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September 5, 1986
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.
THE DAYS OF DEFECTIONS
Scant days apart in July, two of Czechoslovakia’s best young hockey players—center Michal Pivonka and defenseman Frantisek Musil—left behind their pasts for futures in North American professional hockey. Here are their stories. A two-year tale of intrigue that encompassed eight countries concluded July 18 when Czechoslovakian center Michal Pivonka reached the United States and joined the Washington Capitals. Pivonka, 20, and fiancee Renata Nekvindova defected during a vacation in Yugoslavia. They reached the Italian port city of Trieste and traveled to Rome, where they were granted temporary refugee status by an examiner of theU.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. They were flown to New York by Washington general manager David Poile and Jack Button, the Capitals’ personnel director who had been instrumental in maintaining contact with Pivonka since the Capitals drafted the Czechoslovakian in the…
Patrick Is Out, Esposito Is In
Shuffle At The Top Signals A New Start BY WALT MacPEEK NEW YORK—When someone asked Phil Esposito at his first press conference as the New York Rangers’ new general manager whether he planned to be “a wheeler dealer”, the Hall of Fame center laughed at the suggestion…and then went out and acquired four new players in the next 15 days. In addition to obtaining center Kelly Kisio, right winger Lane Lambert and defenseman Jim Leavins from Detroit in exchange for goalie Glen Hanlon and two third-round draft choices, Esposito signed free-agent goalie Doug Soetaert, re-signed left winger Jan Erixon and announced that defenseman Reijo Ruotsalainen will be playing in Switzerland next season. “It’s not always going to be like this,” Esposito said after completing the trade with Detroit. “It’s not part of our plan…
New Line Could Be No. 99, Kurri, Perreault
EDMONTON—Gibert Perreault may be headed for his 36th birthday, but that doesn’t seem to bother Glen Sather. The manager-coach of the dethroned Stanley Cup champions would love to see the veteran Buffalo Sabre forward clothed in the silks of his Edmonton Oilers. In fact, Sather could even envision Perrault filling the role of Wayne Gretzky’s left winger. “I don’t think he’d have any trouble playing with Wayne and Jari (Kurri),” said Sather of the semi-retired Sabre who has left the door open to possibly performing once again…likely somewhere else than Buffalo. Say, for example, in Edmonton, Montreal or Quebec. “Of course, he can still play,” said Sather, who doesn’t think the 16-year National Hockey League veteran will be back in Buffalo. Plus, it only stands to reason the Sabres would like to see their first-ever…
Are French Canadians Being Victimized?
The National Hockey League has been accused of discriminating against French Canadians. A University of Ottawa research paper charges that although French Canadians, on average, peform better than their English-speaking Canadian and American counterparts they are disproportionately represented in the NHL. Marc Lavoie, Gilles Grenier and Serge Coulombe note that French Canadians comprise 25 per cent of Canada’s population but make up just 12 per cent of the Canadians in the NHL. The NHL, argue the three economics professors, discriminates against French Canadians, principally through ignoring them at the entry draft, reported Bill Houston of the Globe and Mail. These facts and contentions are part of a 28-page paper entitled, Discrimination and Performance Differentials in the National Hockey League. The paper’s authors made extensive use of statistical data gathered from the 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons…
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