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

September 26, 1986

The Hockey News September 26, 1986

Look, up in the sky. It&rsquo;s a bird. It&rsquo;s a plane, it&rsquo;s Supermouth!Yes, Don (Grapes) Cherry is back again with an exclusive Before-Everyone-Else, guaranteed What-Will-Happen look at the 1986-87 season.Although this is not an X-rated feature, youngsters such as Mario Lemeiux are recommended to look elsewhere rather than read this.Is Don Cherry full of it? Or is he for real? You be the judge. Take it away. Grapes!<h2>CAMPBELL CONFERENCE SMYTHE DIVISION</h2>EDMONTON: &ldquo;Every two years the Oilers need a good spanking&mdash;and Calgary gave it to them last spring. The Oilers thought they were so smart, and so good, that they didn&rsquo;t have to listen to their coach. Now, they&rsquo;ve learned their lesson and they&rsquo;ll pay attention to Glen Sather.&rdquo;CALGARY: &ldquo;Bob Johnson is nobody&rsquo;s fool but he fools a lot of people into thinking he&rsquo;s a hockey intellectual. He is, but he also ices a tough, grinding team. Guys like Jim Pepl inski and Doug Risebrough have a surplus of heart and they&rsquo;ve got enough good young players&mdash;like Gary Suter for instance&mdash;to finish a strong second.&rdquo;WINNIPEG: &ldquo;It took Dan Maloney two years to become a good coach, and, lucky Jets, the year is now. Maloney&rsquo;s problem is goaltending. Steve Penney had better come up big otherwise Winnipeg will wind up somewhere to the left of Nowhereville. I figure Dale Hawerchuk will take care of the offense. The defense? A lot will depend on whether Randy Carlyle has the legs for one more good year. Figure Winnipeg for third.&rdquo;VANCOUVER: &ldquo;Tom Watt deserves better things. How can a coach not be discouraged looking at a home crowd of 7,000 in Vancouver of all places. Maybe the off-season trades will get the fans behind the Canucks again, especially the one bringing Barry Pederson to B.C. Right now the biggest thing going for the Canucks and their playoff aspirations are the Los Angeles Kings.&rdquo;LOS ANGELES: &ldquo;My heart really bleeds for Marcel Dionne. Here&rsquo;s one of the NHL&rsquo;s class players and every year he watches the Stanley Cup finals from the outside. Poor guy. Between the travel, the weather and the lousy ice at The Forum, the combination kills them every year. I don&rsquo;t see any change this year.&rdquo;<h2>NORRIS DIVISION</h2>CHICAGO: &ldquo;The Blackhawks never live up to their potential and I don&rsquo;t expect that will change this year. They&rsquo;ve got stars like Denis Savard, my buddy Al Secord, Troy Murray and Doug Wilson. That&rsquo;s a lot right there and it&rsquo;ll be enough to get them into first. After that&mdash;don&rsquo;t expect a lot.&rdquo;MINNESOTA: &ldquo;Here&rsquo;s a club that&rsquo;s got enough talent to go all the way to the finals&mdash;if they can get all their troubles sorted out. But, then again, we say that every year. During the regular season they&rsquo;ll be okay and Lome Henning is a first-rate coach.&rdquo;TORONTO: &ldquo;People are putting the knock on John Brophy because he was a rough customer when he played. Everybody expects him to turn the Leafs into a bunch of animals but they&rsquo;re wrong. His teams in Halifax and St. Catharines weren&rsquo;t animals. I like Brophy. The best thing on Toronto is Wendel Clark. He was not only one of the best rookies last year, he was one of the best players in the NHL, a guy who can do everything. They could finish third if Clark doesn&rsquo;t get hurt.&rdquo;ST. LOUIS: &ldquo;How do you replace a genius like Jacques Demers and that&rsquo;s what he is, not to mention an inspiration who gets more out of his players than any coach in the league. I don&rsquo;t envy Jacques Martin following that act. On the other hand, the Blues still have Brian Sutter. The Blues won&rsquo;t do as well as last year, but they&rsquo;re still good enough to make the playoffs.&rdquo;DETROIT: &ldquo;Demers, great as he is, will have it tough for a year just sorting things out. But no team is going into Joe Louis Arena any more laughing and figuring on grabbing two points like they did last year. I hesitate to count them out of a playoff berth. I&rsquo;ll never count out a team with Jacques Demers behind the bench.&rdquo;<h2>WALES CONFERENCE ADAMS DIVISION</h2>QUEBEC: &ldquo;The Nordiques made one big mistake last year. They clinched first place, then relaxed and forgot about the playoffs. That gave them the shock of their lives but it shouldn&rsquo;t hurt them this season; not with Peter Stastny and Michel Goulet popping goals and Dale Hunter giving everyone fits. I like them for first place.&rdquo;MONTREAL: &ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t have amnesia. I know the Canadiens won the Cup last spring, but that&rsquo;s old business. Last year everything that could possibly go right for Montreal&mdash;including Edmonton getting knocked out of the playoffs so early&mdash;went right. It won&rsquo;t happen again. Another problem will be how Patrick Roy stands up over the whole season. One thing about Roy: he won&rsquo;t be like Penney and think he&rsquo;s got his job clinched at training camp. They&rsquo;ll be a strong second.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011365/5246021-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="345" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Fischler</figcaption></div>BOSTON: &ldquo;There&rsquo;s more to Barry Pederson leaving the Bruins than meets the eye. For one thing, Boston wouldn&rsquo;t pay him enough&mdash;but he&rsquo;s gone and now the Bruins have to figure out how to get goals from guys other than Charlie Simmer. If Ricky Middleton doesn&rsquo;t pot 40 for them, the Bruins are in deep trouble. Still, I like them for third.&rdquo;BUFFALO: &ldquo;The trouble with the Sabres is that they&rsquo;re in the wrong division. They finished with 80 points last year and didn&rsquo;t even make the playoffs. That&rsquo;s obscene. Otherwise, I can&rsquo;t figure what&rsquo;s wrong with club. Maybe they ought to try new uniforms. They&rsquo;ll finish fourth.&rdquo;HARTFORD: &ldquo;A year ago I promised that the Whalers wouldn&rsquo;t make the playoffs until the year 2000. So, 1 was wrong by 14 years! It just shows what a few players can do for a team. I&rsquo;m thinking about Kevin Dineen and Stew Gavin, who gave them goals and heart. Their goalie Mike Liut can be one of the NHL&rsquo;s best when he wants to be. Despite their asets the Whalers are not going to make it this year&mdash;and that&rsquo;s no knock against them. It&rsquo;s all because the Adams is such a tough tight division, and anything could happen. It wouldn&rsquo;t surprise me if Hartford wound up on top.&rdquo;<h2>PATRICK DIVISION</h2>PHILADELPHIA: &ldquo;Last spring the Flyers burned themselves out finishing first and Mike Keenan drove them too hard to get there. But coaching is a learning process and he&rsquo;s one of the best. They&rsquo;ll get goals from Tim Kerr but they&rsquo;d better get it from some other guys as well. This is a good, tough team that&rsquo;s still the class of their division.&rdquo;WASHINGTON: &ldquo;Getting knocked off by the Rangers in the playoffs could have a real psychological effect on the Caps. Some people blamed Pete Peeters&rsquo; goaltending but the only time I ever saw a goaltender responsible for the demise of a team was when I had Hardy Astrom with the Rockies. Scott Stevens could be the best all-round defenseman in the league. Bryan Murray is a good coach and should get them into second.&rdquo;ISLANDERS: &ldquo;A lot of people are writing them off because they&rsquo;re in a rebuilding period but I figure Terry Simpson will do a good job. They have the league&rsquo;s best pure scorer in Mike Bossy and fellas like Brent Sutter and Bryan Trottier have a lot of hockey left in them. Third place.RANGERS: &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got the best goaltender (John Vanbiesbrouck) in the league; unless he gets lazy because of his fat, new contract, which is a good start. I hear negative talk about the coach (Ted Sator)&hellip;but I judge a coach by the way his club does in the playoffs and Sator did a great job. The Rangers lacked one thing last year and that was guts. With Phil Esposito managing, it won&rsquo;t happen again. They&rsquo;ll beat out Pittsburgh for a playoff berth.&rdquo;PITTSBURGH: &ldquo;Mario Lemieux, as far as I&rsquo;m concerned, is still a floater. The Penguins needed help in the last 12 games of the season but Mario didn&rsquo;t help them and when your big star does that, you&rsquo;re in deep trouble. Next to Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy, he&rsquo;s the most talented guy in the league but Mario plays when he wants to play. I&rsquo;m still not sold on him.&rdquo;NEW JERSEY: &ldquo;When I had this team in Colorado, we finished with 51 points in 1980. Since then, they spent something like 34 million dollars and they end up with eight more points. The Devils will start out great&mdash;as they usually do&mdash;and, for some strange reason, around Christmas, they will die again. My heart bleeds for Kirk Muller. Any NHL team would love to have him. In the next two or three years this team has to make a move upward.&rdquo;CUP WINNER: &ldquo;Edmonton will beat Phil-ly in the finals.&rdquo;DARK HORSE CUP WINNER: &ldquo;Washington. With all the bad breaks they&rsquo;ve had in the playoffs over the years, they&rsquo;re due for some breaks.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Departments

No Sour Grapes OK, Cherry Makes Picks

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01491/5247004-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

QMJHL SCHEDULE

Dave Keon knew all along that the day he retired from playing professional hockey would be the day he&rsquo;d end any involvement with the game.The spotlight would be turned off and there would be no attempt to coach, scout or manage.But since none of those are prerequisites for gaining induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Keon was able to step back into the limelight once again on Sept. 10 in Vancouver, when he was honored along with former Montreal Canadien great Serge Savard and ex-Boston Bruin Leo Boivin.&ldquo;I always knew when I quit playing that would be it,&rdquo; said Keon, who now lives and sells real estate in West Palm Beach, Fla. &ldquo;The attention that goes with being a hockey player never really bothered me, but I didn&rsquo;t go looking for it either.&ldquo;I enjoyed playing the game. Now, I&rsquo;m just a fan. I see a few games on television, that&rsquo;s it.&rdquo;Keon, one of the greatest little men in the game&rsquo;s history, played 19 professional seasons (14 of them with the Toronto Maple Leafs), scoring 986 points in the National Hockey League and 291 in the World Hockey Association.Unlike Keon, the other two player inductees are still deeply involved in the game.Savard, of course, is the managing director of the defending Stanley Cupchampion Montreal Canadiens and arrived in Vancouver sporting a diamond-studded championship ring.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really big on wearing these,&rdquo; he said of the rings which were presented to the Habs the week before their training camp opened. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a bunch at home. 1&rsquo;11 wear this one for two weeks and put it away in a jewelry box.&rdquo;As for Boivin, the old-style bonecrushing defensive defenseman who is now a scout with the Hartford Whalers, he said his induction into the Hall of Fame was most unexpected.<h2>HOCKEY NOTEBOOK</h2>William Hanley, a longtime secret-ary/manager of the Ontario Hockey Association, was inducted into the builders&rsquo; category while four newspapermen, D. Leo Monahan of Boston, Tim Moriarty of Long Island, Dick Johnston of Buffalo and Zoti-que Lesperance of Montreal, were the media honorees.<h2>PAY-TV SCHEDULE</h2>TSN and ESPN, pay-TV sports networks in Canada and United States, respectively, have released their schedules for the coming NHL season.TSN will broadcast 17 games over the season, 10 of them featuring the Montreal Canadiens. ESPN, which has plans to televise up to 33 games, has released its schedule only up to Dec. 9.TSN: Nov. 17, Boston at Montreal; Dec. 1, Washington at Montreal; Dec. 8, Calgary at Montreal; Dec. 15, Minnesota at New York Rangers; Dec. 22, Pittsburgh at Montreal; Jan. 5, Montreal at Boston; Jan. 12, Toronto at Montreal; Jan. 19, Hartford at Montreal; Jan. 26, Calgary at Toronto; Feb. 2, Philadelphia at Toronto; Feb. 16. Boston at Montreal; Feb. 23, Minnesota at Montreal; Mar. 2, Detroit at Boston; Mar. 9, Toronto at St. Louis; Mar. 16, New York islanders at Montreal; Mar. 23, Edmonton at New Jersey; Mar. 30, New York Rangers at Minnesota.ESPN: Oct. 9, Edmonton at Philadelphia; Oct. 15, Montreal at Buffalo&rsquo;, Oct. 29, Chicago at Detroit; Nov. 4, Washington at New York Islanders; Nov. 18, St. Louis at Minnesota; Nov. 25, Pittsburgh at New York Islanders; Dec. 9, Edmonton at Minnesota.<h2>CAHA UNVEILS PLAN</h2>Rather than forcing young hockey players immediately into competitive situations, CAHA president Murray Costello has announced that the association will be launching a new alternative coaching program designed to help teach the fundamentals of the game.&ldquo;For a great number of years, we&rsquo;ve had what&rsquo;s referred to as &lsquo;survival skills&rsquo; hockey,&rdquo; he told The Globe and Mail. &ldquo;A few practices and a kid was thrown intoacompetitivesituation. He was getting by running on his skates, clutching and grabbing.&ldquo;It works for a little while, but then one day he plays an international game and the European players scoot right past him.&rdquo;The new program, aimed at children five to 10 years of age, will attempt to make first hockey impressions good ones, and will focus on shooting, skating, puck handling and passing. It consists of four stages, each broken into segments of 20 sessions.The plan calls for coaches to cut back on the number of games, using that ice time to develop skills. &#9632;

Hall OfFamer Keon Revels In Role As Fan

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div>&ldquo;I believe it&rsquo;s time for this hockey club to do something&hellip; I think this will be our year.&rdquo;&mdash;Bob ClarkePHILADELPHIA&mdash;It was one of those statements which made the media members rewind the tape machines, and play it over and over again.After all, the guy making the statement was Bob Clarke, the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; third-year general manager who isn&rsquo;t exactly known for making bold statements.Sure, it was one thing when he was a player, spitting out his philosophy, along with some chewing tobacco in the sanctity of the locker room. But since he&rsquo;s turned into general manager he hasn&rsquo;t exactly prescribed to the Lou Nanne school of Open Mouth Diplomacy.Ask him a question and you&rsquo;d get an answer, but he wasn&rsquo;t looking for a way to get his quotes in italics.Thus, when he officially opened the Flyers&rsquo; 20th anniversary season with that quote, just three days before Philadelphia opened its 1986-87 trainingcamp, more than a few eyebrows were raised.Clarke believes that it&rsquo;s time for the Flyers to &ldquo;do something.&rdquo;Let&rsquo;s see now, since Clarke gave up his blue jeans for a blue blazer, all the Flyers have done under third-year coach Mike Keenan is win 53 games each season, capture consecutive Patrick Division championships, and roll to the Stanley Cup finals in 1984.Now, what could Clarke mean by &ldquo;do something&rdquo;? Was he saying it was time to win the Cup?Well, it might have seemed like a brash statement, but Clarke says he isn&rsquo;t going out on the limb just yet.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m saying we&rsquo;re going to compete very strongly to win the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t say we were going to win the Cup. But 1 think we should be one of the elite teams in the league.&ldquo;Two years ago we made the Stanley Cup finals, and everyone was extremely proud. Last season, we stumbled a bit (eliminated in the first round by the Rangers). I think this will be our year.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no excuse if we can&rsquo;t compete on a high level for the Stanley Cup. We can&rsquo;t say we&rsquo;re young any more. You can&rsquo;t say &lsquo;the youthful Flyers&rsquo; any more. You can&rsquo;t say that what happened to (the late) Pelle Lindbergh affects us.&ldquo;We have a lot of kids, but they have years under their belts. They&rsquo;re young, but not inexperienced.&rdquo;One of the people listening to this appraisal was Keenan, the man who will be most responsible forgetting the club to where Clarke thinks it should be. And if he was feeling a little pressured by the assessment, he wasn&rsquo;t letting on.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01621/5246514-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="147" height="121"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel any pressure at all,&rdquo; said Keenan. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had a full summer to evaluate my position, and I&rsquo;m happy. We have a great level of expectations to look forward to as a coaching staff.&ldquo;I think the players are to a point and have reason to look forward to having a good season. They&rsquo;ve won more games in the past two seasons (106 plus 14 in the playoffs) than any other team, and they came through an emotional experience (Lindbergh&rsquo;s death) last year.&rdquo;So, off tljey go toward what they hope is the club&rsquo;s third Stanley Cup in team history.NOTES&mdash;The situation with defenseman Brad McCrimmon went from the back burner to the front when it was learned that Bob Clarke might be shopping the defenseman around. McCrimmon is entering his option year, and three days before camp, he still did not have a contract. McCrimmon. who is currently making about $160,000 per season, is looking to reach the $200,000 level. As it stands, there are almost 40 NHL defensemen who are paid better than McCrimmon, and he would like to be among the top 15 or so. &#9632;

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This Is To Be The Flyers’ Year, Says Clarke

$1.75 64522 THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY September 26, 1986 Vol. 40, No. 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01819/5247149-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg" title="Cover-01" width="657" height="730"><figcaption class="caption-body">Penguins Say He&rsquo;ll Make Shift To Lemieux&rsquo;s Wing, Not Another Team/6</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-02502/5247142-1-eng-US/cover-022.jpg" title="Cover-02" width="738" height="985"><figcaption class="caption-body">SABRE SEEKS THE EDGE</figcaption></div><h2>Why Buffalo&rsquo;s Tom Barrasso Won&rsquo;t Be As Outspoken/13</h2><h2>Meet Pro Hockey&rsquo;s Biggest Sinner/3</h2><h2>Major Jr. Previews And Schedules/26</h2><h2>Get Your Guide To Buying Sticks/S1</h2>Photos by Bruce Bennett<h2>ST. PATRICK&rsquo;S DAY Has ItAlreadyArrived In Montreal?</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-03228/5247135-1-eng-US/cover-032.jpg" title="Cover-03" width="2109" height="2576"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Don Dixon)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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The Hockey News

<h2>The Penalty (And L. A.?) King</h2>The most heavily-penalized hockey player in the world does not believe in love at first bite.But Chris McSorley will long be remembered for a &lsquo;Big Me Attack&rsquo; in the International League two years ago.The Toledo Goaldigger was suspended late in the 1984-85 season for the balance of the year after allegedly biting the tip of the nose off of rugged Marc Magnan, a member of the Indianapolis Checkers.&ldquo;Nobody saw it (the biting),&rdquo; remembers IHL commissioner Bud Poile, who suspended McSorley. &ldquo;But he did it&hellip;1 was there the night he bit Magnan. They fought and both got penalties&hellip; A few minutes later I got called to the dressing room and that&rsquo;s when he (Magnan) showed me the bite marks. You could see the teeth marks on his nose, no question about it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011306/5245697-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="343" height="466"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Dryden</figcaption></div>McSorley denies biting Magnan and points out a subsequent lawsuit against him was dropped but there&rsquo;s no denying the image conveyed by the incident is accurate.The center is, first and foremost, a disturber-&hellip;an enforcer. And nobody, with apologies to National Hockey League penalty leader Joey Kocur, does it better.McSorley, 24, collected 545 penalty minutes last year&mdash;12 short of an IHL record and more than anyone in the National, American, Atlantic Coast, Ontario, Quebec or Western Leagues.Appropriately, the man who crowned a host of players last year is this year trying out for the Kings. Los Angeles, that is.They signed him this past summer&hellip;and it wasn&rsquo;t just forhis good looks, although McSorley believes the 55 points he earned last year were considered as much as his outrageous penalty total.&ldquo;Rogie Vachon (the Kings&rsquo; general manager) made a point of saying he wants me to be able to play both aspects of the game,&rdquo; says McSorley. &ldquo;He wants a player who&rsquo;ll get his nose dirty but he still wants a player who can play the game.&rdquo;The Kings are commited to giving McSorley a fighting chance, so to speak. Sources close to the team say that the Cayuga, Ont., native is guaranteed a certain number of NHL games this season&mdash;an astonishing circumstance for someone who has played in the IHL for the past two seasons.McSorley is a trained kickboxer, but doesn&rsquo;t fit the physical image of hockey enforcer, better typified by Marty McSorley&mdash;Chris&rsquo; 6-foot-1, 190-pound brother who earned 265 penalty minutes with the Edmonton Oilers last year. Chris is 5-foot-ll and 185 pounds, which makes him smaller than most NHL heavyweights.McSorley is forthright about his place in hockey but insists his own frequent fighting program is not pre-mediated.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been a reaction player,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Something happens and you react. I love the physical aspects of the game but still I&rsquo;d rather raise my hands after a goal than raise them for a fight.&rdquo;One player McSorley has no intention of fighting is his brother, Marty. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s going to run me and I&rsquo;m going to run him but you don&rsquo;t ever fight your brother,&rdquo; says McSorley, who comes from a family of seven boys and three girls.There is more to McSorley than meets the eye.&ldquo;On one side,&rdquo; says Rick Curran, his agent, &ldquo;he&rsquo;s on the ice and he bites the nose off of someone. And on the other hand he&rsquo;s one of the most thoughtful people I&rsquo;ve ever met.&rdquo;McSorley, for instance, enclosed an extra $50 for Curran&rsquo;s secretary when he sent the Toronto agent his fees. The reason&mdash;McSorley wanted her to go out for a nice lunch because of all the work she had done on his behalf.McSorley is also sincere, however much he might stretch one&rsquo;s incredulity. Told that the NHL has vowed to crack down on fighting with the imposition of harsher penalties, he responds in character.&ldquo;I guess for all the unnecessary fighting I think it will be good,&rdquo; McSorley says before chuckling and adding the kicker. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve never considered one of my fights to be unnecessary.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had over 800 (penalty) minutes in two years and I can never think of one of my fights as being unnecessary. That sounds very dum-b&hellip;I don&rsquo;t blame you for laughing.&rdquo;As always, the punchline is left to Chris McSorley.<h2>On The Way Back&mdash;Matt Christensen</h2>Those who choose to self-destruct in the sports world deserve our sympathy.Those who have no choice in the matter deserve our compassion.Matt Christensen clearly falls into the second group&mdash;a victim whose body failed him at the crudest of times.Christensen, 22, was on the brink of something good and maybe, just maybe, something great. Nearing the end of a superb career at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, the native of Aurora, Minn., was within three points of the school record for career points (222).And as the season drew closer to the end of the 1985-86 season, the senior center was drawing closer to his lifelong ambition of playing in the NHL.It was within reach. The St. Louis Blues had drafted him in 1982, and now, after four years of college hockey, he seemed both ready and able to bridge the gap.Until Feb. 9, 1985 when he suddenly collapsed while fooling around with friends, playing &lsquo;boot hockey&rsquo; on an outdoor rink.Christensen had endured the first of two strokes he would suffer within days. He only just escaped with his life.&ldquo;It was very serious,&rdquo; says Dr. Bob Donley, who treated him at St. Luke&rsquo;s Hospital in Duluth. &ldquo;He certainly could have died with it. The angiograms indicate the inside lining of a blood vessel had a little tear in it.&ldquo;And that produced a little clot that migrated out to the arteries supplying the brain. That tear was not caused by anything he did or any trauma from hockey.&rdquo;Christensen&rsquo;s season, of course, ended. UMD&rsquo;s, too, for all intents and purposes, was also over. The hockey team, 25-8-2 before the loss of Christensen who played alongside Brett Hull, finished its year with just one victory in seven games.Christensen&rsquo;s recovery has been both impressive and heartwarming.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021064/5245690-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1256" height="2392"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03693/5245683-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="573" height="934"><figcaption class="caption-body">Matt Christensen is on the road to recovery after suffering two strokes while tough guy Chris McSorley, inset, is aiming for a berth on the Los Angeles Kings.</figcaption></div>Originally paralyzed on his right side by the force of the two strokes, Christensen has regained full movement and estimates he is back to 85 per cent strength.And, most importantly for him, he&rsquo;s skating again. &ldquo;It was pretty shaky at first but once I got on the ice I got used to it,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I hope to get back to 100 per cent and give it a try.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rdquo; is the NHL. He has not surrendered his dream. But for now he won&rsquo;t be playing. He&rsquo;s returned to UMD to finish his degree in commerce and help out head hockey coach Mike Sertich.The Blues have been helpful and encouraging. Ron Caron, the director of hockey operations, invited Christensen to be a guest of the Blues at their first playoff game with the Minnesota North Stars last year.But for a quirk of fate, Christensen might have been in the lineup. The Blues were mulling over the possibility of bringing him up once UMD&rsquo;s season finished.Caron said the Blues will get back to Christnsen sometime this season. He has told Christensen that when the former UMD standout is ready to attempt a comeback the Blues will take a long look. If they aren&rsquo;t satisfied with his health, and Christensen feels otherwise, the forward will be granted complete freedom to cut his own deal, according to Caron.In the meantime, Christensen will continue to work towards his objective&hellip;and probably wonder, from time to time, the same thing he did last February&mdash;&ldquo;Why did it happen me?&rdquo;<h2>A Strange Feeling&mdash;Jack Evans</h2>Quote of the week:&ldquo;In my first year here, when people asked me what I did and I told them that I was coach of the Hartford Whalers, they looked at me as if I were an AIDS carrier.&rdquo;&mdash;Jack Evans, &#9632;

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STOPS ‘N’ STARTS

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><h2>Canadians Not Depending On Rule Changes</h2>CALGARY&mdash;Canada&rsquo;s national hockey team will not undergo major structural changes&mdash;even if the International Olympic Committee softens its eligibility code to accommodate professionals at the Olympic Games.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see a total revamping or re-evaluation of our program,&rdquo; said Dave King, the national team&rsquo;s coachgeneral mamager. &ldquo;I think we have a nucleus of players who can play in the Olympics regardless of what the eligibility rule said.&rdquo;Our policy has been to operate with the assumption that the rules may change but it would be foolish for us to keep a player who is a long, longshot to make the team. I&rsquo;d rather go with a smaller roster rather than disappoint someone that way further along.&rdquo;King&rsquo;s comments came in response to a decision by the IOC&rsquo;s eligibility commission to open the Winter Games to all professional hockey players, including National Hockey Leaguers.The 13-member eligibility commission&rsquo;s decision will be presented to the full IOC at its annual congress next month in Lausanne, Switz., where it will be put to a vote. If the verdict is favorable, Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland may be able to use current and former NHLers on their Olympic hockey teams as early as 1988 in Calgary.One former NHL player who has indicated interest in playing for the Olympic team is recently-retired Edmonton Oiler defenseman Randy Gregg.King said he&rsquo;d look into the possibility of including Gregg, who played for Canada in the &rsquo;80 Winter Games.Just how much of an impact such a rule change would have is debatable. The chances of the NHL shutting down its operation for three weeks in February of 1988 are considered minimal by all the parties involved.Calgary Flames&rsquo; general manager Cliff Fletcher said the matter would eventually have to be discussed at the league level.&ldquo;At that time of year, as opposed to when they play the Canada Cup tournament (in September) you&rsquo;re looking at the possibility of injuries which could be potentially devastating.&rdquo; said Fletcher. &ldquo;It could cost a team the playoffs or the Stanley Cup. What would happen if Wayne Gretzky broke his leg March I playing in the Olympics? How would you compensate Edmonton for that?&ldquo;Would you extend the schedule another three weeks. That would mean the hockey season would go until the end of June. Would there be any compensation for the players and the clubs involved? There arc lots of problems. Personally. I don&rsquo;t think the issue will be addressed until there&rsquo;s a final decision as to what the rule is.&rdquo;King said he found out about the proposed change on the third leg of the national team&rsquo;s recently-completed European tour.&ldquo;When we got out of Kiev and into Germany, our host brought us a newspaper article written in German that he translated for us. From what l under-stand, it is only a recommendation. It is not official. Now it goes to Lausanne for a vote. We&rsquo;re waiting anxiously to see if it&rsquo;s going to pass or not.&rdquo;King added that the rule change, if it does go through. may not go into effect until 1992.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s another factor to consider.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But the players in our program know this. It isn&rsquo;t a surprise to them. There&rsquo;s risk involved. They have to prove they can play.&rdquo;Canada&rsquo;s national team finished its 11-game tour with a.500 record&mdash;5-5-l. It was 1-2-1 in Finland, 1-3 in the Soviet Union and 3-0 in West Germany.&ldquo;We went over to give our new players an orientation to international hockey and to give ourselves a chance to evaluate them,&rdquo; said King.&ldquo;When you get over there against the top Soviet teams it becomes clear that some people just aren&rsquo;t good enough.&rdquo;As a result, the national team dropped seven players from its roster upon its return: Wayne Crawford, Mike Pre-stidge, Kevan Melrose, Wayne Groulx, Brian McKinnon, Marc Chartier and Stephane Roy.Roy left the national team to attend the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; training camp but King said he may be reevaluated at a later date. The others were released outright. Joining the team for its exhibition games against NHL opponents are center Doug Harris from Michigan Tech and right winger Paul Adey from Peoria. &#9632;

INTERNATIONAL REPORT

<div class="byline">BY DAVID JOHNSTON</div><h2>Encore Is Toughest Performance</h2>Even now, the image caught by local television cameras remains embedded in the minds of hockey fans in Quebec, this complex province/nation where the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; CH logo is, as general manager Serge Savard says, the symbol of the French-Canadian race.The image is of a 20-year-old man in a white suit from an upper-middle-class suburb of Quebec City. He is a rookie goaltender and he and his team have just returned home in a chartered jet from Calgary, after winning the Stanley Cup.It is 6:30 a.m. and he is running in heavy fog outside the airport&rsquo;s main doors, beside an escort of Mounties, through a crowd of 10,000, to a limousine 500 yards away. You knew, from that moment on, that Patrick Roy&rsquo;s life would never be the same.How could it be? After a respectable but inconsistent regular season, he stunned the hockey world by winning the Conn Smythe Trophy, with a 1.92 goals-against average. He said he talked to his own goal posts and that they talked back; he grinned and said the posts normally say &lsquo;Ping&rsquo;, which is French for Bang&rsquo;.He was an intriguing character, the son of a vice-president of the Quebec Automobile Insurance Board, an avid reader who sang Bruce Springsteen songs on team flights, a parttime deejay on Musique Plus, French-language television&rsquo;s equivalent of MuchMusic or MTV.He was a product of Quebec&rsquo;s Quiet Revolution, one of the new wave of young French-Canadian players in the league now who aren&rsquo;t from families of modest means. A rich kid who chose hockey over law.Sixteen years ago, another Canadiens&rsquo; goaltender who chose hockey over law. this one from middle-cass Toronto, won the Conn Smythe in his first playoff season.But will Patrick Roy prove to be another Ken Dryden on ice, or is he another Steve Penney, the latest of a half-dozen goalies who, in the past few years, have shone in their first season or two but then faltered?The game gets faster and the players get bigger, and the goalies entering the league get more unpredictable.One thing is certain: Roy&rsquo;s career has unalterably changed. He will play this season in a fish bowl, his every move scrutinized, his every statement interpreted several ways, his every mood swing judged in terms of his spectacular performance last spring.There is probably no person in North America who knows better what Roy must be thinking these days than the philospher-king Dryden, who showed up at training camp for his first full season in autumn, 1971, haunted by the shadow of similarly high expectations.&ldquo;The thing I remember most,&rdquo; recalls Dryden, &ldquo;is just feeling a need to start well and that after a Conn Smythe-winning playoff there are expectations and, in part, they are ones I had of myself but that was irrelevant because others had them of me.&ldquo;You just knew that almost immediately the judgments would come and come quickly&mdash;whether you&rsquo;re really as good as last spring, or just an anomaly. And when the judgments come, it&rsquo;s a little difficult if they&rsquo;re bad, to have people swarming over you, asking you why you aren&rsquo;t the way you were.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011209/5245773-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="957" height="1021"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Canadiens are hoping that Patrick Roy</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02889/5245766-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="961" height="1668"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03623/5245759-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="961" height="1644"><figcaption class="caption-body">turns out more like Ken Dryden</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04412/5245752-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="963" height="1024"><figcaption class="caption-body">than Steve Penney</figcaption></div>&ldquo;People are very ready to make that next judgment. The media is. The fans are. The rest of the league is. They&rsquo;re ready and poised. What you want to have happen is start well and you&rsquo;re playing and there&rsquo;s a certain unspoken judgment on you, of you, and you can just play.&rdquo;Roy nods over and over when Dryden&rsquo;s comments are related to him. &ldquo;Some goaltenders play well in their first year and expect things will be easy in their second year,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But they forget how much work you have to do in training camp. It&rsquo;s important to work hard. The most important thing is the desire to practise, the desire to win.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter if they get five, 10 or 20 goals against you. What&rsquo;s important is that your technique is good and not to let in bad goals. You know if you give 100 per cent you&rsquo;re going to be good.&rdquo;Savard is confident Roy will perform well this season and is not a flash in the pan. Reason: Roy has a good glove hand. In Savard&rsquo;s mind, many goalers who have faltered this decade after promising debuts were not particularly good with their glove, could not rely on their catching hand to compensate for errors of technique or positioning.&ldquo;Shots are getting better every year,&rdquo; said Savard. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to have a good glove hand these days. Roy works very hard in practice, something Penney did not do in Montreal on a consistent basis. He offers a concentrated effort each time out, and in this training camp he has often stayed on ice after practice to take extra shooting practice.&rdquo;&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re new,&rdquo; says Dryden, &ldquo;anything you can provide a team is unexpected and special. So you can get judged as a prodigy, with people overlooking things about you that aren&rsquo;t so great.&ldquo;But eventually the 14-year-old begomes a 17-year-old and than a 26-year-old, and you&rsquo;re not looking for the prodigy any more; you&rsquo;re looking for the artist. You have to grow and meet new standards. And the standards for a goalie are not occasional. It&rsquo;s not the spectacular game, but the routine good performances day after day.&rdquo;His glove hand and desire to practise are two reasons why many observers in Montreal doubt Roy is another Penney. What&rsquo;s more, Roy performed consistently well before arriving in Montreal last year.First, he was the best goalie in the Quebec League in 1984-85, often facing 55 shots a game on a weak team. Second, when he was promoted to the Canadiens&rsquo; Sherbrooke farm club for the 1985 Calder Cup playoffs, he played so well he was voted playoff MVP. Third, of course, was last spring&rsquo;s performance. Roy has shown in three leagues that he performs best when he is busy and/or under pressure to play at his best.Whether he is another Dryden is more difficult to ascertain. Comparisons with the Toronto-based Ontario Youth Comissioner, who was named to five first all-star teams and one second, don&rsquo;t come as easily. But as Dryden says, &ldquo;Certainly, he is in the right position. Success for Patrick is simply a matter of application.&rdquo;Of applying himself; which he is doing.David Johnston covers the Canadiens for the Montreal Gazette. &#9632;

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COVER STORY

WHEN LAST SPRING&rsquo;S playoffs flew over the cuckoo&rsquo;s nest, it was considered, depending upon your loyalties, either grand or nonsensical. Certainly nobody in Hartford, Toronto, St. Louis or Calgary was complaining.As a result, one can&rsquo;t remember another season which dawns with so many teams having reason to believe they are on the upswing. Now comes reality. The teams that dropped those playoff bombs will, in one month&rsquo;s time, have to begin living with the fallout.There is also the matter of the presumed class teams trying to prove what happened in April was an accident. It&rsquo;s going to be hot in 1986-87. Can these guys stand the heat?Scotty Bowman, please take the first chair. You picked George Maguire&rsquo;s pocket and brilliantly maneuvered yourself into six No. I choices in the 1982 and 1983 drafts. Now it looks like you took the wrong guys.Your owners hesitated, then gave you another chance. Now you have to prove you&rsquo;ve given yourself one with the team you&rsquo;ve put together.Serge Savard, here&rsquo;s a love seat for you. Oh, the Montreal fans are smart enough to realize that you triumphed over a reduced field and probably won&rsquo;t demand a repeat. But the Canadiens still have to get better than Quebec and go far enough in the playoffs to prove that the surprise Cup wasn&rsquo;t a total accident.Bob Pulford, pull up a chair. Minnesota has finally straightened out its coaching situation and appears to be on the rebound, so keeping your head above water in the stagnant Norris Division pond isn&rsquo;t going to be good enough any more. With a rare burst of daring, you stole a defenseman, Gary Nylund, away from the Leafs. Now you only need two more.Ted Sator, there&rsquo;s an opening in the Garden blue seats for you. Last row, please, those people are not the kind you should turn your back on. You have a new general manager who says you&rsquo;re okay, but he&rsquo;s not the guy who hired you. You are trying to change an attitude and with the babies gone, you have a better chance than ever to do it your way. It would help, however, if you had some more players.Pat Quinn, this hot tub is for you. In two cities now, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, you&rsquo;ve had excellent first years and then slipped back. The honeymoon is over, and years of neglect of the Los Angeles franchise is now your problem. Best of luck, and about five players, please, to you.Badger Bob Johnson, you bum with intensity. Let&rsquo;s hope smoke doesn&rsquo;t get into the Calgary fans&rsquo; eyes. You beat Edmonton once. They liked it so much in Calgary, now you only have to do it again. Cliff Fletcher has a good track record for sticking by his coaches. The public has a way of sticking coaches with knives.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011391/5245804-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="333" height="466"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jay Greenberg</figcaption></div>John Ferguson, your cigar has exploded in your face. The burns are third degree and so will the interrogation be if last year&rsquo;s slide proves permanent. Your up-and-comers appear to have come and gone.John Brophy, you have decided to lie down on Harold Ballard&rsquo;s bed of nails. Best of luck to you. We hope you like ridicule. What&rsquo;s scary is that the Toronto owner might take last year&rsquo;s burst of playoff sucess seriously and really believe his team is more than marginally improved.Bryan Murray, you&rsquo;ve been cooking up a contender for so long your meat appears over done. Another playoff defeat last year changed the Caps prognosis from &ldquo;up and coming&rdquo; to &ldquo;something&rsquo;s missing&rdquo;. You can only be promising for so long before you become disappointing. Now you have to replace Bengt Gustafsson and convince people you can challenge with that goaltending.Mike Keenan, this stew&rsquo;s for you. Hockey wore its heart on its sleeve over what you did again last year, winning 53 games despite the death of a Vezina-winning goalie. So the playoff loss went down with few recriminations. Now, when the general manager says its time to do something its clear he means in the playoffs.Terry Simpson, welcome to the NHL inferno. You&rsquo;re the guy following a guy who won four Stanley Cups. There are enough veterans left to both win some games and make the transition sticky. You know enough to be yourself, but a lot of people will still think you&rsquo;re supposed to be Al Arbour.Michel Bergeron, grab a towel, please. We&rsquo;ll meet you in the sauna. Montreal won and you didn&rsquo;t and you know what that means in Quebec.It&rsquo;ll be hot in Edmonton too, with or without jokes about what the Oilers may or may not have been doing in their spare time. There is little question that they can bounce back. The threat is implied that they&rsquo;d better. &#9632;

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Will Bowman Make Good On Second Chance?

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;It has evolved into a veritable rite of spring for the Pittsburgh Penguins, like stashing their skates and calling about tee times after the 80th regular-season game.At the end of each year, management professes bitter disappointment that center Mike Bullard has failed to fully realize his magnificent potential, and vows that when autumn returns to Western Pennsylvania, Bullard will not.So it is not surprising the Penguins finally have carried out their threats to move Bullard.What was not expected, however, was that the move would be to another position, not another employer.But perhaps the most significant development to come out of training camp this year will be Bullard&rsquo;s adjustment to his proposed transfer to left wing.Preliminary plans are to play him with all-star center Mario Lemieux and right winger Dwight Mathiasen, who joined the Penguins from the University of Denver with four games left last season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021001/5245842-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="567" height="732"><figcaption class="caption-body">Flashy Mike Bullard is coming off a year of 83 points, including 41 goals.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;That could be a very potent line,&rdquo; Penguin general manager Eddie Johnston said.Despite the Penguins&rsquo; oft-proclaimed unhappiness with Bullard, it remains he is an immaculately-gifted offensive player. He had 41 goals in 77 games last year, and was an all-star center in 1984.The switch was motivated, at least in part, by the dearth of goal scorers on the wings.Terry Ruskowski, who played on Lemieux&rsquo;s left side most of last year, was the Penguins&rsquo; most productive winger with 26 goals.Next was right winger Ron Duguay, who had six goals in 13 games after being acquired from the Detroit Red Wings last March. He finished the year with 25 goals, making him the only other Penguin winger to breach the 20-goal mark.Ruskowski and Duguay likely will team with second-year center Craig Simpson, whose playing time is expected to increase dramatically, on the No. 2 line.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03650/5245835-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="149" height="125"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2>If the Penguins are to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in five years, they will need more production from players other than the wings.There is, for example, an urgent need for a lefthanded defenseman to complement the offensive skills of righthanded defenseman Moe Mantha.&ldquo;I think our defense was sound last year,&rdquo; coach Bob Berry said. &ldquo;The one thing we missed last year was someone to control the situation back on the point.&rdquo;The player projected to fill that void&mdash;No. 1 draft pick Zarley Zalaps-ki&mdash;has announced his intention to return to the Canadian Olympic program after training camp, which means much of the Penguins&rsquo; success this year will hinge on the play of third-year defenseman Doug Bodger.The Penguins made Bodger the ninth player drafted in 1984 largely because of his offensive skills, but he has yet to develop into a major force in the Pittsburgh attack.Bodger, who recently signed a new contract, had four goals and 33 assists in 79 games last season.&ldquo;Bodger got off to a slow start last year,&rdquo; Berry said. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t come (to camp) in very good shape.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got to be a much better player for us than he was last year. He&rsquo;s got to be 15 per cent better for us, minimum.&rdquo;Still, the Penguins can be expected io devote much of training camp to working on preventing, not just scoring, goals.Goalies Gilles Meloche and Robert Romano were sound for most of last season, although Romano faded badly down the stretch as the Penguins ultimately missed the final Patrick Division playoff berth by two points.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s something I feel confident will be a good position for us,&rdquo; Berry said.He acknowledged some uneasiness born out of Romano&rsquo;s late-season struggles&mdash;&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s a concern, but I don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s a worry right now&rdquo;&mdash;but said the reviews from his summer of film-watching were surprisingly positive.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve spent some time looking at (tapes of) last year&rsquo;s games and I don&rsquo;t know if I was just fortunate, but they&rsquo;ve always been ones we played pretty solid in.&rdquo;What remains to be determined is whether the foundation laid last year will be solid enough to support a playoff team. &#9632;

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Talented Bullard Will Play On Mario’s Left

I READ WITH interest that Bill LaForge, the coach of the Ontario League&rsquo;s Hamilton Steelhawks, is introducing mandatory drug testing for all his players this year.Although it&rsquo;s always preferable that we eliminate drugs from professional sport, you have to wonder about the coercive aspect of the tests. There&rsquo;s no choice.I understand that drug testing through urinalysis is only about 90 per cent accurate. That&rsquo;s a good mark on a test paper in school, but what if a player is in the 10 per cent &rsquo;mistake&rsquo; margin? Does he get the boot even if he is completely innocent? And his good name&mdash;does it get dragged through the mud?Despite the fact that the majority will be correctly diagnosed, there is still that nagging 10 percent who will not. And it is for them, the minority, that drug testing must not be made mandatory in the NHL. They have their livelihoods and their rights to protect, and their freedom as individuals must be put above the policing of a player&rsquo;s personal pharmaceutical problem.P. Alice Clarkson, Providence. RIMAD ABOUT HABSAfter enduring a long hot, bug-infested summer my diligence was recently rewarded with the arrival of the Sept. 5th issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS. My feelings, however, soon turned into disgust once 1 noticed the advertisement for THE HOCKEY NEWS 1987 Yearbook.Why did the editors of the yearbook devote approximately 80 per cent of the available space on the front cover to a team which was bounced in the second round of the playoffs? And only 20 per cent to the Stanley Cup champions?Wake up and smell the roses (fleur-de-lys?). Although the Habs outsmarted the pre-Cup analysis of all of your reporters, they did in fact display all of the qualities of a true champion. Accordingly, your Yearbook should applaud this achievement.<h2>FAN FORUM</h2>Oh yes, heaven forbid, knock on wood, but if the Habs are bounced in the second round of the playoffs this year, can we expect them to be on 80 per cent of the 1988 Yearbook cover?Don Routledge, Fort Simpson, NWTGET REAL!It is an absolute travesty for the NHL to suspend Toronto Maple Leaf defenseman Borje Salming for recently admitting to using cocaine five years ago. By taking such drastic action the NHL is only pushing the omnipresent drug problem that exists in all professional sports further under the carpet.Salming should not be rewarded for his honesty about experimenting with something as dangerous as cocaine (or any other drug for that fact) but by punishing him for his use five years ago the NHL is sending out a message to its players: it&rsquo;s better to hide past, or worse, current drug use. rather than come forward and get help.The other sports associations have sweeping programs to help their players come to grips with their drug problems by encouraging voluntary disclosures. John Ziegler must be blind or crazy to think that Salming is the only hockey player to experiment with drugs.Unless the NHL is willing to come to terms with the fact that some of its players have, and probably are using drugs, then the NHL is lagging far behind other professional sports leagues in coming to grips with reality.Lewis S. Wiener, Washington. DCLet your voice be heard. Send your comments to Fan Forum, THE HOCKEY NEWS, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 2R2. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

Potential For Wrongs Doesn’t Make It Right

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011325/5245904-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div>CONSIDER THIS the state-of-the-union address of THE HOCKEY NEWS.This issue marks the beginning of THN&rsquo;s 40th year of publishing. Evolving from humble origins in 1947, we at THN strive to maintain our modesty and let you, our readers, judge the product we present to you 40 times a year.But since it is the first issue of a new volume, there is no better time than now to outline some of the changes/improvements we&rsquo;ve made for the coming season.The first thing you may notice is the look.There are alterations, but they&rsquo;re not radical. We like to think it&rsquo;s a cleaner, more streamlined paper, designed to be easier and more enjoyable to read.We&rsquo;ve modernized our graphics, livened up the front page and, hopefully, added a little panache to what, admittedly in the past, has sometimes been a victory of substance over style.Which is not to say we&rsquo;ve sacrificed any of our substance. We know our readers well enough to know that you don&rsquo;t mess with the meat and potatoes.The bottom line is that we strive to be the most informative and entertaining source of all hockey news and views. The changes we&rsquo;ve made for this season are aimed at achieving that goal and that goal only.Take Stops &rsquo;N&rsquo; Starts, a new feature that you&rsquo;ll find on page three each week. THN assistant editor Steve Dryden will regale you with interesting behind-the-scenes stories that broaden your hockey horizons.We&rsquo;ll continue, of course, to provide full-page cover stories that not only profile the greats of the game, but also tackle the tough issues of hockey in the 1980s.Our editorial page, the one you are reading right now. has undergone renovations. There&rsquo;s a new look, although both Dave Elston&rsquo;s editorial cartoon and Fan Forum, an opportunity for our readers to speak out, are both back.The only substantive change is that the weekly editorial, which carried no byline, has been replaced by this column. If there are issues that require comment, we&rsquo;ll discuss them here.We&rsquo;ve also introduced some new features. Take a look at page 34 of this issue and you&rsquo;ll see The Way We Were, a weekly pictorial feature that will take you back to the good, old days. The popular Where Are They Now? feature has been renamed Then And Now and redesigned, as has This Week In Hockey History, a feature that looks at our hockey past.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021096/5245897-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="411" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie</figcaption></div>Once every four issues, we&rsquo;ll have a humor column with Dave Molinari. He&rsquo;s a very funny guy and wouldn&rsquo;t you be if you grew up following the Pittsburgh Penguins. Guest Shot, an open forum for members of the hockey community to speak out on whatever excites them, will also be along once a month.As always, columnists at THN play an important role.This year you&rsquo;ll get a weekly diet of Stan Fischler, Jay Greenberg and Frank Orr. Steve Simmons and Barry Meisel come your way every other week as do Al Strachan and either the Guest Shot or Humor feature. And don&rsquo;t forget Bob Duff and Bruce Hood with their popular Ask The Duffer and Ask The Referee features.Then there is Bluelines, the most widely-read feature in THN. Who says people don&rsquo;t like their weekly fix of gossip?Until the regular season gets under way, our weekly statistics will be absent but we&rsquo;ll make up for that once the season begins with an expanded statistics package that you&rsquo;re going to love. In addition to the standard numbers, we&rsquo;ll also offer innovative and interpretive ways of measuring performance with statistics.Also on the coming soon list is a monthly international report, which will detail relevant happenings in the hockey scene outside North America. And we can&rsquo;t overlook the soon-to-be released weekly crossword puzzle. Then there is the&hellip;Well, you get the idea. Each and every week, we at THN are going to bust our butts to give you everything your hockey heart desires.Still, we want to hear from you. Many of the changes that have been instituted are a result of reader surveys and input from our fans. Your feedback gives us direction and a purpose.Inform and entertain. That&rsquo;s our mandate.And we firmly believe that the 1986-87 season will be the most informative and entertaining yet.Stay tuned&hellip; &#9632;

f0008-01

Inform And Entertain: That Is Our Mandate

<div class="byline">BY BOB McKENZIE Editor-in-Chief</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;All eyes on the officials.The smart money says that&rsquo;s where you should be focusing your attention during the 1986-87 National Hockey League pre-season schedule.The NHL board of governors&mdash;which met here on Sept. 10-11 with sessions sandwiched around the Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremonies&mdash;made that clear when it announced a number of pre-season experimentations.The emphasis is two-fold: curbing violence and speeding up the game.The most significant rule changes that will be tried out involve fighting and high sticking. The governors, acting on a report from the league&rsquo;s general managers, approved a new policy aimed at hitting the instigators of fights with tougher penalties.&ldquo;We look at this not as a form of punishment, but prevention,&rdquo; said NHL president John Ziegler. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re telling (hockey) people to be alert and be aware that there is a new approach.&rdquo;Traditionally, referees have assessed equal punishment in fights&mdash;usually five-minute majors to the two combatants. Now, whenever possible, they&rsquo;ll be identifying who instigated the fight to assess extra minor, major, 10minute misconduct or game misconduct penalties as they see fit.Any player who instigates two fights will be given an automatic game misconduct and any player who gets two majors in a game will get an automatic 10-minute misconduct.In theory it all makes sense, but the fighting crackdown raises two questions:&bull; Didn&rsquo;t the officials, courtesy of Rule 54(a), already have the power to assess instigator penalties in fights?&bull; Will the officials fully prosecute to the letter of the new law?The answers are as follows:&ldquo;It&rsquo;s true that Rule 54(a) allowed the referee to penalize the instigator,&rdquo; said NHL executive director of hockey operations Jim Gregory. &ldquo;But to do that, he had to assess a game mis-conSuct and not many referees want to determine who wins or loses a game.&ldquo;The new rules give the officials more leeway. And now, the referee can consult with the linesmen to determine who started a fight. He couldn&rsquo;t before.&rdquo;As for the officials being more vigilant, Ziegler admitted &ldquo;some of the (anti-fighting) rules were already there, but the board didn&rsquo;t specifically instruct the officials to use them.&ldquo;Now, it has become a matter of league policy.&rdquo;As for the high-sticking experiment, officials will continue the crackdown that was started in the middle of last season when concern over stickwork peaked.Gregory said any player who causes injury, accidental or not, with his stick will get an automatic major penalty. Any player who gets two major penalties for stick infractions will get an automatic game misconduct.&ldquo;Blood doesn&rsquo;t have to be drawn,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know where that (automatic five minutes for) drawing-blood perception came from, but it was never on the books. It&rsquo;s a matter of the official determining whether the player suffered an injury or not. And it needn&rsquo;t necessarily be a high-sticking penalty. It could be a slashing penalty.&rdquo;A desire to speed up games resulted in the board approving experiments with a new type of delayed offsides. Officials will wait longer before whistling down a play and if the offensive team clears the zone, play will carry on.In addition, line changes won&rsquo;t be allowed on faceoffs in the neutral zone, except when one or both of the teams is shorthanded or a goal has been scored.All these training camp experiments will be either approved or rejected for regular-season use on Oct. 7, the day of the NHL waiver draft.That, too, underwent alterations. From now on, each team may protect 17 skaters and two goalies instead of the old 16-and-2 limit, but no club may draft a player from a divisional rival.Also, the 16 playoff teams of last spring will not be able to claim a player in the waiver draft until all five non-playoff teams have passed. The non-playoff teams who select a player from one team do not have to expose another player to that team. Then, the team losing the player has no choice but to take cash in return.In other board business, the governors:&bull; Officially extended the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs from best-of-five to best-of-seven.&bull; Elected to continue experimenting with video replays for the pre-season schedule. Ziegler, however, said there&rsquo;s no chance of it being implemented for this season.&bull; Approved the officials&rsquo; calling of penalties on the public address system during the pre-season schedule.&bull; Decided to continue investigation of the use of visors but with no decision to be made that would influence the coming season.&bull; Decided to leave the entry draft in June (for 1987). There had been earlier speculation that it would have to be moved to August to accommodate the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement. But Ziegler said there were too many considerations to allow for changing it at this time. He did not, however, rule out a change after 1987. &#9632;

NHL Governors Instruct Refs To Get Tough

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;In the end, the Vancouver Canucks decided not to go for Lucien DeBlois.While it&rsquo;s easy to read a split in opinion between general manager Jack Gordon and coach-assistant general manager Tom Watt, such may not be the case.DeBlois, the free agent without compensation who played for Watt in Winnipeg when he was the Jets&rsquo; captain, was interested in coming to Vancouver. Watt, who had seen what he could do three years ago and what little his forwards did last year in terms of goal production, was interested in acquiring the winger.&ldquo;I like him, I always have,&rdquo; said Watt. &ldquo;He was the captain of the Jets and he earned that position. But business comes into this. And we have some young players we have to get into the lineup and find out whether they can play.&rdquo;The young players who need time to prove themselves on the right wing are Rich Sutter&mdash;who came over in the J.J. Daigneault deal with Philadelphia&mdash;and last year&rsquo;s first-round draft pick Jim Sandlak. Both expect to get a full go this year, and DeBlois has always played right wing for Watt, though he has shown he can play either side.&ldquo;It was the length of term of the contract which bothered me,&rdquo; said Gordon of his discussions with Fred Tape, DeBlois&rsquo; agent.&rdquo; He didn&rsquo;t seem to want to discuss anything less (than two years and an option).&rdquo;Tape said the Canucks, after saying they wanted to make an offer, simply called and said they had reconsidered.&ldquo;Fred told me that they called and said they decided not to make me an offer after all,&rdquo; said DeBlois, who seemed crestfallen the day it happened.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011297/5245959-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="147" height="114"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s too bad too because I feel I could have helped them. They have made some good changes out there and I think they will be able to improve. And I&rsquo;ve had two years now where I&rsquo;ve been hurt and haven&rsquo;t played as much as I would have liked. I have a lot to prove this year.To what degree economics entered into the discussions is difficult to determine. But the Canucks season-ticket base this year has shrunk to just over 5,000 though the club hopes it&rsquo;s up to 6,000 by the start of the season and they have no local television contract this year.The resulting loss of revenue could be about 1.5 million over last year&rsquo;s money-losing year and unless the Canuck ticket becomes a hot item in town again this year, losses may raise the eyebrows of majority owner Frank Griffiths.The Canucks did have some good news going into training camp.Club director Frank Griffiths Jr. received a telex from Soviet authorities saying they wished to continue their discussions&mdash;concerning the possible releases of Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov&mdash;at the Izvestia tournament in Moscow in December.&ldquo;We are extremely pleased with their (Soviets) attitude and their willingness to pursue negotiations,&rdquo; said Griffiths Jr. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s slow, but it&rsquo;s definitely progress, and we will persist in following up the lines of communication we have opened.&rdquo;Larionov was taken in 1985 and Krutov in the final round of this past June&rsquo;s draft. &#9632;

f0009-01

Vancouver Decides Against Free Agent

<h2>TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE&hellip;</h2>1. Which Hartford Whaler did Calgary forward John Tonelli once babysit?2. What team was shut out last season in back-to-back games for the first time since the 1969-70 season?3. What former NHLer played Rob Lowe&rsquo;s father in the hockey movie Youngblood?4. What three current NHL head coaches were the opposing head coaches in the 1980 Memorial Cup?5. Which IHLclub elected to suspend operations for the 198687 campaign?6. What former NHL rearguard coaches Medicine Hat of the WHL?7. Who was the first American-born NHLer to register 100 points in a single season?8. Which school won last year&rsquo;s NCAA hockey title?9. What school was the losing finalist?10. What Arena serves as the Canadian national team&rsquo;s home base in Calgary?<h2>ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ</h2>1. Kevin Dineen. 2. New York Rangers. 3. Eric Nesterenko. 4. Bryan Murray, Doug Carpenter, Mike Keenan. 5. Toledo Goaldiggers. 6. Bryan Maxwell. 7. Neal Broten. 8. Michigan State. 9. Harvard. 10. Father David Bauer Olympic Arena. BONUS ANSWER: Al Smith.<h2>BONUS QUESTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02963/5245990-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="531" height="925"></div>BONUS: This former goalie spent most of his career playing in New England. &#9632;

f0009-02

CCM HOCKEY TRIVIA

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>EDMONTON&mdash;Talk about big skates to fill&hellip;as in size 13!The line formed to the right of the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; blue line on the opening day of training camp with a number of youngsters seeking the position vacated the previous day by Randy Gregg.Dr. Gregg, 30, called it quits after four National Hockey League seasons to pursue a temporarily-abandoned career in medicine.Gregg&rsquo;s lofty status was truly unique.How many young men would love to pursue a career in the NHL or medicine, let alone both?Yet, Gregg completed his internship prior to joining the Oilers with whom he performed in three Stanley Cup finals.&ldquo;The decision obviously didn&rsquo;t come lightly,&rdquo; said Gregg of his retirement. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t jump at it after two minutes of thinking. I must have changed my mind 300 to 400 times this summer.&ldquo;Every time I thought about the fellows on the team. I found it very difficult to leave. But. every time 1 looked at my kids and my wife, and considered the potential in the future to begin my medical career if possible, then it swung the other way.&rdquo;Besides his family and his career as an orthopedic surgeon, there was also a third reason for leaving the Oilers.&ldquo;After playing in the 1980 Olympics, 1 always dreamed of going back.&rdquo; said Gregg, who was captain of Canada&rsquo;s hockey entry at Lake Placid. &ldquo;1 don&rsquo;t know if that&rsquo;s possible, if I can fit in or even if I&rsquo;d be eligible in &rsquo;88, but maybe they&rsquo;d be interested in me.&rdquo;National team coach Dave King has said he is and the Oilers certainly were.Manager-coach Glen Sather, caught completely off-guard by the decision, said Gregg had inquired about a three-year contract in early August.&ldquo;I said, &rsquo;Sure,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;I figured everything was in the bag.&rdquo;Sather&rsquo;s efforts to pursuade Gregg to change his mind were only &ldquo;token&rdquo;, according to the big defenseman.&ldquo;You never try to talk somebody into playing if he doesn&rsquo;t want to,&rdquo; reasoned Sather. &ldquo;The game&rsquo;s tough enough anyhow. If you&rsquo;re not hungry, there&rsquo;s no sense in playing.&rdquo;Before his meeting with Sather, Gregg left hints earlier in the week that he wouldn&rsquo;t be returning.&ldquo;The Oilers have been very generous,&rdquo; said Gregg, emphasizing contract negotiations were not a snag. &ldquo;1 think it&rsquo;s more of a problem as Glen has long maintained, &lsquo;If you don&rsquo;t feel comfortable, you shouldn&rsquo;t be here.&rsquo;&rdquo;Physically, Gregg said he could have played another five years despite missing 16 games with a rib cartilage injury in 1985-86 and suffering knee and shoulder problems the previous winter.<h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011245/5246076-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="149" height="116"></div>For the first time in Gregg&rsquo;s four full seasons with the Oilers, he failed to participate in a Stanley Cup final last spring. &ldquo;People prefer to quit a winner, and many don&rsquo;t get a chance to do that,&rdquo; he said, still savoring the memory of the Oilers&rsquo; 1985 Stanley Cup conquest. &ldquo;But, I also think it&rsquo;s important a player quits before he&rsquo;s told to quit.&rdquo;Jeff Beukeboom, Edmonton&rsquo;s No. 1 draft choice in 1983, would appear to have the inside track on Gregg&rsquo;s job. Sather also listed junior Todd Camel-ley (No. 2 pick in &rsquo;85), collegian Grant Dion (10th-rounder in &rsquo;82) and minorleaguer John Miner (11 th-rounder in &rsquo;83) as candidates.He, too, has made a trade offer to the Quebec Nordiques for Randy Moller, but isn&rsquo;t alone in this regard. Moller is also the subject of an offer from Philadelphia, although word is that the Flyers&rsquo; Brad McCrimmon has indicated he won&rsquo;t report to Quebec.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know about a deal,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to see how the kids look first. Remember a few years ago when (Paul) Coffey, (Kevin) Lowe and (Charlie) Huddy were all kids. You don&rsquo;t like to get into a situation when everybody is all of a sudden 30.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0011-01

The Oilers’ Good Doctor Is Out-For Good

THE PRE-SEASON schedule of the National Hockey League usually ranks right up there with a baseball movie entitled Great Intentional Walks for interest and excitement. Oh, sure, a few folks in the outposts have the chance to see more or less big league sport. And the games, which are a necessary tune-up for the season, make money for the team because season ticketholders are sledgehammered into buying the games as part of the ducat package for the entire season.In fact, these once were called &ldquo;exhibition&rdquo; matches but because that tagged them as being precisely what they are, the &ldquo;pre-season&rdquo; title was fixed to them. The next move is to call them &ldquo;non-conference games&rdquo; the way college sports does.The one truly interesting pre-season schedule came in the late 1970s when the NHL tried a &ldquo;change-on-the-fly&rdquo; rule in the exhibitions. That rule gave much life to the meaningless contests. It worked so well that the NHL, of course, voted not to use it during the regular season.This fall, however, there actually are some exhibition games of interest. For various reasons, three matches are noteworthy.Hockey goes political on Sept. 19 in Ottawa when the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens play on the opening night of the preseason yawners. The 9,000 or so tickets at Ottawa Civic Center have been sold for $20 and $30 to the general public but 700 seats will be packaged at $5,000 per couple.Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his wife will attend and for their five big ones, the folks will have a cocktail party at the PM&rsquo;s residence and a post-game dinner and concert.The teams&rsquo; heavyweights, Oilers&rsquo; Peter Pocklington and Ron Corey of the Canadiens, are big supporters of Mulroney and the Conservative Party. They organized the evening and the proceeds go to Mrs. Mulroney&rsquo;s favorite charity&mdash;cystic fibrosis.The one flaw in the evening is that the entertainer at the post-game show is Dinah Shore. A duet between Jeff Brubaker and John Kordic would have been preferable.On the serious side, another couple of exhibitions are being closely watched, notably the attendance figures. The games are in two cities, Hamilton and Dallas, towns that have been mentioned as potential NHL sites.Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals will play in the gorgeous new arena in Hamilton while the Oilers and Detroit Red Wings meet in the Texas metropolis.It will be no surprise if the game in Hamilton is a sellout but it won&rsquo;t matter much if all seats are filled. The NHL is about as interested in Hamilton as a site as Pocklington is in poverty.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011339/5246107-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="381" height="430"><figcaption class="caption-body">Frank Orr</figcaption></div>But if the game in Dallas draws a big crowd, the NHL will take strong notice. A team in Big D would fit neatly into the thinking of the owners of NHL clubs in the U.S.Those chaps want Hamilton in the league about as badly as they want an investigation by the IRS. Teams from Canadian cities with those weird (to folks in the U.S.) names like Winnipeg, Calgary and Quebec are no better attractions in most U.S. cities than Stompin&rsquo; Tom Connors (who?).Now, Dallas, that&rsquo;s a different story. A team from Dallas would be a much better bet to draw fans on the road. What&rsquo;s a Hamilton, the average U.S. fan will ask? But Dallas would be big stuff.&ldquo;It sounds anti-Canadian but it isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said one NHL team owner in a U.S. city. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s more a case of being anti-empty seat and that&rsquo;s something that has no international borders.&ldquo;People in our city know about Toronto and Montreal but most couldn&rsquo;t name two other Canadian cities. Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Quebec could be in Africa or on the other side of the moon as far as they&rsquo;re concerned. Edmonton, because of Wayne Gretzky, is in a little different category. When the Flames or Canucks or Jets come to town, it doesn&rsquo;t have any appeal to our casual fans.&ldquo;But if the team is from New York or Philadelphia or Chicago or St. Louis, it&rsquo;s a different story. Our teams in baseball, basketball and football play teams from those cities and just the name of the town is enough to make the hockey team an attraction.&ldquo;Because of the Cowboys and the enormous amount of publicity they generate, a hockey team in Dallas would be a good attraction automatically. Our casual fans would say that Dallas is here to play our team and that would be enough to get them to the rink.&ldquo;But if they were told that Hamilton was in town, they would figure it was some new strain of flu.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

What’s Hamilton? New Strain Of The Flu?

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>MONTREAL&mdash;This should be the year that center Shayne Corson begins to make his mark in the National Hockey League.For the second consecutive season, Corson has made it through the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; rookie camp to prove his mettle with the veteran players.Corson was easily the best forward in the one week of rookie workouts, even though he was hampered by a pulled hamstring. The organization has great expectations for the Barrie, Ont., native drafted eighth overall on the same day Petr Svoboda was Montreal&rsquo;s surprise No. I choice in 1984.&ldquo;Last year I was physically ready,&rdquo; said Corson, who starred for Team Canada at the 1986 World Junior Hockey Championships. &ldquo;Mentally, I don&rsquo;t think I was mature enough to accept the fact that I had to wait my turn.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t in junior any more. I was in the NHL and I had to prove myself before I was going to play all the time.&rdquo;Corson stuck around for the first half-dozen regular-season NHL games with the Canadiens but soon found himself back in the Ontario League with the Hamilton Steelhawks. His NHL totals showed two minutes in penalties&mdash;a tripping call&mdash;and that was it. His junior numbers were far better. He finished just two points shy of 100 (41-57).&ldquo;Definitely it was disappointing getting sent down,&rdquo; Corson admitted. &ldquo;It was hard for me to get adjusted to the junior ranks again. After the World Junior Championships, things seemed to turn around for me and I got things back together.&rdquo;Corson&rsquo;s activities were watched closely by the Canadiens&rsquo; scouting staff, especially during the junior round-robin series. Other clubs began to show some interest in the young center and mentioned him in trade talks to managing director Serge Savard.&ldquo;Any time we talked about a possible deal it seemed Corson&rsquo;s name would come up,&rdquo; Savard said. Rumors were particularly hot before the NHL draft in June that Savard might be willing to unload Corson, but it didn&rsquo;t happen and now Corson has to prove the Canadiens were right in keeping him.&ldquo;They have an awful lot of good players on this team and they had a lot of good players in this rookie camp. It&rsquo;s going to be a tough job but that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m here for.&rdquo;Corson has grown a touch since he first showed up in Montreal. He&rsquo;s up to around 6-foot-2 and appears stronger. Should he carry on his excellent performance in pre-camp during the exhibition season, he has a better than good chance of making the team.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021117/5246138-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="149" height="106"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2>He shows no ill effects of an ankle injury suffered late last season against the Guelph Platers. The ankle was in a cast for four weeks which made Corson unavailable for any possible Stanley Cup duty had the Canadiens wanted to use him last spring.Corson was one of 12 players the Canadiens kept from their rookie camp as their main camp got under way.Goaltenders Vincent Ricndeau and Jocelyn Perreault, defensemen Scott Sandelin and Rick Hayward, centers Martin Desjardins and Mike Keane, left wingers Mark Pederson, Benoit Brunet and Ernie Vargas as well as right wingers Jose Charbonneau and Rocky Dundas also earned further looks.&ldquo;We were satisified with the work of many of the players,&rdquo; director of player personnel Andre Boudrias said. &ldquo;But there were some who disappointed us.&rdquo;During the summer, there had been talk that Guy Rouleau, the top scorer in the Quebec League last season, might get an NHL shot. However, the former Hull junior was among the 29 players sent to Sherbrooke.IN PASSING&mdash;Graeme Bonar, who hoped for a job on right wing, will have to wait awhile. He underwent surgery two days after the rookie camp opened to repair a fracture in his right wrist&hellip;Guy Carbonneau won the Canadiens&rsquo; golf tournament with an 81. Gaston Gingras was second at 83&hellip;Charlie Moore, the Canadiens&rsquo; 12th draft pick in the 1986 draft, has decided to retire from hockey. He may attend the University of Ottawa&hellip;Kevin Houle, a U.S. college product who was on the AHL roster, broke a knuckle on his right hand, early in the rookie camp&hellip;Mark Reade, a top player with the McGill Redmen of the Quebec University Hockey League, was given a tryout with Sherbrooke. &#9632;

f0012-02

Opportunity Is Knocking For Top Prospect

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>QUEBEC&mdash;With 18 defensemen seeking jobs, 12 of whom have already worn the Quebec jersey in a National Hockey League game, there is no shortage of players anxious to rush to the defense of the Nordiques.David Shaw is among the most promient of them.Last season&rsquo;s revelation of the year, the highly-regarded 22-year-old blueliner is starting his second full term with the Nordiques.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very confident,&rdquo; said Shaw as training camp opened. &ldquo;I know I can play regularly in the NHL and until someone shows me proof to the contrary, I know I have my spot with the Nordiques.&rdquo;When you talk about young prospects, one has the tendency to think about Bruce Bell, now with the St. Louis. After an outstanding rookie year, Bell was traded to the Blues in return for Gilbert Delorme.Bell struggled terribly last year with St. Louis. But Shaw has DO fear of the, sophomore jinx.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m about to participate in my fourth training camp with the Nordiques, so I really don&rsquo;t consider myself a second season man,&rdquo; said Shaw. &ldquo;The only thing I do think about is the injury aspect of the game. If only I could stay healthy all season.&ldquo;The most important thing for me is not wanting to do too much. All I have to do is play according to my skills. I won&rsquo;t try to do things I know I can&rsquo;t do.&rdquo;Shaw, who suffered a wrist injury last year, is surprised that the Nordiques haven&rsquo;t made any important personnel changes yet. With all the defensemen coming to training camp this year, he was convinced the Nords would try to ship off part of the surplus to shore up the forward ranks.&ldquo;Competition will be fierce at the blue line this year. The Nordiques have never had as much depth on defense. I was sure something would happen during the summer. Kids like (Steven) Finn, (Jeff) Brown and (Serge) Poud-rier proved they could play in the NHL.&rdquo;<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03750/5246169-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="146" height="119"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2>The issue of English-speaking players adapting to the life and language of Quebec City has been raised in recent weeks.First, there was defenseman Randy Moller requesting a trade because he doesn&rsquo;t feel confident about postcareer opportunities in the Frenchspeaking environment.And second, Pat Price created a stir when he said the Nordiques should use more French in their everyday operations, He even suggested that all the rookies should learn the language because it would be to their advantage in the &ldquo;milieu Quebecois.&rdquo;Last year, Shaw was confronted with language problems, an invisible barrier that seems insurmountable to some players.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d love to learn French,&rdquo; explained Shaw. &ldquo;But you have to invest an awful lot of time to study and I don&rsquo;t think a hockey player can afford to spend all his spare time with his nose in books.&rdquo;.Shaw doesn&rsquo;t agree with Price&rsquo;s suggestion that the Nordiques supply the anglophone players with French lessons on cassettes. Players could then learn French instead of listening to music on long trips.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s the solution,&rdquo; explained Shaw. &ldquo;The guys usually like to relax on long flights. That&rsquo;s why a good number of them like to listen to music. I don&rsquo;t see how we could prepare ourselves for a game if we had to spend our free time taking French lessons. I don&rsquo;t think the guys would be very fond of the idea.&rdquo;But don&rsquo;t get Shaw wrong. He has nothing against French. His wife, for instance, spent all of last winter taking French classes at Laval University.&ldquo;I think the best solution would be to give the players one lesson a week,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know one lesson a week isn&rsquo;t enough to make someone fluent in a second language, but it would be a start. I&rsquo;d love to learn French that way. I can understand the language pretty well and I can get around with the few words I can speak, but I need to learn more.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-03

Shaw Doesn’t Fear Sophomore Jinx

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div>HARTFORD&mdash;The theme of the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; eighth National Hockey League season is &ldquo;Whalermania, Join In&rdquo;, and it&rsquo;s not trumped up either.People are responding.More than 9,100 season tickets, an increase of 2,000-plus over last year, already have been sold. In addition, about 2,500 20-game packages have been sold. When a team roars down the stretch at a 12-3-2 clip just to make the playoffs, then sweeps Quebec 3-0, and beats Montreal in the opener of a seven-game quarter-final series, well. 16-3-2 is bound to turn more than a few heads.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen a team respond better to pressure than ours did in the final couple of months last year,&rdquo; general manager Emile Francis said. &ldquo;That was an indication as to what we&rsquo;ve really got here.&rdquo;And, from the Whaler faithful&rsquo;s perspective, here&rsquo;s the best part.&ldquo;The big difference this time is that we&rsquo;re starting with that team,&rdquo; Francis said.Lights are going on all around Hartford.&ldquo;In the past, you&rsquo;d see kids walking around the streets with Yankees and Red Sox and Celtics stuff on,&rdquo; Ronnie Francis said. &ldquo;Now they&rsquo;re wearing Whalers jackets.&rdquo;You can&rsquo;t fool the children or the man on the street, and judging from the Whalers&rsquo; kickoff lunchoen, the organization may have finally stopped trying. It&rsquo;s a little early to make it official, but it looks as if the green tambourines and tin drums have been put away. Hopefully, forever.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you what&rsquo;s got me excited,&rdquo; said new TV analyst Gerry Cheevers, throwing a strike on his first pitch, &ldquo;the product.&rdquo;Where is Groucho&rsquo;s duck? Somebody finally has said the secret word. Take the blinkers off, once and for all. The Whalers have a real product, a real team and from top to bottom, they believe, a real shot.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011263/5246200-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="143" height="116"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2>&ldquo;I watched a lot of Whalers game last season,&rdquo; Cheevers said. &ldquo;The one element I saw that most impressed me was the team&rsquo;s desire to work hard. That&rsquo;s a treat for the fans. Last year they got one foot in the door of the big house. I think this year they might own it.&rdquo;Torn ankle ligaments sustained in January are still troubling Francis.&ldquo;The doctor said my ankle would be sore for another six months,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But abilitywise, it&rsquo;s at 100 per cent. I&rsquo;m ready to go.&rdquo;So is coach Jack Evans, who has seen the world from both sides during his three seasons in Hartford.&ldquo;All during the summer, the talk I heard was about the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In my firstyear here when people asked me what I did and I told them that 1 was coach of the Hartford Whalers, they looked at me as if 1 were an AIDS carrier.&ldquo;In my second year, they said that we were an improving club. Last year they said what a good, exciting team we had.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s wonderful to hear that kind of talk. I&rsquo;m expecting a lot. It&rsquo;s a pressure situation and I like it.&rdquo;There&rsquo;ll be no trumped-up goals this season. The Whalers have one and only one plan: Win.WHALER SCUTTLEBUTT&mdash;In a rash of signings just before training camp, the Whalers landed right wingers Kevin Dineen and Stewart Gavin, center Doug Jarvis, left wingers Paul Lawless and Dave Tippett and defensemen Scot Kleinendorst, Mike McEwen and Tim Bothwell. Dineen, who has scored 58 goals in 114 games over two seasons, signed a two-year-plus-option contract worth in the neighborhood of $450,000. &#9632;

f0013-01

Good Start Needed To Maintain Confidence

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03743/5246231-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="581" height="1122"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Barrasso would like more emphasis on the Sabres&rsquo; play than just his own.</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;Gilbert Perreault is limiting his future to the present, but Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; goaltender Tom Barrasso maintains he is a benificiary of Perreault&rsquo;s past.&ldquo;He (Perreault) took me aside one time and he told me: &lsquo;You&rsquo;ve got to want to have the desire to be the best. &rsquo; He said he had it and that he lost it for a few years. He said I had to make sure I don&rsquo;t lose it, too.&rdquo;Perreault&rsquo;s message doesn&rsquo;t lend itself exclusively to Barrasso. As the Sabres opened camp in preperation for their 17th NHL season there are a goodly number of Buffalo Sabre players who could lift themselves to new heights with determined efforts.But few share the common bond that both Perreault and Barrasso enjoy. From the day they both arrived in the National Hockey League, they have had the ability to be great.The necessary desire, however, has been harder to attain.&ldquo;I had problems dealing with that,&rdquo; said Barrasso as he prepared for his fourth National Hockey League season.&ldquo;When I started I just wanted to make the National Hockey League. I did that and then I won all those things (the Vezina and Calder trophies in addition to a berth on the first all-star team). Hell, if we had won the Stanley Cup that year (1983-84) I could have retired. Making the league was my goal and then everything I dreamed about happened.&rdquo;The problem was&mdash;and Barrasso knows this&mdash;it all happened in one year.&ldquo;People were saying I was the best goaltender in the world. That&rsquo;s a lot to handle. It&rsquo;s a hard thing to handle.&rdquo;Pressed, Barrasso admits there were times when he didn&rsquo;t handle it all that well.He said that although he felt he had an even better second year than first, it was still difficult to retain his mental discipline. Last year, his third in the NHL, it was harder still.&ldquo;It was hard to keep the edge,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You want to do it, but it&rsquo;s easy to say you want to do better. The hard thing is to do it.&rdquo;<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02925/5246238-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="141" height="114"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2>Barrasso does not back down from his year-end arguments that he may have played too much in too short a time span. Putting the fatigue issue aside, however, he&rsquo;ll admit to having overall problems with his game last year.&ldquo;In my mind, last year was last year and I don&rsquo;t want to carry anything over into this year except that I will have learned from that experience.&ldquo;I know now that you can lose an edge. You can lose that desire to be the very best there is, but you can get it back, too.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t lose it forever.&rdquo;Barrasso also said he hasn&rsquo;t lost confidence in himself. He admits to questioning his game at times. He&rsquo;s even quicker to admit that he let in far too many goals between his legs last season.While he still maintains part of the reason was fatigue, he also says he&rsquo;s pursued technical adjustments to correct the problem.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve watched a lot of tapes this summer and I&rsquo;ve looked at where I made my mistakes,&rdquo; he said.In an extremely subtle approach to the issue of last April&rsquo;s very public debate over how much blame he deserved for the team&rsquo;s failure to make the playoffs, Barrasso said only that he would like a little less limelight this time around.&ldquo;The best thing that could happen for me is to be able to slip down between the sheets and go to sleep for awhile,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;The less said about the play of Tom Barrasso and the more said about the play of the Buffalo Sabres next season, the better it is for me.&ldquo; I&rsquo;m not try ing to dodge my responsibilities. I&rsquo;ll still answer a question. I&rsquo;m just looking for less emphasis on me and more concentration on the overall team play.&ldquo;As far as media coverage and all that goes I&rsquo;m just hoping someone else gets the limelight and that they just let me do my job.&ldquo;I won&rsquo;t sidestep anything. If I think I&rsquo;m right, I&rsquo;ll say so and 1 don&rsquo;t mind saying what I think. I&rsquo;m not going to stop doing that, but maybe I won&rsquo;t have to be so outspoken any more.&rdquo;SABREPOINTS&mdash;Christian Ruuttu, a center who played on Finland&rsquo;s national team the past two seasons has signed a contract and is in camp with the Sabres. Ruuttu, 22, was the Sabres&rsquo; seventh pick in the 1983 entry draft, the 134th player taken overall&hellip;Gil Perreault&rsquo;s &ldquo;retirement&rdquo; lasted exactly 12 weeks to the day&hellip;The Sabres opened camp Sept. 12 at their practice facility in the nearby town of Wheatfield. It&rsquo;s the first time in several seasons they are not training at the U. S. Olympic Arena at Lake Placid, N.Y. The Sabres&rsquo; first pre-season game is at home Sept. 21 against the Washington Capitals. &#9632;

f0013-03

Barrasso Seeking The Edge That Was Lost Last Season

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><h2>Reports Of Death Greatly Exaggerated</h2>The National Hockey League, Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association and THE HOCKEY NEWS ended up with egg on their faces as a result of a foul-up concerning the induction of Zotique Lesperance into the media wing of the Hall. The former Montreal newspaperman was officially inducted at the 1986 ceremonies in Vancouver on Sept. 10 even though he was one of six Hall of Fame appointees in 1985. Seems the PWHA informed the league last year that Lesperance was deceased. The NHL, taking the information at face value, didn&rsquo;t extend him an invitation to the 1985 ceremonies in Toronto and THN, in its coverage of the 1985 induction ceremonies, reported that Lesperance was dead. Zotique, who is alive and well, was then invited to join the other three media honorees for 1986, though no explanation was at first offered by either the NHL or PHWA as to why a 1985 inductee was on the 1986 program. Indeed, reports of Zotique&rsquo;s death were greatly exaggerated.Capitals&rsquo; insiders buzz that something of a cold war exists between high-priced center Bobby Carpenter and volatile coach Bryan Murray. Carpenter beefs about lack of ice time and lack of communication with his leader. Murray counters with his logbook which refutes Carpenter&rsquo;s charges, according to Washington sources. Carpenter was married in the off-season and the absence of Murray at the ceremony fired feud speculation but an insider discounts that. Caps&rsquo; president Dick Patrick and assistant coaches Terry Murray, Bryan&rsquo;s brother, and Ron Lapointe represented the Caps. Both GM David Poile and Bryan Murray had other commitments but sent gifts.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011315/5246276-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="347" height="542"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Carpenter</figcaption></div>New York Ranger dissident Mark Pavelich is reportedly in Scotland to play for the Dundee Rockets despite efforts, so far, by the New York Rangers to stop him&hellip;Ex-Bruin Derek Sanderson is prominently displayed in full-page ads in Boston papers, wearing a Boston PAL (Police Athletic League) shirt. His message: &ldquo;Alcohol and drugs cost me $3 million. It cost me a hockey career. It cost me a lot pain. It doesn&rsquo;t have to cost you anything if you say no to drugs!&rdquo;&hellip;Flames&rsquo; Bob Johnson tells BLUELINES he spent a whole month agonizing over the Stanley Cup finals. &ldquo;By July,&rdquo; says Badger, &ldquo;I was back to normal.&rdquo; As for 1986-87, Johnson opines: &ldquo;The team up the highway (Edmonton) is still the best; they&rsquo;ve got the most quality players.&rdquo; Yet, Johnson agrees that the jury still is out on how the Oilers will cope with their also-ran status. Johnson, who never fails to go behind the bench without a notebook in hand did a notebook ad this summer.NHL&rsquo;s New York office, stunned by the loss of John Halligan (PR veep), are now losing Halligan&rsquo;s aide, Dan Leary, to the Major Indoor Soccer League on October I st. This leaves the propaganda ministry totally without front line personnel. Veep Steve Ryan will be frantically searching for replacements. Among the candidates are Bill Jamieson (Detroit), Mark Piazza (Philadelphia), Gerry Helper (ex-Buffalo), Lou Corletto (Washington) and Susie Mathieu (St. Louis)&hellip;NHL officials are puzzled at the timing of the Rangers&rsquo; unloading Brian MacLellan to Minnesota. As one puts it, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m surprised they didn&rsquo;t let the guy play at training camp.&rdquo; Among the reasons for MacLellan&rsquo;s plummeting stock are his work habits, according to Ranger insiders.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021031/5246269-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="342" height="541"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cam Neely</figcaption></div>An inside scouting report on Cam Neely: &ldquo;There are youngsters who can think and play&mdash;but not at the same time. Neely was one of them. Now, he can do both. He plays better when he&rsquo;s upset. Don&rsquo;t wake him up!&rdquo;&hellip;The story behind Jerry Buss&rsquo; partial sale of the Kings is simple. He needs cash. A question being asked by NHL governors is this: How many limited partners does he have? And, what percentage of the team does he really own?&hellip;Flames&rsquo; railbirds report that Dan Quinn seems to be suffering an ego problem and has been less than gracious with autograph-seekers&hellip;Among the Blackhawks&rsquo; disposables&mdash;should a GM be interested&mdash;are Steve Ludzik and Keith Brown.Oilers, North Stars and Flyers have been eyeing Randy Moller whose Nordique days are numbered&hellip;Canadiens-watchers are wondering whether the sometimes-bad Czech Petr Svoboda means business when he talks about shaping up this year. Too often last year, Petr seemed to be operating on Mountain Standard Time in the Eastern Standard zone&hellip;Cupwinning coach Jean Perron suffers no delusions about security. He says he launches every season &ldquo;figuring it&rsquo;s the last one.&rdquo;&hellip;Former Ranger Tony Leswick, who spent a career tormenting Maurice (Rocket) Richard, is the uncle of Mets&rsquo; centerfielder Len Dykstra. &#9632;

f0014-01

BLUELINES

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04506/5246307-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="569" height="1636"><figcaption class="caption-body">Greg Stefan is an effective goalie if he can stay healthy and out of trouble</figcaption></div>DETROIT&mdash;Recent history tells us the fortunes of the Detroit Red Wings all but rise and fall on the play or nonplay of goaltender Greg Stefan.When the 25-year-old native of Brantford, Ont., is in goal, the Red Wings are a respectable team. When he&rsquo;s not, well&hellip;In the future, center Joe Murphy may be of similar value to the Red Wings.But for now, the No. 1 overall draft choice is a wealthy young man whom the Wings hope to bring along slowly and without undue pressure.Enough of that will come from others.&ldquo;As a first draft choice, people are going to be watching every move he makes,&rdquo; coach Jacques Demers said after Murphy officially joined the Wings by signing a four-year deal worth $900,000. &ldquo;And he makes the big money so everybody expects him to come in and turn the league upside down.&rdquo;Murphy&rsquo;s contract, which according to general manager Jimmy Devel-lano exceeds the value of pacts signed by previous first choices Mario Lemieux and Wendel Clark, includes a signing bonus of $150,000.It&rsquo;s obvious then that among the tasks facing Demers are two of key importance&mdash;the care and nurturing of Murphy and the keeping of Stefan healthy and active.The presence of four other experi-enced National Hockey League goal-tenders notwithstanding, including summer trade acquisitions Glen Hanlon and Sam St. Laurent, Stefan is indisputably the Wings&rsquo; No. 1 goalie.Stefan is not offended by the glut of goalies. On the contrary. He embraces challenges, and the 1986-87 season promises to be a major challenge after the disappointment of last year when he won only 10 games, the fewest since his rookie season of 1982-83.&ldquo;1 know I&rsquo;m going to be starting,&rdquo; Stefan said. &ldquo;But in this day and age in the NHL you need two goaltenders to split the work, 60-40 or even 50-50, like Edmonton does. We&rsquo;ve got new goalies because management wants to be sure we&rsquo;re strong in goal. It doesn&rsquo;t bother me a bit.&rdquo;What does bother Stefan is the dis-appointment of last season.&ldquo;It was an awful feeling,&rdquo; he said.The Red Wings have won 75 games over the past three seasons. Stefan has been in goal for 50, including 31 of the last 44 victories. Stefan was limited to 37 games in 1985-86. Twice he was sidelined by injuries, twice by suspensions.The season started with Stefan serving an eight-game suspension. The Wings were 0-7-1 in that stretch. In the next nine games, the Wings went 4-23. Then Stefan was suspended for six games, and the Wings were 1-5 in his absence.Stefan missed 17 games beginning early January with a back injury&hellip;and the Wings managed just three victories. And when he missed the final eight games&hellip; 2-6.The season before, Stefan emerged as one of the NHL&rsquo;s premier young goalies. He had a 21-19-3 record&mdash;consider the significance of any goalie posting a record of better than.500 for the Red Wings&mdash;which represented the most wins by a Detroit goaltender since Roy Edwards&rsquo; 24-15-6 mark 15 years before. Then came the disapointment of last season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03722/5246314-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="157" height="116"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2>Stefan&rsquo;s personal goal, although it is secondary in his mind, is a return to prominence.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to be known as one of the top five goalies in the NHL,&rdquo; Stefan said. &ldquo;I think I can be.&rdquo;Demers doesn&rsquo;t doubt it.&ldquo;Absolutely he can, and I think he already is,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;No question he is. He&rsquo;s very aggressive in his net, challenges shooters. And he&rsquo;s a character player, the kind I&rsquo;m looking for.&rdquo;The feeling is mutual.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s straightforward,&rdquo; Stefan said of the new coach. &ldquo;I talked to Greg Millen and Rick Wamsley, goaltenders who played for Jacques in St. Louis, and they couldn&rsquo;t say anything bad about him. Jacques said he&rsquo;s got confidence in me, that I&rsquo;m a good goalie, and it makes me feel good even before going to camp.&ldquo;His enthusiasm rubs off. We&rsquo;ve never had an upbeat coach like Jacques. 1 think you&rsquo;ll see this in training camp. When the coach is up and at &rsquo;em, it&rsquo;s got to rub off.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-04

Stefan, New Man Murphy Key Red Wings To Watch

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02885/5246345-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="549" height="730"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Smith is confident that he&rsquo;ll be big help to the New Jersey Devils.</figcaption></div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;Ron Smith arrived for training camp like an eager young child waiting for the doors to swing open for the first day of school. The Devils&rsquo; workaholic coach, Doug Carpenter, now has a workaholic assistant.Smith has been there before, as an assistant coach with Toronto, Buffalo and Vancouver, but he seems especially eager to join forces with Carpenter. The two young coaches, who teamed up to guide Team Canada to a silver medal at the 1985 World Championships in Prague, have a notebook of new ideas they plan to unveil.&ldquo;One of the reasons I wanted someone with NHL experience is I want some new ideas,&rdquo; said Carpenter. &ldquo;I feel Ron fits the bill perfectly of what was needed by the Devils. No. 1 is his experience and No. 2 is his video knowledge. He has a great knowledge of the game and the right personality.&ldquo;Everything went so well with us in Europe. There was a tremendous amount of continuity there in our philosophy and style, yet he brings some new input.&rdquo;The42-year-old Smith, who worked with Roger Neilson in all three of his NHL stops, seems capable of walking the tightrope by offering his own theories while remembering who is really running the show.&ldquo;My ideas may be new to Doug. They&rsquo;re different,&rdquo; explained Smith, who was given a two-year contract on Aug. 6. &ldquo;They may involve practice, the power play and even travel. Doug may like all the things I&rsquo;ve done over the years better than what he&rsquo;s doing.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have anything against giving opinions. My style is to be aggressive. I also know Doug is being paid to make the decisions. I&rsquo;ve had enough experience to know the role I have to play. If you&rsquo;re not the head coach you can&rsquo;t act like the head coach.&rdquo;It is Smith&rsquo;s video background and his ability to teach young players that appealed most to the Devils, a club which seems to drop in &ldquo;average age&rdquo; weekly.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011111/5246352-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="127" height="106"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2>&ldquo;I think I have three key coaching qualities,&rdquo; offered Smith. &ldquo;I know the game, I can teach the game and I can interact with the players. The Devils are probably one of the youngest teams in the league. I&rsquo;m a teacher and I think I&rsquo;m good at it. I also think I have an ability to work on the bench both in a cheerleading capacity and to help Doug out in situations and challenge him.&rdquo;Smith was born in Galt, Ont., and began his coaching career in 1975 with the Guelph juniors before becoming head coach of York University in Toronto for the 1978-79 season. He was technical director of the Ontario Hockey Association for eight years and was instrumental in the creation of the National Coaching Certification Program for Canadian coaches.Since July, 1985, Smith had been working as Dave King&rsquo;s assistant with Team Canada, having completed three tours as an assistant coach in the NHL. From 1977-78 to 1979-80 he was Neilson&rsquo;s assistant with the Maple Leafs; he was an assistant with the Sabres during the 1980-81 season and finally an associate coach with Neilson on the Canucks from 1981-82 to 1984-85.Carpenter hesitates using the term assistant coach. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to put name tags on everybody,&rdquo; said the Devils&rsquo; head coach. &ldquo;Ron&rsquo;s another coach. &rsquo; &rsquo; Of course, Carpenter also said that about Lou Vairo and Vairo became little more than an extra body on the ice during practice and a gopher on the road as last season unfolded.Only time will tell if Carpenter and Smith can work together in the NHL as smoothly as they did with Team Canada.&ldquo;The first time you work with someone, who knows about the compatibility? Our&rsquo;s was excellent in Europe,&rdquo; said Smith. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not starry-eyed about working in the NHL. I know the situation and how tough it is to succeed. I&rsquo;m like a golfer who knows where the trees and the ponds are and where not to hit it. Sometimes that&rsquo;s bad. You&rsquo;re thinking about it too much.&rdquo;HOT STUFF&mdash;Pat Verbeek, coming off his best NHL season (25-28-53), and Joe Cirella both signed multiyear contracts just days after veteran centers Peter McNab and Mark Johnson were re-signed. Johnson, the only Devil to play in all 80 games last season, was given a multi-year pact while McNab, 34, agreed to a one-year deal-&hellip;Greg Adams&rsquo; new four-year contract is a three-year deal with an option year&hellip;Ron Smith, who is married (Patti) with two teenage sons, is fearful of getting the nickname Captain Video. &ldquo;Video has evolved to the point where it&rsquo;s a handy, efficient aid to help a team play better. That&rsquo;s all,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

f0016-02

Smith Understands Assistant’s Role

THE LOUSE THAT roared&mdash;Harold Ballard&mdash;is again making a lot of noise about a lot of nothing.The system didn&rsquo;t beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, as Ballard so loudly intimated. Neither did John Ziegler, Judge Ed Houston, Bob Pulford or anyone else involved in the recent arbitration hearing involving the signing of free agent Gary Nylund.In this case, as is usually the case, the Leafs beat themselves.They shot for the moon. but instead wound up shooting themselves in the skate.If Windbag Ballard is to be upset with anyone, he should be upset with himself, or with general manager. Gerry McNamara&mdash;or both. He should be upset with whomever decided to submit the name of Ed Olczyk as fair and equal compensation for the Blackhawks&rsquo; signing of Nylund.Trading Olczyk for Nylund would have been like the New York Islanders trading Bill Torrey for McNamara.In his two years in the league, Olczyk has been an effective player with all indications being he can be a future star.What has Nylund shown? He&rsquo;s injury prone. He&rsquo;s got bad knees. He&rsquo;s slow. But he&rsquo;s tough. And he always played his best hockey against the Hawks. Which is probably why Chicago signed him.Nylund was good as many nights as he was bad. But some of that can be related to the team he was playing for.Had the Leafs been more reasonable with their request, they could have come away as the victors in arbitration. Instead, they gambled and wound up losers.Instead, they wound up with Ken Yaremchuk, who would be a star in the NHL if the rinks were about 20 feet wider. Yaremchuk is one guy I was really wrong on. The first time I saw him play for the Portland Winter Hawks, images of Denis Savard danced in my head. He was playing on the same team as Nylund and it was difficult to tell which player was better.Nylund was the solid rock on defense, Yaremchuk the star at forward.But the last times I&rsquo;ve seen Yaremchuk, he reminded me more of Howie Menard than Denis Savard, which doesn&rsquo;t bode well for the Leafs.Toronto also came away with Jerome Dupont, a defenseman Chicago has tried to trade several times in the past few seasons. Dupont, like the other two players in this scenario, was also a first round pick&mdash;in 1980. He&rsquo;s got size, but not much else. On a Chicago team crying out for defenseman, the Blackhawks usually cried when they watched Dupont.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03685/5246383-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="374" height="475"></div>Considering what they were losing, the Leafs should have taken a more realistic view towards arbitration. They should have been looking more at players such as Curt Fraser&mdash;a John Brophy-type winger; Darryl Sutter, another Brophy type, who has Nylund&rsquo;s penchant for injuries. And to sweeten that package, they should have gone for a future, such as Olympic team defenseman Trent Yawney, or first-round pick Dave Manson.I can imagine the color Brophy&rsquo;s hair will turn when he sees Yaremchuk avoiding the comers at top speed.At first glance, the Blackhawks come away the winners in this game of arbitration, but that&rsquo;s only if Nylund plays the way they expect him to. Otherwise, both teams lose.While Nylund and Yaremchuk were getting all the attention at Portland in 1982, another Winter Hawk defenseman was also being looked at. Big Brian Curran was the first player selected in the second round of that year&rsquo;s draft.Mostly, what Curran did well was fight, or give the impression he was going to fight. Often, giving the impression is more intimidating than actually fighting.Curran, who is large, immobile, and not offensively skilled, was to have fit in perfectly with the Boston Bruins. The small rink was to his liking. Everything was. Except what the Bruins wanted to pay him. That&rsquo;s when he deqjded to leave.The Islanders, who haven&rsquo;t been tough since Clark Gillies retired but didn&rsquo;t tell anyone, needed some toughness to compete with the Flyers and Capitals.Bill Torrey decided he wanted Curran, so he tried to make a trade with the Bruins. He offered defenseman Paul Boutilier for Curran. Harry Sinden turned it down.So who does Sinden wind up with in arbitration? Boutilier. Sinden wanted solid Steve Konroyd. which was about as silly as the Leafs asking for Olczyk.Strange, isn&rsquo;t it, how general managers aren&rsquo;t willing to pay players, but ask for the moon in arbitration when they lose them? &#9632;

f0016-03

Was There Ever Any Doubt That Leafs, B’s Would Lose?

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div>CHICAGO&mdash;It has been a long time between housecleanings, but it will be interesting to see the changes on the Chicago this season.Before the arbitration unfolding with Toronto over the signing of defenseman Gary Nylund, Hawk general manager Bob Pulford was asked if there were more moves in store.&ldquo;You never know,&rdquo; was Pulford&rsquo;s cryptic reply.The signing of Nylund completed what rates as a busy summer for Pulford, who began his 10th season in the Hawks&rsquo; front office as training camp opened with 67 players at Chicago Stadium.Pulford obtained Nylund and signed free agent Rich Preston, and apparently was close to landing free agent Mike Donnelly until the New York Rangers put the price out of reach.&ldquo;We got into a bidding war and we lost,&rdquo; Pulford said. &ldquo;We got a call one morning saying your offer is no longer in the ballpark. Until that time I thought we were going to get him.&ldquo;We did adjust our offer a tiny bit. But they (free agents) are unproven commodities. I didn&rsquo;t think it (the money) would be fair to the guys that are here. 1 didn&rsquo;t think it was the right thing to do, and that&rsquo;s exactly what happened.&rdquo;Preston begins his second tour with the Hawks in a specialist&rsquo;s role.&ldquo;The one thing we felt we didn&rsquo;t have was a line to put out there specifically for defense, and that was the reason for signing Preston,&rdquo; Pulford said.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04527/5246414-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="140" height="118"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h2>Preston is 34 years old.&ldquo;We know that,&rdquo; Pulford said.Pulford said Nylund&rsquo;s play as a &ldquo;big, tough, stay-at-home defenseman&rdquo; in the playoffs was the reason the Hawks broke their pattern and pursued him as a free agent.But there are more changes coming in the Hawks&rsquo; lineup.After surviving his scare during the Nylund arbitration, Ed Olczyk looms as the Hawks No. 3 center following the &ldquo;retirement&rdquo; of Tom Lysiak and the departure of Ken Yaremchuk as part of the compensation for Nylund.If he has as good a training camp as he had last year, rookie Mike Stapleton should be the No. 4 center. Stapleton already has been given uniform No. 12, worn by his father, Pat. during his years on defense with the Hawks.And on defense, Nylund would not represent the only change.The Hawks have been encouraged by the progress of Bruce Cassidy after his knee surgery of last November, and the Hawks&rsquo; No. 1 pick from 1983 should make a strong bid for a spot. Cassidy, ironically, had a virtually identical operation, performed by the same surgeon (Dr. David Hastings), as Nylund had three years ago.The Hawks also are high on Dave Manson, their first-round draft pick in 1984. They like Manson&rsquo;s toughness and character&mdash;and they feel the same way about Dan Vincelette, a tough left winger from Drummondville in the Quebec League who was a fourthround draft pick in 1985. The Hawks need depth on left wing, where they have a history of injury. &#9632;

f0016-04

Hectic Off-Season Comes To Close

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03258/5246445-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="549" height="853"><figcaption class="caption-body">New York Islander defenseman Ken Morrow has proved himself to be a survivor.</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;Ken Morrow of the New York Islanders has earned his share of nicknames during his career.When he was with the U.S. Olympic team in 1980, head coach Herb Brooks called him &ldquo;Mo.&rdquo;Teammates on the Islanders refer to the bearded defenseman as &ldquo;Wolfman&rdquo; or &ldquo;Wolfie.&rdquo;Nobody has ever called Morrow &ldquo;Survivor,&rdquo; yet that&rsquo;s exactly what he is. He has survived numerous bumps and bruises, especially on his right knee, in recent years.&ldquo;Survivor?&rdquo; Morrow mused the other day. &ldquo;Yeah, I guess you could call me that. I haven&rsquo;t put in 12 or 13 years like some guys. I&rsquo;m going into my seventh season in the league, but I feel like a veteran. I guess it&rsquo;s because I&rsquo;ve been through a lot.&rdquo;Some understatement.A month after turning pro with the Islanders in 1980, Morrow required arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. He bounced back quickly, missing only one playoff game against the Bruins.Morrow underwent similar surgical procedure on the same knee on two other occasions and also has been sidelined with back and shoulder ailments.His most critical encounter with a surgeon&rsquo;s knife, though, took place on the eve of the opening of the 1984-85 season. He underwent major reconstruction surgery for cartilage and ligament damage in his right knee that caused him to miss most of the season.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02383/5246452-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="147" height="124"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>NEWYORK ISLANDERS</h2>Morrow rebounded reasonably well last season, though he was forced to rest his scarred right knee on several occasions. He also was hampered by an aching shoulder at mid-season.&ldquo;I know I can play better than I did last season,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;1 got off to a slow start and I was very disappointed with that. But by November it started to come around for me.&rdquo;Morrow spent part of the summer working out at a sports rehabilitation center operated by club therapist Steve Wirth on Long Island.&ldquo;Because of our early departure from the playoffs I had extra time to work out and I went to Steve&rsquo;s place about three times a week,&rdquo; the 29-year-old defenseman said. &ldquo;I did a lot of work on the strength machines and hit the whirlpool. I feel I&rsquo;ve made a lot of progress.&rdquo;Although he has been slowed somewhat by his knee problem, Morrow remains a solid defensive defenseman who uses his large body (205 pounds on a 6-foot-4 frame) to ride and/or push opposing players out of the slot. He also has a long reach, which permits him to pokecheck the puck away from unwary rivals.Morrow has never been a goalscoring threat, and is chided about that by his teammates. He failed to score a goal last season and owns a mere 12 goals in 399 regular-season games. Oddly, he has totaled almost as many goals in the playoffs (10 in 108 games, including three in overtime).&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t tell you the last time I scored a goal&hellip; I know it wasn&rsquo;t last year,&rdquo; he said.Psst, Ken. It was March 16, 1985, against the Capitals. &#9632;

f0025-03

Morrow Thrives, Survives As Islander Defenseman

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN Assistant Editor</div>TORONTO&mdash;&lsquo;Miro the Zero&rsquo; is what the cruel called him last year.Billed as a Superman of sorts, he had come from a land far, far away but that&rsquo;s where the similarities stopped.He was unable to leap over tall buildings in a single bound.In fact, Miro Ihnacak was unable to skate past tall defensemen in a single stride.After defecting from Czechoslovakia to join his brother, Peter, with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Miro failed to make a mark in the National Hockey League.A scoring champion back home, he collected just two goals and four assists in 21 games before he was, mercifully, sent to St. Catharines of the American League.It is where he should have been all along but the Leafs, influenced by the big bucks they spent to spirit him out of Czechoslovakia, placed unrealistic expectations upon him.They wanted an immediate return on their investment. Instead, Ihnacak&rsquo;s stock plummeted&hellip;until the right winger was given a chance in the American League.There, the 24-year-old blossomed, leading the surprising Saints in playoffs goals with eight in 13 games.Now, he is back where the Leafs thought he belonged all the time&mdash;in<h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-04172/5246483-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="146" height="131"></div>Toronto, at the team&rsquo;s NHL training camp.And there are those who think Ihnacak is here to stay this time.&ldquo;He will make it,&rdquo; assured a slightly-prejudiced Peter Ihnacak. &ldquo;I can bet my life on it.&rdquo;Wes Jarvis, Miroslav&rsquo;s center in St. Catharines and early-camp pivot, is of the same mind.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m positive he can play in this league,&rdquo; said Jarvis, who, as Miroslav&rsquo;s roomate last year, helped the newcomer learn English.The most common-heard knock against lhnacak in his first half-season was that he was too timid to play in the NHL.Playing for then-Saints&rsquo; coach John Brophy, a legendary tough guy, hardly seemed the cure to what ailed Ihnacak. Surprisingly, however, it was.&ldquo;He can take it,&rdquo; said Brophy, who is now the Toronto coach. &ldquo;Maybe he can dish it out too.&rdquo;Ihnacak, speaking through his brother, is appreciative of the support Brophy has given him. Asked who most helped ease the transition last year, he mentions Jarvis and the whitehaired coach.&ldquo;Coach Brophy&mdash;he spend lots of time with me,&rdquo; said Ihnacak who added, &ldquo;Toughness doesn&rsquo;t bother me. I&rsquo;d rather play more with the puck but it doesn&rsquo;t bother me to play physically.&rdquo;There was evidence enough of a new Miroslav Ihnacak during the early sessions.Defenseman Al Iafrate, who remembered Ihnacak from his ill-fated audition last season, quickly noticed the changes in Ihnacak.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s dangling pretty good,&rdquo; said Iafrate. &ldquo;He looks like a different man.&rdquo;And he is, according to brother Peter.&ldquo;It was difficult for him because he didn&rsquo;t speak any English,&rdquo; said the center. &ldquo;It (his English) is getting better. It&rsquo;s enough to play hockey.Miroslav explained, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that different from Czechoslovkia. What was difficult was the question of communication.&rdquo;There were other circumstances, said Peter.&ldquo;The situation (last year) was hard here because we were fighting for the playoffs and (former coach Dan) Maloney was under pressure.&rdquo;Implied is that Miroslav didn&rsquo;t get much of a chance.&ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t know what to expect,&rdquo; continued Peter. &ldquo;He had no international experience. They told him what he did in Czechoslovakia would be enough in Canada.&rdquo;Initially, it wasn&rsquo;t. It just might be now. &#9632;</div>

f0025-04

Ihnacak Makes “2nd Debut’ After Stint With The Saints

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>WASHINGTON&mdash;The prospect of increased free-agent bargaining power, following the completion of the new owner-player agreement, was tested unsuccessfully by left winger Greg Adams of the Washington Capitals.After Adams&rsquo; agent, Brian Burke, explored possibilities with as many as seven other National Hockey League teams, Adams wound up signing a new contract with the Capitals four days before the opening of training camp.&ldquo;I was hoping the new agreement would give us grinders a little more ability to bargain, and it has, but not much,&rdquo; Adams said. &ldquo;Compensation is still a major problem. When you talk compensation you knock a few teams off in a hurry.&rdquo;In Adams&rsquo; case any club signing him would have been required to give Washington a third-round draft pick, according to a formula based on the Capitals&rsquo; salary offer.&ldquo;General managers would give up their first-born before they&rsquo;d let a draft choice go,&rdquo; Adams said.Washington GM David Poile obviously held the same feelings about his colleagues, as he risked the loss of Adams, whose 18 goals were the most scored by any of the Capitals&rsquo; left wingers last season.&ldquo;It took longer than both sides thought it would and wanted it to, but that often happens in the course of negotiations,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;I think we made a fair offer and Greg seemed happy.&rdquo;Adams was not unhappy about the outcome of the negotiations. He had said all along that he preferred to return to Washington but felt that he would be unfair to himself and his family if he did not use his free-agent status to obtain the best possible contract.&ldquo;David was more than fair,&rdquo; Adams said. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t as if he was asking me to play for $4 a hour or we were $50,000 apart. My lawyer and I just wanted to be sure we hadn&rsquo;t missed anything. There&rsquo;s nothing worse than signing something quickly and living to regret it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01581/5246545-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="168" height="124"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2>Poile wanted to negotiate last December but Adams decided after a good start that he would await season&rsquo;s end to discuss it. Then, after posting his best NHL statistics&mdash;19 goals and 38 assists&mdash;Adams chose to delay things until a new collective bargaining agreement was struck.&ldquo;It made things go kind of late, but I&rsquo;ll be ready for the start of camp,&rdquo; Adams said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been lifting weights and running and riding the bike. I hope this season is even better than the last one.&rdquo;Adams, 26, credited &ldquo;more ice time&rdquo; with his excellent showing as he, Alan Haworth and Craig Laughlin provided the Capitals with a strong third line, a key factor in Washington&rsquo;s club-record 107-point performance.This will be Adams&rsquo; sixth NHL season. He played for Philadelphia and Hartford before the Whalers sent him to Washington in a 1983 swap forTor-rie Robertson. Adams&rsquo; best previous season was in 1982-83 at Hartford when he collected 10 goals and 13 assists.NOTES&mdash;Sixty-four players, the most in many years, were scheduled to report for the start of the Capitals&rsquo; 13th training camp&hellip;With the lengthier session mandated by the new collective bargaining agreement, the Capitals added power-skating instruction by Mike Kudzia and boxing supervised by Canadian professional fighter Don Poole. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to be more creative,&rdquo; coach Bryan Murray said. &ldquo;If we&rsquo;re not, camp can drag.&rdquo;&hellip;Jeff Greenlaw, the Capitals&rsquo; first-round draft choice, agreed to a four-year contract. &#9632;

f0027-01

Adams Out To Improve On Best Season Ever

MY PLAN WAS to draw one of the first three picks in the lottery, draft a virtual lock in the 1986-87 Madison Square Garden Hockey Pool, then unselfishly offer 63 loyal readers&mdash;according to my prospectus my superstar and I were purchasing 64 and 65&mdash;one share apiece for $ 1 (U.S., of course).It was going to be a splendid season. Our main man was going to score 55-60 goals. Our defensemen were sure to notch 20 apiece and our lunchpail guys were certain to have solid 20-to 25-goal seasons. Together we would celebrate, the 65 of us, the first transcontinental open-market hockey pool franchise. What a concept.So what happened at MSG? I picked number nine out of the hat, the soda was warm and the pizza was cold, I spent the entire draft wishing for that guy and settling for this one and I got a message from some accountant at THE HOCKEY NEWS informing me that my corporation had folded before I was ever elected CEO.Money can&rsquo;t change hands, I was informed. Lucky for you people.The MSGHP rules are simple: Of the 24 players you draft, 16 count. A team must carry two defensemen and one rookie at all times. There are two-round re-entry drafts in November and December, a March cutdown date (to the final 16) and then a waiver draft in which only the unprotected players are available.My team&rsquo;s not that bad, really. I finished ninth last season picking fourth, but I don&rsquo;t want to finish fourth picking ninth. I want&mdash;no, I need&mdash;the $190 first prize for my $65 investment. (Hey big shots, sports writers don't have that much money to throw around).For the second straight season, I start with Dale Hawerchuk. He killed me as my daring number four pick a year ago. but I figured I did all right with him ninth overall. Gretzky and Kurri were 1-2, of course, but it didn&rsquo;t take long for somebody to throw my charts off.Barry Watkins, the Rangers&rsquo; crack assistant PR guy, passed up Bossy and took Michel Goulet. So did Sherry Ross of the Bergen Record, who chose Glenn Anderson. Kenny Albert (that&rsquo;s sportscaster Marv&rsquo;s son and the MSGHP statistician) finally took Bossy No. 5 before Mark (New York Post) Everson selected Mario Lemieux.Sal (Marv&rsquo;s color man on Ranger radio) Messina drafted Paul Coffey. Rich (MSG) Carlino took Tim Kerr, leaving Hawerchuk and me together again.Fifty, please Dale.Walt (Newark Star-Ledger) MacPeek drew No. 10, so he picked last in the first round and first in the second. (We choose in reverse order in even-numbered rounds to even things out.) As MacPeek mulled his selections, I circled the two players I hoped to take with the 12th pick overall.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02375/5246576-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="141" height="116"><figcaption class="caption-body" style="width: 141px">Barry Meisel</figcaption></div>Gartner. Savard.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take Denis Savard and Mike Gartner,&rdquo; Walter announced.I moaned. Then I took Joey Mullen over Mats Naslund on the theory that the high-scoring Smythe Division will again this season save defense for the playoffs. Down the road I chose Hakan Loob (5th round, 49 overall), Gary Suter (7th round, 69th overall), Mike Krushelnyski (9th, 89th), Ray Neufeld (11th, 109th) and Mark Napier (16th, 152nd).Suter came a little earlier than I would have liked. But when MacPeek, Arthur (Ranger statistician) Friedman and Barry (Morristown Record) Rubinstein began gobbling up the Howes, Bourques, Housleys and Potvins, I figured I had to strike. I got Scott Stevens in the eighth round, 72nd overall.Play him up front on the power play, please Bryan. It worked so well two years ago.I rated 150 forwards, 30 defensemen, 20 rookies, 15 sleepers and 10 gambles. I hoped to catch the league napping on guys like Brian Sutter, Jim Fox and Steve Yzerman, legitimate scorers who had off-years due to injuries or slumps.Did not happen. I wasn&rsquo;t the only entrant who studied in front of the TV watching Mets games all summer. I did get Krushelnyski, one of my gambles. Put him back on the left of G-Man, OK Slats?Sergio Momesso (10th round, 92nd overall) is my rookie and I figure if his knee holds up, I&rsquo;ve made a decent pick.The rest of my team: Kevin Dineen in the third round (no broken knuckles), Dave Andreychuk in the fourth, Brian Bellows in the sixth, Darryl Sutter (12th), Mikko Makela (a gamble in the 13th), Patrick Flatley (a gamble in the 14th), Mark Johnson, Bryan Erickson, Tony McKegney, Ron Flockhart and Peter Ihnacak.I know. I know.Help me, Hawerchuk. &#9632;</div>

f0027-02

Help Me Dale Hawerchuk Is Plaintive Cry Of Poolster

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY&mdash;Unlike last season, there is no single overriding issue&mdash;no &lsquo;Is there Life after Nilsson?&rsquo;&mdash;for the Calgary Flames to deal with in the new year.The Flames answered the Nilsson query with a definitive yes in last season&rsquo;s playoff, knocking off the heavily-favored Edmonton Oilers in the Smythe Division final and advancing as far as the Stanley Cup championship before they lost in five games to the Montreal Canadiens.Accordingly, when the Flames opened training camp this season, they were flushed with last year&rsquo;s success&mdash;but also aware that it will be a hard act to follow.&ldquo;When you break it down, the overall question is: Can we repeat?&rdquo;, said Flames&rsquo; coach Bob Johnson. &ldquo;Can we pick it up where we left off? I&rsquo;d say yes. I think the chemistry is still there.&ldquo;If you analyze the November we had last year and then the latter part of December and early January, there wasn&rsquo;t a lot of difference between them&mdash;except we were about 11-0 in November and 0-11 in December.&rdquo;The only good thing that came out of the team&rsquo;s record 11-game losing streak was that it convinced the Flames they needed to make some changes. As a result, they picked up high-scoring Joey Mullen from St. Louis and hardworking John Tonelli from the Islanders. Both players made significant contributions to the team&rsquo;s late-season surge and to its run through the playoffs.Mullen finished as the team&rsquo;s leading scorer and set a club record for goal scoring in a playoff year&mdash;12. Tonel-li&rsquo;s contributions were more intangible, but no less significant. Moreover, both players played hurt during the playoffs, Tonelli with a groin injury, Mullen with neck, shoulder and mouth injuries.With Mullen and Tonelli in the lineup from Day 1, the Flames are stronger up front than they were a year ago. Johnson listed 17 forwards&mdash;including rookies Brian Bradley, Brett Hull and Gary Roberts&mdash;as candidates for the team.In goal, veteran Reggie Lemelin and rookie Mike Vernon began training camp as co-No. 1 goaltenders. Said Johnson: &ldquo;In all fairness, 1 don&rsquo;t know how else to refer to them. We don&rsquo;t have a No. 1. People ask: Is Vernon No. 1? I say, &lsquo;Yeah, but so is Reggie.&rsquo; You need two goalies. Those two guys are No. 1 until someone beats them out&mdash;if that&rsquo;s possible.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03243/5246607-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="380" height="471"></div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2>&ldquo;You have to reward Vernon for what he did in the playoffs. He was outstanding for us. He thrived on it. Reggie never had a chance because Vernon was so outstanding, but he (Lemelin) has been good for us for the four years that I&rsquo;ve been here. But we&rsquo;re not going to play Reggie 60 games.&rdquo;The only area where the Flames have a bona fide opening is on defense. To get Tonelli, the Flames were forced to give up steady Steve Konroyd. In the off-season, they lost free agent Robin Bartel. So Johnson opened the season with an eye on the five rookie rearguards signed by the Flames in the summer. He also said minor-league veteran Dale Degray would get a good, hard look.Ideally, Johnson would like to see a defenseman emerge and develop the way Calder Trophy-winner Gary Suter did a year ago.&ldquo;I would say (Dave) Reierson is a candidate because he was highly rated four years ago and because he &rsquo; s not 18. He&rsquo;s a veteran. There&rsquo;s (Don) Mercier, (Dale) Rivington, (Mike) Mersch&mdash;maybe there&rsquo;s a (Jamie) Ma-coun among them. We&rsquo;ve got 19 defensemen. We should be able to find seven or eight out of that. (Paul) Baxter is definitely a candidate for one of our spots. Until someone beats him out, he&rsquo;s going to play.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0027-03

Pair Of Netminders Share No. 1 Billing

<div class="byline">BY JERRY ZGODA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02415/5246638-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="549" height="769"><figcaption class="caption-body">The price for Brian MacLellan was just right for the Minnesota North Stars.</figcaption></div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;The price was right, that was the selling point.Brian MacLellan had already been traded once in the past nine months because, as one Minnesota North Star player put it, he has gained the reputation around the National Hockey League for being a 6-foot-3 &ldquo;teddy bear.&rdquo;Still, North Star general manager Lou Nanne couldn&rsquo;t resist grabbing MacLellan five days before the start of training camp when he discovered the New York Rangers&rsquo; final asking price&mdash;a fourth-round draft choice in the 1987 entry draft. It could, sources say, become a third-round choice if MacLellan scores 25 or more goals.&ldquo;For what we gave up, we couldn&rsquo;t not take him,&rdquo; coach Lome Henning said. &ldquo;It gives us a lot of depth on the left side.&rdquo;The Stars have been looking for a physical left winger, especially since they learned veteran Steve Payne will be out until at least November with a knee injury. MacLellan, 27, is 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds and has a scoring touch, as witnessed by his 31 goals and 85 points while playing on a line with Marcel Dionne in Los Angeles two years ago.But MacLellan first frustrated the Kings and then the Rangers with his unwillingness to use his size and strength. The Kings sent MacLellan to the Rangers last December as part of a three-way deal that sent goalie Rollie Melanson from the North Stars to the Kings, via the Rangers.MacLellan ended the season as the Rangers&rsquo; fifth-leading scorer with 16 goals and 45 points in 78 games (51 with New York, 27 with Los Angeles) and had two goals and six points in 16 playoff games. But that obviously didn&rsquo;t impress new Ranger general manager Phil Esposito, who looked at the stats and surmised that 66 penalty minutes weren&rsquo;t enough for a man that size.In addition, MacLellan&rsquo;s agent demanded the Rangers trade him, according to Esposito. MacLellan reportedly requested the trade because he was another player who did not want to play for head coach Ted Sator. Esposito said he mailed MacLellan a new contract with a raise, but the envelope was returned unopened. So Esposito unloaded MacLellan at a bargainbasement price.&ldquo;With Payne hurt, we need somebody that can stand in front of the net on the power play and this guy can do it,&rdquo; Henning said. &ldquo;He can do something in the offensive zone and he&rsquo;s good along the boards. And he can handle himself. Somebody told me he handled (Edmonton&rsquo;s Dave) Semenko and you&rsquo;ve got to be pretty tough to do that.&rdquo;The Stars now have an overload on left wing&mdash;they already have 43-goal scorer Scott Bjugstad, Tony McKeg-ney, Brian Lawton, Kent Nilsson, Mats Hallin, Payne, Tim Coulis and rookies Larry De Palma and Warren Babe.There is some speculation that MacLellan will never wear a North Star jersey, that he was acquired only to be packaged in a forthcoming trade. Mac Lellan could be packaged with a defenseman, such as Curt Giles or maybe Gordie Roberts, as part of a deal for Quebec defenseman Randy Moller, who has asked the Nordiques to trade him.Moller&rsquo;s agent. Bill Watters from Toronto, expressed hope that Nanne would be able to get Moller, 23. Moller wants out of Quebec because he doesn&rsquo;t speak French and because of the high taxation.&ldquo;Randy likes the team (the North Stars), the area and he even likes Louie,&rdquo; Watters said with a chuckle. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t see himself having much of a future after hockey in Quebec, so maybe it&rsquo;s better he gets now. Minnesota would be a nice place for him, but maybe it&rsquo;s just wishful thinking.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01592/5246645-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="150" height="124"></div><h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2>NORTH STAR NOTES&mdash;Former University of Minnesota forward Pat Micheletti, a ninth-round draft choice in 1982, saw a doctor for an iron deficiency in his blood. Micheletti cut red meat out of his diet in June and suffered from fatigue during the first two days of pre-camp, which started Sept. 7. He was given iron tablets&hellip; Forward Ed Lee, acquired from Quebec for a sixth-round draft choice last season, did not report for pre-camp and Lome Henning says he assumes that means Lee doesn&rsquo;t want to play hockey any more&hellip;Finnish defenseman Jari Gronstrand, a fifth-round pick in last June&rsquo;s draft, and first-round choice Warren Babe were among the players who impressed North Star scouts at precamp&hellip; Defenseman Frantisek Musil was held out of the nightly pre-camp scrimmages. Henning didn&rsquo;t want to risk an injury while the other prospects hammered each other&hellip;Goalie Don Beaupre, who played out his option year last season, signed a new four-year pact and attending the opening of training camp. He had threatened not to show up without a contract. &#9632;

f0028-02

Stars Get ‘Teddy Bear’ MacLellan

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>&ldquo;I think Craig Patrick has made a very good move. Brian MacLellan is a power forward and he&rsquo;s not just big and strong. He can skate, has excellent hockey sense and has good hands.&rdquo;&mdash;Ted Sator on Dec. 9, 1985NEW YORK&mdash;The New York Rangers, who gave up defenseman Grant Ledyard, a second-round draft choice and a fourth-round draft choice to obtain left winger Brian MacLellan last December, sent him to Minnesota on Sept. 8 for next to nothing&mdash;the same fourth-round pick that was part of last year&rsquo;s deal.MacLellan, who will be 28 in October, was a former pupil of Sator&rsquo;s at the Huron Hockey School and the rookie coach acknowledged last December that he pressed Patrick to find a way to bring him to New York. Very quickly, however. MacLellan found himself in Sator&rsquo;s doghouse because of lethargic, inept play.In 51 games as a Ranger, MacLellan collected 11 goals and 21 assists and then added two goals and four assists in 16 playoff games. Only occasionally did the former Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; 31-goal scorer use his size (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) and strength to advantage and he compiled New York&rsquo;s worst plusminus rating (minus-20).In retrospect, Sator&rsquo;s miscalculation on MacLellan, a fellow Bowling Green University alumnus, proved very costly, especially in the case of Ledyard. The continued presence on the Ranger roster of the slick, offensive-style defenseman would have helped fill the void created by Reijo Ruotsalainen&rsquo;s decision to play in Switzerland this season.Even after Ranger general manager Phil Esposito &ldquo;unloaded&rdquo; MacLellan to Minnesota, however, Sator would not acknowledge the mistake or accept part of the blame for it. The two-part Ranger disaster of a deal went like this:1. On the morning of Dec. 9, the Rangers traded a second-round draft choice in 1986 and a fourth-round draft choice in 1987 to Minnesota for goalie Roland Melanson.2. A few hours later, they traded Ledyard and Melanson to Los Angeles for MacLellan and a fourth-round draft choice.Sator would not budge when asked if he would like to have last Decembers transaction back.&ldquo;No, I wouldn&rsquo;t take it back,&rdquo; the Ranger coach answered sternly. &ldquo;The face of our team has changed. The situation has changed. Phil (Esposito, the new general manager) and I have continued to keep pace with it.&rdquo;Later in the day, however, Sator&rsquo;s boss took a very different view.&ldquo;I never would have traded Ledyard, even up, for MacLellan,&rdquo; Esposito declared, but then added that the reason for yesterday&rsquo;s deal had more to do with MacLellan&rsquo;s bad attitude about New York than his bad statistics.&ldquo;His agent (Ron Solcer) sent me a letter and demanded that I trade Brian. I had offered him a raise and they sent the contract back&hellip;unopened. For over a month, I tried to get a hold of MacLellan to talk to him, man-to-man, and see what was wrong but he never got back to me.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03298/5246676-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="131" height="119"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said it before and I&rsquo;ll say it again,&rdquo; Espo stressed, &ldquo;anybody who doesn&rsquo;t want to play in New York is going to be gone&hellip;especially if they are marginal players. It&rsquo;s that simple&hellip;even if I have to give them away.&rdquo;Perhaps because Sator was one of the parts of the New York environment which MacLellan didn&rsquo;t care for, the Ranger coach made no mention of those demands when he responded to questions about the winger&rsquo;s exit.&ldquo;Brian came in when we had a desperate need for him on the left side,&rdquo; Sator explained. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid the dol-lar-for-dollar return on this trade will not be answered until training camp. We&rsquo;re expecting a couple of surprises on our left side.&rdquo;When asked for specifics, however, the Ranger coach listed four low-scoring veterans&mdash;Mark Osborne, Don Maloney, Jan Erixon and George McPhee&mdash;plus newly-acquired Walt Poddubny among the six leading candidates at the position. No &ldquo;surprises&rdquo; were included, except for college free agent Mike Donnelly from Michigan State.BIG APPLESAUCE&mdash;The Rangers announced the signing of college free-agent defenseman Norm Maclv-er. Phil Esposito&rsquo;s signing of Maclv-er, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound defenseman from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, is an attempt to at least partially make up for the loss of Ruotsa-lainen. In 55 college games, Maclver collected 39 goals and 152 assists but many outstanding players of his size, especially defensemen, find the jump to the NHL very difficult. &#9632;

f0028-03

Esposito Unloaded An Unhappy Player

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>PORTLAND&mdash;The Maine Mariners are planning a season-long party to celebrate their 10th anniversary.Though not the first nor the only professional sports venture in the state, the Mariners are by far the most successful. Through nine seasons of competition in the American League, the Mariners have consistently been among the leaders in the standings and at the box office.During that time they have become a standard for excellence in AHL operations.Back in 1977 when the idea of a hockey team for the new Cumberland County Civic Center was first proposed, there were plenty of naysayers to be found.&ldquo;The initial reaction, even on the part of some of the trustees of the civic center, was doubt whether it could be successful in a city of 75,000 to 100,000.&rdquo; said Ed Anderson, the team&rsquo;s president. &ldquo;But there were people like Ed Snider (owner of the-Phi-ladelphia Flyers) and Frank Fixaris (a Portland television sportscaster) who thought that if everything was done right the people of Maine would support it and it would be a success.&rdquo;Anderson credits Fixaris, who still does radio color work for the team&rsquo;s home games, with promoting the idea of an AHL team for the city. &ldquo;He was in the minority,&rdquo; Anderson said.Civic center officials listened to presentations from the Flyers, the Maine Nordiques of the now-defunct North American Hockey League, and the Rhode Island Reds before deciding to limit their negotiations to the Flyers. The Nordiques wanted to play half of their home games at Portland and the other half at Lewiston, while the Reds&rsquo; officials were interested in moving the franchise.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01530/5246714-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="569" height="826"><figcaption class="caption-body">Flyer captain Dave Poulin collected 16 points in 16 games with the Maine Mariners.</figcaption></div>The deal with Philadelphia was hammered out during the late winter and spring of 1977.&ldquo;We got started on June 17th and we didn&rsquo;t have pencils, paper or paper clips and we were working out of what is now the locker room,&rdquo; Anderson said. &ldquo;But 16 weeks later we played to a sold-out building and a state-wide television audience.&rdquo;With coach Bob McCammon calling the shots, the Mariners compiled the best record in the AHL (43-28-9), won the Northern Division and went on to capture the Calder Cup during their first season. The next year, with Pete Peeters doing much of the goaltending, they repeated as the regularseason and playoff champs.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02368/5246707-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="147" height="124"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>AHL NORTH</h2>Philadelphia maintained the franchise for six seasons before selling it to the New Jersey Devils in 1983.In their nine years in the league, the Mariners have never had a losing season and have never finished lower than third in their division. Maine has won four division titles, three playoff titles and has reached the playoff final on five occasions.During the regular season, the Mariners have compiled a 371-264-85 record. They have an outstanding 22693-41 record at home and a 145-17144 road record. In the playoffs, the Mariners are 59-49. With an overall record of 430-313-85, the Mariners have played.571 hockey since 1977.Some of the players who have spent time as members of the Mariners are the late Pelle Lindbergh, Lindsay Carson, Dave Poulin, Ron Flockhart, Terry Murray, Dennis Patterson, John Paddock, Bob Froese, Ken Linseman, Wayne Schaab, Greg Adams of the Washington Capitals and the Devils&rsquo; Greg Adams.To mark the Mariners&rsquo; anniversary season. Dale Arnold, the team&rsquo;s vicepresident for public relations, is developing a program of events.The schedule, which will include another game against a touring Soviet team in December and may include an alumni game later in the season, is the most ambitious series of promotions in the team&rsquo;s history.Arnold, who enters the season having broadcast 455 consecutive Mariners games, pointed out that celebration will be typical of the way the franchise has been operated for nine years.&ldquo;We aren&rsquo;t doing anything fancy,&rdquo; Arnold said, &ldquo;but we take a lot of pride in how we do things here, both on the ice and off.&rdquo;AROUND THE DIVISION&mdash;The Nova Scotia Oilers will again be staffed by players from the Edmonton Oilers and Chicago Blackhawk-s&hellip;Veteran center Bud Stefanski was re-signed by the Devils for the Mariners&hellip;All six coaches who handled Northern Division clubs last season return. They are: Pierre Creamer, Sherbrooke; Bill Dineen. Adirondack; Tom McVie. Maine; Terry Crisp, Moncton; Larry Kish, Nova Scotia; and Andre Savard, Fredericton. &#9632;

f0031-01

The Maine Men Celebrate 10th Anniversary

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04199/5246745-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="573" height="922"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rochester Amerks&rsquo; coach John Van Boxmeer is seeking added depth this season.</figcaption></div>ROCHESTER&mdash;The Rochester Americans got off to an early start in planning for the 1987-88 American League season. Too early, as far as they were concerned.For the first time in five seasons, the Amerks failed to qualify for the Calder Cup playoffs. At the same time, their National Hockey League affiliate in Buffalo didn&rsquo;t take part in the Stanley Cup playoffs after 11 straight appearances.&ldquo;We felt we had to come back with a stronger team this year,&rdquo; Amerks&rsquo; coach John Van Boxmeer said. &ldquo;How many years will they support us if we come back with a sub-standard team?&rdquo;&ldquo;They&rdquo; are the Amerk fans, who have made Rochester the AHL&rsquo;s top attendance draw the last four seasons.So with one eye on the turnstiles, the Buffalo Sabres re-signed AHL first-team all-star right winger Jody Gage, defenseman Richie Dunn and center Don Lever. They also signed defenseman Jack Brownschidle, a second-team all-star with Binghamton last season, and left winger Ted Nolan the Amerks&rsquo; captain two years ago who was sold to Pittsburgh before last season.Buffalo also pursued free-agent left winger Paul Fenton, a 53-goal scorer at Binghamton last season, but Fenton signed with the New York Rangers.&ldquo;Last season let us know we didn&rsquo;t have the depth,&rdquo; Van Boxmeer said. &ldquo;That was certainly a priority this year. Buffalo ran into so many injuries and then we had injuries. It had a snowball effect.&rdquo;The Sabres lost 279 manpower games due to injuries, topped by the Amerks&rsquo; total of 324.Rochester was in second place midway through last season, but faded in the final 40 winning just 11 times to finish sixth.&ldquo;We were not a quality team the last half of the season,&rdquo; Van Boxmeer said. &ldquo;I Would have compared. our team to an IHLteam. When we ran into injuries, we didn&rsquo;t have enough players in the organization. We had no players in the IHL.&rdquo;<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03268/5246752-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="149" height="120"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>AHL SOUTH</h2>As a result, the Amerks turned to the Atlantic Coast League for help three times.&ldquo;This year, we have a lot more depth at every position,&rdquo; Van Boxmeer said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have a strong affiliate in Flint (IHL) and have five or six good players down there.&rdquo;The possibilty of pairing Dunn and Brownschidle on the ice in the final minute of a close game excites Van Boxmeer. Of course, having Gage, who scored 42 goals last season, and Nolan pleases Van Boxmeer, too.&ldquo;We certainly wanted him in our organization,&rdquo; Van Boxmeer said of Brownschidle, who turned down a sweeter offer from Hartford and signed with Buffalo to be closer to his family. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s such a smooth puck-handler.&rdquo;Different words were used by Van Boxmeer to describe Nolan&rsquo;s impact on the Amerks.&ldquo;I felt that one of our problems last year was that we let the other team dictate the type of game it&rsquo;ll be,&rdquo; Van Boxmeer said. &ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t the ones to take the initiative. Ted doesn&rsquo;t take a backward step from anyone.&rdquo;And the Amerks hope to follow his lead.AROUND THE SOUTH&mdash;Newmarket Saints have signed former Baltimore Skipjack Dean Defazio and defenseman Greg Hotham. Tough guy Leigh Verstraete, tied for eighth in the league with 300 penalty minutes last season, was also re-signed by Toronto-&hellip;Forward Mitch Wilson, who had 217 penalty minutes in Maine, signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins&hellip;Steve Carlson signed with the Skipjacks and will be back in Baltimore for his fourth season&hellip;Another former Maine Mariner, Kevin Maxwell, signed with the Hershey Bears&hellip;The Hartford Whalers invited former St. Catharines Saints forward Greg Britz to training camp. Britz scored 17 goals last season&hellip; Dan Brennan, who played for New Haven last season, signed with the New York Islanders. &#9632;

f0031-04

Determined Amerks Embark On Their ‘Comeback’ Season

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div>MUSKEGON&mdash;The rich just seem to get richer and in the case of the Muskegon Lumberjacks, it&rsquo;s hard to tell where it might end.The defending Turner Cup champions have their top three scorers and three of last year&rsquo;s top seven in the International League signed to multiyear contracts.In addition, general manager Larry Gordon says Dennis Polonich, the No. 5 scorer, wingers Roy Sommer and Don Keller, and defensemen Dave Allison and Mike Forbes are under contract for the 1986-87 IHL season which gets under way Oct. 17. Muskegon will open a day later at home against Saginaw.&ldquo;We have a group to build around as we get ready for our local traing camp,&rdquo; Gordon observed.And what a group.Jock Callander (39-72) and Scott Gruhl (59-50) led the team with 111 and 109 points, respectively. Gruhl&rsquo;s goals were the most in the league, Callander&rsquo;s assists second only to scoring leader Scott MacLeod of Salt Lake.Dave Michayluk also surpassed the 50-goal mark in 1985-86. His 52 goals&mdash;104 points altogether&mdash;placed him fourth in the league.Muskegon will have Rick Ley behind the bench again, which may be the biggest plus of all.Ley led the Lumberjacks to a franchise-record 50 victories and 103 points in 1984-85 when he wasTHN&rsquo;s Minor League Coach of the Year.That was his first season at Muskegon and the Lumberjacks made a great comeback from a dismal 19-58-5 record of the previous season. Ley&rsquo;s squad was beaten in the Turner Cup finals that year by Peoria.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01560/5246790-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="564" height="820"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Muskegon Lumberjacks consider themselves lucky to have Rick Ley as coach.</figcaption></div>Last year he carried things one step further, winning the same number of games (50) but setting another record for points with 105. And his Lumberjacks went all the way in the playoffs to claim the Turner Cup.&ldquo;Rick has done a tremendous job for us,&rdquo; Gordon acknowledged. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s way too good a coach to be at this level, but we&rsquo;re happy he&rsquo;s here. I hope something breaks for him (at a higher level) in another year.&ldquo;Rick is an excellent communicator. That&rsquo;s his strong point you have to be able to do that with today&rsquo;s players. He&rsquo;s a fine teacher, as well, and he knows when to apply a kick in the butt or give a pat on the back.&rdquo;The success of the franchise on the ice over the last two seasons has led to some pretty good figures in the club&rsquo;s financial ledgers as the season draws near.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02407/5246783-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="133" height="114"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>&ldquo;Obviously, when you win a championship it helps in the sales of tickets for the next year,&rdquo; Gordon said. &ldquo;It also helps in the sale of advertising and we are going into this season with about $400,000 in the bank.&rdquo;Still, with all the positives Muskegon has enjoyed, Gordon isn&rsquo;t looking for an easy road to a second straight Turner Cup.&ldquo;The biggest question mark is what we are going to receive from our NHL affiliates,&rdquo; he said. The Lumberjacks have agreements with Edmonton, Pittsburgh and Quebec.Beyond that factor, though, Gordon is cautious about predicting the same level of success this season.&ldquo;I think the league will be drastically improved this year,&rdquo; he surmised. &ldquo;There are a lot of free agents available. And the surprise in the league may be the Flint Spirits.&rdquo;The Spirits were by far the worst team in the IHL last season. This year Gordon expects much-improved Flint representation under new coach Rick Dudley.In other news, the Indianapolis Checkers have obtained the rights to goaltender Dave Parro and forward Tom Conway. Both free agents belonged to Salt Lake City.Parro was on loan to Flint last season when he had a 10-34 record and a 5.34 goals-against mark as he was fronted by the IHL&rsquo;s poorest defense. Conway played in Scotland last season.In exchange for those rights, the Checkers gave up the rights to veteran defenseman Pat Ribble, who will return to Salt Lake City.The Kalamazoo Wings have signed defenseman Mike Greeder, who sat out last season as a player and served as an assistant coach at Toledo under Pete Mahovlich.Greeder, 29, was a first all-star team selection with Toledo in 1981-82 when the Goaldiggers won the Turner Cup. The Minnesota native was drafted originally by Philadelphia in 1977 and has played in the American League and now-defunct Central League as well. &#9632;

f0032-01

Ley’s Lumberjacks Look As Strong As Ever

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01573/5246821-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"></div>Junior hockey has always been known for its unpredictability.It&rsquo;s a quality that adds to the popularity of the game and has become an intrinsic part of the game&rsquo;s appeal. It is also the principle reason a forecaster&rsquo;s job is so difficult.There are just too many wild cards&mdash;among them the collective youth of those involved and player availability&mdash;to feel confident while gazing into the crystal ball.But that won&rsquo;t stop us from trying. Here&rsquo;s a look at how the 15 Ontario League teams shape up this season. The defending Memorial Cupchampion Guelph Platers will again be strong in the Emms Division as will the blossoming Windsor Spitfires while the always-powerful Peterborough Petes will be contenders in the Leyden Division.Teams are listed in predicted order of finish. Last year&rsquo;s records are included in brackets.<h2>LEYDEN DIVISION PETERBOROUGH (45-19-2)</h2>Coach-GM: Dick ToddKey Players: The Petes will start out with 19-year-old goalies Kay Whitmore (27-12-2, 2.77) and Ron Tugnutt (18-7-0, 2.88), both high NHL picks. Among those back on the blue line is highly-rated Luke Richardson. Forwards of note include Glen Seabrooke, Rob Murray and Jody Hull.Newcomers: First pick Ross Wilson, a center, and Dan Jensen, a defenseman taken in the third.Outlook: The Petes have lost a lot up front but are still solid in net and on defense. And don&rsquo;t forget the possibility of John Hanna, Darren Treloar or Mark Teevens returning in some combination as the two overagers.<h2>KINGSTON (35-28-3)</h2>Coach-GM: Fred O&rsquo;DonnellKey Players: Defensemen Marc Laforge, Bryan Fogarty and Mark Lyons. Herb Raglan may not be back from St. Louis Blues but tough left winger Scott Metcalfe (36-43-79, 213 pirn) is due back from Edmonton Oilers. Other top forwards are Daril Holmes and Scott Pearson.Newcomers: Top draft Chad Badawey and second-rounder Sloan Torti, both just 16.Outlook: If Chris Clifford returns as an overage goalie, the Canadians will be extra tough. If he doesn&rsquo;t, the Canadians may have to go shopping. But while goaltending is a question mark, Kingston is solid every place else.<h2>OTTAWA (18-46-2)</h2>Coach-GM: Brian KilreaKey Players: Forwards Kent Hawley, tiny and talented Guy Larose (3i-61-92) and Warren Rychel plus rugged Rick Lessard (231 pirn) and Chris Vickers on defense. Big Darren Beals is the goalie.Newcomers: First pick Jeff Ballantyne, a defenseman and second-rounder Andrew Cassells, a center.Outlook: Kilrea picked a good time to come back after a two-year stint in the pros. He&rsquo;s got some excellent people to work with and the dark days are over in Ottawa.<h2>OSHAWA (37-27-2)</h2>Coach: Paul TheriaultGM: Sherry BassinKey Players: Forwards Scott McCrory (52-80-132), Derek King and good prospect Tony Joseph are capable of big seasons. Defense features Jim Paek, Marc Laniel and offensive whiz Petri Matikainen (14-42-56), the OHL&rsquo;s highest-scoring blueliner last year.Newcomers: First pick Kevin Mieham, a center and Brent Grive, a left winger. Also, overage goalie Sean Evoy, acquired during the summer from Cornwall Royals.Outlook: Generals may start the season with three top goalies&mdash;Evoy, Mark Gowans and rookie Jeff Hackett. One of Evoy or Gowans is likely to be traded. The Generals are solid everywhere though they have lacked the killer instinct since going to the Memorial Cup three years ago.<h2>BELLEVILLE (37-27-2)</h2>Coach-GM: Larry MavetyKey Players: Two-way forward Gary Callaghan and nifty Keith Gretzky (27-47-74), plus defensemen Brian Chapman and Bryan Marchment, a top draft prospect.Newcomers: Troy Crowder, acquired from Hamilton Steelhawks for Stan Drulia, and first pick Greg Bignell.Outlook: Mavety likes to trade a lot and the Bulls&rsquo; team that begins the season figures to change drastically by Christmas. Question mark looms in goal with Paul Henriques.<h2>CORNWALL (28-36-2)</h2>Coach: Orval TessierGM: Jim LarinKey Players: Craig Duncanson (43-67-110), if he makes it back from Los Angeles Kings, overage forward Bill Bennett (37-51-88) and defenseman Shayne Doyle.Newcomers: Goalie Richard Tabaracci, their first pick, and defenseman Matt Schneider, a walk-on sensation from Mount St. Charles High School in Rhode Island.Outlook: Tessier is known as a winner, but has a lot of work to do. Coaching may be what gets them into the playoffs.<h2>TORONTO (22-41-3)</h2>Coach: Paul DennisGM: Frank BonelloKey Players: Forwards Tim Armstrong (35-69-104), Sean Davidson and Yvon Corriveau (54-36-90), though Corriveau could well stick with Washington Capitals.Newcomers: Center Chris Govederis, their first pick, and goalie Mike Volpe, acquired from Kitchener Rangers.Outlook: Lack of depth and quality players makes it seem like it will be a long season in Marlie country.<h2>EMMS DIVISION WINDSOR (34-26-6)</h2>Coach: Tom WebsterGM: Jim RutherfordKey Players: Goalie Pat Jablonski, defensemen Darryl Shannon, a Toronto Maple Leaf second-rounder, and Chicago second-rounder Mark Kurzawski plus forwards Kent Hulst, Adam Graves, a Detroit second-rounder, and Kevin Kerr (266 pirn).Newcomers: Goalie Peter Ing, taken in the second round, and forward Ron Jones, a ninthrounder from the Portland Winter Hawks.Outlook: Rutherford has done an outstanding job putting this team together in the two years it has been owned by Compuware. Spitfires are strong everywhere and Webster is regarded as an excellent coach. The ghost of Wayne Maxner may finally be put to rest this season.<h2>GUELPH (41-23-2)</h2>Coach: Gary SpoarGM: Rob HolodyKey Players: Forwards Lonnie Loach (83 points as a rookie) and Paul Kelly, plus defensemen Denis Larocque. Kerry Hoffman, a Philadelphia first-rounder, Steve Chiasson, and overager Marc Tournier.Newcomers: First pick Kelly Bradley and defenseman Dave Nose worthy, a defenseman who&rsquo;ll be brought along slowly.Outlook: Replacing departed coach Jacques Martin and overage goalie Steve Guenette will be tough but Spoar has a lot to work with. The defending Memorial Cup champions should be near the top all season.<h2>NORTH BAY (41-21-4)</h2>Coach-GM: Bert TempletonKey Players: Goalie John Reid (28-14-2) plus defensemen Adam Burt, certain to be a high NHL draft pick next summer, and Bill Houlder in addition to forwards Mike Hartman, a complete player, and David McLwain.Newcomers: First-pick Darcy Cahill, a center and second-round winger Keith Osborne.Outlook: Offensive and defensive balance will be enough to keep the Centennials in the running.<h2>HAMILTON (26-36-4)</h2>Coach-GM: Bill LaForgeKey Players: Forwards Brad Dalgarno, a former Islander first rounder, John Purves, Kirk Tomlinson (230 pirn) and defensemen Don Pancoe and Brad Hyatt.Newcomers: Foward Stan Drulia, acquired from Belleville, overage blueliner John Coppie, an acquisition from Cornwall, sixthrounder Jamie Leach, who played in New Westminster last season, and first pick Brad Gratton, a center.Outlook: LaForge sacrificed last season for the future and this is it. Defense is solid, there&rsquo;s a lot of talent up front and if LaForge can resist the urge to wheel and deal too much, the Steelhawks will be okay provided they find an able goalie.<h2>SAULT STE. MARIE</h2>(15-48-3)Coach-GM: Don BoydKey Players: Defensemen Robert Zettler, Steve Bisson and bad boy Bobby Babcock. Goalies Dan Gatenby and Washington prospect Shawn Simpson, the first goalie chosen in the 1986 entry draft, and forwards Steve Hollett and Brad Aitken.Newcomers: First pick Troy Mallette and second-rounder Denis Chouinard, both left wingers.Outlook: Boyd, over from London Knights, is a motivator. He&rsquo;s inherited a lot of quality from departed Don MacAdam. Goaltending duo may be the division&rsquo;s best as Gatenby looks like a late developer a la Steve Guenette and Simpson is everybody&rsquo;s favorite.<h2>KITCHENER (35-27-4)</h2>Coach-GM: Tom BarrettKey Players: Goalie David Weiss, defensemen Kevin Grant, a highly-rated draft prospect, and Ken Alexander, and forwards David Latta and Mike Wolak, second only to Guelph&rsquo;s Loach in rookie scoring last year (24-44-68).Newcomers: First pick Darren Rumble, a defenseman and third-rounder Richard Borgo, a right winger.Outlook: If Weiss doesn&rsquo;t play up to par and Latta and Wolak don&rsquo;t fill the net, missing the playoffs is a real possibility.<h2>SUDBURY (29-33-4)</h2>Coach-GM: Guy Blanchard.Key Players: Forwards Max Middendorf (40-42-82), Mike Hudson and Quebec first-rounder Ken McRae, and defensemen David Moylan, a member of Canada&rsquo;s junior national team.Newcomers: First pick Wayne Doucet, a left winger, second-rounder Pierre Gagnon, a defenseman, and goalie Corrie D&rsquo;Alessio, a ninth-rounder.Outlook: Wolves have scoring punch but defense and goaltending is a question mark and Blanchard is inexperienced. But don&rsquo;t be surprised if the Wolves surprise and sneak into the playoffs.<h2>LONDON (28-33-5)</h2>Coach-GM: Wayne MaxnerKey Players: Forwards Brendan Shanahan, who scored 28 goals as a 16-year-old and is considered one of the very best draft prospects in North America, and Kelly Cain (46-51-97) plus defenseman Brad Schlegel.Newcomers: First pick Shayne Stevenson, a forward, and goalie Steve Titus, acquired from Cornwall.Outlook: Maxner has a big challenge and rebuilding job ahead of him. London fans will have to be most patient though Maxner has a way of doing well when he shouldn&rsquo;t and vice-versa. Only hope is that this is a case of the former. &#9632;

f0034-01

Watch Out For Those Spitfires

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div>East is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet.In the Western League there&rsquo;smuch validity to that old saying. With the suspension of inter-divisional play for one season on a trial basis, it will take until the league final for old rivalries to heat up.Then it could very well be a hot time in the old town.Here&rsquo;s a team-by-team look at how the 1986-87 WHL season shapes up. Teams are listed in predicted order of finish. Last year&rsquo;s records are in brackets.<h2>EASTERN DIVISION MEDICINE HAT (54-17-1)</h2>Coach: Bryan MaxwellGM: Russ FarwellKey Players: Tigers are blessed with two quality returning netminders in Mark Fitzpatrick (2.86) and Troy Gamble (3.76). Mark Pederson (46-60-106) is the big gun up front and so is fellow first-round draft Neil Brady (21-60-81).Newcomers: Right winger Trevor Linden and defenseman Kevin Knopp.Outlook: Farwell is hoping forwards Guy Phillips and Dale Kushner return as overagers. Even if they don&rsquo;t. Tigers still have the horses to get the job done.<h2>PRINCE ALBERT (52-17-3)</h2>Coach-GM: Rick WilsonKey Players: Raiders are counting on forwards Pat Elynuik (53-53-106), a Winnipeg first-rounder, and Steve Gotaas (40-61-101) along with rugged defenseman Dave Manson (177 pirn) to form nucleus of the club if they all return from their NHL camps. Steve Nemeth lends experience and a proven scoring touch. Kenton Rein (3.27) is the top goalie.Newcomers: Left winger Jason Smart.Outlook: New coach Wilson needs all his players back to challenge Medicine Hat.<h2>REGINA (45-26-1)</h2>Coach-GM: Doug SauterKey Players: Pats need a big year from goalie Stacey Nickel if they hope to contend for a pennant. Veterans Gerald Bzdel and Brad Miller are the top defensemen, Len Nielsen and Mark Janssens their top forwards.Newcomers: Defensemen Miland Dragicevic, Darren Parsons and Craig Kalawsky.Outlook: Goaltending is a weak point as is a lack of experience on defense. Center and right wing are two strong positions.<h2>SASKATOON (38-28-6)</h2>Coach: Marcel ComeauGM: Daryl LubinieckiKey Players: Forwards Troy Vollhoffer (55-55-110) and Walter Shutter can return as overagers and Blades are keeping their fingers crossed that Todd McLellan shakes the injury bug. On defense, Mike Butka, Brian Glynn and Bryan Larkin will shoulder most of the load. Goaltending is strong with Mark Reimer (4.88) and Tim Cheveldae (4.88) back.Newcomers: Forward Jason Christie, center Kory Kocur (a relative of Detroit&rsquo;s Joey Kocur) and defenseman Collin Bauer.Outlook: &ldquo;The biggest thing is getting goal scoring from the guys who are coming back,&rdquo; said assistant GM Dennis Beyak.<h2>CALGARY (23-47-2)</h2>Coach: Wally KozakGM: John ChapmanKey Players: Wranglers have solidity in goal with Chris Churchill the main man. But it&rsquo;s on defense where Calgary is strongest with veterans such as Ken Spangler and Mark Tinordi. Terry Zaporzan, Ron Bonora and Erin Ginnell are being counted on to produce up front.Newcomers: Forwards Bryan Bosch, Mark Bassen and Finnish defenseman Sampsa Jakonen.Outlook: &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ll surprise some people,&rdquo; said Chapman, who was fired as coach of Lethbridge last season. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be fighting for the first three or four spots in our division.&rdquo;<h2>SWIFT CURRENT (27-42-3)</h2>Coach-GM: Graham JamesKey Players: Minnesota first-rounder Warren Babe, Scott Kruger (26-80-106) and Trent Kaese are the offensive sparks while Ian Her-bers must solidify a suspect defense. Goaltender Pat Nogier, acquired from Kamloops, will be the starting goalie.Newcomers:: Center Joe Sakic, right winger Sheldon Kennedy and defenseman Danny Lambert.Outlook: Broncos, transplanted from Lethbridge, have some fire up front but will need some glue behind the blue line if they hope to finish in top half of the division.<h2>BRANDON (24-46-2)</h2>Coach: Marc PezzinGM: Bill ShinskeKey Players: Wheat Kings have a real find in sophomore goaltender Kelly Hichins, who showed great promise last season behind a porous defense. But Brandon will put the onus on the likes of forwards Ryan Stewart (52-44-96) to score.Newcomers:: Right winger Jeff Odgers, center Kevin Yellowhaga and defenseman Kevin Cheveldayff.Outlook: Expect Pezzin, who comes to Brandon after coaching Spokane, to make more trades to shore up the Wheaties.<h2>MOOSE JAW (25-44-3)</h2>Coach: Greg KvisleGM: Harvey RoyKey Players: There is strength in goal in Darryl Gilmour (4.76). Theoren Fleury (43-65-108) did everything possible for the club last season.Newcomers: Left winger Jim McKenzie, right winger Kevin Green and defenseman Dan Matheson.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01540/5246866-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="688" height="1000"><figcaption class="caption-body">Calgary Wranglers&rsquo; veteran-laden defense includes rugged Ken Spangler.</figcaption></div>Outlook: &ldquo;We need a couple of wingers to help us get into the playoffs,&rdquo; said Roy, who was business manager in New Westminster and Kamloops last season.<h2>WESTERN DIVISION KAMLOOPS (49-19-4)</h2>Coach: Ken HitchcockGM: Bob BrownKey Players: The key to the offense is center Rob Brown, who won the WHL scoring title last season as a 17-year-old with 173 points. Diminutive defenseman Greg Hawgood had 119 points in time split between the blue line and right wing. Rob McKinley is the No. 1 goalie.Newcomers: Defenseman Casey McMillan and center Bill Harrington.Outlook: &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s one word for the Blazers this year it&rsquo;s grind,&rdquo; said Hitchcock.<h2>PORTLAND (47-24-1)</h2>Coach: Ken HodgeGM: Brian ShawKey Players: One of the goalies&mdash;Chris Eisenhardt or Glen Seymour&mdash;must prove himself capable. Other than that, Hawks look great on paper. Bob Foglietta, Dave Archibald, Jamie Nicolls, Vancouver first-rounder Dan Woodley (when he recovers from stomach muscle surgery) and Dennis Holland form the nucleus up front while highly-touted draft prospect Glen Wesley anchors an improving defense that includes Detroit second-rounder Jeff Sharpies.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02430/5246859-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="683" height="1040"><figcaption class="caption-body">Top NHL draft prospect Glen Wesley anchors Portland&rsquo;s defense.</figcaption></div>Newcomers: Forward Shawn Clouston, plus Trevor and Troy Pohl will add some toughness.Outlook: &ldquo;If the goaltending is there we&rsquo;ll have what we want,&rdquo; said Portland director of player personnel Wayne Meier. &ldquo;We have a touch more toughness and maturity but the question is goaltending. We can&rsquo;t beat Hitchcock&rsquo;s club without it.&rdquo;<h2>SPOKANE (30-41-1)</h2>Coach: Peter EsdaleGM: Bob StrummKey Players: Veteran Mike Berger is the big man who has to come through on defense, while up front Brent Gilchrist and Rocky Dundas (31-70-101) are being counted on for big years. Grant Delcourt is an overage possibility. Sixteen-year-old rookie goalie John Colvin and Artie Feher, acquired from Moose Jaw, must rise to the occasion.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03343/5246852-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="685" height="988"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kenton Rein holds down the No.-1 goaltending spot for Prince Albert.</figcaption></div>Newcomers: Defensemen Dave Bessason and Mike Rickert, left wingers Curt Lehner and Murray Duval plus center Darcy Loewen.Outlook: Strumm, a proven winner, returns to the WHL after a year&rsquo;s absence. He&rsquo;s counting on an improved defense to move the team up.<h2>SEATTLE (27-43-2)</h2>Coach-GM: Sheldon FergusonKey Players:: Craig Endean is the fireplug up front who will have to duplicate a 128-point season if the T-Birds are going to move up the standings. Brad Melin should blossom while Jamie Huscroft is the leader on defense. Greg Hubert will be the starting goalie.Newcomers: Defensemen Shannon Travis, Ricky Fry and Rob Flintoft.Outlook: &ldquo;Our defense should be quite solid but we&rsquo;ll have to play a little more physical and with a little more confidence,&rdquo; said Seattle director of player personnel Jake Goertzen. &ldquo;Goal scoring is a concern.&rdquo;<h2>VICTORIA (22-49-1)</h2>Coach: Wayne NakaGM: Al PattersonKey Players:: Simon Wheeldon (61-96-157), Ken Priestlay (73-72-145) and Adam Morrison (35-53-88) are all attending pro camps but only Priestlay and Morrison are likely to return. Will Anderson is the top defense--man. Peter Fry and Mike Doyle return in goal.Newcomers: Right wingers Joel Savage and Kent Lewis, plus defenseman Andrew Wolf.Outlook: &ldquo;The key for us is attitude,&rdquo; said new coach Naka. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve tried to change the environment around here and set some realistic goals.&rdquo;<h2>NEW WESTMINSTER (25-45-2)</h2>Coach: Ernie McLeanGM: John OlverKey Players:: Bruins can count on a better defense but scoring is the concern. Gerry Johannson, Garth Premak and Gary Moscaluk are keys behind the blue line while Glenn Mul-venna and overage newcomer Brian Kozak must score often. Drago Adam will handle the bulk of the goaltending.Newcomers: Right winger Scott Rawson and centers Dwayne Wills and Jeff Kitsch.Outlook: &ldquo;We need some guys who can surface as goal scorers we really don&rsquo;t have one,&rdquo; admitted Olver. &#9632;

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Tigers Hunting For Big Game

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div>Last season&rsquo;s doormats should be this season&rsquo;s leaders in the Quebec League.The QMJHL is searching for stability after enjoying one of it&rsquo;s most successful seasons and spreading the wealth throughout the league will help achieve that goal.Granby Bisons and Longueuil Chevaliers finished ninth and lOth, respectively, in the 10-team circuit, but are expected to challenge for their division titles this year.The eighth-place Shawinigan Cataractes also will be in the running.Here&rsquo;s a team-by-team breakdown of the league. Clubs are listed in predicted order of finish. Last year&rsquo;s records are in brackets.<h2>DILIO DIVISION GRANBY (23-46-3)</h2>Coach: Real PaiementGeneral Manager: Roger BedardKey Players: Pierre Turgeon, 17, is the franchise. The 6-foot-l, 198-pound brother of Hartford Whalers&rsquo; Sylvain led the Bisons last season (47-67-114) and chose to return to the team rather than play for the Canadian national team. He should tear up the league. The Bisons also obtained goaltender Eric Bohemier (25-6), and former captain Martin Simard, 20, a right winger from the Olympiques. Center Claude Dumas had 89 points and should be the leader. Most of the team&rsquo;s players have returned.Newcomers: Eric Desjardins, a highly-regarded offensive defenseman, was the league&rsquo;s second pick overall. Hard-nosed second-rounder Eric Dubois, a right winger, may play on Turgeon&rsquo;s line.Outlook: Longtime Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; scout Bedard, and Paiement, captain of Bedard&rsquo;s junior Canadiens, have all of the ingredients in their first season with the Bisons.<h2>SHAWINIGAN (32-38-2)</h2>Coach-GM: Jacques GregoireKey Players: Pint-sized center Stephan Lebeau (5-foot-9, 160) and right winger Patrice Lefebvre (5-foot-6, 142) should terrorize the league&rsquo;s goalies after finishing seventh (69-76145) and eighth (38-98-136), respectively, in league scoring last year. Another diminutive marksman, Denis Paul (5-foot-9, 170) will be back after finishing 12th (60-63-123). The Cats will have one the best defenses in the league, with Stephane Guerard, Miguel Baldris and Stephane Carrier. The team is set in goal with Jean-Claude Bergeron.Newcomers: The club&rsquo;s first five draft picks made the team, starting with left winger Patrick Lebeau, Stephan&rsquo;s brother. Rookie goalie Eric Metivier is from Lac St. Louis.Outlook: One of the most balanced teams in the league. Gregoire, in his second year behind the bench, is expected to steer the team away from an intimidating style that proved ineffective last season.<h2>DRUMMONDVILLE (40-28-4)</h2>Coach-GM: Michel ParizeauKey Players: Rugged left winger Daniel Vincelette will be the premier player after scoring 37 goals and 47 assists last season. He also had 234 penalty minutes. Center Alain Charland had 70 points and 30 more in the playoffs. Regis Chouinard, 20, had 333 penalty minutes in 50 games, and was a perennial league leader in that category. Mario Doyon will anchor the defense.Newcomers: Big. Left winger Sarto Legault is 6-foot-4, 223 pounds and right winger Daniel Dore is 6-foot-2, 207. Defenseman Christian Ratthe is the team&rsquo;s first-rounder.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01516/5246904-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="679" height="1456"><figcaption class="caption-body">Granby&rsquo;s Pierre Turgeon will be the QMJHL&rsquo;s star attraction this year.</figcaption></div>Outlook: A rebuilding year with the loss of top scorers Steve Pepin, Mario DeBenedictis (traded to Longueuil) and Jose Charbonneau. All-star goaltender Vincent Riendeau and defensive James Gasseau also are gone. Last year&rsquo;s league finalists and penalty leaders will be big and rough, but lacking in speed.<h2>CHICOUTIMI (34-34-4)</h2>Coach-GM: Gaston DrapeauKey Players: Center Marc Fortier was ninth in league scoring with 47 goals and 86 assists. Left winger Pierre Millier had 22 goals and is expected to have a good season. Defenseman Jean-Marc Richard was third in team scoring (l 9-88-107) and may be back if he doesn&rsquo;t play in Europe. The Sags obtained goalie Denis Desbiens from Longueuil to replace outstanding Daniel Berthiaume.Newcomers: First-round goalie Jimmy Waite was a star in the Esso Cup International Midget tournament. Fifth-round defensive defenseman Eric Nadeau is looking good. Chicoutimi traded first-round center Steve Paiement to Longueuil for Desbiens and defenseman Yves Gauchier.Outlook: Drapeau returns to the league after coaching Granby and the Quebec Remparts. Last year&rsquo;s coach, Pierre Sevigny, will remain as his assistant. Patrick Emond, fourth in league scoring, is another big loss and the Sags will have to work hard every night.<h2>TROIS-RIVIERES (36-34-2)</h2>Coach: Alain VigneaultGM: Yvon GendronKey Players: Defenseman Donald Dufresne will be the leader along with top scorer Martin Desjardins (49-69-118), l lth in league scoring last year. Goalie Stephane Robinson should settle comfortably into the starting role, however. replacing Martin Plante. Defenseman Steve Veilleux and left winger Mike Gober, a St. Louis native, should also help.Newcomers: First-rounder Michel Picard from Ste. Foy midgets is considered a goal scorer. Hard-working center Paul Ouellette, another Esso Cup veteran, was obtained from Laval in a trade for center Rob Murphy.Outlook: Former St. Louis Blue defenseman Vigneault has a tough job ahead of him in his first year behind the bench. Gone are center Claude Gagnon (48-68-118) and defensive quarterback Serge Poudrier (29-38-67). The Draveurs had the second best record in the league during the second half of last season but will have to be patient this year.<h2>LEBEL DIVISION LAVAL (37-34-19)</h2>Coach: Jacques NoelGM: Jacques BrassardKey Players: Laval&rsquo;s fortunes, to a large extent, will hinge on how well center/left winger Vincent Damphousse and right winger Jocelyn Lemieux fare at the Toronto Maple Leaf and St. Louis Blue training camps, respectively. They were both first-round draft picks. Damphousse (45-110-155) is an excellent playmaker, and Lemieux (57-68-125) is the hardnosed brother of Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; Claude. The Titan lost the league&rsquo;s third-leading scorer in Michel Mongeau and defensive leader Steve Finn but had 17 players eligible to return, including outstanding goalie Mario Brunetta.Newcomers: Defenseman Ray Saumier, Laval&rsquo;s first rounder, was considered the toughest player in Quebec&rsquo;s AAA midget league last season. The Titan obtained talented center Rob Murphy from Trois-Rivieres.Outlook: The Titan could have the most potent offense in the league. Laval hired coach Noel from the successful University of Moncton program and has focused on gaining muscle.<h2>LONGUEUIL (18-51-3)</h2>Coach: Guy Chouinard<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02389/5246897-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="681" height="1519"><figcaption class="caption-body">Big things are expected of pint-sized Patrice Lefebvre in Shawinigan</figcaption></div>GM: Guy LapointeKey Players: Right winger Ron Stem, defenseman Eric Couvrette and centers Marc Saumier and Terry MacLean will be among the better veterans.Newcomers: The Chevaliers, owned by the NHL Ex-Pros, acquired goalie Robert Desjardins from Hull, left winger Alain Varennes from Laval and right winger Simon Massie from Drummondville. They&rsquo;ll also have two of the best 20-year-olds in wingers Marc Bureau, from Chicoutimi, and Mario DeBenedictis, from Drummondville. First-round defenseman Yves Racine had a good camp and Longueuil traded for first-round center Steve Paiement from Chicoutimi.Outlook: The Chevaliers will be the most improved team in the league with a lot of speed and skating skills.<h2>HULL (54-18-0)</h2>Coach: Pat BumsGM: Charlie HenryKey Players: Left winger Benoit Brunet and right winger Jean-Marc Routhier, second-round choices of Montreal and Quebec, respectively, center Shane MacEachem, and 20-year-old defenseman Stephane Richer are among the few veterans from last year&rsquo;s Memorial Cupfinalist squad. Defenseman Cam Russell, expected to be a high draft pick next summer, and left winger Stephane Matteau also will return.Newcomers: Although co-league scoring champions Guy Rouleau and Canadian Major Junior Hockey League player-of-the-year Luc Robitaille are gone, Hull has a batch of talented new players. First-round center Joe Suk, second-round goalie Graeme Harvey and sixthround center Kelly Nester are all from Detroit&rsquo;s Compuware midget. Defenseman Herbert Hohemberger, 17, an invitee from Austria is the surprise of camp.Outlook: Although young and inexperienced the Olympiques should be capable of challenging once again with lots of speed and puckhandling ability.<h2>ST. JEAN (35-33-4)</h2>Coach-GM: Jacques TremblayKey Players: Goalies Francois Gravel and Joel Drolet may develop into the best tandem in the league. Center Benoit Hogue and Stefan Figliuzzi will be prominent along with right winger Brook Kelly and pivot Mike McCullough.Newcomers: Top three draft picks&mdash;center/left winger Steve Cadieux, defenseman David Bastille and center Ian Alston&mdash;will help.Outlook: The Castors lost only six players but they were key figures, including top scorer Philippe Bozon. Tremblay&rsquo;s philosophy of building without trades has been successful and St. Jean will be a smooth-skating club again.<h2>VERDUN (38-31-3)</h2>Coach-GM: Carol VadnaisKey Players: A lot will depend on how center Jimmy Carson, the second overall choice, and left winger Everett Sanipass, another first-rounder, fare at the camps of the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks, respectively. Fleet left winger Mario Milani, right winger Mario Marois, defenseman Scott MacTavish and goalie James Blanchard will lead the way.Newcomers: First-rounder Marc Picard is an offensive defenseman. The Junior Canadiens have some talented Maritime rookies in center Andrew McKim of Saint John, N.B., defenseman Paul Douglas of Fredericton, N.B. and blueliner Greg Kitteringham of St. John&rsquo;s, Nfld.Outlook: Verdun is in a rebuilding phase and likely won&rsquo;t have much size. &#9632;

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Turgeon’s Bisons On Rebound

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div>CHICAGO&mdash;There will be a uniform No. 12 among the 66 players at the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; training camp, but for the first time since 1979 it will not be worn by Tom Lysiak.This time No. 12 belongs to rookie center Mike Stapleton. Lysiak will not be in camp.Technically, Lysiak is an unsigned 33-year-old free agent without compensation.But for all practical purposes, Lysiak has retired to his farm in Georgia and called an end to his 13-year National Hockey League career.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s never actually said anything, though he did intimate at the end of the year that he was thinking about retiring,&rdquo; said Hawk general manager and coach Bob Pulford. &ldquo;He did have a tough year and he was hurt a lot.&ldquo;But he did play well during the playoffs. In fact, he was one of the few who did play well for us in the playoffs.&rdquo;Lysiak spoke of being geared up for the playoffs so he could buy more &ldquo;toys&rdquo; for his farm. But he was still pursued by the question of whether he did intend to retire afterward.&ldquo;I was afraid somebody was going to ask me that,&rdquo; he said when he was asked.He scored two goals in the Hawks&rsquo; disastrous three-game sweep at the hands of Toronto in the opening round. The two goals equalled his production for 51 games in the regular season. His 21 points and minus-19 rating were a stark contrast to the type of solid twoway play Lysiak had made his trademark after arriving in Chicago seven years ago.That was Mar. 13, 1979, when the Hawks and then-Atlanta Flames completed the biggest (numbers) deal in NHL history. The Hawks sent three players&mdash;Ivan Boldirev, Darcy Rota and Phil Russell&mdash;to the Flames for Lysiak, Harold Phillipoff, Greg Fox, Pat Ribble and Miles Zaharko.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01448/5246935-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="129" height="124"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACK HAWKS</h2>Lysiak was tabbed for stardom when the Flames took him second overall (behind Denis Potvin) in the 1973 draft from the WHL&rsquo;s Medicine Hat Tigers. He was a star in Atlanta on the &ldquo;Downtown Connector&rdquo; line with Eric Vail and Willi Plett, and he was a star in Atlanta with some downtown connections of his own. In Atlanta, his dedication was doubted.Though he never attained the offensive production predicted for him, Lysiak piled up 292 goals and 843 points in 919 NHL games. His career high fora season was 82 points, which he reached twice&mdash;1975-76 with the Flames and 1981-^2 with the Hawks.He had a career-high 32 goals that year with the Hawks, while emerging as the kind of leader everybody always wanted him to be&mdash;everybody except himself. Pulford always wanted him to be the Hawks&rsquo; captain. Lysiak would have none of it, just as he had wanted none of it in Atlanta.In the middle of a superb 1982 playoff, Lysiak received a vicious cut from a stick in the face during a game at Minnesota. But he came back, helped seal a victory with four points and strong defensive play, and shrugged the injury off with his usual humor.&ldquo;I got two, two and 12,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Two goals, two assists and 12 stitches.&rdquo;Lysiak&rsquo;s career really began winding down in 1983-84. Never a fan of then-coach Orval Tessier, Lysiak deeply resented Tessier&rsquo;s &ldquo;heart transplant&rdquo; speech during the 1983 conference final against Edmonton. When Tessier was fired in 1985, Lysiak made one of his usual witty, succinct remarks.Asked the reason for Tessier&rsquo;s firing. Lysiak immediately answered: &ldquo;Indifferent play.&rdquo;But 1983-84 had caused another serious problem for Lysiak when he tripped linesman Ron Foyt and drew a 20-game suspension from the NHL.Lysiak sued and eventually settled out of court, accepting the suspension. But missing a fourth of a season took its toll along with recurring back problems and last year, a broken foot. It was a different Lysiak on the ice for the Hawks last season, a far more limited player, though Pulford believes the playoffs showed Lysiak still has some hockey left.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how he feels,&rdquo; Pulford said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ll talk to him again. Once we start the season, maybe he&rsquo;ll want to play again.&rdquo;Even Pulford sounded as if he were just trying to convince himself. Lysiak always went his own way in 13 NHL seasons, and he seems to be going his own way once again. &#9632;

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Georgia, Retirement On Tom Lysiak’s Mind

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01523/5246973-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02413/5246966-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="1161" height="1321"></div> &#9632;

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WHL SCHEDULE

BUFFALO&mdash;Gilbert Perreault, C, decided against retiring and reported to training camp. Christian Ruutu, C, 7th-round draft pick in 1983 from Finland, signed to NHL contract. Richie Dunn, D, also signed new contract.CHICAGO&mdash;Tom Lysiak, C, released as free agent.DETROIT&mdash;Joe Murphy, C, 1st draft pick overall in 1986 from Michigan State, signed 4-year contract.EDMONTON&mdash;Randy Gregg, D, announced retirement from hockey.HARTFORD&mdash;Following players were signed to contracts: Ulf Samuelsson, D, Scot Kleinendorst, D, Brad Shaw, D, Kevin Dineen, RW, Stewart Gavin, RW, Paul MacDermid, RW, Doug Jarvis, C, Paul Lawless, LW, and Dave Tippett, LW. Shane Churla, RW, and Chris Brandt, RW, both with Binghamton of AHL, also signed to new contracts.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Jim Carson, C, 2nd-draft pick overall in 1986 from Verdun of QMJHL, signed to multi-year contract.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Bob Lorimer, D, announced retirement. Neil Brady, C, 3rd draft pick overall in 1986 from Medicine Hat of WHL, signed to multi-year contract.NY RANGERS&mdash;Brian MacLellan, LW, traded to Minnesota for 4th-round draft pick in 1987. Lucien DeBlois, RW, signed as free agent from Montreal. Norm Maclver, D, signed as free agent from Univ. Minnesota-Duluth. Following players were cut from training camp: Keith Knight, G, defensemen Mike Nepi, Neil Pilon, Chris Saint Cyr and Marty Williamsoh, forwards Larry Bernard, Brent Gropp, Bill Huard, Gerald Koebel, Dan Loughran, Mario Michieli, Michel Mongeau, Rich Nasheim, Peter Natyshak, Mike Oliverio, Fred Perlini, Ron Sanko, Todd Strueby, Stephen Villa and Ken Vinge.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Kevin LaVallee, RW, signed as free agent from St. Louis. Ron Duguay, RW, signed to new one-year contract.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Jocelyn Lemieux, RW, 10th draft pick overall in 1986 from Laval of QMJHL, signed to multi-year contract.TORONTO&mdash;Vincent Damphousse, C, 6th draft pick overall in 1986 from Laval of QMJHL, signed to four-year contract. Bill Root, D, signed to new contract. Bill Kitchen, D, retired from hockey.WASHINGTON&mdash;Jeff Greenlaw, LW, 19th draft pick overall in 1986 from Team Canada, signed to four-year contract. Greg Adams, LW, signed new multi-year contract. &#9632;

OFF-SEASON TRANSACTIONS

Hockey must be the most exciting spectator sport in North America. But just once, haven&rsquo;t you wished you could grab that stick, hit the ice, and score that goal?If you have little or no playing experience, even if you can&rsquo;t skate, it&rsquo;s time to join NNHA-the National Novice Hockey Association.Since the expansion of professional hockey from six to its current twenty-one teams, interest in hockey has grown enormously in North America. Thousands of youngsters developing an interest in the sport have been added to the many youth hockey clubs around the country. The adult who had no such opportunity as a child or has only recently developed an interest in actually playing the game is frequently faced with a dilema; virtually all hockey players of his age group are very experienced players with whom he cannot realistically learn or compete. Playing with other beginners often means playing with children, not a real alternative for most adults. Thus, many would-be hockey players find themselves &ldquo;locked out.&rdquo; Because of this, the NNHA was formed in 1980 for those persons who have &ldquo;fallen between the cracks&rdquo; so that they may learn and play with other adult beginners. Now in over 20 cities in the United States and Canada, the NNHA has brought over 7000 would-be players into the sport.AN ADULT BEGINNER HOCKEY LEAGUENNHA Beginner Level includes the NNHA Beginner Hockey School. The first 8 weeks are comprised of an intensive fundamentals hockey program. These 8 once a week sessions teach the student basic playing and skating skills. After NNHA Beginner Hockey School, a series of 8-11 school games commences in which the player gets a chance to try out the skills he has learned. Most players will spend only one season in the Beginner Level. Players then graduate, receive their pro-style Advanced Level uniforms, and are placed on Advanced Level teams for the following full season.NATIONAL PLAYOFFSThat&rsquo;s right! The NNHA is the only beginner adult hockey league with its own Regional and Nationa Playoffs. Each year, the Advanced Level Championship team in each city travels to participate in NNHA Regional Playoffs to determine which teams will move on to the excitement of NNHA National Playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02340/5247066-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="828" height="1321"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03246/5247059-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="1506" height="301"></div> &#9632;

f0039-02

BEGINNER HOCKEY FOR ADULTS!

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f00C4-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f00c4-02206/5247097-1-eng-US/f00c4-022.jpg"></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;On the eve of the opening of training camp. Bill Derlago was skating hard, knowing that his contract (and maybe time) is running out.&ldquo;This is new to me,&rdquo; he said, describing the feeling he has playing out his option. &ldquo;Believe me. I don&rsquo;t want to play anywhere else. I&rsquo;ve had enough moving. This is a good town.&rdquo;Derlago, 28, did receive a contract offer from the Winnipeg Jets, his fourth National Hockey League team. The length of the contract suited him. but he cringed when he saw the figures.&ldquo;My agent and I decided it wasn&rsquo;t good enough.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it hasn&rsquo;t affected my attitude. 1 want to play. I think 1 can still play.&rdquo;Sixty-three other players were just as interested in playing for the Jets as training camp opened. But few have as much to offer as Derlago has.Not since his younger days as a pro in Vancouver has he found as much competition for work. Three centers among the Jets are rated ahead of him. Dale Hawerchuk. Thomas Steen and Laurie Boschman arc fixtures down the middle. At best, Derlago goes into the season trying to rub out Ron Wilson for the No. 4 job.Then there is the temptation of the team to rush a youngster into the breach. This is Andrew McBain&rsquo;s third professional season. He&rsquo;s due. Of less urgence is the placing of Ryan Stewart, the Jets&rsquo; first-round draft choice in 1985.&ldquo;My first couple of years in Vancouver the Canucks had Chris Oddleif-son. Per-Olov Brasar, Roland Erick-sson. Thomas Gradin and Don Lever at center ice,&rdquo; said Derlago. &ldquo;I was the youngest on the team and I was 20.&rdquo;Now. he&rsquo;s one of the oldest. And, he is a tad spoiled.In Toronto, once Darryl Sittier had gone, he was No. I. In Boston, only a knee injury prevented him from being No. 2 or No. 3 beside, between or behind Barry Pederson and Ken Linseman.&ldquo;You have to get the ice time to produce the kind of figures that management wants,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Sure. I realize the Jets have quality centers. But I&rsquo;m not conceding a thing. The competition in camp should be tough. It should make you a better player.&ldquo;I want to show them that I can play&mdash;that I do deserve a contract.&rdquo;His coach, Dan Maloney, once a teammate in Toronto, summarized his chances thusly:&ldquo;I played on the same line as Billy and I know he&rsquo;s a very skilled player who can contribute to our team. But he has to be ready the day training camp begins, not two or three days into camp.&ldquo;This is a make-or-break camp for Bill and if I know him at all, he will respond to the challenge.&rdquo;BENCH BITS&mdash;Ryan Stewart and Pat Elynuik. the Jets&rsquo; 1985 and 1986 first rounders, respectively, are-being watched closely. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very gifted player,&rdquo; said Stewart, 19, a teammate of Elynuik&rsquo;s at Prince Albert this past winter, &ldquo;If anything, he has a better sense around the net than Ido.&rdquo;Stewart is described by scouts as a puck-hungry forward while Elynuik. the Jets&rsquo; first-round choice in 1986, has impressed people with his power skating and touch around the net&hellip;The Jets have extended a tryout offer to left winger J.P. Kelly, a free agent with-out compensation from the Los Angeles Kings&hellip;General manager John Ferguson said he abandoned plans to offer a tryout to Jimmy Mann when the board of governors&rsquo; ratified a package of rules to combat fighting. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be difficult for me to bring Jimmy back,&rdquo; said Ferguson. &ldquo;Every time he started a fight he would be getting an extra five or 10. I couldn&rsquo;t afford to put him on the ice&rdquo;&hellip;The Jets raised more than $15,000 for the Special Olympics during a golf tournament. Ron Wilson won the driving contest with a poke of 182 yards, 11 yards further than a drive by Dale Hawerchuk.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f00c4-01242/5247104-1-eng-US/f00c4-012.jpg" title="f00C4-01" width="149" height="116"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS &#9632;</h2>

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