has rebounded after twice fracturing his leg, showing enough improvement to warrant a decent look in camp. &ldquo;He played like he has a future somewhere down the road,&rdquo; Murphy said&hellip; An agreement in principle was reached between California Sports Inc. and the New Haven Coliseum Authority to keep the Nighthawks, Los Angeles&rsquo; American Hockey League affiliate, in New Haven. &#9632;

f0031-02

Deciphering L.A. Coaching Craze

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div><h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01593/5523028-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="136" height="120"></div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;The on-ice action ended for the Minnesota North Stars with a loss to the Chicago Black Hawks in the Norris Division finals.But the off-ice action has continued at a frantic pace&mdash;with most of it centering on talks between general manager Lou Nanne and prospective coach Herb Brooks.Will Brooks become the next coach of the Stars as most fans in Minnesota&mdash;and a clear consensus of the North Stars players&mdash;desperately hope? Will Nanne let Brooks have the final say on player promotions and demotions? Will he give him a clause that pays a bonus if Nanne decides to fire his long-time friend and former amateur hockey teammate?Or might Brooks opt for a lucrative business offer outside of hockey even if all his demands are met?And finally, has Paul Holmgren officially retired as Nanne insists but Holm-gren denies?Ah yes, it must be summer in Minnesota.Nanne offered Brooks a contract he says would pay the former New York Rangers&rsquo; mentor more (as far the North Stars&rsquo; GM knows) than any other NHL coach except the New York Islanders&rsquo; Al Arbour.But contractual clauses insisted upon by Brooks constitute a roadblock that has both sides agreeing the North Stars should consider other coaching candidates while Brooks investigates business offers.Brooks&rsquo; apparent reluctance to reach agreement with Nanne probably stems from the messy manner in which he and the Rangers parted company this season.Another, undoubtedly, is co-owner Gordon Gund&rsquo;s repeated comments that Brooks still has to prove himself as a coach at the NHL level.Those remarks stung Brooks, whose record with the Rangers in both the regular season and playoffs was very impressive until this past injury-riddled season.It was intriguing that Gund made the statement more than once in the media despite saying he was troubled that Brooks was using media pressure as a bargaining tool. It is probably Gund&rsquo;s comments that has prompted Brooks to not compromise on a couple of contractual clauses.One of the drawbacks to being absentee owners&mdash;neither Gordon nor his coowner brother George lives in Minnesota&mdash;is that the Gunds don&rsquo;t understand how highly-regarded Brooks is in this hockey-wise community.People haven&rsquo;t forgotten Brooks won three national titles in seven years with homestate talent at the University of Minnesota before conquering the world with the 1980 U.S. Olympic team.From afar, it may also be difficult to perceive why the North Stars so desperately need Brooks both from a publicrelations standpoint as well as a tactical coaching standpoint.Glen Sonmor, who left coaching at the end of the season to become Nanne&rsquo;s aide, scout and player-development director, admittedly was not an X&rsquo;s and O&rsquo;s coach. But he rallied the team well on the strength of his own enthusiasm during the playoffs.The players, however, need the kind of tactical preparation in which Brooks specializes. Sonmor&rsquo;s enthusiasm was a tremendous asset, but both assistant coaches. Murray Oliverand J.P. Parise, are perceived by the players as Nanne&rsquo;s men more than assistant coaches or tacticians.When asked for alternatives to Brooks, Nanne mentions Harry Neale of the Vancouver Canucks and Ted Sator of the Philadelphia Flyers but adds both men are currently under contract.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really not making any comments on the Brooks issue,&rdquo; Nanne said. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t prepared for this. I guess we may be in for a long-term process now to find a coach. &ldquo;Nanne said that each time terms seemed agreeable, Brooks shifted to other concerns. He left the door open for a deal still to be worked out but Nanne said he had to start searching under the assumption Brooks would not be the new coach.Meanwhile, Holmgren hinted he may have to retire after playing 19 games since his shoulder surgery of a year ago. He is in pain and playing a 20th game would preclude him from receiving a disability settlement from NHL Players Association insurance.When Holmgren later changed his mind about retirement, Nanne finally insisted Holmgren would have to retire. But Holmgren said he thought he would rest and rehabilitate the shoulder until about August, then see whether he wants to continue on his $175,000 a year con-tract.Nanne reiterated that Holmgren had retired, and as summer arrived, Star-gazers were left to wonder whether Holmgren had not retired or if Nanne had retired him. &#9632;</div>

f0031-01

Brooks’ Terms Leave Stars Coach Hunting

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02456/5523121-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="387" height="436"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Falls</figcaption></div>I HAD SOME strange feelings when Eddie Shore died. I felt bad about it. as I always do when a great sports figure passes away, and it grieved me to think that I never saw him play. All I knew of Eddie Shore werethe great stories of the past, when hockey was a hard and tough game and he was the hardest and toughest of them all.I always had my private visions of Eddie Shore. I saw him as a menacing man, going into the corners and sending fear into the hearts of players who dared accompany him. Howie Morenz could own center ice but the corners belonged to Eddie Shore.Yet, when he passed away, I didn&rsquo;t feel a deep remorse. That&rsquo;s because I did not know him. It&rsquo;s not quite the same when you don&rsquo;t have a personal relationship with a man.That&rsquo;s why Foster Hewitt&rsquo;s death touched me in a different way. It gave me a feeling of sweet sadness.Foster died at the age of 82 and you learn to accept these things. As you grow older yourself, you come to understand that life is not an eternal gift. I felt Foster Hewitt had lived a long and happy life and he had done exactly what he wanted to do. What man could ask for more?Foster Hewitt gave me so much that it was not fair to expect anything more from him.How many times&mdash;in this publication alone&mdash;have you read of some writer or broadcaster or fan saying how he grew up listening to Foster Hewitt from the gondola in Maple Leaf Gardens? I always thought that was the grandest tribute a man could hope to receive&mdash;to know that he could reach out and touch so many people.For me, Foster Hewitt was my youth&mdash;those marvelous days of the late 1930s and early 1940s when I first learned to love this game of hockey, those Saturday nights at Wally Weiman&rsquo;s house trying to pick up the broadcasts from Toronto and listening to the sound fade in and out, in and out, nearly driving us daffy as we tried to follow the play from Maple Leaf Gardens.Wally was the goalie on our roller hockey team and we&rsquo;d go to his house on Saturday nights because he had the only radio that could pick up the Maple Leaf games. We&rsquo;d sit there, half a dozen of us, huddled over the radio on the floor of the living room.One day, two years ago, I wrote to Foster Hewitt in Toronto and told him I would like to meet him. He wrote back and said that would be an honor&mdash;just name the date and lunch would be on him.It was in the middle of the summer when we met at one of the larger downtown hotels in Toronto&mdash;Foster&rsquo;s favorite, I gathered&mdash;and the experience was incredible.As he came in through the door of the hotel, the doorman tipped his hat to him. All the bellhops said hello to him and so did the guy behind the desk. They all knew Foster Hewitt.I saw this scene unfolding before me and hid behind my newspaper. I wanted to watch the entire spectacle develop because I knew something special was happening.Finally, I put the paper down, got up, and introduced myself. His face brightened and he took me by the arm and led the way into the dining room, saying how very glad he was to see me. It may have been the finest moment of my life.Ten years earlier, when the World Hockey Association was operating. I told my wife that I wanted to go into the Quebec dressing room and thank J.C. Tremblay, the old Montreal defenseman, for all the thrills he had given me over the years. He was my favorite player, but when you&rsquo;re in your 40s, you don&rsquo;t walk up to hockey players and tell them how much you admire them.&ldquo;Go on,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you may never have this chance again.&rdquo;I did&hellip;and Tremblay looked up at me as if I was some kind of oddball and the whole thing turned out very badly. I was very embarrassed. I left the dressing room feeling like a fool.Now, as Foster Hewitt led me into the dining room, squeezing my arm and asking me about my job. I felt as good as I ever had in my life. I hank you sir. You bound up an old wound for a silly sports writer. &#9632;

f0032-02

Hewitt Soothed This ‘Silly Writer’s’ Wound

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03306/5523152-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="159" height="112"></div>DETROIT&mdash;Even when he&rsquo;s seated behind the desk in his Joe Louis Arena office, Jimmy Devellano is on the go.There&rsquo;s plenty to do for the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; general manager as he tries again to put together more pieces of the puzzle.There&rsquo;s the National Hockey League entry draft June 15.And college free agents.And as of June I, there&rsquo;ll be professional free agents to consider.And, of course, the possibility of trades always exists, although that course of action is on hold for the time being.Two of the college free agents who have attracted Devellano&rsquo;s interest are Detroit native Chris Cichocki of Michigan Tech and Dale Krentz of Michigan State.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve talked with those two and more,&rdquo; Devellano said. &ldquo;What happens with this free-agent thing is that several teams are in the running for these guys. Until they get to their agent and sift out various offers, you don&rsquo;t know where you stand. I don&rsquo;t have any update on those.&rdquo;As for professional free agents, he said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking to see if there&rsquo;s another Brad Park-type who can come in and do something for a couple of years.&rdquo;But Devellano said that he didn&rsquo;t expect anyone of Park&rsquo;s stature to become available.Meanwhile, the NHL handed goaltender Greg Stefan an eight-game suspension, to be served at the beginning of the 1985-86 season, for his actions in the third and final game of the Black Hawks&rsquo; three-game playoff sweep.Stefan was suspended for swinging his stick in a confrontation with Chicago&rsquo;s Al Secord.After an exchange in the crease area late in the game played at Joe Louis Arena, Stefan ranged far out of the net to take a swipe at Secord while the Black Hawk forward wrestled with Detroit defenseman Greg Smith, who had interceded on Stefan&rsquo;s behalf.Stefan was assessed a five-minute match penalty by referee Ron Fournier.&ldquo;I thought it went well,&rdquo; Stefan said of his hearing. &ldquo;I told my story. I expected to get maybe three games. Then they called up this morning and said it was eight.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty upset but it won&rsquo;t really hit me until we go to training camp and I have to miss the first three weeks of the season.&rdquo;Stefan&rsquo;s defense at the hearing included a review of the pre-playoff build-up during which the Black Hawks said they had to run interference in front of the Red Wings goaltender to distract him and goad him into losing his cool.They did that with a great deal of success as the Black Hawks scored a record 23 goals in the series.&ldquo;I was frustrated,&rdquo; Stefan admitted.&rdquo;They said they were out to get me and I took a lot of stuff from them in the crease.&ldquo;Secord and I were shoving when he said, &lsquo;Hey, let&rsquo;s stop it. That&rsquo;s enough.&rsquo; I kind of dropped my guard and, boom, he punched me. That&rsquo;s when I erupted.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0032-03

Jimmy Picks Up Pieces Of Wings’ Jigsaw Puzzle

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN</div><h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01625/5523090-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="156" height="139"></div>TORONTO&mdash;Not since 1980 has the full weight of media and fan pressure been on a team to make the right choice at the National Hockey League entry draft.That&rsquo;s the position of the Toronto Maple Leafs who, as the worst team in the NHL this past season, have earned the right to choose first June 15 when all 21 teams gather at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for the annual hockey lottery.The Leafs can only hope they have better results than the Montreal Canadiens, who defied hometown pressure and chose Doug Wickenheiser over fan favorite Denis Savard with the first pick five years ago.Wickenheiser floundered in Montreal and was eventually traded to the St. Louis Blues while Savard blossomed into a star with the Chicago Black Hawks.The Montreal media and fans alike have never forgotten. Neither will their Toronto counterparts if the already heavily-criticized Gerry McNamara doesn&rsquo;t make the right choice.The general manager, under siege for Toronto&rsquo;s woeful performance this past season, is facing his most critical test since taking over in 1981.The choices seem clear.In the estimation of most hockey observers, three players have been funnelled to the top&mdash;center Craig Simpson of the Michigan State Spartans, defenseman Dana Murzyn of the Calgary Wranglers and defenseman-forward Wendel Clark of the Saskatoon Blades.Simpson is rated the best prospect by the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau but that hardly makes him a sure thing as far as the Leafs are concerned.There is, for instance, the matter of his availability next year.The scholarly hockey player has not yet indicated whether he will play professional or collegiate hockey next season. They are the two alternatives&mdash;preOlympic hockey is a longshot at best&mdash;according to Simpson who talked about his future before an off-season dry-land training session recently at the East Lansing school.Simpson, who has two years remaining in a four-year business program, said that an acceptable offer to turn pro would have to &ldquo;be valuable enough for me to leave here (MSU).&rdquo;That kind of talk could throw a scare into the Leafs who might feel a sense of urgency about getting the No. I player into a Toronto jersey for the 1985-86 season.So might this. Simpson said he has met with Toronto, Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils&mdash;the first three teams choosing&mdash;as much to familiarize himself with them as the other way around.And the native of London, Ont. (about 120 miles from Toronto), hinted that during draft week he&rsquo;ll make it known which team(s) he wishes to play for&hellip;or, just as importantly, for which team(s) he, doesn&rsquo;t want to play.Remember defenseman Craig Redmond? He told the Leafs last year he didn&rsquo;t want to be drafted by them. Redmond now plays for the Los Angeles Kings.Simpson seems the logical choice (which some pundits insist automatically rules him out of the Leaf picture). Certainly, the Leafs are more in need of a first-rate center than another young defenseman (a la Al Iafrate, Gary Nylund, Todd Gill, Bob McGill and Jim Benning).A wonderful, playmaking center, Simpson combines skill and intelligence better than anybody else eligible for the draft.His collegiate career has been remarkable.During his freshman year, Simpson led the team in scoring despite playing most of the year as a 16-year-old.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen a kid come in and lead a major college in his first year,&rdquo; said MSU assistant coach Terry Christensen. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the best college hockey player I&rsquo;ve ever seen for his age.&rdquo;Simpson&rsquo;s only technical liability is lack of quickness and acceleration in his skating.&ldquo;Craig is a very deceptive type of skater.&rdquo; continued Christensen. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a Denis Savard out there. I guess he&rsquo;d be more like a Jean Beliveau.&rdquo;Like both Savard and Beliveau, Simp-son is no stranger to ice wizardry: &ldquo;He plays like he&rsquo;s got eyes in the back of his head sometimes,&rdquo; praised the assistant to head coach Ron Mason.Ironically, Simpson&rsquo;s intelligence is at once a strength and weakness in the eyes of hockey scouts who are often wary of prospects who have more options in life than those connected to a hockey stick.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a lot more going for him than just hockey,&rdquo; said Christensen who, has watched Simpson blend excellence in academics and athletics at MSU. &#9632;

f0032-01

Pressure’s On Leafs To Make Right Move

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02489/5523214-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="380" height="454"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Simmons</figcaption></div>THERE WAS SOMETHING about the New York Islanders, the way they were, the way they won. Despite their &ldquo;bump-and-grind&rdquo; style, they were still considered classy champions.There was something about the Montreal Canadiens, the way they were, the way they won during the 1970s. They skated so well, played defense so well, and Ken Dryden was always there when they needed him. They were considered the ultimate champions.A team named the Edmonton Oilers won a hockey game recently which meant they had accomplished something neither the classy Islanders nor ultimate Canadiens could. The victory was the 12th straight for Edmonton in Stanley Cup playoff competition.And the Oilers are considered neither classy nor ultimate. In fact, most hockey observers aren&rsquo;t sure what to make of the defending Stanley Cup champions.An odd designation now hangs on hockey&rsquo;s greatest team. The hockey world has yet to open its arms to the Edmonton Oilers. And that is both strange and unfair.But there are reasons for it.At the top of the list is coach-general manager Glen Sather. Sather has turned off so many of hockey&rsquo;s opinion-makers that some now look for reasons to knock his team. He manipulates some people, mostly abuses others. He doesn&rsquo;t smile, he sneers. He doesn&rsquo;t often speak, he snarls.Personally, a day I don&rsquo;t have to deal with Sather is a good day. Professionally, though, I contend he may be the best administrator in the game today.The problem is, the Oilers are Sather&rsquo;s team and that is both good and bad. It&rsquo;s good because they&rsquo;re successful, a Sather trait in both hockey and business. And it&rsquo;s bad because Sather-baiters will forever look for a reason to discredit the Oilers.Some Oilers cry discrimination when it comes to receiving their due but unless Sather undergoes a personality change, that is unlikely to occur. So is the personality change.Still, maturity has come to the Oilers in many other ways. This is a team that has learned to win games despite being outplayed, something the Islanders&rsquo; championship teams did so regularly.This year. Edmonton played only well enough to get by the Los Angeles Kings in Round One of the playoffs. In truth, the Oilers were outplayed, but the Kings had nothing to combat the sheer speed of Paul Coffey, the goaltending of Grant Fuhr. Those two set the pace and waited for the rest to catch up. Most did in time for Round Two against the Winnipeg Jets.Now, in the finals for the third straight year, one wonders if a second straight Stanley Cup will bring the Oilers respect?But that, too, is unlikely for several reasons:&bull; Wayne Gretzky: For far too long, the Oilers have been regarded as Team Gretzky or a one-man team or other things along those lines. The team is as much a one-man team as the Philadelphia Flyers are, but critics sometimes fail to see that. Gretzky is superb. Make no mistake about it. But so too is Paul Coffey. And not far behind them are Mark Messier and Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson. And when you add in a Kevin Lowe, Charlie Huddy and Randy Gregg, two capable goaltenders and a Mike Krushelnyski or two, the one-man team raps go out the window.&bull; Geography: Having lived out west for the past six years, I&rsquo;ve come to realize how powerful the eastern media is. Life begins, ends&mdash;and very little in between happens&mdash;in the east. That&rsquo;s according to those in the east. Were the Oilers in an eastern city, they would have been raved about for years. Not being in a major media centre, with apologies to major leaguers such as friend Terry Jones, has hurt the Oilers&mdash;and will continue to hurt the Oilers.&bull; The Oilers don&rsquo;t play defense: It has long been said that championship teams must have a defensive base&mdash;and that the Oilers have no such base. Which is false. If Edmonton has improved any single aspect of its game, it&rsquo;s in the defensive end. But because their style is geared to skating, often their scores are higher than most. That hardly means the team cannot play defense. At the center of this controversy is Paul Coffey. Coffey, the game&rsquo;s greatest rusher, has been involved in Norris Trophy debates in the past but there should be no debate this season. He has reached a level all his own, not far from the world of Bobby Orr. No one ever said Orr couldn&rsquo;t play defense. But there is more than just Coffey here. When you see Lowe blocking shots as often as he does, that&rsquo;s defense. When you see Kurri and Gretzky killing penalties as though they are on power plays, that&rsquo;s defense. When you see Fuhr so brilliant, that too is defense. Two or three years ago, this rap may have been true. It isn&rsquo;t any longer.Over the past two seasons, only one team has come close to eliminating the Oilers, that being the Calgary Flames. But in the final night of that series, like all great champions, the Oilers so dominated they left no questions unanswered.And that&rsquo;s what the Edmonton Oilers should be considered&mdash;great champions. &#9632;

f0034-02

Sather’s Abrasive Attitude Robs Oilers Of Recognition

<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/f0034-03380/5523245-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="102" height="106"></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;The seemingly endless search for Harry Neale&rsquo;s replacement goes on&mdash;but without much success.The Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; general manager is still just that in name, but the club&rsquo;s assistant to the chairman, Arthur Griffiths, finally admitted the club had approached Al Arbour of the New York Islanders and John Ferguson of the Winnipeg Jets about the possibility of becoming successors to Neale.Griffiths confirmed stories that had the Canucks approaching Arbour to determine whether he was interested but he denied that a precise offer was made to the four-time Stanley Cup-winning coach.The Arbour offer was allegedly worth $1 million (U.S.) over three years for him to become the Canucks&rsquo; Director of Hockey Operations. Further, it was said the offer included access to the family&rsquo;s 86-foot yacht, but Griffiths denied all that.&ldquo;I heard all the stories about the million dollars and about the yacht but there is absolutely no truth to any of it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We spoke to Arbour but there was no specific offer made. About the yacht. I can tell you my dad (Frank Griffiths Sr.) doesn&rsquo;t lend it to anyone, not even me.&rdquo;The speculation all became academic when Arbour announced in mid-May that he would be remaining as coach of the Islanders.The Canucks also made something of a pitch to Ferguson, whose hometown is Vancouver. However, the Jets&rsquo; general manager is apparently in the midst of having his contract re negotiated in Winnipeg.&ldquo;John Ferguson is staying in Winnipeg.&rdquo; proclaimed Jets&rsquo; president Barry Shenkarow.The process of looking for Neale&rsquo;s replacement actually began late last year when Frank Griffiths Sr. began contacting some of his friends in hockey.He asked Hockey Canada&rsquo;s Sam Pollock and Calgary Flames&rsquo; Cliff Fletcher for advice and formulated a plan which he is now putting into effect.There is still a possibility a suitable replacement for Neale will not be found and he will continue on his current contract, which has two years remaining.But with all the stories&mdash;confirmed and otherwise about the search&mdash;such a move, or lack of one, would leave Neale in the position of being general manager only because a better man couldn&rsquo;t be found.In the meantime, Neale is proceeding with the day-to-day matters of signing the free agents and juniors the team needs to have under contract.Six weeks ago Neale came to terms with free-agent defenseman Dale Dunbar of Boston University. The Canucks recently got around to signing him.It is not clear whether Dunbar can step into the National League on a full-time basis but he immediately becomes the Canucks&rsquo; biggest defenseman at 208 pounds, and when you are last in goals-against, some changes might be contemplated.Dunbar, who has worked as a security officer at Fenway Park during Boston Red Sox games, is an excellent athlete who considers himself a defensive defender.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to be a little more offensive once I get the mask off (college players are required to wear facemasks). But my main job is to stay back and make sure the puck gets out of our end without any damage.&rdquo;Dunbar considered joining the Canucks for the last four or five games of the regular season. But it had been so long since BU was eliminated from the NCAA playoffs it was thought to be imprudent for Dunbar to play. Neale has also signed London Knights&rsquo; left winger David Lowry after the latter&rsquo;s 60 goals left him fourth in the Ontario Hockey League in goal production and with a berth on the first all-star team.Lowry was the club&rsquo;s fifth-round choice in the 1983 draft, and along with forward Mike Stevens of the Kitchener Rangers, he stands an excellent chance of breaking into the Vancouver lineup next year.Lowry was voted the second hardest-working player in the OHL by league coaches in their annual poll and he was voted third in the best defensive forward category. &#9632;</div>

f0034-03

Canucks’ Search Keeps On Going

<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/f0035-01603/5523276-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="120" height="120"></div>BUFFALO&mdash;Early elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs leads to an early vacation&hellip;and a long summer of mulling over just what went wrong during the past season and what can be done to improve team fortunes next season.That is the situation the Buffalo Sabres find themselves in after losing to the Quebec Nordiques in the first round this spring.Although training camp is still four months away, some of the Sabres&rsquo; players have already given thought to the 1985-86 season.Veterans Craig Ramsay and Bill Hajt, for instance, believe there is plenty of room for improvement.&ldquo;We&lsquo;ve got a lot of work to do, there&rsquo;s no doubt about that,&rdquo; said Ramsay, a player-coach with the Sabres. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot of learning to do in basic hockey.&ldquo;One of the biggest problems we had this season was being consistent. As a team, we weren&rsquo;t always ready to go all the time. We weren&rsquo;t always ready as a team, for each game. We just weren&rsquo;t ready mentally for every game.&ldquo;I know it is a long season, but this is what you get paid to do&mdash;play hockey. A player should be ready to go mentally every game. But we weren&rsquo;t and not just for a few games either. You have to be ready all the time in order to be a winner.&rdquo;Hajt added his concerns.&ldquo;There is no doubt we had trouble scoring goals this season,&rdquo; said the veteran defenseman. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t depend on getting an early lead and defending it the rest of the game. We have a good defense, but it will only carry this team so far.&ldquo;It (the defense) needs some support. We need more offensive punch. We have players that can score the goals. We know that.&ldquo;Now all they have to do is score them.&rdquo;Buffalo&rsquo;s production of only 290 goals during the regular season ranked the Adams Division team 15th in the NHL.One player who might be able to help the Sabres offensively is Bob Halkidis, the London Knight who was recently chosen as the Ontario Hockey League&rsquo;s top defenseman for the 1984-85 season.A fourth-round pick in NHL entry draft last summer, Halkidis made his NHL debut with the Sabres during the playoffs against Quebec.Known for his puck-handling talents, Halkidis also impressed fans with his ability to play physically.&ldquo;I was a little nervous when I first got up here,&rdquo; remarked Halkidis. &ldquo;But I guess if you are going to get thrown into action it might as well be when all the chips are on the line. Once I got the feel of things, everything was alright.&rdquo;Halkidis explained the reason for his promotion from the Knights following their exit from the OHL playoffs.&ldquo;Mr. (Scott) Bowman (Sabres&rsquo; coach-general manager) wanted to get more scoring punch into the lineup from the blueline,&rdquo; said Halkidis. &ldquo;He wanted me to carry the puck more and help set up plays. And he wanted me to try and shoot more from my point position.&ldquo;If there is one thing that I&rsquo;m not afraid of, it is shooting the puck.&rdquo;That could be good news for the Sabres next season.SABRE POINTS&mdash;Bob Chambers, director of marketing for the Sabres, has resigned that position to accept a position with a local business supply company. &#9632;</div>

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Halkidis Hopes To Punch Up Sabre Attack

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div>Louisville HockeyLouisville Hockey<h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01576/5523307-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="128" height="118"></div>HARTFORD&mdash;The Hartford Whalers traded Greg Millen and Mark Johnson to the St. Louis Blues for Mike Liut and future considerations Feb. 22.Jorgen Pettersson. a veteran Swedish left winger, was named as those considerations April 16.And how did Pettersson find out that he was headed for Hartford?He read about it in a newspaper. Naturally.&ldquo;When the deal was made, my first thought was &lsquo;That&rsquo;s me,&rsquo; but the longer it went the more I thought it wouldn&rsquo;t be me,&rdquo; Pettersson said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;tknow for sure until a friend called and told me to read about it in a St. Louis paper. I was a little surprised.&rdquo;Pettersson, who turns 29 in July, has averaged 32 goals a year in five NHL seasons, all with the Blues. Three times he has scored 35 or more goals in a season. but last year he totalled just 23 in a reduced role.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very pleased to have Jorgen,&rdquo; coach Jack Evans said. &ldquo;He gives us depth at left wing and that&rsquo;s something we didn&rsquo;t have last year. For a while there, Torrie (Robertson) was our only bona fide left winger. With Jorgen, we can spring young (Dave) Tippett out of there and maybe try him at center. Jorgen&rsquo;s a point-a-game player.&rdquo;In 365 NHL games, Pettersson has scored 332 points, including 161 goals. He was signed orginally by current Hartford general manager-president Emile Francis (who was then the Blues&rsquo; GM) in May, 1980.&ldquo;Emile brought me over and I thought I played good for him,&rdquo; said Pettersson. &ldquo;I got my share of goals.&rdquo;Pettersson admits that he struggled this past season when the Blues won the Norris Division prior to being quickly eliminated by the Chicago Black Hawks in the first round of the playoffs.&ldquo;I used to play on the power play a lot&rdquo;and I used to kill penalties, but this year I didn&rsquo;t do those things,&rdquo; Pettersson explained. &ldquo;We played a defensive style of hockey and we really had only one line that could score goals. Everybody else&rsquo;s job was to try and defend. I play my best when I play a lot.&rdquo;Pettersson fits the NHL&rsquo;s slightly jaded definition of a &ldquo;typical European.&rdquo; His skating speed and stickhandling skills are genuine, but his inner-drive and willingness to play a physical brand of hockey when the occasion arises, as it almost always does in the&rdquo;Adams Division, remain questionable.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t stay on my wing as much as I should, or at least that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve always been told,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s good to be here. The change should do me some good.&rdquo;Francis is sure of it.&ldquo;Jorgen has NHL skills, there&rsquo;s no question about that,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great honor to have him here.&rdquo;WHALER SCUTTLEBUTT&mdash;Emile Francis, facing the media for the &ldquo;first time since his March 19th &ldquo;sabot-a age&rdquo; claim skated away gracefully from the allegation. Francis said that the Whalers were attempting to succeed in spite of &ldquo;the greatest sabotage since Pearl Harbor,&rdquo; an apparent reference to what he perceived as unsatisfactory media support. While he didn&rsquo;t apologize, he did the next best thing. &ldquo;Take that comment, throw it out the window and forget about it,&rdquo; he said. With pleasure. &#9632;</div>

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Pettersson And Francis Laud Their Reunion

<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/f0036-02427/5523338-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="140" height="98"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;The day after the Montreal Canadiens were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, Phase Ill of the National Hockey League team&rsquo;s rebuilding program began.Granted, it was a major blow for the organization to lose a series to its major rival, the Quebec Nordiques, a team which Montreal dominated during the regular season.But the narrow setback hardly spells out a panic situation&mdash;especially since Montreal finished first in the tough Adams Division over the 80-game regular season.Losing in overtime during the seventh game of a divisional final is no disgrace.However, a few familiar faces with the Canadiens have now reached the point where it is time to move on. The management knows it and some of the players are beginning to feel uneasy.There will likely be a change in the Canadiens&rsquo; goaltending situation, especially if Doug Soetaert and managing director Serge Savard don&rsquo;t reach agreement on a new contract.Patrick Roy, touted by the organization as a great prospect, is expected to be around along with No. 1 man Steve Penney and there are even those suggesting that at some point during the 1985-86 season, Roy will supplant Penney as the Canadiens&rsquo; top goaltender.Roy played the majority of the season with the Granby Bisons of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and more recently, took over the goaltending job for Sherbrooke in the American Hockey League playoffs.There could be a change on defense, if Savard can come up with a sixth man to replace Rick Green. Some have speculated that Larry Robinson played his last game May 2, the night Montreal was eliminated by the Nordiques.Robinson, 33, still has two option years left on his contract. He seemed to enjoy his job as an on-ice tutor for Czechoslovak rookie Petr Svoboda this season. Svoboda, who suffered a knee injury in the second game of the Quebec series, will spend the summer adding some beef to his scrawny frame.Tom Kurvers needs to add some muscle as well while Chris Chelios, who was bothered by a knee injury for the entire Quebec series, and Craig Ludwig will be certain to enjoy a summer&rsquo;s rest. Chelios and Ludwig should be considered the top two men on defense.Perhaps Sherbrooke&rsquo;s Mike Lalor or Ric Nattress will dislodge slow-footed Green as the No. 6 defenseman. The Canadiens will not win a Stanley Cup depending on Green, who struggled throughout the playoffs and rode the bench several times.The major changes will come up front with the likes of Alfie Turcotte, Mark Hunter and Ron Flockhart being touted in the local French-language media as players on the way out.Turcotte, the diminutive center who was the Canadiens&rsquo; first-round choice (17th overall) in 1983, didn&rsquo;t get to play in the series against Quebec because coach Jacques Lemaire was displeased with his efforts during Montreal&rsquo;s Adams semi-final series with the Bruins. During the regular season, Turcotte&rsquo;s ice-time was limited and it is clear that coach Jacques Lemaire is not one of his biggest boosters.Hunter, who is apparently coveted by the St. Louis Blues, was not aggressive at all during the playoffs and it may have cost him his job in Montreal. Hunter had a particularly tough time against the Nordiques, who were led by his brother Dale&mdash;and as a result was brutally criticized in the local newspapers.Ron Flockhart heard a trade rumor the day after the Canadiens were eliminated although it was an old one which had resurfaced in Hartford.For reasons best known to coach Lemaire, Flockhart played in just the last two playoff games against Quebec but when he got into the lineup, he showed more hustle than some of the overly-praised regulars who had been stumbling throughout the series.There is also some question concerning Pierre Mondou&rsquo;s future. Mondou suffered an eye injury March 9 and didn&rsquo;t play at all in the Boston series. He was dressed for five games against Quebec but except for game seven was generally ineffective. Mondou&rsquo;s linemate Mario Tremblay talked retirement after the Quebec series but no one is taking that too seriously.The feeling is that Claude Lemieux, captain of the Verdun Junior Canadiens, will take a spot from someone next fall. Shayne Corson, who played with the Hamilton Steelhawks of the Ontario Hockey League and Graeme Bonar, of the OHL&rsquo;s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, are also given good shots at gaining positions on the roster.There are those who are pushing Serge Boisvert as a possible regular, but he is going to have trouble making the team next season. While Boisvert has speed, he has a tendency to disappear in the heavy going.Corson was with the Canadiens for the latter stages of the series against Quebec and was supposed to finish off the season in Sherbrooke after the parent club was eliminated. He failed to report for games two and three of Sherbrooke&rsquo;s semifinal. Lemieux led Verdun into the Memorial Cup tournament and Bonar did the same for Sault Ste. Marie. &#9632;</div>

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Habs’ Phase III Means Fine-Tuning

<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/f0037-01502/5523369-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="130" height="116"></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Craig Patrick is devoting most of his time these days to whittling down the list of men anxious to shed their shoes and walk over hot coals.They are, in other words, the candidates for the New York Rangers&rsquo; vacant head coaching job.Patrick, himself, filled the void on a temporary basis following a parting of the ways with Herb Brooks, but now in his role as general manager, wants to find a more permanent solution.So, with recently-named assistant general manager and 1984-85 Bill Masterton Trophy-winner Anders Hedberg frequently at his side, Patrick has been reviewing resumes, holding interviews and making discreet inquiries.Speculation has it that Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; assistant coach Ted Sator is the most prominent candidate&mdash;but there is at least one major stumbling block to a Sator signing. His contract with the Flyers has not yet expired which means Philadelphia GM Bob Clarke could be the third man in on any negotiations.Another report had Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute coach Mike Adessa telling the Troy, N.Y. Record that he had recently visited Patrick in New York. And earlier in the month Patrick and Hedberg attended a college coaches&rsquo; convention in Marco Island, Fla.In the interest of continuity, Patrick&rsquo;s successor behind the bench should be in place by the NHL entry draft in June.What follows is a list of suggestions the successful coaching applicant might be wise to follow if he hopes to succeed where others&mdash;Brooks, Fred Shero, Mike Nykoluk, Jean-Guy Talbot, John Ferguson, Ron Stewart, Emile Francis et al&mdash;have failed before him:1. Create an environment that will encourage 20 or more subgroups to blend into a cohesive unit. To do so, you must be as much psychologist as hockey strategist. On the Rangers there are veterans afraid rookies are taking their jobs, western Canadians who think they&rsquo;re tougher than eastern Canadians or Europeans and Swedes who have been shunned by North American teammates because they don&rsquo;t go out drinking after practices (Dave Maloney, a lone voice in the wilderness, spoke out about this narrow-mindedness last fall and was promptly traded to the Buffalo Sabres).2. Find a way to put in perspective the media hype that surrounds the team. On the Rangers&rsquo; beat is a larger concentration of writers hungry for The Scoop than in any other NHL city. Get the players to talk to the media despite a team president, Jack Krumpe, who has looked the other way while his charges hid in the back lounge, and a GM who is nicknamed Vague Craig.3. Weed out or calm down the malcontents. Nick Fotiu has not adjusted well to being a part-time player. A confrontation over the Staten Island native&rsquo;s playing time reportedly was the catalyst for Brooks&rsquo; firing when the former coach refused to play Fotiu and challenged Patrick to fire him. Fotiu is entering his option year.4. Cut down on the marginal players. It&rsquo;s not healthy to have players of equal caliber slipping in and out of the lineup. That&rsquo;s not what depth is all about. Make decisions that leave you with 15 key players and not 25.5. Go into camp with an open mind. Listen to your scouts, Patrick and Hedberg&hellip;and then decide for yourself. Your job depends on it.6. You need strength up the middle and you need size, but man for man last season&rsquo;s team&mdash;on paper, that is&mdash;was the equal of nearly any other in the league. That is, minus the distractions, ego problems, side issues, and the team&rsquo;s inability to resolve the guilt and turmoil surrounding the mid-season firing of Brooks.7. One further word of advice. Don&rsquo;t quit your &ldquo;day&rdquo; job. &#9632;</div>

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Coaching Candidates Line Up For Tough Job

<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/f0037-02366/5523400-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="136" height="126"></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;Alan Kerr recently turned 21 and Roger Kortko is 22.Both, however, belied their youth and inexperience and played like veterans for the Islanders during the Stanley Cup playoffs.Al Arbour, who recently announced that he would be returning for a 12th season behind the New York bench, praised the work of the youngsters midway through the Islanders&rsquo; Patrick Division final series with the Philadelphia Flyers.&ldquo;Those kids have played well for us,&rdquo; Arbour said. &ldquo;Roger is a pest, a buzz-saw. He stays on top of the play. Kerr isa hard worker, too. He works awfully hard in the corners. Those are two bright prospects.&rdquo;Both appreciated the compliments.Said Kortko: &ldquo;I have a lot of confidence that I can do the job up here. And I guess the coach has confidence in me because he&rsquo;s used me on regular shifts and to kill penalties.&rdquo;Said Kerr, &ldquo;This is all new for me. I had been up and down during the season. Then they called me up from Springfield when Patrick Flatley got hurt. I knew then I&rsquo;d get a chance to play and it was exciting.&rdquo;Things got even more exciting for the young right winger with 57 seconds left to play in the Islanders&rsquo; 6-2 victory over the Flyers in game four of their playoff series. That&rsquo;s when Kerr scored his first playoff goal on a tip-in of a long shot by Paul Boutilier.&ldquo;Paul had the puck at the point, and I was maybe 15 feet in front when he made a half-shot, half-pass,&rdquo; Kerr said. &ldquo;I just deflected it in.&rdquo;Kortko has impressed people with his playmaking. The snub-nosed center set up a goal by Anders Kallur in game three of the same series.Kallur, who played left wing alongside the two rookies, laughed when he heard Arbour had refered to Kortko as a pest.&ldquo;Roger is the next Butch Goring,&rdquo; Kallur said. &ldquo;Butch was a pest, too.&rdquo;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind being called a pest,&rdquo; said Kortko. &ldquo;I like to get things going, forechecking and working in the comers. That&rsquo;s my kind of game.&rdquo;A chipped bone in his left ankle side-lined Kortko for five weeks early in the season but he shook off the injury to become one of the Islanders&rsquo; best players with Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League. And when the Islanders let Goring go to the Boston Bruins on waivers, general manager Bill Torrey didn&rsquo;t hesitate to call on Kortko.&ldquo;Roger has been an example to some of the others,&rdquo; Torrey said. &ldquo;He was one of our top five forwards by the end of the season.&rdquo;Kerr, asked to describe his role with the Islanders, said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m in there to put pressure on the defense. You have to work deep and tire &rsquo;em out.&rdquo;Kerr never stopped working against the Flyers. He barged fearlessly into the comers and more often than not emerged with the puck. Unfortunately for the Islanders, there weren&rsquo;t more players who played with similar devotion.The rise of Kortko and Kerr to the NHL should be an inspiration for all youngsters. Neither was picked high in the 1982 amateur draft. Kerr was a fourth-round pick (84th overall) and Kortko was drafted in the sixth round (126th overall).Now they represent the Islanders&rsquo; hope for the future.&ldquo;Young guys have to be given the opportunity,&rdquo; said Arbour at the May 13th press conference ending speculation he was retiring.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not pleasant for the old players but if someone has to tell the veterans that they have to go, it might just as well be me.&rdquo;Apart from Kortko and Kerr, larger roles are envisioned for second- and third-year players Pat LaFontaine, Pat Flatley and Greg Gilbert.As for his decision to continue coaching, Arbour said. &ldquo;I am not ready to be packed in mothballs.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

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Arbour Stays On To Usher In New Talent

<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/f0037-03283/5523431-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="98" height="87"></div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;Two years ago, the New Jersey Devils erected a smoke-screen for the National Hockey League entry draft by carefully leaking to the media that they were planning to select a goaltender in the first round.That 1983 draft, orchestrated by Billy MacMillan and Bert Marshall, produced forward John MacLean as the Devils&rsquo; first pick and sixth overall.There is no secret about what the Devils need most and would like to draft this June. They desperately need a goal-scorer. But is there anybody out there who fits the job description?&ldquo;If we had our druthers, naturally we would like to come out with a heavyweight goal-scorer but there doesn&rsquo;t appear to be that type of player,&rdquo; said general manager Max McNab as he worked on New Jersey&rsquo;s draft plan with director of player personnel Marshall Johnston.&ldquo;There might be some surprises in the second round but the consensus is that there is no (Mario) Lemieux, no 100-point man sitting out there. This happens to be a year for defensemen and the projection is that next year will be a good draft for forwards.The NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau has playmaking center Craig Simpson of Michigan State Spartans as its top-rated player entering the June 15th draft in Toronto.One question begs to be asked: Will the Devils, whose top scorer this past season was Paul Gagne with 24 goals, sit tight or will they offer their top pick (third overall) to clubs interested in dealing?Certainly such players as Rick Vaive, Dino Ciccarelli or Pat LaFontaine could help the Devils offensively. All three are available for the right price.&ldquo;There could be a fair amount of first-round switching in this draft. Toronto has said they&rsquo;ll never say never,&rdquo; said McNab, who is regarded as, perhaps, the NHL&rsquo;s most conservative GM. &ldquo;We would consider trading our first pick but our heart would not be in making a move. We have to be fair to the franchise. We need more pure Devils. I&rsquo;m talking about a (Kirk) Muller or a (John) MacLean.&ldquo;We think MacLean (13-20-33 in 61 games) will be more consistent and Greg Adams (12-9-21 in 36 games as a rookie) should be able to generate season-long offense. (Jan) Ludvig has it one year when he gets 22 and he doesn&rsquo;t have it the next when he gets 10. I think he&rsquo;s at least a 20-goal man who has lost his confidence.&rdquo;The Devils have apparently not lost enough confidence in those players to gamble on a trade for Vaive or Ciccarelli. &#9632;</div>

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Devils’ Desire In Draft No Secret

<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/f0038-01581/5523462-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="161" height="89"></div>LANDOVER&mdash;One of the major tasks facing David Poile, general manager of the Washington Capitals, is the signing of center Bob Carpenter to a new contract.Carpenter, 21, played out his option this season after he and Poile were far apart in their assessments of the player&rsquo;s worth last summer. The gamble paid off for Carpenter when he scored 53 goals&mdash;a new NHL season high for goals produced by an American-born player.Just how much it will pay off remains to be seen.Free agency in the NHL is hardly the million-dollar proposition it has become in baseball, but there is the possibility that Carpenter, if he wanted, could put the squeeze on the Capitals.Since Carpenter is under 24 and has played fewer than five years in the NHL, he is considered a Category One player and, therefore, still falls under an out-dated compensation clause.During the early days of free agency, both the team losing a free agent and the club signing him would propose compensation packages&mdash;in players, draft choices or money. An arbitrator would then select one of the two proposals for compensation.Because there was so little movement under that system which covered all players, the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, in its latest bargaining agreement, accepted a new format that now applies to more experienced players.It stipulates specific compensation, depending on the last salary offer by the team losing the player.If the offer is more than $200,000 a year, the team signing a free agent loses either two No. 1 draft picks or one No. 1 choice plus any player on its roster after it has protected five, including the newcomer.Additionally, the player&rsquo;s old team need only match the new club&rsquo;s offer to keep him.The new system has turned out to be more restrictive than the old. A team finishing low in the standing will not give up two No. 1 picks for anyone. Conversely, the top teams do not care to give up their fifth-best player.Under the old format, uncertainty was the principal problem. A team signing a player could never be sure how much it would have to give up.But in the case of a young player like Carpenter, it is not inconceivable that a mediocre club like the Hartford Whalers or New York Rangers would take a chance.Bob Murray, Carpenter&rsquo;s agent, is skeptical of the free-agent system, feeling that compensation defeats the possibility of movement. He believes, however, that if anyone can lick the system it is a potential superstar like Carpenter.&ldquo;I call the two systems worse and worser,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;Neither one provides much movement, as has been indicated by the lack of movement through the years.&ldquo;But if I had a choice in this particular situation, I&rsquo;d have elected the old way. It would tend to put a little more pressure on Washington, because it could come out with lesser players.&ldquo;Compensation hurts the good player but a truly outstanding player may outdistance that. Bobby may be a player who outdistances the compensation and some team may be willing to take that chance. The big advantage Bobby has is that he&rsquo;s still quite young.&rdquo;Both Carpenter and Murray emphasized, however, that they expect to reach an agreement with Washington.&ldquo;We are optimistic and hopeful that things will work out for Bobby to stay in Washington and we fully expect to reach an agreement with David Poile,&rdquo; Murray said.&ldquo;I like it in Washington and I have to thank management for doing so much to help me reach my potential this year,&rdquo; Carpenter said.Asked if he was concerned that Carpenter might sign with another club, Poile said, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re always concerned. It is his prerogative.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Caps’ Carpenter May Be Costly Free Agent

<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/f0038-02454/5523493-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="118" height="112"></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Although the St. Louis Blues and right winger Joe Mullen remain at odds after a year or so of on-again, off-again contract negotiations, there are signs of hope that the parties can reach agreement.Mullen, the Blues&rsquo; top goal-scorer this past season with 48. is asking for about $1 million over four years. He has played out the option year on a contract that calls for a base salary of an estimated $125,000-$150,000 per year.The Blues&rsquo; latest offer, exclusive of bonuses, is for an estimated $200,000 per season over four years.&ldquo;If they want a lot more money (than that), we&rsquo;d have a problem,&rdquo; said Ron Caron, the Blues&rsquo; director of hockey operations. &ldquo;If it takes a little more money to patch things up&hellip;we&rsquo;d like to hear that. But if they don&rsquo;t want to budge&hellip;he won&rsquo;t play here.&rdquo;Caron said the offer should not be construed as &ldquo;final.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s never final until it&rsquo;s over,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want to see if what we have to offer is appealing (to agent Larry Rauch and Mullen) to some degree, if it will lead to further negotiations. Who knows?&rdquo;By achieving many of the incentives in his contract this season, Mullen increased his total earnings upwards of $200,000. But Rauch said Mullen deserved a higher base salary.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to put Joe in an earnings class with other right wingers who have accomplished what he&rsquo;s accomplished, or less,&rdquo; Rauch said.Mullen, 28, is coming off his most productive season with the Blues. His 48 goals were one fewer than his career high, set in 1983-84, but his 92 points were a career high and second only to center Bernie Federko&rsquo;s 103 on the team.Rauch indicated that budging was not out of the question.Rauch said he and Caron were in basic agreement on Mullen&rsquo;s worth to the team. He said Caron&rsquo;s latest offer &ldquo;crystallizes our differences and also what we agree on.&rdquo;If no agreement is reached by June 1, Mullen will become a free agent. Caron then would have until July 1 to file his best offer with the NHL so the Blues will receive compensation if they lose him.On July 1, Mullen would then be free to sign with another team.Under NHL compensation rules, however, the price for a team that signed him would be steep&mdash;probably two first-round draft choices or a first-round draft choice and one of the team&rsquo;s top players.The Blues have hinted that an offseason trade is likely, possibly involving their No. 1 draft choice (12th overall). If the Blues are unable to sign Mullen, it would become a virtual certainty that they will trade draft choices for immediate help. &#9632;</div>

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Blues and Mullen Still Negotiating

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>Louisville HockeyLouisville HockeySHERBROOKE&mdash;The dependable defensive play and hot goaltending so often lacking during the regular season carried the Sherbrooke Canadiens to within one victory of the Calder Cup championship.The Canadiens, who knocked off Fredericton and Maine during the first two rounds, defeated the Baltimore Skipjacks in the opening two games played at Baltimore and then split the next two at home to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven championship series.Sherbrooke won both games at Baltimore by 4-3 scores. The Skipjacks rebounded to win 5-3 in Sherbooke but the Canadiens handed coach Gene Ubriaco&rsquo;s team its first road loss of the playoffs in the fourth game, 6-1.Stephane Richer and Claude Larose each scored two goals in the penalty-filled fourth game.Sherbrooke has emerged as the surprise team of this year&rsquo;s playoffs, catching fire in its Northern Division final against the Maine Mariners after dropping the opening game. They swept the next four contests against the defending champions.Patrick Roy, the 19-year-old goaltender chosen by the parent Montreal Canadiens in the fourth round of the 1984 draft, joined Sherbrooke after completing his junior season with Granby and has been sensational. The victory over Baltimore in game four improved Roy&rsquo;s record to nine wins in 10 playoff starts.After defeating the Express in six games, the Canadiens bounced back from the series-opening 5-2 loss at Portland to defeat the Mariners in five games. Sherbrooke evened the series with a 9-2 win at home, moved in front to stay with a 7-3 victory in Maine and won the fourth game, 7-2.Maine rallied in the fifth game&mdash;with a team-record three goals in 23 seconds late in the second period&mdash;but the game was forced into overtime when Sherbrooke&rsquo;s Serge Boisvert scored on a power play with 2:54 left in the third period.John Newberry, Sherbrooke&rsquo;s playoff scoring leader, picked up the series-winner at 12:28 of the second overtime.In the final series, the same-score victories in Baltimore put the Canadiens into the driver&rsquo;s seat.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a good combination (of offense and defense) and we&rsquo;ve also had good goaltending,&rdquo; Sherbrooke coach Pierre Creamer understated.&ldquo;When you win two games away, especially at Maine, it means that you are getting a good performance from your goaltender and also, offensively we were able to score goals against (Maine goalie Sam) St. Laurent. That&rsquo;s the key to our success: We didn&rsquo;t have many chances, but the chances we had we put in the goal.&rdquo;Sherbrooke turned the tables on the Mariners and used Maine&rsquo;s recipe for regular-season success in the playoffs. In the five-game series, the Canadiens scored on nine of 21 power play chances and held the Mariners to just two power-play goals in 14 tries.The late-season surge and the playoff success have been particularly sweet for Sherbrooke, a team which relied on an explosive offense during the season and was not considered a contender in the playoffs.&ldquo;We struggled all year and we had to finish the season strong,&rdquo; Creamer said. &ldquo;We played 10 games away and five at home (at the end of the season), we were fighting for a place in the playoffs and we had to win the last game of the regular season to make the playoffs.&ldquo;The last 30 games of the regular season was the playoffs for us. We played with that pressure at the end of the regular season and when we made the playoffs I think we felt a little bit more confidence.&rdquo;Sherbrooke also benefitted from the addition of Roy and three other players, Boisvert, Ric Nattress and Stephane Richer, during the Maine series. Boisvert and Nattress were playing with Montreal and Richer, like Roy, joined the team after his junior season.Creamer pointed to the third game of the Maine series as the turning point. Roy was outstanding in that game.&ldquo;I remember a game we won at Maine, the third game we won, 7-3,&rdquo; Creamer said. &ldquo;In the first period, they outshot us 23-5, but the period finished 2-1 for Maine. We were in the game. After that we scored four straight goals in the second period to go up 5-2. With a lead like that it was a little bit easier.&rdquo;Roy is following the route traveled by Steve Penney in Montreal last year by making the most of a late-season promotion. Many observers feel that Roy will earn a berth with Montreal next season.&ldquo;Patrick is making the big saves right now and is our number one goalie,&rdquo; Creamer said. &ldquo;But we had (Greg) Moffett at the beginning in Fredericton and he was very good. Without Moffett we might not be in the finals.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what you need in the playoffs&mdash;goalies to make the saves. After that you go to the other side and score the key goals.&rdquo;AROUND THE DIVISION&mdash; Although he led the Express to first- and second-place finishes in his two years as the Fredericton coach, Earl Jessiman was not re-hired by the parent Quebec Nordiques. Jessiman, who is seeking another AHL position, said that the Nordiques are concerned with developing a bilingual coach in their system&hellip;Pierre Page, who ran the Moncton Golden Flames during their first season in the league, was promoted to an assistant coaching position with the parent Calgary Flames. Calgary assistant Jamie Hislop and Dan Bolduc, a player-assistant coach with Moncton last season are considered leading contenders to replace Page. Bill Riley, the former player who handled Moncton&rsquo;s public relations and marketing effort this season, is interested in the job. &#9632;

Sherbrooke’s Season Has Cinderella Finish

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01549/5523548-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="130" height="108"></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Eddie Johnston&rsquo;s success in signing collegiate free agents will play a large part in determining who the Pittsburgh Penguins choose with the second overall selection at the National Hockey League draft on June 15.&ldquo;The free agents should help us a lot,&rdquo; said Johnston, the Penguins&rsquo; general manager. &ldquo;If we can sign a couple of free agents, it will help us change positions in that we can make a deal or if they fill a certain position for us, instead of taking a forward we might take a defenseman.&rdquo;Johnston acknowledged the competition to sign the free agents is great.&ldquo;Because of the lack of depth of the draft, I think the guys are pursuing those players a little bit more,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;If you were taking those players now in the draft, they&rsquo;d be first-rounders.&rdquo;One free agent Johnston has signed is 6-foot-1, 190-pound Lake Superior State defenseman Chris Dahlquist, who was also sought by the Detroit Red Wings. Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks.&ldquo;But I picked Pittsburgh because of the opportunites I&rsquo;ll have with them this year,&rdquo; said Dahlquist.The Penguins were the NHL&rsquo;s second-worst team defensively this past season and one of the key reasons for that circumstance was lack of mobility back of the blueline.&ldquo;I can get out of the defensive zone when I have to and I can keep the other team out when I have to,&rdquo; said Dahlquist. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a flashy player. Strictly by the book, a defensive-type player. But I&rsquo;ve had input from other players and coaches, and I think I&rsquo;ll get there (to the NHL next season).&rsquo;&rsquo;The collegiate free agent Johnston would most like to sign is Illinois-Chicago right winger Ray Staszak.&ldquo;He&rsquo;d fit in very well on our club,&rdquo; said Johnston. &ldquo;One ingredient we can give him that other clubs can&rsquo;t is he can play with the big guy (Mario Lemieux). He&rsquo;ll get instant recognition, he&rsquo;ll get a chance to make a lot of bonuses and he&rsquo;ll get on the power play. On other clubs he won&rsquo;t get that.&rdquo;Two other free agents Pittsburgh has expressed an interest in are center Adam Oates and defenseman Tim Friday, both of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.Johnston said the top prospects for the entry draft are Calgary Wrangler defenseman Dana Murzyn, London Knight right winger Jim Sandlak, Michigan State center Craig Simpson and Saskatoon Blade left winger-defenseman Wendel Clark.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question one of those four players could be our choice,&rdquo; Johnston said.Meanwhile, the Penguins have clarified owner Edward DeBartolo&rsquo;s edict that the team must sell 10,000 season tickets before a July 15th deadline. That goal has been changed to 400,000 tickets before July 15 for the club&rsquo;s 40 home games this season, or an average of 10,000 per game.The Penguins have begun a marketing effort to solicit ticket sales. The campaign also involves DeBartolo&rsquo;s major indoor soccer league franchise, the Pittsburgh Spirit, and will be known as &ldquo;Action for the Spirit and Penguins,&rdquo; or &ldquo;ASAP&rdquo;.It involves a plan by the teams to solicit support from the corporate sector, other Pittsburgh area businesses and hockey fans in general.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re confident the urgency of our message combined with the attractiveness of some of our new ideas will be enough to move us close to our goal of 10,000 commitments,&rdquo; said marketing director Paul Steigerwald. &ldquo;We re calling upon corporations, businesses, our current season ticket-holders, the amateur hockey community and sports fans in general to invest in what we believe will be a very bright future for hockey in Pittsburgh. Mario Lemieux is going to be the next Pittsburgh sports superstar and he&rsquo;s worth the price of admission himself.&rdquo;Lemieux&rsquo;s name translated to English means &ldquo;the Best.&rdquo; The Penguins subtheme to their ongoing &ldquo;Boys of Winter&rdquo; marketing campaign will be &ldquo;The Best Is Yet To Come,&rdquo; Steigerwald said. &#9632;</div>

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Free-Agent Signings May Impact On Pens’ Drafting

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div>Louisville HockeyLouisville HockeyINDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Forget the Turner Cup. This one should be labeled the Turn-Around Cup.The Peoria Rivermen and Muskegon Lumberjacks, who boasted the two worst records in the International Hockey League last year, have made 180 degree turns.They are meeting in the playoff championship series just one year after neither team even made the playoffs.The showdown represents a fitting conclusion to a season-long rivalry that just couldn&rsquo;t get any closer.Peoria finished first in the West Division with a mark of 48-25-9 and won the Huber Trophy as the regular-season champions with 105 points.Muskegon, winners in the East, finished with two more victories (50-293) but two less points.The two teams split 10 regular-season meetings evenly, each winning five times. And the seven-game championship confrontation had all the familiar markings of closeness.After five games, three of which went into overtime, Muskegon held a 3-2 lead.Peoria opened the showdown with a 4-3 extra-period victory at home. Muskegon evened the series score with a 6-3 victory before returning home to take a 2-1 lead on the strength of a 5-3 win.Two overtime games followed&mdash;the Rivermen winning 5-4 in Muskegon and the Lumberjacks prevailing 4-3 in Peoria.Games six and seven (if necessary) were scheduled for May 22 in Muskegon and May 24 in Peoria.Coach Pat Kelly&rsquo;s Rivermen were extended to the full seven games by fourth-place Indianapolis in the opening playoff round and then skated their way past Fort Wayne in six games to earn their spot in the finals.The Lumberjacks, under coach Rick Ley, eliminated Toledo in six games, then swept Kalamazoo in four outings to set up the meeting with Peoria.The Rivermen placed two players on the league all-star team. Rick Heinz was named to the first team in goal and Lee Norwood was the No. I defenseman. Randy Boyd of Milwaukee earned the second defensive position on the first team.The forwards were Scott MacLeod of Salt Lake City, the league&rsquo;s leading scorer, at center, and Scott Gruhl of Muskegon and Wally Schreiber of Fort Wayne on the wings.Kalamazoo placed three players on the second team. They were goalie Georges Gagnon, defenseman Brian Tutt and left winger Dave Michayluk, the league&rsquo;s leading goal-scorer with 66.Also on the second team were Muskegon defenseman Greg Tebbutt, center Gilles Thibaudeau of Flint, right winger Perry Ganchar of Peoria and right winger Brent Sapergia of Salt Lake.The Huber Trophy, of course, went to Peoria, and as East champs the Rivermen won the Frank Gallagher Trophy. Muskegon picked up the Ken Ullyot Trophy as winners in the West. Bill Schafhauser of Kalamazoo won the Ken McKenzie Trophy as American-born Rookie of the Year while Thibaudeau earned the Garry F. Longman Memorial Trophy as Rookie of the Year.Gruhl, who led the league in gamewinning goals with 13, was most valuable player (James Gatschene Memorial Trophy), and Norwood was awarded the Governor&rsquo;s Trophy as top defenseman.MacLeod was the Lamoureux Memorial Trophy as scoring leader with 139 points (51 goals, 88 assists), and Heinz won the Norris Memorial Trophy as top goaltender (24-12-4, 3.08 goals-against-average).Meanwhile, IHL commissioner Bud Poile said: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll meet at Toronto June 12 and 13 with the NHL. We&rsquo;re trying to get a deal put together to go back to Saginaw, but that&rsquo;s not a reality yet.&rdquo;All of the other teams in the league indicated earlier they planned to be back another season.There may be some problems in affiliations, however. Chicago Black Hawks have pulled out of Milwaukee and there is talk the NY Islanders may bail out of Indianapolis. The Checkers were helped out by the Minnesota North Stars and Boston Bruins as well this season.Art Teece has replaced Chuck Schell as general manager at Salt Lake, with Mark Amicone as his assistant. Coach Tom Webster has announced he will coach the Windsor Compuware Spitfires in the Ontario League next season, leaving an opening at Salt Lake.Poile, incidentally, has sold his home in Indianapolis, site of the league headquarters the last couple of seasons, and is &ldquo;playing it pretty loose right now.&rdquo;He says he won&rsquo;t make any decisions about next season until after the playoffs. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t given it a lot of thought,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be talking things over with John Snider (chairman of the board).&rdquo; &#9632;

Muskegon And Peoria Enjoy New Status

<div class="byline">BY BOB DUFF</div>Louisvile HockeyLouisvile HockeyDRUMMONDVILLE&mdash;Prince Albert Raider defenseman Tim Baumgartner sat rm the hotel hallway, helplessly holding onto a key that would not open his door.Baumgartner&rsquo;s predicament was the perfect metaphor for the early performances turned in by Prince Albert at the 1985 Memorial Cup.The Western Hockey League champions were having trouble finding the key to success.After several conventional methods failed, Baumgartner eventually used a stiff shoulder check to disengage the sturdy oak door.And not unlike their rugged rearguard, the Raiders eventually took kicked in the door on their way to the Memorial Cup title.Hammered 6-2 by the Shawinigan Cataractes in their opener, early signs weren&rsquo;t pointing to a championship for the Raiders.&ldquo;We certainly didn&rsquo;t play very well,&rdquo; admitted Raider coach Terry Simpson. &ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t play better than that in our next game (against Verdun) then we don&rsquo;t deserve to be here.&rdquo;The Raiders did play better against the Junior Canadiens, winning 5-3, but their play still wasn&rsquo;t of the calibre that permitted them to post a 58-11-3 mark during the WHL regular season and sweep through the playoffs with only one defeat in 13 games.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s coming,&rdquo; said Raider defenseman Emanuel Viveiros after the Verdun game. &ldquo;You could feel things starting to gel in the third period.&rdquo;With the Raider snipers misfiring&mdash;except for winger Tony Grenier, who scored three times in the first two games&mdash;the club turned to some unlikely sources for goals.One of those was defenseman Dave Goertz, who supplied solid work in his own end all year but had scored only three goals during the regular season.By comparison, he was a regular Paul Coffey during the WHL playoffs, scoring four goals during the Raiders&rsquo; title drive. He continued his &ldquo;torrid&rdquo; pace against Verdun&mdash;burying two goals behind goaltender Yves Lavoie.Next, the Raiders met the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in their third game in as many days.The Raiders&rsquo; No. 1 scoring line&mdash;center Dan Hodgson, left winger Grenier and right winger Dave Pasin&mdash;supplied 12 scoring points in an 8-6 win as Hodgson emerged from a poor start to earn five assists, a new Memorial Cup single-game record.Others also contributed. Second-line winger Dale McFee notched a hat-trick while Goertz added yet another goal along with an assist.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m confident when we get into these type of shootouts,&rdquo; said Hodgson, who had been named the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League player of the year one day earlier. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a 60-goal shooter on each of my wings so all I have to do is feed them the puck.&rdquo;The win clinched a spot in the semifinals for the Raiders and as things worked out they once again met the Greyhounds.Sault Ste. Marie dominated the first eight minutes of the game but couldn&rsquo;t beat Raider goaltender Ward Komo-nosky.A two-man advantage for one minute and 33 seconds gave Prince Albert a chance to turn things around. They didn&rsquo;t score on that power play but Hodgson tallied shortly thereafter.Bob Probert evened the score for Sault Ste. Marie but the tie was short-lived. The Raiders led 4-1 after 20 minutes and 8-1 after 40. Two late Greyhound goals made it an 8-3 final score.The driving force was again Hodgson&rsquo;s line which supplied five goals and 13 scoring points.The Raiders&rsquo; thoughts quickly turned to the final and another crack at Shawinigan.&ldquo;Right after that game (opening loss) we wanted to play Shawinigan again,&rdquo; said Hodgson. &ldquo;Now we&rsquo;re going to show them on national television how the Prince Albert Raiders play hockey.&rdquo;&ldquo;Everybody realizes that wasn&rsquo;t the real Prince Albert Raiders in our opening game,&rdquo; added Viveiros. &ldquo;Things will be different in the final.&rdquo;Shawiningan coach Ron Lapointe, in pre-game interviews, said he was concerned only with stopping the Hodgson line. The Cataractes did that but little else in the Cup final.The Raiders&rsquo; Dean Braham scored 15 seconds after the opening faceoff to set the tone for a 6-1 rout.The big line accounted for only one goal&mdash;the sixth by Pasin.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s been the case all year,&rdquo; said Hodgson. &ldquo;If one line isn&rsquo;t scoring the others pick up the slack.&rdquo;&ldquo;It was a team effort,&rdquo; said Steve Gotaas, who scored a pair of goals in both the semi-final and the final. &ldquo;I think Braham&rsquo;s goal took away our (jittery) nerves.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01227/5523603-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="555" height="646"><figcaption class="caption-body">Prince Albert&rsquo;s Dan Hodgson was chosen Player of the Year in the CMJHL.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;That was an important goal,&rdquo; agreed Simpson. &ldquo;Because we wanted a fast start to quiet down the Shawinigan fans.&rdquo;&ldquo;I think maybe I under-estimated the Gotaas line,&rdquo; admitted Lapointe in defeat.Hidden amidst all the hoopla was Komonosky, anything but sharp in the round-robin games, but rock-steady during the playoffs when he allowed just four goals&mdash;three of them long after the issue had been settled.&ldquo;When Shawiningan did break through, Komonosky made the saves,&rdquo; said Simpson. &ldquo;People cut down Ward all year but we always had confidence in him.&rdquo;Simpson said the Raiders had shown &ldquo;discipline and maturity,&rdquo; in overcoming the hurdles placed in front of them during the tournament.&ldquo;We played the best at the most important times all season long,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I guess that makes us the best.&rdquo;Simpson&rsquo;s logic is irrefutable. &#9632;

f0041-01

Raiders Kick Down Memorial Cup Doors

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div>DRUMMONDVILLE&mdash;Shawinigan Cataractes&rsquo; coach Ron Lapointe figured his club had one bad period at the Memorial Cup tournament and it cost them the championship.&ldquo;They had 10 shots in the second period and four of them were goals,&rdquo; paid Lapointe after his club fell 6-1 to the &lsquo;impressive Prince Albert Raiders in the title match of the Canadian major junior hockey championship.But Lapointe, who directed his team to the Quebec Major Hockey League&rsquo;s regular-season title, was quick to praise the play of the Western Hockey League champions.&ldquo;Their goaltender (Ward Komonosky) played so well at the start of the game and we didn&rsquo;t have the touch around the net. You could feel the wind coming out of our sails. It really affected our confidence.&ldquo;But it was an honorable loss. I&rsquo;ve seen a lot of Memorial Cups where the Quebec team was run off the ice. We weren&rsquo;t going to get run by anybody.&rdquo;Raiders&rsquo; coach Terry Simpson, who guided the national junior team to gold in Finland, with Lapointe as his assistant, wanted to get an early lead to overcome &ldquo;the noise factor&rdquo; at the Marcel Dionne Centre.Most of the more than 3,500 spectators. among the sell-out crowd were wildly partisan, towel-waving Cataractes&rsquo; fans who generated incredible decibel levels with the help of all matter of air horns, claxons, sirens and whistles.&ldquo;We put our blacksmiths out and they got a goal in 15 seconds,&rdquo; said Simpson. Prince Albert&rsquo;s Dean Braham was left alone in front of the Shawinigan goal and popped the puck in during the opening seconds.When the Cataractes were unable to get past Komonosky despite numerous chances on a power play midway through the period, the momentum started to swing in favor of the Raiders, who didn&rsquo;t let up until they ragged the puck in the final 30 seconds.&ldquo;We had better chances than they did in the first period and when you come out of the period down 1-0 it&rsquo;s tough,&rdquo; said Sergio Momesso, the QMJHL&rsquo;s candidate for major junior player of the year.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got size, speed and a good defense that clears the puck after the first shot and moves it out of the zone quickly,&rdquo; said the 6-foot-3, 198-pound left winger, a Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; second-round draft choice in 1983.&ldquo;The guys were a little nervous. Everybody wanted to do so well. I must have missed three times on that power play. They are bigger than we are and they were always finishing their checks. They played a tight game and we had trouble putting pressure on their defense.&rdquo;After a hard-hitting first period, the Raiders&rsquo; Steve Gotaas scored his first of two goals just 1:23 into the second.Then Pat Elyniuk struck again for Prince Albert at 5:41.&ldquo;The puck hit (Cats&rsquo; defenseman) Yves Beaudoin and went in off the back of my leg,&rdquo; said Shawinigan&rsquo;s 5-foot-5, 130-pound rookie goaltender Bobby Desjardins. &ldquo;I think that third goal was the one that killed us.&rdquo;Emanuel Viveiros and Gotaas scored 14 seconds apart later in the frame. Cats&rsquo; center Mario Belanger spoiled Komonosky&rsquo;s shutout bid 3:05 into the third before the Raiders&rsquo; Dave Pasin, a Boston Bruin first-rounder in 1984, completed the scoring.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a bit disappointed in my game but I did my best,&rdquo; said Desjardins who entered the game with a 2.35 goals-against-average, the best in the competition. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m satisfied with the tournament. It&rsquo;s a great way to start a career in hockey.&rdquo;&ldquo;I think a lot of people thought Shawinigan didn&rsquo;t belong in the tournament, that we got in through the back door (as hosts),&rdquo; said Lapointe. &ldquo;We worked hard during a 20-day layoff and made it to the final.&ldquo;We had three guys on the all-star team (Desjardins, Beaudoin and rookie right winger Patrice Lefebvre) and Desjardins probably earned himself an invitation to the junior national team camp.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve coached a lot of teams with more talent. This team played on character and emotion,&rdquo; said Lapointe, whose club beat Prince Albert 6-2 in its opening game, fell 4-3 to the Ontario Hockey League-champion Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds after leading 3-0 and downed the QMJHL-champion Verdun Junior Canadiens 5-1 to advance to the championship on goal differential.The Junior Canadiens never got rolling in the tournament after an unprecedented performance that saw them rally from a fourth-place finish to beat Shawinigan in five games in the QMJHL semi-finals and sweep the Chicoutimi Sagueneens for the league crown.&ldquo;We seemed to lose our confidence after the Soo scored a shorthanded goal against us in the opening game,&rdquo; said Verdun coach Jean Begin, now 0-6 in Memorial Cup play. He was shut out in last year&rsquo;s tournament with Mario Lemieux and the Laval Voisins.The Junior Canadiens lost their opener 6-3, then fell 5-3 to Prince Albert and 5-1 to Shawinigan.&ldquo;Claude Lemieux tried very hard, he tried to do too much,&rdquo; said the Verdun coach of his top gun, who led the QMJHL playoff scoring parade with 23 goals and 17 assists in 14 games. He was limited to two goals in the tournament.Yves Lavoie, the junior Canadiens&rsquo; surprising 19-year-old rookie goalie who led the QMJHL playoffs with a 2.36 goals-against-average, injured a knee in the loss to Prince Albert and had to leave the Shawinigan game after the first period. &#9632;

Cats Suffer An ‘Honorable Loss’

<div class="byline">BY JOHN HERBERT</div>Louisville HockeyLouisville HockeyLONDON&mdash;The father of the top-rated player for the midget draft on June 1 thinks the Ontario Hockey League is a great place to play hockey.Now, it&rsquo;s up to the OHL to convince Adam Graves of the same thing.Graves, 17, who split the 1984-85 season between the North York Civic midgets and the King City Dukes of the Metro Toronto Junior B League, is the No. I-rated player according to the OHL&rsquo;s final confidential listing of midgets eligible for the draft.Graves produced 23 goals and 38 assists for 61 points in 25 games of junior B competition, along with 41 goals and 31 assists for 72 points in 26 games of midget hockey.He also played a starring role for the Team Ontario midgets during a series of games against the Soviet Union last Christmas and later joined Dave King&rsquo;s Olympic &lsquo;B&rsquo; team at the Pravda Cup in the Soviet Union.Some scouts who watched Graves play this season rate him the best prospect in years.In addition to being a top scorer, Graves is 6-feet, 170 pounds and enjoys performing in a hard-hitting game. He is a punishing checker, great on faceoffs and seems to have all the tools to be an excellent pro or Olympic player in 1988 for Team Canada.His father said no decision has been made whether Adam will play major junior, pre-Olympic or U.S. college hockey next season.Obviously, the Graves family is leaning towards the OHL.&ldquo;I happen to have a very high opinion of the OHL and the quality of the hockey is quite good,&rdquo; said Henry Graves, a Metro Toronto policeman. &ldquo;It is in excess of what&rsquo;s available in U.S. colleges from my understanding.&rdquo;Kingston Canadians hold the first draft position June 1 and they had scheduled a meeting with the Graves family to discuss Adam&rsquo;s future. Other clubs have also expressed interest in meeting with the family. Drafting after Kingston are, in order, the Sudbury Wolves, Guelph Platers, Ottawa 67&rsquo;s and then Kitchener Rangers.&ldquo;There has been some interest shown,&rdquo; Henry Graves said.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m concerned about education. He should have an education no matter what, so education will play a major role in the decision. That&rsquo;s what you fall back on the rest of your life after hockey. I went to Ryerson (Polytechnical Institute in Toronto) for a while but I wish I had graduated. I think there are an awful lot of guys in this world who wish the same thing.&ldquo;Adam feels the same way about education, but you know young bucks. They get stars in front of their eyes. They haven&rsquo;t woken up to the ways of the world yet.&rdquo;Graves is clearly the No. 1-rated player.Next in line is John Andersen, a left winger who played with the Toronto Marlboros this past season. He is followed by Detroit Compuware midget center Mike Wolak, one of three U.S. born players rated in the first round.Topping the list of goalies is Shawn Simpson from Gloucester midgets followed by a pair of Detroit midget goalies, Chris Eisenhart from Compuware and Bill White from Van Ark.In other developments:&bull; Bob Halkidis of London was picked winner of the Max Kaminsky trophy as the OHL&rsquo;s best defenseman. Halkidis finished with 41 voting points in the coaches&rsquo; poll to beat out Soo Greyhounds&rsquo; Jeff Beukeboom (34 points) and Kevin Hatcher of North Bay Centennials (27 points).&bull; Sault Ste. Marie Greyhound winger Derek King, a native Hamilton, was chosen as winner of the Emms Family Trophy as the league&rsquo;s top rookie. King is the fifth Greyhound to have won the award.In a front-office move, the Kingston Canadians announced that Ken Slater has been rehired as general manager and a selection committee of Slater, club president Gerry Wagar and executive member Doug Cunningham has hired Fred O&rsquo;Donnell to replace Rick Cornacchia as head coach.Cornacchia was fired late in the season and replaced by Kingston-native Jim Dorey on an interim basis.O&rsquo;Donnell, 35, has coached Queen&rsquo;s Golden Gaels of the Ontario Universities Athletic Association the past eight seasons, leading them to one OUAA title.A former junior with the Oshawa Generals and pro for Boston Bruins and New England Whalers, O&rsquo;Donnell applied for the Kingston job three seasons ago. But former general manager Jim Morrison opted for Rod Graham instead.O&rsquo;Donnell had been in the real estate business in Kingston while coaching at Queen&rsquo;s on a part-time basis.He will be a full-time employee of the Canadians.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve kept my eye on it for several years,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Donnell said. &ldquo;The position at Queen&rsquo;s was part-time. I felt I wanted to get involved in hockey on a full-time basis. I really enjoy coaching after all the years at Queen&rsquo;s. I can see this as a positive step. It&rsquo;s a challenge and something I want to try.&rdquo;&bull; In Sudbury, Bob Strumm, who was the successful coach and general manager of the Western League Regina Pats has taken on the dual role of coach and GM of the Wolves.Following is the first round of the OHL&rsquo;s final ratings compiled by the league&rsquo;s Central &mdash; Scouting Bureau for the midget draft June 1 at&rdquo;North York Centennial Arena:1. Adam Graves, center, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 170, North York midgets.2. John Andersen, left wing, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 170, Toronto Marlboros (OHLI.3. Mike Wolak, center, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 160, Detroit Compuware midgets.4. Brian Chapman, defense, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 175, Brockville Junior A.5. Ken McRae, center, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 190, Hawkesbury Junior A.6. x&mdash;Brian Fogarty, defense, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 196, Aurora Junior A.7. Marc Laniel, defense, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 180, Toronto Red Wings midgets.8. Lonnie Loach, center, 5&rsquo;10&rdquo;, 170, St. Mary&rsquo;s Junior B.9. Steve Bisson, defense, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 175, Ottawa Junior A.10. Mark Kurzawski, defense, 6&rsquo;1&rdquo;, 180, Chicago American midgets.11. x-Jody Hall, rightwing, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 176, Cambridge Junior B.12. Todd Gregory, right wing, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 175, Stratford Junior B.13. x-Adam Burt, defense, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 175, Detroit Compuware midgets.14. Rod Thacker, defense, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 190, Toronto Marlboros midgets.15. x-Jeff Harding, right wing, 6&rsquo;2&rdquo;, 190, Toronto Marlboros midgets.<h2>GOALTENDERS</h2>1. Shawn Simpson, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 155, Gloucester midgets.2. Chris Eisenhart, 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 165, Detroit Compuware midgets.3. Bill White, 6&rsquo;0&rdquo;, 175, Detroit Van Ark midgets.4. Paul Porter, 5&rsquo;9&rdquo;, 155, Toronto Redwings midgets.5. Mike Rosati, 5&rsquo;10&rdquo;, 160, St. Mike&rsquo;s Buzzers Junior B.(x-Designates players born in 1969. They are classed by the OHL as &ldquo;minor midgets.&rdquo;) &#9632;

Graves Tops List Of OHL Draft Prospects

<div class="byline">BY BOB DUFF</div>DRUMMONDVILLE&mdash;It started as a dream, but ended as a nightmare.That, in a nutshell, was the story of Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds&rsquo; 1985 Memorial Cup experience.The Ontario Hockey League champions opened the round-robin tournament with a pair of victories in as many days.In the tournament opener, the Greyhounds came back from a 3-0 deficit to down host-team Shawinigan Cataractes of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, 4-3.The key was the play of goaltender Marty Abrams.After starter Scott Mosey surrendererd three goals in the first 10 minutes, Greyhound coach Terry Crisp replaced him with Abrams.It was a move that would become all too familiar to Greyhound fans.Abrams&rsquo; sharp performance surprised many OHL followers because he had seen little action in the playoffs.&ldquo;If you can&rsquo;t get up for the Memorial Cup, you might as well pack it in,&rdquo; was Abrams&rsquo; response to a suggestion he might have been rusty.While fourth-line winger Steve Hollett supplied two goals against Shawinigan, the following night Sault Ste. Marie&rsquo;s big shooters came to life as the Greyhounds doubled Verdun Junior Canadiens, the QMJHL champions, 6-3.Wayne Groulx, the club&rsquo;s leading scorer during the regular season with 144 points, rebounded from a slump to score once. Derek King added two and it appeared that the Soo was well on its way to copping the Cup.&ldquo;We certainly couldn&rsquo;t have asked for a better start,&rdquo; said Crisp. &ldquo;Now the guys can relax and enjoy the festivities. The pressure&rsquo;s on the other teams.&rdquo;The experts, who had picked the Soo to take it all, could be spotted in the press box at Drummondville&rsquo;s Marcel Dionne Center patting themselves on the back.It was these same experts who said the Greyhounds&rsquo; only weakness might be goaltending. But Abrams had been solid in the first two games and Sault Ste. Marie had clinched at least a spot in the semi-finals.Everybody was forecasting nothing but sunny times for the Greyhounds, but then the floods came in the form of a green wave&mdash;the Prince Albert Raiders, Western Hockey League champions.Two nights after the Verdun victory, Sault Ste. Marie found itself struggling&mdash;down 7-2 to the Raiders after 40 minutes. Neither Mosey nor Abrams was able to stop Prince Albert&rsquo;s big line of Dan Hodgson, Tony Grenier and Dave Pasin which accumulated 12 points.The Greyhounds closed the gap to 8-6 but the scene was set for a semi-final rematch between the same two teams.The question was: Who would play goal for the Greyhounds?&ldquo;I have considered my wife but I think she is too old,&rdquo; joked Crisp before the game.In the end, Abrams got the call but Hodgson and company blasted him and the Greyhounds out of it early, in winning 8-3.&ldquo;I guess if a team beats you twice,&rdquo; said Crisp, &ldquo;and scores 16 goals in the process you have to say they were full marks for both wins.&rdquo; &#9632;

Greyhounds’ Cup Dreams Shattered By Raider Wave

<h2>Tue. Apr. 30</h2>MONTREAL 5, QUEBEC 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01236/5523888-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="539" height="812"></div>CHICAGO 6, MINNESOTA 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02175/5523881-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="552" height="1239"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03148/5523874-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="233" height="24"></div><h2>Thu. May 2</h2>QUEBEC 3, MONTREAL 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04107/5523867-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="536" height="699"></div><h2>Sat. May 4</h2>CHICAGO 2, EDMONTON 11<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0595/5523860-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="534" height="978"></div><h2>Sun. May 5</h2>PHILADELPHIA 1, QUEBEC 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0681/5523853-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="523" height="171"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0775/5523846-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="529" height="463"></div><h2>Tue. May 7</h2>CHICAGO 3, EDMONTON 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0864/5523839-1-eng-US/f0043-082.jpg" title="f0043-08" width="530" height="954"></div>PHILADEIPHIA 4, QUEBEC 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0960/5523832-1-eng-US/f0043-092.jpg" title="f0043-09" width="527" height="316"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1054/5523825-1-eng-US/f0043-102.jpg" title="f0043-10" width="536" height="575"></div><h2>Thu. May 9</h2>EDMONTON 2, CHICAGO 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1148/5523818-1-eng-US/f0043-112.jpg" title="f0043-11" width="527" height="695"></div>QUEBEC 2, PHILADELPHIA 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1245/5523811-1-eng-US/f0043-122.jpg" title="f0043-12" width="527" height="459"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1342/5523804-1-eng-US/f0043-132.jpg" title="f0043-13" width="533" height="463"></div><h2>Sun. May 12</h2>QUEBEC 5, PHILADELPHIA 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1442/5523797-1-eng-US/f0043-142.jpg" title="f0043-14" width="536" height="837"></div>EDMONTON 6, CHICAGO 8<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1538/5523790-1-eng-US/f0043-152.jpg" title="f0043-15" width="528" height="379"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1614/5523783-1-eng-US/f0046-162.jpg" title="f0046-16" width="540" height="989"></div><h2>Tue. May 14</h2>CHICAGO 5, EDMONTON 10<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1714/5523776-1-eng-US/f0046-172.jpg" title="f0046-17" width="539" height="1081"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1814/5523769-1-eng-US/f0046-182.jpg" title="f0046-18" width="536" height="466"></div>PHILADELPHIA 2, QUEBEC 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1914/5523762-1-eng-US/f0046-192.jpg" title="f0046-19" width="531" height="231"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-2013/5523755-1-eng-US/f0046-202.jpg" title="f0046-20" width="530" height="489"></div><h2>Thu. May 16</h2>EDMONTON 8, CHICAGO 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-2111/5523748-1-eng-US/f0046-212.jpg" title="f0046-21" width="534" height="147"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01178/5523741-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="538" height="296"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02123/5523734-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg" title="f0047-02" width="544" height="354"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0391/5523727-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg" title="f0047-03" width="536" height="150"></div>QUEBEC 0, PHILADELPHIA 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0466/5523720-1-eng-US/f0047-042.jpg" title="f0047-04" width="530" height="86"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0549/5523713-1-eng-US/f0047-052.jpg" title="f0047-05" width="542" height="348"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0638/5523706-1-eng-US/f0047-062.jpg" title="f0047-06" width="534" height="318"></div> &#9632;

f0043-01

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF SUMMARIES

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>PLAYOFFSFinals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01158/5524461-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="529" height="93"></div>(Sherbrooke leads best-of-seven series 3-1)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. May 11Sherbrooke 4 at Baltimore 3Wed. May 15Sherbrooke 4 at Baltimore 3Fri. May 17Baltimore 5 at Sherbrooke 3Sun. May 19Baltimore 1 at Sherbrooke 6GAMES TO COMEWed. May 22Sherbrooke at BaltimoreFri. May 24Baltimore at SherbrookeMon. May 27Sherbrooke at Baltimore<h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-02105/5524454-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="497" height="82"></div>(Sherbrooke wins best-of-seven series 4-1).<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. May 1Sherbrooke 2 at Maine 5Fri. May 3Maine 2 at Sherbrooke 9Sat. May 4Sherbrooke 7 at Maine 3Mon. May 6Maine 2 at Sherbrooke 7Wed. May 8Sherbrooke 6 at Maine 5Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0377/5524447-1-eng-US/f0045-032.jpg" title="f0045-03" width="578" height="82"></div>(Maine wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0456/5524440-1-eng-US/f0045-042.jpg" title="f0045-04" width="575" height="84"></div>(Sherbrooke wins best-of-seven seriess 4-2)<h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0545/5524433-1-eng-US/f0045-052.jpg" title="f0045-05" width="491" height="89"></div>(Baltimore wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 24Baltimore 5 at Binghamton 2Sun. Apr. 28Binghamton 1 at Baltimore 2Wed. May 1Baltimore 6 at Binghamton 3Sat. May 4Binghamton 1 at Baltimore 6Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0639/5524426-1-eng-US/f0045-062.jpg" title="f0045-06" width="578" height="88"></div>(Binghamton wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0737/5524419-1-eng-US/f0045-072.jpg" title="f0045-07" width="573" height="89"></div>(Baltimore wins best-of-seven series 4-1)<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>PLAYOFFSFinals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0825/5524412-1-eng-US/f0045-082.jpg" title="f0045-08" width="527" height="85"></div>(Muksegon leads best-of-seven series 3-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. May 11Muskegon 3 at Peoria 4Sun. May 12Muskegon 6 at Peoria 3Wed. May 15Peoria 3 at Muskegon 5Fri. May 17Peoria 5 at Muskegon 4Sat. May 18Muskegon 4 at Peoria 3<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. May 22Peoria at MuskegonFri. May 24Muskegon at Peoria<h3>EAST DIVISION</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-0922/5524405-1-eng-US/f0045-092.jpg" title="f0045-09" width="485" height="94"></div>(Muskegon wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. May 1Kalamazoo 3 at Muskegon 6Fri. May 3Muskegon 7 at Kalamazoo 4Sat. May 4Kalamazoo 3 at Muskegon 5Wed. May 8Muskegon 4 at Kalamazoo 3<h3>WEST DIVISION</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-1019/5524398-1-eng-US/f0045-102.jpg" title="f0045-10" width="491" height="86"></div>(Peoria wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. May 1Fort Wayne 5 at Peoria 4Fri. May 3Fort Wayne 2 at Peoria 3Sat. May 4Peoria 4 at Fort Wayne 8Sun. May 5Peoria 4 at Fort Wayne 1Tue. May 7Fort Wayne 1 at Peoria 6Wed. May 8Peoria 5 at Fort Wayne 4Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-1118/5524391-1-eng-US/f0045-112.jpg" title="f0045-11" width="576" height="91"></div>(Peoria wins best-of-seven series 4-3)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-1217/5524384-1-eng-US/f0045-122.jpg" title="f0045-12" width="575" height="89"></div>(Fort Wayne wins best-of-seven series 4-3)<h2>ATLANTIC COAST LEAGUE</h2>PLAYOFFSFinals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-1313/5524377-1-eng-US/f0045-132.jpg" title="f0045-13" width="535" height="86"></div>(Carolina wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<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 3Tue. Apr. 16Erie 3 at Carolina 4Thu. Apr. 18Carolina 3 at Erie 1<h3>FINAL PLAYOFF LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-1410/5524370-1-eng-US/f0045-142.jpg" title="f0045-14" width="535" height="322"></div><h2>MEMORIAL CUP</h2><h3>PRELIMINARY ROUND</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-158/5524363-1-eng-US/f0045-152.jpg" title="f0045-15" width="534" height="146"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. May 11S.S. Marie 4, Shawinigan 3Sun. May 12Shawinigan 6, Prince Albert 2S.S. Marie 6, Verdun 3Mon. May 13Prince Albert 5, Verdun 3Tue. May 14Prince Albert 8, S.S. Marie 6Wed. May 15Shawinigan 5, Verdun 1CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDSemi-FinalsThu. May 16Prince Albert 8, S.S. Marie 3FinalsSat. May 18Prince Albert 6, Shawinigan 1(Prince Albert wins cup)<h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>PLAYOFFSFinals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-165/5524356-1-eng-US/f0045-162.jpg" title="f0045-16" width="528" height="93"></div>(S.S. Marie wins eight-point series 9-5)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thu. Apr. 25Peterborough 3 at S.S. Marie 3Fri. Apr. 26Peterborough 5 at S.S. Marie 3Sun. Apr. 28S.S. Marie 6 at Peterborough 5Mon. Apr. 29S.S. Marie 5 at Peterborough 2Thu. May 2Peterborough 7 at S.S. Marie 5Sat. May 4S.S. Marie 4 at Peterborough 3Mon. May 6Peterborough 2 at S.S. Marie 5<h3>FINAL PLAYOFF LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-175/5524349-1-eng-US/f0045-172.jpg" title="f0045-17" width="533" height="323"></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>PLAYOFFSFinals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-185/5524342-1-eng-US/f0045-182.jpg" title="f0045-18" width="489" height="82"></div>(Prince Albert wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Apr. 26Kamloops 2 at Prince Albert 4Sun. Apr. 28Kamloops 3 at Prince Albert 7Wed. May 1Prince Albert 8 at Kamloops 5Fri. May 3Prince Albert 8 at Kamloops 4<h3>FINAL PLAYOFF LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-195/5524335-1-eng-US/f0045-192.jpg" title="f0045-19" width="542" height="298"></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>PLAYOFFSFinals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-205/5524328-1-eng-US/f0045-202.jpg" title="f0045-20" width="492" height="88"></div>(Verdun wins best-of-seven series 4-0)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Apr. 24Verdun 4 at Chicoutimi 3Fri. Apr. 26Chicoutimi 2 at Verdun 10Sun. Apr. 28Verdun 9 at Chicoutimi 5Wed. May 1Chicoutimi 1 at Verdun 6<h3>FINAL PLAYOFF LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-214/5524321-1-eng-US/f0045-212.jpg" title="f0045-21" width="524" height="291"></div><h2>ALLAN CUP</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-223/5524314-1-eng-US/f0045-222.jpg" title="f0045-22" width="497" height="86"></div>(Thunder Bay wins best-of-seven series 4-3)<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Cornerbrook 9, Thunder Bay 5Cornerbrook 3, Thunder Bay 0Cornerbrook 9, Thunder Bay 5Thunder Bay 4, Cornerbrook 2Thunder Bay 8, Cornerbrook 3Thunder Bay 2, Cornerbrook 0Thunder Bay 5, Cornerbrook 4<h2>CENTENNIAL CUP</h2>Round-Robin Tournament<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-233/5524307-1-eng-US/f0045-232.jpg" title="f0045-23" width="489" height="148"></div>Semi-FinalsPenticton 8, Aurora 5FinalsOrillia 4, Penticton 2(Orillia wins cup)Preliminary RoundOrillia 8, Cole Harbour 1Aurora 8, Penticton 4Penticton 9, Cole Harbour 6Orillia 11, Aurora 3Cole Harbour 7, Aurora 5Orillia 6, Penticton 3<h3>EASTERN CANADA</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-243/5524300-1-eng-US/f0045-242.jpg" title="f0045-24" width="527" height="85"></div>(Cole Harbour wins best-of-seven series 4-2)<h3>WESTERN CANADA</h3>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-253/5524293-1-eng-US/f0045-252.jpg" title="f0045-25" width="529" height="81"></div>(Penticton wins best-of-seven series 4-0) &#9632;

f0045-01

MINOR SCOREBOARD

(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-229/5524628-1-eng-US/f0046-222.jpg" title="f0046-22" width="533" height="351"></div>Note &mdash; Results of preliminary games between consolation round teams count in final standing. In medal round, preliminary-round results do not count.*&mdash;Relegated to B group for 1986. Poland moves to Group A.GAMES COMPLETEDMon. Apr. 19Canada 3, U.S.A. 2Czechoslovakia 2, Soviet Union 1Wed. May 1Canada 3, Soviet Union 1Czechoslovakia 11, U.S.A. 2Fri. May 3Czechoslovakia 5, Canada 3Soviet Union 10, U.S.A. 2RELEGATON ROUNDSun. Apr. 28Finland 6, East Germany 2Sweden 5, West Germany 2Tue. Apr. 30Sweden 7, East Germany 2West Germany 5, Finland 4Thu. May 2West Germany 4, East Germany 1Finland 6, Sweden 1<h2>ALL-STAR TEAMS</h2>FIRST TEAMGoal: Jiri Kralik, Czechoslovakia.Defense: Aleksei Kasatonov, Soviet Union; Vlacheslav Fetisov, Soviet Union.Center: Vladimir Ruzicka, CzechoslovakiaRight wing: Vladimir Krutov, Soviet Union.Left wing: Sergei Makarov, Soviet Union.SECOND TEAMGoal: John Vanbiesbrouck, United States.Defense: Miloslav Horava. Czechoslovakia, Antonin Staviana, Czechoslovakia.Center: Mario Lemieux, Canada.Right wing: Pavel Richter. Czechoslovakia.Left Wing: Jiri Lala. Czechoslovakia.<h2>Fri. May 3</h2>CZECHS 5, CANADA 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-239/5524621-1-eng-US/f0046-232.jpg" title="f0046-23" width="536" height="766"></div> &#9632;

f0046-22

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0734/5524659-1-eng-US/f0047-072.jpg" title="f0047-07" width="542" height="1088"></div>The Chicago Black Hawks&rsquo; season is over, having ended at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers, but before they were eliminated, they proved to the hockey world that they were a team with character and talent.They also proved they had some fine young talent that, because of injuries, were put to the supreme test.Falling into that category was rookie defenseman Marc Bergevin, the Hawks&rsquo; third pick in the 1983 National Hockey League entry draft.It was more than a little ironic that Bergevin, who received more ice time because of injuries to Doug Wilson and Keith Brown, ended up nursing a variety of ailments himself, the type that would have kept him out of the lineup had it not been playoff hockey.But Bergevin, a graduate of the Chicoutimi Sague-neens who spent some time with the Springfield Indians last season, displayed during the regular season and the playoffs that he has the ability to be a solid regular on the Hawk blueline. &#9632;

f0047-07

Chrysler Rookie Spotlight

<div class="byline">BY STEVE MILTON</div>Penticton Knights entered the Centennial Cup final with numbers on their side while the Orillia Travelways settled for experience and hometown fans.The latter prevailed.The Travel ways, in only their fourth year of eligibility, made up for a heartbreaking loss in last year&rsquo;s Cup final by doubling the feisty Knights 4-2 to capture Canada&rsquo;s Junior A&mdash;formerly known as Tier Two&mdash;national hockey championship.The Travel ways, with 11 players in their final year of junior eligibility and nine skaters who&rsquo;d played major junior at some point in their career, swept through the round-robin portion of the four-team tournament undefeated to earn a bye into the final, where they knocked off the Knights in front of a capacity crowd of 2,210 frenzied fans May 12.Penticton, the western Canadian champions, started the tournament slowly, losing to Ontario Junior Hockey League runners-up Aurora Tigers in its opening game. They needed to score four times in the final eight minutes to edge Cole Harbour Nova Scotia Colts and then lost lost 6-3 to Orillia in the round-robin finale.In that final period against Cole Harbour, the Knights found the hard-driving style which led them to the B.C. Junior Hockey League championship.Their sparkplug was Michigan State University-bound Joe Murphy, the 17-year-old who was being scouted heavily by a Montreal Canadiens contingent which included general manager Serge Savard.Murphy led all tournament scorers with five goals and eight assists. In the sudden-death semi-final played in Aurora against the Tigers, he had a goal and three assists as Penticton never trailed in recording an 8-5 victory.The Knights had come into the tournament as the country&rsquo;s topranked team with a .904 winning percentage during the regular season. They had had some character-building playoff series, including a seventh-game overtime win over Burnaby Blue Hawks for the B.C. league title.On top of that, history was in their corner. In the 15-year history of the Centennial Cup, western teams had won all three previous times it had been staged as a tournament. Western teams had also won 10 of the 14 national titles.The Travelways, on the other hand, were loaded with question marks.They finished first in the Ontario Junior Hockey League regular season and then won the playoff championship with four straight victories over the Tigers. But there was a 27-day hiatus between OJHL title victory and Cup action.&ldquo;We were bickering, fighting,&rdquo; said coach Gary Marsh, who became only the second coach in Cup history to come back from losing the Cup final to win it the following season. Terry Simpson, coach of the Prince Albert Raiders, was the first.&ldquo;Teams don&rsquo;t get along at the best of times,&rdquo; Marsh said, &ldquo;and we did nothing but play non-contact exhibition games. We were worried. The guys were dead at practice and they had cabin fever.&rdquo;But the Travelways snapped out of the doldrums and continued an amazing streak with the Cup win. Five years ago they were a junior B club. After missing the playoffs their first year in A company, they lost to Cup champions North York Rangers in the 1983 league final, lost in the seventh game of the Centennial Cup final in Weybum last year, then took it all this year.Since Nov. 8, when they lost for the final time to Aurora, the Travelways won 46 games, tied two and lost only two, each by one goal.In the final, Brian McReynolds, a late-blooming 20-year-old who had never played higher than Junior C, scored the first two goals inside the five-minute mark, then assisted on second period goals by Mitch Caouette and Dave Nicholls.Nicholls is the brother of Los Angeles King Bernie Nicholls. Bernie drove straight to Orillia from the airport when Team Canada arrived back from Prague, and was accorded a two-minute standing ovation before the Cup&rsquo;s opening faceoff.Travelways&rsquo; Dennis Schrapp was the tournament all-star goalie. Other all-stars were Murphy on left wing. Travelway center Adam Lewis&mdash;named the tournament MVP for his seven goals in the round-robin and key faceoff victories in the championship game&mdash;right winger Danton Cole of the Aurora Tigers, and defensemen Jon Lawson of Orillia and Tim Paller of the Knights.In Comer Brook, Nfld.. hockey history was made May 3 when the Thunder Bay Twins rallied from a three-game deficit against the hometown Royals to win their second straight Allan Cup.The back-to-back championships are the first in the 51-year history of the Allan Cup.For the fouth consecutive playoff series. Thunder Bay had to mount a comeback to triumph after losing the first three games of the seven-game championship series.The Twins started strongly in the final game, taking a 4-1 lead but had to fight off a spirited Royals&rsquo; effort and hang on for a 5-4 victory before it was all over. &#9632;

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June 14, 1985

NHL PLAYOFF SCORING

SCHEDULES • TIMES • SITES FOR TOURNAMENT

STANLEY CUP SCOREBOARD

Fergy Doesn’t Look Far For Assistant GM