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.

September 27, 1985

The Hockey News September 27, 1985

<div class="byline">BY BOB DUFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03632/4979195-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg"></div>that the NHL defensemen with the most career goals are: &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Did You Know…

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>It will be like starting the season with two brand new players.The Boston Bruins, who appear to be on the verge of losing their status as perennial Adams Division contenders, will have Barry Pederson back, hopefully to score his average of 43 goals a season, and Gord Kluzak will resume a career that was placed on hold as he approached stardom.&ldquo;The way those two have come back is the biggest relief of the summer forme,&rdquo; said general manager Harry&rsquo; Sinden.Pederson missed 58 games last season due to a broken hand and shoulder surgery and Kluzak was out for the entire 80-game season with knee surgery.Add to that the 80 games missed by Mike Gillis with a broken leg and lesser injuries to 18 other players and you have a total of 324 mangames lost to injury by the Bruins.They missed about 280 man-games the season before, so you can understand why Sinden and new coach Butch Goring will likely experience anxious moments each time one of their players falls to the ice this year.Pederson was missed most of all.The 24-year-old centerman is entering his fifth season in the National Hockey League with a record of 134 goals (an average of 43 per full season) and 198 assists in 268 games. Last season, he had four goals and eight assists in 22 games.It was apparent that the 1984-85 season was not going to be a normal year for Pederson&mdash;even before it started&mdash;when he underwent surgery in August for the removal of scar tissue from his upper right arm. It was a rather simple operation and he was under full sail when training camp opened.Then he got into a fight with Mario Marois of the Quebec Nordiques in an exhibition game Oct. 2 and broke a knuckle in his right hand.That put Pederson on the bench for the first 16 games of the season and the Bruins were forced to deal a first-round draft choice for some scoring power (Charlie Simmer) to fill the void.He returned to the lineup Nov. 15 but it soon became obvious that something was still wrong. By Christmas, the Bruins had slumped to a 14-15-5 record, due mostly to reduced production from Pederson and longtime linemate Rick Middleton.Pederson&rsquo;s inner torment broke through two days before the Christmas holiday when he openly criticized coach Gerry Cheevers for going with four, instead of three, forward lines. It was time, he said, to find the nine best forwards and use them.&ldquo;I know my production is down,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are no excuses. My arm has healed. My hand is healed. Everything&rsquo;s back to normal. Maybe I&rsquo;m not one of the nine. If I&rsquo;m not, then I should be sitting.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not doing this for Barry Pederson,&rdquo; he added.But he was, even though he probably wasn&rsquo;t aware of it at the time. He was worried. The usual bubbling Pederson personality was missing. He was dour, easily irritated. The growth had returned to his upper right arm. Why? Was it malignant? He didn&rsquo;t understand. He struck back at something he did understand, his coach&rsquo;s hockey strategy.A Computer Adhanced Temography (CAT) scan at Massachusetts General Hospital last Jan. 8 produced both good and bad news. The recurring fibrous tumor was not cancerous. But he would have to undergo surgery again. He would be lost for the season. There was an outside possibility that his hockey career would be over. The operation was performed Jan. 11.&ldquo;To me,&rdquo; said Pederson, &ldquo;the worst wasn&rsquo;t that I might not be able to play hockey again, it was that I might not be functional for the rest of my life.&ldquo;The week before the operation was the worst part. I spent a lot of time pondering the worst possible things that could happen. I guess a time like that is what family and friends are for.&ldquo;But when I came out of the operating room and I saw that the doctors were excited, I knew the worst was over.&rdquo;It was. By the end of January, Pederson was his old laughing and joking self again, even though there was still a long way to go in rehabilitation for the doctors had removed a piece of his shoulder four by six inches square, including considerable irreplaceable muscle.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got all the movement in my hand,&rdquo; he said at the time. &ldquo;I move my arm a little and it feels pretty strong. Everything has gone better than we could have hoped for. I honestly feel that it&rsquo;s going to turn around for me. I&rsquo;m confident I can get over it and get on with my career.&rdquo;Pederson embarked on a rigorous rehabilitation program. He lifted weights four times a week for body strength. He built up his legs with aerobics three times a week. And he swam twice a week to strengthen his shoulders and arms.&ldquo;I had to make the other muscles in my arm stronger than they had ever been to make up for what was removed,&rdquo; he explained.&ldquo;The doctors told me they would be happy if I could get somewhere between 90 and 100 per cent of the strength back. I was hoping to be there by August.&rdquo;What happened then was a minor miracle. He tested the strength in his shoulder on a Cybex machine in early June and recorded a 100 per cent reading. He had been hoping for an 80.&ldquo;We thought it had to be wrong, so we did it again and I got 100 percent the second time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was really shocked. I couldn&rsquo;t wait to start skating and shooting again.&rdquo;In fact, Pederson felt so good about things that he took on an added responsibility. Eleven days before the opening of training camp, he married Tricia Burke of Marblehead, a woman he met while studying at Boston College. And just before that, in late August, Pederson, along with Kluzak, looked good in a demanding pro get-ready camp at Waterloo, Ont.&ldquo;Believe me,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;getting ready to play hockey is a breeze compared to getting ready to be married. The toughest part of the summer was putting together the wedding list.&rdquo;In a way, Pederson&rsquo;s misfortune (the injury, not the marriage) produced a bonus for the Bruins.When it was apparent that Pederson was lost for the season, the Bruins filled the opening by plucking a veteran centerman named Butch Goring from the waiver wire. He so impressed Sinden in only 39 games with Boston that he is now the coach of the Bruins&mdash;and the first to benefit by Pederson&rsquo;s return.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011240/4978885-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="752" height="1639"><figcaption class="caption-body">A healthy Barry Pederson is imperative for the Boston Bruins to fare well during the 1985-86 NHL season.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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The Waiting Is Over For Pederson

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01515/4980520-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="953" height="159"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2>LANDOVER&mdash;A year ago, the Washington Capitals used their training camp to sort out an over-supply of defensemen. This time around, the competition lies among the forwards.Coach Bryan Murray claims that 16 men have a legitimate chance of making the team at one of the three forward positions. Since the roster lists 19 candidates with possibilities, he presumably has written off three, but that still leaves plenty of room for competition.The decision could become one of philosophy, whether to place the most emphasis on toughness or scoring ability.The Capitals collected 322 goals during the regular season, to rank eighth in the NHL. But during their five-game playoff loss to the New York Islanders, they managed only 12.&ldquo;For the first time ever we&rsquo;re in a position to choose from a style point of view,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve talked about it a lot, but we haven&rsquo;t eliminated anybody from our thinking.&ldquo;One of the important things is to look at a player who will do the most for us during the latter part of the year and the playoffs. We have to be a strong enough hockey team to win in the playoffs and physical stature is a little bit of a consideration.&ldquo;On the other hand, since we lost the playoffs, we have to be concerned about guys who can score for us. We had plenty of quality chances against the Islanders, but putting the puck in the net was something else.&rdquo;A possible hint in the direction toward which Murray is leaning could be his insistence that the major reason for Washington&rsquo;s defeat was the play of New York goalie Bill Smith. If he is convinced that Smith won&rsquo;t victimize the Capitals for a fourth straight year, he is likely to go for strength over finesse, considering the physical tendencies of Patrick Division teams.The players whose futures depend on Murray&rsquo;s opting for scoring strength are 5-foot-9 wingers Bryan Erickson, a 15-goal scorer before he was sent to the minors in February; Mike Siltala, who netted 42 at Binghamton, and; Daryl Evans, who collected 51 at New Haven two years ago. Evans was obtained from Los Angeles in a trade for center Glen Currie.More attuned to muscle than goals are wingers Greg Adams, Ed Kastelic and Yvon Corriveau, the club&rsquo;s No. I draft choice.Seemingly fitted for both roles are wingers Andre Hidi and Lou Franceschetti, tough players who have proved they can score at other levels.Hidi made the team as a rookie a year ago, but his lack of experience showed and he was demoted before a knee injury ruined his season. Franceschetti was battling Paul Gardner for the American League scoring lead when Washington called him up, but he managed only four goals in 22 games.Others who will be watched closely include center Mark Taylor, acquired from Pittsburgh late last season; winger Gary Sampson, whose knee surgery in December made the campaign forgettable, and winger Bob Gould, a four-year regular who had a disappointing season with only 14 goals.Presumably sure of starting berths are centers Bob Carpenter (when he gets around to signing a new contract), Dave Christia Doug Jarvis and Bengt Gustafsson, and wingers Mike Gartner Gaetan Duchesne, Alan Haworth and Craig Laughlin.A 20th forward likely to be heard from before the season is far along is center David Jensen, who is recuperating from a serious knee operation and unable to participate in contact as camp opened.Seemingly, the only question on defense revolves around Peter Andersson, a big disappointment a year ago, and Timo Blomqvist, who asked to be traded after a season of limited icetime. The other five spots are all but reserved for Rod Langway, Scott Stevens. Larry Murphy, Darren Veitch and rookie Kevin Hatcher.Although free agents Mike Blake and Rick St. Croix were invited to camp, Pat Riggin and Al Jensen remain the top two goalies, with Murray looking for improvement in Olympian Bob Mason. &#9632;

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Strength Or Scoring: Those Are The Options

The emphasis for 1985 shows Louisville change direction from a predominantly ash line of hockey sticks to an all new makeup of laminated or reinforced models.The 1985 Louisville Hockey line features hockey sticks constructed with graphite and fiberglass reinforced models in higher price points, Finnish high tech laminates in a medium price range, and domestic laminates in the more competitive models. This total restructuring in components, along with a redesigned larger blade and exciting new dominant graphics make the entire 1985 Louisville stick line one that pro teams, amateur teams, and all consumers will be giving a second look like never before.Following a very successful 1984 season, Louisville is, once again, offering a team program which enables any team or association to virtually custom design their sticks to match their uniforms. For 1985, teams or associations can &ldquo;complete&rsquo;&rsquo; their uniforms with stick cosmetics of up to three colors along with their name and/or association between the bands.<h2>LOUISVILLE &ldquo;PRO-3D&rdquo;</h2>Louisville Hockey, the innovators of the colored goal stick, have done it again. Louisville is introducing an exciting new &ldquo;Optic-3D&rdquo; goal stick. The &ldquo;Optic-3D&rdquo; provided a team the opportunity to take their &ldquo;complete&rdquo; uniform colors and match it to their sticks. Stock colors are available along with color program designed to outfit any team.The Optic-3D look is available on the &ldquo;Pro-Louisville&rdquo; Series which features a 57&rdquo; laminated handle complete with a graphite heel for added strength and durability. This &ldquo;Optic-3D&rdquo; look is available in the following stock color combinations: Blue/white/orange, red/white/blue, blue/whi.e/red, and black/white/red.This exciting &ldquo;3D&rdquo; concept is currently being used and well accepted by many NHL players and over half the goaltenders on such teams as Minnesota, St. Louis, Hartford, Detroit, Vancouver and Toronto. Such newcomers as Steve Penney (Montreal), John Vanbiesbrouck (New York) and Murray Bannerman (Chicago) use the new &ldquo;3-D&rdquo; stick.<h2>LASER</h2>Louisville Hockey has entered the &ldquo;high tech&rdquo; hockey stick market with its introduction of the all new Laser. The Laser features a 57&rdquo; reinforced handle providing both the lightness and stiffness required by the advanced player. The blade on the Laser is completely wrapped with graphite fibres for added durability. This &ldquo;stick of tomorrow&rdquo; comes complete with &ldquo;space-age&rdquo; cosmetics done in solid black with white lettering. &#9632;

Louisville

<h2>THE COVER STORY&hellip;&hellip;Page 3</h2>The Boston Bruins went through a miserable, injury-filled season in 1984-85. Superstar center Barry Pederson, whose career was in jeopardy for awhile and ended up missing much of the season, exemplified their misfortune. Now, the question is, can Barry and the Bruins bounce back?To subscribe to THE HOCKEY NEWS or make a change of address to an existing subscription, see Page 31.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011218/4978806-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="548" height="878"><figcaption class="caption-body">BITTER BERT Page 28</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021002/4978799-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="550" height="876"><figcaption class="caption-body">LUCKY 13? Page 33</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03742/4978792-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="552" height="876"><figcaption class="caption-body">CROWNING CONTRACT Page 32</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04514/4978785-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="550" height="878"><figcaption class="caption-body">BLUE IN ST. LOU Page 30</figcaption></div><h2>NHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05379/4978778-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="561" height="994"></div><h2>The Minors</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06278/4978771-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="547" height="96"></div><h2>The Juniors</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-07182/4978764-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="544" height="153"></div><h2>Columnists</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-0890/4978757-1-eng-US/f0002-082.jpg" title="f0002-08" width="544" height="285"></div><h2>Departments</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-0960/4978750-1-eng-US/f0002-092.jpg" title="f0002-09" width="547" height="660"></div> &#9632;

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The Hockey News

In next week&rsquo;s Oct. 4 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, we present part two of our three-part National Hockey League preview series. Next week, we take an in-depth look at the new rookie crop that will be competing for the 1985-86 Calder Trophy.And unlike a year ago, when the NHL was flooded by a plethora of big-name, highly-touted rookies from such prominent places as the U.S. and Canadian Olympic teams, the new crop is significantly more anonymous. And that means it&rsquo;ll be even more difficult to forecast the freshmen who are likelyto make a big impact in the NHL this season.In addition to our Rookie Review, we&rsquo;ll also present complete regular season schedules for the American, International and Atlantic Coast Hockey Leagues.All that, plus much, much more in the way of hockey news and views.Don&rsquo;t miss it! &#9632;

NEXT WEEK IN THN

&ldquo;Just because we&rsquo;re nonames doesn&rsquo;t mean we&rsquo;re no-brains.&rdquo;&mdash;N.Y. Ranger assistant coach Reg Higgs on being an unknown. Story on Page 3. &#9632;

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY ROD BEATON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021017/4978923-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="576" height="810"><figcaption class="caption-body">Butch Goring, a student of the game, earned a promotion in Boston.</figcaption></div>The Good Old Boy Network isn&rsquo;t a country music station&mdash;it&rsquo;s the National Hockey League pool of recycled coaches.Many NHL organizations are simply reluctant to reach out and touch someone with unusual credentials to fill coaching vacancies.A college coach? Rare in the past, although the college ranks are becoming an increasingly acceptable source. A European? God forbid. Take Ludec Bukac, who had a great career as coach of the Czechoslovakian National Team. He speaks perfect English, certainly better than Bob Pulford does. He wanted an NHL job, but no one was anxious to give him one.Most everybody wants a safe bet&mdash;a recycled coach with pro experience on his resume or a canny veteran who has retired. Why this formula is so locked in is anybody&rsquo;s guess. There are failures and successes in every category.Sure, collegians Ned Harkness and Herb Brooks didn&rsquo;t work out. But Badger Bob Johnson is doing quite well in Calgary and Mike Keenan, the reigning Coach of the Year, counts his college coaching experience as a key part of preparation for success in Philadelphia.There are players who stepped right into the coaching ranks and thrived. Glen Sather and Al Arbour (even though Arbour was fired once) come immediately to mind. But what about Keith Magnuson?The point is: There is no registered motherlode of coaching talent. Which brings us to this season. Seven teams have entrusted their fate to new (to them) coaches. There are recycled NHL coaches&mdash;Harry Neale in Detroit; coaches hired from minor pro&mdash;Lome Henning in Minnesota; assistants who have been promoted&mdash;Jean Perron in Montreal; coaches out of college&mdash;Tom Watt, who has previous NHL head and assistant experience, in Vancouver; and coaches from the playing ranks&mdash;Jim Schoenfeld, who has minimal minor-league coaching experience, in Buffalo.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03670/4978916-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="574" height="812"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ted Sator&rsquo;s resume is a long one, with years of European experience.</figcaption></div>And then there are Butch Goring and Ted Sator. These two are about as similar as Tiger Williams and Wayne Gretzky. Both are bright hockey men. Both are 35. But that&rsquo;s where the similarity ends.Goring is a plumb from the Good Old Boy Network. Boston general manager Harry Sinden plucked him right off his own roster. Goring&rsquo;s considerable hockey smarts, evident throughout a superb playing career and in his work as an assistant for the Islanders&rsquo; special teams, serve as credentials.Sator&rsquo;s coaching resume is considerably more substantial and unusual by NHL standards. He was a Division 11 college coach at that superpower (just kidding), the University of Wisconsin&mdash;Stevens Point, a four-time (in five years) championship coach in Sweden, an assistant with Team USA in the 1984 Canada Cup and assistant with the Philadelphia Flyers for two seasons.Goring knows his limited experience might be an obstacle at first.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a rookie coach and I know it,&rdquo; said Goring. &ldquo;Mike (Milbury, assistant coach) and I are starting something new. We&rsquo;re going to want to get a feel for things. I&rsquo;m sure there is plenty we will learn along the way.&rdquo;Sator is more ambitious, but he, too, is cautious.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re presenting a whole new coaching team,&rdquo; said Sator, who will be working closely with assistants Reg Higgs and Jack Birch. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s as important for us to make their (team) as it is for them to make our&rsquo;s.&rdquo;Goring figures he&rsquo;s quite prepared for his first critical duty. He has been sizing up players from the bench for years. It shouldn&rsquo;t be too difficult to do the same from behind the bench.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little apprehensive, but it&rsquo;ll be a new challenge to make a decision on who stays.&rdquo;Sator said. &ldquo;We want to come out of camp with a fair assessment of our talent. After that, the players&rsquo; strengths will dictate our style of play&rdquo;Considering the Rangers&rsquo; personnel, Sator can start planning now. He can rule out a grinding and hitting team.&ldquo;I consider toughness as the willingness to give or take a hit to make a play,&rdquo; said Sator. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a lot more important than counting body contacts,&rdquo; As the new coach said, he&rsquo;s not interested in &ldquo;fossil prints on the boards.&rdquo;Goring is. He has to be, it&rsquo;s a Boston tradition, like the smell of pot in the upper reaches of the Boston Garden.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question the Bruins have played aggressively in the past,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and that&rsquo;s the way I want my team to play.&rdquo;Goring is confident he can get the Bruins to do it his way. The two veterans who really ran the dressing room&mdash;Terry O&rsquo;Reilly and Milbury&mdash;have retired. Just as leadership was passed from Bobby Orr. Ted Green and Wayne Cashman, so will it be passed again and Goring is free to put his stamp on the team.&ldquo;The Bruins will certainly miss Terry O&rsquo;Reilly,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But there will be a new power structure. When there&rsquo;s an opening, someone usually steps up.&rdquo;Goring figured it was the right time for him to step up. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question I learned a lot from the coaches I played for. I&rsquo;m sure Bob Pulford and Al Arbour added a lot to my repertoire. But I&rsquo;m my own person with my own ideas.&rdquo;Sator has ideas, too, and one is to leave nothing to chance. Keenan, Sator and EJ. McGuire were obsessive about preparation in Philadelphia. Sator remains the same. So will his assistants, who sound like a couple of funnymen (and now the comedy stylings of Higgs and Birch) but are all business when it comes to hockey.&ldquo;No team that wins strays too far from fundamentals,&rdquo; said &ldquo;We want to out-execute other teams. We&rsquo;ve laid our groundwork. We&rsquo;ll go in with our surprises preplanned.&rdquo;Sator is a surprise because he isn&rsquo;t a Good Old Boy.&ldquo;In order to be a heart specialist, you don&rsquo;t have to have a heart attack,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Like Reg said, &lsquo;Just because we&rsquo;re no-names doesn&rsquo;t mean we&rsquo;re no-brains.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Goring And Sator Typify Coaching Contrasts

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHECK</div>CALGARY&mdash;For a brief, but unsettling time, Canada&rsquo;s national hockey program was in deep jeopardy earlier this year.The reason? Vancouver Canucks made Dave King, the national team&rsquo;s coach, general manager and chief scout, an offer he&rsquo;had difficulty refusing.The Canucks wanted King as coach and director of hockey operations and were willing to pay big money to get him. Some reports suggested they were prepared to pay King $1 million over five years.So what really happened to King in his summer of indecision?&ldquo;Clear it up? It&rsquo;s very clear.&rdquo; said King. &ldquo;At one point, I said to Vancouver that I was going to talk to Hockey Canada about being released from my contract. If I got clearance from them, then at that point in time. I&rsquo;d be available to go to Vancouver.&ldquo;But before Hockey Canada could meet to consider it, I withdrew the request to be released from my contract. That&rsquo;s exactly what happened.&rdquo;King called the matter a &ldquo;decision of conscience&rdquo; and said &ldquo;you&rsquo;ve got to follow that.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not the patron saint of the national team, I want to make that clear.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just felt I&rsquo;d made an obligation to the players and to the program. When you make a commitment of having a contract. you should honor it and go through with it.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011276/4978961-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="584" height="1002"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Millar, a 66-goal scorer for Hamilton last year, tallied five times in Finland.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021192/4978954-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="586" height="994"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Trent Yawney impressed national team coach Dave King with his play.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Therefore. I told Vancouver I&rsquo;d withdrawn my request and I was going to stay with Hockey Canada.&rdquo;King suggested the Canucks, who spent the better part of three months trying to find a replacement for Harry Neale, &ldquo;maybe got the cart in front of the horse. I know the Canucks were pretty excited when I said I was going to try to get out of my contract. I know Mr. (Arthur) Griffiths was a very anxious man. But that&rsquo;s the way it happened.&rdquo;When King turned down the job, the Canucks hired Tom Watt, himself a former coach of Canada&rsquo;s Olympic hockey team.King concluded, &ldquo;Vancouver&rsquo;s not very happy, but they&rsquo;ve got a good coach. They&rsquo;ll do fine.&rdquo;Meanwhile, King&rsquo;s squad recently returned from Finland where they played.500 hockey over an eight-game stretch in just nine days. Canada opened with a win over the Finnish national side and then won three of seven subsequent games against Elite Division teams.Among the Canadians who stood out were forwards Cliff Ronning and Mike Millar, draft choices of the St. Louis Blues and Hartford Whalers, respectively.&ldquo;We were very pleased with the performance of people like Cliff Ronning&mdash;he had 11 points in eight games. Mike Millar scored five goals in eight games and he was our No. 1 man in chances (around the net),&rdquo; said King.Don McLaren led all Canadian goalscorers with six.And 17-year-old Joe Murphy, an early favorite to be selected first overall at next June&rsquo;s National Hockey League draft, collected three goals and three assists. As was pre-determined, Murphy left the national team for a scholarship at Michigan State University upon its return to Canada. King said that Jeff Greenlaw, another certain first-rounder in 1986, acquitted himself well.&ldquo;Trent Yawney played well on defense for us,&rdquo; added King. &ldquo;We were very pleased with his play. He was nice and steady.&rdquo;The national team&rsquo;s next order of business is a series of five exhibition games against NHL teams. &#9632;

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Why Dave King Isn’t Coaching Vancouver

<div class="byline">Frank Orr</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011142/4978992-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="388" height="426"></div>I WAS TWO WEEKS into my first newspaper job with the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder back in April, 1957, when I encountered the National Hockey League, live and in color, for the first time.The Montreal Canadiens were in the second year of their incredible string of five consecutive Stanley Cup championships with what, it can be argued convincingly, was the finest hockey team the NHL has ever owned.The Canadiens were playing the Boston Bruins in the final and I was granted a press pass to cover the second game of the series at the Forum, an evening that ranks near the top of a list of memorable nights. The Canadiens won the game 1-0.After the match, I followed the other hockey writers to the dressing room where the group waited until the Canadiens were good and ready to admit the scribblers. I didn&rsquo;t mind the wait because the men outside the room who covered the NHL were almost bigger heroes to me than the chaps on the inside. Hell, there I was, not yet old enough to drink booze legally, but rubbing elbows with the flower of sporting letters.Eventually, the door opened and the group moved inside, surrounding coach Toe Blake first. I had the idea early&mdash;verified strongly in later years&mdash;that Blake was the master of the put-on because he spoke cautiously of the Canadiens&rsquo; chances, although everyone knew that if the teams played forever, the Bruins might win one game out of every 10.Blake talked the way hockey coaches always have, and always will, in post-game interviews. More than 25 years and at least a thousand such chats later, I still hear the same words. Yes, good goaltending sure covers up a few mistakes. No, we didn&rsquo;t take advantage of our scoring chances. Yes, getting the puck out of your own end well is a big edge. Yes, when we&rsquo;re skating like we were tonight, it helps the cause.The group moved to the players&rsquo; area and I tagged along behind, not asking any questions but taking pages of notes.My main goal in that room was to see Rocket Richard in the flesh. I once read a quote by Ken Reardon, the Canadien defenseman, who said: &ldquo;If the Rocket had one more hair on his body, he would live in a tree.&rdquo; I checked it out that night and, indeed what Reardon said was true.I followed the group as the writers questioned various players&mdash;goalie Jacques Plante, who looked much smaller in his long-johns than he did on the ice; Doug Harvey, the mighty defenseman who remains, to this day, my personal favorite of all the players I&rsquo;ve seen; Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore, Tom Johnson.I made a wrong turn and found myself standing alone in front of Bert Olmstead, the tough winger, who, I imagined, would be a tough man to interview.When I had stood for several seconds, unable to think of any probing question to ask, Olmstead looked at me and said, a little impatiently: &ldquo;Well?&rdquo;I stammered a couple of times and when it did come out, my first question to an NHL player was a beauty of depth and substance.&ldquo;Wh&hellip;wha&hellip;what was the key to your win?&rdquo; I sputtered.&ldquo;The big reason we won is that we knocked a lot of those bastards on their asses,&rdquo; Olmstead replied.Bert Olmstead, OF Smokestack, did precisely that a great many times in his NHL career with the Chicago Black Hawks, the Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The way he played the game was about as pretty as a truckload of gravel but with more grit. He scored a few points, too, enough that far too long after he retired, he gained entry into the Hall of Fame.A few folks can question if a forward who had just one 20-goal season should be in the Hall beside the chaps with the heavy mathematics.If there ever were a player who demonstrated that points aren&rsquo;t everything, it was Olmstead. He was named the second all-star left winger twice behind the great Ted Lindsay of Detroit Red Wings in seasons when he scored 17 and 14 goals.Score a few. Knock a few guys on their backsides. That&rsquo;s a combination never out of style. &#9632;

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Bert Olmstead—True Grit On Ice

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div>BUFFALO&mdash;There is an old business saying that warns &ldquo;never burn your bridges behind you.&rdquo;Translated, it means when you leave a job don&rsquo;t say anything bad about your former employer because you never know when your paths may cross again.Jim Schoenfeld, rookie coach of the Buffalo Sabres, has not been influenced by the popular adage in the past.It was nearly four years ago, in December of 1981. that Schoenfeld, along with teammates Danny Garc and Derek Smith, was sent to the Detroit Red Wings in return for Mike Foligno. Dale McCourt and Brent Peterson.Schoenfeld responded by blasting coach-general manager Scott Bowman. The last thing on anybody&rsquo;s mind then was the possibility of Schoenfeld someday returning to the Sabres.But return he did last season, first as coach of the Sabres&rsquo; farm team in Rochester and then as a player, returning to action on Dec. 6. 1984.Then, on June 11 of this year, Schoenfeld retired as a player and was named head coach of the Sabres by, who else, Bowman, director of hockey operations and GM.When asked about their past troubles Schoenfeld responded by saying, &ldquo;that is all behind us now. You know, I hear this almost every place I go. But nobody has written about the good relationship that Scott and I have had over the past year.&ldquo;We covered the entire spectrum of emotion. We have had our ups and downs and our share of disagreements.&ldquo;But we both feel that we can still work together for the good of the team. I think because we are both strong-willed individuals, we have a mutual respect for one another.&ldquo;Sure, we are still going to have our share of disagreements. How many coaches and general managers do you know who don&rsquo;t?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02838/4979030-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="580" height="176"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2>&ldquo;In the end. we arc still fighting for the same goafs, to win the Stanley Clip. Scott&rsquo;s job is to get the players and my job is to get the players ready for the games.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m hired to do a job and I&rsquo;ll do the best I can.&rdquo;Just what kind of plans does Schoenfeld have in mind for the Sabres?&ldquo;We are going to have a new style of play,&rdquo; said Schoenfeld about a team better known for its defensive style of play than offensive. &ldquo;The new style will be one of going more on the attack.&ldquo;With the new way, we are going to force opponents into mistakes and then capitalize on them. We want to create a lot of turnovers.&ldquo;I would like to see our defensemen carry the puck more and when they do, have the forwards fall back and cover on defense.&rdquo;Does this mean Schoenfeld wants to turn the Sabres into an offensive machine?&ldquo;No, not exactly,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;To me, Edmonton is the best example of an offensive machine. Montreal and Buffalo have been the best examples of defensive teams.&ldquo;We want to be somewhere in the middle of both styles, with our new style leaning more towards offense.&rdquo;Schoenfeld knows, like everyone also connected with the team, there is only one gauge by which the team&rsquo;s performance will be measured&mdash;its success during the playoffs.&ldquo;This team (the Sabres) is being labeled as the team that can&rsquo;t win the big game,&rdquo; said Schoenfeld. &ldquo;We, as a team, want to set that record straight this year.&ldquo;I feel our team has to do well this year, and when I say well I mean we have to do well in the playoffs. We have to advance much further than we have the last few years.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s going to be the bottom line to this &lsquo;whole sbSs&rsquo;bh&rsquo;for the Sabres&rsquo;.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03587/4979023-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="1221" height="1467"><figcaption class="caption-body">Big Dave Andreychuk is one player who must produce if the Sabres are to be more menacing offensively.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Bridge-Burning Didn’t Hurt Coach

THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFounded in 1947 by Kenneth W. McKenziePUBLISHERJames A. DavidsonBUSINESS MANAGERTony DobranowskiEDITOR IN CHIEFBob McKenzieEDITORIAL DIRECTORCharlie HalpinASSISTANT EDITORSteve DrydenEDITORIAL ASSISTANTJeff HubbellCONTRIBUTING EDITORSStan Fischler, Frank OrrADVERTISING SALES MANAGERRandy GreenADVERTISING SERVICES MANAGEREsther SumkaADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVESFor Canadian Consumer Advertising Only Call: CCMC, Cliff Kivell, 287 MacPherson Ave.Toronto. Ontario M4V IA4 (416) 928-2909SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES MANAGERPatricia BackNEWSSTAND SERVICES MANAGEREsther SumkaCIRCULATION DEPARTMENTJurate Kaknevicius Rosanne TaninoACCOUNTING DEPARTMENTTom Moffat Mary CarubiaSPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGERHughes Marketing Hockey News Bookshelf (416) 499-8227ADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL OFFICES85 Scarsdale Rd. Suite 100 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2(416) 445-5702 EXECUTIVE OFFICE 850 Third Avenue New York, New York10022NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTOR Distributed Nationally by Disticor 101 Duncan Mill Rd., Suite 14 Don Mills, Ont. M3B 1Z3 (416) 449-6430W.C.C. PUBLISHING LTD. PRESIDENTDean HeineTHE HOCKEY NEWS, (ISSN 0018-3016) is published weekly except monthly June and bimonthly July and August by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd., 85 Scarsdale Road #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2 (416) 445-5702. In U.S. do W.C.C. Publishing Corp., 850 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022.40 ISSUE SUBSCRIPTION RATES $24.95 in the U.S.A. $24.95 in Canada. $54.95 in Foreign Countries. Send all Canadian and Foreign subscription orders to THE HOCKEY NEWS, P.O. Box 13055. Postal Station &lsquo;A&rsquo;, Toronto. Ont. M5W IV7, U.S. subscription requests should be mailed to Box 904, Buffalo. N.Y. 14240. Please allow 4-6 weeks for processing.SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO THE HOCKEY NEWS, 85 Scarsdale Road #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2. Second Class mail Registration No. 1327. All inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addressed to Subscription Dept The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Road #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2.IN THE UNITED STATES: Second class postage paid at New York, N.Y. and at additional mailing offices. LLS. POSTMASTER send address change to: The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo. N.Y. 14240. &#9632;

<div class="byline">By Bruce Hood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011322/4979085-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="369" height="458"></div>Q: When a player receives a minor and misconduct penalty, I know his minor penalty is served by a teammate. But when is the player&rsquo;s misconduct penalty served?Andrew Fong, Calgary, Alta.A: The player receiving the minor and misconduct will actually spend 12 minutes in the penalty box. Of course, should the opposing team score a goal during the time of his minor penalty and his team is a man short because of it, then the player serving the minor penalty for him would return to the ice and the 10 minutes for the misconduct would start right away.Q: In the record book of hockey, it says that the linesman, in ordertocall icing, must fold his arms across the upper part of his chest. But when I watch the games the linesman just raises his arm and blows his whistle. Could you please set me straight on the correct call for icing?Erwin J. Nadich, East Greenwich, R.l.A: Next time you see an icing play, observe that the back linesman, or linesman from whose end the puck is shot, raises his arm. Then the front linesman, or linesman whose end the puck has been shot into, raises his arm when the puck is touched. The back linesman then blows his whistle, turns and indicates where the faceoff will take place and proceeds to that spot. Upon arrival at the faceoff spot that linesman will fold his arms across his chest to indicate icing while awaiting the arrival of the puck from his fellow linesman.Q: I was wondering what the call would be under the following circumstances: a delayed major penalty is called on a team, but before they can get possession of the puck the other team scores. Is the major penalty nullified at this time or must the player still serve the five minutes, and may the team still score as many power-play goals as it can without the player leaving the penalty box?James Carney Pittsburgh. PAA: Yes, in this instance, unlike when a delayed penalty is being called and a goal is scored and the penalty is not assessed, the major penalty is still applied. Furthermore, the team can go right on scoring for the full five minutes and the player cannot leave the box until the expiration of the penalty.If you want your questions answered, write to:ASK THE REFEREE16 Martin StreetMilton, Ont.L9T 2P9All questions will be considered, but only those published will be answered. Personal responses are not possible. &#9632;

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ASK THE REFEREE

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02961/4979116-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Goldsworthy believes he&rsquo;s overcome his bout with the bottle and now wants to get back into hockey again.</figcaption></div><h2>WHERE ARE THEY NOW</h2>POSITION WANTED: Hockey Coach. Is willing to coach hockey at any level, professional or amateur. Would even consider an assistant&rsquo;s position. Anxious to begin immediately, if not sooner.No, this isn&rsquo;t the new classified section of THE HOCKEY NEWS but rather the situation former National Hockey League star Bill Goldsworthy finds himself in. or more precisely, doesn&rsquo;t find himself in.Goldsworthy played in all or parts of 14 seasons in the NHL (1964-78) with the Boston Bruins, Minnesota North Stars and New York Rangers and parts of two more seasons in the old World Hockey Association (1977-79) with the Indianapolis Racers and Edmonton Oilers.Retirement came much too early for Goldsworthy.&ldquo;I just wasn&rsquo;t ready for it when it happened,&rdquo; recalled Goldsworthy. 41, a native of Waterloo, Ont. &ldquo;While playing in Edmonton I had broken my shoulder and collarbone.&ldquo;The injury process didn&rsquo;t go well and the injury didn&rsquo;t heal right. Because of that I had to retire from the game that, up to that point, had been a major part of my life for 25 years.&rdquo;Like many other athletes, Goldsworthy found the transition from sports to life after sports an uneasy one.&ldquo;As an athlete you are pampered all your life and there isn&rsquo;t too much you really have to do,&rdquo; said the former right winger who peaked at 48 goals for the North Stars in 1973-74. &ldquo;But when you are finished as an athlete, that pampering stops and you are on your own.&ldquo;And, unlike baseball players or football players, hockey players are not educated in preparing for life after sports. That&rsquo;s the situation I found myself in.&rdquo;Although he did find work, Goldsworthy did find other ways to help his situation. Some of them were good.&ldquo;I went to the Phil Esposito Foundation and they helped quite a bit,&rdquo; said Goldsworthy.And some of them were not so good.&ldquo;I began drinking more after I got out of hockey as well,&rdquo; said Goldsworthy, &ldquo;1 had a real alchoholism problem.&ldquo;I went through two treatments for the problem and today have control of my drinking habit.&rdquo;Among his hockey accomplishments, Goldsworthy was a valuable member of the 1972 Team Canada squad that defeated the Soviets, was the first player to score 200 goals for an expansion team and pioneered the &ldquo;Goldie Shuffle&rdquo;, a jig he performed after putting the puck in the net. But he still has another goal for himself in life.&ldquo;My ambition is to get back into hockey,&rdquo; said Goldsworthy, who works for an air freight business in Minneapolis, MN., where he also resides. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care if it is at the professional, college or junior ranks.&ldquo;I would even take an assistant&rsquo;s job if it meant getting back into hockey.&ldquo;It really bothers me when I see other guys that I used to play with in the pros who are now coaching. I know I can do the job. I just want to get my foot in the door.&rdquo;Goldsworthy continued about his new career goal.&ldquo;With some guys, they can play pro hockey for a few years and then just get out and go into the business world,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But not with me.&ldquo;Hockey is my life. It is a part of me. And I feel that I have a lot of good coaching talent that is going to waste.&ldquo;Not that I&rsquo;m unhappy doing what I&rsquo;m doing now. But I feel that I have an ability that has not yet been tapped.&ldquo;And I want it tapped.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Goldy’s Life After Hockey Has Goals Left Unfulfilled

Here&rsquo;s what was happening 20 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; Frank Mario was named as the new coach of the Victoria Maple Leafs of the Western League. Mario succeeded Rudy Pilous, who resigned to coach Detroit&rsquo;s Hamilton Red Wing team of the Ontario Hockey Association.&bull; Hockey Hall of Fame member Jack Marshall died in Montreal at the age of 89.Here&rsquo;s what was happening 15 years ago this month in hockey:&bull; Defense great Carl Brewer announced his retirement from the Detroit Red Wings following a nine-year career that began in Toronto. The move surprised Detroit management, since Brewer had already signed his 1970-71 contract.&bull; Bud Poile, general manager of the expansion Vancouver Canucks, announced that among the 58 players attending the team&rsquo;s first NHL training camp would be two Finnish forwards. Jorma Peltenen and Lasse Oksanen. &#9632;

THIS WEEK…20 Years Ago

1. Name the Chicago forward who was captain of Canada&rsquo;s 1981 world junior championship club?2. What was the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; record during their 35-game unbeaten streak in 1979-80?3. Which club ended the Flyers&rsquo; streak?4. What NHL team originally drafted Flyer goalie Bob Froese?5. What player played with the WHA&rsquo;s Houston Aeros despite having only 9 fingers?6. Name the first NHL defenseman to record two hat tricks in the same season?7. What minor pro league sent an allstar squad to tour the Soviet Union in 1964.8. Against which Hall of Fame goaltender did Bobby Orr score his first NHL goal?9. How many goals did Wayne Gretzky score with Indianapolis Racers of the WHA?10. The last pick in the 1980 entry draft played with the Penguins last season. Name him?<h2>Last Week&rsquo;s Trivia Answers</h2>1. Gilbert Perreault, Rene Robert and Richard Martin. 2. Andre Lacroix (251-547-798). 3. Frank Boucher. 4. Rejean Houle, Montreal Canadiens. 5. Winnipeg Jets (over Edmonton Oilers). 6. Macon Whoopies. 7. Modere (Mud) Bruneteau. 8. Bill Masterton. 9. New York Slapshots. 10. 1961, Trail Smoke Eaters. &#9632;

TRIVIA

<div class="byline">Stan Fischler&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011177/4979226-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="344" height="456"></div>To be honest with you&hellip;I can&rsquo;t figure out why a talent-starved team like the Pittsburgh Penguins didn&rsquo;t land Craig MacTavish instead of the filthy-rich Oilers.One guy I&rsquo;m rooting for this year is Peter McNab, a class act wherever he plays.Another chap I&rsquo;d like to see make it is his Old Man, Max. I&rsquo;d hate to see Peter fail and Max accused of nepotism.How come nobody is wondering whether Mario Lemieux can make it without Warren Young?You can write this down, Ray Staszak and Adam Oates won&rsquo;t get 40 goals between them.On the other hand, I can&rsquo;t tell you how tickled I am with Mike Hitch for his outrageous fiscal fanaticism. Hitch alone gave us one of the most exciting off-seasons since the WHA days.I still haven&rsquo;t shed a tear over Darryl Sittier&rsquo;s retirement but I&rsquo;m damn sad that Bill Barber won&rsquo;t skate in the NHL again.When Ted Sator tells me &ldquo;Pick us fourth!&rdquo; I know he figures he can pull a Mike Keenan and sneak past a lot of people.Isn&rsquo;t this the bazillionth year in which Lou Nanne had better produce&mdash;or else!Here are the three blokes I&rsquo;d most like to see in the NHL this year&mdash;and won&rsquo;t: Bob McCammon, Herb Brooks and Don Cherry.I disagree with Frank Orr. Methinks Pal Hal Ballard will stick with GM Gerry McNamara and coaches Dan Maloney and John Brophy no matter how badly the Leafs play. My gut feeling is that Ballard is thinking like the captain of the Titanic and he&rsquo;ll go down with these fellows.Wouldn&rsquo;t it be a riot if Warren Young scored 50 goals and Mario Lemieux wound up with 25?Ballard has got to be ga-ga to allow another summer go by without unloading his Swedish meatball, Borje Salming.I agree with Frank Orr. Ed Olczyk is an ace. In two years he&rsquo;ll be to The Windy City what Stan Mikita was 20 years ago.It&rsquo;s about time new Hall of Famer Jean Ratelie gave credit to the man who turned his career around when he looked like he&rsquo;d be a lifetime minor leaguer. I&rsquo;m talking about Aldo Guidolin, who coached Ratelle with Baltimore in the AHL and lifted him out of the pits.I&rsquo;ll bet anything that Brad Marsh won&rsquo;t have the season he did in 1984-85. The reason: He won&rsquo;t have Ted Sator to help him out.By early next March there&rsquo;ll be so many Paul Coffey-Bobby Orr comparisons you&rsquo;ll wish you were wearing earmuffs.Nothing against my pal, Lome Henning, who will do well, but I think the most ridiculous thing was Herbie Brooks not cutting a deal with the North Stars.I am giving unconditional guarantees that the Whalers will beat out the Bruins for a playoff berth in the Adams.Jacques Lemaire was kidding&mdash;wasn&rsquo;t he?&mdash;when he said he&rsquo;d had it with coaching.Is Jean Perron for real or really a creation of Central Casting?I will be very upset if Bob Nystrom doesn&rsquo;t get a chance to have a healthy last hurrah this year with the Islanders.To me, Dave King is a bore.I have a feeling Harry Neale will be twice as funny in Detroit than he was in Vancouver.Here&rsquo;s my question for Bruce Hood: If you. Brucie. were spending the half-million bucks the NHL is going to lay out to improve officiating, what would you do? And no generalities please!I still miss Greg Madill. And Wally Harris.Joe Falls can visit my apartment any time. In fact. I&rsquo;ll let him sleep over.You want to know the never-mentioned good question about the Oilers: How much will Ted Green&rsquo;s walk-out as assistant coach hurt the team?Seriously, is Jean Perron really the Canadiens coach or did Serge Savard just have a bad dream?Now that Mike Milbury has gone straight and become an assistant coach, the best player interview in the league will be Mark Fusco of the Whalers. Now all he has to do is make the team.I want to see Ray Bourque earn that bundle of bucks the Bruins are paying him. So far, he hasn&rsquo;t shown me he deserves it.The jackals are after Pete Peeters. That&rsquo;s why I want him to have his best year since he joined the Bruins.Nothing against Zotique Lesperance, who makes it into the Hockey Hall of Fame writers&rsquo; division, but next year the bozos on the nomination committee had better consider Ken McKenzie, who founded THE HOCKEY NEWS, and Ben Olan, who put hockey on the map at The Associated Press.One of the best things about the NHL (U.S.) Game of the Week jumping from the USA Network to ESPN is that the latter operation is run by hockey nut Scotty Connal.The Rammer&mdash;Craig Ramsay&mdash;will, if you will excuse the bromide, be sorely missed as a player this year. Nobody ever worked harder for a single team than this splendid athlete and good person did for the Buffalo Sabres.Of all the rookie coaches, the two that excite me the most are Butchie Goring in Boston and Jim Schoenfeld in Buffalo. Butchie has smarts coming out of his ear lobes but I worry that he&rsquo;s too close to his players.You have to be happy that Gerry Cheevers landed on his feet as promotions director for the Rockingham Park, NH, race track. I always had the feeling that Cheesie was more at home on the turf than the ice.Kidding aside, who is Jean Perron?I&rsquo;m glad Mike McEwen is still in the league just so that Grapes Cherry will have 10 more good one-liners this year.I was hoping Kerry Fraser would be my favorite ref last year but after watching him in the Cup finals, I&rsquo;ll tell you, he&rsquo;s got to show me some more before he&rsquo;s No. 1 on my zebra parade.Do you think if Bob Berry puts Gary Rissling on Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s line, Rissling would score 40 goals?Why doesn&rsquo;t Rissling get himself some new razor blades? Or a new electric razor.Let&rsquo;s get it over with and give Gretzky the Hart Trophy at the start of the season; then strike another Hart Trophy and give it to someone else.I hope Rod Langway takes off those overalls this year and wears sensibly-sized hockey shorts.The next trophy the NHL should award should complement the Calder (Rookie of the Year) award. They should name it the Dutton Trophy after the second NHL president Mervyn (Red) Dutton. Everyone&rsquo;s forgotten that Dutton steered the NHL through the precarious World War II years after Frank Calder (the first NHL prexy) died. Dutton is honored nowhere. The Dutton Trophy would be for the sophomore of the year. And if one were presented for 1985-86, I&rsquo;d bet that Bruce Bell of the Nordiques would win it.I wouldn&rsquo;t want to be within 10 feet of Don Jackson and Brad Marsh the next time the Oilers and Flyers meet.Funny how nobody picked Jacques Lemaire as Coach of the Year last season but after two months of Jean Perron, there&rsquo;ll be a ton of retroactive votes for Lemaire. Guaranteed.If there&rsquo;s one unknown I&rsquo;d like on my team it&rsquo;s this Kevin Dineen kid on the Whalers. He comes from splendid stock.Nobody writes a better Sunday hockey column than Walt McPeek in the Newark Star-Ledger.I miss Marty McSorley.Just a few guys who make me excited about starting the season already: Peter Zezel (great fellow, solid player); Mike Gartner (just a beautiful vision in high gear, terrific interview); George McPhee (a latter-day Garry Howatt); John Tonelli (how many active left wingers have an arena named after them?); Denis Savard (the poor man&rsquo;s Gretzky) and Bennett Wolf (just for his name).It&rsquo;s hard to get mad at John Ziegler and Al Eagleson because they are the two best fast-telephone-caller-backers of all the NHL big shots.I&rsquo;m putting my money on Brian Hayward as the best goalie of 1985-86.Doug Soetaert is the most dumped-upon solid netminder in the NHL. Personally, I&rsquo;d take him over Steve Penney.Come back, Jacques Lemaire. All is forgiven.What does Lemaire&rsquo;s retirement tell you about the iron stomach of Michel (Le Petit Tigre) Bergeron, who&rsquo;s going into his sixth season with Les Nordiques.Oh, I know everyone thought it was bush, but I got a terrific kick out of Bergeron&rsquo;s playoff move last year when he invited the media in to see videotapes of the lousy officiating during the Nordiques-Flyers series.It&rsquo;s too bad ESPN didn&rsquo;t consider Danny Gallivan for play-by-play on the weekly telecasts.Can you picture the look on Cliff Fletcher&rsquo;s face after Kent Nilsson scores his 50th goal for the North Stars?I hope I&rsquo;m wrong but I&rsquo;m getting the feeling that Bob Johnson&mdash;The Badger, himself&mdash;is beginning to take himself too seriously and the media as well.You will see a different Bryan Trottier than you saw last year. Different muscles, too.Not only is hockey better than ever but so are hockey wives (Or haven&rsquo;t you seen Carol&mdash;Mrs. Ron Greschner&mdash;Alt lately?)The biggest improvement by any one player will occur in the play of the Maple Leafs&rsquo; Al lafrate.The biggest drop-off in production will belong to Warren Young of the Red Wings.Guaranteed, one week into the season we&rsquo;ll all be sorry the Vancouver Canucks junked their Darth Vader uniforms.The one move I&rsquo;m waiting for Mike Hitch to make is his snaring of Mario Lemieux.Wouldn&rsquo;t it be hot stuff if Jean Perron winds up Coach of the Year. (Hey, look what happened to Mike Keenan!). &#9632;

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Perron A Puzzler For Our Man Fischler

The Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; Dave Hunter faces a maximum penalty of two years in jail after being found guilty of drunk driving for the third time.Sentencing will be Nov. 15.Hunter. 27. was found guilty in an Alberta court of impaired driving, driving without a license and refusing to provide a breathalyzer sample.Judge Percy Marshall said that Hunter demonstrated an &ldquo;appalling lack of judgment&rdquo; by continuing to drive his car on Jan. 17 after being warned not to by another officer who had stopped him.The crown has served Hunter with a notice of intent that it plans to seek a heavy penalty because the six-year National Hockey League veteran has prior convictions.Punishment for a third offence is a minimum of three months imprisonment and a maximum of two years.Hunter was the second Oiler in two weeks to be in the news over a driving offense. A week earlier, center Mark Messier was charged with hit-and-run and careless driving after a Porsche smashed into three parked cars earlier this month.Former NHL badman Dave Schultz has been named coach-general manager of the brand-new New York Slapshots of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very excited about the opportunity and I&rsquo;m looking forward to the challenge of working with the young players,&rdquo; said Schultz. &ldquo;This is a great opportunity that I couldn&rsquo;t pass up.&rdquo;Schultz accumulated 2,294 penalty minutes in nine seasons, second only to Dave (Tiger) Williams of the Los Angeles Kings in league history.The Sports Network (TSN), Canada&rsquo;s national sports channel, has obtained exclusive pay-TV rights to the home games of all Canadian teams in the National Hockey League, with the exception of the Quebec Nordiques.A minimum of 28 games will be shown during the 1984-85 season.The series, which features the Montreal Canadiens eight times and Stanley Cup-champion Edmonton Oilers in seven games, kicks off Oct. 14 when the Vancouver Canucks play host to the New York Islanders.TSN. which has 630,000 subscribers. expects the five-year agreement with the NHL will boost interest in the sports channel.&ldquo;I think it will help us consider-ably.&rdquo; said president Gordon Craig. who added the package will enhance TSN&rsquo;s credibility in hockey-conscious Canada.&ldquo;Hockey is the one sport our viewers have been looking forward to seeing on the network.&rdquo;The broadcast schedule includes eight games involving the Canucks. seven with the Jets, three with the Calgary Flames, two with the Toronto Maple Leafs and one with the Nordiques.TSN&rsquo;s John Wells will be the play-by-play announcer and Jim Van Horne, the host. Howie Meeker will serve as color commentator and former superstar Bobby Orr, as a guest commentator..054ESPN&rsquo;s broadcasting of National Hockey League games begins Thursday. Oct. 10, when the Washington Capitals visit the New York Rangers.Three days later. ESPN will present the Philadelphia Flyers and Capitals in Washington.The U.S. pay-TV sports channel announced a slate of 10 games for October and November. Other dates in a 33-game regular-season package will be announced in the coming months.No broadcast crew has been named.Hockey Hall of Fame member Ebbie Goodfellow, who played 14 seasons for the Detroit Red Wings, has died at age 78.Goodfellow played his entire career for the Red Wings, scoring 134 goals among his 324 points and winning the Hart Trophy in 1939-40.The Canadian national hockey team, just back from an eight-game tour in Finland, will play five games against National Hockey League teams during the exhibition season.The national team will play the Canucks in Vancouver on Sept. 23, the Los Angeles Kings in Victoria, B.C., on Sept. 24. the Flames in Calgary on Sept. 29, the Winnipeg Jets in Regina, Sask., on Oct. I and the St. Louis Blues in Lethbridge, Alta., on Oct. 7 &#9632;

Oilers’ Hunter May Face A Jail Sentence

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011261/4979281-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div>The International Hockey Weekly Founded in 1947Published by W.C C. Publishing Ltd85 Scarsdale Road, #100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2.<h2>New Wrinkles For A New Season</h2>WELCOME TO Volume 39, No. I. With this issue. THE HOCKEY NEWS celebrates the beginning of its 39th year of uninterrupted service.And as we reflect on our history and the many seasons that have passed by since our inception, there is in an inclination to look back and dwell on the past.But this is, after all, 1985 and, clearly, your interests are more geared to the present. So, in the interest of the &ldquo;what-have-you-done-for-me-lately&rdquo; school of thought, here&rsquo;s a brief rundown on a few of the new features and looks you can expect from us in the coming year.The first thing you might have noticed about this issue is the re-designed front cover. We think it better reflects the excitement and action of our modern game.In the columnists&rsquo; department, stalwarts Frank Orr (of the Toronto Star) and New York City native Stan Fischler are back, of course, on a weekly basis. And joining them is Jay Greenberg of the Philadelphia Daily News, who is considered by many of his peers to be the finest hockey writer in North America.In addition to those three outstanding regulars, we&rsquo;ll present a team of six more who will appear on an every-other-week basis.In this issue, you&rsquo;ll find Joe Falls (Detroit News), Steve Simmons (Calgary Herald) and newcomer Barry Meisel, a bright, young hockey writer who covers the three New York area NHL teams for the Morristown (N.J.) Daily Record.Next week, you&rsquo;ll find Al Strachan (Toronto Globe and Mail) and two newcomers&mdash;Rod Beaton, the highly-respected hockey writer for USA Today, and Terry Jones, the well-known Edmonton Sun columnist.Toss in returnees Bob Duff (Ask the Duffer), Bruce Hood (Ask the Ref) and Randy Schultz (Where Are They Now) and we feel we&rsquo;ve got the best hockey-writing talent in the world.Plus, our editorial page will sport a new look, courtesy of a weekly editorial cartoon by Calgary cartoonist Dave Elston that will complement the weekly editorial commentary and expanded Fan Forum department.You&rsquo;ll see more changes in the weeks to come, including: a radically revamped and expanded statistics package; regular reports on international hockey, oldtimer hockey and Canadian university hockey, as well as a few other surprises.We hope you enjoy the new wrinkles as well as the traditional package of news and views we&rsquo;ve been presenting for more than 38 years. And remember, as always, we&rsquo;re happy to get your reactions. Why not drop us a line to let us know how you feel about THN. &#9632;

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<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, Ontario, Canada M3B 2R2. THN reserves the right to edit all submissions.THIS IS IN RESPONSE to THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; September 6. 1985 editorial (Justine&rsquo;s Justice).Does the progressive publication which claims the bottom line is &ldquo;ability, not gender&rdquo; not concede that John McEnroe could-then compete head to head with Martina Navratilova for big tournament dollars if he chose? And that Larry Bird, if he so elected, could have played NCAA women&rsquo;s basketball? What is good for the gander is good for the goose. Obviously not in this case. There is an order to things, which naturally prohibits the mixing of apples and oranges into jam.No doubt THE HOCKEY NEWS would howl with righteous indignation should a Wayne Gretzky, upon retiring at age 30, opt to play recreational hockey on a local women&rsquo;s team. No challenge you say? Only sissies play with women? Wayne simply wants to score 4.000 goals in a season and meet some athletically-inclined ladies.Gary Wood,&nbsp; Victoria, BC<h2>NO PLACE FOR DRUGS</h2>I don&rsquo;t know about anyone else in this country, but I&rsquo;m getting sick of drugs dominating sports. Baseball, football and basketball are filled with stories of drug arrests and drug-related crimes. I&rsquo;m proud to say that hockey has had a good reputation in the news media. I follow the game with my heart.I hope Mr. Ziegler makes it very hard on any player involved with drugs. There is no excuse for any sports figure to downgrade his/her sport by using drugs. It&rsquo;s like a slap in the face.John R. Stack,Orland Park, IL<h2>WRITING MAD ABOUT FAT-CATS</h2>Oh God&mdash;1 promised myself I would try not to let it bother me, but now you&rsquo;ve done it!Please&mdash;the next time you try to make an intelligent comparison of sports you should CAN the entire article when &ldquo;fat-cat&rdquo; baseball players like McCaskill and Winfield are permitted to make silly statements! They even make Stan Fischler&rsquo;s comments seem intelligent.I love that statement &ldquo;a baseball player needn&rsquo;t attain the same level of physical fitness as a basketball player but needs to master a series of skills similar in range to hockey.&rdquo;Yes. I remember all those years I watched Bobby Orr bunt the puck down the ice as he slid into the net only to be tagged out by the goalie. But I have noticed, on a few occasions, Reggie Jackson playing defense as if he had ice skates on. Better yet, why don&rsquo;t you compare a 30 per cent offensive success ratio to that of an NHL goal-scorer. I think any hockey player would like to have a 30 percent scoring ratio.Mr. McCaskill would like to see &ldquo;those guys&rdquo; hit a baseball coming 90 MPH. Well my friend&mdash;If &ldquo;those guys&rdquo; can deflect a puck, which is smaller than a baseball with a stick thinner than a baseball bat, I&rsquo;m sure with a minimum amount of practice &ldquo;those guys&rdquo; could master that challenge. I would like to see a lot of &ldquo;your guys&rdquo; try to lace up a pair of skates, never mind try to skate on them.Enough is enough&mdash;Mr. (Steve) Dryden&mdash;next time you try to compare &ldquo;apples with oranges&rdquo;&mdash;don&rsquo;t ask a bunch of banana heads.M. Talucci,Oakland, NJ<h2>TELEVISE THE MINORS</h2>Being a longtime subscriber to THE HOCKEY NEWS, I have read in your magazine as well as in my local newspaper about the bidding wars that the ESPN and USA cable companies were having for the NHL television rights.&rdquo; Apparently, ESPN finally won out with a three-year package.What I can&rsquo;t understand is why these cable companies don&rsquo;t explore the idea of televising minor-league hockey games, such as the American Hockey League. Being from the Springfield. MA area, I follow the Springfield Indians and have witnessed many exciting games. This would give the viewers a chance to see some of the young future stars of hockey as well as some of the NHL veterans who are now playing in the minors. Plus I feel the television exposure would create fan interest and help these minorleague teams draw more people.Steven W. Lytwyn,&nbsp; Chicopee, MA &#9632;

Sports Must Follow ‘Natural Order’ Of Things

<div class="byline">BY JOHN GILBERT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011243/4979343-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="576" height="188"></div><h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;For Lome Henning, the big question was &ldquo;when&rdquo; rather than &ldquo;if&rdquo; he&rsquo;d ever coach in the National Hockey League.Not that Henning ever considered it inevitable. He was simply prepared for the chance when it came at age 33 and selected the Minnesota North Stars for his first NHL challenge this season.&ldquo;When you start coaching, you get a little impatient to coach in the NHL right away,&rdquo; Henning said. &ldquo;But the worst thing you can do is move up before you&rsquo;re ready. A few guys can step right in and coach, like Gerry Cheevers or Red Berenson did. But in most cases, it takes some time to learn how to do it.&rdquo;And, typical of the New York Islanders&rsquo; structure, where Henning worked for 13 years as player, assistant coach and minor-league coach, he served a useful apprenticeship.&ldquo;Al Arbour is probably the best, or one of the three best, at analyzing every part of the game,&rdquo; Henning said. &ldquo;He is very thorough about his players and about studying the opposition. And Bill Torrey is also very thorough. I felt fortunate to be able to work for them and pick their brains.&ldquo;I feel prepared and ready to coach.&rdquo;The thorough approach is reflected by Henning&rsquo;s pre-training camp view of the North Stars. Instead of singling out one factor as the key, he knows that all factors are interrelated to success. Instead of looking at a couple of players as leaders, he knows that everybody on the team can contribute leadership characteristics.&ldquo;The philosophy I have is that everybody contributes,&rdquo; said Henning. &ldquo;A lot of people put the onus of leadership on certain guys, but I want people to lead in different ways. Maybe blocking a shot here, or winning a faceoff there, or goaltending. The way I see it, the 20th guy is as important as the top guy.&rdquo;Deciding on the top 20 will be among Henning&rsquo;s first chores.&ldquo;The problem we have is that in going over our list, we have 30 players who have played in the NHL,&rdquo; Henning said, adding that he is counting on some of the key veterans, but not discounting some of the new&rsquo; prospects.&ldquo;Maybe defense is our biggest challenge,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want our defensemen to get more involved in moving up and getting involved with the play. Because of that, Craig Hartsburg is a key. If he can come back from the injuries he&rsquo;s had the last couple of years, he could be a big factor because he&rsquo;s one of the best in the league at generating offense from back there.&ldquo;And Tom Hirsch is a young defenseman I&rsquo;m counting on. He has more raw talent than the majority of players, but he needs work and discipline. His shoulder is 95 per cent ready.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not much concerned about our goaltending. I&rsquo;ve seen Rollie Melanson play and in talking to him, his attitude is completely changed for this season. And if we can get Donnie Beaupre back to where he was, he could do the job.&ldquo;I like the idea of competition for the job. and I&rsquo;m looking for someone to step in and take charge. Those two should get pushed hard by the three younger guys. Mike Sands. Jon Casey and Kari Takko from Finland.&rdquo;Similarly. Henning is optimistic about the front-line personnel. He wants to play an aggressive offensive style, but is confident that practice repetition can make the forwards&rsquo; defensive chores more identifiable.&ldquo;A lot of people thought Gretzky and Edmonton couldn&rsquo;t play defense,&rdquo; said Henning. &ldquo;Then they won a shutout in the Stanley Cup finals. When you take some chances offensively, you might look bad defensively once in a while. But those are things you can work on.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited about our forwards, and we&rsquo;re going to take advantage of our speed.&rdquo;Henning expects several newcomers, to press incumbents at forward. Obviously, newly-acquired Kent Nilsson and Mats Hallin will fit in.&ldquo;Nothing is set yet. but I&rsquo;ve been thinking about some things to try in camp.&rdquo; said Henning, who has moved into a house in fashionable West Bloomington. &ldquo;One is to try Nilsson at wing with Neal Broten. Another is to try Tom McCarthy at center, because he is good with the puck and he may thrive on more responsibility. I might try Brian Bellows with him.&ldquo;And some of the young guys like Gord Sherven, Scott Bjugstad and George Servinis have excellent speed and can make things happen. Sherven will get a lot of icetime in the middle. I plan on trying Brian Lawton on the left side.&ldquo;Hallin is big and strong and has great character. He didn&rsquo;t get much chance to play with the Islanders because they had so much depth. One year he had 55 points in 42 games in the Central League.&rdquo;It is obvious that he has worked a lot of hours planning and preparing. It is just as obvious that he is as ready as he is anxious to get started in training camp and in the season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02937/4979336-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="580" height="782"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lorne Henning is anxiously awaiting the start of the 1985-86 NHL season.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Henning Grateful For Islanders’ Experience

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03648/4979374-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg" title="f0009-03" width="584" height="172"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2>DETROIT&mdash;For five weeks last spring, Harry Neale thought it over. Carefully. The pros, the cons, the alternatives. And the balance sheet always produced the same bottom line.Harry Neale&rsquo;s affection for hockey outweighed all the other factors and when the Detroit Red Wings, in search of a coach, knocked on his door, the 48-year-old native of Sarnia, Ont., answered.&ldquo;But I can tell you I did a fair amount of thinking in those five weeks after Vancouver let me go about where I was heading if I didn&rsquo;t get any of the (available NHL) jobs,&rdquo; Neale said on the eve of his first training camp as the Wings&rsquo; coach.&ldquo;I got an interesting approach from outside the hockey business in the Vancouver area. I said. &lsquo;Look, I&rsquo;ll talk to you in August if I&rsquo;m still around. But I love the game and right now I have to try my best to get a job in hockey.&rsquo; It&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve done. This is my 14th year in pro hockey and four more before that in college.&rdquo;Neale signed a two-year contract to coach the Wings. He is the 18th man to coach the Detroit franchise, and most of them have passed through the revolving door in the past couple of decades.&ldquo;One thing I&rsquo;m going to change with the Red Wings.&rdquo; Neale cracked, &ldquo;is this dreadful stretch of 16 coaches over 15 years.&rdquo;Everybody likes Harry Neale. He&rsquo;s articulate, witty, personable&mdash;and resilient. In the high-risk career of coaching, he&rsquo;s been unemployed only about a total of two months in the past 18 years.&ldquo;It was about three weeks after the Minnesota Fighting Saints (of the World Hockey Association) folded (in 1976) when New England hired me and then the five weeks last spring before the Red Wings hired me,&rdquo; he said.So he keeps bouncing back, always a viable, attractive candidate for a job of guiding the misguided out of hockey&rsquo;s wilderness.Why?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; Neale said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t(but) I&rsquo;m thankful that people had confidence in me when I was in trouble in this profession.&rdquo;Neale has a lot going for him as Red Wing coach. He succeeds Nick Polano, who was unpopular with the players and an easy act to follow. As a result, the players have embraced Neale.&ldquo;I got that impression in talking to the players, although I&rsquo;m not quite that naive to think they haven&rsquo;t told me what I want to hear,&rdquo; Neale said.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that enthusiasm and preparedness is going to be a problem, if it was last year or any other year. I think they&rsquo;ll come to camp&rsquo;prepared better physically, a little better prepared mentally. I would find it hard to believe if every one didn&rsquo;tcome tocampjust a little leery about what&rsquo;s in store for them.&ldquo;New coach, eight new players. I&rsquo;m excited about the new players we&rsquo;ve signed. But all the players are new to me. I&rsquo;m just as excited about working with Steve Yzerman. I&rsquo;ve admired him from the other bench as a fine young player and he should get better. John Ogrod-nick&mdash;I&rsquo;ve never coached a 50-goal scorer in the NHL. I&rsquo;d like to watch that happen.&rdquo;Neale continued. &ldquo;The Red Wings have an excellent opportunity to make a fairly dramatic improvement and it ought to show up in the standings at the end of the year and. hopefully, in the playoffs. I can&rsquo;t remember in my seven years in the NHL a team embarking on a summer program trying to add players to help them to the degree the Red Wings have this summer.&rdquo;The intense level of competition for jobs has been a summer-long subject among the Red Wings. The players have prove themselves, and Neale puts himself in the same category.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m talking about the players having to prove themselves but I&rsquo;m taking the same exam,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can tell them all summer and I can tell you or anybody else who wants to listen that I can do a good job here. But I have to prove that our coaching staff is not going to shortchange the players in that department.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to start the first day. I&rsquo;ve been there before. I know how to do it. I&rsquo;m not going to fail in this mission but &ldquo;&lsquo;m not going to win games by myself.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Neale Lands On His Skates—Again

<div class="byline">Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011301/4979405-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="356" height="480"></div>AFTER 12 YEARS Bill Barber finally found himself in a place where he wasn&rsquo;t just happy to be.That was usually the joke between Barber and the writers, who always kidded that the next interesting thing he said would be his first. He always played along with the gag.&ldquo;Just happy to be here,&rdquo; he&rsquo;d say. Indeed, hockey had been very, very good to Bill Barber. Thus it was for more reasons than his crooked right leg that it was hard for him a few weeks ago to walk away.There was ample suspicion that it was over even 18 months ago, when he underwent major reconstructive surgery in his right knee. The retirement press conference had been all but a foregone conclusion by February, when Barber mentally wiped out on his gruelling rehabilitation regimen.It was, by then, only a matter of settling up the last year of his contract and the Flyers finding a place for him. That was all taken care of, to Barber&rsquo;s complete satisfaction, by the time he went to the podium. But the full year without playing and the inevitability of his announcement notwithstanding, making it official was still cold turkey.He loved his father and he loved playing hockey. Losing both of them for good within a two-week stretch made for the roughest of times. Billy had to slow up a couple of times to swallow during his announcement. And when Bobby Clarke took his turn right after that. Barber&rsquo;s dam leaked a little. He wiped back tears.&ldquo;He wanted his dad to be a part of this,&rdquo; his wife, Jenny, said. But Harry Barber&rsquo;s heart had rebelled in a massive attack three weeks before in Callender. Ont. Though he had recovered somewhat within a few days. Barber believes his dad thought better of carrying on in any kind of reduced state.It was the Canadian dream that Harry and Bill Barber lived. The son made it big. He was blessed with strong legs, majorleague reflexes, superior instincts, a hard, accurate shot and the Flyers were doubly blessed to have him on their side. After 12 seasons. Barber, 33, hung up his skates in a place beyond reach of all but four or five handful of players in the history of the game.He played on two Stanley Cup winners and four finalists, scored 420 goals and 463 assists. He was a first-team all-star once, a second-teamer twice and participated in six mid-season all-star games.The knee, which had broken down in stages starting in 1976-77&mdash;the year following his career-high 50-goal, 62-assist season&mdash;robbed him of statistical niceties such as 500 goals and 1.000 points. But Barber remained fully in character when he insisted he didn&rsquo;t feel cheated.Surgery, performed in April, 1984, was so extensive that coming back was out of the question for at least nine months. And considered a long shot at that. But Barbertried. Three days a week he reported for torture at the hands of therapist Pat Croce, hoping to play by February.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d see him when he&rsquo;d come home,&rdquo; Jenny said. &ldquo;Absolutely whipped, unable to do anything the rest of the day. Brad McCrimmon told me as bad as Billy said it was, I didn&rsquo;t know the half of it. The players, as they were getting dressed for practice, could hear Bill screaming through the closed door in the next room.&rdquo;The Flyers, who have always taken care of their own. have created a roving instructor&rsquo;s position for Barber, one which he can run with as far as he wants. There will be a Bill Barber Night this year on a yet-unspecified date, one chance for Billy to cry and another opportunity for the rest of us to remember. He leaves us no shortage of material.Other than the Cups, his proudest accomplishment was playing his entire career with one team. This is an underrated distinction that eluded 13 of the 23 players who are ahead of him of him on the all-time point standings. And one that Barber could be recalled talking about as early as his third season in the league.This may have been the ultimate compliment to the kind of player he was. Barber was simply too damn valuable, even in his few off-years, to ever trade. Hockey players have seldom come in a more skilled, smart package.He was overshadowed, of course, by Clarke, Bernie Parent and maybe Rick MacLeish. but never under-appreciated, either by his teammates, the Flyer management, the media or the fans. These circumstances of semi-anonymity were completely comfortable to Barber, who always craved respect and a paycheck proportionate to his contributions, but little adulation.The biggest.goal Barber recalled, when asked to name the most memorable, was the one that gave the Flyers a 3-1 series lead against Boston in the first Cup year. His biggest night was the four-goal explosion that gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead over Minnesota on the way to the 1980 finals.Figures. Important goals, but not dramatic ones. All of Canada remembers Darryl Sittier&rsquo;s goal that won the 1976 Canada Cup. It forgets Barber had the one that sent the game into overtime.That&rsquo;s the way, much to Barber&rsquo;s satisfaction, it went. And will go, once the three-year waiting period passes, on into the Hall of Fame, too.A succinct player got an appropriately succinct appraisal from Clarke, his former linemate. He was asked what it was like to play with Barber.&ldquo;Easy,&rdquo; Clarke said. As easy as Barber, the best left winger in the NHL during his prime time, made it look through 12 superlative seasons. And because of that, not so easy to finally say goodbye. &#9632;

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Barber A Team Player Who Will Be Missed

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021007/4979436-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="572" height="164"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;It does not seem all that long ago that Jean Perron was in Moncton. N.B., building a successful Canadian university hockey program.But now Moncton is a distant memory for the 20th man to occupy the head coaching hot seat with the Montreal Canadiens.Perron knows there are doubts about a man who has never played in the National Hockey League taking over a coaching role which has been handled by Hall Of Fame members such as Toe Blake and the late Dick Irvin. Sr.He is aware that coaching in Montreal is much more than merely directing and planning practices, standing behind the bench during games and orchestrating line changes.There is, in addition, the ever-present and oft-times, fire-breathing Montreal media, which has driven several coaches to destruction.So Perron has laid down a few ground rules for the pencil-pushers and motormouths who follow the club on a regular basis.He will be co-operative and make himself available as much as possible. Perron had dinner with several reporters a week before the Canadiens&rsquo; rookie camp got under way and outlined exactly what his ground rules will be.Now all he has to do is establish his authority with his players, young and old alike, as the club prepares for the 198586 season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m coming in at a time when the hockey team is rebuilding.&rdquo; explains Perron, an assistant under Jacques Lemaire last season. &ldquo;1 don&rsquo;t feel obligated this season to win a Stanley Cup because I don&rsquo;t think we have all the elements we need for that.&ldquo;However, I still feel there is an obligation to do better than we did last season, getting more points in the regular season and advancing further along in the playoffs.&rdquo;Perron is the latest member of the NHL&rsquo;s new coaching breed. Like Philadelphia&rsquo;s Mike Keenan and Vancouver&rsquo;s Tom Watt, he has been a successful coach at the Canadian university level. He also spent two seasons as an assistant to Dave King with the Canadian Olympic team program before joining Lemaire&rsquo;s staff last year.Last season, it was Lemaire&rsquo;s show. Perron had some input as did defensive coach Jacques Lapcrriere. but it was Lemaire who made the final decisions&mdash;the last of which was to resign after one-and-a-half seasons at the helm. Now Perron&rsquo;s decisions will be scrutinized as the Canadiens attempt to repeat a first-place finish in the Adams Division.Perron, who graduated with a degree in physical education from the University of Sherbrooke in 1969 and a Master&rsquo;s degree at Michigan State University in 1973. will have the support of Lemaire.Managing director Serge Savard, who would have liked to have had Lemaire behind the bench for another season, made it clcarthat Perroh was brought into the organization with the long-term plan of making him the head coach.While Perron has said that he will seek out the advice of Lemaire, the new director of player personnel, and Savard, he must be careful not to give the impression that he is depending on their advice before making a move. Callers to some local sports talk shows have said they don&rsquo;t want a &ldquo;yes man&rdquo; behind the bench.Yet, Perron&rsquo;s character appears to be strong enough that he will go after what he feels can help the Canadiens win.At the rookie training camp, there was talk of how the likes of Stephane Richer and Claude Lemieux, two Quebec Major Junior Hockey League graduates, had earned automatic invitations to the main training camp.&ldquo;No way,&rdquo; said Perron. &ldquo;We are having evaluations every day. If the guy is at the bottom of the list, he has to prove he belongs with the big guys.&ldquo;I put it straightforward to the rookies. The best guys from their camp will make it to the veterans&rsquo; camp.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking for guys who are going to show me that they can play a physical style and have mental toughness. We have drills designed to see who can hold their ground against that physical stuff in our division.&ldquo;You watch the players play in Quebec, Hartford. Boston and Buffalo and you see the character of the players.&rdquo;There is a message in there for the veteran players as well. Perron indicated at least three rookies should be on the club at the start of the year, but there could be as many as five or six.The acid test is coming soon for Perron. Whatever he does, it will be con pared with what Lemaire accomplishes last season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not worried about the actual coaching aspect of the job,&rdquo; Perron admits. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s my vocation.&rdquo;However, there is the other aspect and that&rsquo;s just being a part of the Canadiens. In this city, baseball is a sport, hockey is a religion.If Jean Perron, the 39-year-old from the provincial hamlet of Ascot Comers, succeeds, he will praised to the heights.If he fails, the gates of hell may be friendlier place. &#9632;

f0010-02

Will It Be Heaven Or Hell For Jean Perron?

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011189/4979467-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="570" height="162"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2>VANCOUVER&mdash;If Tom Watt can do for the Vancouver Canucks what he did for the Winnipeg Jets in his first year, he&rsquo;ll own the city.That, of course, is virtually impossible but the 50-year-old Toronto native is going to give it another go as coach in the National Hockey League.What he did in Winnipeg was improve the pathetic Jets a full 48 points in the 1981-82 NHL standings and win Coach of the Year honors&mdash;only to be fired 18 months later by John Ferguson.In taking over the Canucks&rsquo; coaching role, he certainly has the potential to become a double Jack Adams Trophy winner.For the moment though. Watt, who was an assistant here under Harry Neale in 1980-81, is downplaying his position as the club heads into its 16th NHL season&mdash;only two of which have produced .500-or-better hockey.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t turn the team around by myself. I can&rsquo;t walk on water,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Watt upon arriving to begin the set-up of training camp in Vancouver for the first time in eight years. &ldquo;My job is to set the scene, to pull the players together.&ldquo;Some of the players here have had outstanding seasons in the past. There&rsquo;s no reason why they can&rsquo;t play that well again.&rdquo;Coming off his 15th season of coaching at the University of Toronto, Watt is &ldquo;ecstatic&rdquo; to be back in the NHL.The enthusiasm he brings is shared by many of the players despite last season&rsquo;s 59-point total, which left them 23 points out of a Smythe Division playoff spot.Scrimmaging will begin immediately at training camp&mdash;and with just four day&rsquo;s preparation before the Canucks&rsquo; first exhibition game, there is no other reasonable course of action.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll start scrimmaging right off because it&rsquo;s difficult evaluating players by just putting them through drills. I know nine or 10 of the players but I want to give everyone a chance to make the team and scrimmaging is the best way to find out what they&rsquo;re capable of doing.&rdquo;Watt has already earned the Good Housekeeping seal of approval from the players who went to the world championships to play for Canada at the end of last season.Tony Tanti. Cam Neely. Doug Hal-ward. Doug Lidster and captain Stan Smyl were all suitably impressed with Watt in Prague, and perhaps more importantly, were able to finish off their seasons on an upbeat note.&ldquo;We worked with Tom in Czechoslovakia and I think he&rsquo;ll do a great job here,&rdquo; says Tanti. who has just signed a contract for three years and an option with the Canucks.&ldquo;He brings a lot of enthusiasm to the game and practices and it&rsquo;s going to rub off. And if we get a better start, which I&rsquo;m sure we will, we can play over .500.&rdquo;Watt has worked with Jere Gillis, Gary Lupul, Thomas Gradin. Richard Brodeur and Rick Lanz as well&mdash;all of whom were here in 1980-81.&ldquo;I have an open mind going into camp but from the standpoint of contractual obligations, commitments have been made that some players will be starting here,&rdquo; said Watt, shunning the usual line about every job being open.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t pretend to have a magic formula to coaching. I&rsquo;m the coach and responsible to a certain extent for getting the most out of the players. I can set the stage&mdash;through practices and making the players feel comfortable and confident by establishing a general tone&mdash;but it is up to veterans such as Gradin and Brodeur, just to name two, to produce more consistently to their potential.&rdquo;Judging from some of the things Watt has been saying, he plans to use his best players a great deal in much the way Glen Sather does in Edmonton.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;ve got big guns you have to shoot them,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I learned that from Slats (Sather). I mean he plays Gretzky until he falls down.&rdquo;Tolerance of talented players, who are not performing well on the short term, is one of Sather&rsquo;s strong points. Watt picked up on that while helping Sather with the Canada Cup team last year.If he can turn on the likes of Gradin and Patrik Sundstrom to excellent seasons, Watt will have accomplished much in his first year.<div class="sidebar">&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t turn the team around by myself.&rdquo;&mdash;Watt &#9632;</div>

f0011-01

Don’t Expect Coach To Walk On Wat(t)er

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011274/4979505-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="576" height="154"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACK HAWKS</h2>CHICAGO&mdash;Usually it&rsquo;s trouble that comes in threes, but the Chicago Black Hawks are hoping that three is the number to repeat last year&rsquo;s late-season success.From the start of training camp, the Hawks will again be using a three-man coaching staff: General manager Bob Pulford as coach. Roger Neilson as cocoach. and Cliff Koroll as assistant coach.Neilson. 51. is actually the senior member of the troika. Pulford is 49 and Koroll, 38. But since Pulford is the man who signs the checks, he is clearly at the apex of the triangle.The Hawks were 16-7-4 under Pulford after the firing of Orval Tessier last season. And Pulford has made it clear he will not be coach in name only.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re the coach.&rsquo;&rsquo; he has said, &ldquo;you have to be there all the time, every day.&rdquo;Neilson, in his fifth coaching job after tours with Toronto. Buffalo. Vancouver and Los Angeles, says Pulford&rsquo;s determination does not crowd him.&ldquo;I know he feels if you&rsquo;re the coach, you should be there.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to do both jobs (coach and GM) and do all of the things that need to be done.&ldquo;But Pully gets good help from (assistant GM) Jack Davison, so he may feel he can spend a lot of time with the team.&rdquo;There has been no formal plan made to divide coaching responsibilities. Except for Pulford as a constant behind the bench, and Koroll doing some advance scouting, it could turn into one task with three taskmasters.&ldquo;I think he (Pulford) prefers we all do it together.&rdquo; Neilson said &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he likes to delegate out particular things. Maybe we&rsquo;d do it that way at one particular practice, where I might handle one thing and Cliff another.&ldquo;But I agree with that. I think it works better if we&rsquo;re all working together. That way you don&rsquo;t get into a situation where it&rsquo;s my power play, or Pully&rsquo;s power play, or Cliff&rsquo;s power play.&rdquo;As the Hawks made their move toward the Campbell Conference final in the playoffs. Neilson became a regular behind the bench alongside Pulford. That made Koroll the &ldquo;eye in the sky&rdquo;, viewing the game from above, usually with a radio link to the bench.But those roles are likely to alternate during the season.&ldquo;If I had the choice. I&rsquo;d probably feel you can do more from up above.&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;For Cliff and myself, it&rsquo;s better if we shift around a bit. You get a different view. We&rsquo;d probably spend eight or 10 games behind the bench, then go upstairs. It&rsquo;s important to have that different view.&rdquo;Neilson has long been noted for his own different view of coaching techniques, particularly for his painstaking video analysis of games and opponents.Neilson also has his own views on conditioning and training camp procedure. and those have been brought to bear on the Hawks this year.On the first day of camp, after their medical and strength test exams. Hawk players completed either a 20-mile bike ride or a five-mile run.&ldquo;My last year in Vancouver, we did the same thing on Vancouver Island.&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;The players seemed to like it. and it was very successful&rdquo;As with most of Neilson&rsquo;s moves, there is a portion of psychology involved.&ldquo;Obviously, we&rsquo;ve gotten the players thinking about it over the summer.&rsquo;&rsquo; said Neilson. &ldquo;If there were some guys who worked a little extra hard, it&rsquo;ll show up.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021070/4979498-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="1201" height="1341"><figcaption class="caption-body">Another big season from 46-goal scorer Steve Larmer would be a big help to the Black Hawks&rsquo; coaching troika.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0012-01

Hawks’ Coaches Aren’t Looking For Trouble

<div class="byline">Joe Falls</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03721/4979536-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="352" height="457"></div>Thinking out loud:Already I miss Gerry Cheevers.Don Grosso. Joe Carveth and Ebbie Goodfellow gone&mdash;a very sad summer.I&rsquo;m pleased when Paul Coffey scores.Best little player around is Denis Savard.Wonder what Orval Tessier is doing.How come nobody defects to Czechoslovakia?I&rsquo;m a diabetic and I can&rsquo;t believe what Bobby Clarke did as a diabetic.I hope Bob Nystrom has a solid season.Who remembers when the trainers were the backup goalies?Syl Apps is the greatest hockey name of them all.Why doesn&rsquo;t the NHL rack up all of Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s goals and show them on TV one night?I guess we&rsquo;ve got to call Steve Yzerman a veteran this season.I always liked the way Babe Pratt guarded the blueline.I never knew a Mats in my life and now I know two of them. Mats Naslund and Mats Wilander.Sorry, but I like the boomp-boomp-boomp-boomp of the organ.I watch &ldquo;Slapshot&rdquo; at least once every year.Why do I like hockey camps, but not football camps?What would happen if they all played with straight sticks?I don&rsquo;t like advertising on my sideboards.White tape seems to weigh less than black tape.If nothing else. I&rsquo;m doing one column on Larry Robinson this season.I fly an American flag outside my house but I&rsquo;ve got a small Canadian flag on my desk.I still get excited visiting Windsor.Wherever Bill Cowley is, I&rsquo;d love to hear from him.Why do I feel the Washington Capitals are always doomed to lose in the end?How about one more 50-goal season for Marcel Dionne.Why do goalies get so many assists these days?I once saw goalie Chuck Rayner play the point on the power play, pads and all.They must have had 9,000 fights last season, and I can&rsquo;t remember one of them.I&rsquo;m always surprised when they say the ice is choppy, because it always looks smooth to me.Do they use hot water or cold water in the Zamboni?I&rsquo;m amazed when guys can broadcast whole hockey games and never get out of breath.I&rsquo;m picking Edmonton to win the Stanley Cup.I&rsquo;m also picking the Sun to come up in the East.I know this is weird, but I like snow.I hope Toe Blake is happy.What&rsquo;s more exciting than a penalty shot?If they had no red light, how many people would cheer?I hate it when the referee bounces the puck instead of just dropping it on the faceoffs.-I&rsquo;ve got six renditions of &lsquo;&lsquo;O Canada&rsquo;&rsquo; and none of &lsquo;&lsquo;The Star-Spangled Banner.&rdquo;I wonder what that means.I never learned to skate.They couldn&rsquo;t pay me enough to be goal judge.A personal hello to Ron Andrews.Who remembers Buzz Boll?Glen Hall was the best goalie I ever saw.I&rsquo;d like to see one game in Kitchener.I&rsquo;m always amazed when I spell Peter Stastny&rsquo;s name right the first time.If you never saw Yvan Coumoyer, you really missed something.Who was the first to call it &ldquo;sudden death&rdquo;?What is Harold Ballard smiling about? &#9632;

f0012-03

Capitals Bound To Lose In End?

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02889/4979598-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="575" height="161"></div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2>CALGARY&mdash;Players, says Pierre Page, are not the only ones that get labeled in professional hockey. Coaches can. too.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s important to not stay put too long, but to keep moving upwards,&rdquo; said Page. &ldquo;As a player you get categorized and as a coach you get categorized. I made this move with one thing in mind&mdash;to be in the National Hockey League and to win the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;Page&rsquo;s career in the Calgary Flames&rsquo; organization came full circle over the summer when he rejoined the team as an assistant to head coach Bob Johnson.An assistant to former coach Al MacNeil from 1980 to 1982. Page spent the past three seasons coaching the team&rsquo;s No. I minor-league affiliate. Last season, he handled the Moncton Golden Flames, a team that graduated two players, Joel Otto and Gino Cavallini. to the NHL Flames.In the span of his minor-league coaching career. Page helped develop almost half the players on the Flames&rsquo; current roster.&ldquo;It was beneficial for me to be in the Central Hockey League and it was beneficial to be in the American Hockey League.&rdquo; said Page. &ldquo;People told me that, but I didn&rsquo;t realize it at first. It gave me a better outlook on things, but I also knew it was time to make a move. I had a couple of offers, but this was my best option. The way Cliff (Fletcher) treated me. the fact that I know the personnel. I weighed everything and decided to come here.&rdquo;Page cited loyalty plus the chance to do some meaningful coaching as his reponse for staying put with the Flames.&ldquo;What really puzzles me is that only six teams have won the Stanley Cup in the last 21 years,&rdquo; said Page. &ldquo;I read a lot about them and I concluded there was certain loyalty attached to winners.&rdquo;Page replaced Jamie Hislop on Johnson&rsquo;s staff. Hislop retired to pursue interests outside of hockey, likely school teaching.Page&rsquo;s responsibilities will include video work, off-ice conditioning and skating. The only area that hasn&rsquo;t been settled on is who will work the bench with Johnson&mdash;Page or the team&rsquo;s other assistant. Bob Murdoch.&ldquo;He (Johnson) wants me to review the videos for purposes of strategy,&rdquo; said Page. &ldquo;He also wanted me to do the office conditioning over the summer and handle the testing during the season. We&rsquo;ve done so many tests, we have file cabinets full of test results. The key. I think, is to find some more meaningful tests. We will try to test endurance and speed by doing more of it on the ice.&ldquo;Then I&rsquo;ll do some skating work with the guys. You look at it, there are more young players here than in Moncton. Really we have only three veterans&mdash;Lanny McDonald. Doug Risebrough and Paul Baxter. You could add Jim Peplins-ki and Paul Reinhart because they&rsquo;ve been here so long, but they really are still young guys. So I&rsquo;m going to help with their skating and their skill work.&rdquo;Page acknowledged that he eventually would like to be a head coach, but said he is willing to bide his time.&ldquo;I understand what assistant coaching is,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;1 was talking to Scotty Bowman this summer and he said hockey may someday copy football and have both an offensive and a defensive coordinator. No doubt everybody prefers to be a head coach, but I also want to get better.&ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m going to learn from Bob Johnson because he is an innovative and creative coach. I know I&rsquo;m going to learn from Bob Murdoch because he played on winners all his life.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen so many coaches who coach six or eight months or a year in the NHL and then you never hear from them again.&rdquo;Page has worked with almost every player on the Flames&rsquo; existing roster&mdash;either in his previous stint with Calgary or somewhere in the organization&rsquo;s system. He likes the team&rsquo;s potential.&ldquo;When I see the types of leaders we have now&mdash;Risebrough, McDonald, Mike Eaves, Jim Peplinski&mdash;I know they&rsquo;ve got the things every winner requires. I&rsquo;m not in the business just to coach. I want to win the Stanley Cup. I was willing to go somewhere else if there was a strong commitment, but I like what I see here right now.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-02

Pierre Turns Another Page In His Career With Flames

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011199/4979567-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="578" height="155"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2>EDMONTON&mdash;Gilles Meloche was never more than trade bait from the outset.That long-held suspicion was confirmed on Sept. 12 at the NHL&rsquo;s Board of Governors meeting in Toronto.Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; coach-general manager Glen Sather dealt Meloche, the veteran goaltender who was acquired in exchange for collegian Paul Houck from the Minnesota North Stars on May 31, to the Pittsburgh Penguins for minor leaguers Marty McSorley and Tim Hrynewich.Later in the day, Sather signed veteran goalie Mike Palmateer to a one-year, minor-major league contract.Palmateer is undoubtedly ticketed for minor-league duty in Nova Scotia&mdash;the American League farm team Edmonton will share with the Chicago Black Hawks in 1985-86.&ldquo;Palmateer is a very talented player, who seems to have fallen on bad times,&rdquo; said Sather of an injury problem in the 31-year-old&rsquo;s left knee. &ldquo;A year off may have helped. I don&rsquo;t believe a player loses his ability, although he could lose his desire. From what I hear, he wants to play and that&rsquo;s good enough for me.&rdquo;Sather has a long history of reclamation projects. Some have worked out, while others (i.e. Don Murdoch) have not.On the other hand, there&rsquo;s hope McSorley could turn out to be another Kevin McClelland, whom Sather also rescued from Pittsburgh&rsquo;s minor-league system. And if you&rsquo;re looking for a link. McClelland and McSorley were roomates during the third-line Edmonton center&rsquo;s brief career with the Penguins.Nothing was more brief, in terms of playing service, however, than Meloche&rsquo;s stint with the Oilers. Picked up the day after Edmonton won its second Stanley Cup championship, there were hints at the time that the 35-year-old never figured to see the light of 100-watt bulbs inside the Oilers&rsquo; dressing room. Thus, any chatter of a contract dispute made for nothing more than newspaper fish-wrapping material.&ldquo;I saw it as an opportunity to improve our club with people we normally couldn&rsquo;t get.&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;We needed somebody like that. I&rsquo;ve always been interested in McSorley. He&rsquo;s a tough role player who&rsquo;s young (22), plays defense and right wing&hellip;although I don&rsquo;t know if he&rsquo;ll make our team right away.&rdquo;Penguins&rsquo; GM Eddie Johnston said the Oilers can afford to wait. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re in a situation where they can develop a player,&rdquo; said Johnston, admitting he was in dire need of a veteran goaltender. &ldquo;McSorley&rsquo;s a guy who may be able to help that club.&rdquo;McSorley, a 6-foot-l, 210-pounder was engaged in a couple of spirited scraps with the Oilers&rsquo; burly Mark Messier two seasons back. He played only 15 games with the Penguins in 1984-85, logging 58 matches (6 goals, 24 assists, 124 penalty minutes) with Baltimore.&lsquo;&lsquo;It&rsquo;s a pleasant surprise,&rdquo; said McSorley. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m shocked, but I have to admit I am wondering what happened.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not getting ahead of myself,&rdquo; stressed the former Belleville junior. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll just try my hardest to make that club. I&rsquo;ve enjoyed playing againstEdmonton. They&rsquo;ve been fast games where I&rsquo;ve tried to take the man and play the body. It&rsquo;s been adefinite challenge.&rdquo;The scraps with Messier were also most stimulating.&ldquo;I recall those altercations,&rdquo; he said with a chuckle. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve watched Messier play with a lot of enthusiasm, and they came when the game got heated up. I just tried to hold my own against him. That&rsquo;s my game. I play an aggressive style and feel I should take my space to give my team some room.&rdquo;The style is one not uncharacteristic of McClelland.Hrynewich. the other chap in the trade, was the more heralded of the two when they emerged from junior. A Pittsburgh second-round draft in 1982 (38th overall) from the Sudbury Wolves, the 21-year-old left winger was banished last season to Muskegon&mdash;the team owned by former Oiler GM Larry Gordon&mdash;of the International League, where he collected only 10 goals, 13 assists in 30 games.&ldquo;There were an awful lot of expectations of him when he came out of junior,&rdquo; said Sather of the Leamington, Ont., native who has six goals and eight assists in 55 career NHL games over the 1982-83 and &lsquo;83-84 seasons. &ldquo;Then he got hurt and things didn&rsquo;t work out the way people wanted. It&rsquo;s going to be a long start back, but we&rsquo;ll see what happens. We&rsquo;re quite happy with the deal and I also think it&rsquo;s good for Pittsburging They needed a goalie. And, as I&rsquo;ve said all along. Grant (Fuhr) and Andy (Moog) are our goalies.&rdquo;Which also brings up the NHL&rsquo;s waiver draft. Having played just two pro seasons. McSorley and Hrynewich need not be protected. Meloche would surely have been plucked when left open by the Oilers.IN THE CREASE&mdash;Glen Sather said it appears the Oilers will open training camp with only two coaches&mdash;himself and co-coach John Muckle However, he expects a replacement to be named for departed assistant Ted Green &ldquo;within the next two weeks&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-01

Meloche Was Just A Summertime Oiler

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Wayne Gretzky may have saved George Plimpton&rsquo;s coming book Open Net. The original manuscript was based on Plimpton&rsquo;s experiences as practice goalie against Don Cherry&rsquo;s Boston Bruins and was dated enough to make stale reading. Gretzky agreed to go one-on-one with Plimpton&mdash;and did. There were three &ldquo;breakaways&rdquo; altogether. Wayne scored on the first two, BLUELINES has learned, but Plimpton saved on The Great One&rsquo;s last shot. However, the author suspects that Gretzky deliberately shot the puck into his glove. In any event, the Gretzky episode gives the book the current flavor it will need when it goes on sale later in the season. &ldquo;I could have had my eyes closed,&rdquo; says Plimpton of his save on Gretzky. Don Cherry figures heavily in the book as well as another to appear later in the fall&hellip;Dave Maloney&rsquo;s retirement from the Buffalo Sabres had nothing to do, as many suspected, with the benching he received in last spring&rsquo;s playoffs by Scott Bowman. The ex-Rangers&rsquo; captain landed a solid Wall Street job which he loves. But insiders say he&rsquo;d leap back to the NHL if he could play for a club close to the New York metro area.Wheaties breakfast cereal is planning a big hockey promo and has been talking to the Black Hawks. Devils, Islanders and Rangers about involving their players in it&hellip;Although Rangers&rsquo; GM Craig Patrick has been under fire from the Manhattan media for his failure to make big-money moves a la Detroit&rsquo;s Jimmy Devellano, a Patrick Division rival whispers &ldquo;Craig did right not going after Adam Oates and Ray Staszak the way Jimmny D did.&rdquo; The exec tells BLUELINES that more harm than good can come from the disharmony created by the big money spent&hellip;The new King Clancy book is due on the market by Christmas, published by Boston Mills Press.Asked why he opted for a viturally secret, private wedding this summer, rookie Ranger coach Ted Sator tells BLUELINES: &ldquo;1 did it out of respect to the bride (Suzanne, from Sweden). After all, I have to live with her!&rdquo;&hellip;Ever since he signed with the Sabres, Tom Barrasso has been saddled with the rap that his U.S. Olympic teammates disliked him so much they stood up and cheered when Olympic coach Lou Vairo advised them that Barrasso was leaving the club to turn pro. But Vairo tells BLUELINES that the yam was distorted, the players didn&rsquo;t loathe Barrasso and were cheering for another reason. &ldquo;I told the team that Tommy was going to Buffalo,&rdquo; says Vairo, &ldquo;and that Bobby Mason was going to be replacing him. The guys felt that Bobby needed a boost, and he was in the room at the time I made the announcement. So, they got up and gave a big cheer&mdash;but it was for Mason and not a putdown of Barrasso.&rdquo; Hartford Whalers&rsquo; governor Howard Baldwin on the future of hockey in Hamilton: &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll eventually get an NHL team but it&rsquo;ll take a couple of years and it will be an expansion team.&rdquo; The league is not keen on moving a franchise&hellip;Former Flyer Dave Schultz had no offers to return to hockey when he was phoned by Norb Ecksl and asked to become coach-GM of the New York Slapshots, the new Staten Island entry in the Atlantic Coast League. &ldquo;I was working for my brother. Ray,&rdquo; Schultz tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;and hoping to get back into hockey but I never dreamed I&rsquo;d get this opportunity. It&rsquo;s a terrific challenge.&rdquo; The Hammer will keep his Jersey home and commute to Staten Island.The inside scoop from Vancouver is that a few Canucks who think they have jobs locked up are in for a rude awakening. Canucks&rsquo; GM Jack Gordon was tempted to swing a couple of media-satisfying deals but resisted what Canucks&rsquo; people call &ldquo;panic moves&rdquo;&hellip;A couple of Patrick Division scouts finger Rangers&rsquo; defenseman Grant Ledyard for a big year. Last season Ledyard did the yo-yo routine between the minors and the NHL. When he was asked to disclose the most fearsome words he had ever heard, Ledyard shot back. &ldquo;Craig (Patrick) wants to see you!&rdquo;&hellip;Without mentioning him by name, L.A. Kings&rsquo; boss Jerry Buss took a rap at his former ace Charlie Simmer on the USA Network&rsquo;s Stroh&rsquo;s Circle of Sports. Buss cited one &ldquo;bitter experience&rdquo; about when he produced a fat four-year contract for a player who had a brokpn leg and whose future was in question. After two seasons, the player demanded a contract renegotiation.Wayne Gretzky says it&rsquo;s unrealistic to compare his brother Keith&rsquo;s turning pro with his own WHA debut with Indianapolis when Wayne was 17. &ldquo;The team may have expected things of me,&rdquo; says Wayne, &ldquo;but the public didn&rsquo;t. With Keith, the second he gets to the NHL, the team, the media, the fans will be watching his every move.&rdquo; Keith was a third-round choice of the Sabres in June.The Maple Leafs&rsquo; hold on Toronto sports fans is being severely challenged by the pennant-chasing baseball Blue Jays, not to mention the media such as the Toronto Star columnist Jim Proudfoot, who accuses the Leafs&rsquo; high command of paranoia. &ldquo;These people think it&rsquo;s a loaded question when somebody says, &lsquo;How are you?&rsquo;&rdquo; writes Proudfoot&hellip;Despite many plans for razing Boston Garden and replacing it with a new arena, the betting is that BG will remain and benefit from a $325-million renovation program pushed by Lieutenant Governor Thomas P. O&rsquo;Neill III, a venture capitalist and Delaware North, the wealthy outfit that owns the Bruins. O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s clout can be traced to Tip O&rsquo;Neill, majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. Tom&rsquo;s dad. &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY MICHAEL A. BERGER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011252/4979653-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">If hockey is war on ice, then one of the key New York Rangers is Napoleon-sized forward Mark Pavelich.</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Nobody knew it at the time, but head coach Ted Sator offered a sly tip-off about the identity of a future aide-de-camp more than a month before announcing Reg Higgs and Jack Birch had joined the New York Rangers as assistant coaches.&ldquo;These are the kind of guys you go to war with,&rdquo; said Sator, who probably had to suppress a smile over the irony of his own words.Higgs, as it turns out. is more than a hockey coach&mdash;he is an ardent military historian who sees sport as a metaphor for war.&ldquo;I was very hot about military history for two or three years, though my passion has cooled.&rdquo; Higgs explains.&ldquo;What my interest has taught me&mdash;aside from leaving me with a full bag of quotes and sayings (such as.&rsquo;sports is war with rules&rsquo;)&mdash;is to crystallize my ideas, i.e., what my basic tactics will be.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s taught me that different philosophies depend on different resources and to be successful you must determine the nature of your resources. There are a lot of parallels betwen sport and war.&rdquo;A. check of any sports page, says Higgs, will tell you just how appropriate his sports and military analogy is.&ldquo;How many times do you see military terms in the sports section?&rdquo; Higgs asks. &ldquo;(Expressions like) &lsquo;They killed us,&rsquo; or &lsquo;We got bombed&rsquo;. Take Muhammad Ali&rsquo;s &lsquo;float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.&rdquo; Well, that was Chairman Mao&rsquo;s guerilla warfare philosophy.&rdquo;And, to a degree, the three Ranger coaches are themselves a military parallel. with Sator, Birch and Higgs forming a Joint Chiefs of Staff, bridging areas of diversity but. more often, sharing responsibility to make the unit stronger.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re all excited by the challenge,&rdquo; says Higgs, who coached the University of Regina (Sask.) to five Canadian university championships. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m particularly happy because this job leaves me free to do what I do best&mdash;to see the way our team will play on the ice rather than when I was in Canadian university hockey where I was coach and general manager and purchasing agent and promotions man.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll deal with the day-to-day running of the team, along with Ted, and I&rsquo;ll be on the bench during games. I&rsquo;ll.be involved in the pre-scouting (one of Birch&rsquo;s tasks) and I&rsquo;ll also conduct practices with Ted.&ldquo;About the only way we&rsquo;re going to improve,&rdquo; Higgs explains, &ldquo;is to cover all the bases. And we&rsquo;re going to do that in every game until we become a winning team.&rdquo;Certainly the Rangers&rsquo; coaching troika will have to take the resource postulate of Higgs&rsquo; sports-military theorem to heart, especially since the coaches are coming to camp with no pre-conceived notions.&ldquo;We have 20 spots to fill.&rdquo; insists Sator.Apart from his interest in matters military. Higgs has earned a doctorate in educational psychology. But the good doctor dismisses that achievement with a verbal backhand.&ldquo;Forget that doctor stuff, that&rsquo;s ancient history,&rdquo; Higgs is apt to say upon introduction. In fact, the genial Higgs greets even new acquaintances as old friends.Holder of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association&rsquo;s highest coaching certificate, a level five rating, Higgs has also been a talent evaluator for Canadian national team coach Dave King.Birch and Higgs worked with Sator for the better part of a decade at Huron Hockey School in its highly-acclaimed power skating program.Higgs and Sator, we can only assume, aren&rsquo;t worried about firming up their connection with Birch, who last coached at the University of Waterloo (Ont.).They must, however, be hopeful the Rangers don&rsquo;t represent their Waterloo.BROADWAY BITS&mdash;The Rangers have signed three more players, including 19-year-old defenseman Terry Carkner, who nearly made last year&rsquo;s team. Carkner was the Rangers&rsquo; first pick in the 1984 entry draft&hellip;Also signed were Sweden&rsquo;s 6-foot-6, 227-pound Kjell Samuelsson. a defenseman and sixth Ranger pick in 1984, and Finnish center Raimo Helminen. impressive in last year&rsquo;s Ranger camp and the No. 2 pick for New York in 1984. &#9632;

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Sports Metaphor For War In Eves Of N.Y. Assistant

<div class="byline">BY AL STRACHAN</div>Wayne Gretzky powders them. Stan Smyl boils them. Dennis Maruk chops them down and Raymond Bourque drills holes in them.They&rsquo;re hockey sticks&mdash;in theory at least, relatively simple tools of straightforward design. But in the National Hockey League, no single piece of equipment undergoes as much modification as the stick. NHL sticks are like snowflakes. No two are exactly alike.Even before the players go to work on them, there is a great diversity in hockey sticks. The average one, for instance, weighs about 22 ounces, but the one used by Boston&rsquo;s Ken Linseman, among others, weighs only 17 ounces, less than most pool cues. On the other hand, Rick Vaive&rsquo;s custom-made Titan, the heaviest stick in the NHL, weighs about 25 ounces.The average stick is about 55 inches long but that, too, varies. Defensemen like long sticks. Forwards like short sticks. Some short forwards, such as the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; Dennis Maruk, use sticks that aren&rsquo;t much longer than golf clubs.But not every player has a predetermined length for his stick. Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; superstar Wayne Gretzky changes the length of his stick as the season progresses. &ldquo;I use sticks exactly as they come from the factory except that I cut them down a bit,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The longer the season goes, the more I cut off.&ldquo;Earlier in the season, I use a longer stick because you&rsquo;re still a bit out of shape and you&rsquo;re sometimes behind the play a bit. With a longer stick, you can reach a bit further. I gradually cut off a bitmoreasthe season goes on and by the playoffs, I&rsquo;m cutting off about four-and-a-half inches.&rdquo;Gretzky, like most NHL players, uses custom-made sticks. And like most NHL players, he&rsquo;s fussy about what he gets.&ldquo;One time, we sent him some sticks and the guy in the factory had sanded about an eighth of an inch too much off his blade,&rdquo; said John Pagatto, product manager of Titan sticks. &ldquo;He noticed it right away and called me the same day he got them. He said, &lsquo;There&rsquo;s something wrong with my sticks. Can you check on it?&rsquo; I went back to the factory because we always keep one stick after we send them a few dozen. He was right. There was something wrong. An eighth of an inch. He&rsquo;s incredible.&rdquo;But Gretzky is no more fussy than most players.Some of the game&rsquo;s bigger stars are virtually designing not only their own sticks but models which eventually are sold to the public. Such a stick is the one used by Vaive, a prodigious weapon to which other NHL players often refer when the topic of sticks arises. They call it &ldquo;a club&rdquo; or &ldquo;a two-by-four with a blade&rdquo; and it is indeed a monster. But Vaive likes it.&ldquo;He came down to the factory last summer and made his own shaft,&rdquo; said Pagotto. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the heaviest and strongest stick that we make and it&rsquo;s exactly what he wanted.&rdquo;Another player with major input into stick design is Raymond Bourque, Boston Bruins&rsquo; all-star defenseman. Bourque is one the league&rsquo;s &ldquo;heavy hitters&rdquo;&mdash;one of the hardest shooters in the NHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011181/4979684-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="765" height="2029"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky starts the season with a long stick and works his way to a shorter one.</figcaption></div>From time to time, his stick would literally shatter from the force he applied to the puck. The stick didn&rsquo;t break in the accepted sense of the word&mdash;no part of the stick flew off&mdash;but the shaft would splinter vertically in a number of places.Bourque and Sher-wood got together to solve the problem and the result was a stick with the fiberglass inside the shaft rather than outside of it.&ldquo;Now they don&rsquo;t break as often but if they do break, they don&rsquo;t shatter,&rdquo; said Bourque. This is remarkable, especially considering the fact that in order to cut air resistance, Bourque occasionally drills holes in them, a practice that would cause an old stick to disintegrate with its first shot.Although drilling holes is unusual, many players modify their sticks. Long before a game, when even the ushers are still home, players are often to be found under the stands, dressed only in the cutoff long Johns they wear during games, working away on their sticks like gnomes in a fairy tale.Many home workshops aren&rsquo;t as well equipped for carpentry as the average NHL team with its hacksaws, planes, files, vices and, even, blowtorches.NHL players couldn&rsquo;t live without blowtorches. They&rsquo;ll burn the blade of the stick to disguise the fact that there&rsquo;s no tape there.Some players use tape only on the part of a blade where they&rsquo;re likely to take a pass becuase the tape acts as a cushion. In the area of the blade that is used for actually shooting the puck, they don&rsquo;t want anything to soften the impact of stick on puck.But the players know that a black puck coming off a black background is a little harder for the goalie to spot than a black puck coming off a light background, so some of them burn the fiberglass coat on the blade until it turns black.One prominent NHLer who uses no tape at all on his stick is the Boston Bruins&rsquo; Rick Middleton. Rick Lanz of the Vancouver Canucks tried to emulate him but then-coach Harry Neale broke one of hockey&rsquo;s cardinal rules and told Lanz to use tape.Usually, coaches allow a player to modify his stick to his own taste. &ldquo;Sticks are like wives,&rdquo; explained Neale. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t tell a guy what to do with either one of them.&rdquo;But in Lanz&rsquo;s case, Neale made an ex-eception. &ldquo;He was fumbling a lot of passes so I thought he should have some tape on his stick,&rdquo; he said.Not long ago, many players used the blowtorch to heat the stick so that they could bend the blade&mdash;sometimes past the legal limit. That practice is going out of style.For one thing, some of the newer sticks can&rsquo;t be re-bent because of the construction. As soon as you start adding heat to the blade, you destroy the technical features of it. For another thing, when the blades of some brands are heated with a torch, they tend to become brittle.Also, NHL officials have caught on to a little trick the players once used to get themselves an illegal curve. By using the torch to bend the stick at the heel, they moved the whole blade off center in relation to the shaft.Then, when a measurement was done, the blade didn&rsquo;t have an excessive curve because the measurement was taken from the shaft. The system of measurement was changed but even so, some players still customize their sticks in that fashion simply because they like it.However, many of today&rsquo;s NHL players modify the curve in their sticks using a hydrocolator, basically a self-contained boiler. They pop the sticks into the hydrocolator, and 15 minutes later, the sticks are pliable. Then, pressing the stick on the floor and using one foot for shaping, the players create the kind of curve they want.Some players, like the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; Willy Lindstrom, shave three sides of the shaft. Other players, like the Chicago Black Hawks&rsquo; Doug Wilson, shave only about a foot or so on the heel of the stick. Vancouver captain Stan Smyl, an inveterate stick modifier, says, tapping his head, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all up here, I guess.&rdquo;The stick manufacturers shudder at the thought of a player shaving off the protective layers of fiberglass that they so assiduously and scientifically apply. But the players do it anyway, some because they always did and some because they think it produces a better grip.Some players say that fiberglass can become slippery as a game progresses whereas bare wood won&rsquo;t.Naturally, this is only a concern for the lower hand. The upper hand won&rsquo;t slip because all players apply tape at the butt end. Some players don&rsquo;t have any problem with the lower hand slipping. Others overcome it by burning the shaft with the torch. Others&mdash;although very few in hockey today&mdash;put tape on the shaft.Like the stick itself, the manner in which it is taped varies greatly from player to player. Some Swedish players use a special green tape with an improved coefficient of friction which they bring from Sweden. Some players use tape which matches the team colors&mdash;Edmonton&rsquo;s Lee Fogolin, for instance, uses blue tape and a few Calgary Flames use red tape.During the &lsquo;70s, a lot of players used white tape for the simple reason that Bobby Orr used white tape. Now most players have gone back to the plain old black tape which they refer to as &ldquo;Gordie Howe,&rdquo; because of the era with which they associate the tape. When an NHL player shouts for &ldquo;a roll of Gordie Howe,&rdquo; everyone knows what he means.Gretzky applies black tape on his stick blade, then pats it with baby powder which gives it a gray appearance.&ldquo;There are two reasons I do that,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;One is superstition. I like to have powder on my stick. The second reason is thatthe powderwill stop loose ice sticking to the stick so you don&rsquo;t have to knock the snow off the stick or worry about it affecting the puck.&rdquo;Some players like to use a double layer of tape at the butt end, a first layer with the tape twisted, covered by an upper layer with the tape flat. Maruk probably uses more tape on the butt end than anyone else in the league.By the time he&rsquo;s finished building up tape, the end of his stick looks like an ice-cream cone. Other players&mdash;more each year&mdash;simply use one layer to provide a grip. One reason for this is that a lot of players, especially forwards, slip their hand up over the end of the stick when they shoot. The more tape there is on the end of the stick, the more difficult this practice becomes.A couple of years ago, no one in the NHL took as much care modifying his stick as Kent Nilsson of the Minnesota North Stars. But no more. Nilsson has reformed.&ldquo;I was doing so many things with my stick that I talked to a psychologist in Sweden about it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I asked him why I had this urge to do so many things to my stick. He told me I should concentrate on other aspects of the game and that I was doing all those things to my stick instead of concentrating on my game.&ldquo;If anything went wrong, I could blame it on my stick instead of on myself. It gave me a good excuse. Now I just tape it and Play.&rdquo;There aren&rsquo;t many players in the league who can say that. &#9632;

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NHL Plavers Sticklers About Their Sticks

New in the Canadien stick line for 1985 is the redesigned 7001 and the introduction of the 6060 model.The 7001 features a new stiffer and lighter handle. This handle is constructed of a solid light wood core reinforced by fiberglass and graphite on both sides of the core. The blade of the 7001 is a 12-Lam construction of ash reinforced by fiberglass and epoxy resins, the blade is an 11&rdquo; pro style with a gradual &frac12;&rdquo; curve. Available in lefts and rights, lies 5 and 6.A new model to the Canadien line for 1985 is the 6060. This model features a handle constructed of a solid light wood core, strengthened by layers of fiberglass and covered by thin layers of wood veneer. This handle offers the stiffness and strength of Canadien&rsquo;s fiberglass models with the feel of wood. The blade is made of top quality ash with a full fiberglass sock wrap to protect against premature heel breakage. Available in lefts and rights, lies 5 and 6.Canadien also offers other models to fit all categories of hockey players including the reputable 6001 model. &#9632;

CANADIEN

Koho&rsquo;s 1985 stick line features the new lineup of XL sticks.The XL line consists of three models, the XLS, XL PRO and the XL PRO JR. All three models feature new construction features, rectangular handles, new blade construction, and new cosmetics.The XLS (available in Canada only) features a construction of fiberglass, carbon fiber and fiberglass resins for the handle and a completely new blade construction. The &ldquo;PROFEEL 2000&rdquo; blade features three layers of fiberglass, reinforced by three layers of fiberglass, reinforced by three layers of wood veneers on either side. A final layer of fiberglass is applied to the outside of the blade to create a very thin, stiff pro style blade.The XL PRO uses the same handle as the XLS with the &ldquo;PROFEEL&rdquo; blade.This version features a solid ABS core, reinforced by wood veneers on both sides. This combination provides excellent durability.The XL PRO JR has a fiberglass handle with an ABS, fiberglass reinforced blade. The key with this model is both the durability and size for junior players in the 9-15-year-old range.Koho has also introduced a new goalie stick, the 230. This model features the use of Kevlar on the blade which increases durability greatly. Graphite is used on the block to increase strength and rigidity. &#9632;

KOHO

The introduction last year of the GIP-GRIP angular hockey stick handle to the hockey equipment market left inventor-patent-holder, Jerry Gibbons, with the question&mdash;Will the GIP-GRIP work for anybody?&ldquo;It works tor me and my five brothers,&rdquo; says IBM computer professional Gibbons. &ldquo;Generally, we&rsquo;ve found that the better your shot is to begin with, the more the GIP-GRIP will improve it. And it improves stick-handling for everybody.&rdquo; Says one North Dakota coach who supplied his team with GIP-GRIPs before a post-season tournament, &ldquo;About 60% of my players really like it and used it well. We went on to the best finish our city ever had at the State Tournament. We finished second overall&hellip;&rdquo; Says one Karlskoga, Sweden coach, &ldquo;The effect amazes me! Such a simple concept, and it works.&rdquo;The secret: The GIP-GRIP allows the player to twist the shaft of the stick with the normally static upper hand during the follow-through of the shot. The result: Efficient, more powerful shots. But, will it help you? There is only one way to find out&hellip;. &#9632;

GIP-GRIP

We don&rsquo;t have to inform you continually hockey equipment purchases can add up to an expensive proposition. If you are a goaltender or someone who buys equipment for a goaltender, it is especially so. The goal-stick Protector&reg; was developed with escalating costs in mind. It doesn&rsquo;t matter whether you go through three or three dozen goal-sticks during a season&mdash;the goal-stick Protector&rdquo; will greatly reduce your stick expenditures.The goal-stick Protector&reg; is a reusable, long-lasting, flexible sleeve designed to snugly accommodate the blade, lie and lower shaft of any goalstick. The protective shield prolongs goal-stick life by substantially reducing stick cracking and chipping and eliminating heel wear and subsequent moisture penetration which weakens wood fibres. In fact, the shock absorbing properties of the protective cover are so effective, cracked sticks continue to perform like new.Best of all, these results are achieved without altering rebound characteristics and because the Protector is extremely light, stick handling capability is not impaired. As a result, goaltenders can continue to perform at their very best during game and practice situations. To obtain more information regarding the goal-stick Protector please refer to our accompanying ad on this page for instructions. &#9632;

PROFIT

Wells Hill Sports Group Inc., the North American importer and distributor of Torspo Hockey Sticks, would like to introduce you to the world&rsquo;s lightest wooden hockey stick.Three years of intensive research into trying to find the right combinations of wood and fibreglass have culminated in a superior hockey stick. This stick offers a combination of incredible lightness, excellent durability and unsurpassed feeling. The feeling of the Torspo Ultra will sell itself. &#9632;

TORSPO

Custom Radius Corporation of Topsfield, MA has added to its list of credits by being named the official supplier of skate care equipment for the recently held National Sports Festival at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This highly publicized multi-sports production included numerous skating events and BLADEMASTER skate care equipment was used exclusively to service athletes at the Centroplex Arena.&ldquo;The Custom Radius System of balancing and shaping hockey skates is more widely used now than at any time in its 15 year history&rdquo; states Don Humphreys of Custom Radius Corporation. &ldquo;National teams have increased their utilizaton of this patented system and many, many rinks and pro shops are installing it in answer to customer&rsquo;s demands.&rdquo;Custom Radius is the only professional technology for radiusing, balancing and sharpening hockey blades to the exact requirements of the individual skater. It enables a correct blade profile to be repeated perfectly through all subsequent sharpenings.The Custom Radius System traces standard hockey radii from precision templates attached to the sharpener table top. It transfers this radius onto a blade held firmly in the Radiuser clamp. Simultaneously the skater&rsquo;s desired balance point on ice is established on the blade thru preselection of one of 17 different dial settings. The Radiuser can be used on both the roughing and finishing wheels. It is precision machined of finest materials to assure trouble-free operation.One of the many developments offered by TSM for the coming season is the &ldquo;Patch Kit.&rdquo; This is a hardware modification that is compatible with any 800/820 series sharpener and provides expanded range of hollow grind radii from 1/2&rdquo; to 41/2&rdquo;,.For further information contact Arwal 82, 2459 Dixie Road, Mississauga, Ontario, L4Y 2A1.<h2>PRO ULTRA</h2>The name Ultra best describes the features of this model. Torspo developed the Ultra with three requirements in mind:1. The Ultra had to be extremely light.2. It had to be extremely durable.3. It had to have tremendous &ldquo;feel.&rdquo;We succeeded in every way. The Ultra is the lightest wooden stick on the market today, weighing as little as 19 ounces. It is extremely durable, yet allows the player to feel the puck and have superb control.The Ultra uses a new type of light weight wood core in the shaft. This special core is what makes the stick so incredibly light. On either side of the core are 11 veneer laminations which control the stiffness and durability of the shaft.The blade of the Torspo Ultra consists of nine laminations, five of wood and four of fibreglass, with the fibreglass lams set inside the blade (not just wrapped), resulting in the most durable blade in hockey today.<h2>PRO 500 (OUR LARGEST VOLUME STICK)</h2>The Pro 500 is the most popular stick in Europe today, used by most Elite and First Division teams. This is the stick that is used by Mats Naslund and current National Hockey League players who use Torspo. The Pro 500 has a nine-lam blade (five lams fibreglass, four lams birch). The shaft is a box-lam construction with a laminated birch core and 11 birch laminated veneers on each side of the core. This is a light durable stick that gives optimum qualities for its value. &#9632;

CUSTOM RADIUS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01953/4979866-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02720/4979859-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="1565" height="3505"></div> &#9632;

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HOCKEY STICK ANALYSIS

Since its founding in 1977, Micron has been an industry leader in the use of modern materials and manufacturing techniques.From the first generation skates molded of polyurethane and hinged together in two pieces, the Micron skate has been evolved and developed continuously.Newer, more sophisticated materials have been developed that give outstanding flexibility and &ldquo;feel.&rdquo; Designs have been refined and sculpted to create sleeker, more aerodynamic shapes and manufacturing techniques have been brought to a level of sophistication unmatched in the skate industry.The most current designs being offered include a totally new concept called &ldquo;Medalic&rdquo; Series. These Hi Tech skates have been designed to use the best possible materials for each area of the foot and to yield the maximum performance.The lower sections are molded in a one-piece &ldquo;unibody&rdquo; technique to give unparalleled durability, lightness and protection to the highly vulnerable toes and forefoot area. The uppers are crafted by hand of the best quality top grain leathers for excellent suppleness and control. And joining the two sections is a semifloating device called the &ldquo;Constant Flex Control Panel&rdquo; that maintains an exact degree of flexibility, never softening or breaking down. The interior of the skate is lined with soft leathers, backed up by strategically placed foam pads and shock absorbing linings. The Medalic Series is available in a full range of junior and senior sizes in the &ldquo;Gold&rdquo; and &ldquo;Silver&rdquo; models.The Quadraflex Model provided by Micron is the ultimate development of the two-piece molded concept first introduced some 10 years ago. This skate does not bear much resemblance, however, to those original models and anyone who has not tried a pair of molded skates in a number of years has a real treat in store once a pair of Micron Quadraflex are laced on.These skates are super light, offer outstanding protection, and are extremely flexible. They have a removable inner lining of foam and brushed nylon so they can be dried out between uses. The Quadraflex is currently being worn by a dozen pros who either are not aware or don&rsquo;t care that it is considered a medium priced skate with a typical retail price of just over $100.00.In addition to designing and manufacturing state of the art products for all levels of forwards and defensemen, the Micron company has developed a line of goalie skates that virtually dominates professional ranks. Over 80 per cent of all goalies in the professional leagues find the Micron Master Goalie Skate gives them tremendous protection as well as the comfort and performance they demand. Micron also makes an M-1 Goalie Skate&mdash;both models being available in a full range of sizes.<h2>MEDAFIT&reg; SYSTEM</h2>In recent years modern technology and new materials has revolutionized the sport of hockey. Molded blade supports and skates, synthetic hockey sticks and recently the introduction of the Micron Medafit&reg; system are some of these.The Medafit&reg; system is a method of fitting skates to the exact size and shape of an individual&rsquo;s feet. &ldquo;Custom-fit&rdquo; skates used to be a luxury only available to the elite hockey player. In 1985 Micron has selected 200 specialty hockey dealers throughout North America to introduce the Medafit&reg; system.People&rsquo;s feet often do not conform to the standard sizing to today&rsquo;s skates. Wide feet, flat feet and feet with other differences such as bunions and bone spurs, etc. can now be fitted in the store using the Medafit&reg; system. The system can be used on any Micron or Lange model skates for men and women. &#9632;

MICRON

How many hockey parents out there have had the garage door, or the side of the house destroyed by flying pucks? Hold your hand high, I want an honest count. How many parents have watched their young hockey players annihilate stick after stick practicing their shot, or had to listen to the clang of a puck hitting a hubcap? Are you running out of targets to kill, platforms to wax, street hockey nets to repair?If you are like the average hockey parent, you probably would do anything to find a way for your child to practice shooting on simulated ice while keeping the destruction derby to a minimum.Eli Woronets doesn&rsquo;t look like a messiah or guru, but he may be both to hockey parents, coaches and players. Woronets invented and developed a product known as Hot-Ice that he guarantees will improve shooting skills while saving the user money on sticks and garage repair bills.&ldquo;Hot-Ice retails for $59.95,&rdquo; says the inventor from La Mirada, CA. &ldquo;It should last a minimum of five years under normal use (normal use is considered to be 200 shots a day). We have proved that Hot-Ice is less destructive to a stick than regular ice.&rdquo;The Hot-Ice Pro Model shooting platform measures 48 inches by 24 inches and has low friction, high impact and is pro tested. Dave Peterson, one of Minnesota&rsquo;s top prep coaches and a member of the US National Team coaching staff last season, calls Hot-Ice the &ldquo;Cadillac of shooting platforms.&rdquo;Lou Vairo, when he was USA Hockey Team head coach, used Hot-Ice for dryland training with the team. &ldquo;This is the greatest thing to happen to off-ice training,&rdquo; Vairo said. &ldquo;I highly recommend it as a very valuable investment for programs, teams and individuals. It&rsquo;s a sure way to improve and perfect shooting techniques at a low cost.&rdquo;The Los Angeles Kings, on the recommendation of Mike Murphy, purchased the platform along with the free standing backstop, net and goalie target. The net is a regulation hockey net and mounted on the crossbar is a heavy plastic platform with a picture of a goaltender imposed on it. The goalie leaves the shooter narrow openings top to bottom on both sides. The price for the net is $295, while the standing backstop, measuring 10 feet by 15 feet, is $225. The entire apparatus may be purchased for $559.95.&ldquo;It saves a lot of garage doors,&rdquo; laughs Woronets. &ldquo;This platform and/or the net combination is guaranteed to improve the shooting skills, the passing skills and the confidence level of all hockey players.When the Kings purchased the first net and goalie, the players gave the target a beating. However, Woronets made a stronger version when Kings General Manager, Rogie Vachon, bought a second one, which is holding up admirably. Many hockey camps are showing interest in the Hot-Ice, and it went over with a bang at fairs, which were organized by Steve and Jeff Jensen of Bloomington, in Minnesota this past summer.Woronets has a patent pending in the United States and Canada and is currently preparing a patent application in the European Common Market Nations, including Japan. &#9632;

HOT-ICE

Victoriaville is one of the oldest and best known manufacturer of hockey sticks in Canada. During the last four years, Victoriaville has undergone significant changes in its operations in order to meet the everincreasing demands of the consumer.Recently, Vic&rsquo;s emphasis has been on research and development in order to produce a high quality stick that meets, on a continuing basis, the sophisticated requirements demanded by today&rsquo;s market. This has resulted in the optimum combination of stiffness, weight, balance and feel, with balance being the key to the ultimate stick. Further investments have been made in the plant in order to achieve a uniformly high quality product.The confidence in the Victoriaville stick line is evidenced by the-fact that over 80 pros in the NHL and over 100 pros in the AHL presently use Victoriaville. A comprehensive player endorsement program features top players such as the Stastny brothers, Bryan Trottier, Gilbert Perreault, Pierre Mondou, Chico Resch and Bobby Carpenter. Various pro patterns such as the Stastny&rsquo;s, Mondou&rsquo;s, and Perreault&rsquo;s are available to the consumer as part of the Vic line.The Super Vic and Super Vic junior models, recently newto the line, have blades of laminated ash with carbon fibres running the length of the blade. This is then covered with a sock wrap for added strength and stiffness. The shaft features a fiberglass layer on the both sides covered with laminations. Both models are silver in color with black graphics.A change from the traditional design of hockey goaltenders&rsquo; sticks, the new Super Vic Curtis curve and the Super Vic Curtis curve junior will be manufactured exclusively by Victoriaville in &lsquo;85. The curved end of this new stick provides better leverage when using two hands to handlethe puck. It is silver with black graphics.Features include:&bull; The curve in the handle allows for quick and easy pick-up of the stick on the ice.&bull; The upper curvature of the shaft clears the post and crossbar of the net more easily.&bull; The blade is protected with a sock wrap using both fiberglass and carbon fibres.&bull; The stick shoots better and handles easier, more like a regular player&rsquo;s stick.&bull; Allows for greater control because of the lining up effect of the shaft with the heel of the stick. &#9632;

VICTORIAVILLE

During the 1984-85 National Hockey League season, four players, Wayne Gretzky, Mike Bossy, Michel Goulet and Mike Gartner, scored 50 or more goals using a Titan hockey stick.What is more significant is that three of them, Bossy, Goulet and Gartner, achieved their feats with Titan&rsquo;s new generation stick&mdash;the Titan Turbo.It was Gartner&rsquo;s first ever 50-goal season in the NHL and the first year that he has used the Turbo. Approximately 15 players used the Turbo this past season with exciting results&mdash;breakage was reduced drastically because the number of sticks actually being used was cut down, in some cases by more than half. Facts such as this gives theTurbo credibility not only in the way it performs, but also in the durability of the new generation hockey stick.The TPM4000 carbon graphite shaft is designed for maximum stiffness and lightness. It is because of these qualities that this model has become a favorite among NHL players. The TPM2020 pro patterns are made to the exact specifications as the models used by the pros. These models include M. Bossy, M. O&rsquo;Connell, R. Vaive, and L. McDonald in right handed shots&mdash;and W. Gretzky, M. Goulet, T. Tanti and R. Langway in left.The TPM2020 pro pattern is designed to permit a greater selection in curvatures and blade shapes for the hockey player.For 1985, Titan has introduced the TSM1001. This model combines a lightweight fiberglass shaft and our patented Karlam ABS plus plade. This blade is reinforced at the junction of the blade and shaft by a special fiberglass wrap to add torsional strength. This model is currently used by rookie sensation Mario Lemieux. The TSM1001 has exciting bold graphics involving three different colours. This stick is well balanced, light and has a superb feel yet is very durable.The TMS52 is the new junior stick for 1985&mdash;with similar graphics as the Turbo. The TMS52, meaning Titan Mid Size 52-inch, is to suit the needs of the young hockey player who has outgrown the TPM2020 junior, and is still too small to use a senior model. Both the blade and shaft are scaled down to make sure that the stick is perfectly balanced.The Turbo junior goaler-stick is the most innovative on the market. This model has a birch laminated shaft with a foam injected blade reinforced with fiberglass. This stick will outlast any conventional wood and fiberglass junior goalerstick. Over the summer, Titan has had great response from hockey schools concerning the durability and performance of the Titan Turbo junior goalerstick. &#9632;

TITAN

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01611/4980017-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"></div>BAUER&rsquo;S leadership in the skate industry has been determined by two major factors. A commitment to produce the best skates money can buy, and to produce a skate that is technologically superior to its competitors to provide for the ultimate in fit and performance.No other skate company has invested as much time and effort studying the principles involved in bio-mechanics and proper fit.A player&rsquo;s performance can be directly related to how well the individual&rsquo;s skates fit. BAUER&rsquo;S design experts incorporate proper fitting principles into every pair of BAUER skates which results in improved performance on the ice.BAUER&rsquo;S commitment to proper fit doesn&rsquo;t end with the finished product. BAUER was the first company to introduce extensive dealer product knowledge seminars to help retailers better understand BAUER skates and the importance of good fit. This informaton is also available to the consumer by reading the BAUER Product Knowledge and Information Guide supplied in every pair of Bauer Supremes and available in displays at your local BAUER dealer.The flagship of the BAUER brand is the Supreme Custom 100. Designed for the ultimate in fit, performance and comfort, the Supreme Custom 100 continues to set the standards for the professional hockey skate.Features exclusive to the tradition of the Supreme Custom 100 are the Superfeet &reg; anatomical footbed system and the Flolite &reg; ankle padding system. Both features have been designed and patented to provide for the ultimate in fit and performance.The Superfeet footbed system has been designed on the same bio-mechanical principles found in Orthodics and is made to fit the exact profile of the inside bottom of the skate boot. The Superfeet footbed has a deforming slot system that encourages proper alignment of the skater&rsquo;s foot by correctly distributing the skater&rsquo;s body weight along the axis of the blade. The well defined heel cup absorbs shock, ideally positons the heel and generates the steering mechanism that controls the foot.The Flolite ankle pads fit anatomically behind the ankle bones, carefully positioned on either side of the achilles tendon. When the skates are laced up and fitted properly, the rigid, anatomically positioned supports holds the rear ankle area firmly, without limiting its versatility to adapt to different individual&rsquo;s ankle bones. Flolite ankle padding eliminates the traditional breaking-in period in the ankle area. Immediately after the skates have been laced, Flolite begins to flow around the ankle and rear foot area conforming to the exact shape of the foot. This ensures a comfortable custom fit with no pressure points.Handcrafted on the All Pro last, the Supreme Custom 100 also features an exclusive ballistic nylon on the quarters and covered toe, premium quality full grain leather trim and lining, double stitching for extra strength, rust resistant eyelets, and the &ldquo;Custom Pro&rdquo; tongue with a 5/16&rdquo; wool lining and moulded tongue insert to prevent lace bite.Fit and performance are why more professional hockey players wear Bauer Supremes than any other brand of skates in the world.1985 also marks the fifth anniversary of the Supreme Custom 100 introduction and to com-4 memorate this, BAUER has prepared an exciting brochure entitled &ldquo;Skate Of The Art&rdquo; which is available to read at your local BAUER Supreme Custom 100 dealer.With this commitment of producing proper fitting, quality products, BAUER offers a complete product range to satisfy the skating needs. &#9632;

f0024-01

Bauer

After eight years of research and testing, we have finally perfected the best training device on the market today for hockey players.We have worked with players from 6 years old on up, from beginners to very experienced veterans. The whole idea was to make the &ldquo;Wonder Weight&rdquo; adaptable to everyone.Sporting Goods Research Inc. is now offering this new product to the public so every hockey player can play to the best of their own ability.The &ldquo;Wonder Weight&rsquo;&rsquo; is an easily removable pouch-like device that attaches to the shaft of any stick. The pouch contains separate weights so they can be interchanged making the stick heavier or lighter, depending on the strength of the individual.In recent years the game of hockey has changed, putting more emphasis on speed, quickness and agility. The &ldquo;Wonder Weight&rdquo; can be used while skating, stickhandling, during faceoffs and shooting.The concept of the &ldquo;Wonder Weight&rdquo; is to have your stick feel heavier while you&rsquo;re going through your normal practice drills. By using it, you will increase your strength. One of the most important features of the &ldquo;Wonder Weight&rdquo; is the use of it during pre-game warmups. When you remove the weight, your stick will feel lighter, enabling you to win more face-offs, pass quicker, stickhandle faster, and most of all, shoot harder and quicker.The &ldquo;Wonder Weight&rdquo; is made of a stretchable type material making the device easily moved up and down the shaft of the stick. It will also adapt to any brand of stick that you are using.The weight will not move once it is in place. The weight can be used for ball or street hockey and when you&rsquo;re done, it will fit in your pocket.The &ldquo;Wonder Weight&rdquo; is an inexpensive training device which is transferable from stick to stick and should provide years of service. The added feature of being able to increase the weight as you progress permits use from pee wee league to professional. A one time expense for years of use: Don&rsquo;t be the only one on your team without one!To all hockey players:I have spent many years perfecting the &ldquo;Wonder Weight,&rdquo; trying to maintain the maximum performance for you and yet keep the cost down. If you want to play hockey to the best of your ability, you owe it to yourself to try my&ldquo;Wonder Weight.&rdquo; If it does not improve your strength, passing, stickhandling, shooting etc., I will gladly refund your money in full. That&rsquo;s a promise!&rdquo;Sincerely,Scott Wilson, President Sporting Goods Research Inc. &#9632;

WONDER WEIGHT

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01565/4980072-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="226" height="250"></div><h2>MONTREAL HOCKEY STICKS</h2>O.Y. Montreal-Sport of Finland has excelled in the development of hockey stick blades for the past 20 years. Now a new blade of nine alternating laminations of fiberglass and Birch is incorporated into the 66HMP model which features a birch fiberglass reinforced handle.The seven LAM fiberglass birch blade that has acquired Montreal a reputation for &ldquo;feel,&rdquo; durability and resilience, continues to be utilized in the popular 33, 44 and 55 model series.The new 55HMP features a handle of Finnish birch with multidirectional fiberglass reinforced laminations.<h2>TACKLA HOCKEY PANTS</h2>The popularity of Tackla hockey pants continues to rise due to word of mouth endorsement at all levels by players who wear them. Innovative design and materials have established Tackla as the leader in development of superior protection with maximum comfort, minimum weight, and perfect fit. Overlapping panels create a &ldquo;protective armour&rdquo; within the pant and disperse impact unlike pads that are drawn/pulled tight against the body as in the girdle designs.The Pro 2000 has been and continues to be Tackla&rsquo;s leading seller for over half a decade. It is from this original design that the Pro 3000 worn by many NHL, National, and top college teams evolved. Now a new Pro 5000 model features a zip-off removable outer shell. Construction of the Pro 5000 is similar to the currently NHL proven and accepted 3000 model.The junior 1000 is identical to the popular 2000 only on a smaller scale. Both models are widely sold in short and long convertible styles.The &ldquo;Keeper&rdquo; is Tackla&rsquo;s goalie pant and has additional protection in the inner thigh as well as a floating knee protector.It is recommended that Tackla pants be worn with a belt to secure the pants at the hips, insuring placement of protection where it is needed.Six adult sizes provide a perfect fit for waist sizes 30&rdquo; through 40&rdquo;.Although designed for top calibre players many casual players in the injury conscious over-30 group favour Tackla&rsquo;s.<h2>PALLAS PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT</h2>Pallas represents the ultimate in protective hockey equipment. Top players and medical experts are involved in the research and development of Pallas Hockey Products.Five years ago Pallas introduced the anatomic shin guard. As Europe&rsquo;s leader in protective product development Pallas&rsquo; futuristic features include a unique collar roll on the 125 F/D shoulder pads for collarbone protection, and skate-proof inserts in the 115 F/D anatomic shin guards, knee and calf wings.Pallas retains a major share of the European market with a complete product line, which has only recently been intro&rsquo; duced into North America.Montreal Hockey Co. of Stamford, CT, and Finnsport Canada of Whitby, Ont. import and distribute Tackla, Montreal and Pallas products exclusively in the U.S. and Canada respectively. Both im porters market all produce through hockey specialty stores. &#9632;

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MONTREAL

<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01533/4980103-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="142" height="105"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Over 130 specialty sports stores across Canada<h2>ALBERTA</h2>CALGARYTuxedo Cycle & SportsCARDSTONThe Pro ShopEDMONTONNorth Star Sporting GoodsEDSONRon&rsquo;s Outdoor SupplyGRANDE PRAIRIEKen Head&rsquo;s Sports WorldMEDICINE HATBlack&rsquo;s Sport CentreOKOTOK&rsquo;SOkotok&rsquo;s Sports CentrePEACE RIVERDowntown Sport Shop LimitedRED DEERRed Deer Sports WorldSLAVE LAKEKryskow Sports & Specialties<h2>BRITISH COLUMBIA</h2>BURNS LAKESparky&rsquo;s Sport ShopCAMPBELL RIVERAction SportsCHILLIWACKCheam Sports & RecreationCLEARBROOKClearbrook Sporting GoodsCOQUITLAMWillis Sporting Goods LimitedDAWSON CREEKTommy&rsquo;s Sports CenterFORT ST. JOHNLad&rsquo;s Sport Plaza LimitedGOLDENSelkirk SportsKAMLOOPSJardine&rsquo;s Sport Shop LimitedNational Sport MartKELOWNAVillage Sports Den LimitedNANAIMODiscosportsSMITHERSOscar&rsquo;s Sporting GoodsTERRACEAll Seasons Sporting GoodsVANCOUVERIvor Williams Sporting GoodsSkyline Sports CentreVERNONSun Valley Sports Limited<h2>MANITOBA</h2>BRANDONCurly MacKay & SonsPORTAGE LA PRAIRIEKeystone Sporting Goods(Portage) LimitedSELKIRKKeystone Sporting Goods LimitedWINNIPEGBaldy Northcott Sports<h2>NEW BRUNSWICK</h2>FREDERICTONMacTavish for Sports LimitedMONCTONKing Sports LimitedROTHESAYKennebacasis Sports<h2>NEWFOUNDLAND</h2>GRAND BANKG&A Buffett LimitedST. JOHN&rsquo;SThe Sports Shop<h2>NOVA SCOTIA</h2>BRIDGEWATERCleve&rsquo;s Sporting Goods LimitedHALIFAXCleve&rsquo;s Sporting Goods LimitedKENTVILLEKentville Sport Shop LimitedSYDNEY RIVERRudderham&rsquo;s Sport Shop<h2>ONTARIO</h2>BRAMPTONVivian&rsquo;s Sporting GoodsBRANTFORDAvery&rsquo;s Sports Centre LimitedCAMBRIDGEGriffith&rsquo;s Sports CentreCHATHAMSportmartCOCHRANECochrane Sports & MarineCORNWALLDalbec Cycle & Sporting GoodsDRYDENBarrett SportsDUNDASLitzen&rsquo;s Sports LimitedELMIRACentral Bicycle ShopELLIOT LAKEJoe Sarich Sporting GoodsESSEXEssex Sports Equipment LimitedEXETERJerry MacLean & SonFORT ERIEDoug & Tom Reid SportsGEORGETOWNNorth Halton SportsHAMILTONHumes Family Sports StoreHUNTSVILLEBlair McCann&rsquo;sKINGSTONAlford&rsquo;s Sporting GoodsKIRKLAND LAKESports WorldLEAMINGTONLeamington Sporting GoodsLONDONEast London SportsMILTONCorbett&rsquo;s Sports LimitedNIAGARA FALLSStamford SportsNORTH BAYRichardson&rsquo;s LimitedOAKVILLECorbett&rsquo;s Sports LimitedORANGEVILLESteve Thompson&rsquo;s Sporting GoodsOTTAWARitchie&rsquo;s Sport ShopPEMBROKEBailey&rsquo;s Sports CentrePERTHTayside Sports LimitedPETERBOROUGHSkiworld Sports LimitedPORT COLBORNEBenner&rsquo;s Sporting GoodsSARNIARod Blair Sporting Goods Ltd.SAULT STE. MARIEBumbacco Sports Centre LimitedSIMCOEDave McArthur Sports LimitedSMITHS FALLSCounty SportsSUDBURYDemarco Bros Sporting GoodsST CATHARINESNiagara Cycle & SportsTIMMINSSuper City SportsTORONTOOscar&rsquo;s Ski & SportsWard & Patch SportsTRENTONBell Sports LimitedWALKERTONJoy SportsWINCHESTERPro Sports UnlimitedWOODSTOCKOxford Cycle<h2>PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND</h2>CHARLOTTETOWNThe Bike Shop & Sport Lodge<h2>QUEBEC</h2>MONTREALGagnon SportsI.C.I. SportsROUYNBelisle SportsST. CESAIRESport & Bicycle Rene ForandSAINT-HUBERTDegre&rsquo; Sports Ltee.<h2>SASKATCHEWAN</h2>ESTEVANEstevan Cycle & Sporting GoodsHUMBOLDTWentz Sporting GoodsKAMSACKSas-Kam SportsmanLLOYDMINSTERFosters Sports CentreMELFORTTriple R SportsNIPAWINCasey&rsquo;s Sports Centre Inc.NORTH BATTLEFORDHunters Sport ShopPRINCE ALBERTLeisure SportsREGINAWestern Cycle & Sporting GoodsSASKATOONAl Anderson SportsSWIFT CURRENTHall&rsquo;s Sporting GoodsYORKTONLutchers Sports Limited<h2>YUKON</h2>WHITEHORSEHougen&rsquo;s LimitedDrop in and meet our Hockey Specialists in your area.See our special offer on the back cover of this edition! &#9632;

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Sports Distributors of Canada Ltd.

<div class="byline">Steve Simmons</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03276/4980172-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="410" height="474"></div>THE CIGARETTE DANGLED from the mouth of the Hall of Famer. Once upon a time, he had tried to rip a cigarette from the mouth of teammate Johnny Bower, but that was one heart attack and so many years ago.The dislike for smoking has subsided with the years, but not the fervent disenchantment that lives within a 59-year-old man named Bert Olmstead.Further achievement came to Olmstead when he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, but what many consider the ultimate honor was treated in an unusual manner by Olmstead. Inwardly.Bitter Bert played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League with a chip on his shoulderpads. Now, the pads are gone but the chip remains. The Hall of Fame induction came too many years late for his liking, too many years after he believed he was being blackballed.&ldquo;You might think I&rsquo;m an egomaniac, but my first reaction when I was told about it (his election to the Hall of Fame) was to tell them to stick it up their (expletive deleted),&rdquo; said Olmstead in an interview.&ldquo;Finally, I figured I&rsquo;m a bigger man than them. It&rsquo;s all political, you know. Maybe, because I told Montreal to go (expletive deleted) themselves, I didn&rsquo;t get in before. But I know a few people had to die before I&rsquo;d get in.&ldquo;If they aren&rsquo;t bigger than that, then I don&rsquo;t give a damn. I was really (expletive deleted) off,&rdquo;In the prime of Bert Olmstead, he was nothing if not a winner. Five Stanley Cup championships. Twice an all-star at left wing. He played with the fire of a Sutter long before Louis and Grace ever began producing their boys. He was, as Punch Imlach once said, a player who coached himself.When you had Olmstead in the dressing room, you had no problems on your team.But after it all, the time spent playing alongside Jean Beliveau and Bernie Geoffrion, his role in rebuilding the Maple Leafs, the great moments and the fond memories, there is still an undercurrent of dissatisfaction that lives within Olmstead.He is, 27 years after the fact, still angry about the manner in which Montreal let him go. He is, 23 years after retiring as a player, still angry about the manner in which the Maple Leafs let him go.&ldquo;I could tell you some rotten stories, but I prefer not to,&rdquo; said Olmstead, who is now a semi-retired farmer living outside Calgary. &ldquo;I resented leaving Montreal and I resented leaving Toronto.&ldquo;I had knee problems, and Montreal&rsquo;s medical people said I&rsquo;d never skate again. In Montreal they used to say if you became a senior citizen, you got one year on the bench filling in. I never had that year.&rdquo;As soon as the knee went, he went.The Maple Leafs, floundering at the time, claimed Olmstead in the intra-league draft. The fine work of the team doctor and physiotherapist enabled Olmstead to be effective again. From nowhere, the Leafs made it to the Stanley Cup finals the season Olmstead joined the team. In his fourth and final year in Toronto, the Leafs won their first of three straight Stanley Cups.&ldquo;The end in Toronto came as a hell of shock,&rdquo; said Olmstead &ldquo;I was healthier in 1962 than I was when I got there in &lsquo;58. New York drafted me from Toronto and they really wanted me. I told them &lsquo;I&rsquo;m not the player you think I am. I can&rsquo;t help your club&rsquo;. And when I got home to Calgary, Montreal phoned. They said they wanted me back. They said. Report to New York, get into shape and we&rsquo;ll trade for you in about a month.&rsquo;&ldquo;I told them, &lsquo;trade for me now&rsquo;. They didn&rsquo;t. That ended my hockey career.&rdquo;Olmstead&rsquo;s induction comes so many years after his retirement. His Montreal teammates&mdash;the Richard brothers, Beliveau, Geoffrion, Elmer Lach, Dickie Moore, Doug Harvey, Jacques Plante, and Tom Johnson&mdash;are long-time members of the Hall. His Toronto teammates&mdash;Bower, Red Kelly, Frank Mahovlich, Tim Horton, Alan Stanley, even George Armstrong&mdash;have been similarily honored.Surprisingly, Olmstead said he planned to make &ldquo;a very nice speech, a thankful speech,&rdquo; when asked what he intended to say at the Toronto ceremony.&ldquo;Just because there are a few jerks mad at me, I&rsquo;m not mad at hockey,&rdquo; said Bert Olmstead. Somehow the words seemed difficult to believe. &#9632;

f0028-03

Bitterness Still Smoulders In Heart Of Hall Inductee

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01539/4980141-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="583" height="187"></div><h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2>TORONTO&mdash;On a team which professes commitment to a youth movement, the coach is no different than the players.At 35, Dan Maloney is among the youngest head coaches in the National Hockey League. And with just one year of head coaching behind him, he is among the least experienced.Most of what he did experience last year was of the bad variety as the Toronto Maple Leafs stumbled to the worst record in the league and worst in club history.Still. Maloney is confident good things will come to pass.&ldquo;I really think that with the young talent that&rsquo;s on this team, it&rsquo;s a job that is going to have its reward5,&rdquo; says Maloney. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re going to see some real positive moves.&rdquo;A pessimist would argue that it&rsquo;s all but impossible for the 1985-86 season to be as negative as its predecessor.The Leafs placed last overall with a 20-52-8 record to set team marks for most losses and least points (48), tie another for least wins and finish 14 points out of a playoff position.Maloney&rsquo;s optimism is rooted in the belief that his younger players (i.e. Gary Nylund, Russ Courtnail, Gary Leeman, Bob McGill) are ready to turn the corner from hockey adolescence to manhood.&ldquo;I think that it&rsquo;s time for some of our players who have been around three or four years to really start to come into their own,&rdquo; says Maloney. &ldquo;Even though they&rsquo;re only 21 to 22 years old they&rsquo;ve had three to four years experience now.&rdquo;Only two league teams&mdash;Philadelphia and Winnipeg&mdash;had younger lineups last season than Toronto&rsquo;s average age of 24 years and nine months.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been talking about our rebuilding program for the last few years. Now, we&rsquo;re in a situation where the drafts we made three years ago are overaged juniors (i.e. forwards Dan Hodgson and Jeff Jackson) and they&rsquo;re knocking on the door for jobs on the hockey team,&rdquo; continues Maloney, who apprenticed for two years as an assistant to Mike Nykoluk before taking over the head coacning job.His first season was hardly the heady stuff of Frank Merriwell stories.&ldquo;There is a certain amount of pressure involved in being a head coach,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Things don&rsquo;t always run smoothly and what you try to do is keep on top of everything as best you can.&ldquo;Preparation is probably the most important thing. The better prepared you are the better prepared your team will be.&rdquo;And there&rsquo;s one other consideration.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt about it, you have to work on your patience end of things,&rdquo; says the former player, who was known more for fractiousness than forbearance during an 11-year career.One man to exhibit&mdash;publicly, anyway&mdash;more than his characteristic share of patience is Harold Ballard, the team owner who once fired and hired Roger Neilson all within a couple of days.He has indicated faith in the M & M administration of general manager Gerry McNamara and Maloney several times.Earning a berth in the playoffs&mdash;something the Leafs have failed to do three of the past four years&mdash;heads the list of Maloney&rsquo;s objectives this season.It won&rsquo;t be easy.St. Louis Blues and Chicago Black Hawks finished 38 and 35 points, respectively, ahead of the Leafs in the Norris Division last year. Only a catastrophic collapse by both teams would endanger their playoff aspirations.Detroit Red Wings, 18 points better than Toronto, have made more moves than a I imbo dancer during the off-season in an attempt to improve their lot.And the Minnesota North Stars, who finished 14 points ahead of the Leafs, have added super-scorer Kent Nilsson to their lineup.Toronto&rsquo;s acquisitions, apart from first pick Wendel Clark, who can&rsquo;t be expected to perform miracles in his first full season as a forward, have been less imposing.The two most notable were Marian Stastny and Brad Maxwell.Stastny, a 32-year-old Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; right winger whose best years are unquestionably behind him, was signed as a free agent without compensation.And the Leafs obtained capable defenseman Maxwell, 28, in return for John Anderson.Stastny and Maxwell are both slated for power-play duty, a segment of Toronto&rsquo;s attack Maloney wants to improve. The Leafs&rsquo; extra-man efficiency was third worst (20.1 per cent) in the league during the 1984-85 season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02379/4980134-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="588" height="988"><figcaption class="caption-body">Coach Dan Maloney would like to improve his power-play and penalty-killing units.</figcaption></div>Maloney also seeks better penalty killing than last year&rsquo;s showing&mdash;a 77.8 per cent rating, fifth worst in the NHL.&ldquo;We have to be more aggressive in our penalty killing as in the play of the whole hockey club.&rdquo; says Maloney. &ldquo;(We should) Be a little more active than passive than we have been in the past. &ldquo;NOTES&mdash;There&rsquo;s still nothing ne on the contract impasse between the Leafs and Boston College defenseman Dominic Campedelli, a 1982 draft choice who won&rsquo;t be returning to the Hockey East school for his final year. Look for a trade to settle the differences&hellip;Failed contract talks have resulted in left winger Walt Poddubny going to arbitration. &#9632;

f0028-01

Maloney Sees Light At End Of The Tunnel

<div class="byline">BY TOM WHEATLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01527/4980210-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="554" height="173"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2>ST LOUIS&mdash;After a summer-long faceoff with winger Joe Mullen, the Blues were preparing to start camp on Sept. 17 without their No. 1 goal-scorer and No. 2 point-producer.Director of hockey operations Ron Caron said he has been unable to trade Mullen fora player of comparable worth.Caron also insisted that the low-scoring Blues would survive if Mullen (40 goals. 52 assists) defected to Europe or sat out the season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re thinking &lsquo;team&rsquo; now.&rdquo; said Caron. &ldquo;Joey Mullen is a big man. but not bigger than the team. We have (Mark) Hunter and (Greg) Paslawski. and they&rsquo;re all ready to play. We&rsquo;re going to have to play with the live ones.&rdquo;Besides Hunter, acquired in the offseason from Montreal, and Paslawski, the Blues also have veterans Mark Reeds and Denis Cyr at right wing. Dave Barr can play there, but the Blues need him to center their third line.Caron expects Kevin LaVallee (15 goals in 38 games). Paslawski (22 goals) and Flockhart (10 goals in 56 games with Pittsburgh and Montreal) to upgrade the team&rsquo;s firepower.&ldquo;LaVallee. we&rsquo;re confident he&rsquo;ll score 35,&rdquo; said Caron. &ldquo;He was five short last year (on his pace before injuring his knee) and was having a super year.&ldquo;Paslawski&hellip;I&rsquo;m not predicting he&rsquo;s going to score 50 goals, but he has the potential to score 30.&ldquo;And Flockhart, there are some people from Montreal. Serge Savard and some others, who will give me a full dinner if he doesn&rsquo;t score 25.&rdquo;Coach Jacques Demers also plans to turn loose center Doug Gilmour, who had 177 points&mdash;scoring a point in 55 straight games during one lengthy stretch&mdash;three years ago with Cornwall of the Ontario League.Gilmour and linemates Paslawski and Brian Sutter were often the Blues&rsquo; most explosive line despite their use as the top checking line.Caron is also hoping, probably too optimistically, that center Doug Wick-enheiser will be at full speed by midseason after having major knee surgery last spring. Wickenheiscr will not be working out in camp.Even if Mullen returns, the Blues need a new 25-goal scorer just to replace Jorgcn Pettersson. He averaged 31 goals over five seasons before being traded to Hartford, although he dipped to 23 last season.And there is no guarantee that Paslawski. who had nine NHL goals before last season, will duplicate last season&rsquo;s 22.Caron, a baseball fan. pointed to the St. Louis Cardinals&rsquo; success after losing free-agent reliever Bruce Sutter. Several unheralded relievers stepped in. and the Cardinals are going for a division title.But agent Larry Rauch insisted that Mullen is not making baseball-like, multi-million-dollar demands.In fact, in deference to the costconscious Blues. Mullen is asking for less than he would from richer clubs. said Rauch.The parties at first were about $200,000 apart. Mullen wanted $250.000 a year for four years, and the Blues offered about $200,000 per year.&ldquo;At one time. I think we were about $40,000 a year apart over the life of the contract.&rdquo; said Rauch.But that was early in the summer. The Blues filed a lower offer with the league in July, then finally raised it earlier this month, said Rauch.But the Blues&rsquo; latest offer is still below its original one of early summer, said Rauch.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s confusing and frustrating.&rdquo; said Rauch.Not to Caron. whose offer corresponds with what he said was a drop in Mullen&rsquo;s market value. Caron said he had no acceptable trade offers, mainly because of Mullen&rsquo;s age (29 in February) and salary demands.He has rejected offers of a No. 1 draft pick. &ldquo;But what do you do with first-round picks?&rdquo; asked Caron. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t win games. You don&rsquo;t draw people. I want a guy with skates. And I need a player comparable (to Mullen).&ldquo;At no given time was I asking for a player who was more than 85 per cent of Joey&rsquo;s value.&rdquo; said Caron.He said different offers for Mullen have involved five players. &ldquo;Three will be available in the (waiver) draft on the 7th of October. That&rsquo;s insulting. &ldquo;Other proposals involved a team freezing its first six players, and another team freezing its first eight or nine. Each team said Caron could then have the pick of the remaining litter.Obviously, the appeal varies with the quality of the team. &ldquo;I can tell you right now. it isn&rsquo;t Edmonton,&rdquo; said Caron.An earlier deal with Calgary was squashed when Mullen, &ldquo;for tax and currency considerations,&rdquo; said he won&rsquo;t play for a Canadian team.Arbitration now is also out. although Caron mistakenly thought that would be the logical solution to the stand-off.But Rauch said he would not consider arbitration even if it were stil I available to Mullen.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02392/4980203-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="590" height="866"><figcaption class="caption-body">Forward Joe Mullen remains at odds with St. Louis management over money.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

Blues-Mullen Stand-Off Continues

<div class="byline">Barry Meisel</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03272/4980241-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="393" height="467"></div>JOEY MULLEN&rsquo;S no maverick. What New York City native who went to college in Boston, lives on Cape Cod. and scored 40 goals each of the past two seasons in St. Louis wants to play in Europe?But that&rsquo;s what the NHL calls free agency. A gifted goal scorer has to consider a ridiculous option because what should be a seller&rsquo;s market is a mirage sale. And because the Blues refuse to acknowledge fiscal reality, namely that Mullen is worth more than $200,000 per year.Bobby Carpenter, the summer&rsquo;s other glamour hostage. will be back in Washington and Mullen will be lucky to settle his life this month because the system stinks.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a frustrating summer.&rdquo; Mullen said recently. despondent over the rhetoric and runaround that refuses to end. &ldquo;You work hard all year to make a better life for yourself. To become worth more as an individual and as a part of the team. You start feeling comfortable. You start feeling secure. And all of a sudden&hellip;Where do you look to? I definitely think I&rsquo;ll play somewhere. I wish it was St. Louis. But it doesn&rsquo;t look too good. It seems like we&rsquo;ve been negotiating against ourselves.&rdquo;Mullen can play for oh. I&rsquo;d say about 21 teams. But eight days before training camp opened he was still stuck without a uniform. The Blues won&rsquo;t pay him what he deserves. GM Ron Caron is asking too much for him in a trade. And the system of compensation negotiated in 1982 by Mullen&rsquo;s NHL Players&rsquo; Association is nothing more than a neatly-typed ransom note.Mullen will eventually land somewhere. I can&rsquo;t believe the Blues will be silly enough not to get something for him. But the guy who took the gamble in the prime of his career at age 28. who played out his option and scored 40 goals again, played his cards correctly and stil! will lose.&ldquo;The whole thing is, there is no free agency,&rdquo; Mullen says. &ldquo;If there was free agency, I&rsquo;m sure I wouldn&rsquo;t be in the position I&rsquo;m in now.&rdquo;&ldquo;1 think the free agency process, as it stands now, is a total joke,&rdquo; said Mullen&rsquo;s agent, Larry Rauch, who has grown tired of 15-minute telephone conversations in which he and Blues owner Harry Ornest exchange pleasantries for five minutes, repeat their positions for another five, and spend the final five politely hoping to end the stalemate soon.&ldquo;I ought to just make a tape we could play.&rdquo; said Rauch, who&rsquo;s convinced free agency doesn&rsquo;t exist. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a non-negotiation. The compensation rules are the newest form of the old reserve clause.&rdquo;The players&rsquo; association never dreamed of anything resembling baseball&rsquo;s million-dollar orgy when it negotiated the current compensation system. But it&rsquo;s given the clubs all the muscle. If the Blues do not trade or sign Mullen, they&rsquo;ll still retain his compensation rights for two more years. Mullen cannot even try out with another NHL team. According to the NHLPA agreement. Mullen cannot file for arbitration. And because Mullen is a dues-paying member of the association, Rauch doesn&rsquo;t think Joey can test the legality of the system in a federal court.They&rsquo;ve thought about it, though. &ldquo;But with the judicial process as slow as it is,&rdquo; Rauch explained, &ldquo;any attempt to make a case would probably end Joey&rsquo;s career. That&rsquo;s a fear I have. And it would be very costly. I wouldn&rsquo;t be able to handle the case. Joey couldn&rsquo;t handle it financially.&rdquo;The numbers are what&rsquo;s wrong with the system. A player signed for more than $200,000 costs the signing team two No. 1 draft picks or a No. 1 and the signing team&rsquo;s fourth best player. That was agreed upon in &lsquo;82, when the average salary was $124,000. Last season it was $152,000.Two hundred thousand dollars is not a superstar&rsquo;s salary anymore. &ldquo;I think what we have to look at is a sliding scale.&rdquo; said players&rsquo; association director of operations Sam Simpson. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to. at least, adjust the numbers. We&rsquo;re going to take a harder stand this time around.&rdquo;The owners maintain that although a player has not changed teams via the free-agent market since the system was introduced, it works be&rsquo;causc salaries have risen. A. 23 per cent increase in two years is ice chips considering that the game is in better shape than it was two years ago.Players&rsquo; association chief Alan Eagleson has already threatened a strike if the new contract doesn&rsquo;t restructure the compensation plan. It&rsquo;s just talk. And it doesn&rsquo;t help Joey Mullen, who sits home these days unable to understand why this has happened. &#9632;

f0030-03

Mullen Is On The Outside, Courtesy Of The ‘System’

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03253/4980310-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="956" height="150"></div><h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2>HARTFORD&mdash;A rash of signings, among them No. 1 draft pick Dana Murzyn. highlighted the countdown to the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; training camp.Murzyn. a 6-foot-3. 210-pound defenseman who was the fifth overall selection in the 1985 draft, signed a four-year contract (three plus an option) for an estimated $500.000. Murzyn played his junior hockey for the Calgary Wranglers of the WHL.In addition, the Whalers signed Joel Quenneville. the team&rsquo;s most valuable defenseman the last two seasons, centermen Mike Zuke and Ray Ferraro, defensemen Scot Kleinendorst and Mark Paterson, and goaltenders Steve Weeks and Peter Sidorkiewicz.As camp approached. GM Emile Francis indicated that he expected to sign goaltender Mike Liut. right winger Ray Neufeld and center Greg Malone to new pacts.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there will be a problem with those guys. Francis said.Defenseman Mark Fusco, right winger Bobby Crawford and left winger Paul Fenton, meanwhile, were expected to sign their options.Chris Kotsopoulos, a four-year starter for the Whalers who has complained openly about his current contract this summer, was expected to go to arbitration.&ldquo;Aside from Kotsopoulos, everything&rsquo;s in order.&rdquo; Francis said.Francis said that he fully expects Liut to play for &ldquo;another three to five&rdquo; seasons, and is anxious to lock up the 29-year-old goaltender contractually.&ldquo;Hexwants to play.&rdquo; said Francis, who dealt Greg Millen and Mark Johnson to St. Louis for Liut and Jorgen Pettersson last February. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re hoping that maybe Liut will turn out to be our Dwight Gooden (of the New York Mets).&rdquo;Francis, a former semi-pro baseball player, often equates goaltending with pitching.&ldquo;You can never have enough of it.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;With Liut. Weeks. Sidorkiewicz and Kay Whitmore, we&rsquo;ve got as good a group of goaltenders, from top to bottom, as there is in the league.&rdquo;Murzyn will compete with 10 other defensemen in what promises to be the most interesting story of camp. In addition to Quenneville, Risto Siltanen and Ulf Samuelsson. who must be considered locks to begin in Hartford. Murzyn will be up against Sylvain Cote. Fusco. Paterson. Kleinendorst. Marty Howe and Jack Brownschidle. And then there&rsquo;s Kotsopoulos.&ldquo;The competition in our training camp gets tougher each season and that&rsquo;s because we&rsquo;re getting deeper at every position.&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;You need depth in our division, which is a tough one. You can&rsquo;t expect to go through a season injury-free.&rdquo;Quenneville is &ldquo;an integral part of our team.&rdquo; Francis said. At 26. Quenneville has missed just one game in the last two seasons and has logged so much icetime, especially killing penalties, that teammates have begun to call him &ldquo;Joe L. Bourque.&rdquo;Zuke. 31. is entering his 10th pro season and second with the Whalers. He has played a key role as a penalty-killer and centerman on a fourth line that is used primarily in checking situations.Ferraro. 21. had 11 goals and 17 assists in 44 games last year, including two hat-tricks in a seven-day span in March. The Whalers are counting on him to center the second line, flanked by Pettersson and Kevin Dineen, and he must deliver if the team is to improve significantly.Kleinendorst. 25. is in his second season with the Whalers. He had nine points in 35 games last year as well as 69 penalty minutes. Paterson, 21. spent most of last season with Binghamton of the AHLWeeks. 27. was the statistical backbone behind the Whalers&rsquo; 9-3-2 finish last year, going 5-1-1 down the stretch. Weeks posted a 3.79 goals-against average in 24 games and had two shutouts. In 13 appearances after the All-Star break he really caught fire, posting a 2.62 GAA. From a 2-8-0 start and a stint in Binghamton. Weeks finished at 10-12-2. And better, he did it without complaint.Sidorkiewicz. 22. came to the Whalers from Washington along with Dean Evason for David A. Jensen in March. He sparkled for Binghamton last year, posting a 3.05 goals-against average.WHALER SCUTTLEBUTT&mdash;With the start of a new season comes a fresh start. Writers, who were booted off the team plane and bus in February, will be allowed to travel with the team this year. At least in the beginning. &#9632;

f0031-03

Quenneville Key Man On Whalers’ Blueline

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div>Louisville HockeyLouisville Hockey<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01483/4980279-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="584" height="170"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2>PITTSBURGH&mdash;The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed Craig Simpson to what try say is the richest contract given to any player picked in the 1985 National Hockey League entry draft.Simpson, picked second overall after Toronto&rsquo;s selection of defcnscman/left winger Wendel Clark, signed a contract worth well in excess of $600.000&mdash;some sources claim it was $700.000&mdash;for three years and an option.The Maple Leafs signed Clark to a contract reportedly worth $630.000.&ldquo;He (Simpson) was the No. I player (rated by Central scouting) and he derived to be the highest-paid player. id general manager Eddie Johnston.&ldquo;Therefore, we made him the highest-paid player.&rdquo;Simpson. 18, led the Central Collegiate Hockey Association in scoring last season as a sophomore with 31 goals and 53 assists in 42 games with Michigan State.The London, Ont., native helped the Spartans to the National Collegiate Athletic Association quarter-finals, and he was a finalist in voting for the Hobey Baker award, which is given annually to the outstanding college hockey player in the United States.&ldquo;We are extremely happy to have a player of Craig&rsquo;s talent with our organization,&rdquo; said Johnston, who worked out the contract with Simpson&rsquo;s father. Donald. &ldquo;He is a very versatile player and will make a great contribution to our team effort, especially on the power play.&ldquo;We feel very excited that for two consecutive years we have signed the No. 1-ranked player in the entry draft.&rdquo;Last season, the Penguins chose center Mario Lemieux first overall. Lemieux went on to be the NHL Rookie of the Year with 43 goals and 57 assists.&ldquo;For me it&rsquo;s been a long summer waiting,&rdquo; said Simpson, who had said he would return to school if he was unable to reach an agreement with the Penguins. &ldquo;1 think the reason why it&rsquo;s taken so long is we got a late start on it. It&rsquo;s not something that you jump into. It&rsquo;s a big decision.&ldquo;I wanted to feel comfortable about leaving school and the situation here. I couldn&rsquo;t feel more comfortable. I&rsquo;m really excited about being in Pittsburgh.&rdquo;Simpson, a center, will start training camp at his natural position, but he may end up playing right wing.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to play him at center, but one of the weak spots on our team is on the wings,&rdquo; said coach Bob Berry. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a possiblility we&rsquo;ll try him on right wing.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02341/4980272-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="588" height="628"><figcaption class="caption-body">Craig Simpson has opted for the Penguins over a return to Michigan State University.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;As far as I&rsquo;m concerned. 1&rsquo;11 play wherever they&rsquo;ll give me a chance to play,&rdquo; said Simpson. &ldquo;I want to get a chance to play. If it means playing center. great. If it means playing wing, that&rsquo;s just as fine.&ldquo;Naturally, playing center most of my life I feel more comfortable in the middle. But depending who I play with (possibly Lemieux) on the wing. I&rsquo;m sure I could adjust.&rdquo;Johnston also signed Simpson&rsquo;s brother. David, whom the GM acquired from the New York Islanders for &ldquo;future considerations.&rdquo; which is believed to be a middle- to late-round draft choice.Simpson. 23. was an Islander third-round draft choice from the Ontario League&rsquo;s London Knights in 1980. Two years later he was named the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League&rsquo;s Player of the Year.Simpson played two seasons in the Islanders&rsquo; minor-league system and sat out most of last year after a conditional trade that sent him to the Vancouver Canucks was voided by NHL president John Ziegler. Simpson scored one goal and five assists in 10 games for the Canadian National team last season.Johnston also announced that right winger Wayne Babych, who had filed for arbitration, has signed a multi-year contract. Babych. 27, scored 20 goals and 34 assists for Pittsburgh last season after being obtained in the waiver draft from the St. Louis Blues.The Penguins have also signed free agent left winger Alain Heroux, the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; first pick in the 1982 entry draft. Heroux. 21. scored seven goals and 11 assists last season for Sherbrooke in the American League.PENGUIN TRACKS&mdash;Director of Press Relations. Terry Schiffhauer has been promoted to the newly-created position of Director of Team Services. Cindy Himes, formerly Schiffhauer&rsquo;s assistant, to GM Eddie Johnston, has been named to the press relations post. &#9632;

f0031-01

Penquins Get Not One, But Two Simpsons

<div class="byline">BY BOB DONNELLY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04188/4980341-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="592" height="162"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;As summer drew to a close there was an ending and new beginning within the ranks of the Quebec Nordiques.After 12 seasons in the National Hockey League, center Andre Savard called it quits to take over as coach of the Fredericton Express in the American League.Meanwhile. Alain Cote, the last of the original Nordiques from the old World Hockey Association, signed a threc-year pact with the team.Savard, torn between attempting a comeback from knee troubles and moving onto a new career, finally accepted the Fredericton post.&ldquo;I got the chance to try out my knee during summer hockey but I was having Ale same problems as last year with pain and swelling.&rdquo; said Savard. &ldquo;It became clear that I would have to return as an active player and that the knee wouldn&rsquo;t hold up for another NHL season. &ldquo;Savard added that he has long thought of pursuing a coaching career when his playing days ended.&ldquo;It is never easy to quit, especially after playing for twelve years,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I am glad that I am staying in hockey at least.&rdquo;Because coaching the Express does not pay as well as playing for the Nordiques. Savard and Quebec general manager Maurice Filion worked out a new deal so Savard&rsquo;s salary wouldn&rsquo;t suffer.Filion also used the occasion of Savard&rsquo;s signing to end speculation on who would have coached in Fredericton had Savard not accepted the job.&ldquo;He was our No. I choice right from the start.&rdquo; said Fiiion. &ldquo;Orval Tessier was not contacted by the Nordiques and the same goes for Joe Crozier. I knew it would take some time before we worked out the details with Andre but I was willing to be patient. I know our younger players will be in good hands with him coaching the Express.&rdquo;Savard, a 32-year-old native, of Temis-camingue, Que., was a determined centerman who rarely complained during a career that took him from Boston to Buffalo to Quebec. In 790 regular-season games, he scored 482 points, including 211 goals.The former Quebec Rempart says he is no hurry to move up quickly as a coach.&ldquo;I will take things one at a time. The AHL is a training ground for a coach as well as for players. I learned a lot from men like Michel Bergeron and Scotty Bowman over the years and I also have my own ideas. Most of all I want the respect of my players as a coach and hard work is the only way to get there.&rdquo;While Savard made his exit, the Nordiques announced that Cote would be on stage for a while yet.Cote, a hard-working forward with a reputation for sol id play both at home and on the road, has been with the Nordiques for eight seasons.His work ethic makes him popular with coach Michel Bergeron. He is also the player who makes himself most available to media reps following a game at the Colisce. no matter who wins or by how much, and that makes him popular with the press.Cote is happy with the three-year deal (two years plus option), even though he would have preferred a longer contract. At 28. he knows there will be no more long-term deals after this one. and the money was too good to resist.&ldquo;I got a substantial raise and that&rsquo;s why I accepted the deal, said Cote when the signing was announced. &ldquo;It is the best contract I have ever signed and it is the result of years of hard work. I know I have used my experience well in recent years as a player to make myself more effective.on the ice.&rdquo;For once. Filion couldn&rsquo;t agree more Cote has come to terms but there are still others Filion must deal with before&rsquo; the season begins, among them Peter and Anton Stastny. Brent Ashton. Jimmy Mann and netminder Mario Gosselin.NORDIC NOTES&mdash;Alain Lemieux has signed a three-year (two years plus option) contract with the Nordiques-&hellip;Former Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; great Real Cloutier will be attending training camp on a tryout basis after all. The former scoring star was cut loose by the Buffalo Sabres this summer. &#9632;

f0031-04

Nordiques’ Cote Rewarded For Superb Two-Way Play

<h2>OPPORTUNITIES</h2>WANTED: Hockey players with pro, junior or senior experience for the 1985 86 season by the Port-aux-Basques senior hockey team, Port-aux-Basque, Newfoundland. Interested players contact&rsquo; Cal Warren. General Manager, PO Box 178, Isle-aux-Morts. Nfld., AOM 1J0. (709) 698 3847<h2>SALES REPRESENTATIVES</h2>Full or part-time commission salespeople wanted for quality NHL souvenirs and sportswear. Progressive concepts&mdash;unique opportunity. Distributor inquiries welcome. Applications with references to:SPORTS SERVICES,P.O. BOX 1058,Sherbrooke, Que.,J1H 5L3(819) 563-2443SENIOR TRAVEL TEAM seeks games and tournaments Detroit based Ex-college and Jr&rsquo;s, allied. (313) 731-1718.<h2>NHL SEALS SALE</h2>1967 Pennant &bull; $10 00, Oakland Seals puck $8.50, California Seals puck $7 00. Key chain $5 00. Lapel Pin $6 50. Sweatshirts $1500. Buttons $2.50. U.S Funds.All Sports.333 E 17th St., Suite 3.Costa Messa. CA.92627<h2>NHL SEALS SALE</h2>1967 Pennant &bull; $10 00, Oakland Seals puck $8 50, California Seals puck $7 00. Key chain $5.00. lapel Pin $6 50, Sweatshirts $15 00. Buttons $2.50. U.S Funds.All Sports.333 E 17th St., Suite 3.Costa Messa. CA92627<h2>RARE CARD SETS</h2>From 1924-25 to 85. Parkhurst, Topps, Inserts. Shirriff Coins, Pre-WW II issues, OPC, York, and more. Send $2 00 for list to:All Defunct Sports 89 Massachusetts Ave.Suite 182Boston, MA 02115<h2>VIDEO</h2>HOCKEY FIGHTS. 100 hours available (VHS), Tony Banda, 123 Webb Ave., Patchogue, NY, 11772. (516) 867-7247FIGHTS AND BRAWLS on VHS. Suite 132. 31238 Palos Ve&rsquo;des Drive West, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90274.HOCKEY&rsquo;S BLOODIEST RGHTS and knock outs. VHS & Beta. For information write: M. Brudy, 413 Hawkins Ave., Pittsburgh, PA, 15214.<h2>MISCELLANEOUS</h2>WANTED: Senior or oldtimer teams for February or March 1986 to tour Austria. Hungry, Czechoslovakia and Germany Cost: S775 U.S. dollars all inclusive, plus air fare, six games Sport International. Tours, 29683 Greenlands, Livonia. Ml, 48154 or call 13131 522-2643.<h2>WHA COLLECTION SALE</h2>Pucks, pennants, guides, jerseys, programs. decals, buttons, pins Have many LA Sharks pucks $8.50. 73-74 Guides $15.00. and pins $6.00.For WHA list send $3.00 to&rsquo;All Sports.333 E 17th St. Suite 3Costa Mesa. CA.92627*Free LA Sharks pennant with every (puck, guide, pml bought.<h2>COMPUTER HOCKEY LEAGUES</h2>Draft your own team of NHL Players in a statistical league! You provide draft list, we match you with league, compute draft, scores, and standings. Full details. $5.00 U.S. Funds-Refunded with Purchase.COMPUTER HOCKEY SYSTEMSP.O. Box 114Webster, NY, 14580<h2>ATTENTION HOCKEY POOL PLAYERS!</h2>COME FIRST IN YOUR HOCKEY POOLLeave it to the experts. We send you in-depth NHL Statistics plus projected top 300 points & goal scorers for the 85 86 NHL seasonSend $4.95 to:HOCKEY POOL WIZARDSuite 1004B-7374 Halifax St.Burnaby, B C V5A 1M5*VISA Accepted<h2>HOT STOVERS NHL HOCKEY DRAFT</h2>Be a winner in your hockey pool Proven Success.Projected: top 200 point scorers 1985-86Team analysis 1985-86Also setting up pools, strategy and more.Ten day delivery-$12.95 includes postageForward to: Hot Stovers#200-5000 50th AveRed Deer. AB. T4N 6C2 &#9632;

THE HOCKEY NEWS CLASSIFIED

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01501/4980427-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="588" height="164"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2>LOS ANGELES&mdash;The third-leading scorer in National Hockey League history will be playing in Los Angeles for at least three more seasons.Marcel Dionne, who celebrated his 34th birthday in August, has agreed to terms with the Kings on a one-year contract extension that will take him through the 1987-88 season.&ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t have to do this. It took me by surprise and I&rsquo;m very gratified.&rdquo; said Dionne, the NHL&rsquo;s fourth-leading scorer last season with 46 goals and 80 assists. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good feeling to know that I&rsquo;ll be here for another three years. Adding another year kind of recharges my batteries.&rdquo;Feeling insecure for reasons known only to him. Dionne had said last March. &ldquo;It would be nice to hear. &lsquo;He can play for as long as he wants.&rsquo; I wouldn&rsquo;t mind that at all. Do they just want me to play out this (the remaining two years on his contract) or what? It&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;d like to know.&rdquo;Dionne&rsquo;s wish was granted early this summer when owner Jerry Buss approached him about adding an extra year and. following discussions between general manager Rogie Vachon and agent Alan Eagleson. an agreement was reached.It&rsquo;s believed Dionne, who signed a six-year. $3.6-miliion contract before the 1981-82 season, will receive&mdash;counting deferred payments and incentives&mdash;$600,000 for the 1987-88 season.Dionne ranks third on the all-time charts in goals (629). assists (876) and points (1.505) behind Gordie Howe and Phil Esposito.&ldquo;Getting the extra year is really nice, and I think it says something about the new organization here.&rdquo; said Dionne, who is about to embark on his 15th NHL season&mdash;his 11th with the Kings.&ldquo;If there&rsquo;s a problem, they try and solve it right away. And there used to be problems every year before we even went to camp in the past. But this team is definitely heading in the right direction now. That makes a big difference for all of us.&rdquo;While Dionne was expected to sign his new deal soon, defenseman Mark Hardy was still negotiating for a new contract through agent Ron Salcer.Hardy. 26. has developed into one of the NHL&rsquo;s better defensemen and Salcer is seeking a five-year deal worth in the neighborhood of $1 million. Hardy is entering his option year, but he and the Kings weren&rsquo;t particularly close to an agreement&ldquo;Wc just have a different perspective.&rdquo; Vachon said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to say anything against Mark, or about what&rsquo;s going on. They just feel his value is higher than we do.&rdquo;Vachon did sign goaltender Darren Eliot and winger Phil Sykes, both of whom were entering their option years, to new contracts.He was close to signing defensemen Jay Wells and Garry Galley, and center Doug Smith&mdash;also entering their option years&mdash;to new deals.One week before, training camp, the Kings traded left winger Daryl Evans. 24. to the Washington Capitals for checking center Glen Currie. 27.Evans is best remembered for scoring the game-winning goal in overtime against the Edmonton Oilers in Game Three of the 1981 playoffs, when the Kings wiped out a 5-0 deficit to win. 6-5.He has spent the bulk of his pro career with New Haven of the American League and didn&rsquo;t fit into the Kings&rsquo; plans&ldquo;I would have liked to have stayed here, but I had reached sort of a dead end with the Kings.&rdquo; Evans said. &ldquo;This at least gives me an opportunity with another team.&rdquo;Currie is a solid defensive player who has 38 goals and 115 assists in 307 career NHL games, all with the Caps. He&rsquo;ll be given a chance to win the vacant center spot on the fourth line.KINGS&rsquo; NOTEBOOK&mdash;The Kin announced that Los Angeles radio station KLAC-570. which also carries the NBA-champion Lakers, will broadcast 57 of 80 regular-season games this season. &#9632;

f0032-01

Marcel Dionne—The King Among Kings

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02368/4980372-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="594" height="172"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Last year at this time, the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; training camp had all the appearances of a faceless horde of skaters being tutored by an equally anonymous coach.Peter Zezel, Rick Tocchet and Derrick Smith? Nothing more than a teenage trio of raggamuffins from some neighborhood in Toronto.Murray Craven? Heck, he didn&rsquo;t even come to training camp last season. Instead. the Flyers had a real name in Darryl Sittler&mdash;at least until he was traded for guys named Craven and Joe Paterson the day before the season started.And Keenan? He hardly had the personality of Fred Shero. or even Bob McCammon.Somehow it all meshed and the Flyers come to training camp this season with the same names, but with far different reputations and expectations.Keenan is back as Coach of the Year and goalie Pelle Lindbergh as the Vezina winner. Last year&rsquo;s rookies&mdash;Zezel. Tocchet and Smith&mdash;are expected to fill important roles and Craven is being counted upon to be as versatile and valuable as he was last season.Actually, the 1984-85 season isn&rsquo;t that far removed as the Flyers played into late May before losing in the five-game Stanley Cup finals to the Edmonton Oilers.There was some sentiment that the Flyers would have put up a better show in the finals were their leading scorer. Tim Kerr. Lindbergh, defenseman Brad McCrimmon, and captain Dave Poulin not so banged up.Well, they&rsquo;re all back healthy and the Flyers are about to embark on a season which they hope will prove that 1984-85 was not simply a flight of fancy.One thing is for sure, for coaches and players alike, a sophomore jinx would affect the Flyers like the plague, right from the general manager&rsquo;s office to ice surface.However, the Flyers&rsquo; success of last season appears to be too well-grounded, and the club too well-schooled to even think of tumbling. Instead, all eyes are looking up.The Stanley Cup? Well, that&rsquo;s where they were looking when camp opened last season, so there&rsquo;s no need to change targets this season.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t say. &lsquo;We&rsquo;re going to win the Stanley Cup&rsquo;&rdquo;, said sophomore general manager Bob Clarke. &ldquo;But you look at the club and you know we&rsquo;re a good club and you know we should have a chance.&ldquo;We at least know what we have, and I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re going to catch any teams by surprise this year. And I think our expectations arc higher for this hockey club. They&rsquo;ve proved they&rsquo;re a darn good hockey club and I think their expectations are higher for themselves.&rdquo;One of the big differences will be the simple matter of knowing the personnel.Indeed, there will be a few new names such as center Per-Erik (Pelle) Eklund from Sweden, defenseman Kevin McCarthy, who the team re-acquired as a free agent from Pittsburgh, and a good look at some new kids, but it&rsquo;ll be nothing like last September.&ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;re a lot more certain of what we have compared to last year,&rdquo; said Clarke. &ldquo;Last year we had a lot of holes we had to fill. Now. it looks as if they&rsquo;ve been filled adequately.&ldquo;Last year we didn&rsquo;t know if Zezel. Smith and Tocchet were going to play. And we got Murray Craven and Joey Paterson. You know these guys all came in and did a good job for us.&rdquo;Although &ldquo;doing a good job&rdquo; should guarantee some spots on the 1985-86 team. Clarke doesn&rsquo;t think that this training camp is going to be much easier than last season&rsquo;s when Derrick Smith and Zezel literally stole away jobs from players who appeared to be secure.&ldquo;The difference at this camp will be depth.&rdquo; said Clarke. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have guys battling for a lot of positions. A lot of these guys saw what could happen at a training camp last season and I think they&rsquo;ll remember that hard work pays off.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot of people to look at. Hey. (defenseman) Greg Smyth, our number one pick (second round) from two years ago is going to get a good look, and (right winger) Paul Guay played real. well at Hershey.&ldquo;I hate to do this (name players), because everybody who comes in is going to get a good look&mdash;just like last season.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0032-02

Flyers’ Cloak Of Anonymity Lifted

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01456/4980458-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="625" height="177"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2>LONG ISLAND&mdash;It was 12 years ago this month that Al Arbour took over as the coach of the New York Islanders.The team held its training camp in Peterborough. Ont., in an old junior hockey league rink next door to a harness race track. Every morning, there were some four-legged old plugs working out the track and some two-legged old plugs skating in the hockey link.Arbour remembers that training camp for a good reason.&ldquo;We held a rookie camp that year.&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and after watching those kids for one day. I turned to somebody and said. These are not players.&rsquo; I couldn&rsquo;t believe it. Then the regulars reported a week later and I couldn&rsquo;t tell the difference. &ldquo;Arbour laughed. He laughs more these days, perhaps because he is at peace with myself. He will be starting his 13th year as the Islanders&rsquo; coach when he calls the team together for the opening of training camp. In terms of longevity, he is the senior coach in the National Hockey League.Looking back on those days in Peterborough. did Al Arbour think he would last this long with the Islanders?&ldquo;No. I didn&rsquo;t.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had some ups and downs, but I&rsquo;m still here.&rdquo;Arbour, 52. has twice considered retirement. He came close a year ago after the Oilers ended the Islanders&rsquo; four-year reign as Stanley Cup champions.And some of his players thought Arbour would pack it in last spring when the Islanders failed to get by the Flyers in the second round of the playoffs. However. he decided to come back for at least one more year because &ldquo;we&rsquo;ve got some good kids coming up and I want to work with them.&rdquo;It has been a restful summer for Arbour&mdash;except for his recent run-in with Hurricane Elena. He and his wife.Claire, were vacationing in Florida when they were aroused from their beds one night in a condominium they own in Longboat Key. Elena was then threatening the entire west coast of Florida.&ldquo;They got us up at 2:30 on a Saturday morning and evacuated us to a high school in Sarasota,&rdquo; Arbour said. &ldquo;It really blew that night and caused a lot of damage. If it hadn&rsquo;t changed directions, there would have been no island left. It took me awhile to find a room in a motel. They weren&rsquo;t easy to get. and we didn&rsquo;t get back to the condo until Monday.&rdquo;Arbour also spent some time fishing at his other summer retreat in Sudbury. Ont.&ldquo;I caught quite a few bass.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just missed catching a big muskie. He must have weighed at least 20 pounds.Got him close to the boat, then he snapped the line and everything and took off.&rsquo; &lsquo;Last season was a frustrating one for Arbour and the Islanders.&ldquo;So many things went wrong.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A lot of the guys were not healthy right from the start. Some had played in the Canada Cup tournament and came out of it with some minor injuries. These things then were compounded during the season because the guys didn&rsquo;t have a chance to recover.&ldquo;We should have noexcuses this year. We&rsquo;ve had our longest rest in seven years. It&rsquo;s not something we really wanted, of course, but it should have its benefits and make the players more eager.&rdquo;Some of the Islanders have expressed the thought that the team got a little lackadaisical last season and lacked total concentration. Arbour does not deny it.&ldquo;I guess in the back of their minds they felt they could turn it on at any time.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Well, it doesn&rsquo;t work like that. You can&rsquo;t slough off at any time during the regular season because the league is better balanced now. I hope they learned a lesson from that.&rdquo;Arbour has adjusted his coaching techniques with the times, though never in a radical fashion. Will he try anything new this season? &ldquo;Oh. we might make a few adjustments, but nothing major.&rdquo; he said.But can anybody beat the Oilers and prevent them from winning a third consecutive Stanley Cup?&ldquo;Sure.&rdquo; Arbour said. &ldquo;The Oilers are young and they have a good club. Things have been going their way lately. For one thing, they&rsquo;ve had few major injuries. But no team is invincible. We certainly found that out.&rdquo;ON THE ISLE&mdash;The Islanders con-tined cleaning house, trading Mats Hallin to Minnesota and Dave Simpson to Pittsburgh, both for future considerations believed to be late-round draft choices. &#9632;

f0033-01

Al Arbour Hones 13 Is His Lucky Number

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02327/4980489-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg"></div><h2>MERCHANDISE</h2><h3>WHA PUCKS</h3>New Jersey Knights, N.E Whalers (harpoon & whale), Los Angeles Sharks. Toronto Toros, Michigan Stags. All with WHA logo. $10.00 each or all 6 for $50.00. U.S. Funds &lsquo;CANADA U.S. SPORTSENTERPRISES.99 Katherine Road,Downsview, Ont., M3K 1J5*Visa & Mastercard accepted.<h3>NHL PRODUCTS</h3>Outstanding selection of licensed NHL souvenirs and sportswear. Quality merchandise&mdash;proven marketing strategy&mdash;excellent profits. Ideal for:* Tournaments* Arena Pro-shops* Minor Hockey* Convenience stores* Where hockey fans shop.(write for free info pack)SPORTS SERVICES,P.O. Box 1058. Sherbrooke. Que.,J1H 5L3(819) 563-2443<h2>MERCHANDISE</h2><h3>PERSONALIZED NHL (CCM)</h3>Jerseys and Hershey Bears pro jerseys. Full line of equipment. Price lists. The Sharp Edge, Main St., Mount Joy. PA. 17552. Phone: (7171 653-5051<h3>CALIFORNIA SEALS JERSEYS</h3>All jerseys with a certificate of authenticity with Seals logo 1975-76 jerseys. Home: #26 Girard, #21 Maruk, #19 Moxey, #16 Ahern, #10 Klassen, #6 Frig, #3 Christie.Away: #31 Simmons, #4 Stewart. #8 Holt, #11 Sabourm, #14 Pappin, #23 Jacobs, #24 King, #25 MacAdam.$250.00 each, 2 for $425.00, 3 for $600.00 U.S. funds.All Sports, 333 E.17th Street Suite 3Costa Mesa, CA 92627*Visa & Mastercard accepted.<h2>MERCHANDISE</h2><h3>NEW ENGLAND WHALERS</h3>3 different pucks (Harpoon-Whale-Avco Trophy} 12.50 each, Quebec Nordiques, old Saints pucks (&laquo; 15.00 each U.S. Funds only.All Defunct Sports89 Massachusetts AveSuite 182Boston, MA.02115*Visa & Mastercard Accepted.<h2>MERCHANDISE</h2><h3>DEFUNCT NHL SALE</h3>Cleveland Barons, Oakland Seals, K.C. Scouts, lapel pins, pucks, pennants. Lapel Pins @ $750, pucks @ $12.00, pennants @ $10.00 each. Send payments toAll Defunct Sports,89 Massachusetts Ave.Suite 182Boston, MA.02115*Visa & Mastercard accepted &#9632;

f0033-02

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02402/4980558-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="582" height="161"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;The trade came just one week before rookies were scheduled to report to the Devils&rsquo; training camp and less than two weeks before New Jersey&rsquo;s veterans would arrive, but Don Lever knew his association with the organization had ended long before he was sent to the Buffalo Sabres on Sept. 5 for future considerations.&ldquo;Max (McNab) pretty well told my agent that there was no room for me on the roster about a month ago,&rdquo; said Lever. &ldquo;Max had said to me before, &lsquo;You be loyal to the New Jersey Devils and the New Jersey Devils will be loyal to you.&rdquo; I guess that&rsquo;s as far as that goes. I&rsquo;ll miss the friendships in New Jersey. Other than that I&rsquo;m pretty disappointed in the organization itself.&rdquo;Lever&rsquo;s three-and-a-half year term with the organization, including 59 games for the Colorado Rockies following the Nov. 25, 1981. swap of Lanny McDonald to Calgary for Lever and Bobby MacMillan, ended with a trade that should benefit the 32-year-old left winger.He was only a role player last season when he scored 10 goals and eight assists in 67 games, and he still lives in his native Niagara Falls, Ont., not far from Buffalo.But Lever leaves the Devils with a bitter feeling, knowing that his career in New Jersey really came to an end back on Jan. 9. 1984, when then-coach Tom McVie took away his captaincy and gave it to current captain Mel Bridgman.&ldquo;Deep down that (losing the captain&rsquo;s &lsquo;C&rsquo;) was a low blow.&rdquo; said Lever. &ldquo;I really didn&rsquo;t recover from it. I don&rsquo;t know why they didn&rsquo;t do something with me then. Instead of doing that, they might as well have done something with me then instead of waiting so long.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed for personal reasons as far as my family goes,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;There was no communication at all. You just don&rsquo;t expect that after so many years. I&rsquo;ve been getting it for two-and-a-half years, ever since (Billy) MacMillan got fired and they took the &lsquo;C&rsquo; away. It&rsquo;s pretty well been that I&rsquo;ve just kept my mouth shut and played it by ear. I really didn&rsquo;t want to cause any hassle or anything. I was just hoping I&rsquo;d get a chance and I really never did.&rdquo;McNab insisted that Lever, who has been injured during the last two training camps, got a fair shake on the ice.&ldquo;I think he was treated fairly as far as icetime. He got a lot of icetime last year.&rdquo; said the GM. &ldquo;When a wholesale change was made as far as the captaincy that may have hurt him. but I don&rsquo;t think a pro player can hold a grudge despite the major upheaval it was.&rdquo;After talking with GM Scotty Bowman, Lever indicated the Sabres made no promises for this season. While Lever would also be close to home playing for Buffalo&rsquo;s American League affiliate in Rochester, he requires six National Hockey League games to qualify for the medical plan that would benefit his family.&ldquo;I think the Devils really did me a favor,&rdquo; said Lever. &ldquo;Buffalo is like a new lease on life if I can stay healthy and finally make it through a camp. The last two camps in New Jersey I&rsquo;ve been hurt. I&rsquo;m just going in and hopefully I&rsquo;ll get a shot as a role player, whether it&rsquo;s checking or killing penalties, which the Devils didn&rsquo;t have enough faith in me to do.&ldquo;They (Sabres) picked me up so they must have some kind of interest in me.I&rsquo;m back in an organization that&rsquo;s a contender again. The last few years I&rsquo;ve been with Denver or New Jersey. Denver was falling apart and New Jersey&rsquo;s rebuilding.&rdquo;Lever did not speak highly of the Devils&rsquo; chances.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got some very good young players but it&rsquo;s going to be a long road for them if they&rsquo;re going to build through the draft.&rsquo;&rsquo; he said. &ldquo;If they don&rsquo;t sign the free agents and do what Detroit did, I think they&rsquo;re really going to find it pretty tough to sell in that area without a good product.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03304/4980551-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="586" height="828"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Lever was disappointed with the way he was treated by the New Jersey Devils.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re drafting 18-year-olds and you&rsquo;re gambling after that in the second, third and fourth rounds on high school kids it&rsquo;s going to be a long road to parity with the Islanders, Washington and Philadelphia. I think it was pretty lucky the Rangers had such a bad year last year. I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s any way they&rsquo;re going to have as bad a year as they had last year.&rdquo;&ldquo;We feel there&rsquo;s a strong possibility we&rsquo;ll be active in the waiver draft for a veteran,&rdquo; answered McNab. &ldquo;But with Dave Lewis, Bob Lorimer and Phil Russell we have solid veterans on defense.&ldquo;We also have Bridgman, (Rich) Preston, (Peter) McNab, (Doug) Sulliman and (Tim) Higgins. These are all veterans and they&rsquo;re pretty solid. If (No. 1 draft choice Craig) Wolanin makes it, we may have a defenseman to deal for a forward.&rdquo;HOT STUFF&mdash;Don Lever has scored 303 goals and 364 assists (667 points) in 981 games over 13 NHL seasons&hellip;Pat Verbeek has changed his number from 12 to 16. Newly-acquired Perry Anderson will wear No. 11.<div class="sidebar">&ldquo;I think he was treated fairly as far as icetime. He got a lot of icetime last year.&rdquo;&mdash;McNab &#9632;</div>

f0034-02

Lever Burning Over Devils’ Doings

An opportunity to win one of fifteen great cash prizes, including a first prize of $25,000 is reason to get excited about the Saskatchewan-NHL Hockey Draft.Other cash prizes include: 2nd) $10,000 3rd) $5,000 4th) $1,000 5th) $1,000 6th) $1,000 7th) $1,000 8th) $1,000 9th) $1,000 10th) $1,000 11th) $1,000 12th) $500 13th) $500 14th) $500 15th) $500.Draft chairman Brent Stebbings says, &ldquo;For $100 Canadian you not only add a lot of excitement to the NHL regular season, but you can win a lot of cash to boot.&rdquo;The Draft format is very simple, select the 25 players you believe will be the top scorers during the 1985-86 NHL regular season. These 25 players constitute your team. All their points (goals and assists) are accumulated for your team score.The team with the most points at the completion of the regular schedule wins $25,000. Other prizes are awarded as listed above.The Saskatchewan NHL Hockey Draft is a Humboldt Bronco Sports promotion. The Broncos are a member of the Saskatchewan Junior A Hockey League. The Broncos have had past success with a Home-Lotto, two Car-Lotto&rsquo;s, and an NHL Play-Off Draft.Stebbings says the top ten point leaders will be posted weekly in THE HOCKEY NEWS. &ldquo;This gives you an opportunity to compare your total against the top ten. You will know from week to week just where you stand.&rdquo;At the All-Star break each entrant will receive by mail a list of the top fifteen leaders, along with their own point total, and over-all standing.Upon receipt of your player&rsquo;s list, which must be postmarked no later than October 10, 1985, a computer print out of your team, confirming your entry, will be returned to you.All entries will be received by the accounting firm of Deutscher, Kunaman, & Scott-CA&rsquo;s, for each entrant&rsquo;s protection.As only 2,000 entries will be accepted for the Draft, advance registrations are now being accepted. You can send a cheque or money order, along with your name and address to: Saskatch-ewan-NHL Hockey Draft, c/o Deutscher, Kunaman, & Scott-CA&rsquo;s, Box 1590, Humboldt, SK, Canada, SOK 2A0. If preregistering, your player list must follow postmarked no later than October 10, 1985.Stebbings adds that group entries will also be accepted, if you want to enter with some friends, for example. All entrants&rsquo; names should be included with your entrance. &#9632;

Saskatchewan-NHL Hockey Draft The World’s Largest Hockey Draft Adds Excitement to the NHL Regular Season

Heaven forbid that Jari Kurri miss a hockey game this season. Because if the Finnish forward, who just happens to be Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s constant on-ice companion and the winner of last season&rsquo;s National Hockey League scoring race for mere mortals, catches so much as a case of the sniffles, the shock waves will be felt across the continent.Well, if not across the continent, then at least in the offices of THE HOCKEY NEWS, where we will dutifully field hysterical phone calls from desperate people, whose lot in life this winter depends on how well they are faring in the annual home or office hockey pool.And lest you think this is a case of exaggeration, we extend to you an invitation to man the phones at THN or any daily newspaper after:a) an NHL regular goes down with an injury.b) a typographical error appears in a summary or scoring report.c) Phil Housley is listed as a center instead of a defenseman.Any one of these, or others like them, are considered major news in the world of hockey pools, an ever-growing craze that afflicts not only hockey fanatics, but the casual fan whose interest is piqued by the challenge and fun of pool-playing.Check the pages of this issue of THN. You&rsquo;ll see an assortment of ads, hustling tip sheets and guide books. A few years ago, there were virtually no ads of this description.So, as a public service to our readers, here is a brief and general guideline to doing well in your hockey pool. We won&rsquo;t guarantee you&rsquo;ll win, but if you follow the advice, chances are you&rsquo;ll be in the running.<blockquote class="pullQuote">If Jari Kurri, Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s on-ice companion, catches so much as a case of the sniffles the shock waves will be felt across the continent.</blockquote>Do your homework. If you show up at your hockey pool draft with a list of last season&rsquo;s top 10 scorers and a few good hunches, you&rsquo;re on the road to disaster. The best prepared poolster doesn&rsquo;t always necessarily finish first, but the unprepared players never fare well.Any good general manager in hockey, be it pro or junior, will tell you that the ultimate success of any draft hinges on the decisions made in the weeks before the actual draft.Your hockey pool isn&rsquo;t any different. There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with showing up with a complete list of last season&rsquo;s scorers, but it&rsquo;s much better to have made some evaluations already.So, it&rsquo;s advised to spend a few hours ranking the players in the order that you&rsquo;d like to get them. That way, when your time to pick a player comes, you simply check your list and utter those famous general manager&rsquo;s words and &ldquo;take the best player available.&rdquo;Also in the homework category, do a team-by-team check to see who the up-and-comers are. They are most likely to come from the minor leagues, junior, college or European leagues.But be careful. Just because a player scored big in the minors, junior, college or Europe, is no guarantee he&rsquo;ll get you big points in the NHL. Minor league, junior and college stats are highly inflated. Europeans are risky because they usually require a year to become acclimatized to the league, which is why sophomore Europeans are often a good bet.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Don&rsquo;t load up your team with a lot of players from one team. If that team fares poorly or gets hit hard by injuries, you&rsquo;re down the drain.</blockquote>Remember that hockey pools are generally won in the middle-to-late rounds. Play it by the book in the first few rounds, take the solid scorers based on last year&rsquo;s stats and avoid taking any real big gambles.In the middle and late rounds, though, be on the lookout for that sleeper pick, the guy, usually a European, unheralded free agent or college grad, who has the potential to do some damage.Don&rsquo;t load up your team with a lot of players from one NHL team. If that team fares poorly or gets hit hard by injuries, you&rsquo;re down the drain. It&rsquo;s called not putting all your pucks in one basket.Stay away from drafting big-name player who are over the hill. If a prominent player in his early &lsquo;30s has had steadily declining outputs for the past three years, forget him or at least wait until the last round so you can decide between him and a risky rookie.When faced with a decision between players of equal value, but one is on a team that stresses offense rather than defense, go with the offensive team&rsquo;s player. This theory also applies to the divisions.The rule of thumb is the Smythe and Norris equal offense. The Adams and Patrick equal de fense.And be careful when selecting defensemen. There are very few Paul Coffeys or Doug Wilsons out there.After you&rsquo;ve digested all this information, come up with your own strategy and plan of attack. Then, there&rsquo;s nothing else to tell you, except Good Luck. &#9632;

Pool Your Resources Before Hockey Draft

<div class="byline">BY DICK BAKER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01410/4980637-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Onetime Philadelphia Flyer Blake Wesley, acquired by the Leafs during the off-season, could play for the Saints.</figcaption></div>Louisville HockeyLouisville HockeyST. CATHARINES&mdash;Last year, the St. Catharines Saints travelled light. They didn&rsquo;t carry many players.The undermanned Saints, skating with as few as 12 players sometimes, suffered through a 24-50-6 record.&ldquo;There&rsquo;d be five players on the ice, but when you turned around, there were only four players on the bench,&rdquo; said Saints&rsquo; second-year coach Claire Alexander, back again for another try. &ldquo;Last year was a hard year. It was hard on the players and it was hard on me. But I&rsquo;ve got to credit the guys who were here. The bodies may have been few, but the hearts were big.&rdquo;Before last season, the Saints thought there would be plenty of players available.&ldquo;When the CHL (Central Hockey League) folded, we thought there would be a surplus of players,&rdquo; said Alexander, a former Orillia (Ont.) milkman. &ldquo;But a lot of them signed on with the IHL. We were caught with our trap door open.&rdquo;Things should be different this time around. The parent Toronto Maple Leafs have 48 players under contract, compared to a number in the &lsquo;30s last year. Veterans such as Brad Smith, Gary McAdam, Wes Jarvis. Blake Wesley and Vai James have been inked. Those who don&rsquo;t stick with Toronto will provide St. Catharines with a nucleus that wasn&rsquo;t present a year ago.&ldquo;We realized at the end of last season that we had to go out and get some hockey players,&rdquo; said Alexander. &ldquo;Up until Christmas, we were only two or three players away from being a playoff team. From game 18 through game 34, we carried a goals-against average of only 3.01. But the second half of the season, with ail the injuries, we were too many players away from being a playoff team.&rdquo;Alexander tried to compensate for the lack of offensive talent by playing a Kit-ty-bar-the-door style of game. Without people like Bruce Boudreau, Mike Kas-zycki and Norm Aubin around, the Saints tried to squeeze out low-scoring wins.&ldquo;The goal-scorers might have grumbled having to play that way, but we couldn&rsquo;t go any other way,&rdquo; said Alexander.However, the Saints will still concentrate on defense this year.&ldquo;I hate like hell to see three-on-two&rsquo;s and two-on-one&rsquo;s,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Defensive play will always be an important part of our game.&rdquo;Although other teams, the Rochester Amerks, for example, have loaded up with talent during the off-season, Alexander feels the Saints can keep up with the rest and best of the pack.&ldquo;We won&rsquo;t disgrace ourselves,&rdquo; said Alexander.AROUND THE LEAGUE&mdash;Some early season ticket figures: Rochester is closing in on the 3,000 mark. Moncton is at 2,200 hoping for 2,800. Strangely, Calder Cup champion Sherbrooke is down considerably from a year ago&hellip;New Jersey signed badman Archie Henderson for the Maine Mariners. &ldquo;The Mariners have Al Stewart and Mitch Wilson, but they don&rsquo;t have Goose Gossage,&rdquo; said Henderson. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s what I am&mdash;the stopper.&rdquo; Henderson was first signed to a pro contract by the Washington Capitals in 1977 when Max McNab was the Caps&rsquo; GM and Tommy McVie, now in Maine, was the Washington coach. Speaking of McVie, the disciplined mentor stands out like General Patton on the Mariners&rsquo; season ticket brochure, pictured in front of an American flag, flanked by Kevin Maxwell and Steve Tsujiura. For the first time in recent history, the Springfield Indians are offering a children&rsquo;s ticket price, rebating all kids 12-and-under $3 from the regular ticket prices ($6, $7) as they enter the building-&hellip;There&rsquo;s talk St. Louis would like to join Toronto in St. Catharines&hellip;Now that Gilles Meloche has been traded from Edmonton to Pittsburgh, Roberto Romano might be ticketed for Baltimore. And if Romano ends up back with the Skipjacks, what happens to all-star goal tender Jon Casey if Casey is loaned to Baltimore again by the Minnesota North Stars? The Skipjacks are the Penguins&rsquo; No. 1 farm team, so Casey would be unlikely to get top billing in Baltimore. If he doesn&rsquo;t make Minnesota, Casey could go with the rest of the North Star-owned contingent in Springfield. However, the Indians were delighted with the netminding of Mike Sands last year. It can&rsquo;t be a Sands-Casey combination because the Islanders also have a place for a goaltender in Springfield (Rob Holland and Gary Johnson are the top two candidates.) &#9632;

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Defense Remains Focal Point For Alexander

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div>Louiville HockeyLouiville Hockey<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01476/4980668-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="594" height="638"><figcaption class="caption-body">K-Wings&rsquo; Bill Inglis is delighted to have his key man back between the pipes.</figcaption></div>KALAMAZOO&mdash;Bill Inglis feels he has taken care of at least one important position on his 1985-86 Kalamazoo squad.The K-Wings&rsquo; coach and general manager has signed goaltender Georges Gagnon. who has established eight Kalamazoo records in six seasons here.A three-time International Hockey League all-star (1981-82, &lsquo;83-84 and &lsquo;84-85). Gagnon has the most career shutouts for the K-Wings (9), most assists by a goalkeeper (5). least goals against in one season (88 in 1980-81 when he won the Norris Trophy with a club-record 2.77 goals-against average), and most saves in a season (2.145).&ldquo;Over the years Georges has certainly proved himself to be one of the best. He has finished either first or second in averages in our league in five of the last six seasons,&rdquo; Inglis said.&ldquo;We are confident that he will again have another great year.&rdquo;Gagnon, from McGregor, Ont., finished tied for second with Rob Holland of Indianapolis last season with a 3.28 goals-against average in 63 games. He was 34-23-6.Gagnon will begin his seventh season with Kalamazoo when the Wings open camp Oct. 7.At Milwaukee, meanwhile, the Admirals have announced that former University of Wisconsin wingerdefenseman Pat Ethier will attend their camp, which gets under way Oct. 6.Ethier played last season in West Germany and in the 1983-84 season he scored 46 points (with 19 goals) as a member of the Atlantic Coast League Carolina Thunderbirds.In four seasons at Wisconsin, Ethier had 19 goals and 77 assists.Milwaukee has also signed Curt Kamp as trainer for the coming season. Kamp. 24. spent the last two seasons with the Seattle Breakers of the Western League. He&rsquo;s a graduate of the University of Washington.The Indianapolis Checkers also have signed a trainer for the 1985-86 season. Assistant GM Rick Bums said the club would retain Don Niederkom, who will be in his fifth year as the Checkers&rsquo; trainer.At Fort Wayne, the Komets announced Ron Leef and Wally Schreiber have agreed to terms for the new season. Recently-named coach Robbie Laird said the pair rank among the best offensive players in the IHL.Schreiber, 23, was the Komets&rsquo; lea ing scorer last season and team MVP The right winger was also a first-team all-star.Leef. 24, has 374 points, including 172 goals, in four previous seasons with Fort Wayne.&ldquo;They have been our most consistent point-scorers over the past two seasons and I expect them to play that role for the Komets again this year,&rdquo; Laird added.Schreiber was third in league scoring last season with 51 goals and 58 assists. He tied with Jeff Pyle of Flint to lead im short-handed goals with seven.Leef, a center, was second to Schreiber in Komets&rsquo; scoring with 89 points&mdash;49 of them on goals. Seven of his tallies proved to be game-winners, and he led the team in power-play goals with 14.At IHL headquarters in Indianapolis, commissioner Bud Poile breathed a sigh of relief when he said. &ldquo;We have league fees from all 10 teams. We&rsquo;re looking forward to a successful 41st season.&rdquo;Opening night in the IHL will be Oct. 16, when three games are scheduled. The league&rsquo;s newest city, Saginaw, will be at Indianapolis, Fort Wayne at Salt Lake City and Muskegon, last season&rsquo;s Turner Cup runner-up to Peoria, at Flint.Flint, which lost the Generals to Saginaw. have returned to the fold as the Spirits.The defending Turner Cup-champion Rivermen will open their season Oct. 18 at home against Milwaukee. &#9632;

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Gagnon Expected To Have Another Big Year

<div class="byline">BY JOHN HERBERT</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01446/4980699-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Maxner, a former coach of the Detroit Red Wings, is back in the OHL with the longtime-lowly Sudbury Wolves.</figcaption></div>Louisville HockeyLouisville HockeySUDBURY&mdash;As the Sudbury Wolves launch their 13th season in the Ontario League, many owners, coaches and others associated with the game will be silently hoping Wayne Maxner&rsquo;s special junior success formula will be enough to change the luck of the franchise&rsquo;s sagging fortunes.The Max Factor, they call it&mdash;and the changes will probably be more than Bosmetic under the latest new coachgeneral manager. Maxner will be attempting to move the Wolves into the playoffs for the first time in six seasons.The Wolves open the campaign on Maxner&rsquo;s 42nd birthday&mdash;Sept. 27&mdash;at Sudbury Arena.And. as luck would have it, the opening-night opposition are the Windsor Spitfires, the club Maxner coached on three separate occasions, the last of them ending in June of 1984, when new owner Peter Karmanos shuffled him out the door in favor of his own regime of GM Jim Rutherford and coach Mark Craig. &ldquo;A grudge match?&rdquo; Maxner said, pondering the question. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really have a grudge. It was a business thing. They went one way. I went the other. I&rsquo;d just like to see this franchise get turned around so the people here who have been stepped on the past five years stop getting stepped on.&ldquo;Hopefully, we can turn the corner and be respectable. I don&rsquo;t know exactly what has happened in the past. Did they have the talent, coaching, leadership, direction? You can say in one breath they have a good nucleus but in the next sentence say they finished eighth, so how good are they?&ldquo;Fineally don&rsquo;t know. I just know one thing. I know what I have to offer the franchise. I will work very hard and one of the keys here is I&rsquo;m coach and general manager. The decisions made pertaining to the hockey club are in my hands as they were in Windsor.&rdquo;Another key element in the rebuilding will be the talent. If all hands are back&mdash;including Craig Duncanson from the L.A. Kings and Jeff Brown from the Quebec Nordiques&mdash;the Wolves should be competitive. Among about a dozen holdovers. Maxner has some fine talent to work with including Glen Greenough, Jamie Nadjiwan, Brad Belland, Dave Moylan and second overall draft pick Ken McRae from the Hawkesbury Hawks. Two other key players could be big winger Max Middendorf and goalie Sean Evoy Hired a month ago, after Bob Strumm of Regina slammed the door on the Wolves before coaching his first game, Maxner had been out of hockey since the change of ownership in the Windsor franchise.At the time, some Windsor fans questioned the wisdom of the Karmanos group in disposing of Maxner, who had been so popular and successful in Windsor. As it turned out, Karmanos has built the best organization money can buy and without Maxner the team did not suffer at the gate in 1984-85.While Maxner said &lsquo;&lsquo;there is no grudge,&rdquo; there are hurt feelings.He took off the entire 1984-85 season and operated a pizza restaurant in Halifax.&ldquo;After the Windsor incident I was hurt because I had made a decision to go back there (he had quit his coaching post at St. Francis Xavier University and stay there. I was very, very upset, I motionally, it hurt me. It was tough even thinking about hockey for a long time and I was happy to get away from it to take a little look at it and see if Wayne Maxner wanted to get back into it.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s different than getting fired. I can see a guy getting fired,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;But when I took over they were in last place. I gave them the best I can give. I think I did a good job. I got people back in the building, we were respectable and we made the playoffs. For that to happen (the firing), it was very, very, very disheartening.&rdquo;Maxner coached in Windsor on three different occasions.In 1973-74, he led the Spits to a Tier II championship with a club that drew an average of 3,700 fans per game, then left for a $5,000 raise to coach Hull of the Quebec League.Maxner &ldquo;came home&rdquo; in 1975-76, a few months into the Spits&rsquo; first OHL season, and stuck until 1980, when he joined the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; organization, advancing to coach the Wings for a spell. After being fired by the Wings. Maxner returned to the Maritimes and landed the coaching job at St. Francis Xavier, where he seemed content.Finally, he was lured back to Windsor for the third time.On this occassion. it was to rescue McHale&rsquo;s Navy&mdash;then-owner John McHale&rsquo;s club was in last place and threatening to fold because of financial failures with his computer business in Ottawa. Maxner bailed the team out, moving the club into the playoffs, but by June he was ousted in the Karmanos takeover.Meanwhile, in training camp developments, Belleville coach Larry Mavety drew a one-game suspension after his Bulls were involved in a wild brawl with the Kingston Canadians. The pre-season game was called after two periods and 290 penalty minutes.In Windsor, sophomore center Shawn Scarfe left the Spits, saying he wanted to spend more time concentrating on his education. Scarfe, from Hamilton, had nine goals and 25 assists last season and is considered an excellent defensive forward.&ldquo;I just decided I&rsquo;d feel more secure if I had my education and I didn&rsquo;t feel I could concentrate on both,&rdquo; he told Dave Hall of the Windor Star. &ldquo;Playing in Windsor was a lot of fun but I thought about it all summer and for me, I feel it&rsquo;s the right decision. Some guys can handle both, but I guess I can&rsquo;t.&rdquo;Spits&rsquo; general manager Jim Rutherford said he was &ldquo;shocked and very disappointed.&rdquo;&ldquo;I happen to disagree with Shawn that a person can&rsquo;t do both in this league,&rdquo; Rutherford said.In Kitchener, Rangers&rsquo; forward Shawn Tyers suffered a broken ankle and will be lost to the Rangers for six to eight weeks. &#9632;

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Max Factor Means More Than Cosmetic Surgery

<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>DETROIT&mdash;Brent Fedyk, RW, 1985 draft pick from Regina of WHL, signed to five-year contract.EDMONTON&mdash;Gilles Meloche, G, traded to Pittsburgh for Marty McSorley, D, and Tim Hrynewich, LW. Mike Palmateer, G, signed one-year contract as free agent from Toronto.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Daryl Evans, LW, traded to Washington for Glen Currie, C.MONTREAL&mdash;Ryan Walter, LW, signed new two-year contract.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Archie Henderson, RW, signed as free agent for assignment to Maine of AHL.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Mats Hallin, LW, traded to Minnesota for cash or a late-round draft selection in 1986. Dave Simpson, C, traded to Pittsburgh for future considerations.NY RANGERS&mdash;Terry Carkner, D, from Peterborough of OHL, Raimo Helminen, C, from Finland, and Kjell Samuelsson, D, from Sweden, all 1984 draft picks, signed to NHL contracts. Joe Russo, D, and Ron Pander, D, released outright.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Alain Heroux, LW, signed as free agent from Montreal.QUEBEC&mdash;Alain Lemieux, C, signed new two-year contract. Real Cloutier, RW, signed to tryout as free agent from Buffalo.VANCOUVER&mdash;Tony Tanti, RW, signed new multi-year contract.WINNIPEG&mdash;Lawrence Duke, LW, from U.S. International Univ., signed as free agent to NHL tryout.<h2>COACHING CHANGES ATLANTIC COAST LEAGUE</h2>NEW YORK&mdash;Dave Schultz named manager and coach of new ACHL franchise, the Slapshots. &#9632;

PLAYER TRANSACTIONS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02312/4980754-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL STARTING TIMES

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div>Louisville HockeyLouisville HockeySEATTLE&mdash;It&rsquo;s a scenario that&rsquo;s been played out before in the Western Hockey League but never with such pomp and circumstance.Rejuvenation of a franchise, whether in change of city, name or ownership is generally met with some pessimism. There are usually too many questions left unanswered, like who&rsquo;s really in charge and just who&rsquo;s paying the bills.That&rsquo;s not the case in Seattle.The Seattle Breakers, officially renamed the Thunderbirds on Aug. 19, are setting the record straight in a hurry. And if enthusiasm is worth anything, the Thunderbirds are way out ahead in the Western Divison hype department.More than 100 people jammed into the press conference at the posh Westin Hotel to drink champagne and hear of Seattle&rsquo;s plan for WHL respectability. It was the largest turnout ever for a hockey press conference in the Washington state city, where professional sport is king in eyes of fans and media alike.The all-out effort involves new ownership by a Calgary-based group, headed by successful petroleum businessman Earl Hale. It means the return of well-respected Sheldon Ferguson to the league as general manager and peace of mind for coach Marc Boileau and director of player personnel Jake Goertzen.It means new team colors (green, blue and white) instead of orange, blue and white and a facelift for the Seattle Center Arena. Hale heads a four-man group which purchased the franchise April 2 from the league.WHL president Ed Chynoweth says, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s obvious from the people they&rsquo;ve assembled here that they&rsquo;re going first class&mdash;they didn&rsquo;t spare any horses. I don&rsquo;t see any problems because we know who&rsquo;s paying the bills and that&rsquo;s the big thing.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01198/4980785-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="592" height="1199"><figcaption class="caption-body">Director of player personnel Jake Goertzen is delighted with Seattle&rsquo;s ownership change.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Nobody went to bat more than me for this franchise. I couldn&rsquo;t be happier. With a little excitement generated this could be a great market. They know what they have to do now and that&rsquo;s get a contending hockey team. They&rsquo;re talking about a three-year rebuilding job and I know Earl won&rsquo;t leave any stones unturned.&rdquo;Hale, no newcomer to hockey, knows what&rsquo;s needed to tum an also-ran into a winner. He has coached amateur teams in Calgary at various levels for eight years and last season also served as a director with the Tier II Calgary Canucks.&ldquo;What we have to do is develop players and work with them,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We look at it as a business. We look at franchises like Prince Albert and Portland and how successful they&rsquo;ve been.&rdquo;Ferguson has his work cut out as general manager of a club which placed fifth in the six-team Western Division last season with a 25-44-3 record. But challenges are nothing new for Ferguson.He spent the last six years scouting for the Quebec Nordiques and before that was a member of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau for a year. Ferguson was with the defunct Billings franchise in the WHL and coached the Tier II Red Deer Rustlers for three seasons, winning one Centennial Cup championship.&ldquo;The number one thing is to provide a winner in Seattle&mdash;something which hasn&rsquo;t been done in the past,&rdquo; said Ferguson.He&rsquo;s right. Since the Kamloops Chiefs relocated to Seattle in the 1977-78 season, the club has never even been close to a division title. Its claim to fame is having center Ryan Walter drafted by the Washington Capitals second overall in the 1978 entry draft.Boileau believes if he beefs up the wings, the Thunderbirds will fly high this season. But how high is high?&ldquo;I&rsquo;m definitely predicting we&rsquo;ll make the playoffs,&rdquo; said Boileau, who enters his third season behind the Seattle bench armed with a one-year contract. &ldquo;From there it&rsquo;s wide open. If our wings fill out we&rsquo;ll be okay.&rdquo;The big optimism in Seattle stems from the fact Ray Savard, Mario Desjardins, Scott Neely and Glen Goodall all return at center ice. They&rsquo;ll be joined by Seattle-native Mickey Donner, who played last season at Wisconsin.Larry Bernard, Kelly Para and Stuart Sage (acquired from Lethbridge) anchor the left side while Jim Bechtold and Brian McFarlane return to right wing. Jamie Huscroft and Lloyd Cox will be among the leaders on the blueline.Veteran Larry Dyck has the inside track on the starting goaltending position. He&rsquo;ll be challenged by newcomers Glen Seymour and Wade Flaherty.Becoming competitive means getting out to see more prospects. That&rsquo;s where Goertzen enters the picture with a smile on his face. More operating capital means a better scouting program.&ldquo;What I see now is what I hoped it would be like,&rdquo; said Goertzen, who is in his sixth year with Seattle. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I stuck it out&mdash;I thought sooner or later somebody would see the potential here.&ldquo;It gives the hockey club credibility and I&rsquo;m not going to be hanging around the office. They (owners) realize if we&rsquo; re going to get players we have to be our there looking at them. The last two months I&rsquo;ve been on the road more than the last two years.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Seattle T-Birds Make A Break From Past

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div>HULL&mdash;A 5-foot-5, 140-pound hockey player could mean the difference between a good year and a great one for the Hull Olympiques, a team determined to bulk up.Hull has strengthened itself with the acquisition of goaltender Robert Desjardins from the Shawinigan&rsquo;Cataractes. Desjardins is considered the best in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, along with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens&rsquo; Dan Berthiaume.Hull players didn&rsquo;t know a major trade had gone down until they entered the dressing room to prepare for an exhibition game with the Ottawa &lsquo;67s of the Ontario League.Olympiques&rsquo; goalie Steeve Averill and sophomore right wingers Jean Bergeron and Eric Lamontagne were missing. Eric Bohemier and Robert Desjardins were listed as the game&rsquo;s goalkeepers.Desjardins immediately grabbed the attention of 3,369 fans after hitting the ice halfway through the second period, making a couple of spectacular saves on the way to a 6-4 win.&ldquo;I felt we needed something extra in net,&rdquo; said Charlie Henry, the Olympiques&rsquo; director of hockey operations. &ldquo;Our goaltending fell apart in the playoffs last year and we didn&rsquo;t pick up anybody in the draft.&rdquo;Henry obtained Desjardins and a sixthround draft pick from the Cataractes for Bergeron, the club&rsquo;s No. I draft pick in 1984 and Lamontagne, a fifth-rounder the same year.Averill, 19, had a 4.69 goals-against average last year in 49 games, ranking him 11th in the league. Bergeron, 18, scored 26 goals and 28 assists and Lamontagne, 18, had 21 points on 14 goals and seven assists.&ldquo;Steeve was easy going in practice and had to have a lot of shots to stay sharp,&rdquo; said Hull coach Pat Burns. &ldquo;(Olympiques owner) Wayne (Gretzky) found out about Desjardins from the Memorial Cup and said let&rsquo;s go get him. With Desjardins and Bohemier, we have two aggressive, hard-working goalies.&rdquo;Bohemier, 18, was rated top midget goaltender in Quebec before coming to Hull last year.&ldquo;Bobby was the league&rsquo;s defensive rookie of the year last season and he was the best in the league, no doubt about it,&rdquo; Burns said.Desjardins, 18, helped Shawinigan capture the QMJHL&rsquo;s regular-season title and advance to the championship game of the Memorial Cup. He had a 2.96 average going into the final game, a 6-1 loss to the Prince Albert Raiders, and was selected the tournament&rsquo;s all-star goalie.In 1984, he helped Lac St. Louis Lions win the Quebec midget championship and reach the semi-finals of the national Air Canada Cup tournament.The acrobatic, standup goalkeeper had the QMJHL&rsquo;s best average last year (3.43 in 42 games). But he was 127 minutes shy of the 2,244 minutes of playing time that would have made him eligible for the league&rsquo;s Jacques Plante Trophy.Berthiaume, 19, a Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; third-rounder in the National Hockey League entry draft in June, won the award with a 3.85 average in 59 games.Desjardins was also eligible for the draft but wasn&rsquo;t selected.&ldquo;I was disappointed, I had such a good year and&hellip;nothing. I have another good shot at it. This is my big year. As long as you can stop the puck, I can&rsquo;t see why size matters.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t upset at being traded,&rdquo; Desjardins said. &ldquo;Shawinigan is rebuilding. We&rsquo;ll probably be the team to beat this year and it&rsquo;s a chance to go back to the Memorial Cup.&rdquo;In the league&rsquo;s other major pre-season trade. Drummondville Voltigeurs traded goaltender Jude Labillois, 20, for St. jean Castors&rsquo; defenseman Jean-Guy Bergeron, 20. Labillois posted a 4.49 average in 53 games as a 19-year-old rookie and defensive defenseman Bergeron, a Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; draft pick in 1984. had 17 goals and 57 assists last year. &#9632;

Highly-Rated Olympiques Trade For Star Netminder

<h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Sept. 16)<h3>FRANK DILIO DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02124/4980854-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="544" height="176"></div><h3>ROBERT LEBEL DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0382/4980847-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="536" height="173"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. Sept. 13T-Rivieres 6 at Chicoutimi 9Verdun 7 at Drummondville 4Laval 4 A Granby 5Shawinigan 3 at Hull 11Longueuil 2 at St. Jean 11Sun. Sept. 15Longueuil 3 at Chicoutimi 6Shawinigan 3 at Drummondville 4St. Jean 1 at Granby 6Hull 5 at Verdun 4<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0460/4980840-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="541" height="262"></div> &#9632;

f0040-02

JUNIOR SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0297/4980892-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="588" height="156"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2>WINNIPEG&mdash;A goaltender, two right wingers, a left winger, one defenseman and a center are vulnerable as the Winnipeg Jets prepare to open their seventh National Hockey League training camp.Forty-two players will be present when camp officially begins.Some of the openings are small comsed to others, but they are there, neveress.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t need to make wholesale changes.&rdquo; saidcoach Barry Long. &ldquo;This is a strong hockey club. But we are two or three players away from the next echelon.&rdquo;For the Jets, a move upwards would require catching the Stanley Cup champions A year ago. the Edmonton Oilers were 49-20-11. a comfortable first in the Smythe Division with 109 points.Conversely, the Jets were a scaredly second in the same dizzy division With a 43-27-10 record and 96 points, only two more than the Calgary Flames.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see anyone finishing in first place with only 96 points.&rdquo; said Long. &ldquo;We would require 100 or more. But. I remind you. we were only four short of 100 a year ago. It is possible.&rdquo;Long is obsessed with catching the Oilers, a team for whom he once played. He is driven to seeing the Jets on top. But he knows the team he had a year ago will have to be improved.Only 14 players appear to be safe. An educated guess suggests the followingGoaltender Brian Hayward, defensemen Randy Carlyle, Dave Babych. Dave Ellett, Robert Picard and Jim Kyte; left wingers Brian Mullen. Doug Smail and Perry Turnbull; centers Dale Hawer-chuk. Thomas Steen and Laurie Bos-chman; and right wingers Paul MacLean and Jim Nill.In goal. Marc Behrend has not convinced the Jets he is the perfect option to Hayward, a 33-gamc winner.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got one goaltender for sure,&rdquo; said Long. &ldquo;His name is Hayward. nrend needs to be more consistent. &ldquo;Conspicuously absent from the list of safe defensemen is assistant captain Tim Watters. At 180. the four-year veteran is 20 pounds lighter than the average Winnipeg rearguard.If one of three rookies&mdash;Peter Tag-lianetti. Bobby Dollas or Dan McFall&mdash;or the ever-improving Wade Campbell appears capable of being the fifth or sixth defenseman, Watters might be included in a trade.. But the Jets would be wise to consider the team&rsquo;s performance when Watters is losing.On Dec. 18, 1984. he suffered a wrist fracture when shoved into the boards by the New York Islanders&rsquo; Bryan Trottier. Watters returned to the lineup Jan. 25. In his absence, the Jets were 7-9-1.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01163/4980885-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="592" height="732"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andrew McBain will be fighting to secure a regular job with the Winnipeg Jets.</figcaption></div>Of the forwards, four veterans whose jobs would appear in jeopardy are Scott Arnicl. Ron Wilson, Andrew McBain and Bengt Lundholm.Amici, a left winger, is being challenged by Anssi Melamctsa. the Finnish national team captain. Tom Martin, a rugged Sherbrooke farmhand and Randy Gilhen. a free agent.The streak-prone Arniel had 22 goals and 22 assists last season.Melamctsa was not a future pick when the Jets took him in the 12th round of the June draft. Now 24. he is expected to play immediately.On right wing. Lundholm and McBain are being challenged by first-round draft choice. Ryan Stewart, and the much-travelled Dave Silk.Stewart may be a year away but. for Silk, the ex-Ranger, ex-Red Wing, exBruin. it&rsquo;s now or never.Lundholm (12-18&mdash;30) and McBain (7-15&mdash;22) are light producers. Of the two. Lundholm is more effective in many roles. McBain has youth and size on his side and a hankering to play center. He may be obliged to learn in Sherbrooke.&ldquo;Andrew has to show us what he is capable of doing.&rdquo; said Long.A battle looming at center ice features two veterans. Ron Wilson and Murray Eaves, and second-year pro Paul Pooley. Wilson is Long&rsquo;s handiest forward while Eaves may be a better centre. Pooley could unseat both.General manager John Ferguson believes the time has come for Eaves to play in the NHL. If he is unable to crack the Jets&rsquo; lineup, he may be offered in a trade or exposed in the waiver draft.&ldquo;While we have areas where we need to improve, we have several positions on the team where we are solid,&rdquo; said Long. &ldquo;We are far more comfortable than in years past.&rdquo;BENCH BITS&mdash;One of the latest additions to the training camp roster is an immense left winger. Lawrence Duke, from U.S. International University. He is six-foot-three and 235 pounds&hellip;The Jets opened training camp with a golf tournament&hellip;Season-ticket sales have exceeded last year&rsquo;s mark of 8,300. A 15-game mini-package is proving popular with consumers. &#9632;

f0041-02

Jobs In Jeopardy As Training Camp Opens

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01165/4981035-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="554" height="864"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02108/4981028-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="586" height="866"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0378/4981021-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="594" height="870"></div><h2>OCTOBER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0460/4981014-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="660" height="2723"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0550/4981007-1-eng-US/f0042-052.jpg" title="f0042-05" width="634" height="274"></div><h2>NOVEMBER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0644/4981000-1-eng-US/f0042-062.jpg" title="f0042-06" width="668" height="2451"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0740/4980993-1-eng-US/f0042-072.jpg" title="f0042-07" width="666" height="1579"></div><h2>DECEMBER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0833/4980986-1-eng-US/f0042-082.jpg" title="f0042-08" width="648" height="1168"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0930/4980979-1-eng-US/f0042-092.jpg" title="f0042-09" width="691" height="2773"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01164/4980972-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="643" height="98"></div><h2>JANUARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02119/4980965-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="657" height="3511"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0397/4980958-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="643" height="805"></div><h2>FEBRUARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0477/4980951-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="643" height="2257"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0567/4980944-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="655" height="1495"></div><h2>MARCH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0655/4980937-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="661" height="1998"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0753/4980930-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="660" height="2430"></div><h2>APRIL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0844/4980923-1-eng-US/f0043-082.jpg" title="f0043-08" width="647" height="1087"></div><h2>Hartford To Host NHL All-Star Game</h2>The Hartford Whalers will be the first of the four refugee WHA teams that merged with the NHL in 1979, to play host to an All-Star game. The Whalers will stage the NHL&rsquo;s 38th annual All-Star classic Tuesday, Feb. 4 in the Hartford Civic Center Coliseum. &#9632;

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September 27, 1985

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The Waiting Is Over For Pederson

Strength Or Scoring: Those Are The Options

Louisville