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

April 11, 1986

The Hockey News April 11, 1986

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011346/5334978-1-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>Hart Attack</h2>LET US CUT straight to the heart of the matter. The Hart Trophy controversy, that is.As the National Hockey League regular season dwindled down to its final few games, and selected members of the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association began contemplating their selections for NHL awards, an interesting debate raged on.Who should win the Hart Trophy?Should it be Wayne Gretzky, the Edmonton Oiler superstar who needed only four points in his final three regular season games to surpass his own single-season scoring record (212) and who was more than 70 points ahead of his nearest scoring rival?Or should it be Mario Lemieux, the saviour of the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; franchise and a player, who without a supporting cast of stars, still managed to score more than 135 points?Ultimately, the question will be answered by the PHWA. And while the debate is an intriguing one, this is neither the time nor the place to extoll the virtues of one over the other.It is, however, time for something else.This entire Lemieux vs. Gretzky debate has, more than anything else, served to magnify a weakness in the award itself. In other words, it&rsquo;s the words that are all wrong.The Hart Trophy currently goes &ldquo;to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team.&rdquo;So, according to that definition, the NHL is void of an award for its best player. Being the most valuable player to your team isn&rsquo;t necessarily anywhere close to being the best player in the league.And if the current Hart criteria is to be taken literally, then one would have to rate Philadelphia defenseman Mark Howe a leading candidate, never mind Gretzky and Lemieux. Could you imagine the Flyers going anywhere without Howe?Therefore, the NHL would be wise to re-word its Hart Trophy terms of reference. Present it to the &ldquo;player adjudged to be the best in the league.&rdquo;After all, that&rsquo;s what the trophy has been all about&mdash;except, of course, in 1954, when goalie Al Rollins of the last-place Chicago Blackhawks, a team which also had the worst goals-against mark in the league, won it over scoring leader Gordie Howe.Eliminate the need for the pretzel logic of figuring out who&rsquo;s more valuable to his team. Eliminate the plethora of variables that only serve to muddle the picture.Just give it to the best damn player in the game, whomever that may be. &#9632;

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Departments

The Hockey News

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01203/5336824-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg"></div><h2>&hellip;INDIVIDUAL SCORING LEADERS FOR ART ROSS TROPHY&hellip;</h2><h2>&hellip;INDIVIDUAL ROOKIE SCORING LEADERS&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02141/5336817-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="996" height="322"></div><h2>BOSTON</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03105/5336810-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="115" height="111"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0480/5336803-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="987" height="817"></div><h2>BUFFALO</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0567/5336796-1-eng-US/f0042-052.jpg" title="f0042-05" width="118" height="113"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0660/5336789-1-eng-US/f0042-062.jpg" title="f0042-06" width="984" height="817"></div><h2>CALGARY</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0755/5336782-1-eng-US/f0042-072.jpg" title="f0042-07" width="113" height="110"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0848/5336775-1-eng-US/f0042-082.jpg" title="f0042-08" width="3300" height="3992"></div><h2>CHICAGO</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0945/5336768-1-eng-US/f0042-092.jpg" title="f0042-09" width="134" height="111"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1040/5336761-1-eng-US/f0042-102.jpg" title="f0042-10" width="974" height="638"></div><h2>DETROIT</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1135/5336754-1-eng-US/f0042-112.jpg" title="f0042-11" width="138" height="97"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1230/5336747-1-eng-US/f0042-122.jpg" title="f0042-12" width="984" height="661"></div><h2>EDMONTON</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1325/5336740-1-eng-US/f0042-132.jpg" title="f0042-13" width="116" height="108"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1423/5336733-1-eng-US/f0042-142.jpg" title="f0042-14" width="987" height="736"></div><h2>HARTFORD</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1522/5336726-1-eng-US/f0042-152.jpg" title="f0042-15" width="115" height="113"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1622/5336719-1-eng-US/f0042-162.jpg" title="f0042-16" width="987" height="661"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1721/5336712-1-eng-US/f0042-172.jpg" title="f0042-17" width="182" height="103"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1819/5336705-1-eng-US/f0042-182.jpg" title="f0042-18" width="968" height="701"></div><h2>MINNESOTA</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1916/5336698-1-eng-US/f0042-192.jpg" title="f0042-19" width="124" height="108"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-2016/5336691-1-eng-US/f0042-202.jpg" title="f0042-20" width="972" height="790"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-2114/5336684-1-eng-US/f0042-212.jpg" title="f0042-21" width="132" height="92"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-2212/5336677-1-eng-US/f0042-222.jpg" title="f0042-22" width="972" height="758"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-2310/5336670-1-eng-US/f0042-232.jpg" title="f0042-23" width="101" height="93"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-249/5336663-1-eng-US/f0042-242.jpg" title="f0042-24" width="968" height="816"></div><h2>NY ISLANDERS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-259/5336656-1-eng-US/f0042-252.jpg" title="f0042-25" width="124" height="119"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-265/5336649-1-eng-US/f0042-262.jpg" title="f0042-26" width="974" height="730"></div><h2>NY RANGERS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01200/5336642-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="128" height="117"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02146/5336635-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="988" height="786"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03121/5336628-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="143" height="100"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0494/5336621-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="990" height="703"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0583/5336614-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="135" height="116"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0670/5336607-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="990" height="727"></div><h2>QUEBEC</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0767/5336600-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="120" height="110"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0856/5336593-1-eng-US/f0043-082.jpg" title="f0043-08" width="988" height="680"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0953/5336586-1-eng-US/f0043-092.jpg" title="f0043-09" width="109" height="113"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1047/5336579-1-eng-US/f0043-102.jpg" title="f0043-10" width="988" height="730"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1141/5336572-1-eng-US/f0043-112.jpg" title="f0043-11" width="136" height="133"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1238/5336565-1-eng-US/f0043-122.jpg" title="f0043-12" width="984" height="732"></div><h2>VANCOUVER</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1335/5336558-1-eng-US/f0043-132.jpg" title="f0043-13" width="97" height="97"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1435/5336551-1-eng-US/f0043-142.jpg" title="f0043-14" width="981" height="674"></div><h2>WASHINGTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1531/5336544-1-eng-US/f0043-152.jpg" title="f0043-15" width="150" height="86"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1629/5336537-1-eng-US/f0043-162.jpg" title="f0043-16" width="976" height="622"></div><h2>WINNIPEG</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1725/5336530-1-eng-US/f0043-172.jpg" title="f0043-17" width="108" height="110"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1821/5336523-1-eng-US/f0043-182.jpg" title="f0043-18" width="981" height="786"></div><h2>NHL GOALTENDING</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-1920/5336516-1-eng-US/f0043-192.jpg" title="f0043-19" width="1016" height="2942"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SCORING

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;Since the birth &gt;f the franchise back in 1974, none of its three incarnations&mdash;the Kansas City Scouts, Colorado Rockies or New Jersey Devils&mdash;had ever won more than 22 james in one season,So when the Devils and goalkeeper Alain Chevrier posted back-to-back victories over the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto-Maple Leafs to raise this season&rsquo;s victory total to 24. it should have been a time to look optimistically toward the future.Instead, the franchise record was tempered by the revelation that the successful coaching tandem of Doug Carpenter and Lou Vairo is coming to an end at the conclusion of this season. Vairo, whose one-year contract expires at the conclusion of the season, will not return as the Devils&rsquo; assistant coach.Neither Vairo nor the Devils want to talk about the split until this season is completed, but several reliable sources indicate Vairo does not want to continue in his current position nor does the team&rsquo;s front office necessarily want him back.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather not discuss it until the season is over and when the season is over I&rsquo;d be happy to talk about it.&rdquo; said Vairo. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just my decision. It&rsquo;s their decision. too. because my contract is up. I&rsquo;ll wait until the season is over, sit down with Doug, Max (McNab) and Bob Butera and talk about next season. I&rsquo;d like to see the team finish the season strong and go out with some victories under our belts.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">Relations are said to be strained between Carpenter and Vairo.</blockquote>The Devils will indeed go out with more victories under their belts than ever before, but there is not likely to be much post-season discussion about Vairo&rsquo;s future as assistant coach.Vairo has always been family-oriented and he desires more time with his wife, toni, and their young son. Brian. By the same token, the relationship between Carpenter and Vairo has been successful but strained.Asked about Vairo&rsquo;s future as his assistant coach Carpenter replied, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have any say. That&rsquo;s not my department.&rdquo;Certainly Carpenter has some input in choosing his assistant coach. Several players and front-office personnel have revealed that all is not rosy between the two coaches.Carpenter is single, with his own terse manner of handling relations with players and a willingness to spend long hours in his office. Vairo is a dedicated family man with an easy-going, humorous way of handling player relations. Both are respected coaches, but perhaps they don&rsquo;t work well together.&ldquo;Lou told me the other day that it was written we had a feud going on,&rdquo; said Carpenter. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know where that came from.&rdquo;While there is not a feud between the two men, Vairo&rsquo;s role under Carpenter has greatly diminished since his May 31, 1984, hiring. Early in the partnership it was reinforced that Vairo would not be an assistant who picked up pucks, ordered post-game sandwiches and handed out airline boarding passes.Carpenter, himself, said that Vairo would have a major role in decision-making, but it is clear even to outsiders that Vairo&rsquo;s role has been cut to the bone.Problems first began last season when innocent comments by the Brooklyn native regarding a future head coaching job were misconstrued by New Jersey&rsquo;s sensitive front office.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01550/5335957-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="516" height="896"><figcaption class="caption-body">GRUNT WORK</figcaption></div>When the Rangers fired Herb Brooks, Vairo was asked if he would be interested in the job if Ranger GM Craig Patrick made an offer. Vairo insisted he was happy and loyal to the Devils but that he would naturally listen to any NHL head coaching offers at a proper time.Front-office sources revealed that owner John McMullen exploded when he read Vairo&rsquo;s frank comments. McMullen was immediately on the phone to president Butera and GM McNab, proclaiming:&rdquo; The two biggest mouths in hockey. Tom McVie and Lou Vairo. and we have them both!&rdquo;Vairo. a highly-visible personality as head coach of the 1984 U.S. Olympic team, avoided more controversy by taking a low profile. Carpenter and McNab responded by cutting back Vairo&rsquo;s power.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02385/5335950-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="100" height="86"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 100px">NEW JERSEY DEVILS</figcaption></div>When it came time to sign Carpenter to a new contract after his rookie season. McMullen would&rsquo;ve liked to make it a one-year deal. In order to keep Carpenter the owner was forced to sign him to a two-year deal with a raise. Vairo, however, was given a one-year contract without a raise. It was not exactly a vote of confidence.Now that the split is near the Devils would be wise to keep Vairo in the organization in some capacity, perhaps as a scout.McMullen recognized current director of player personnel Marshall Johnston&rsquo;s scouting talents when Johnston was fired as assistant coach along with Billy MacMillan and Vairo could be just as valuable.&ldquo;I love the Devils,&rdquo; said Vairo. &ldquo;They gave me a chance in the NHL when no one else would. I&rsquo;m grateful to the Devils and John McMullen.&rdquo;HOT STUFF&mdash;After sending Craig Billington back to Belleville of the Ontario League on March 22. the Devils had hoped to sign Providence College goalie Chris Terreri to a tryout contract but Terreri reportedly turned Max McNab off with a demand for a three-year. $600,000 contract&hellip;Goalie Karl Friesen was called up from Maine. Mel Bridgman had thoughts of discarding his face shield until a high stick by Toronto&rsquo;s Walt Poddubny shattered the plastic and cut his nose&hellip;Kirk Muller equalled the New Jersey record for assists in a season (40) shared by Tapio Levo (1982-83) and Dave Pichette (last season) but will fall short of Wilf Paiement&rsquo;s franchise mark of 56 assists in 1977-78. &#9679; &#9632;</div>

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Vairo Not Comina Back As Assistant Coach

<div class="byline">BY TOM WHEATLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02711/5335536-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="552" height="919"><figcaption class="caption-body">Blues owner Harry Ornest assured his players the team wasn&rsquo;t leaving St. Louis.</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;The St. Louis Blues heard it straight from the owner&rsquo;s mouth: They will be playing in St. Louis next season.At the request of coach Jacques Demers, owner Harry Ornest addressed the team before its stirring 3-2 victory over Montreal at The Arena on March 22.&ldquo;You know, there are ways of saying something, and then there&rsquo;s ways of saying something,&rdquo; said Demers, when asked about Ornest&rsquo;s rare oration. &ldquo;But Mr. Ornest didn&rsquo;t even hesitate. There were no &lsquo;yeah&rsquo;, &lsquo;buts&rsquo; or &lsquo;maybes.&rsquo; It was straight and forward.&rdquo;According to Demers, Ornest said: &ldquo;Gentlemen. I want you to know the St. Louis Blues are not moving. The team is staying in St. Louis. Don&rsquo;t worry about the future. Thank you very much. Go out and play hockey.&rdquo;The Blues did just that. Their victory gave them the season series over Montreal (2-1) for the second time in the Blues&rsquo; 19-year history, and the first time in 11 years.Demers said Ornest&rsquo;s talk had a direct effect on the victory.&ldquo;Harry made everybody feel good,&rdquo; said Demers. &ldquo;It created an atmosphere of certainty about the future of the St. Louis Blues. I know the players believed him. I felt a (sense of) relief in the room, because we stayed to have a meeting about the game after Harry left.&ldquo;I think it helped in our performance. They were flying out there.&rdquo;Demers said rumors of a move by the Blues to Hamilton were starting to distract his players from their appointed rounds.Some players recently confided to reporters that they were worried as well as embarrassed by Ornest&rsquo;s suit to break the Blues&rsquo; seven-month-old contract with radio station KXOK.At least one player theorized privately that Ornest might want to free the broadcast rights so he could award them in a new locale, such as Hamilton.&ldquo;I know the players were worrying about it in the dressing room.&rdquo; said Demers, referring to the Hamilton rumors in general. &ldquo;It was bothering their wives, too. One player even came to me and said, &lsquo;My wife doesn&rsquo;t want us to leave St. Louis. Are we moving?&rdquo;&rsquo;Demers, a loyal company man, has been reassuring his players privately, as well as publicly through the press, that all the vital signs point to the Blues staying here.It was better for Ornest to dispel the rumors in person because, as Demers put it: &ldquo;Me saying it is one thing. The owner saying it is another.&rdquo;Ornest, related Demers, also mentioned that a local broadcaster recently had come in to his office, asking about rumors that the controversial owner had told his players to start shopping for houses.Ornest said he threw the broadcaster out of his office, Demers said.It is highly unusual for Ornest to visit formally with his players.&ldquo;Maybe twice a year,&rdquo; said Demers.Two other witnesses to Ornest&rsquo;s speech recalled it as being somewhat earthier than Demers&rsquo; version.&ldquo;Harry said, &lsquo;I know you&rsquo;ve been hearing a lot of bull&mdash;about the Blues moving to Hamilton. That&rsquo;s all it is&mdash;a lot of bull&mdash;&rdquo; recalled one of the sources, who asked not to be identified.Saturday&rsquo;s speech was the second time in three days that Ornest responded to a plea from his coach.Ornest had okayed a charter flight back from Detroit where the Blues won 3-2 in overtime on Lee Norwood&rsquo;s goal. The Blues, weary after playing 12 games in 20 days, were buoyed by the news, said Demers.That charter was not on the schedule and was arranged despite an open date the next day.Demers wanted it as a boost to his team&rsquo;s morale, as well as a needed physical break.&ldquo;I think it shows a commitment to better the atmosphere of the hockey club,&rdquo; said Demers.That atmosphere has been strained throughout the season by some curious itineraries.For example, the Blues flew to Los Angeles in January by way of Dallas and landing in Long Beach. From there, where their luggage was dumped on a rack out on the tarmac, they took a halfhour bus ride to their hotel which was beside the L.A. airport.Instead of a three-hour direct trip, the Blues who had played five games in eight nights trekked for seven hours.&ldquo;They saved a hundred dollars a person.&rdquo; grumbled one player. &ldquo;I would have given them a hundred bucks myself to fly direct.&rdquo;<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01958/5335543-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="112" height="115"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 112px">ST. LOUIS BLUES</figcaption></div>Another player said recently, &ldquo;The club has treated me really well except some of our travel has been unbelievable.&rdquo;BLUENOTES&mdash;Greg Millen got his first shutout with the Blues, stopping 33 shots in a 2-0 road win over the Islanders &hellip; Blues&rsquo; owner Harry Ornest met in New York with agent Art Kaminsky to extend the contract of center Bernie Federko. who was nearing the 100-point mark for the third straight year. He will be entering the option year of his contract next season. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to say anybody&rsquo;s dragging his feet.&rdquo; said Kaminsky. &ldquo;But it does make sense to show Bernie that he&rsquo;s being rewarded. But Harry&rsquo;s Harry. He&rsquo;s a negotiator by nature. The man had nothing when he started life. He got what he got through hard work.&rdquo;&hellip;Rob Ramage gave the Blues a scare when he writhed on the ice for several minutes after a knee-bending accidental collision with Montreal&rsquo;s Craig Ludwig. The injury, though, was just a knee sprain that figured to interrupt Ramage&rsquo;s 260-game playing streak by just a couple of games&hellip;Brian Sutter, who had played two shifts since Jan. 16 because of shoulder problems, would be out at least until the last week of the regular season&hellip;Greg Paslawski&rsquo;s torn knee ligaments were responding to treatment, but he will not be allowed to skate until after the regular season&hellip;Goalie Rick Wamsley had maybe his most star-spangled game of the season in beating his old Montreal teammates for the second time in three tries. He faced 35 shots. Ex-Hab Doug Wickenheiser, continuing his fine play on a born-again knee, got the game winner midway through the third period. &#9679;</div><div style="clear: both;"> &#9632;</div>

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Ornest Says Blues Are Staying Put

<h2>THE COVER STORY</h2>When the National Hockey League went to a divisional alignment and unbalanced schedule, it was supposed to intensify rivalries. Well, chalk one up for the NHL. Here&rsquo;s a look at La Guerre Du Quebec and other great NHL rivalries.<h2>NHL</h2>Boston&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;22Buffalo&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;30Calgary&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;14Chicago&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;35Detroit&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;29Edmonton&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;3Hartford&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;16Los Angeles&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;10Minnesota&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;7Montreal&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;21New Jersey&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;31NY Islanders&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;33NY Rangers&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;15Philadelphia&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;23Pittsburgh&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;18Quebec&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;9St. Louis&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;19Toronto&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;20Vancouver&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;28Washington&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;24Winnipeg&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;10<h2>The Minors</h2>AHL&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;36IHL&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;37ACHL&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;37<h2>The Juniors</h2>OHL&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;40QHL&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;41WHL&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;41<h2>The Colleges</h2>NCAA&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;38Hobey Baker&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;38<h2>Columnists</h2>Frank Orr&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;4Stan Fischler&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;6Jay Greenberg&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;16Al Strachan&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;18Terry Jones&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;22<h2>Departments</h2>Argument Sake&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;4Ask The Duffer&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;5Where Are They?&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;5Did You Know?&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;520 Years Ago&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;5Editorial&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;8Elston&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;8Fan Forum&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;8Trivia&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;10Cover Story&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;11Bluelines&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;14Guest Shot&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;20Classified&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;34NHL Scoring&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;42Scoreboard&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;44Summaries&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;45<h2>NEXT WEEK IN THN</h2>In next week&rsquo;s April 18th issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, we&rsquo;ll take a look at two very good reasons why the Edmonton Oilers are odds-on favorites to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.Their names are Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog and they&rsquo;re only the best one-two goaltending punch in the NHL. When Gretzky and Co. falter offensively, which does happen from time to time, the puck stops with Moog and Fuhr. Meet the Oilers&rsquo; quiet couple.And on top of that, we&rsquo;ll rate the playoff contenders and pretenders and give you a clear picture of how well they can expect to fare on this year&rsquo;s road to the Stanley Cup.Plus, we&rsquo;ll have the complete final scoring and statistics for the NHL regular season.Don&rsquo;t miss all that, plus much, much more, including THN&rsquo;s American League divisional all-stars. Don&rsquo;t miss it in the April 18th issue of THN.<h2>QUOTE OF THE WEEK</h2>&ldquo;He (Koharski) is a dirty, no-good, vindictive (expletive deleted) who deliberately cheated us&hellip;&rdquo; &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011327/5334668-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">At the tender age of 25, Wayne Gretzky isn&rsquo;t quite ready to abdicate his crown as the king of professional hockey.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Lemieux battles Gretzky for MVP&rdquo; &mdash; Headline in the Pittsburgh Press, March 26, 1986.EDMONTON&mdash;The Edmonton Oilers are of the opinion that the Hart Trophy trace is, like the Art Ross scoring competition infact no race at all.With a week remaining in the regular season, Wayne Gretzky led Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins by the slim margin of 72 points but still there persisted MVP comparisons between the two.Except among the Oilers who believe the choice of Gretzky is more a matter of acclamation than election.Gretzky, of course, was compiling a convincing argument for himself in numbers. He was leaving the words to others.With 158 assists, including three (and one goal) in the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; 8-3 pennant-clinching victory over the Penguins on March 26, had accumulated more assists than any other player had points this season or any other.His assist total not only outdistanced Lemieux&rsquo;s 137 points but even surpassed Phil Esposito&rsquo;s 152 points, the most ever produced by anybody but Gretzky.The head-to-head confrontation, in which Lemieux was held to one powerplay assist, ended in advantage Gretzky.&ldquo;There was a lot of talk in the papers about Gretz and Lemieux,&rdquo; said Oilers&rsquo; center Mark Messier, who opened the scoring with his third shorthanded goal in two games. &ldquo;Everybody kind of took it as a personal challenge. We wanted to make sure there was no doubt in anybody&rsquo;s mind who is No. I.&rdquo;To which two-goal man Craig MacTavish added: &ldquo;How can you even compare the two? He (Lemieux) is a great scorer, a great player, but let&rsquo;s face facts. Gretz is still king of the castle. He comes to play every night. He gives 100 per cent every game. How many points is he ahead of him?&rdquo;Manager-coach Glen Sather seconded the motion.&ldquo;Not to take anything away from Lemieux, he&rsquo;s a great player, but I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s ready to inherit Wayne&rsquo;s crown just yet.&rdquo;Well, Wayne Gretzky?&ldquo;Obviously that sort of thing gives me a boost.&rdquo; said No. 99 of the hype in the Pittsburgh media. &lsquo;Tve been having a good year, but because I&rsquo;ve gotten to the 200-point barrier before, people think I&rsquo;m not having a good year. Now I just want to break 212 (his NHL record).&rdquo;He had 209 with three games remaining.The Penguins argue there&rsquo;s more to the situation than meets the eye. Like, if it wasn&rsquo;t for Lemieux, there&rsquo;d be no Pittsburgh in the NHL.&ldquo;I think, I can say without a question in my mind, we&rsquo;d be in Hamilton,&rdquo; said Penguins&rsquo; coach Bob Berry.Instead the Penguins are alive, well and in Pittsburgh, paying Lemieux $600,000 annually and averaging 12,237&mdash;up 5,500 from a year ago and higher than their previous best average (11,455).&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question, Mario&rsquo;s very viable candidate.&rdquo; said Penguins&rsquo; general manager Eddie Johnston. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question what he&rsquo;s done for our franchise.&rdquo;Lemieux is frank about his own feelings on the MVP award.&ldquo;I think if we make the playoffs and I get close to 150 points with the team we have, I should be considered as a Hart Trophy winner,&rdquo; said Lemieux.&ldquo;But Paul Coffey is in there, too, and Gretzky and all these guys, so it&rsquo;s going to be a tough race.&ldquo;I could have a chance to win the trophy, but a lot of reporters don&rsquo;t look at it this way. There are a lot of reporters in the league, and all they see is Gretzky with 200 points, and he&rsquo;s got an advantage with that.&rdquo;Lemieux reasons Gretzky has an unfair advantage with a supporting cast.&ldquo;I would love to see what I could do with Coffey and (Jari) Kurri and (Mark) Messier and all those guys to take the pressure off me.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Playing with Edmonton, if you have a lot of talent like he does and like I do, anything can happen. I could probably do the same thing (statistically), or close to it, if I would play with Edmonton.&rdquo;Oilers&rsquo; co-coach John Muckier was all but frothing at the mouth a couple of months back when your correspondent did apiece, suggesting Lemieux was heir apparent to Gretzky&rsquo;s scoring title.&ldquo;Heir apparent to what,&rdquo; spat Muckier. &ldquo;Gretz is only 25 (years of age).&rdquo;Muckier was even less impressed with Lemieux&rsquo;s statements concerning the Hart Trophy.&ldquo;That only shows me he has a lot of confidence in himself,&rdquo; sneered Muckier, who rates Lemieux back of not only Gretzky, but also Coffey.&ldquo;Paul is one goal away from tying a past superstar,&rdquo; he said of Coffey&rsquo;s pursuit of Bobby Orr&rsquo;s single-season goal-scoring record for defensemen (46). &ldquo;But with us, it&rsquo;s business as usual, just another day. It&rsquo;s a shame. I&rsquo;m an easterner (born in Paris. Ont.) and Paul is playing with a team out west. If he was with an eastern team, he&rsquo;d be the showcase of the NHL.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s something westerners have been maintaining for decades.&ldquo;As far as Gretz is concerned,&rdquo; added Muckier, &ldquo;he&rsquo;s probably the greatest athlete who ever lived.&rdquo;Johnston was at his diplomatic best in discussing the talents of the two brilliant performers.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re definitely the two best players in the world. Gretzky is still No. 1 and Lemieux is No. 2, but there is no disgrace to being No. 2 when Gretzky is No. I.&rdquo;Pens&rsquo; right winger Willy Lindstrom has seen both players at their best.&ldquo;They are the only two players in the world who can do what they do,&rdquo; said Lindstrom, who played on the Oilers&rsquo; two Stanley Cup teams before he was claimed by Pittsburgh in the 1985 waiver draft.Lindstrom hastens to point-out that if Lemieux weren&rsquo;t part of Penguins&rsquo; scheme of things &ldquo;we&rsquo;d be out of the playoffs, for sure.&rdquo;He also reasons the heat is taken off Gretzky by his outstanding supporting cast.&ldquo;Wayne has so many great players on the team, it takes some of the pressure off him,&rdquo; said Lindstrom, who nevertheless considers Gretzky the primary reason they each possess two Stanley Cup rings. &#9679;<h2>G.T.G. Transcontinental Buys THN</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;For just the second time in its 39-year history, ownership of THE HOCKEY NEWS has changed hands.G.T.C. Transcontinental Group Ltd. of Montreal signed an agreement March 26 to buy all the outstanding shares of W.C.C. Publishing Ltd., a Toronto-based company which publishes THE HOCKEY NEWS, from W.C.C. Publishing Corp, of New York City.Terms of the agreement were not released.W.C.C. Publishing Corp, had owned THE HOCKEY NEWS since 1973, when it purchased the publication from its founder, Ken McKenzie.G.T.C. Transcontinental Group Ltd. is a holding company concentrated in the communications industry and THE HOCKEY NEWS will be operated as a division of G.T.C.&rsquo;s publishing subsidiary, Publications Les Affaires Inc.In addition to its publishing subsidiary, G.T.C. owns distribution and printing operations.The shares of G.T.C. Transcontinental Group Ltd. are listed on the Montreal and Toronto Stock Exchanges.&ldquo;We envision a very good future for THE HOCKEY NEWS and we intend to develop the product in all areas &mdash; circulation, advertising and editorial,&rdquo; says Claude Beauchamp, president of Publications Les Affaires. &ldquo;We bought it because we know it has developed a very loyal following among its readers and the hockey world.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0003-01

Oilers Say No. 99 Is The Unchallenged King

TOM WATT DOESN&rsquo;T try to pass off the statement as any trail-blazing, original chunk of hockey philosophy. The coach of the Vancouver Canucks was merely answering a question about his club&rsquo;s lowly station in the National Hockey League this season, a to-the-wire wrestle with the Los Angeles Kings and, possibly, Winnipeg Jets for third- and fourth-place playoff spots in the Smythe Division.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t score goals, really have trouble doing it,&rdquo; Watt said. &ldquo;And if you can&rsquo;t get &lsquo;em when you need &lsquo;em in this league now, you&rsquo;ll be in trouble, the way we have (been) often this season.&rdquo;The Canucks&rsquo; puny attack places them in the select company of the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers as the lowest-scoring teams in the NHL. Those clubs&rsquo; offenses strike fear in the hearts of only their own coaches.The Rangers supply an example of Watt&rsquo;s claim about attack being back in the game. They&rsquo;ve been rated third in goals against much of the season, behind only the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals. However, they have scored approximately the same number of goals as they have surrendered, a statistical balance that has kept them in a long battle for fourth place in the Patrick Division with the Pittsburgh Penguins.Watt points to a Canuck road trip through North America&rsquo;s hinterland in early March, five games in eight nights, with no &ldquo;laughter&rdquo; stops along the way. Of course, laughers have been scarce for the Vancouver club this season.&ldquo;Before we left the west, we knew that we were playing tough teams and that we had to play defensively tight, conservative hockey to get much out of it,&rdquo; Watt explained.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011350/5334723-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="360" height="420"><figcaption class="caption-body">Frank Orr</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We lost in St. Louis (7-3) to start it, then we went to three tough spots, Quebec, Montreal and Boston, and held the Nordiques to one goal, the Canadiens to three and the Bruins to one and all we got was two ties (at Quebec and Boston). If you don&rsquo;t have the gunners, you can play well and come up empty.&ldquo;But we&rsquo;re not the only team that has hit trouble this season when it had a non-productive attack. Philadelphia Flyers, the best defensive team in the league, made a three-game swing through western Canada and scored only six goals against Calgary, our team and Edmonton and lost all three.&rdquo;At one time in NHL history, teams had a small, select group of scorers and a pack of veteran checkers who could play even with the other team&rsquo;s grinders. But the youth movement in the game altered that pattern. All of a sudden, teams had an assortment of kids with big shots and scoring touches, lads who wanted little to do with defensive play. Knowledge of working the defensive zone to most young attackers is about the same as their familiarity with the principles or nuclear fission.To teach the lads how to play defensive hockey on a consistent basis was something for which few coaches had the inclination or, especially, the time. The young players didn&rsquo;t want to learn; they wanted to score goals. Parents and agents had drilled into them that scorers drive Corvettes while checkers were in compacts.Watt has had some modest success in teaching his club to play defense. But lack of goals from two slick Swedes, Thomas Gradin and Patrik Sundstrom and the failure of the team&rsquo;s young scorers to develop has withered the Canuck attack.&ldquo;Defensively, we&rsquo;re competitive with the top teams in our division (Edmonton, Calgary),&rdquo; Watt added. &ldquo;But they&rsquo;ve outscored us badly and that&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;re down where we are.&rdquo;Because the Rangers&rsquo; Ted Sator wanted to build a club on defense and has succeeded admirably in that end of the task, he had no spots on his team for two slick, little attackers, Pierre Larouche and Mark Pavelich. They&rsquo;re the type the defensive technocrats never want around because they play on reflex, emotion and skill and are difficult to program and compute.But not having them in the line-up&mdash;Larouche was recalled late in the season&mdash;meant that the Rangers&rsquo; attack was about as spontaneous as a hooker&rsquo;s hug.The Rangers had a dreadful time scoring goals and that&rsquo;s why they had to battle the Penguins, who had Mario Lemieux, a chap who doesn&rsquo;t seem to have problems scoring or setting up goals. &#9632;

f0004-01

Columnists

Vancouver Coach Knows The Score

<div class="byline">BY JEFF Z. KLEIN AND KARL-ERIC REIF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021245/5334768-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Flyer Mark Howe, left, is a good candidate to become the first defenseman since Red Kelly to win the Lady Byng.</figcaption></div>One of the biggest myths surrounding playoff hockey is that it is played considerably more conservatively than regular-season hockey.Over the past 10 years, playoff games have seen an average of only about seven per cent less scoring than regular-season games, so don&rsquo;t fall for the old line about defense-minded teams doing better in post-season play. If you still believe that defense rules in the playoffs, just check out which team has won the Cup the last two years.But there&rsquo;s another old belief about the post-season that is true: The playoffs are a goaltender&rsquo;s time to shine.Playoff hockey is just about as wide open as regular-season hockey&mdash;the shot totals are just as high&mdash;and yet despite this, goalies, as a group, always record a higher save percentage than they do in the regular season. When the playoffs are on and every game counts, the goalies respond by getting better.The table in the accompanying box lists the 24 goalkeepers who have played at least 480 minutes over the course of the previous four playoff years. They are ranked in order of their perseverance ratings. (In case you&rsquo;ve forgotten, the perseverance statistic is comprised of six parts save percentage and one part shots-against per game.)We were somewhat surprised to find Mike Liut, Richard Brodeur, and Tony Esposito atop the list. We wouldn&rsquo;t have thought that Liut had done so well, and we had been under the media-fostered impression that Tony O was all washed up by 1980. Evidently he wasn&rsquo;t. As for Brodeur, it took this chart to remind us that it was his brilliant work in the &rsquo;82 playoffs which took the Canucks to the final.More Playoff Info&mdash;Everyone pays attention to the players who score a lot during the playoffs, and that&rsquo;s fine. But hockey is a two-way game, and so it behooves us to look at the best two-way players in the playoffs. The only stat which measures two-way play is plus/minus, but it&rsquo;s a flawed stat.Our improved version of the plus/minus stat is called &ldquo;adjusted plus/minus&rdquo;; it measures a player&rsquo;s raw plus/minus rating against his team&rsquo;s raw plus/minus figure.The list below shows which player on each team has the best adjusted plus/minus total over the last two playoff years.Three players below are no longer with the teams with which they are listed. Colin Campbell is now an assistant coach with the Red Wings, Darren Veitch has been traded to the Wings and Jere Gillis is finishing out an injury-riddled season in Fredericton of the American League.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04919/5334761-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="558" height="592"></div>Howe Now, Lady Byng&mdash;The Lady Byng Trophy has been around for 61 years, and it has been awarded to a defenseman just four times (Bill Quackenbush won it in 1949 and Red Kelly won it three times during his days as a defenseman). This year there is a defenseman who is most deserving of the honor: Mark Howe. He recorded only 34 penalty minutes in just 71 games, a remarkably low total for a blueliner who sees so much ice time and his play has always combined great skill with exemplary sportsmanship. &#9679;<h2>GOALKEEPERS&rsquo; PLAYOFF RATINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031062/5334754-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="1096" height="812"></div> &#9632;

f0004-02

Howe For The Lady Byng Trophy

<div class="byline">BY Bob Duff</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011231/5334799-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="456" height="445"></div>Q: Where can I obtain media guides from the defunct World Hockey Association?Doug Fess, Waterford. ONA: There are a number of sources through which you can obtain WHA media guides. A good place to start is by turning the pages of this issue back to the classified section. There are usually numerous ads for dealers selling items from defunct sports franchises and leagues.Another good source are the numerous collectibles shows that frequently seem to pop up here and there. Nostalgia is quite popular at the moment, so keep your eyes and ears open for shows. Also, there are stores which deal in such collectible items.Q: A co-worker and I are having an argument as to who was the first NHL goaltender to don a mask. He says it was Jacques Plante. I say it was another goaltender. Please supply the correct answer.Brian Guilfoyle, Rocky Mountain House, ALA: Actually, Jacques Plante was the third NHL netminder to don facial protection. The first goalie to do so was Clint Benedict of the Montreal Maroons way back during the 1929-30 season. Benedict took a shot from the stick of Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; forward Howie Morenz directly in the face, breaking his nose. Since NHL clubs carried only one goaltender in those days, Benedict had to continue playing. He did just that, donning a crude, leather mask. However, he quickly discarded it once his honker was again in perfect working order.The second NHL netminder to wear a facemask was New York Ranger goalie Charlie Rayner. Rayner, like Benedict, wore facial gear only until an injury healed.It wasn&rsquo;t until Nov. 1, 1959, when an Andy Bathgate shot slammed into Plante&rsquo;s face that he donned the mask. He went on to beat Bathgate&rsquo;s Rangers that night 3-1, and started a new era in hockey. By the 1974-75 season, there were no maskless goaltenders left in the NHL.Q: In your Feb. 21 column, you listed the NHL players who scored the fastest goals from the start of the game. However, you did not list Don Kozak, who scored six seconds into a playoff game on April 17, 1977. I believe it is still a playoff record.Steve Hartnell, Pacific Grove, CAA: You&rsquo;re right Steve. Kozak beat Boston Bruin goaltender Gerry Cheevers six seconds into their quarter-final game at the Los Angeles Forum on April 17, 1977. And, it&rsquo;s still a Stanley Cup record.However, the list I ran in the &ldquo;Did You Know?&rdquo; column of Feb. 21 included only those goals scored during regular-season NHL play.If you want your question answered in the Ask the Duffer column, send the query to:ASK THE DUFFER, 125 5th Ave. North, Apt. 1510 Saskatoon, Sask. S7K 6A5Personal replies to letters are not possible. &#9632;

f0005-01

ASK THE DUFFER

<div class="byline">BY BOB DUFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02906/5334830-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg"></div>that the NHL players who recorded the most assists in a season without scoring a goal are: &#9632;

f0005-02

Did You Know…

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div>When one runs down the list of pro hockey&rsquo;s pioneers&mdash;those players who blazed the trail for others to follow&mdash;it isn&rsquo;t likely that you&rsquo;ll find Wayne Connelly&rsquo;s name.But you should.It&rsquo;s been almost 14 years since the World Hockey Association first arrived, pilfering players from the established National Hockey League, pushing the pay scale to previously-unknown heights and making news by signing big stars such as Bobby Hull, J.C. Tremblay and Bernie Parent.But it&rsquo;s Connelly who has the distinction of being the first player to switch leagues, leading the way to the promised land of rich, long-term contracts.Connelly, who played in the NHL and WHA for 15 seasons (1960-1977), remembered the clandestine approach that was used just before his first season in the WHA.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never forget that first time the people from the Minnesota Fighting Saints organization made contact with me in Montreal,&rdquo; said Connelly, who played for six NHL teams and four WHA clubs during his career.&ldquo;I was with the Canucks at the time, and we were out east on the road. I had some pretty secret meetings with them. That&rsquo;s the only way we could meet in the beginning (of the 1971-72 season). But by the end of the year the Canucks knew what was going on. By that time, it was too late.&rdquo;And the native of Rouyn, Que. never had any second thoughts about joining the fledgling league.&ldquo;In my case, it wasn&rsquo;t a hard decision,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I already had a home in Minnesota and that&rsquo;s where I lived with my wife and children during the off-season. I liked it there.&ldquo;When the Fighting Saints offered me a contract, it gave me the chance to move back to the St. Paul area. It really wasn&rsquo;t a tough decision to make.&rdquo;As Connelly later revealed, there was a little more to the decision than just going home. It had dollar signs written all over it.&ldquo;I had a five-year contract, with the first three years guaranteed and in the bank,&rdquo; said Connelly. &ldquo;I also figured that it was going to go and would be worth playing in.&ldquo;I also knew at the time that there were other players who would be jumping. There had been a lot of talk going on between players.&ldquo;Jumping to the WHA gave me my first opportunity to play for the team I wanted to play for. From the time I was 17, right up to the time I jumped, every team I played for controlled my destiny. Now, at least for awhile, I could control my own life.&rdquo;Not for long, though. In the WHA, he was traded three times, only one less time than in the NHL.&ldquo;I knew that hockey was a business and that making trades was part of that business,&rdquo; said Connelly, now 46 and living with his family in Kirkland Lake, Ont. &ldquo;And despite being traded all of those times, I always managed to score goals. I figured that&rsquo;s why I was labeled as being a player that could be traded.<h2>WHERE ARE THEY NOW</h2>&ldquo;I think that teams figured that if I was traded it would spark me enough to score some more goals for the team I was being traded to. So a team would get me for awhile, get a few goals out of me, then trade me to another team when I didn&rsquo;t score any more. The team getting me figured that I would be good for a few more goals. And so it would go.&rdquo;Connelly considered 1967-68 his most successful season.&ldquo;I had a good year that year and so did the team (Minnesota North Stars),&rdquo; Connelly said. &ldquo;I scored 35 goals that season, my best ever in the NHL. And the North Stars came pretty close that year to going to the finals. We had a pretty tough seven-games series against St. Louis. It would have been nice to go to the finals against Montreal.&ldquo;It would be the closest I would ever come to winning the (Stanley) Cup. I never got that close again.&rdquo;Today, Connelly is in business with his brother, Cliff, operating Tech News Agency in Kirkland Lake, a wholesale distributor of magazines. &#9679;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03634/5334861-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="537" height="1219"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Connelly jumped at the chance to join the Minnesota Fighting Saints.</figcaption></div><h2>THIS WEEK &hellip; 20 Years Ago</h2>Here&rsquo;s what was happening 20 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; After 12 years of play in the NHL, veteran netminder Lome (Gump) Worsley finally won the Vezina Trophy. He shared the award with teammate Charlie Hodge.&bull; Detroit Red Wing prospect Butch Paul, a fine playmaker who tied the Memphis single-season point record of 60 in the Central League, was killed in a car accident.&bull; Chicago left winger Bobby Hull won the NHL&rsquo;s regular-season scoring race with 54 goals and 97 points.Here&rsquo;s what was happening 15 years ago this week in hockey:&bull; The Montreal Forum played host to Jean Beliveau Night. A resounding success, the night marked the inception of a special fund for underprivileged children. The first cheque for the Jean Beliveau Foundation was for $155,855. &#9632;

f0005-03

Connelly WHA Trail-Blazer, He Left Established League

<h2>SOME PRE-PLAYOFF THOUGHTS:</h2>&bull; The dumbest managerial move of the season has to be the Red Wings&rsquo; sacking of happy Harry Neale in favor of bumbling Brad Park. I am still searching for the one improvement in Detroit since Park took command.&bull; How stupid do John Ziegler and Brian O&rsquo;Neill think fans and the media really are? They&rsquo;re still trying to alibi the retention of fighting in the NHL on the grounds that fights are a &ldquo;safety valve&rdquo; for the players. John, if the little boys need a safety valve, why not install a punching bag behind each bench. (Why don&rsquo;t you guys wise up, already?)&bull; Face it, folks, the Norris Trophy debate over who&rsquo;s better&mdash;Paul Coffey, Mark Howe, Ray Bourque or Larry Robinson&mdash;cannot be rationally solved by hockey writers. East guys don&rsquo;t see enough of the west chaps and vice versa. But if I had to pick among them for my team, it would be Coffey.&bull; Don&rsquo;t feel too concerned about Craig Patrick&rsquo;s future. If the embattled Ranger GM gets the gate, he&rsquo;ll hop on a Metroliner and go to work for cousin Richard Patrick, who runs the Caps. (Craig would be the ideal aide to David Poile. although Poile-might disagree.)&bull; If the Canucks fail to sign local boy Dwight Mathiasen, the Denver University free agent, Frank Griffiths might as well move the franchise to Honolulu.&bull; Knowing the Canucks. I&rsquo;ll bet they blow it on Dwight Mathiasen and wind up signing Todd Bergen.&bull; If I had to pick one guy among 600 NHL players who really earned his pennies this year, it would be Mario The Penguin. I see no reason why he shouldn&rsquo;t be MVP.&bull; The dribble of &ldquo;Players Don&rsquo;t Dig Mike Keenan&rdquo; stories that comes out of the Spectrum only proves that saccharine is not the primary ingredient for being a winner.&bull; Scott Stevens will be the Norris Trophy winner within three years.If I was NHL officiating chief Scotty Morrison, I&rsquo;d rush video replays into use for 1986-87.&reg; One of these days the Omest-knockers ought to get around to acknowledging that Harry O&rsquo;s signing of Ron Caron as GM and Jacques Demers as coach was one of the most brilliant rush-job hirings in NHL history. Especially when you look at what people such as Mike Hitch, Harold Ballard and Frank Griffiths have done.&bull; A lot of people&mdash;me included&mdash;figured the Devils for a better season than they had. What happened? They weren&rsquo;t skillful enough, big enough or fast enough and lacked a dominant defenseman. The coach, Doug Carpenter, gets mixed reviews.&bull; Toughest selection job has be for coach of the year. Keenan remains impressive. Michel Bergeron should not be overlooked, nor the irrepressible Jacques Demers. My vote, nevertheless, goes to Lome Henning, who turned the Minnesota Malcontents into the Magnificents in seven short months.Brad Park and Tom Watt certainly have proven that Harry Neale wasn&rsquo;t so bad after all.&bull; Wendel Clark may not only win the Calder Trophy but he&rsquo;s right up there for Cheap-Shot Artist of the Year.&bull; Too much of the Humpty Dumpty Smythe Division could hurt the Oilers once they get to the serious part of the playoffs.&bull; Mike Milbury&rsquo;s comeback is the most underplayed inspirational story of the year.&bull; Brad McCrimmon is the best reason why the NHL should have a special trophy for Defensive Defenseman. (They have one for defensive forwards, don&rsquo;t they?)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011413/5334892-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="322" height="438"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Fischler&rsquo;s ON THE CONTRARY</figcaption></div>&bull; When Lou Nanne dealt Dave Richter&rsquo; to Philly for Ed Hospodar, he told me Hospodar was the better player, but I didn&rsquo;t believe him.Now, I do.&bull; Gotta give Nanne credit for not panicking into a deal for Brian Lawton when the kid was yelling and screaming for a trade.&bull; The one Canuck I feel for is Stan Smyl who gives an honest night&rsquo;s work whenever he comes to his place of business.&bull; Do you think, maybe, the Kings&rsquo; problem at home is that too many fans would rather play video games than watch the hockey game&mdash;and the players know it?&bull; Say what you will about Leafs&rsquo; coach Dan Maloney (and plenty has been said), but he has survived.&bull; Here&rsquo;s a question Maple Leafs&rsquo; fans ought to ponder: Would Toronto&rsquo;s pride-and-joy be better off if Prince Albert&rsquo;s Terry Simpson were coaching and former GM Jim Gregory managing than the Dan Maloney-Gerry McNamara duet?&bull; I give the zebras credit for at least trying to crack down on high sticking but they&rsquo;ve got a long way to go. And isn&rsquo;t it about time they widened and lengthened the crease so the ridiculously-unfair goaltending interference is curbed?&bull; I&rsquo;m rooting for Ray Neufeld to make John Ferguson&rsquo;s deal for him look good.&bull; Marcel Dionne and Gil Perreault deserve one last, point-happy playoff round.&bull; Just think: If David Poile had been in Kansas City instead of Washington, the Scouts would still be in the league. (But where would that have put the Rockies and the Devils?)&bull; Bub Slug, the hockey comic strip in The Edmonton Journal, is one of the funniest things I&rsquo;ve read since the Kansas City Scouts&rsquo; media guide.&bull; For my money, Dr. Randy Gregg of the Oilers is the most fascinating character in the league.&bull; Another big year for the Blue Jays and the Maple Leafs will really be in PR trouble.&bull; For one season I&rsquo;d like to see how good Glen Sather would be coaching the Red Wings.&bull; More than a year after Herbie Brooks got canned by the Rangers, it&rsquo;s ironic to hear some of the players say things like. &ldquo;Compared to this guy (Ted Sator), I love Herbie. He was a prince.&rdquo;&bull; Even money Brooks will be back in the NHL next year.&bull; I notice that Howie Meeker has a hockey school at Potsdam, New York. I wonder if he drops any of his wise-guy anti-American cracks there the way he does on Canadian TV. Well, &ldquo;hockey professor&rdquo;, do you?&bull; When John Ziegler decides to give up his $350,000-a-year cruise as NHL boss, I&rsquo;ll start lobbying for Marcel Aubut to succeed him. Matter of fact, I&rsquo;ll start now.&bull; Six months ago I didn&rsquo;t know Jean Perron from Jean Valjean. Now I can tell you Jean Perron is a good man and a good coach.&bull; My life&rsquo;s ambition is to have a three-hour dinner with Bob Pulford.&bull; Bobby Smith of the Canadiens takes a back seat to no one in the Class Guy Dep&rsquo;t.&bull; How about that Michael Bossy. Nine straight years of 50 or more goals. And to think, no less than 12 teams passed on him in that 1977 draft. (Rangers went for Lucien DeBlois and Ron Duguay.)&bull; I&rsquo;d hate to think where the Canadiens would be had Sergio Momesso not got hurt.&bull; Nothing says it more for Ron Caron&rsquo;s genius than Mark Hunter&rsquo;s 43 goals.&bull; Selfish though it may be. I would like to see Bob Nystrom try one more comeback.&bull; Denis Savard without a helmet would be my idea of pure hockey entertainment.&bull; One hockey column I can&rsquo;t wait to read is Al Morganti&rsquo;s weekly Sunday piece in the Philly Inquirer.&bull; It seems like only yesterday that we were saying Dan Daoust was the most exciting Maple Leaf since Max Bentley. (Was he that good or were we that dumb? Or both?)&bull; The pity of it all is that Jacques Plante never got around to writing his autobiography. (I would have loved to read the part about his days with the Bruins. And then got Harry Sinden&rsquo;s version).&bull; This is how valuable John Vanbiesbrouck is to the Rangers. How many athletes can publicly tell off their boss (Craig Patrick) and not lose their jobs?&bull; By far the biggest disappointment&mdash;in terms of great expectations&mdash;has been the bland evolution of Perry Turnbull in Winnipeg. (Does anyone remember when he was the toast of St. Louis?)&bull; Since Gerry McNamara is building a Czech national team in Exile, he ought to check out the availability of the Devils&rsquo; Jan Ludvig. (This is a gifted hockey player who was wasted.)&bull; Speaking of busts, Gary Nylund is right up there.&bull; When you think about it&mdash;and check their lineup&mdash;isn&rsquo;t it amazing that Bob Berry has kept the Penguins in the playoff contention for so long?&bull; Biggest gamble of 1986-87 will be the Devils without Chico Resch.&bull; When is Mike Gartner going to stop bugging me about picking the Caps for fifth place?&bull; Can you figure the Sabres? I can&rsquo;t.&bull; No questions asked. Comeback of the Year award goes to Doug Wickenheiser.&bull; Don&rsquo;t laugh. At this time next year Hamilton may be squeezing into a playoff berth.&bull; If Doug Soetaert played goal standing on his head for 60 minutes, he still wouldn&rsquo;t get the recognition he deserves. (He&rsquo;s the best the Canadiens have.)&bull; Maybe if Mike Hitch sets him up with a pizza parlor, Vladislav Tretiak will reconsider and come to the NHL. (Although playing for the Red Wings probably is a worse fate than Siberia.)&bull; You&rsquo;ll know whether the playoff system needs to be revamped if the Maple Leafs get past the first round.&bull; Seriously, what does John Ziegler do? &#9632;

f0006-01

Ilitch’s Pathetic Winos Are Stuck In Park

The Pittsburgh Penguins grabbed the leading player in this year&rsquo;s college free-agent market, when they came to terms with University of Denver right winger Dwight Mathiasen.USA Today reported March 31 that Mathiasen had signed a $1.2 million (U.S.) four-year contract which included a $250,000 signing bonus.Mathiasen was available to play for the Penguins in their final four regular season games but not eligible for the playoffs because he wasn&rsquo;t with the team as of March 11, the date National Hockey League rosters were frozen.The 6-foot-2, 200-pound center from New Westminster had indicated he wanted to play in his hometown (Vancouver) but he rejected a last-minute $1.4 million offer from the Vancouver Canucks.Because Mathiasen signed for four years, his per annum average is slightly higher than the contracts signed by last year&rsquo;s top free agents Ray Staszak and Adam Oates, both of whom went to Detroit.Mathiasen indicated he was attracted by the Pittsburgh organization and the prospect of playing right wing with Mario Lemieux.Mathiasen finished the regular season and WCHA playoffs with 39 goals and 49 assists, the second-highest total on the University of Denver team.Two goaltenders made NHL debuts they&rsquo;ll long remember during the week of March 24.Sam St. Laurent of the New Jersey Devils was named player of the week after recording a shutout in his first league start, a 1-0 victory over St. Louis Blues, and beating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 in his second.<h2>HOCKEY NOTEBOOK</h2>For St. Laurent, 27, it was actually a second debut. He had allowed two goals in his only previous NHL action&mdash;eight minutes of work against the Washington Capitals on Jan. 4.The native of Arvida, Que., had been playing with the Maine Mariners of the American League this year.St. Laurent&rsquo;s brief appearance against the Capitals deprived him of the opportunity to join an exclusive group of 17 goalies who have earned shutouts in their first NHL appearances.In the meantime, Bill Ranford, playing in favor of Pat Riggin and Doug Keans, gave the Boston Bruins a big boost&mdash;winning the first two games of his NHL career.Ranford, 19, recorded back-to-back victories over the Buffalo Sabres, to give the Bruins a five-point edge over their Adams Division rival in the battle for playoff berths.The goalie, who joined Boston after completing his junior season with the New Westminster Bruins of the Western League, stopped 25 shots Saturday in a 2-1 victory and 35 on Sunday in a 5-3 win.One of the best goalies in National Hockey League history and one of its most colorful personalities have been selected for admission to the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.The late Bill Durnan won the Vezina Trophy six times as a star goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens in a seven-year career.Red Storey was nothing if not spirited and controversial during a long career as a NHL referee.Both will be inducted June 26 at the Toronto sports hall.Durnan, who died in Toronto at the age of 56, was a member of the first all-star team five times and Stanley Cup winning teams twice with the Montreal Canadiens.He was also one of the few goalies in league history to be a team captain, serving in that capacity during the 1947-48 season.Durnan had a career goals-against average of 2.36.Storey, 68, a superb all-around athlete, quit the NHL in April of 1959 after a dispute with former president Clarence Campbell over what Storey viewed as non-support for his handling of an explosive situation in Chicago.More than just a hockey personality the Montreal resident still shares the Grey Cup record for most touchdowns in a single game. He came off the bench to score three majors in the 1938 Canadian Football League championship game.He also played lacrosse and officiated both lacrosse and football.Durnan and Story are both members of the Hockey Hall Of Fame. &#9632;

Penauins Sian DU Scorina Star Mathiasen

<div class="byline">BY JERRY ZGODA</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;John Mariucci has this vision. He closes his eyes and sees a 6-foot tall Neal Broten. He sees Broten skating up and down the ice&mdash;taller, stronger, a little faster.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s so smart, but can you imagine what he&rsquo;d be like if he were three or four inches taller?&rdquo; asks Mariucci, the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; 69-year-old assistant general manager.&ldquo;He&rsquo;d be like Gretzky with that (kind of) reach. At 5-foot-8, look what he does. At 6 feet, who knows what he could do?&rdquo;Mariucci is not alone in that opinion.&ldquo;If he were taller and had longer arms,&rdquo; Stars&rsquo; general manager Lou Nanne added, &ldquo;he&rsquo;d probably get 180 points a year.&rdquo;Still, at 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds, Broten is doing just fine, thank you.The 26-year-old native of Roseau, Minn., became the first American-born player to reach 100 points with two assists in a 6-1 victory at Toronto March 26.In doing so, he set the team record for most assists in a season with 73 and was four games shy of completing the best season in his six-year NHL career. His best previous had been 38 goals and 98 points in 1981-82, his rookie season.&ldquo;People ask you what you&rsquo;d like to change and I guess one of my wishes is to be bigger and stronger,&rdquo; Broten said. &ldquo;The players have grown a lot just since I came into the league and a guy like me gets hacked and held and pushed a lot. But I&rsquo;ve been like this all my life and I&rsquo;ve learned how to play with it.&rdquo;He has learned well. Broten has done what such American players as Bob Carpenter, Joe Mullen, Dave Christian and Ed Olczyk have yet to achieve.Broten, owner of 1979 NCAA Championship and 1980 Olympic gold medals, was the first winner of the Hobey Baker Award, after playing his second and final season with the University of Minnesota in 1981.Now he leads Americans into another dimension in the NHL.&ldquo;You knew that sooner or later someone would score 100 points and it&rsquo;s only fitting that Neal should be the first to do it,&rdquo; said Nanne, who made Broten the 42nd player chosen in the 1979 draft.&ldquo;He is the most gifted American forward in the league today. When we drafted him we just figured he was a guy that&rsquo;d have a chance to play here. If I had known how good he was going to be, we wouldn&rsquo;t have waited that long.&rdquo;Broten rode into the NHL on a new wave of players from American high schools and colleges. He was drafted the same year as Minneapolis Roosevelt High&rsquo;s Mike Ramsey and Dave Christian of Warroad. Minn.Two years later. Carpenter, from suburban Boston, became the first American taken in the first round. South St. Paul&rsquo;s Phil Housley went in the first round the year after in 1982, and five Americans, led by top pick Brian Lawton of the North Stars, were selected in the first round in 1983.The wave is expected to continue this year when as many as seven Americans could be selected among the first 15 players taken.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011261/5334947-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="130" height="112"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 130px">MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Right now, Neal&rsquo;s achievement is really special, but soon 100 points by an American is going to become almost common,&rdquo; Lawton said. &ldquo;There are too many good players coming up for it not to happen.&rdquo;Said Broten: &ldquo;The game is changing so much. Before scouts weren&rsquo;t looking at the colleges. Now, people are getting smarter. It used to be that life was hockey, hockey and more hockey. The old-timers seemed to live and die by it &mdash; you&rsquo;d drink, spend money, have fun and your career was over and then what? Now you have to know how to take care of yourself&mdash;how to invest your money and things like that. Players seem more serious about everything and college is the best route to go.&rdquo;For now, Broten is the only one of those players to reach 100 points, but he seems unimpressed.&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the difference if you score 98, 100,95 or92 points?&rdquo; Broten asked. &ldquo;It will probably be something more important when 1 am 45 or 50, when I&rsquo;m old and decrepit and I can start bragging to my grandchildren. I think it means more to my mom and dad. My dad called me last week (after Broten went three games without a point) and said, &lsquo;Damn, I thought I&rsquo;d better call you to wish you luck and get you going again.&rsquo; They think this is pretty great. It makes them proud.&rdquo;His parents, Newell and Carol Broten, were the ones who awoke before 6 o&rsquo;clock on cold, Roseau winter mornings and made their sons hot chocolate and toast before driving them to the indoor rink for practice.&ldquo;You remember all those things they used to do for you when you were a little kid,&rdquo; said Broten, who, with his wife Sally, has two daughters. &ldquo;And you want to do everything you can so you can make all that effort worth it.&rdquo;He told his mother that someday he would make it to the NHL and then he would build a big house and swimming pool. He recently moved into a new, big house in Eden Prairie, a move that left him living in his accountant&rsquo;s house for two months earlier this season, but his yard isn&rsquo;t big enough to build that pool.&ldquo;She won&rsquo;t care as long as I keep getting better,&rdquo; Broten said with a grin.He says he can be better. Although he is two points beyond his best previous season. Broten says he can score 125 or 130 points in a season.&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t a perfect season,&rdquo; Broten said. &ldquo;I thought my first year (when he scored 38 goals and 98 points) was a better year. You need to get the bounces&mdash;you have to play on the power play a lot, which I have this year, and you have to play with two top wingers all year, and I&rsquo;ve been lucky to have Scotty (Bjugstad) and Dino (Ciccarelli) this year.&ldquo;Maybe next year we can keep it going and maybe I&rsquo;ll get 130 points. I think that&rsquo;s realistic, but I don&rsquo;t spend a lot of time thinking about it.&rdquo;Said Mariucci: &ldquo;With every point he scores, he becomes more and more of an inspiration for American kids, especially those kids who are 5-foot-6, 5-foot-7, 5-foot-8. We talk about the Russians, Finns, Swedes and Americans, but face it, nobody can touch the Canadians for the number of good players. But it doesn&rsquo;t hurt to shoot for them and Neal is leading the way.&rdquo;STAR DUST&mdash;Defenseman Curt Giles had his left ring finger amputated at the second knuckle March 24. The amputation was needed because of a tumor that had grown into the bone. Giles had a tumor removed from that finger after last season, but it grew back and had been very painful the past few months. He is expected to be back for the playoffs &hellip; Forwards Paul Houck and Marc Habscheid were called up from Springfield to fill in for the injured Giles and winger Kent Nilsson (groin). &#9679; &#9632;</div>

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Broten Becomes The 1st 100-Point American

ALRIGHT, I&rsquo;VE BEEN listening, watching, attending and reading long enough. Move over Jay, Frank, Joe, Stan, et al. I&rsquo;ve had it with you guys.Here are some of my thoughts:&bull; How about accolades for some unsung heroes? Let&rsquo;s elect a Zamboni operator to make the All-Star Game ice each year. The guy in Chicago is a perennial powerhouse.&bull; David Poile, will you please buy the Washington Capitals larger sweaters? They lead the league again this year in protruding hip pads, followed by Edmonton.&bull; Lighten up on Youngblood, it&rsquo;s a movie. Are all cops exactly like Dirty Harry? Is Apocalypse Now the way it really was in Vietnam? If you&rsquo;re looking for authentic Ontario League action, why are you in a theatre?&bull; The way the Sutter brothers represent the game of hockey does my heart good. Please don&rsquo;t go on strike and shatter my vision of the only game left for average-size boys with above-average work ethic.&bull; Will anyone join me in a midnight raid on the L.A. Forum to kidnap the franchise and set it free in an appreciative city that at least gets some snow? Or should we move the windsurfing and sand-volleyball championships to Sturgeon Bay, Ont.?&bull; There will always be a place in hockey for some protective enforcement or venting of frustrations, but no place for fisticuffs as a means of compensating for pathetic lack of skills.&bull; Hats off to Lloyd Petit, a classic hockey announcer. Thanks for the memories.Bradley Rauer, St. Louis, MO(We&rsquo;re all busy here, but Indianapolis Colts&rsquo; owner Robert Irsay just might be the guy to head up your night moves on the L.A. Forum.)<h2>NUMBER NOT RETIRED</h2>Having just spent a weekend at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit watching Western Michigan Broncos win the CCHA title, the lack of a sweater hanging from the rafters was very evident.When I looked up and saw No. 9 I could not help but wonder why No. 6 was not there as well. Hockey fans know that the late Larry Aurie of the famed Red Wings of the 1930s wore that number and it was officially retired by then-GM Jack Adams and the owners in the early 1940s.I must say I was very disappointed, however, should the new owner, Mike Hitch, wish to right the wrong I would be only too happy to make another trip down and hoist No. 6 right up there where it belongs beside No. 9.Larry Aurie, by the way, was my uncle.Harry MacDonald, Kingston. ON(The Red Wings tell us that No. 6 is not retired, just out of circulation. The only player to wear No. 6 since the oldtime Wing&rsquo;s retirement in 1939 was Aurie&rsquo;s nephew, Cummy Burton, in the mid-1950s.)<h2>KEEP FIGHTING IN GAME</h2>I keep hearing and reading about how much the fans hate to see a good game spoiled by a tight breaking out. I watch every game on TV and listen to everyone on the radio that I can get.When there is a fight going on the fans are going crazy. Even some people who don&rsquo;t watch hockey will stop to watch a couple of guys slug it out.I think they should take a poll at every one of the 21 arenas to see how many fans are for or against fighting. How many people do you think will turn their TV&rsquo;s off in disgust because there is too much fighting in a game?A couple of years ago, I was watching Vancouver and Chicago play. A big fight broke out and Behn Wilson and Tiger Williams got ejected from the game. That&rsquo;s when I turned my TV off. Not because of the fight but the officials took it upon themselves to spoil a good game by getting rid of Wilson and Williams.Come on you guys, 17,000 screaming fans can&rsquo;t be wrong. Until proven otherwise, I wish the broadcasters and writers would quit telling me how much I really don&rsquo;t want to see a good scrap in a hockey game.Les Randall, Dawson Creek. BC(17,000 screaming fans may not be wrong, but are they right?) &#9632;

Reader Would Like To Ice All-Zamboni Team

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. &#9632;

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>QUEBEC&mdash;&ldquo;What was he doing in Fredericton?&rdquo;That was the question on the minds of most observers on March 24 after the Quebec Nordiques shaded the hometown Minnesota North Stars 1-0.As you might have guessed, the question concerned goalie Mario Gosselin, who had just been called up from the Nordiques&rsquo; American League farm club in Fredericton.The &ldquo;Goose&rdquo; was sent down to the Express to regain his confidence and his poise. Did he ever.In his first game since a 7-4 drubbing at the hands of the Boston Bruins on Feb. 25, the little goaltender put on a prodigious performance.&ldquo;I never lost confidence in my ability to play in the NHL.&rdquo; said Gosselin in the locker room. &ldquo;After all, I am not a rookie anymore. I always knew I could make the 1 big saves in this league. And on top of that, my motivation is at a peak because I haven&rsquo;t won a championship in eight years, so I want the Adams division title bad.&rdquo;Gosselin was also the first to admit that his three-week refresher course in the American League did him a world of good.&ldquo;I had no distractions to take my mind off hockey in Fredericton,&rdquo; said Gosselin. &ldquo;No phone calls, no mail. I could train at my own rhythm, which really helped iron the bugs out.I &ldquo;My timing was off a fraction of a second and I was throwing myself to the ice way too much. When you get out of shape, you tend to anticipate the shots on goal and you move too fast.&rdquo;In fact, Gosselin&rsquo;s exile to &ldquo;Freddy Beach&rdquo; couldn&rsquo;t have come at a better time. Injured more often than not since Christmas, Gosselin couldn&rsquo;t get his magic touch back. And with the Nords practising less and less as the season winds down, he wouldn&rsquo;t have been sharp enough to start in the playoffs.Everyone knew Gosselin was being I called back from the Express, but no one expected him to be with the team in time for the Minnesota game.Hadn&rsquo;t general manager Maurice Filion said his young goalie would join the team for the Vancouver game on the trip west? Gosselin had a &ldquo;simple&rdquo; explanation.&ldquo;I went right back to my hotel room after the Express&rsquo; 2-1 win over the Maine Mariners on Saturday (March 22) to find my luggage already packed and my girlfriend waiting for me. so I didn&rsquo;t have much choice. We were in Quebec six hours later.&ldquo;When I woke up on Sunday morning after a couple of hours sleep. I phoned coach Michel Bergeron to get the latest news on the team and five minutes later, my suitcase was in the car and I was speeding towards the airport.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011314/5335064-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="560" height="600"><figcaption class="caption-body">&lsquo;Goose&rsquo; Gosselin was perfect in a 1-0 win over the Minnesota North Stars.</figcaption></div>So three weeks, five games (2-2-1 in the AHL) and a heap of practices later, Mario Gosselin was back with the Nordiques.&ldquo;What a game,&rdquo; shouted head coach Michel Bergeron after Gosselin&rsquo;s shutout, his second this season. &ldquo;Marioplayed one heck of a game. I&rsquo;m so happy for him. A win like that at this stage of the season will make him feel part of the team again.&ldquo;Our victory was very convincing. Our whole defensive unit played a whale of a game. It is really comforting, especially after our 7-4 loss against Pittsburgh (March 22).&rdquo;Even the North Stars couldn&rsquo;t get over Gosselin&rsquo;s performance.&ldquo;I just can&rsquo;t explain it was luck, because I know Mario Gosselin too well, said Minnesota right winger Dino Ciccarelli.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02968/5335057-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="113" height="111"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 113px">QUEBEC NORDIQUES</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Everyone saw what he did in the playoffs last year. On my breakaway, I saw an opening between his pads and I aimed for it. Normally I would&rsquo;ve scored, but Gosselin was faster than the puck and the opening was closed before it got there.&rdquo;&ldquo;I had warned the guys that Mario would probably be hot,&rdquo; said ex-Nordique Tony McKegney.Be warned, the &ldquo;Goose&rdquo; is loose once again.NOTES&mdash;Michel Goulet&rsquo;s assist on Peter Stastny&rsquo;s power-play goal against the North Stars was his 100th point this season. &ldquo;The team has the right to expect 100 points a season from me,&rdquo; said the left winger&hellip;. When the reporters approached Peter Stastny after the game in Bloomington, he said: &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t waste any time with me. Go and see both goaltenders instead. They gave us quite a show tonight.&rdquo; Don Beaupre was the losing goalie.. Head coach Michel Bergeron had seven defensemen suited up for the game against the Stars. &ldquo;I wanted Gilbert Delorme to play,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;I want aggressive defensemen on the ice. Without putting any pressure on anyone, I want the guys to know that if they don&rsquo;t want to do the job, there are others that will jump at the chance to play their heart out.&rdquo;&hellip;Steve Patrick seems to have adjusted to the Nords&rsquo; style of play. The big right winger scored two goals in the Pittsburgh game &hellip; David Shaw must have blocked at least six shots himself in Minnesota &hellip; Jimmy Mann, Greg Malone and Clint Malarchuk were not in uniform for the game at the Met Center. &#9679; &#9632;</div>

f0009-01

Goose Is Loose Again With The Nordiques

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-04494/5335164-1-eng-US/f0010-042.jpg"></div><h2>TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE&hellip;</h2>1. Which goaltender recently allowed Gilbert Perreault&rsquo;s 500th NHL goal?2. Which Toronto Maple Leaf is nicknamed &lsquo;Tubby&rsquo;?3. What NCAA coach played goal for New England Whalers in the WHA?4. Which two WHA teams did Edmonton&rsquo;s Mark Messier play for?5. Which NHL coach once played for the Canadian national team?6. Which current NHLer was named Most Gentlemanly Player in the OHL in 1974-75?7. At what U.S. college did Edmonton&rsquo;s Craig MacTavish play hockey?8. Which Calgary Flame was born in St. Cloud, Minn.?9. Who was the last Montreal Canadien captain to lift the Stanley Cup?10. What Pittsburgh Penguin missed most of the 1974-75 season after breaking his neck while surfing?<h2>ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ</h2><h2>BONUS QUESTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03690/5335157-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="536" height="895"><figcaption class="caption-body">BONUS: This former pro was the second overall choice in the 1970 amateur draft.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-04

CCM HOCKEY TRIVIA

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;Burly Bob Dollas thinks he&rsquo;s been the luckiest player in the entire National Hockey League.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had one of the top three defensemen in the NHL as my partner,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s been more than a teammate. He&rsquo;s been a good friend.&rdquo;Randy Carlyle, as seen through the eyes of Dollas, has been a teacher, a broker, a guide and an escape hatch who surfaces whenever Dollas is in trouble.&ldquo;Sure I look for him.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m in a jam&hellip;he&rsquo;s like an outlet.&rdquo;Together, they have formed Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; best unit on defense during a year when the team has had its woeful moments defensively.Not surprisingly. Carlyle was half of the best unit a year ago when his partner was Robert Picard, since dispatched to Quebec City.Dollas cannot skate like Picard and he doesn&rsquo;t have a shred of his experience, but he is not as prone to mistakes, either. Compared to Picard, his work habits are tidier, he is more authoriative in man-on-man situations and he is less likely to be caught up ice.Dollas reminds some people of a man he&rsquo;s never met&mdash;former Jets&rsquo; captain Dave Christian, whom the Jets traded to Washington for the Capitals&rsquo; choice in the first round of the 1983 draft.Christian has become the Capitals&rsquo; leading scorer, a point-per-game man on one of the NHL&rsquo;s bona fide contenders.And, given the benefit of good health, it is not inconceivable to think that Dollas will someday be an instrumental member of a contender in Winnipeg.By then, Carlyle&rsquo;s days may be over. Yet. as his 30th birthday fast approaches, the Jets&rsquo; minister of defense continues to play outstanding hockey.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re breaking into the league, you wouldn&rsquo;t want to break in with anyone else.&rdquo; said Dollas. &ldquo;On teams in the past, I have found that if you are not too crazy about the guy who is your partner, your play can suffer.&ldquo;But he&rsquo;s ideal. &lsquo;Do what you feel is right,&rsquo; he says. He makes me comfortable.&rdquo;Carlyle doesn&rsquo;t have to spend the entire game leading Dollas by the hand. Gradually, he has given him more freedom. satisfied he can handle a tad more responsibility.&ldquo;Look. I won&rsquo;t be trying to deke three guys on my way down the ice,&rdquo; said Dollas. &ldquo;But if a hole is there. I&rsquo;ll go for it.&rdquo;<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011386/5335095-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="107" height="105"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 107px">WINNIPEG JETS</figcaption></div>Dollas does not advertise himself as a goal scorer, but the abundance of chances he&rsquo;s being seeing lately has whetted his appetite.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care if I never score a goal&hellip;&rdquo; Dollas was saying when Paul MacLean heard the remark.&ldquo;Who are you trying to kid?&rdquo; said MacLean. &ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you the same guy who has been up the ice whacking the goaltenders&rsquo; pads a lot lately?&rdquo;Dollas squirmed. Of course, he wants to score a goal.Off the ice. Carlyle and Dollas are good friends. Although he&rsquo;s nine years older. Carlyle has invited Dollas to join him in his travels.&ldquo;He loves restaurants,&rdquo; said Dollas. &ldquo;And he prides himself in knowing where the best ones are.&ldquo;Once in St. Louis, we took a limousine to a spot&mdash;Jimmy Brown&rsquo;s. The waiters wore white gloves. The first thing he asked for was the wine list, then we went from there. Well, it was very nice. And very expensive, too. The bib&rdquo; was $190 for the two of us.&rdquo;Dollas has discovered that his buddy is a wealth of knowledge about taxes, tax breaks and investments.But. for all his wisdom, he appreciates him as one of the boys.&ldquo;He walks around in his high school jacket and wears Kodiak boots like the rest of us,&rdquo; said Dollas.However, he has taught him some neat, new stunts on the ice, too.&ldquo;He knows every trick in the book.&rdquo; said Dollas. &ldquo;Now. I&rsquo;ve been a clean player all of my life. But if you are going to get the extra edge you&rsquo;ve got to do it.&rdquo;What does he mean by &ldquo;it&rdquo;?&ldquo;Chop a guy.&rdquo; he said, revealing the dark side of the business of being a defenseman in the NHL.BENCH BITS&mdash;Goaltender Brian Hayward posted his first win in over a month, beating Vancouver Canucks 8-2&hellip;It was the Jets&rsquo; biggest night offensively since a 9-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 23. &ldquo;We had so many eight-goal games last year I think we were spoiled,&rdquo; said Brian Mullen, who scored his 12th goal in 14 games&hellip;The fan who grabbed Lanny McDonald by the neck of his sweater remained unidentified, much to the consternation of the Calgary Flames, who think the Jets should identify the man. The Flames were considering laying charges. But it could get complicated. The fan released McDonald when Terry Johnson, a Calgary defenseman, hit him in the face. The fan rushed out of the Arena before police or security guards could get his name&hellip;Assistant coach Bill Sutherland says his role has diminished since John Ferguson&rsquo;s takeover behind the bench. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have as much input as I did when Barry (Long) was coach.&rdquo; said Sutherland. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have much input when Barry first took over either&rdquo;. Dale Hawerchuk had his third four-point night, scoring a goal and adding three assists against Vancouver &hellip; Randy Carlyle was plus-six in the Vancouver win. &#9679; &#9632;</div>

f0010-01

Dollas Learning From ‘Minister Of Defense’

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;For just one moment. Mark Hardy looked like his old self again.There he was. stationed at the left point on what would eventually disintegrate into yet another futile power play.Already down one goal early in a game the Kings would lose 6-1 to the Buffalo Sabres. Hardy smoked the puck towards the far corner of the net.Finally, his 25-game goal-scoring slump was going to end. It was going to be a timely goal, too. considering his giveaway in the opening two minutes had led to Buffalo&rsquo;s first goal.But goalie Jacques Cloutier, reacting on instinct alone, snapped out his left arm and&mdash;smack! The puck was in his glove.Hardy&rsquo;s drought would have to end on another day. So, too, would the Kings.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been feeling a little pressure. I&rsquo;ve been struggling like crazy. I&rsquo;m just trying to fight my way out of this,&rdquo; the 27-year-old defenseman said. He was referring to more than his offensive game.Hardy is hardly to blame for the sad state of affairs that has made life so miserable for the Kings, a team that hadn&rsquo;t been able to do much of anything right these past few weeks.They&rsquo;d managed to collect only five points in the past 14 games for the same reasons they salvaged only 46 points through the previous 60:The Kings weren&rsquo;t scoring; were defenseless to keep other teams from scoring; continued to turn the puck over at an alarming rate; were powerless on the power play (8-for-71 in the past 14 games) and suicidal in penalty killing (17-for-37 in the past 10 games).The goaltending, except for a soft goal here and there, had been more than adequate.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021061/5335126-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="165" height="104"><figcaption class="caption-body">LOS ANGELES KINGS</figcaption></div>One of the most glaring problems, inexperience on defense, became even more acute when Larry Playfair went down with a knee injury March 1.Four of the remaining six defensemen&mdash;Craig Redmond. Garry Galley, Grant Ledyard and Dean Kennedy&mdash;are second-year pros, placing a tremendous burden on Hardy and Jay Wells.&ldquo;We had nearly an equal number of learners and stable guys after we made the deal for Larry,&rdquo; coach Pat Quinn said, referring to the Jan. 29 trade which sent center Doug Smith and defenseman Brian Engblom to Buffalo in exchange for Playfair and winger Sean McKenna.&ldquo;Then he got hurt and suddenly the burden was dropped on Mark and Jay. They want to do it, and they&rsquo;re working real hard. They want to do more and sometimes when you try that, you do less.&rdquo;Wells has been by far the steadier of the two chipping in with career-highs in goals (11), assists (31) and points (41). His plus-minus was an impressive plus-9.Hardy, on the other hand, had struggled since missing the first 25 games while recovering from wrist surgery. The top scoring defenseman in club history had only six goals and 24 points in 49 games&mdash;he had one assist in the past 15&mdash;and his plus-minus was plus-13.&ldquo;I feel Jay is holding up his part, but I&rsquo;m not,&rdquo; said Hardy, who signed a new six-year contract four months ago after collecting 14 goals and 53 points last season. &ldquo;I took a couple of good shots tonight and they didn&rsquo;t go in. Last year they did. It&rsquo;s been real frustrating for me. I want to play well defensively and offensively.&ldquo;Last year I had a tough start, but I came out of it. This year has just been real tough. All I can do is keep working at it. When the team is down like this, you feel responsible.&ldquo;The young guys need people to look up to, and when you screw up they don&rsquo;t have anyone to follow. I messed up right off the bat in what essentially was a playoff game, and with my experience it shouldn&rsquo;t happen.&rdquo;KINGS NOTES&mdash;Coach Pat Quinn and Marcel Dionne met privately and straightened out their miscommunication problems the day after the 34-year-old center had talked about an earlier private meeting between the two. Dionne had said, after the first meeting, that he was seriously considering &ldquo;packing it in.&rdquo; The cast protecting Dionne&rsquo;s sprained right wrist was removed after two games&hellip;Al Tuer suffered a slightly separated shoulder. His absence was listed as indefinite&hellip;The Kings, who had found much more success on the road than at home, were to wear their road uniforms in two of their final five home games. Their 8-24-3 home record was the worst in the league. The Kings also planned to wear their home uniforms in their last road game in Vancouver. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll give the fans a chance to see some of the other teams&rsquo; home uniforms, some of which are very nice,&rdquo; GM Rogie Vachon said&hellip;With 45 defeats and six games remaining, the Kings hadn&rsquo;t lost that many games since dropping 49 in 1971-72&hellip;They had also allowed a club-record 99 power-play goals, 55 more than they gave up all last season. &#9679; &#9632;

f0010-02

Hardy Having A Hard Time Of It

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011263/5335195-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Canadiens&rsquo; center Bobby Smith, above, agrees with Nordiques&rsquo; coach Michel Bergeron on at least one point: The Montreal-Quebec hockey rivalry is the best in sports.</figcaption></div>History recalls animosity existed between Montreal and Quebec City long before the invention of sticks and pucks&mdash;batons et rondelles.&ldquo;I remember one time,&rdquo; says Claude Larochelle, sports editor of Le Soleil in Quebec, &ldquo;they asked a historian about it and he said it all started in 1534 when Jacques Cartier came to Quebec.&ldquo;The Indians were living here and Cartier wanted to go down river to Montreal. But they said not to, there was nothing there. So, the rivalry started right there. It&rsquo;s a joke but it&rsquo;s true in a way.&rdquo;History records Cartier ignored the advice.Some 400 years later, the St. Lawrence River rivalry between Stadacona and Hochelaga, as they were then named, remains in a myriad of forms between Quebec City and Montreal.But perhaps none is more prominent than that which pairs the Montreal Canadiens, the National Hockey League&rsquo;s most-storied franchise, with the Quebec Nordiques, a new kid on the block since 1979, in the Adams Division.It is, says Nordiques&rsquo; coach Michel Bergeron, the No. 1 rivalry in all of sport.Bergeron is not alone in that belief.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m quite a sports fan and I would have to agree with that,&rdquo; says Canadiens&rsquo; center Bobby Smith. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an outstanding rivalry. It means a great deal not only to the two teams but to people of the entire province. The media also likes to make a lot of the fact the teams are owned by two of the three major breweries in Canada.&rdquo;Ah, La Guerre des Bieres. Beer Wars.The Canadiens are owned by Molson, the Nordiques by Carling O&rsquo;Keefe.&ldquo;You know,&rdquo; says Red Fisher, sports editor of the Montreal Gazette, &ldquo;Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins can go at each other as fiercely as they have but the fact is everything is decided on the field.&ldquo;Here it only begins to be decided by what happens on the ice. Because whatever happens on the ice is reflected in terms of millions of dollars in the saloons and taverns of Quebec and, perhaps, the rest of Canada.&rdquo;Sound far-fetched?Typically, the two sides can agree only to disagree.Frank Leveille, a Molson spokesman, says there is no relationship between the Habs&rsquo; fortunes and the Molson beer fortune. O&rsquo;Keefe representative Hector St. Louis, however, is of a different opinion, saying Nordique victories, especially those over Montreal, are more than just occasions for chest-puffing. They are, he says, occasions for profit-puffing. He offers no quantitative proof.History, geography and beer sales are but the beginning of a relationship with more faces than Eve ever dreamed.From the moment Montreal management &mdash; read legendary general manager Sam Pollock&mdash;first delayed Quebec&rsquo;s entrance to the NHL, there has been conflict between the Nordiques and Canadiens. No matter what the forum (no pun intended) the two teams seem at opposite ends of the spectrum (with apologies to Philadelphia hockey fans).The Nordiques, their World Hockey Association, and later NHL, incarnation coinciding with strong feelings of nationalism in Quebec, first billed themselves as the team of the Francophone&mdash;the implication being Montreal was the club of the Anglophone&mdash;bringing to hockey a reflection of the English-French dichotomy in the province.&ldquo;The Nordiques really tried to use that flavor, that passion of the time&rdquo; says Rejean Tremblay, who covers the Canadiens for La Presse in Montreal.Tremblay says their choice of color, blue, was representative of the provincial Parti Quebecois government, unlike the Canadiens&rsquo; red, the color of the federal Liberal government. Fleur-de-Lys, &ldquo;the official flower of the French&rdquo;, are prominently displayed on the Quebec jersey.The association was more than cosmetic in nature. As the historical referendum of 1980, when Quebecers voted on the issue of partial separation from the rest of Canada, drew closer it became apparent that Nordique supporters were generally in favor of sovereignty association while Canadien fans preferred to remain full-fledged Canadians.&ldquo;We had some surveys showing the Nordiques&rsquo; popularity was improving in the areas where the Parti Quebecois was stronger,&rdquo; relates Tremblay. &ldquo;Like on the West Island (a largely English-speaking suburban area of Montreal) it was Canadiens all the way. It was red like the Liberal Party.&ldquo;In the Eastern Townships, Sherbrooke and Hull, the Canadiens were very strong. In the more nationalistic areas like Quebec, the Nordiques were gaining on the Canadiens.&rdquo;Quebec was, in fact, the more francophone of the organizations from top to bottom, a circumstance which Montreal eventually responded to by replating their own operation.Now both teams, from presidents Ronald Corey (Montreal) and the dynamic Marcel Aubut (Quebec) down, are francophone. Aubut, whose efforts ended Molson&rsquo;s TV monopoly off games played in Canada, has been an emormous distraction to the Canadiens and is now one of the most influential men in the NHL.Montreal and Quebec share more than a provincial mailing address. Over the years, they&rsquo;ve also shared memories. Two of the four most highly-revered Canadiens of all time &mdash; Howie Morenz, Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau and Guy Lafleur&mdash;were Quebecers before they were Montrealers.In an ironic twist of events, the Nordiques now play in the arena built and paid for by the immense popularity of Beliveau and Lafleur, who both became Canadien demi-gods.Le Colisee was known as &ldquo;The House That Beliveau Built&rdquo; during the time when &lsquo;Le Gros Bill&rsquo; played for the Quebec Aces early in the 1950s. His popularity has only been matched by one other&mdash;Lafleur, who guided the Remparts to a national junior championship in 1971.Today, their numbers are retired both at Le Colisee and the Forum.Like Beliveau and Lafleur before them, today&rsquo;s players understand the special bond that draws the two clubs both together and apart in an emotion-packed relationship.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a little cold between the two teams,&rdquo; understates Gilbert Delorme, who began his career with Montreal but now plays for Quebec. &ldquo;I went over before a game for a TV interview and I said &lsquo;Hello&rsquo; to the trainer, Eddie Palchak, and I felt that he was really cold.&ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t ask me how it was going or anything like that. I guess it&rsquo;s part of the rivalry. You know the games are tough and on the ice you have no friends and sometimes tempers are a little hot.&rdquo;Never were they more inflamed than in game six of the 1984 Adams Division final when near-riot scenes filled the Forum ice surface after the second period and before the third.&ldquo;It was the worst I&rsquo;ve ever seen. Disgusting,&rdquo; says Tremblay. &ldquo;And I think that night some players were really ashamed of what happened on the ice.&rdquo;It was also the night that Montreal beat Quebec in a playoff series for the only time. Twice, the Nordiques have won on overtime goals&mdash;one by the elegant Peter Stastny and the other by the hated Dale Hunter, the shift disturber who did his best to make life miserable for Lafleur before The Flower&rsquo;s retirement last year. Hunter&rsquo;s series-winning goal in 1982 shattered the Canadiens and brought instant credibility to the three-year-old Nordique franchise.&ldquo;We play each other so many times you have to make a few enemies on the other side. Some people don&rsquo;t the like the way you play,&rdquo; says Hunter matter-of-factly.Count Habs&rsquo; defensive specialist Guy Carbonneau among them.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s (Hunter) a good hockey player. I don&rsquo;t think he needs to do that kind of thing,&rdquo; says Carbonneau in reference to Hunter&rsquo;s reputation for wielding a stick for purposes other than scoring goals. &ldquo;I think if he played for Montreal everybody would love him. I have respect for him as a hockey player, (but) not the way he plays.&rdquo;The rivalry has been mostly in Quebec&rsquo;s favor in recent times. The Nordiques, who have never lost to the Canadiens in overtime (6-0), eliminated Montreal last year with the help of an extra period, won six of eight regular-season meetings this year and are sure to capture the Adams flag.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the Battle of Quebec every game, every night,&rdquo; grins Bergeron, whose running (and highly-verbal) feud with former Hab coach Jacques Lemaire was so well known, it was the subject of a Coke commercial. Jean Perron, Lemaire&rsquo;s replacement, has picked up where his predecessor left off.&ldquo;I like these kinds of games, there&rsquo;s a lot of pressure, the players have the pressure, the management got the pressure,&rdquo; says Bergeron. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so emotional. Sometimes it&rsquo;s not the best games the fans see, but because they&rsquo;re in the game they&rsquo;re so emotional.&rdquo;<h2>Habs Favored By Province&rsquo;s Hockey Fans</h2>There is, of course, no greater joy at either Le Colisee or the Forum than victories over their arch-rivals.The fans, stuffed with information provided by the province&rsquo;s hockey-mad media, live and die with the fortunes of their teams and delight in tormenting the other side. The press fans the flames of discontent.&ldquo;When you give a stick or a shot to somebody on the Nordiques,&rdquo; explains Carbonneau, &ldquo;or somebody from the Nordiques gives a shot to somebody on Montreal, it&rsquo;s always on TV, it&rsquo;s always in the paper.&rdquo;The players, says Smith, are made aware of their roles&mdash;even responsibilities&mdash;in this rivalry.&ldquo;A guy will come up to you in the grocery store and say, &lsquo;Bobby, I&rsquo;ve just got to say one thing to you. Beat Quebec.&rsquo; And we won&rsquo;t be playing the Nordiques for weeks. It&rsquo;s not as though it&rsquo;s the night before a big game.&rdquo;It also doesn&rsquo;t matter that neither team has an overwhelming number of French-speaking players. Although both teams are anxious to sign the top Francophones and the fans love them for it, the rivalry runs along a more varied path than merely linguistic lines.If it&rsquo;saCivil Warforfans, it is, at least, &lsquo;civil&rsquo;. For the most part fans are well-behaved. To be sure, the crowds are boisterous and supportive but mindful they are all part of the same hockey family.Not that there haven&rsquo;t been exceptions &mdash; among the most notable being the stream of spit and invectives directed at former Montreal general manager Irving Grundman at Le Colisee in 1982&mdash;to blemish the relationship just as the brawling in 1984 did.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a war,&rdquo; insists Larochelle. &ldquo;Some people say it&rsquo;s terrible but did you ever see in Montreal or Quebec&mdash;how do you call them in England?&mdash;hooligans. You don&rsquo;t see anybody hurt. It depends on how you&rsquo;re taking it. Maybe it&rsquo;s a lot of fun.&rdquo;Part of the fun at the Le Colisee on New Year&rsquo;s Eve was fervent cheering each time it was learned the Soviet Central Army club had scored while defeating the Habs.But, even if the Canadiens were losing more than winning against the Nordiques on the ice, they were still the champions off the ice.In a poll commissioned by Le Journal de Montreal and radio station CJMS this season, 53 per cent of respondents said they supported the Canadiens, compared to 23 for the Nordiques. As for those who considered themselves &ldquo;true&rdquo; hockey fans, 67 per cent favored Montreal and 27 per cent, Quebec.At the Forum, two men sit beside each other, one in a wheelchair. Both wear brightly-colored jackets, one red and one blue.Both have capital letters spelling out names on their backs. On the blue coat is &lsquo;Bergeron&rsquo;, on the red &lsquo;Pollock&rsquo;. At the end of the game, &lsquo;Bergeron&rsquo; maneuvers the wheelchair-ridden &lsquo;Pollock&rsquo; through the crowd.Nearby, in the Montreal dressing room. Smith reveals the players aren&rsquo;t always as friendly enemies as the fans.&ldquo;This rivalry takes on a lot of different faces,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been an ugly rivalry, it&rsquo;s been a fierce and fast rivalry and it&rsquo;s been a rivalry where a lot of mutual respect has grown. It&rsquo;s also a rivalry where a lot of individual rivalries have been spawned.&ldquo;As Larry Bird says, people don&rsquo;t want to see me having lunch with Julius Erving. John Ferguson said, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t want to have anything to do with other (team&rsquo;s) hockey players during the summer. I might get to like them.&rsquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you an interesting story,&rdquo; Smith continues. &ldquo;Tony McKegney is a very good friend of mine. He played for Quebec at the same time as I played for Montreal for about a year.&ldquo;But we never spoke to each other for the full year. And a couple of days after he got traded to Minnesota, he called me up and we&rsquo;ve resumed our friendship full force since then.&rdquo;The rivalry, like the friendship, remains in full force. &#9632;

f0011-01

SEEING RED AND BLUE

<div class="byline">BY MICHAEL A. BERGER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011361/5335226-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Denis Potvin and the Stanley Cup&mdash;the man and the symbol that have long tormented New York Rangers fans who have not celebrated a championship since the year 1940.</figcaption></div>Bryan Trottier is standing naked in his stall at the Nassau Coliseum, drying himself with a blue terry cloth towel almost one hour after his New York Islanders have defeated the New York Rangers 5-2 on a warm March night.He is chuckling at a photographed copy of a national magazine cover. The headline reads, &lsquo;Gays in America&rsquo;. Only thing is, the gays pictured on the cover are Islander teammates Bill Smith and Mike Bossy.It is surprising Trottier hasn&rsquo;t seen the fake copy before, for it first surfaced in the stands at the Rangers&rsquo; Madison Square Garden almost three years ago. But news, apparently, travels slowly on Long Island.The photocopied cover is the perfect introduction to the subject at hand:&ldquo;Has the rivalry between the islanders and the Rangers cooled?&rdquo; repeats Trottier. &ldquo;We could play in front of empty seats and have a rivalry.&rdquo;There is no doubt that the rivalry between the Rangers and&rsquo;lslanders was once the hottest, not only in hockey, but all of professional sport.Born on an April night when J.P. Parise shocked the Rangers with an overtime goal that knocked the Blueshirts out of the playoffs; nurtured through the night in May when the Rangers, led by goaltender John Davidson, returned the favor; grown to maturity on another April night when the Islanders turned the tables yet again on their crosstown opponents, this was more than a rivalry.It was a war.&ldquo;Hate?&rdquo; asks the Rangers&rsquo; Don Maloney. &ldquo;Oh sure. They tried to come into our territory and knock us off. And we wanted the four Stanley Cups that they had.&ldquo;There was a lot of respect between us, but there was a lot of animosity, too.&rdquo;Animosity fueled by the fans of both sides. As the Islanders annexed their four championships, their fans became a smug lot, all too willing to remind the Rangers and their faithful of that club&rsquo;s record of ineptitude.&ldquo;1940 &hellip; 1940 &hellip; 1940&rdquo;&mdash;the year of the Rangers&rsquo; last Stanley Cup championship&mdash;became a frequent cry at the Coliseum.Once, in an unguarded moment while he was still coaching the Rangers, Herb Brooks said. &ldquo;1940? What the &mdash; do I have to do with 1940?&rdquo;Four years later Islander captain Denis Potvin says, &ldquo;I looked at (Rangers&rsquo; rookie) Mike Ridley when they started chanting &lsquo;1940&rsquo; and you could tell he was thinking, &lsquo;1940? What the hell are they doing talking about ancient history?&rsquo;&rdquo;What the Islander fans are doing is dishing out their share of the medicine. And Potvin knows that, for inside the enemy confines of the Garden, Potvin absorbs 46 years of Ranger fan frustration.It was inevitable, one would suppose, that somehow this rivalry had to be personalized. When the Rangers&rsquo; Ulf Nilsson rose from the ice with a broken leg after a Potvin hit during a 1978-79 regular-season game, Potvin became the convenient target for generations of stored-up bile.Boos and the occasional &lsquo;Potvin sucks&rsquo; sufficed for awhile, especially during that 1979 playoffs, when the Rangers stunned the Islanders and ousted them in six games. With the final victory coming at the Garden and Potvin on his knees in tears, the Ranger fans were delirious in their hatred.Only problem was, the Islanders won the Stanley Cup the next season. And the next. And the next. And the next. So the abuse intensified amongst the vulgar Garden fans.After Potvin&rsquo;s messy divorce, the Ranger fans had a new sore to zero in on, which they did as only they can. And finally that wasn&rsquo;t enough cither. Following the death this season of Pelle Lindbergh, the Ranger faithful began to suggest Potvin purchase a Porsche&mdash;the same make of car as Lindbergh&rsquo;s.&ldquo;There are a lot of things in both buildings that there isn&rsquo;t any need for,&rdquo; says Isles&rsquo; goalic Bill Smith, himself the target of thrown fish heads during an early &lsquo;80s playoff series against the Rangers.&ldquo;This is a business for all the guys here, but I guess a lot of people come to the rink and take out their frustrations on us. I&rsquo;m disappointed in the way some people act. This is a sport and it should be treated that way. There&rsquo;s no reason to add that kind of abuse to people.&rdquo;Anders Hedberg, a soldier in this war from 1979-1985 and now a member of Ranger management, will tell you that the animosity generated by the fans never found its way to the players.&ldquo;We felt pretty good if we could beat the best team in the nation and that&rsquo;s what the Islanders were. But I don&rsquo;t think there was bad feeling or hate between the players. Mutual respect. I&rsquo;d say.&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s sort of decreased now,&rdquo; Hedberg continues. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been less intense the last couple of years and I think that&rsquo;s because we played each other seven times a season, almost every 10 games. The rivalry lost its novelty.&ldquo;But I tell you,&rdquo; he adds, &ldquo;I always felt that the more Potvin was abused, the better he played.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the same for us anymore, though the fans have not let go,&rdquo; Potvin agrees. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s still important to them. But as far as we&rsquo;re concerned, when the situation calls for it, there&rsquo;s a rivalry. Like if we&rsquo;re close in the standings or we&rsquo;re liable to meet each other in the playoffs.&ldquo;And yeah, Anders is right. I&rsquo;ve always felt if I was left alone out there I&rsquo;d fall asleep. But the fans really forced me to concentrate and focus on the game in order to drown out what they were doing.&rdquo;The abuse must have hurt, but Potvin will only say, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never wanted to be in a war of words with the fans of New York.&rdquo;Whither this rivalry?Two years ago, when Ken Morrow&rsquo;s shot from the sideboards slipped past Glen Hanlon in a game called one of the best ever, this New York version of the Hatfields and the McCoys was at its zenith. Today the best of times are long gone for both of these squads.&ldquo;But,&rdquo; Hanlon says, &ldquo;even though the faces are different, the sweaters are still the same.&ldquo;The rivalry will never change.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

THE RIVALRY THAT NEVER SLEEPS

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>The sure things in life have dwindled to a precious few: Death, taxes and a smirking, Cheshire grin on Glen Sather&rsquo;s face following another Calgary Flames&rsquo; loss to the Edmonton Oilers.In the past three years, the Flames can boast only a single, solitary win over the Oilers. One win, plus 19 losses and three ties. Unlike the rivalry that exists between Montreal and Quebec or the Rangers and Islanders, the Flames-Oilers&rsquo; series isn&rsquo;t especially competitive.Except for one playoff series two years ago&mdash;when the Flames gave the Oilers all they could handle, only to fall in the seventh game of the Smythe Division final&mdash;this is surely the most one-sided rivalry in hockey.The Oilers almost never have an off night against Calgary. Their heroes may vary&mdash;Craig MacTavish did in the Flames once this season, Marty McSorley did them in another time&mdash;but the result is almost always the same. In six of their seven meetings to date, the Flames were down 1-0 within the first six-and-a-half minutes. Twice they were down 1-0 within 30 seconds. In short, the Flames play one way against 19 NHL teams and another way against the Oilers.For whatever reason&mdash;the Oilers&rsquo; talent, their confidence, their toughness&mdash;the Flames let themselves get intimidated. Not necessarily in a physical sense, but just enough so they tighten up, so they freeze, so they stop thinking. Ultimately they play right into the Oilers&rsquo; hands. Edmonton gets ahead early, Calgary opens up the attack to get back in the game and the strategy backfires. In the end, the Oilers bury them one game after another.None of this would be especially catastrophic except for two factors: Geography and divisional alignments. Edmonton is 180 miles to the north up Hwy. 2. The two cities compete for the bragging rights to everything&mdash;football, baseball, rodeo, concert halls. You name it and people from Calgary and Edmonton will fight over it.Morever, in the Smythe Division, the Oilers set the standard. For the Flames to get anywhere in the playoffs&mdash;today, tomorrow, 1990&mdash;they must come up with a way of beating Edmonton.Accordingly, prior to the trading deadline, the Flames made three deals to strengthen themselves for the post-season, acquiring Joey Mullen, JohnTonelli and Nick Fotiu. The first provides scoring, the second, heart, and the third, policing. All three qualities, plus a whole lot of luck, will be required for the Flames to get anywhere against the Oilers in the upcoming playoffs &mdash; assuming both teams advance past the first round.On the matter of the Calgary-Edmonton rivalry, defenseman Paul Reinhart&mdash;always a standout when the two teams meet &mdash; explained why the constant losing is beginning to wear on the Flames.&ldquo;The games against Edmonton are important,&rdquo; began Reinhart, &ldquo;because everything we do from September to April will always be compared to and plotted against how Edmonton did. They&rsquo;re the ones we have to catch. If you can win 72 games a year and lose eight to them and then again the playoffs, then where are you? Nowhere. They&rsquo;re the mark that we compare ourselves to. When all is said and done, that&rsquo;s what it comes down to&mdash;all the trades, all the talk, everything we do.&rdquo;Because of Calgary&rsquo;s poor record in head-to-head games with the Oilers, general manager Cliff Fletcher walks a guarded, verbal tightrope when the subject of Edmonton&rsquo;s superiority is raised. Fletcher, explaining the trades that brought Tonelli and Fotiu to the Stampede City, says: &ldquo;Whether you believe me or not, we didn&rsquo;t make them just to catch Edmonton. We have to compete against 19 other teams in the NHL, not just them.&rdquo;Conveniently, Fletcher overlooked the fact that the Flames compete very well against the rest of the NHL. Subtract their 1-10-2 mark against the Oilers the last two years from their overall record and they would be playing around .600 hockey. It is the Oilers, game after disheartening game, who block the way to a Stanley Cup championship.That said, there does exist a special dislike between the two teams. Over the years, almost every other game has turned into a free-for-all of some description.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011283/5335257-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="916" height="2324"><figcaption class="caption-body">Blues&rsquo; captain Brian Sutter is a favorite target of Chicago fans&mdash;even though his brother, Darryl, is captain of the Blackhawks.</figcaption></div>Twice last season, Oilers&rsquo; players were investigated by NHL executive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill for their attacks on Calgary players. The first time Dave Semenko, escaped with a fine for a kneeing major and match penalty. The second time, Mark Messier received a 10-game suspension for sucker-punching Jamie Macoun.This year&rsquo;s most curious incident occurred following Edmonton&rsquo;s Jan. 3 win in Calgary. In the aftermath of a second-period brawl that saw five players ejected and 100 minutes in penalties assessed, Doug Risebrough wound up in the penalty box with McSorely&rsquo;s sweater and shredded it into ribbons with his skate blades.Following the game, Sather hung the sweater from the ceiling in the visitor&rsquo;s dressing room and told reporters he would bill Risebrough for the damage&mdash;&ldquo;$800 for the crest and $200 for the sweater. It was childish. I don&rsquo;t know what else you&rsquo;d call it.&rdquo;Sather, his logic somewhat convoluted, lays the blame for the extracurricular activities squarely on the Flames. After adding Marty McSorely and Jeff Brubaker to a team that already included Semenko, Dave Lumley and Don Jackson, Sather said the Flames, not the Oilers, were responsible for the bad blood that exists between the teams.For their part, the Flames made no pretenses about Fotiu&rsquo;s acquisition. He is there to provide muscle if the Flames get into a tough playoff series.On the day they acquired him from the Rangers, Fotiu said the Oilers would not intimidate him.&ldquo;They bleed and eat just like you or I do,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;As long as you remember that, you&rsquo;re going to be all right.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-01

This Pairing Has Gone Up In

<div class="byline">BY TOM WHEATLEY</div>The St. Louis Blues-Chicago Blackhawks rivalry may not be the National Hockey League&rsquo;s best. But for fan involvement, it&rsquo;s probably the loudest and rowdiest.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a real carnival atmosphere,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; winger Eddy Beers. &ldquo;The fans really get the noise going, and that gets the adrenaline flowing.&rdquo;When Chicago Stadium and The Arena are full, said Bourgeois, &ldquo;they&rsquo;re the two loudest rinks in the league. No question. Chicago&rsquo;s always the loudest in the league. And that night we had 19,000 fans at The Arena, it was unbelievable.&rdquo;The Blues&rsquo; attendance worries&mdash;if not their security worries&mdash;would be over if they had 40 home dates with the Hawks.In three dates this season, the Blues had over-overflow crowds of 19,222, 18,914 and 18,145 for games against the Hawks.They were the only sellouts of the season at the 17,666-seat Arena. For the other 35 dates so far, the Blues were averaging 11,581.Sellout crowds have also been attracted at the Stadium in Chicago, where the two teams will close the regular season and possibly decide the Norris Division title one night after meeting in St. Louis.Because the Blues&rsquo; season-ticket base is only 5,900, some 2,000 to 3,000 Hawk fans can secure seats for Hawk games at The Arena.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an event,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; publicist Susie Mathieu, who is swamped with requests for press credentials and comp tickets. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not your normal crowd. You could have the Minnesota Stargazers fan club here, and you never know they&rsquo;re in the stands, other than their green jackets.&ldquo;But you take the &lsquo;Beer-Nuts&rsquo; and the &lsquo;Standbys&rsquo; from Chicago, and you know those people are in here the minute you walk into the building.&rdquo;In the Blues&rsquo; 7-3 home loss on Nov. 23, an ugly series of beer-throwing and brawling marred the third period. Some Blues fans threw waves and waves and waves of beer down on the scarlet-clad Hawk contingent seated below them.Most of the Chicago fans left after some ugly mass fights broke out. In the absence of adequate security, women spectators were seen trying to break up fights in the stands.For the next two games against Chicago, the Blues took the advice of police and security officials. Security was beefed up. Twenty police officers, about double the usual force, were on hand and visible. Beer sales were halted after the second period.But in the Blues&rsquo; victory on March 1st at The Arena, a young Hawk fan tried to storm the Blues&rsquo; bench. And Chicago coach Bob Pulford threw a cup of ice at a heckler, who retaliated by throwing his beer back at the bench.Even on the road, Hawk fans are at their bellowing best during the national anthem. Blues&rsquo; fans counter by taunting their two (least) favorite Hawks, Al Secord and Murray Bannerman. In Chicago, the Hawk fans love to hate Brian Sutter, even though his brother, Darryl, is the Hawk captain.On the ice, the rivalry is more controlled.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have a dirty series,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; assistant coach Bare Plager. &ldquo;We have a rough series.&rdquo;That should come as no surprise since each of the teams has a Sutter as one of its principals.&ldquo;I always wondered why all those Sutters are in the league,&rdquo; Chicago goalie Bob Sauve said. &ldquo;I can tell now. It&rsquo;s purely guts, purely desire to win.&rdquo;Like the combatants within both Alberta and Quebec, the Blues-Hawks rivalry is actually one between the cities. Cardinal-Cub baseball games sell out both Busch Stadium and Wrigley Field. The football Cardinals and Bears also pack the house when they tee it up.Illinois, after all, is just across the Mississippi River from the Arch and many Blues&rsquo; fans in southern Ilinois switch allegiance when the Hawks come to town.It all makes for what Blues&rsquo; coach Jacques Demers calls an &ldquo;unbelievable&rdquo; rivalry. And this is from someone who wants Quebec Nordique fans dance in the streets after their first-ever victory over the Montreal Canadiens.He knows of what he speaks. &#9632;

Fan Frenzy Accompanies Hawks, Blues

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Chicago sources report that the Blackhawks will make energetic efforts to deal Behn Wilson after the season. One insider says the only reason Wilson plays is to be showcased&hellip;Witnesses say that ref supervisor Frank Udvari and Bruins&rsquo; GM Harry Sinden, both Hall of Famers, engaged in an unusually bitter shouting match during a recent Whalers-Bruins game, but when it was over, Sinden exited laughing&hellip;When Bernie Federko signs his new pact with the Blues he&rsquo;ll be the highest-paid never-named all-star in the NHL. Blues&rsquo; coach Jacques Demers tells BLUELINES it would be a travesty if Federko does not win the Bill Masterton Trophy&hellip;Several Canuck players believe the Vancouver press has been unreasonably hard on the team, and coach Tom Watt seconds the motion. One Canuck says. &ldquo;Tom doesn&rsquo;t like us reading the papers.&rdquo;&hellip;Canadiens-watchers are wondering whether Chris Chelios&rsquo; knee problems are similar to those that ended Rick Martin&rsquo;s career. Every so often whispers are heard around the Canadiens&rsquo; room that Chelios&rsquo; ego is bigger than his ability.&rdquo;North Stars may sign Minnesota Gopher right winger Pat Micheletti and left winger Wally Chapman&hellip;One reason the Flames&rsquo; gifted rookie Gary Suter is expected to poll poorly in the Calder Cup balloting is his poor communications with the press. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the worst interview in history,&rdquo; a Smythe Division reporter tells BLUELINES&hellip;Devils&rsquo; coach Doug Carpenter lost points with Chico Resch when DC told a Philly reporter &ldquo;Chico&rsquo;s glove hand is suspect.&rdquo;&hellip;The Flames may not care to admit it but an anti-Paul Reinhart faction exists on the club&hellip;Flames-watchers figure Bob Johnson is gone if his troops fail to survive the opening round&hellip;One NHL exec blew his top when he heard ESPN broadcaster Jim Kelly pronounce the Sutter brothers &ldquo;Sooter&rdquo; and then winced when Kelly placed Brandon in Quebec. Brandon is in Manitoba&hellip;Insiders report that the Red Wings tried to deal Warren Young back to Pittsburgh but multi-millionaire Mike Ilitch and Edward DeBartolo couldn&rsquo;t agree on how to share Young&rsquo;s fat contract &hellip; More and more NHL insiders believe the league will take a major step toward curbing hockey fights before next season&hellip;North Stars&rsquo; Brian Bellows has been going with collegian Cynthia Jane Peterson, alias Miss Minnesota. She&rsquo;ll represent Minny in the Miss USA pageant this May.Caps were after Mel Bridgman and Dave Pichette but couldn&rsquo;t sweeten the Devils&rsquo; pot enough&hellip;If Vancouver blows a playoff berth. GM Jack Gordon will be hard-pressed to keep his post. Canuck sources indicate that Gordon will be re-titled, kept with the club and replaced by a new GM&hellip;Flyers&rsquo; refusal to &ldquo;retire&rdquo; Bill Barber&rsquo;s No. 7 jersey has irked some Philly writers. Atlantic City Post columnist Ed Hilt calls it &ldquo;a mistake.&rdquo; He adds:&rsquo; &lsquo;Barber&rsquo;s number belongs up there with Bobby Clarke&rsquo;s. Bernie Parent&rsquo;s and Barry Ashbee&rsquo;s.&rdquo; Flyers acknowledge that they&rsquo;ve received some flak over their refusal and add they will create a new category for honoring former players. Flyers&rsquo; prexy Jay Snider explains, &ldquo;The fact we decided not to retire his number is not a negative.&rdquo; Some Flyer-watchers believe another quiet reason for not retiring Barber&rsquo;s number is that Bill&mdash;like Bob Dailey&mdash;might try a comeback somewhere down the line.Blues and Rangers were interested in Ron Duguay before he was dealt to Pittsburgh but Red Wings never would have dealt him within their division. Duguay, according to one insider, was in Jimmy Devellano&rsquo;s office being notified of the deal-when the Rangers&rsquo; Craig Patrick inquired about obtaining Ron. Duguay, reportedly, was put on the phone and said. &ldquo;Sorry Craig. You&rsquo;re too late: I&rsquo;m going to Pittsburgh I&rdquo; &hellip; Former NHL Secretary James Cullen, along with three other St. Louis political figures, was indicted on charges of mail and wire fraud in connection with a cable TV venture in St. Lou. Cullen pleaded innocent&hellip;Several NHL clubs are hoping that Minnesota high school ace Tom Quinlan rejects baseball in favor of hockey. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound forward has accepted a baseball scholarship from the University of Minnesota and is considered sure-fire big-league material on the diamond. North Stars&rsquo; Lou Nanne says Quinlan would be a first-round pick in the June draft were he to make hockey his top priority.One reason why the Flames can afford the biggest salary scale in the league is that Calgary&rsquo;s average ticket price is $ 18.50 &hellip; A couple of agents report that Flames&rsquo; GM Cliff Fletcher and his Hartford counterpart, Emile Francis, are the easiest marks in the league when it comes to contract negotiations&hellip;Whalers will gross $8.5 million at the box office this year but still lose money&hellip;Flames will gross $13 million at the box office.Meanwhile, a cloud hangs over coach Ted Sator after a devastating New York Times indictment in which no less than eight Rangers anonymously criticized the coach for, among other things: (a) Urging Jan Erixon, Mark Osborne and James Patrick to return prematurely from injuries; (b) Ridiculing goalie John Vanbiesbrouck for publicly criticizing Craig Patrick; (c) Ordering Steve Patrick&mdash;then a Ranger&mdash;to fight with Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Moe Mantha, and (d) When Patrick refused, Sator responded by benching and ultimately trading him to Quebec. Sator denied the charges but, nevertheless, has been under heavy attack from the New York media and fans. An attempt by Sator to patch up differences with reporters by inviting them to dinner was, apparently, rejected by the newshawks. &#9632;

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY&mdash;The preliminary diagnosis said Perry Berezan would miss the rest of the season. The news was considerably better the next day.Berezan, the Calgary Flames&rsquo; rookie left winger, suffered a non-displaced fibular fracture of his left leg in a 6-5 loss to Minnesota North Stars on Mar. 19.&ldquo;C.J. (coach Bob Johnson) told me he once had a guy with the same injury and he only missed two weeks.&rdquo; said Berezan. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know about two weeks, but if we can get through the first round of the playoffs and especially if it&rsquo;s Edmonton, I may be able to play again. It is a small, small break about five inches above the ankle. They told me there&rsquo;s nothing they could do with it except throw on a cast and let it heal.&ldquo;First off they told me the season&rsquo;s a write-off. Then they looked at it closer and said it would be maybe three weeks in a cast and they&rsquo;d X-ray it a few times and see how it&rsquo;s coming along. I figure by the first round, I can skate and get myself going and then in the second round. I&rsquo;d be ready to play if they needed me.&rdquo;Berezan&rsquo;s latest turn of bad luck culminated a difficult rookie season for the likable University of North Dakota alumnus.It began with a serious sinus condition that forced him to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Minn., for a diagnosis. It continued with the season&rsquo;s longest case of the flu, which cost him six games in the middle of the year. It ended with a broken leg.Through all the difficulties, the perennially-cheerful Berezan refused to let circumstances get him down.&ldquo;I could really go into the depression tank if I thought about it, so I&rsquo;m keeping a positive attitude,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going on the road with the team. I&rsquo;m going to work out every day. I want to keep myself involved, if I stop hoping, stop trying, then I know I&rsquo;m never going to get back.&rdquo;To keep Berezan&rsquo;s cardiovascular capacity high, trainer Jim (Bearcat) Murray planned to modify a stationary exercise cycle so the 21-year-old rookie could pedal it with his hands. The cast also won&rsquo;t stop Berezan from weight training.Earlier in the season, Johnson kept asking himself what would be Berezan&rsquo;s role on the team. To date, the question has not been answered properly.The Flames lured Berezan away from the University of North Dakota last season because their scouting reports said he could play in the National Hockey League right away.Berezan, weakened last season by blood poisoning compounded by a viral infection, nevertheless showed Johnson loads of potential in his nine-game cameo.Physical fitness testing over the summer reinforced their first impression. Berezan was considered a fine, all-around athlete. Accordingly, the rookie was marked in as a regular from the beginning of training camp and, except for a few missed games because of sickness, he&rsquo;s been there ever since.But the question remains: What kind of player is Berezan? A scorer? A defensive player? A playmaker? A center? A left winger? A right winger? Berezan has done it all at various times in the season. Now that it&rsquo;s almost over, even Johnson doesn&rsquo;t know for sure.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny, you know,&rdquo; said Berezan. &ldquo;When we were getting our report cards. C.J. asked me almost the same questions. First we talked about my goal production. He thought that was pretty low. Then he looked at my shots on goal and he said: &lsquo;Wow, you must be getting chances.&rsquo; The thing is. I&rsquo;ve never really been a top goal scorer. I always put my two cents in and at the end of the year, my totals would be there.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011337/5335336-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="126" height="112"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 126px">CALGARY FLAMES</figcaption></div>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re asking me am I happy with my goal production, the answer is no. I&rsquo;m not happy with it at all. I can look back and remember so many chances I&rsquo;ve had to score. But you can only go so long with just getting chances. You can&rsquo;t be happy with that alone. You&rsquo;ve got to start putting the puck in the net.&rdquo;Berezan&rsquo;s injury opened up a place in the lineup for defenseman Paul Reinhart, who missed the past 14 games with strained knee ligaments. Between now and playoff time, Reinhart&rsquo;s main challenge was to get his conditioning back.&ldquo;At this competitive level, I don&rsquo;t think you can miss a year and be in as good a shape as you &lsquo;d be if you played 80 games,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It will take four or five games for me to feel real comfortable. Fortunately, when I do play. I usually play quite a bit. If I only played four or five shifts a game, it would be twice as difficult to come back.&rdquo; &#9679; &#9632;</div>

f0014-01

Flame Freshman’s Year In Jeopardy After Injury

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>NEW YORK&mdash;There are times when it seems that the New York Rangers are going to a lot of trouble to stay alive during the regular season, just so they can attend their own post-season execution.Rookie coach Ted Sator&rsquo;s inconsistent Rangers shocked Edmonton 4-2 to reclaim fourth place in the Patrick Division on March 28 and then crumbled at the hands of Philadelphia, their likely first-round opponent, 8-2 just 24 hours later.Eliminated by the Flyers in three straight games last spring, the Rangers staggered into the last week of the regular season with a 1-5-0 record against Philly for the regular season and a 1-17-0 mark for their last 18 meetings, including playoffs.&ldquo;They were all over us,&rdquo; veteran Ranger winger Don Maloney admitted following the Rangers&rsquo; ninth straight loss at the Spectrum. &ldquo;We were never even in this game. You tell yourself that the playoffs are a whole, new ball game&mdash;and they are&mdash;but&hellip;&rdquo;The Rangers simply have very little to build on as they look, hopefully, toward the first round.Sator stressed that his team must first find a way to get into the playoffs before becoming preoccupied with the Flyers but he hinted strongly that Philadelphia&rsquo;s intensity is as large a factor as muscle.&ldquo;They simply outworked us in every facet of the game,&rdquo; the former Flyer assistant observed. &ldquo;They won almost all of the one-on-one battles. Right now, they are a stronger hockey team than we are but I&rsquo;m not sure it wasn&rsquo;t one of those cases where our guys just ran out of gas.&rdquo;How can the Rangers possibly hope to reverse a two-year trend of futility against Philly?&ldquo;We would have to be a lot stronger on the puck,&rdquo; Sator suggested, &ldquo;and come up with more of a challenge aspect to our game, rather than concede defeat.&rdquo;That seemed to be a polite and subtle way of saying that the Rangers have showed very little toughness and determination against the Flyers, who seem to have successfully refined their intimidation tactics.Most obviously, the Flyers jam the front of the opposition net more effectively than any team in the league.With the Rangers&rsquo; two best defensive defensemen, Barry Beck (left shoulder) and Tom Laidlaw (back spasms) unavailable, the Flyers were able to stuff Ranger goalie Glen Hanlon into the net almost as often as the puck.&ldquo;As a goalie,&rdquo; Hanlon explained, &ldquo;you have to alter your game plan a bit against the Flyers. They stand right in your crease. They bump you and they interfere with you as much as the referee allows.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t go out for the angles as much because, if you move out at the shooter,&rdquo; Hanlon noted, &ldquo;they step behind you and you can&rsquo;t get back into your crease.&rdquo;With huge forwards such as Tim Kerr (6-foot-3, 225) and Dave Brown (6-foot-5, 205) planted in the goalmouth, the Rangers&rsquo; smallest defense pairing &mdash; Reijo Ruotsalainen (5-foot-8, 170) and James Patrick (6-foot-1, 185) were in big trouble.&ldquo;The way they play and the way the ref sees (or doesn&rsquo;t see) it can frustrate you,&rdquo; Patrick said. &ldquo;When Rexi and I are out there, Dave Poulin would grab my stick to tie me up and Rexi would end up with Kerr.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011251/5335367-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="120" height="116"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 120px">NEW YORK RANGERS</figcaption></div>&ldquo;You expect a physical game but the way Brown and (Dave) Richter screw around; punching guys in the back of the helmet and going to the net after the whistle can get you fed up.&ldquo;But that&rsquo;s what they want, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; Patrick asked. &ldquo;What should we do, turn the game into a boxing match? I don&rsquo;t think that would be in our best interest.&rdquo;The dialogue from Ranger-Flyer series hasn&rsquo;t seemed to change much over the last 10 years although Maloney sees some subtle differences in Philadelphia&rsquo;s style.&ldquo;If you look back five or seven years ago,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;they&rsquo;re not nearly as bad. They&rsquo;ve still got a bunch of big, tough guys but they are better coached. They don&rsquo;t run around making it obvious any more.&ldquo;The Flyers have learned how to get away with intimidation.&rdquo;Having been a part of Ranger playoff upsets over the Flyers in 1982 and 1983, however, Maloney is not about to give up without a fight.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ve shown them our best hand.&rdquo; he said cautiously. &ldquo;And we certainly have given them every reason to be overconfident.&rdquo;BIG APPLESAUCE&mdash;The Rangers called up defenseman Jim Wiemer from New Haven and he responded immediately by scoring the winning goal in a 5-4 victory at New Jersey on March 25&hellip;Wilf Paiement and Mark Osborne returned in that same game after extended absences because of foot fractures. Their availability sent Brian MacLellan to the bench for a &ldquo;one-game rest&rdquo;&hellip;Former Ranger Phil Esposito, now a braodcaster, denied reports that he was offered the opportunity to replace GM Craig Patrick earlier this season and MSG President Jack Krumpe also denied related rumors&hellip;Ranger goalie John Vanbiesbrouck played brilliantly in the upset over Edmonton&hellip;Pierre Larouche hit the 20-goal mark in only 24 games by scoring two against the Oilers. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d hate to think of where we&rsquo;d be without him (Larouche),&rdquo; Vanbiesbrouck observed&hellip;The Rangers made a cash settlement with the Flyers instead of replacing Larouche at Hershey as part of the deal which allowed New York to sign Ted Sator with a year remaining on his Philadelphia contract&hellip;Left winger George McPhee was hit with a four-game suspension for a high stick to the face of Islander winger Greg Gilbert &#9679; &#9632;</div>

f0015-01

Flyers Have Refined Intimidation: Maloney

I HAVE BEEN sworn in as a voter and will be sworn at for some of my choices, but here goes:HART TROPHY: The instructions are to select &ldquo;the player judged most valuable to his team.&rdquo; The Pittsburgh franchise would probably no longer exist without Mario Lemieux. One player can&rsquo;t get any more valuable than that.Still, that&rsquo;s all relative. The Oilers would be a winner without Wayne Gretzky, but they wouldn&rsquo;t be the best team in the league. That makes him pretty valuable, too.So we can argue semantics. Or pick the guy who is still far and away the top player in the game. At this writing, Gretzky had 67 more points than Lemieux. Okay, Lemieux doesn&rsquo;t have Jari Kurri. but Wayne also has 79 more points than his right winger. So one could argue that he doesn&rsquo;t always need the help.(1.) Gretzky (2.) Lemieux (3.) Mark Howe.NORRIS TROPHY: With the exception of Bobby Clarke in his prime, I have never seen a a player perform so effectively night-in. night-out as Mark Howe has this year.That is both the highest praise and the most exacting measure of Howe&rsquo;s season I can offer. Please accept that with the understanding that I do not have the same opportunity to watch Paul Coffey.Howe is unquestionably better defensively, but then that&rsquo;s what his team demands of him. He would score more in Edmonton, but then I also think Coffey would give up less and likely be just as effective if he played in Philadelphia.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011130/5335405-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="512" height="896"><figcaption class="caption-body">THEN THERE WAS ONE</figcaption></div>With both players doing exactly what is expected within their roles, there should be no cons in this argument, only pros. So how do you grade the best apple versus the best orange?Unfairly, probably. I&rsquo;m rooting for a tie. But to be fair, I cannot imagine a player breaking Bobby Orr&rsquo;s record for points in a season and not being picked the best defenseman in the league that year.(1.) Coffey (2.) Howe (3.) Larry Robinson.CALDER TROPHY: We are not voting for the rookie who will eventually be the best player. If we were, Wendel Clark would be a lock.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02902/5335398-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="348" height="466"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jay Greenberg</figcaption></div>The Calder is supposed to go to the guy who had the best rookie season. Nobody has had close to the impact of Mario Lemieux and Tom Barrasso, the last two winners, so this one is really tough.Kjell Dahlin has slumped in the second half and has been almost caught in the rookie scoring race by Pelle Eklund, who was largely a spot player and power-play specialist for 50 games. Clark is not even among the top six first-year scorers.So, more and more, Gary Suter looks like an alternate&mdash;and the best&mdash;choice. The Flames&rsquo; defenseman has played well defensively, produced points, and most impressively, mastered a pdsition at which maturity generally comes late. Suter was outstanding all three times I saw him play. People who watched him regularly and whose judgment I trust insist this is the way he&rsquo;s performed all season.(1.) Suter (2.) Clark (3.) Dahlin.VEZINA TROPHY: At this writing, there are eight goalies within three victories of the league lead.So what do you base it on? Averages? As always, they have to be considered within the context of the club for which the man plays. But are any of the goalies&mdash;Grant Fuhr, Tom Barrasso, Reggie Lemelin&mdash;not high in the numbers this time around, but who have established themselves in past seasons, having outstanding years? If you are measuring consistency since the beginning of the season, the answer is no.Bob Froese&rsquo;s average, far and away the best, is as good a justification for making a choice as exists. It&rsquo;s no more fair to kiss him off because he plays on a defensive-oriented team, than it is to give John Vanbiesbrouck the edge because he&rsquo;s carried a bigger brunt of the load on a weaker club.I just have the sense, however, of Vanbiesbrouck being a little more consistent and critical to his team. I also reserve the right to change my mind, pending the final stats and whether the Rangers make the playoffs.(1.) Vanbiesbrouck (2.) Froese (3.) Lemelin.ADAMS TROPHY: I have long accused the broadcasters of limiting their trophy to only one dimension and making it an unofficial Most Improved Team award. That being said, however, nobody&rsquo;s done a better job this year than Minnesota&rsquo;s Lome Henning, who finally got the league&rsquo;s biggest collection of selfish sulkers to play like a real team over the second half.I also think it&rsquo;s about time Glen Sather got some credit that he missed while taking the Oilers up. Anyway, maintaining motivation on a champion may be more difficult than putting one together.But all things considered, I don&rsquo;t think any coach in this league does more with less, year-in, year-out than St. Louis&rsquo; Jacques Demers. With no club making a startling overachievement like that of Philadelphia a year ago&mdash;1 think this is a good time to recognize Demers.(1.) Demers (2.) Sather (3.) Henning.SELKE TROPHY: There should be no prejudice against a player who has scored a good number of points. Bobby Clarke won it one year and Troy Murray would be an excellent choice.But if there are several good candidates and only nebulous criteria to choose between them. I don&rsquo;t think one can go wrong by going with the best defensive forward on the league&rsquo;s best defensive team.(1.) Ron Sutter (2.) Murray (3.) Guy Carbonneau. &#9632;

f0016-01

And The Winners Are Gretzky, Coffey, Suter…

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div>HARTFORD&mdash;They call themselves checkers, but they&rsquo;re really nothing more than grunts. You know how it works. They pick up the trash, while some teammates watch and other, more renowned, teammates watch to make sure that someone is watching.Together, the job gets done, all right, but only they get dirty. When glory calls, one of their teammates usually answers. Besides, what does glory have to do with anything? The name of the game is to win. isn&rsquo;t it?For the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; checking line&mdash;centerman Doug Jarvis, left winger Dave Tippett and right winger Paul MacDermid&mdash;it unquestionably is. Their efforts are reflected in the team&rsquo;s won loss record, not in a long list of individual awards. They are. after all. the fourth line, as opposed to the first, second or third.It even sounds as if they belong at the back of the bus.When the Whalers win. however, Jarvis, Tippett and MacDermid almost always make a contribution. When the Whalers lose, it is almost never their fault. They are to hockey what middle-inning relievers are to baseball. They have their own special purgatory, and must find their own separate peace.It isn&rsquo;t always easy.&ldquo;We want to make a difference, but sometimes the game doesn&rsquo;t allow it.&rdquo; Tippett says. &ldquo;If we fall behind early, we don&rsquo;t always get a lot of ice time. If we get ahead, we play a lot. We understand our roles.&rdquo;<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03697/5335436-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="122" height="114"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 122px">HARTFORD WHALERS</figcaption></div>And so do their teammates.&ldquo;Tippy as the consummate team player.&rdquo; Ray Ferraro says. &ldquo;And Doug Jarvis is the consummate professional. Dermie is a banger who is earning a lot of respect around the league. What they have to do is a dirty job. When one of them scores, it makes everybody happy.&rdquo;The foot soldiers on the fourth line played a major role in the Whalers&rsquo; late-season charge In one seven-game stretch. Jarvis. Tippett and MacDermid had seven points apiece, including nine goals. Those are eye-opening numbers for grunts.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s our job to hold down the other team&rsquo;s top line and maybe cause them some discomfort,&rdquo; MacDermid said. &ldquo;If we score, it&rsquo;s a bonus.&rdquo;A bonus that almost always shows up in the point column.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re a big reason behind the success,&rdquo; coach Jack Evans said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been scoring more than a goal a game and they&rsquo;re ail plus players. For a checking line to be plus is quite a feat. You&rsquo;d have to look hard to find another one that has accomplished it.&ldquo;Plus we&rsquo;re fifth in penalty-killing in the league, and Jarvis and Tippett have been a big part of that. I&rsquo;ve used them often and they&rsquo;ve played well.&rdquo;At the hub is Jarvis, an 11-year veteran who has been to the mountaintop&mdash;four times, in fact.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost an honor just to play with Jarvey,&rdquo; said Tippett. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s so knowledgeable it can&rsquo;t help but rub off on you.&rdquo;With Bob Gainey on his left for seven seasons in Montreal, Jarvis carved out a reputation as a defensive giant in a position that normally produces only offensive wizards. While he was doing it by the numbers, others were busy counting theirs.The funny part was, though, after they had finished, he kept counting&mdash;to four, the number of Stanley Cup rings he owns. He&rsquo;s never enjoyed anything more.&ldquo;Dougie Jarvis is the type of person you have to have on a hockey club,&rdquo; said general manager Emile Francis. &ldquo;He has one thought, and one thought only, and that&rsquo;s for the team to win. He&rsquo;s a team man, through and through.&rdquo;With six goals and 21 points in a 32-game stretch, Jarvis was productive as well as anxious to share his expertise.&ldquo;Momentum is such a big part of this game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When things are going wrong, the power play doesn&rsquo;t work, you lose some faceoffs, you never seem to get a bounce. When things are rolling for you. you&rsquo;re enthusiastic and eager when you get to the rink.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to explain losing or winning streaks. It&rsquo;s never just one thing. But momentum and confidence have a lot to do with it.&rdquo;Jarvis, who arrived from Washington for Jorgen Petterson in a one-for-one deal Dec. 6, was on target to close the season having played in 882 consecutive games, just a slapshot away from Garry Unger&rsquo;s NHL record of 914. Jarvis says&rsquo; he&rsquo;ll think about the record next year. Winning. naturally, was on his mind. &#9632;</div>

f0016-03

‘Grunts’ Tip Scale In Favor Of The Whalers

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;More than a year has passed since Pittsburgh Penguin center Mario Lemieux rendered that segment of the English language known as &ldquo;adjective&rdquo; less meaningful than a three-dollar bill.The reason, of course, is that his feats often defy not only the basic laws of physics, but also even the most inspired attempts to adequately describe them.And so. in the most literal sense, there are not always words to fully describe Mario Lemieux.There are more tangible ways to measure his value to this franchise, however. Like the 100 points he scored as a rookie last year, and the 150 he expects to score this season.Or the rise in the average attendance from 6.839 in 1983-84, the Penguins&rsquo; final season without Lemieux, to well over 12,000, where it stands in the waning days of this season.But the most revealing way to express Lemieux&rsquo;s value to this franchise might be to project just where it would be without the benefit of his services.&ldquo;I think I can say. without a question in my mind, we&rsquo;d be in Hamilton,&rdquo; said Penguin coach Bob Berry.Even had they not relocated in southern Ontario by this time, it is almost certain the Penguins would have had no more than a most detatched interest in the Patrick Division playoff race, instead of the consuming passion they took into the final days of the season.&ldquo;We probably wouldn&rsquo;t have had any fight for the playoffs,&rdquo; right winger Willy Lindstrom said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d be out of the playoffs, for sure.&rdquo;But while there can be no doubting the importance of Lemieux&mdash;he has, after all. done nothing less than restore the viability of an entire franchise&mdash;he is not expected to get much more than cursory support in the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association voting for the Hart Trophy.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011030/5335474-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="512" height="896"><figcaption class="caption-body">HART THROB</figcaption></div>That trophy, for the past six springs, has turned up on the mantle of one Wayne Gretzky, who has had moderate success with the Edmonton Oilers.Few, including those on the Penguins&rsquo; payroll, would dare deny Gretzky remains the most accomplished player in the game&mdash;&ldquo;Gretzky&rsquo;s the best,&rdquo; Lemieux said bluntly&mdash;but in truth, the Hart is not necessarily supposed to go to the best player in the league.Instead, according to the wording of the trophy, it is to be presented &ldquo;to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team.&rdquo;That often is interpreted, however, as simply the best player and if the voters again read it that way, there can be no doubt Gretzky should consider adding a new shelf to his trophy case.He will, after all, earn his sixth straight scoring championship this season, and has reached the 200-point level for the fourth time. It goes without saying he is the only mortal ever to reach such lofty environments.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02778/5335467-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="118" height="102"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 118px">PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</figcaption></div>Still, it should be remembered Gretzky has the benefit of sharing a locker room with some of the most talented players &mdash; Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson. Mark Messier and the like&mdash;in the NHL.Lemieux, meanwhile, is compelled to labor on a team made up largely of free agents, late-round draft picks, and discards from other teams.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;I would love to see what I could do with Coffey and Kurri and Messier and all those guys.&rsquo;</blockquote>&mdash;Lemieux&ldquo;Wayne has so many good players on that team, it takes some pressure off him.&rdquo; said Lindstrom, an Oiler for two-plus seasons before the Penguins acquired him in the waiver draft last October.&ldquo;Here. Mario is by himself to be the big star.&rdquo;&ldquo;I would love to see what I could do with Coffey and Kurri and Messier and all those guys to take the pressure off me,&rdquo; said Lemieux.&ldquo;Playing with Edmonton, if you have a lot of talent like Gretzky does and like I do anything can happen. I probably could do the same things, or close to it, if I would play in Edmonton.&rdquo;None of which is to play down the brilliance of Gretzky, the most dominant offensive force in the history of the game and the man Lindstrom believes is most responsible for the Oilers winning the last two Stanley Cups.&ldquo;They probably could have made it through to the finals (without Gretzky),&rdquo; said Lindstrom, &ldquo;but they probably would have lost there.&rdquo;Gretzky is the primary reason the Oilers will be heavily favored to turn up in the finals for the fourth straight year, while Lemieux can reasonably be expected to do nothing more than lead the Penguins into the playoffs for the first time in four years.So if their impeccable skills are strikingly similar, there goals and expectations are not.&ldquo;I think if we make the playoffs and I get close to 150 points with the team we have, I should be considered as a Hart Trophy winner.&rdquo; said Lemieux.&ldquo;Coffey is in there, too, and Gretzky and all these guys, so it&rsquo;s going to be a tough race.&ldquo;I could have a chance to win the trophy, but a lot of reporters don&rsquo;t look at it this way. There are a lot of reporters in the league, and all they see is Gretzky with 200 points and he&rsquo;s got an advantage with that.&rdquo;And so even Lemieux seems resigned to being nothing more than the runner-up to Gretzky in the Hart voting, although the Penguins can take considerable solace in the knowledge that Lemieux, at age 20, will not peak for another, oh, seven years or so.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question the No. I one player in the league is Gretzky,&rdquo; said Penguins&rsquo; general manager Eddie Johnston. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t think we feel too bad about having the second-best player in the league.&rdquo;And, just possibly the most valuable one.PENGUIN TRACKS&mdash;When the Penguins defeated the Nordiques in Quebec 7-4, they did more than simply earn two unexpected and critical points. That victory tied the franchise record for road wins, 13, set in 1978-79. &ldquo;That had to be one of the most satisfying wins of the year,&rdquo; said left winger Troy Loney, whose game winner at 4:38 was part of a four-goal outburst in the third period. &ldquo;We played a good all-around game.&rdquo; &#9679; &#9632;

f0018-01

66 Second To 99, But Is He More Valuable?

MARIO LEMIEUX IS a fine hockey player. One of the best in the National Hockey League, in fact. But the Hart Trophy winner over Wayne Gretzky? Surely you jest!There are many people who are saying that Lemieux deserves the honor&mdash;and they&rsquo;re to be found in many places other than Pittsburgh.Those people point out that the Hart goes to the player who is most valuable to his team, and by that criterion. Lemieux should win the trophy. After all, if Mario Lemieux weren&rsquo;t in Pittsburgh, the Penguins probably wouldn&rsquo;t be either. They&rsquo;d be in Hamilton. You can&rsquo;t be much more valuable to a team than to be singlehandedly responsible for its existence in a city.At first, such rationale sounds reasonable. But under examination, that point of view doesn&rsquo;t really stand up to scrutiny. Gretzky is about to break the National Hockey League record for most points in a season, a record he himself established. That in itself is a magnificent achievement. What does it have to do with him whether hockey fans in Pittsburgh would or would not support a team which didn&rsquo;t have Mario Lemieux? Does it say anywhere that players on unstable teams should be given extra consideration in the voting?The NHL trophies are supposed to be awarded in recognition of a player&rsquo;s accomplishments on the ice and so far. Lemieux&rsquo;s accomplishments don&rsquo;t match those of Gretzky.Even though the Hart Trophy is technically to be awarded &ldquo;to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team,&rdquo; that wording is archaic. For as long as anybody reading this article can remember, the Hart Trophy has been awarded to the player who shows the most talent over the course of a given season. To put it another way. it goes to the player who betters his peers by the largest margin.If that weren&rsquo;t the case, people such as Mickey Redmond, who scored 50 goals with a bad Detroit team, and Yvon Labre who was a leader with the Washington Capitals when they didn&rsquo;t have a player who could have made the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; roster, would have been given serious consideration as Hart Trophy candidates.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03556/5335505-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="380" height="428"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Strachan</figcaption></div>And who has shown the most talent this year if not Gretzky? Who has outplayed his peers by the greatest margin if not Gretzky?Lemieux himself feels that he should win the trophy and to his credit, he&rsquo;s honest enough to say so. He says that a 150-point season with the Pittsburgh Penguins is comparable to a 210-point season with the Edmonton Oilers.Certainly no one would want to downplay Lemieux&rsquo;s performance. It is the danger of head-to-head comparisons of this nature that there is a tendency to minimize the achievements of one player rather than maximizing the achievements of the other. But what Lemieux says about relative performances isn&rsquo;t valid.In his first year in the league, Gretzky tied Marcel Dionne for most points (137) but Dionne was awarded the scoring crown on the basis of having more goals. In his second year, Gretzky easily won the scoring championship with 164 points, establishing a new mark &mdash; since broken by himself four times&mdash;for assists (109).That season, Gretzky was on a team which was similar to the one Lemieux plays for now. It spent the season battling for a playoff spot and finally managed to wind up in 14th place in the overall league standings.This year, in his second year, Lemieux won&rsquo;t match the pace Gretzky set in his second year. And certainly Gretzky&rsquo;s skills haven&rsquo;t slipped over the years, so how can Lemieux, who hasn&rsquo;t matched Gretzky&rsquo;s second-year pace, be the Hart Trophy winner in a year when Gretzky is better than ever?The answer is simple. He can&rsquo;t. &#9632;

f0018-03

Logic Dictates That Gretzky, Not Lemieux, Deserves Hart

<div class="byline">BY Ulf Nilsson</div><h2>GUEST SHOT</h2>Guest Shot is a bi-weekly feature which allows THN correspondents and other members of the media community an opportunity to express their views in an open forum.HIGH VISIBILITY CARRIES with it immense responsibility. It&rsquo;s time the National Hockey League acted accordingly.Instead, the league and its 21 member teams behave as though they constitute an island onto themselves, showing little regard for the consequences of their actions or inaction.The NHL, of course, does make a difference in the hockey world. It does have an impact.But, still, little is done to upgrade a product that in some ways has gone bad. Such callous disregard is not only unfortunate but bad business.&ldquo;Good corporate citizenry&rdquo; has become a catch phrase in our public-relations conscious world. The NHL has yet to learn that.It is largely a public-relations disaster. The game thrives in spite of itself not because of itself.Critical to the game&rsquo;s future is a massive clean-up campaign. Like the toxic dump sites on the Niagara River, the NHL has become, in some ways, a repository for poisonous elements.Among the foremost is fighting, a burlesque practice that brings embarrassment to the game and encourages young hockey players to play with their fists, not their hands.When I came over from Sweden in the early days of the World Hockey Association, &ldquo;goonery&rdquo; was growing unchecked. Not even the courage and influence of those like Bobby Hull, my Winnipeg Jet teammate, could enlighten the dark side of the game.He sat out one game several years ago in protest against increasing violence. Bobby was reacting not only to what happened to himself but to what was being done to his teammates.I remember one night in Birmingham, one of the Bulls broke his stick over my back during the warm-up. We hadn&rsquo;t even starting playing yet! It was lucky we had Kim Clackson. He was the equalizer. If it wasn&rsquo;t for him, we wouldn&rsquo;t have survived.Today that kind of thinking is responsible for the presence of many men who are more boxers than hockey players. Teams build arsenals of tough guys to neutralize opponents in much the same way as the U.S. and Soviet Union build arsenals of nuclear weapons&mdash;supposedly to maintain balances of power. In both cases, you&rsquo;re dealing with misguided missiles.It&rsquo;s alarming that this circumstance still exists in hockey. You&rsquo;d think we would have learned from the lessons of the Birmingham Bulls and the Broad St. Bullies.But typically, the NHL hasn&rsquo;t&mdash;blind to the role it plays in the development of the game, forgetful that tomorrow&rsquo;s game will be not be different than today&rsquo;s, unless positive role models are created.Why do you think Sweden, a country of just eight million people, is able to produce so many world-class athletes? The answer is simple&mdash;outstanding role models.When I was growing up in Sweden a young boy had the choice of just two sports&mdash;hockey and soccer&mdash;to pursue professionally. Now there are four because Bjorn Borg and Ingemar Stenmark established themselves as the best in the world in tennis and skiing.Wayne Gretzky, hockey&rsquo;s consummate role model, often talks about the importance of projecting a good image.In this regard, the NHL must play a leading and preventative role in combating drug use. So far, it has not become the problem in hockey that it is in other professional sports. Some credit is due league president John Ziegler who came down squarely against drugs in the cases of Don Murdoch and Ric Nattress. He has stated, categorically, that drugs have no place in the game. Nor do drug-users and abusers.Not only must the game be drug-free, it must have the appearance of being drug-free. So far, that has been accomplished. It is important that it be maintained.The NHL should also be giving something tangible back to the game. It could start by contributing money to youth programs and helping set up coaching clinics that concentrate on hockey fundamentals.In this, the age of star-wars scoring, there is a need more than ever to consider defensive strategies and philosophies.As Minnesota North Star coach Lome Henning points out, it appears on the scoreboard that the winning team is the one which scores the most goals. But it is, in fact, the team which gives up the fewest.The NHL must do more than take. It must also give.As it is, the NHL leads by example and what an example it is. Less-skilled teams are permitted to play clutch-and-grab hockey. Rather than force teams to raise their levels of play, higher-skilled teams are, literally, dragged down.Referees are pawns of the powers-that-be in the NHL and they dispense their own special brand of inconsistent justice. Hiding behind the worst cliche in the game &mdash; &ldquo;let the players decide the game&rdquo;&mdash;officials inevitably choose to exercise the pocket veto late in games, burying their whistles deeply in their pant pockets.Similarity, the NHL has been burying its head in the sand. For far too long. It&rsquo;s time for a change.Ulf Nilsson was a standout in the World Hockey Association before joining the New York Rangers for three years. He now works for Pripps Plus, a Swedish beverage company, in White Plains, N.Y. &#9632;

Let’s Clean Up Our Game, Uraes Former Star Nilsson

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN</div>TORONTO-&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one game in a row,&rdquo; chuckled coach Dan Maloney, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re hot.&rdquo;It was March 29th and it was the first time in two weeks Maloney had permitted himself more than a courtesy smile.His Toronto Maple Leafs had just beaten the St. Louis Blues 4-1, ending a four-game losing streak and an embarrassing number of defensive disasters.Not since March 13, six games earlier, had the Leafs held the opposition to less than five goals.And even if it was only the injury-plagued Blues, who had scored just eight times in winning three of their previous four games, there was cause for celebration.&ldquo;I thought we played 60 minutes of solid hockey,&rdquo; said Maloney. &ldquo;We kept the shooters wide and didn&rsquo;t get running around in our own end.&rdquo;And for the first time in a long time, the Leafs received a thorough goaltending effort.Ken Wregget furnished the Leafs with a solid performance&mdash;turning aside all but one of 27 shots.That miserly accomplishment marked only the third occasion this season that the Leafs had permitted just one goal.Their last shutout was recorded on the first day of the 1984-85 season when Allan Bester blanked the Minnesota North Stars 1-0.Bester is now in the minors and likely to stay there, according to Leaf general manager Gerry McNamara who said, in a television interview, the 22-year-old is not the long-term answer for Toronto.&ldquo;I think Kenny Wregget is our goaltender of the future,&rdquo; said McNamara in announcing Wregget, and not veteran Donny Edwards, would get the starting assignment in the playoffs.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01819/5335574-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="144" height="138"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 144px">TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</figcaption></div>He was also starting to play like the Leafs&rsquo; goaltender of the present. Wregget followed up his winning performance against the Blues with an outstanding 49-save effort one night later when Toronto won their second straight game, beating the hometown Chicago Blackhawks 5-4.For two nights, anyway, Wregget provided the consistent goaltending Maloney had been so desperately seeking.Mirko Frycer was the scoring difference against the Hawks, recording a hat-trick&mdash;including the game winner in overtime.The victories for the Leafs were imperative for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the fact their remaining four games of the regular season were on the road.Nobody could quite figure out why it came to pass but somehow the Leafs agreed to a schedule which had them going to Chicago, St. Louis, Boston, Hartford and Detroit over the final eight days of the season.There was an assortment of good signs to emerge from the victory over St. Louis.Among them was the inspired performance of Al Iafrate, the 20-year-old defenseman who, like the Leafs, has struggled to achieve a reasonable level of consistency during his sophomore season.&ldquo;Before Christmas he was my best defenseman,&rdquo; said Maloney. &ldquo;But with a young player they fade in and out on you.&rdquo;Until recently, Iafrate had been out more than he&rsquo;d be in.&ldquo;The big thing is to maintain that mental intensity. All of a sudden the kid has started to play and play well,&rdquo; added Maloney.Iafrate scored the Leafs&rsquo; first two goals against the Blues and played well defensively.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m (trying to) mentally discipline myself to keep my head in the game for 60 minutes because that&rsquo;s usually my problem,&rdquo; said Iafrate, who scored his eighth of the season against Chicago. &ldquo;My problem is mental, not physical&hellip;Part of it is that I&rsquo;m young and immature.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be the first to admit I&rsquo;ve got a lot to learn in my defensive game.&rdquo;Perhaps, no more than some of his teammates&mdash;among them nine-year veteran Brad Maxwell, the assistant captain who was benched for the most part against the Blues.After playing well following his return from an injury-induced layoff, Maxwell&rsquo;s play had fallen off sufficiently for rookie Todd Gill to be elevated from the St. Catharines Saints.Gill, however, bruised his shoulder in the St. Louis game.Two other reasons for Maloney&rsquo;s good cheer was the success of his re-uniting the Hound Line of Russ Courtnail. Wendel Clark and Gary Leeman plus Steve Thomas scoring his first goal in 13 games and third in 34 games.Leeman, sentenced to St. Catharines after mediocre play earlier this season, returned to play a part in Clark&rsquo;s 32nd goal of the year.They were dubbed the Hound Line at training camp because all three played midget hockey for the Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox, Sask.As for Thomas, his goal was hardly a classic. In fact, the freshman left winger wasn&rsquo;t even sure he should have been credited with redirecting teammate Gary Nylund&rsquo;s shot past Blues&rsquo; goalie Greg Millen.But after going 12 games without a goal, Thomas was willing to accept credit.Thomas, a native of Stockport, Eng., scored 15 goals and 13 assists in a 19-game span through December and January before falling on hard times.NOTES&mdash;The irony of decisioning the Hawks was that it lessened the chances of Chicago winning the Norris Division and, thus, meeting fourth-place Toronto in the playoffs. With six victories in eight games with the Hawks, nearly a quarter of Toronto&rsquo;s 25 victories had come against one team&hellip;Walt Poddubny and Brad Smith, the Leafs&rsquo; Bill Masterton Trophy candidate, were both scratched for the St. Louis and Chicago games. Poddubny returned to play the Blackhawks. The Blues have not won a game at Maple Leaf Gardens since Dec. 17, 1984. They have lost six and tied one since then&hellip;The Leafs&rsquo; specialty teams, a source of strength during their 19-game, .500 stretch, failed them during their four-game losing stretch. They were 1-for-18 on the power play and killed off just six of 14 penalties&hellip;Defenseman Chris Kotsopoulos had missed the last nine games with a stretched achilles tendon&hellip;Center Tom Fergus had gone five games without a point. &#9679; &#9632;</div>

f0020-01

Iafrate, Wregget Team To Spark The Leafs

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>MONTREAL&mdash;A wide-eyed youngster from Georgetown, Ont., in Montreal for a novice hockey tournament, approached Chris Chelios.&ldquo;When are you coming back?&rdquo; the youngster asked.&ldquo;Geez, I&rsquo;ve been back for four games now,&rdquo; said Chelios as he continued to sign programs, autograph books and scraps of paper thrust at him.The youngster could be excused for not knowing Chelios is back in the harness. After all, televised hockey fare in the Toronto area usually features the Maple Leafs so Chelios and his teammates are seldom seen in southern Ontario.However, Montreal fans are well aware that Chelios has returned because since his return to the lineup five games ago, he has been the best Canadiens player.Chelios returned March 19 in Winnipeg and promptly set up three goals in a 6-4 Montreal loss to the Jets. He scored his first goal since Dec. 7 in Boston on March 27, helping Montreal tie the Bruins 3-3 and snap a six-game losing streak.And Chelios has been more than a little feisty since he&rsquo;s been back. Ask Sylvain Turgeon of the Whalers, who felt the wrath of the Chicago-born defenseman after the Hartford player speared him.Chelios also had a scrap with Dave Hannan of the Pittsburgh Penguins as Montreal snapped its late-season winless streak at seven with a 4-3 home-ice triumph over the Penguins.&ldquo;I get a little excited.&rdquo; said Chelios, who missed 39 games with the knee injury suffered in Quebec on Dec. 19.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01610/5335629-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="128" height="90"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 128px">MONTREAL CANADIENS</figcaption></div>Originally diagnosed as a sprained left knee, Chelios had tendinitis develop in the wounded limb and that&rsquo;s why it took so long for him to get back.&ldquo;Had it been my choice, I would have jumped in the lineup earlier,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that would have helped the team.&ldquo;The coach waited, management waited and they gave me a chance to build the knee up. I got my confidence, got some hits on it. It&rsquo;s like I was never hurt.&rdquo;Chelios spent hours getting the knee back into playing condition and get himself in shape by lifting weights in Montreal&rsquo;s workout room.He came back briefly for a period of work against Quebec Jan. 20, but aggravated the injury and was forced to the sidelines for close to two more months of frustration.&ldquo;I suppose it could be a little better,&rdquo; Chelios admitted. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t ask for anything more right now though. I have no pain. I&rsquo;m happy with the way I can skate out there.&rdquo;There is no doubt that Chelios was missed on the Montreal power play but even more so in even-strength situations. Aside from Larry Robinson and Tom Kurvers, on occasion, the Canadiens really had no defenseman with the consistent ability to lug the puck out the defensive end.But while Chelios returned, the Canadiens ran into some other injury problems as the season wound down.Ryan Walter suffered a broken ankle in the victory over Pittsburgh and will have his right foot in a cast for the six weeks.Walter, who had 15 goals and 34 assists, had been playing better of late. As fate would have it, an innocent looking collision with John Chabot of the Penguins forced him out of action.Kurvers has been bothered by a muscle pull in his back for the past month and a half and it was not getting any better.Mats Naslund has a bruised shoulder and Bobby Smith headed into the final week of the regular season with a bruised foot, suffered in a 3-0 loss at Hartford.Larry Robinson and Craig Ludwig have both been bothered by sinus infections in the past two weeks. Robinson missed the Canadiens&rsquo; trip to Hartford and Boston and Ludwig was forced out of the game in Pittsburgh, thus missing his chance to play in his 300th NHL game.But on the positive side, Chelios is back and the coaching staff is hoping that the enthusiasm of the former U.S. Olympian will rub off on some of his teammates. Chelios has left little doubt that he wants to play into May.IN PASSING&mdash;Lucien DeBlois was forced to a designated sitter&rsquo;s role in Boston after Montreal recalled right winger Claude Lemieux from Sherbrooke. Lemieux picked up an assist against Pittsburgh &hellip; David Maley played his first NHL game against the Penguins but saw limited duty&hellip;Scott Sandelin joined Sherbrooke for three games before heading out to join the U.S. national team&rsquo;s practice sessions for the World Championships in Moscow&hellip;Mike McPhee and Brian Skrudland had shorthanded goals in the victory over Pittsburgh. For McPhee, it was his second shorthanded effort of the season. Skrudland&rsquo;s goal snapped a two-month scoring drought &hellip; Gaston Gingras&rsquo; star had started to tumble again. He saw limited service in the games against the Bruins and Pittsburgh. &#9679; &#9632;</div>

f0021-01

Chelios Cheered By Return To Habs’ Lineup

&ldquo;The Edmonton Oilers are a goon hockey team.&rdquo;&mdash;Flames&rsquo; GM Cliff Fletcher.IN THE TARNISHED tradition of the Broad Street Bullies, have the Edmonton Oilers become the Alberta (118th) Avenue Assassins?Calgary Flames&rsquo; GM Cliff Fletcher insists he had to hire his own Hound (John Tonelli) and Hammer (Nick Fotiu) because of the direction the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions have taken.Fletcher was defending the deal that brought feisty Fotiu&mdash;complete with his lifetime 55 goals and 1.156 penalty minutes&mdash;in a recent edition of the Calgary Sun.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face facts,&rdquo; growled Fletcher. &ldquo;Why did the Oilers pick up someone like Marty McSorley? They already have guys like Kevin McLelland, Dave Semenko, Jeff Brubaker and Dave Lumley.&ldquo;Who are they trying to kid? The Oilers are a goon hockey team! They complain about goon hockey, but the Oilers have more tough players than we do. All we&rsquo;re trying to do is neutralize those guys if we get a chance to play them in the playoffs.&rdquo;Perhaps you can write off those statements&mdash;and the deal for Fotiu&mdash;as reaction by Fletcher to a statement Edmonton general manager and coach Glen Sather made after a Feb. 1 game in Calgary.&ldquo;The Flames are a bunch of cowards,&rdquo; said Slats. &ldquo;There are no two ways about it.&rdquo;But this is not the first outright cry of goon hockey from Oilers&rsquo; opposition this season.On March 14, Montreal Canadien coach Jean Perron laid the same charges.&ldquo;When we go to Edmonton we don&rsquo;t touch the puck when they put out their four goons. Do you think I can go out there without goons?&rdquo;So, have Gretzky, Coffey. Kurri, Anderson and Messier become some sort of camouflage for the real kind of team the Oilers have become?How do the accused plead?&ldquo;Obviously. Calgary signed Fotiu for one reason,&rdquo; says Oilers&rsquo; co-coach John Muckier.But he pleads not guilty.&ldquo;It would be a crime to see a team like the Philadelphia Broad Street Bullies ever win another Stanley Cup.&rdquo;&ldquo;This is a game of skill.&ldquo;And during the last six years, with the New York Islanders and the Edmonton Oilers, a team playing a game of skill has won the Stanley Cup. Before the Broad Street Bullies, it was a game of talent and skill with the great Montreal Canadiens teams.&ldquo;If anybody thinks anything other than that, they&rsquo;re fooling themselves.&ldquo;Glen Sather is assembling a team that can play any kind of game you want to play,&rdquo; he allowed. &ldquo;But we want to play the skill game. Unfortunately, we cannot always be the ones to set the tone.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03383/5335698-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="287" height="408"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Jones</figcaption></div>Oiler assistant coach Bob McCammon said the Fotiu move might mirror the thinking of other NHL clubs as they contemplate the Oilers&rsquo; run at three successive Stanley Cups.&ldquo;Maybe teams are beginning to think the only way to beat us is to beat us up.&rdquo;One of the accused goons, McSorley. says he hopes the Flames keep their word.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s just hope that in the playoffs, it&rsquo;s true that they just want to neutralize things and let their players play and our players play.&rdquo;But, if fingering goons is the idea here, &ldquo;look at their goons and look at their statistics&rdquo; he says of guys such as Tim Hunter, Neil Sheehy, Paul Baxter and Fotiu. &ldquo;The difference between the two teams is that Glen Sather wants us to play hockey and improve.&ldquo;Kevin McLelland and I go on the ice making sure we have that end of the game covered. But we&rsquo;re out there checking, skating, playing hockey and developing as hockey players.&rdquo;McLelland said gooning isn&rsquo;t the game even with the alleged goons.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re definitely not a goon team. We just go out and play tough. We&rsquo;re more concerned with the ability to be consistent checkers on our line. That&rsquo;s our game. But if they want to fight&hellip;we&rsquo;ll fight.&rdquo;Kevin Lowe says the Oilers have become a complete team.&ldquo;We play good up-and-down, fast, physical hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re definitely not a goon team. But we can go out and play tough. I think Fletcher&rsquo;s trying to justify to the fans in Calgary getting a guy like Fotiu, who, despite being a fan favorite in New York, obviously had that club give up on him.&rdquo;Wayne Gretzky says the Oilers will win any future Stanley Cup the same way they won the first two.&ldquo;We won two Stanley Cups because of the way we play offensively, because we proved we could also play defensively, and because we could play physical. You can&rsquo;t win the Stanley Cup with one element of the game. You have to have the right mixtures.&rdquo;But a goon team?Get serious. &#9632;

f0022-03

Oilers Play Goon Hockey, Or So Their Critics Insist

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02502/5335660-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Raymond Bourque, above, and newly-acquired Reed Larson form an awesome combination at the blue line on Bruin power plays.</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;After the Boston Bruins had disposed of the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 6-3. the man charged with adding up obscure statistics discovered an unusual thing.Ray Bourque had played 24 minutes, 47 seconds.Reed Larson had played 25 minutes, 25 seconds.&ldquo;Seldom.&rdquo; said coach Butch Goring, &ldquo;does anyone play more than Ray.&rdquo;Indeed. Bourque was averaging 28 minutes a game. Sometimes he was playing as much as 32 or 33 minutes. But that was before Larson came to the Bruins on March 10 from Detroit in exchange for Mike O&rsquo;Connell.&ldquo;Reed has really helped to take the load off Ray,&rdquo; said Goring. &ldquo;Not so much that Ray plays any less but it takes some pressure off him. He knows he doesn&rsquo;t have to do all the scoring from back there. He knows Reed can score, too.&rdquo;The combination of Bourque and Larson on the power-play points is undoubtedly the best since Bobby Orr and Brad Park played 10 games together during the 1975-76 season.&ldquo;Teams can&rsquo;t key on either one.&rdquo; said Goring. &ldquo;They shoot it too well.&rdquo;It may have been no accident that the struggling Bruins went undefeated (3-03) in their first six games since Larson and Dwight Foster came over from Detroit.In his fourth game as a Bruin, he scored his first two goals for Boston against Los Angeles, giving him a total of 21 for the season. One of the two came on a power-play blast.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s always had a cannon of a shot&rdquo;, said teammate Keith Crowder. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve been lacking since Parkie left.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing with a lot of confidence. For one thing, he&rsquo;s got a better supporting cast here than he had with Detroit. The smaller rink probably helps him, too. He wanted to get out of Detroit so he&rsquo;s happy here.&rdquo;<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01708/5335667-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="112" height="114"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 112px">BOSTON BRUINS</figcaption></div>Larson himself doesn&rsquo;t think that his coming to Boston has made that much difference in the team. But he knows it has made a difference in him.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re on a team like this you&rsquo;re thinking hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You have no choice. You have to be ready. You have to be intense.&ldquo;With Detroit you try. You start off for a while and things don&rsquo;t go well and you get behind and you&rsquo;re out Of the playoffs. Your mind just isn&rsquo;t where it should be.&ldquo;These last few years have been tough on a few guys in Detroit. I did it for seven or eight years. When you&rsquo;re in a position that long like that it&rsquo;s tough mentally.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s me sparking the Bruins. Those guys have been doing this for a long time. I have to get going just to be accepted here.&rdquo;The difference between playing for Detroit and Boston was never more apparent to Larson than it was during the Bruins&rsquo; 3-2 victory over Montreal in one of those intense Adams Division struggles.&ldquo;We had a few like that in Detroit,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But not enough. That&rsquo;s a big thing. It seems like every game here is like that. In Detroit, maybe one out of five games is like that, the guys get together and win.&rdquo;Larson&rsquo;s value to the Bruins is more than just in his offensive prowess.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re relying on Reed in a lot of situations,&rdquo; said Goring, &ldquo;and he&rsquo;s adjusted well. He&rsquo;s been very enthusiastic, like a kid reborn. He has a chance to be with a winner in the playoffs. If you don&rsquo;t have that chance it takes a big part out of your career. We&rsquo;re not favorites to win the Stanley Cup but we have a chance.&rdquo;WHAT&rsquo;S BRUIN&mdash;General manager Harry Sinden signed and brought up goalie Bill Ranford. the Bruins&rsquo; third-round choice in the 1985 draft from New Westminster. He was 17-30-1 and 4.92 for the hapless WHL Bruins. &ldquo;If we get to the point where the game means nothing he could play,&rdquo; said Sinden. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t see that happening until the last game, if then&rdquo; &hellip; Injured defenseman Mats Thelin went back to Sweden briefly to be at the bedside of his mother, who died of cancer shortly after he arrived&hellip;Nevin Markwart is the latest Bruin on the hospital list. He underwent an arthroscopic examination for possible damage to his right knee suffered in a 3-3 tie with the New York Islanders. &#9679;</div><div style="clear: both;"> &#9632;</div>

f0022-02

Larson Adds Powerful Dimension To B’s

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;With destiny back in their own hands, and one eye on the jut-of-town scoreboard, the Philadelphia Flyers reclaimed a portion of first place in the Patrick Division.In a matter of only a few days, the Flyers had apparently lost control of their fate with a 1-0 loss at the Spectrum to the Buffalo Sabres. But just two nights later they buried the New York Rangers 8-2 and regained command of their fate in the race for first place in the Patrick Division.Of course, all of this was played out in concert with the performances of the Washington Capitals. And when Mike Gartner underwent knee surgery, and Bengt Gustafsson broke his leg, it was just as big a news story at the Spectrum as it was in Washington.In other words, the Flyers were keeping a very close eye on what was happening with the Capitals.And it was never more evident than at the Spectrum on March 30. While the Flyers were pounding the Rangers, the sellout crowd of 17,211 gave the biggest cheer of the night when the scoreboard was lit up with a score from Hartford, where the Whalers had temporarily pulled ahead of the Capitals.&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;d be silly to say we weren&rsquo;t watching the (out-of-town) scoreboard,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; coach Mike Keenan.But Brian Propp didn&rsquo;t think it was necessary.&ldquo;There was no need,&rdquo; said Propp. &ldquo;The crowd let us know who was ahead.&rdquo;As it turned out, the Caps eventually wound up in a 6-6 tie with the Whalers, but even that allowed the Flyers to pull even with the Capitals in first place with 102 points apiece. Making matters even more intriguing was the fact that each team had just four games remaining, and they were scheduled for a final-game-of-the-season showdown at the Spectrum &mdash; where the Caps have only scored one goal in three games this season.In addition to Washington&rsquo;s injury problems, and their problems at the Spectrum, the Flyers also have another advantage.Should the team end up tied in points at the end of the season, the Flyers are likely to have an edge in overall wins (they&rsquo;ve won one more game with four to go); and they will definitely hold the edge in the season series with Washington (which they lead 4-2-0).However, matters looked bleak just a few days before when Buffalo goalie Jacques Cloutier recorded his first NHL shutuout (30 saves), and became the first goalie to shut out the Flyers at the Spectrum since Boston&rsquo;s Marco Baron did it in February of 1982.Ironically, Cloutier had helped Keenan win the Calder Cup with the Rochester Amerks only a few years before. And Cloutier had asked Buffalo coach-general manager Scott Bowman if he could start against Keenan&rsquo;s Flyers.Naturally, there were representatives from the Caps in the press box watching the game, and even with Gartner&rsquo;s minor knee surgery, they must have been feeling pretty good.However, after Gustafsson broke his leg in a loss to the Islanders the next night&mdash;and then the tie in Hartford, momentum appeared to swing back to the Flyers.Even more important, the offense appeared to get back in gear against the Rangers as both Tim Kerr (54), who had two goals, and Ilkka Sinisalo (36) tied their season highs for goals. For Kerr, it was his third consecutive season with 54 goals, and he has an outside chance at reaching the club record of 61 in a season held by Reggie Leach.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01638/5335729-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="144" height="102"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 144px">PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</figcaption></div>In addition, goalie Bob Froese looked exceptionally sharp while making some key saves early in the game. Just the game before, Froese was forced to leave when he was hit in the throat with a hard shot by Buffalo&rsquo;s Paul Cyr.Froese showed no lasting effects as he made 23 saves against the Rangers, improved his record to 27-10-3, and lowered his goals-against average to 2.54.NOTES&mdash;By giving up only three goals over the two games, the Flyers lowered their team goals-against average to 3.01, and had a chance to finish below their goal of 3.00 for the season &hellip; Defenseman Mark Howe set a personal career high for assists (57), and points (81) with an assist against the Rangers&hellip;The Flyers were 5-1-0 against the Rangers this season, and 15-1-0 in Keenan&rsquo;s two seasons as coach (including playoff games)&hellip;Philadelphia had played to 20 consecutive sellouts at the Spectrum and had a 31-6-1 record at home&mdash;best in the NHL&hellip;Tim Kerr had scored two or more goals in 16 games&hellip;The eight goals against the Rangers matched the club&rsquo;s high for goals in a game this season. It marked the third time they&rsquo;d scored that many&hellip;Veteran goalie Chico Resch played a strong game in relief of Bob Froese against the Sabres&hellip;They ended up losing the season series against Buffalo, 1-2-0. The Sabres are unbeaten in their past five games at the Spectrum. &#9679; &#9632;</div>

f0023-01

Flyers’ Destiny In Their Own Hands Now

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>LANDOVER&mdash;For many, it was Good Friday. For the Washington Capitals, it was the darkest day in the 12-year history of the franchise.The Capitals, by winning 13 of 15 games, had moved into a commanding role in the fight for first place in the Patrick Division, leading the Philadelphia Flyers by one point with a game in hand.But a few minutes past noon on March 28, things began to unravel, as right winger Mike Gartner underwent surgery to remove torn cartilage from his left knee.Nineteen seconds into that evening&rsquo;s game against the New York Islanders, a far crueler blow was struck. Center Bengt Gustafsson was tripped by Denis Potvin and suffered a fractured tibia just below the joint of the right knee.Obviously stunned when Gustafsson was helped from the ice, the Capitals never recovered and dropped a 4-3 decision to the Islanders. The next night, they struggled to a 6-6 tie at Hartford and entered the final week in a difficult situation.Although the Capitals had rolled up a club-record 102 points, they were tied with the Flyers and Philadelphia had one more victory, the first tie-breaking criterium. Each team had four games to play, but the Flyers had the host role in the one remaining meeting of the teams.Gartner was expected back in time for the third game of the opening playoff series. But there was speculation that Gustafsson, an outstanding two-way forward and logical choice as the Capitals&rsquo; MVP, had played his final game for Washington. He had indicated in the past that he would prefer to finish his career in Sweden.Regardless, because of the nature of the break, Gustafsson faces a long and difficult rehabilitation.&ldquo;I want to still play hockey, but where I play is something else,&rdquo; Gustafsson said. &ldquo;I want it to heal and I&rsquo;ll stay here as long as necessary. The break is right in the joint and the knee might get stiff. If I have to, I&rsquo;ll work on it all summer.&rdquo;Gustafsson was injured as he tried to make an inside move on Potvin, who stuck out his right leg to prevent the Swede from getting past. Despite the tragic result, Gustafsson bore no animosity toward Potvin.&ldquo;I got the puck from Larry (Murphy) and Potvin was standing up,&rdquo; Gustafsson said. &ldquo;All I was trying to do was put the puck on his right side and go left. He came up so fast, he put his leg out and his leg caught my leg.&ldquo;I was moving and all my weight was on this one (pointing to the splinted right leg). If I&rsquo;d been spinning, I might have avoided it. It&rsquo;s a normal reaction to put out a leg to try to stop somebody going by and he got his leg on me.&rdquo;Potvin, who did not receive a penalty from referee Bob Myers, expressed his regret for the injury.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m deeply sorry to see an injury as severe as that,&rdquo; Potvin said. &ldquo;This is a game of hitting people, but I don&rsquo;t go out there to maim anybody. It seemed like an innocent play. I was surprised to see him on the ice. It didn&rsquo;t seem like a severe hit, not like I lined him up.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to get a piece of the man and a piece of the puck in open ice. I&rsquo;ve been beaten like that a lot of times, when the guy squeezes through. He must have planted his leg when we collided.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01690/5335767-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="504" height="892"><figcaption class="caption-body">BAD BREAKS</figcaption></div>The Capitals pursued Potvin the rest of the game. He was blasted into the boards by Kevin Hatcher and Scott Stevens, and was charged with five penalties in separate incidents that included a fight instigated by Lou Franceschetti.&ldquo;Obviously, they thought I did it deliberately,&rdquo; Potvin said. &ldquo;At least seven different guys took runs at me, which is a little out of the ordinary. But they&rsquo;re a team and obviously they&rsquo;re a tight team.&rdquo;Ironically, Gustafsson ended his season with 75 points, the same number as Gartner. Their departure guaranteed Dave Christian, who had 78 points with four games remaining, his first team scoring title.Gartner was uncertain when the knee first began to bother him, but he had been playing below normal effectiveness for several games before he reported the problem after practice March 26. He was examined the next day and surgery followed.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02485/5335760-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="150" height="86"><figcaption class="caption-body">WASHINGTON CAPITALS</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It surprised me completely when I found out what was wrong.&rdquo; Gartner said. &ldquo;It was bothering me, but it turned out to be more serious than I had thought. As long as I can get back for the playoffs, that&rsquo;s the big thing.&ldquo;The knee had been popping in and out of the socket, but I wasn&rsquo;t too concerned. Then on Wednesday, we were doing some fun drills at practice and it popped out and stayed out. I was doing a little skating and I bent down and I could feel it pop out. I like to give injuries a couple of days and things usually work out, but not this time.&rdquo;By contrast to the oft-injured Gustafsson, who has sat out 81 games during his seven NHL seasons, Gartner had missed only 10 before this injury. He had played 235 in a row and following the operation, found himself on crutches for the first time in his life.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never used these silly things before and I&rsquo;ve never had a knee problem before,&rdquo; Gartner said. &ldquo;They were cutting on virgin territory. They took a bigger piece of cartilage than they thought.but otherwise the operation went just fine.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The Capitals summoned left winger Yvon Corriveau from Toronto after the Marlies&rsquo; season ended and promoted center Grant Martin from Binghamton&hellip;Larry Murphy&rsquo;s goal with 2:05 remaining created the tie in Hartford and Murphy also hit a post in the last minute of regulation time. On Washington&rsquo;s previous visit Feb. 2, Murphy&rsquo;s goal with 1:15 left beat the Whalers 5-4&hellip;Steve Leach scored his first NHL goal in Hartford, on his first NHL shot on goal. It came, however, in his seventh game. &#9679; &#9632;

f0024-01

Bad Break Ends Season For No. 1 Capital

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03264/5335798-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="540" height="793"><figcaption class="caption-body">SAM ST. LAURENT</figcaption></div>Sam St. Laurent selected this week&rsquo;s Chrysler-Dodge/NHL Player of the Week<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01603/5335812-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="216" height="187"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02395/5335805-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="159" height="160"></div>Chrysler-Dodge is also the official sponsor of the first-ever NHL All-Star Fan BallotingNEW YORK&mdash;Rookie goaltender Sam St. Laurent of the New Jersey Devils, who shutout the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in his first National Hockey League start March 27, edged centers Peter Stastny of the Quebec Nordiques and Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers for the Chrysler-Dodge/NHL Player-of-the-Week award for the period ending Mar. 29. The 27-year-old native of Arvida, Que., posted a 2-0-0 record, 1.00 goals-against-average and .984 save percentage during the week.St. Laurent will donate the $500 award from Chrysler Corporation to the youth hockey organization of his choice. The Chrysler-Dodge sponsorship also includes a Player-of-the-Month and Player-of-the-Year competition with the Chrysler-Dodge Player of the Year receiving the Chrysler Corporation vehicle of his choice.St. Laurent, who was acquired from Philadelphia for future considerations, August 27, 1984, stopped all 24 St. Louis shots as the Devils recorded their first shutout of the 1985-86 season. Against the Chicago Blackhawks on Mar. 29, he blocked 37 of 39 shots as the Devils won their fourth game in their last five starts, 4-2.St. Laurent was signed as a free agent by the Flyers, October10,1979 after a junior career with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He has spent the last seven seasons with Toledo (IHL) and Maine (AHL) and last year was named to the American League&rsquo;s Second All-Star Team after an outstanding season with the Mariners. &#9632;

f0025-03

THE CHRYSLER-DODGE REPORT

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;As tirades go, it was about 9.5 on the Richter scale.Tom Watt was furious following a 5-5 tie in Calgary against the Flames, a team the Vancouver Canucks have never defeated at the Saddledome.The object of his scorn was referee Don Koharski, who incurred the wrath of the Canucks by calling a delay-of-game penalty on them while they were leading 4-2 in the third period. They gave up a power-play goal on the penalty and eventually went on to lose their sixth consecutive lead going into the final session.&ldquo;He (Koharski) is a dirty, no-good vindictive (expletive deleted) who deliberately cheated us out of two points.&rdquo; said Watt before he got warmed up. comments that will undoubtedly bring a heavy fine from the National Hockey League.Sure enough Koharski was slated to referee the Canucks&rsquo; game against Minnesota the following night.When he got on the team bus with the media present. Watt blistered his players saying: &ldquo;If you guys don&rsquo;t get all over Koharski tomorrow night I&rsquo;ll never look at any of you again.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01612/5335850-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="558" height="715"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Watt, above, warned his players they had better &ldquo;get all over&rdquo; Don Koharski.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02431/5335843-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="96" height="93"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 96px">VANCOUVER CANUCKS</figcaption></div>And then he had a few choice comments for the media members sitting on the bus.&ldquo;If any of you guys side with him (Koharski). I&rsquo;ll never speak to you again.&rdquo;Asked the following night after a 6-2 win over the Stars whether he regretted any of his comments of the previous evening Watt said, &ldquo;I felt I had good cause to say what I did, although I&rsquo;ve certainly said enough on the topic.&rdquo;The three-point weekend enjoyed by the Canucks was enough to put them in striking position of third place in the Smythe Division had they been able to do something in their showdown game against the Jets in Winnipeg on Mar. 25.Entering that game, the Jets were just three points ahead and the Canucks held three games in hand.But Vancouver&rsquo;s defensive play was hilarious and the Jets eased to a 7-1 lead midway through the second period before finishing with an 8-4 victory.&ldquo;The loss put us behind the eight-ball as far as third place is concerned,&rdquo; said Watt. &ldquo;I think our team tried, but we were just very poor defensively. We made some horrible mistakes. Three times we had two defensemen behind the net and nobody in front&hellip;That&rsquo;s a bad play in minor hockey, never mind at this level.&rdquo;For the Canucks, the loss was particularly disappointing, since fourth place is all that&rsquo;s realistically left to shoot for.&ldquo;We played so well defensively for three weeks, and then for this to happen in such an important game, I can&rsquo;t believe it,&rdquo; said veteran center Brent Peterson.&ldquo;We got down so far so early, our whole game plan went right out the window.&rdquo; said Stan Smyl. &ldquo;We wanted to be more physical, but the game got changed around before we knew it.&rdquo;The loss extended Vancouver&rsquo;s club record winless streak on the road to 18 games. Their last win away from the Pacific Coliseum was on Dec. 21 in Los Angeles.The only three teams they had beaten on the road were Winnipeg plus both Los Angeles and Detroit twice each. &#9679; &#9632;</div>

f0028-01

Watt Blows Cool Over Ref Koharski’s Call

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;Jim Leavins admits the whole thing is &ldquo;mind-boggling&rdquo;.From an unemployed former hockey player trying to find work in Dinsmore, Sask.. to a regular in the National Hockey League&hellip;even Leavins isn&rsquo;t quite sure how it all happened.But it happened just the same and the 25-year-old defenseman can plan on staying awhile. He has signed a two-year contract, plus an option, with the Detroit Red Wings.It&rsquo;s a two-way contract, but coach Brad Park is counting on Leavins to be performing in the NHLthe next couple of seasons.&ldquo;I expect him to really become a part of the hockey club when he gains some confidence, to the point where he&rsquo;s going to contribute both offensively and defensively.&rdquo; Park said.Leavins played with Fort Wayne in the International League last season, but decided if he couldn&rsquo;t move up the professional ladder, he&rsquo;d just pack it in.He was sitting at home in Dinsmore last October, resigned to saying goodbye to his hopes and dreams of professional hockey. A 25-year-old defenseman trying to get in on the ground floor isn&rsquo;t a good investment these days.On Oct. 7. three days before the Adirondack Red Wings of the American League opened the season in Baltimore, the phone rang. It was Bill Dineen, the Adirondack coach, calling.Dineen knew of Leavins from his days at the University of Denver, where the defenseman played with Dineen&rsquo;s sons. Kevin and Shawn.&ldquo;He offered me a 15-game tryout.&rdquo; Leavins said.He took it.&ldquo;One thing led to another.&rdquo; Leavins said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m surprised more than anything else. I never even went to a minor league training camp and then this happens.&rdquo;Leavins was Adirondack&rsquo;s best defenseman but while other better-known prospects rode the Detroit-Glens Falls shuttle, he waited his turn. It finally arrived on Jan. 14 as an injury replacement for John Barrett. The next day, Leavins made his NHL debut in a loss against New Jersey, but he made himself noticed.More accurately, he wasn&rsquo;t noticed.&ldquo;I figured if I didn&rsquo;t notice him. he couldn&rsquo;t have done anything terribly wrong.&rdquo; Park said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;sbeen probably my steadiest defenseman. He hasn&rsquo;t looked out of place since day one.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s mature but he&rsquo;s still a rookie. He&rsquo;s got to learn.&rdquo;But in the 30-plus games he&rsquo;s played with the Wings, Leavins has demonstrated that he&rsquo;s a quick study.&ldquo;At Denver. I played with three or four guys who are in the NHL&mdash;Kevin Dineen, Craig Redmond, Eddy Beers &mdash; and I wanted a shot, at least to prove something to myself.&rdquo; Leavins said.&ldquo;I think one of the reasons I didn&rsquo;t get any tryouts after my college career was my age. Everybody is looking for 18-, 19-year-olds. I think my age had something to do with it.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01527/5335881-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="135" height="93"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 135px">DETROIT RED WINGS</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I find myself still in awe and sometimes watching instead of playing&hellip;the one thing I look for is consistency. Even the great players say it&rsquo;s the most important thing. I&rsquo;m trying to concentrate on being consistent and not having so many ups-and-downs.&rdquo;As a rookie defenseman, he&rsquo;s had his share. He scored his first NHL goal against the Edmonton Oilers at Joe Louis Arena on March 25.It came in the second period. Later in the same period, he was on during a Detroit power play when Mark Messier beat him twice to score a pair of shorthanded goals in a 30-second span. That broke a 2-2 tie and sent the Oilers to a 7-2 victory.Another lesson learned.&ldquo;Right from the start, he showed me a lot of poise,&rdquo; Park said. &ldquo;He never panicked. He skates well. He goes to the backhand to make a play&mdash;a lot of defensemen won&rsquo;t do that. But from the first day Jimmy would go to the backhand to make a play.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a big, strong, powerful kid but he&rsquo;ll take a hit to make a play. He doesn&rsquo;t get involved in the fisticuffs but he won&rsquo;t back down from a hit, which means he&rsquo;s not gun shy.&ldquo;You hear a lot of people say, &lsquo;You should get hold of this kid. he&rsquo;s a heckuva player.&rsquo; Sometimes they&rsquo;re right. Not always, but sometimes.&rdquo;WING WIRE&mdash;Goaltender Greg Stefan suffered a dislocated thumb when he jammed it against the goalpost. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been an unbelievable year,&rdquo; said Stefan, twice-injured and twice-suspended&hellip;Rookie Joe Kocur took a Doug Wilson shot on the top of the foot. That&rsquo;s guaranteed to hurt&hellip;The Wings beat the Blackhawks 8-4, scoring eight goals against Chicago for the second straight time. &#9679; &#9632;</div>

f0029-01

From Dinsmore To Detroit In Three Months

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div>BUFFALO&mdash;Just win.For the first time in over a decade, the Buffalo Sabres are faced with that simple mandate.For the first time in over a decade, they have no other choice.Which probably explains some of the interesting happenings in and around coach and general manager Scott Bowman&rsquo;s club as it struggles to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since the 1973-74 season.For starters, team president Seymour H. Knox III, normally an &ldquo;out-of-sight&rdquo; figure regarding on-ice situations, made an appearance at a recent practice and put the onus for winning squarely on the shoulders of the players.By week&rsquo;s end, one of the players, Mai Davis, had clearly put himself in a position of revolt.Dealing from the top down, Knox took a firm stand with his club after a demoralizing 6-3 loss to the lowly New Jersey Devils at Buffalo&rsquo;s Memorial Auditorium.The club president was in no mood for excuses the next day when he told the press: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s up to them (the players) now. We&rsquo;ve done all we can. It&rsquo;s up to the players out there now.&rdquo;Knox wouldn&rsquo;t buy the injury excuse (the Sabres have been without different key performers almost from the time Bowman replaced Jim Schoenfeld just past mid-season). Neither would he commit to any long-term endorsement of the present coaching situation.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01604/5335919-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="548" height="790"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sabres owner Seymour H. Knox III is tired of hearing excuses for Buffalo&rsquo;s play.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Injuries are part of it (the Sabres&rsquo; stumbling playoff drive), sure,&rdquo; Knox said, &ldquo;but that just means the guys who can play have to give more.&rdquo;Regarding the coaching and Bowman&rsquo;s role in it, Knox would say only that coaching, and every other facet of the operation would be examined after the season. Even then, however, he cut off all speculation by pointing out that is the Sabres&rsquo; usual method of operation and nothing is to be made of it.He did reveal a glimpse of his feelings, however, when he said: &ldquo;The coach doesn&rsquo;t play.&rdquo;Davis, meanwhile, was considerably more direct after he was sent back to Rochester, the Sabres&rsquo; affiliate in the American League.The veteran minor-league forward said the club was &ldquo;beating a dead horse&rdquo; in its drive to land an Adams Division playoff berth and that he will be glad when the season is over and he can &ldquo;get out of the organization.&rdquo;Davis made his statements just prior to departing for Rochester.Bowman assigned Davis there on Mar. 26. just hours before the Sabres were to begin a difficult six-game season-ending stretch that had them playing the Philadelphia Flyers in Philadelphia plus home-and-home meetings with the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens. In between the Boston and Motreal series was a pivotal meeting with the fast closing Whalers in Hartford.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02442/5335912-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="113" height="115"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 113px">BUFFALO SABRES</figcaption></div>&ldquo;As far as I am concerned they&rsquo;re beating a dead horse,&rdquo; Davis said of the Sabres&rsquo; situation. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll go with the same guys and lose with the same guys.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the same story every year. I&rsquo;ll be glad when this season is over and I&rsquo;m out of the organization.&rdquo;Davis, who last season scored 17 goals in 47 games and tied for the team lead in game-winning goals with five, is already playing out his option with the Sabres and was probably destined to be an ex-employee even before he made his outburst.A crowd favorite in Buffalo because of his penchant for scoring timely goals, Davis never did work himself in as a regular in Buffalo despite being named the AHL&rsquo;s co-most valuable player in 1983-84.Davis scored 55 goals in 71 games with Rochester that season, but never did seem to figure in the Sabres&rsquo; long-range plans.&ldquo;I definitely feel I didn&rsquo;t get a chance here,&rdquo; Davis said after his umpteenth demotion. &ldquo;This is it for me. I won&rsquo;t be back.&rdquo;By season&rsquo;s end, the same might be said for the Sabres. At least as far as the playoffs are concerned.SABRE POINTS&mdash;The Sabres rebounded from the loss to the Devils (a game in which they twice had two-goal leads) by defeating the visiting Los Angeles Kings 6-1&hellip;Prior to the game against the Kings, Sabres&rsquo; captain Gil Perreault was presented with the keys to a new car, a gift from the club to commemorate his recently joining the 500-goal club. The car bears license plates that read: &ldquo;Gil 500&rdquo;. The Sabres also distributed 10,000 Perreault pennants before the game and had Perreault&rsquo;s eight-year-old son Marc surprise him by taking a lap around the rink in the familiar No. II jersey&hellip;Mike Foligno scored two goals against the Kings, his 37th and 38th of the season. Foligno has now bettered his previous career high of 36 established during his rookie season with the Detroit Red Wings. Foligno recently was named team MVP and most popular player by the Sabres&rsquo; booster club. Defenseman Steve Dykstra was tabbed rookie of the year. &#9679; &#9632;</div>

f0030-01

Davis Blasts Buffalo Sabres After Demotion

<div class="byline">BY JEFF HUBBELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01580/5335988-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="156" height="145"></div>Spiraling liability insurance costs are making life difficult for arena operators across North America.And there are fears that everincreasing insurance premiums could acutally become prohibitive&mdash;threatening the futures of some arenas and, of course, the oldtimer leagues that use them.The problem, as operators see it, is one of being forced to assume financial responsibility for accidents and mishaps which occur on arena premises.&ldquo;Rinks are finding it impossible to get insurance,&rdquo; says Sam Schiff, a spokesman for the U.S.-based Insurance Information Institute. &ldquo;Basically, the fault lies in the number of cases of litigation taken against rinks. People slip and fall on the ice, hurt themselves and sue the rink. It&rsquo;s gotten out of hand.&rdquo;Despite the fact that rinks claim &ldquo;assumed risk&rdquo; as their defense (that is, a person accepts that they might get hurt either skating, playing hockey, or watching the game) it doesn&rsquo;t always help.&ldquo;If they think they have a case,&rdquo; says Schiff, &ldquo;they&rsquo;ll sue. There are certainly enough lawyers in this country who&rsquo;ll be glad to take their case.&rdquo;Oddly enough, according to Schiff, the expense lies in the frequency of claims, rather than the size of the awards.&ldquo;These people (litigants) are not getting monster awards,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Once these trends get started, it sure gets rolling, and it goes on for a while.&rdquo;In Canada, the problem, while serious, perhaps isn&rsquo;t as severe as it is in the United States. Fewer arenas are privately-owned, most of them being run by the local municipalities.Some municipalities, however, have not been able to get adequate insurance coverage, due largely to a case in Brampton, Ont. where 14-year-old Michael McErlean suffered brain damage in a 1977 motorcycle accident on city property in 1977.He was awarded $6.3 million by the court, who found the city liable. That was enough to scare insurers and re-insurers (those who back up the insurance companies) into raising their rates to astronomical heights for municipalities.So, although a municipal rink may not directly feel the strain, the city supporting it has to put up a lot of money. The private sector suffers as well.But according to David Jackson, a spokesman for the Insurance Bureau of Canada, it&rsquo;s simply a case where the price of a product went up.&ldquo;Since about 1980, insurance rates haven&rsquo;t really gone up. What you&rsquo;re seeing now is a re-adjustment to where prices would have been if rates had climbed at their normal rate for the last five years. I expect there&rsquo;ll be a levelling out.&rdquo;At least one Toronto arena operator must be looking forward to a &ldquo;levelling out&rdquo;. He is fully expectant his insurance costs are going to double.&ldquo;It (insurance) could go up 80 to 90 per cent,&rdquo; says Stew Chapman of the Westwood Arena in Toronto.&ldquo;Last year we paid $15,000 for $15 million coverage. This year, we may spend up to $30,000 for $ 11 million coverage.&rdquo;&ldquo;There&rsquo;s an assumed risk when you use this kind of facility. You could get a puck in the teeth. Only if we&rsquo;re negligent are we held responsible. Like if the roof caved in. Or if the Zamboni runs over someone.&rdquo;&ldquo;(Insuring a rink) is a little like insuring the space shuttle,&rdquo; says Chapman. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult to assess. You don&rsquo;t have anything to compare it with.&rdquo;Jackie Haas, president of the Affton Ice Association, which operates out of the Affton Ice Arena near St. Louis, hasn&rsquo;t felt the full impact of the increases&mdash;yet.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re going high. It started at the coasts and is closing in,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Although it&rsquo;s not definite, there&rsquo;s a chance of a 50 per cent increase this year and 50 per cent next year.&rdquo;But they&rsquo;re not as bad off as they could be. Because the Affton rink is a non-profit organization, it receives substantial tax breaks, which help defray costs. Still, it&rsquo;s not easy.After electric bills and other expenses are accounted for, Haas says there is $6,000 in insurance to pay, $4,000 of it in liability payments. That figure of $6,000 could swell to $12,000.&ldquo;This is going to put a lot of rinks out of business,&rdquo; she adds. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why the rates have gone up so much, but I&rsquo;m sure the insurance companies have come up with a good reason. When they&rsquo;ve found a new sucker, they jump on it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0032-01

Arena Officials Feel Pinch Of Spiraling Liability Costs

<div class="byline">BY JEFF HUBBELL</div>Pierre Pilote, a Hockey Hall of Fame member, doesn&rsquo;t remember his own accomplishments as much as he remembers those of his ex-teammates.&ldquo;I was right there when Bobby Hull scored his 50th goal for the first time,&rdquo; says Pilote, who raises Black Angus cattle near Milton, Ont. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing like sharing an experience like that.&rdquo;Of course, Pilote was hardly an underachiever himself. In his 14-year (1955-56 to 1968-69) career in the National Hockey League, Pilote won the Norris Trophy (best defenseman) three times, was a first team all-star five times, a second teamer three times, and captained the 1960-61 Chicago Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup.&ldquo;Sure, it was wonderful (winning the Norris Trophy). Why not? I came close three other times, too.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a personal achievement. It&rsquo;s like when I was elected to the Hall of Fame (1975). You know, it&rsquo;s the last chapter at the end of the book. You play for so many years, and then one day they say &lsquo;Hey, you&rsquo;re one of the best.&rsquo; It makes you feel good.&rdquo;After skating for 13 consecutive seasons with the Blackhawks, Pilote finished his sterling career with one season in Toronto. He chose to retire after that, rather than go to the minors.&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t skate so well any more,&rdquo; saysPilote, 54. &ldquo;It made me mad. You always want to be good, and here, son of a gun, I was a step slower.&ldquo;So one day, I just looked at my wife and said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m quitting.&rsquo; And that was it.&rdquo;So he left professional hockey, and took up several business pursuits as well as running the farm. &ldquo;It (farming) doesn&rsquo;t pay much,&rdquo; he laughs. &ldquo;Maybe 35-40 cents an hour. You have to love it. But I&rsquo;ll be trying a new business in May, June or July. It&rsquo;ll be another challenge. It&rsquo;s in fast food.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02425/5336019-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="528" height="880"><figcaption class="caption-body">Former defenseman Pierre Filote was a three-time winner of the Norris Trophy.</figcaption></div>Pilote scored 80 goals and 418 assists in 890 games. In an era when point-scoring defensemen were rare, he was among the top pointmen.&ldquo;Ten years ago, I felt that of, say, 500 players in the NHL, maybe 300 were good enough to be in the league. But now I think it&rsquo;s pretty good.&ldquo;Paul Coffey, he&rsquo;s a great guy. I wish I had had his wheels when I was playing. He&rsquo;s almost an extra forward. But he&rsquo;s on the right team at the right time in his career. I played with a lot of great guys, too.&rdquo;Along with his farming, Pilote finds time for oldtimer hockey.&ldquo;I got back into it (hockey) with the oldtimers. I enjoy that very much. I go out and play at least once a week now. I guess there&rsquo;s still a bit of the little kid in me.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0032-02

Joining Hall Of Fame Pilote’s Final Chapter

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01518/5336071-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="445" height="210"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02364/5336064-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="445" height="210"></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;Mike Bossy keeps insisting he will retire early. Maybe as early as 1988, when he is 31 and his current contract with the New York Islanders expires. If that should happen, one member of his family presumably will be disappointed.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m hoping Mike plays longer,&rdquo; said Lucie Bossy, the wife of the all-star right winger. &ldquo;Especially if he&rsquo;s doing good. If he&rsquo;s going bad in two years, well, it would be tough for him to continue. He gets nervous now if he goes a few games without scoring.&ldquo;But right now Mike is going good.&rdquo;Very good. Bossy was scoring at a goal-a-game clip approaching the end of the regular season. He totaled 12 goals in 12 games, raising his season total to 56 goals and 114 points.Goal scoring, of course, is nothing new to Bossy, who has not scored less than 51 goals a season since breaking into the NHL with the Islanders in 1977. But, as his wife points out. Bossy has other talents.&ldquo;Mike is much stronger defensively,&rdquo; Lucie said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always in position. I remember his first few years with the Islanders when they would take him off the ice late in a close game. I used to get upset, and Mike had the same problem dealing with that.&rdquo;Bossy&rsquo;s wife, who rarely misses a game at the Coliseum, squirms in her seat when rival players use illegal tactics in an attempt to slow down her husband. Bossy, a two-time winner of the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship, does not believe in retaliation.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03262/5336057-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="564" height="1587"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lucie Bossy is staunch in her support of husband, Mike, the Isles&rsquo; superstar.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;If it was me. I&rsquo;d hit back, his wife said. &ldquo;But Mike is not that kind of a person. He has better control of his emotions.&rdquo;<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04203/5336050-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="128" height="122"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 128px">NEW YORK ISLANDERS</figcaption></div>The Bossys have known each other since they were in their early teens back in Montreal.&ldquo;We met at the hockey rink in Laval. Where else?&rdquo; she said.She was 15 then and worked in a restaurant at the rink on weekends. Mike was 14 and played for a midget team coached by one of Lucie&rsquo;s brothers, Pierre Creamer, now head coach and general manager of the Sherbrooke Canadiens of the American League.When Bossy turned pro with the Islanders in the summer of 1977, he brought his bride of two months with him and they settled down in an apartment on Long Island. Bossy was an immediate success, scoring 53 goals and winning the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. However, Lucie was unhappy.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t speak too much English then,&rdquo; she said with a faint French-Canadian accent. &ldquo;I was lonesome, too. I missed my family. That was also before the birth of our children (daughters Josiane and Tanya). So I had a lot of time to think. But I wouldn&rsquo;t change anything now.&rdquo;The Bossys live in a condominium in Jericho, Long Island during the season and return to Montreal in the summer. The family&rsquo;s daily routine hasn&rsquo;t changed much in recent years.&ldquo;Mike likes to take Josiane to the bus stop on school days and he takes Tanya shopping or to the bank,&rdquo; Lucie said. &ldquo;On game days, Mike&rsquo;s favorite meal is pancakes and eggs.&rdquo;&ldquo;Mike isn&rsquo;t too superstitious, but he&rsquo;ll continue to wear one sweater if he thinks it brings him good luck. He&rsquo;s not nervous before a game. After games, we go out for a snack and we talk about the game. We get everything out in the open.&rdquo;Lucie Bossy paused, laughed and added, &ldquo;That way I never end up paying for a loss.&rdquo;ON THE ISLE&mdash;Center Roger Kortko suffered ligament damage in his left knee while the Islanders were losing to the Blues 2-0 at Nassau Coliseum and will be sidelined indefinitely. Bryan Trottier missed the Blackhawks&rsquo; game because of an aching back&hellip;Bill Smith was approaching the playoffs in fine form. The veteran goalie was unbeaten in three starts, including a 3-3 tie against the Bruins at Boston&hellip;The Islanders called up Brad Dalgarno, a right winger who was the team&rsquo;s No. 1 pick in last year&rsquo;s entry draft. He completed his season with Hamilton of the Ontario League, totaling 22 goals and 65 points in 54 games. &#9679; &#9632;</div>

f0033-01

Bossu’s Wife Reveals A Slice Of Their Life

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02462/5336102-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg"></div><h2>PRODUCTS</h2><h3>STREET HOCKEY/BALL HOCKEY EQUIPMENT</h3>Mylec Balls; hard indoor orange and regular. &middot; Air-flow sticks &middot; Shin Pads 9 colours &middot; ASHI and CSHI approved.Best prices available. For information:Niagara Falls Street Hockey Centre, P.O. Box 62, Niagara Falls, Ont. (416) 357-0234.<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: (717) 653-5051.&ldquo;THE GREAT GRETZKY&rdquo; Leroy Neiman&rsquo;s framed serigraph, $5,000 value. D. Teigen, Box 848, Westbank, BC, V0H 2A0.CUSTOMIZED NHL CCM Jerseys with professional detail (also CFL, NFL and MLB). Send for our free price list.The Jock Shop 6 John St. N., Hamilton, ON, L8R 1G9 (416) 523-7722* Phone orders welcome.* VISA and MASTERCARD and C.O.D.<h2>MISCELLANEOUS</h2><h3>ROSAIRE PAIEMENT A FORMER</h3>NHL Player invites you to combine sunshine vacation in Florida with playing your favorite sport: hockey, volleyball, softball; tournaments arranged. Call: (305) 565-6658 or write: Coral Plaza Motel, 2701 North Federal Highway, Ft. Lauderdale, FL., 33306.<h2>EQUIPMENT</h2><h3>OTTAWA NATIONALS JERSEYS</h3>Fully numbered $120.00. Toronto Toros practice jerseys $39.95. NHL embroidered $34.95. Colorado Rockies, Atlanta Flames caps $11.95. Add $6.00 for shipping (U.S. $8.00).The Clubhouse, 1556 Merivale Road, Nepean, ON, K2G 3J8. (613) 224-9293<h2>OPPORTUNITIES</h2>COACH/GENERAL MANAGER for Tier II Jr. A club commencing June 1, &lsquo;86. Resume to: Coach, Box 706, Grande Prairie, AB, T8V 3R5. All replies confidential.<h2>PUBLICATIONS</h2><h3>NEW YORK ISLANDER SALE</h3>Yearbooks &mdash; 78-79, 79-80, 80-81, 81-82, 82-83, 84-85, 85-86 @ $5.00 each or all $32.00Media Guides &mdash; 80-81,81-82, 8283, 83-84, 84-85 (a) $4.75 each. U.S. FUNDS.ALL-STAR SPORTS, 10 PLANCHET &mdash; UNIT 4, CONCORD, ONTARIO, L4K 2C8 CANADA, (416) 669-4378<h3>AT LAST!</h3>Hockey Memorabilia Collectors, North-America-Wide, Mailing List. 200 names long! Mail $10 to:Roy McDuff, 373 Place D&rsquo;Youville, Suite 204, Montreal, PQ, H2Y 2B7NHL 1985/86 Official Guide and Record Book $14.95 plus $2.00 postage and handling. Cheque or money order to: Citizen International, 430-211-0405 Jasper Ave., Edmonton, AB, T5J 3S2.ALL FANS: Trivia Books! Over 350 questions per book. One book on each NHL Team I For info, send SASE to: Rich Kronish, PO Box 2183, New York, NY 10009<h2>TOURNAMENTS</h2><h3>OTTAWA CAPITALS SUMMER HOCKEY TOURNAMENT</h3>Super Tyke (novice) to Midget. Triple AAA. Five games guaranteed. Canada Day Weekend. June 27 to July 1, 1986. Contact: Ottawa Capitals Tournament, 57 Hackett Street, Ottawa, ON, K1V 0N6. (613) 731-9345.<h3>STAMPEDE TOURNAMENT</h3>First annual Calgary Stampede major atom AAA tournament July 1013,1986 (i.e. born 1974 or later).Great opportunity to play hockey, visit the world-famous Stampede and continue west to take in Expo&lsquo;86. Entry deadline Apr. 18/86. Contact: Garry Reichert, 439 Queen Charlotte Road, SE, Calgary, AB, T2J 4H5. Or call (403) 278-3809 after 5:00 MTS or call (403) 234-3564 between 9-5 MTS.<h2>NOVELTIES</h2>WHA PUCKS &mdash; Nordiques and Old Minnesota Saints original logo pucks. Both with WHA logo. $10.00 each or both for $16.00. Sports Headquarters, 89 Massachusetts Ave., Suite 182, Boston, MA, 02115.<h2>NOVELTIES</h2><h3>KITCHENER RANGERS HOCKEY CLUB</h3><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01593/5336109-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="120" height="150"></div>(Ranger Collector items)Box 932, Kitchener, Ont. N2G 4E3 Attention: Business Manager&bull; Ranger Player Picture sets $6.00/set(additional sets available) $3.00/set&bull; Ranger and Other OHL, NHL Team pucks & pins $3.00 per&bull; Ranger Pennants $3.00 per&bull; 1979/80 to 1985/860 HL Yearbooks $2.50 per&bull; Lapel & Stick Pins $4.00 per&bull; Ranger Caps/Painter Hats state style $5.00 perOther items available, please send SASE for list.&bull; Please add $2.00 postage and handling.FOR SALE: Original pucks, jerseys, guides for sale. List $1.00. Andy Nowicki, Box 693, Rimbey, AB, TOC 2J0.FOR SALE OR TRADE game used LA Kings jerseys. Wanted game used jerseys of players who had at one time or another played for the California Seals. Bruce Gatjen, 822 Pershing Ave., San Jose, CA, 95126 or (408) 293-4161 after 5:45 PST.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h3>OAKLAND AND CALIFORNIA SEALS</h3>Oakland button $2.00, pennant 12&rdquo; x 30&rdquo; &mdash; $10.00, puck $10.00, converse puck $50.00, lapel pin &mdash; $6.50, keychain $4.50, California puck &mdash; $8.50, 12&rdquo; x 30&rdquo; Sparky Seal pennant (RARE) $10.00&mdash;12&rdquo; x 30&rdquo;, send all orders toVegas Sports 4078 Taylor Ave., Las Vegas, NV, 89115*Special LA Sharks WHA Puck &mdash; $15.00<h3>VANCOUVER SALE</h3>Vancouver Blazers WHA pucks &mdash; $12.00, Lapel Pins $5.25, pennants $10.00, old Vancouver Canucks logo, puck $10.00, lapel pin $5.00. Send orders to:SPORTABLES, 2016 Valhalla, Burton, BC, V0G 1E0O-PEE-CHEE CARDS 1986 your favorite NHL team $1.34. Mike Rys, Box 927, Walkerton, ON. NOG 2V0<h3>HOCKEY-BASEBALL-FOOTBALL COLLECTIBLES (1967 TO 1985)</h3>Card Sets/Single Cards/Photos Unopened Gum Packs/Wrappers All new Expanded price List &mdash; $1.00Contact: Rich Unruh, P.O. Box 509, Faro, Yukon YOB 1K0 (403) 994-2564<h2>NOVELTIES</h2><h3>SPORT CATALOG</h3>80 pages of guides, yearbooks, jerseys, pennants, decals, bats, equipment, lapel pins, photos, game jerseys, programs, autographs, cards, from 1932 to 1986. NHL &mdash; WHA&mdash;AHL&mdash;NFL&mdash;CFL&mdash;WFL&mdash;USFL&mdash;MLB&mdash;NASL&mdash;NBA&mdash;ABA&mdash;WFL&mdash;and more. Send $5.25 to:Sportables, 2016 Valhalla, Burton, BC, V0G 1E0<h3>WHA-NHL CAPS</h3>Cleveland Crusaders, New York Golden Blades Toronto, Cougars, Indy Racers Vancouver Blazers, Houston Aeros, LA Sharks, Saints WHA, Atlanta Flames, Rockies California Seals, NHL $8.50 each or all 12 for $85.00. US funds only.All-Star Sports, 10 Planchet Unit 4, Concord, ON, L4K 2C8 (416) 669-4378<h3>WHA SALE</h3>Media guides, yearbooks, pucks, pennants, lapel pins, photos, jerseys and patches. Send $3.00 for catalog to:SPORTABLES 2016 Valhalla, Burton, BC, V0G 1E0<h2>NOVELTIES</h2><h3>DEFUNCT RARE PATCHES</h3>Atlanta Flames, old Vancouver Canucks, California Seals, Alberta Oilers, Ottawa Nationals, Vancouver Blazers, Houston Aeros, New York Golden Blades, Old Saints, $3.95 each or all 9 for $27.00. Have 15 sets.Sportables, 2016 Valhalla, Burton, BC, V0G 1E0HOCKEY KEY CHAINS &mdash; New York Raiders & Blades, Houston Aeros, Philadelphia Blazers, Minnesota Saints, Cleveland Crusaders, Chicago Cougars, K.C. Scous, $2.75 each or all 8 for $20.00. Canada U.S. Sport Enterprises, 99 Katherine Road, Downsview, ON, M3K 1J5.<h2>VIDEO</h2>WOULD LIKE TO trade my hockey fights for yours. Write: Dave, 5693 Harris St., Halifax, NS, B3K 1H3.FOR MORE ADVERTISING INFORMATION CALL ESTHER SUMKA (416) 445-5702<h2>THE HOCKEY NEWS: CLASSIFIED ORDER FORM</h2>Your name, address and phone number must be counted to get the number of words for the ad. RATES: 15 words or less, 1 time $22.00 3 insertions $54.00, over the 15 word limit: 1 insertion: $1.50 each word, 3 insertions $1.35 word per insertion. For a box border around ad, add 1 time: $15.00, 3 times $12.00 per insertion. For further information on frequency discounts and classified display rates write or call Esther Sumka at THN (416) 445-5702.<h2>PAYMENT MUST ACCOMPANY ALL ORDERS. &#9632;</h2>

f0034-02

THE HOCKEY NEWS CLASSIFIED

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01558/5336140-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chihawk center Troy Murray, very efficient defensively, had his sights set on a 50-goal, 100-point season.</figcaption></div>CHICAGO&mdash;Troy Murray is having an award-winning season, and the Chicago Blackhawks are taking it seriously.While the 23-year-old center strives for a 50-goal, IOO-point season, the Hawks would like to see him recognized for the defensive and checking skills that have made him one of the top two-way players in the National Hockey League.&ldquo;If he doesn&rsquo;t win the Selke Trophy, it will be an injustice,&rdquo; said Hawk coach general manager Bob Pulford, a pretty fair defensive forward himself while he and the Toronto Maple Leafs were winning four Stanley Cups in six years (1962-67).The Selke Trophy goes to the NHL&rsquo;s top defensive forward.&ldquo;Troy should definitely get it.&rdquo; said defenseman Doug Wilson, the 1982 Norris Trophy winner.Hawk goaltender Bob Sauve is well-acquainted with last year&rsquo;s winner, Craig Ramsay. They were teammates for nearly 10 years in Buffalo.&ldquo;I played a long time with Craig Ramsay, who was an outstanding defensive player,&rdquo; Sauve said. &ldquo;But what Troy has done this year has been amazing He could score 50 goals. He checks the big center every game. He kills penalties. He takes the big faceoff. He should win it (the Selke) easily.&rdquo;.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02443/5336147-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="115" height="110"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 115px">CHICAGO BLACK HAWKS</figcaption></div>Even with a plus-34 rating in 74 games, Murray remained skeptical. After all, he did tell Sports Illustrated he &ldquo;might be the most anonymous 50-goal scorer in the history of the Blackhawks.&rdquo;Well, what about the Selke?&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t thought much about it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ll get it. But it would be nice.&rdquo;It also would be nice to do something he has given some thought to&mdash;reaching 100points. He had95 points heading into the final six games of the season. He would become only the third Hawk to do so, following ^Bobby Hull and Denis Savard.&ldquo;I would like to get 100 points,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;I should be able to do it. If I can&rsquo;t get five points in the last six games, then I&rsquo;m doing something wrong.&rdquo;Another mark might be slipping away, however. Murray also needed five goals in the last six games to reach 50 for the season.He and Savard have been neck-and-neck for the club lead most of the season. Savard pulled ahead with his 46th goal while the Hawks were beating Detroit 5-3 in Chicago Stadium to hold onto their slim Norris Division lead.&ldquo;I thought I would get 50 for sure when I only needed seven goals in the last 15 games,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;Now it&rsquo;s going to be a little tough.&ldquo;Things haven&rsquo;t been bouncing lately for our line (with Curt Fraser and Ed Olczyk) and the puck hasn&rsquo;t been going in. But it only takes one good game. And I hope Denis gets his 50. We&rsquo;re both so close, one of us should be able to do it.&rdquo;There are at least two other people in Chicago who are pulling strongly for Murray to close in on the magic numbers.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>During the Detroit game, they hung a sign on the Chicago Stadium balcony which read: &ldquo;TROY MURRAY, THE $25,000 MAN.&rdquo;&ldquo;I got a letter from these two fans in Mt. Prospect (III.),&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;They entered the hockey pool (advertised) in THE HOCKEY NEWS. Everybody else was taking all the guys from the top 20 (in scoring), and then they took me. They said with the year I&rsquo;m having, they&rsquo;re six points ahead, and they said they were going to put up the sign.&rdquo;Murray has made it a rewarding year. Picking up an award would be his own well-earned reward. &#9679; &#9632;

f0035-01

Offense Obscures Defensive Achievement

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01534/5336185-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="445" height="210"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02402/5336178-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="445" height="210"></div>GLENS FALLS&mdash;He&rsquo;s part sage, a dedicated storyteller, an outdoorsman, a bit of a cardshark and a walking medical nightmare.But above all, Eddie Johnstone is a worker. A roll-up-the-sleeves guy who isn&rsquo;t afraid to do more than his share.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what got me here,&rdquo; Johnstone says, matter-of-factly.And that&rsquo;s what has kept the veteran right winger from Vernon. B.C., going for a dozen pro seasons. Now 32, Johnstone is completing the final year of his contract with the Detroit Red Wings. He has spent most of the past two seasons with the Adirondack Red Wings and has been one of their top players, doing his specialized work in the corners, along the boards and in front of the net.&ldquo;Eve always had to do things the hard way. I&rsquo;ve always been smaller than everybody else,&rdquo; Johnstone said. &ldquo;Nowadays the smaller player is getting a chance to play again. When I first came in you didn&rsquo;t see too many 5-foot-9. 175-pound guys around. You didn&rsquo;t see hardly any. You could count them all on your hand. It was an uphill battle all the way.&rdquo;A shoulder injury kept Johnstone out of the lineup most of the month of March and ruined his chances of scoring 40 goals. In 63 games this season, he had 29&mdash;six of them game winners&mdash;and 60 points. The injury also had a major impact on the Red Wings, who managed just a 2-6-1 record without Johnstone and fell out of first place in the Northern Division, a position they had occupied for most of the season.Pain and medical treatments are nothing new to Johnstone, a favorite of the Madison Square Garden faithful during his career with the Rangers. Some of the many injuries he&rsquo;s dealt with along the way are: the loss of nine teeth in a junior playoff game (he continued to play that night and didn&rsquo;t miss a game), more stitches than he can remember, separations of both shoulders, a cracked cheekbone and about 20 cases of a broken nose.&ldquo;My heart is 18,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;My body is about 52. It&rsquo;s going to be interesting to see what I&rsquo;m like when I&rsquo;m about 50, if I get that far.&rdquo;There has never been any question about Johnstone&rsquo;s desire to play the game. That hasn&rsquo;t changed either.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s consistently good,&rdquo; Adirondack coach Bill Dineen said. &ldquo;He gives you everything that his body has left in it. Once he puts his skates on, he&rsquo;s a real pro. There are not too many hockey players you can say are real pros. Maybe about 10 per cent of them, but he&rsquo;s definitely one of them.&rdquo;Johnstone starred for Medicine Hat in the Western League in the early 1970s before turning pro with the Michigan Stags of the World Hockey Association in 1974. Midway through that season, he signed with the Rangers, who had also drafted him, after the Stags breached his contract by not paying him for a month.In 1977, after a 40-goal, 98-point season with New Haven, he stuck with the Rangers for good. He played six seasons with the Rangers, including back-to-back 30-goal years and one All-Star Game appearance, before being traded to Detroit in 1983. Following the injury-filled 1983-84 season, the Red Wings wrote him off and sent him to Adirondack.It may have battered his pride a bit, but it didn&rsquo;t change his approach.He plays with no concern for his own well being,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an intelligent hockey player, too. He just knows the game. He plays as well as anybody in his own end of the rink. He&rsquo;ll score goals. He&rsquo;ll take the hit to make a play. He&rsquo;ll take the hit to score a goal. And nobody takes any liberties with him.&rdquo;&ldquo;Eddie Johntone has added something to my style of play,&rdquo; said center Geordie Robertson, Johnstone&rsquo;s linemate this season. &ldquo;And as a person, after seeing a man who has been an NHL star come down here and work as hard as he does every day and every game, I feel embarrassed if I don&rsquo;t give 100 per cent. He could just come down here and collect his money and go through the motions.&rdquo;That would be out of character, of course. So would walking away when the desire to play is still raging. Jonhstone says he wants to play one more season, but only with either Adirondack in Glens Falls or New Haven, the two AHL cities he feels most comfortable in.Dineen said he&rsquo;d be pleased to have Johnstone on his roster again next&rsquo; season.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t discussed it with him, myself,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to have him back, I certainly would.&rdquo;And when his playing days end, Johnstone intends to try coaching. But before he steps behind that bench somewhere, there are a few things he&rsquo;s going to take care of.&ldquo;The first thing I&rsquo;m going to do, though, is spend two months in the hospital,&rdquo; he said, his smile widening. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to get everything fixed.&rdquo;AROUND THE DIVISION&mdash;Maine and Adirondack lost two key players in the closing weeks of the regular season. Bud Stefanski, Maine&rsquo;s leading goal scorer, was knocked out of the lineup with a broken ankle, while Adirondack&rsquo;s veteran defenseman Barry Melrose went down with a knee injury&hellip;After absorbing a 3-1 loss to Nova Scotia March 13. Fredericton put together a 4-0-1 streak to push its way back into the playoff picture&hellip;Sherbrooke&rsquo;s Dan McFall and Tom Anastos missed games with knee injuries. &#9679; &#9632;

f0036-01

The Minors

Battered, Bruised Winger Does It His Way

<div class="byline">BY DICK BAKER</div>SPRINGFIELD&mdash;Since the American League went from an East-West divisional alignment to North-South for the 1973-74 season, there has never been as torrid a Southern Division playoff race as there is now.With only Hershey assured of a playoff spot, Binghamton. St. Catharines. Springfield, New Haven and Rochester routinely swapped spots somewhere between second and sixth. There were only six points separating the five clubs during the last week of March. The contending clubs had anywhere from five to seven games to go.The only Southern Division race that could possibly compare with this scenario came in 1980-81, when the Adirondack Red Wings, then in the Southern tier, finished second with 75 points while third-place Binghamton had 70 fourth-place New Haven had 69 and Rochester missed out with 68.However, all of those teams were well below .500. Adirondack finished 35-405, but each of the remaining three squads were at least 10 games under the breakeven point.Amazingly, the Wings went on to defeat Maine for the Calder Cup that season. The Mariners were 45-28-7 during the regular season.This year&rsquo;s teams were warming up to the challenge of finishing fourth or higher. St. Catharines and New Haven were playing their best hockey of the season. Binghamton and Springfield, saddled i with eight of its last 10 games on the road, were toughing it out in the out-of-town rinks. Only Rochester remained on the skids, losing a crucial home game to the Whalers on Mar. 26. It was the Amerks&rsquo; third consecutive defeat.New Haven had a disadvantage. When Springfield and Rochester still had seven games to play, the Nighthawks had only five&mdash;their last two on the road (Maine, Sherbrooke).All five of Springfield&rsquo;s road games were with the South, including two against Baltimore, which was mathematically eliminated.Rochester had six of its last seven games against Southern Division opponents, including a home-and-home series with St. Catharines to end the regular campaign.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03325/5336216-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="555" height="679"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rochester has missed Jacques Cloutier since his promotion to the Buffalo Sabres.</figcaption></div>Binghamton enjoyed four of its last seven on home ice, including the final two against Springfield and Adirondack.This year&rsquo;s tight race is quite a contrast to the last two seasons. There was a 35-point spread between second-place Baltimore (98) and sixth-place Hershey (63) in 1984-85 with a 24-point spread the previous season (Rochester&rsquo;s 94 to Binghamton&rsquo;s 70).In 1984-85, it was the Northern Division which had the close race. Only two points stood between second-place Moncton and fifth-place Adirondack.DOWN SOUTH&mdash;St. Catharines&rsquo; Rich Costello scored two shorthanded goals in a losing effort at New Haven, lifting the Saints&rsquo; season shorthanded-goal total to 25, an AHL record&hellip;Springfield squeaked out a key point in a 4-4 tie with Maine on a Neal Coulter shorthanded goal&hellip; New Haven was hurt by the recall of defenseman Jim Wiemer to the New York Rangers. Wiemer was the Nighthawks&rsquo; leading scorer and scored the winning goal for the Rangers against the New Jersey Devils&hellip;Paul Gardner, with 55 goals, was only two shy of the league record of 57, set by Baltimore&rsquo;s Mitch Lamoureux. Gardner (23) and Jody Gage (14) of Rochester had more power-play goals than the whole Baltimore end-of-season roster&hellip;How valuable was goaltender Jacques Cloutier to Rochester before his recall to Buffalo? Cloutier was 10-2-2 with Rochester. The Amerks were 21-32-5 after his departure&hellip;A different AHL team has won the Calder Cup each of the last six years-&hellip;Springfield gave new meaning to .500 hockey. Not only were the Indians 3434-5, but they had scored 278 goals and gave up 278 goals. Speaking of .500, if the Hershey Bears lose their first playoff game, they&rsquo;ll be an even 159-159 in Calder Cup playoff games&hellip;Springfield&rsquo;s Marc Habscheid had 20 points in a 12-game span. &#9679; &#9632;

f0036-03

Southerners Sweat Out Hot Race

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01463/5336254-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="445" height="210"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02337/5336247-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="445" height="210"></div>MUSKEGON&mdash;Talk about irony.The Muskegon Lumberjacks, highest-scoring team in the International League, picked up a 40-goal scorer minutes before the deadline for freezing their playoff roster and almost immediately stopped scoring.Coach Rick Ley&rsquo;s squad, averaging 4.50 goals a game, picked up center Guy Benoit from Toledo, along with defenseman Pat Mayer, in exchange for wingers Tim Hrynewich and John DePalma and defenseman John Baldassari.Benoit brought his 40-goal reputation with him and joined Scott Gruhl (47) and Dave Michayluk (46) on the explosive Muskegon offense.The &lsquo;Jacks punched out a 7-4 victory over Saginaw March 19 and then were limited to but four goals over their next two outings, identical 7-2 losses to Indianapolis and Kalamazoo.But before anyone writes off Muskegon as a Turner Cup contender, perhaps Benoit and the Lumberjacks should be given some time to get used to each other.Ley has no doubt the deal will bring dividends.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good deal for us.&rdquo; assured Ley, who said Benoit will be flanked by Gruhl and former National Hockey Leaguer Dennis Polonich.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good deal for the kid, too,&rdquo; Ley noted. &ldquo;And Los Angeles (which owns his rights) is happy because it gives him a chance to get some playoff experience and work with some good wingers.&rdquo;Muskegon, first in the East Division, was one of the first teams to clinch a playoff spot.According to Ley. Muskegon general manager Larry Gordon saw Benoit earlier in the season at Toledo and indicated, then, he would like him in Lumberjack colors.&ldquo;Larry kept pursuing the deal and 15 minutes before the deadline he said. &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s do it.&rsquo;&rdquo;Ley said he was also delighted to acquire Mayer, a 6-foot-3, 220-pounder.&ldquo;We played pretty good in stretches in the first half of the season,&rdquo; said Ley. THN&rsquo;s minor-league coach of the year for the 1984-85 season. &ldquo;But lately we&rsquo;ve had room to improve. We lost 16 games after the first of the year (compared with 10 before Jan. 1) and it was obvious we weren&rsquo;t going in the right direction with our player personnel.&rdquo;Thus the trade and a look toward the playoffs.Ley expects Indianapolis will be the Muskegon&rsquo;s first-round opponent. The Checkers, should they finish fifth in the rugged West Division where they presently sit, would move to the East.If Muskegon holds off the surging Kalamazoo Wings. Indianapolis would start the playoffs at Muskegon.In the West, meanwhile. Peoria climbed to within a point of second-place Milwaukee by beating the Checkers for the seventh straight time this season. The Admirals haven&rsquo;t lost to the Checkers.The Rivermen also went above .500 (18-17-0) on the road with a 5-2 win which halted a seven-game winning streak by Indianapolis.&ldquo;I think we can get 101 or 102 points before the season is over.&rdquo; said Peoria coach Pat Kelly. &ldquo;Fort Wayne (first in the West) probably can get that many.&rdquo;Kelly&rsquo;s well-disciplined Rivermen were playing well enough to make a serious run at repeating as Turner Cup champions.Coach Robbie Laird&rsquo;s Komets at Fort Wayne appear to have first place wrapped up in the West, in spite of Kelly&rsquo;s optimism. More than likely, that would start them against Salt Lake in the playoffs. That would leave Peoria to tackle Milwaukee.An Indianapolis-Muskegon matchup in the East would leave Kalamazoo and Saginaw to battle for the remaining semi final berth. &#9679; &#9632;

f0037-01

Lumberjacks Add One More Capable Scorer

<div class="byline">BY PAT LYON</div>ERIE&mdash;The long wait has ended for Carolina Thunderbirds&rsquo; coach Rick Dudley.After coaching the Thunderbirds to four straight regular-season championships. Dudley was named Atlantic League coach of the year for the first time.&ldquo;Needless to say I&rsquo;m very pleased.&rdquo; said Dudley. &ldquo;We went through a tremendous transition this year with players in and out all season.&rdquo;Player-coach Ron Hansis of the Erie Golden Blades was selected second-team coach.Carolina dominated the all-star player choices with the T-Birds placing five players on the dream teams.The Golden Blades had three players on the two units. Virginia and Mohawk Valley, two each, and New York Slapshots, one.Ray Leblanc of the Thunderbirds, the league&rsquo;s top netminder with a goals-against average of under 3.00, was named to the first team.Joining him on the first team were Carolina defenseman Bob Hagen and New York backliner Brian Walker.Erie&rsquo;s record-setting Dave Herbst was the choice at center and he was flanked by right winger Andy Cozzi of Carolina and Erie left winger Paul Mancini.Mohawk Valley goalie Shawn Kilroy was tabbed as second-team goaltender. Gaining spots on the blue line were Carolina&rsquo;s Randy Irving and Mohawk&rsquo;s Kurt Rugenius, last year&rsquo;s co-rookie of the year.High-scoring Joe Curran of Carolina was named center of the second line, which included smooth-skating John Hill of Virginia on right wing. Erie&rsquo;s Jim Cowell and John Tortorella of Virginia were tied on the left side.Playoff opponents were determined with first-place Carolina paired against fourth-place Mohawk Valley and second-place Erie taking on third-place Virginia. Both the semi-finals and finals will be best-of-seven series.Because there was a discrepancy in the final number of games played by Mohawk Valley and New York, the final playoff spot was determined by a percentage basis. Dividing a team&rsquo;s possible points into their actual points earned the Comets a place in the playoffs.It&rsquo;s been a tough season for the first-year Slapshots and that continued right up to the final week of the season.The Slapshots had to endure relocation to Roanoke. Va. several weeks ago and just when they thought their troubles were over they were stripped of six points by commissioner Ray Miron.Miron ruled that the Slapshots had used an illegal player in Gregg Anderson. who played in Europe and returned to the United States after the Feb. 5 cutoff date for European players.Anderson played a role in two New York wins, including a key 7-6 four-point triumph over Mohawk Valley.Miron also fined Slapshot general manager Dave Schultz $500.AROUND THE LEAGUE&mdash;Carolina&rsquo;s John Torchetti scored his 50th goal of the season, the first T-Bird to reach that lofty plateau&hellip;Erie&rsquo;s Dave Herbst set an ACHL goal-scoring record by snapping the mark of 69 set by Mohawk Valley&rsquo;s Dan Lane. Herbst had 71 goals with two regular-season games remaining. Mancini and Todd Bjorkstrand of the Blades also recorded their 50th goals which gave the Blades three 50-goal scorers&hellip;Mohawk Valley picked up two key victories to grab the final playoff spot. It tripped up Virginia 7-6 in a shoot-out victory on March 21 and then shut out New York 6-0 on March 23&hellip;Losing the six points and going on a six-game losing streak ended the Slapshots&rsquo; playoff hopes. &#9679; &#9632;

Dudley Finally Gets Due, Named Top ACHL Coach

<div class="byline">BY ROD BEATON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01540/5336309-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff Parker of Michigan State holds up the NCAA hockey championship trophy as he leads his team around the ice at the Providence Civic Center following the Spartans&rsquo; 6-5 win over Harvard.</figcaption></div>PROVIDENCE, R.I.&mdash;Matchless Michigan State Spartans made winning ugly a habit this season &mdash; and it paid off with a NCAA championship.Michigan State&rsquo;s comeback 6-5 victory against Harvard Saturday presented the Spartans&rsquo; with only their second national crown&mdash;and first since 1966.The triumph was like so many for the group from East Lansing&mdash;a triumph of grit, guile and gunners.The grit was the ability to withstand a hat trick by Harvard center Allen Bourbeau and overcome three different two-goal deficits.The guile was coach Ron Mason and assistants Terry Christensen and George Gwozdecky, exploiting Harvard&rsquo;s weakness on faceoffs and coach Bill Cleary&rsquo;s refusal to match lines.The gunners were right winger Jeff Parker and left winger Mike Donnelly, the tournament&rsquo;s most valuable player.Parker had a key shorthanded goal, and Donnelly scored twice, including the game winner with only 2:51 left in regulation.That goal, a top-of-the-circle blast from a faceoff, was one of three &lsquo;Michigan State goals scored off the draw. But there was much more to the Spartans&rsquo; victory against a speedy and skilled Harvard squad.&ldquo;I think we wore them down,&rdquo; said Donnelly.Michigan State had fresher legs. The Spartans defeated Minnesota 6-4 Thursday in one semi-final. Harvard outskated Denver 5-2 Friday in the other.Harvard had beaten a bigger, stronger team in that game and it took a lot out of them, including Hobey Baker Award-winning center Scott Fusco.Fusco&rsquo;s first-period knee injury Friday&mdash;he didn&rsquo;t play at all in the final against MSU&mdash;and the no-break format weakened Cleary&rsquo;s clan. Michigan State&rsquo;s grinding took care of the rest.&ldquo;It could have been a different story if they hadn&rsquo;t played Friday,&rdquo; said Donnelly.The Spartans didn&rsquo;t and they profited from the extra day off. That is not to say that the Spartans might not have won anyway. Last season was supposed to be their year. Mason had a powerful squad led by Craig Simpson and Dan McFall. The tournament was virtually on home ice&mdash;Detroit&rsquo;s Joe Louis Arena. But MSU never even got that far, losing in the first round to the hot goaltending of Providence College&rsquo;s Chris Terreri.This was to be a rebuilding year. Mason had as many as nine freshmen in the lineup. There were seven in the championship game.&ldquo;This team had a chemistry,&rdquo; said Mason. &ldquo;It was not as predictable and it was more creative.&rdquo;That was the aspect Christensen called &ldquo;winning ugly&rdquo;. MSU always seemed to find a way.&ldquo;When we lost last year to Providence, everyone was disappointed because that was the year we were supposed to win it all,&rdquo; said goaltender Norm Foster, a star in the semi-final. &ldquo;This year we thought we should just go out and play hockey.&rdquo;The Spartans played it well. Their journey to the championship got some help. Although they lost in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament final, they still were awarded home ice in the NCAA quarter-finals.They whipped Boston College and then Minnesota did not play up to its ability in the semi-final, falling behind early on erratic goaltending and defense, finally falling 6-4. Foster foiled the Gophers&rsquo; comeback try.The Crimson had been to the NCAA final in 1983, losing to a powerful Wisconsin team led by Chris Chelios, Bruce Driver, Marc Behrend and Pat Flatley.Harvard goalie Grant Blair and a few other seniors from this year&rsquo;s team had played in that game and knew what to expect.This team was like that one&mdash;fast. It made Denver&rsquo;s mammoth lineup look like a bunch of dinosaurs. That did not help Denver&rsquo;s pack of free agents looking for lucrative National Hockey League contracts. Harvard tried the same speed game against State.&ldquo;Harvard was a unique team,&rdquo; said MSU defensive leader Don McSween. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t face a team that small or maybe that quick all year.&rdquo;But the Spartans aren&rsquo;t slugs, either. Forwards Kevin Miller, Bruce Rendall, Joe Murphy, Donnelly and others have plenty of zip.But it was the hitting and the relentless charge that allowed State to rally. Harvard built leads of 2-0. 3-1 and 4-2. Three times Bourbeau converted one-timers from the low slot including twice on power plays. MSU goalie Bob Essensa had no chance.Yet. State rallied to lead 5-4 with goals by two freshmen &mdash; Brad Hamilton and Brian McReynolds&mdash;in the first 2:15 of the third period. Harvard gained a tie on a goal by Andy Janfaza, but there was little doubt the Crimson were fading.&ldquo;We ran out of gas,&rdquo; said Cleary.The tank ran dry when two Spartans of special interest teamed up.National Hockey League scouts were out in force for the tournament. One reason was Murphy. Another was Donnelly. Murphy is the top-rated player in Central Scouting&rsquo;s listings for the entry draft. He didn&rsquo;t hurt himself here.Donnelly ranks with Denver&rsquo;s Dwight Mathiasen as a top free agent. Mathiasen got $1.2 million (U.S.)from Pittsburgh for a four-year deal. Donnelly got the game winner. He&rsquo;ll take that to the bank later.Murphy won the draw and Donnelly fired a slapper&mdash;he has a fine shot&mdash;past goalie Blair, who had slightly misread the angle. The goal was another example of MSU&rsquo;s dominance on face-offs and of Harvard&rsquo;s refusal to match up with the Spartans&rsquo; most skilled players.Cleary rejected the notion of matching the personnel. Harvard&rsquo;s perspective on hockey is an anachronism, but it&rsquo;s successful.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been doing pretty well for 18 years,&rdquo; Cleary snapped. &ldquo;I have no intention of changing.&rdquo;He added: &ldquo;Hockey&rsquo;s still a game a little man can play. I&rsquo;ll take the quick, little man any time.&rdquo;But the trend is to quick, big men, Cleary acknowledged. Michigan State had &rsquo;em. Michigan State won. &#9679; &#9632;

f0038-01

The Colleges

Michigan State Of The Art

<div class="byline">BY ROD BEATON</div>PROVIDENCE R.I.&mdash;The Fuscos of Burlington, Mass., have a snappy set of bookends.The Hobey Baker Award is a family heirloom.Harvard center Scott Fusco is the 1986 recipient of the handsome, sculpted trophy, presented annually to the NCAA player of the year. Scott&rsquo;s brother Mark, won in 1983.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry there aren&rsquo;t any more of them,&rdquo; said Harvard coach Bill Cleary, who coached both Fusco brothers and reached the NCAA finals with both.Scott wasn&rsquo;t able to participate in this year&rsquo;s final. He sprained a knee on his second shift in Harvard&rsquo;s semi-final victory against Denver.With typical courage, he tried a couple shifts on the bad joint, but could not continue, as the Crimson sidelined the Pioneers. Fusco was forced to watch his teammates lose to Michigan State 6-5 in the championship game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02425/5336340-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="549" height="1021"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scott Fusco was Harvard&rsquo;s scoring leader all four of his seasons there.</figcaption></div>That did not diminish his accomplishments this season or in a four-year career that was interrupted by a year&rsquo;s service with the 1984 U.S. Olympic team.&ldquo;He led us in scoring four years and led us to the nationals four years,&rdquo; said Cleary. &ldquo;Scott Fusco has been a special player and a special person.&rdquo;Fusco finished with 24 goals and 44 assists in 31 games this season. His career log is 107 goals and 133 assists for 240 points in 122 games, an average of just under two points per game.Fusco paid the price for excellence. The Eastern College Athletic Conference can get as rugged as any college league. Fusco stands only 5-foot-9, 170 pounds. He was the centerpiece of Harvard&rsquo;s attack. So he became the focal point of every bruiser in the ECAC attack.&ldquo;A lot of teams tried to come after me,&rdquo; Fusco said. &ldquo;I was aware of it, but if I skated it was hard to hit me.&rdquo;Fusco had occasional back problems and some teams made an extra effort to test his durability. In the ECAC tournament last year, for example, RPI defensemen Mike Dark and Ken Hammond beat his back like a kettle drum.Fusco always had an answer&mdash;the score-sheet.&ldquo;I knew I had a chance of winning the Hobey if I had a good year,&rdquo; said Fusco. &ldquo;Iam extra honored because all the finalists were exceptional players and any one could have won.&rdquo;One player came exceptionally close to winning. Western Michigan right winger Dan Dorion fell just short of Fusco in the closest election in the award&rsquo;s six-year history.Fusco&rsquo;s career history was enhanced by the Olympic experience.&ldquo;I knew I had some skills.&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but playing on the Olympic team made a big difference. I was forced to play on a much higher level. In that year I gained a great deal of experience, leadership and maturity. It was a great year.&rdquo;And it was a great career. Fusco centered Lane MacDonald and Tim Smith on what probably was the most dangerous line in college this season.There were nine other Hobey Baker finalists and there was some grumbling from their fans that the selectors were deliberately looking for the brother angle.However, a vote of all Division I coaches determines the 10 finalists and the makeup of the secret, selection committee that picks the winner reportedly has a greater representation of westerners.Mark Fusco also played on the &rsquo;84 Olympic team. He turned pro with Hartford and played briefly before retiring to pursue a business career and graduate work at the Harvard Business School. Hartford also holds Scott&rsquo;s NHL rights, which were acquired from New Jersey. Will Scott follow Mark&rsquo;s lead?&ldquo;I&rsquo;m keeping my options open,&rdquo; said Scott, who hasn&rsquo;t ruled out playing in Europe.Scott Fusco is thrilled to follow his brother.&ldquo;This award has extra meaning, since my brother won it,&rdquo; he said. &#9679; &#9632;

f0038-02

Are They Fusco Or Baker Brothers?

<div class="byline">BY MORRIS DALLA COSTA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01240/5336378-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="445" height="210"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02160/5336371-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="445" height="210"></div>BELLEVILLE&mdash;When the Ontario League season ended, Belleville Bulls, Oshawa Generals and Kingston Canadians wound up within three points of each other in the Leyden Division.So, it shouldn&rsquo;t be much of a surprise to anyone that Larry Mavety, coach of the Bulls, said that except for the Toronto Marlies-Peterborough Petes series, where the Petes were prohibitive favorites, there was no guarantee who was going to move onto division round-robin play.Mavety was witness to his own wisdom.His Bulls, who finished second thanks to a better goal percentage than the Generals, met the Cornwall Royals, a team which finished 18 points behind the Bulls, in their eight-point quarter-final series.The Royals opened with a 5-3 win on Belleville&rsquo;s home ice and then had to settle for a 4-4 tie in their own building.&ldquo;We never expected it to be easy,&rdquo; said Mavety. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a wide open series and we haven&rsquo;t played well defensively. We are making some mistakes we shouldn&rsquo;t be making and it&rsquo;scosting us.&rdquo;Which may be the kiss of death against the Royals, who have perhaps the best set of forwards in the league.Led by league scoring-champion Ray Sheppard, along with Craig Duncanson, Mike Stapleton and a slew of others, the Royals can score with the best of them.If there was any consolation for the Bulls, it&rsquo;s that the yoyo goaltender Craig Billington has been on this season, may have been put away.Billington, who played most of the season with the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League, with time off (for good behaviour) to play for Canada&rsquo;s national junior team, returned to the Bulls in February.But just before the beginning of the playoffs, he was summoned back to New Jersey with the trade of Chico Resch from the Devils to Philadelphia Flyers. He was with the Devils for four games, missing the series-opener against the Royals, before being sent back.&ldquo;Not only is it tough for Craig, but it&rsquo;s tough on our other two goaltenders,&rdquo; said Mavety. &ldquo;Mike Bishop played in the opener and played well, but you know with the talent that Craig has, he&rsquo;s got to play.&rdquo;Duncanson whom the Royals acquired from Sudbury Wolves this year, played his first playoff game ever in the opener and scored in the first minute to pace the Royals.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think any of the other series are going to be over quickly. Teams were just too close during the season,&rdquo; said Mavety.The other Leyden Division series will wind up in much the same fashion, with no easy winners.The Generals and Canadians split their first two games with the Generals winning at home 6-4 and the Canadians&rsquo; Chris Clifford shutting the Generals down in Kingston 6-0, making up for a shaky performance in game one.The Generals have struggled between the pipes. The Generals allowed the Canadians just 14 shots going into the third period against the Canadians in the opener and only led 4-2. In the second game Kirk McLean, who played in the first game, had 29 shots to face and gave up several bad goals.The Marlies lost 7-2 in Peterborough in the series opener and 3-1 at home. In the opener the Marlies were only successful on one of 10 power-play opportunities.In the Emms Division, both Windsor Spitfires and Guelph Platers took 4-0 leads.The Spitfires and Kitchener Rangers have hooked up in what may still become the best of all three series. The Spitfires have been playing as well as any Emms Division team and their play in the opening two games supported the growing opinion they may be the team which eventually represents the Emms Division.They made a run at the end of the season which moved them from sixth to third spot in the division. The Spitfires were 15-4-1 since the trading deadline when they complete^ a controversial deal which sent Keith Gretzky to the Belleville Bulls.&ldquo;The big thing is Tom Webster&rsquo;s system,&rdquo; said Spitfires&rsquo; general manager Jim Rutherford. &ldquo;The more complicated the system, the longer it takes to grasp. Plus we had a little bit of wrong chemistry and we had to make a move.&rdquo;The system is geared to defensive hockey. It&rsquo;s been the key to the Spitfires&rsquo; success in the first two games of their series against the Rangers.The line of Shane Whelan, J.D. Urbanic and Frank Melone, put a defensive blanket on the Rangers&rsquo; top line of Shawn Burr. Ron Sanko and Mike Morrison. They did not get a point in the opening game of the series and Burr didn&rsquo;t get a shot on goal.The Platers had to hang on to a 6-5 win in game two in Sudbury. The Wolves came back from a 6-5 second period deficit.The London Knights blew a two-goal third-period lead in their opening game in North Bay against the Centennials and wound up losing 5-4 when Darren Turcotte scored with 1:27 left in the third period.The Centennials returned the favor in London when they blew a two-goal lead in the final 10 minutes and had to settle for a 4-4 tie.NOTES&mdash;Jason Lafreniere of the Belleville Bulls is the OHL nominee for the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League&rsquo;s player of the year. Lafreniere, 19, received 23 of a possible 70 points in voting among the league coaches. He collected 131 points in a season split between Hamilton and Belleville. Cornwall&rsquo;s Ray Sheppard. Shawn Burr of Kitchener and Shayne Corson of Hamilton finished tied for second with 18 points&hellip;Sheppard won the scoring title with 142 points. He was also the leading goal scorer with 81. &#9679; &#9632;

f0040-01

The Juniors

There Are No Guarantees At Playoff Time

<h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03110/5336423-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="516" height="544"><figcaption class="caption-body">J. LAFRENIERE Belleville</figcaption></div>Appropriately, the OHL&rsquo;s Player of the Year was also the final regular-season Player of the Week.Jason Lafreniere of the Belleville Bulls, Ontario&rsquo;s nominee for top Canadian junior honors, closed out the regular season with nine points in two games.The 19-year-old center, a second-round draft choice of the Quebec Nordiques last summer, wound up the season with 131 points.<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0484/5336416-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="525" height="544"><figcaption class="caption-body">TERRY PERKINS Spokane</figcaption></div>Right winger Tony Perkins made the switch from Portland to Spokane this season and the move paid off as he recorded his best junior season ever.The 19-year-old draft choice of the Quebec Nordiques was picked WHL Player of the Week after he racked up 14 points in his final three league starts and the first two playoff games. Perkins finished the regular season with 117 points, 71 of them goals.<h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0567/5336409-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="531" height="541"><figcaption class="caption-body">PATRICK EMOND Chicoutimi</figcaption></div>Patrick Emond of Chicoutimi is closing out his spectacular junior hockey career as the highest point scorer in Quebec League history.The overage center was named QMJHL Player of the Week after collecting 11 points in his first three playoff games. Emond, with 167 points this season, raised his QMJHL career total to 575, surpassing Normand Dupont&rsquo;s former record of 568 points.At the end of the current season. THE HOCKEY NEWS will select a Micron Junior Player of the Year. &#9632;

f0040-03

MICRON JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01197/5336461-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="445" height="210"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02126/5336454-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="445" height="210"></div>CALGARY&mdash;The job finally caught up to Ed Chynoweth.The 44-year-old Western League president suffered a mild heart attack March 24.&ldquo;He woke up Monday morning (March 24) with some pain and he thought it was heartburn.&rdquo; said WHL marketing director and statistician Norm Dueck. &ldquo;He was in the office Monday with the pain and said he didn&rsquo;t feel good. The doctor saw him and told him to get to the hospital. Stress was a big part of it (attack).&rdquo;Chynoweth. WHL president for the past 14 years, was admitted to the intensive care unit of Foothills Hospital in Calgary. He rested comfortably and his condition was upgraded to good March 26, according to a hospital spokesman who said Chynoweth was expected to leave intensive care that day.Chynoweth has had no history of heart ailments.This has been a particularly taxing season for Chynoweth. There were 13 front office shuffles thoughout the WHL during the first half of the season. And the sale of the Regina Pats, plus the uncertain futures of the Brandon Wheat Kings, Lethbridge Broncos and Calgary Wranglers have tested Chynoweth&rsquo;s mettle.So have his duties as chairman of the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League and its ongoing battle to increase the eligibility age for the National Hockey League entry draft.Meanwhile, in matters closer to the ice surface, Seattle Thunderbirds earned a dubious post-season honor.The rejuvenated Thunderbirds needed a 3-2 home-ice victory over the New Westminster Bruins on March 23 just to make it into the Western League postseason picture.Yet the sweet victory may leave a sour taste in the mouths of the hustling T-Birds. The crucial win over New Westminster eliminated the need for a tiebreaking game with the Bruins to determine the fourth-place finisher in the Western Division. But it put Seattle up against a formidable foe.The Thunderbirds were matched against first-place Kamloops Blazers in a best-of-nine division semi-final series. Kamloops went on a tear in second half of the season and put together a 15-game winning streak to claim its third consecutive division pennant with a 49-19-4 record. The Blazers also won nine of 10 regular-season meetings with the Thunderbirds. The other ended in a tie.&ldquo;We started the year with the objective of making the playoffs,&rdquo; said Seattle general manager Sheldon Ferguson, who took over the head coaching job in December. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t want it to come down to a last game but just being in the playoffs is great. I don&rsquo;t think anybody picked us to be there.&rdquo;Ferguson, who took over from Don Berry behind the bench after Berry replaced Marc Boileau, didn&rsquo;t hide the fact his T-Birds, 27-43-2, face an uphill struggle against the potent Blazers.&ldquo;We talked about it and it&rsquo;s like Los Angeles, Vancouver and Winnipeg fighting it out for a playoff spot and then waking up to find that you have to face the Oilers,&rdquo; chuckled Ferguson. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a reason Kamloops finished 46 points ahead of us&mdash;they&rsquo;re a good hockey club.&rdquo;If Seattle has anything going for it, it&rsquo;s the fact that nobody is picking the Thunderbirds to do much damage in the playoffs.&ldquo;One thing for sure, there&rsquo;s no pressure on us,&rdquo; said Ferguson, who was quick to dole out praise for the work of assistant coach Dan MacDonald, who joined the T-Birds after Christmas.The other Western Division semi-final series had second-place Portland Winter Hawks facing third-place Spokane Chiefs.In the Eastern Division, the top six teams met in an opening-round double round-robin format to eliminate two clubs. Four survivors then head into best-of-seven semi-final matchups.Medicine Hat Tigers placed first. Prince Albert Raiders second, Regina Pats third. Saskatoon Blades fourth, Lethbridge Broncos fifth and Moose Jaw Warriors sixth.The Eastern Division final series is a best-of-seven match-up while the Western Division championship is a best-of-nine affair. The league championship is a best-of-seven series.In Seattle, the Thunderbirds were banking on the exploits of overage netminder Larry Dyck and scoring sensation Craig Endean to heighten their chances against Kamloops. The Blazers completely dominated the Thunderbirds, who needed a heroic effort from Dyck to post a 7-7 tie with Kamloops in the clubs&rsquo;s final regular-season meeting.And that&rsquo;s the way it was in Seattle&rsquo;s most impressive game of the year March 23.Dyck made 50 saves that night, including 21 in the third period as the Bruins pressed for a tie-breaking confrontation. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been our key all season,&rdquo; said Ferguson. &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s one reason we&rsquo;re in the playoffs it has to be Larry Dyck. He&rsquo;s carried us to 10 or 12 wins this season by himself. He&rsquo;s been in this league for three years and never played in a playoff game. Nobody wanted to be in the playoffs more than Larry.&rdquo;Endean was equally impressive in the showdown with New Westminster, scoring two goals and setting up the third to nail down the win before a sellout crowd of 4,141.Endean finished ninth in league scoring with 128 points.WHL WEEK&mdash;In final scoring statistics. Rob Brown of Kamloops became the first 17-year-old player in league history to win the scoring title, amassing 58 goals and 115 assists for 173 points&hellip;Medicine Hat finished as the top ranked Canadian Major Junior Hockey League team with a .757 winning percentage on a 54-17-1 record. &#9679; &#9632;

f0041-01

Chynoweth Victim Of Mild Heart Attack

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div>LAVAL&mdash;The opening games in the best-of-nine Quebec Major Junior Hockey League quarter-finals were a mirror image of the regular season.Three of the series started with overtime matches and the Hull Olympiques ran away with the fourth.Luc Beausoleil deflected a shot from the point by defenseman Steve Finn 6:48 into overtime to give fourth-place Laval Titan a 4-3 decision over fifth-place Trois-Rivieres Draveurs.But it was Jocelyn Lemieux, not Beausoleil, who was the subject of most conversation last year.&ldquo;The five o&rsquo;clock train came into the station but it never stopped.&rdquo; said Trois-Rivieres&rsquo; coach Jean Begin after Laval&rsquo;s five-foot-11.202-pound right winger Lemieux, one of the league&rsquo;s top draft prospects, leveled Draveur defenseman Donald Dufresne, a Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; sixth rounder.&ldquo;And the station master (referee) never saw it,&rdquo; Begin said of the monumental hit. &ldquo;Dufresne has stretched knee ligaments, bruised ribs and a cut on his head that took eight stitches.&rdquo;With defensive quarterback and captain Serge Poudrier out because of a broken bone in his hand, the Draveurs were handicapped in trying to deal with the offensive power of the Titan, who outshot Trois-Rivieres 47-33.Defenseman Ralph DiFiore sent the game into an extra session with a goal at 12:31 of the third period after Laval took period leads of 1-0 and 2-1.&ldquo;It was a very tight game,&rdquo; said Titan coach Jacques Blain. &ldquo;Our team was nervous, a lot of our guys are not used to playoff hockey.&ldquo;They have a very disciplined team. They were for-checking us well and scored three goals on the power play. Begin used Claude Lapointe to cover Michel Mongeau (third in league scoring) all game and he did a good job.&rdquo;Sixth-place St.-Jean Castors beat third-place Verdun Junior Canadiens 4-3 on Benoit Hogue&rsquo;s goal 54 seconds into overtime. Steve Figliuzzi of St-Jean tied the score with just 31 seconds remaining in regulation time.&ldquo;We must have won 15 games this season in the third period,&rdquo; said Castor coach Jacques Tremblay. &ldquo;We finished sixth but we were only one point away from fourth.&rdquo;Only five points separated five teams during the stretch drive to the playoffs.&ldquo;This is my first playoff in the league and I&rsquo;m enjoying it.&rdquo; said Tremblay, whose club was deadlocked with the Junior Canadiens 1-1 and 2-2 at the period breaks. &ldquo;The first game was a real playoff game. That (Verdun goaltender) Yves Lavoie is a beautiful goalie.&rdquo;Mario Doyon scored 6:12 into overtime to lift second-place Drummondville Voltigeurs past seventh-place Chicoutimi Sagueneens 5-4.&ldquo;We started a little slow,&rdquo; said Drummondville coach Michel Parizeau. whose club trailed 3-0 after the first period. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the best game Chicoutimi has played here all season.&ldquo;You fight all season for the home advantage but then our players put a lot of pressure on themselves. We couldn&rsquo;t get the puck out of our own end.&ldquo;(Chicoutimi goalie) Dan Berthiaume played well but they laid back a bit after the first period. We got four of our five goals from defensemen.&ldquo;They say our league was all offense but this year I&rsquo;ve found the teams can close the play and play defensively.&rdquo;The eighth-place Shawinigan Cataractes took a 2-1 lead into the second period against the regular-season champion Olympiques. But then Hull scored seven unanswered goals for an 8-2 victory.&ldquo;They were looking good,&rdquo; said Olympiques&rsquo; coach Pat Burns. &ldquo;But they came in here with nothing to lose and we had a lot of pressure on us.&ldquo;They caught us with our pants down in our own zone a couple of times. The main thing was we didn&rsquo;t panic.&rdquo;The winners got two goals each from Pat Brisson and Michel Carbonneau.&ldquo;We have four 17-year-old defensemen and a 17-year-old goalie (Jean-Claude Bergeron) so we lack experience,&rdquo; said Cataractes&rsquo; coach Jacques Gregoire. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t think the score was indicative of the game.&ldquo;I think the Laval-Trois-Rivieres and Verdun-St-Jean series will be long ones,&rdquo; said QMJHL president Gilles Courteau. Courteau said reaction to the league&rsquo;s best-of-nine playoff format has been mixed.&ldquo;The big thing was that it was announced only five games before the playoffs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But then I&rsquo;ve only been president for a month.&rdquo; &#9679; &#9632;

Regular-Season Pattern Holds Up In Post-Season

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02118/5337107-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="531" height="154"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01170/5337114-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="201" height="184"></div><h2>NHL</h2>&mdash;TEAM STANDINGS&mdash;(PCT) PERCENTAGE OF ACTUAL POINTS VERSUS POSSIBLE POINTSCLARENCE CAMPBELL CONFERENCE<h3>NORRIS DIVISION</h3><h3>SMYTHE DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0380/5337100-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="534" height="157"></div><h3>PRINCE OF WALES CONFERENCE</h3><h3>ADAMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0462/5337093-1-eng-US/f0044-042.jpg" title="f0044-04" width="522" height="160"></div><h3>PATRICK DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0551/5337086-1-eng-US/f0044-052.jpg" title="f0044-05" width="525" height="187"></div><h2>POINTS RACE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0643/5337079-1-eng-US/f0044-062.jpg" title="f0044-06" width="501" height="574"></div><h2>RESULTS ENDING MAR. 30,1986</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0740/5337072-1-eng-US/f0044-072.jpg" title="f0044-07" width="519" height="862"></div><h2>AHL</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. MAR. 31)<h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0832/5337065-1-eng-US/f0044-082.jpg" title="f0044-08" width="528" height="229"></div><h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0930/5337058-1-eng-US/f0044-092.jpg" title="f0044-09" width="540" height="199"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>MON. MAR. 24MONCTON 5 AT SHERBROOKE 4TUE. MAR. 25BINGHAMTON 1 AT ST. CATHARINES 3WED. MAR. 26HERSHEY 4 AT ADIRONDACK 2NOVA SCOTIA 6 AT BALTIMORE 1SPRINGFIELD 4 AT MAINE 4FREDERICTON 5 AT MONCTON 4ST. CATHARINES 3 AT NEW HAVEN 7BINGHAMTON 6 AT ROCHESTER 3THU. MAR. 27MONCTON 4 AT FREDERICTON 6FRI. MAR. 28SPRINGFIELD 1 AT BALTIMORE 5NOVA SCOTIA 3 AT BINGHAMTON 8MAINE 4 AT NEW HAVEN 3HERSHEY 5 AT ROCHESTER 3ST. CATHARINES 7 AT SHERBROOKE 4SAT. MAR. 29NEW HAVEN 1 AT ADIRONDACK 6ROCHESTER 1 AT BINGHAMTON 4NOVA SCOTIA 2 AT HERSHEY 5SHERBROOKE 3 AT MAINE 1MONCTON 3 AT SPRINGFIELD 4SUN. MAR. 30BINGHAMTON 5 AT BALTIMORE 1SPRINGFIELD 3 AT ROCHESTER 7ADIRONDACK 2 AT ST. CATHARINES 2MONCTON 2 AT SHERBROOKE 3<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1029/5337051-1-eng-US/f0044-102.jpg" title="f0044-10" width="531" height="493"></div><h2>TOP GOALTENDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1123/5337044-1-eng-US/f0044-112.jpg" title="f0044-11" width="552" height="178"></div><h2>IHL</h2>(STANDINGS ON WED. APR. 2)<h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1221/5337037-1-eng-US/f0044-122.jpg" title="f0044-12" width="528" height="259"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1319/5337030-1-eng-US/f0044-132.jpg" title="f0044-13" width="528" height="259"></div>(TEAMS GET POINT FOR A TIE; OVERTIME OR SHOOTOUT WINNER RECEIVES TWO POINTS AND LOSER ONE)<h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>TUE. MAR. 25FLINT 2 AT MUSKEGON 5PEORIA 5 AT INDIANAPOLIS 3FORT WAYNE 2 AT SALT LAKE 4WED. MAR. 26KALAMAZOO 6 AT TOLEDO 4SAGINAW 2 AT MILWAUKEE 5THU. MAR. 27FLINT 1 AT INDIANAPOLIS 9FORT WAYNE 7 AT SALT LAKE 2FRI. MAR. 28TOLEDO 2 AT MUSKEGON 9KALAMAZOO 8 AT MILWAUKEE 5SAGINAW 4 AT PEORIA 5FORT WAYNE 7 AT SALT LAKE 4SAT. MAR. 29MILWAUKEE 2 AT MUSKEGON 7PEORIA 2 AT SAGINAW 5INDIANAPOLIS 1 AT KALAMAZOO 5FLINT 3 AT TOLEDO 8SUN. MAR. 30PEORIA 6 AT SAGINAW 3FORT WAYNE 7 AT MILWAUKEE 8KALAMAZOO 1 AT INDIANAPOLIS 8<h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1418/5337023-1-eng-US/f0044-142.jpg" title="f0044-14" width="528" height="469"></div><h2>TOP GOALTENDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1518/5337016-1-eng-US/f0044-152.jpg" title="f0044-15" width="558" height="181"></div><h2>OHL</h2>(FINAL STANDINGS)<h3>EMMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1617/5337009-1-eng-US/f0044-162.jpg" title="f0044-16" width="540" height="265"></div><h3>LEYDEN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1717/5337002-1-eng-US/f0044-172.jpg" title="f0044-17" width="531" height="229"></div><h2>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1816/5336995-1-eng-US/f0044-182.jpg" title="f0044-18" width="519" height="463"></div><h2>TOP GOALTENDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1914/5336988-1-eng-US/f0044-192.jpg" title="f0044-19" width="555" height="175"></div><h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>QUARTER-FINALS</h3>(ALL 8-POINT PLAYOFF SERIES)<h3>LEYDEN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-2012/5336981-1-eng-US/f0044-202.jpg" title="f0044-20" width="562" height="82"></div>(PETERBORO WINS EIGHT-POINT SERIES 8-0)SUN. MAR. 23TORONTO 2 AT PETERBOROUGH 7TUE. MAR. 25PETERBOROUGH 3 AT TORONTO 1THU. MAR. 27TORONTO 2 AT PETERBOROUGH 10FRI. MAR. 28PETERBOROUGH 4 AT TORONTO 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-2111/5336974-1-eng-US/f0044-212.jpg" title="f0044-21" width="560" height="76"></div>(BELLEVILLE WINS EIGHT-POINT SERIES 9-3)SUN. MAR. 23CORNWALL 5 AT BELLEVILLE 3MON. MAR. 24BELLEVILLE 4 AT CORNWALL 4WED. MAR. 26CORNWALL 4 AT BELLEVILLE 5THU. MAR. 27BELLEVILLE 7 AT CORNWALL 2SAT. MAR. 29CORNWALL 5 AT BELLEVILLE 9SUN. MAR. 30BELLEVILLE 8 AT CORNWALL 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-2211/5336967-1-eng-US/f0044-222.jpg" title="f0044-22" width="568" height="80"></div>(KINGSTON LEADS EIGHT-POINT SERIES 6-4)SUN. MAR. 23KINGSTON 4 AT OSHAWA 6TUE. MAR. 25OSHAWA 0 AT KINGSTON 6THU. MAR. 27KINGSTON 9 AT OSHAWA 6FRI. MAR. 28OSHAWA 7 AT KINGSTON 2SUN. MAR. 30KINGSTON 5 AT OSHAWA 3TUE. APR. 1OSHAWA AT KINGSTOWED. APR. 2KINGSTON AT OSHAWATHU. APR. 3OSHAWA AT KINGSTON<h3>EMMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-239/5336960-1-eng-US/f0044-232.jpg" title="f0044-23" width="564" height="74"></div>(NORTH BAY WINS EIGHT-POINT SERIES 9-1)SUN. MAR. 23LONDON 4 AT NORTH BAY 5TUE. MAR. 25NORTH BAY 4 AT LONDON 4THU. MAR. 27LONDON 2 AT NORTH BAY 5FRI. MAR. 28NORTH BAY 6 AT LONDON 3SUN. MAR. 30LONDON 3 AT NORTH BAY 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-248/5336953-1-eng-US/f0044-242.jpg" title="f0044-24" width="564" height="76"></div>(GUELPH WINS EIGHT-POINT SERIES 8-0)SUN. MAR. 23SUDBURY 3 AT GUELPH 5TUE. MAR. 25GUELPH 6 AT SUDBURY 5THU. MAR. 27SUDBURY 1 AT GUELPH 8FRI. MAR. 28GUELPH 6 AT SUDBURY 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-258/5336946-1-eng-US/f0044-252.jpg" title="f0044-25" width="562" height="84"></div>(WINDSOR WINS EIGHT-POINT SERIES 8-2)SUN. MAR. 23KITCHENER 4 AT WINDSOR 5TUE. MAR. 25WINDSOR 5 AT KITCHENER 4THU. MAR. 27KITCHENER 2 AT WINDSOR 5 FRI. MAR. 28WINDSOR 0 AT KITCHENER 7SUN. MAR. 30KITCHENER 6 AT WINDSOR 7(NOTE: WINDSOR, NORTH BAY AND GUELPH ENTER ROUND-ROBIN TOURNEY TO DETERMINE DIVISION CHAMPION. EACH TEAM PLAYS FOUR GAMES, HOME-AND-HOME AGAINST OTHER TWO TEAMS, WITH TOP TEAM ADVANCING TO OHL FINAL. SAME FORMAT FOR LEYDEN DIVISION, WHERE PETERBOROUGH AND BELLEVILLE AWAIT WINNER OF OSHAWA-KINGSTON SERIES. NO DATES AVAILABLE AT PRESS TIME.)<h2>WHL</h2><h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><h3>QUARTER-FINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-267/5336939-1-eng-US/f0044-262.jpg" title="f0044-26" width="530" height="82"></div>(PORTLAND LEADS BEST-OF-NINE SERIES 3-2)TUE. MAR. 25PORTLAND 7 AT SPOKANE 5WED. MAR. 26SPOKANE 6 AT PORTLAND 3FRI. MAR. 28SPOKANE 6 AT PORTLAND 9SAT. MAR. 29SPOKANE 3 AT PORTLAND 4SUN. MAR. 30PORTLAND 4 AT SPOKANE 3TUE. APR. 1PORTLAND AT SPOKANETHU. APR. 3SPOKANE AT PORTLANDTUE. APR. 8PORTLAND AT SPOKANEWED. APR. 9SPOKANE AT PORTLAND<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-277/5336932-1-eng-US/f0044-272.jpg" title="f0044-27" width="526" height="84"></div>(KAMLOOPS LEADS BEST-OF-NINE SERIES 2-0)FRI. MAR. 28SEATTLE 2 AT KAMLOOPS 10SAT. MAR. 29SEATTLE 2 AT KAMLOOPS 3TUE. APR. 1KAMLOOPS AT SEATTLETHU. APR. 3KAMLOOPS AT SEATTLESAT. APR. 5SEATTLE AT KAMLOOPSMON. APR. 7KAMLOOPS AT SEATTLETUE. APR. 8SEATTLE AT KAMLOOPSWED. APR. 9KAMLOOPS AT SEATTLETHU. APR. 10SEATTLE AT KAMLOOPS<h3>EAST DIVISION</h3>(ROUND-ROBIN SERIES)TUE. MAR. 25LETHBRIDGE 3 AT MEDICINE HAT 5REGINA 3 AT MOOSE JAW 6SASKATOON 4 AT PRINCE ALBERT 6WED. MAR. 26SASKATOON 8 AT MOOSE JAW 4REGINA 4 AT PRINCE ALBERT 7MEDICINE HAT 5 AT LETHBRIDGE 4FRI. MAR. 28REGINA 2 AT SASKATOON 5SAT. MAR. 29PRINCE ALBERT 6 AT LETHBRIDGE 1REGINA 2 AT MEDICINE HAT 7SUN. MAR. 30MOOSE JAW 5 AT SASKATOON 12PRINCE ALBERT 9 AT MEDICINE HAT 4LETHBRIDGE 7 AT REGINA 5<h2>QMJHL</h2><h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>QUARTER-FINALS</h3>(ALL SERIES BEST-OF-NINE)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-287/5336925-1-eng-US/f0044-282.jpg" title="f0044-28" width="528" height="80"></div>(HULL LEADS BEST-OF-NINE SERIES 4-0)TUE. MAR. 25SHAWINIGAN 2 AT HULL 8WED. MAR. 26HULL 8 AT SHAWINIGAN 1FRI. MAR. 28SHAWINIGAN 3 AT HULL 13SUN. MAR. 30HULL 7 AT SHAWINIGAN 5TUE. APR. 1SHAWINIGAN AT HULLWED. APR. 2HULL AT SHAWINIGANFRI. APR. 4SHAWINIGAN AT HULLSUN. APR. 6HULL AT SHAWINIGANMON. APR. 7SHAWINIGAN AT HULL<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-297/5336918-1-eng-US/f0044-292.jpg" title="f0044-29" width="532" height="82"></div>(DRUMV LEADS BEST-OF-NINE SERIES 3-1)SUN. MAR. 23CHICOUTIMI 4 AT DRUMMONDVILLE 5THU. MAR. 27DRUMMONDVILLE 2 AT CHICOUTIMI 5FRI. MAR. 28CHICOUTIMI 1 AT DRUMMONDVILLE 6SUN. MAR. 30DRUMMONDVILLE 3 AT CHICOUTIMI 2TUE. APR. 1CHICOUTIMI AT DRUMMONDVILLETHU. APR. 3DRUMMONDVILLE AT CHICOUTIMIFRI. APR. 4CHICOUTIMI AT DRUMMONDVILLESUN. APR. 6DRUMMONDVILLE AT CHICOUTIMIMON. APR. 7CHICOUTIMI AT DRUMMONDVILLE<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-307/5336911-1-eng-US/f0044-302.jpg" title="f0044-30" width="540" height="84"></div>(ST. JEAN WINS BEST-OF-NINE SERIES 5-0)SUN. MAR. 23ST. JEAN 4 AT VERDUN 3TUE. MAR. 25VERDUN 3 AT ST. JEAN 4THU. MAR. 27ST. JEAN 5 AT VERDUN 4FRI. MAR. 28VERDUN 4 AT ST. JEAN 5SUN. MAR. 30ST. JEAN 7 AT VERDUN 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-316/5336904-1-eng-US/f0044-312.jpg" title="f0044-31" width="532" height="80"></div>(LAVAL LEADS BEST-OF-NINE SERIES 4-0)MON. MAR. 24T-RIVIERES 3 AT LAVAL 4TUE. MAR. 25LAVAL 4 AT T-RIVIERES 1FRI. MAR. 28T-RIVIERES 6 AT LAVAL 9SUN. MAR. 30LAVAL 7 AT T-RIVIERES 5MON. MAR. 31T-RIVIERES AT LAVALWED. APR. 2LAVAL AT T-RIVIERESFRI. APR. 4T-RIVIERES AT LAVALSUN. APR. 6LAVAL AT T-RIVIERESMON. APR. 7T-RIVIERES AT LAVAL<h2>ACHL</h2>(FINAL STANDINGS)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-326/5336897-1-eng-US/f0044-322.jpg" title="f0044-32" width="534" height="199"></div>(TEAMS GET POINT FOR OVERTIME LOSS)<h2>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-335/5336890-1-eng-US/f0044-332.jpg" title="f0044-33" width="531" height="346"></div><h2>TOP GOALTENDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-345/5336883-1-eng-US/f0044-342.jpg" title="f0044-34" width="558" height="175"></div>(Based on 25 games played or 1,500 minutes)<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>SEMI-FINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-353/5336876-1-eng-US/f0044-352.jpg" title="f0044-35" width="528" height="76"></div>(BEST-OF-SEVEN SERIES TIED 1-1)FRI. MAR. 28MOHAWK VALLEY 5 AT CAROLINA 8SAT. MAR. 29MOHAWK VALLEY 3 AT CAROLINA 0<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>THU. APR. 3CAROLINA AT MOHAWK VALLEYFRI. APR. 4CAROLINA AT MOHAWK VALLEYSUN. APR. 6MOHAWK VALLEY AT CAROLINATUE. APR. 8CAROLINA AT MOHAWK VALLEYWED. APR. 9MOHAWK VALLEY AT CAROLINA<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-363/5336869-1-eng-US/f0044-362.jpg" title="f0044-36" width="534" height="79"></div>(ERIE LEADS BEST-OF-SEVEN SERIES 2-0)FRI. MAR. 28VIRGINIA 2 AT ERIE 9SAT. MAR. 29VIRGINIA 3 AT ERIE 7<h2>GAMES TO COME</h2>WED. APR. 2ERIE AT VIRGINIAFRI. APR. 4ERIE AT VIRGINIASAT. APR. 5ERIE AT VIRGINIATUE. APR. 8VIRGINIA AT ERIEWED. APR. 9VIRGINIA AT ERIE<h2>NHL GAMES TO COME</h2><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-38/5336862-1-eng-US/f0046-382.jpg" title="f0046-38" width="544" height="72"></div><h3>APRIL</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-39/5336855-1-eng-US/f0046-392.jpg" title="f0046-39" width="552" height="1082"></div><h2>STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>DIVISION SEMI-FINALS</h3>(BEST-OF-FIVE SERIES)WALES AND CAMPBELL CONFERENCES APRIL9,10,12,13,15.<h3>DIVISION FINALS</h3>(BEST-OF-SEVEN SERIES)WALES CONFERENCEAPRIL 17 19, 21,23, 25, 27, 29.CAMPBELL CONFERENCEAPRIL 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30.<h3>CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP</h3>(BEST-OF-SEVEN SERIES)WALES CONFERENCEMAY 1,3, 5, 7, 9,11, 14.CAMPBELL CONFERENCEMAY 2, 4, 6, 8,10,12,14.<h3>STANLEY CUP FINALS</h3>(BEST-OF-SEVEN SERIES)MAY 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28. &#9632;

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CHRYSLER SCOREBOARD

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NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f00c4-01249/5337645-1-eng-US/f00c4-012.jpg" title="f00C4-01" width="300" height="294"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f00c4-02212/5337638-1-eng-US/f00c4-022.jpg" title="f00C4-02" width="414" height="366"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f00c4-03182/5337631-1-eng-US/f00c4-032.jpg" title="f00C4-03" width="3006" height="235"></div><h2>Few Changes As Star Poll Nears Finale</h2>TORONTO&mdash;The Molson Cup three-star races are nearing an end and it looks as though the current leaders will skate off with the spoils.Starting in Montreal, where little Mats Naslund is running away and hiding on the competition among the Canadiens, to Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s usual romp in Edmonton, most of the names at the top should be the same when the curtain comes down on the fifth and final segment, which also signals the end of the NHL regular season.Besides Naslund and Gretzky, others who are leading the way in the final stages of the three-star balloting are Dale Hawerchuk in Winnipeg, Calgary&rsquo;s Jim Peplinski and Richard Brodeur in Vancouver. The only possible change could occur in Toronto, where Tom Fergus and Russ Courtnall were locked in a first-place battle that was expected to go down to the wire.Here&rsquo;s how the voting looked in the respective Canadian cities with only one week remaining:MONTREAL&mdash;Naslund&rsquo;s overwhelming 215 points not only-makes him No. 1 among the Canadiens but No. 1 in all six cities. His closest rival among the Habs is Guy Carbonneau with 105. However, Naslund lost the fourth segment to defenseman Larry Robinson.TORONTO&mdash;Fergus and Courtnall were fending off a late challenge from Rick Vaive for the overall Molson Cup win among the Maple Leafs. Each had 50 points and Vaive, who won the fourth segment, trailed with 40.WINNIPEG&mdash;Hawerchuk is heading for three-star season honors among the Jets. He has won three of the four segments and leads the overall race with 65 points. Laurie Boschman is second with 45. Defenseman Randy Carlyle won the fourth segment voting.CALGARY&mdash;Peplinski is heading a host of Flames into the closing week of the schedule with 60 points. Tied with 50 are Rejean Lemelin, Hakan Loob and Gary Suter. Joey Mullen, the newly-acquired Flames&rsquo; center, won the fourth segment.EDMONTON&mdash;For the first time in four years, Gretzky appears certain to lose the overall points title, to Montreal&rsquo;s Naslund. The Great One still leads the Oilers with 190 points. Paul Coffey, who won the fourth segment, is second to Gretzky with 85 points.VANCOUVER&mdash;Goa I tender Richard Brodeur, a familiar face at the top of the Canucks&rsquo; Molson Cup voting, leads with 85. Petri Skriko is next with 75. Brodeur was the winner of the fourth segment. &#9679; &#9632;

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April 11, 1986

The Hockey News

NHL SCORING

Vairo Not Comina Back As Assistant Coach

Ornest Says Blues Are Staying Put