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.

October 3, 1986

The Hockey News October 3, 1986

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01551/5150110-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01521/5150103-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="3035" height="2800"></div><h2>STARTING TIMES OF NHL GAMES FOR 1986-87 SEASON</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02415/5150096-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="2963" height="760"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

NHL SCHEDULE

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div>GLENS FALLS&mdash;Professional hockey left Portland, Oregon many years ago, but the Professional Hockey Players&rsquo; Association, bom there nearly 20 years ago, is still going strong.It still has the distinction of being the only union for athletes in a minor league.The PHPA, formed in 1967 to represent players in the now-defunct Western Hockey League, handles the affairs of American and International League players. For the most part, it operates the same way it did when lawyer Curt Leichner first opened for business.There have been some significant changes, though. Like acceptance.&ldquo;I was an avid fan of the Portland Buckaroos and represented a lot of guys for nothing,&rdquo; Leichner said in a recent telephone conversation. &ldquo;As a consequence, when Mr. (Alan) Eagle-son came through and talked to players about forming an association, Doug Messier, who was playing for Portland then, asked me to attend the meeting.&rdquo;Eagleson was in the process of starting the union that now represents the players in the National Hockey League. His plan was to include pro players on all levels.&ldquo;But the players in the Western League felt they would be better off with their own association because they were on the West Coast,&rdquo; Leichner said. &ldquo;In those days there weren&rsquo;t any agents. The players were receiving seven dollars in meal money and very few benefits. There was no medical and dental and no pension. So I formed a players&rsquo; association. But we had to crawl before we could run.&rdquo;The PHPA did toddle along for a while before gaining solid footing. Nineteen years later, Leichner can laugh about some of the things that happened. But at the time, there was very little humor involved. He noted that 22 of the first 24 player representatives chosen were dealt to other teams.&ldquo;I think when it was time to elect a rep, the players looked around the room and thought, &lsquo;Okay, who can we afford to lose now?&rsquo;&rdquo; he said.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03287/5149830-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="141" height="126"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>AHL NORTH</h2>The following season, when the American and Western leagues played an interlocking schedule, the PHPA began to organize players in the AHL. Not surprisingly, management wasn&rsquo;t too happy with the idea. Leichner recalls one of the first meetings he had with the AHL&rsquo;s board of governors.&ldquo;Someone asked, &lsquo;Can you skate?&rsquo; When I said I couldn&rsquo;t, they said, &lsquo;Then why are we talking to you?&rsquo; and two of them got up and walked out,&rdquo; he said.The negotiations were completed, however, and the PHPA has represented AHL players ever since. Participation by AHL players is close to 100 per cent, Leichner says, and he expects the same kind of response in the IHL. The association started to take IHL players last season.By voluntarily joining the PHPA and paying the $400 yearly dues, players and their familes receive a comprehensive insurance package that protects them during the season and the off-season. Leichner said that comparable medical, dental, life and disability insurance would cost a married player with one child $2,684. Maternity expenses are covered.American League teams also pay a portion of the cost of the premiums of the PHPA&rsquo;s benefits package.Should claims be filed, a player will never pay more than an additional $600 a year. The policy covers 80 per cent of claims filed until the $600 figure is reached and 100 per cent thereafter up to $l million.Leichner cited as an example the case of Florent Robidoux, who played last season with the Hershey Bears. Following the 1982 season, Robidoux was involved in an automobile accident in which he sustained serious injuries that forced him to miss an entire season. According to Leichner, the PHPA insurance covered some $40,000 in claims from the accident.The PHPA also provides help with legal matters, arbitrates grievances between players and management and negotiates a working agreement with the league that includes such items as training camp allowances, per diem expenses, scheduling restrictions, playoff pools, and the relocation expenses involved when a player is transferred from one team to another.The current two-year agreement expires at the end of this season.Leichner and his law partner, Ralph Barker, have conducted the association&rsquo;s business for many years. Former Montreal Canadien and Toronto Maple Leaf player Larry Landon was recently hired to work for the union on a part-time basis as an eastern representative. Landon, a former member of the PHPA executive committee, lives in Niagara Falls, Ont., and it is felt that he can more easily attend to problems that arise in the east.The four-man executive committee meets twice a year with the player representatives&mdash;two from each team who are elected by the players. The members of the executive committee for the 1985-86 season were Don Nachbaurof Hershey, Archie Henderson of Maine, Peter Dineen of Moncton and Ted Huesing of Adirondack.Association officials, AHL president Jack Butterfield and three representatives of the Board of Governors held their annual meeting in June. Among the items they discussed were per diem and lodging expenses, the certification of trainers working in the league, and career counseling.Dineen said the decision to expand the PHPA to the International League was made a year ago in response to recent changes in the structure of the minor leagues.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no Central League any more and there are a lot of players who move between the American League and the International League,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;so we felt we had a responsibility to help them in any way we could. &rsquo; &#9632;

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Players’ Union Has Come Long Way Over 20 Years

<h2>TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE&hellip;</h2>1. What award goes to the team recording the most points during the NHL regular season?2. What player was ACHL scoring champion last season?3. How many NHL regular-season games went into overtime last season?4. How many ended up being decided in overtime?5. Who led the NHL with nine shorthanded goals in 1985-86?6. What award goes to the CIAU player of the year?7. Which two New York Ranger players have won the Sullivan Trophy?8. What Binghamton Whaler became the first American-born AHLer to score 50 goals in a season in 1984-85?9. What is the nickname of the North Bay franchise in the OHL?10. Which of the four NHL divisions can say all of its clubs have played in the Stanley Cup final?<h2>ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ</h2>1. The President&rsquo;s Trophy. 2. Paul Mancini. 3.135.4.46.5. Paul Coffey. 6. Senator Joseph A. Sullivan Trophy. 7. Mike Ridley and Rob Whistle. 8. Paul Fenton. 9. Centennials. 10. Norris. BONUS ANSWER:Johnny McKenzie.<h2>BONUS QUESTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04153/5149906-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="537" height="922"></div>BONUS: This pie-faced forward played for nine clubs over 20 seasons in the WHA and NHL. &#9632;

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CCM HOCKEY TRIVIA

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;The general impression is that Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; general manager Bob Clarke and coach Mike Keenan opened this season&rsquo;s training camp by posting a &ldquo;No Vacancy&rdquo; sign in front of the club&rsquo;s practice facility in south Jersey.Many will be called to show the Flyers their stuff, but few new faces will be chosen&mdash;if any.However, the Flyers have always worked under the philosophy that training camp is a time to win jobs. All they have to do is point to two seasons ago when rookies Rick Tocchet, Derrick Smith and Peter Zezel knocked some &ldquo;secure&rdquo; veterans out of the lineup.Thus, even though training camp looks like aclosed shop, there might be room for a player or two to sneak into the picture. And even if a new face doesn&rsquo;t stick right now, it&rsquo;s a good time to make an impression for the future.One of those players who has a chance to make an impression is Glen Seabrooke, the 19-year-old forward who was the Flyers&rsquo; first choice in the 1985 entry draft. Seabrooke was a member of the Peterborough Petes last year when he was suddenly bothered by what was thought to be a nagging groin injury.As it turned out, it was a benign tumour.&ldquo;It hurt quite a bit,&rdquo; said Seabrooke. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know what was going on. so I went to the hospital for some tests&hellip;and it was diagnosed as a stress fracture.&ldquo;A couple of months later, I went back, and that&rsquo;s when they found out I had a benign tumour near the groin area.&ldquo;It was good in a way. I was relieved to find out what it was and that they could get on curing it. But to be 18 years old, and they tell you that you have a tumour, that&rsquo;s kind of scary. But the doctors reassured me. They were great.&rdquo;The tumour was removed last November, and Seabrooke was back on skates by Christmas, returning to the Petes&rsquo; lineup in mid February. He finished the season by scoring eight goals and 12 assists in 19 games.&ldquo;When I was in the hospital, I thought about how long it would take me to get bacK,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;All kinds of things were going through my mind.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011223/5148982-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="153" height="120"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2>All kinds of things were also going through the minds of the Flyers, who could use a scoring forward. And in his short time at camp, Seabrooke impressed Flyer management.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had the touch around the net going back to when I was younger,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But in the last couple of years, I&rsquo;ve missed so much time that the touch isn&rsquo;t there when I get around the net. I had some chances in the (early) scrimmages, but I couldn&rsquo;t put them in.&rdquo;Even though he&rsquo;s still a dark horse, Seabrooke is getting a good long look.&ldquo;The thing I&rsquo;ve noticed about Glen,&rdquo; said Keenan, &ldquo;is that he has an uncanny ability to draw the puck to himself in the offensive zone. He seems to find the right situation offensively.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s very intelligent at reading the play and anticipating where the puck is going to end up. Brian Propp has the same kind of ability.&rdquo;Seabrooke isn&rsquo;t saying that he&rsquo;s ready for the NHL; but neither is he blowing off this training camp as a recess period before going back to junior hockey.&ldquo;I would hope that anybody coming into camp feels as if he has a chance to make the team.&rdquo; said Seabrooke. &ldquo;I came in here hoping to do my best. If it&rsquo;s not good enough. I&rsquo;ll go back to junior to work on my game, and come back for another chance.&rdquo;<div class="sidebar"><h2>CORRECTION CUPOLO SPORTS</h2>In the Sept. 19 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, the Cupolo sports ad that appeared on page 7 in our Canadian edition and on page S9 in our U.S. edition, failed to indicate the currency of the prices quoted. All prices were actually to be in American funds. Canadian residents must add 35% to these prices that were quoted. THE HOCKEY NEWS and Cupolo&rsquo;s regrets any delays or inconvenience caused by this error. &#9632;</div>

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Making An Impression For Now And Later

$1.75 64522 THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY October 3, 1986 Vol. 40, No. 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01808/5150462-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg" title="Cover-01" width="481" height="476"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIMMY DEVELLANO RIPS HIS CRITICS Wing GM Unleashes Verbal Barrage On Ed Mio, Lane Lambert And Brad Park/10</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-02496/5150455-1-eng-US/cover-022.jpg" title="Cover-02" width="504" height="536"><figcaption class="caption-body">GREAT SCOT! &lsquo;Wee&rsquo; Tony Hand Makes Dig News At Oiler Camp/3</figcaption></div><h2>DO THE LEAFS DARE TO LOSE? Toronto&rsquo;s Tough New Coach Driven Man And Defeat Drives Him Crazy</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-03223/5150448-1-eng-US/cover-032.jpg" title="Cover-03" width="3059" height="2208"></div> &#9632;

Cover-01

The Hockey News

English is, of course, the most common language in the National Hockey League.But not the kind spoken by Tony Hand, the last selection in the 1986 entry draft and the first player ever chosen from Scotland.Hand, 19, was invited to the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; training camp after the dethroned Stanley Cup champions called out his name 252nd overall last June.Nobody expected much&mdash;if anything&mdash;from the 5-foot-9, 170-pound center who has played in Britain&rsquo;s top league since the age of 14.That&rsquo;s what makes his performance this side of the Atlantic so astonishing.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s played quite well,&rdquo; says Oiler chief scout Barry Fraser, who drafted Hand sight unseen on the advice of former NHLer Garry Unger. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s adapted well to the scene over here in North America and the (smaller) ice surface and the different competition.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011282/5148558-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="363" height="484"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Dryden</figcaption></div>Unger saw lots of the Edinburgh native last year in the British Hockey League, where Hand scored 79 goals and 85 assists in 32 games for the Murray field Racers.A defensive league it isn&rsquo;t.Tim Salmon, a former Ontario League scoring champion who was also invited to the Oilers&rsquo; camp, led the circuit with 254 points in 35 games&mdash;an average of better than seven points per game.Unger, now 38, was 12th in league scoring. with 86 goals and 48 assists. Hand, who scored eight goals and four assists in his best game last year, was the only non-Canadian among the top 12..But the NHL still seemed only a dream&mdash;an impossible dream. It wasn&rsquo;t until he was drafted that Hand began to think about playing professional hockey in North America and even then he wasn&rsquo;t overwhelmed by the news of his selection.How did he react?&ldquo;Not very strongly,&rdquo; says the Scotsman. &ldquo;Because I wasn&rsquo;t very sure what it meant. I had to inquire about it and find out what was happening.&rdquo;What he discovered was that he would be with the Oilers&mdash;whom he watched win the Stanley Cup on television in 1985&mdash;and not the Calgary Flames this fall.Originally, Hand was to attend the Flames&rsquo; training camp. That was his prize for being named the top British-born player in the league.The Oilers&rsquo; sleight of Hand changed all that.Edmonton already has one Scottish-born player on its team&mdash;defenseman Steve Smith&mdash;but he was raised and received his hockey training in Canada.Hand, who has scored 16 goals in nine World Junior Championship &lsquo;C&rsquo; pool games for Britain, first attended the Western League training camp of the Victoria Cougars in preparation for his Oilers&rsquo; debut.Then it was onto the NHL where he progressed from suspect to prospect in rapid fashion.&ldquo;I would say his best attributes,&rdquo; says Fraser, &ldquo;are his playmaking (skills). He sees the whole rink. He has very quick hands.&rdquo;Appropriate.He also had a pulled muscle in his back after a collision with&mdash;get this&mdash;Dave Semenko, the Oilers&rsquo; 6-foot-3, 215-pound enforcer of some note.&ldquo;I went to try and get in his way,&rdquo; relates Hand. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t try to hit him and he put his arm out and I fell on the ice.&rdquo;That happens to a lot of people who run into Semenko.&ldquo;There are one or two players that big (in the British League),&rdquo; says Hand, &ldquo;but none of them can skate as fast or as strongly.&rdquo;His response to the bigger players and smaller ice surface? &ldquo;I just try to use my head a little bit more.&rdquo;Hand has had to keep his head about him off the ice as well. He has been inundated with media attention. So much so that the Oilers have limited access to him. You know, just like they used to with Wayne Gretzky.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been subjected to infinitely more coverage than anyone else at the camp, including Gretzky,&rdquo; says PR director Bill Tuele.A decision on Hand&rsquo;s future was expected shortly. He could join the Cougars, who own his WHL rights and would love to have him back, play in the American League with the Nova Scotia Oilers or skate for Edmonton scout Matti Vaisanen&rsquo;s team in Finland.Whatever his destination, you have to Hand it to the kid&mdash;he&rsquo;s already accomplished more than any other bom-and-bred Scotsman in NHL history.Not that he&rsquo;s all that wide-eyed about the whole thing.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just another hockey player, with a Scottish accent,&rdquo; Tony Hand says.<h2>The Head Games&mdash;Rick Middleton</h2>The day the music died last year was like music to Rick Middleton&rsquo;s ears.Middleton, the Boston Bruins&rsquo; star forward, was sidelined for 25 games after being struck by a Nevin Markwart shot on the left side of his head in practice.He played one more game after the incident but extreme headaches and discomfort kept him out for the remainder of the season and the playoffs.Middleton is now back, determined to regain his 40-goal form and put his troubles behind him. If not the memories.&ldquo;I explained it as falling into a black hole,&rdquo; Middleton recalls of the momentary horror he endured March 7. &ldquo;I almost passed out but I remembered the sensation.&ldquo;I was numb and I was expecting to hit the ground and it felt like forever before I hit the ice.&rdquo;Blood was found on his brain. The recovery process was slow and uneasy.&ldquo;Two days later I was hearing music in my head&mdash;the same tune,&rdquo; says Middleton. &ldquo;About three times I heard it.&rdquo;He is now back to normal.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m feeling fine. In early May I decided to stop the medication I was on because I wasn&rsquo;t sure if some of the symptoms&mdash;like hyperventilating&mdash;were caused by the head injury or the medication.&rdquo;He&rsquo;s had ho troubles since but there is a tangible reminder of his scare&mdash;the longtime-helmetless Middleton is now wearing a helmet.Last year&rsquo;s 14 goals in 49 games were a career low for Middleton who hadn&rsquo;t scored less than 25 since joining the Bruins from the New York Rangers in 1976.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021045/5148551-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1458" height="1505"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03686/5148544-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="671" height="1184"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Middleton, top, is likely headed for the Hall of Fame, which is where Jacques Laperriere, inset with Ted Harris, should be.</figcaption></div>The right winger, who has seen some duty at center this fall, had a string of five 40-goal seasons (including 51 in 1981-82) interrupted two years ago when he dropped to 30 goals.Last year&rsquo;s travails were compounded by a run-in with the butt-end of Chris Nilan&rsquo;s stick in a game with the Montreal Canadiens. Nilan was suspended and Middleton eventually sidelined for five games with a resulting neck injury.The pair of injuries were highly unusual for Middleton who had played all 80 regularseason games in five of the previous six seasons.<h2>Should Be Honored&mdash;The Hall Of Fame</h2>I don&rsquo;t have a vote and don&rsquo;t anticipate enfranchisement in the near future but here&rsquo;s a few players I&rsquo;d like to see considered for induction to the Hockey Hall of Fame.No. 1 on my list is Jacques Laperriere, the former Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman who was named to four all-star teams (among them two firsts) and won both the Calder and Norris Trophies, yet somehow has escaped the notice of selectors.Now an assistant coach with the Canadiens, Laperriere has been retired for 11 years, eight more than the mandatory three-year waiting period.It&rsquo;s about time he was honored. And while we&rsquo;re on the subject how about Eddie Giaco-min, a five-time all-star goalie, Carl Brewer, a four-time all-star defenseman, Rogie Vachon, a two-time all-star goalie and Canada Cup hero, or Roger Crozier, a Calder and Conn Smythe Trophy winner.All of them are eligible for induction but don&rsquo;t count on more than one of them (if any) making it next year&mdash;Bobby Clarke and Tony Esposito are cinches in their first years of eligibility.Selection is determined by a panel of 12 voting members Hockey Hall Of Fame player selection committee. A successful nominee must receive nine votes (75 per cent).<h2>&lsquo;Brad Park Stupid&rsquo;&mdash;Jimmy Devellano</h2>Quote of the week:&ldquo;The fact that Brad Park thought he (Lane Lambert) was doing well just goes to show you how stupid Brad Park was.&rdquo;&mdash;Jimmy Devellano, page 10. &#9632;

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Hand’s Across The Water: Scotsman At Oilers’ Camp

<div class="byline">BY JERRY ZGODA</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;East or West, capitalist or socialist, Czechoslavakia or North America, it all comes down to one thing&mdash;money.That&rsquo;s one of the big reasons Frantisek Musil left Czechoslavakia in July to join the Minnesota North Stars. That&rsquo;s the reason. Musil says, why a string of players have defected from the Czech national team to the NHL.At the start of the decade, there was Peter, Marian and Anton Stastny. They have been followed by the likes of Peter Ihnacak, Miroslav Frycer, Petr Svoboda, Petr Klima, Miroslav Ihnacak. Musil and Michal Pivonka.Those defections have taken a large chunk out of the Czech national team.&ldquo;The national team has lost a lot of very good players but the worst thing is that they are very young players,&rdquo; said Musil. &ldquo;They must look to the future because the players there now are 26 or 27 and in two or three years, they will be old. It will hurt them in the World Championships for a while. The Czech association is aware it must do something to make it better for Czech players.&rdquo;Pivonka and Svoboda are 20. Musil and Klima are 21. All were expected to have long and successful careers with the Czech national team. What could have kept some of them there, Musil said, is more money. Musil said he was paid $ 18 a game while in Czechoslavakia, but only if they won the game.&lsquo;You only get 20 days off all year. There is freedom; it is not Russia. But players need more money.&rsquo;&mdash;Musil&ldquo;No win, no money,&rdquo; he said. This year, Musil and the other national team members received nothing for going to the World Championships in Moscow because they did not win a game.Musil&rsquo;s total yearly income in Czechoslavakia was close to $7,000. That&rsquo;s about $1,000 more than the average Czech worker, but a far cry from the estimated six-figure contract he signed with the Stars last summer.&ldquo;You only get 20 days off all year and most of the players are married boys with families,&rdquo; Musil said. &ldquo;Life in Czech is very nice. There is freedom; it is not Russia. But players need more money. They are away from their wives and families so much and it is very hard to make it with the money they pay.&rdquo;The Czechoslovakia lee Hockey Federation long has held to its policy that it will not release players before they are almost 30. Players such as Vancouver&rsquo;s Jiri Bubla and former Philadelphia Flyer Miroslav Dvorak both came to the NHL after their 30th birthdays&mdash;and prime playing days.North Stars&rsquo; general manager Lou Nanne said he tried to get Musil through the proper channels. He could have offered the Czech Federation money, a lot of money, but was always told that the Czechs would need Musil back for the World Championships every April.Because that conflicts with the Stanley Cup playoffs, Nanne didn&rsquo;t agree with the request. Eventually, Nanne and Musil worked out a secret plan to sneak Musil out of Eastern Europe by way of Yugoslavia.Musil said that perhaps the best way to improve conditions for players remaining in Czechoslavakia is to have the Czech Federation release some of its top young players who want to play in the NHL.&ldquo;Some (NHL) teams want some players bad. Why not make a lot of money by making a deal with the NHL team?&rdquo; Musil said. &ldquo;It is not a bad idea. If the North Stars wanted (1982 draft pick) Dusan Pasek, they give Czech association money and they get Pasek. They could take some of that money and give it back to the players and everyone would be happier. Or else players will still leave and then they will have nothing.&rdquo;Nanne said he doesn&rsquo;t foresee the Czech Federation loosening its policy against releasing young players. But he also said the Czechs will be able to remain competitive despite the rush of defections.&ldquo;They have been developing quite a few players,&rdquo; Nanne said. &ldquo;They still have a lot of good, young players. They&rsquo;re losing players, but so are Finland and Sweden. The only one who isn&rsquo;t losing players are the Russians.&rdquo; &#9632;

Money Critical Reason Czechs Defecting

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN Assistant Editor</div>The new coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs is a man obssessed&mdash;a man obssessed with winning.Perhaps more so than any other coach in the National Hockey League. Oh sure, every NHL coach wants to win&mdash;and win desperately&mdash;but few, if any, possess the drive of John Brophy.That is his raison-d&rsquo;etre. That is what makes him different, despite matter-of-fact suggestions to the contrary by Brophy himself.&ldquo;Everybody hates to lose,&rdquo; says Brophy. &ldquo;Maybe the emotion part is a Iittle different but everybody hates to lose. Everybody hides it differently.&rdquo;Brophy, who succeeds Dan Maloney as the Leaf coach, doesn&rsquo;t hide it all. He&rsquo;s punched walls, unhinged phones, sliced up sports coats and ordered midnight practices, all in the name of defeat. If Maloney is remarkably intense, Brophy is driven.Driven by a single desire.&ldquo;He does get very upset about losing,&rdquo; says Don Perry, a former teammate who now scouts for the Los Angeles Kings. &ldquo;As far as I&rsquo;m concerned you might as well go talk to the wall as talk to him after he&rsquo;s lost a game because you get about as much response.&rdquo;The Washington Capitals&rsquo; Dwight Schofield, who lived out a love/hate relationship with Brophy while both were at Nova Scotia in the American League, has endured the wrath of a bristling Brophy.&ldquo;When you were winning, things were great but when you were losing,&rdquo; says Schofield, &ldquo;you couldn&rsquo;t ask for a more miserable son-of-a-gun.&ldquo;The first year I was there I think we started out 6-0 or something like that. We were just tearing up the league. Practices were short and fun and he was laughing. As soon as we lost a game&mdash;one game&mdash;that was it. Practices were a couple of hours long and he was skating our rear-ends off. &rsquo; &rsquo;The Leafs of 1986-87 probably needn&rsquo;t fear such punishment. If the past 20 years are any indication, they&rsquo;re unlikely to win six straight games.Brophy, however, is a good bet to squeeze the most out of them. That is his history. Move over Jacques Demers, there&rsquo;s another man who likes to think he can bring out the best in others&mdash;by sometimes bringing out the worst in himself.&ldquo;A coach has got to push, push, push forever. As soon as that stops he&rsquo;s through,&rdquo; says Brophy who, in his 12th year of professional coaching, transformed the listless St. Catharines Saints into a strong playoff team last season.His partnership with Maloney&mdash;Brophy was the assistant coach&mdash;had ceased to be effective so the Leafs sent him down to the AHL.Brophy&rsquo;s work so caught the eye of owner Harold Ballard that when Maloney quit over a contract dispute, the 53-year-old native of Antigonish, N.S., was given his first chance to be a head&rsquo;coach in the NHL."I usually get teams to play well in terms of discipline,&rdquo; says the white-haired Brophy, who has coached in six professional leagues. &ldquo;Usually my teams are in good shape. They also understand that I want them to win. That&rsquo;s nothing new.&rdquo;But Brophy is new to the NHL&mdash;if only in job description. His legend has definitely preceded him. There may be no more storied man in all of hockey.As Brophy embarks on a new chapter in his coaching career, it&rsquo;s time to start a new book because there are already enough stories to more than fill the old one.Brophy, of course, is recalled as the man who terrorized the Eastern League&mdash;most prominently with the Long Island Ducks.&ldquo;He was known for being a tough individual,&rdquo; understates Perry, who was every bit as feared, if not more so, than Brophy, when he played in the Eastern League. &ldquo;Brophy also had a mean streak in him which a lot of players don&rsquo;t. One way or the other he would attempt to get things done.&rdquo;Often as not it was the other way.Al Baron, former owner of the Ducks, remembers a game Brophy so enraged fans that one threw a chair at him on the ice. Brophy, says Baron, threw it back&mdash;precipitating a terrible confrontation between the fans and players.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011184/5148620-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="676" height="1848"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Brophy, yesterday as a bruising player with the Eastern League&rsquo;s Long Island Ducks, and John Brophy, today as head coach of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Toronto Maple Leafs.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02872/5148613-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="684" height="1870"></div>&ldquo;He made up for a lack of talent strictly with fear,&rdquo; says Baron, who remembers Brophy fondly and points out he was the only player in Duck history to have a night in his honor. &ldquo;Every player knew that when John played he gave 150 per cent. And they had to watch him.&rdquo;So intimidating were Brophy and Perry, when they teamed on the Long Island blue line, that one game lasted but 80 seconds before the other team left the ice.Members of the New Haven Blades, then in the Eastern League, decided discretion was the better part of valor after Brophy and Perry confronted them on the first shift of the game.&ldquo;That became one of the most famous games never played,&rdquo; says Baron, who watched the B lades leave the ice after just one minute and 20 seconds. They refused to return even after Baron eventually offered $100 to each player who would continue playing.Brophy says little about his playing days. He is clearly defensive about a playing career that is viewed now as largely offensive.&ldquo;Right off the bat.&rdquo; he says without prompting, &ldquo;I want to knock this down about the way I played. It&rsquo;s so long ago since I played it doesn&rsquo;t really matter how I played.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s got nothing to do with the way I coach and nothing to do with the way the game is played today.&rdquo;All that really matters is how his past, as a player, relates to his present, as a coach.He remains an intimidating presence but has learned to sculpt a team out of the available clay, not one made over in his own image. Those who say &lsquo;goon hockey&rsquo; will emerge in Toronto aren&rsquo;t familiar with Brophy. Certainly, his team will be tough but Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, no.&ldquo;There are different kinds of players and I certainly don&rsquo;t try to change their personalities,&rdquo; says Brophy, whose own personality is as quiet and self-effacing off the ice as it can be loud and profane behind the bench.His belief that hockey is a simple game based mostly on sound defense is reflected in his approach.&ldquo;He just stuck to the basics and I think that&rsquo;s the best way,&rdquo; remembers Schofield. &ldquo;You can only concentrate on so many things. You know a lot of coaches try to hit you with a million little details. And I think he&rsquo;s been very successful sticking with the basics.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a magician but he takes what talent he&rsquo;s got and has them go out and have them do what they can do.&rdquo;&rsquo;Brophy, as much as anything else, is demanding. He is known to be the hardest on those players whose potential is the greatest. But all agree he wants what is best for the players. Last year he pushed young and overweight defenseman Al lafrate so hard that the Leaf briefly left camp. One year later, lafrate says, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s hardnosed but all he wants is what&rsquo;s best for you.&rdquo;Even Schofield has respect for Brophy, who believes in no holds barred and holding no grudges.&ldquo;We would get along great and we would fight like cats and dogs,&rdquo; says Schofield, whom Brophy threw off the Nova Scotia Voyageurs&rsquo; bench in the middle of games twice in Hershey during one three-week stretch.The second time Schofield wasn&rsquo;t allowed on the team bus which was headed to Baltimore for a game the next night.&ldquo;I think my wallet was on the bus and all my clothes but what could Ido,&rdquo; remembers Schofield. &ldquo;I just started walking back to the hotel and this is in the middle of the winter and I&rsquo;m not dressed really warm.&ldquo;So, I&rsquo;m cruising along and I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s going to feel sorry for me and stop and pick me up when he sees me on the side of the road. I saw the bus coming and I&rsquo;m thinking, &lsquo;Goody, goody, it&rsquo;s getting kind of cold. I can&rsquo;t wait for him to pick me up.&rsquo;&ldquo;The bus turned around the comer and down the street I was on and just flew by me. The wind almost knocked me off the side of the road.&rdquo;Schofield, with just $10 in his pocket, had to find his own way to Baltimore.Brophy is now faced with finding his own way in Toronto. There are those who believe Brophy&rsquo;s methods will not adapt well to the NHL.But the man, coach of the year in the World Hockey Association when he was with the Birmingham Bulls, is supremely confident.&ldquo;If you weren&rsquo;t doing it right (coaching) you wouldn&rsquo;t last 12 years,&rdquo; he says matter-of-factly. &ldquo;I would like to think it&rsquo;s my turn. I think I&rsquo;m prepared to coach in the National Hockey League.&rdquo;Brophy is running a workout during the first week of training camp. A clotheshorse on and off the ice, he is nattily attired in the new coaches&rsquo; outfits he ordered for himself, assistant coach Garry Lariviere and Newmarket Saints&rsquo; coach Paul Gardner. So conscious is he of his appearance, Brophy &lsquo;borrowed&rsquo; one of his player&rsquo;s sports coats last year to wear behind the bench&mdash;because it caught his fancy.He is putting the Leafs through skating drills, calling out groups of players by position&mdash;centers, left wings, etc.&mdash;when he abruptly calls out &ldquo;All the single guys.&rdquo; There is much laughter, and skating. Brophy then asks for &ldquo;All the married guys.&rdquo; More laughter. Finally, the clincher. &ldquo;AU those guys who wish they were single.&rdquo; A herd of players races down the ice.Names of those in the latter group are withheld to protect the guilty. Laughter fills the Maple Leaf Gardens.Which is to be expected&mdash;the Leafs have yet to lose. &#9632;

f0005-01

Facing Up To The NHL Challenge

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011366/5148658-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="927" height="1688"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dan Maloney is the sixth coach in the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; NHL history as they enter their eighth season.</figcaption></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;The near-miss of three Stanley Cups is vivid in Dan Maloney&rsquo;s mind.&ldquo;I played on three teams that came close to winning the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Two of them were with the Leafs. We lost in the semi-finals to Montreal and they went on to win the title.&ldquo;But the team that came the closest was the Blackhawks in my rookie year in Chicago. We had Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull, Pat Stapleton, Pit Martin and Bill White. I&rsquo;ll always remember it as the best, too.&ldquo;We lost the Stanley Cup to Montreal in the seventh game.&rdquo;That was the year a goaltender named Ken Dryden stunned the hockey world&mdash;or more precisely Boston and Chicago&mdash;with his sensational play.Maloney, 36, is starting his third season as a coach in the National Hockey League and the surroundings are new.He has become the sixth coach employed by the Winnipeg Jets in their seven-plus years in the NHL.An intense individual, not unlike John Ferguson, the Jets&rsquo; general manager, Maloney brings two years of experience gained working as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.The circumstances surrounding his departure have been well-documented. Insulted by the Leafs &rsquo; offer of a one-y ear contract at the same salary, he resigned and, soon after accepted an offer to coach the Jets.Following the first week of training camp, he could see the kind of team he&rsquo;ll have.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never had an opportunity to coach a team with so much offensive talent,&rdquo; he said. His centers, in particular, amaze him. Dale Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen and Laurie Boschman are considered the top three while Ron Wilson, Bill Derlago and Andrew McBain are striving for the fourth spot. Two years ago, Derlago was his No. I center in Toronto.Maloney&rsquo;s playing career spanned 11 seasons with stops in Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit and Toronto. During his final year, he was invited to stand behind the Leafs&rsquo; bench after suffering a back injury.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02984/5148651-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="147" height="115"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2>&ldquo;Mike Nykoluk asked me in Minnesota one night,&rdquo; said Maloney. &ldquo;Until then, I had never given coaching a second thought. It snowballed from there. I became his assistant. It more or less happened.&rdquo;Two coaches have profoundly affected his attitude toward the game.&ldquo;Bob Pulford could get a lot out of his players and Roger Neilson was very well organized, very thorough,&rdquo; he said.Maloney&rsquo;s assistants are Rick Bowness and Bill Sutherland, the same two men who worked for his predecessor, Barry Long, now the team&rsquo;s director of professional scouting.Asked if it is important to be his own boss, Maloney replied: &ldquo;In any organization you must work hand in hand with the general manager to see where players fit into a certain area.&ldquo;We may not always agree over the same player, but that is bound to happen once in a while.&rdquo;The youngest of nine children, Maloney was bom and raised in Barrie, Ont. As a youngster, he enjoyed the benefits of the city&rsquo;s minor hockey program.He and his six brothers played competitive hockey, but it was Dan who proceeded to junior ranks, then the pros.Drafted from London Knights by Chicago in the first round in 1970, he established himself as a rugged left winger with certain offensive skills. Twice, he had 66-point seasons.Of all the teams he joined, one is a particular source of pride.&ldquo;The 1974-75 Los Angeles Kings had 105 points,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;For a team on the West Coast, that was one helluva accomplishment. Only Montreal had more.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0006-01

Coach Maloney Excited By Offensive Possibilities

<div class="byline">BY TIM MORIARTY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04425/5148689-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Coaching in the NHL is a new challenge for Terry Simpson who fashioned a fantastic record in junior hockey.</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;He sits in a tiny, makeshift press box at the Cantiague Park training site, watching the New York Islanders sweat through a pre-season workout.What sort of thoughts are rambling through the mind of Terry Simpson, the team&rsquo;s new head coach who is making that big jump from the junior ranks to the National Hockey League?The 42-year-old quiet man from Prince Albert, Sask., acknowledges the question with a tight smile.&ldquo;I realize it&rsquo;s going to be a difficult job,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Whether I can handle it remains to be seen. But I know I&rsquo;m going to be given a decent chance and that&rsquo;s all I want.&rdquo;Simpson spent the first few days of training camp sitting in that cramped press box and observing the workouts, most of which were run by assistant coach Bob Nystrom with help from former defenseman Darcy Regier. On this day, though, Simpson shared his press box observation post with Nystrom and former head coach Al Arbour.&ldquo;Al&rsquo;s been helpful to me in a lot of areas,&rdquo; Simpson said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve discussed the organization, the system, and some of the teams we&rsquo;ll face in the exhibition games.&rdquo;Asked about his early impressions of the Islanders&rsquo; camp, Simpson said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m reasonably pleased. I don&rsquo;t have much to compare it with, but things are going the way I thought they would. The workouts have been fairly intense and the scrimmages are spirited.&rdquo;During one scrimmage, Duane Sutter and Alan Kerr tore into each other and had to be separated by teammates. The incident brought a smile to Simpson&rsquo;s face.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03641/5148696-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="147" height="124"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a sign that things are going well,&rdquo; the new coach said. &ldquo;Lots of competition, lots of spirit.&rdquo;Simpson already had made an impression on some of the Islander veterans.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s easy to approach and easy to talk to,&rdquo; Bryan Trottier said. &ldquo;If you have any questions, he&rsquo;ll give you a straight answer. He doesn&rsquo;t say, &lsquo;See me later.&rsquo; You might not like the answer you get, but at least he doesn&rsquo;t duck it.&rdquo;Team captain Denis Potvin admitted the preseason workouts are different. &ldquo;The pace is faster and harder,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s thinking of the new coach and trying hard to impress him.&rdquo;Defenseman Ken Morrow said, &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t seen much of Terry on the ice yet. He&rsquo;s sort of easing his way into the job. But look at his record and his background. They&rsquo;re great.&rdquo;Simpson does possess an impressive background. He took over as coach of the Prince Albert Raiders in 1972 when the team was in Tier II competition. In the next 10 years, the Raiders won eight league championships and captured the Centennial Cup as Canada&rsquo;s Jr. A Tier II champion four times.Prince Albert moved into the major junior ranks in 1982. Simpson needed only two seasons to produce one of Canada&rsquo;s all-time great junior teams. The Raiders finished the regular season with a 58-11-3 record, steamrolled through the Western League playoffs with a 12-1 record and then skated off with the Memorial Cup championship.Simpson was also associated with Canada&rsquo;s national junior team the past three years. He was head coach of that team two years ago when it won the gold medal at Helsinki and directed it to the silver medal in last year&rsquo;s world junior tournament.But that was amateur hockey. Will Simpson find himself over his head in the NHL?&ldquo;I hope not,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;This is all new to me, of course. I&rsquo;ve been looking at 67 guys and I want to take time to zero in on things.NOTES&mdash;The Islanders outbid the Calgary Flames for the services of free agent forward Randy Wood of Yale University. He played all three forward positions at Yale, totaling 62 goals in his 107-game college career&hellip;New defenseman Brian Curran has inherited uniform No. 4. It used to belong to Paul Boutilier, who was awarded to the Bruins as compensation when Curran signed with the Islanders as a free agent. Greg Gilbert has switched from No. 17 to No. 7, last worn by Stefan Persson. &#9632;

f0006-04

Simpson Gets Chance, That’s All He Wanted

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02859/5148727-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg"></div>DETROIT&mdash;For Jacques Demers, master motivator, the motivation is &ldquo;doing what few people get to do in life&mdash;and that&rsquo;s what they want to do.&ldquo;For me, that&rsquo;s coaching,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;I want to coach. If I had to leave coaching, I don&rsquo;t know how I&rsquo;d handle it. Coaching is my life.&rdquo;Demers&rsquo; move from St. Louis to Detroit was one of the NHL&rsquo;s big stories of the summer. Tired of being put off and unappreciated by the Blues&rsquo; hierarchy, Demers sought greener pastures&mdash;and in Detroit that&rsquo;s exactly what he found&hellip;a five-year coaching contract worth $1 million, nearly triple what he was making in St. Louis.But that&rsquo;s another matter. This is about Jacques Demers, the coach.This is about Jacques Demers, a guy who started from the bottom and worked his way up&mdash;from driving a Coca-Cola delivery truck to fbeginning in his belovedprofession as an amateur coach.One thing Demers discovered early, even in those days when he played sports, is that he had a knack for leadership. Whenever there was an occasion to pick a captain for the baseball team or the hockey team, Demers was that guy.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011215/5148734-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="153" height="112"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2>&ldquo;Obviously, I had some leadership qualities,&rdquo; he said.Those are the qualities that will be tested by the Red Wings. The rebuilding of the Red Wings, bad as they are, must go far beyond the Xs and Os. &ldquo;Attitude is the most important thing,&rdquo; Demers said on the eve of his first season as Red Wing coach. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I want to bring.&ldquo;The players want to win. There&rsquo;s nothing harder on a professional athlete than losing. I know these players care. They&rsquo;re not very happy with what has happened. (But) they need to learn how to win. It can be taught easily.&ldquo;You have to pay a price to win. If you do, you can be successful. I&rsquo;ll be looking at the attitude of each player. I don&rsquo;t want one leader or two leaders. I want 22 leaders. If you have 22 leaders, you can win. And one thing I will stress is that nobody is more important than the team, not Jacques Demers, or not any player.&rdquo;It is a message Demers delivered to the Wings during his first official team meeting. The players understood it clearly.&ldquo;We are pushing a little harder to get his attention, and this has put an edge on all the players,&rdquo; said Steve Yzerman, the young star center who is a pivotal player in the Wings&rsquo; scheme of things.&ldquo;We all got the message. Things they said about Demers are true.&rdquo;Among those things is that Demers is a players&rsquo; coach&mdash;respected and liked, yet firm when necessary.He&rsquo;s dynamic and enthusiastic, and, perhaps most importantly for his new job in Detroit, positive. &#9632;

f0007-02

Master Motivator Moves To Motor City

<div class="byline">BY JEFF GORDON</div>PEORIA&mdash;Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; coach Mike Keenan can appreciate the rapid ascension of Jacques Martin, the new coach of the St. Louis Blues.Keenan met Martin at St. Lawrence University. Like Martin, Keenan taught school while building his coaching career. And it was Keenan who brought Martin to major junior hockey, hiring Martin as a scout with the Peterborough Petes.&ldquo;At one point he was living out of the trunk of his car, no more than a year ago,&rdquo; said Keenan. &ldquo;He had a rocket trip to the top, one he was willing to sacrifice for. His family sacrificed for it, moving from town to town, and should be given credit for it.&ldquo;He has accelerated his career faster than the average coach. He&rsquo;s a tremendously hard worker with a very keen sense of the game of hockey. He learned very, very quickly. It was fairly inevitable that he would get soQte opportunity.&rdquo;When Jacques Demers abruptly left during the summer to coach the Detroit Red Wings, Martin, 33, quickly emerged as director of hockey operations Ron Caron&rsquo;s choice to replace him.In his first year as head coach at the major junior level, Martin led the overachieving Guelph Platers to the Memorial Cup. Suddenly Martin was a hot item; the New Jersey Devils approached him about an assistant coaching position before Caron called.&ldquo;His team, all the players, when they were on the ice, were busy executing,&rdquo; Caron said. &ldquo;You could see that the details were there. His players last year were performing to the maximum of their talent, game in and game out.&rdquo;Martin is a conservative fellow, low-key with a flair for organization, not impassioned speeches. He was a goaltender at St. Lawrence who returned to school after a brief and futile trial with the New York Islanders.He taught school in Ottawa for seven years, coaching Tier II Jr. A and collegiate hockey on the side. His brother-in-law, former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark, gave him the opportunity for a political career.Instead, Martin chose to dedicate himself to hockey. He quit teaching, joined the Petersborough staff and began spending summers at every clinic, symposium and hockey school he could get to.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03593/5148772-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="537" height="1264"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jacques Martin was coach of the year in the Ontario League last season.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-04419/5148765-1-eng-US/f0007-042.jpg" title="f0007-04" width="132" height="115"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2>&ldquo;I enjoy the game,&rdquo; Martin said. &ldquo;I guess I&rsquo;ve always lived for hockey. I&rsquo;m glad I had the opportunity to work fulltime at it. It&rsquo;s like business, you don&rsquo;t mind moving around if it&rsquo;s for a promotion. It&rsquo;s a challenge and I&rsquo;ve always liked challenges.&rdquo;Martin&rsquo;s confidence won&rsquo;t grow as the season progresses because he is very confident now.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m anxious to do the job,&rdquo; Martin said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t look at it as a matter of proving myself or not. Last year in Guelph, maybe I was unknown at the beginning of the season, but I went out and did the job.&ldquo;I feel very comfortable in the position here. When you are in this business there is always pressure. It&rsquo;s like playing. You have to perform under pressure. I think pressure never bothered me in the past. I don&rsquo;t think it will at this point.&rdquo;With youngsters such as Herb Raglan, Cliff Ronning, Jocelyn Lemieux, Robert Dirk and Michael Dark ready to compete for jobs, Caron wanted a coach who could teach and evaluate. Caron likes what he has seen so far.&ldquo;He communicates with his players,&rdquo; Caron said. &ldquo;Right off the bat he requests referees so there would be no monkey business. Then he goes up in the stands and observes. He keeps studying. He has scouts rating every player, every game, by position. For a guy that didn&rsquo;t know anybody, he picks up knowledge nice and fast.&rdquo;Was hiring Martin a gamble?&ldquo;Every decision you make is a gamble,&rdquo; Caron said. &ldquo;Some you feel better about than others. This is one I feel very good about.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Marty Ruff, the Blues&rsquo; top draft pick in 1981, retired after failing his physical. Ruff has had surgery on both knees and was a longshot to make the team as a right winger. The Blues earlier wanted to buy Ruff out, but he insisted on playing this year&hellip;Veterans Dave Barr, Ron Flockhart, Doug Wickenheis-er and Bruce Bell were in early competition with the youngsters mentioned above. &ldquo;This year&rsquo;s group is much more talented than the one we had last year,&rdquo; Caron said. &#9632;

f0007-03

Martin Rides ‘Rocket’ To First NHL Job

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011300/5148803-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div>DAVE KEON IS the last Toronto Maple Leaf to win a major NHL award (1967 Conn Smythe), and he also won the Calder Memorial as top rookie in 1961, plus the Lady Byng in 1962 and 1963.Keon played 1,062 games for the Leafs. Only the late Tim Horton played more. It&rsquo;s a shame to say, but if Dave Keon were a Montreal Canadien, he would be honored in the Forum as he should be.Come on, (Leaf owner) Harold Ballard, give credit where credit is due. A simple banner, with the Hall of Famer&rsquo;s number on it, at Maple Leaf Gardens would do wonders in bringing Leaf hockey tradition alive in Toronto.Players such as Horton, Armstrong, Ellis, Mahovlich, Kennedy, Sittier, Bower, Saw-chuk and Stanley should get the recognition they deserve.To all the great players who have played for the Leafs, &ldquo;Thanks for the memories.&rdquo; You will never be forgotten!Maurice R. Rivard, Willowdale. ONNEW BLOOD NEEDEDI am a die-hard Boston Bruin fan and I am very angry with the events that have taken place in that organization in the past few years. It began with an article that I read in THE HOCKEY NEWS that gave Harry Sinden credit for the Bruins doing well with what they had.The Bruins have settled for fourth place and third place with early exits in the playoffs in the past few years by sending many players down the road that could have helped the club if given a chance. Players such as Tom Fergus, Larry Melnyk, Craig MacTavish, Mike Krushelnys-ki, Mike O&rsquo;Connell, Brad McCrimmon, and lately Barry Pederson and Brian Curran, could have vaulted the Bruins to first place in the Adams Division instead of third. These types of players cannot be replaced by Gradin or Tom McCarthy or Cam Neely.Hockey has become a sport of younger players and coaches with new and bright ideas and the old ways expressed by GMs such as Harry Sinden and Scott Bowman are not the best way any longer. Bring Bobby Orr in to be GM and watch the Bruins turn around.<h2>FAN FORUM</h2>I feel as many Bruins fans feel. Why finish third with a fair team when we can be the best and bring Stanley home?Bruno R. Campigotto, Niagara Falls, NYALCOHOL WORST ABUSEEverywhere you turned this summer, there was a story about how to deal with drug abuse in the NHL. Well, drug abuse may or may not be a problem but alcohol abuse definitely is!And what is the NHL doing to solve this problem? Even though the use of alcohol is legal, impaired driving is against the law everywhere in North America. And NHL players are being convicted of drunk driving. What is worse, people are being killed.Just recently Steve Dykstra just escaped death. At leasthe and the late Pelle Lindbergh made the decision to drink and drive so they have only themselves to blame.I believe that the NHL should put alcohol abuse on the same level as drug abuse before anything like this happens again. For the first conviction a player should get a 40-game suspension. For a second conviction he should be banned for life.This would encourage teams to set up alco-hol-abuse programs. It would be worth banning 20 players if one life might be saved!Dan Dobrucki, Wellandport. ONLet 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;

f0008-01

It Is Time Keon, Others Are Honored At Gardens

THE HARD-HEARTED will identify it as more in the long line of foul-ups, bleeps and blunders that have plagued the managements of the Detroit Red Wings and Los Angeles Kings.Those with a greater conscience and infinitely more forgiving will write it off as a simple mistake that could happen to anybody, especially the-first time around.Whatever&rsquo;s your pleasure, the first-ever National Hockey League supplemental draft of college free agents is, for better or worse, over.And if, as NHL executive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill said, the purpose of the draft is to &ldquo;help facilitate an orderly entry for players into our league&rdquo;, that much was accomplished. Just barely.The Red Wings and Kings marred what otherwise may have been a staid event. Both clubs selected players who did not meet the eligibility requirements. Detroit, picking first overall, took Ian Kidd, a promising 6-foot, 206-pound sophomore defenseman from the University of North Dakota (six goals, 16 assists and 65 penalty minutes in 37 games last season). L.A. opted for his Fighting Sioux teammate, Grant Paranica, a 6-foot-3, 202-pound sophomore left winger who played only six games last season before undergoing back surgery.Both Kidd, a native of Portland, Ore., and Paranica, who hails from North Battleford, Sask., were 21 when they started their freshman years at UND. Supplemental draft regulations require a player must have played one of his years of North American college hockey when he was 18, 19 or 20 to be eligible.Even the release of information concerning the draft was on the disorderly side. The initial press release from the league&rsquo;s Montreal office curiously neglected to mention Ian Kidd or Detroit&rsquo;s forfeiture of the No. I pick overall. Paranica&rsquo;s name was listed as one of L.A.&rsquo;s two selections, but a day later when it became apparent he was ineligible, the league issued a second release noting both clubs&rsquo; errors.If one possessed a vivid imagination you would almost get the idea that the league office was, at first, trying to cover up for the Red Wings&rsquo; blunder.That, of course, wouldn&rsquo;t be necessary because to hear Red Wing GM Jimmy Devellano tell it, he&rsquo;s not the least bit concerned.How, he was asked, did it happen? Were the Wings unaware of the exact nature of the rules or were they confused about Kidd&rsquo;s birthdate? Or both?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021083/5148834-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="402" height="451"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really know,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;You would have to ask (the Wings&rsquo; director of scouting/player procurement) Neil Smith. He handled everything to do with that draft.I don&rsquo;t think it concerns him (Smith) or me too much. It was a pretty weak draft, you know. All the good (college) free agents like Mike Donnelly (Rangers), Doug Dadswell (Calgary), Dallas Gaume (Hartford) and Dwight Mathiasen (Pittsburgh) had already signed in the summer. Look at Philadelphia (Flyers), they didn&rsquo;t even bother making a pick.&ldquo;The Kings made a mistake, too. This draft was just a lot of young kids who have never been picked in the entry draft. I don&rsquo;t know how many, if any, will ever play in the NHL.&rdquo;Of course, a couple of years ago that rationale applied to Ray Staszak, the unproven free agent whom Devellano and the Red Wings felt obliged to offer the richest rookie contract in the history of the NHL (one-way, $1.4 million contract for five years) last fall.It was due primarily to the Red Wings&rsquo; largesse and Staszak&rsquo;s inability to play regularly in the NHL last season that the supplemental draft, henceforth to be known as the &ldquo;Ray Staszak Draft&rdquo;, was instituted in the new NHL collective bargaining agreement.Admittedly, this year&rsquo;s talent pool in the draft was thin. There are some NHL management types who say one of the few reasons for having it at all in 1986 was that so any legal challenges by disgruntled agents/lawyers would be addressed before the 1987 entry/supplemental drafts in, of all places, Detroit.Still, one can&rsquo;t help but feel that it would have been a magnanimous gesture by Jimmy D. to pretend, for the league&rsquo;s sake, that he&rsquo;s upset at having made the Kidd error. The &ldquo;Ray Staszak Draft&rdquo; is, after all, there to protect the Red Wings from themselves.Bob McKenzie is the Editor-in-Chief of THN. &#9632;

f0008-02

At Least Jimmy D. Could Act Like He Cares

RULE 54 IN the book, already as long as War and Peace, may soon be made into a miniseries. Subtitled &ldquo;fisticuffs", it already runs from a) through f) with four notes and one reference back to Rule 42.If Ron Wicks and Bryan Lewis, the two most recently-retired referees, would tell the truth, it wasn&rsquo;t their legs that gave out but their eyes. They saw everything on the ice just fine, they just couldn&rsquo;t get through the NHL rulebook.The thing grows every year like the Encyclopedia Brittanica. To thumb through it, you need a forklift. To carry it, a truss.And now the NHL is experimenting with making it even longer. During the exhibition season, referees will be given the discretion of giving the instigator of a fight a full five-minute penalty. The guy will sit in the penalty box until the opposition scores five goals or he dies of natural causes.The trial, being run in conjuction with a new, rounded, goal crease, is the latest attempt to clean the game up. It has been legislated by the doves who are worried that thuggery is again on the rise in the NHL.There is justifiable reason for concern. Skilled players were sent to the press box for playoff games last year so that tough guys could dress. NHL president John Ziegler&rsquo;s research that 20 per cent of fighting majors called in the league last year were given to two per cent of the players is worthy of further study.The new rules are, understand, just an experiment, and in the hopes of a better game, we endorse anything short of a square puck as worth at least a look. But a rule penalizing instigators? We could have sworn the NHL already had a few of those. We went back to Rule 54 and we quote:A major, ora major and a game misconduct penalty, at the discretion of the referee, shall be imposed on any player who starts fisticuffs.b) A minor penalty shall be imposed on a player who, having been struck, shall retaliate with a blow or an attempted blow. However, at the discretion of the referee, a major or a double minor penalty or a game misconduct penalty may be imposed if such player continues the altercation.NOTE I: It is the intent and purpose of this rule that the referee should impose (additional penalties) in all cases where the instigator or retaliator of the fight is the aggressor and is plainly doing so for the purposes of intimidation and punishment.NOTE 2: The referee is provided very wide latitude in the penalties which he may impose under this rule&hellip; The discretion should be exercised realistically.Were you counting &ldquo;discretions&rdquo; We came up with three. Also two &ldquo;latitudes&rdquo;. And the conclusion that the new rule is not at all necessary.The point is, you can make all the new rules you want but enforcement is still the absolute key. The league is now giving the referees one more opportunity to decide a game, something most of them don&rsquo;t want.You complain about officiating. We complain about officiating. For every gripe there is an equal and opposite bitch. When played reasonably cleanly, hockey is a difficult game to officiate. When it is chippy&mdash;and love it or leave it, that is often an inevitability&mdash;it is nearly impossible to call correctly.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011275/5148865-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="321" height="464"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jay Greenberg</figcaption></div>Short of the institution of one more subsection z)Fight and you &rsquo;re out of here, with no questions or discretions asked, the league has gone as far as it can in legislating against fighting. The third-man-in rule is a good one. So are a) and b) above. If the ones already in the book were already being called, you wouldn&rsquo;t need any more.The referees are being given so many rules that they are being blinded by the options. The more you put in, the greater the burden on the official, the greater chance Kerry Fraser has of operating on a different wavelength than Dave Newell.Most of the referees have a basic understanding of the fact that you can only call so much without screwing up a game. The best pick and choose, calling only minor fouls that would lead to or prevent a scoring chance, plus major ones that send signals to both benches that the referee is in control.But all referees are subject to directives from the league office, which means certain kinds of penalties become trendy. Last year high sticking was heinous. Remember a few seasons ago when goalies were almost always called for coming out of the net to freeze the puck? You don&rsquo;t see it anymore.That&rsquo;s because the refs had to come down so hard on high-sticking (and we&rsquo;re not saying that was wrong, either) that other penalties had to be ignored. Now, if a referee has just backed a team up five minutes for a fight instigation, then another five for a high-sticking major, would he set it back 45 seconds later with a trip? Answer: Only if it is so blatant, it absolutely can&rsquo;t be ignored.We have high hopes, now that the league&rsquo;s officiating office has been reorganized, that the refereeing will be better than ever. Without half the present rules, John McCauley was a great referee because both his judgment and rapport with the players were excellent. Now that he&rsquo;s in charge, he will recruit and develop officials who will see the game as he did. The game is going to get better because of it.The keys to good officiating are judgment and presence. Not more rules. Give more to a referee and he will either take you too literally and tum the game into a 60-minute power-play contest, or pick and choose different ones than the official who worked last night&rsquo;s game. The players only get more frustrated at the inconsistency.It&rsquo;s a simple game. So should be the manner in which it is officiated. &#9632;

f0009-01

The Answer Is Enforcement, Not More Rules

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;When Richard Brodeur departed the Vancouver scene for his holidays last spring, he was asking the Vancouver Canucks for more money and some changes to the National Hockey League club in front of him.He got the money, but the changes may be a different story.Brodeur, who celebrated his 34th birthday during the Canucks&rsquo; training camp at Duncan on Vancouver Island, said if there weren&rsquo;t changes in the off-season the Canucks would have the same results as last year.&ldquo;I guess the changes (on defense) have to come from the guys themselves,&rdquo; he said cautiously. &ldquo;You know (Dave) Richter is going to play. They didn&rsquo;t get him to send him down to the minors. We need a guy to clear the front of the net, that&rsquo;s fine.&ldquo;But you could say we have too many guys who play the same way, carrying the puck. Hawk (Doug Hal-ward) and Rick Lanz and Michel (Petit) all play the same way. Maybe we need a few more anchors. I told Michel if he was going to keep his job he would have to fight for it. He&rsquo;s got to be more aggressive.&ldquo;We need an identity as a team right r now. Each team has a certain way of playing with a personality. That&rsquo;s what I said to Tom (coach Watt) last year. We don&rsquo;t have one and we have to develop it.&ldquo;They went out and got (center Barry) Pederson and (Rich) Sutter and they are character guys and that&rsquo;s what we need. But I don&rsquo;t know if there are enough changes. We&rsquo;ll know soon. We don&rsquo;t want to change four quarters for a dollar. They have to be changes to improve the team.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02952/5148896-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="127" height="114"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2>&ldquo;It will be tough. Maybe we can finish second or third. But we can&rsquo;t tell the fans we&rsquo;re going to win the Stanley Cup. All we can do is say they can have more fun at the games. That&rsquo;s where we are.&rdquo;Brodeur signed a new contract for a year and an option that takes him well past the $300,000 per season mark, so there will be few handouts going into his household.&lsquo;I&rsquo;m getting older and I have to make the money while I can.&rsquo;&mdash;Brodeur&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting older and I have to make the money while I can,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;At my age I&rsquo;m not looking for a long contract. That&rsquo;s not fair to the team. Butl&rsquo;mhappy. Ihave to get it now. It&rsquo;s no good me saying two years from now, &lsquo;Well, I should have been tougher in negotiations.&rdquo;&rsquo;He&rsquo;s not likely to get the number of games he did last season when he was second overall in minutes played (3,541) behind Buffalo&rsquo;s Tom Barras-so and tops in appearances with 64.&ldquo;When Tom and I met for the first time, he said tome, &lsquo;How many do you want this year, 60 or 65?,&rdquo;&rsquo; said Brodeur. &ldquo;I laughed and said we&rsquo;d talk about it.&ldquo;But with Wendell (Young) playing as well as he did last year and Frank (Caprice) looking as good as he did (in Fredericton) last year, I won&rsquo;t have to play as many. I still like the work, but now we know Wendell can play, when last year he wasn&rsquo;t so proven.&rdquo;The club will want to bring Young along and give him more work, be cause Brodeur can&rsquo;t last forever.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going into my 15th season and I feel good,&rdquo; said Brodeur, who is a few pounds lighter than last year. &ldquo;I worked a little on the weights again, but not as much. But I&rsquo;m not like the other guys. You can&rsquo;t look at me and say he looks like he&rsquo;s going to have a good year. I don&rsquo;t have that kind of job. I stop pucks.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-02

Brodeur Says Canucks Need Team Identity

In case you hadn&rsquo;t heard, this is &ldquo;Dump On Jimmy Devellano Month&rdquo; (DOJDM). &rsquo;The Dishonorary Chairmen are Eddie Mio and Lane Lambert, formerly employed by Jimmy D. in Detroit.True to the theme of DOJDM, Lambert and Mio have been lathering Devellano&rsquo;s image with a mixture of tar and mud.They have used various vehicles such as the Newark Star-Ledger (Walt MacPeek) and the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix (Ken Juba) to make Jimmy D. look like someone out of Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies.It&rsquo;s easy for Lambert and Mio to portray Jimmy D. as Elmer Fudd because they didn&rsquo;t do it to his face and, therefore, didn&rsquo;t give him a chance to counter-punch. He&rsquo;ll get that opportunity right here in just a moment.The Dishonorary Chairmen of DOJDM have mounted several cases against Jimmy D. They say he goofed on the trade, sending Kelly Kisio, Jim Leavins and, of course, Lambert, to the Rangers for Glen Hanlon.They call him paranoid and they say that Jimmy D.&rsquo;s moves have often been motivated by personal, rather than pragmatic, reasons.&ldquo;The main reason Devellano traded Kisio, Lambert and Leavins,&rdquo; says Mio, &ldquo;was that Park liked them and Jimmy is paranoid about that.&rdquo;Mio argues that Lambert was demoted to the minors at the start of last season not because he belonged in the AHL but rather because Devellano felt obliged to play million-dollar free agent Ray Staszak.&ldquo;There are politics everywhere in hockey,&rdquo; says Mio, &ldquo;but politics are behind everything that happens in Detroit. Jacques Demers may be a good coach but he&rsquo;s going to earn his money because his GM is a jerk.&rdquo;Lambert accuses Devellano of &ldquo;looking out for himself and not the rest of the team,&rsquo;-&rsquo; and believes he blundered in handling Brad Park.&ldquo;Look what he did with Park,&rdquo; Lambert charges. &ldquo;Brad is a better hockey man than Jimmy Devellano. He fired Park and said a lot of bad things about him. So, if Jimmy wants to cut down a 17-year veteran of the NHL who&rsquo;s a future Hall of Famer and cut me down in the same breath, it doesn&rsquo;t bother me at all.&rdquo;Obviously, it does, because the kid never stops yapping about Devellano.Lambert: &ldquo;The difference between Jimmy D. and Phil Esposito is this: With Phil, everything is positive. When he comes into the dressing room, everything is positive. In Detroit, when we lost a game&mdash;and we lost a few&mdash;Jimmy Devellano would trip over his lip when he came into the dressing room. When you&rsquo;ve got three games in the next four nights, you can&rsquo;t keep worrying about the one you just lost.&rdquo;Having refused an offer to join DOJDM, I figured it was only right to give Jimmy D. a chance to tell me if everything Mio and Lambert have been saying is true.Devellano indicates that the Dishonorary Chairmen of DODJM are 100 per cent right&mdash;about one per cent of the time. Let&rsquo;s start with Jimmy D.&rsquo;s evaluation of Eddie Mio&rsquo;s monologue.&ldquo;What Eddie says is silly,&rdquo; counters Devellano. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t move players because of what Brad Park may have felt about them. My deals are based on what can help the Red Wings.&ldquo;Of the three guys I sent to the Rangers, I say there&rsquo;s one-and-a-half real players in that group. The one real player is Kelly Kisio. I won&rsquo;t tell you which one 1 don&rsquo;t think is a real player.&ldquo;The fact that we were able to pick up a third-round draft choice in 1987 and 1988 is going to be a tremendous thing for us because of the new underage draft regulations. (You can only take 18-year-olds in the first three rounds of the draft.) This is going to allow the Red Wings to get four 18-year-olds in (each of) the next two years of drafting. The Rangers only get a crack at two in the next two years. That was an awful lot they gave up.&ldquo;When you think of it, it was far-sighted on my part. I&rsquo;m preparing our club for the next two drafts.&rdquo;Devellano also says his critics in DOJDM overlook the fact that Detroit needed a goaltender. Badly.&ldquo;I did a thorough check on the goaltender market,&rdquo; Jimmy D. explains. &ldquo;We liked what we had seen of Glen Hanlon in Adirondack last fall. We like his character and we felt he&rsquo;d be a good partner for Greg Stefan. So, it&rsquo;s totally crazy for them to call me short-sighted. And as for Kisio, Lambert and Leavins; those guys weren&rsquo;t &lsquo;Brad Park&rsquo;s players,&rsquo; they were Jimmy Devellano&rsquo;s players. I drafted Lambert. 1 brought Kisio into the organization.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have anything against any of them, other than I think there&rsquo;s one real player there, a half-and-half player and one who I don&rsquo;t think is going to do very well.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011342/5148927-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="347" height="456"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Fischler</figcaption></div>Told about the Dishonorary Chairmen of the DOJDM, Jimmy D. is less surprised about Mio&rsquo;s blathering than Lambert&rsquo;s.&ldquo;What comes from Mio,&rdquo; Devellano asserts, &ldquo;is sour grapes. I remember when Glen Sather sent Eddie to the Rangers. Eddie cried about Glen Sather. When I acquired Mio and gave him the starting job in Detroit, he badmouthed Craig Patrick. I brought Eddie to Detroit based on his two good playoff series with Philadelphia but he never lived up to his billing.&ldquo;He was always hurt: he was a moaner and spent far too much time in the bars. He appeared in more gossip columns in the Detroit papers than any player in the history of the Red Wings. He played that role too much for me. He should have concentrated on stopping more pucks and staying out of the bars.&ldquo;I had a lot of problems with Eddie. His living habits off the ice weren&rsquo;t very good and he couldn&rsquo;t play enough games for us.&rdquo;Jimmy D. admits surprise that Lambert joined the DOJDM with such negative vigor. He was especially piqued by Lambert&rsquo;s &ldquo;trip over his lip&rdquo; charge.&ldquo;When we lose,&rdquo; says Devellano, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a very happy guy. People I&rsquo;ve worked for like Al Arbour and Scotty Bowman were all tough losers. I&rsquo;m kind of a miserable guy when we lose. I do have a big lip but I didn&rsquo;t bring anyone down because, basically, I didn&rsquo;t talk much to the players after the game or before a game simply because that&rsquo;s the coach&rsquo;s responsibility. But I let the players know I wasn&rsquo;t very happy and 1 will continue to do that.&rdquo;Devellano points out that Lambert has overlooked his drop in production. He scored 20 goals in his rookie year, then 14 as an NHL sophomore and last year only two goals.Jimmy D.: &ldquo;The fact that Brad Park thought he was doing well just goes to show you how stupid Brad Park was. Lambert&rsquo;s a right winger; he got plenty of ice time and he scored two goals. Lane is passing the buck and blaming someone else.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m surprised to hear that stuff coming from him because I had a good rapport with Lane. I was really supportive of him in his rookie year. 1 worked on helping him find a house. But Lane has had a problem in his career of blaming agents, blaming other people for the demise of his career.&rdquo;I don&rsquo;t expect that Mio and Lambert will fold DOJDM now that Jimmy D. has completed his counter-attack. But if they are to be heard from again, you can bet that the return salvo will be heard from Joe Louis Arena to the Ural Mountains.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s one thing about Jimmy Devellano,&rdquo; Jimmy D. concludes, &ldquo;and that is I never hide from anybody.&rdquo;<h2>30-SECOND THIRD DEGREE</h2>Doug Gilmour of the St. Louis Blues, please take the stand.Q: How do you feel about Jacques Demers moving to the Red Wings?A: It was something he had to do. If I was in his shoes, I&rsquo;d do the same thing. Most people would. He&rsquo;s the highest-paid coach in the league now. I&rsquo;ve got to be happy for him.Q: How do you feel about Jacques Martin taking over?A: He&rsquo;s younger than Jacques Demers and he&rsquo;s smart. He&rsquo;s got some good fundamental drills. If he doesn&rsquo;t change too many things&mdash;and works with us&mdash;we&rsquo;re gonna work for him. We&rsquo;ve got to help him as much as he&rsquo;s gonna help us. He&rsquo;s got to remember he&rsquo;s not coaching 16-to 19-year-olds any more, he&rsquo;s coaching 19-to 32-year-olds. It&rsquo;s gonna be a learning process for him but I&rsquo;m sure Mr. (Ron) Caron will help him out.Q: What was it like to be in the midst of one of the most exciting games in Stanley Cup history; your sixth-game comeback against the Flames.A: It was the most exciting game I ever played in and it was really funny because it was unbelievable because it happened so quickly. To think we were down three goals so late in a playoff game and to come back&mdash;and then win it in overtime. After the game we just sat in the dressing room and looked at each other and said &ldquo;What happened?&rdquo; The crazy thing was that a lot of our fans had left when we were down by three but the fans who stayed went crazy. They wouldn&rsquo;t even leave the building. It was a neat feeling to be part of it. &#9632;

f0010-01

Jimmy D. Returns Fire-Magnum Force

<div class="byline">COMPILED BY JEFF HUBBELL Editorial Assistant</div>Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; newcomer Hannu Jarvenpaa was the hero of openingweekend National Hockey League action.The 22-year-old Finnish right winger, drafted in the fourth round of the 1986 entry draft, scored four goals as the Jets beat Minnesota North Stars 7-4 on Sept. 19.The victory also marked a winning debut for new head coach Dan Maloney, who takes over the Jets after a disastrous 1985-86 season.<h2>NYET TO NEWSFOLK</h2>Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; owner Harold Ballard and the Soviets aren&rsquo;t so different philosophically after all.Last year, Ballard closed off the Leafs&rsquo; dressing room to journalists, because under NHL rules female reporters must be given equal access to players as their male counterparts.So Ballard, who goes to great lengths to make clear his dislike for anything Soviet, closed it to everybody rather than permit women into the dressing room.The Soviets also do not allow journalists into the dressing room, according to the The Globe and Mail, but not for reasons of gender. In this case, it&rsquo;s bureaucracy.To get an interview with a player, Soviet journalists must first get permission from the coach. Then, they must get the player&rsquo;s signature of approval about the article before it can be published.For foreign journalists on road trips, Gorky Torpedo is the toughest club to get a story from. For them that city is off-limits. It happens to be where dissident Andrei Sakharov is held in internal exile.<h2>HOCKEY NOTEBOOK</h2>PLANTE HONOREDThe Swiss Hockey League has honored the memory of legendary goaltender Jacques Plante by establishing a trophy in his name.Plante, who moved to Switzerland after his retirement from the NHL and WHA, lived and coached there until his death from cancer this year.The Trophee Jacques Plante&mdash;a smaller replica of the NHL&rsquo;s Vezina Trophy&mdash;will be awarded to the best goaltender in the Swiss Hockey League.HODGE GOES WESTDave Hodge, a mainstay with Hockey Night in Canada, has left Toronto for a reported $ 150,000 job in Vancouver.It. is expected he will remain with HNIC, working from his new home. But his main job will be working for CKNW radio, which is controlled by the Griffiths family. Frank A. Griffiths, by the way, is chairman of the Vancouver Canucks.LAWSON LET GOFormer WHA scoring whiz Danny Lawson was released from the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; training camp.Lawson, 39, was a surprise invitee to the camp, and hadn&rsquo;t played professional hockey since 1976-77 when he played for Winnipeg and the Calgary Cowboys. During his 10-year NHL and WHA career, Lawson played with seven different teams, and became a prominent scorer in the younger league with a 60-goal and 50-goal season.CHARITY CHAMPSThe Edmonton Oilers had no trouble in whipping the Stanley Cupchampion Montreal Canadiens 8-3 in a NHL exhibition match in Ottawa on Sept. 19.But everybody was a winner.The game raised $1.5 million in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The sold-out event at the Ottawa Civic Centre attracted more than 9,300.Among those in attendance were Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his wife, Mila, the honorary chairperson who was largely responsible for organizing the gala event.Many of those at the game made an evening of it, buying the $5,000 packages which included cocktails at the Prime Minister&rsquo;s residence, admission to the game, and dinner and entertainment afterward at the National Arts Center.After the game, Edmonton was awarded the Alex Deford Trophy, named after the late daughter of Sports Illustrated writer Frank Deford. She died of CF in 1980. &#9632;

Jets’ Finnish Rookie Off To Flying Start

IF THE EDMONTON OILERS had wanted to create a true dynasty (whatever that is) and win a whole batch of Stanley Cups, they have taken one of the most difficult routes. The old Cup is a very difficult object to regain after it&rsquo;s gone.Sure, there is precedent for what the Oilers are trying to accomplish this season&mdash;regain the trophy after surrendering it for a year. But getting back to the throne room is an achievement that has eluded some fine teams over the years.The best way to qualify as a great team, of course, is to grab the Cup and cling to it. Montreal Canadiens did it when they won four consecutive titles from &rsquo;76 to &rsquo;79, then New York Islanders grabbed four in a row from &rsquo;80 to &rsquo;84.When the Oilers won a pair (&rsquo;85-&rsquo;86) with a very talented young roster, they appeared set for a lengthy possession of the Cup. Calgary Flames ruined that little notion by upsetting the Oilers in the Smythe Division final.Now the Oilers have an easy target for the &rsquo;86-87 term: To regain what they feel belongs to them by divine (or Peter Pocklington&rsquo;s) right. But that road is up a steep hill. The Oilers are a bit battered after last spring&rsquo;s loss to the Flames and the follow-up drug charges.NHL history reveals that on 11 occasions a team has won the Cup, lost it and regained it in a space of three years. The Canadiens have done it five times.In fact, the Canadiens are the last team to accomplish the feat. Back in the early &rsquo;70s, which seems a long time ago now, the Habs and Boston Bruins did some splendid switching around. The Bruins won the Cup in &rsquo;70and &rsquo;72, the Canadiens in &rsquo;71 and &rsquo;73.In &rsquo;71, the Canadiens accomplished something similar to what the Flames did last spring. They defeated the &ldquo;can&rsquo;t-lose&rdquo; B&rsquo;s in a memorable seven-game series and continued on to the Cup. The Bruins bounced back in &rsquo;72, but couldn&rsquo;t hold off the Canadiens in &rsquo;73 when the Montreal club had the groundwork in place for the wonderful team that won the four straight late in the decade.Oiler boss Glen Sather minces no words in what he expects from his team this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011315/5149013-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="363" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body">Frank Orr</figcaption></div>&ldquo;A big year and revenge has to be the sole purpose of everyone in our organization,&rdquo; Sather said.Sather feels the drug expose in a national magazine, which claimed that five Oilers had drug problems, gives the club additional motivation.&ldquo;We could have understood the running of the article if it had been the gospel truth,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;But it was baloney, pure baloney. Despite that, we had to try to prove that it wasn&rsquo;t true.&ldquo;Well, losing the Cup was bad enough but having the article added to it really upset our players. They&rsquo;re very determined to set things straight and the way to do that is to play strong hockey.&rdquo;Sather also hopes that the Oilers&rsquo; maturing was stepped up by the loss in which the team didn&rsquo;t adjust well to the Flames&rsquo; swarming defense and aggressiveness.&ldquo;I figured our team had been through the growing-up process but. obviously, we have a little more of it to do in some areas,&rdquo; Sather added.&ldquo;We allowed the Flames to throw us off our game. They did a great deal of scrumming around after whistles and instead of skating away, we wrestled with them. When we stuck to our plan, things were fine but we got away from it too often.&ldquo;During the season, our players were very responsive to suggestions from the coaches but they didn&rsquo;t listen too well in the playoffs. We have to be more adaptable when a new wrinkle is tossed at us.&rdquo;Perhaps the return of tough old warrior Ted Green to the coaching staff will improve the team&rsquo;s hearing powers. &#9632;

f0012-01

Sather Out To Make It An Even Oilers’ Dozen

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021099/5149051-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">No date has yet been set for the return of veteran Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; defenseman Behn Wilson from a back injury.</figcaption></div>CHICAGO&mdash;The Chicago Blackhawks don&rsquo;t know when Behn Wilson will be coming back, and Behn Wilson isn&rsquo;t sure, either.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like any other injury, only a lot slower,&rdquo; said Wilson, the Hawks&rsquo; defenseman sidelined with a bad back suffered in the playoffs last April. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s driving me crazy, missing training camp.&ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t want to do anything that will set me back. The last thing I need is another setback.&rdquo;There had been a rumor that Wilson was unhappy with some medical treatment and considering legal action.&ldquo;Somebody else asked me about that,&rdquo; he said, shaking his head. &ldquo;The one thing I&rsquo;m unhappy about is having a bad back. When it happened, I was just so angry that it had happened to me.&ldquo;You never expect it to happen to yourself. I don&rsquo;t like it, but it&rsquo;s part of the game. I don&rsquo;t like the scars on my face, but they&rsquo;re part of the game, too.&rdquo;Wilson was injured in a pileup during the second game of the Hawks&rsquo; first-round loss to Toronto. After initial examinations in Chicago, Wilson dealt exclusively with physicians near his home in the Philadelphia area over the summer.The injury has been described as stretched ligaments with possible disc damage, though Wilson himself was not that specific.&ldquo;The only thing I know about it is from the doctors having to baby-talk to me about it,&rdquo; he said.He has been on a program of very limited exercise. But he has been able to serve as a bench coach during the Hawks&rsquo; intra-squad tournament.&ldquo;For rehabilitation, they told him just to walk,&rdquo; said Hawk co-coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s up to about a half-mile a day. So we assume he won&rsquo;t be ready for a while.&rdquo;Hawks&rsquo; coach-general manager Bob Pulford has seemed annoyed by questions about Wilson&rsquo;s status.&ldquo;He got hurt in the playoffs,&rdquo; Pulford said. &ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t come along as quickly as we hoped. But he&rsquo;ll be all right.&rdquo;<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03739/5149044-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="129" height="116"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h2>Pulford, at times, has seemed less than patient with some injuries. But Wilson said he has received a lot of support from Pulford.&ldquo;Bob Pulford called me in for a talk and said I might be back right away, or it might take longer,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;He said I had a back problem, but that was the only problem I had. He said if I started worrying about a lot of things, I would end up needing a psychiatrist.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t set any timetable. Bob Pulford believes, and I do, that if you set a date to come back, and you do something that delays it, then you&rsquo;re worried about that. He said don&rsquo;t let it become a mind injury, too.&rdquo;So, Wilson&rsquo;s return remains uncertain.&ldquo;I hate to be missing camp, but rest is the only thing for it now.&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;As long as I don&rsquo;t do anything. I&rsquo;ll be fine. I know I&rsquo;m on the slow-but-sure method. It&rsquo;s slow, but at least it&rsquo;s the sure way.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-02

Waiting Is Hardest Part For Veteran Wilson

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div>HARTFORD&mdash;On the second day of training camp, let the record show, Emile Francis turned 60. Scouts are in universal agreement: He hasn&rsquo;t lost a step.&ldquo;I feel exactly the same as when I started all this,&rdquo; the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; general manager said. &ldquo;Forty, 50, 60&mdash;it doesn&rsquo;t matter. The only age that ever meant anything to me was 16 because that meant I could go in the pool room without the cops chasing me out.&rdquo;Staff members helped Francis celebrate his birthday by presenting him with a Whalers green-and-white golf bag.&ldquo;What they should have given me was a magic ball-finder,&rdquo; he said.Entering his fourth season in Hartford, Francis thinks he&rsquo;s sitting on a winner.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011241/5149096-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="567" height="901"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hartford Whalers&rsquo; GM Emile Francis celebrated his 60th birthday on Sept. 13.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02911/5149089-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="127" height="120"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tough division, but I like our chances,&rdquo; he said.Francis&rsquo; five-year contract expires at the end of the 1987-88 season, but retirement is not in his plans.&ldquo;Really, I&rsquo;ve never thought of doing anything else,&rdquo; he said.Francis sees no reason to retire at 65 either.&ldquo;If that were the case, who&rsquo;s going to make President Reagan retire?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Age is a state of mind. I&rsquo;ve been a fortunate man health-wise. I haven&rsquo;t had anything wrong with me since I quit playing.&rdquo;Whalers&rsquo; chairman Howard Baldwin was properly direct about Francis&rsquo; future.&ldquo;I hope he stays forever,&rdquo; Baldwin said.New Jersey GM Max McNab is the oldest current hockey boss at 62. Behind Francis comes Vancouver&rsquo;s Jack Gordon, 58. But neither McNab nor Gordon has been in the target area as long as Francis, who took over as GM of the New York Rangers in 1964.&ldquo;The old breed made the league&mdash;Jack Adams, Frank Boucher, Frank Selke, Tommy Ivan,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;To me. there&rsquo;s no pressure. I expect to win. If 1 don&rsquo;t win. the only reason is the clock ran out on me. You can find a million reasons why you didn&rsquo;t win.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never admitted that anybody&rsquo;s been better than me, only luckier.&rdquo;&lsquo;I&rsquo;ve never admitted that anybody&rsquo;s been better than me, only luckier.&rsquo;&mdash;FrancisLast season, Francis made eight trades and was named THE HOCKEY NEWS Executive of the Year, so it&rsquo;s evident that age has not overtaken him.&ldquo;All I can say is that if you lose your enthusiasm, then you&rsquo;re not going to be worth a damn,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And I haven&rsquo;t lost it. Your faith, your family and your friends are the three most important things. This is a people business. It never gets boring because you never know what&rsquo;s going to happen next.&rdquo;Francis&rsquo; detractors point to his failure to win a Stanley Cup, but the &lsquo;Cat&rsquo; can answer that charge, too.&ldquo;Only six teams have won in the 22 or 23 years I&rsquo;ve run teams,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve spent 75 per cent of my time taking a team that was nothing and trying to build it into something. I&rsquo;ve never inherited anything.&rdquo;WHALER SCUTTLEBUTT&mdash;Ulf Samulesson. Dean Evason and Wayne Babych were the last to agree to new contracts. All players have been signed&hellip;The Sylvain Turgeon watch continues. On the third day of camp, he left the ice early. On the fourth day, he left after 15 minutes. On the fifth, he didn&rsquo;t practice at all. A stomach muscle problem continues to dog him. Turgeon was expected to sit out for a week or so. &ldquo;When the puck is dropped, Sylvain Turgeon will be there,&rdquo; Emile Francis said directly. Stay tuned.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03737/5149082-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="1179" height="1561"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dean Evason, who scored 20 goals and 28 assists in his rookie season, finally came to terms with the Hartford Whalers.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0013-01

Cat’s Not Getting Older, He’s Getting Better

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>A NHL insider says the board of governors will have no difficulty with Harry Ornest unloading the Blues and leaving the league where he&rsquo;s not unanimously admired. Omest tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;The two teams that most want to see me go are Detroit (Mike Ilitch) and Calgary (Norman Green).&rdquo;&hellip;Canadiens&rsquo; Hall of Famer Yvan Cournoyer has opened a string of fast food restaurants, &ldquo;Burger 12&rdquo;, throughout Montreal. The restaurant&rsquo;s colors are the Habs&rsquo; red, white and blue&hellip;There&rsquo;s no truth to reports which endlessly circulate in Montreal papers that the NHL plans to shutter its Montreal office. BLUELINES learns that as much business is conducted under veep Brian O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s domain in Montreal as in John Ziegler&rsquo;s New York fiefdom.Attorney Brian Burke, in a letter to hockey player clients urges: &ldquo;Call me immediately if you believe you have personally developed a problem in the area of chemical dependency.&rdquo; Burke, a former pro player, disagrees with NHL prexy&rsquo;s John Ziegler&rsquo;s harsh stand on drugs. &ldquo;Severe penalties do not eliminate drug use or abuse,&rdquo; Burke tells BLUELINES. &ldquo;Rather, they serve to encourage concealment of drug use. What&rsquo;s needed is rehabilitation, not punishment-&rdquo;&hellip;The North Stars&rsquo; Keith Acton on the fuss over drug use in sports: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s too relevant to hockey. I don&rsquo;t think drugs are a problem.&rdquo;&hellip;Latest NHLer to turn restauranteur is the Isles&rsquo; Clark Gillies whose eatery is near Nassau Coliseum.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011292/5149134-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="340" height="600"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Acton</figcaption></div>Randy Moller&rsquo;s anti-Nordiques stance is hardly representative of the whole team. On the flip side is Paul Gillis, who would like to spend the rest of his playing years in Quebec&hellip;Jimmy Devellano sees Dallas, Seattle and San Francisco as the three cities the NHL needs to reach to fill out as a 24-team circuit. Frisco&rsquo;s problem remains the lack of a big-league facility. The Cow Palace is too small and too old. Since the spring, the NHL&rsquo;s New York office has lost five staffers&hellip;Even the closest friends of former Yale stickhandler Bob Logan are surprised he signed with the Sabres. The Yale grad had been threatening to bypass hockey for a non-sports career&hellip;Devils&rsquo; Kirk Muller will appear on Don Cherry&rsquo;s &ldquo;Grapevine&rdquo; TV show with a harsh putdown of European hockey as infinitely dirtier than the NHL brand. Muller insists that the best route to the NHL is through the junior system and not via college.Oilers&rsquo; Glenn Anderson is expanding his business interests. He&rsquo;s now involved with Cantel, Canada&rsquo;s only national cellular phone service which is now operational in Edmonton. Anderson&rsquo;s outfit is called Cell City-&hellip;Former NHLer Dale Rolfe&rsquo;s son, Daniel, will get a tryout with Brian Kilrea&rsquo;s Ottawa 67&rsquo;s junior sextet&hellip;Onetime NHL goon Curt Bracken-bury has gone Yuppie. He&rsquo;s now mixing with the bluebloods of sailing. He&rsquo;ll be part of the Canada Cup II crew which will be involved in the prestigious America&rsquo;s Cup races. Sailing has not been Brackenbury&rsquo;s lifetime passion. Matter of fact, it has only recently become one of his pastimes.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021012/5149127-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="347" height="560"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky</figcaption></div>Among The Great One&rsquo;s charitable pursuits these days is The Wayne Gretzky House for the mentally handicapped. Money still is being raised for the building which is about a year away from construction&hellip;A rival coach tells BLUELINES that the main reason why the Oilers play the best fire-wagon hockey is that ice at Northlands Coliseum ranks at the top of the list-&hellip; Flyers are sporting a new six-sided video scoreboard at The Spectrum&hellip; Badger Bob Johnson&rsquo;s agent Art Kaminsky tells BLUELINES that the Flames&rsquo; coach is the highest-paid in the NHL&hellip; Departure of veteran refs Ron Wicks and Bryan Lewis means fulltime work for Bill McCreary and Bob Hall.Paul Gardner&rsquo;s decision to quit his job as player-ass&rsquo;t coach of the Rochester Americans to coach the AHL&rsquo;s new club in Newmarket, Ont., has not been well-digested in Upper New York State. One Rochester columnist opined: &ldquo;Paul Gardner did not retire. He&rsquo;s after more money.&rdquo; Gardner replies: &ldquo;Rather than being known as a hanger-on like Steve Carlton, I thought this was the best time to step down. It got frustrating, too, because guys asked me what 1 was doing down here all the time.&rdquo;&hellip;One of the first laws of journalism to is spell names correctly, but the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association must plead guilty to breaking that one at the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Vancouver on Sept. 10. On the plaque presented to retired Buffalo hockey writer Dick Johnston, one of four media honorees, the &ldquo;t&rdquo; in his last name was missing. &#9632;

f0014-01

NHLers Won’t Miss Blues’ Harry Ornest

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04503/5149165-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="557" height="932"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rugged John Tonelli is out to prove he&rsquo;s still a factor to be counted upon.</figcaption></div>CALGARY&mdash;John Tonelli remembers his final New York Islanders&rsquo; training camp just as if it were last year.&ldquo;Boring,&rdquo; said Tonelli. &ldquo;It was boring. Skating on that plastic ice gave you a good workout. I don&rsquo;t feel I was that far behind when I came to training camp. But I was there by myself and it was boring.&rdquo;Unlike the rest of his Islanders&rsquo; teammates who were working out of the Cantiague Park Arena in Hicksville. Tonelli&rsquo;s training camp headquarters last season was the Bryan Trottier Skating Academy and its high-tech plastic ice surface.For 22 days, Tonelli stayed away from the Islanders&rsquo; camp, the first holdout in the history of the franchise.On the 23rd day, four days before the regular-season opener in Los Angeles, Tonelli reported for duty. His goal, in holding out, was to get a new long-term contract to close the gap between himself and his more well-heeled teammates.Tonelli eventually received his new deal, but something happened to his relationship with the Islanders&rsquo; bosses, general manager Bill Torrey and coach Al Arbour. Just enough distance came between them for Torrey to decide that he could live without Tonelii&mdash;if the price were right.The price turned out to be Steve Konroyd and Richard Kromm, two young players that the Calgary Flames were willing to sacrifice to get the most valuable player in the 1984 Canada Cup.Coming on the heels of his most successful season as a pro&mdash;when he reachfid the 100-point level and was named to the second all-star team&mdash;last season proved to be one of the most difficult of Tonelli&rsquo;s 12-year career.&ldquo;Last year was a tough year. There was a lot of frustration until I got to Calgary,&rdquo; said Tonelli. &ldquo;I think 1 was blaming not only myself but I was blaming management too for the way I was getting treated. It was a combination of things that made it very frustrating.&rdquo;Upon his arrival in Calgary, there was one important question on coach Bob Johnson&rsquo;s mind: Had Tonelli lost a step?Almost from the moment he arrived in Calgary last March, Tonelli was hampered by a severe groin injury. Luckily, it wasn&rsquo;t centered in his abdomen area&mdash;the kind of injury that takes up to a year to heal&mdash;but Tonelli says it took until the beginning of August for it to begin feeling normal again.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s probably the biggest question in my mind right now too,&rdquo; said Tonelli. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to try my best to prove that I haven&rsquo;t lost a step. I had all summer to think about it. I&rsquo;m disappointed 1 had an injury in the playoffs, but in the playoffs, everybody plays with injuries. I wish I could have done more. I know if I&rsquo;m healthy, I have a lot of confidence that I haven&rsquo;t lost a step.&rdquo;Actually, Tonelli didn&rsquo;t do too badly in his short term with the Flames last year. The injury limited him to nine regular-season games over the last month. In the playoffs, Doug Riseb-rough, Lanny McDonald and Tonelli formed one of the team&rsquo;s most formidable lines.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03709/5149172-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="147" height="118"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2>The 29-year-old Tonelli said he was starting the new season trying to &ldquo;find the edge, the Bob Johnson edge. The summer was very frustrating because normally 1 exercise regularly. I train, I lift weights. Especially in the last three summers after my success in the Canada Cup&mdash;I trained very hard to make that team&mdash;ever since then, I&rsquo;ve been that way.&ldquo;But it didn&rsquo;t start to come around until the beginning of August. I really felt it up until then. All I could do was light leg weights. Every time I went to bench press, I could feel it. Every time I did anything strenuous, I could feel it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-04

The Big Flame Question: Has Tonelli Lost Step?

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div>EDMONTON&mdash;Does anyone out there recall those glorious record pursuits of the season past?Who could&mdash;or would want to&mdash;ever forget Paul Coffey&rsquo;s splendid end-to-end sprint against the Vancouver Canucks for goal No. 47, thus supplanting the legendary Bobby Orr in National Hockey League record books?Or, two nights later in Calgary when Wayne Gretzky broke his incredible standard of 212 single-season points&mdash;even if the Flames refused to acknowledge the accomplishment over the Saddledome PA system?The advice is to savor those moments and retain any property depicting the achievements in the safe keeping of the family vault.Chances are, there won&rsquo;t be encores in 1986-87.Headed into the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; training camp, the riot act has been read for the coming campaign&hellip; with the key word being we, not me.Lose one playoff series, and priorities are quickly placed in perspective.&ldquo;I read somewhere that Wayne wants to eclipse his points record (215),&rdquo; manager-coach Glen Sather said. &ldquo;To me, I don&rsquo;t care if he does. I&rsquo;d sooner have him in a more relaxed frame of mind. I told him he doesn&rsquo;t need to break records. I told Jari (Kur-ri) he doesn&rsquo;t have to score 75 goals.&rdquo;Okay, what will be the purpose of the long, cold. 80-game winter?&ldquo;Get prepared and be in the right frame of mind to win close (playoff) hockey games,&rdquo; emphasized Sather. &ldquo;All I want to do is win the league (first overall), win the Stanley Cup and not lose too many games.&rdquo;Sather realizes applying a horsecollar on his frisky, young colts will be most difficult.&ldquo;Sure, it&rsquo;ll be tough and may create a helluva lot of animosity,&rdquo; said Sather, who last spring had complained about the NHL not properly showcasing Coffey&rsquo;s pursuit of Orr&rsquo;s records. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying it won&rsquo;t happen again and that I won&rsquo;t encourage it to happen when and if the time comes&hellip; But I don&rsquo;t want guys to go out with that in mind at the start of the season.&rdquo;Care to comment, Mr. Gretzky?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011090/5149210-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="564" height="1464"><figcaption class="caption-body">High-scoring defenseman Paul Coffey says he&rsquo;ll do whatever it takes to win.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question, everybody has the same goal&mdash;to regain the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; said No. 99. &ldquo;But we won it two years and we finished first overall last year without taking away from individual accomplishments.&rdquo;Gretzky, however, is in agreement the team is No. I.&ldquo;We realize we can&rsquo;t set sights as individuals, but I also have never paced myself,&rdquo; he stressed. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d only be cheating myself, cheating the team and cheating the guy who pays for the tickets.&rdquo;<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02870/5149203-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="137" height="118"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2>With Rendez-Vous &rsquo;87 set for Quebec City&rsquo;s Colisee in February and a Canada Cup training cmap slated for August, Gretzky is also fully aware there&rsquo;s no shortage of activity on the agenda over the coming 12 months.&ldquo;Management&rsquo;s attitude,&rdquo; said the 25-year-old, &ldquo;is to improve as a team, but nobody wants the players not playing up to their capabilities either.&rdquo;Coffey was more apt to toe the line.&ldquo;The bottom line is to win the Stanley Cup and do whatever is necessary to help the team,&rdquo; said the two-time Norris Trophy winner. &ldquo;If Glen wants me to play a different way, I will. When you lose in the playoffs, everything else goes for nothing. All the other stuff (records, individual awards) doesn&rsquo;t mean diddly.&rdquo;Then he began to think back to his April 2 rink-length sprint.&ldquo;But, I don&rsquo;t think it automatically means we can&rsquo;t go for records,&rdquo; said Coffey, whose 138 points left him one shy of another Orr mark previously deemed unattainable. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to pace yourself, because if you don&rsquo;t play your hardest, you&rsquo;re not going to stay sharp.&rdquo;The boss, however, has opted for mental toughness&mdash;not inscriptions in record books.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to regain some lost esteem,&rdquo; is the Sather theory. &ldquo;I told our guys last year, if any team is going to beat us, it&rsquo;ll be ourselves.&rdquo;Which is far from solely due to the fact the goal that eliminated the Oilers in Game Seven against Calgary was the result of the puck inadvertently winding up in their own net.&ldquo;We lost the seventh game to Calgary, because with 14 minutes to go, the team was in a panic,&rdquo; he said, looking back to proceedings following rookie defenceman Steve Smith&rsquo;s fatal faux pas of bouncing the puck off goalie Grant Fuhr&rsquo;s leg.&ldquo;A lot has been said,&rdquo; added Sather, &ldquo;about our team having a cocky attitude, but there&rsquo;s a real fine line betwen cocky, confident and scared.&rdquo;No doubt, the pressure&rsquo;s on.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like the headline in the (Edmonton) Sun the other day,&rdquo; spat Sather. &ldquo;&lsquo;It&rsquo;s put up or shut up&hellip;&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-01

Oilers’ Sather Wants ‘We’ To Replace ‘Me’

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/f0016-03676/5149248-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="798" height="1306"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04523/5149241-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="1494" height="292"></div> &#9632;

f0016-03

BEGINNER HOCKEY FOR ADULTS!

<div class="byline">BY JEFF HUBBELL</div>Editorial AssistantWhen is a kid not a kid? When he&rsquo;s Ian Kidd and was past the age of 20 when he entered his freshman year at the University of North Dakota.Or so the Detroit Red Wings discovered.Kidd, the first pick in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s first-ever supplemental draft for collegiate free agents, was ruled ineligible after the Red Wings chose him in the Sept. 17 selection process.The 22-year-old UND defenseman didn&rsquo;t meet the second of two eligibility requirements: 1) the player cannot have been selected in a NHL entry draft and; 2) the player must have attended a North American college/university between the ages of 18 and 20 years old.Kidd, a 6-foot, 206-pound defenseman born in Portland, Oregon, was 21 when he entered UND as a freshman one year ago.So the Red Wings fouled up and lost the No. 1 pick. Not that Detroit was the only club to lose a battle of birth certificates.The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; second choice, left winger Grant Paranica of UND, was also 21 when he began his freshman season with the Fighting Sioux.A total of 23 players from colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada were drafted. They were, in order:<h2>FIRST ROUND</h2>(1) Detroit&mdash;Selection forfeited. (2)Los Angeles&mdash;Robert Kudelski, C, Yale. (3)New Jersey&mdash;Glen Engevik, RW, Northern Arizona. (4)Pittsburgh&mdash;Jeff Lamb, C, Denver. (S)Buffalo&mdash;Jeff Capello, F, Vermont.<h2>SECOND ROUND</h2>(6) Detroit&mdash;Rob Doyle, D, Colorado. (7)Los Angeles&mdash;Selection forfeited. (8)New Jersey&mdash;Tim Barakett, RW, Harvard.(9) Pittsburgh&mdash;Randy Taylor, D, Harvard.(10) Buffalo&mdash;John Cullen, C, Boston. (11 (Toronto&mdash;Art Fitzgerald, G, Trinity College (Mass). (12)Vancouver&mdash;David Gour-lie, D, Denver. (13)Winnipeg&mdash;Chris Levasseur, C, Alaska-Anchorage. (14)NY Rangers&mdash;Gary Emmons, C, Northern Michigan. (15)St. Louis&mdash;Marty Raus, D, Northeastern University. (16|Hartford&mdash;Joe Tracy, RW, Ohio State. (17)Minnesota&mdash;Brian McKee, D. Bowling Green. (18)Boston&mdash;Chris Olson, G. Denver. (19)Chicago&mdash;Dave Randall, D, Northern Michigan. (20)Montreal&mdash;Randy Exelby, G, Lake Superior. (21 (Calgary&mdash;Steve MacSwain, LW, Minnesota. (22)NY Islanders&mdash;Gary Kruzich, G, Bowling Green. (23)Quebec&mdash;Mike Natyshak. RW, Bowling Green. (24)Washington&mdash;Steve Cousins, D, Alber-ta. (25)PhiI adeIphia&mdash;Passed. (26)Edmonton&mdash;Peter Heinze, D, Lowell.<h2>NHL Games To Come</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01962/5149286-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="608" height="2816"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02774/5149279-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="2372" height="2848"></div>Warning: Health and Welfare Canada advises that danger to health increases with amount smoked-avoid inhaling. Average per cigarette: Player&rsquo;s Light: Regular-13 mg &ldquo;tar&rdquo;, 1.0 mg nicotine; King Size-14 mg &ldquo;tar&rdquo;, 1.1 mg nicotine. &#9632;

f0017-01

Detroit, L.A. Foul Up At Supplementary Draft

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01992/5149324-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Left winger David Maley emerged from University of Wisconsin to play a part in Montreal&rsquo;s surprising Stanley Cup win.</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;The backgrounds are? slightly similar.Steve Rooney joined the Montreal Canadiens in March. 1985 after his U.S. college hockey team. Providence, had finished its hockey season.David Maley arrived in Montreal a few days after his University of Wisconsin squad had been eliminated from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs last March.Both Rooney, 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds, and Maley, 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, are tough hombres. Both are left wingers.As the Canadiens&rsquo; rather competitive training camp continues, both Rooney and Maley are battling for jobs on coach Jean Perron&rsquo;s hockey club. To the winner goes the plane rides to Los Angeles, Edmonton and Boston. To the loser, the bus rides to Glens Falls. Hershey, Moncton and Newmarket.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s stiff competition,&rdquo; said Rooney. &ldquo;We have a pretty good nucleus of left wingers. We have a good nucleus of people who can play other positions. 1 think they are going to take the best hockey players. 1 don&rsquo;t think they are going to worry if you are a left wing or not.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02744/5149317-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="153" height="97"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2>Last season was frustrating for Rooney, who will always be remembered as the guy who scored for the Canadiens on his wedding day in Boston Garden during the 1984 playoffs.He had a good training camp, but there was something wrong: A shoulder which had been damaged during his final year at Providence had not healed properly.Surgery was performed to repair the damage, but it also put Rooney&rsquo;s timetable for advancement out of whack.&ldquo;Last year, I had a chance to prove myself and I didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Rooney admitted. &ldquo;Then when the injury came about, it kind of ruined my chances. I&rsquo;m looking forward to a healthy season this year.&rdquo;Like Rooney. Maley wants to continue his rise in the organization. His action was limited during the final weeks of the season as coach Perron dressed him for three games. The first 12 games of the playoffs went by before Maley got his first taste of action and it was then that he started to impress.&ldquo;It gives me a little bit of confidence to have met the guys and to have gone through what I did.&rdquo; Maley said. &ldquo;Each year is a new year and you have to forget about what happened. Everyone starts fresh and new.&rdquo;Maley, like Rooney, can play on the right wing if needed and indeed Maley has seen a good deal of right side action since training camp got under way. There were indications that coach Perron would continue to employ the native of Beaver Dam. Wise., on the right side through exhibition play.&ldquo;It seemed a little weird that this is my first pro camp after all that I went through last year,&rdquo; Maley said. &ldquo;I had planned on going to rookie camp and they had sent me all the information to come. I was fired up to go.&ldquo;A week before. I talked with Andre Boudrias (Canadiens&rsquo; assistant general manager) and he told me they would rather have me not&rsquo; go to the rookie camp.&rdquo;But both Rooney and Maley were put through their paces before the main camp got under way by Claude Ruel, who provides that service for the players who want to work. It&rsquo;s an experience to say the least.&ldquo;He has so much life on the ice,&rdquo; said Maley. &ldquo;He really gets you going &rsquo; at a time before training camp when it&rsquo;s tough to push yourself.&rdquo;Neither Rooney nor Maley are having trouble pushing themselves during this camp. Maley even got himself involved in the seemingly endless round of feuding, fussing and fighting in the early days of camp, dropping the gloves with rookie Rick Hayward, who had already battled with Claude Lemieux three times.The heat is on but if Maley and Rooney are to earn jobs here. they have to battle the pressure cooly.Getting back to Montreal on a prop charter&rsquo;flight at 2 a.m. in the morning is a lot better than arriving in Sherbrooke at six in the morning after spending half the night in a cramped non-luxury bus.Rooney and Maley have had the bus-riding experience in college.IN PASSING&mdash;Defenseman Tom Kurvers failed to come to terms on a new contract with the Canadiens and now is in his option year. Kurvers is battling for one of the eight defense positions on the club and it is tough to believe the Canadiens would let the talented Minnesotan get away&hellip; Defenseman/forward John Kordic signed a two-year contract, plus an option, with Montreal. He has told Canadiens&rsquo; management that he does not want to return to a policeman&rsquo;s role at Sherbrooke. If he&rsquo;s going to fight, he&rsquo;ll do it in Montreal. &#9632;

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Rooney And Maley Fight For Work With Montreal

FOR MOST OF us who are hockey fans, there is always a feeling of excitement mixed with curiosity at the start of a National Hockey League season.But this year, there have been so many off-season developments that the curiosity is even greater than usual. In a few months, we&rsquo;ll have the answers to most of these questions, but in the meantime, they&rsquo;re the source of a good many discussions.How will Jacques Demers do in Detroit? Although there are some unethical aspects to Demers becoming coach of the Detroit Red Wings, he&rsquo;s a fine man and superb coach. The Red Wings have gallantly resisted the attempts of a series of coaches, players, and executives who promised to improve their sorry state. But Demers may just be the saviour they&rsquo;ve sought for so long.What will be the effect of last year&rsquo;s playoff upset on the Edmonton Oilers? It&rsquo;s easy to say that the Oilers&rsquo; demise was self-inflicted and that this year, they&rsquo;ll play with fire in their eyes. Although I tend to agree with that, there is also a school of thought which contends that the Oilers no longer have the commitment needed to emerge triumphant from a playoff grind.How will Dan Maloney and John Ferguson get along in Winnipeg? Two similar personalities working towards a common goal may be the answer to the Jets&rsquo; problems. But if Maloney and Fergy ever have a major difference of opinion, the confrontation would be infinitely more interesting than most Jet games. Probably the best thing those two could do to restore quality in Winnipeg is to get Dale Hawerchuk in a small room and threaten to punch his lights out if he doesn&rsquo;t improve on last year&rsquo;s performance.What will John Ziegler do about Harold Ballard&rsquo;s revelation that he knew of Borje Salming&rsquo;s drug use five years ago? Salming got a one-year suspension, shortened to eight games, for admitting that he used cocaine. Fair enough. But when a team owner, an NHL governor, admits that he was aware of cocaine use, is there to be no penalty? Did Ballard inform the league? If he did, why was nothing done five years ago? Does this mean that the NHL doesn&rsquo;t care if team owners accept&mdash;and implicitly condone&mdash;cocaine use by players?What will the NHL do about expansion? The party line has been that because of uncertainty concerning a new collective bargaining agreement, expansion wasn&rsquo;t worth considering. Now that the players and owners have<h2>Al Strachan</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03534/5149355-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="387" height="451"></div>agreed to terms for five years, will the league expand? If so, where? The first answer should be in the affirmative. The second won&rsquo;t be as easy. Dallas and San Francisco are good bets, then there&rsquo;ll be a dogfight for the third spot with Canadians leaning towards Hamilton and Americans strongly opposed.What effect will Phil Esposito&rsquo;s appointment as general manager have on the New York Rangers? You can probably expect some short-range turmoil but if left alone long enough, Espo has the hockey knowledge-&mdash;and the support staff&mdash;to improve the team substantially. But the turmoil may be so great this season that it keeps the Rangers out of the playoffs and if that happens, how secure will Esposito be?What effect will a Stanley Cup have on the Montreal Canadiens? Every team in the Adams Division is hard pressed to make the playoffs, Stanley Cup or not. Usually, the Cup winner has to work harder the following year because everybody wants to knock off a champion. Add to that the fact that the Canadiens&rsquo; mystique has always made them a target and this could be a very difficult year for Montreal.Which teams will miss the playoffs? There is good reason to think that every one of the teams that missed the playoffs last year could be in the playoffs this year. Obviously, this is far from being an ironclad certainty but in each case&mdash;Pittsburgh, Detroit, New Jersey, Los Angeles and Buffalo&mdash;you can see improvement and reason for optimism. Whether the improvement is sufficient remains to be seen. But the interesting question is this: If those teams are in, who will be out? And that leads to one more interesting question: How many heads will roll as a result?-It should be a fun year. &#9632;

f0018-03

It’s Not Going To Be Easy For Defending Champions

For the next 23 weeks, Transamerica Life is proud to present individual profiles of the stars who have won THE HOCKEY NEWS-NHL Player of the Year Awards since their inception in 1949.The series begins next week with the award&rsquo;s inaugural winner, New York Ranger goalie Charlie Rayner (1949) and will conclude with Edmonton Oiler superstar Wayne Gretzky, the winner of the 1986 The Hockey News Transmerica NHL Player of the Year Award.Transamerica Life is proud to be the official sponsor of the 1987 The Hockey News NHL Player of the Year Award.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01779/5149540-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="533" height="548"><figcaption class="caption-body">Charlie Rayner 1949-50</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02527/5149533-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="531" height="541"><figcaption class="caption-body">Harry Lumley 1954-55</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03367/5149526-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="545" height="546"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jean Beliveau 1955-56 1967-68</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04240/5149519-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="533" height="544"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Mlklta 1963-641966-67</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-05140/5149512-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="537" height="541"><figcaption class="caption-body">Norm Ullman 1964-65</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-06112/5149505-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="525" height="538"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Hull 1965-66</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-07100/5149498-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="537" height="532"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Clarke 1972-731975-76</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0889/5149491-1-eng-US/f0020-082.jpg" title="f0020-08" width="534" height="538"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rogle Vachon 1974-75</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0968/5149484-1-eng-US/f0020-092.jpg" title="f0020-09" width="519" height="532"><figcaption class="caption-body">Guy Lafleur 1976-771977-78</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-1057/5149477-1-eng-US/f0020-102.jpg" title="f0020-10" width="537" height="547"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bryan Trottier 1978-79</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01579/5149470-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="529" height="544"><figcaption class="caption-body">Maurice Richard 1950-51</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02325/5149463-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="539" height="548"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gordie Howe 1950-51 1952-53 1956-57 1959-60 1962-63</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03184/5149456-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="522" height="541"><figcaption class="caption-body">Elmer Lach 1951-52</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04138/5149449-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="521" height="536"><figcaption class="caption-body">Red Kelly 1953-54</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-05117/5149442-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="537" height="532"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dickie Moore 1957-58</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-06100/5149435-1-eng-US/f0021-062.jpg" title="f0021-06" width="537" height="535"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andy Bathgate 1958-59</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0784/5149428-1-eng-US/f0021-072.jpg" title="f0021-07" width="537" height="548"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bernie Geoffrion 1960-61</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0877/5149421-1-eng-US/f0021-082.jpg" title="f0021-08" width="533" height="542"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jacques Plante 1961-62</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-0963/5149414-1-eng-US/f0021-092.jpg" title="f0021-09" width="539" height="532"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Connelly 1967-68</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-1052/5149407-1-eng-US/f0021-102.jpg" title="f0021-10" width="534" height="532"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Esposito 1968-69 691970-71 1971-721973-74</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-1141/5149400-1-eng-US/f0021-112.jpg" title="f0021-11" width="545" height="556"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Orr 1969-70</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-1230/5149393-1-eng-US/f0021-122.jpg" title="f0021-12" width="546" height="538"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Liut 1980-81</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-1327/5149386-1-eng-US/f0021-132.jpg" title="f0021-13" width="547" height="536"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky 1979-80 1980-81 1981-82 1982-83 1983-84 1984-85 1985-86</figcaption></div>TransamericaLife CompaniesTransamerica Life Insurance Company of Canada Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Company &#9632;

f0020-01

Transamerica Life presents…

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02476/5149571-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="554" height="996"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chris Dahlquist is expected to seriously challenge for a job on the blue line.</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Those who have not experienced it prefer to employ cautious words such as &ldquo;change&rdquo; or &ldquo;transition.&rdquo;It would, however, be considerably more accurate to depict going from the American League to the National Hockey League as nothing less than a quantum leap.The players are bigger, stronger, smarter. The game is faster&hellip; so is the lifestyle.The leagues, in short, have about as much in common as the political philosophies espoused by the White House and the Kremlin.Still, that most demanding of changes is one Penguins&rsquo; defenseman Chris Dahlquist seems fully prepared to make.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m accustomed to the league now and I&rsquo;ve got some time up here,&rdquo; said Dahlquist, who played five games for the Penguins last season. &ldquo;This should be a good year for me.&rdquo;<h2>&lsquo;He&rsquo;s strong and he moves the puck very well. He&rsquo;ll be a tough guy to keep off our club.&rsquo;</h2>&mdash;JohnstonThat sentiment is shared by Penguins&rsquo; management, the men who will mold Dahlquist&rsquo;s immediate future.&bull;I see him definitely as having a shot,&rdquo; general manager Eddie Johnston said.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01670/5149578-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="150" height="121"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s strong and he moves the puck very well. He&rsquo;ll be a tough guy to keep off our hockey club.&rdquo;&ldquo;He handled himself very well last year," coach Bob Berry said. &ldquo;He knew when he came up it was sort of as a stopgap.&rdquo;The Penguins signed Dahlquist (6-foot-1, 190 pounds) as a free agent out of Lake Superior State in the summer of 1985 and Johnston immediately proclaimed only experience stood between him and a lengthy career in the NHL.There remained, however, the adjustments to be made by moving from college to professional hockey.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all really one big transition from college,&rdquo; Dahlquist said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just a little more at ease playing the game than I was at the beginning of last year, anyway.&ldquo;My quickness has picked up. My strength is better, along with my mobility.&rdquo;&ldquo;He developed a lot during the year in Baltimore,&rdquo; Berry said.Johnston said Dahlquist&rsquo;s most obvious shortcoming a year ago, his offensive abilities, is the area of his game which has improved the most.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s strong and tough. There&rsquo;s no problem there. The thing he had to work on was getting up on the play, reading plays and moving the puck&mdash;and he did it very well.&rdquo;Dahlquist&rsquo;s statistics&mdash;one goal and two assists for the Punguins last season, four goals and 21 assists in 65 games for Baltimore&mdash;were modest, but mere numbers do not always provide an accurate measure of a player&rsquo;s value.Still, Dahlquist is in no way assured of drawing an NHL paycheck one month hence. The criteria for earning a spot on the Penguin defense is no longer limited to the ability to tape one&rsquo;s own sticks.&ldquo;Every year is going to be the same way,&rdquo; Dahlquist said. &ldquo;This year is no different. Everybody here is quality.&rdquo;If that, in fact, is true, the Penguins will have made a quantum leap of their own.NOTES&mdash;Right winger Ron Duguay and the Penguins reached agreement on a one-year contract a few days before the start of training camp. Duguay&rsquo;s business manager, Bob Thornton, said he will continue to talk to the Penguins about a longer contract&hellip; The Penguins signed free-agent left winger Kevin LaVallee, late of the St. Louis Blues, and right winger Mark Jooris of RPI. LaVallee, a second-round draft pick of the Atlanta Flames in 1980, had 18 goals and 20 assists in 64 games with the Blues last season. Rob Brown, the Penguins&rsquo; fourth-round draft pick in June, was expected to contend for a job as the fourth-line center, but sat out the early days of camp because of a lingering groin problem&hellip; Left winger Kevin Stevens elected to return to Boston College for his senior year rather than turn professional this season and right winger Stan Drulia was forced to skip training camp because of a broken hand. &#9632;

f0022-02

Defenseman Dahlquist Ready To Bridge Gap

<div class="byline">BY Bill Beagan</div>THERE ARE problems at all levels of hockey vis-a-vis violence and flagrant poor sportsmanship which would be unacceptable in most other sports.&rsquo;The manifestation of this dilemma is that hockey has major image problems and many parents are not allowing their youngsters to participate. With a cleaner &ldquo;public image&rdquo;, youth hockey enrolment would spiral, as would the popularity of the professional game.The hockey helmet and face mask (shield) are the most significant developments in hockey safety in modern times. The narrow-minded complaint that &ldquo;sticks are up&rdquo; because of face masks, simply doesn&rsquo;t address the problem. Sticks have always &ldquo;come up&rdquo; and even if they come up twice as much now, but do only one-tenth the damage (a fact), there isn&rsquo;t a &ldquo;major&rdquo; problem. A stick didn&rsquo;t kill Bill Masterton. (I was one of three officials on the ice in Minnesota when it happened.) Nor does a stick dislocate an eight-year old pee wee&rsquo;s shoulder.In minor hockey, poor sportsmanship, frustration and anger and the retaliatory &ldquo;cheap shots&rdquo; they engender, are the real problems. Chastising the implementation of helmets and face shields is blatant &ldquo;head-in-the-sand&rdquo; rhetoric.Slashing, spearing, cross-checking and checking from behind are the real injury-producing violations. These violations can be controlled through tougher penalty rules, strict officiating and reinforcement of sportsmanship ideals by parents of youth hockey players, coaches and hockey associations.Hockey associations need to realize that a two-minute penalty at the pee wee level, or below, has almost no deterrent value. Two-minute penalties merely provide a nice rest, while rarely hurting the offender&rsquo;s team due to generally-ineffective power plays. A player misses less than one full shift and learns nothing about sportsmanship.This is precisely where we have the opportunity to make a real impression, to teach lasting lessons through the use of one simple tool, ice time.Bad sportsmanship is learned behaviour, not inborn. Our young players can just as readily learn behaviour characteristics of which we all can be proud through simple rules reformulation and enforcement.Some specific suggestions I would make for youth hockey are as follows:&bull; Differentiate violations with significant injury potential from those which merely interrupt the flow of the game.&bull; Penalties such as hooking or holding would be called exactly as they presently are. Slashing, checking from behind and others mentioned earlier should be penalized much more severely. Significant penalties to the team, and to the offending individual, are necessary to accomplish a reshaping of attitudes.&bull; Automatic five-minute major penalties, or at least double minors, should be assessed for violations included in the high injury-producing category.More importantly, however, the individual offender would be assessed a 10-minute misconduct for each offense, to be served following the completion of the major penalty. The team, of course, would not be shorthanded during the misconduct penalty.The short-sighted will say that these penalties are too severe and that the referees won&rsquo;t call them for fear of ruining the competitive balance of the game at hand. The more far-sighted, however, will recognize that the current system just adds to hockey&rsquo;s black eye. They will recognize that if rules are intended to be followed, they must not trifle with them.Additionally, to teach sportsmanship and reduce hostile attitudes, game officials should penalize the instigators of the ail-too-frequent pushing and shoving bouts which are nearly automatic after a whistle.Penalties, in these cases, should be individual player misconducts only, with no team penalty involved.It would also be very helpful to hold educational meetings for all youth hockey participants. Such meetings would be required at the start of each season with perhaps a brief review midway through the schedule. These meetings would be conducted by game officials and would cover such topics as: general rules of the game; the nature of violations; the penalties to be assessed for such violations; ideals of good sportsmanship and any particular topics which need special attention.It is a fact that many young players receive no instruction whatsoever in what actually constitutes the various violations. Players are expected somehow to simply know the rules, or, at best, to learn as they play.A final recommendation: have opposing players meet, face to face, prior to each game as well as continuing the tradition of post-game handshakes. With helmets and gloves removed, a simple handshake (or high five) and a few words of encouragement would do wonders to humanize a player&rsquo;s image of his/her opponent.We could structure a fast-paced, cleanly-played game with plenty of room for a well-executed shoulder or hip check. We could be proud of, rather than embarrassed by, the public image of youth hockey.Bill Beagan, a former National Hockey League official. is the commissioner of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. He has donated his THNpayment for this column to the Parry Sound Minor Hockey Association. &#9632;

Let’s Start At Beginning: Teach Our Children Well

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02415/5149654-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Shawn Anderson, being greeted here by Scott Bowman on the day of the NHL entry draft, has impressed with his play.</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;Quietly, in fact very quietly, Shawn Anderson is making his presence felt at the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; training camp.It&rsquo;s not that Anderson, the Sabres&rsquo; first pick in the 1986 entry draft and the &rsquo; fifth player taken overall, isn&rsquo;t a talker. It&rsquo;s just that Anderson, and the Sabres for that matter, have taken a low-key? aproach.So far, at least, it worked to everyone&rsquo;s advantage. Anderson, the 6-foot-1. 190-pound native of Montreal, didn&rsquo;t score a goal during his first rush down the ice as Phil Housley did in his first camp. In fact, through four scrimmages, he didn&rsquo;t have a goal.He did, however, have a point in each scrimmage and that was good enough to match Housley for the early lead among Sabres&rsquo; defensemen in camp. He&rsquo;d also shown an ability to move the puck when he had to, hold on to it when he had to and skate it out of his own end whenever the need arose.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03302/5149647-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="1182" height="1219"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Housley, above, was tied with newcomer Shawn Anderson scoring among defenseman early at training camp.</figcaption></div>Those are talents that should endear him to the Sabres&mdash;a team looking for a good puck-handling defenseman. It&rsquo;s also a talent sure to be in demand by the Canadian national team, a unit Anderson is pledged to should he not earn a position with the Sabres.&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll probably force us to make a decision," said Sabres&rsquo; coach and general manager Scott Bowman. &ldquo;If he doesn&rsquo;t stay with us. he&rsquo;ll probably go back to the (Canadian) Olympic team. It&rsquo;s a nice position to be in.&rdquo;Nice is the operative word here.Bowman has gone to great and understandable lengths not to oversell Anderson. The low-key approach has kept the hype and hoopla that normally surrounds a No. 1 picktoamininmum. But Anderson has not gone unnoticed.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01606/5149640-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="133" height="116"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2>In one scrimmage at Sabreland, Anderson feathered a nice clearing pass out to newcomer Scott Arniel, a pass that led to the former Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; fourth goal in as many scrimmages. He did the same thing in working a play with center Doug Smith, the Sabres&rsquo; leading camp scorer. In addition, he&rsquo;d shown an ability to think under pressure and make the appropriate play. Anderson was buoyed by these successes, however, he was taking it all in stride.&ldquo;I kind of like it this way,&rdquo; he said of the early lack of media attention. &ldquo;I came here not knowing what to expect, but I like it. I&rsquo;m enjoying it actually. I think I&rsquo;m adjusting fairly well.&rdquo;He was also putting to rest a rumor about his health.It was in Calgary, at the Olympic development camp where rumors that Anderson was bothered by asthma first began to circulate.Anderson said the Sabres never asked him about his &ldquo;condition&rdquo; but that he would have gladly reassured them.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have a problem and I have nothing to hide,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I do have a (bronchial) pump, but I don&rsquo;t use it much. It&rsquo;s there if I need it, but I don&rsquo;t even have it with me.&rdquo;Anderson said that his condition is not asthmatic at all, but is a combination of allergies and a form of athletic bronchitis.&ldquo;A doctor checked me and asked me if I ever have a little wheezing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I said, &lsquo;Yeah, sometimes.&rsquo; And he gave me the pump. It&rsquo;s never been a problem.&rdquo;Anderson points to Olympic team testing in Calgary to buttress his point. He said he wasn&rsquo;t the most aerobicly-fit player in the camp but that he tested out &ldquo;above average&rdquo; and that there were &ldquo;plenty of guys below me.&rdquo;&ldquo;Watch me play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You won&rsquo;t see me wheezing out there.&rdquo;Anderson does not huff and puff all over the ice. In fact there are times when it appears he&rsquo;s hardly working at all. It&rsquo;s largely an illusion, though. Even at the still tender age of 18, he&rsquo;s managed to develop an economy of movement and getting from point A to point B often appears to be effortless.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s cool and confident,&rdquo;said Bowman.&ldquo;His panic threshold is very long.&rdquo; Panic threshold?&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t get panicky with the puck,&rdquo; explained Bowman. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like when a goalie comes out of his net to make the play. Once he commits, he has to do something with it.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll take the puck off him once in a while but it&rsquo;s better to make something of it (the play) than to just get in there and rattle it around the boards.&ldquo;He seems to be able to do that.&rdquo; Quietly.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04224/5149633-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="1182" height="1477"><figcaption class="caption-body">Former Los Angeles King Doug Smith got off to a great start at his first Buffalo Sabre training camp.</figcaption></div>SABREPOINTS&mdash;The Sabres have lost Ray Sheppard, last year&rsquo;s Ontario League goal-scoring leader, to a knee injury. Sheppard, who had ol goals last season for the Cornwall Royals, actually sustained the injury two years ago but it came back to haunt him when he failed to pass his physical at the start of camp. The Sabres maintain the injury, said to involve cartilage damage in the left knee, requires surgery and that Sheppard will be out from six to eight weeks. Sheppard, who arrived at camp overweight, left to consult with his own physician. A decision was expected shortly&hellip; In addition to Shawn Anderson and Doug Smith, Finnish center Christian Ruuttu was among the early standouts in camp. He had a goal and four assists in four scrimmages. Scott Amiel had four goals and three assists in four games. Smith had six goals and four assists. &#9632;

f0023-02

Anderson Ouietlv Showing The Right Moves

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02454/5149685-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="549" height="868"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Mark Hardy suffered through a disappointment-filled 1985-86 season.</figcaption></div>VICTORIA, B.C.&mdash;First came the contract squabble, then the wrist injury.Those were followed by physical pain, then mental anguish as his team stumbled, bumbled and finally tumbled into the basement of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s weakest division.It was not a vintage year for Mark Hardy&mdash;or for the Kings.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a season I&rsquo;d like to forget,&rdquo; Hardy said as the Kings opened training camp for their 20th NHL season.Ah. but it&rsquo;s a new year and optimism abounds, as it does at every NHL outpost this time of year.Besides. Hardy is pain-free again. The tendon in his left wrist, which he damaged in the Kings&rsquo; final pre-season game last fall, has healed nicely.&ldquo;I worked out hard all summer and I&rsquo;m in agood frame of mind,&rdquo; he said.His mind isn&rsquo;t cluttered by contract negotiations or thoughts of escaping to Europe. ing a big year,&rdquo; Hardy said. For the Kings to move up he must.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01649/5149692-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="165" height="120"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2>&ldquo;If they don&rsquo;t want to pay me here, I&rsquo;ll go play over there,&rdquo; Hardy had threatened as the stalemate dragged on into late November last season.Hardy is entering the second year of a lucrative six-year contract he finally signed&mdash;his left hand and wrist were still immobilized by a cast following surgery at the time.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really looking forward to having big year,&rdquo; Hardy said. For the Kings to move up he must.&ldquo;Harpo is one of our important guys. We&rsquo;re looking for good things from him.&rdquo; captain Dave Taylor said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t afford to lose him again.&rdquo;Hardy, 27, had developed into the Kings&rsquo; best all-around defenseman and was on the verge of becoming an all-star before he was injured in that meaningless game against the Calgary Flames.As it turned out, his was the first in a series of serious injuries that would cripple the club&rsquo;s defense corps. Garry Galley would later undergo knee surgery and miss 31 games, while Larry Playfair would miss the final 17 following a knee operation.A second-round pick in the 1979 draft, the 5-foot-l 1, 195-pound Hardy is built like a bull and does not shy away from body contact, which is a little unusual on the Kings.Hardy also has a hard and accurate shot: He had 14 goals and 39 assists in 1984-85 and has more career assists (195) and points (239) than any Kings&rsquo; defenseman in history. With 44 career goals, he needs only nine more to move ahead of Lany Murphy on that list.There&rsquo;s no question that the Kings&rsquo; power play wouldn&rsquo;t have been so dreadful (as in the NHL&rsquo;s worst) had he been healthy.&ldquo;Even after I came back, the wrist bothered me. It hurt all year,&rdquo; said Hardy, who missed the first 25 games and managed just six goals and 21 assists in the final 55.&ldquo;I had pain when I shot and every time it got hit. I taped it for every game, but it still hurt. It didn&rsquo;t really start to feel better until after we got to Russia,&rdquo; he said, referring to the World Championships in Moscow last spring. &ldquo;We had a couple of days off before the tournament started and that&rsquo;s what I needed the most&hellip; rest.&ldquo;I just hope it stands up. I&rsquo;ve hit guys in scrimmages and it&rsquo;s felt fine, so that&rsquo;s a good sign.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-02

Blueliner Counted On To Be A Hardy Soul

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div>NEW YORK&mdash;The way the New York Rangers are making changes, it&rsquo;s no wonder Lucien DeBlois decided to come back to New York. The sturdy right winger had been away for almost seven seasons but he still knows almost as many people in training camp as most of his teammates.When Peter Sundstrom failed to show up for training camp on Sept. 15, he became the seventh Ranger who did not return for one reason or another.The others are Reijo Ruotsalainen (playing in Switzerland), Mark Pave-lich (playing in Scotland), Barry Beck (refused to report), Brian MacLellan (traded to Minnesota), Mike Allison (traded to Toronto) and Glen Hanlon (traded to Detroit).&ldquo;1 don&rsquo;t know anything about what has happened here before,&rdquo; DeBlois said after signing with the Rangers as a free agent without compensation. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just happy to be back.&rdquo;DeBlois was a member of the Stanley Cup-champion Montreal Cana-diens last season along with secondtime Ranger teammate Doug Soetaert. Only one other current Ranger player, Ron Greschncr, was around when New York traded him to Colorado in November of 1979.A first-round Ranger draft choice in 1977 (eighth overall), the 5-foot-ll, 200-pound DeBlois missed large portions of the last two seasons because of injuries but has still averaged 22 goals and 43 points per season for his nine-year NHL career.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very happy to get Lucien,&rdquo; said Esposito, who centered for DeBlois during part of the 1978-79 season. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good defensive player who can also score 20 or 25 goals and, frankly, we didn&rsquo;t have too many of those kinds of wingers last season.&rdquo;DeBlois is a good citizen, a leader&mdash;he was captain of the Winnipeg Jets&mdash;and, Espodeclared, &ldquo;he&rsquo;s got a beautiful Stanley Cup ring on his finger.&rdquo;Since the Rangers face a potential protection problem in the waiver draft, Espo was asked about adding another veteran&hellip; and another salary.&ldquo;1 think he&rsquo;s a better hockey player than Brian MacLellan,&rdquo; the Ranger GM replied, &ldquo;so I traded Brian (to Minnesota for a fourth-round draft choice) and used the salary to sign Lucien.&rdquo;DeBlois became a free agent without compensation because the Cana-diens failed to send him a contract offer by Aug. 10.&bull;I don&rsquo;t think they did it on purpose,&rdquo; Deblois said, &ldquo;but I guess I&rsquo;ll never know for sure.&rdquo;DcBlois reported that five teams expressed interest and three offered contracts but he had little trouble choosing between them.&ldquo;1 always thought in the back of my mind,&rdquo; DcBlois said, &ldquo;that it would be nice to go back and experience New York again. When I was here the first time, I was 19 and 1 could hardly speak English. 1 don&rsquo;t feel like a stranger here but, in a way, it is a brand new start and a second chance all in one.&bull;I&rsquo;m older, more mature and a lot more experienced; I think 1&rsquo;11 enjoy it more.&rdquo;Less than 24 hours before the Sept. 10 announcement of signing DeBlois, Espo revealed that Jack Ferriera had been named director of player development.The two events were not related although the fact that DeBlois is one of only three Ranger draft choices currently active in the league to have scored 30 goals says a great deal about the need for change in New York&rsquo;s scouting staff.DeBlois, who scored 36 in just over two seasons with the Rangers, enjoyed his best campaign as a member of the Winnipeg Jets in 1983-84 when he collected 34 goals and 45 assists for 79 points. The only other Ranger draft choices still in the league who have scored 30 goals are Ron Duguay and Rick Middleton.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01567/5149723-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="125" height="119"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2>Esposito hopes that Ferriera, a 42-year-old native of Providence, R.I., can help the Rangers end their nine-year draft drought of high-scoring forwards.As a U.S. and college scout for Calgary, Ferriera played a major role in the signing of college free agents Jamie Macoun. Joel Otto, Colin Patterson, Tim Sheehy, Charlie Bourgeois and Eddy Beers and the drafting of defenseman Gary Suter.BIG APPLESAUCE&mdash;Jack Ferriera spent five years with the New England Whalers of the WHA, two as assistant GM and three as head scout. The former Boston University goalie also served as an assistant coach at BU, Princeton and Army&hellip; Peter Sundstrom scored 22, 18 and eight goals in his three years as a Ranger. Coach Ted Sator felt the Swedish right winger lacked upper body strength and seemed to use him only when nobody else was available last season. &ldquo;1 tried to trade him but 1 couldn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Espo said of Sundstrom. who will play in Sweden this year. &#9632;

f0025-01

‘DeBlois Better Than MacLellan’: GM Espo

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02415/5149754-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Size alone makes 6-foot-4, 206-pound Craig Wolanin an imposing figure in his second National Hockey League season.</figcaption></div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;He is an imposing figure even in his bare feet and T-shirt. On skates and wearing pads, Craig Wolanin may already be one of the most unnerving sights in the league.If the Devils&rsquo; young defenseman left an impression in the 44 games he played as a rookie last season, wait until opponents see him now. As a rookie, Wolanin was measured at 6-foot-3, 195 pounds. He reported to training camp this year at 6-foot-4, 206.&ldquo;What stands out most in my mind about Craig?&rdquo; said coach Doug Carpenter. &ldquo;I think him just standing there stands out. You look at the potential there and the skills and he is awesome.&rdquo;Others view the 19-year-old from Grosse Pointe, Mich., as awesome. They point to his bone-crushing checks and his ability to keep his head on defense after just one season of junior hockey.Wolanin, however, still sees himself as an unproven commodity because he missed 30 games with a broken ring finger on his left hand, courtesy of a slash by Washingston&rsquo;s Greg Adams.&ldquo;That injury probably overshadowed my entire rookie season,&rdquo; said Wolanin, who missed the final 30 regular-season games and finished with two goals and 16 assists for 18 points in 44 games. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t hear people talking about the good things I did. You hear people talking about how I broke my finger. It did put a damper on the season.&ldquo;Thirty games, that&rsquo;s quite a while to be out. Especially at the end of the season. When you look at it I haven&rsquo;t played a game in six months. I could&rsquo;ve lost something. Who knows? It&rsquo;s a challenge for me now and it&rsquo;s a challenge I&rsquo;m willing to accept.&rdquo;One thing is for certain. Wolanin, the Devils&rsquo; No. 1 draft choice (third overall) in 1985. is not going to get by on his favorable press reviews. He is anxious to get started and prove to everyone, including himself, that he can contribute for an entire season in the NHL.Carpenter doesn&rsquo;t seem worried.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01599/5149761-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="111" height="106"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2>&ldquo;People think he may be behind. He&rsquo;s not. Not at all,&rdquo; said the respected coach. &ldquo;He has come in bigger, stronger and eager. Maybe nature took care of itself. Maybe it (the broken finger) was the best thing to happen to Craig. He was able to rest. Last year was very tough on him.&rdquo;There is still some pain in the finger because it was broken at the joint. The pain, he is told, may never go away but the finger is now 100 per cent, although Wolanin believes it was not completely healed until the beginning of September.He has overcome the injury. Next on the list is continuing to improve without the aid of his mentor, veteran defenseman Dave Lewis, who signed as a free agent with the Red Wing during the off-season.&ldquo;He (Lewis) meant so much to me on the ice. It&rsquo;s just amazing all the support he gave me.&rdquo; said Wolanin. &ldquo;He taught me to play a defensive zone game and 1 learned some of the tricks of the trade and some opposing players&rsquo; tendencies through Looie. 1 learned how to play defense in the NHL and I thought 1 played the body well.&ldquo;Joe (Cirella) will miss Looie, too. Looie survived 13 years in the NHL and he knew so much. Now we want to prove that the one year I spent with Looie, and the few years Joey spent with him, were all worthwhile. I think we can.&rdquo;With the departure of Lewis, the retirement of Bob Lorimer and last season&rsquo;s trade of Phil Russell to Buffalo, the load will fall on the shoulders of younger Devils. Cirella will take on a greater leadership role, as perhaps will Wolanin.&ldquo;Craig&rsquo;s a take-charge guy,&rdquo; said Carpenter. &ldquo;Now he has to stand on his own two feet and he is. We&rsquo;ll find out. does he need a supporter or is he going to be the supporter? 1 have no doubt he will be the supporter for other guys.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m nervous but anxious,&rdquo; added Wolanin. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just like starting ail over for me but 1 like that. It&rsquo;s not pressure but 1 like the challenge of being in a responsible position. Last year I was basically here to learn.&rdquo;HOT STUFF&mdash;Bob Lorimer called it quits after 529 regular-season and 49 playoff games over nine NHL seasons, including the last five as an unsung defensive stalwart with the Devils. He missed 25 of the final 26 games last season with a contusion of the left tibia when struck by a Kevin Dineen shot Feb. 9 in Hartford&hellip; Perry Anderson and Randy Velischek both agreed to multi-year contracts Sept. 10. &#9632;

f0026-02

The Fickle Finger Of Fate Overshadowed First Year

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01570/5149799-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="545" height="728"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed Daryl Evans to play on the Newmarket Saints.</figcaption></div>NEW HAVEN&mdash;It was a New Year&rsquo;s Eve defenseman Tony Feltrin would like to forget. There was no time for resolutions, just prayers.Feltrin ushered in 1986 in a Nova Scotia hospital, wondering if he&rsquo;d ever see out of his left eye again. Hours before, in his New Haven Nighthawks&rsquo; 6-4 win over the Oilers at the Halifax Metro Centre, Feltrin was accidently hit in the eye by a Nova Scotia player&rsquo;s stick.&ldquo;I had control of the puck and I was trying to head up ice,&rdquo; Feltrin said from the New York Rangers&rsquo; training camp, where he is attempting a comeback. &ldquo;A Nova Scotia player reached to lift my stick and his momentum lifted his blade up and it came and hit me flush in the eye.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02399/5149792-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="150" height="121"></div><h2>AHL SOUTH</h2>&ldquo;I knew it was serious, because I said to the trainer when he arrived out on the ice, &lsquo;I think I lost my eye.&rsquo; It wasn&rsquo;t like the normal one where the stick hits the eyebrow. I knew it was a flush blow to the eye.&rdquo;Feltrin&rsquo;s diagnosis was half correct. The injury was serious, but he didn&rsquo;t lose his eye. He remained in the hospital for two weeks and underwent two operations for a detached retina.Signed by the Rangers as a free agent, Feltrin started last season in New Haven, was recalled on Nov. 25 and returned to the Nighthawks 10 days before his accident.&ldquo;It was one of the worst I&rsquo;ve ever had,&rdquo; Feltrin said, terrifying.&rdquo;After being examined by doctors in New York, Feltrin returned to New Haven for the final month of the season, but only to skate.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t ready to get into body contact,&rdquo; Feltrin said, &ldquo;so I just skated to get back into the feel of things.&rdquo;It was his way of indicating his career had not ended, and it didn&rsquo;t take long for him to make up his mind.&ldquo;I would say New Year&rsquo;s Day 1986,&rdquo; said Feltrin when asked when he first thought about playing this season. &ldquo;Maybe I shouldn&rsquo;t say that. Everything was up in the air for a few days. It was about two days after the operation before I saw a little bit of light out of the eye.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been through injuries before and they never stopped me from my desire of wanting to play. I don&rsquo;t think this injury was any different.&ldquo;But of course the seriousness and the way the doctor explained it had me realize the potential of the injury was career-ending.&ldquo;The doctor in Nova Scotia said there was only a five per cent chance of having any vision out of the eye at all. You come back from a knee injury and it won&rsquo;t be life-changing, but a loss of an eye has great potential to change your life.&rdquo;Feltrin, 24, said there is permanent damage, but the eye is usable. He insists his good eye compensates for the weakness. This season, he must, for the first time, wear a protective eye shield, which would have saved him on New Year&rsquo;s Eve.&ldquo;When they (shields) were implemented in minor hockey, I was already graduated from that level,&rdquo; said Feltrin, who played three seasons forthe Victoria Cougars in the Western League. He was drafted in the fourth round by Pittsburgh in 1980 and spent three years in the Penguins&rsquo; organization.&ldquo;I think it (wearing shields) is different in professional hockey, but when I went back home, I certainly told my friends who play recreational hockey one or two nights a week. They have to get up and go to work and some are married. It&rsquo;s crazy for them not to use it. On the pro level, it&rsquo;s somewhat different.&rdquo;Feltrin, entering his fifth pro season, isn&rsquo;t worried about lingering thoughts of New Year&rsquo;s Eve haunting him on the ice.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think of it at all when I play hockey,&rdquo; Feltrin said. &ldquo;When I play hockey, I play hockey and play to the best of my ability.&ldquo;I just do it. I don&rsquo;t think back over this or that. If I had that fear, then I wouldn&rsquo;t be out there.&rdquo;4DOWN SOUTH&mdash;The Toronto Maple Leafs signed free agent left winger Daryl Evans to a one-year contract (plus an option). Evans, a Toronto native, scored 40 goals and finished with 92 points for the Binghamton Whalers last season and feasted on the power play. He scored 20 power-play goals and added 21 power-play assist-s&hellip; Three South teams, Binghamton, Hershey and New Haven, will play December exhibition games against the Spartak team of the Elite Division of the Soviet Union. The Soviets visit Binghamton on Dec. 10, a night after they play Hershey. They visit New Haven on Dec. 12. Bruce Shoebottom, who collected 224 penalty minutes in his first 30 games with the Whalers last season before tailing off I and finishing with 25 in his last 32 games, did not attend the Washington Capitals&rsquo; training camp and will start the season with Fort Wayne of the IHL&hellip; Six of the seven South teams will have new radio play-by-play announcers. Hershey&rsquo;s Dan Kamal is the only returner. The new voices are Ken Landau in Binghamton, Terry Ficorelli in Baltimore, Dan Rusa-nowsky in New Haven, Don Stevens in Rochester, John Edlefsen in Newmarket and John Forslund in Springfield. &#9632;

f0028-01

Feltrin Almost Lost Eye But, Still, He’s Back

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div>MILWAUKEE&mdash;There didn&rsquo;t appear to be much doubt at the end of last season who would lead the Milwaukee Admirals in the 1986-87 season.After all, the Admirals had their best-ever finish&mdash;a club-record 102 points on 48 victories, 33 losses and a tie. They finished 10 points behind the West Division-winning Fort Wayne Komets and were third best overall in the 10-team IHL.It was no surprise that in mid September the Admirals reappointed Phil Wittliff as coach. He had resurrected Milwaukee from a 50-loss season of a year earlier when the Admirals,&rsquo; without Wittliff, had a working agreement with the Chicago Blackhawks.That didn&rsquo;t work out and though the parting supposedly was mutual, Wittliff was perhaps more pleased than ever to get some former Admirals together and turn things around.Wittliff, who has six years behind the bench at Milwaukee, has suffered but one losing season. That came in his first outing in 1979-80 when the Admirals were three games under.500 at 23-23-6.As he gets ready for the new season, Wittliff (who also serves as executive vice-president and general manager) will be assisted by former Admiral defenseman Kevin Willison.Willison announced his retirement as a player Sept. 11. &ldquo;It was a difficult decision,&rdquo; said Willison, twice selected the IHL&rsquo;s top defenseman in four seasons with the Admirals. The former Central League star also played for two Adams Cup championship teams at Salt Lake City.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01492/5149875-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="567" height="724"><figcaption class="caption-body">Minnesota North Stars assigned defenseman Todd Carlile to the Indianapolis Checkers.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Injuries the last two seasons played an important part in my leaving the ice behind,&rdquo; Willison said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking forward to my new responsibilities with the team.&rdquo;.At least five other Admirals will return, including left winger Daniel Lecours (57 goals last season), right winger Kevin Schamehorn (47 goals) and defenseman Blaine Peerless.The most recent players to come to terms are Bill McCreary and Gord Stafford. McCreary, a left winger, will be in his fourth year with Milwaukee. His 61 points last season included 30 goals. Stafford, a center, had 20 goals and 77 points.Wittliff and his veterans will greet Admiral newcomers during the first week of October at Wilson Park.Elsewhere:Salt Lake City coach Wayne Thomas welcomed veteran defenseman Pat Ribble back to the Golden Eagle camp. Ribble returned from Indianapolis in exchange for goaltender Dave Parro and center Kevin Conway. Parro was on loan to Flint last season and Conway played in Europe.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02338/5149868-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="108" height="115"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>&ldquo;Pat will add strength and experience to our team,&rdquo; Thomas pointed out. &ldquo;Last year we had a mix of youthful defensemen and parttime forwards who had to play defense because of our lack of depth.&rdquo;Ribble joins three former Golden Eagle teammates who have signed for the coming season. They include Bobby Francis (32 goals, 76 points), Steve Harrison (17 goals and 53 assists), and goaltender Rick Heinz. Heinz had 22 victories and a 3.70 goals-against average last year.As for Indianapolis, coach-general manager Ron Ullyot announced the signings of left winger Marc Magnan, center Earl Ingarfield and defenseman Mike Nepi. the first players to come to terms with the Checkers this season.Magnan will be in his third season in Indianapolis and, according to Ullyot, &ldquo;His aggressive style can be a factor for us this season. We&rsquo;re counting on him to be a leader.&rdquo; Magnan scored 17 goals in 69 games for the Checkers in 1985-86 and led the team in penalty minutes with 279.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03220/5149861-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="546" height="730"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Nepi was labeled the Checkers&rsquo; most underrated player last season.</figcaption></div>Ingarfield joined the Checkers from Springfield late in the season and scored 11 goals in 20 games. &ldquo;Earl has the ability to really help us,&rdquo; Ullyot said. &ldquo;Having him with us from the beginning of the season should help him get on track early for a good year.Nepi, a rookie last year out of Michigan Tech, &ldquo;was a pleasant surprise to us,&rdquo; said Ullyot. &ldquo;He was perhaps our most underrated player.&rdquo;Indianapolis also will get a look at Minnesota property Todd Carlile, signed by the North Stars out of the University of Michigan. Carlie, from North St. Paul, Minn., went to camp with Minnesota and has been assigned to the Checkers for the start of their camp Oct. 7.&ldquo;Todd is strong and mobile and has the potential to be a fine player,&rdquo; Ullyot said. In 145 games over four seasons at Michigan, Carlile scored 27 goals, 62 assists and collected 283 penalty minutes.At Toledo, meanwhile, hockey promoter Jerry Francis filed for bankruptcy in U.S. District Court, listing debts of more than $390,000 and assets of $784. In July, Francis got approval from the IHL to suspend operations because he lacked financial backing. Among debts listed were $15,224 to V. Gladieux Enterprises (Virgial Gla-dieux owns the team), $14,884 to Goaldiggers&rsquo; coach Peter Mahovlich and $8,732 to the New York Rangers. &#9632;

f0029-01

Admirals March To Beat of Coach Wittliff

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON</div>SAULT STE. MARIE&mdash;The past four months have been extraordinarily eventful for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.First came the mid-June announcement that Don MacAdam was leaving his post as coach-general manager with the Ontario League club for an assistant coaching position with the Detroit Red Wings. MacAdam had been with the Hounds just one season, a dismal 1985-86 campaign which saw the defending OHL champions finish in last place.Then in July, the Greyhounds stunned the rest of the OHL when they announced that Don Boyd had been lured away from his coach-GM position with London Knights to replace MacAdam. Boyd, who had coached the Knights for three seasons, left London amid charges of dishonesty and disloyalty by owner Howard Darwin.No sooner had Boyd collected his thoughts, a nice raise in pay, and arrived in the Soo, then the Greyhounds were sold to ex-NHL superstar Phil Esposito and his New England partner Paul Pacifico.Esposito, a Soo native, accepted the general manager&rsquo;s job with the NHL&rsquo;s New York Rangers in the month before.And the opening of training camp in August, was not without incident. Four high draft picks from the May 31 st priority selections draft&mdash;third-rounders Rob Blake and Mike Kozak and fifth-rounders Gary Luther and Bill Harrington&mdash;were no-shows.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01562/5149951-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="561" height="776"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don MacAdam, above, left the Greyhounds to join Jacques Demers in Detroit.</figcaption></div>If the absences of Blake, Kozak and Luther were surprises, Harrington&rsquo;s decision not to report was a shock. The Fairbanks, Alaska product was flown here in June at the Greyhounds&rsquo; expense and signed a player&rsquo;s card.But Harrington returned home and later met with officials of the Western League&rsquo;s Kamloops Blazers.After deciding he wanted to play with Kamloops, only to be told he had to play with the Soo, Harrington&rsquo;s mother petitioned the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League and asked that her son be allowed to play in Kamloops. On September 12, president Murray Costello of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association ruled Harrington could indeed play with the Blazers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02409/5149944-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="155" height="88"></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>Costello said he was of the impression that Harrington did not know what he was signing when he inked the OHL card with the Greyhounds in June.Meanwhile, as October rolls around, another major announcement is in the offing. Jim McAuley, one of the six owners who sold to Esposito and Pacifico, is said to be ready to announce his disassociation from the team.McAuley, who served as Greyhound president and governor before the sale, has lost both positions since the transaction. Pacifico, who along with Esposito forms an absentee ownership, is the new president while Angelo Bumbacco now wears the governor&rsquo;s hat.McAuley has remained with the team since the sale though his duties have never been made clear to the public.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03283/5149937-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="563" height="786"><figcaption class="caption-body">As it turns out, Wayne Maxner says he glad that he was fired by the Wolves.</figcaption></div>NOTES&mdash;The Royals have been active in Cornwall. Left winger Steve Maltaishas joined them from the Verdun Junior Canadiens and they swung a six-player deal with Oshawa. Mal-tais, Cornwall&rsquo;s fifth-round pick last summer, left Verdun after leading them in exhibition scoring. The Royals obtained left winger John Lake, right wingers Pat Holley and Bob Carroll, plus defenseman Jack Reimer for defenseman Shane Doyle, center Ian Fraser and a fifth-round draft choice in 1988. Doyle is joining his fourth OHL team&hellip; Meanwhile the Belleville Bulls dealt a third-round choice in &rsquo;87 to Windsor for left winger Wilf Payne and right winger Frank Melone&hellip; Meanwhile in Sudbury, things have been going rather smoothly, at least for them. As has become their pattern, the Wolves again have a new coach in Guy Blanchard, their 17th in 14 seasons. However, in a preseason full of no-shows, the Wolves had but one and it appears the youngster in question was more than a bit unsure about his future. He&rsquo;s Corrie D&rsquo;Alessio, a goaltender taken in the ninth round who initially reported to camp only to return home to Cornwall. A few days later, D&rsquo;Alessio was back in Sudbury and played in two exhibition games before packing it in and returning home again. D&rsquo;Alessio aside, the Wolves were showing off first-and second-round draft choices Wayne Doucet and Pierre Gagnon, a pair of minor-midget forwards. A rival OHL GM, after watching Doucet and Gagnon in action, reiterated an earlier claim that Sudbury&rsquo;s 1986 draft was one of the league&rsquo;s best. And the Wolves have also displayed a penchant for making good use of their late-round draft picks. Sudbury has listed ninthround defenseman Shannon Bolton, lOth-round goalie Ted Mielczarek, 13th-round winger Rick Mitchell, and 17th-round winger Aldo Teofilo on its roster. And the fans certainly seem to be excited about this season&rsquo;s edition of the Wolves. For back-to-back exhibition games at Sudbury Arena versus the Greyhounds and North Bay Centennials, the Wolves drew close to 9.900 spectators&mdash;4,450 and 5,400 respectively. The latter was the largest crowd ever to watch a Sudbury Wolves&rsquo; exhibition game&hellip; It&rsquo;s common knowledge around OHL inner circles that Wayne Maxner lost his job with Sudbury last season becuase of the infamous one-sided trade that sent star left winger Craig Duncanson and first-rate goalie Sean Evoy to Cornwall Royals for fringe players Mike Patrick. Jeff Smith and Mike Rouleau. At the time of the trade, Sudbury was a strong second in the Emms Division with a I6-8-2 record. Following the departure of Duncanson and Evoy, the Wolves went 13-25-2 and barely finished in fifth place, just a point ahead of London Knights and six points in front of Hamilton Steelhawks. But Maxner, known for providing the media with interesting quotes, has managed to turn the firing by the Wolves into a positive situation. Now the coach and general manager of London, Maxner recently joked that the trading of Duncanson and Evoy was the best he&rsquo;s ever made. The reason? &ldquo;It&rsquo;s what got me fired by Sudbury,&rdquo; Maxnersaid. &ldquo;AndifSud-bury hadn&rsquo;t fired me, I wouldn&rsquo;t have been free to take the London job.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0030-01

Never A Dull Moment In Sault Ste. Marie

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div>KAMLOOPS&mdash;Three division titles and two Western League championships in three seasons. That&rsquo;s the stuff of which dynasties are made.Mention dynasty to Kamloops Blazers&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock and he winces before rolling his eyes skyward. In the ever-changing world of major junior hockey, he realizes dynasties are dreamed of but seldom realized.Yet it is Hitchcock&rsquo;s Blazers who have continued to collect division and championship banners at an enviable rate&mdash;despite annual speculation the talent-laden Portland Winter Hawks will overtake them.It&rsquo;s as if the Blazers still aren&rsquo;t getting the respect they deserve.&ldquo;You get the ultimate respect from the people you play,&rdquo; said Hitchcock, who returns for his third season at the helm of the defending WHL champions. &ldquo;When they start to emulate your club that&rsquo;s the ultimate respect. Teams are adopting a Kamloops philosophy of how to play and certainly some teams are ready to run at us.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not the highest-skilled club and we don&rsquo;t have the most drafts but we know how to play the game. We won&rsquo;t be the scariest team during the regular season and we&rsquo;ll have some emotional ups and downs but we&rsquo;ll give everyone a real run for the daisies in the playoffs. We have a very good playoff-style club.&rdquo;If there&rsquo;s a trademark word for Blazers it&rsquo;s grind. It came to the forefront in the 1983-84 season when Bill LaForge directed the club, then called the Junior Oilers, to a stunning league championship win over the highly-touted Regina Pats. It continued last season when Kamloops fashioned a shocking championship victory over the favored Medicine Hat Tigers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01512/5149996-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="561" height="1243"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kamloops&rsquo; Rob Brown is the first 17-year-old to capture a WHL scoring championship.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02353/5149989-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="139" height="112"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>&ldquo;The prerequisites were set before I got here,&rdquo; said Hitchcock. &ldquo;We both (he and LaForge) believe you have to surround skill with character&mdash;you can&rsquo;t have one without the other. We&rsquo;ve gone after the same kind of player in all our trades and it goes without saying that the players have developed a philosophy of what it takes to win.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s driving the competitors crazy. They know they need skill but they have to be able to grind, too. The Winter Hawks annually ice a plethora of prize, prospects yet in the end it&rsquo;s the grind-it-out playoff hockey approach which prevails. That&rsquo;s why the Blazers play the same way in October as they do in April.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m concerned in this division in an attempt to be as good as Kamloops that we&rsquo;re going about it the wrong way,&rdquo; offered Portland general manager Brian Shaw. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ll see a lot of goon hockey.&ldquo;Kamloops is tough but good and we don&rsquo;t need goon hockey. If I put out a bunch of 16-year-olds I don&rsquo;t want kids rattling on them. If that happens I&rsquo;ll raise a real stink. We&rsquo;re trying to sell the game.&rdquo;Hitchcock disagrees. He contends the Blazers have been fortunate to possess character players with skill.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anybody is loading up with goons at all,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;Others are trying to find as many character young men as they can&mdash;everybody wants players who come to play whether or not they have the talent.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03260/5149982-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="555" height="1228"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Blazers have come to rely on both Greg Hawgood&rsquo;s scoring and versatility.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We have been blessed with players like that for three or four years, otherguys are just trying to find them. And those aren&rsquo;t goons, they&rsquo;re just intense players.So what of the competition? Can the Blazers, who posted a 49-19-4 mark last season, hold off the talented Winter Hawks and improving Spokane Chiefs?&ldquo;I think Portland has all the depth in the world and the real confrontation should come in the playoffs,&rdquo; said Hitchcock. &ldquo;Spokane has one of the best hockey men in Bob Strumm (GM) and he&rsquo;s not afraid to win&mdash;that&rsquo;s scary.&rdquo;The Blazers will do some scaring of their own with both playmaking center Rob Brown and speedy defenseman Greg Hawgood back.Brown became the first 17-year-old to capture a league scoring crown last season when he totalled 173 points.Hawgood, although short in stature, was long on performance last season with 119 points at right wing and defense as a 17-year-old. Both Hawgood and Brown are entering their fourth years in the WHL.If the Blazers can fill the giant holes left by the departure of forwards Greg Evtushevski, Ken Morrison and Mike Nottingham and get capable netminding should Randy Hansch stick in the pros, they&rsquo;ll probably be in thick of the pennant race once again.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re excited that those who have played lesser roles have gained a great deal of confidence,&rdquo; Hitchcock said.&ldquo;What they lack in skill they make up for in effort. That&rsquo;s really hard to play against at the end of the year.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0031-01

Extinguishing The Blazers Is No Easy Task

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01537/5150034-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="560" height="1216"></div>SUN. AUG. 31CHICOUTIMI 7, LONGUEUIL 4T-RIVIERES 5, DRUMMONDVILLE 5SHAWINIGAN 6, GRANBY 4LAVAL 7, VERDUN 7MON. SEPT. 1LAVAL 6, T-RIVIERES 5WED. SEPT. 3SHAWINIGAN 8, ST. JEAN 5T-RIVIERES 4, DRUMMONDVILLE 1LONGUEUIL 7, GRANBY 6THU. SEPT. 4LONGUEUIL 8. CHICOUTIMI 6FRI. SEPT. 5SHAWINIGAN 3, GRANBY 2ST. JEAN 10, CHICOUTIMI 3SUN. SEPT. 7SHAWINIGAN 4, DRUMMONDVILLE 3GRANBY 5, CHICOUTIMI 3KAMLOOPS (WHL) 3. HULL 2LONGUEUIL 4, ST. JEAN 1LAVAL 10, VERDUN 3MON. SEPT. 8LAVAL 8, VERDUN 7TUE. SEPT. 9DRUMMONDVILLE 4, HULL 4ST. JEAN 7, SHAWINIGAN 5UNIV. T-RIVIERES 4, T-RIVIERES 2WED. SEPT. 10GRANBY 6, VERDUN 2FRI. SEPT. 12CHICOUTIMI 5, GRANBY 2DRUMMONDVILLE 7, HULL 1SHAWINIGAN 4, T-RIVIERES 2LONGUEUIL 6, ST. JEAN 4SUN. SEPT. 14DRUMMONDVILLE 6, GRANBY 4VERDUN 8, ST. JEAN 4MON. SEPT. 15LONGUEUIL 6, LAVAL 4TUE. SEPT. 16T-RIVIERES 10, SHAWINIGAN 7WED. SEPT. 17LAVAL 7, VERDUN 4THU. SEPT. 18OTTAWA (OHL) 8, HULL 7FRI. SEPT. 19DRUMMONDVILLE 3, GRANBY 2LONGUEUIL 6, LAVAL 2ST. JEAN 12, VERDUN 6(End of exhibition schedule)<h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>EXHIBITION SCORESMON. SEPT. 1OSHAWA 7, BELLEVILLE 2NORTH BAY 6, SUDBURY 2KINGSTON 7, PETERBOROUGH 4TUE. SEPT. 2HULL (QMJHL) 9, CORNWALL 2OTTAWA 12, BELLEVILLE 5GUELPH 9, OWEN SOUND (OHA) 3S.S. MARIE 5, SUDBURY 3WED. SEPT. 3PETERBOROUGH 7, BELLEVILLE 4GUELPH 5, TORONTO 3THU. SEPT. 4GUELPH 8, OSHAWA 3TORONTO 6, PETERBOROUGH 3S.S. MARIE 6, SUDBURY 4WINDSOR 6, LONDON 1FRI. SEPT. 5KINGSTON 8, PETERBOROUGH 4LONDON 5, WINDSOR 2CORNWALL 5, OTTAWA 5SAT. SEPT. 6GUELPH 6, OSHAWA 5S.S. MARIE 4, SUDBURY 3SUN. SEPT. 7OTTAWA 10, CORNWALL 5KITCHENER 5. GUELPH 3HAMILTON 3, LONDON 2NORTH BAY 6, BELLEVILLE 2PETERBOROUGH 4, TORONTO 4MON. SEPT. 8OSHAWA 8, TORONTO 5WED. SEPT. 10KINGSTON 5, BELLEVILLE 2THU. SEP 1.11HAMILTON 4, TORONTO 0PETERBOROUGH 5, BELLEVILLE 3WINDSOR 2, KITCHENER 1FRI. SEPT. 12GUELPH 5, PETERBOROUGH 4KINGSTON 6, OSHAWA 2NORTH BAY 8, SUDBURY 6SAT. SEPT. 13OTTAWA 6, BELLEVILLE 4PETERBOROUGH 10, GUELPH 5SUN. SEPT. 14KINGSTON 10, CORNWALL 7NORTH BAY 4, SUDBURY 2MON. SEPT. 15WINDSOR 5, KITCHENER 4TUE. SEPT. 16BELLEVILLE 5, KINGSTON 4WED. SEPT. 17BELLEVILLE 5, OSHAWA 3HAMILTON 4, KITCHENER 4OTTAWA 7, HULL (QMJHL) 4SUDBURY 4, S.S. MARIE 3THU. SEPT. 18KINGSTON 4, CORNWALL 3HAMILTON 8, GUELPH 1OTTAWA 8, HULL (QMJHL) 7FRI#SEPT. 19HAMILTON 5, GUELPH 3KITCHENER 5, TORONTO 2WINDSOR 6, S.S. MARIE 6SAT. SEPT. 20NORTH BAY 3, BELLEVILLE 1SUN. SEPT. 21CORNWALL 7, BELLEVILLE 4OSHAWA 3, KINGSTON 3LONDON 4, KITCHENER 3(End of exhibition schedule)<h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>EXHIBITION SCORESFRI. SEPT. 5SEATTLE 5, SPOKANE 4KAMLOOPS 7, HULL (QMJHL) 3SAT. SEPT. 6SPOKANE 13, SEATTLE 9NEW WESTMINSTER 9, HULL (QMJHL) 2PR. ALBERT 4, SASKATOON 3SUN. SEPT. 7KAMLOOPS 3, HULL (QMJHL) 2REGINA 8, SASKATOON 5TUE. SEPT. 9SASKATOON 5, PR. ALBERT 1WED. SEPT. 10NEW WESTMINSTER 7, SEATTLE 6FRI. SEPT. 12MED. HAT 8, SWIFT CURRENTJ5SASKATOON 6, REGINA 5SAT. SEPT. 13VICTORIA 7, SEATTLE 5MOOSE JAW 5, REGINA 4MED. HAT 6, SWIFT CURRENT 3SASKATOON 6, PR. ALBERT 5NEW WESTMINSTER 5, SPOKANE 2SUN. SEPT. 14SEATTLE 5, VICTORIA 3REGINA 3, MOOSE JAW 2TUE. SEPT. 16SWIFT CURRENT 9, SASKATOON 4BRANDON 5, REGINA 3WED. SEPT. 17PORTLAND 8, NEW WEST 3FRI. SEPT. 19PORTLAND 6, KAMLOOPS 4BRANDON 6, MOOSE JAW 4VICTORIA 11, NEW WEST 5SASKATOON 6, SWIFT CURRENT 4SAT. SEPT. 20KAMLOOPS 11, SPOKANE 5VICTORIA 6, NEW WEST 2MED. HAT 4', CALGARY 1BRANDON 5, REGINA 4SUN. SEPT. 21SEATTLE 9, PORTLAND 7MOOSE JAW 11, PR. ALBERT 6VICTORIA 5, NEW WEST 1CALGARY 5, MED. HAT 1BRANDON 4, REGINA 3<h2>MAJOR JUNIOR LEAGUE GAMES TO COME</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02392/5150027-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="3031" height="2396"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div>HULL&mdash;To say the Hull Olympiques are young is like saying their owner, Wayne Gretzky, has some talent.During their annual home-and-home exhibition series against crossriver rival Ottawa 67&rsquo;s of the Ontario League, the defending Quebec League champions had only four players on the ice with major junior experience.The Olympiques&rsquo; roster lists 13 players 17 or younger. Only seven players from last year&rsquo;s 22-man Memorial Cup-finalist squad are back. And five of those &ldquo;veterans&rdquo; are sophomores. All four goaltenders in the Hull system are 17.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re obviously a lot younger than last year, but I think we&rsquo;ll be near the top again," said Gretzky, who saw Hull&rsquo;s final exhibition game, an 8-7 loss to Ottawa. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be around.&rdquo;Gone is two-time league scoring champion Guy Rouleau, who produced 168 goals and 354 points in his last two seasons. So is his linemate Luc Robitaille, 1986 Canadian junior player of the year and good for 339 points in two years.Robert Desjardins, 20, had the league&rsquo;s best goals-against average two years running but was traded to the Longueuil Chevaliers. Backup Eric Bohemier, 19, was second last year with a 26-6 mark, but will play for the Granby Bisons along with Martin Simard, 20.Hartford Whalers&rsquo; defenseman Sylvain Cote, and rugged defenseman Rick Hayward, who had 721 penalty minutes in his last two seasons, are also gone.After running away with the regularseason title (54-18) and completing an unprecedented 15-game playoff sweep to win its first league championship, the Olympiques needed an infusion of talent. Charlie Henry, Hull director of operations, went primarily outside of Quebec to find it.The Olympiques drafted eight Americans and three Maritimers among their 17 picks and six of the first seven were from outside the province.QMJHL chief scout Flo Potvin said five were rated among the top 10 players out of Quebec.Four played in Detroit last year, including first-round center Joe Suk (50-60-110), a former two-time U.S. junior judo champion and potential Olympian from Detroit Compuware. Second-round goaltender Graeme Harvey (1.61) and sixth-round center Kelly Nester (60-50-110) also played for Compuware with Nester leading the team in scoring.Despite a 1-7-1 pre-season record, third-year Hull coach Pat Bums thinks his club will do well this season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going all the way this year,&rdquo; Bums said. &ldquo;If we&rsquo;re at the Memorial Cup, it will be as tourists.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll hold our own until Christmas. It&rsquo;s going to be tough to win on the road, the kids aren&rsquo;t used to travelling. But we&rsquo;ll be tough to beat at home.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t schedule any easy exhibition games,&rdquo; Burns said. &ldquo;We played three tough ones out west (losing 7-3 and 3-2 to Kamloops Blazers and 9-2 to New Westminster Bruins). We played two each against Ottawa (7-4 and 8-7 losses) and Cornwall (9-2 win and 5-1 loss), and two against Drummondville (4-4 tie and 7-1 loss), which will be the tough team in our league.&rdquo;The vets consist of defenseman Cam Russell, expected to be among the top picks in the 1987 NHL draft, Montreal second-round left winger Benoit Brunet and Quebec second-round right winger Jean-Marc Routhier. Left winger Stephane Matteau is another good draft prospect and is back along with center Michel Beaucaire, defenseman Stephane Richer, 20, and center and captain Shane MacEachem.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01485/5150065-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="159" height="97"></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>Richer and MacEachem were invited to the Pittsburgh and St. Louis training camps, respectively. Hull also acquired right winger Reynaid Gagne, who had five goals and eight assists in eight exhibition games. Gagne played one-and-a-half seasons with Laval, and a half-season with the Quebec Remparts before the Remparts ceased operating. He sat out last season.&ldquo;We have two excellent goalies in Harvey and Jason Glickman (Chicago Young Americans),&rdquo; Burns said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not worried about them.&rdquo;The Olympiques have hired six-year pro goalie Paul Pageau, 27, to work with them. Pageau played for the 1980 Olympic team, spent three years in the Los Angeles organization and three more with Sherbrooke of the American League.Richer will be the pivot on the power play. Adding muscle on the defense will be rookies Joe Aloi. a 6-foot-3, 214-pound all-state player from the New Haven suburb of Hamden, Ct., and Paul Manson, a 6-foot-3, 205-pounder from Halifax. Also looking good on defense are rookies Herbert Hohenberger, an invitee from Austria, who is the surprise of camp, and third-rounder Guy Dupuis, a slick 6-foot-2, 185-pounder from Moncton.The club will be strong up the middle with MacEachern, Beaupaire, Suk and Nester, the latter described by Henry as a Denis Savard-type player. &#9632;

f0033-01

Hockey Is A Young Man’s Game With Hull

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div>LANDOVER&mdash;A year ago, Kevin Hatcher jumped from the Ontario League to the Washington Capitals and capably filled a big hole on the right side of the defense.This season Yvon Corriveau seems likely to make a similar move. After a week of training camp, Corriveau had shown enough to be considered seriously for a prominent role at left wing, the Capitals&rsquo; weakest position.Corriveau, Washington&rsquo;s No. I draft pick in 1985, has been handled in much the same manner as Hatcher, a first-rounder in 1984. Corriveau was sent back to the Toronto Marlboros last year, joined the Capitals in late March and was inserted into some key playoff games.Corriveau has responded in positive fashion to each step. He collected 54 goals for the Marlboros, nine more than the combined total of all of Washington&rsquo;s left wingers. He earned three assists in four playoff contests and dealt enough solid checks to be noticed.In training camp, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Corriveau has displayed considerable strength driving for the net.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01495/5150155-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="555" height="1243"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Kevin Hatcher made smooth transition to the NHL as 19-year-old.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02374/5150148-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="160" height="106"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2>He posted two goals and two assists in four intra-squad games and impressed coach Bryan Murray with both his skating and his desire.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s looked very good,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s skating well and he&rsquo;s big and strong, which is an advantage going into traffic. He has areas to improve, of course, mostly system things. When he cuts in, he tends to take away too much ice from his center.&ldquo;But from a talent standpoint and the ability to play on our team, he&rsquo;s really made strides over one full season. The biggest thing is that he wants to play and it&rsquo;s obvious he put the time in over the summer. He wants to stay here.&rdquo;Considering that Greg Adams&rsquo; 18 goals were high on Washington&rsquo;s left side, Murray and general manager David Poile naturally want Corriveau to stay, but they have been careful not to put a lot of pressure on the youngster.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel pressure,&rdquo; Corriveau said. &ldquo;I had a good season last year and with the experience I had here in the playoffs, I feel good about this season. But I have no real high goals for myself.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03298/5150141-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="561" height="1258"><figcaption class="caption-body">Caps&rsquo; hopeful Yvon Corriveau still has one season of junior eligibility remaining.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I have to make the club first. I want to have a good camp and a good preseason and hopefully produce enough to help the club.&ldquo;I was kind of disappointed when I went back to junior last year. They told me I could stay here, but I wouldn&rsquo;t get a lot of ice time and they wanted me to play a lot.&ldquo;When I did go back, they stayed in touch with me and talked over what I was doing. A big reason why I played so well was their showing they were interested.&rdquo;Corriveau felt that the playoff experience helped his confidence and he, like most of Washington&rsquo;s young players, has been impressed with the way c the veterans have tried to be helpful.&ldquo;I was nervous in the playoffs, but I learned so much just watching and feeling the atmosphere,&rdquo; Corriveau said. &ldquo;And having been here and knowing everybody, it gives me more confidence, coming to the rink and on the ice.&ldquo;These are great guys and they make you feel at home. They don&rsquo;t call you &lsquo;rookie&rsquo; and make you do things. They help you on and off the ice and make you feel comfortable.&rdquo;If Corriveau likes being in Washington, the feeling is reciprocated by the team&rsquo;s rabid fans. Already the side-walk outside the Mount Vernon Sports Complex has been decorated with a message that figures to spread with the season: &ldquo;I Luv Yvon Corriveau 26.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Defenseman Rod Langway underwent minor surgery to remove a bone calcification from his left elbow&hellip; In the inaugural draft of unsigned college players, the Capitals selected defenseman Steve Cousins of the University of Alberta&hellip; After four rounds of intra-squad games, center Bob Carpenter and right winger Gary Sampson shared top scoring honors with nine points each. Bob Mason had an 0.67 goals-against average. None of the other four goaltenders were under 4.00. &#9632;

f0036-01

Caps Hopeful Corriveau Will Be Marksman

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;The Quebec Nor-diques haven&rsquo;t been very lucky with the trades they made late last season.After giving the Washington Capitals a third-round draft pick for defenseman Peter Andersson, who was in Quebec City for only a month, they were left out in the cold when the big Swede decided to play in his native country this year.And then Steve Patrick, acquired from the New York Rangers for Wilf Paiement, surprised everyone by advising Nordiques&rsquo; general manager Maurice Filion that he was retiring.Turning his back on a very lucrative Contract (one year left paid in American currency), Patrick showed lots of integrity by admitting that he didn&rsquo;t possess the love of the game any more.&ldquo;He told me his career wasn&rsquo;t going anywhere,&rdquo; explained Filion. &ldquo;Hockey wasn&rsquo;t a game for him any more. It was more like forced labor. I was very surprised by Steve&rsquo;s decision to leave us, but I respect it because I know it wasn&rsquo;t a spur of the moment thing. It seems he&rsquo;d been considering leaving the game for some time.&ldquo;His father is in real estate in Winnipeg and is having health problems so Steve is going to give him a hand before taking over the business. I fully accept his decision. You have to be a honest man to give up a contract like his.&ldquo;One thing I want to insist on is that his decision has nothing to do with the city or with the income tax situation here in Quebec. He was simply disappointed with the way his career was going. I think Steve had the talent to play in the National Hockey League.Defenseman Kevin Hatcher made a smooth transition to the NHL as a 19-year-old.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04220/5150186-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="137" height="122"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2>He simply didn&rsquo;t have the desire.&rdquo;In parts of six NHL seasons, Patrick scored 40 goals and 68 assists over 250 games. He was a Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; first-round pick in 1980.With Patrick out of the picture, head coach Michel Bergeron&rsquo;s task becomes even more complicated as he searches for suitable right wingers. Already the Nords&rsquo; weak spot, Mark Kumpel is the only experienced right winger in camp.&ldquo;I was expecting a lot from Patrick,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;We had a hole to plug on right wing and I fully expected Steve to fill the gap. On the positive side of things, his departure could motivate the youngsters in camp who now think they have a serious chance of making the big team.&rdquo;If he were really in a bind, Bergeron could use Anton Stastny and Alain Cote on right wing like he did last season, but he would rather have a couple of youngsters playing their natural position.But players like Trevor Stienburg and Max Middendorf had disappointed so far. Stienburg seemed nervous and Middendorf was a fraction of a second behind the play, but it was still early to make judgments.The job openings include positions beside two pairs of very good hockey players&mdash;Peter and Anton Stastny plus Dale Hunter and Michel Goulet.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel I have to trade to get hold of a solid right winger,&rdquo; said Filion. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll keep on looking hard at our rookies. There&rsquo;s a good crop in camp.&rdquo;You have to wonder though, because a few weeks ago, Filion was ready to offer a three year-deal worth a lot of money to Lucien DeBlois, who finally opted for the Rangers.Some insiders feel it would be dangerous to start the season with two or three inexperienced wingers, but Bergeron doesn&rsquo;t see things in the same manner. He remembers the year he had three freshmen named Randy Moller, Normand Rochefort and Dave Pichette on the blue line.NOTES&mdash;If Michel Bergeron were to shift Anton Stastny or Alain Cote to right wing, David Latta would be a possibility to make the team on the left side&hellip; The latest rumors have Randy Moller going to Edmonton in exchange for Raimo Summanen and Marty McSorley. When asked about the possibility of Moller becoming an Oiler, Maurice Filion said that he had had talks with Glen Sather and that Sather was studying the matter. The names of Charlie Huddy and Don Jackson were also mentioned. It&rsquo;s no secret that Maurice Filion would like to get his hands on a solid right winger and an experienced defenseman in exchange for Moller. Filion wants players who can play every day in the NHL&hellip; It&rsquo;s now official. Veteran Greg Malone will not be on the Nordiques&rsquo; protected list. &ldquo;We know we might lose him to another team, but we can&rsquo;t possibly protect Greg,&rdquo; said Filion. &ldquo;We can only put 18 players on our list so there&rsquo;s no way he&rsquo;ll be on it. We don&rsquo;t know yet if we&rsquo;ll send him down to Fredericton for good, but if we do, he could be called up during the season.&rdquo; Malone, who is originally from Fredericton, might even be called upon to act as an assistant coach under Andre Savard. &#9632;

f0036-04

Right Wing Is Achilles’ Heel For Quebec More Than Ever

<div class="byline">BY JERRY ZGODA</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;When it came to the crunch, both parties found they finally could agree. North Star goalie Don Beaupre, who played out his option last season and was a free agent, said yes to a new four-year contract just hours before the start of training camp workouts.Beaupre reportedly had asked for a raise from $150,000 to $200,000 and said he would not report to camp without a signed contract. He didn&rsquo;t get that raise guaranteed, but could reach it. and maybe even surpass it, if he reaches incentive clauses included in the contract. The clauses are based on the number of games the North Stars win or tie with Beaupre in net.&ldquo;Both parties won; we signed and we&rsquo;re both happy,&rdquo; general manager Lou Nanne said. &ldquo;He has a good base salary and if he continues to play like he did the last half of last season, he&rsquo;ll do extremely well (financially).&rdquo;Said Beaupre, after completing the two-hour workout that he almost missed: &ldquo;I really didn&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d be here today, especially with the way things were. The bonuses are realistic goals for this team and I&rsquo;m just happy that it&rsquo;s done and over with.&rdquo;Beaupre was 25-20-6 with a 3.55 goals-against average last season. He played in a career-high 52 games and shattered a team record with 14 consecutive victories.Beaupre&rsquo;s signing was just one in a package that Nanne completed in the day before the start of training camp. He signed two-thirds of his top scoring line when left winger Scott Bjugstad and center Neal Broten agreed to three-year contracts and defenseman Curt Giles signed a four-year pact after he walked into Nanne&rsquo;s office without his agent and hammered out the details. All three were about to play out their option years.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve gone a long way to securing the future for the core of our team,&rdquo; Nanne said. &ldquo;What these guys have done speaks for itself.&rdquo;Start with Broten. Last season, he became the first American-born player ever to score 100 points. One year after suffering through his worst season (19 and 56 points in 80 games), he came up with his best&mdash;29 goals and a career-high 105 points. Broten, 26, was named the Stars&rsquo; MVP last year.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt he carried us, especially in the first half of the season,&rdquo; coach Lome Henning said.Bjugstad came from practically nowhere (I I goals in 1984-85) to score 43 goals last year and finish one behind right winger Dino Ciccarelli in the team goal-scoring race. Bjugstad took off when he was paired with Ciccarelli and Broten in early December.Giles finished at the top of Stars&rsquo; plus-minus ratings for the second straight year (plus-19).Nanne still had six unsigned players who are entering their option years: left wingers Steve Payne, Brian Lawton, Brian MacLellan, Tim Coulis, center Todd Bergen and Ciccarelli. Nanne said Ciccarelli&rsquo;s case probably will go to salary arbitration.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01432/5150217-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="138" height="124"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2>STARDUST&mdash;Right winger Brian Bellows was the first training camp casualty among North Stars veterans. He missed a scrimmage because of a back muscle he pulled while hurriedly tying his skates the second day of camp&hellip; Todd Bergen had surgery to repair a tear the size of a quarter in his stomach wall. Recovery is expected to last eight to 10 weeks&hellip; Five of the nearly 30 free agents invited to precamp were still left for the start of training camp: Right winger Al Tara-suk, from the University of Alberta, defensemen Colin Chisholm, Don Perkins of Ohio State and Howard Schlamp of Manitoba and goalie John Pasquale of North Adams Prep School (Mass.)&hellip; Free-agent center Marc Chartier, from the University of Saskatchewan by way of Team Canada, joined the Stars four days into camp-&hellip;North Stars&rsquo; trainer Doc Rose, using the results from opening day&rsquo;s testing, calls this the best-conditioned Stars&rsquo; team he has ever seen. "Everybody was better than a year ago, &rsquo; &rsquo; Rose said. &ldquo;Body fat was lower; some guys are four, five or six pounds heavier, but that isn&rsquo;t fat. And the cardiovascular tests were really excellent. There wasn&rsquo;t anybody who was really disappointing. Some guys, like (defenseman Craig) Hartsburg, are way up from last year.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0037-01

Stars’ Signings ‘Secure Future’: Nanne Says

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01506/5150248-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="543" height="655"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDFRI. SEPT. 19CALGARY 4, QUEBEC 3WINNIPEG 6, MINNESOTA 4EDMONTON 8, MONTREAL 3SAT. SEPT. 20WASHINGTON 2, BOSTON 1EDMONTON 6, QUEBEC 5PHILADELPHIA 3, NY ISLANDERS 1NEW JERSEY 4, HARTFORD 3PITTSBURGH 9, MONTREAL 5WINNIPEG 4, CALGARY 4LOS ANGELES 5, VANCOUVER 4SUN. SEPT. 21PHILADELPHIA 4, NY RANGERS 1BUFFALO 7, WASHINGTON 1MINNESOTA 6, CHICAGO 5TORONTO 7, EDMONTON 3ST. LOUIS 4, DETROIT 1LOS ANGELES 5, VANCOUVER 2EXHIBITION SCORERSFRI. SEPT. 19CALGARY (4&gt;&mdash;JOE MULLEN, CAREY WILSON, GARY ROBERTS. QUEBEC (3&gt;&mdash;LEON ROCHEFORT, PAUL GILLIS, JASON LAFRENIERE.EDMONTON (8)&mdash;GLENN ANDERSON 3, CRAIG Mac-TAVISH, MARK HUNTER, MARK NAPIER, MARTY McSORLEY, RAIMO SUMMANEN. MONTREAL (3&gt;&mdash;CHRIS NILAN, LARRY ROBINSON, CHRIS CHELIOS. WINNIPEG (7)&mdash;HANNU JARVENPAA 4, CRAIG EN-DEAN 2, DOUG SMAIL. MINNESOTA (4)&mdash;STEPHANE ROY, MARC HABSCHEID, RANDY SMITH, PAUL HOUCK.SAT. SEPT. 20WASHINGTON (2)&mdash;DAVID JENSEN. MIKE GARTNER. BOSTON (it&mdash;TOM MCCARTHY.NEW JERSEY 14)-JOHN MacLEAN, BRUCE DRIVER. CRAIG WOLANIN, GREG ADAMS. HARTFORD (3)&mdash;DEAN EVASON. ULF SAMUELSSON, DANA MURZYN. PITTSBURGH (9)&mdash;MIKE BULLARD 2, CRAIG SIMPSON 2. MARIO LEMIEUX. RANDY CUNNEYWORTH, RON DUGUAY, KEVIN LAVALLEE. MONTREAL 15)-GASTON GINGRAS 2, KJELL DAHLIN, SERGE BOISVERT, CHRIS NILAN.PHILADELPHIA (3)&mdash;BRIAN PROPP, LINDSAY CARSON. BRIAN DOBBIN. NY ISLANDERS 111&mdash;BRAD LAUER.WINNIPEG 14)-RAY NEUFELD, PERRY TURNBULL. PETER TAGLIANETTI, BILL DERLAGO. CALGARY (41-JOEL OTTO, PERRY BEREZAN, JOHN TONELLI, AL MacINNIS.EDMONTON (6&gt;&mdash;DAVE LUMLEY 2, MARK NAPIER, MARK MESSIER, DON JACKSON, DANNY GARE. QUEBEC (5F&mdash;A. STASTNY 2, P. STASTNY 2. MARK KUMPEL. &#9632;

f0038-01

EXHIBITION SCOREBOARD

<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Gord Kluzak, D, missed training camp with recurring knee problems. Cleon Daskalakis, G, signed new contract.BUFFALO&mdash;Ray Sheppard, C, sidelined for two months with knee injury.EDMONTON&mdash;Danny Lawson, RW, released after training camp tryout.HARTFORD&mdash;Dean Evason, C, Ulf Samuelsson, D, and Wayne Babych, RW, signed to new contracts. Greg Britz, RW, signed as free agent from Toronto. Rick Heinz, G, assigned to Salt Lake of IHL. Scott Birnie, RW, sent to Flint of IHL. Andy Martone, D, Greg Dey, D, and Tim Moore, D, all assigned to Salem of ACHL.MINNESOTA&mdash;Ed Lee, RW, declined to report to training camp and was suspended by North Stars. Todd Carlile, D, signed as free agent from Univ, of Michigan, has been assigned to Indianapolis of IHL. &rsquo;MONTREAL&mdash;Graeme Bonar, C, missed training camp after breaking his wrist in off-season. John Kordic, RW, signed to new 2-year contract. Charlie Moore, LW, 225th draft pick in 1986 from Belleville of OHL, has informed team he is retiring from hockey.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Pat Verbeek, RW, Perry Anderson, LW, Randy Velis-chek, D, and Joe Cirella, D, signed to new contracts. Bob Hoffmeyer, D, retired as player to become asst, coach with Devils. Frederic Chabot, G, returned to Drummondville of QMJHL.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Dan Brennan, LW, signed as free agent from Los Angeles. Randy Wood, RW, signed as free agent from Yale University. Rod Dallman, LW, missed training camp with shoulder injury. Mike Volpe, G, assigned to Toronto of OHL, Richard Pilon, D, to Prince Albert of WHL, Paul Thompson, D, to Brandon of WHL, and Jeff Finley, D, to Portland of WHL..NY RANGERS&mdash;Peter Sundstrom, LW, informed Rangers he will remain in Sweden to play hockey this season. Larry Melnyk, D, signed new contract. Following players were cut from training camp: goalies Adolph Brink and Peter Crouse, defensemen Jim Ando-noff, Brent Meckling, Wally Niewchas, Nick Bumbacco and Mickey Volcan, forwards Shawn Clouston, Bruce Eakin, Todd Elik, Tim Glencross, Robb Graham, Gus Greco, Mark Janssens, Duanne Moeser, Paul Reifenberger and Brad Stephan. Following players were assigned to New Haven of AHL: Judes Labillois, G, Terry Kleisinger, G, Neil Shea, RW, Terry Tait, C, and Bryan Walker, RW.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02399/5150279-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="541" height="1236"><figcaption class="caption-body">Boston&rsquo;s Gord Kluzak has been sidelined with knee problems again.</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Rick Tocchet, RW, and Dave Brown, RW, signed to new cnntrflctcPITTSBURGH&mdash;Mark Jooris, RW, signed as free agent from RPI. Stan Drulia, RW, 214th draft pick in 1986 from Belleville of OHL, missed training camp with broken hand. Kevin Stevens, LW, signed asfree agent, has decided to return to Boston College.QUEBEC&mdash;Steve Patrick, RW, has announced his retirement from hockey. Peter Andersson, D, informed Nor-diques he will remain in Sweden to play hockey this season.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Marty Ruff, RW, has retired after failing team physical examination with knee problems.TORONTO&mdash;Following players were assigned to Newmarket of the AHL: Jeff Reese, G, defensemen Cliff Abrecht, Scott Clements, Ted Fauss, Greg Hotham, Cam Plante and Blake Wesley, centers Rich Costello and Wes Jarvis, right wingers Derek Lax-dal, Kevin Maguire, Todd Petkovich, Leigh Verstraete and Gerard Waslen, left wingers Dean DeFazio, Daryl Evans, Vai James, Chris McRae and Terry Martin. Following players were returned to their respective junior teams: Ken Spangler, D, Calgary of WHL, Tim Bean, LW, North Bay of OHL, Dave Thomlinson, RW, Brandon of WHL, Darryl Shannon, D, and Kent Hulst, C, Windsor of OHL, Sean Boland, D, Sean Davidson, LW, and Tim Armstrong, C, Toronto of OHL, Scott Taylor, D, Kitchener of OHL, Stephane Giguere, LW, St. Jean of QMJHL, Brian Hoard, D, Hamilton of OHL, and Greg Vey, LW, Peterborough of OHL.VANCOUVER&mdash;Curtis Hunt, D, sidelined after suffering concussion in training camp.WINNIPEG&mdash;John Paul Kelly, LW, signed as free agent from Los Angeles. Pat Elynuik, RW, 8th draft pick in 1986 from Prince Albert of WHL, signed to NHL contract. Following players were assigned to Fort Wayne of IHL: Craig Channell, D, Daran Moxam, LW, Perry Pooley, RW, Martin Simard, RW, and Derek Ray, RW. Following players were cut from training camp: goalies Larry Dyck, David Quigley, Mark Reimer, Tim Robertson and Yannick Verstappen; defensemen Pavol Ker, Martin Raymond, Mike Spencer and Randy Turnbull; and forwards Allan Acton, Gerry Fleming, Yves Lapointe, Larry Skoleski, Patrick Antongiovanni, Mike Alexander and Eric Cormier.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>BALTIMORE&mdash;Steve Carlson, C, signed to new contract.HERSHEY&mdash;Kevin Maxwell, C, signed as free agent from New Jersey.NEWMARKET&mdash;Greg Hotham, D, and Dean DeFazio, LW, signed as free agents from Pittsburgh. Leigh Verstraete, RW, signed to new contract.SHERBROOKE&mdash;Mark Reade, C, from McGill Univ, signed to training camp tryout.INTERNATIONAL LEAGUEFORT WAYNE&mdash;Bruce Shoebottom, D, signed as free agent.INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Mike Nepi, D, Earl Ingarfield, C, and Marc Magnan, LW, signed to new contracts.KALAMAZOO&mdash;Mike Greeder, D, signed as free agent.MILWAUKEE&mdash;Kevin Willison, D,?retired as player to become asst, coach with team. Bill McCreary, C, and Gord Stafford, RW, signed new contracts.MUSKEGON&mdash;Following players were signed to new contracts: Dave Allison, D, Mike Forbes, D, Dennis Polonich, C, Roy Sommer, C, and Don Keller, LW.SALT LAKE&mdash;Dave Parro, G, and Kevin Conway, RW, traded to Indianapolis of IHL for Pat Ribble, D. Rick Heinz, G, Steve Harrison, D, and Bobby Francis, C, signed to new contracts.<h2>SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT</h2>Following players were drafted by NHL teams from colleges:BOSTON&mdash;Chris Olson, G, Denver.BUFFALO&mdash;Jeff Capello, RW, Vermont; John Cullen, C, Boston University.CALGARY&mdash;Steve MacSwain, LW, Minnesota.CHICAGO&mdash;Dave Randall, D, Northern Michigan.DETROIT&mdash;Rob Doyle, D, Colorado College.EDMONTON&mdash;Peter Heinze, D, Lowell.HARTFORD&mdash;Joe Tracy, RW, Ohio State.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Robert Kudelski, C, Yale.MINNESOTA&mdash;Brian McKee, D, Bowling Green.MONTREAL&mdash;Randy Exelby, G, Lake Superior State College.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Glen Engevik, RW, Northern Arizona; Tim Barakett, RW, Harvard.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Gary Kruzich, G, Bowling Green.NY RANGERS&mdash;Gary Emmons, C, Northern Michigan.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Jeff Lamb, C, Denver; Randy Taylor, D, Harvard.QUEBEC&mdash;Mike Natyshak, RW, Bowling Green.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Marty Raus, D, Northeastern.TORONTO&mdash;Art Fitzgerald, G, Trinity College.VANCOUVER&mdash;David Gourlie, D, Denver.WASHINGTON&mdash;Steve Cousins, D, Univ. Alberta.WINNIPEG&mdash;Chris Levasseur, C, Univ. Alaska-Anchorage. &#9632;

f0038-02

TRANSACTIONS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03320/5150310-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0038-03

NATIONAL LEAGUE PRE-SEASON SCHEDULE

<div class="byline">By Bruce Hood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01476/5150348-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="369" height="445"></div>Q: When a puck hits the goal post, why isn&rsquo;t it considered a shot on goal?Tom Foster, Dayton, OHA: A shot on goal, or in other words a save by the goaltender, can only be ruled as such in the case where the puck would have gone into the net had it not been stopped by the goalie.Q: I once watched the Pittsburgh Penguins defeat the Detroit Red Wings. Mike Bullard got a hat trick, but later in the game got a penalty for an illegal stick. First, what are the requirements for a stick and how do you measure the curve and the width of the blade? And second, could Detroit protest the game if the Penguins won by less than four goals?John Babson, Pittsburgh. PAA: The process for the measuring of a stick is this: When the opposing team asks for the measurement the referee retrieves the stick in question and goes to the referee&rsquo;s area at the penalty box. The stick cannot be more than 60 inches in length (extended last year because of more tall players in the League), the blade can only be 12.5 inches in length, not less than two inches wide nor more than three inches and, most important, the blade cannot have more than a half-inch curvature. The latter is determined by a graduated scale which runs the length of the blade.The penalty is a minor to the player with the illegal stick. If he fails to produce it when requested to do so, breaking it instead, the player receives a misconduct plus the minor. If his stick is not illegal when measured then the team requesting the measurement is given a minor penalty.The answer to your second question is &lsquo;no&rsquo;. Protests are not allowed in the NHL.Q: In The Encyclopedia of American Sports, under ice hockey, there is a penalty for something called clipping. The definition of clipping is &ldquo;falling and sliding into a puck carrier&rsquo;s path so that he loses possession.&rdquo; The penalty for clipping is defined as such: &ldquo;A minor penalty is imposed on any player who clips an opponent; a major penalty if injury is caused. No penalty is imposed if the puck is hit from the opponent&rsquo;s possession before the player falls.&rdquo; I&rsquo;ve seen this done many times but it is never called. Is there such a thing as clipping or is the encyclopedia wrong?Chris Bloomer, Lewiston, MEA: This penalty is listed in amateur rule books under clipping but in the NHL the infraction is covered under tripping. The intent of the player in making the check with his body must be to knock the puck away from the player carrying it. Usually he arrives at the player&rsquo;s body at the same time his stick is making contact with the puck and therefore no call.If you want your questions answered, write to: ASK THE REFEREE16 Martin StreetMilton, Ont.L9T 2P9All questions will be considered, but only those published will be answered. Personal responses are not possible.<h2>THIS WEEK</h2>30 Years Ago:&bull; Citing ill health, Dick Irvin resigned his position as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, ending a 26-year career as NHL coach.&bull; A crowd of more than 13,000 witnessed the 1956 All-Star Game on Oct. 9, matching a collection of the league&rsquo;s best players against the Montreal Canadiens. The 1-1 tie raised $13,097 for the NHL&rsquo;s pension plan.&bull; In the International League, Grand Rapids Rockets folded because they &lsquo;failed to fulfill League obligations.&rsquo; The team then moved to Huntington, West Virginia.Maurice (Rocket) Richard was named the new captain of the Montreal Canadiens, replacing retired veteran Emile (Butch) Bouchard.25 Years Ago:&bull; Pittsburgh, without a team for five years, opened up its new arena and unveiled its new team, the AHL Pittsburgh Hornets.&bull; Bernie (Boom-Boom) Geoffrion. star forward with the Montreal Cana-diens, demonstrated his singing ability on CBC&rsquo;s Joan Fairfax show. He was already booked to do a show at Montreal&rsquo;s plush Queen Elizabeth Hotel during the winter.&bull; Sugar Jim Henry, former NHL goaltending great, was named coach of the Toledo Mercurys in the International League.&bull;<h2>THE UVAY WE WERE</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02327/5150341-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="1816" height="1800"><figcaption class="caption-body">Montreal Canadien standout Dickie Moore barrels into Toronto Maple Leaf goalie Johnny Bower with defenseman Tim Horton in pursuit. All three players, including the late Horton, have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Moore won the NHL scoring championship in 1958 and 1959.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0039-01

ASK THE REFEREE

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03234/5150379-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="567" height="1402"><figcaption class="caption-body">Leo Labine</figcaption></div>Known as an average scorer, better-than-average body checker and top-notch needier, Leo Labine played 11 seasons in the National Hockey League&mdash;nine of them with the Boston Bruins.Labine is best remembered for the crushing body check he delivered against Canadien great Rocket Richard during the seventh game of the 1953 Stanley Cup semi-finals between Boston and Montreal.&ldquo;I got a good hit on him,&rdquo; said Labine, a native of Haileybury, Ont. &ldquo;I just wanted to get him off his game that night. I guess it didn&rsquo;t work because he ended up scoring the winning goal.&rdquo;Richard, dazed and confused by the Labine bodycheck, still managed to return and score&mdash;in dramatic fashion&mdash;the decisive goal against Boston goalie Sugar Jim Henry.Labine could do more than deliver a check, he could also deliver a punchline. He had a keen sense of humor. Once, during an exhibition game with the Bruins, Labine used fog that had formed on the ice to his advantage against the New York Rangers.As the play moved from the Ranger to Bruin end, Labine hid behind the Ranger net. Had he not snickered Ranger goalie Gump Worsley may never have discovered him.Labine was also good for team spirit. One time, in the mid 1950&rsquo;s when Milt Schmidt was coach, a group of players was sitting in the dressing room after a practice.A couple of the players were horsing around when Schmidt walked in. After lecturing the players that guys get hurt on the ice and not in the locker room, Schmidt put on his hat and started to leave the room.Labine, with a roll of used tape in the shape of a ball, threw it at Schmidt, hitting him directly in the head.Schmidt wanted to know who did it. Without hesitation, Labine yelled, &ldquo;Topper (Jerry Toppazzini) did it!&rdquo; Eveiyone in the locker room, including Schmidt, was laughing. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if he (Schmidt) ever found out about it or not,&rdquo; said Labine.In 643 NHL games Labine scored 128 goals and 321 points. He also totaled 730 minutes in penalties.Following his NHL days, Labine spent five seasons in the old Western Hockey League.Today, Labine, 55, is a sales representative for a transportation company in North Bay, Ont. where he also resides with his family. &#9632;

f0039-03

Labine Launched ‘Rocket’

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f00C4-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f00c4-02201/5150410-1-eng-US/f00c4-022.jpg"></div>BOSTON&mdash;So, what else is new?The Boston Bruins, who have not lost less than 280 man-games to injuries in the last three seasons, will start the 1986-87 campaign with at least one player on the wrong side of the hospital ledger.And this was made known even before training camp opened.Gord Kluzak, the big defenseman who has been plagued by knee problems since his junior hockey days, disclosed that he has a cartilage problem behind the left kneecap that gives him &ldquo;excruciating&rdquo; pain when he moves in a certain way.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know when I&rsquo;ll be able to play in a game,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ll miss too much of the season. It&rsquo;s very frustrating, not being able to skate.&ldquo;The best thing I can do is stay away from the rink right now and concentrate on the knee. I can think about hockey and skating but my No. 1 priority has to be getting the knee ready. That&rsquo;s my life."Kluzak underwent knee surgery for the first time in February. 1982 after he was decked by a hipcheck and tore the medial ligament in his left knee while playing for the Billings Bighorns. The Bruins drafted him No. I in 1982 in spite of the injury.He had massive reconstruction surgery again on his left knee on Oct. 8. 1984 after he suffered extensive ligament and cartilage damage in the final exhibition game. He missed the entire 1984-85 season because of it.This past summer, Kluzak had two arthroscopic procedures performed to remove loose cartilage from the knee and it appears to have left him with a painful condition.&ldquo;I can run up and down stairs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can sit in a squat position. I can straighten my leg out fully. But when I move the leg out halfway between the sitting position there&rsquo;s a crackling sound in the knee and. if there&rsquo;s any weight on it, I get an excruciating amount of pain.&ldquo;The only thing I can do is exercise and hope that the area smooths itself out and the muscles get stronger. The doctor says there&rsquo;s a 90 percent chance I&rsquo;ll get through this with exercise and won&rsquo;t need any further surgery.&ldquo;In the short term, I&rsquo;m working on a very structured program until I&rsquo;m pain-free, then go from there. It&rsquo;s supposed to be three or four weeks before I can get on skates. I&rsquo;ve come back from knee injuries worse than this one but none more frustrating.&rdquo;A contributing factor to Kluzak&rsquo;s current knee problem is the fact that he took two months off to rest after almost 18 months of rehabilitating exercise and games. As a result, the muscle in his knee greatly deteriorated.&ldquo;I had a pretty good year coming back,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I started real well and then sort of burned out. The knee was really tight and good. Orthopedists would take a look at it and tell me the reconstruction was perfect.&ldquo;That surgery isn&rsquo;t going to give me any more problems, this is not related to the surgery. But it is related to the injury. When I took a couple of months off, I lost quite a bit of muscle without knowing it.&rdquo;Kluzak had resumed workouts in July after his two-month hiatus when the pain struck.&ldquo;I was scared,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had never experienced pain like that. Even when I was rehabilitating from the reconstruction I never felt any pain. There was never any fluid in the knee and I didn&rsquo;t even need ice.&rdquo;<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f00c4-01238/5150417-1-eng-US/f00c4-012.jpg" title="f00C4-01" width="123" height="118"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2>WHAT&rsquo;S BRUIN&mdash;Another absentee when the Bruins&rsquo; training camp opened in suburban Danvers was Nevin Markwart, the fourth-year left winger who has been unable to reach agreement with general manager Harry Sinden on a new contract. The major area of disagreement is that Markwart wants a one-way contract (major league pay even if he&rsquo;s sent to the minors) and Sinden is offering a two-way deal. Sinden said he has offered the 21-year-old winger in trade talks but no one is interested&hellip; Cleon Daskalakis. the goalie who spent most of last season in Moncton, signed new contract two days before the opening ofcamp. &ldquo;It was the best night&rsquo;s sleep I&rsquo;ve had in while,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

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October 3, 1986

NHL SCHEDULE

Players’ Union Has Come Long Way Over 20 Years

CCM HOCKEY TRIVIA

Making An Impression For Now And Later