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.

February 6, 1987

The Hockey News February 6, 1987

<h2>Sun. Jan. 18</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01526/5259272-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="556" height="474"></div><h2>Mon. Jan. 19</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02415/5259265-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="548" height="1896"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03333/5259258-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="556" height="186"></div><h2>Tue. Jan. 20</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04254/5259251-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="546" height="2226"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05179/5259244-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="550" height="562"></div><h2>Wed. Jan. 21</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06141/5259237-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="586" height="3069"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07127/5259230-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="554" height="2008"></div><h2>Thu. Jan. 22</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-08109/5259223-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="566" height="1602"></div><h2>Fri. Jan. 23</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0998/5259216-1-eng-US/f0038-092.jpg" title="f0038-09" width="556" height="3637"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01494/5259209-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="582" height="1840"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02342/5259202-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="566" height="159"></div><h2>Sat. Jan. 24</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03248/5259195-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="566" height="1630"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05166/5259188-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="560" height="474"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06140/5259181-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="554" height="1823"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07124/5259174-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="552" height="1742"></div><h2>Sun. Jan. 25</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-08112/5259167-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="572" height="52"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04203/5259160-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="595" height="1189"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Yzerman scored his 19th goal of the season in a 4-3 win over St. Louis.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="byline">BY TOM BOGGIE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01595/5258317-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="179" height="131"></div>BURLINGTON, Vt.&mdash;This hasn&rsquo;t been the type of senior year envisioned by Vermont goalie Tom Draper.After posting a 3.08 goals-against average and .903 save percentage as a junior, Draper came into his final season full of hopes, the most prominent being to lead his team to the Eastern Colleges Athletic Conference championship.That&rsquo;s not the way it has worked out.It&rsquo;s as if Vermont&rsquo;s more aggressive offense has victimized Draper. He has been facing fewer shots, but he&rsquo;s been letting in more.Draper flashed his old form against RPI, stopping 33 of 34 shots to give the Catamounts a 2-1 victory on Jan. 17, their first win against the Engineers since 1982. But the win left Vermont at just 6-6 in the league, and Draper still wasn&rsquo;t happy.&ldquo;My save percentage (.853 going into the RPI game) is atrocious,&rdquo; said Draper, a native of Outremont, Que. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s never been that low.&rdquo;Draper&rsquo;s problem is part mental, part mechanical. He&rsquo;s not facing as many shots as he did last year because of Vermont&rsquo;s improved attack, and his mental lapses lead to technical mistakes.&ldquo;I had three shots in my mitt tonight that I dropped and left rebounds right in front,&rdquo; he said, after beating RPI. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no reason for that. I had a couple of bad games early and got off to a bad start.&ldquo;That could be it. Our defense isn&rsquo;t as strong as it was last year&mdash;it will be even weaker now that sophomore Marc Lebreux is out with a broken wrist&mdash;or maybe the reason is the better offense.&ldquo;When I&rsquo;m facing 30 or 35 shots a game, it&rsquo;s so much easier to stay in the game,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Lately, I&rsquo;ve only been seeing 20 or 25 a game. Heck, that&rsquo;s only six or seven a period.&rdquo;Draper played very well against RPI. The only goal the Engineers scored came on a power play, and even that shot deflected off the skate of a Vermont player in front of Draper.&ldquo;Draper started to play like we all know he can play,&rdquo; said Vermont coach Mike Gilligan.He was named the ECAC&rsquo;s first team all-star goalie last year&mdash;ahead of Harvard&rsquo;s Grant Blair and Cornell&rsquo;s Doug Dadswell&mdash;and he&rsquo;s continually proven himself in three years at Vermont.&ldquo;I wish I could be playing as well as last year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Early in the season, I told myself if I could play as well as I did last year, I&rsquo;d be happy. But it&rsquo;s been hard for me to play as well, and now there&rsquo;s the extra pressure on me to improve every game.&rdquo;But the Catamounts need Draper to be sharp to make a run at home ice for the playoffs. Harvard and Colgate have already separated themselves from the pack, and six teams are in a dogfight for the other two home-ice berths.Draper has been in this position before and has handled the pressure. The pressure is on once again.ECAC NOTES&mdash;Harvard&rsquo;s winning streak came to a screeching halt at Ingalls Rink, where the Crimson lost 4-2 to Yale. The loss was Harvard&rsquo;s first after 15 straight victories. But if the streak was going to end somewhere, it figured to be in New Haven. The Crimson haven&rsquo;t won at Yale since 1977. See if you can figure this one out: Yale knocked off undefeated Harvard, then two nights later, got blown away 8-3 by struggling Cornell. The next night, Cornell lost to Brown in overtime 5-4, despite outshooting the Bruins 58-24. Michel Bayard had 54 saves for Brown, while Steve Climo scored the game-winner. The victory marked Brown&rsquo;s fourth overtime win in as many extra-period games this year&hellip;Colgate ran its winning streak to six, with a 4-2 win over Yale. In another case of home-ice advantage, freshman goalie John Fletcher made 31 saves to lead Clarkson to a 4-1 win over rival St. Lawrence. St. Lawrence hasn&rsquo;t won a game in Clarkson&rsquo;s Walker Arena in 15 years. &#9632;

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The Colleges

Cats’ Goalie Struggles To Regain Lost Form

<h2>JAN.</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02116/5259410-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="444" height="635"></div><h2>FEBRUARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0382/5259403-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="427" height="354"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0468/5259396-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="446" height="1058"></div> &#9632;

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NHL Games To Come

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02410/5258785-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="359" height="454"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE McLLWAIN North Bay</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>The North Bay Centennials rank among the top five Ontario League teams offensively and one of the big reasons is Dave McLlwain.The Centennials&rsquo; center, a Washington Caps&rsquo; draft pick, is the club&rsquo;s top scorer. He was chosen OHL Player of the Week scoring 11 points in 3 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03274/5258778-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="359" height="451"><figcaption class="caption-body">DRAGO ADAM New West</figcaption></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>New Westminster Bruins are struggling this season but it hasn&rsquo;t dulled the enthusiasm of Drago Adam.The Bruins&rsquo; netminder was picked WHL Player of the Week after shutting out Spokane 6-0. Adam, who was West Division MVP in the recent all-star game, had a 2.77 GAA in his last 3 starts.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04165/5258771-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="355" height="454"><figcaption class="caption-body">PATRICE LEFEBVRE</figcaption></div><h2>Shawinigan QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>Patrice Lefebvre is making a determined bid to win the Quebec League scoring title this season.The Shawinigan right winger collected 120 points in his first 46 starts. He was selected QMJHL Player of the Week after he counted 12 points in four games. Lefebvre had 37 goals.At the end of the current season, THE HOCKEY NEWS will select a Micron Junior Player of the Year. &#9632;

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MICRON JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

In next week&rsquo;s Feb. 13th issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, we will present an in-depth preview of Rendez-vouz &rsquo;87, the classic confrontation, Feb. 11 and 13 in Quebec City, between the National Hockey League all-stars and the Soviet Union national team.It&rsquo;s shaping up to be the event of the season and we&rsquo;ll have the complete story&mdash;who&rsquo;s on earn NHL; who&rsquo;s going to be leading the Soviet club; and what we can expect to see in the wo-game series.Plus, we&rsquo;ll have predictions from the international hockey experts, plus all the features that will enlighten and entertain, including a flashback to memorable moments of international play and a guide to broadcast coverage of the entire event.Don&rsquo;t miss all that plus much, much more in next week&rsquo;s Feb. 13th issue of THN. &#9632;

NEXT WEEK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021067/5257052-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="346" height="470"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Dryden</figcaption></div>The Cornwall Royals&rsquo; team policeman has not picked up a penalty minute this season.Fact is, he hasn&rsquo;t thrown an on-ice punch all year&mdash;unless you count the times he&rsquo;s enforcing law and order on the slippery streets of Cornwall, Ont.Because, you see, the Ontario League team&rsquo;s policeman is just that&mdash;a policeman.Thom Racine, 26, travels most everywhere with the Royals, as color commentator for play-by-play man Fred Pletsch on CFLG-FM.An undercover cop, Racine has chosen the perfect medium&mdash;faceless, to preserve a measure of anonymity, enabling him to continue a lifelong love affair with the game of hockey.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a dream come true,&rdquo; says Racine, whose athletic interests are hardly unique in his Ottawa-area family. His father, Moe (The Toe) Racine, was a longtime Canadian Football League player. And his brother Bruce, the No. 1 goalie at Northeastern University, was a third-round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1985.Racine&rsquo;s broadcast career had humble beginnings.&ldquo;I used to do the play-by-play for our road hockey games,&rdquo; says Racine, who played sparingly for half a season with Nepean (Ottawa) Raiders in the Central (Tier II) Jr. A League.Now, he&rsquo;s content to provide support to Pletsch&rsquo;s lead role. With no broadcast training beyond the imaginary games of his youth, Racine boldly asked to join Pletsch this year, his Hffer was accepted.&ldquo;You can see his police training,&rdquo; says Pletsch. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very observant.&rdquo;Some of the bad guys in Cornwall know about that. Racine, one time, solved a jewel robbery within hours of the crime, landing him on the front page of the local newspaper. On another occasion, he hid in a snowbank&mdash;long after his colleagues had given up&mdash;to nab two robbers who sought refuge in a darkened van.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m surprised the way the players relate to him,&rdquo; says Pletsch. &ldquo;I thought they&rsquo;d be leery of a policeman. But he&rsquo;s very easy to get to know. They&rsquo;ve really taken to him.&rdquo;The players get a charge out of Racine, referring to him as &ldquo;Wendel&rdquo; because his Fu Manchu moustache brings to mind Toronto Maple Leaf strongboy Wendel Clark.Racine, too, enjoys the company of Royals&rsquo; coach Orval Tessier, a notoriously frank individual.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a real straight shooter,&rdquo; says Racine. So, we can only assume, is officer Thom Racine.<h2>Vexed & Vanquished&mdash;Omaha Lancers</h2>Thirty-four games into the 1986-87 United States (Jr.) League schedule, the Omaha Lancers were all too familiar with the agony of defeat. It was the thrill of victory that had eluded them.The first-year team expected its baptismal would not be easy, but this&mdash;an 0-34-0 record&mdash;is ridiculous.&ldquo;The toughest thing we&rsquo;ve found is the tough competition,&rdquo; says Tom Edwards, president and acting general manager of the Lancers.An overtime loss to the Dubuque (Iowa) Fighting Saints was as close as Omaha had come to posting a victory. That one hurt a little more than most. Dubuque scored with 51 seconds left in regulation time to tie the score 8-8, then tallied again in overtime.The Lancers were awarded one point&mdash;their, only point of the season&mdash;for the extra-period loss.In three other games, Omaha led by a goal with less than three minutes to play, but surrendered a pair of goals each time to lose&mdash;again, again&hellip;and again.What keeps them going?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really know,&rdquo; says captain Les Lundberg. &ldquo;We just keep going.&rdquo;Lundberg is an 18-year-old from Fairbanks, Alaska. This season has been somewhat of a comedown for him. Last year, his midget team made it all the way to the nationals.He was the Lancers&rsquo; leading scorer with 10 goals and 11 assists in 31 games, but didn&rsquo;t rank among the top 40 in the league&mdash;which has becoming increasingly competitive and produced such players as Gary Suter (Calgary Flames), Ray Staszak (Adirondack Red Wings), Dan Dorion (Maine Mariners) and former Philadelphia Flyer Paul Holmgren.Lundberg played in the league all-star game, which was heavily-scouted by colleges and watched over by National Hockey League scouts.Omaha&rsquo;s troubles are simple, says Ed Bruneteau. The Lancers have some good players (for instance, goalie Daryl Gallegos) but not enough of them. Bruneteau, 67, took over as coach of the team early in the year, after management had a quick parting of the ways with coach-GM Les Gall. Bruneteau, himself, was replaced Jan. 26 by Shawn Jones of Fridley, Minn.Bruneteau&mdash;a former Detroit Red Wing whose brother, Modere (Mud) of the Red Wings, ended the longest game in NHL history with a goal against the Montreal Maroons in 1936&mdash;says he inherited a &ldquo;sad&rdquo; situation.It seems he leaves behind an equally &ldquo;sad&rdquo; team but Bruneteau, a former Omaha Knight, says the players are happier now.More successful? Well, not yet&hellip;As one U.S. Division I college coach said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m surprised they&rsquo;ve got a tie.&rdquo;<h2>Blueliner For Byng&mdash;Clean Play Award</h2>Isn&rsquo;t it about time another defenseman won the Lady Byng Trophy?Not since Red Kelly was honored for his trademark qualities of excellence and sportsmanship in 1954, has an NHL blueliner been honored with the NHL&rsquo;s fair play award.The winner&rsquo;s circle has been the exclusive preserve of forwards. We&rsquo;d say that makes the defenders a little overdue, to say nothing of goalies, who have never had a winner chosen from amongst their midst.This notion, by the way, is the continuance of a subject raised two weeks ago when THN named its first-ever Mr. Clean Team. Two of its members were defensemen, Larry Murphy of Washington and Mark Howe of Philadelphia.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011309/5257045-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="1515" height="2065"><figcaption class="caption-body">Red Kelly was the last defenseman to win the Lady Byng Trophy. In the 32 years since, a forward has won the sportsmanship honor every year. Philadelphia blueliner Mark Howe, below, could be just the player to break that streak.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03696/5257038-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="719" height="888"></div>Both should be considered strong candidates for this year&rsquo;s Byng.Then, maybe, there would be a renewed appreciation for defensemen whose skill levels are such that they need not resort to skullduggery every time an opposing forward charges down the ice.Between Kelly and Bill Quackenbush, also of the Wings, defensemen won the Byng four times in a six-year span. Kelly was the winner in 1951, 1953 and 1954, Quackenbush in 1949 when he went an entire season without picking up so much as a minor.Kelly was a second-year man, and Quackenbush&rsquo;s partner, when the latter bagged the Byng.&ldquo;I saw articles when Quackenbush won it, saying he wasn&rsquo;t a tough enough hockey player,&rdquo; recalls Kelly, who won a fourth Byng with Toronto as a forward. &ldquo;But I never saw anybody get around him&hellip;They&rsquo;d really get mad. They&rsquo;d get all upset. But it didn&rsquo;t bother Bill.&rdquo;Nor does it bother Howe, who credits his low penalty totals (22 minutes in 46 games) to levelheadedness. &ldquo;On this team, my role is not to be one of the tough guys,&rdquo; says Howe.Kelly, who now runs a preventative maintenance service for aircraft, thinks the world of those who choose the high road.&ldquo;In order to play the game that way,&rdquo; says Kelly, &ldquo;you have to be more versatile because you&rsquo;ve got to be able to go in and take the puck off a guy or take him out of the play without picking up penalties.&rdquo;As for Kelly&rsquo;s philosophy, it&rsquo;s the same as that espoused by Howe.&ldquo;The reason you&rsquo;re not getting penalties,&rdquo; relates Kelly, &ldquo;is you figure you&rsquo;re not going to win games sitting in the penalty box.&rdquo;Oldtime Flyers would cringe to hear Howe agree with those sentiments.<h2>&lsquo;Old Time Hockey&rsquo;&mdash;Craig Billington</h2>Quote of the week:&ldquo;Fortunately it (the puck) wasn&rsquo;t in my eye. A forehead can be stitched. That&rsquo;s part of the game. It really is. That&rsquo;s old time hockey.&rdquo;&mdash;Craig Billington, page 10. &#9632;

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Departments

Officer Patrols Broadcast Beat

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011332/5257083-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="176" height="135"></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;A seven-game win streak was as welcome as a soft, southerly breeze in winter.The year 1987 was three weeks old before the Winnipeg Jets lost a game.&ldquo;I can think of only one thing nicer,&rdquo; said the Jets&rsquo; general manager, John Ferguson, &ldquo;and that would have been an eight-game streak.&rdquo;For coach Dan Maloney, the streak was an affirmation that the Jets, indeed, are a contending club. It was same team that had held first place in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s best division&mdash;the Smythe&mdash;on Dec. 1.But a nine-game winless streak, including six consecutive losses, sent the Jets into a tailspin that saw them tumble as low as 16th overall, though their record never dipped below .500.&ldquo;We went from first place (in the division) to a fight for fourth place in the space of 10 days,&rdquo; said defenseman Dave Ellett, whose own game suffered during the same stretch.The latest win streak was not only the Jets&rsquo; second longest since joining the NHL in 1979, but one of the headiest, too.&ldquo;I was very encouraged that our team could go on a streak when it did,&rdquo; said Maloney. &ldquo;Those streaks usually occur in the first half of the season, not the second half.&rdquo;Two years ago, they were saying the same thing about the Jets. Their driving finish in 1984-85 saw them go without a loss in their last 13 games. This year, in their last 19 games, the Jets won 14 and tied three others as they climbed into second place in the Smythe Division and fourth place overall.&ldquo;I have the same feeling I had after we beat Calgary in the playoffs two years ago,&rdquo; said right winger Andrew McBain. &ldquo;The only difference is we didn&rsquo;t have Dale (Hawerchuk). He was hurt in the Calgary series.&rdquo;Like the Flames, Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks, the Jets have been obsessed with catching the Edmonton Oilers. Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s team remained the gauge by which all contenders measure themselves.Not surprisingly, the Oilers ended Winnipeg&rsquo;s three-week binge&hellip;as if to remind them that they, not the Jets, are lords of the region.But, most of all, the streak illustrated that the Jets are capable of being a bona fide force in the playoffs.They are more multi-dimensional, with sizeable forwards such as Jim Nill, Ray Neufeld and Steve Rooney ready to create room for the highly-skilled players such as Hawerchuk, Gilles Hamel, Thomas Steen and Brian Mullen. Paul MacLean, as always, creates his own room.On defense, Randy Carlyle and Mario Marois offer the moxie, Jim Kyte and Brad Berry hit for fun, Dave Ellett does everything, Tim Watters adds character and Fredrik Olausson shoots, skates and stickhandles.Crucial to the streak was the goaltending of Daniel Berthiaume, a rookie who allowed only 17 goals while improving his personal record to 11-3-2.Specialists starred, too. The Jets&rsquo; penalty-killing team, led by Ron Wilson and Doug Smail, became the NHL&rsquo;s statistical best during the stretch.More apparent, too, was the improved depth of the Jets&mdash;who pulled off the streak without Pokey Reddick, their top goaltender through the first 40 games.Missing, too, were right winger Hannu Jarvenpaa and left winger Perry Turnbull, each capable of scoring 25 goals.Reddick, who stretched a tendon in his ankle, and Turnbull, out after September shoulder surgery, were both on the verge of returning. Jarvenpaa is not expected back until next season. He&rsquo;s had knee surgery.So the Jets headed toward the final 30 games sporting their best-ever record, and knowing that this could be their season to fly.BENCH BITS&mdash;Indications that Dale Hawerchuk would be left off the NHL&rsquo;s Rendez-vous all-star team infuriated general manager John Ferguson. &ldquo;No question, he deserves a spot on the team,&rdquo; said Ferguson. &ldquo;He is No. 4 in scoring and he&rsquo;s having the best season of his career. They are making a terrible mistake by overlooking him. Dale&rsquo;s a demon.&rdquo; During the streak, Hawerchuk was named the game&rsquo;s first star in three consecutive games&hellip;Gilles Hamel scored goals in six straight games to raise his season&rsquo;s total to 19&hellip;For the first time, the Jets swept a four-game road trip&mdash;winning 5-2 in Detroit, 3-2 in Washington, 4-3 in Pittsburgh and 5-4 in New Jersey. &#9632;

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Jets’ Win Streak Starts Touch Of Cup Fever

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011212/5257114-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="329" height="468"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jay Greenberg</figcaption></div>IF THERE ARE no fans, there is no game. If there are no fans, there is oh-mi-gawd, no THN. Then, I might have to go to work for a living.So all you people out there should be okay by me. If the people who pay for the tickets and who buy the newspapers want to elect Jim McGeough or Mister Magoo the starting center for the National Hockey League all-star team, then one supposes that right must be defended.We are not talking about anything of social significance here. We let people who identify political candidates only by the image they portray in television advertisements elect those who govern us, and last time I checked (between the second and third periods) neither of our two governments had fallen.So if the National Hockey League wanted to let the fans elect a team to play the Soviets in Rendez-vous &rsquo;87, then, it seemed like a relatively harmless thing to do.This year the balloting wasn&rsquo;t just for another no-touch all-star game, but for two competitive contests with the Soviets. There was a little bit of risk that the masses might not handle the responsiblity correctly. But the fans were only picking the starters, so how badly could they screw it up?Certainly a lot of fans bleed real blood for their teams and figured to be less than objective in their choices. Provincialism perhaps would make the balloting closer at some positions than it should be and maybe the player of equal ability, but on the better-supported club, would have an edge in a close contest. But when the majority ruled, common sense would prevail. Hockey fans, after all, know their game.Then the final balloting was announced. Three of the six starters either play for the Nordiques or are French-Canadian. A fourth, Mike Bossy, is a native of La Belle Province. And Wayne Gretzky, seven-time-running most valuable player and again the NHL&rsquo;s runaway point leader, finished second at center to Mario Lemieux. By almost 35,000 votes.You know what I think of you fans now? I think you are absolute blithering idiots. I think you have forfeited your rights to buy tickets and that your television sets ought to be confiscated.I think they ought to clear every NHL arena and let the two teams play with just me watching. I&rsquo;ll let you know how it comes out only if you can prove to me that you are as outraged by the voting as I am.If you can&rsquo;t see how Gretzky is a once-in-five-lifetimes talent, who is so far superior to anybody else in this league, then you should lose the privilege of watching hockey. You don&rsquo;t like Gretzky? Then you neither deserve him, or the sport which his presence, performance, and demeanor has done nothing but honor.Honest differences of opinion are what make sports so compelling. The constant comparisons between players and teams and eras get a little silly sometimes, but it would be a dull game if the puck always lay flat. Arguments are what it&rsquo;s all about.But picking Lemieux, a developing great who has yet to approach Gretzky in any category of accomplishment, is not an an opinion. It is an inarguable wrong.The worst part about this fiasco is that it isn&rsquo;t just a mistake in judgment or a manifestation of ethnic pride. Masses of French-Canadians voting for Lemieux weren&rsquo;t enough to pull this off. For him to win, people had to vote against Gretzky. I find this a sad commentary on human nature.Lemieux hit it right on the head when he attributed his margin not just to French-Canadian pride, but anti-Gretzky backlash in Calgary. Gretzky was more than in the ballpark, too, when he took his turn at an explanation.&ldquo;Maybe they&rsquo;re tired of me,&rdquo; he said. He is right. Gretzky&rsquo;s statue has been standing so perfectly on the pedestal for eight years that the dark side of some of us wants to sneak out after midnight and paint graffiti on it.We use up our heroes fast. In some cases, there are logical reasons&mdash;a perceived betrayal of faith, a fall in performance, the disclosure of some dark truth that soils an image.But here is Wayne Gretzky, playing as great as ever, and continuing as an absolute shining knight off the ice. And falling from grace for no better reason than he&rsquo;s been graceful for too long.In the long run, perhaps no real damage has been done by this. Lemieux only has to take the first shift in Quebec City. He&rsquo;s a marvellous player who deserves to be on the team and he may just be the guy who beats the Soviets.Gretzky&rsquo;s ego will survive this. But there being no better explanation for this slight than petty jealousy, I don&rsquo;t blame him for being hurt.The NHL can&rsquo;t embarrass Mario by admitting this, but it should be cringing at what&rsquo;s happened and seriously consider cancelling the fan vote for future seasons.You don&rsquo;t set up a democracy in a place where the people don&rsquo;t understand their responsibilities. And you don&rsquo;t give out league-sanctioned awards without taking reasonable precautions that your best player will be your most honored.The people have spoken. At best, they are stupid. At worst, they are vindictive. Sure, the game is theirs. But if it&rsquo;s implied by the nature of the fan-beast that he can&rsquo;t put aside his selfish rooting interests to fulfill a responsibility of picking an all-star team, then he shouldn&rsquo;t be entrusted with anything more difficult than going for popcorn. &#9632;

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Columnists

Democracy? Phooey! Just Plain vindictiveness

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02892/5257145-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="183" height="140"></div>LANDOVER&mdash;It was less than four months ago that Bob Mason walked out of the Capital Centre, sat forlornly in his car and said, &ldquo;The same old decision.&rdquo;Despite an outstanding training camp, Mason had been assigned to the Washington Capitals&rsquo; farm club in Binghamton, one more unpleasantry for a goaltender with the best numbers in Washington&rsquo;s 13-year history.Much has changed in the interim. Today, Mason is the unquestioned No, 1 goalie for the Capitals, with a 2.98 goals-against average and save percentage of .902 that ranked third in the National Hockey League. He was chosen NHL player of the week after yielding a mere four goals in three victories and was enjoying a personal six-game winning streak in which he allowed only 11 goals.&ldquo;Bob Mason has been giving us the big stops, which we weren&rsquo;t getting early in the season,&rdquo; said coach Bryan Murray, whose club won five in a row for the first time this season. &ldquo;Confidence is built from the goaltender out and that has made a big difference for us.&rdquo;Meanwhile, as Mason&rsquo;s fortunes waxed, those of Al Jensen and Pete Peeters waned. They were the two veterans whose solid work last season prevented Mason from breaking through earlier.Neither Jensen nor Peeters enjoyed any success early in the season, prompting the recall of Mason. They have been given precious little opportunity to bounce back, so well has Mason played.Jensen, 1-2-1 early in the season, was shipped to Binghamton in Carly November. Recalled Dec. 15, he made only one start and was beaten at New Jersey, 6-4, after the Capitals had taken an early 3-0 lead. He was returned to the American League on Jan. 9.Peeters, 3-6-1 over the first two months of the season, took his turn in Binghamton for 14 days, returned to Washington Dec. 29 and, although he was solid in four appearances, has been shunted aside while Mason does the job.Murray was not easily convinced that Mason was Washington&rsquo;s man for all seasons, but he recently gave him an endorsement as the No. 1 goaltender.&ldquo;Bob Mason is our man for the foreseeable future,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s giving us the solid stops early in the game, allowing us to play our style instead of playing catch-up the way we were before. There&rsquo;s a time when you have to pull him out, for Pete&rsquo;s sake as well as Bob&rsquo;s, but the plan now is to go with him.&ldquo;He really played well early in training camp and he was the best of the three guys. But we made a judgment to go with the veterans and we felt there were areas for Bob to work on, like right-wing angles, playing the puck behind the net and overall confidence.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s getting out on the angle better, he&rsquo;s taking away the second shot and he&rsquo;s handling the puck better. What more can we ask?&rdquo;Mason is ready to accept the challenge. It is already somewhat of a fairy tale as far as he is concerned. Last summer he was told that if he could latch on with another team, the Capit-Unable to find anyone who wanted him, Mason signed a termination contract with Washington, went to training camp and was impressive enough to earn a chance that did not come until his two friendly rivals were unimpressive.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played a majority of the games and people can call me the No. 1 guy if they want, but I&rsquo;m not taking it for granted,&rdquo; Mason said. &ldquo;I like being called that, people saying &lsquo;You&rsquo;re the Caps&rsquo; No. 1 goalie,&rsquo; because that&rsquo;s what I always wanted to hear. And it&rsquo;s nice to play most of the games.&ldquo;But I know what I have to do. I have to play well every night. If I do that, I&rsquo;ll keep playing. If I don&rsquo;t, they&rsquo;ll make a change. For now, though, it is exciting.&rdquo;Mason works as hard in practice as he does in the games. He has been criticized in the past for a bit of a lackadaisical attitude and with a major breakthrough near, he is not about to give anyone an excuse to bypass him again.&ldquo;Some goaltenders can float through practice, but I think you practice like you play,&rdquo; Mason said. &ldquo;You can develop bad habits in practice, so I try to play the same way in practice as I do in a game.&rdquo;With rare exceptions, his play in both has been excellent. If it continues, he not only will remain No. I, but he can look forward to a big bonus in June. Mason will become a free agent without compensation and the resulting auction would be welcomed by a guy who so recently seemed headed for other employment.CAPSULES&mdash;Dave Christian&rsquo;s 15th goal was the winner in a 3-2 game at Buffalo. It also was his 12th on the road&hellip;Bob Gould scored goals in four straight games for what he believed was the first time since youth hockey. Kelly Miller earned the first assist on all four&hellip;Larry Murphy reeled off a six-game point streak and continued to lead the team with 47 points&hellip;Mike Ridley had a point in each game as Washington won five in a row and closed within three points of the second-place Islanders. &#9632;

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Caps’ Mason Back From Seeming Oblivion

<div class="byline">BY JEFF GORDON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011394/5257183-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div><h2>Blues&rsquo; Center Fills A Void</h2>Gord Wood isn&rsquo;t surprised that Doug Gilmour is holding together the injury-ravaged St. Louis Blues.Wood, now scouting for the Ontario League&rsquo;s Kingston Canadians, considers Gilmour one of the most fierce and ambitious players he&rsquo;s ever seen.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a killer,&rdquo; said the colorful Wood. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;d seen him when I first saw him&hellip;you&rsquo;d never believe it.&rdquo;Both are natives of Kingston, so Wood has followed Gilmour&rsquo;s development closely. Gilmour was a subcompact defenseman who had to weave through a maze of frustrations to become a star center.&ldquo;Everybody looked at me as too small,&rdquo; Gilmour said. &ldquo;It just took me a little longer to mature. I was still growing. I was 5-foot-l in Grade 9. It gave me more incentive. It made me work harder. My parents pushed me. My brother (David, a former World Hockey Association player) pushed me. Some people were always on my back.&rdquo;It was Wood who insisted Gilmour switch positions. It was Wood who rescued Gilmour from midget hockey, landing him a Tier II job in Belleville after he quit Kingston&rsquo;s Jr. B team.And it was Wood who gave Gilmour his biggest break, drafting him for the Cornwall Royals, where he played alongside Dale Hawerchuk on a Memorial Cup winner and became a star.Gilmour rewarded Wood with 177 points&mdash;he scored in a then-major junior-record 55 straight games&mdash;in 1983 and was named the Ontario League&rsquo;s most outstanding player.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;If it hadn&rsquo;t been for Doug this year, we wouldn&rsquo;t be anywhere near .500.&rsquo;&mdash;Federko</blockquote>Now, in his fourth National Hockey League season, Gilmour has emerged as one of the league&rsquo;s top 10 scorers and one of its better two-way players. After scoring 53, 57 and 53 points in his first three seasons, Gilmour had 20 goals and 37 assists in his first 44 games this season.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an unusual case,&rdquo; Wood said. &ldquo;I tell many, many kids about his case. He is just never going to let somebody get ahead of him. He is just so determined it&rsquo;s unbelievable. And he has terrific amounts of ability.&rdquo;Wood has many Gilmour stories, but his favorite concerns a 1981 Memorial Cup victory against Kitchener.The game was tied 2-2 but Cornwall was lifeless. Lifeless, that is, except for Gilmour.&ldquo;He went out and scored a goal, made it 3-2, and we never looked back,&rdquo; Wood said. &ldquo;There was no emotion out there but Gilmour&rsquo;s. I always gave him a lot of credit for that. He has such desire to win.&rdquo;Gilmour was 5-foot-3 when Wood first saw him play. He was 5-foot-8 and 130 pounds as a Royal. Wood called him &ldquo;Gilly&rdquo; then. Now, at 5-foot-l1 and 165 pounds, Gilmour is known as &ldquo;Killer.&rdquo;Why?&ldquo;He has a killer instinct,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; assistant coach Doug Mac Lean. &ldquo;He goes to the net, no matter what.&rdquo;&ldquo;There is nowhere on the ice that Doug Gilmour can&rsquo;t go if he wants to go there,&rdquo; general manager Ron Caron said. &ldquo;He can take care of himself.&rdquo;Brian Sutter gave Gilmour his nickname, which is a tribute to his determined style.&ldquo;It was turned around from Charlie,&rdquo; Gilmour explained. Sutter named him Charlie Manson. &ldquo;I was a skinny little guy with goofy-looking eyes. They took it from there.&rdquo;Gilmour is the same tenacious player that Wood admired. Since he isn&rsquo;t strong or fast and his shot won&rsquo;t pierce the net Gilmour is easy to overlook.Many have.But he is clever, creative and, above everything else, competitive. This season the Blues have lost Sutter, Rob Ramage, Bernie Federko, Eddy Beers, Jocelyn Lemieux, Mark Reeds and now Ron Flockhart for extended periods.They could have fallen well out of the Norris Division race, such as it is, by early January. But Gilmour wouldn&rsquo;t let them.&ldquo;If it hadn&rsquo;t been for Doug this year, we wouldn&rsquo;t be anywhere near .500,&rdquo; Federko said. &ldquo;We would have been so far behind we might have been forced to make some deals.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s carried the club. He&rsquo;s playing unbelievably. No question, he&rsquo;s playing as well as anybody in the league. He takes charge. He doesn&rsquo;t wait for somebody else to do something.&rdquo;In his first three seasons with the Blues, Gilmour was used primarily in a defensive role.<h2>Crossroads Reached In Playoffs Last Year</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011242/5257176-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="1488" height="1740"><figcaption class="caption-body">The superb play of Doug Gilmour has helped make up for the absence of captain Brian Sutter, above, sidelined with a shoulder injury.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;When he first came, he came into a checking role,&rdquo; Federko said. &ldquo;They made him play all the toughest centers. He did a great, great job. And the goals he scored, the plays he set up&hellip;you knew he was going to be an excellent hockey player.&rdquo;Gilmour showed his potential in last season&rsquo;s playoffs, when his 21 points helped the Blues reach the seventh game of the Stanley Cup semi-finals.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been phenomenal,&rdquo; then-coach Jacques Demers said during the post-season. &ldquo;In my mind, there is no doubt it will carry over to next year. He&rsquo;s going to be the next star on this hockey club. He&rsquo;s the next Bernie Federko of this hockey club.&rdquo;Demers was a seer. When Jacques Martin replaced Demers as coach, he made Gilmour&rsquo;s scoring development a priority.&ldquo;Jacques changed my role,&rdquo; Gilmour said. &ldquo;I was just a defensive player. Jacques Demers would not let me carry the puck in. Now I can I can go in and try to make a play.Another factor was the four-year deal Gilmour signed this summer. He was hoping to buy a new house and settle here with his wife Robyne and daughter, Madison.When contract negotiations bogged down, he nearly called a press conference to complain. And he decided against buying the house until his future was settled.Then Caron came up with a deal that would reward Gilmour for stepping forward with his career. He had the incentive and the obligation, he realized, to become a star.&ldquo;I just signed for four years and I signed for big money,&rdquo; Gilmour said. &ldquo;I have to prove myself all over again. If I don&rsquo;t, I&rsquo;ll be the first guy gone. Mr. Caron called me in. He told me my responsibility was to be a leader. That&rsquo;s what he expects, and that&rsquo;s what I expect, too.&rdquo;Caron is delighted with the way Gilmour responded.&ldquo;He came to a crossroads,&rdquo; Caron said. &ldquo;He emerged from the playoffs very successful, tied with Bernie for the most points. Now he had a new coach, a new opportunity, more ice time.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very pleased with his achievement this year. He has the skills and he has so much confidence in his skills. Hi is maturing, both mentally and physically.&rdquo;Wood believes Gilmour could be one of the league&rsquo;s top guns.&ldquo;He could probably be three times as good with an offensive team,&rdquo; Wood said. &ldquo;Give him breathing room and he&rsquo;ll play like hell. He&rsquo;d make a lot more plays, set up a lot more goals.&rdquo;Gilmour shrugs off projections of his future.&ldquo;I just go out there and try to play every game,&rdquo; Gilmour said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to put my foot in the mouth and say I&rsquo;m going to get 100 points this season. You should never say you&rsquo;re going to go out and do it. You just have to go out and do it.&rdquo;<h2>BLUES&rsquo; LEADER</h2>A spectacular scorer in junior, center Doug Gilmour has become the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; leading offensive force during his fourth year in the National Hockey League. &#9632;

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Gilmour New Spirit of St. Louis

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011328/5257214-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div>WHAT A SHAME that it took a member of the mass media, Al Strachan, to point out the deficiencies of the NHL&rsquo;s public relations prowess (THN, Dec. 26).Strachan did an excellent job of pointing out the NHL&rsquo;s glaring public relations shortcomings, which have contributed to its declining visibility as an entertaining sport. His message should signal a strong warning to the league&rsquo;s power brokers.The National Hockey League has no one to blame but itself for its dubious ranking among other major spectator sports. It simply does not take the time and effort to publicize itself.Meanwhile, other major leagues are aggressively and creatively promoting their sports and personalities. Why can&rsquo;t the NHL do the same, especially with an office located in a veritable hub of marketing and public relations activity&mdash;New York City. It is high time that the NHL begin to take a more aggressive role in making its presence known.And while we&rsquo;re at it, let&rsquo;s appoint someone as the NHL&rsquo;s lead spokesperson in place of the muted John Ziegler. By doing this, we&rsquo;ll have someone who can defend the sport of hockey against political zealots such as Boston mayor Raymond Flynn&mdash;a public relations opportunity left unseized as cited by Bob McKenzie in his column in the Jan. 9 edition of THN.Expansion into growth markets such as Dallas wouldn&rsquo;t be a bad idea, either, especially with the number of individuals who have relocated to this North Texas metropolis from hockey cities. Contrary to reports in THN, the exhibition game last fall did not sell out because of Wayne Gretzky. Rather, there is a growing number of hockey fans in this sports-crazed populace.The alternative to these measures is to sit back and watch the league slip further in terms of mass popularity, and settle for a mere cult following.Michael A. Stem, Dallas, TX<h2>ROOKIE RUMBLINGS</h2>On a recent ESPN NHL broadcast, one of the announcers stated that Philadelphia&rsquo;s Ron Hextall is the leading candidate for the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year. If the writers who vote on this one don&rsquo;t act prudently, the Los Angeles Kings will suffer once more from poor media exposure. Clearly, the top NHL rookie this year is Kings&rsquo; forward Luc Robitaille.The most important evidence of this is that Robitaille is far more valuable to his team than Hextall is to his. While the Flyers will wind up with approximately the same number of points as last season, the Kings appear headed for a .500 year after having only 54 points in &rsquo;85-86. Putting on a stellar rookie performance is far more difficult on a team with less talent.Jay D. McFadyen, Aurora, CO<h2>HOOKY OR HOCKEY</h2>We fans are being robbed of the art of hockey by all the infractions that are being permitted right before the referees&rsquo; eyes&mdash;a policy that probably came from higher league officials.The probable reasons:1) Officials do not want to disturb the flow of the game. (A game of constant hooking, holding the body and most ludicrous of all&mdash;holding the opponent&rsquo;s stick, plus the many infractions of violence.)2) Officials do not want to affect the outcome, but actually do by nullifying skillful offensive players with non-calls.This policy must change and a new one should be put in effect beginning with 1987-88 exhibition games. Players aware of probable calls will change their ways and the art and skill will come forth.Lou Noritz, Brooklyn, NY &#9632;

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Public Relations Disaster: That’s What The NHL Is

Let 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;

FAN FORUM

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021099/5257269-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="388" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie</figcaption></div>KEN DRYDEN DESCRIBES himself as being &ldquo;between jobs.&rdquo; Good thing, because &ldquo;unemployed&rdquo; hardly seems appropriate.If he were still a world-class goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens, he would be in the pose.Standing tall, arms folded across the top of his big goal stick, surveying the situation, catching his breath and pondering the next challenge coming his way.But Dryden no longer plays the game. At least, not the way he did before.&ldquo;I still love to play,&rdquo; says the defenseman in a Toronto Monday night league. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny. When I played goal I used to think, but for my goalie pads I could be up there making all the right plays.&ldquo;Now, I can see the player to whom I want to make a pass. But somehow, it doesn&rsquo;t get there. I&rsquo;ve got this blind spot. I can&rsquo;t believe where the opposition player comes from to intercept the pass. I don&rsquo;t see how I don&rsquo;t make the right play&rdquo;We have, then, found the Hall of Fame netminder&rsquo;s weakness&mdash;headmanning the puck in recreational hockey.For everything else, it seems, comes naturally to the intelligent man who stands above the crowd, both literally and figuratively.All-star netminder. Lawyer. Best-selling author.What&rsquo;s next?&ldquo;I guess you could say I&rsquo;m on my way to the next thing,&rdquo; he says obliquely. &ldquo;Mostly, I&rsquo;m sorting out what&rsquo;s next. Negotiating and discussing&hellip;I suppose that I&rsquo;d like to continue doing government-related work.&rdquo;He has just finished a two-year appointment as Ontario Youth Commissioner, a position that gave him a unique perspective on two major social concerns&mdash;education and youth employment/unemployment.The fruits of his labor have been plentiful. On the tangible side, there is an in-depth report that insists there are grave problems facing the youth of today. The intangibles are, Dryden says thoughtfully, &ldquo;the lessons learned today are good for tomorrow.&rdquo;Now, he&rsquo;s doing whatever he can to hammer home the message of his report. Which is, that the youth of today needs help.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m alarmed,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;in part because I didn&rsquo;t know (the extent of the situation) and in part because I didn&rsquo;t appreciate it. It&rsquo;s one thing to know in your head (there&rsquo;s a problem). It&rsquo;s another thing to feel it in your gut.&rdquo;What Dryden found was that all the programs in place are doing little to alleviate the problem of youth unemployment and that the educational system is not earning a passing grade either.&ldquo;We obviously need to approach (unemployment) in another way,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And I had no idea that so few people graduate from high school as they do. I always assumed the great majority did (graduate). It&rsquo;s funny, when I was in high school I never made the connection that in Grade 9, the classes went up to 9K or 9L, but in Grade 13, they only went to 13E. But that tells you something.&rdquo;No one has to tell Dryden what often happens to reports such as his. Especially since it is so direct in nature, suggesting that the government must boldly face the challenge of full employment and forget about patchwork programs aimed to cut unemployment by one or two per cent.&ldquo;(The report) is basically out of my hands,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I can only be as persuasive as possible. As a political challenge, it&rsquo;s easier not to set the goal. The reaction (to the report) isn&rsquo;t what I would want it to be. There have been a lot of very nice words about it. That&rsquo;s nice.&ldquo;But the big test is if the government of the day not only understands it, but is willing to do something about it. And to this point, there&rsquo;s been no suggestion as to what&rsquo;s intended.&rdquo;Perhaps his interests would be better served if he was to enter the political arena.&ldquo;If I did (become a politician), he says, &ldquo;it would be down the line. Politics has, for me, been (considered as) an eventual career. Right now, though, I&rsquo;ve got a lot of things to do, experiences to be had and views to be challenged. I need time to sort out what I really believe in.&rdquo;In the meantime, he&rsquo;ll keep making all the right moves&mdash;except maybe in the Monday night league.You can hear THN Editor-in-Chief Bob McKenzie on mid-week Toronto Maple Leaf broadcasts on the Telemedia Maple Leaf radio network. &#9632;

f0008-02

Dryden Makes The Right Moves—Off The Ice

<div class="byline">COMPILED BY RICHARD BEALES Copy Editor</div>Does the National Collegiate Athletic Association have the right to disallow hockey players who have played on major junior teams, but who have accepted no compensation for their efforts?We&rsquo;ll soon find out, now that the Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, has heard the details of the Peter Karmanos III case.Karmanos, son of the president of Detroit&rsquo;s Compuware Corporation, was denied the right to play for the University of Michigan hockey team, after playing 40 games for the Quebec League&rsquo;s Verdun Jr. Canadiens, during the 1983-84 season.&ldquo;He signed a standard players&rsquo; contract,&rdquo; says Karmanos&rsquo; lawyer, Jeff Heldt. &ldquo;But it was doctored in his case to indicate he was to receive absolutely nothing&hellip;absolutely not a penny.&ldquo;However, the NCAA has an eligibility rule that says knowing participation on a team deemed to be professional makes you a professional, and disqualifies you from collegiate eligibility.&rdquo;Players in the QMJHL, like all three major junior leagues, permit players to accept money for tuition and room and board. In the eyes of the NCAA, that plus the fact some major junior players have signed National Hockey League contracts makes the league professional.&ldquo;Our position was that the NCAA was denying Peter his constitutional right to associate freely with people of his own choosing,&rdquo; Heldt says.Since he accepted no compensation whatsoever during his year in Verdun, the lawyer argues, the NCAA can&rsquo;t call him a professional.Karmanos is now a junior at Michigan. Heldt says his chances of making the team next year are slim, even if the appeal court overrules an earlier district court decision to uphold Michigan&rsquo;s denial of eligibility.&ldquo;As a walk-on senior, he&rsquo;ll have some hurdles to overcome. Even on a best-case basis, it&rsquo;s unlikely that he will play.&rdquo;Heldt expects a ruling to come down sometime between March and June. He also expects to see the losing side apply for a review by the Supreme Court of the United States.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011299/5257300-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="590" height="984"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Messier was among those on an unofficial list of Rendezvous candidates.</figcaption></div><h2>DINO SNUBBED?</h2>Surprise, surprise, Wayne Gretzky will be a member of Team Rendezvous after all.The Oilers&rsquo; Gretzky, running away with the NHL scoring &ldquo;race&rdquo; again this year, finished second to Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Mario Lemieux in fan voting for the starting center position.But according to a list obtained by Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette, the Rendez-vous co-operative of eight NHL general managers decided the seven-time Hart Trophy winner would make a fair addition to the team that will play the Soviets in a two-game exhibition series, Feb. 11 and 13 in Quebec City.Gretzky and 23 other players were named, bringing Team Rendez-vous&rsquo; working roster to 30, including the six voted to positions by the fans.Omissions from the list included Winnipeg&rsquo;s Dale Hawerchuk and Minnesota&rsquo;s Dino Ciccarelli, who ranked third and fourth, respectively, in league scoring as of Jan. 26. That was no guarantee, however, that they would not be on the final list.The NHL announced it will release its official list of 25 players&mdash;which may include some players not on the Fisher list, information director Gary Meagher said&mdash;in time for next week&rsquo;s Feb. 13 edition of THN.Including the players voted to the team, here is the working roster of 30 obtained by Fisher:CENTER&mdash;Gretzky, Edmonton; Lemieux, Pittsburgh; Dave Poulin, Philadelphia; Denis Savard, Chicago; Brent Sutter, Islanders; Bryan Trottier, Islanders.LEFT WING&mdash;Glenn Anderson, Edmonton; Wendel Clark, Toronto; Michel Goulet, Quebec; Mark Messier, Edmonton; Kirk Muller, New Jersey.RIGHT WING&mdash;Mike Bossy, Islanders; Kevin Dineen, Hartford; Tim Kerr, Philadelphia; Jari Kurri, Edmonton; Tomas Sandstrom, Rangers.DEFENSE&mdash;Ray Bourque, Boston; Chris Chelios, Montreal; Paul Coffey, Edmonton; Craig Hartsburg, Minnesota; Mark Howe, Philadelphia; Rick Green, Montreal; Al Maclnnis, Calgary; Brad McCrimmon, Philadelphia; Mike Ramsey, Buffalo; Larry Robinson, Montreal; Scott Stevens, Washington.GOAL&mdash;Grant Fuhr, Edmonton; Clint Malarchuk, Quebec; Patrick Roy, Montreal.<h2>JUNIORS CLEARED</h2>Members of the Soviet Union&rsquo;s national junior team are once again free to play hockey.The Soviet Hockey Federation, which suspended the players following their Jan. 4 brawl with Canada at the World Junior Championships in Czechoslovakia, has decided to let them play, on probation, with their club teams.The original penalties will be enforced only if &ldquo;a player violates regulations in any of the matches&rdquo; during the rest of this season. The Soviets had originally banned all of the players for the remainder of the season, with seven players assessed additional bans for all of the 1987-88 season.<h2>LAFLEUR WANTS HABS</h2>Guy Lafleur has made his peace with the Montreal Canadiens.The retired superstar right winger&mdash;who quit a public-relations job with the Habs after a squabble over salary&mdash;is ready to rejoin the club&rsquo;s front office after 16 months away.Lafleur, a three-time NHL scoring champ in his glory days with the Canadiens, called club president Ronald Corey and asked for a meeting to clear the air.After the meeting, Corey said Lafleur will be welcomed back to the club. The two will meet further to discuss an appropriate position for Lafleur, who has suggested he would like a full-time job in public relations, marketing or administration.<h2>NO BOWL COMPETITION</h2>For the second year in a row, the National Hockey League&rsquo;s 21 member teams played it safe on Super Sunday.The decision to schedule no games on Sunday, Jan. 25, was made by team owners and not by the NHL, says league administration director Phil Scheuer.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the league that does it,&rdquo; the schedule-maker says, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s just that the teams don&rsquo;t give me that date.&rdquo;Next year, he hints, we&rsquo;re almost certain to see at least one game. &#9632;

f0009-01

Former Junior Fights NCAA Rules

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011368/5257331-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="336" height="450"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Fischler</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s time for our annual update on fighting in the NHL. For that we have the two best consultants on biff-bam-and-bop available&mdash;Sandy Vigilante and Mark Topaz. Between them, they have more than 2.000 hockey fights in their video collection and have been keeping a close watch on ice fisticuffs this year.&ldquo;I was worried when the NHL threatened to eliminate fighting,&rdquo; admits the 29-year-old Topaz, a Rockaway, N.Y., television production aide, &ldquo;but once the season started it was pretty clear we&rsquo;d have some pretty good bouts.&rdquo;Vigilante, a Nutley, New Jersey postman, is equally thrilled that the NHL&rsquo;s anti-violence stance has had no appreciable impact on the likes of Rick Tocchet, Dave Brown, Brian Curran and Wendel Clark.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had some good ones this year,&rdquo; says Vigilante, whose meticulous card file indicates he now has more than 200 hours of fights in his archives. &ldquo;But the best was Tocchet and Clark. They went toe-to-toe. A pair of really tough characters and neither one would give an inch.&rdquo;Pressed to list some of the other &ldquo;Best Fights of 1986-87,&rdquo; Vigilante obliges:1) SHANE CHURLA (Whalers) vs. JAY MILLER (Bruins): &ldquo;The two went at it until they couldn&rsquo;t go anymore.&rdquo;2) JAY MILLER vs. DAVE BROWN (Flyers): &ldquo;Up until this fight, I had never seen Brown lose a bout as one-sided as this. Miller went at him with both hands and was clearly the winner. I call this an upset.&rdquo;3) BRIAN CURRAN (Islanders) vs. KEVIN MCCLELLAND (Oilers): &ldquo;There was no definite winner, but the beauty of it was that a lot of hands were being thrown in a short space of time.&rdquo;4) JOHN KORDIC (Canadiens) vs. JAY MILLER: &ldquo;Kordic won this one, but as everyone knows. Miller really can throw them.&rdquo;The 33-year-old Vigilante has been collecting hockey fights on tape since 1978 and admits he has seen some of the former champs go out to pasture. Dave Semenko, the Oiler-turned-Whaler is one of them.&ldquo;Semenko has mellowed,&rdquo; says Vigilante. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not as enthused as he used to be and I imagine age has something to do with it. He did pound Jerome Dupont during an exhibition game, but then again, who doesn&rsquo;t?&rdquo;Nick Fotiu is another who, as Sandy puts it, has become &ldquo;more of a peacemaker than a fighter.&rdquo;Like an art collector who has discovered a new painter, Vigilante is tickled when a new slugger such as the Whalers&rsquo; Shane Churla emerges.Churla is Topaz&rsquo;s and Vigilante&rsquo;s kind of guy. He&rsquo;s 6-foot-l, 210 pounds, and had 249 AHL penalty minutes in only 24 games when he was elevated to Hartford. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a tough kid,&rdquo; Vigilante says, &ldquo;and nobody has dominated him yet. He&rsquo;s much tougher than Torrie Robertson (injured Whaler toughie), that wrestler!&rdquo;Unfortunately for Sandy, he is in no position to book bouts, but he allows that his idea of a good heavyweight card would feature Larry Playfair of the Kings and Jim Kyte of the Jets. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re both pure free-swingers,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;Another one I&rsquo;d like to see is Dave Richter (Canucks) and Kordic.&rdquo;Vigilante and Topaz are reluctant to name a &ldquo;Heavyweight Champion of the NHL,&rdquo; but both have a soft spot for hard-nosed Larry Playfair.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re talking about longevity,&rdquo; says Vigilante, &ldquo;then Clark Gillies (Sabres) has to get top billing because he&rsquo;s been around so long and on the top of everybody&rsquo;s list for so long.&rdquo;Topaz: &ldquo;Bob Nystrom once broke Playfair&rsquo;s nose, but other than that, I can&rsquo;t think of another fight he&rsquo;s lost. Larry is one guy in the NHL that others fear.&rdquo;Vigilante begs to differ. &ldquo;Playfair was beaten twice&mdash;once being knocked out by Jimmy Mann in Winnipeg and also by Kevin McClelland in Los Angeles.&rdquo;According to Topaz, there are two types of fighters.&ldquo;Type one is the guy who really enjoys fighting. Two examples are Dave Williams (Kings) and Joe Kocur (Red Wings).&ldquo;Type two is the guy who fights because it is his job to protect his teammates, not because he likes fighting, but because he has to. Examples are Dave Semenko and Clark Gillies.&rdquo;Topaz does not have to review any films to answer the question, who was the best fighter, pound-for-pound in NHL history.&ldquo;Garry Howatt, when he played for the Islanders, was the best small fighter there was. The thing about Howatt was that he never lost to any guy his size. I&rsquo;m talking about tough opponents like Stan Jonathan&mdash;who nearly killed big Pierre Bouchard in a playoff fight&mdash;Terry Ruskowski and Dennis Polonich; all very good fighters. The only time Howatt got beat was when the other guy was much bigger and stronger. But even then&mdash;before the league put in a no-hair-pulling-rule&mdash;Garry could pull them down to his level. He used to beat up all the big fellows, but after the &lsquo;Garry Howatt Rule&rsquo; he began to lose fights.&rdquo;The Howatt of today, according to Topaz, is George McPhee of the Rangers.&ldquo;He had a draw last year with Bob Nystrom, who&rsquo;s one of the best ever. McPhee also had two great fights with Rick Tocchet, cutting him badly in the second bout. His only real loss was against John Kordic, and the linesmen had him tied up while Kordic was loose!&rdquo;Worried sick last summer that the NHL was serious about enacting a fighting ban, Topaz and Vigilante now realize, as most fans do, that the league was only kidding. The NHL boxing market has, in fact, been bullish all year.&ldquo;I would say,&rdquo; Topaz concludes, &ldquo;that Dave Schultz and Garry Howatt would be right at home in the NHL this year.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0010-01

Howatt Called Best Pound For Pounding

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021048/5257362-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="583" height="750"><figcaption class="caption-body">Craig Wolanin&rsquo;s second-season development has been enormously disappointing.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03684/5257369-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="178" height="136"></div>EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.&mdash;Ask Greg Adams about the check from Dale Hawerchuk and he won&rsquo;t be able to tell you a thing.His memory of Hawerchuk&rsquo;s crunching hit, which left him crumpled along the boards in front of the home bench at Meadowlands Arena, has all but been erased.Doug Carpenter isn&rsquo;t so lucky. The frustrated coach recalls all too vividly the Jan. 16 loss to Winnipeg which knocked out Adams, and the back-to-back losses to Washington which followed.Once again, the Devils had dropped into the Patrick Division basement. Some memory loss might sound appealing to Carpenter at this point of the season.After a three-game losing streak and a 2-10-3 record over the last 15 games, Carpenter was left searching for answers.&ldquo;You can look for all kinds of excuses,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m not going to look for an excuse. I&rsquo;d like to sit down and come up with a rational explanation rather than excuses.&rdquo;The rational explanation is the Devils have been getting shaky goaltending from once-reliable Alain Chevrier, and there isn&rsquo;t a defenseman on the team who has played well. Craig Wolanin, touted as New Jersey&rsquo;s Denis Potvin/Rod Langway/Larry Robinson, may instead be one step away from a demotion to Maine. There, he might regain his confidence and rookie-season form.There has been little defensive support from the team&rsquo;s forwards.&ldquo;When you give up six goals here and there,&rdquo; said Mark Johnson, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re not going to win many hockey games. Not this time of year. We&rsquo;ve got to win 4-2 or 5-3.&rdquo;Johnson expressed fear that the entire season is on the verge of slipping away.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to be afraid of that right now,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to be scratching and fighting, not only for the playoffs but for our jobs. If we&rsquo;re not ready and in position at the all-star break to make a charge in March, I&rsquo;m sure there are going to be some changes. We&rsquo;ve got to push. The alert sign has got to go up right now.&rdquo;Several players confided, off the record, that perhaps a lack of change is part of New Jersey&rsquo;s problem. While the Capitals acquired several new faces and escaped the cellar, and the Rangers completely revamped their roster, Devils&rsquo; GM Max McNab has been sitting tight.&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t we ever get a Bobby Carpenter or a Bob Froese or a Tony McKegney or even a Ron Duguay to shake things up?&rdquo; asked one of the newer Devils. &ldquo;I guess that&rsquo;s the history of this franchise.&rdquo;Meanwhile, even the players they have can&rsquo;t stay healthy. Joe Cirella remained out with a broken foot, Mel Bridgman was playing (poorly) with a fractured foot, and Timo Blomqvist had been in and out of the lineup with various injuries. Adams and goalie Craig Billington were removed from the Meadowlands Arena on stretchers, in back-to-back games.The injury to Adams, a concussion which put him in the hospital for three nights, occurred at 6:43 of the first period. Reaching for a puck along the boards, Adams was decked by Hawerchuk and knocked unconscious.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t remember anything,&rdquo; said Adams. &ldquo;The last thing I remember is Patty (Verbeek) scoring (at 4:13). The rest is all really one blur to me now.&rdquo;The Devils could have used him. After they extended their lead to 2-0, Winnipeg came back to win 5-4.Adams regained consciousness in the dressing room and thought he would be able to play again, but he spent the next three nights at Riverside Hospital in Secaucus for a CAT scan, X-rays and various tests.Billington was not hurt as seriously, but his Jan. 18 injury looked far more frightening at first. A slapshot from Washington&rsquo;s Dave Christian caught him in the forehead, opening an 18-stitch gash and leaving a bright red puddle in the goal crease.He, too, was taken off on a stretcher. His request to return was denied by doctors (New Jersey lost 6-1 with Chevrier in net for the remainder), but he played well two nights later in a 6-3 loss to the same team.&ldquo;The problem was convincing the doctors I was okay to go back in,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a head case but I wanted to convince the doctors I was okay to at least sit on the bench. They didn&rsquo;t buy it. They thought I was still in shock.&rdquo;The shot cracked Billington&rsquo;s plastic helmet.&ldquo;Fortunately it wasn&rsquo;t in my eye,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A forehead can be stitched. That&rsquo;s part of the game: It really is. That&rsquo;s old time hockey.&rdquo;HOT STUFF&mdash;Craig Billington said his total of 37 stitches for the season leads NHL goalies&hellip;Anders Carlsson was recalled from Maine Jan. 18. &#9632;

f0010-02

No Excuses, No Solutions For Devils Slide

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011247/5257400-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="180" height="135"></div>EDMONTON&mdash;You think the Wayne Gretzky scenerio isn&rsquo;t occasionally mystifying?Well, it doesn&rsquo;t get much more bizzare than this&hellip;Six years ago to the day of the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; lone visit of the year&mdash;Jan. 24&mdash;Gretzky was deprived of a legitimate goal against goaltender Gilles Meloche, then in the employ of the Minnesota North Stars.No. 99 owed Meloche one from 1981.Gretzky unveiled a goal out of the twilight zone against Meloche, staking the Oilers to a 2-0 lead in a high-profile National Hockey League fixture won 4-2 by Edmonton.Eyes throughout the league were focused on the match for two reasons: (1) The Oilers had the opportunity to pull into a first-place overall tie with the Philadelphia Flyers, whom they&rsquo;d trailed since Day One; and (2) Another head-to-head collision between Gretzky and Mario Lemieux was featured.A couple of youngsters clad in Penguin jerseys also were in on the act, revealing a sign: Lemieux: The choice of a new generation.But, it boiled down to Gretzky vs Meloche.With the Oilers leading I-0 and killing a penalty, Meloche gloved a Randy Gregg shot and hung onto it for what seemed an enternity. Referee Bill McCreary urged Meloche to play the puck.&ldquo;The referee tells me. It was in your glove, but you didn&rsquo;t have control,&rsquo; &ldquo;fumed Meloche.&rdquo; I saw Gretz coming and I was waiting for the whistle, but he wouldn&rsquo;t blow it. Well, he can stick his whistle up his a-.&rdquo;Gretzky, who also assisted on the other three Edmonton goals, couldn&rsquo;t understand the fuss that also netted Meloche a misconduct penalty.&ldquo;I was a good 10 feet back and the referee kept hollering for him to move the puck,&rdquo; said Gretzky of his leagueleading sixth shorthanded goal. &ldquo;His glove was open and I kind of scooped it out and went around the net&hellip;&rdquo;And, made the deposit for No. 48 in 49 games and 21st in his last 17.The incident in question six years ago occurred when Gretzky fired the puck through the net at the Met Center&mdash;the one and only time in eight NHL campaigns he&rsquo;s been robbed of a bona fide score.&ldquo;I remember scoring the goal, we&rsquo;ve been talking about it for a few years now,&rdquo; said Gretzky. &ldquo;I remember Gillie telling me that it was in. But I really didn&rsquo;t know because I had turned away. Besides, I didn&rsquo;t believe him because I shot it from the blue line and my shots from the blue line&hellip;&ldquo;Oh well, now we&rsquo;re even.&rdquo;Gretzky was primed for the collision with Lemieux, the heir apparent to his throne who missed 13 games with a knee injury. In his third game back, Lemieux was held to one assist. That was one more than he managed in the season&rsquo;s lone previous head-to-head confrontation&mdash;also a 4-2 Edmonton win Dec. 5 in Pittsburgh.Lemieux has been a winner in one such meeting. On Jan. 22, 1986, he led the Penguins to a 7-4 upset with four assists here. When Gretzky was chosen the third star, he was booed by the local populace, disgruntled by the fact the Oilers had dropped their second straight game at home.In four meetings since, Gretzky has outscored Lemieux 13 points to three.&ldquo;Wayne is unreal. When he&rsquo;s going nobody can catch him,&rdquo; observed Penguins&rsquo; Willy Lindstrom, a former Oiler. &ldquo;He wanted the puck all night long and kept it as long as he wanted. That&rsquo;s his strong side&mdash;challenges. He likes somebody to challenge him. It&rsquo;s a good way to keep him going.&rdquo;Lemieux couldn&rsquo;t help but notice either.&ldquo;I think he wanted to prove something,&rdquo; understated Lemieux, who outdistanced Gretzky by a landslide in voting for Rendez-vous &rsquo;87. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s always fun playing against him.&rdquo;Other Penguins didn&rsquo;t think so, even defenseman Randy Hillier, who caught Gretzky with a clean check at the blue line. &ldquo;Unfortunately, I think I woke him up,&rdquo; sighed Hillier.Co-coach/general manager Glen Sather felt the Lemieux-Gretzky matchup was taken upon as a challenge by the entire Oiler lineup.&ldquo;Wayne has a tremendous amount of pride, as everybody knows,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;But the guys on this team are proud of Wayne, too.&rdquo;Gretzky admitted there was no shortage of help.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot said in the papers about comparisons, but this team doesn&rsquo;t say much, they just take it on as a job,&rdquo; said Gretzky, who moved within eight points of fourth-place Stan Mikita (1.467) on the career list. &ldquo;I think they take it on as a challenge more than I do. Guys like Kevin (Lowe) and Mark (Messier) seem to get more lifted than I do.&rdquo;IN THE CREASE&mdash;Wayne Gretzky moved into third place in career assists with 930, surpassing Stan Mikita (926)&hellip;Paul Coffey&rsquo;s back spasms acted up, forcing the veteran defenseman to miss games against the Rangers and Pittsburgh. Coffey was replaced by longtime defense partner Charlie Huddy, who was seeing his first action since Dec. 23. &#9632;

f0011-01

Six Years To The Day, Gretzky Gets Even

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011342/5257431-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="370" height="422"><figcaption class="caption-body">Frank Orr</figcaption></div>&ldquo;AH, DOCTOR ORR,&nbsp;learned shaman of shinny, profound prognosticator of the puck, the new year has offered only happenings that juxtapose snow on the picture of my screen of hockey clarity. My fine-tuning needs adjustment and only you, with your perspecuity, can do it. &ldquo;&ldquo;Well, the wise doctor is happy to offer aid and sustenance in your time of need and puzzlement. But a word of caution: Some occurences in the vast world of hockey defy clarification, even by the most all-knowing such as 1. If even a substantial presence such as Alan Eagleson doesn&rsquo;t seem fully clued in, what hope is there for we mere mortals? Now what&rsquo;s your problem?&rdquo;&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t believe that the fans around the NHL did not pick Wayne Gretzky as the top center for the all-star game but voted for Mario Lemieux instead. How is such a thing possible?&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s known as the No. 99 Too-Much Syndrome in certain psychological circles. People become saturated with a name&mdash;there are days in the scoring summaries when Gretzky gets assists, all legitimate ones, of course, in games in which Edmonton Oilers aren&rsquo;t involved&mdash;and when people have had enough, they lash out any way they can. In other circles, it&rsquo;s known as stupidity. Or nastiness.&rdquo;&ldquo;Why wouldn&rsquo;t Lemieux decline the honor?&rdquo;&ldquo;The bad thing about all this is that some Gretzky supporters are attaching some sort of blame to Lenieux for the final count. Did they think Lemieux went around to all those cities and checked off his name on thousands of ballots? The fans didn&rsquo;t say that 66 was better than 99; they only indicated that they wanted Lemieux to be the starting center for the NHL all-stars.&rdquo;&ldquo;Do you think the NHL should bother with the Soviets in the all-star game and are the players really eager to meet the Russians with two workouts as a team?&rdquo;&ldquo;They are a bother, especially on the ice, no doubt about that, but has anyone, even Don Cherry, not enjoyed NHL-USSR match-ups? The players are extremely enthusiastic about the game in Rendez-vous, especially the 425 who won&rsquo;t be chosen for the game and will have four days off. While they&rsquo;re on the beaches of Florida, Jamaica and Mexico, they&rsquo;ll all be hollering &lsquo;Go NHL go!&rsquo; &ldquo;&ldquo;What will be the NHL&rsquo;s strategy in the all-star games?&rdquo;&ldquo;The NHL coaches won&rsquo;t reveal the approach they plan to employ but a Moscow source claims that the Soviets have copies of the NHL&rsquo;s game plan. If the USSR team has a big lead, the NHL plans to initiate a bench-clearing brawl and because there are no rules to cover the situation, both sides likely will be disqualified.&rdquo;&ldquo;That&rsquo;s original.&rdquo;&ldquo;Well, nothing like it ever has happened in international hockey.&rdquo;&ldquo;I know what you&rsquo;re going to say, that there was a big bench-clearing brawl between Canada and the Soviets in the World Junior Hockey Championships. But it never happened. According to Canadian hockey officials and government people, it didn&rsquo;t really happen but was dreamed up by some bleeding heart liberals who are anti-violence.&rdquo;&ldquo;But I saw it on TV.&rdquo;&ldquo;Sure, there was an attempt by the Soviets to start something and the dignified young Canadian lads tried to resist becoming involved but to uphold their image as true humanitarians who wouldn&rsquo;t allow their fellow skaters to be picked on, they reluctantly joined in. The Canadian minister of sport said that what happened was okay and has a Conservative ever fibbed before?&rdquo;&ldquo;The Soviet juniors must have been truly dastardly to entice the clean-cut Canadian boys into anything?&rdquo;&ldquo;Not really! What&rsquo;s the easiest thing to do in hockey?&rdquo;&ldquo;Score on New Jersey Devils? Land a first-round draft choice from the Vancouver Canucks in a trade?&rdquo;&ldquo;Easy, but not close! The easiest thing in hockey is to goad an 18-year-old Canadian hockey player into a fight. You just have to look at him.&rdquo;&ldquo;Oh, Doctor, thank you for easing my mind on these matters, these heavy pressing issues. I can sleep nights now. &ldquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

Goading Canadians Into Fight Is Easy Pickings

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03751/5257462-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="584" height="978"><figcaption class="caption-body">Craig Ludwig&rsquo;s star has dimmed considerably in the eyes of coach Jean Perron.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021118/5257469-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="175" height="136"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;The mission seemed all so simple for the Montreal Canadiens.Win three straight games, including two against the Hartford Whalers, and they could put some miles between themselves and their closest pursuers in the Adams Division.It was an assignment that could have been fulfilled, but when push came to shove, it was the Canadiens getting shoved around.And to go along with the back-to-back losses to the Whalers and a 7-3 defeat in Boston, emerged some unhappiness among the troops.As a group, they did not appreciate a decision by coach Jean Perron to leave the team bus stuck in a traffic jam in snowbound Boston and walk to the Garden.When they arrived, the media members who stayed on the bus were toasty warm while the players were damp and cold and mad as heck.&ldquo;Another great decision,&rdquo; snorted veteran defenseman Larry Robinson. The bus arrived 10 minutes before the players who also didn&rsquo;t take kindly to one observer who told them they could have taken the subway to the Garden for 60 cents.Then there was the Craig Ludwig case. While the play of the former University of North Dakota star has not exactly drawn raves all season, he did come through with a fairly solid effort in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Whalers at the Forum.Two nights later in Hartford, he found out from teammate Petr Svoboda in the pre-game warm-up that he wasn&rsquo;t going to play in the rematch against the Whalers.The next day, the media was told that Ludwig would dress against the Bruins. He found out shortly before game time that his presence was not going to be required.&ldquo;I plan to have my agent call Serge Savard (managing director) to find out what&rsquo;s going on,&rdquo; said Ludwig, denying that he has asked to be traded. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to find myself in the same situation as Tom Kurvers (since traded to Buffalo), sitting out for eight or nine games and then playing one.&rdquo;Even when he is playing, Ludwig is not getting the same type of ice time he has become accustomed to in his four-plus years with the Canadiens.He has been criticized in the media for not using his 6-foot-3, 220-pound frame to punish opponents more with body checks.Ludwig is not being used on the penalty-killing unit, something he has done well in the past. Mike Lalor and Rick Green form the first penaltykilling unit on defense and recently, the second pairing has been Larry Robinson and Chris Chelios.Speaking of Chelios, he was a touch unhappy after the overtime loss against the Whalers. The coach called him in for a meeting the next day, a rather blunt and curt get-together as the coach explained he was not impressed with the fact Chelios was a minue-three against the Whalers.Chelios was even the next outing against the Whalers but took a couple of bad penalties, one of which resulted in a power-play goal by Hartford. The next night in Boston, Chelios was a minus-five against the Bruins, the first time in his professional career he&rsquo;d had such a rough night.Chelios had been playing with Ludwig before the latter was sent to the designated sitter area in Hartford. Ludwig might justifiably be wondering why he was sat out if the general perception was that he had been performing better since a Jan. 10 game against Quebec, his best outing of the season.Perron even admitted that Chelios had been struggling but decided he wanted to pair him with Petr Svoboda. The Boston loss was clear evidence that wasn&rsquo;t such a great idea.Ludwig, meanwhile, was growing impatient.&ldquo;I like playing here,&rdquo; said Ludwig. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to be like Tom and not say anything. I want to play and if I can&rsquo;t here, then I&rsquo;m sure I can play somewhere else.&rdquo;IN PASSING&mdash;Patrick Roy heard the boos from the Forum rafters for one of the rare times in his two-year career in Montreal. The sophomore goaltender was pulled after allowing four goals on 14 shots in the first 31 minutes of the Canadiens&rsquo; OT loss to the Whalers on Jan. 17. Stephane Richer suffered an eye injury when accidentally clipped by Scot Kleinendorst&rsquo;s stick late in the third period of the same game. He missed the two games in New England. &#9632;

f0012-03

Habs’ Ludwig Unhappy With Limited Role

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011265/5257500-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="179" height="139"></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Just when it appeared safe to go into the Spectrum again&hellip;Twice in six days, the Flyers were involved in multi-player fighting incidents. The team ranked ninth in penalty minutes after the pair of brawls.The first, a bench-clearer at the Spectrum against the Islanders, resulted in one-game suspensions for coaches Mike Keenan and Terry Simpson. Though the Isles&rsquo; Steve Konroyd was judged the first man off the bench by referee Dave Newell, the Isles pressed their case and convinced NHL vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill that Konroyd had been unjustly accused.O&rsquo;Neill was unable to determine exactly who had led the charge to join what was really a non-fight, which started as Brian Curran was being shoved to the penalty box. It was assumed that would be the end of the matter until O&rsquo;Neill levied the suspensions.&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s disrespectful and professionally demeaning and lacks complete logic,&rdquo; said Keenan. &ldquo;I told Brian that he was under the false impression that a coach can hold players back in those situations.&ldquo;Even if he could, it would compromise a coach&rsquo;s standing with his players. A team is outnumbered 20-to-six on the ice and the players are going to have any respect for a coach who tells them not to go?&rdquo;Keenan was also annoyed that he and Simpson were made examples, since O&rsquo;Neill had punished neither Boston&rsquo;s Terry O&rsquo;Reilly nor Montreal&rsquo;s Jean Perron, following a much uglier brawl at the Boston Garden in November.One night later, the Flyer coach was serving his suspension in the Byrne Arena pressbox, when his team again got into trouble. This time Keenan had an airtight alibi, unless he used mental telepathy to send his club onto the ice at the conclusion of a 4-3 loss to New Jersey.The second brawl started with the same principal&mdash;Kjell Samuelsson&mdash;as did the Islanders&rsquo; incident. Samuelsson was giving Bob Bassen an extra little facial rub following a check in front of the Philadelphia bench, when Brian Curran moved to intercede. Lindsay Carson, standing on the bench, took a swing at Curran and the pushing and shoving festered until the benches spilled.The fight at New Jersey, not officially a bench-clearer since the game had ended, contained more clearly-defined ugliness. It started innocently enough, with Samuelsson holding Mel Bridgman as he was trying to get to triggerman Murray Craven with four seconds left and a faceoff in the Devils&rsquo; end.Bridgman was dragged down underneath Samuelsson who, at the buzzer, pushed off. The big defenseman&mdash;who had his nose broken in the Islander game and is wearing a shield&mdash;said he was just trying to get off to go home. Bridgman viewed it as a gratuitous cross-check and shoved back. That might have been it, had not Steve Richmond then gone after Samuelsson.With the Devils already on the ice to congratulate goalie Alain Chevrier, the Flyers now had every excuse to go. Ron Hextall, who had not played in the game, seized the opportunity to go after Chevrier. The Devil netminder had done nothing more heinous than win the game.Hextall passed Billy Smith&rsquo;s mark for the most penalty minutes accrued by a goalie in a single season, when he jumped over the boards. That gave him 63 minutes.The Flyer goalie, four inches taller and 15 to 20 pounds heavier, pummelled his foe with left hands. When Hextall finally laid off, Chevrier, who had tried to fight back, kept talking.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not going to hit you anymore if you just shut up,&rdquo; said referee Don Koharski. Chevrier did, at least until he got into the locker room.&ldquo;Maybe we aren&rsquo;t allowed to beat them,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He (Hextall) was yapping at me (from the bench) the whole second period.Hextall claimed innocence.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he shrugged. &ldquo;We just went at each other.&rdquo;Eight players were given game misconducts. Rick Tocchet&rsquo;s was his third of the season, which meant a one-game suspension. That sent the Flyers to Buffalo, four nights later, short six players.Brian Propp and Ilkka Sinisalo were both still in rehabilitation after knee surgery in December. Ron Sutter&rsquo;s war with a back sprain went from day-to-day to week-to-week, as he missed his seventh straight game. Sutter&rsquo;s attempts to push himself through practice forced setbacks, so complete rest for at least a week was prescribed.In the meantime, Mark Howe, who sat out one game with recurring back problems, was laboring at about 75 per cent. Brad McCrimmon, Dave Poulin (one goal in 10 games) and Murray Craven (three in 16 games) were clearly slumping.Despite all of this, the Flyers went 7-2-2 in an 11-game span.ICEBERGS&mdash;Brian Propp began skating, amidst optimism that he might be back into the lineup in early Februrary. That would be about two weeks ahead of schedule. &#9632;

f0013-01

Have Broad Street Bullies Made Comeback?

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Tiger Williams can be as irksome off ice as he is on the pond. Kings&rsquo; broadcaster Nick Nickson says Tiger &ldquo;likes to play around&rdquo; when interviewed. &ldquo;One night,&rdquo; says Nickson, &ldquo;he called me &lsquo;Mister Nickson&rsquo; all during the interview. Another night he corrected everything I said. I said the Kings had 23 shots, but only one goal, and he said, &lsquo;Well, you&rsquo;re wrong, because I don&rsquo;t count 15 of those shots because they were wimp shots. &lsquo;I asked him another question and he said, &lsquo;I hate to correct you again&rsquo; and proceeded to talk on. I had opposing players asking for a copy of the tape the rest of the season. &ldquo;&hellip;Adirondack Red Wings&rsquo; coach Bill Dineen is ecstatic over Mark LaForest&rsquo;s goaltending. &ldquo;If he played for the Flyers,&rdquo; Dineen tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;he&rsquo;d have the same results as Ron Hextall.&rdquo;Dave Brown of the Flyers says his secret ambition is to throw batting practice for the Phillies. Brown was a pro diamond prospect when he was a teenager in Saskatchewan. &ldquo;I was a lot better baseball player than I was a hockey player,&rdquo; he allows. &ldquo;I had a scholarship offer for Georgia Southwestern College, but I figured a Canadian boy ought to play the Canadian game. I was a pretty good pitcher, though. I could throw in the mid-80s (mph).&rdquo;&hellip;Former Blackhawks&rsquo; ace Tony Esposito was inducted into the National Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame, along with Penn State coach Joe Paterno, ex-gridder Daryle Lamonica and former Yankee Vic Raschi. Tony O now works with players&rsquo; union boss Al Eagleson.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011318/5257538-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="360" height="607"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tony Esposito</figcaption></div>Islanders&rsquo; rookie coach Terry Simpson chuckles when reminded that he received an &ldquo;A&rdquo; on his report card rating from the New York Post. &ldquo;The writer (Doug Gould) gave me a high mark,&rdquo; Simpson tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;because he wants me to give him good quotes!&rdquo; Simpson adds that he believes he&rsquo;s not deserving of an &ldquo;A.&rdquo; The same paper gave Rangers&rsquo; rookie coach Tom Webster a &ldquo;C.&rdquo;&hellip;NHL scouts are zeroing in on 16-year-old Reg Savage, who plays in Sorel, Que., for the Richelieu Riverains, a midget &lsquo;AAA&rsquo; club. One reason for the attention is that Savage has starred&mdash;57 goals in 28 games&mdash;despite some heavy beatings from foes. Savage is the first black superstar to emerge in Quebec amateur hockey and his coach, John Paris, also black, says Savage is paying the price, partly because of his skin color.The U.S. Coast Guard is taking steps to formally honor its 1942 American Senior championship team on the 45th anniversary of its founding. Hall of Famer Frankie Brimsek, Art Coulter, the Rangers&rsquo; last (1940) Stanley Cup captain, and North Stars&rsquo; ass&rsquo;t. GM Johnny Mariucci were members of the Coast Guard Cutters sextet as well as NHL off-ice officials Eddie Olson (St. Louis) and Mike Nardello (New Jersey)&hellip;New England Patriots&rsquo; tight end Greg Baty went to a Bruins&rsquo; game&mdash;his first view of NHL hockey&mdash;and left in a state of amazement. &ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s happening so fast,&rdquo; says Baty, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t keep up with it, yet they managed to stay under control at that speed. It&rsquo;s easy to see that hockey players are (great) athletes, whether you understand what they&rsquo;re doing or not.&rdquo;Red Wing defenseman Mike O&rsquo;Connell laughs when recalling a recent Bruins-Wings brawl. &ldquo;I felt someone grab me real firm, then turned around, saw Ray (Bourque) and said, &lsquo;Whew, I thought it was Jay Miller!&rsquo; We both laughed. It was more like a social meeting than anything else.&rdquo;&hellip;Reflecting on his former superstar teammates&mdash;Phil Esposito, Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe&mdash;the Flames&rsquo; Nick Fotiu rates Howe at the top. &ldquo;Gordie could see everything,&rdquo; says Nick. &ldquo;He had eyes in the back of his head. Hull wasn&rsquo;t in Gordie&rsquo;s class. Gordie is Gordie. There&rsquo;s only one.&rdquo;&hellip;Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman Larry Robinson has started work on his autobiography.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021034/5257531-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="359" height="572"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike O&rsquo;Connell</figcaption></div>Bob Brooke tells people that the first comment he made to his wife after Ted Sator was fired as Rangers&rsquo; coach was that he&rsquo;d wind up coaching the Sabres. &ldquo;I predicted it, because I knew that Ted&rsquo;s style fits in perfectly with the Adams Divison-style hockey. His aggressive forechecking and conservative defensive style is ideal for the Adams.&rdquo;&hellip;Red Wing announcer Paul Chapman knocked himself out briefly at a practice. He was trying to retrieve some pucks when he fell and smacked the back of his head on a chair. He bruised his hip, Wounded his left ear and banged up his right knee. After blacking out for a few seconds, Chapman recovered and was dispatched to a hospital by Wings&rsquo; physical therapist Jim Pengelly. But Chapman didn&rsquo;t miss the evening broadcast. He admits, however, &ldquo;I slurred a few words!&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-01

Tiger Is Contrary Off The Ice…Too

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03725/5257569-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="179" height="136"></div>BUFFALO&mdash;Having spent such a long time just trying to get a hand on the knob of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s basement door, the Buffalo Sabres seem lost for a way to open it.The Sabres posted one of their most impressive victories of the season Jan. 18, when they defeated the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 in overtime.That was the good news.The bad news was they also lost two golden opportunities to not only escape the NHL basement, but also make up ground on their closest Adams Division rivals, the Quebec Nordiques.The night before they beat Edmonton, the Sabres lost 4-2 to the Canadiens in Montreal. Two nights after the Oiler game, they lost 5-0 in Minnesota.A victory at either Montreal or Minnesota not only would have pushed the Sabres past the Vancouver Canucks in their race to avoid last place overall, it also would have reduced to nine points the margin between themselves and the Nordiques.A single-digit deficit in the playoff race is something the Sabres hadn&rsquo;t seen since the early days of October. With two games in hand over the Nordiques, it made the idea of a race all the more palatable.Which is why the Sabres in general, and head coach Ted Sator in particular, were beside themselves after the Minnesota clunker.&ldquo;Winning and losing at this level isn&rsquo;t always a question of talent,&rdquo; Sator said. &ldquo;Mainly, it&rsquo;s a question of how you prepare, and I don&rsquo;t think they (the Sabres) really came to play tonight.&rdquo;That much was obvious, almost from the opening faceoff.Sator tried mightly to shoulder the blame for that&mdash;but with only a little bid of prodding, he acknowledged that he has run smack into the same problem that has befuddled a string of coaches before him.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to bury my head in the sand and pretend this thing doesn&rsquo;t exist,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m aware that from time to time a coach has to choke a performance out of his team. Every one of us has to do it once in awhile, but we have a very basic and serious problem here and it has to be addressed.&rdquo;Sator didn&rsquo;t finish, but the message was clear. One look at the scoresheet drove home his point.The Sabres were a perfect 0-for-8 on the power play, while the penalty killers allowed the North Stars to make good on three of five attempts.The team&rsquo;s top three scorers&mdash;John Tucker, Dave Andreychuk and Phil Housley&mdash;managed three shots between them. Mike Foligno chipped in with all of two shots, while Adam Creighton and Christian Ruuttu each had one.The performance was in sharp contrast to that delivered in the previous game.In that one, Creighton and Scott Arniel each had two goals and the Sabres executed to perfection, in keeping the Oilers from getting the upper hand.The wide swing in performance upset several members of the Sabres, including goaltender Tom Barrasso.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think a letdown (after the big win over Edmonton) had anything to do with it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Except for maybe a couple of guys, we really didn&rsquo;t show up to play.&rdquo;Barrasso later allowed that there was some effort out there, but added that the team can&rsquo;t win when only five or six players are giving their all.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know who played well and who played badly, but that&rsquo;s not for me to judge. I really can&rsquo;t even tell from where I am, but it&rsquo;s the same old thing with us. We have to get everybody to play hard to win. We&rsquo;ve proven we can do that. We&rsquo;ve got players who can play. Our problem is getting ourselves to do it every night.&rdquo;SABREPOINTS&mdash;The shutout was the fourth against the Sabres this season. Others were scored by Montreal (a goalless tie), Hartford and Quebec&hellip;Rookie defenseman Shawn Anderson, leveled by a hard check from Bob Rouse along the boards in front of the Minnesota bench, suffered hyperextended muscles in his back. It&rsquo;s the second time a player has been injured along the new &ldquo;dasher&rdquo; boards at the Met Center. Several player complained that the boards have absolutely no give. &#9632;

f0014-03

Buffalo Typically Uneven With Big Win, Big Losses

<div class="byline">BY GREG SCHWEM</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011236/5257600-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">A West Palm Beach police officer escorts Brian Spencer to a police car after the former NHLer was arrested on a five-year-old murder charge. Photo by Alien Eyestone</figcaption></div>WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.&mdash;The patrons at the El Cid bar knew something was up. Several had been stopped on their way to the West Palm Beach establishment by shotgun-toting sheriffs deputies who wanted to know where they were going.Inside the bar, over beers and mixed drinks, the clientele discussed the rude treatment afforded them. Most agreed the police were readying for a drug bust, an everyday occurrence in crime-plagued south Florida.Brian (Spinner) Spencer overheard most of the banter that night on Jan. 18. Spencer was drinking his usual Tanqueray and tonic with a companion. Midway through his first drink, Spencer called a cab at the bar&rsquo;s one pay phone.Minutes later, a burly man entered and yelled, &ldquo;Taxi.&rdquo;Spencer&rsquo;s companion paid for the drinks and the two left. Spencer got into the cab alone and was driven to Mt. Vernon Motor Lodge, around the corner from the El Cid.While the cab waited, Spencer, 37, went inside to talk with a friend with whom he occasionally stayed. When he returned he was suddenly surrounded by police&mdash;including the cab driver, an undercover sheriffs deputy.The beefy Spencer struggled but was quickly subdued and placed under arrest for the Feb. 4, 1982 murder of Michael James Dalfo, a former Palm Beach Gardens restaurateur and son of a prominent real estate agent.Now, the former National Hockey League journeyman sits in the severely-overcrowded Palm Beach County Jail. He will remain there until a jury decides whether to believe his Jan. 22 plea of not guilty on a charge of first-degree murder.His trial is tentatively set for May of this year.If found guilty of the charge, he faces life imprisonment or the electric chair.Detectives are tight-lipped about Spencer&rsquo;s arrest, which resulted from secret testimony presented to a grand jury last December.Detective Lt. Pat McCutcheon would only say that Spencer had been a suspect since the February day Dalfo, 29, was found near a railway track dying from two bullet wounds to his head.Detectives said the two were acquaintances and revenge may have been a motive although Dalfo&rsquo;s parents contend Spencer never knew their son.The media cannot visit Spencer. Those terms have been set down by his court-appointed attorney Barry Weinstein. Friends who shuffle in and out of the jail during visiting hours provide the best clues as to what Spencer has been doing since he left hockey in 1979 after stints with the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins.Four days after Spencer was arrested, George Stoner showed up at the jail to visit his former drinking buddy. Stoner met Spencer at a Cleveland nightclub in the late 1970s and ran into him again by sheer coincidence several years after Spencer moved to West Palm Beach from Long Island.Together, the two frequented bars like the Drexel Saloon and the Dark Horse Tavern, establishments where customers shoot pool, feed the jukebox and drink Budweiser from the bottle. It was during these forays that Stoner claims he noticed Spencer developing a passion for liquor.&ldquo;I saw him three months ago and I could tell alcohol had gotten the best of him,&rdquo; Stoney said. &ldquo;He told me he never drank until he got out of hockey.&rdquo;When Spencer moved to Florida, he lived in a mobile home in Loxahatchee, about 15 miles west of the condominiums, sprawling traffic and massive development glutting West Palm Beach.Stoner said that Spencer planned to build a home there. He cleared land for it himself but the house never was built and Stoner said he remembers Spencer saying he couldn&rsquo;t afford to pursue the project after divorcing his second wife.The address box on Spencer&rsquo;s jail booking form is blank. The warrant, charging him with Dalfo&rsquo;s murder, lists a West Palm Beach drug store as his residence. Sheriff&rsquo;s detective William Springer said Spencer used to pick up his mail at a post office box near the store and as far as investigators knew, he had no permanent home.A female jail visitor said Spencer last worked as a truck driver and was out of Florida most of the time in the months before his arrest. He worked as a mechanic from June, 1983 to Oct., 1985 at Hertz Heavy Equipment in nearby Riviera Beach (Fla.), but resigned for personal reasons,&rdquo; said Kathy Gaudreau, the firm&rsquo;s branch administrator.&ldquo;He was a very good worker and a nice person,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t know anything about what he did outside of here.&rdquo;Patrons at the El Cid, which Spencer began frequenting only weeks before his arrest, said they never knew he played hockey. Spencer never mentioned his past, even though hockey was often shown on the bar&rsquo;s television. Spencer was never boisterous, always paid his tab and never drank to excess while in the bar, one El Cid bartender said, contradicting Stoner&rsquo;s claim.People such as Stoner want to help Spencer but feel there is little they can do other than keep him in good spirits until his trial.&ldquo;Brian wants to talk,&rdquo; said Stoner. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a nice guy.&rdquo;Then, as an afterthought, he said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he could have done this.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0015-01

Former NHL Journeyman Accused of Killing Man

<div class="byline">BY HOWARD BERGER</div>To those who played alongside him, Brian Spencer was seen as a product of his environment.Former teammates on the Toronto Maple Leafs remember their young friend as a gruff, small-town kid who desperately lacked the necessary polish to cope in the big city.&ldquo;Brian was an unsophisticated kid who grew up in the backwoods (Fort St. James) of British Columbia,&rdquo; explained former Maple Leaf defenseman Bob Baun, who played with Spencer from 1970 to 1972. &ldquo;In retrospect, that&rsquo;s probably where he should have stayed.&rdquo;Teammates like Baun and Jim McKenny, who became close friends of Spencer, grew to understand that their buddy was a product of small-town Canada who had lived a hard life.McKenny recalled lending Spencer a sympathetic ear.&ldquo;Brian and I spent many hours together on the road talking about his childhood days,&rdquo; said the ex-Leaf defenseman, now a TV sportscaster in Toronto. &ldquo;And it was depressing to hear what his surroundings were like. His family was very poor, and he lived on dirt floors in a house that didn&rsquo;t have any heat or running water.&ldquo;His dad was a tough, grinding person who gave Brian a lot of attention and raised him with the attitude that &lsquo;Nobody screws around with the Spencers.&rsquo;&hellip;Off the ice, he (Brian) was a salt-of-the-earth type of guy. I really loved him.&rdquo;Spencer had no formal training in hockey and did not play his first game of organized hockey until joining the major junior Calgary Centennials at 18.Roy Edward Spencer&mdash;Brian&rsquo;s unyielding father&mdash;was his early-day coach and confidante.&ldquo;His dad had a &lsquo;Vince Lombardi-type&rsquo; attitude towards Brian,&rdquo; said Baun. &ldquo;The thought of his son one day becoming a pro hockey player was an obsession with Mr. Spencer, and he spent many nights grinding that idea into Brian&rsquo;s head.&rdquo;He was selected by Toronto in the fifth round of the 1969 amateur draft and began his pro career with the Leafs&rsquo; Central League farm team in Tulsa. During nine NHL games in 1969-70, Spencer failed to earn a point but compiled 12 penalty minutes.He began the next year in Tulsa and received his big break when Toronto played poorly over the first two months of the season. Looking for a catalyst, the Leafs called up Spencer in early December. The scrappy 21-year-old didn&rsquo;t disappoint, beating up defenseman Terry Harper during a 4-0 home-ice win over Montreal. The Maple Leafs won seven in a row and lost only once in their next 16 games.Marring that great streak was a bizarre incident that oozed of tragic irony after Spencer&rsquo;s arrest in Florida, Jan. 18, for the murder of Michael James Dalfo.The Chicago Blackhawks were in Toronto for a game on Saturday, Dec. 12, and Spencer was scheduled to appear as an intermission guest on Hockey Night In Canada, following the second period.Eagerly anticipating his son&rsquo;s TV debut, Roy Spencer grew furious on discovering that B.C. affiliates of CBC were carrying the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; home game against California.He stormed out of his house and drove for two hours to Prince George television station CKPG, where he pulled a pistol and forced employees to cut the station&rsquo;s power. After terrorizing employees for almost an hour, Spencer became embroiled in a shootout with the RCMP. He was killed at age 57.Brian was informed of the incident by his mother after the Leaf-Chicago game, but he stubbornly took part in Toronto&rsquo;s 4-0 win at Buffalo the following night and contributed three assists.Spencer, who earned the nickname &lsquo;Spinner&rsquo; for his rambunctious play, was claimed by New York Islanders in the 1972 expansion draft. Later he was traded to Buffalo, and eventually finished his NHL career with Pittsburgh in 1978-79. &#9632;

From Backwoods To Big City: Spencer’s Story

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN Assistant Editor</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02887/5257655-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="578" height="1033"><figcaption class="caption-body">Former Maple Leaf captain Rick Vaive has once again emerged as a key player.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011114/5257662-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="178" height="149"></div>TORONTO&mdash;Rick Vaive has discovered there is life after 50 goals.Three years after last reaching that still-magical plateau, Vaive was playing the best hockey of his career&hellip;and had only 14 goals to show for it in 39 games.At that pace he&rsquo;ll be hard-pressed to score 30, let alone the 50 he&rsquo;s scored three times during his seven-year career.But nobody is complaining, least of all coach John Brophy or Vaive himself, who in the past has been guilty of pouting over unproductive play.&ldquo;I would have to say I&rsquo;m playing as good as I did two or three years ago,&rdquo; the right winger said. &ldquo;Overall, it may be the best I&rsquo;ve ever played.&rdquo;Vaive has come to terms with a different role on the Leafs.No longer is the burden upon him to be the triggerman. Certainly, he&rsquo;s expected to score goals but not in the quantities of past year.Instead, the emphasis is on the quality of his complete game.His defensive liabilities have been corrected. None of the team&rsquo;s wingers move the puck over the blue line with the authority of Vaive. The 27-year-old has also shown a commitment to backchecking, which has not always been evident on more than a sporadic basis.Most important, however, is that Vaive has once more become involved in the game again.Finally over a spate of ailments and irritations he endured early in the year, Vaive has been playing the way he must to be effective.&ldquo;When he&rsquo;s miserable, that&rsquo;s when he&rsquo;s at his best,&rdquo; says Brophy, who was Vaive&rsquo;s first professional coach in Birmingham of the World Hockey Association. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s at his best when he&rsquo;s getting hit and he&rsquo;s dishing it out.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s playing great two-way hockey.&rdquo;If Russ Courtnall was the Leafs&rsquo; best player for most of the first half, Vaive has been the No. 1 man a good part of the remaining time.Since Dec. 4, when he collected two goals and an assist in a 4-3 loss to Los Angeles, Vaive had 12 goals and 13 assists in 22 games.Before then, he had appeared disinterested while collecting three assists over a 12-game period, interrupted by neck and ear problems.&ldquo;Because of a lot of things that happened to me in hockey and out of hockey,&rdquo; Vaive said, &ldquo;I think I got a little complacent.&ldquo;It got to a point where&mdash;I wouldn&rsquo;t go so far as to say I didn&rsquo;t care&mdash;I just didn&rsquo;t feel good about going out and playing.&rdquo;The fans noticed, booing him periodically and calling for the spirited Brad Smith to replace their former hero.Two conversations, one with Brophy and the other with his wife, Joyce, helped turn him around.&ldquo;The day after John told me that basically I wasn&rsquo;t playing with the fire and enthusiasm I used to, she (Joyce) told me the same thing.&ldquo;She said, &lsquo;Go curse somebody or fight somebody. Just get yourself going.&rsquo; &ldquo;Dr. Joyce Brothers she isn&rsquo;t, but Mrs. Joyce Vaive had the right idea&mdash;and her words have made a difference.Though stripped of the team captaincy for oversleeping in Minnesota last year, Vaive remains a leader on the Leafs&mdash;with or without 50 goals a season.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I have to score 50 goals to be a big part of this team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Obviously, 50 goals would be great&mdash;but if I can chip in 35 or 40 and do the things I do otherwise, it&rsquo;s just as good.&rdquo;LEAFLETS&mdash;For the first time in his NHL career, Rick Vaive is likely to earn more assists than goals. After 39 games he had 20 assists to go along with his 14 goals (see related chart on page 42 in Numbers Section)&hellip;After Allan Bester&rsquo;s strong performance against St. Louis in a 4-2 victory, John Brophy indicated the diminutive netminder would be seeing more action. He lowered his league-leading goals-against average to 2.68 and improved his save percentage to .916, also tops in the NHL. Previous to that, Brophy seemed determined that Ken Wregget was going to be his No. 1 man&hellip;Defenseman Chris Kotsopoulos reaggravated a groin injury and was out indefinitely. Terry Johnson, chained to the bench most of the season, was expected to dress in his absence&hellip;Surprisingly, the line of Peter Ihnacak. Mirko Frycer and Miro Ihnacak was proving a reliable defensive unit. In the Leafs&rsquo; last three wins, each had contributed an insurance goal in the final minute&hellip;Center Tom Fergus remained sidelined with a virus. He&rsquo;d missed 13 games&hellip;Wendel Clark, a disappointment this season despite his team-leading 22 goals, had his best game in a while against St. Louis, in the estimation of Brophy. He was hitting with some of the abandon he displayed during his rookie season&hellip;Two players in lengthy slumps were Mike Allison and Greg Terrion. Allison hadn&rsquo;t scored since Dec. 10, Terrion since Nov. 22&hellip;Blueliner Ted Fauss was returned to Newmarket. &#9632;

f0016-02

Vaive Playing Complete Game For Toronto

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03687/5257693-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="385" height="471"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Simmons</figcaption></div>POOR PHIL ESPOSITO. He&rsquo;s the executive of the half-season, the most promising general manager since David Poile turned around the Washington Capitals, and no one is noticing.Well, not many people are noticing.They noticed when Barry Beck and Reijo Ruotsalainen and Mark Pavelich walked out on the Rangers, but little else. Publicity-conscious Phil has been blown right off the New York sports pages.First it was the Mets, leading the National League East, then winning the World Series.Then it was the Jets, the National Football League&rsquo;s team of the half-season.Then it was the troubled Dwight Gooden, battling with police.Now Esposito must contend with the Super Bowl-champion New York Giants. (I write Super Bowl-champion in front of Giants, even though the game has yet to be played. Do not take my word for it, though. I was the guy who thought Mike Gartner was going to have a great season.)And by the time the Stanley Cup playoffs are set to begin&mdash;which the Rangers will participate in, despite what we might have thought four months ago&mdash;the Mets and Yankees will be ready to begin another season.Too bad Phil. Too bad. because in six months you&rsquo;ve done a marvellous job as general manager. The staid members of the NHL&rsquo;s executive washroom waited and hoped for you to fall flat on your face. And as someone like Max McNab waits for Neil Brady to develop&mdash;good luck. Max&mdash;you whizzed past the Devils and Capitals (and whatever became of the promising David Poile?) and have a shot at second place in the old Patrick Division.Smart work Phil, smart work.Where do we begin. Why not go back to August, when you traded Glen Hanlon to Detroit for Kelly Kisio. Trading Hanlon hasn&rsquo;t hurt you, trading Kisio has helped you. Great start.Not long after, you sent Mike Allison to Toronto for Walt Poddubny. Did you know something that no one else in hockey knew? That this Poddubny can play? Brilliant.We won&rsquo;t mention the Don Jackson deal for Ruotsalainen&rsquo;s rights on the assumption that all rookies are entitled to make mistakes.But then you gassed Sator. Good move, again. If the players won&rsquo;t play for the coach, the coach goes. Unless the coach happens to be Pat Quinn, then he goes anyway.The deal with the North Stars, acquiring Tony McKegney and Curt Giles for Bob Brooke was another winner. The key here is to trade McKegney before he slows down. Giles is a keeper. Believe that when the playoffs begins. The little guy has a big ticker.Then the unexplainable deals come. Obviously Esposito didn&rsquo;t go to the NHL school of general managers. If he had, he would know about the first unwritten rule: Do not trade within your own division.So what happens? Two Patrick Division trades. Count-em, two.The Bob Froese deal was pure brilliance. What did you give up? A defenseman whose main asset is size and a second-round choice in 1989. The last time I checked, about 20 per cent of second-round picks made the NHL and even fewer turned out to be players. Mostly what you gave up for Froese was the opportunity to have a player in your lineup by about 1992.Considering that Froese and John Vanbiesbrouck give you the most solid duo of goalteneders this side of Edmonton, you&rsquo;re in good shape. And you don&rsquo;t think Froese will have something to prove in a playoff series against the Flyers?The latest of the Esposito trades&mdash;the deal for Bobby Carpenter&mdash;is one of those riverboat gambler deals. In Mike Ridley and the throw-ins, you know what you&rsquo;re giving up. But in acquiring Carpenter, you don&rsquo;t know what you&rsquo;re getting. The gamble, as I see it, was worth it, especially considering the progress of Poddubny, Tomas Sandstrom and Kisio at forward.In today&rsquo;s NHL, you can&rsquo;t build by the draft, as the Devils are proving annually.Why did the Flames make the finals last year? Because they dared to gamble. They dared to make deals for Joe Mullen and John Tonelli.That&rsquo;s what Phil Esposito is doing in New York. He&rsquo;s daring to gamble. And he&rsquo;s succeeding.It won&rsquo;t be long before the Rangers push the Jets, Mets, Yankees and Giants a little further back in the New York sports pages. At the rate Esposito&rsquo;s going, the Rangers will win a Stanley Cup in my lifetime, something I hadn&rsquo;t previously counted upon. &#9632;

f0016-03

Espo Gets Our Man’s Vote As Executive Of Half-Year

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01978/5257724-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="180" height="141"></div>BOSTON&mdash;Charlie Simmer did the expected Jan. 20 in Quebec, scoring two power-play goals and earning first-star status as the Boston Bruins whipped the Quebec Nordiques 5-3.But it was a pair of goals involving Thomas Gradin, who has bounced from first- to fourth-line center and back all season, that augered best for the Bruins in the stretch drive.Early in the second period, Gradin got the puck from Cam Neely at the blue line, broke down the left side, and feathered a pass between the stick and body of Quebec&rsquo;s Alain Cote. Rick Middleton fielded it and flicked the puck in the open side.Later in the same period, with the Bruins playing shorthanded, Gradin intercepted a pass at the blue line, opened up some daylight between himself and two Nordique defenders, and then broke in to beat goalie Clint Malarchuk.The goal was only his eighth, and the assist only his 16th of the season.It hasn&rsquo;t been the best of seasons for the 30-year-old Swede (31 on Feb. 28) who came to the Bruins as a free agent from the Vancouver Canucks, seeking a new lease on hockey life.He started out on top, as befitted the replacement for Barry Pederson, the discontented Bruin centerman who took his act to Vancouver as a free agent, himself.Gradin centered one first line after another, as then-coach Butch Goring searched for the right combinations. When Goring was succeeded by Terry O&rsquo;Reilly and his &ldquo;hit-first, finesse-later&rdquo; school of hockey, Gradin&rsquo;s star dimmed.He was benched for a game against the Buffalo Sabres, the first time in nine National Hockey League seasons he sat out for reasons other than injury.&ldquo;He (O&rsquo;Reilly) told me he knew it would be a tough game and I wasn&rsquo;t suitable forthat,&rdquo; said Gradin. &ldquo;There are many ways you can look at that. Many games are &lsquo;tough&rsquo; and I&rsquo;ve played in them.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Reilly, who rarely comments on why otherwise healthy players fail to dress for certain games, declined to discuss Gradin&rsquo;s role on the team other than to say, &ldquo;I like Thomas. He&rsquo;s a real classy guy and an excellent player.&rdquo;Gradin conceded that he is not the body-banging type of hockey player who goes over so big in Boston, both with fans and management.&ldquo;My style isn&rsquo;t that way,&rdquo; said Gradin. &ldquo;But they knew that before they signed me. It&rsquo;s been a lot tougher for me with the coaching change. (O&rsquo;Reilly) is playing it another way. I went from first line to fourth line in 24 hours.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough when you don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going on. One game I play, the next I&rsquo;m in the stands. I&rsquo;ve played against physical teams throughout my NHL career, and I have the stats to prove it.&ldquo;As far as it being physical, it was worse before than it is today. If they don&rsquo;t think I can handle it, I don&rsquo;t think I should even be here. I don&rsquo;t think they have any use for me if they don&rsquo;t think I can handle it.&rdquo;The matter rested there&mdash;with Gradin a fourth-line center, killing penalties or sitting in the stands&mdash;until Dec. 23, when Ken Linseman went down with a sprained knee. The Bruins were forced to repatriate Gradin to replace Linseman.He was more than ready. He not only played well, he changed a few minds.&ldquo;First, he twisted his knee in Los Angeles,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Reilly. &ldquo;He was back three days later and was our best player in St. Louis. Then he got a bad head injury on Long Island and he came back and finished the game.&ldquo;That kind of commitment to play, when you&rsquo;re not 100 per cent, when you&rsquo;re in pain, shows a lot of character.&rdquo;WHAT&rsquo;S BRUIN&mdash;Cleon Daskalakis, the Bruins&rsquo; minor-league goalie in limbo, suited up in the NHL team&rsquo;s home uniform for the first time this season, to back up Bill Ranford Jan. 23&hellip;Doug Keans&rsquo; back spasms have made his return to the Boston nets a day-to-day thing. &#9632;

f0017-01

Gradin Returns To O’Reilly’s Good Graces

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02764/5257755-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="576" height="1294"><figcaption class="caption-body">The addition of Dave Semenko has given other Whalers more room to operate.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011013/5257762-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="179" height="134"></div>HARTFORD&mdash;Dave Semenko sits in an airport, idly flipping through the pages of a sports magazine. He comes upon a full-page color picture of himself that would be quite flattering if it weren&rsquo;t for a thick, red circle with a diagonal line drawn through it covering his sweater.&ldquo;Ghostbusters,&bdquo; &ldquo;Smokebusters&rdquo; and European drivers would recognize the symbol immediately, but in case there were any doubt, an accompanying headline trumpeted a message that Semenko has had to deal with all of his professional life.&ldquo;Ban The Goon,&rdquo; it read.&ldquo;This is terrific stuff, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; he said.There&rsquo;s no turning back for Semenko, who at 29 is in his eighth National Hockey League season and his first with a team other than the Edmonton Oilers. The rugged, 6-foot-3, 200-pound left winger was acquired by the Hartford Whalers from the Oilers Dec. 11 for a third-round draft pick.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;d been in one place as long as I had, it&rsquo;s tough to move,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But the way I looked at it, I left one class organization to join another. Besides, I wasn&rsquo;t playing much in Edmonton.&rdquo;Not only has Semenko played in Hartford, he has produced. He had two goals and four assists in his first six games as a Whaler and had played often alongside centerman Ronnie Francis and right winger Kevin Dineen.&ldquo;I know what my role is,&rdquo; Semenko said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to think that I could suddenly tum into a goal-scorer, but at 29, that just doesn&rsquo;t happen. The goaltenders like to tease me in practice by giving me too much room, but I know what my job is.&rdquo;Thanks to Semenko&rsquo;s presence, the ice has opened up for Francis and Dineen, and other Whalers lines as well. Opponents know who No. 72, the inverse of Semenko&rsquo;s number in Edmonton, is.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t have to fight all the time, but you do have to make sure that your smaller players get room,&rdquo; Semenko said.In 23 games, Semenko had four goals, nine points and 25 penalty minutes. He had been involved in two fights, one with Boston&rsquo;s Lyndon Byers and another with Washington&rsquo;s Kevin Hatcher.For his first seven NHL seasons, Semenko was known as Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s bodyguard, a role he took seriously and a role in which he will always take pride.The protect-ee made it that way, the protector says.&ldquo;Gretz is special,&rdquo; Semenko said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s never been another player like him. He&rsquo;s the greatest player who ever played, and yet as great as he is, he&rsquo;s an even better person.&rdquo;By outpolling Gretzky for Rendezvous &rsquo;87, Mario Lemieux broke new ground, but Semenko, for one, won&rsquo;t be swayed.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see any comparison,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;Gretz goes every night. He never takes one off. The other guys does.&rdquo;Semenko witnessed the Gretzky-Lemieux &ldquo;showdown&rdquo; the first time the Oilers played in Pittsburgh this year.&ldquo;Gretz got three points and Mario was shut down,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;After the game, the guy didn&rsquo;t even take a shower. He just bolted. He didn&rsquo;t face the media or anything.&ldquo;Gretz got a lot of credit when we won, but when we lost, he stood there and took the heat.&rdquo;Heat is something Semenko understands full well for he has stood in hockey&rsquo;s kitchen from the first day and no doubt will be there on his last.WHALER SCUTTLEBUTT&mdash;In his first six games back from a pulled stomach muscle that had sidelined him for half a season, Sylvain Turgeon showed two goals and four assists. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t realize how much talent he really has,&rdquo; said Gerry Cheevers, a TV color man for the Whalers. &ldquo;Turgeon&rsquo;s tremendous. Every team that&rsquo;s won a Cup has had a player like him.&rdquo;&hellip;An overtime goal by Ron Francis with 0:03 left at the Forum gave the Whalers a 5-4 victory and snapped their road losing streak at six games&hellip;Shane Churla, who had 249 penalty minutes in 24 games with Binghamton, filled in on the right side as Wayne Babych&rsquo;s knee continued to give him problems&hellip;In a rarity, Washington&rsquo;s Mike Gartner and Montreal&rsquo;s Mats Naslund scored on penalty shots against goaltender Mike Liut in back-to-back games. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s insanity,&rdquo; coach Jack Evans said. &ldquo;This is my seventh year as coach in the league and I can&rsquo;t recall ever seeing a penalty shot. I guess I&rsquo;ll have to go back and read the rulebook again.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-02

Foes Make Room For Semenko In Hartford

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03548/5257793-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="504" height="470"><figcaption class="caption-body">Barry Meisel</figcaption></div>LAST WEEK I LEARNED:(a) Islander defenseman Steve Konroyd can count past six.(b) Federal Express means what its commercials insist: It can deliver, when a package absolutely, positively has to get there overnight.(c) Justice in the NHL takes time, but is possible.(d) Chico Resch hasn&rsquo;t lost his sense of humor.The Islanders and the Flyers brawled on Sunday, Jan. 18 in the Spectrum. It took 21 minutes for referee Dave Newell, linesmen Jim Christison and John D&rsquo;Amico, and supervisor of officials Wally Harris to separate the sides (it took them two tries), finger the first bench-clearing culprit (they mistakenly identified it to be Konroyd) and assess the penalties (they forgot to assess an automatic game misconduct to Rick Tocchet, but corrected themselves after the next whistle and escorted the Flyer to the dressing room).The fight&mdash;tame by bench-clearing standards&mdash;started when Kjell (6-foot-6) Samuelsson cleanly belted Bob (5-foot-10) Bassen into the boards at the Flyer bench. Brian (6-foot-5) Curran took exception and shoved Samuelsson. &ldquo;He tried to bury him into the bench,&rdquo; Curran said.Lindsay Carson took exception to Curran&rsquo;s shove and, from the bench, took a swing at Curran. &ldquo;No one else was closer,&rdquo; Carson said.&ldquo;Where&rsquo;s his guts?&rdquo; Curran answered.Players pushed and shoved. The combatants were escorted to the penalty boxes. Then they started up again. White outnumbered blue, so more blue raced over. So all the white and blue raced over. Little else happened, except that the Islanders received an extra double-minor for Konroyd being first off the bench.There were five New York reporters at the game. During the second intermission, as we sat down to write our running accounts of the brawl, we wondered out loud why an intelligent, sensible and composed guy like Konroyd would lead a charge.&ldquo;Ask him,&rdquo; I said to Doug Gould of the New York Post. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s right here.&rdquo;Konroyd had showered, dressed and climbed into the press box to watch the third period and was happy to provide quotes. Major-league baseball&rsquo;s well-oiled PR machine never delivered such service.&ldquo;Hi guys,&rdquo; he said, before remembering his manners and personally greeting Ms. Robin Finn of the New York Times. Then Konroyd calmly explained what he thought had happened:&ldquo;Actually, I wasn&rsquo;t the first to go. Denis (Potvin, the Islanders&rsquo; captain) was in front of me, going to talk to the ref. I left because I saw at least seven Flyers on the ice.&rdquo;The Islanders won the game 3-1, but GM Bill Torrey was fuming. After watching his game tape, he, too, counted at least seven Flyers on the ice before Konroyd joined the picture. This was on Monday.Problem was, the Islanders were scheduled to play Calgary at home on Tuesday. If they wanted to use Konroyd, they had to provide conclusive evidence to O&rsquo;Neill that Newell&rsquo;s call was &ldquo;a factual error.&rdquo;Out went the game tape to Montreal via Federal Express. It landed on executive VP Brian O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s desk just after lunch on Tuesday, probably while Konroyd was taking his pre-game nap.On went O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s VCR, in went the VHS cassette. Off went Konroyd&rsquo;s automatic three-game suspension and $1,000 fine (Rule 66E).Although O&rsquo;Neill did the right thing, his people (does the NHL sponsor seminars in Executive Inappropriate Behavior?) couldn&rsquo;t help but leave another bumbling imprint on the mess.As Newell attempted to decipher the notes he took in the oversized notebook he borrowed from the official scorer (Newell must have forgotten the little pad refs keep in their pockets), somebody in the press box turned to Wally Harris and said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like in the old days.&rdquo;That Philadelphia-area observer was referring, of course, to the Broad Street Bullies of the &rsquo;70s&mdash;one gang that really knew how to rumble.And somebody else heard Harris reply: &ldquo;Yeah, it was kind of dainty, wasn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;In the press box. Harris said this. Where all the snoops and spies and 007s hang out, where all the nogoodniks in ink-stained shirts conspire to stamp out the NHL. Is that how the NHL thinks?Funniest line of the entire affair was uttered by Resch, though. When the players paired off, Billy Smith went looking for Ed Hospodar. When Smitty couldn&rsquo;t find him, he figured he&rsquo;d say hello to his old net-mate.Chico knew he had his hands full of an old friend, but he also knew that Smitty has been known to lose his (how shall I say it?) sense of etiquette.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t pull my hair,&rdquo; said Chico, whose hairweave ties Smith&rsquo;s for the NHL&rsquo;s best falsie. &ldquo;And I won&rsquo;t null yours.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-03

Notes On A Dainty Brawl And (Late) Justice For All

<div class="byline">BY JERRY ZGODA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01943/5257824-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="588" height="886"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Payne&rsquo;s game is in shape, though his injured knee won&rsquo;t be for two years.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02702/5257831-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="181" height="139"></div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;Steve Payne was told to be patient. He was told it would take time, lots of time. He just didn&rsquo;t think it would take 25 games.Ten, 15,20 games came and went&mdash;and all Payne had to show for his work was one assist, plus that ever-present mass of scars on his knee. He heard the whispers that maybe, after eight National Hockey League seasons and two knee operations last summer, his career was rolling to a close.He never listened.Instead, he kept plugging away, spending extra time at practice and waiting for the day when the knee, which he ripped up against Philadelphia nearly a year ago, would begin to feel like it once did.Those days are fast approaching&mdash;and the proof was Payne&rsquo;s first two goals of the season, in back-to-back games against Winnipeg and Buffalo. After going 0-for-24 games, Payne scored his first goal when he took Dirk Graham&rsquo;s pass from the side of the net, and slid a shot past goalie Daniel Berthiaume in a 5-3 loss to the Jets Jan. 18. Two nights later, Graham shot from the right circle and Payne, standing in front of the net, plunked in the final goal of a 5-0 victory over the Sabres.&ldquo;I was getting impatient,&rdquo; Payne said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tough thing to swallow. You know it&rsquo;s going to be hard coming back from something like this, but I hadn&rsquo;t figured on this.&rdquo;Payne underwent surgery shortly after a Feb. 8, 1986 game, when Flyer defenseman Brad McCrimmon fell on him, pinning his knee against the side boards. He had additional surgery done last summer and didn&rsquo;t return to play until the third week of November. Though he was given approval to play, doctors told him it would be a good two years before the knee would heal fully.It was obvious in Payne&rsquo;s first month back that the recovery process was incomplete. He always seemed to be a step too slow, and twice he felt pain in the knee. After his first game in nine months, he missed the next six because of tendinitis around the knee.When he returned, he was bothered by muscle spasms at the back of the knee, causing his leg to stiffen up whenever he spent a few shifts on the bench. He missed one game because of the spasms, but was then given medication to ease the cramping.&ldquo;As soon as I got rid of that (cramping), it really started to come.&rdquo; Payne said. &ldquo;My stride started to get a lot better. Before, I&rsquo;d sit on the bench and, if I jumped out on the fly, I wouldn&rsquo;t even have time to take a swing around the rink once to loosen the leg up.&ldquo;I just couldn&rsquo;t get where I wanted to get. It was a tough position for Lome (coach Henning) to be in, because I couldn&rsquo;t do a hell of a lot, but I had to play to get better.&rdquo;Henning fit Payne in where he could&mdash;with the hope that come playoff time, Payne would be back to his old self.&ldquo;We want to give him as much time as we can,&rdquo; Henning said, &ldquo;but we also had to break him in slowly. His attitude has been great. He hung in there. He knew the circumstances and he came out every day and worked hard at practice.&ldquo;His skating has picked up lately and he&rsquo;s solid defensively. He makes great plays with the puck and he doesn&rsquo;t throw it away. He&rsquo;s one of the guys we need going in the playoffs.&rdquo;STARDUST&mdash;Don Beaupre recorded the Stars&rsquo; first shutout of the season against Buffalo. He now has three regular-season shutouts in his career, and another in the playoffs. The Stars&rsquo; penalty-killers blanked the Sabres in eight attempts&hellip;The North Stars were planning to pick Vancouver defenseman Brad Maxwell off the waiver wire Jan. 20, but the New York Rangers selected him first. Maxwell, who played for the Stars from 1977 to 1984, could have added needed toughness on defense. &#9632;

f0019-01

North Stars Need Payne Without Knee Pain

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03488/5257862-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg"></div><h2>Phil Esposito 1968-69, 70-71, &rsquo;71-72, &rsquo;73-74</h2>Few hockey fans will forget the contribution of Phil Esposito to the thrilling, come-from-behind victory by Team Canada &rsquo;72 in the first-ever summit series with the Soviet Union.The gregarious Italian-Canadian led the team in the dressing room and on the ice. He topped all scorers with seven goals and six assists, as Canada downed the Soviets 4-3-1 in the eight-game series.Scoring was nothing new for Esposito. As a member of the Boston Bruins in 1968-69, he was the first NHL player to break the 100-point barrier, counting a then remarkable 126.He topped that feat in 1970-71, scoring a record 76 goals (18 more than the previous standard established by Bobby Hull) and 76 assists for a phenomenal 152 points.Esposito won the Art Ross Trophy as league scoring leader five times in all, and added two Hart Trophies as MVP. Four times&mdash;in 1968-69, 1970-71, 1971-72 and 1973-74&mdash;he was given THE HOCKEY NEWS award as NHL Player of the Year.In 18 years with Chicago, Boston and the New York Rangers, Esposito scored 717 goals and 873 assists. &#9632;

f0019-03

The Hockey News NHL Player of the Year AWARD!

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01804/5257893-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="179" height="136"></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;Tony Tanti keeps his promises.Earlier this year, the Maltese Falcon said that, sooner or later, a goal-scoring streak would come along. He was slumping at the time, but he sure hasn&rsquo;t been lately.His latest tear put him on schedule to get where he usually does in terms of production, around the 40-goal mark.Tanti had eight goals in a seven-game span, most in typical Tanti fashion&mdash;deflections, heady tip-ins and the opportunistic conversion of close-in rebounds.He&rsquo;s even been doing well in losing efforts, such as a 5-4 loss to Winnipeg on Jan. 19. He managed the fifth hat trick of his remarkably consistent career, and brought his season&rsquo;s goal total to 22, tops on the Canucks.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re starting to come pretty quickly now,&rdquo; said Tanti, whose past three years produced 45, 39 and 39 goals, respectively. &ldquo;When they weren&rsquo;t coming, I just tried to make sure I wasn&rsquo;t hurting the club defensively.&rdquo;Since Patrik Sundstrom returned from a tom rotator cuff injury, the duo was producing exceptionally well. Rich Sutter has been seeing most of the action on their right flank.Tanti normally prefers to play right wing himself, though coach Tom Watt said the 23-year-old sniper hasn&rsquo;t complained about the switch.&ldquo;I have to say that Tony, despite the fact he wasn&rsquo;t scoring, never came to me and said he didn&rsquo;t want to play left wing,&rdquo; said Watt. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it matters, personally, what side he plays&mdash;though he says he prefers coming in off the wrong wing.&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll score from anywhere he plays. I saw him play left wing at the (&rsquo;84) World Championships, when we got the silver medal and he looked good there.&rdquo;The mid-season slowdown in production was probably the first real slump Tanti has been through. But he handled it well, concentrating on his defense and working extra hard for chances. Though he didn&rsquo;t like to talk about the slump, his attitude remained chipper.Once he starts scoring, he&rsquo;s difficult to stop&mdash;especially when the line of Barry Pederson, Petri Skriko and Stan Smyl is going well at the same time.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been a streak scorer in my career,&rdquo; Tanti said. &ldquo;Most of the goal-scorers around the league are the same way. I knew they&rsquo;d come. It was matter of working hard and being patient.&rdquo;While the Canucks were playing fairly well, they hadn&rsquo;t been able to make up any ground on the Los Angeles Kings, who continued to hold down the final playoff spot in the Smythe Division by 12 points.The offense had been especially hot, with the Canucks scoring 17 goals in three games&mdash;9-5 and 4-3 victories over Calgary, Jan. 17-19, and the loss to Winnipeg.VAN LINES&mdash;The Canucks lost defenseman Brad Maxwell to the New York Rangers on waivers. Maxwell was the third Canuck blueliner to be moved after a disagreement with management. Earlier, Rick Lanz was traded to Toronto and Doug Halward to Detroit&hellip;Doug Lidster has piled up the points with his outstanding contribution to Vancouver&rsquo;s respectable power play. He was sixth in scoring among defensemen with 41 points, and third in team scoring. &#9632;

f0020-01

Maltese Falcon Winning Wav To 40 Goals

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02545/5257924-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="176" height="139"></div>QUEBEC&mdash;Confident they have patched their offensive problems with the acquisition of John Ogrodnick and Doug Shedden from Detroit, the Quebec Nordiques have turned their attention to defensive concerns.Former Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; all-star Guy Lapointe has agreed to rejoin the team as an assistant to coach Michel Bergeron. His assignment is to counsel the Nords&rsquo; defensemen. (See related story on page 33.)That brings to three the number of assistant coaches Bergeron has working for him. Simon Nolet and Charles Thiffault both remain with the team.Lapointe resigned as general manager of the Quebec League&rsquo;s Longueuil Chevaliers to take the job. At the end of the season, his status with the team will be re-evaluated and a decision made about his future in Quebec.&ldquo;Guy&rsquo;s arrival couldn&rsquo;t have happened at a better time,&rdquo; said general manager Maurice Filion. &ldquo;Our defense is in bad trouble.&rdquo;After Lapointe retired from the Boston Bruins, following the 1983-84 season, he became an assistant coach with the Nordiques. Citing &ldquo;personal matters,&rdquo; he resigned at the end of the season.Lapointe is glad to be back.&ldquo;You bet I&rsquo;m happy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I loved my experience in Longueuil, but you can&rsquo;t compare junior hockey to the National Hockey League. I&rsquo;m very excited. I couldn&rsquo;t let a chance like this go by without jumping at it.&ldquo;My main job will be to try and get the Nordiques&rsquo; defensemen back on track. They are playing without conviction. I have to loosen them up, make them more confident.&rdquo;Bergeron identified the problem cases.&ldquo;Probably my best pair of defensemen last season&mdash;Robert Picard and David Shaw&mdash;are really having a tough year,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;Dave isn&rsquo;t the same man ever since his (Oct. 28) boxing match with Dean Kennedy of the Los Angeles Kings,&rdquo; said Bergeron, who looked on from the bench while Shaw&mdash;incapacitated by a shoulder injury&mdash;was badly beaten by Kennedy.None of his teammates helped.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve talked to Dave about it, but he won&rsquo;t come out and say it. You know how players are. They are very proud people. But he isn&rsquo;t the same guy. He isn&rsquo;t agressive any more. His season started off pretty well&mdash;but since Oct. 28, everything is downhill.&rdquo;And things haven&rsquo;t been much better for veteran Robert Picard.&ldquo;Robert probably played his worst game as a Nordique when we lost to Boston on Jan. 20,&rdquo; Bergeron said. &ldquo;The problem with him is that he wants to do the jobs of too many at the same time.&rdquo;Young Jeff Brown could also learn from Lapointe, Bergeron said.&ldquo;Jeff seems to have trouble starting the game at the same time the others do,&rdquo; the coach said. &ldquo;His concentration is way off.&rdquo;Normand Rochefort and American League call-up Steven Finn both escaped criticism.NORD NOTES&mdash;Barely recovered from his fractured finger, Peter Stastny hurt his shoulder against Detroit Jan. 17. Michel Bergeron had to use him the next night in Chicago. &#9632;

f0020-02

Lapointe Hired To Plug Defense Leaks

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01598/5257955-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="588" height="1356"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Duguay, struggling every bit as much as the Penguins, was dealt to the Rangers.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02336/5257962-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="177" height="138"></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;The lofty expectations have been gored by the realities of an 80-game season, and the dreams have given way to drudgery.The Pittsburgh Penguins opened the 1986-87 season in the most surprising and spectacular of fashions by winning their first seven games, but proceeded to go 10-20-8 in the subsequent 38&mdash;including a 4-14-6 streak&mdash;and drop perilously near last place in the Patrick Division.The reasons for their decline have been almost as numerous as the losses. Foremost, of course, is their modest talent level, which could more reasonably be compared to that of the Houston Oilers than the Edmonton Oilers.And then there is the matter of injuries. Mario Lemieux, Doug Bodger, Moe Mantha and Terry Ruskowski, among others, all were reduced to observer status during the first half of the season.The most critical injury, of course, was the sprained right knee Lemieux suffered in a 6-4 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Dec. 20.It kept him out of the lineup for 13 games, during which time the Penguins went 2-7-4 and slipped behind Washington and the New York Rangers in the Patrick Division standings. Even before the loss of Lemieux, the Penguins had won just two of their last 10 games.Lemieux&rsquo;s absence magnified a shortcoming which had been obvious since the earliest days of the season&mdash;the inability of the Penguins&rsquo; wingers to score with anything remotely resembling consistency.After 45 games, Randy Cunneyworth (14) was the only Penguin winger whose goal total had reached double figures.At that same juncture, right winger Ron Duguay had five goals, left winger Kevin LaVallee, eight. Before the season, both were expected to score at least 20.Duguay&rsquo;s perplexing inability to score, in fact, prompted the Penguins to trade him to the Rangers for minor-leaguer Chris Kontos.&ldquo;It was a disappointing season,&rdquo; Duguay said, displaying a firm grasp of the obvious.Conversely, all of the Penguin centers-&mdash;Lemieux (27), Craig Simpson (18), Dan Quinn (16) and John Chabot (12)&mdash;had long since passed the 10-goal plateau.&ldquo;Guys like me are not scoring goals,&rdquo; LaVallee said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s as simple as that.&ldquo;Guys who are supposed to be able to score goals, like myself, have got to start putting the puck in the net. You can&rsquo;t score goals when you hit the goalie in the chest.&rdquo;Never did the Penguins do that with such agonizing regularity as in a 1-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings which extended their winless streak to five games (0-4-1).They had 36 shots on goal and a two-man advantage for 1:37, but were unable to beat Wings&rsquo; goalie Glen Hanlon.&ldquo;There are not too many times when you give up one goal and lose the game,&rdquo; Penguin goalie Gilles Meloche said. &ldquo;Especially at home. It&rsquo;s depressing.&rdquo;&ldquo;The majority of the times you give up one goal, you&rsquo;re going to be a winner,&rdquo; Penguins&rsquo; coach Bob Berry said.&ldquo;But the way things have been going for us&hellip;a three-goal night for us is a bonanza.&rdquo;Duguay embodied the Penguins&rsquo; frustrations, as a season which seemed rife with promise had deteriorated into a relentless run of anxieties for him.&ldquo;I thought I was going to be on a team that was on the upswing and I thought I was going to get a lot of ice time and have a good season,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;I was counting on having my best season ever. Sometimes, no matter how hard you work or how positive you think, it just doesn&rsquo;t work that way.&rdquo;That is a feeling his former teammates on the Penguins have come to know all too well since those inebriating days of October.NOTES&mdash;Mario Lemieux scored one goal and one assist in his first game back but the Penguins still lost 10-5 to Los Angeles&hellip;The loss to Detroit marked the first time the Penguins have lost consecutive home games this season&hellip;The Penguins&rsquo; plethora of injuries prompted them to promote right wing Lee Giffin of the Oshawa Generals on emergency recall&hellip;Despite their myriad problems, the Penguins attracted a franchise-record eight straight capacity crowds, 14 in a 15-game span and a 23-game total of 348,198, an average of 15,139. &#9632;

f0021-01

Heady Early Days Of Season Long Gone

<h2>TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE&hellip;</h2>1. Who was the first winner of the Bill Masterton Trophy?2. What former Toronto Maple Leaf defenseman was known as &lsquo;Boomer?&rsquo;3. What one-time NHL first-round draft choice was Canadian junior golf champion in 1969?4. Which NHL goaltender had two shutouts in last year&rsquo;s IHL playoffs?5. Name the former Toronto defenseman who coached the Finnish national team.6. Who is the only player to have been rookie of the year in both the AHL and the NHL?7. Which of the Hillman brothers was known as &lsquo;Moonie?&rsquo;8. Who is the only man to have coached two different schools to NCAA hockey titles?9. Who holds Minnesota&rsquo;s single-season scoring record for defensemen?10. Who is the youngest player to play in an NHL All-Star Game?<h2>ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ</h2>1.Claude Provost. 2. Bob Baun. 3. Dale Tallon. 4. Eldon (Pokey) Reddick. 5: Carl Brewer. 6. Terry Sawchuk, Indianapolis (1948-49) and Detroit (1950-51). 7. Wayne. 8. Ned Harkness, RPI (1954) and Cornell (1967,1970). 9. Craig Hartsburg (77 points, 1981-82). 10. Steve Yzerman (18 years and seven months at 1984 game).BONUS ANSWER: Fred Shero.<h2>BONUS QUESTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03189/5257993-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="554" height="930"></div>BONUS: This long-ago player is best known for his NHL coaching accomplishments. &#9632;

f0021-03

THN HOCKEY TRIVIA

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01692/5258024-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"></div><h2>Lions in Winter</h2>Many people have called the Montreal Canadiens the greatest sports team in the world. For an organization to boast such a superlative, it certainly must have a dynamic past. The book &ldquo;Lions in Winter&rdquo; traces that history.Inside this book, wonderfully written by Chrys Goyens and Allan Turowetz, you will meet the superstars, legends, and folk heroes who made Les Habitants a Canadian institution. You&rsquo;ll have the opportunity to relive the glory days of Howie Morenz, Maurice and Henri Richard, Jean Beliveau, Ken Dryden and most recently Guy Lafleur. These are only a few of the men who helped the Canadiens obtain, by far, the best record of any National Hockey League club. Les Habs have won 23 Stanley Cups and have been in the finals 27 times, the playoffs 56 times and even won five straight Stanley Cups. The list goes on and on.However, statistics and records tell only a small part of the Montreal Canadiens story. The feeling of history, of greatness, that a person gets when they walk into the Montreal Forum is what &ldquo;Lions in Winter&rdquo; is all about. The book is not just a record of the team&rsquo;s accomplishments but a close look at the heart of the club. It&rsquo;s a chronicle of who and what made that heart beat for the franchise&rsquo;s 76-year history.When Rocket Richard was in his prime, the look in his eyes when he was barrelling in on goal struck fear into the hearts of goaltenders. &ldquo;Lions in Winter&rdquo; will explain one of the reason&rsquo;s the Rocket&rsquo;s eyes burned so brightly, the pride of being a Montreal Canadien.<h2>European Hockey Drill Book</h2>In recent years, the National Hockey League has seen a great flood of European players enter the league and establish themselves as stars. These players have been taught to play a certain way the European way.Now, the &ldquo;European Hockey Drill Book&rdquo; can show you the same insights. Written by Alex Andjelic and Doug Hearns of the renowned Can/Am Hockey Group, this easy-to-use guide will teach your team the well-known skills of European teams-pinpoint passing, predetermined patterns of play and quick movement. The coaches of European teams, the New York Rangers and the United States Hockey Team have used the European system with great success. Now, with the help of the &ldquo;European Hockey Drill Book&rdquo;, it can be your turn.<h2>Rare Jewel</h2>Sometimes when a special person passes away, it&rsquo;s not enough to just say; &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be missed.&rdquo;Francis Michael &ldquo;King&rdquo; Clancy, was just such a person. The hockey world and anyone that was touched by King were greatly saddened by his recent passing. It&rsquo;s been said that the man had a way of brightening up a room by simply walking into it.The bright light that was King Clancy has been successfully captured in &ldquo;Rare Jewel&rdquo;, an affectionate biography by Anne M. Logan, written when King was still turning unhappy faces into smiling ones. The book traces the colorful history of King as a player, to a referee, to a coach, and finally to an executive and a familiar spot at Harold Ballard&rsquo;s side.In 1930, when then Leaf owner Conn Smythe put together two players and $35,000, and sent the package off to Ottawa, he got one player in return, King Clancy. Many people thought paying that much for one player was ridiculous but what a bargain it would turn out to be. As you will see in &ldquo;Rare Jewel&rdquo;, King Clancy was not only a great hockey man but a valued Canadian. The book will show you why, taking you through his many years of exploits as well as portraying what a kind and caring man he was. As a special bonus, there are also more than 30 pages of pictures of the smiling King throughout his life. Perhaps Author Anne Logan says it best. &ldquo;I have yet to meet a person who did not like King Clancy.&rdquo; &ldquo;Rare Jewel&rdquo; will tell you why. &#9632;

f0022-01

Book Reviews

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01673/5258055-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="179" height="138"></div>CALGARY&mdash;The day after it happened. Brian Engblom shrugged off his latest back injury with a smile and a disclaimer.&ldquo;Except for the fact that I couldn&rsquo;t move my arms or legs, everything was fine,&rdquo; the veteran Calgary Flames&rsquo; defenseman said.That was Dec. 18, roughly 12 hours after Engblom took a crushing hit from Brent Ashton in a game against the Quebec Nordiques, a hit that didn&rsquo;t look as if it would have any long-term implications.The check inexplicably took Engblom, 32 on Jan. 27, down for the count. For almost 90 seconds, he stayed down, not feeling a thing. Then it began to clear up. The feeling in his limbs was restored.As a precaution, team physician Peter McMurtry did some extra tests on Engblom&rsquo;s neck, back and spinal column. That&rsquo;s when they started to worry.Earlier in his career&mdash;even Engblom can&rsquo;t say when&mdash;bone spurs began to grow on his spinal column. Ashton&rsquo;s hit caused the spurs to pinch the spinal cord.&ldquo;I snapped my head back real hard,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and it pinched my spinal cord. It&rsquo;s like a kink in a garden hose.&rdquo;The tests showed that another hit could cause permanent paralysis. As a result, Engblom has been advised that he can&rsquo;t play again without major surgery to remove the bone spurs.As it is, Engblom is through for the year. Even if he goes ahead with surgery&mdash;no sure thing in his mind&mdash;the recovery period could require a minimum of three months in a cervical collar.&ldquo;If I get hit again,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s a possibility it could kink permanently&mdash;and then, you don&rsquo;t move at all. Or else one of the spurs could break off and stick into, or cut, the spinal cord. Then you&rsquo;ve got permanent paralysis.&rdquo;Two physicians advised Engblom to postpone the operation for as long as possible. However, there is no guarantee that the spurs have stopped growing, which means he may eventually need the surgery anyway.Engblom sought out a third opinion&mdash;from a Baltimore neurosurgeon who performed a similar operation on a friend&rsquo;s wife&mdash;so he could make an informed decision.Ultimately, he faces two options: Either the doctor will recommend against surgery, in which case Engblom&rsquo;s career is over. Or the doctor will agree to the surgery, in which case Engblom must choose between the operation and the possibility of playing again, or simply calling it quits. Engblom said he wasn&rsquo;t crazy about the prospect of surgery because of its inherent risks.&ldquo;They go in through the front of your neck with a diamond drill and then drill off the spurs,&rdquo; said the 11year veteran. &ldquo;Then, they have to do a spinal fusion. It&rsquo;s very touchy because it&rsquo;s not just the spinal cord itself which obviously can&rsquo;t be touched at all, because as soon as you do, you have problems. It&rsquo;s the nerves and all the tissues around there that are very touchy, too.&rdquo;Until Ashton&rsquo;s check brought the matter to the doctors&rsquo; attention, Engblom thought the pins-and-needles sensation he felt from trying to sleep on a plane, for example, was simply the result of a pinched nerve.Even though the extent of the problem has finally been diagnosed, the injury doesn&rsquo;t really affect him in his day-to-day life. That is, until his day-to-day life puts him on the ice in a Flames&rsquo; uniform.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s pretty tough to play a contact sport if you can&rsquo;t have contact,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Because of my situation, I&rsquo;m susceptible to any blow to the head, even an elbow. If every time my head snaps back I have a chance of doing damage to the spinal cord, the odds are pretty high that something bad is going to happen.&rdquo;IN BRIEF&mdash;With Brian Engblom&rsquo;s future uncertain and coach Bob Johnson anxious to play Paul Reinhart at center, general manager Cliff Fletcher is interested in picking up another defenseman. Engblom was acquired to be the team&rsquo;s sixth defenseman. Fletcher is looking for something more this time around. &ldquo;If teams ask for the right forward,&rdquo; Fletcher said, &ldquo;they may get him&ldquo;&hellip;Dale DeGray is becoming the ultimate utility man for the Flames. Since joining the team from Moncton, DeGray has spent half the season playing defense and half at right wing&hellip;Colin Patterson returned to the lineup in a 9-5 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, after missing three weeks with a concussion. &#9632;

f0024-01

One Hit Could Cause Paralysis In Engblom

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01588/5258086-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="180" height="137"></div>DETROIT&mdash;Brent Ashton and Dave Barr wasted little time making themselves at home with the Detroit Red Wings. For Gilbert Delorme and Mark Kumpel, the process will take longer&mdash;a month and more.Ashton and Barr joined star center Steve Yzerman on the Wings&rsquo; No. 1 line, and keyed a three-game winning streak&mdash;including an 8-5 victory over the New York Islanders at Joe Louis Arena. The line combined to score four goals and 10 points, with Ashton scoring two goals and two assists in his home debut as a Red Wing.&ldquo;You put a lot of pressure on yourself to get that first goal (with a new team),&rdquo; Ashton said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the coach or the team that does it. You put the pressure on yourself because you want to get going. It&rsquo;s nice to get them and go ahead.&rdquo;It was Barr who scored the only goal in the previous game, a 1-0 victory over the Penguins in Pittsburgh. Goalie Glen Hanlon got the shutout.Whenever coach Jacques Demers assessed the Wings in the first half of the National Hockey League season, his concerns invariably centered in one area&mdash;a lack of overall team speed and quickness.Successive losses to Edmonton and Toronto exposed the flaw, and it led to the six-player trade with Quebec that resulted in the acquisition of Ashton. Delorme and Kumpel. The Wings gave up John Ogrodnick, Doug Shedden and Basil McRae. The Barr-for-Randy Ladouceur trade with Hartford had largely the same objective.After the rout of the Islanders, Demers expressed satisfaction that the Wings had improved.&ldquo;When you create opportunities like that, it&rsquo;s from discipline and hard work,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We have a new concept, a new dimension here. We have more speed on this team, I believe, and it shows.&rdquo;The Wings, who had scored as many as six goals only twice before in 46 games this season, scored that many in the second period alone.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had so many one-goal games, it&rsquo;s kind of nice to go into the third period and be able to relax, not worry about one mistake that could hurt you,&rdquo; said Yzerman, the Wings&rsquo; leading scorer with 57 points.Demers agreed.&ldquo;It was the most relaxed third period I&rsquo;ve had as Wings&rsquo; coach,&rdquo; he said.The newcomers had an easy transition.&ldquo;It seems like Dave Barr has been here a month, and it&rsquo;s only been a week,&rdquo; Gerard Gallant said.Barr said playing four games in a week, as he did with the Wings, hastened the transition.&ldquo;You get to know each other from playing, from being on the road together,&rdquo; said Barr, who played two seasons for Demers in St. Louis.Delorme and Kumpel, meanwhile, were sidelined&mdash;Delorme for up to six weeks with a knee injury suffered in his first game as a Red Wing, and Kumpel for about a month with a broken wrist. Kumpel was injured during the Detroit-Quebec game Jan. 17, the night of the trade.After going through the first half of the season almost injury-free, the Wings started falling in pairs. Defensemen Harold Snepsts, Doug Halward, Darren Veitch and Lee Norwood, and center Billy Carroll also missed games.Norwood was expected to be out for six weeks, after suffering a groin pull. Halward, who returned after missing six weeks with a shoulder separation, played two games before being sidelined again, this time with a thigh bruise.WINGS WIRE&mdash;Goalie Greg Stefan injured his left hip and knee when he collided with Pat LaFontaine in the game against the Islanders. Mark Laforest, the leading goalie in the American League, was summoned from Adirondack. &#9632;

f0025-01

New Wings Acclimate Themselves In Hurry

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02385/5258117-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="182" height="136"></div>CHICAGO&mdash;It was just an ordinary second period for the Chicago Blackhawks, and that was the whole problem.While the Hawks stood around and watched Jan. 21 at Chicago Stadium, the Philadelphia Flyers scored three unanswered goals. Chicago eventually battled back for a 5-5 tie, but once again the second period had cost them.&ldquo;We certainly followed our pattern,&rdquo; Hawk general manager-coach Bob Pulford said.Including that game, the Hawks had been outscored 81-57 in second periods this season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s between the beginning of the game and the end, so maybe we look on it as a rest period,&rdquo; center Ed Olczyk said in jest.But there&rsquo;s no humor in a team that&rsquo;s fighting for the last playoff spot in its division and hadn&rsquo;t won in four games.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been concerned lately with our starts,&rdquo; defenseman Doug Wilson said. &ldquo;What really worries us the most is the way teams have come in here and we&rsquo;ve allowed them to play whatever way they want.&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s a problem. I would guess our first periods are fairly close and our third periods are pretty good. I hope this isn&rsquo;t an indication that we think we can just turn it on in the third period and hope to win.&rdquo;Including the Philadelphia game, the Hawks had been outscored 59-55 in the first period. They had outscored their opponents 56-54 in the third period.But that difference of 24 goals in the second period has killed them.&ldquo;Maybe we can&rsquo;t stand prosperity,&rdquo; said left winger Al Secord. &ldquo;In that situation, a good team will come out with exactly the same kind of intensity for the next period, or they&rsquo;ll play even harder. But we don&rsquo;t seem to do that. You&rsquo;ve got to bury a team.&rdquo;The Hawks have been close to burying themselves all season.HAWK TALK&mdash;Al Secord came back from an eye injury to score his 23rd goal of the season, and the 400th point of his career, against Philadelphia. Secord had been hit with a stick in the Hawks&rsquo; Jan. 17 loss at Minnesota, suffering a scratched cornea of the left eye. He missed one game&hellip;Center Denis Savard suffered an infected left hand, after splitting open the knuckle of his middle finger when he punched Flyer Mark Howe in the mouth. Savard was hospitalized for intravenous treatment and missed the return match against the Flyers at home&hellip;Behn Wilson suffered another setback on the road to recovery from a back injury he suffered in the playoffs last April. Wilson apparently reinjured his back while doing exercises, and had to postpone indefinitely his return to the ice, which had been scheduled for Jan. 20. &#9632;

f0025-02

Mid-Game Letdowns Bury Blackhawks

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01624/5258148-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02432/5258155-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="156" height="135"></div>MILWAUKEE&mdash;While nobody was looking, the Milwaukee Admirals quietly tiptoed into playoff contention in the International League&rsquo;s West Division.They won a couple, lost a couple, without much noise&hellip;and all of a sudden the other division teams realized the Admirals had sailed into third place and appeared ready to settle down and get serious.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve come along better in our last 16 games or so,&rdquo; Milwaukee general manager-coach Phil Wittliff said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re 9-5, plus two overtime losses. A year ago we were about four points better in the standings&mdash;but we&rsquo;re experienced enough to realize it&rsquo;s not where you are at this point in the season, but where you finish.&ldquo;If we can improve as much from now until April as we have from November to mid-January, we&rsquo;ll be in good shape.&rdquo;The Admirals were playing steady hockey for 42 games; their record of 19 wins, 19 losses and four overtime losses left them right at the .500 mark. Five IHL teams were playing better, but Milwaukee had been picking up the pace.The Admirals did it despite injuries to key personnel such as Tim Molle, Gord Stafford and Florent Robidoux. Molle missed eight games and Stafford 10, while Robidoux had surgery on the shoulder he separated in his first game of the season, back in mid-November. Wittliff said, with luck, he&rsquo;ll be back in action by early February.&ldquo;We can be competitive,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We just can&rsquo;t run and gun like we used to. There are a lot of good players in this league, some good shooters.&rdquo;The Admirals have been steady on defense (fourth best in the IHL) at the expense of a bit of offense (eighth overall).&ldquo;(Dale) Yakiwchuk sets the pace for us,&rdquo; Wittliff said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a real key player.&rdquo;Yakiwchuk led the team in scoring at the halfway point with 45 points, including 20 goals. Left winger Tim Hrynewich was next with 19 goals, six of them game-winners.&ldquo;Andy Cozzi has been a big help to us since we acquired him,&rdquo; Wittliff said of the Boston Bruin training camp attendee, who&rsquo;s now on his club. &ldquo;In 39 games he has scored 16 goals.&rdquo;Veteran goaltender Rob Holland was doing most of the work in the Milwaukee goal. He owned 13 of the team&rsquo;s 19 victories and a 3.97 goals-against average.The Admirals weren&rsquo;t sailing quite at full speed yet, but they were about ready to hang all the sails and make a run for the lead in the West.I-LIGHTS&mdash;Dave Parro of Indianapolis became the first goaltender to record three shutouts this season. He blanked Fort Wayne 1-0 Jan. 18&hellip;Darren Pang of Saginaw also had a shutout the same day, 5-0 over Peoria&hellip;Wayne Crawford of Kalamazoo had the week&rsquo;s only hat-trick&hellip;IHL media representatives voted on a mid-season all-star team. First-half MVP and scoring leader Ron Handy of Indianapolis was named center. Other team members were goaltender Ray LeBlanc and right winger Jim Egerton of Flint, defensemen Greg Tebbutt of Saginaw and Jim Burton of Fort Wayne, and left winger Dave Michayluk of Muskegon. Flint&rsquo;s Rick Dudley was named coach. The second team&mdash;Robbie Laird, Fort Wayne, coach; Jeff Cooper, Muskegon, goal; Steve Harrison, Salt Lake, and Tony Curtale, Peoria, defense; Doug Morrison, Salt Lake, center; Jeff Pyle, Saginaw and Simon Wheeldon, Flint, wingers. &#9632;

f0026-01

The Minors

Admirals Cruise Quietly Into Third Position

Jeff Rosewicz is 10 years old, but he looks to the veterans to provide his inspiration on the ice.In fact, Jeff even shares the nickname &ldquo;Chico&rdquo; with his favorite National Hockey League player, goaltender Glenn Resch of the Philadelphia Flyers. Buffalo&rsquo;s Tom Barrasso is another favorite of Jeff&rsquo;s.The 4-foot-9, 100-pounder is now in his sixth year of hockey. Four have been spent as a goaltender. He plays for the Parma Heights squirt A hockey team, in the Cleveland Suburban Hockey League. His coaches there are Joe Cardillo and his father, Larry Rosewicz.Jeff attends Grade 5 classes at Helen Muraski School in Strongsville, Ohio. Besides hockey, he enjoys soccer and pitches for a little league baseball team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03355/5258186-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="557" height="1133"><figcaption class="caption-body">JEFF ROSEWICZ</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0026-03

PLAYER OF WEEK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04267/5258217-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="710" height="1022"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lindy Ruff was one of four talented hockey-playing brothers from Warburg, Alta.</figcaption></div>Nineteen eighty-six was a year to forget for Lindy Ruff.In April, the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; captain saw his team miss the playoffs for the first time in his eight years in blue and gold. By December, the team had fallen on even worse times. Three coaches&mdash;Scott Bowman, Craig Ramsay and Ted Sator&mdash;had combined to skipper this season&rsquo;s Sabres to a last-place overall standing in the National Hockey League by the end of 1986.But the defenseman/forward&rsquo;s mind was on more important things. As the Sabres were preparing to make their New Year&rsquo;s resolutions, he got word that his 16-year-old brother, Brent, was among four Swift Current Bronco junior players who died in a bus crash in Saskatchewan.Brent stood a good chance of becoming the fourth Ruff brother to play professional hockey. The oldest brother, Randy, spent some time in the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; farm system, while the second-youngest, Marty, plays in the International League.All four shared the same hockey roots, in the town of Warburg, Alta., pop. 400.The size of Warburg dictated against a highly-developed minor hockey system.&ldquo;First,&rdquo; Ruff recalls, &ldquo;you had to get enough players to set up a team in each age level. Sometimes, 13 or 14 players was about all you could scrape up.&rdquo;The emphasis was not on developing one&rsquo;s skills, but on having fun. With plenty of ice time, Ruff wound up doing both.At 14, he moved his game to nearby Drayton Valley, a town of about 5,000. By age 16, he had earned himself a spot on the Tier II Jr. Taber (Alta.) Golden Suns. Playing under a trained coaching staff for the first time, his skills improved quickly.The Lethbridge Broncos took him on after only one year as a Golden Sun. With Lethbridge, then a major junior team in the Western League, Ruff permitted himself to start thinking of a future in the National Hockey League.&ldquo;You always dreamed of playing pro hockey,&rdquo; says Ruff, who scored 20 goals for the first time in his NHL career last year. &ldquo;But it wasn&rsquo;t until I played in junior, against tougher competition, that I knew I had a chance.&rdquo;Ruff played defense exclusively then (he&rsquo;s now a forward with Buffalo) and his tough, efficient play and puckhandling skills attracted the scouts. After collecting 327 penalty minutes in just 90 Western League games, the Sabres chose him in the second round (32nd overall) of the 1979 entry draft.Ruff has been a front-line NHLer ever since. &#9632;

f0026-04

Sabre Captain’s Roots In Warburg

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02377/5258248-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="584" height="813"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gilles Thibaudeau was trailing Hershey&rsquo;s Tim Tookey, above, in the scoring race.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01584/5258255-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="177" height="136"></div>SHERBROOKE&mdash;Gilles Thibaudeau gave up his day job for a career in hockey.&ldquo;I took a long shortcut,&rdquo; the Sherbrooke Canadiens&rsquo; center chuckled, thinking of the days when he worked full-time and played hockey on the side. &ldquo;Sometimes you want to take the quick road and you do all you have to do. I took the long way, I think.&rdquo;Thibaudeau, Sherbrooke&rsquo;s top gun and the second-leading scorer in the American League, followed the road less travelled by in his hockey career. For three years, the Lorraine, Que., native operated a forklift full-time and played hockey part-time.That changed in 1984, when Thibaudeau, then the 20-year-old star of the St. Antoine Jr. B team, was invited to Sherbrooke&rsquo;s AHL camp.&ldquo;I just came here to see what it was like in a pro camp. I didn&rsquo;t know I would be here one day,&rdquo; Thibaudeau said. &ldquo;For me, it was finished. I just went for fun.&rdquo;But Thibaudeau made a favorable impression on Sherbrooke coach Pierre Creamer, who decided to sign the 5-foot-10, 175-pound center. Thibaudeau quit his job at the print shop, packed his bags, and headed to join the Flint Spirits of the International League.&ldquo;The first year he came to training camp here, he was a Jr. B player, but he finished as the top scorer (at training camp),&rdquo; Creamer said. &ldquo;But he lacked experience and at that time we had a lot of centermen&mdash;Brian Skrudland, Murray Eaves, Thomas Rundqvist and John Newberry&mdash;so we sent him to Flint and he scored 52 goals there.&ldquo;When I invited him, I said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m taking a chance.&rsquo; But the guy who referred Gilles Thibaudeau kept bugging me saying, &lsquo;You should invite him.&rsquo; I thought, &lsquo;What will a Jr. B guy do in pro hockey?&rsquo;&ldquo;But in training camp he opened my eyes. I had a good discussion with him and explained exactly what his situation was. I said, &lsquo;Due to your past, it&rsquo;s better for you to start in the L&rsquo; I think he improved a lot there.&rdquo;A year ago, Thibaudeau stuck with Sherbrooke, but spent most of the early part of the season watching the other centers play.&ldquo;The beginning of the season was hard,&rdquo; Creamer said, &ldquo;because he didn&rsquo;t have the ice time he would have liked to develop. At the end of the season, he was my best centerman, and I still had (Alfie) Turcotte and (Murray) Eaves. He was playing very well.&ldquo;This year, he started slowly, but right now he&rsquo;s playing very well. Offensively, he&rsquo;s got good moves, and he&rsquo;s on the most productive line, with Serge Boisvert and Ernie Vargas.&rdquo;During December and January, Thibaudeau climbed steadily in the league scoring standings and moved into second place behind Tim Tookey of Hershey. Through 46 games, Thibaudeau had 23 goals and 52 points. Nine of the goals came on the power play, two were shorthanded and six were game-winners.Thibaudeau also logged time on the power play and penalty killing units. His defensive play has improved considerably from his first year as a pro, Creamer said.With his success this season, Thibaudeau has wondered whether he&rsquo;ll be able to take the next step and play in the NHL.&ldquo;I try to work hard and help the team,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and if something happens in Montreal, it could be me to get called up. So I keep working. You never know what can happen.&rdquo;Nobody knows that better than Gilles Thibaudeau.AROUND THE DIVISION&mdash;Fredericton forward Dune MacIntyre retired and returned to his home near Toronto to take a police job. Though only in his second pro season, MacIntyre was told he did not figure in the plans of the Vancouver Canucks. To replace MacIntyre, the Express recalled Wayne Groulx from Muskegon&hellip;Veteran defenseman Risto Siltanen was sent to Fredericton by Quebec for a two-week conditioning stint&hellip;Brett Hull picked up four goals and 11 points in four games, winning player-of-the-week honors and helping Moncton open an eight-point lead over Adirondack&hellip;The Wings were down to 12 skaters, as injuries knocked six regulars out of the lineup and Mark Lamb was recalled to Detroit. Dale Krentz also played one game with the parent team. &#9632;

f0027-02

Former Forklift Driver On The Up And Up

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03244/5258286-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="179" height="134"></div>ROCHESTER, N.Y.&mdash;Goaltender Daren Puppa spent so much time between Buffalo and Rochester last season, he could have qualified for the New York State Thruway&rsquo;s frequent rider program.Now, he&rsquo;d like to shake that yo-yo feeling and establish himself as a more-or-less permanent member of either the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Buffalo Sabres or its American League affiliate, the Rochester Americans.&ldquo;I was up and down so much that I didn&rsquo;t really feel part of either team,&rdquo; Puppa said. &ldquo;Up to then in my career I had always played for one team and did everything for that team.&ldquo;But when you&rsquo;re up and down like that, it makes it difficult because you&rsquo;re really not part of one team or the other. You&rsquo;re just in between.&rdquo;But there were some memorable moments to his rookie season. Puppa, who backstopped Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to the NCAA championship in 1985, lived up to his billing as a Tom Barrasso clone by shutting out the defending Stanley Cup-champion Edmonton Oilers in his first NHL start.&ldquo;They expected things after that,&rdquo; said Puppa&mdash;who, like Barrasso, is 6-foot-3 and catches with his right hand. &ldquo;If you have a bad game, it makes people think twice about you.&rdquo;Puppa played in just six games for the Sabres, after the shutout at Edmonton. The rest of the year he played with the Americans, who struggled in the last half and failed to make the playoffs.Puppa missed most of that slide, nursing a knee injury for almost two months. He returned for the final few weeks of the season.&ldquo;I think the injury really hurt him,&rdquo; Rochester coach John Van Boxmeer said. &ldquo;He hurt both knees last year and had to come back to a team that was really struggling. When he did come back, we didn&rsquo;t have much of a team left. Most of our quality players were up (with Buffalo) and our defense was very suspect. We had four rookies with no veterans. He just had no chance.&rdquo;So the Sabres&rsquo; plan for this season was to give Puppa a chance to log as many minutes as possible for one team.The Washington Capitals did a similar thing with Bob Mason last season, after putting him through an up-and-down rookie season. Mason spent last year primarily with Binghamton and this season is the Caps&rsquo; No. 1 goalie.&ldquo;I guess playing time is what a goalie needs,&rdquo; Puppa said. &ldquo;To sit around is pretty much just wasting your career away. Last year I sat around for pretty much half the year as a backup in Buffalo.&rdquo;Puppa, called on often by Van Boxmeer, had emerged as the Amerks&rsquo; top goalie and one of the best in the American League.Since he was sent down by the Sabres early in the season, he had been on a roll&mdash;30 games, a 16-9-1 mark and 2.86 goals-against average, second only to Adirondack&rsquo;s Mark Laforest.Puppa&rsquo;s best work came in his last 15 games, during which time he went 10-3-2 with a 2.59 goals-against average. He was named a player of the week, posted his first AHL shutout (2-0 over Moncton on Dec. 31) and made 47 saves in a 5-2 loss at Sherbrooke.&ldquo;I think last year was tough for him,&rdquo; Van Boxmeer said. &ldquo;Here&rsquo;s a guy, 21 years old, who Jeaves college to turn pro. He was living in one city and playing in another, and really didn&rsquo;t have any friends.&ldquo;Who do you have for friends other than your teammates in hockey anyway&mdash;especially the first few years, until you meet some people in the community? And here&rsquo;s a guy who can&rsquo;t even hang around with his teammates because he&rsquo;s driving the (New York) Thruway every day to go home.&ldquo;This year, he&rsquo;s playing with a lot more poise and a lot more confidence. He&rsquo;s standing up and challenging the shooters. He still goes down occasionally, but not like he did before.&rdquo;AROUND THE SOUTH&mdash;The Binghamton Whalers set a team record with their sixth straight road win, a 4-3 shootout decision over Daren Puppa and the Amerks on Jan. 18. The Whalers charged into first place by going 13-1-1 from Dec. 20 to Jan. 20&hellip;Hershey&rsquo;s Ross Fitzpatrick returned from arthroscopic knee surgery two weeks ahead of schedule&hellip;The Baltimore Skipjacks, next-to-last in the league in goal-scoring, were also having trouble in the shootout. They were 1-6 in shootouts, scoring just four goals. &#9632;

f0027-03

Puppa Prefers American Way To Nomadic Life Of Highway

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02418/5258348-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="178" height="134"></div>BILLERICA, Maine&mdash;Shawn Walsh was grinning from ear to ear.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re the faceless ones,&rdquo; he enthused, after his University of Maine Black Bears swept Lowell 9-4 and 5-3, to move into a second-place tie in the Hockey East race.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been in Lowell&rsquo;s shadow, and nobody knew who we were. Now we&rsquo;ll be in BC&rsquo;s shadow.&rdquo;The third-year Maine coach was only partly correct. It&rsquo;s true that superlative starts by Lowell and Boston College had partly obscured Maine&rsquo;s fine progress. It&rsquo;s also true that Maine had only three players in the league&rsquo;s top 20 scorers. But the club&rsquo;s status as first-division contender is no surprise&mdash;most experts predicted it.In its third year of existence, Hockey East has become a much more balanced league. With the 56-game intersectional schedule completed and examinations finished, it&rsquo;s time to look over what&rsquo;s happened to date and hazard a couple of predictions for the stretch run and playoffs.For starters, the league has achieved parity (a 26-29-1 record) with the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. BC, Lowell, and Maine all had winning intersectional records, while Boston University was 4-4.In the first season of full interlocking play, 1984-85, the Hockey East boys were 42-66-4, while last season they were a dismal 32-73-7.Four teams looked to have a legitimate shot at first place. Boston College, at 16-4 and 32 points, is the favorite to take the pennant, its third straight. The Eagles have developed a scoring machine that can also play defense.Though they hadn&rsquo;t suffered a slump all year, they still stood only seven points in front of Maine and Lowell.Maine, meanwhile, gained ground with the sweep of Lowell. Junior left winger Mike McHugh, who led the charge with three goals and four assists, heads a young Black Bear team that will lose only two regular seniors after this season.Maine&rsquo;s stretch-run advantage over Lowell should be its superior team puckhandling. When Lowell lost first-line left winger Jim Newhouse to a concussion in the first game, the difference became obvious.Maine&rsquo;s goaltending tandem of Al Loring and Scott Young will also be counted on to perform well in the stretch.Pre-season favorite Boston University, the league&rsquo;s sleeping giant, showed signs of awakening with a recent 5-1 thrashing of Minnesota and 9-3 slaying of Minnesota-Duluth. Clark Donatelli scored twice in the Minnesota game, while John Cullen notched the hat-trick against UMD.The pair of victories evened BU&rsquo;s record at 10-10-2, but BC came along to burst the bubble with an 8-2 thumping at Boston Garden.Northeastern, Providence and New Hampshire will fight to avoid the cellar.NU has played with an injury-riddled defense. Its offense hasn&rsquo;t been spectacular, either; only Dave O&rsquo;Brien, with 19 points, was among the league&rsquo;s top 20 scorers.Still, Bruce Racine&rsquo;s netminding should keep the team out of the basement and make it a tough out in quarter-final play.New Hampshire will be helped by the return of forward Mike Rossetti, who missed 15 games because of a broken wrist. UNH&rsquo;s experience advantage over more-talented Providence could be dissipating, because Providence&rsquo;s recent losses have not been so one-sided. It&rsquo;s a toss-up as to who will finish last.HOCKEY EAST NOTES&mdash;Boston College&rsquo;s 8-2 win over Boston University Jan. 20 represented the 553rd victory in coach Len Ceglarski&rsquo;s career. He needs just three more to become the all-time NCAA leader; John Maclnnes of Michigan Tech finished with 555&hellip;BC&rsquo;s Dan Shea scored four assists in an earlier victory, 7-1 over Minnesota-Duluth. &#9632;

f0028-02

Maine Moves Into A Place In The Sun

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03301/5258400-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="398" height="529"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARK ROMAINE Providence</figcaption></div><h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>Freshman goaltender Mark Romaine made an auspicious Hockey East debut as he sparked Providence to a 6-3 win over Northeastern with 29 saves.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04217/5258393-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="407" height="527"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE SAUNDERS St. Lawrence</figcaption></div><h2>ECAC</h2>The improving St. Lawrence Saints upset high-ranked Lowell 7-4 as senior right winger Dave Saunders showed the way with three points, including two goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05179/5258386-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="400" height="522"><figcaption class="caption-body">WARREN SHARPLES Michigan</figcaption></div><h2>CCHA</h2>Freshman goalie Warren Sharpies made 49 saves in two games to help lowly Michigan earn a split of their series with CCHA-leading Michigan State.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-06155/5258379-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="398" height="528"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB JOYCE No. Dakota</figcaption></div><h2>WCHA</h2>Bob Joyce of North Dakota tied two WCHA records as he scored six goals and collected nine points in one game. Joyce had 13 points in a sweep of Mich. Tech.Bauer FIT FOR PERFORMANCE &#9632;

f0028-03

Bauer’s College Performer of the Week

<div class="byline">BY BILL CRAWFORD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02353/5258431-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="586" height="868"><figcaption class="caption-body">Miami&rsquo;s low hockey profile doesn&rsquo;t make coach Bill Davidge&rsquo;s job easy.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01510/5258438-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="182" height="141"></div>OXFORD, Ohio&mdash;Okay, hockey fans, what&rsquo;s the first thing that comes to mind when somebody mentions Miami University hockey to you?Do you conjure up thoughts of sun, sand, surf and skates, a la Los Angeles?Do you reject the very combination of hockey and Miami, as if somebody suggested you try sauerkraut juice in your coffee?Or are you one of those really knowledgeable hockey fans who actually realizes that Miami University is located somewhere in Ohio, but still can&rsquo;t figure why any hockey player worth his weight in bikini-clad sweeties would ever want to play there?Talk about your classic case of identity crisis.Popular misconceptions have hurt Miami University&rsquo;s effort to make strides as a Division I college program, since its first Central Collegiate Hockey Association season in 1980-81.<blockquote class="pullQuote">The girls on Miami&rsquo;s campus were rated best in the U.S. by Playboy.</blockquote>The Redskins don&rsquo;t have a great hockey tradition; they don&rsquo;t have any particular claim to hockey fame and they are located far off hockey&rsquo;s beaten path.And the campus, while gorgeous, is isolated. It&rsquo;s about 35 miles of two-lane, hill-and-dale highway from Cincinnati, which is hardly a hockey hotbed.But there are some enticing plusses to life at Miami University in its rural setting near the Ohio-Kentucky border. One trip to the campus is often all any red-blooded American or Canadian boy needs.Of the 15,000 or so students attending this bastion of red-brick architecture, more than 9,000 are female and attractive.Several years ago, Playboy magazine rated the women of Miami (of Ohio) the best looking girls on any campus in the U.S.&ldquo;Yeah, it&rsquo;s one of our recruiting tools,&rdquo; chuckled head coach Bill Davidge.The recruits aren&rsquo;t complaining.&ldquo;I have about 70 students in my chemistry class,&rdquo; said a freshman defenseman from Ontario, &ldquo;and six are guys.&rdquo;Miami is well known all over the U.S. for its football and basketball. It&rsquo;s nicknamed &ldquo;the cradle of coaches,&rdquo; having given the world such famed coaching greats as Woody Hayes (Ohio State), Ara Parseghian (Notre Dame) and Bo Schembechler (Michigan).And academics are all-important at Miami. It&rsquo;s the closest thing you&rsquo;ll find to an Ivy League school west of the Alleghenies.The problem for Davidge, in his second year as head man and ninth with the program, is the hockey identity, or lack thereof.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so tough to bring kids in when they can&rsquo;t identify With us as a hockey school,&rdquo; said former coach Steve Cady, who now manages the Goggin Ice Arena, home of the Redskins and the largest intramural hockey program in college sports.Goggin is nice and clean, but small.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s got a full ice sheet and seats 2,200,&rdquo; said goalie coach Mitch Kom. &ldquo;The seating is all on one side of the building and things are pretty tight. But it&rsquo;s homey too and, if we had more seating, we probably wouldn&rsquo;t fill it right now and it wouldn&rsquo;t help us. What we have is working quite nicely.&rdquo;Miami&rsquo;s top claim to fame in the hockey world is New Jersey Devil net-minder Alain Chevrier. Other NHLers could follow&mdash;if the coaching staff can just convince enough top talent that Miami of Ohio really plays Division I hockey and has a lot more to offer, such as, well&hellip;CCHATTER&mdash;MSU trainer Dave Carrier has been chosen trainer for the U.S. Olympic team in 1988&hellip;Bowling Green&rsquo;s Iain Duncan and Michigan&rsquo;s Myles O&rsquo;Connor were co-players of the week, for the weekend of Jan. 1617. Duncan scored three goals and five assists during a sweep of Ohio State, while O&rsquo;Connor had two goals in each game of a split with Ferris State&hellip;Western Michigan&rsquo;s Wayne Gagne collected eight assists, including six in one game, during a sweep of the University of Toronto. That performance equalled an NCAA record for most assists by a defenseman in one game&hellip;A crowd of 4,528&mdash;the largest ever for an Illinois-Chicago home game at the 13,000-seat Pavillion&mdash;attended when the Flames played host to MSU. The Flames split a pair of games. &#9632;

f0029-02

Girls, Girls, Girls Part Of Miami’s Appeal

<h2>CCHA</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01585/5258602-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="527" height="265"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>FRI. JAN. 23FERRIS STATE 2 AT OHIO STATE 3ILL-CHICAGO 3 AT BOWLING GREEN 4MICHIGAN 8 AT MICH. STATE 2W. MICHIGAN 2 AT LAKE SUPERIOR 4SAT. JAN. 24FERRIS STATE 4 AT OHIO STATE 5ILL-CHICAGO 5 AT BOWLING GREEN 7MICH. STATE 2 AT MICHIGAN 1W. MICHIGAN 7 AT LAKE SUPERIOR 5MIAMI 3 AT ALA-ANCHORAGE 4SUN. JAN. 25MIAMI 5 AT ALA-ANCHORAGE 8<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>FRI. JAN. 30BOWLING GREEN AT FERRIS STATELAKE SUPERIOR AT ILL-CHICAGOMICHIGAN AT W. MICHIGANOHIO STATE AT MIAMITEAM CANADA AT MICH. STATESAT. JAN. 31BOWLING GREEN AT FERRIS STATELAKE SUPERIOR AT ILL-CHICAGOMIAMI AT OHIO STATEW. MICHIGAN AT MICHIGANTEAM CANADA AT MICH. STATE<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02425/5258595-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="534" height="291"></div><h2>WCHA</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03292/5258588-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="531" height="237"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>SAT. JAN. 17COLORADO COLL 6 AT MICH. TECH 7N. MICHIGAN 5 AT DENVER 4MINNESOTA 5 AT NEW HAMPSHIRE 6MIN-DULUTH 3 AT BOSTON UNIV 9WISCONSIN 6 AT PROVIDENCE 3SUN. JAN. 18NORTH DAKOTA 4 AT NORTHEASTERN 1FRI. JAN. 23DENVER 6 AT MIN-DULUTH 4MICH. TECH 2 AT NORTH DAKOTA 11N. MICHIGAN 0 AT MINNESOTA 9WISCONSIN 4 AT COLORADO COLL 3SAT. JAN. 24DENVER 5 AT MIN-DULUTH 2MICH. TECH 2 AT NORTH DAKOTA 11N. MICHIGAN 3 AT MINNESOTA 5WISCONSIN 3 AT COLORADO COLL 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>FRI. JAN. 30N. MICHIGAN AT MICH. TECHCOLORADO COLL AT MIN-DULUTHMINNESOTA AT DENVERNORTH DAKOTA AT WISCONSINSAT. JAN. 31COLORADO COLL AT MIN-DULUTHMINNESOTA AT DENVERNORTH DAKOTA AT WISCONSINMICH. TECH AT N. MICHIGAN<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04198/5258581-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="532" height="324"></div><h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON JAN. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05133/5258574-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="535" height="208"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>TUE. JAN. 20BOSTON UNIV 2 AT BOSTON COLL 8BOWDOIN 2 AT MAINE 7WED. JAN. 21NORTHEASTERN 3 AT PROVIDENCE 1FRI. JAN. 23BOSTON COLL 5 AT BOSTON UNIV 4PROVIDENCE 6 AT NORTHEASTERN 3NEW HAMPSHIRE 2 AT MAINE 8ST. LAWRENCE 7 AT LOWELL 4SAT. JAN. 24NEW HAMPSHIRE 1 AT MAINE 10<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>FRI. JAN. 30BOSTON COLLEGE AT LOWELLBOSTON UNIV AT NEW HAMPSHIREMAINE AT PROVIDENCESUN. FEB. 1MAINE AT PROVIDENCE<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-06102/5258567-1-eng-US/f0030-062.jpg" title="f0030-06" width="533" height="316"></div><h2>ECAC</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0783/5258560-1-eng-US/f0030-072.jpg" title="f0030-07" width="520" height="342"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>WED. JAN. 21COLGATE 10 AT CORNELL 4FRI. JAN. 23ST. LAWRENCE 7 AT LOWELL 4YALE 2 AT BROWN 1SAT. JAN. 24BROCK 4 AT COLGATE 7BROWN 4 AT YALE 5DARTMOUTH 1 AT CORNELL 3RPI 2 AT VERMONT 4RMC 4 AT ARMY 3ST. LAWRENCE 2 AT MERRIMACK 3SUN. JAN. 25CONCORDIA 4 AT CLARKSON 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>FRI. JAN. 30COLGATE AT ARMYCORNELL AT PRINCETONDARTMOUTH AT YALERPI AT ST. LAWRENCEVERMONT AT CLARKSONSAT. JAN. 31COLGATE AT PRINCETONCORNELL AT ARMYDARTMOUTH AT BROWNRPI AT CLARKSONVERMONT AT ST. LAWRENCE<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0874/5258553-1-eng-US/f0030-082.jpg" title="f0030-08" width="531" height="267"></div><h2>GWHC</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-0966/5258546-1-eng-US/f0030-092.jpg" title="f0030-09" width="527" height="104"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>NON-CONFERENCEOHIO STATE 7, ALA-ANCHORAGE 4ALA-ANCHORAGE 2, MIAMI 1MAINE 5, ALA-FAIRBANKS 1US INTL 9, CONNECTICUT 1US INTL 8, CONNECTICUT 2ALAFAIRBANKS 4, NORWICH 4ALA-ANCHORAGE 9, ILL-CHICAGO 6ALA-ANCHORAGE 6, ILL-CHICAGO 2REGINA 6, US INTL 4US INTL 7, REGINA 4ALA-FAIRBANKS 6, YALE 4CORNELL 5, ALA-FAIRBANKS 2<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1057/5258539-1-eng-US/f0030-102.jpg" title="f0030-10" width="529" height="263"></div><h2>WPCHA</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON JAN. 29)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1151/5258532-1-eng-US/f0030-112.jpg" title="f0030-11" width="527" height="238"></div><h2>OUAA</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON JAN. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1247/5258525-1-eng-US/f0030-122.jpg" title="f0030-12" width="538" height="422"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>FRI. JAN. 23LAURENTIAN 3 AT TORONTO 11LAURIER 3 AT WINDSOR 1MCMASTER 3 AT WATERLOO 5QUEEN&rsquo;S 3 AT YORK 7WESTERN 10 AT BROCK 1SAT. JAN. 24LAURENTIAN 5 AT TORONTO 16LAURIER 3 AT RYERSON 5GUELPH 5 AT WINDSOR 7QUEEN&rsquo;S 3 AT WESTERN 6YORK 5 AT McMASTER 0SUN. JAN. 25RYERSON 3 AT WATERLOO 4<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>FRI. JAN. 30LAURIER AT YORKWATERLOO AT BROCKTORONTO AT QUEEN&rsquo;SSAT. JAN. 31TORONTO AT RMCRYERSON AT WINDSORMCMASTER AT LAURENTIANBROCK AT GUELPHWESTERN AT QUEEN&rsquo;SSUN. FEB. 1MCMASTER AT LAURENTIANWESTERN AT RMCWATERLOO AT WINDSOR<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1344/5258518-1-eng-US/f0030-132.jpg" title="f0030-13" width="532" height="293"></div><h2>CWUAA</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1441/5258511-1-eng-US/f0030-142.jpg" title="f0030-14" width="534" height="235"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>FRI. JAN. 23REGINA 2 AT BRANDON 3CALGARY 7 AT UBC 6MANITOBA 3 AT SASKATCHEWAN 5ALBERTA 5 AT LETHBRIDGE 4SAT. JAN. 24REGINA 6 AT BRANDON 4CALGARY 6 AT UBC 3MANITOBA 2 AT SASKATCHEWAN 0ALBERTA 7 AT LETHBRIDGE 3<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>FRI. JAN. 30UBC AT REGINASASKATCHEWAN AT CALGARYLETHBRIDGE AT MANITOBABRANDON AT ALBERTASAT. JAN. 31UBC AT REGINASASKATCHEWAN AT CALGARYREGINA AT BRANDONLETHBRIDGE AT MANITOBABRANDON AT ALBERTA<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1541/5258504-1-eng-US/f0030-152.jpg" title="f0030-15" width="539" height="396"></div><h2>AUAA</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<h3>KELLY DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1633/5258497-1-eng-US/f0030-162.jpg" title="f0030-16" width="528" height="133"></div><h3>MCADAM DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1733/5258490-1-eng-US/f0030-172.jpg" title="f0030-17" width="528" height="157"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>TUE. JAN. 20ST. THOMAS 4 AT MT. ALLISON 7WED. JAN. 21ST. MARY&rsquo;S 4 AT DALHOUSIE 6FRI. JAN. 23DALHOUSIE 7 AT ST. THOMAS 2SAT. JAN. 24DALHOUSIE 6 AT UNB 5ST. MARY&rsquo;S 4 AT ST. F. XAVIER 2ACADIA 5 AT ST. THOMAS 3SUN. JAN. 25UPE11 AT MONCTON 6ACADIA 5 AT UNB 0<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>FRI. JAN. 30UPEI AT MT. ALLISONST. THOMAS AT MONCTONSAT. JAN. 31ACADIA AT ST. MARY&rsquo;SUNB AT ST. F. XAVIERST. THOMAS AT MT. ALLISONSUN. FEB. 1UNB AT MT. ALUSONMONCTON AT UPEI<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1829/5258483-1-eng-US/f0030-182.jpg" title="f0030-18" width="537" height="315"></div><h2>QUAA</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-1923/5258476-1-eng-US/f0030-192.jpg" title="f0030-19" width="534" height="129"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>THU. JAN. 22McGILL 7 AT CONCORDIA 3FRI. JAN. 23OTTAWA 6 AT McGILL 5CONCORDIA AT T-RIVIERES (PPD. SNOW)SUN. JAN. 25T-RIVIERES 3 AT OTTAWA 3<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>FRI. JAN. 30CONCORDIA AT OTTAWAMcGILL AT T-RIVIERESSUN. FEB. 1T-RIVIERES AT McGILL<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-2019/5258469-1-eng-US/f0030-202.jpg" title="f0030-20" width="537" height="316"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

Bauer COLLEGE SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY HELEN DOLIK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01533/5258633-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="179" height="137"></div>EDMONTON&mdash;As hectic as David Otto&rsquo;s life is these days, it would be a lot worse if the University of Alberta Hospital was more than a block away from Varsity Arena.Otto is a third-year medicine student at the U of A. He&rsquo;s also in his fourth year with the U of A Golden Bears, in the Canada West University Athletic Association.The 5-foot-l 1, 175-pound center is the first Bear&mdash;since Edmonton Oiler defenseman Randy Gregg in the late &rsquo;70s&mdash;to study in the Faculty of Medicine and play intercollegiate hockey.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not too bad,&rdquo; said the 22-year-old, no relation to the Calgary Flames&rsquo; Joel Otto. &ldquo;But it kind of hurts your social life.&ldquo;As long as you keep it organized and schedule your time, hockey seems to be a good break from all of the medical work.&rdquo;Otto, who was third in team scoring with 10 goals and 18 assists in 15 games, joined the team four years ago as a walk-on. He scored a conference-high five goals in Alberta&rsquo;s 8-2 win over the Saskatchewan Huskies on Jan. 17, lifting the Golden Bears into third place in the CWUAA.Based on that performance, Otto was named Canada West player of the week. The one-night scoring extravaganza pushed his career totals to 50 goals and 104 assists, and put him 12th in conference scoring.&ldquo;It was more of a thrill to play for the Golden Bears than anything else,&rdquo; Otto said of the defending national university champions. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always looked up to them since I was a kid.&rdquo;Despite Otto&rsquo;s heavy workload, he has missed only three games this season. This is Otto&rsquo;s fifth year of university, the last three in medicine.His first two years in med school were mainly lectures from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The long hours left him drained, but it was easier to fit in hockey. He could miss the odd lecture and read up on it later.That changed this year, because he&rsquo;s on rotation at the hospital. His first rotation is surgery and it entails extended hours. Every fourth day, he starts another 36-hour shift.If Otto is on call at the hospital when there&rsquo;s practice, he&rsquo;ll try to get a friend to cover for him while he skips over to the arena.&ldquo;I found that if I went home and slept for one-and-a-half hours, it&rsquo;s the same thing as playing hockey,&rdquo; Otto said. &ldquo;I found, most of the time, it picks me up.&rdquo;Otto has talked to Gregg a couple of times about their similar situations, but he doesn&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;ll end up in the National Hockey League.&ldquo;He had more of an opportunity to play professionally than I have,&rdquo; said Otto. &ldquo;Realistically, I can&rsquo;t squeeze much more out of hockey&mdash;maybe go to Europe.&rdquo;Alberta coach Clare Drake is familiar with players who have heavy academic loads. There are a few engineering students on the team, as well.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s one of the toughest types of hockey to play,&rdquo; Drake said. &ldquo;Not only do you have a pretty demanding academic load, but also we&rsquo;re working on a pretty sophisticated level of play. So it&rsquo;s demanding a lot at the rink.&rdquo;The 1987-88 season will be Otto&rsquo;s graduating year, and also his fifth and last year of eligibility. Will he be back?&ldquo;I always wait until the off-season to decide,&rdquo; he said.WEST WORDS&mdash;David Otto is not the only med student in Canada West. Peter Spafford, who plays for the Saskatchewan Huskies, in his fifth year at U of S&hellip;Calgary Dinosaur Paul Geddes, the leading scorer in Canada West, set a school points record Jan. 17. He scored a goal and three assists ina 10-1 win over Brandon, upping his season total to 52 points, and surpassing the mark of 50 set by Robin Laycock in 1979. &#9632;

f0031-01

Bears’ Otto Mobile On Ice, At Med School

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02371/5258664-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="179" height="133"></div>HOUGHTON, Mich.&mdash;Located in Michigan&rsquo;s scenic Upper Peninsula, Michigan Tech is at the geographic top of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.But it&rsquo;s at the statistical bottom.For the third straight year, coach Herb Boxer has been struggling to lift the hockey Huskies out of last place. All signs indicate the uprising will be gradual, if and when it is accomplished.Though the Huskies recently swept Colorado College, reviving hopes of an escape from the cellar, the two-game sweep was Tech&rsquo;s first in more than a year.Still, Boxer remained optimistic.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve used too many young players over the course of the season,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve had to either sink or swim. Now, they may be beginning to swim. They&rsquo;re learning what the league is all about.&rdquo;Tech&rsquo;s relative mastery over Colorado College&mdash;three victories in four meetings this season&mdash;led Boxer to discern a hint of improvement, in a program which hasn&rsquo;t had a winning season since 1983.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the first time we&rsquo;ve dominated a four-game series in three years,&rdquo; Boxer said. &ldquo;When you can start doing that, it&rsquo;s a step in the right direction, a sign that we&rsquo;re starting to put things together.&rdquo;But Colorado College is not the Edmonton Oilers. It&rsquo;s not even a WCHA power, like North Dakota and Minnesota.Other signs of a coming return of Tech&rsquo;s glory days can be found in this, the bleakest of seasons. One of the Huskies&rsquo; six wins in 28 games came against North Dakota. The convincing 8-5 victory snapped an eight-game winning streak the Fighting Sioux fashioned at the beginning of the season.Still, Tech ranked last in goals scored&mdash;3.3 per game&mdash;and last in goals allowed&mdash;5.4 per game. But Boxer said he believes there&rsquo;s enough talent on campus to spearhead a move up in future years.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got some definite needs,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;like centers who can score goals, and a superstar who can put you over the hump.&ldquo;I think our goal scoring will come around, but probably not this year. We were happy to get seven goals in each game against Colorado College.&rdquo;Tech does have some good young talent, with only six seniors on a roster dominated by 11 freshmen. Three of Tech&rsquo;s five top scorers return next year&mdash;including center John Archibald, who, with 26 points, was the only player close to cracking the top 15 in league scoring.&ldquo;We only lose one senior defenseman,&rdquo; Boxer said, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;ve been playing three freshman on defense at times, so that area should be strong for us.&rdquo;Now, if only Tech can learn how to win on the road. Over the last two seasons, the Huskies have won just three road games, while losing 29 and tying three. &#9632;

f0031-02

Huskies Dream Of Escaping Residency In WCHA Cellar

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03271/5258709-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="358" height="487"><figcaption class="caption-body">GREG ROLSTON York</figcaption></div><h2>OUAA</h2>The league-leading York Yeomen toppled Queen&rsquo;s 7-3 and blanked McMaster 50 as right winger Greg Rolston scored eight points in the two games. Rolston scored four times in the win over Queen&rsquo;s.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04202/5258702-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="360" height="484"><figcaption class="caption-body">LARRY DYCK Manitoba</figcaption></div><h2>CWUAA</h2>Freshman goaltender Larry Dyck was the big star for the Manitoba Bisons as he registered his third shutout of the year and 10th win in Manitoba&rsquo;s two-game split against Saskatchewan.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05161/5258695-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="359" height="482"><figcaption class="caption-body">TIM IANNONE McGill</figcaption></div><h2>QUAA</h2>Former Regina Pats&rsquo; center Tim lannone provided the offense as the McGill Redmen beat Concordia 7-3 and tied with the QUAA-leading Ottawa GeeGees 3-3. lannone had eight points, including a hat trick against Ottawa.Bauer FIT FOR PERFORMANCE &#9632;

f0031-03

Bauer’s University Performer of the Week

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01563/5258740-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="177" height="134"></div>OSHAWA&mdash;Brian Kilrea insists he is conceding first place but Oshawa Generals&rsquo; coach Paul Theriault isn&rsquo;t accepting the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s offer of the white flag.Theriault does not anticipate an unconditional surrender in the Leyden Division.&ldquo;Ottawa&rsquo;s got a lot of scoring power and just added John Hanna as an overage,&rdquo; said Theriault. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no way I&rsquo;m taking the 67&rsquo;s lightly or swallowing Brian&rsquo;s baloney that his club is out of the running.&rdquo;Late in January, the 67&rsquo;s trailed Oshawa by 16 points but had played four less games.At stake in the Leyden Division is more than bragging rights and victory cigar favored by both longtime rivals. There&rsquo;s added incentive for winning the Leyden and Emms Division championships in the Ontario League this season.The two division champs meet in a best-of-seven series, with the winner earning an automatic berth in the Memorial Cup as host team for the week-long event in May.Should the preliminary-round winner continue on and win the OHL championship series, the Memorial Cup playdowns will be a three-team series with the Western and Quebec League champions.But should a team other than the OHL preliminary-round winner capture the championship series, the Cup will then become a four-team affair with two teams from Ontario.The Generals stand a good chance of being one of those teams. They boast an awesome lineup.The first line of center Scott McCrory, left winger Derek King and right winger Lee Giffin comprised the Leyden&rsquo;s first all-star forward line. All have passed the 30-goal mark.Giffin was recently called to the National Hockey League by the Pittsburgh Penguins, though Theriault said he expects him back before the end of the regular season.Oshawa&rsquo;s attack doesn&rsquo;t stop after the first line. Better-than-average forwards include overager Barry Burkholder, John Andersen, Jeff Daniels and rookie Kevin Miehm.The defense is, without argument, the division&rsquo;s best. Its leader is captain Jim Paek. He gets considerable help from the much-travelled Shane Doyle, Marc Laniel and the flashy Petri Matikainen.Overage goalie Sean Evoy is a product of perhaps the most one-sided deal ever made by general manager Sherry Bassin. Bassin obtained the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; draft choice from the Cornwall Royals last summer for a mere 10th-round draft choice.Through his first 19 decisions, Evoy had a 17-2 record. Twelve of those wins were recorded on the road.While Oshawa has settled comfortably into first place in the Leyden, the Emms is still a four-team race between the North Bay Centennials, Hamilton Steelhawks, Windsor Spitfires and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.North Bay had the division&rsquo;s best goals-against average and received an unexpected pre-Christmas bonus with the arrival of high-scoring Nick Kypreos from the American League. Kyp-reos is part of a Centennial scoring arsenal which features Tim Bean, David McLlwain, Darren Turcotte and rookie scoring sensation Keith Osborne.The Steelhawks have hung tough as coach-GM Bill LaForge has attempted to deal his way to a pennant. No less than 11 current Steelhawks have been obtained in trades made by LaForge over the past two seasons.While the Steelhawk defense is suspect, goalies Mark Gowans and Mike Rosati are quality performers and the offense features an abundance of talent, including Bad Dalgarno, Kirk Tomlinson, Stan Drulia, Keith Gretzky, Ken McRae and overage Brian Martin.The Spitfires recently added to their puny offensive attack, getting speedy Mike Wolak from the Belleville Bulls. Wolak has taken some of the pressure off scoring leader Adam Graves, a second-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings last year.The Spitfire trademark has been a strong defense anchored by Philadelphia Flyer hopeful Paul Maurice and all-star Darryl Shannon.Sault Ste. Marie, last-place finishers a year ago, has done well largely because of coach Don Boyd, who has done wonders despite facing a lack of overall depth.Shawn Simpson has provided the Soo with some of the division&rsquo;s best goaltending, playing behind a spotty defense which has received consistent performances only from veteran Mark Haarmann and the unheralded Peter Fiorentino.The Greyhounds&rsquo; offensive leader has been Mike Oliverio, a 19-year-old free agent. Also contributing have been Dan Currie and Brad Aitken, who has passed the 20-goal mark despite missing six weeks with a damaged shoulder.&ldquo;I look at the talent of North Bay, Hamilton and Windsor.&rdquo; said Boyd, &ldquo;and sometimes I feel like we&rsquo;re along for the ride. This is a dam tough division. And it looks like the only reward for finishing first is going to be a tough series with Oshawa.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK&mdash;OHL all-star coach Paul Theriault announced eight additions to the team that was to meet the Quebec League all-stars, Jan. 27 and Jan. 28 in Ottawa and Hull. There was some controversy when Theriault opted for three more of his own Oshawa players and a full line of overage players. Those selections were made at the expense of some promising draft-eligible players such as Kitchener&rsquo;s Darren Rumble. And when no Ottawa 67&rsquo;s were selected to play in their own backyard in the Challenge Series, there was more fuel added to the fire. One of the most notable omissions was Ottawa&rsquo;s Frank DiMuzio, who was leading the OHL in goals (42) at the time of the selections. The additions included the overage line of Toronto Marlboro center Mike Richard, Oshawa right winger Barry Burkholder and Peterborough Pete left winger Kris King. Other players added were: Oshawa defensemen Jim Paek and Gord Murphy; North Bay Centennial center Dave McLlwain; and Hamilton&rsquo;s Brad Dalgarno, a right winger, and Kirk Tomlinson, a left winger. &#9632;

f0032-01

The Juniors

Oshawa Has Its Eve On Memorial Cup Berth

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01501/5258816-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="182" height="135"></div>REGINA&mdash;In a league where east is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet&mdash;except in the all-star game and playoffs&mdash;the accent was on excitement.And the 3,652 Agridome patrons at the Jan. 20 Western League all-star game got their money&rsquo;s worth.The Regina fans saved their loudest cheers for one of their own, Regina Pat center Len Nielsen. It was Nielsen&rsquo;s marker midway through the final period which stood up as the winner, in a 4-3 victory for the Eastern Division over their high-power Western Division rivals.Nielsen converted a centering pass from Pats&rsquo; teammate Craig Endean at 13:57, putting his team up 4-2 in the free-wheeling contest.The West made things interesting in the dying minutes. With netminder Troy Gamble of the Spokane Chiefs lifted in favor of an extra attacker, Portland defenseman Glen Wesley, a top draft prospect, scored at 18:08 to set the stage for a hectic finish.The West stormed to the attack but was thwarted by the outstanding netminding of the Medicine Hat Tigers&rsquo; Mark Fitzpatrick, another highly-touted draft prospect. He made 19 saves in relief of Prince Albert&rsquo;s Kenton Rein, who worked the first half of the game.It was fitting that Nielsen, who&rsquo;s been playing his best hockey of the season, should score the winner. The 19-year-old, the East&rsquo;s player of the month for December, picked up 23 points in eight games to earn a spot on the team. He stood second to Endean in division scoring, with 75 points in 34 games.Players and coaches alike got caught up as they watched the excitement unfold, in the first all-star game since inter-divisional regular season play was suspended.&ldquo;I found myself at times just doing that&mdash;watching it,&rdquo; said victorious coach Rick Wilson of the Prince Albert Raiders.Shutout goaltending by Rein in the first half played an important role in the outcome.&ldquo;I thought Rein was outstanding,&rdquo; said West Division coach Ken Hitchcock of the Kamloops Blazers. &ldquo;He made all the right moves. They weren&rsquo;t lucky saves at all.&rdquo;At the other end, the New Westminster Bruins&rsquo; Drago Adam faced 20 shots before giving way to Gamble, who faced 23 in second half of the game.The East went up 1-0 in the first period, on a goal by Calgary Wrangler defenseman Mark Tinordi.Fourteen seconds into the second frame, national junior team center Theoren Fleury of the Moose Jaw Warriors increased the margin to 2-0.The West broke its goose-egg at 18:11, when left winger Darcy Norton of Kamloops connected on the power Play.Center Pat Elynuik of Prince Albert gave the East another two-goal margin before the period ended. But left winger Warren Babe of Kamloops narrowed the gap again, to 3-2, six minutes into the third period.WHL NOTES&mdash;Saskatoon Blades dumped Regina 7-1 for their 10th consecutive win. The surprising Blades moved within five points of division-leading Medicine Hat with the victory-&hellip;Glen Goodall of the Seattle Thunderbirds was named West Division player of the month for December after scoring 18 goals in nine games, including a hat trick as last-place Seattle surprised Portland 6-5. The hat-trick gave Goodall 45 goals on the season, eclipsing the WHL record for goals by a 16-year-old. The old standard of 42 was set by Mark Pederson of Medicine Hat in 1984-85&hellip;Bob Foglietta paid instant dividends for Moose Jaw after being acquired from Portland in a recent trade for netminder Darryl Gilmour. The right winger scored four goals as Moose Jaw bombed Calgary 10-4&hellip;West Division-leading Kamloops continued its mastery of second-place Portland, winning its fourth consecutive overtime game over the Winter Hawks. Rich Wiest scored at 1:32 of overtime as Kamloops claimed a 7-6 decision before more than 10,000 fans in Portland. &#9632;

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East Bests West At WHL All-Star Showcase

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03254/5258847-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="593" height="1051"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goaltender Bobby Desjardins, above, was one of Guy Lapointe&rsquo;s shrewd additions.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02354/5258854-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="182" height="138"></div>LONGUEUIL&mdash;After taking the Chevaliers from last place overall to first place in the Quebec League&rsquo;s Lebel Division this season, Longueuil general manager Guy Lapointe has returned to the pro ranks.Lapointe, who skated 13 years with the Montreal Canadiens and was a member of six Stanley Cup championship teams, has joined the Quebec Nordiques as an assistant to coach Michel Bergeron. (See related story on page 20.)Lapointe held the same position during the 1984-85 season.&ldquo;He mentioned to me something was going on,&rdquo; said Chevaliers&rsquo; coach Guy Chouinard, &ldquo;but he didn&rsquo;t say with which team. We&rsquo;re pleased for him and we wish him success. It&rsquo;s a big hole for anyone to fill.&rdquo;Chouinard said nobody will be named as a replacement until the end of the season. Team governor Gilles Vachon, head scout Gilles Larivee and Chouinard will share the duties.&ldquo;Guy wanted to work in junior hockey because he wanted to spend time with his family,&rdquo; Chouinard said. &ldquo;Then, I think he realized he had to travel quite a bit anyway, going to midget games and so on.&rdquo;Lapointe wheeled and dealed to acquire five of the first 24 picks&mdash;and eight in the first four rounds&mdash;of the 1986 QMJHL draft, after the Chevs bottomed out with an 18-51-3 record in &rsquo;85-86.He obtained an extra pick in each of the first five rounds and was in on five of the league&rsquo;s seven last-minute pre-draft deals.Right winger Ron Stem and center Mario Lanthier are the only players who have remained with the team since Lapointe took over.As of Jan. 23, the Chevaliers were riding atop the Lebel Division with a 27-18-2 record&mdash;seven points ahead of the Laval Titan, and third overall, one point behind the Shawinigan Cataractes.Lapointe coached Longueuil for the first half of the 1985-86 season, then stuck to the general manager&rsquo;s role when the NHL Ex-Pros oldtimers&rsquo; team purchased a controlling interest in the club.&ldquo;It was a surprise,&rdquo; said QMJHL head scout Flo Potvin, &ldquo;although they (Nordiques) were very interested in him at the start of the saeason. He told me he got an offer he couldn&rsquo;t refuse. He&rsquo;s done a great job and he&rsquo;s respected by everybody.&rdquo;The Chevs, led by right winger Terry MacLean (25-45-70), right winger Marc Bureau (31-36-67) and goaltender Bobby Desjardins (3.53 goals-against average) had won their past three games. They had the league&rsquo;s best defensive record.Desjardins, 19, winner of the QMJHL&rsquo;s Jacques Plante Trophy last year with a 3.36 average, backstopped the Hull Olympiques to the Memorial Cup final. He was traded to the Chevaliers just before the 1986 QMJHL draft.Coaches Pat Bums of Hull and Real Paiement of Granby&mdash;named as co-coaches of the Quebec League&rsquo;s all-stars&mdash;selected Desjardins and Stem to compete in the second Challenege Series against the Ontario League all-stars. The two were among eight players named to complete the roster of the 20-man team, which will defend its title against the OHL in back-to-back games in Ottawa and Hull, Jan. 27 and 28.A trio of 17-year-old defensemen were also added&mdash;Granby&rsquo;s Eric Desjardins, Trois-Rivieres&rsquo; Steve Veillieux, and Hull&rsquo;s Cam Russell.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have a young defense,&rdquo; Bums said, &ldquo;but we want to show some of our draft prospects. All of them can move the puck well and we&rsquo;re going to be fast up front.&rdquo;Laval left winger Francois Guay (39-58-97), 18, Granby left winger Claude Dumas (35-56-91), 19, and Hull center Shane MacEachem (3235-67), 19, were other additions.QUEBEC CACHE&mdash;The QMJHL lost two top players when St-Jean Castors&rsquo; left winger Philippe Bozon, 20, was called up by the St. Louis Blues, and Granby defenseman Alain Cote, 19, was sidelined after a shot by a Laval player broke his jaw. Cote played 30 games with the Boston Bruins last season. &#9632;

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Lapointe Leaves Chevs Without Driver

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01576/5258899-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01543/5258892-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="3110" height="3834"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01519/5258885-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="3065" height="3351"></div> &#9632;

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NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<h2>AHL</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01451/5259105-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="536" height="185"></div><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02325/5259098-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="537" height="239"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>TUE. JAN. 20SPRINGFIELD 6 AT ADIRONDACK 3MAINE 4 AT FREDERICTON 6BINGHAMTON 3 AT NEWMARKET 4WED. JAN. 21SPRINGFIELD 8 AT BALTIMORE 3ADIRONDACK 3 AT HERSHEY 5MONCTON 0 AT NEW HAVEN 4MAINE 4 AT NOVA SCOTIA 2SHERBROOKE 4 AT ROCHESTER 6THU. JAN. 22MAINE 3 AT FREDERICTON 0FRI. JAN. 23ADIRONDACK 3 AT BALTIMORE 4ROCHESTER 3 AT BINGHAMTON 2SHERBROOKE 7 AT NEWMARKET 4HERSHEY 2 AT SPRINGFIELD 4SAT. JAN. 24NEW HAVEN 6 AT ADIRONDACK 4BALTIMORE 4 AT BINGHAMTON 3NOVA SCOTIA 2 AT FREDERICTON 0ROCHESTER 8 AT HERSHEY 2MONCTON 4 A MAINE 7SHERBROOKE 4 AT SPRINGFIELD 3SUN. JAN. 25FREDERICTON 7 AT NOVA SCOTIA 3NEW HAVEN 5 AT ROCHESTER 1<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>SAT. JAN. 31BALTIMORE AT ADIRONDACKNEWMARKET AT FREDERICTONSHERBROOKE AT HERSHEYNOVA SCOTIA AT MAINEBINGHAMTON AT MONCTONNEW HAVEN AT SPRINGFIELDSUN. FEB. 1ADIRONDACK AT MAINESPRINGFIELD AT NEW HAVENBINGHAMTON AT NOVA SCOTIABALTIMORE AT ROCHESTER<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03247/5259091-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="540" height="423"></div><h3>TOP GOALTENDERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04203/5259084-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="562" height="161"></div><h2>ACHL</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05177/5259077-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="542" height="158"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>WED. JAN. 21CAROLINA 4 AT MOHAWK VALLEY 9THU. JAN. 22ERIE 5 AT VIRGINIA 2FRI. JAN. 23CAROLINA 4 AT ERIE 9VIRGINIA 4 AT MOHAWK VALLEY 5SAT. JAN. 24CAROLINA 4 AT ERIE 6VIRGINIA 4 AT MOHAWK VALLEY 3<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>THU. JAN. 29CAROLINA AT VIRGINIAFRI. JAN. 30VIRGINIA AT ERIECAROLINA AT MOHAWK VALLEYSAT. JAN. 31VIRGINIA AT ERIECAROLINA AT MOHAWK VALLEYSUN. FEB. 1MOHAWK VALLEY AT ERIE<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06153/5259070-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="542" height="422"></div><h3>TOP GOALTENDERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07131/5259063-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="572" height="166"></div><h2>IHL</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-08108/5259056-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="542" height="138"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0993/5259049-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="550" height="192"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>SUN. JAN. 18PEORIA 0 AT SAGINAW 5MUSKEGON 3 AT KALAMAZOO 6FORT WAYNE 0 AT INDIANAPOLIS 1TUE. JAN. 20FORT WAYNE 2 AT SALT LAKE 3MILWAUKEE 3 AT INDIANAPOLIS 8WED. JAN. 21SAGINAW 4 AT FLINT 3INDIANAPOLIS 5 AT PEORIA 4THU. JAN. 22KALAMAZOO 4 AT MUSKEGON 5FORT WAYNE 2 AT SALT LAKE 4FRI. JAN. 23SAGINAW 1 AT KALAMAZOO 3MILWAUKEE 5 AT PEORIA 4FLINT 5 AT INDIANAPOLIS 4SAT. JAN. 24SAGINAW 2 AT MUSKEGON 8MILWAUKEE 2 AT PEORIA 3FORT WAYNE 2 AT SALT LAKE 5INDIANAPOLIS 4 AT KALAMAZOO 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>FRI. JAN. 30FORT WAYNE AT MUSKEGONFLINT AT KALAMAZOOSAGINAW AT PEORIAMILWAUKEE AT SALT LAKESAT. JAN. 31SALT LAKE AT FORT WAYNEPEORIA AT MUSKEGONFLINT AT SAGINAWMILWAUKEE AT INDIANAPOLISSUN. FEB. 1MUSKEGON AT SAGINAWKALAMAZOO AT PEORIASALT LAKE AT INDIANAPOLIS<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1086/5259042-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="551" height="425"></div><h3>TOP GOALTENDERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1170/5259035-1-eng-US/f0037-112.jpg" title="f0037-11" width="570" height="165"></div><h2>OHL</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<h3>LEYDEN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1261/5259028-1-eng-US/f0037-122.jpg" title="f0037-12" width="543" height="211"></div><h3>EMMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1355/5259021-1-eng-US/f0037-132.jpg" title="f0037-13" width="545" height="233"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>MON. JAN. 19HAMILTON 1 AT WINDSOR 3TUE. JAN. 20LONDON 6 AT SUDBURY 5WED. JAN. 21OSHAWA 5 AT BELLEVILLE 7LONDON 1 AT S.S. MARIE 3THU. JAN. 22OTTAWA 5 AT CORNWALL 4KINGSTON 5 AT GUELPH 2WINDSOR 2 AT NORTH BAY 7KITCHENER 2 AT PETERBOROUGH 3FRI. JAN. 23HAMILTON 4 AT GUELPH 5KINGSTON 6 AT KITCHENER 5TORONTO 4 AT LONDON 11BELLEVILLE 6 AT OTTAWA 2WINDSOR 1 AT SUDBURY 8OSHAWA 4 AT S.S. MARIE 6SAT. JAN. 24CORNWALL 3 AT BELLEVILLE 5GUELPH 4 AT PETERBOROUGH 5KINGSTON 4 AT TORONTO 12SUN. JAN. 25PETERBOROUGH 6 AT CORNWALL 8OSHAWA 6 AT NORTH BAY 4WINDSOR 5 AT S.S. MARIE 1HAMILTON 6 AT TORONTO 5<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1450/5259014-1-eng-US/f0037-142.jpg" title="f0037-14" width="551" height="287"></div><h3>TOP GOALTENDERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1545/5259007-1-eng-US/f0037-152.jpg" title="f0037-15" width="569" height="157"></div><h2>WHL</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1640/5259000-1-eng-US/f0037-162.jpg" title="f0037-16" width="543" height="238"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1736/5258993-1-eng-US/f0037-172.jpg" title="f0037-17" width="545" height="187"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>TUE. JAN. 20EAST ALL-STARS 4, WEST ALL-STARS 3WED. JAN. 21SWIFT CURRENT 5 AT SASKATOON 3SEATTLE 3 AT SPOKANE 5THU. JAN. 22MEDICINE HAT 8 AT BRANDON 0PORTLAND 10 AT NEW WESTMINSER 3FRI. JAN. 23SWIFT CURRENT 3 AT PRINCE ALBERT 7CALGARY 1 AT SASKATOON 6MEDICINE HAT 5 AT REGINA 3PORTLAND 6 AT KAMLOOPS 7NEW WESTMINSTER 4 AT SEATTLE 5SAT. JAN. 24REGINA 7 AT MEDICINE HAT 5SASKATOON 5 AT BRANDON 6CALGARY 4 AT PRINCE ALBERT 7NEW WESTMINSTER 2 AT SPOKANE 4PORTLAND 4 AT VICTORIA 6SUN. JAN. 25SASKATOON 4 AT BRANDON 2SEATTLE 5 AT KAMLOOPS 6<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1835/5258986-1-eng-US/f0037-182.jpg" title="f0037-18" width="545" height="525"></div><h3>TOP GOALTENDERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1931/5258979-1-eng-US/f0037-192.jpg" title="f0037-19" width="568" height="162"></div><h2>QMJHL</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<h3>DILIO DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2031/5258972-1-eng-US/f0037-202.jpg" title="f0037-20" width="540" height="159"></div><h3>LEBEL DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2130/5258965-1-eng-US/f0037-212.jpg" title="f0037-21" width="543" height="158"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>MON. JAN. 19ST. JEAN 2 AT LAVAL 10TUE. JAN. 20VERDUN 6 AT HULL 5GRANBY 4 AT T-RMERES 5WED. JAN. 21SHAWINIGAN 6 AT GRANBY 5THU. JAN. 22CHICOUTIMI 5 AT LONGUEUIL 9FRI. JAN. 23CHICOUTIMI 4 AT DRUMMONDVILLE 6GRANBY 5 AT SHAWINIGAN 10LAVAL 3 AT ST. JEAN 7T-RIVIERES 5 AT VERDUN 6SUN. JAN. 25SHAWINIGAN 4 AT CHICOUTIMI 2ST. JEAN 5 AT DRUMMONDVILLE 7LONGUEUIL 2 AT GRANBY 6LAVAL 3 AT T-RIVIERES 7HULL 4 AT VERDUN 6<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2229/5258958-1-eng-US/f0037-222.jpg" title="f0037-22" width="539" height="424"></div><h3>TOP GOALTENDERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2328/5258951-1-eng-US/f0037-232.jpg" title="f0037-23" width="566" height="158"></div><h2>USHL</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2426/5258944-1-eng-US/f0037-242.jpg" title="f0037-24" width="547" height="315"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>WED. JAN. 21SIOUX CITY 3 AT ST. PAUL 4FRI. JAN. 23THUNDER BAY 6 AT DES MOINES 4NORTH IOWA 2 AT MADISON 4WATERLOO 6 AT SIOUX CITY 5SAT IAN 24OMAHA 2 AT SIOUX CITY 8ST. PAUL 5 AT ROCHESTER 11NORTH IOWA 4 AT DUBUQUE 9DES MOINES 1 AT MADISON 3THUNDER BAY 8 AT WATERLOO 5SUN. JAN. 25THUNDER BAY 8 AT ST. PAUL 7<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2525/5258937-1-eng-US/f0037-252.jpg" title="f0037-25" width="546" height="259"></div><h2>OSHL</h2>(STANDINGS ON MON. JAN. 26)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2622/5258930-1-eng-US/f0037-262.jpg" title="f0037-26" width="539" height="157"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>THU. JAN. 22DUNDAS 8 A BRANTFORD 5SUN. JAN. 25DUNDAS 5 AT THUNDER BAY 8 &#9632;

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SCOREBOARD

<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Bob Sweeney, C, recalled from Moncton of AHL. John Carter, C, returned to Moncton.BUFFALO&mdash;Mikael Anderson, C, recalled from Rochester of AHL.CALGARY&mdash;Doug Dadswell, G, recalled from Moncton of AHL and later returned.DETROIT&mdash;Mark LaForest, G, recalled from Adirondack of AHL. Dale Krentz, LW, returned to Adirondack.EDMONTON&mdash;Darryl Reaugh, G, recalled from Nova Scotia of AHL. Darren Beals, G, returned to Kitchener of OHL.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Bob Janecyk, G, assigned to New Haven of AHL for conditioning purposes. Paul Guay, RW, recalled from New Haven.MINNESOTA&mdash;Scott Bjugstad, LW, recalled from Springfield of AHL.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Gerald Diduck, D, and Randy Boyd, D, recalled from Springfield of AHL.NY RANGERS&mdash;Brad Maxwell, D, claimed on waivers from Vancouver.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Ron Duguay, RW, traded to NY Rangers for Chris Kontos, C, who was playing with New Haven of AHL. Dwight Schofield, RW, recalled from Baltimore. Lee Giffin, RW, recalled from Oshawa of OHL.QUEBEC&mdash;Greg Malone, C, assigned to Fredericton of AHL.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Philippe Bozon, LW, recalled from St. Jean of QMJHL.TORONTO&mdash;Todd Gill, D, recalled from Newmarket of AHL. Ted Fauss, D, returned to Newmarket.<h2>INJURY UST</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Keith Crowder, RW, Michael Thelven, D, and Lyndon Byers, RW, back injury, Ken Linseman, C, sprained knee, Gord Kluzak, knee surgery, and Louis Sleigher, RW, groin surgery. Linseman sidelined three more weeks, the others out indefinitely.BUFFALO&mdash;Bill Hajt, D, back in lineup. Shawn Anderson, D, out day-to-day with back problem.CALGARY&mdash;Gary Suter, D, and Colin Patterson, LW, back in lineup. Nick Fotiu, LW, bruised ribs, Doug Risebrough, C, twisted knee. Perry Berezan, LW, pulled groin, Mike Bullard, C, bruised shoulder, and Brian Engblom, D, back injury. Bullard and Fotiu out day-to-day, the rest sidelined indefinitely.CHICAGO&mdash;Denis Savard, C, out day-to-day with bruised hand. Behn Wilson, D, sidelined indefinitely while recovering from back surgery.DETROIT&mdash;Harold Snepsts, D, bruised back, Billy Carroll, C, pulled groin, Doug Halward, D, separated shoulder, Gilbert Delorme, D, strained knee, Mark Kumpel, RW, dislocated wrist, Greg Stefan, G, back spasms, and Lee Norwood, D, groin injury. Snepsts, Carroll and Halward out day-to-day, Delorme and Kumpel four to six weeks, Stefan and Norwood indefinitely.EDMONTON&mdash;Grant Fuhr, G, bruised back. and Marty McSorley, RW, strained knee. Both sidelined day-to-day.HARTFORD&mdash;Dave Babych, D, bruised hip, Paul Lawless, LW, knee injury, Joel Quennevile, D, shoulder separation, and Torrie Robertson, LW, broken leg. Babych out day-to-day, Lawless two more weeks, Robertson indefinitely and Quenneville for rest of season.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Larry Playfair, D, out one more week after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery.MINNESOTA&mdash;Dennis Maruk, C, separated shoulder and Tom Hirsch, shoulder surgery. Maruk out two more weeks and Hirsch indefinitely.MONTREAL&mdash;Stephane Richer, C, eye injury, out day-to-day. Kjell Dahlin, RW, and Chris Nilan, RW, torn knee ligaments, both sidelined indefinitely.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Mel Bridgman, C, back in lineup. Greg Adams, C, concussion, and Joe Cirella, D, broken foot. Adams sidelined day-to-day, Cirella indefinitely.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Denis Potvin, D, back in lineup. Mike Bossy, RW, strained back, and Tomas Jonsson, D, broken jaw. Bossy out day-to-day, Jonsson indefinitely.NY RANGERS&mdash;George McPhee, LW, back in lineup. Lucien DeBlois, LW, knee surgery, sidelined indefinitely.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Dave Brown, RW, cracked ribs, and Darryl Stanley, D, ankle injury. Brown out day-to-day, Stanley two to three more weeks. Ulka Sinisalo, RW, and Brian Propp, LW, both out three to four more weeks after knee surgery.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Mario Lemieux, C, back in lineup. Troy Loney, LW, sprained shoulder, out two more weeks.QUEBEC&mdash;Jason Lafreniere, C, and Normand Rochefort, D, back in lineup. Dale Hunter, C, and Gord Donnelly, D, broken legs. Both sidelined indefinitely.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Ron Flockhart, LW, strained knee, Bernie Federko, C, broken jaw, Charles Bourgeois, D, viral infection, Jocelyn Lemieux, LW, lacerated finger, Brian Sutter, LW, severe shoulder injury, Ed Beers, LW, back surgery, and Kent Carlson, LW, spinal surgery. Bourgeois and Lemieux out day-to-day, Flockhart one more week. Federko sidelined indefinitely, Sutter, Beers and Carlson out for rest of season.TORONTO&mdash;Greg Terrion, C, back in lineup. Miroslav Frycer, RW, knee injury, Chris Kotsopoulos, D, groin injury. Bob McGill, D, shoulder injury, Brad Smith, RW, back problem, Tom Fergus, C, undergoing tests for virus, Ken Yaremchuk, C, broken foot, and Dan Daoust, C, broken ankle. Smith, Frycer, and McGill out day-to-day, Kotsopoulos two weeks, the rest sidelined indefinitely.VANCOUVER&mdash;Brent Peterson, C, groin injury, sidelined day-to-day and Glen Cochrane, D, out indefinitely after back surgery.WASHINGTON&mdash;Jeff Greenlaw, LW, back injury, and Alan Haworth, C, torn knee ligaments. Greenlaw out day-to-day, Haworth sidelined two more weeks.WINNIPEG&mdash;Hannu Jarvenpaa, RW, severely damaged knee ligaments, and Perry Turnbull, LW, shoulder injury. Turnbull out day-to-day, Jarvenpaa sidelined indefinitely.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>ADIRONDACK&mdash;Chris Pusey, G, recalled from Carolina of ACHL.BALTIMORE&mdash;Carl Mokosak, LW, sidelined indefinitely with broken hand.NEWMARKET&mdash;Jeff Reese, G, out 10 days with sprained wrist. Tim Bernhardt, G, back from injury list. Bruce Dowie, G, signed as backup netminder from Brantford of OSHL.<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Jamie Wansbrough, LW, signed as free agent from Europe. Tim Salmon, RW, suspended for leaving team.FORT WAYNE&mdash;Jay Johnston, D, out for season with knee injury. Vic Morin, D, signed as free agent to five-game pro trial as replacement.PEORIA&mdash;Charlie Meitner, LW, recalled from Erie of ACHL. Mark Cupolo, LW, sidelined indefinitely with shoulder injury, and Brian Shaw, RW, out with facial cuts. John Goodwin, C, suspended for leaving team.MILWAUKEE&mdash;Steve Tuite, D, reassigned from Muskegon to Milwaukee by parent L.A. Kings. Mario Belanger, RW, suspended for leaving team. &#9632;

TRANSACTIONS

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01229/5259303-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="177" height="137"></div>UNIONDALE&mdash;The week was a nightmare, even before New York Islanders Tomas Jonsson and Brian Curran were involved in a Detroit car crash that left a 17-year-old girl comatose.Both players escaped serious injury, though Jonsson is expected to be out until April, but Jan. 18-24 was a week the entire Islander organization would like to forget:SUNDAY: Mike Bossy awoke with intense pain in his season-long strained lower back. He was sidelined indefinitely. Still, the Islanders beat Philadelphia Flyers 3-1.MONDAY: General manager Bill Torrey was officially notified that Steve Konroyd was suspended for three games and fined $1,000 dollars for being judged the first player off the bench in a 21-minute bench-clearing brawl with Philadelphia the previous night.TUESDAY: National HockeyLeague executive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill overturned Konroyd&rsquo;s suspension. He viewed the game tape provided by the Islanders. It showed at least two Flyers off their bench before Konroyd left his.With Konroyd, though, the Islanders lost to Calgary 3-1. After the game, it was learned that Patrick Flatley was scheduled to visit Dr. Joseph Kappler in Chicago. Flatley has been bothered by an abdominal muscle pull and Dr. Kappler had helped diagnose Chicago&rsquo;s Al Secord&rsquo;s and Hartford&rsquo;s Sylvain Turgeon&rsquo;s stomach muscle injuries.WEDNESDAY: The Islanders took a 2-0 lead in Detroit, then unraveled. They yielded eight unanswered goals&mdash;six in a second-period span of 14:22&mdash;during a disgraceful 8-5 loss that left the Isles 1-41 in their last six games.Goalie Kelly Hrudey suffered a severely-bruised left calf in a second-period collision with Ric Seiling. Seven minutes later, Denis Potvin blocked a Tim Higgins slap shot with his face shield and miraculously escaped with just a minor concussion and severe bruise. Had Potvin not been wearing the shield he added to his helmet last season, his face and left eye would have been severely damaged.THURSDAY: At 2:50 a.m., Tomas Jonsson and Brian Curran were injured in a two-vehicle accident that left 17-year-old Brianna Rebecca Baker of Milford. Mich., the driver of their car, in a coma and in critical condition.Jonsson, 26, was rushed to Detroit Receiving Hospital with multiple fractures of the jaw that will keep him out until at least April.According to Curran, 23, who suffered lacerations of the leg and scalp, the players had accepted a ride back to the Westin Hotel from Taboo, a Detroit nightclub. A fourth person in the car, Deirdre Culbertson, 17, also of Milford, suffered minor injuries.The car, a Chrysler LeBaron convertible, went through a red light at Detroit&rsquo;s Renaissance Center and was broadsided by a tractor-trailer driven by Larry Lawhead, 40, of Maidstone Township, Ont. Lawhead was uninjured.Approximately 15 Islanders were at Taboo for what several players called &ldquo;an informal team meeting&rdquo; to try and wash the ugly 8-5 defeat from their minds.&ldquo;The guys&hellip;weren&rsquo;t breaking curfew because there wasn&rsquo;t any,&rdquo; coach Terry Simpson said. &ldquo;(Taboo) closed up, so they got rides back. They (Curran and Jonsson) couldn&rsquo;t get any cabs, so they got a ride back.&rdquo;Curran said he and Jonsson had two or three beers each. He did not think Baker, the driver, was drunk. According to Detroit police, the girls had used false ID cards to gain entry into Taboo. Michigan&rsquo;s legal drinking age is 21.FRIDAY: With his teammates in Quebec for the next night&rsquo;s game with the Nordiques, Jonsson underwent four hours of surgery to reset his jaw and wire his teeth.A few hours after surgery began, the NHL notified Simpson that he and Philadelphia coach Mike Keenan were suspended one game each for their roles in Sunday&rsquo;s brawl.SATURDAY: Simpson served his one-game suspension as assistant coach Bob Nystrom handled the team in Quebec City. In one of the week&rsquo;s few bright spots, the Isles scored a 2-1 overtime victory over the Nordiques.Said Simpson of the seven days: &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t very great, was it?&rdquo; &#9632;

f0040-01

Two Isles Injured In Serious Auto Mishap

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02150/5259334-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="374" height="452"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bruce Hood</figcaption></div>Q: Imagine this scenario. A delayed penalty has been called by the referee against one team. A member of the other team, holding the puck by his net, abruptly slaps it the length of the ice where a member of the other team touches it.Now, is it icing with the faceoff coming back down the ice? Or is it nothing and the faceoff takes place closest to where the penalized team touched it?I wonder about this because when I see a delayed penalty called, it would seem to me to be wise to try and get the puck in the other team&rsquo;s zone so that your center can win the draw on the ensuing power play. You would then save valuable seconds because your team wouldn&rsquo;t have to work the puck into the offensive zone.Tom Antonopoulus, Mount Forest, ONA: It&rsquo;s a good thought to get the faceoff down into the soon-to-beshorthanded team&rsquo;s zone. But in this situation, the icing rule takes over. Under this rule, the faceoff goes back into the zone of the team shooting it, with a faceoff at one of the end faceoffs spots. But then a second rule takes over. The rule states that when a team receives a penalty the faceoff will not take place in the opposing team&rsquo;s zone but, instead, will be held at one of the dots outside that team&rsquo;s blue line.Q: I am a little upset over a call made in a recent 4-3 overtime win by the Rangers over the Islanders. I don&rsquo;t think a call in late overtime is necessary unless the person is hurt or bleeding. The penalty against the Islanders cost them the game with only 48 seconds left. What do you think? Also, I don&rsquo;t understand referees that don&rsquo;t make a call all game and then make one that decides the game.Frank Intravaia, Bronx, NYA: Your comment about &ldquo;hurt or bleeding&rdquo; is too strong a way to indicate that there should or should not be a penalty call made in overtime. But you are right, it is very seldom that a call is made and generally if there is, it will be a minor to each team. You don&rsquo;t expect the call, the teams don&rsquo;t expect the call, and above all else, the referee doesn&rsquo;t expect or want to have to make the call.The last thing a referee has in mind is to make a call that could decide the outcome of a game. He will avoid that at all costs and truthfully not call an infraction that he may have in an earlier part of the game.But in some cases, he will have no alternative and whether it&rsquo;s in overtime or the late stages of a tie or one-goal game, he must make the call. A good referee will know when it is time for the call or non-call. But just as with players, even the best can have an off-night or make a bad call.It you want your questions answered. write to:ASK THE REFEREE 16 Martin Street Milton, Ont. L9T 2P9All questions will be considered, but only those published will be answered. Personal responses are not possible. &#9632;

f0040-02

ASK THE REFEREE

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01186/5259365-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="183" height="135"></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;He&rsquo;s the other Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; rookie.His accomplishments have been overshadowed by high-scoring teammates Luc Robitaille and Jimmy Carson, but they haven&rsquo;t gone unnoticed by the coaching staff.&ldquo;Steve Duchesne is going to get better and better,&rdquo; coach Mike Murphy said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s continued to improve from the first day. He has remarkable skills and he anticipates well. He&rsquo;s been an asset to the team and, on top of that, he&rsquo;s a terrific boy.&rdquo;Duchesne, 21, is one of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s top rookie defensemen. With 33 games remaining, he and Grant Ledyard were the Kings&rsquo; leading goal-scorers among defensemen with nine each.He scored a pair of goals in a 4-4 tie with St. Louis on Jan. 17, then bagged another in the third period two nights later to give the Kings a 2-2 tie with the Rangers.While everyone expected big things from Robitaille and Carson, Duchesne seemingly emerged from nowhere, though all three played in the Quebec League at the same time.The 5-foot-ll, 190-pound Duchesne was signed as a free agent by general manager Rogie Vachon following a tryout at training camp in 1984, but was returned to his junior team in Drummondville.He responded with 22 goals and 59 assists in 65 games. Last year, with the New Haven Nighthawks of the American League, Duchesne rebounded from a terrible start and finished with 14 goals and 35 assists in 76 games.Duchesne was hardly a Connecticut Yankee. A native of Sept-Iles, Que., he had never been away from home. Even worse, about the only English words he knew were &ldquo;Big Mac&rdquo; and &ldquo;hot dog.&rdquo;Describing himself as &ldquo;terrably shy&rdquo; at the time, Duchesne had problems making friends, let alone dinner, due to the language barrier.&ldquo;I knew I had to make friends, but I didn&rsquo;t speak English. My teammates would ask me to go to various functions and I didn&rsquo;t know what they were talking about,&rdquo; he remembered. &ldquo;Nobody else spoke French.&rdquo;His eating habits were so poor that Duchesne lost 15 pounds. Eating &ldquo;a lot of toast and frozen food&rdquo; would be a nutritional nightmare for anyone.&ldquo;I was getting so skinny, I was scared,&rdquo; he said.Duchesne laughs about it now. Under the direction of Vachon, he took a cram course in English and shared an apartment with defenseman Ken Hammond and former Nighthawk trainer Bobby Trenn.Duchesne is so comfortable with English now that he&rsquo;s taking correspondence courses in sports medicine at California State-Northridge.KINGS&rsquo; NOTES&mdash;Pat Quinn, expelled from the NHL pending an investigation of his signing to become president and GM of the Canucks next season, was pleased the Kings had gone 2-1-2 the first five games he missed. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m tied to them from an emotional and work standpoint,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;I have lots of feelings there. They don&rsquo;t end because of this.&rdquo;&hellip;Goaltender Rollie Melanson was on a tear, going 6-1-3 during a 10-game stretch with one shutout, a 2.23 average and .921 save percentage. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m as confident as ever,&rdquo; he said&hellip;Defenseman Larry Playfair (sprained knee) resumed skating, though his return remained unscheduled. &#9632;

f0041-01

Rookie Defenseman Forgotten Freshman

<div class="byline">BY MURRAY TOWNSEND</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01192/5259455-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg"></div>Since the dawn of the free-scoring era&mdash;around the time of Bobby Orr&rsquo;s arrival and 1967 expansion&mdash;there have been 89 National Hockey League 50-goal scorers. Prior to that, there were only five.Of the 94, three had the same goal and assist totals and 53 had more goals than assists. If you discount the records of three of the all-time great goal-scoring playmakers (Wayne Gretzky, Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne), 72 per cent of the remaining 50-goal scorers had more goals than assists.In the modern era, players who can put the puck in the net are largely employed as designated shooters. The following list shows the largest differentials of all scorers, dating back to the 1966-67 season. To add any more names, you would have to go back to the 195253 season, when assists were awarded much more infrequently.Tim Kerr of Philadelphia and Wendel Clark of Toronto will likely be added for a second time by the end of this season. They were on pace for differences of 30 and 25, respectively, as of Jan. 20.<h2>Goals-Assists Differential</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02130/5259448-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="1120" height="826"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0397/5259441-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="566" height="712"><figcaption class="caption-body">Toronto&rsquo;s Wendel Clark, above, and Vancouver&rsquo;s Tony Tanti, below, are two goal-scorers who have had low-assist seasons.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0042-01

Scorers No Always Big Playmakers

<div class="byline">BY LARRY HUMBER</div>&bull; If every series during next spring&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs goes the full seven games, number of games that will be required to determine the Cup winner: 105.Number of games that made up the 1966-67 season, the last one before expansion: 210.&bull; Average number of rookies that suited up for the 14 teams that qualified for last spring&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs but did not make the Cup final: 3 (rounded off).Number of rookies that suited up for the Cup runner-up Calgary Flames: 8. Number of rookies that suited up for the Cup-winning Montreal Canadiens: 10.&bull; Number of goalies on the 1986 training camp roster of the Winnipeg Jets: 10.At the quarter mark of the season, where the Jets ranked among the NHL&rsquo;s 21 teams in terms of goals-against average: 2nd (tied with Montreal). &#9632;

NHL Playoff Season Season Onto Itself

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0473/5259510-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="177" height="139"></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Just as Tom Webster thought his problems were over, illness again forced him to temporarily turn his back on a longtime goal.Webster took sick on a Jan. 22 flight from Vancouver to Edmonton and was taken to University of Alberta Hospital, where he was examined and treated for the inner ear condition which has plagued him since becoming Ranger coach on Nov. 26.The Rangers&rsquo; medical trainer, Dave Smith, issued a statement to the media later that evening, the tone and content of which seemed to suggest that Webster&rsquo;s medical problems might force him to step aside as coach for the rest of the season.Ranger general manager Phil Esposito, snowbound back in New York, turned the coaching duties over to Webster&rsquo;s assistants, Wayne Cashman and Eddie Giacomin, on a temporary basis.Esposito reasoned that if Webster is unable to fly for the rest of the season, he is left with three options: 1) Take over the coaching himself; 2) Turn the coaching over to Giacomin and Cashman for the rest of the season; or, 3) Develop some kind of a rotating (home and away) coaching system.&ldquo;Having rotating coaches,&rdquo; the GM stressed, &ldquo;would be far from ideal. That&rsquo;s only a remote possibility. This decision is going to be very difficult. This one 1&rsquo;11 have to go and talk to my bosses about.&rdquo;Esposito continued to be supportive of Webster, who developed an assortment of other symptoms related to stress when his inner ear problem flared again.&ldquo;Tom is my coach,&rsquo;&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going out and looking for another one. Our solution will be temporary; he can always start over again in the fall.&rdquo;Smith explained to the media that Webster&rsquo;s problems extended beyond the inner ear difficulty.&ldquo;Not only does Tom feel bad physically,&rdquo; Smith said, &ldquo;but he feels as though he is letting everyone else down&mdash;the players, his assistants and Phil.&ldquo;Because of the frustration and disappointment, Tom is very tense and nervous and, by worrying about the team so much, he is actually making himself sicker. He just can&rsquo;t rest.&rdquo;Even before the Rangers arrived in Edmonton, the 38-year-old coach had missed 10 games because of a leak in the balance chamber of his inner ear. He had corrective surgery on Dec. 24 and then, when he showed rapid improvement, a tube was inserted in his ear on Jan. 15 to minimize changes in pressure, and allow him to fly to Los Angeles.&ldquo;He may have been too eager to come back,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take the blame for that. I should not have let him&hellip;but hindsight is perfect and I&rsquo;m not.&rdquo;When Webster was put on a train in Edmonton on Jan. 23 for a three-day trip back to New York, the Rangers had already been coached by Ted Sator (5-10-4), Esposito (8-3-0), the tandem of Giacomin and Cashman (0-1-0), and Webster (5-7-4).&ldquo;I think everybody feels bad for Webby,&rdquo; captain Ron Greschner said. &ldquo;He tried so hard. Maybe too hard. It&rsquo;s a little unsettling but we aren&rsquo;t going to make Webby feel any better, by letting this distract us. We&rsquo;ve got to go to work, no matter who is behind the bench.&rdquo;BIG APPLESAUCE&mdash;Following Tom Webster&rsquo;s return on Jan. 16, the erratic Rangers earned a tie at Los Angeles (2-2) and lost at Vancouver 5-3&hellip;Along the way, they picked up two players. First, defenseman Brad Maxwell was claimed from Vancouver on waivers, then Phil Esposito acquired his old friend, Ron Duguay, from Pittsburgh, in exchange for minor-leaguer Chris Kontos. Even though he was exhausted by two days of air travel, Duguay arrived in Vancouver in the afternoon and had six shots on goal in his 418th game as a Ranger, following an absence of three-and-a-half years. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m overjoyed to be back,&rdquo; Duguay said. &ldquo;I never wanted to leave in the first place. During the anthems, I almost had to pinch myself. I was thinking, &lsquo;Am I really here?&rsquo;&rdquo; &#9632;

f0042-04

Inner Ear Problems Sideline Webster Again

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-09100/5259548-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="620" height="620"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01191/5259541-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="1062" height="1070"></div><h2>ACROSS:</h2>1. Rookie Leaf coach pictured (6).4. He shared Jennings Trophy with Bob Froese last season (6).9. He suited up 60 times for Sabres last season. Gates (7).10. Home of the 1961 world champion Smoke Eaters (5).11. He was NHL&rsquo;s leading goal-getter last season (5).12. He tended nets for the Toronto Toros, Gilles (7).13. Goon (4).15. Lesser-known Islander rearguard, Randy&mdash;-(4).18. Canuck previously with Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team, Doug (7).21. He coached Canadiens to eight Cups (5).23. Oilers&rsquo; &ldquo;Doctor&rdquo; (5).24. Home of the Western League&rsquo;s Wheat Kings (7).25. He had two 40-goal seasons for Whalers, Mike (6).26. Ex-Isle Kallur (6).<h2>DOWN:</h2>1. 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team coach (6).2. Dave Semenko was one for seven seasons (5).3. He succeeded Bill Mahoney as North Star coach (7).5. Added (5).6. He holds the NHL record for most points by an NHL rookie (7).7. Blackhawk named the Western League&rsquo;s top blueliner in 1981-82 (6).8. He shares goaltending duties with Grant Fuhr (4).14. Prior to becoming a Ranger, he was named WHA Rookie of the Year (7).15. Former Leaf who later coached the Toros (3,4).16. Assistant coach with St. Louis (6).17. This Hextall was an NHLer for 13 seasons (6).19. Dave Williams&rsquo; nickname (5).20. Scrapes (4).22. Savard previously with Sabres (5).Crossword solution on page 39 in Classified Section. &#9632;

f0039-09

CROSSWORD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02139/5259579-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chicago Blackhawk goalie Hank Bassen and defenseman Gord (Bucky) Hollingworth combine to fend off Parker MacDonald of the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game early in the 1950s.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0043-02

THE WAY WE WERE

<h2>30 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; Terry Sawchuk shocked the Boston Bruins when he announced to team president, Walter Brown, that he was leaving the team. The Bruins replaced him with Don Simmons. Boston also had an offer from &lsquo;Sugar&rsquo; Jim Henry to make a return to the nets. Sawchuk&rsquo;s retirement was short-lived, however, as he showed up the following year with the Detroit Red Wings.&bull; Johnny Bower was receiving rave reviews for his work in the Western League. Leading the league, with a 2.41 goals-against-average, experts predicted he&rsquo;d be the next superstar goalie in the NHL. He would enter the NHL to stay the following season and go on to have a sparkling career with the Toronto Maple Leafs.&bull; A travel package was made available to Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; fans wanting to see their team play the Bruins in Boston. The package included a round-trip train ticket, hotel accommodation, reserved seat to the game, a dinner, dance, show and a special victory party. The cost of the deal&mdash;$37.<h2>25 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; At the age of 45, Doug Bentley made a comeback with the Los Angeles Blades of the Western League. At the time, he was the oldest player in professional hockey and playing very well for his new team. Bentley was only 10 pounds over the 145 he weighed when he won the NHL scoring championship in 1944.&bull; Shortly after a game between the Canadiens and the Red Wings, Gordie Howe said that Hab rookie Bobby Rousseau was &ldquo;worth his weight in gold.&rdquo; Others would come to share Howe&rsquo;s opinion. Rousseau was named rookie of the year at season&rsquo;s end after collecting 21 goals and 24 assists in 70 games.&bull; Chicago Blackhawk star goalie Glenn Hall played in his 500th consecutive game without relief. He was treated to a two-minute standing ovation and handed the keys to a new ear by Blackhawk co-owner, Jim Norris. &#9632;

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February 6, 1987

NHL SUMMARIES

Cats’ Goalie Struggles To Regain Lost Form

NHL Games To Come

MICRON JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK