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

April 3, 1987

The Hockey News April 3, 1987

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011353/5925701-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="694" height="930"></div>Glenn (Chico) Resch has a very important date with Emile (Cat) Francis at the end of the season and, both admit, a trade is in the works.&ldquo;No, I&rsquo;m not being traded to the Whalers,&rdquo; reveals the Flyers&rsquo; ebullient goalie, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m making a deal with Mr. Francis for a New York Americans jersey. He promised me one.&rdquo;A what?&ldquo;I&rsquo;m always adding to my all-time collection,&rdquo; Resch, 38, explains, &ldquo;and getting old NHL jerseys is high on my list. When I found out Mr. Francis had an Americans (1940) sweater, I told him I&rsquo;d love to have it.&rdquo;Resch already has a veritable Smithsonian Institute of hockey memorabilia and amasses collectibles as frequently as he stops pucks.Chico is a walking hall of fame and if you don&rsquo;t believe it, check out his recreation room. You&rsquo;re apt to find a 1935 Boston Bruins program on one shelf and a pair of hockey gloves, vintage 1930 on another, not to mention photos of everyone from the 1930 Toronto Maple Leafs (in training) to the Northern Marvels, a women&rsquo;s team from yesteryear.Like an archaeologist who has just completed a major dig, Resch bubbles over his finds&mdash;including a one-piece hockey stick given away as a promotion for the Victoria, B.C. team in 1914. (Sticks, today, are literally pieced together.) The stick is autographed by Hall of Famer Lester Patrick.&ldquo;It was a Spalding stick,&rdquo; says Resch. &ldquo;They glued paper all the way around up on the handle with an advertisement. Three teams endorsed it: Patrick&rsquo;s Victoria team, the Flying Frenchmen from Montreal and a Quebec team. They all signed it in 1914.&rdquo;Resch is so enthusiastic about collectibles that he has assigned agents to be on the lookout for good items. That&rsquo;s how he came upon the 1914 Patrick prize.&ldquo;I have a couple of guys looking out for me in Toronto and they told me about this store and that&rsquo;s how I got it. Old sticks are okay, but I&rsquo;m mostly interested in old jerseys, especially the eight NHL teams from the 1930s.&rdquo;Resch searched from here to Portage La Prairie and finally located a New York Americans sweater, but that has not satiated him.&ldquo;The one I&rsquo;d like to get is an old New York Rangers sweater&mdash;not like the newer ones, you can get those&mdash;but the old ones with old collars. Another one I&rsquo;m after is the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; barber pole jerseys; they go back to the early &rsquo;40s. They&rsquo;re hard to find.&rdquo;Resch will stop at nothing to add an item to his collection. He tells about a huge trapper&rsquo;s mitt sitting in his den.&ldquo;This is a real crazy story,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I was playing for the Devils against the Flyers. That night Philly brought up a new goalie and the kid was wearing a trapper&rsquo;s mitt with this enormous leather &lsquo;fan&rsquo; on it. It seemed way oversized and illegal. After the game I mentioned it to the referee and, sure enough, the Flyers were told that the kid couldn&rsquo;t wear that big &lsquo;fan&rsquo; on his glove anymore.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02949/5925694-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="2242" height="2026"></div>The young goalie with the illegal fan was Ron Hextall, now Resch&rsquo;s teammate on the Flyers. &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s not the end of the story,&rdquo; says Chico. &ldquo;When Ronnie and I became teammates, he told me about this terrific &lsquo;fan&rsquo; protector, he once had on his glove. &lsquo;You know,&rsquo; he said. &lsquo;The league told me I couldn&rsquo;t wear it anymore and damn, I don&rsquo;t know who squealed on me.&rdquo;It was then that Chico confessed.&ldquo;I told Ron that the &lsquo;fan&rsquo; was now a collector&rsquo;s item&mdash;and now it&rsquo;s in my collection.&rdquo;Resch is indefatigable when it comes to research and collecting, and nothing beats a road trip for finding &ldquo;new&rdquo; antiques.&ldquo;On the road, sometimes,&rdquo; says Resch, &ldquo;you&rsquo;ve got a lot of time to kill. So I&rsquo;ll go to card stores and memorabilia shops and look around. It just gave me something to do on the road. I try to concentrate mostly on preexpansion teams. I&rsquo;ve got a Glenn Hall sweater and skates, a Terry Sawchuk sweater&hellip;and tobacco player cards from 1910.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got some New York Rangers sweaters from the early &rsquo;50s too. I&rsquo;ve got a Montreal Maroons sweater, but I don&rsquo;t have any Philadelphia Quakers stuff,&rdquo; adds Chico. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a hot ticket. I bid up to $175 on this Quaker program, I think, 1930-31. They were only in the NHL for one year. I think that was the year I bid to $175 and I didn&rsquo;t get it. That&rsquo;s how valuable some of that stuff is.&rdquo;Chico&rsquo;s passion for the historical dates back to his youth in Saskatchewan where his grandfather would regale him with stories of the pioneer days in western Canada.&ldquo;Gramps would tell me stories, like how he&rsquo;d walk 40 miles from Moose Jaw to the farm, and stuff like that. I always like people relating stuff&mdash;the oral history&mdash;and when I got to college I minored in history.&ldquo;About that time I got into antiques,&rdquo; says Chico. &ldquo;But what really got me into the hockey stuff was when I got into the NHL. I had so much time to kill on the road I started to look around, especially in the old six-team cities. I began collecting and realized that a lot of old stuff was being thrown away or lost and it was getting hard to find.&rdquo;Chico sometimes gets the notion that his hobby is way down on his wife&rsquo;s list of desirable things for a grown man to do.&ldquo;She likes to kid me,&rdquo; he allows. &ldquo;She says, &lsquo;One of these days I&rsquo;m gonna get somebody to tie you up. Then, I&rsquo;m going to take all your stuff and bum it in front of you.&rsquo;&ldquo;My daughter isn&rsquo;t too crazy about it either. Whenever she hears the word &lsquo;antiques&rsquo; she says, &lsquo;Oh, no, Daddy, please!&rsquo;&rdquo; &#9632;

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Departments

Chico’s Collection Agency: Seeking Out Hockey Memorabilia

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01643/5926194-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="582" height="998"><figcaption class="caption-body">Goalie Warren Skorodenski saved the Hawks with excellent relief netminding.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02429/5926201-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="178" height="135"></div>CHICAGO&mdash;It was a chance Warren Skorodenski did not expect to get.He has not been a favorite of the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; hierarchy since taking them to salary arbitration before last season.He was yanked out of Nova Scotia in the American League this season after ripping the coach and management for favoritism. He was called up from Saginaw in the International League only because of Bob Sauve&rsquo;s back injury.But when the Hawks were desperate, there was the 5-foot-8, 165-pound &ldquo;Skoro,&rdquo; in his mask painted like a skull.When Murray Bannerman suffered a concussion in the second period of a key game at Minnesota Mar. 17, Skorodenski stepped in, blanked the North Stars on 22 shots through overtime, and saved a tie for the Hawks.The next night, in an even more important game at Maple Leaf Gardens, Skorodenski started and made 39 saves as the Hawks all but locked up a Norris Division playoff spot.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never played in the NHL as a starting goaltender,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So, hopefully I&rsquo;m used to coming into games cold.&rdquo;When Skorodenski stepped in with 5:07 left in the second period at Minnesota, it was his first NHL game since Oct. 12, 1985.&ldquo;I wanted to make the first save,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I got the first one, and the guys really played hard in front of me.&rdquo;The Hawks took three of four points in crucial Norris Division games, and ended a five-game winless streak (0-32), with a goaltender who didn&rsquo;t expect to play.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to look at it as just another game and concentrate on my own game,&rdquo; Skorodenski said. &ldquo;My job is to stop pucks. I can&rsquo;t worry about how big a game it is.&rdquo;When he beat Toronto, it was his first National Hockey League victory since Apr. 3. 1985. Skorodenski was 11-9-3 for the Hawks in 1984-85 as a rookie, with a 3.22 goals-against average and two shutouts.Then came the salary arbitration, and a modest pay increase on a one-year contract plus option. His demotion seemed imminent, since arbitration is not a term of endearment in the NHL.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know for certain if the arbitration had anything to do with what&rsquo;s happened to me since then,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have no regrets about it. It was something I had to do. It&rsquo;s all past history, anyway.&rdquo;Skorodenski was sent to the minors when the Hawks acquired Sauve from Buffalo Oct. 15. 1985. He had dressed as a backup for the Hawks in other emergencies, but saw no action until relieving at Minnesota. At age 27, he was well aware of the stakes.&ldquo;It was a big game for myself,&rdquo; he said Skorodenski. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m in the option year of my contract. I wasn&rsquo;t sure if I would get another contract offer to play in the NHL or just in the minors. Hopefully I&rsquo;ll get a chance to stick in the NHL.&rdquo;Skorodenski is hoping, but not counting on it.&ldquo;I have no idea about the future,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I don&rsquo;t get a chance in Chicago, maybe I&rsquo;ll get a chance somewhere else.&rdquo;HAWK TALK&mdash;The Hawks were in one of their strangest stretches of the season. They lost three straight at home but were unbeaten in six straight on the road (4-0-2). Their five-game winless streak followed their eight game unbeaten streak&hellip;Defenseman Marc Bergevin suffered a neck sprain while diving into the net to save a goal at Toronto. He was hospitalized briefly and released after X-rays were negative&hellip;The Hawks&rsquo; win at Toronto was their first in five games since defenseman Doug Wilson was injured (1-22). Their power play was 2-for-l8 without Wilson at the point&hellip;With a hat trick and four points at Toronto, center Denis Savard had piled up 15 points in nine games&hellip;With 29 goals, right winger Wayne Presley, a Detroit native, tied the club record for goals by an American-born player, set the previous year by Ed Olczyk. &#9632;

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‘Skoro’ Playing For Today And Tomorrow

<h2>Mon. Mar 16</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01294/5926909-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="554" height="582"></div><h2>Tue. Mar. 17</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02211/5926902-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="554" height="1788"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03160/5926895-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="560" height="2424"></div><h2>Wed. Mar. 18</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-04123/5926888-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="556" height="2110"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-05106/5926881-1-eng-US/f0042-052.jpg" title="f0042-05" width="552" height="700"></div><h2>Thu. Mar. 19</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0695/5926874-1-eng-US/f0042-062.jpg" title="f0042-06" width="564" height="234"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0786/5926867-1-eng-US/f0042-072.jpg" title="f0042-07" width="546" height="972"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01305/5926860-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="564" height="1610"></div><h2>Fri. Mar. 20</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02226/5926853-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="548" height="2010"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03192/5926846-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="542" height="2430"></div><h2>Sat. Mar. 21</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04129/5926839-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="548" height="1192"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-05115/5926832-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="558" height="2350"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0692/5926825-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="556" height="1622"></div><h2>Sun. Mar. 22</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0782/5926818-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="552" height="696"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-0870/5926811-1-eng-US/f0043-082.jpg" title="f0043-08" width="556" height="2342"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SUMMARIES

HOLY McMURTRY! The civil authorities are moving in on hockey again. The mayor of Boston. Raymond Flynn, demands the National Hockey League clean up its act or, the next time there&rsquo;s a punch thrown at Boston Garden, he will order arrests.Flynn must mean it too, or he wouldn&rsquo;t have repeated his remarks after each of the three brawls that have occurred at the Garden this year.The mayor&rsquo;s intentions have been met with a great deal of cynicism in the hockey world, where people have always insisted the real problem is Don Koharski, not malicious intent to injure.It is argued that hockey can police itself. Personally, I think the only real answer for some of these Norris Division games is tear gas. But when one of Boston&rsquo;s finest goes upside Mats Thelin&rsquo;s head with a night stick, I&rsquo;ll be cheering on the cops. I&rsquo;m making a stand here for law and order.Sport cannot be an island inside society. What is not acceptable on the street can not be accepted inside the rink, although exceptions can and should be made when Dave Brown comes to Madison Square Garden.Nevertheless, the rights of elected officials to set community standards has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. And the NHL&rsquo;s right to make itself look like it still lives in a cave must be exercised.Of course, the mayor of Boston should have better things to do with his time than threaten to arrest hockey players.But I don&rsquo;t. So round up the usual suspects. I want these people arrested:Jacques Demers. The charge: Several counts of fraud.Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I give you Darren Veitch. I give you Dave Lewis. If I were Jimmy Devellano at the beginning of the season, I would have given you anything, in fact, to take Harold Snepsts.I have track records which will prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that the Detroit Red Wings cannot be this good. I have granted Jimmy Skinner immunity to turn state&rsquo;s evidence, showing this Demers is doing it with a counterfeit team. The more they win, the better my case. I&rsquo;m going to put this Demers away for a long time.Next case.Maurice Filion. Charge: Impersonating a general manager. I can get a conviction in a matter of minutes. Filion only wishes the gun, John Ogrodnick, was still smoking. Name one good player the Nordiques have come up with since Dale Hunter.Lane Lambert? Doug Shedden? Bill Derlago? The acts of a desperate man. Officer, take Mr. Filion away before he harms himself any further.Next case.Glen Sather. The charge: first-degree theft of Reijo Ruotsalainen and Kent Nilsson. This heinous public enemy, operating under the alias of &ldquo;Slats,&rdquo; has conspired to end penalty killing as we know it today.Unable to upgrade his third and fourth lines, Sather did something even more insidious. He has put together a power play that will score every time it is on the ice. Cuff him. Feed him nothing but bread and water. Er, just the bread. No water. Almost forgot.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011564/5925222-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="337" height="468"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jay Greenberg</figcaption></div>Bailiff, we have a heavy docket. Bring in the other defendants quickly, please.Gerry McNamara. Charge: Impersonating a human being. Pleads guilty every time he opens his mouth.The Philadelphia Flyers: Charge: Thuggery, muggery and skullduggery reminiscent of the old days. Guilty. Hanging&rsquo;s too good for them.David Poile. Charge: Possesion of stolen goods&mdash;Mike Ridley and Kelly Miller.Phil Esposito. Charge: Dealing counterfeit goods&mdash;Bobby Carpenter. The Rangers might get more out of Marcel Dionne in three years than Los Angeles gets out of Carpenter in 10. Esposito makes Ivan Boesky look like Max McNab.The Pittsburgh Penguins. Charge: Heartbreaking and entering. Two players&mdash;a sniper and a goalie&mdash;away from becoming a pretty good team. Until they get them, no possibility of parole.Max McNab. Charge: Restraint of trade. Also restraint of team. This man has willfully conspired to bore us to tears with the New Jersey Devils.The Los Angeles Kings. Charges: Interstate flight to avoid losses. Transportation of Tiger Williams across state lines. I sentence them to 100 more years hard labor in the Smythe Division. Did they actually think that anybody in the Norris Division was going to give up a good thing?All five teams of the Norris Division. Charges: One count of collusion to maintain mediocrity. Several counts of confusion and even more of disillusion. Can you believe that a team like Chicago could even think of sitting still at the trading deadline?I also have a writ in which Harry Sinden argues that the Vancouver Canucks cease and desist trying to win games and cost Boston the No. 1 pick in this summer&rsquo;s draft. Since I see no precedent for Vancouver ever having done anything correctly before, I find for Mr. Sinden and will issue a temporary restraining order. Canucks! You&rsquo;re terrible. Stop it!There is no higher court than this one. No longer will any more &ldquo;will not be tolerateds&rdquo; be tolerated from Brian O&rsquo;Neill. Lock him up, too. One more outburst from Bryan Trottier and I&rsquo;ll clear the courtroom.You can appeal to my bosses. But they&rsquo;ll only tell you that I&rsquo;ve been getting away with murder for years. &#9632;

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Slap Cuffs On Filion For Impersonating GM

In next week&rsquo;s April 10 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, we&rsquo;ll take a look at the defending Stanley Cup-champion Montreal Canadiens.A year ago, they were a team apparently in turmoil and hardly the stuff of which champions were made. Or so it seemed.Now, the Canadiens once again look as though they&rsquo;re not in a strong position to defend their Stanley Cup-title, but we&rsquo;ll take a closer look.And with the playoffs just around the corner, it also means it&rsquo;s time for the annual playoff pool. Our resident statistics expert, Murray Townsend, will put together a special section for the many poolsters out there.It will include inside information, trends and insight that may help you be a winner.Don&rsquo;t miss all that plus all the other great features in next week&rsquo;s April 10 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS. &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

NEXT WEEK

Unemployment, reports Statistics Canada, is at its worst in Newfoundland.Money, then, it would seem safe to assume, is tight.But&hellip;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see any shortage of money,&rdquo; says Ralph Neil of Mt. Pearl. &ldquo;All the bars are filled up on Friday nights.&rdquo;And the arenas most other nights. Nowhere is senior hockey as popular (or as lucrative) as it is in Newfoundland.Once a hot ticket across Canada, the game has been in the throes of hard times for several years now. Four senior &lsquo;AAA&rsquo; leagues remain, but the days are long gone when Canada was represented at the World Championships by the top senior team in the country.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011478/5925129-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="339" height="466"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Dryden</figcaption></div>Trail Smoke Eaters, the last Carradian team to win a world title (1961), were disbanded this season&mdash;reducing the Western International League to four teams. Perennial powerhouse Spokane has been gone for two years.There are pockets of enthusiastic fans in Ontario, notably in Thunder Bay.But Brantford Mott&rsquo;s Clamatos, the most glamorous senior team anywhere, with a lineup that includes ex-Leafs Rocky Saganiuk, Stan Weir, Fred Boimistruck and Don Edwards, averaged only 800 during the regular season.There is heavy competition for the entertainment dollar.Meanwhite, the first-year Mt. Pearl Blades won just four of 44 games in the Newfoundland Senior League and drew better than 1,000 people per game to their suburban St. John&rsquo;s arena.&ldquo;Senior hockey is very popular here,&rdquo; says Neil, manager of the Mt. Pearl squad, whose loyal fans saw their Blades outscored more than 2-to-l (377 to 171) during the regular season. &ldquo;We would have had a lot more people if we had a more competitive team.&rdquo;St. John&rsquo;s Capitals, the four-team league&rsquo;s best squad, regularly attracted more than 2,000 fans during the regular season. Led by playercoach Bill Riley, the former Washington Capital, local star and scoring champ Andre Sullivan (44-86-130), and former Quebec Leaguer Hilton Ruggles (53-52-105), the Capitals had a 34-8-2 record this season.(Defending Allan Cup-champion Comer-brook Royals placed third and lost in the first round of the playoffs.)To get the best seats at St. John&rsquo;s Memorial Stadium, fans shelled out a lump-sum payment of $20 as a reservation fee at season&rsquo;s start, and then paid out another $6 per game. Ticket prices topped out at $8 during the playoffs.The increase certainly didn&rsquo;t harm attendance in St. John&rsquo;s, where the Capitals had crowds of 4,200 for the first two games of their final series with the Stephenville Jets. The Jets, drawing from an area population of about 20,000, attracted 1.500 and 1,000 with a top ticket of $10.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021202/5925122-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1480" height="1670"><figcaption class="caption-body">Red Wing Adam Oates, above, left college hockey before he had graduated but it was with the blessing of RPI coach Mike Addesa.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the only game in town,&rdquo; says Jets&rsquo; GM Fred Stagg, whose club trailed 3-1 in the best-of-seven championship series. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s very high-calibre hockey.&rdquo;And high paying for some. The best players can earn as much as $750 a week, although in Stephenville a salary cap of $600 per week is in place.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re preaching financial conservatism,&rdquo; says Stagg.<h2>Decision-Maker-Goal Judge</h2>The longest walk of Mac McDiarmid&rsquo;s life was only about 100 feet long.Yet, it took what seemed an eternity to complete.McDiarmid, a Montreal-based goal judge, was working the Hartford-Quebec series during the 1985-86 playoffs when the visitors scored a controversial goal at the Hartford Civic Center.The 50-year-old commercial artist had to leave his perch behind the net to confer with the referee.In anticipation of his affirmation of the goal, Hartford fans did not greet him warmly. &ldquo;They were sticking their legs out and trying to trip me,&rdquo; says McDiarmid, with a chuckle. &ldquo;At the end of the period, they sent two security guards and two policemen to escort me through the crowd.&rdquo;The goal, alas, had no impact on the game and only a minimal impact on McDiarmid, who doesn&rsquo;t get too worked up over the vagaries of his job. He loves hockey and is delighted to act as goal judge for the Canadiens&rsquo; home games.As he says, most of his peers would work for nothing. As it happens, McDiarmid earns $45 a game at the Forum&hellip;and gets to watch his favorite sport from a safe-and-sound seat.Well, safe anyway. He still hears the threatening remarks and sticks whacked against the glass.&ldquo;Fortunately we&rsquo;ve got that big piece of glass between us (and the players),&rdquo; says McDiarmid, who doesn&rsquo;t always have the same protection on his rear flank.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been hit with a smoked meat sandwich (in where else, but Montreal). It had mustard on it and got all over my black jacket.&rdquo;Hey buddy, hold the mustard next time. And the sandwich.McDiarmid&rsquo;s attachment to hockey goes beyond the culinary and the monetary. He has one of the largest collections of memorabilia in North America.And he&rsquo;s got quality to go with his quantity&mdash;most notably 240 paintings of Hockey Hall of Fame members, 105 of which are autographed.His renderings are available, in trader-card size, through the Hall Of Fame.<h2>Leaving School-RPI&rsquo;s Servinis</h2>George Servinis of the Indianapolis Checkers is playing the best hockey of his pro career&hellip;but there&rsquo;s another place that he&rsquo;d rather be.Like Bloomington, Minn.When Servinis left RPI, following his junior season in 1984-85, he didn&rsquo;t expect to be in the International League two years later.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little disappointed where I am today,&rdquo; admitted the left winger, who, nonetheless, has been making the best of his circumstances.Servinis, with 36 goals and 48 assists for 84 points in 63 games, was on a 17-game point-scoring streak.Last year, after signing a contract with the Minnesota North Stars, Servinis scored just two goals and 14 assists in 30 American League games with Springfield.Mercifully, he separated his shoulder&mdash;wiping out the year and frustration of his rookie season.Professional hockey seemed the natural progression for Servinis, after he was a member of RPI&rsquo;s national championship team. He scored 34 goals in 35 games during his final year. He did not attract the interest of teammate Adam Oates or Ray Staszak of Illinois-Chicago, but Servinis did capitalize on the collegiate free-agent frenzy of 1985.Nearly two seasons later, one can&rsquo;t help but wonder if Servinis&mdash;now 24, but then older than most juniors at age 22&mdash;would have been better served delaying his pro debut by one year.Any regrets?&ldquo;None at all,&rdquo; says Servinis, without hesitation and, perhaps, a little conviction. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t be saying that. You always think, &lsquo;What should I have done?&rsquo; I think I did the best thing for my career.&rdquo;His agent, Bob Murray of Boston, agrees, pointing out that market conditions were just right.Not surprisingly, RPI coach Mike Addesa, whose 1985 championship team also lost goalie Darren Puppa and Oates as underclassmen, thinks that most collegians are better off staying the full four years. But he said there are exceptions. Oates was one of them.&ldquo;I told Adam Oates he should go,&rdquo; said Addesa. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not a question in my mind that George Servinis should have stayed.&rdquo;Servinis, said Addesa, needed time to become emotionally stronger. Puppa, in the coach&rsquo;s opinion, needed time to become physically stronger.The forward, himself, stops short of a blanket endorsement but does recommend most collegians finish university before embarking on professional careers.He points out, however, that you can always return to school. He did just that last year when he was sidelined for the second half of the season, enrolling for the second semester at RPI.For him, the end of his first stint at RPI did not spell RIP for his education.<h2>&lsquo;Nobody Helped&rsquo;-Dale Rolfe</h2>Quote of the week:&ldquo;The next thing I know I&rsquo;m paired up with (Dave) Schultz. The one big thing I remember about the fight is that nobody from the Rangers stepped into help. Nobody helped me. I&rsquo;ll never forget that.&rdquo;&mdash;Former Ranger Dale Rolfe, page 47. &#9632;

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Senior Hockey Is Alive And Well In Newfoundland

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011477/5925160-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="177" height="136"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Barring an upset, the Adams Division final is shaping up as a rematch of last year&rsquo;s confrontation between the Montreal Canadiens and Hartford Whalers.The Canadiens say they&rsquo;re ready for the match-up, should it occur for the second year in a row. But this time, the defending Stanley Cup champions would have to rank as underdogs to the Whalers, who held a seven-point division lead with six games left.&ldquo;I think the Whalers are better for the one reason that they are a lot more confident than they were a year ago,&rdquo; said center Bobby Smith. &ldquo;Most of their players had never been in the playoffs. I was talking to a few of their guys during the summer and they felt they were one shot away from winning the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;That shot belonged to Claude Lemieux, whose goal at 5:55 of sudden-death overtime provided Montreal with a 4-3 victory in the seventh game of the Adams final. From there, the Canadiens won both the Wales Conference and Stanley Cup finals.&lsquo;&lsquo;That kind of confidence they gained is showing in the way they play,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;A couple of their players are better by being a year older. (Ulf) Samuelsson has benefited from being in the NHL another year; (Kevin) Dineen, (Ray) Ferraro and (Dean) Evason have improved. (Ron) Francis is having an excellent year.&rdquo;With two weeks to play in the regular season, it was apparent the Canadiens would once again meet their favorite playoff patsies, the Boston Bruins, in the Adams Division semifinal. The Bruins haven&rsquo;t won a playoff series against Montreal since 1943.Hartford was waiting for Quebec and Buffalo to settle their battle for fourth and again, the Whalers would have to rate as an odds-on favorite to win.&ldquo;Hartford has made a lot of good moves,&rdquo; said veteran defenseman Larry Robinson. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got a lot of depth on defense now. They&rsquo;ve missed (Joel) Quenneville for most of the year and they really haven&rsquo;t felt the loss of him.&ldquo;They might feel the loss if they get an injury to key players up front such as Francis or Dineen who really spearhead their attack.&rdquo;The Whalers held a 4-2-1 season series advantage over Montreal, with the final contest set for the last week of the regular season. The games have all been close, and it doesn&rsquo;t seem to matter to Hartford where they&rsquo;re played. The Whalers were 2-1 on Forum ice and 2-1-1 at home.Their strength lies in their discipline.&ldquo;Hartford is a strong, well-coached team,&rdquo; Smith noted. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they have a glaring weakness, and that&rsquo;s a real strength. (Mike) Liut has got to be ranked with the best of the goalies. They have an excellent defense and they can get lots of goal scoring from Francis&rsquo; line. (John) Anderson, (Sylvain) Turgeon and Evason.&rdquo;But Smith was confident that the Canadiens&rsquo; superiority on defense will make the difference at playoff time.&ldquo;I think we are the best defensive team in the division,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and I think our goals-against record has shown that. Hartford has an extremely good goals-against average at home, and you can see that in the statistics they flash up on their scoreboard when you go to Hartford.&ldquo;I think that with our two goalies and the defense we have, that&rsquo;s the advantage we have on the Whalers.&rdquo;Now if only the Bruins don&rsquo;t pick this year to break the hex.IN PASSING&mdash;Bob Gainey missed three games with a groin pull suffered in a March 14 tie against Philadelphia&hellip;Sergio Momesso was injured in the same game, suffering a cut near the left eye&hellip;Larry Robinson was ejected after two periods of the Canadiens&rsquo; 3-2 win at Buffalo, following a spat with veteran referee Bob Myers. In the same game, Myers also assessed misconducts to Bobby Smith, Chris Chelios and Craig Ludwig&hellip;The Canadiens&rsquo; 9-4 blowout of the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 21 marked the first time this season Montreal scored more than seven goals&hellip;Mats Naslund entered the final two weeks of play needing two points to reach 400 in his NHL career&hellip;Defenseman Scott Sandelin was recalled for the Canadiens&rsquo; game with the Islanders March 16 and returned to Sherbrooke the next day. Sandelin was up on an emergency basis, because Robinson was felled by a sprained ankle and Petr Svoboda was sidelined by a cut left ring finger&hellip;Rick Green is Montreal&rsquo;s nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. &#9632;

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Canadiens Gearing Up For Whaler Rematch

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011384/5925191-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="181" height="137"></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;Now that the Winnipeg Jets have the defensive side of their game down pat, they&rsquo;ve suddenly lost the ability to score.&ldquo;We will always score&hellip;the goals will take care of themselves&hellip;we have too much firepower to worry,&rdquo; coach Dan Maloney would say, as he stressed the importance of the checking game.When the team has needed a goal, Maloney has sent out players who hadn&rsquo;t scored in a month.In one six-game stretch, the Jets scored a grand total of nine goals&mdash;yet, in the same period, they were able to scratch out one win and two ties.&ldquo;I could open the floodgates and score a ton of goals,&rdquo; Maloney said. &ldquo;But the secret of our success has been our ability to make a few goals do.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;I could open the floodgates&hellip;but the secret of our success has been our ability to make a few goals do.&rsquo; &mdash;Maloney</blockquote>Still, the willingness to score seemed to be there. During the six-game slumber, the team was never outshot and averaged 33 shots a night.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve met a number of hot goaltenders lately,&rdquo; Maloney said. &ldquo;I think five of them were named as one of the three stars.&rdquo;Murray Bannerman. Rick Wamsley, Pat Riggin, Mike Liut and Glen Hanlon performed the honors on behalf of Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins, Hartford Whalers and Detroit Red Wings, respectively.Liut recorded the first shutout by a visitor to the Arena since 1983, when another Hartford goaltender, Mike Veisor, blanked the Jets 2-0. Veisor was hit in the back with two shots, but Liut had little trouble coasting to a 3-0 victory.The Jets have missed Paul MacLean, one of their few workers who is willing to take punishment in front of the net for a chance at a tip-in goal.The big right winger has been absent from the Jets&rsquo; lineup since stretching ligaments in his knee during a collision with Pittsburgh star Mario Lemieux in a 5-3 loss on March 8. No surgery was required, but MacLean was expected to be out until the end of March.&ldquo;Over the years, MacLean has made a science out of working the front of the net,&rdquo; said assistant coach Rick Bowness. &ldquo;He knows when to go there. Others try, but they&rsquo;re not there when they should be, and shouldn&rsquo;t be there when they are. It&rsquo;s a matter of timing.&rdquo;MacLean&rsquo;s absence has had an effect on Dale Hawerchuk and the center&rsquo;s bid to become a 50-goal scorer for the second time, and a 100-point man for the fifth time.One goal and one assist in four games was hardly a pace that would get him there. With six games remaining, Hawerchuk had 46 goals and 94 points.BENCH BITS&mdash;Although his five-game trial was extended to eight games, Brad Jones was seriously thinking of returning to the University of Michigan to write a final exam and submit two papers. An eighth-round draft choice in 1984, Jones has made such a big impression the team has tried to sign him. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d hate to throw away a year of school,&rdquo; he said. Jones, who had one goal in four games with the Jets, has committed himself to the U.S. national team, which is competing in the Pravda Cup the first week of April&hellip;During a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils, coach Dan Maloney used 19 different line combinations&hellip;Jim Kyte is the team&rsquo;s Bill Masterton Trophy nominee. Selected by the Winnipeg chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, the big defenseman was surprised. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m flattered,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re sure you&rsquo;re not joking? I always thought the award would got to older players like Ron Wilson who have gone unrecognized for so long.&rdquo; Kyte was chosen because he has developed into a starting defenseman in the NHL despite his deafness. He has been a glowing example to handicapped persons in athletics. &bull; &#9632;

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Goal-Drought Does Not Ground The Jets

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021079/5925253-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="581" height="1121"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Quebec Nordiques signed BU tough guy Scott Shaunessy late in the season.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03692/5925260-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="174" height="135"></div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;Nordique fans have been desperate for a bandwagon to jump on these days, but &lsquo;The Truck&rsquo; will do just fine.The Truck, a.k.a. Scott Shaunessy, is a 6-foot-4, 225-pound senior defenseman from Boston University. After BU failed to make the U.S. college playoff cut, The Truck rolled into Quebec and left his tracks on a three-year deal.The 22-year-old native of Newport. R.I, Quebec&rsquo;s ninth draft pick (200th overall) in 1983, was noticeably nervous before his first full practice with the Nords. But once he got loosened up, he quickly become one of the boys.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m ready to do anything to help the Nordiques get back on track,&rdquo; said Shaunessy, a fine boxer whose roommate at BU was an ex-Gold Gloves champion.Though his presence can be intimidating, he insisted there&rsquo;s more to his game than a good knockout punch.&ldquo;I surely don&rsquo;t back off when things get rough, but I also consider myself a fair hockey player. I&rsquo;ve just played four years at Boston University and everyone knows that fighting isn&rsquo;t tolerated in the collegiate ranks.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve learned to play hockey, and my size and my strength can help me in other ways than fighting.&rdquo;In 156 games with the Terriers, Shaunessy collected 22 goals, 70 assists and 266 penalty minutes.The Truck is a versatile athlete.&ldquo;I spent my college career at the blue line,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I can play as a forward if the Nordiques think that&rsquo;s where I&rsquo;ll help them most.&rdquo;He can also block and tackle, if need be. He played a little football in high school, and his father Robert was an offensive tackle with the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots of the National Football League.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t big enough to be a tackle or a defensive end,&rdquo; The Truck said, &ldquo;so I just let football drop. But my younger brother Steve, a Penguins&rsquo; draft pick (191st overall in 1985), still plays both sports.&rdquo;Nordique coach Michel Bergeron liked what he saw in Shaunessy&rsquo;s first workout with the team.&ldquo;He seems very intelligent out there,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to need a few days to get used to his new surroundings on and off the rink, but from what I&rsquo;ve seen of him up to now, he&rsquo;ll make it all right.&rdquo;NORDIQUE NOTES&mdash;John Ogrodnick has quietly become the Nordiques&rsquo; best player. The ex-Detroit left winger shined in a recent western swing, playing on a line with Peter and Anton Stastny&hellip; Michel Bergeron decided to give a few of his players a little extra rest. Peter Stastny, Dale Hunter. Paul Gillis and Alain Cote won&rsquo;t practice anymore this season. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to see them anywhere around the ice except for our games,&rdquo; Bergeron said&hellip;When Jean-Francois Sauve moaned about a lack of playing time since his arrival from Switzerland. Bergeron cracked, &ldquo;Jean-Francois&rsquo; best place to play is clearly in Europe.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Defenseman Risto Siltanen denied rumors that he&rsquo;s bound for Switzerand next year. &ldquo;Anything can happen,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s not true that I&rsquo;ve been negotiating with a Swiss team. I&rsquo;ve got a contract that ends in June and I won&rsquo;t talk with anyone until then.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Columnists

Hopeful Nords Get A Lift From ‘The Truck’

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN Assistant Editor</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011410/5925291-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="178" height="146"></div>TORONTO&mdash;The worst season of Mirko Frycer&rsquo;s career began during the summer months, in a Toronto jail.Found guilty of impaired driving, the Toronto Maple Leaf winger was sentenced to two weeks. His license was suspended for two years.He only had to serve nine days of the sentence, but Frycer has&mdash;for all intents and purposes&mdash;remained imprisoned all season.Imprisoned by bad fortune and bad judgment.As the disappointing Maple Leafs continued to struggle for a playoff berth, Frycer could only watch.Sidelined with a cracked pelvic bone since Feb. 18, Frycer figured the only way he&rsquo;ll be of any use to the Leafs is if they reach the second round of the playoffs.Jari Kurri has a better chance of catching Wayne Gretzky in the scoring race.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my worst season ever and the most disappointing.&rdquo; Frycer acknowledged. &ldquo;I was looking forward to playing even better than last year and, all of a sudden, it&rsquo;s a disaster.&rdquo;The six-year National Hockey League veteran led the Leafs in scoring last year with career highs in goals (32), assists (43) and points (75).He also played a career-high 73 games.This year he has played 29 games, scored seven goals and earned eight assists.After opening the season with a three-assist performance against the Montreal Canadiens, Frycer&rsquo;s play plummeted. So did coach John Brophy&rsquo;s patience with his Czechoslovakian ace.Three times he was dispatched to the press box, the second time for three games&mdash;when Frycer checked in overweight.&ldquo;I was really upset,&rdquo; recalled Frycer. &ldquo;I asked for a trade. After a while I settled down because I don&rsquo;t really want to leave Toronto because the city is great, the people are great&hellip;but I want to play.&rdquo;That feeling lingers. He is still uncertain about his future with the Leafs&mdash;but he blames nobody but himself.Hampered by injuries and problems with Brophy all season. Frycer has not played or produced consistently.His season has gone like this.He played the first six games of the year, was benched for the seventh, played eight more, was benched for three, played one, was sidelined with a hip injury for four, played one, missed 18 with a knee injury, appeared in five straight, was sidelined for one with a knee problem, played four, was benched for two, played another four, and will likely miss the Leafs&rsquo; final 22 games of the regular season.The forward says he holds no hard feelings toward Brophy.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unfair to blame him,&rdquo; said Frycer. &ldquo;My problem is I couldn&rsquo;t put the puck in the net. We had a few disagreements, we had a few arguments but it&rsquo;s not the reason (for Fryccr&rsquo;s troubles).&rdquo;Suspicions have been that a distraught Frycer might flee the Leafs, and play hockey in West Germany, where his father is a Division II coach.&ldquo;I want to play in Germany in the future,&rdquo; admitted Frycer, &ldquo;but not the near future. I&rsquo;m only 27 years old. I still think I can play four or five years here&hellip;If I am healthy I can score 35 to 40 goals.&rdquo;He will, however, spend the summer in West Germany, practising with his father&rsquo;s team&mdash;thinking about his future, and trying to forget the past.Except, that is, his brush with the judicial system.He is haunted by the roadside spot check he failed; haunted by the realization he endangered the safety of others; haunted by the possibility of another driver, in a similar state, bringing harm upon his two children.&ldquo;I made a mistake,&rdquo; said Frycer, who has relied on his wife, Vera, and the subway, for transportation this season. &ldquo;I learned from it and hopefully other younger people will learn from my mistake because if you are in the public eye, you are being watched closely.&rdquo;He was also watched closely in jail.&ldquo;Everybody knew who I was,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;All the people in the jail&mdash;in that block&mdash;were in on the same charge so it wasn&rsquo;t as scary as I thought.&rdquo;It was, however, scary enough for Frycer. He has pledged to never repeat the mistake.&ldquo;No way anymore. Absolutely no way.&rdquo;LEAFLETS&mdash;After beating Calgary decisively at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto played one of its worst first periods against Chicago in losing 6-3. The Leafs, desperate to beat their division rival, were pathetic over the first 20 minutes&mdash;falling behind 5-0. Ken Wregget, who was busy punching a Hawk on one of their goals, was pulled after one period and John Brophy was already hinting at not sticking with Wregget for every remaining game as he had said four days earlier. Allan Bester came on in relief and played well&hellip;Chris Kotsopoulos had missed 25 games with a groin injury. He was not expected back before the playoffs. &#9632;

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Frycer Suffering Through Worst-Ever Season

I WOULD LIKE to respond to Bryan Trottier&rsquo;s article, &ldquo;Please Call Everything&rdquo; (THN, Feb. 27).Calling every penalty during a game would be impossible. There is so much going on. The play would be slowed down even more. Maybe a solution would be to allow the linesman to call more penalties.I agree with Mr. Trottier that more consistency is needed by all referees in calling games. However, he is completely out of line to say all referees are bad. It is easier to criticize a referee&rsquo;s call or non-call than a team&rsquo;s shortcomings.Respect, Mr. Trottier, is a two-way street. If you expect referees to conduct themselves in a professional manner, than hockey players should do likewise. Before passing judgment, Mr. Trottier, put on a striped shirt and observe the game from another point of view.Is Mr. Trottier suggesting that the referees determined the outcome of the Islanders winning four consecutive Stanley Cups? As a player gets older and begins to lose some of his skills, it is easier to blame the referees.From the games I have seen Mr. Trottier play, he was good with his hands (stickwork, grabbing and holding).Ken Mackin, Port Jervis, NY<h2>GENTLEMANLY GRETZKY</h2>I believe that Wayne Gretzky should win the Lady Byng Trophy this year, for best combining a high level of play with gentlemanly conduct.To no one&rsquo;s surprise, Gretzky has been the best player in the NHL this year, displaying a higher standard of ability on a more consistent basis than anyone else in the league. Wayne has the lowest penalty total of any of the league&rsquo;s top 15 scorers (as of Mar. 6), and he has played every game this season without incurring a major penalty.Both on the ice and off, No. 99 has exhibited the type of sportsmanship that is a credit to hockey. He is clearly deserving of the Byng this season. I just hope that he will not be denied this by sports writers who think that the guy has won &ldquo;too many&rdquo; awards.Mark McCourt, Edmonton. AB<h2>WOMEN&rsquo;S HOCKEY REAL</h2>I almost fell over in shock when I read Steve Dryden&rsquo;s article on Canada&rsquo;s &ldquo;Female Gretzky&mdash;Angela James.&rdquo;What&rsquo;s this? THN informing their predominantly sexist male audience that women&rsquo;s hockey is for real? My God&hellip;Well, all I can say is, it&rsquo;s about time.Now that you&rsquo;ve got the right idea, how about doing it more often? Two suggestions: Introduce us to some talented female athletes through Titan/Jofa &ldquo;Player of the Week&rdquo;; you could also experiment by adding a new section dealing specifically with women&rsquo;s hockey.In any case, it&rsquo;s nice to see that you&rsquo;re making an effort.Chris Majta, Ottawa, ON<h2>CALDER CANDIDATES</h2>The Calder Trophy should be shared this year between the dynamic duo of Jimmy Carson and Luc Robitaille. Their exceptional play has turned the Kings into an offensive force and a playoff-bound team.It seems that quite a few people would prefer to see Ron Hextall&rsquo;s name inscribed on the trophy. Granted, Hextall has played nothing short of excellent, but look at the calibre of the defense standing in front of him. Without Hextall, the Flyers would still be in first place. Without Robitaille and Carson, the Kings would be fighting for a playoff spot with Vancouver.Jason Jancewicz, Sherman, CTLet 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;

Trottier’s ‘Out Of Line’ In Criticism Of Officials

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011494/5925346-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Elston

THERE COMES A point in an athlete&rsquo;s career when the mind says go but the body says no. When that day arrives, Boston Bruin defenseman Gord Kluzak says he&rsquo;ll be sure to tell us.That&rsquo;s a polite way of saying that just because he&rsquo;s missed two of the past five National Hockey League seasons with chronic knee woes, his career is not in immediate jeopardy.&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he admits, &ldquo;it has crossed my mind that my career might be over. It&rsquo;s not something I dwell on, though.&rdquo;But it&rsquo;s not something he conveniently overlooks either. At 6-foot-4, 220 pounds. Kluzak has always employed the direct approach&mdash;both on and off the ice.It was those qualities that led Boston to select the big Billings Bighorn defenseman No. 1 overall in the &rsquo;82 entry draft&mdash;despite the fact he was coming off a season of only 38 games, due to, you guessed it, a knee injury.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to compare knee injuries to car accidents,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;that first one in junior was just a dent in the fender. No big deal.&rdquo;Consecutive 70- and 80-game NHL seasons, which provided a tantalizing glimpse of Kluzak&rsquo;s enormous potential, substantiate his assertion.&ldquo;Then,&rdquo; says Kluzak, &ldquo;I totalled it.&rdquo;It was the final exhibition game in October, 1984. A hit by then-New Jersey Devil Dave Lewis ended the season before it began.And while he played 70 games in 1985-86, this has been another lost year for the native of Climax, Sask.Small wonder that the cynics among us would suggest he&rsquo;s history. Kluzak wouldn&rsquo;t be the first athlete to lose the battle of wounded knee; he wouldn&rsquo;t be the last.When he hears that kind of talk, Kluzak is a forgiving sort.He tries to educate, make the complex sound simple. How the reconstructive surgery of 1984&mdash;from which he awoke to find the comforting face of ex-Bruin great Bobby Orr, himself an authority on the subject&mdash;was completely successful. How the ligaments and cartilage surrounding the knee are strong.How his problem, much more common in football than hockey, is called &ldquo;chrondamalacia&rdquo;&mdash;a small tear or rough spot (about 10 per cent of the total area) on the rippled underside of his kneecap. How that is what prevents the motion of the kneecap from moving fluently and painlessly&mdash;it&rsquo;s supposed to slide six times smoother than ice on ice.How the treatment of his injuries has been very conservative. How time and slow but steady rehabilitation are the immediate prescription, but more revolutionary procedures-&mdash;taking a small piece of cartilage from a cadaver and transplanting it into the tear or grafting a piece of bone immediately below the kneecap, and then lifting the kneecap to fit into it&mdash;are future options.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021183/5925377-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="386" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The doctors who have looked at my knee say, &lsquo;You&rsquo;ll play again, it&rsquo;s just a matter of time.&rsquo;&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;So if it takes time, then that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m going to do, give it time.&rdquo;Kluzak is undergoing rehabilitation in Buffalo under the supervision of Dr. Richard Weiss, medical co-ordinator for both the Bruins and Buffalo Bills of the NFL. Both teams are owned by the Jacobs brothers.&ldquo;I feel I&rsquo;m making some real progress,&rdquo; says Kluzak, who plans to work out with Bruin teammate Michael Thelven in Sweden this summer. &ldquo;My only goal is to be ready to play next fall.&rdquo;In the meantime, the good-natured young fellow who owns a gold medal from the 1981 World Junior Championships, manages to keep up his spirits and avoid the despair that can accompany long rehabilitations.He attends Sabre games, drives up to Toronto to watch the Leafs and, one night at Maple Leaf Gardens, sees former junior rival Gary Nylund (No. 3 overall in the &rsquo;82 draft) playing for the Chicago Blackhawks after &ldquo;totalling&rdquo; the same knee twice.&ldquo;Bitter?&rdquo; he responds to the predictable question. &ldquo;No, bitterness is not an emotion I deal with. Maybe I get envious sometimes.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve been fortunate, too. I&rsquo;ve got a great head start in life (he has a year-and-a-half worth of credits, majoring in political science, from Salem State College). Even if I play 12 years in the NHL, I would only be 30. If it so happens I couldn&rsquo;t play again, although I think I will, I&rsquo;d just have to get on with the rest of my life a little sooner than I had planned.&rdquo;You can hear THN Editor-in-Chief Bob McKenzie on mid-week Toronto Maple Leaf broadcasts on the Telemedia Maple Leaf radio network. &#9632;

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Kluzak Fighting The Battle Of Wounded Knee

<div class="byline">COMPILED BY RICHARD BEALES Copy Editor</div>The Hockey Hall of Fame has two new inductees.National Hockey League president John Ziegler and supervisor of officials Matt Pavelich have been elected to the builders&rsquo; section.Ziegler, a lawyer who had worked for the Detroit Red Wings, became NHL president in 1977, succeeding the late Clarence Campbell.The 53-year-old native of Grosse Pointe, Mich., oversaw league expansion from 17 to 21 teams in 1979, with the adoption of four franchises from the now-defunct World Hockey Association.Pavelich, 54, ranks second in the league in career number of regularseason games (1,727) and playoff games (245) officiated. He was a linesman for 21 years.Ziegler and Pavelich, in addition to three players who have not yet been selected, will be officially inducted during ceremonies June 15 in Detroit.<h2>BLUES SUE DEMERS</h2>The new owners of the St. Louis Blues have filed an amended suit with St. Louis County circuit court, seeking &ldquo;specific monetary damages&rdquo; from former coach Jacques Demers, who is now with the Detroit Red Wings.Demers left the Blues in June, 1986, though St. Louis officials claim he had a verbal contract with them when he jumped.In an Associated Press story, new owner Michael Shanahan was reported to have said he also asked that Demers be prohibited from coaching for three years, the length of his alleged verbal contract with former owner Harry Ornest.By filing the amended suit, the Blues have ensured that the team&rsquo;s new owners will be able to take over the suit, without losing their place on the court docket.<h2>TURGEON STILL NO. 1</h2>Center Pierre Turgeon of the Granby Bisons is still considered the best choice as No. 1 pick in the NHL entry draft, according to the most recent confidential rankings from the league&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau.Center Brendan Shanahan of the London Knights follows in the No. 2 rating slot, with Seattle defenseman Chris Joseph third, and Portland teammates Dave Archibald (center) and Glen Wesley (defense) fourth and fifth, respectively.Others in the top 20 include:6. Wayne McBean, D, Medicine Hat; 7. Luke Richardson, D, Peterborough; 8. Darren Rumble, D, Kitchener; 9. Stephane Quintal. D, Granby; 10. Brian Fogarty. D, Kingston; 11. Joe Sakic, C, Swift Current; 12. Jody Hull, C-RW, Peterborough; 13. Yves Racine. D, Longueuil; 14. Kevin Miehm, C, Oshawa; 15. Adam Burt, D, North Bay; 16. John McIntyre, C-LW, Guelph; 17. Eric Desjardins. D, Granby; 18. Ryan McGill, D, Swift Current; 19. Bryan Deasley, LW, U. of Michigan; 20. Jeff Ballantyne, D, Ottawa.<h2>CIAU ALL-STARS</h2>Goaltender Claude Guerard was the only member of the nationalchampion Trois-Rivieres Patriotes to be selected to the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Association&rsquo;s 12-man all-Canadian team.Joining Guerard in net was Dave Quigley of the Moncton Blue Eagles, this year&rsquo;s winner of the Senator Joseph A. Sullivan Trophy as the ClAU&rsquo;s top player.Two of four defensemen on the team&mdash;Chris Saint-Cyr of Manitoba and Chris McCauley of Western&mdash;were repeat selections as all-Canadian. Other blueliners named were Alberta&rsquo;s Parie Proft and UPEl&rsquo;s Kevin Skilliter.Three Sullivan Trophy nominees&mdash;Paul Geddes of Calgary, Mark Reade of McGill and Don McLaughlin of Toronto&mdash;headed the list of forwards. Dalhousie&rsquo;s Martin Bouliane. Ottawa&rsquo;s Jocelyn Bolduc and Western&rsquo;s Mike Tomlak were also selected.<h2>HAMILTON WOMEN WIN</h2>The Hamilton Golden Hawks, on the strength of a three-goal performance by Kelly Weaver, have won the right to represent Canada at the first-ever women&rsquo;s World Hockey Tournament, April 21 to 25 in North York, Ont.Weaver&rsquo;s hat-trick led the Hawks to a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Chimos, for their second successive national women&rsquo;s title.<h2>CANADA TIES SOVIETS</h2>Yvan Cournoyer showed flashes of his old &ldquo;Roadrunner&rdquo; form, scoring three goals to give Team Canada an 8-8 tie with Team Soviet Union in the third and final renewal of the 1972 Summit Series.The game, played before a sold-out crowd of 9,500 at the Ottawa Civic Center on March 17, saw Canada fight back from an 8-5 deficit to earn the tie and complete 2-0-1 record against the Soviets. The first two games were played in Toronto and Hamilton.Bob Clarke added two goals, while Bill Barber, Jacques Lemaire and Steve Shutt added singles.<h2>LEAFS NIX MOVE</h2>A proposed switch of divisions between the Los Angeles Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs was shot down at the NHL board of governors&rsquo; meeting, March 17, when the request did not get the neccesary two-thirds support.Los Angeles officials requested the switch from the Smythe Division to the Norris Division, because of the Kings&rsquo; heavy travel schedule. There are no direct flights from Los Angeles to either Winnipeg or Edmonton&mdash;two of the teams the Kings must face seven times a year.Maple Leafs&rsquo; owner Harold Ballard, who was adamantly against any move, needled the Kings.&ldquo;Why do you want a hockey team in Los Angeles anyway?&rdquo; he asked.Meanwhile, the governors deferred, for the second time, the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; appeal of a $310,000 fine levied against the club for signing Pat Quinn to become its president and general manager. Quinn was still under contract to coach the Kings at the time.Due to his ensuing suspension, Quinn will not join the Canucks until June 16, the day after the NHL Congress in Detroit is over.<h2>$340,000 RAISED</h2>Somewhere, King Clancy&rsquo;s Irish eyes were smiling.Many of hockey&rsquo;s best-known figures travelled to Toronto on St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day (March 17), to honor the memory of Clancy, the late vice-president and goodwill ambassador of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He died last Nov. 10 at the age of 83.The dinner drew 2,400 people and raised more than $340,000 for the Charlie Conacher Foundation for cancer research.Hockey celebrities present at the event included Harold Ballard, Clancy&rsquo;s closest friend and the man behind the entire affair, Gordie Howe, Jean Beliveau, Toe Blake, Don Cherry, NHL president John Ziegler and the Maple Leaf hockey club.Ziegler unveiled the King Clancy Trophy, which will be awarded annually to an NHL player who gives exemplary service to the community. &#9632;

NHL President Elected To Hall Of Fame

I don&rsquo;t know about you, but I feel like running for the antacid tablets every time I notice Reijo Ruotsalainen and Mark Pavelich mentioned in the public prints.You want to know what&rsquo;s wrong with hockey today, look no farther than Messrs. R and P, the ultimate mercenaries.Let&rsquo;s start with the Finnicky Finn. He has himself a ball, makes himself a mint playing hockey in Switzerland all winter and then indulges in the luxury of finishing his season in North America at playoff time. What Reijo is telling us is that the October-February stretch is a waste of time, certainly beneath him and if you don&rsquo;t like it, Joe Fan, go jump in Hudson&rsquo;s Bay.Pavelich is a spoiled brat of a different color. All winter long the kid who quit on the Rangers last year has been tantalizing the hockey world with a gripping melodrama.Will Mark Pavelich become the Rocket Richard of Scottish hockey? Will Mark Pavelich coach the Dundee Rockets to the All-English Channel Cup. Where will Mark Pavelich go fishing next?Finally, when, oh, when will Mark Pavelich again grace the NHL with his presence?Now that &ldquo;Pav&rdquo;&mdash;I love that delicious-to-the-lips nickname, &ldquo;Pav&rdquo;&mdash;has been signed by the North Stars, yet another skater is besmirching the face of the NHL.I say John Ziegler and the governors should ban any skater who plays European hockey for a season from participating in the NHL for the last two months of our campaign. Why should our fans get stiffed by these characters? If they like Europe so much, fine, let &lsquo;em play in Bern. Goteburg or Berchtesgarten, for all I care, but not here and not in the same season.My hero? Bengt Gustafsson.My Crumb-Bums? The Reijo-Come-Latelys who want the best of both hockey worlds&mdash;at the expense of you hockey fans.<h2>OFF ICE OFFSIDES</h2>NHL off-ice officials, who work penalty boxes and in the timekeeper&rsquo;s area are privy to considerable lobbying from players pursuing additional points. Generally, the players argue that they deserve an assist that had gone unnoticed by the official scorer.An off-ice official at New Jersey&rsquo;s Meadowlands Arena says that Dino Ciccarelli is the worst when it comes to bugging for additional points. The official tells one about the most unusual bit of lobbying he ever encountered.&ldquo;We were handling a playoff game between the Islanders and the Flyers.&rdquo; the official recalls. &ldquo;The action was pretty heavy when one of the Flyers checked John Tonelli into the boards. Tonelli went right over the top and landed, horizontal, in my lap.&ldquo;John finally opened his eyes, looked at me and said: &ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t I get an assist on that goal?&rsquo;&rdquo;<h2>A GAME OF JACKS (JACQUES)</h2>Jumping on the Jacques Demers bandwagon is as easy as exhaling and that&rsquo;s what it is: time to take a deep breath and ask an intriguing question&mdash;why not Jack Evans instead for coach of the year?I posed this question to a distinguished member of the Boston Bruin defense, Mike Milbury. &ldquo;Evans, obviously has done a good job,&rdquo; Milbury explains, &ldquo;but Demers, considering the talent at his disposal, has made a miracle. Jacques is coach of the year.&rdquo;Jacques I is an easy choice, but what about Jacques II in St. Lou? Jacques Martin has unobtrusively kept the Blues afloat during a season that would have traumatized a lesser leader.He lost his inspirational captain, Brian Sutter, for the year. Ditto Eddie Beers, one of his potentially most productive forwards. Jocelyn Lemieux, a marvelous rookie, and pivotal vets Rob Ramage and Bernie Federko were felled at critical points in mid-season. It was a time when Martin might well have blown the entire year with some impetuous yelling and screaming otherwise defined as panic. Martin remained cool and the Blues resumed their pursuit of the playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011515/5925432-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="333" height="448"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Fischler</figcaption></div>Jacques II isn&rsquo;t half the salesman Jacques I is. but he&rsquo;s more than half the coach, maybe even the equal of Demers. That, in large part, will be determined by the final standings.For a change the Whalers suffered no concerns about making the playoffs and, for that, they can thank the ultra-stoical Evans, hockey&rsquo;s original Old Stoneface. A year ago choruses of &ldquo;Fire Jack&rdquo; were heard at the Hartford Civic Center. Now the same warblers are urging that Evans be named coach of the year. Not surprisingly, Evans&rsquo; boss, Emile Francis, says that if Tex isn&rsquo;t coach of the year, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a monkey&rsquo;s uncle.&rdquo;Maybe the Simian Society of America will endorse Evans as well. After all, Lantern Jaw rates serious consideration, since he has sculpted a winner with little fuss and fanfare and the absence of a Gretzky or a Lemieux.Tex is impressive, but then again, so is Demers and ditto Martin. I like them all. but I&rsquo;ll still vote for Demers, for the same reason as Mr. Milbury. What Jacques I has done is the genuine miracle.<h2>30-SECOND THIRD DEGREE</h2>Neil Sheehy of the Calgary Flames, please take the stand.Q: Ever since you took ballet lessons, some of your fans have developed an image of you in a pale pink tutu.SHEEHY: Actually. I did my ballet in a pair of gym shorts.Q: Was taking ballet a gimmick, or did it actually do something for your playing?SHEEHY: It helped in the sense that I got better balance. Before I took ballet I tended to lean too far forward. My center of gravity needed improvement.Q: How big a part did Bob Johnson play in the ballet lessons?SHEEHY: I always talk to the coach about how to improve. After the season I said, &lsquo;Coach, what do you want me to do this summer? What do I have to do to be a better hockey player?&rsquo; He said, &lsquo;Sheehy, I want you to take ballet.&rsquo; I couldn&rsquo;t believe it, but the coach insisted. So I said to myself, &lsquo;Okay, ballet he wants me to take, ballet I take.&rsquo; I figure to be a professional athlete you have to go above and beyond what&rsquo;s expected. Ballet was above and beyond the call of duty&mdash;but I enjoyed it.Q: You&rsquo;re one of the rare Harvard grads to make it to the NHL. How did you wind up in Harvard in the first place?SHEEHY: My father only had an eighth-grade education, and he knew the value of schooling. There were nine children in the family and dad wanted us all to graduate from college. I wanted to be in Boston and go to an Ivy League school. Harvard was a natural.Q: Which teammate inspires you the most?SHEEHY: Doug Risebrough. I love the way he competes. He&rsquo;s the ultimate gladiator. He thrives on leading his troops into battle. I liken him to the American World War II general George S. Patton, the inspirational type. Whenever he&rsquo;s on the ice, the sight of Doug makes me go that much harder. &#9632;

f0010-01

Reijo, Pavelich Nothing But Mercenaries

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021143/5925463-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="181" height="133"></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Bernie Nicholls had hoped for bigger and better things than he got this year.&ldquo;I wanted to get at least 90 points,&rdquo; the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; center said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had more games this year where I haven&rsquo;t gotten a point than I can remember. That&rsquo;s disappointed me a lot.&rdquo;Nicholls failed to score a point in 20 of the Kings&rsquo; first 69 games. He failed to score a goal in 47 of them. He managed no more than two shots in 32 of them.Over the previous three seasons, Nicholls averaged 41 goals and 97 points, including personal bests of 46 and 100, respectively, in 1984-85.&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t like me, to go without goals or points for such long stretches,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played well in a lot of games, getting a point here and a point there. But there have been times when I&rsquo;ve gotten a lot of opportunities and I haven&rsquo;t capitalized.&rdquo;Then came game No. 70, when Nicholls put on the kind of show every, player dreams about. He scored three goals and added two assists in a 5-4 comeback victory over the Washington Capitals.It was his ninth career hat trick, but only his first of the season. Yet, it couldn&rsquo;t have come at a more opportune time.The Kings, struggling to stay ahead of the last-place Vancouver Canucks for the final Smythe Division playoff spot, were sputtering on the road, with nine consecutive losses dating back to mid-January.So while Nicholls was keeping the Kings six points ahead of the Canucks&mdash;and the Kings were proving they were capable of winning away from home&mdash;he also was reestablishing himself as an explosive offensive weapon.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;He was really involved. When he does that, he&rsquo;s one of the best centers in the league.&rsquo; &mdash;Murphy</blockquote>He and linemates Tiger Williams and Jim Fox, along with defenseman Grant Ledyard, produced three goals in 50 seconds to wipe out a 3-1 deficit early in the third period.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t ever remember getting three goals on one shift,&rdquo; said Nicholls, who had two goals and two assists in the period. &ldquo;I was getting a little nervous, though. I thought (coach) Mike (Murphy) might not let us off the ice. I was starting to get a little tired.&rdquo;Said Murphy: &ldquo;Bernie&rsquo;s one guy who can carry an offense. He had been in a mini-slump (two goals in nine games), but he came out of it tonight. He was really involved. When he does that, he&rsquo;s one of the best centers in the league.&rdquo;A week earlier, Nicholls was named an alternate captain. That position was held by Marcel Dionne, who was traded to the New York Rangers for Bobby Carpenter and Tom Laidlaw.So with the newly-sewn &ldquo;A&rdquo; on his sweater, Nicholls went out and delivered an &ldquo;A-plus&rdquo; performance.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m definitely proud to be a captain,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It means they want you to show leadership. It&rsquo;s a big responsibility. Maybe last year I didn&rsquo;t do it enough, but it&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;m taking very seriously.&ldquo;Off the ice I&rsquo;ve always been pretty calm. But around the locker room and at practices, I&rsquo;m going to have to show a little more.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m usually pretty quiet. I don&rsquo;t blow my stack much. So I have to work hard at practices, get the guys pumped up and ready for games.&rdquo;Nicholls&rsquo; five-point night, one shy of his career best, gave him a team leading 71 points (27 goals and 44 assists) with 10 games to go.&ldquo;Maybe I can still get 90,&rdquo; he said.ROYALTIES&mdash;The Kings&rsquo; request for a transfer from the Smythe Division to the Norris was voted down by the board of governors. Having to go through customs for every road game within the Smythe, and being able to fly directly to only Vancouver and Calgary, are their biggest complaints. The Kings log more air miles than any team in the league&hellip;Bone chips were removed from defenseman Dave Langevin&rsquo;s right knee during arthroscopic surgery. The Kings said he would be available for the playoffs&hellip;Bobby Carpenter was centering a line with Luc Robitaille and Sean McKenna, and was also being used on power plays and as a penalty-killer&hellip;New defenseman Tom Laidlaw was paired with rookie Steve Duchesne. &#9632;

f0010-02

Bernie Gives More Than A Nicholls’ Worth

<div class="byline">BY HERMAN PEDERGNANA</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011368/5925494-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cologne&rsquo;s Tom Thornbury and Dusseldorf&rsquo;s Manfred Wolf get their sticks up during a West German league game. (Photo by Gunter Muller-Bild)</figcaption></div>DUSSELDORF, West Germany&mdash;Former National Hockey League players in the West German Federal League say the 10-team loop is the dirtiest in the world.&ldquo;In the four seasons over here, I got more cuts than I ever got in North America,&rdquo; said Peter Lee, the former Pittsburgh Penguin who now plays in front of sellout crowds of 10,500 in Dusseldorf.His criticism came just after his team had been blown out by Cologne in the playoff semi-finals, 81, 9-1 and 7-3.&ldquo;One problem is that import players are often stopped or worked over with sticks,&rdquo; Lee said. &ldquo;There are no enforcers on the teams to protect them, and the players who do the stickwork have little to fear because most of the time there are no penalties called. All the injuries I got here were from slashing, high sticking, and but tending.&rdquo;He takes this kind of treatment in stride and has already signed for another season of &ldquo;timber-eating.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not for fighting.&rdquo; Lee added, &ldquo;but when you eliminate it, there is no incentive against stick attacks.&rdquo;Lee&rsquo;s linemate, former Washington Capital Chris Valentine, charged that &ldquo;refs here don&rsquo;t know what a good check is. Often you get penalized for a good body check.&ldquo;On the other hand, certain players are allowed to do almost anything. (Cologne defenseman Udo) Kiessling is some kind of god over here, but he is probably the dirtiest player in the league. They never call anything against him.&rdquo;Schweeingen&rsquo;s Tony Currie, formerly of the St. Louis Blues, took a somewhat milder view. All leagues&mdash;National, American or West German Federal&mdash;are rough in their own way, he maintained.&ldquo;There is more body contact in the NHL or AHL,&rdquo; the 30-year-old center said. &ldquo;In the NHL, the tough guys are tougher. In the AHL, more guys are trying to prove themselves, and the referees are a bit less experienced. Still, the games are more physical than over here.&ldquo;The brawls I&rsquo;ve seen over here are not comparable to those back home. Well, if you wear shields and do not drop the gloves, it just comes down to some wrestling.&rdquo;Both he and teammate Don Dietrich, a former Chicago farmhand, said Lee and Valentine were right about excessive stick work.Heightening the emotional level are the fans. In Ducsseldorf and Cologne, the majority attended the playoff games dressed up in carnival costumes, with their faces painted as if they were about to go on the warpath. They chanted and sang teasing ditties.&ldquo;The fans are more involved here,&rdquo; said Dietrich, the Federal League&rsquo;s highest-scoring defenseman. &ldquo;They drink one beer and can become quite intimidating. They are more involved. I have seen fans cry after a loss.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like in top-calibre senior hockey, or maybe college hockey in the U.S.,&rdquo; Currie said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just one team against the other, but one town against the other town.&rdquo;Although their team was also eliminated from the playoffs by Cologne, both Currie and Dietrich are still playing hockey.They were picked up by Kloten in the Swiss elite division for that league&rsquo;s playoffs, to replace the injured Bob Mongrain and Ross Yates.&ldquo;The Swiss play a more offensive game and move the puck up ice very quickly,&rdquo; Currie said, &ldquo;but there is not as much body contact as in Germany.&rdquo;EURO-CHIPS&mdash;&ldquo;Peter Romberg is the most improved player this season in Germany,&rdquo; Tony Currie said of the Calgary draftee, a defenseman selected in the 10th round (206th overall) in 1985&hellip;Paul Messier netted two easy goals against Karl Friesen to clinch Mannheim&rsquo;s sweep of Rosenheim in the East German semifinals. Mannheim won 3-2 in overtime. 3-1 and 4-3, with former NHLer Dave Silk emerging as another key player&hellip;Vic Stanfield&rsquo;s time in Europe has probably run out. Krefeld, a German second division team, did not renew his contract for next season&hellip;Olivier Anken. the Swiss goaltender who suffered a freak injury when hurt by an autograph hunter, was back in action again, but his team Bienne missed the playoffs&hellip;Jean-Francois Sauve, now back with the Quebec Nordiques, won the Swiss scoring title with 33 goals, 58 assists and 91 points, followed by Lugano&rsquo;s Kent Johansson (33-44-77), former Blackhawk Kirk Bowman of Bern (30-45-75) and Bienne&rsquo;s Normand Dupont, another ex-NHLer, (30-40-70)&hellip;Fernand Leblanc of Herisau (56-46-102) wound up with the scoring crown in the Swiss second division, followed by Red Laurence of Zug (57-21-78)&hellip;Berne has hopes of signing Risto Siltanen of Quebec or Kent Nilsson of Edmonton for next season. &#9632;

f0011-01

German Loop Dirtiest, Say Ex-NHLers

SELDOM HAS THE National Hockey League had as many races for Stanley Cup playoff spots and home-ice advantage alive this late in the schedule. It&rsquo;s kept interest alive and tossed a large number of topics out on the front step. Here are a few:&bull; Best thing to happen in the &lsquo;&lsquo;Relive The Dream&rdquo; series between Team Canada and the Soviet Union club that staged that awesome series in &rsquo;72? The fact that both sides got together for a late-night session in a hotel room, drank some good booze and became friends, talking about their families and lives since that memorable series.&bull; Of course, Jacques Demers rates heavy consideration as coach of the year for his splendid work with the Detroit Red Wings, but he&rsquo;s no shoo-in for the award. Because his team has made a jump to first place in its division, Demers has attracted much attention. But is that upgrading any more dramatic than the one Dan Maloney has engineered with the Winnipeg Jets? How about the job Jack Evans has done with the Hartford Whalers? Is there a better-coached or-motivated team, night in, night out, than the Whalers?&bull; Funny how life percolates, sometimes, isn&rsquo;t it? The qualities that earned Ted Sator scorn from the New York Rangers have been greeted by nothing but raves from the Buffalo Sabres.&bull; Just wondering: How many NHL team owners, told by their general managers how tough it is to make a deal these days, have mentioned the name &ldquo;Phil Esposito&rdquo; as an example that it isn&rsquo;t impossible to trade?&bull; Can&rsquo;t blame the Los Angeles Kings for trying to get more direct flights on their schedule by moving to the Norris Division. Can&rsquo;t blame the Maple Leafs for turning down a switch to the Smythe.The Kings&rsquo; travel situation won&rsquo;t change until the NHL expands. For instance, a new team in Seattle-Tacoma could replace the Kings in the Smythe Division. Clubs in San Francisco and Dallas could join the Kings in a new sector with Chicago, St. Louis and Minnesota.&bull; Doug Gilmour, Gerard Gallant and Kevin Dineen are three guys I would want on my team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011468/5925525-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="365" height="427"><figcaption class="caption-body">Frank Orr</figcaption></div>&bull; Those in the know claim that expansion is a few years down the road, despite frequent rumors that the NHL will expand to Dallas in &rsquo;88.&bull; Unfortunately, perhaps, the city with a fine rink and the best chance to be a success as a new NHL city won&rsquo;t have the opportunity. Hamilton is a can&rsquo;t-miss location for a team, but it won&rsquo;t get one. That town won&rsquo;t bring any fat U.S. TV market with it.&bull; Quebec hockey fans are bitter about the decline in the Nordiques and club president Marcel Aubut is the No. 1 target. The view in Quebec from hockey fans is: Too much Rendez-vous &rsquo;87 and not enough Nordiques in the team&rsquo;s emphasis this season.&bull; Despite the additions of some high-skill players to their roster late in the season, the Edmonton Oilers will be handicapped seriously in their bid to regain the Cup if Randy Gregg is gone from their defense in the playoffs. He has a shoulder injury.The Oilers had a perfect replacement for Gregg in the steady veteran department&mdash;Lee Fogolin&mdash;but he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres.&bull; Some beauties are looming in the Smythe Division playoffs. The Calgary Flames very badly want another run at the Oilers but must get past the Winnipeg Jets first. That won&rsquo;t be a snap.&bull; Think this might be the spring when the Washington Capitals make some playoff noise.&bull; An Adams Division team official hopes the Nordiques make the playoffs ahead of the Sabres. His reason? Sabre goalie Tom Barrasso could get hot and win a series or two by himself. &#9632;

f0012-01

Finally, 15 Years Later They Can Be Friends

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021208/5925556-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="176" height="134"></div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;Don&rsquo;t count Aaron Broten among the candidates to succeed Mel Bridgman as captain of the Devils&hellip;unless he&rsquo;s drafted for the job.Broten, the senior member of the franchise, has been enjoying the finest season of his six-year National Hockey League career. He has also become a quiet stabilizer both on and off the ice. The Devils will finish this season without a captain; Broten&rsquo;s name has been mentioned among coach Doug Carpenter&rsquo;s top six candidates.Others mentioned as possible captains are Kirk Muller, Joe Cirella, Doug Sulliman, Mark Johnson and John MacLean. Cirella, Johnson and Broten are currently acting as alternate captains.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not too much of a talker,&rdquo; said Broten, who has rewritten the Devils&rsquo; record book in several categories this season.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really see myself as a captain. I like my role as alternate captain. A captain has got to be more outgoing and play a more physical game. He&rsquo;s got to get the guys going.&rdquo;In an informal poll, Muller and Cirella split the voting from current and past teammates who know the two players. Bridgman, traded to the Red Wings on March 9, indicated any of the six players would be solid choices.Told of Broten&rsquo;s comments, Bridgman said: &ldquo;I think Aaron would be an excellent choice. There are different types of leaders. Some are more vocal than other leaders. Brotsie has a lot of leadership qualities. He&rsquo;d be different than someone more vocal. Whenever Brotsie says things they&rsquo;re intelligent and well thought-out.&ldquo;One type of leader is a guy who is aggressive and yells&mdash;but Steve Yzer-man (of the Red Wings) isn&rsquo;t an aggressive player and yet he&rsquo;s an excellent captain.&rdquo;Broten has already equalled his career high of 22 goals in a season, and his 43 assists broke the Devils&rsquo; record of 42, set by Greg Adams last season (Wilf Paiement holds the franchise assist record of 56, set with the 197778 Colorado Rockies.) On Feb. 25 Broten became the franchise&rsquo;s career assist leader when he passed Paiement&rsquo;s total of 183.Yet Broten has the rap of playing hard only in spurts, wasting his natural talent.&ldquo;You&rsquo;d like to see a guy go 80 games,&rdquo; said Carpenter, &ldquo;but 80 games for Aaron Broten is tough. Sometimes you&rsquo;ve got to accept people for what they are. I&rsquo;d like to see him in there thrashing, wailing, mucking and dropping his gloves, but that&rsquo;s not Aaron Broten.&rdquo;&ldquo;A guy wants to play 80 games,&rdquo; answered Broten, &ldquo;but you just realize things don&rsquo;t go your way every night. It just can&rsquo;t be done realistically. You try to be consistent and maybe play 60 out of 80. You can&rsquo;t be at the top of your game for 80 games.&rdquo;Some think that the Devils will get more from the 26-year-old native of Roseau, Minn., by naming him captain.One point on the positive side is his commitment to the oragnization.&ldquo;I feel the frustration is lessening,&rdquo; Broten said, as the Devils bowed out of the playoff race. &ldquo;I feel we&rsquo;re getting better every year. We haven&rsquo;t made a lot of progress, but you can see it. It&rsquo;s slow and it&rsquo;s frustrating at times, but I&rsquo;ve got to believe we&rsquo;re doing the right thing.&ldquo;Some day, and I hope I&rsquo;m here, this is going to be a good team. We&rsquo;re going to be in the playoffs and I want to see it happen. It&rsquo;ll be that much sweeter when it happens.&rdquo;HOT STUFF&mdash;Pat Verbeek set a franchise record with 15 power-play goals (Paul Gardner scored 14 in 1978-79)&hellip;Posters circulated at Meadowlands Arena: &ldquo;Max Must Go.&rdquo; Max is Max McNab, the Devils&rsquo; GM&hellip;Alain Chevrier became a 20-game winner with a 4-1 victory over the Islanders March 13. The next night he was in goal as the Devils blew a 6-2 lead to the Isles in the third period and lost 7-6 in OT&hellip;Rookie right winger Doug Brown, recalled from Maine on March 13, has been outstanding both offensively and as a penalty-killer&hellip;Mel Bridgman said there was little communication between himself and Doug Carpenter, but the coach denied there was any conflict. &#9632;

f0012-02

Broten As Jersey Captain? Devils May Care

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011380/5925587-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="585" height="790"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Reinhart, above, is a booster of new-old Calgary defenseman Kari Eloranta.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02993/5925594-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="179" height="137"></div>CALGARY&mdash;Now it can be told. The real reason Kari Eloranta joined the Calgary Flames for the stretch drive wasn&rsquo;t the money or the chance for a Stanley Cup ring or the instrinsic satisfaction of proving he can play in North America.&ldquo;Cowboy boots,&rdquo; said Eloranta. motioning to the pair he wore for his get-reacquainted press conference. &ldquo;This is my last pair. I figured I&rsquo;d get some more while I&rsquo;m here.&rdquo;Fact is, people in these parts wondered why the 31-year-old Eloranta would put himself through another tour of duty with the Flames, after leaving following the 1984-85 season. Playing here for parts of four years, he was public enemy No. 1 with a small, but vocal group of the Olympic Saddledome faithful.For all the skill Eloranta demonstrated moving the puck, for all the heady hockey he played in his own zone, he did not play a physical game, it&rsquo;s been said before, but it bears repeating: In Calgary, if you don&rsquo;t play defense like Moose Vasko, you&rsquo;re not playing defense. It&rsquo;s why Paul Reinhart&mdash;year in and year out&mdash;received less than his due for the way he performed on the Flames&rsquo; blue line. It&rsquo;s also why Reinhart&rsquo;s first words upon learning that Eloranta would rejoin the Flames after a two-year absence made so much sense.Walking into the dressing room following a practice, Reinhart turned to a reporter and said: &ldquo;Somebody better say how really important it is that the fans lay off Kari when he gets here.&rdquo;Was that for the record?&ldquo;Sure. He&rsquo;s a hell of a hockey player and he can really help us. But if they get on him the way they did at the end then he won&rsquo;t do us any good because it&rsquo;ll affect his confidence.&rdquo;In the beginning, the Flames said they brought Eloranta back as insurance. nothing more. The Flames remembered back to the second round of last year&rsquo;s playoffs when they defeated Edmonton Oilers but lost defenseman Gary Suter in the seventh game of the quarter-finals.By the time they reached the finals, the Flames were forced to use a defenseman, Robin Bartel, who did not play a single minute for them in the regular season. Simply put, they ran out of bodies. When general manager Cliff Fletcher realized that he would not be able to add a significant player before the trading deadline, he looked elsewhere&mdash;specifically Sweden where Eloranta&rsquo;s club team, HV 71, was in the process of finishing fifth and out of the playoffs.As Eloranta&rsquo;s agent, Don Baizley, put it: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s better than a player that you&rsquo;d be pulling out of the American League at this time of year.&rdquo;The Swedish Ice Hockey Federation released Eloranta because he is a Finn and therefore ineligible to play for Sweden in the World Championships. He was the only player from Sweden given permission to join an National Hockey League team for the playoffs, ruffling feathers all the way through the league.When Fletcher first approached him about returning to Calgary, Eloranta said: &ldquo;My first thought was to say, &lsquo;No way, I&rsquo;m not going.&rsquo; Then I thought about it a little more. I realized I knew almost everybody on the team. My wife (Sari) knows a lot of the girls, too, so it will be easier for her as well.&rdquo;Assistant coach Bob Murdoch, who played with Eloranta in his first season, then coached him in the next three, called the criticism &ldquo;a bum rap&hellip;He was better than most people gave him credit for.&rdquo;Johnson said that in his memory, the only thing comparable to the way Eloranta was treated occurred in last year&rsquo;s World Series.&ldquo;My immediate reaction is to remember that Boston Red Sox pitcher (Calvin Schiraldi), the way the fans would go crazy every time they brought him out of the bullpen,&rdquo; said Johnson. &ldquo;But no. Kari was one of the top defensemen in last year&rsquo;s world tournament. Let&rsquo;s give him a chance to play at that world-class level for us.&rdquo;That, said Eloranta, was all he wanted&mdash;a chance.IN BRIEF&mdash;Center Joe Nieuwendyk and left winger Gary Roberts, two-thirds of the team&rsquo;s newly-formed fourth line, played minor hockey together in Whitby from novice to minor midget. In addition, they played together on the Whitby Warriors lacrosse team that won the Canadian national Minto Cup two years ago&hellip;With Joel Otto out until playoff time because of knee surgery, the Flames were counting on Perry Berezan&rsquo;s return to the lineup to help out their penalty-killing unit. Otto may be the most difficult player to replace on the team because he is their top faceoff man and he plays on both special teams. In addition, he plays a sign. ficant role in Bob Johnson&rsquo;s master plan to beat Edmonton Oilers. When the Flames get the last line change, Johnson uses the six-foot-four Otto against Mark Messier. Otto is one of the few big men in the game who can skate well enough to keep Messier within hailing distance. &#9632;

f0013-01

Fans Urged To Lay Off Eloranta This Time

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Petr Klima is managing to cash in on his Czech-stylc charisma. He recently filmed a Vernors (soda) TV commercial in his native tongue. An interpreter then translates, explaining that when Petr came to Detroit, his teammates advised him to do two things: get rid of his polyester clothes and &ldquo;Drink Vernors!&rdquo;&hellip;A report is circulating that the NHL will not surrender 1988 Super Bowl Sunday to the NFL as it did this year. One whisper has it that NHL games will start at 1:30 p.m. on the biggest football day and, therefore, be completed in time for fans to get home for the grid spectacular. &ldquo;This is the first time I&rsquo;ve heard of it (the report),&rdquo; NHL prexy John Ziegler tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;but we sure could use all the Sundays we can get.&rdquo;Chico Resch tells BLUELINES there&rsquo;s no question that he&rsquo;ll retire as an active player after the playoffs. &ldquo;What I do next,&rdquo; adds Resch, &ldquo;is up in the air.&rdquo; Broadcasting is one option, considering Resch&rsquo;s experience. The Flyers might also consider retaining him as a goodwill ambassador&hellip;Bob Berry says that when he felt the pressure to relinquish his Penguins&rsquo; coaching position, he recalled advice he received from the NBA&rsquo;s Jerry West when Berry and West were both in Los Angeles. &ldquo;Jerry told me about his first season coaching in L.A.,&rdquo; Berry recalls, &ldquo;and how, when things were going bad, he was going to quit; but he didn&rsquo;t. And he was right. He told me, &lsquo;Whatever you do, don&rsquo;t quit,&rsquo; and I never forgot that.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011466/5925632-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="362" height="612"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Berry</figcaption></div>Canucks&rsquo; future prexy Pat Quinn recalls that when he played for Vancouver in 1970-71, he had two fights with team captain Orland Kurtenbach in one practice, but he has no idea why it happened. &ldquo;We were both just very combative,&rdquo; he explains with understatement&hellip;B&rsquo;s-watchers are concerned about the club&rsquo;s defensive future with particular attention to Gord Kluzak&rsquo;s ability to make a comeback and the possibility that Mats Thelin will return to Sweden. By training camp, Frank Simonetti could be the No. 3 Bruin backlincr&hellip;Ever since Scotty Bowman was canned by the Sabres, his knockers have come out of the closet. The latest is Peter Mahovlich, who blames Bowman for moving him out of Montreal. &ldquo;Maybe Scotty isn&rsquo;t as brilliant as people thought he was,&rdquo; says Mahovlich. &ldquo;That might explain the problems he had in Buffalo.&rdquo;Caps resented the Flyers&rsquo; deliberate attempt to set up goalie Ron Hextall for an open-net goal with Philly ahead in the last minute&hellip;John Ferguson allows the timing could have been better on the David Babych-Ray Neufeld deal last year. Randy Carlyle was hurt and missed 15 games after the deal, leaving Fergy&rsquo;s Jets vulnerable. Meanwhile Neufeld is the occasional butt of the GM&rsquo;s humor. During a Neufeld scoring slump, Fergy walked in on a practice where Ray and some other weak-scoring Jets were skating and snapped, &ldquo;Get the square pucks out; those guys can&rsquo;t score with the round ones!&rdquo;&hellip;Bruins are establishing an alumni club. Bruin GM Harry Sinden says the club will set aside a private spot for the ex-Bruins and provide them with seats for home games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021130/5925625-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="366" height="624"><figcaption class="caption-body">Denis Potvin</figcaption></div>Denis Potvin shared a &ldquo;Dear Abby&rdquo;-style column with comic Howie Mandel and actress Rachel Ward, discussing life abroad. &ldquo;The French and English know how to enjoy life,&rdquo; says Potvin. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re too busy being capitalists. I was also surprised how thin the men were in Italy.&rdquo; Potvin tells BLUELINES he will not play hockey in Europe next season and will definitely be back with the Isles&hellip;Ice hockey has come to Israel with construction of a rink in the Haifa suburb of Kiryat Motzkin. A number of Russian and Czech immigrants with skating experience are streaming to the rink. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re already a Middle East hockey power,&rdquo; says an Israeli spokesman, &ldquo;matched only by Saudi Arabia, which has the only other rink in the region.&rdquo;NHL&rsquo;s legal chief Gil Stein, now in his ninth year with the league, says the Blues-Ralston Purina battle was one of the most significant cases involving the NHL. &ldquo;What Ralston-Purina was challenging, first and foremost,&rdquo; says Stein, &ldquo;was the intestinal fortitude of the board of governors. They thought the board would just cave in to the fear and intimidation of a mighty giant like Ralston-Purina firing heavy anti-trust guns against us in court and just pay them the kind of money they would have gotten out of Saskatoon, had the move been approved.&rdquo;&hellip;Bob Froese broke up the Rangers&rsquo; Fan Club fete with this quip: &ldquo;When I came to the Rangers. I wanted to be a defensemen, but nobody would chip in for an operation to have half my brain removed!&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-01

Czech Capitalizing On Native Tongue

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03779/5925663-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="179" height="136"></div>BUFFALO&mdash;He is the last of his generation, and when the 1986-87 season is finished. Don Lever will be. too.&ldquo;This is definitely my last year.&rdquo; said Lever, the veteran of five National Hockey League clubs and nearly 14 NHL seasons. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to get into coaching somewhere down the road, that&rsquo;s definitely my goal, but whatever happens this is my last year as a player.&rdquo;That Lever is still active in the NHL is a surprise to just about everyone who doesn&rsquo;t really know him. Many thought the 1972 first-round pick (third overall) of the Vancouver Canucks was already out of hockey. He was, however, merely biding his time in Rochester.&ldquo;I was beginning to think I wasn&rsquo;t ever going to get the call,&rdquo; said Lever when he made his return to the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres recently.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure they (Sabres&rsquo; general manager Gerry Meehan and coach Ted Sator) had a plan and they needed to look at everyone in the organization, but as they got closer and closer (to a playoff spot) I started thinking I might not get here at all.&rdquo;There really was no reason for that kind of thinking. Lever was one of the Amerks&rsquo; leading scorers when recalled by the Sabres. In his first three games with the parent team he scored a goal in each of them.Not bad for an &ldquo;old man&rdquo; of 35 and not bad at all for a young team that could certainly learn a few new tricks from an old pro.Lever, who has outlasted every player from the 1972 draft (including Jacques Richard, Steve Shutt. Jim Schoenfeld and Bill Barber), said he has stayed in the game this long simply because he loves to play, but he knows that his time has come.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s still a lot of fun for me. I enjoyed being there (in Rochester) and I learned a lot working with John (Amerks&rsquo; coach John Van Boxmeer), but as a player this is where I want to be. This is an exciting time. Every game, every shift means something when you&rsquo;re in a race like we are. It&rsquo;s a good position to be in.&rdquo;Of course it hasn&rsquo;t all been good for the Sabres. After running down an 18-point gap and drawing even with the Quebec Nordiques in the race for the fourth and final Adams Division playoff spot, injuries caught up with the club. The Sabres were stumbling down the stretch, but still had hopes for a big finish.Part of the problem was a disappointing four-game road trip that started with a win in Los Angeles but then deteriorated badly with a loss in Vancouver and poor performances (and losses) at Edmonton and Calgary.Lever, however, remained optimistic that his last year will not be spent watching the playoffs on television.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re right there and all we have to do is get in and then anything can happen,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Montreal got hot last year and went all the way mostly because they trad the (Patrick) Roy kid in goal and he got hot at the right time.&ldquo;Goaltending is such a big part of the playoffs and we&rsquo;ve got two (Tom Barrasso and Jacques Cloutier) who could do that. All we&rsquo;ve got to do is get there.&rdquo;SABREPOINTS&mdash;The Sabres&rsquo; offense was particularly disappointing out west. The entire contingent of left wingers failed to score one evenstrength goal. The right side was only marginally more effective&hellip; The Sabres were 26-37-7 after 70 games this season. They were 33-31-6 at the same point last season&hellip;Rookie defenseman Shawn Anderson was added to the ever-growing injury list with a separated shoulder, Mikael Andersson suffered a sprained ankle, but was expected to recover shortly&hellip;Christian Ruuttu, third in team scoring with 55 points, suffered a charley horse in the game at Edmonton but returned to play at Calgary. The Finnish center has been among the Sabres best performers this season and should be a leading cadidate for the center position on the NHL&rsquo;s all-rookie team&hellip;Mike Foligno played in his 600th NHL game at Calgary&hellip;Doug Smith scored his 200th NHL point in the game at Edmonton. &#9632;

f0014-03

End Of Fine NHL Career Close At Hand For Lever

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011136/5925732-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0018-01

HOCKEY COLLECTIBLES DIRECTORY

<div class="byline">BY SHAWN LACKIE</div>Don&rsquo;t count hockey&rsquo;s mad trader, Phil Esposito, among the growing number who collect hockey trading cards.Apparently, he prefers collecting the real things.Because the New York Rangers&rsquo; general manager has been known to turn down, rather noisily, requests to autograph hockey cards.&ldquo;I hate those things; get them out of here,&rdquo; he said recently in Toronto when confronted by an autograph-hunter armed with a card of the former National Hockey League superstar.Esposito represents a minority.Most NHLers get a kick out of seeing themselves on trading cards and are delighted to sign them. Some don&rsquo;t even know there&rsquo;s a card for them to sign.Ex-Chicago Blackhawk defenseman Dave Feamster reacted with surprise a few years ago when asked to autograph his card.&ldquo;But, I&rsquo;m not even on a card,&rdquo; he said.Seeing is believing. Feamster happily obliged the collector and was rewarded with a few extra cards of himself, for his trouble.Others are aware of their celebrity among card collectors, but don&rsquo;t share their enthusiasm.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t collect these,&rdquo; Ron Greschner once said to a card-carrying fan, &ldquo;but my mother does. Maybe you could mail a few to her in Goodsoil, Sask.&rdquo;Well, Mrs. Greschner if you&rsquo;re interested in the whole set, we suggest you contact O-Pee-Chee, the London, Ont.-based company which first began producing hockey cards in 1933-34.Howie Morenz, King Clancy and Aurel Joliat, stars in the eight-team NHL, were among the first players immortalized on hockey cards.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011059/5925763-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="598" height="938"><figcaption class="caption-body">O-Pee-Chee goofed in 1974 when they &ldquo;traded&rdquo; Jacques Lemaire to the Buffalo Sabres.</figcaption></div>With the exception of 1938-39, O-Pee-Chee printed cards through 194041. There followed a 20-year dry spell. Others filled the void, including Toronto-based Parkhurst and U.S.based Topps Chewing Gum Company.Topps, of course, is best known to most North Americans for their baseball cards. O-Pee-Chee and Topps have worked together on hockey cards since 1964-65.&ldquo;We work in conjuction with the Topps people to pick which players will appear in the set,&rdquo; says OPC marketing vice-president Don Urquhart. &ldquo;Then we select the best photos of these players and it&rsquo;s off to the printers.&rdquo;New sets are released in January. This year, OPC printed more than 4,000.000 cards. Demand has tailed off in recent years.&ldquo;Kids&rsquo; interests are more varied now,&rdquo; says Urquhart. &ldquo;And their money is being spent on video games and the like.&rdquo;It used to be kids devoted much of their spare time to card games, playing put-ups, knock-downs and cover-ups against carport walls.The good played for &ldquo;keeps,&rdquo; the bad or less adventurous, for &ldquo;fun.&rdquo;One card shark, now retired and content to enjoy the spoils of his misbegotten youth, remembers a big afternoon of losing at the home of future NHLer Glen Currie.Currie, as it turned out, was not only a better hockey player than his 10-year-old pal, but a better card player, too.The friend returned home crying to his unsympathetic mother, who, unimpressed with her son&rsquo;s attitude, proceeded to tear up what few cards remained.It was then that the boy discovered he had won Claude Provost, the only player he needed to complete his set. Provost was in pieces on the floor.Nothing a little scotch tape couldn&rsquo;t fix up.The market is aimed toward those aged six to 14. Most buyers are in the eight-to-12 range.Children are the target group. Children of all ages. Collectors may not wear knickers anymore but they still revel in opening a new package of cards, breathing in the intoxicating aroma of stick gum and thumbing through the cards: &ldquo;Got him, got him, need him.&rdquo;Two categories of cards that usually attract the most attention are those of rookies who later become stars and those with mistakes on them.In 1968-69, for instance, both the Bob and Barclay Plager cards had pictures of Bob on them.&ldquo;Following the season,&rdquo; recalls Urquhart. &ldquo;we received a letter from a relative of the Plager brothers. It seems we mixed up the brothers&rsquo; pictures for that set and this particular relative pointed this out in a rather direct way.&ldquo;Good thing they didn&rsquo;t send the boys down.&rdquo;Six years later another blooper&mdash;this one would make Dick Clark blush&mdash;had Montreal Canadien great Jacques Lemaire pictured in a Buffalo Sabre uniform.&ldquo;We just jumped the gun on Lemaire,&rdquo; Urquhart admits. &ldquo;We heard through the grapevine that Montreal was trying to move him to Buffalo.&ldquo;And with the Nov. I printing deadline almost on us we went ahead and air-brushed him in a Sabres&rsquo; outfit. Better keep that one; it&rsquo;ll be worth a lot of money.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s card No. 24 of the 1974-75 set.But mistake cards aren&rsquo;t necessarily worth much more than a regular card, unless companies make changes in the middle of a run. OPC is not in the habit of stopping the presses.Other errors that have brought smiles to collectors include Skip Krake and Don Awrey being identified as each other in the late 1960&rsquo;s, Serge Savard gracing Doug Risebrough&rsquo;s card in 1980-81 and Moe Lemay looking very much like Joel Otto this year.Invariably, air-brush artists are called in from time to time, to fill the role of NHL general manager. Sounds like a job for Phil Esposito, doesn&rsquo;t it? &#9632;

f0019-01

Espo Isn’t Card-Carrying Member

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02626/5925794-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="578" height="1225"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Dave Babych has not enjoyed the success of his teammates this season.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01935/5925801-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="178" height="130"></div>HARTFORD&mdash;Last year. Dave Babych was something of a savior for the Hartford Whalers. He arrived in November in a trade for Ray Neufeld from Winnipeg and almost singlehandedly showed Hartford&rsquo;s heretofore immobile defensive corps how to move the puck.The defense, thus, became an integral part of the offense, and Hartford&rsquo;s goal output improved dramatically.Babych was a leading factor in the Whalers&rsquo; rise to prominence, scoring 10 goals and 53 points in 62 games while earning the team&rsquo;s most valuable defenseman award.No one was surprised by Babych&rsquo;s performance. Twice, in 1982 and 1983, he represented the Jets in National Hockey League all-star games. If he wasn&rsquo;t a bona fide NHL all-star, he was close.The trade made headlines. The hockey world almost universally agreed that Babych was a far superior player to Neufeld and that feeling, in large part, led to GM Emile Francis winning THN executive-of-the-year honors.Neufeld and Jets&rsquo; GM John Ferguson, meanwhile, suffered. In some circles, they took an awful beating.The Babych scenario, however, has taken on a far different look this year despite the Whalers&rsquo; winning ways.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve made a point to anyone yet. I still want to prove myself.&rsquo; &mdash;Babych</blockquote>&ldquo;I&rsquo;II tell you, it&rsquo;s been a brutal year,&rdquo; Babych said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just been one thing after another.&rdquo;To his credit, Babych has tried to remain positive despite 1) a hip injury that still causes him pain; 2) a separation from his wife, Sherrey; and 3) the threatened suspension and subsequent demotion of his brother, Wayne, to Binghamton.&ldquo;In the middle of the season, I&rsquo;ll admit that I wasn&rsquo;t so excited about a lot of stuff,&rdquo; Babych said. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t want to get into that.&rdquo;Babych had missed just 13 games. Rest was prescribed for his hip problem, but when that didn&rsquo;t help, he decided to play through the pain. Through 60 games, he was the Whalers&rsquo; leading scoring defenseman with seven goals and 38 points. That total, however, is a far cry from the 61 points he averaged in five seasons with the Jets.At 25, he should be approaching his prime, but the question remains, will he?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve made a point to anyone yet,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I still want to prove myself.&rdquo;Babych&rsquo;s name surfaced at the trading deadline, but the Whalers balked. They know how much a healthy and happy Babych could mean to their playoff chances.&ldquo;In the last few weeks, I&rsquo;ve been fairly happy,&rdquo; Babych said. &ldquo;The hip and the other stuff have gotten a little better.&rdquo;Babych isn&rsquo;t used to explaining what went wrong. He is more accustomed to explaining what he did right. This is new territory for him and he&rsquo;s not the least bit comfortable with it.&ldquo;There were five games there when my plus-minus went from about even to minus-10,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t play very well defensively. Jack Evans told me that one goal a game is good. Then I gave up around 10 in three games. I&rsquo;m not disappointed with my play, though.&rdquo;His tone and expression betrayed his words.&ldquo;Maybe during the summer, I&rsquo;ll get things worked out,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But first, I&rsquo;m looking forward to the playoffs. I&rsquo;ve never been on a contender like this before.&rdquo;The future is now, both for the Whalers and Babych himself.&ldquo;I look at Dave Semenko and I see that ring and I say, wow,&rdquo; Babych said.Redemption time has arrived.WHALER SCUTTLEBUTT&mdash;Ronnie Francis missed four games with a bruised shoulder, derailing his run at his first 100-point season. Through 68 games, Francis had 81&hellip;Mike Liut set another club record, for goaltenders, with five straight wins&hellip;Doug Jarvis scored his 400th career point (137 goals, 263 assists) in a 5-3 win over Philadelphia, March 7&hellip;The Whalers finished 12-22 against Adams Division rivals in Hartford&hellip;Joel Quenneville returned from a 42-game absence due to a separated shoulder, March 18. &#9632;

f0020-02

On-Year For Whalers, Off-Year For Babych

NEVER HAS THE POST-SEASON been given a more apt nickname: The Stanley Cup Sweepstakes.Flip a coin and pick a winner. Roll the dice, anyone can win. And anyone can, because when the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup last season, anyone did.Make no mistake. The Canadiens&rsquo; team that won the Cup wasn&rsquo;t really the Canadiens. Oh, they wore the uniforms and all, and some people made veiled comparisons between Patrick Roy and Ken Dryden, but they weren&rsquo;t the real Canadiens. The old Canadiens. The interesting ones.Now, the newest NHL game is about to commence again. The Stanley Cup crapshoot. Best-of-sevens from now until summer, and only the strongest, the deepest and the luckiest survive.Hockey is no longer a 20-man game, played by two goaltenders, six defenseman and four forward lines. Remember those days of the early &rsquo;80s? Well, they&rsquo;re not around anymore.Take a look at the Calgary Flames, for example. Often, when the&rsquo;re travelling, they&rsquo;re mistaken for the Wisconsin football team. And that&rsquo;s not necessarily because of their size. It&rsquo;s because of the number of players they have travelling with them.You want coaches? The Flames have a head coach, an assistant coach, a video coach, a goaltending coach and two psychologists&mdash;not to mention the computer analysts and the three armchair coaches (Cliff Fletcher, Al MacNeil and Al Coates) who sit in the press box and judge. Hockey is no longer a simple game.The defending champions are no different. Jean Perron used 29 players en route to winning the Cup last year. The Habs have so many players and so many numbers retired it won&rsquo;t be long before they&rsquo;ll have regular forwards wearing numbers in the 50s.It&rsquo;s called parity. It&rsquo;s exactly what the NHL wanted. And if the league&rsquo;s best team, the Edmonton Oilers, doesn&rsquo;t win the Stanley Cup, which it should, it will prove that parity is indeed working.But even the speedy Oilers have gone to late-season additions to make things easier. This is where it gets confusing. When was the last time a team added a Swedish player, a Finnish player and a Czechoslovakian player, trying to win the Stanley Cup? The Canada Cup, maybe; the Stanley Cup, never.It is exactly that kind of action that could knock Don Cherry off television and into the bar business full time.Look at the Oilers. They added Kent Nilsson, Reijo Ruotsalainen and Jaroslav Pouzar. And you wonder why Peter Pocklington is talking about going public with his team. In today&rsquo;s NHL, it&rsquo;s not the size of the salaries, it&rsquo;s the number of salaries to pay. And the numbers keep growing and growing and growing.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03419/5925832-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="394" height="462"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Simmons</figcaption></div>What happened last season, as the favorites dropped like Calgary housing prices, was that the teams left were those most willing to slug it out. Not with the fights, but the subtle slugging. The comer work. The faceoff work. The teams that best played ugly were around the longest.And when Montreal won, it gave confidence to an entire league. If Montreal did it, we could do it. At last glance, the Canadiens didn&rsquo;t have a 30-goaI scorer in their lineup. Following that thinking, Max McNab may one day make the playoffs. Nah, that doesn&rsquo;t necessarily work either.Heading into the playoffs, there are no real favorites anymore. Calgary and Edmonton should emerge in the Smythe Division and again beat the heck out of each other, in a long enough series to ensure that neither team can win the Cup. The All-Jacques Final in the Norris Division, or is it the Lawsuit Series, should feature Detroit and St. Louis in a best-four-out-of-seven falls. That series will be the second-most interesting sporting event in Detroit. Wrestlemania III will be first.In the NHL&rsquo;s version of the Black-and-Blue division&mdash;the Chop-and-Chew Division&mdash;Montreal and Hartford should get past first-round opponents to waltz through seven somnambulant games. Which leaves the Flyers to get easily through the Patrick Division mess and race to the Stanley Cup.Except for one problem. The Flyers rarely do anything easily. They lose to the Rangers as well as anyone. If it isn&rsquo;t the first round, it can be the second. But if the Flyers are good at anything, other than protecting goaltenders, it&rsquo;s losing when they&rsquo;re not supposed to. They will, which leaves the Rangers to head out of the Patrick.Which means Marcel Dionne is on his way to the Stanley Cup.Believe it? I don&rsquo;t either. &#9632;

f0020-03

Determining Cup Champs: Who Has A 16-Sided Coin?

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01704/5925863-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="182" height="135"></div>EDMONTON&mdash;The Edmonton Oilers can be their own worst enemy.The last thing the National Hockey League&rsquo;s overall leaders needed going into a vital home-and-home series against the Calgary Flames was to have some key personal out of the lineup and some others not at the top of their game.It was almost as if the Oilers were self-destructing going into the debate during which they were swept 5-4 in Calgary and 6-3 at home the following night. Instead of wrapping up the divisional pennant, the double loss left the Oilers five points ahead of the red-hot Flames and down 1-6 over the seasonal series. Over the last 50 weeks, the Flames hold a distinct 11-4 edge over the team they previously couldn&rsquo;t beat for love, money nor Lanny MConald&rsquo;s moustache.The Oilers have only themselves to blame.March 9: Glenn Anderson flipped the puck at goalie Grant Fuhr, who was looking in the other direction. It hit the nimble goaltender on the ankle, forcing him out for almost two weeks.March 13: Marty McSorley was with Nova Scotia of the American League for conditioning purposes when he was assessed a 10-game suspension for cross-checking Sherbrooke&rsquo;s Joel Baillargeon. The right winger thought he had escaped to the NHL when he was recalled, but the long arm of the law ultimately caught up with him and McSorley drew an eight-game NHL suspension. Considering the two Calgary games included 90 penalty minutes&mdash;60 in the fight-filled second game&mdash;the rugged McSorley was missed.March 17: Randy Gregg stepped on the blade of Kevin Lowe&rsquo;s stick, that had been broken in a fit of anger, and dislocated his left shoulder. Gregg, rated by manager-coach Glen Sather as the Oilers&rsquo; top defenseman this season, will be out three to four weeks.All in all, a lack of self-discipline wound up costing the Oilers.Their goaltending was not up to par during the two losses to Calgary that abruptly snapped a seven-game losing streak.An overworked diminutive Andy Moog, who saw duty in eight straight games, was obviously weary in Calgary. Fuhr made his return the following night and was anything but sharp as the Flames took a 2-0 lead on a pair of questionable shorthanded goals.Sather admitted it was a &lsquo;&lsquo;calculated risk&rdquo; playing Fuhr. &ldquo;With Grant missing as many games as he did, I thought he was going to either come up as hot as a firecracker or have a tough night.&rdquo;It turned out to be the latter.&ldquo;My, wasn&rsquo;t I awful?&rdquo; piped Fuhr. &ldquo;Three of the goals I should have had. Guaranteed! We lose 6-3 and I give up three bad ones. It isn&rsquo;t hard to figure out who&rsquo;s to blame.&rdquo;Fuhr questioned himself on the shorthanded goals by Steve Bozek and Jim Peplinski, plus a power-play marker by Mike Bullard. Bozek&rsquo;s marker opened the scoring with the Flames two men shy. Fuhr attempted to play the puck up the boards, but the fleet Calgary forward intercepted, circled the net and made the deposit.&ldquo;Like an idiot, I tried to shoot it right through him,&rdquo; sighed Fuhr. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I could have fed him any better, I hit him right on the crest. Then I watched him skate by me. I could have blocked him&hellip;Not an intelligent move.&rdquo;No worse than Lowe&rsquo;s loss of temper that resulted in Gregg&rsquo;s injured left shoulder.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a real bad temper, &lsquo; &lsquo;admitted Lowe. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve done it before and I&rsquo;ve been told&hellip;I didn&rsquo;t get a whole lot of sleep thinking about &lsquo;The Doc&rsquo; and the team. I can&rsquo;t ever remember feeling worse. But, Doc was good about it.&rdquo;There was&rsquo;t much Gregg could say.&ldquo;Kevin shouldn&rsquo;t feel terrible,&rdquo; shrugged Gregg. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just that he&rsquo;s such an intense guy.&rdquo;Lowe explained he had hurt his hip a couple of times in the game against the New Jersey Devils. When it happened a third time, &ldquo;I was (bleeped) off at myself for allowing it to happen. I got to the bench, tapped my stick on the boards and the blade fell on the ice.&rdquo;To further complicate matters, center Mark Messier suffered a strained elbow in Calgary and was forced to sit out the return match.&ldquo;It was on the first shift. I went to turn, got tripped and fell into the boards,&rdquo; explained Messier, who was attempting to get through a full 80-game schedule for the first time in height-year career. &ldquo;It really stiffens up overnight. I think I stretched sonligaments in the elbow.&rdquo;IN THE CREASE&mdash;Mart McSorley&rsquo;s eight-game suspension concludes in time for him to return the lineup March 28 in Toronto&hellip;The Oilers sent 6-foot-5, 230-pound Wayne Van Dorp back to the minor after his three-game NHL debut&hellip; loss to veteran Flame Nick Fotiu in fight didn&rsquo;t enhance Van Dorp chances of sticking with the team. &#9632;

f0021-01

Flames Continue Dominance Over Edmontor

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02572/5925894-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="584" height="1345"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bruin teammates Raymond Bourque, above, and Steve Kasper go back a long way.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01822/5925901-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="178" height="138"></div>BOSTON&mdash;Montreal isn&rsquo;t the only National Hockey League city of &ldquo;two solitudes&rdquo;&mdash;English- and Frenchspeaking cultures.Boston, too, boasts that unique blend in a pair of Montreal-born stars&mdash;anglophone Steve Kasper and francophone Ray Bourque.Their careers have been interwined since junior, and they&rsquo;ve gone on to form an unlikely Mutt-and-Jeff combination with the Bruins&mdash;Kasper, the tough-checking center, and Bourque, the freewheeling defenseman.Kasper&rsquo;s first goal as a Boston Bruin, in a 1980 pre-season contest, came after Bourque threaded him a perfect pass up center. The two have teamed naturally ever since.They were at it again recently.Bourque took a blind drop pass from Kasper 34 seconds into the game, and blasted a shot past goalie Greg Millen as the Bruins went on to beat St. Louis 6-4, March 12.&ldquo;They have this affinity, that&rsquo;s what it is,&rdquo; said general manager Harry Sinden. &ldquo;Just watch the way they work together.&rdquo;&ldquo;Ray and I have played together a long time,&rdquo; said Kasper, who has been alongside Bourque in nine of the past 10 seasons, with the Verdun Black Hawks and the Bruins.&ldquo;I feel I know where Ray is going to go on the ice and I think he pretty well reads me.&ldquo;Like tonight, the puck went into the comer in our end and I just knew that if I hung by our bench and swung out in the middle he&rsquo;d see me. That was exactly the way it happened.&ldquo;Part of it comes because we&rsquo;ve played together so long. We know each other. We talk a lot about hockey. We have good communication.&rdquo;Bourque agreed.&ldquo;Stevie hears me,&rdquo; the high-scoring rearguard said. &ldquo;When he&rsquo;s got the puck I yell, &lsquo;Stevie!&rsquo; as loud as I can and he knows I&rsquo;m open. We&rsquo;ve played together for so long, too, we&rsquo;ve watched each other.&rdquo;They played together for two junior seasons with Verdun, then Bourque, 10 months older, was drafted by the Bruins. Kasper remained as the Verdun franchise moved to Sorel, and was drafted by Boston a year later.In the seven seasons they have been together in Bruins&rsquo; sweaters, Bourque has become one of the NHL&rsquo;s premier offensive defenseman, while Kasper has been one of its best defensive forwards.Kasper won the Selke Trophy in his second season; Bourque is a leading candidate once again for the Norris Trophy.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s by far the best defenseman in the league,&rdquo; said Kasper. &ldquo;We have one great player out there. He should have won the Norris long before this. He would have had my vote every year.&ldquo;When I&rsquo;m taking a faceoff, it&rsquo;s great to look up and see him there. It seems like he plays 40 minutes of every game and he keeps lifting his game to a higher plateau.&rdquo;Kasper, meanwhile, has been busy adding to his reputation as a checking forward. He can still blanket Wayne Gretzky with the best of them but, of late, he&rsquo;s rediscovered the offensive part of his game. With nine games remaining, he had 18 goals, three short of the personal best he established in his rookie year.&ldquo;When I first came here I didn&rsquo;t think of myself as a defensive player,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and then we went to Edmonton and I covered you-know-who, did a good job and that was my role.&ldquo;Like anyone else. I like to score. It&rsquo;s always fun at the end of the night if you&rsquo;ve got a goal.&ldquo;But there are a lot of guys in the NHL who&rsquo;ve gone home after a game and maybe had no goals but did a good job against a big line and they&rsquo;re very happy because they&rsquo;ve helped their team win.&rdquo;WHAT&rsquo;S BRUIN&mdash;The name of defenseman Mike Milbury has popped up as a candidate to succeed Lou Reycroft as hockey coach at Cornell. &ldquo;As of today, he is not a candidate,&rdquo; said Cornell&rsquo;s athletic director, Laing Kennedy, &ldquo;but that doesn&rsquo;t mean he won&rsquo;t be.&rdquo;&hellip;It looks like Swedish center prospect Tommy Lehmann won&rsquo;t be able to play for the Bruins for some time. He went back to Sweden after working out with the B&rsquo;s and Sinden said, &ldquo;Now I hear there are plans for him on the national team.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Louis Sleigher, back from two weeks in Florida following surgery for his Feb. 7 groin surgery, has begun a rehabilitation program and hopes to have the two-year-old problem solved in time for the 1987 training camp. &#9632;

f0022-02

Bourque And Kasper: Boston’s Two Solitudes

ALL YOU NEED to know about Jacques Demers is tacked to the cork bulletin board that hangs from one wall of his dressing room office.There&rsquo;s a team picture of the 1986-87 Detroit Red Wings, the players who have made it possible for this 42-year-old coach to become the season&rsquo;s media darling&mdash;the hot ticket, the man who can whip the glasses off his face and fling them behind the bench one day and receive an offer to film a commercial endorsing unbreakable frames the next.There&rsquo;s a clip from the Toronto Globe And Mail that&rsquo;s headlined &ldquo;Philadelphia Flyers: Class of the NHL.&rdquo; Demers has saved it since Dec. 27, 1986, because he agrees that the Flyers&rsquo; organization is the best in hockey today. &ldquo;I want that to be us one day,&rdquo; he says.Strung across the top of the board are snapshots of his children: Brandy, 12, Stephanie, 10, and Jason, 5, who has told his dad he&rsquo;s going to be baseball&rsquo;s next great spitball pitcher. &ldquo;Hove my kids,&rdquo; Demers says. &ldquo;My kids mean the world to me.&rdquo;And there&rsquo;s a picture of Demers with Barclay Plager, a dear man struggling to beat cancer who proves every day how precious life is. &ldquo;That man is the greatest man in my life since my father died when I was 18,&rdquo; Demers says. &ldquo;He is just a great, great man.&rdquo;Jacques Demers is no genius. He&rsquo;s an excellent coach, a lock for coach of the year if you ask me. But what you must know is that he is the same man, the same coach, at $200,000 for the 1986-87 Red Wings as he was at $75,000 for the 1983-84 St. Louis Blues.Demers is honest, endearing and personable. Quotable and humorous. He likes people, hockey, life, you name it. And it rubs off.&ldquo;He makes you want to work for him,&rdquo; says Brent Ashton, who&rsquo;s been a Red Wing for only two months. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to put a finger on it, but he makes you feel good about yourself. If you don&rsquo;t give your best, you feel you&rsquo;re cheating him.&rdquo;Demers is the same man today, perched atop the Norris Division, as he was five years ago when his Fredericton Express, one of the worst collection of pros the American League has ever seen, was finishing last at 20-55-5.Was he a lousy coach then? Did he suddenly learn something the next season, when the Quebec Nordiques finally stocked their minor-league club with enough talent for Demers to go 45-27-8 and be AHL coach of the year?Of course not. All coaches are the products of their environments. The very best coaches create the kinds of environments their teams can work best in. And when the system works, everybody gets happy and rich.And others get jealous. Nobody minded when Demers left St. Louis for Detroit&rsquo;s five-year, $1 million-plus offer because everybody figured he deserved that kind of money to take over last year&rsquo;s 17-57-6 crew.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03412/5925932-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="389" height="471"><figcaption class="caption-body">Barry Meisel</figcaption></div>But now that his team is in first place, now that he and his Wings are quickly becoming the story of the season, he&rsquo;s finding out who the sincere people really are. Now when he races onto the ice after a game to congratulate his goalie, something he&rsquo;s done for years, people are ready to squirt mustard on the hot dog.&ldquo;You know,&rdquo; he says, scratching his head under his white-and-red Wings&rsquo; baseball cap, &ldquo;I was talking to my wife about this just last night. I think it&rsquo;s jealousy. A lot of people wanted me to do well, but a lot of people wanted me to take a dive. I think they were jealous of my financial success.&rdquo;On Nov. 15, Hockey Night in Canada televised Toronto&rsquo;s 6-0 rout of Detroit in Maple Leaf Gardens. According to Demers, Toronto coach John Brophy started razzing him.Demers remembers something about Brophy saying he&rsquo;s only making $95,000 and he&rsquo;s in first place. He remembers Brophy giving him the choke sign.&ldquo;He said: &lsquo;Bleep you, Demers, you frog.&rsquo;&rdquo;Demers, who watches NFL football and college basketball, has a gripe with his fraternity, and not just because of Brophy&rsquo;s shenanigans.&ldquo;In football and basketball the coaches are shaking hands, showing respect for each others&rsquo; jobs,&rdquo; Demers says. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t seem to respect the other guys enough. At 7:30 I want to beat the guy to my right, but when he loses I know how he&rsquo;s feeling because that&rsquo;s how I feel when I lose. I know he&rsquo;s going back to the hotel room and suffering. Or if he&rsquo;s home he&rsquo;s even more embarrassed. We don&rsquo;t seem to have enough of that. It bugs me.&rdquo;It comes with the territory, Jacques. In St. Louis you made it above .500 with an overachieving team and made some noise in the playoffs. You were the lowest-paid coach in the league. Everyone thought it was cute.Now you&rsquo;re doing it again, for big bucks. And everybody&rsquo;s talking and writing about you. And there&rsquo;s a real chance you&rsquo;ll get Detroit out of the division and into the Stanley Cup semi-finals.You haven&rsquo;t changed. You&rsquo;re just starting to find out who has. &#9632;

f0022-03

Bulletin Board Is Window Into Jacques Demers’ Soul

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01738/5925963-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"></div><h2>Book Reviews</h2><h3>Search For the Lost Art</h3>It&rsquo;s been said that stickhandling is a lost art. The purpose of this book is to help you find it. &ldquo;Search For The Lost Art&rdquo; is an easy-tofollow guide to improve your stickhandling ability. Gone are the days when young hockey players played from dawn till dusk on frozen ponds. No longer does a player have to stickhandle through what seems like hundreds of players to get to the opposition&rsquo;s goal. &ldquo;Search For The Lost Art&rdquo; will show you some of those techniques that seem to be long lost.With the aid of &ldquo;Tootsie,&rdquo; a colorful cartoon character, author Real Turcotte will take you through with step-by-step diagrams how to improve your stickhandling for lefties or righties. The book reads very well and is informative. The ideal tool for the hockey player who constantly finds the puck somewhere other than on the end of his stick.<h3>Ballard</h3>The book that Harold Ballard never wanted to see in print. This is the unauthorized biography of the outrageous owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Author William Houston has provided us with a seldom seen look behind the closed doors of Maple Leaf Gardens. The Toronto Maple Leafs were once a Canadian institution but now are regarded as a circus by many observers, with Ballard as the ringmaster. The book chronicles Ballard&rsquo;s rise to power from a lifeof- the party type in the Roaring Twenties to a multi-millionaire in the Eighties.The book is divided into two parts. The 83-year-old Ballard&rsquo;s life story and his infamous dealings with the media. You'll read about Ballard&rsquo;s relationships with the Smythe family (previous Leaf owners), King Clancy, his players, his coaches, and, of course, the reporters.You&rsquo;ll discover what motivates the man&rsquo;s seemingly insatiable appetite for publicity. Close attention is paid to the many on-going fueds that have been developed over the years as Ballard came to public prominence.Harold Ballard has often stated that his dream is to win the Stanley Cup. Many people believe all he cares about is himself. Read &ldquo;Ballard&rdquo; and make up your own mind.<h3>Offside</h3>Although never one to shy away from controversy, Stan Fischler has outdone himself this time. He calls it as he sees it. In &ldquo;Offside&rdquo; he sees the National Hockey League as a &ldquo;propaganda machine&rdquo; and goes about trying to rip it down. The author goes behind- the-scenes to give us a look at the NHL&rsquo;s power brokers. Fischler speaks his mind. How officials are ruining the game by playing favorites on the ice. How the league tries to censor commentary from the broadcast booth. How too much money gained too fast is ruining the game. This respected hockey expert simply does not pull any punches. Fischler has been a keen hockey observer for 35 years. He knows the game and everyone involved in its operation. He reveals things about players, coaches, owners, agents, managers and league officials that no one involved in the game likes to hear. Except the fans!<h2>B-22 - Ballard</h2>Author: William HoustonThe book that Harold Ballard never wanted to see in print. This is the unauthorized biography of the outrageous owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs. A seldom seen look behind the closed doors of Maple Leaf Gardens - and a unique glimpse at the 83-year-old Ballard, still Canada&rsquo;s most controversial sports figure.The Hockey News Price: $13.95<h2>B-06&mdash;Offside: Hockey From The Inside</h2>Author: Stan FischlerAlthough never one to shy away from controversy or hide his opinions, renowned hockey expert, Stan Fischler has outdone himself this time. In "Offside&rdquo;, he pulls no punches in ripping down what he calls the &ldquo;NHL&rsquo;s propaganda machine&rdquo;. A whirlwind tour of the dark side of hockey.The Hockey NewsPrice: $19.95<h2>Special of the Week</h2><h3>B-07 - Search For The Lost Art</h3>Author: Real Turcotte13 basic stickhandling moves with lots of diagrams and examples. By an expert teacher and authority on the lost art of stickhandling.The Hockey News Price: $18.95 If you buy 2 or more of the above books it&rsquo;s just $13.95.<h2>OUR BEST SELLERS ACT NOW! THEY&rsquo;RE GOING FAST!</h2><h3>B-12 - Lions In Winter: Montreal Canadiens</h3>Authors: Chrys Goyens, Allan TurowetzThe 76-year story of this extraordinary team: the star players, coaches and managers who guided this club to 56 years in the playoffs.The Hockey News!Price: $19.95<h3>B-15 - European Hockey Drill Book</h3>Authors: Alex Andjelic and Doug HearnsSaid to be the best coaching book available. This book is a must for all coaches.The Hockey NewsPrice: $11.95<h2>THE GOOD OL&rsquo; DAYS</h2>Recapture the Golden Era of the National Hockey League<h3>B-23 - Heroes: Stars of Hockey&rsquo;s Golden Era</h3>Author: Frank Pagnucco172 players from pre-expansion teams with stats and photos. Covers 1945 to 1967.The Hockey NewsPrice: $12.95<h3>B-03 - Hockey: The Illustrated Story</h3>Authors: NHL and Hockey Hall of FameThe greatest moments from 69 years of NHL and International Hockey.The Hockey NewsPrice: $24.95 &#9632;

f0023-01

BOOK LOCKER

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01800/5925994-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="177" height="132"></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;Petri Skriko insists having newly-acquired Raimo Summanen around from now on won&rsquo;t &ldquo;make me play better.&rdquo;That may be so, but based on Skriko&rsquo;s first three performances in front of his old Finnish national teammate, he&rsquo;d have problems backing up that contention.Skriko counted six goals and six assists in three games, a Gretzky-like pace that spearheaded the suddenly red-hot Canucks to three straight wins (7-4 over Detroit, 6-4 over Buffalo and 4-2 over Quebec) and a shot at the playoffs.The right winger&rsquo;s eight points against Detroit and Buffalo&mdash;all recorded on important goals, by the league&rsquo;s definition&mdash;earned him a second-place finish to Washington&rsquo;s Scott Stevens, in balloting for National Hockey League player of the week.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the little things that started me losing my confidence,&rdquo; said Skriko. &ldquo;I would break in and a goalie would luck out. The next time I broke in I wouldn&rsquo;t feel quite so good. So I started to work extra hard and come to the rink earlier and work on my shot and do little things more. But I got too down. I&rsquo;m too hard on myself. &ldquo;Skriko is quick to point out a lot of goals are a function of luck as well as hard work&mdash;like his fifth point, on the Canucks&rsquo; sixth goal, in the win over Buffalo.&ldquo;The puck bounced right in front of me,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and I had the whole open net. All I had to do was steer it in the net. A month ago, that puck would have been bouncing on the other side of the goalie and I wouldn&rsquo;t have been able to get to it.&ldquo;I guess a lot of players are what you call streak scorers. I was hoping not to be. One of my goals this year was to be more consistent. But when you look around the league, you see a lot of guys who score in bunches.&rdquo;Especially Skriko.The Canuck had 30 goals and 37 assists in 68 games. The majority of the goals came during two streaks, including the most recent six. Earlier in the year, he scored 12 goals and two assists in a five-game span. Then, he went on a four-for-four drought, four goals in four months.With the goals have come confidence. Skriko again started to skate around and between people, twisting and turning to avoid checkers behind the net, while setting up plays or attempting wrap-arounds.&ldquo;I have to keep doing those extra things I was doing during the slump to keep my good feeling,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Hard work is important for me.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s important for the Canucks, too. Though they were six points from the playoffs with eight games left, nobody had thrown in the towel.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a break in the schedule and we&rsquo;re playing better,&rdquo; said Barry Pederson. &ldquo;The playoffs are going to be tough, though. We&rsquo;ve put ourselves in the position now where we need help.&rdquo;VAN LINES&mdash;With the return of Michel Petit from a knee injury, the Canucks were virtually injury-free, a rare situation at this time of the year for any team&hellip;The Oilers offered their first-round pick in the draft for Stan Smyl just before the trading deadline. The Canucks declined&hellip;The Canucks have used Raimo Summanen with two sets of linemates&mdash;Tony Tanti and Patrik Sundstrom, or Steve Tambellini and David Bruce&mdash;since he came over from Edmonton. &#9632;

f0024-01

Hot-Scoring Skriko Sizzles For Canucks

<h2>MAR</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02544/5926032-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="447" height="1107"></div><h2>APRIL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03351/5926025-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="455" height="1066"></div> &#9632;

f0024-02

NHL Games To Come

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01707/5926063-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="584" height="1462"><figcaption class="caption-body">Center Peter Zezel needed arthroscopic surgery on his injured left knee.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02454/5926070-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="178" height="137"></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Only a couple of days after blasting the New York Ranger jinx from their minds, the Philadelphia Flyers got another shock&mdash;but this one was far more real than imagined.Tests showed Peter Zezel&rsquo;s left knee had suffered a tom medial meniscus (cartilage), and the center would require arthroscopic surgery.As a result. Zezel was likely to be missing from the lineup for the rest of the regular season, perhaps into the first round of the playoffs.Surgery was scheduled for March 21, and Dr. John Gregg estimated a recovery period of three weeks. That would put Zezel&rsquo;s return at April 9&mdash;or the second game of the playoffs.The Flyers are already resigned to the fact that center Ron Sutter, who has not played since early January, will miss at least the entire first round. Nobody is saying so publicly, but Sutter&rsquo;s sore back (stress fracture) is beginning to look like a season-ending injury.With Sutter out, Zezel could have been counted upon to fill a defensive role.Now, with both out, the Flyers have been forced to recall forward Don Nachbaur from their Hershey farm club. Captain Dave Poulin has been fitted into the role of checking center, while wingers Lindsay Carson and Tim Kerr will fill in at center.Zezel&rsquo;s injury was the culmination of a season-long beating.&ldquo;It had been bothering me for awhile,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I thought it was getting better.&rdquo;The injury put a damper on a very eventful week for the Flyers, who beat the Rangers twice and pulled out a tough 3-3 tie at the Montreal Forum, only to lose some of that lustre with an ugly 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, at the Spectrum.The back-to-back victories over New York began with a solid 5-2 decision at Madison Square Garden, then continued two nights later at the Spectrum, where the Flyers celebrated St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day with a 4-1 win.The home-ice victory ended the Rangers&rsquo; three-game Spectrum hex. Tim Kerr led the win with his 50th and 51st goals of the season, marking the fourth consecutive season he has scored 50 or more goals. Mike Bossy. Wayne Gretzky, Guy Lafleur, Marcel Dionne, Phil Espostio and Michel Goulet are the only others to have accomplished that feat.Both Dionne and Esposito (as a coach and general manager) witnessed Kerr&rsquo;s feat from a Ranger point of view. Esposito was impressed.&ldquo;He reminds me of the way I played,&rdquo; the Hall of Famer said. &ldquo;He stakes out his territory (in front of the net), and you can&rsquo;t move him out.&rdquo;PHILLERS&mdash;The Flyers hired ex-Ranger assistant coach Reg Higgs as an advance scout. Mark Howe said Higgs&rsquo; information helped the Flyers to their two victories over New York. The Rangers still won the season series, 4-3&hellip;Both victories came against John Vanbiesbrouck, not Bob Froese, who has allowed only two goals in two starts against his old teammates&hellip;The Flyers also lost their season series to the Kings (2-1)&hellip;Rookie goalie Ron Hextali was yanked for the third time in six starts, after two periods against the Kings. However, Mike Keenan went out of his way to say that the fault was not with Hextall, but with the team in front of him. &ldquo;I want to stress that this in no way reflects on Ron Hextall&rsquo;s play,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to subject him to the way our team was playing.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0025-01

Zezel On Shelf As Flyers Limp To Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01763/5926101-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="176" height="133"></div>DETROIT&mdash;Shawn Burr has two chances to win the Calder Trophy as the National Hockey League rookie of the year.Slim and none.And that&rsquo;s a major disappointment for coach Jacques Demers.&ldquo;I hope people recognize the job he&rsquo;s done for us this season,&rdquo; Demers said, after Burr scored two goals&mdash;his 19th and 20th&mdash;in a 3-1 victory over the Boston Bruins.&ldquo;If it was not for Shawn Burr this year, his discipline and his checking, the Detroit Red Wings would not be in first place.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s heady stuff for a 20-year-old rookie.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unfortunate the rookie-of-the-year award goes only to goal-scorers, like Luc Robitaille,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;Shawn has played on a checking line against the best centers in the NHL and he&rsquo;s stopped most of them, and probably he&rsquo;s not going to get any votes.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">Burr isn&rsquo;t noticed except by the players he checks.</blockquote>He&rsquo;s right, of course.Burr isn&rsquo;t the kind of rookie who is noticed, except by the players who have to play against him. He&rsquo;s not flashy, just effective. His list of victims is long and distinguished. Twice this season, he held Winnipeg&rsquo;s Dale Hawerchuk without a point. And he&rsquo;s been a general pain for Chicago&rsquo;s Denis Savard, who hasn&rsquo;t been a factor in games at Joe Louis Arena between the Hawks and Wings.The only opponent Burr hasn&rsquo;t been able to curb, at least to some extent, is Wayne Gretzky. But what&rsquo;s new?&ldquo;This may sound stupid, but the ones who give me the most trouble are the ones I&rsquo;ve had success against,&rdquo; Burr said. &ldquo;Savard and Neal Broten are two guys I can&rsquo;t always find.&rdquo;Add 20 goals to his primary duties as a checker and Burr&rsquo;s contributions become obvious.&ldquo;With the ice time I&rsquo;ve gotten this season, I would be disappointed if I didn&rsquo;t get 20 goals,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;For me, this year was more important defensively.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re in first place. If I happen to get a few votes for it (the Calder), that&rsquo;s nice. But it&rsquo;s not real, real important to me.&rdquo;WING TIPS&mdash;Veteran defenseman Doug Halward will miss the rest of the season. He&rsquo;s suffering from phlebitis in his left leg, the leg he injured on Jan. 28&hellip;Petr Klima, benched for one game, returned with a flourish, setting up two goals in a 3-1 victory over the Bruins. &ldquo;I want to play in the playoffs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been working six months for the playoffs and I don&rsquo;t want to miss it. I feel bad. I&rsquo;m going to come and play hard.&rdquo; Jacques Demers said, &ldquo;Petr has to learn it&rsquo;s nothing personal. We like his goal-scoring. We know what he can do for us offensively. Everybody knows what that is. But he&rsquo;s got to help us check. For about three weeks before the trading deadline, that man (Klima) played possessed. He was afraid to be traded. As soon as the deadline passed, he hasn&rsquo;t played the same way.&rdquo; Demers praised Klima&rsquo;s play the next night&hellip;It&rsquo;s no longer a question of whether the Red Wings will slice 100 goals off their goals-against from last season. They&rsquo;ll do it with room to spare. That was Demers&rsquo; No. 1 priority when the season started&mdash;to subtract 100 goals from the 415 Detroit gave up in 1985-86. At their current average of 3.52 goals-against, the Wings would finish the season with 286 goals against&hellip;With right winger Mark Kumpel (broken wrist) back from Adirondack and ready to play, center Mark Lamb was sent to the American League club. &#9632;

f0026-01

Rookie Burr Sticking To Wings’ Opponents

<div class="byline">BY JERRY ZGODA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02513/5926132-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="177" height="134"></div>BLOOMINGTON, Minn.&mdash;Brian Lawton wants his fans to know he&rsquo;s not hockey&rsquo;s version of Roy (The Natural) Hobbs.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want people to get the idea that if I sit out for a game, I&rsquo;ll come back scoring goals,&rdquo; Lawton said. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t always work that way.&rdquo;But sometimes it does. Lawton was benched for a game against Detroit, March 14, then came back and scored four goals in his next three games, including his second career hat trick, March 15 in Chicago.His first hat trick, back in February of 1986, also came at Chicago Stadium, an arena that makes Lawton feel at home.&ldquo;We used to go to Boston Garden all the time,&rdquo; said the native of Rhode Island, &ldquo;and both places have the same kind of feel. The fans are loud and it&rsquo;s fun. It also kind of reminds me of high school (Mount St. Charles, Rhode Island). The other team was always the underdog, and everybody cheered for them and against us. I like playing in those surroundings.&rdquo;Lawton&rsquo;s three goals and one assist in a 4-2 victory helped the Stars break a five-game losing (six-game winless) streak.Two nights later, they battled the Blackhawks to a 3-3 tie at the Met Center. Then Lawton, and the Stars, went to his second home-away-from-home, Boston Garden. Playing in front of his family and friends, Lawton scored the Stars&rsquo; first goal and assisted on their last, in a 6-2 loss to the Bruins.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost too much playing here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I get kind of jittery when all these people come down to see me. You want to be polite and spend time with them and play well for them. This was the first time I was nervous for a game in a long time.&rdquo;Lawton&rsquo;s goal allowed him to reach the 20-goal mark for the first time in his four-year career. In 58 games, he had 20 goals and 41 points.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s played a couple of outstanding games,&rdquo; coach Lome Henning said. &ldquo;We know he&rsquo;s capable of that; it&rsquo;s just a matter of being consistent. He&rsquo;ll play great for a stretch and then he won&rsquo;t do much.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s when Lawton gets his occasional visit to the press box.&ldquo;You never like to sit out.&rdquo; he philosophized, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m trying to look for the positive things. At this time of year, you get tired, and a game off gives me a chance to rest up and recuperate a little. And it&rsquo;s great when you can come back and get a few goals like this.&rdquo;STARDUST&mdash;Left wingers Scott Bjugstad and Steve Payne were sidelined by injuries again. Bjugstad reinjured a pulled abdominal muscle in Chicago and was out indefinitely. A day earlier, Payne suffered another knee injury that was expected to keep him out about a week. &#9632;

f0026-02

Lawton Turns Sniper After Game Off

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01709/5926163-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg"></div>The Molson Slo-Pitch Challenge is being staged on the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario for the seventh straight year.Last year&rsquo;s tournament attracted 20 teams, including 17 National Hockey League clubs, an NHL Alumni team, an NHL scouts team and another featuring referees and linesmen.In the past six years, more than 300,000 people have watched their favourite NHL players trade their sticks for baseball bats during a weekend that provides a great deal of entertainment, along with a high degree of competitiveness.Over 250 NHL players, along with thousands of fans, are expected to visit the Niagara Region June 18-21, to participate in one of the best office events staged in connection with the NHL. Host cities will be Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Welland and Thorold. Proceeds raised from the Slo-Pitch tournament help charities and amateur sport in the Niagara Peninsula.Each team entered in the tournament is guaranteed three games&mdash;one on Friday and two on Saturday. The top eight teams enter the quarterfinal round on Sunday in Niagara Falls and a winner is declared later that day in the single knockout tournament. In addition to the actual tournament schedule there are entertaining exhibition matches and a home runhitting contest.Along with the action on the field there are a series of activities which take place during the weekend:&bull; Opening Ceremonies Dinner on Thursday evening, June 18.&bull; Gala Auction of hockey memorabilia to be held after the Opening Ceremonies Dinner on Thursday.&bull; The 7-Up Golf Tournament on Friday, June 19.&bull; Dance with the Stars on Saturday, June 20.The Toronto Maple Leafs, led by MVP winner Walt Poddubny and first baseman Rick Vaive, triumphed in the &rsquo;86 tournament with a 15-4 victory over the NHL Alumni. Over 13,000 people turned out at Oakes Park, Niagara Falls, to witness the playoff rounds and final game.Last year&rsquo;s tournament featured one of the most successful events introduced in the six-year history&mdash;the in augural annual 7-Up NHL Golf Tournament. In its initial year as part of the gala Molson weekend the golf tournament raised close to $20,000 for Muscular Dystrophy and the Ontario Special Olympics.Three golf courses in the Niagara Region played host to almost 300 participants&mdash;including various corporate and private enthusiasts, as well as over 100 NHL stars past and present and NHL linesmen and officials.For advance ticket sales to this year&rsquo;s tournament and other activities send your postal money order or bank draft to:<blockquote class="pullQuote">Molson NHL Slo-Pitch Challenge 5034 Victoria Avenue, Niagara Falls, ON L2E 4E1</blockquote><h2>NO PERSONAL CHEQUES WILL BE ACCEPTED &#9632;</h2>

f0027-01

ADVERTISING

NHL Stars Come Out To Play At Molson Slo-Pitch Tourney

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01735/5926232-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="176" height="136"></div>NEW YORK&mdash;The New York Rangers had been extremely lucky all season, even according to Phil Esposito, a man who has always said that people make their own luck.And then, just when the everchanging hockey club could afford it least, injuries hit.Left winger Jeff Jackson (groin) didn&rsquo;t make it through his debut as a Ranger. Stu Kulak (eye) appeared to be out for the season before he learned all of his new teammates&rsquo; names. And Don Maloney (shoulder separation) was crunched by former friend Ed Hospodar in Philadelphia.Meanwhile. Jan Erixon (bruised hip), James Patrick (pinched nerve in the neck), Pierre Larouche (bruised hip and wrist) were trying to play through injuries because, with eight games left, the Rangers were not assured of a playoff berth.&ldquo;The timing of all these injuries is not good,&rdquo; Esposito understated, after the Rangers completed six games in eight nights by dropping their third in a row on March 18.The coach-general manager was even less complimentary about the timing of the schedule. Asked what he&rsquo;d do if he was given a schedule proposal which included six games in eight nights&mdash;among them three against the same team (the Flyers)&mdash;his response was typically colorful.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d use it for toilet paper,&rdquo; said Esposito, who explained the schedule was approved by former GM Craig Patrick. &ldquo;We won&rsquo;t do it (again). You&rsquo;d have to be drunk to make the schedule like that.&rdquo;Left winger George McPhee, one of four Rangers trying to come back from injuries during the difficult stretch, was even more critical of the schedule.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s ridiculous to have us play six games in eight nights,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The tans are paying good money and all they are seeing is teams trying to play important games while they&rsquo;re exhausted. We&rsquo;ve had more injuries during this stretch than we&rsquo;ve had all year and it&rsquo;s clear to me that dumb scheduling had a lot to do with it.&rdquo;A rigorous schedule and rash of injuries were not Esposito&rsquo;s only worries, as the Rangers stumbled down the stretch.After being hailed as a genius by the media and fans for his series of interesting, stimulating trades, the rookie GM&rsquo;s moves were suddenly being second-guessed.There were times when Esposito clearly seemed to wish his &ldquo;honeymoon&rdquo; was not over.After Marcel Dionne&rsquo;s sixth game as a Ranger, a 5-3 loss to Hartford, Esposito did not seem particularly enthusiastic about the future Hall-of-Famer&rsquo;s efforts.&ldquo;Marcel is playing better defensively than I thought he could,&rdquo; Esposito said. He gave the same kind of answer for a few weeks after acquiring Bobby Carpenter.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just not sharp around the net,&rdquo; the GM-coach added. &ldquo;Again, tonight he had about three (chances) or four in the third period. He said something very interesting to me. He said, &lsquo;Boy, I&rsquo;ve got to get used to this (Patrick) division. They don&rsquo;t give you any room in this division.&rsquo;&rdquo;Dionne had just one goal in his first six games.BIG APPLESAUCE&mdash;During his Ranger debut on March 14 at Pittsburgh, Stu Kulak was hit in the left eye with a deflected shot, and suffered 12-stitch gashes above and below the eye. The swelling was so severe that X-rays were inconclusive, but Phil Esposito said Kulak would probably miss the rest of the season. &#9632;

f0030-01

Honeymoon Over For Rangers’ Coach-GM

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02509/5926263-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="176" height="134"></div>UNIONDALE, N.Y.&mdash;When Terry Simpson called the last 20 games of the New York Islanders&rsquo; schedule &ldquo;crunch time,&rdquo; he had no idea how ironically prophetic those words would be.Three sprained left knees, two separated right shoulders, one bruised right shoulder, one pulled groin and one cranky stomach&mdash;not to mention an already-broken jaw&mdash;was how badly the Islanders were crunched during the scrap for Patrick Division playoff positions.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re coming at a very bad time,&rdquo; Simpson said, typically understating the obvious. &ldquo;At the same time, we can&rsquo;t look to them as reasons. We have to play through it.&rdquo;The medical log (in order of importance): Brent Sutter, was bothered by a strained groin; Denis Potvin, out since Feb. 21 with a sprained left knee, didn&rsquo;t figure to be back before the last weekend of the regular season; Rich Kromm sprained his left knee on March 14; Brian Curran missed a game with a bruised shoulder, then returned; Tomas Jonsson&rsquo;s broken jaw was healing, but he was still weeks away from being healthy enough to play; Gord Dineen separated his right shoulder on March 16 and was expected out until mid-April; Greg Gilbert was expected out two to three weeks, after separating his right shoulder on March 13; Dale Henry was listed as day-to-day, with a sprained left knee; Ari Haanpaa&rsquo;s sick stomach had settled.Crunch time, indeed.The injury list didn&rsquo;t include Mike Bossy, whose sore back continued to take a beating. Bossy was battered by Doug Sulliman in New Jersey, Guy Carbonneau in Montreal and Shawn Burr in Detroit.Despite the ills, the Islanders managed to keep space between themselves and the third-place Rangers, by splitting four games.First came a disgusting 4-1 loss to the Devils in New Jersey.&ldquo;Our plumbers didn&rsquo;t plumb, our dancers didn&rsquo;t dance, our singers didn&rsquo;t sing,&rdquo; Simpson said after the loss. &ldquo;So why did we come?&rdquo;Twenty-four hours later, the Islanders rallied from a 6-2 deficit and nipped the Devils 7-6 at Nassau Coliseum, on Mikko Makela&rsquo;s tying goal with 11 seconds left and Pat LaFontaine&rsquo;s winner (off a two-on-one pass from Makela) at 1:01 of overtime.Next came a 3-0 loss in Montreal. In this one, the Islanders barely bothered to arouse goalie Brian Hayward&rsquo;s attention. The loss was the Islanders&rsquo; 30th, one more than they suffered all of last season.Two nights later, in his hometown of Detroit, LaFontaine capped a 3-2 victory over the Wings by scoring his second goal of the game, with four seconds left. The goals gave LaFontaine, now in the option year of his contract, a career-high 32 for the season.Talks have not passed the preliminary stage between general manager Bill Torrey and Don Meehan, LaFontaine&rsquo;s agent. The center and Meehan say they are not worried about negotiations, and they have no plans to test free-agent compensation.ON THE ISLE&mdash;Defenseman Brian Curran, who set an Islander single-season penalty-minute record after 46 games, led the NHL with 338. &#9632;

f0030-02

Isles Sick To Stomach Over Injuries

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01679/5926294-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="177" height="133"></div>ROCHESTER, N.Y.&mdash;Jay Fraser is getting a second chance with the Rochester Americans.Bothered by personal problems and differences with coach John Van Boxmeer, Fraser quit the Amerks after the first period of a Dec. 19 game at the Rochester War Memorial.&ldquo;It was just something that was building up,&rdquo; said Fraser, who signed a three-year contract with Buffalo last summer. &ldquo;And I just made the decision then. It was unfortunate that it was between the first and second period.&rdquo;The feisty Fraser went home to Ottawa to spend Christmas with his wife and family. Van Boxmeer was more disappointed than shocked when Fraser left.&ldquo;I was a little bit surprised, but I wasn&rsquo;t shocked,&rdquo; Van Boxmeer said. &ldquo;I was more disappointed. Here was a guy the organization signed on my recommendation.&rdquo;Eventually the rugged left winger missed hockey and wanted to return.&ldquo;I missed it, but I didn&rsquo;t miss it entirely,&rdquo; Fraser said. &ldquo;I certainly enjoyed the fact that I was home for a period of six weeks. I probably enjoyed Christmas for the first time in about nine years.&rdquo;Fraser, a second-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1980, has spent most of his career in the Atlantic Coast League.He tried to work out a deal to play in Adirondack, rather than return to Rochester, but that possibility was squashed when Buffalo demanded compensation from Detroit. So Fraser was faced with just one choice. If he wanted to play again, he&rsquo;d have to do it in Rochester.&ldquo;I wanted to give it one more shot at playing in the NHL,&rdquo; Fraser said. &ldquo;I think that would be the highlight of my career.&ldquo;I thought I worked too hard to throw it all away.&rdquo;So Fraser came back, but first there was a brief sidetrip to Flint of the International League, where he played for his former ACHL coach, Rick Dudley.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty sure that they were interested to see if I really wanted to play again,&rdquo; Fraser said. &ldquo;Plus, they (the Amerks) had enough players and I had been out six weeks.&rdquo;It didn&rsquo;t take long for Rochester to need help. A couple of recalls to Buffalo and injuries in late February led to Fraser&rsquo;s return.&ldquo;I guess I was given a second chance to get to play again,&rdquo; Fraser said.Fraser was playing for Carolina last season and impressed Van Boxmeer&mdash;who was at the game scouting Andy Ristau. Van Boxmeer came back to Rochester with two bruisers for the price of one trip.&ldquo;At the start of last season we had a good hockey team,&rdquo; Van Boxmeer said, &ldquo;but teams were taking advantage of us. There were guys like (Paul) Gardner and (Jody) Gage who were having to pay too big a price to score.&ldquo;So we had to go get somebody and Dudley had called about Ristau. I went down to look at him and noticed Fraser. We brought him back and he played that aggressive, all-out devil-may-care type of game.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s exactly the type of game Fraser played in his first game back for the Amerks, who were battling for the South title. He and Jeff Parker dished out some heavy checks in the first period of a 6-2 win over archrival Binghamton, a game in which Fraser had two assists.&ldquo;I certainly didn&rsquo;t want to go out there and have a bad game,&rdquo; said Fraser, who had five goals and 130 penalty minutes in 29 games. &ldquo;I wanted to go out and prove to myself, to the people in the organization and to the players on the team that what I did wasn&rsquo;t against them.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t had any negative feedback, but I assume it has been pretty difficult for some of the guys to accept me back on the team.&rdquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a problem for Van Boxmeer.&ldquo;I told him what happened was in the past,&rdquo; Van Boxmeer said. &ldquo;He had reasons for leaving. I told him I wasn&rsquo;t happy with the way he did it, but we all do things in our life that, I&rsquo;m sure, when we look back, we probably would have done differently.&rdquo;AROUND THE SOUTH&mdash;The Binghamton Whalers set a team record by winning 12 straight games at home. Two of the wins were in shootouts&mdash;including the 12th, a 5-4 decision over Maine on March 17 that put the Whalers in a first-place tie with New Haven&hellip;Baltimore center Jim McGeough was suspended by Skipjack coach Gene Ubriaco and assigned to Muskegon of the IHL. &#9632;

f0031-01

The Minors

Prodigal Son Returns To Rochester Amerks

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02457/5926325-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="154" height="135"></div>FORT WAYNE, Ind&mdash;The Fort Wayne Komets dragged out the old saw&mdash;the one about the irresistible force meeting the immovable object&mdash;and cut down the Lumberjacks.The Muskegon Lumberjacks, who had climbed from last place to first in the East Division on the strength of 13 straight victories, fell 3-0 to the Komets, the International League&rsquo;s top team overall.The Lumberjacks were just one triumph away from the league record of 14 in a row, shared by the former Minneapolis franchise and Fort Wayne. After the March 18 game, however, it was the Komets who were on the win streak&mdash;a 10-game run.Another streak of note was kept alive; it was Fort Wayne&rsquo;s sixth victory of the season over Muskegon without a loss.That&rsquo;s a distinct turnaround from the Turner Cup final series of a year ago, when coach Rick Ley led his Lumberjacks to a 4-0 sweep of the Komets.Despite Fort Wayne&rsquo;s dominance in the season series (one game remained. April 10 at Muskegon) there have been no runaways.&ldquo;Every game we&rsquo;ve played them has been really tight,&rdquo; said Komet coach Robbie Laird, last year&rsquo;s IHL coach of the year. &ldquo;That (the 3-0 game) could have been the best game we&rsquo;ve played all year.&rdquo;Ley agreed.&ldquo;Every game has been a good game and they are a fine defensive team,&rdquo; he said. In its six losses to the Komets this year, Muskegon has scored just 11 goals.&ldquo;We certainly had our chances in this one,&rdquo; Ley said. &ldquo;We had a lot of good chances (34 shots on goal) but (Alain) Raymond played a hell of a game.&rdquo;The two coaches praised each other&rsquo;s teams, perhaps anticipating a Cup rematch.&ldquo;I think when you play them (the Komets), you&rsquo;ve got to make sure you don&rsquo;t make little mental mistakes that cost goals,&rdquo; Ley said. &ldquo;We made two mistakes, missed assignments in our own end, and they cost us.&ldquo;You just can&rsquo;t do that against the Komets. They come to play every night.&rdquo;Laird returned the compliment.&ldquo;We have a lot of respect for Muskegon,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We have to be very well prepared when we play them, ready for a tough battle.&ldquo;Each team has little things you have to be aware of. Maybe we play a little differently in forechecking or breaking out. But we don&rsquo;t make any great changes whether we play the Lumberjacks, Saginaw or Indianapolis.&ldquo;We do know, though, that we&rsquo;ve got to play 60 minutes against Muskegon.&rdquo;I-LITES&mdash;Kevin Schamehorn had a hat trick in a 7-2 Milwaukee victory over Indianapolis&hellip;Milwaukee acquired right winger-center Wayne Crawford from Kalamazoo in exchange for veteran center Dale Yakiwchuk&hellip;Kevin Evans of Kalamazoo had 549 minutes in penalties and was just eight minutes shy of the professional hockey record of 557, set in 1978-79 by Mark Toffolo of Saginaw&hellip;Goaltender Dave Parro of Indianapolis was sidelined for the remainder of the season because of an ulcerated colon. The Checkers obtained Chris Pusey from Detroit, through Adirondack, as a replacement. &#9632;

f0031-02

Komets Extend Hex Over Muskegon

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01725/5926356-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="177" height="136"></div>GLENS FALLS, N.Y.&mdash;Dennis Smith knows how to make the most of an opportunity.Since his arrival at the Adirondack Red Wing training camp in late September, the 22-year-old defenseman has progressed from an unknown, undrafted free agent to a regular on one of the better teams in the American League. His plus-minus figure tells the story. With a dozen games remaining, Smith had the second-best plus minus figure (28) on the club. Only Doug Houda, a second-round draft pick in 1984 and a well-regarded propsect, had a higher grade (31).With absolutely no fanfare, Smith joined Adirondack just before the start of the season on a hastily-arranged tryout.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know where he was from or who he was,&rdquo; Adirondack coach Bill Dineen said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been the most pleasant surprise of any player that&rsquo;s ever walked in here unheralded.&ldquo;I liked his effort right away; his effort and his desire. He&rsquo;s shown great improvement, not only in his skills but in his positional play and every facet of his game, actually.&rdquo;Smith, a native of Livonia, Mich., grew up watching the Detroit Red Wings play. He progressed through the youth hockey ranks in the Detroit area and played for the bantam national-champion Little Caesar&rsquo;s team before leaving home to play junior-hockey in Kingston, Ont.Smith spent three years in Kingston, but wasn&rsquo;t taken in the NHL entry draft. He believed that missing the final 28 games of his first season with a broken jaw ruined his chances of being selected.After completing his junior eligibility in 1984, Smith went to Osby, Sweden, where he played for a Division II team.&ldquo;I went over there and worked on my skating and my defensive skills for a year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think it did help me out, especially with my skating.&rdquo;At the end of the 1984-85 season, Smith spent some time in the Atlantic Coast League with Erie. Last year, he moved up to the International League with the Peoria Rivermen. He felt he was making progress and hoped he might get a chance to attend an NHL team&rsquo;s training camp. But instead of moving forward, Smith found himself in limbo once more.&lsquo;&lsquo;I really didn&rsquo;t know if I was going to play this year or not,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Last year I played in the &lsquo;I&rsquo; and this agent who was working for me was talking like there should be no problem getting me a tryout with a National League club. He just kept putting me off, and by the middle of July I still had no place to go.&rdquo;Smith dropped his first agent and hired Bob Goodenough, who handles many players from Michigan.&ldquo;It was too late for him to get me into Detroit&rsquo;s camp, but he talked to Neil Smith (Adirondack&rsquo;s GM) and they worked it out that I could come here for a tryout,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;They were really short of players here right at the beginning of the year. He told me to come down and that I could be here for a game or two and then be sent back, or I could get a tryout (contract) and stay.&rdquo;He stayed and played and signed a standard AHL contract with Adirondack in December. The chances are very good that the 5-foot-ll, 192-pound defender will be offered another contract and invited to Detroit&rsquo;s camp in September.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say enough about what he&rsquo;s done for us,&rdquo; Dineen said. &ldquo;The one thing about Dennis Smith is that every night you know what you&rsquo;re going to get from him. It&rsquo;s total effort, everything he&rsquo;s got.&rdquo;Smith isn&rsquo;t close to being the most talented defenseman on the Adirondack team. He makes up for the skill he lacks with an intelligent, inspired, defensive approach.&ldquo;I just try to make the easy play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I ask for help and Barry Melrose has helped me out quite a bit. It&rsquo;s worked out well.&rdquo;Melrose, the Wings&rsquo; player-assistant coach, doesn&rsquo;t underestimate Smith&rsquo;s role.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very valuable part of the team right now. He&rsquo;s probably been one of our most consistent players throughout the year,&rdquo; Melrose said. &ldquo;To be a young defenseman coming out and playing this well in the American League is just fantastic.&ldquo;I like the way he plays. He&rsquo;s such a gamer. He&rsquo;s a banger. He sticks his nose in. He doesn&rsquo;t mind being hit and he hits.&rdquo;AROUND THE DIVISION&mdash;Adirondack center Geordie Robertson will miss the balance of the season, after injuring his shoulder in a March 14 collision with Terry Johnson of Newmarket&hellip;The newest Red Wing is Peter Ekroth, a 26-year-old Swedish defenseman selected by Detroit in the 12th round of the 1986 NHL entry draft. The ex-Swedish national played his first game for Adirondack March 17 against Fredericton&hellip;Sherbrooke could have eight 20-goal scorers this season. Five players&mdash;Randy Gilhen (31), Gilles Thibaudeau (27), Serge Boisvert (25), Randy Bucyk (22) and Karel Svoboda (21)&mdash;had reached that level, while Ernie Vargas (19), Scott Harlow (19) and Perry Ganchar (18) were very close. &#9632;

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Unheralded Walk-On Settles Wing Defense

<div class="byline">BY HEATHER LaROI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01645/5926394-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Trois-Rivieres center Francois Bellerose joins team captain Mario Paradis who holds aloft the CIAU championship trophy.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02448/5926401-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="178" height="134"></div>EDMONTON&mdash;Who says crime doesn&rsquo;t pay?While not doing a whole lot to endear themselves to hockey purists, the University of Quebec Trois-Rivieres Patriotes&mdash;who spent more time in the penalty box and paid for it less than any other team in the tournament&mdash;claimed Canadian university hockey&rsquo;s most coveted booty, dumping the Saskatchewan Huskies 6-3 for the national title.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if that&rsquo;s still the right way (to win),&rdquo; said UQTR coach Clement Jodoin, whose team racked up 70 minors over three games but killed off 91 per cent of its 40 shorthanded situations.&ldquo;At the start of every game we were really emotional. We tried to keep our cool and stay confident. Maybe it wasn&rsquo;t always the right way but nice guys finish last.&rdquo;After losing to Alberta in last year&rsquo;s final, the Patriotes had been imagining a victory skate around Edmonton&rsquo;s Varsity Arena for a long, long time.With the win March 21, they finally fleshed out the dream, becoming the first Quebec team to ever win the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union hockey championship.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03328/5926387-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="582" height="664"><figcaption class="caption-body">Center Marc Gervais scored two goals to pace Trois-Rivieres past Saskatchewan.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;Before the game, you imagine what it&rsquo;s like (to win), but you&rsquo;re always still scared you might lose,&rdquo; said Patriotes&rsquo; right winger Martin Nicoletti. &ldquo;And when it&rsquo;s reality, there&rsquo;s a pretty big difference. The feeling is unbelievable.&rdquo;&ldquo;This goes from the lowest low (last year) to the ultimate high,&rdquo; said center Marc Gervais, named the tournament&rsquo;s most valuable player.To advance into the final, Trois-Rivieres edged Alberta 5-4 and stopped York 4-2. Unranked Saskatchewan, fourthin Canada West at 16-111 before upsetting Canada&rsquo;s No. 1-ranked Calgary Dinosaurs in the conference final, blanked Prince Edward Island 3-0 and defeated Western Ontario 5-2 to move on.Not wasting time, the Patriotes jumped to a 2-0 lead by 5:44 of the first period, as Gervais and Alain Bisson beat Saskatchewan goaltender Ross McKay just 43 seconds apart. Dan Leier kept Saskatchewan close, scoring what would be the Huskies&rsquo; lone power-play marker in 10 chances, just over three minutes later.Only 23 seconds into the middle period, Larry Korchinski gave Saskatchewan the equalizer until Gervais collected his second goal of the night on a rising shot into the top left comer late in the period, once again giving Trois-Rivieres the lead.Entering the final period, the Huskies, who ended up outshooting Trois-Rivieres 37-17, continued to get the best opportunities but were repeatedly foiled by their own miscues or the standout work of Patriotes&rsquo; goaltender Claude Guerard. Still, Ken Lovsin set up high Huskie hopes, and a 3-3 tie, with a goal 7:36 into the third frame.But shortly after, Bisson and Nicoletti busted UQTR into the home stretch with goals 46 seconds apart in the period&rsquo;s 14th minute.&ldquo;For about a minute and a half we didn&rsquo;t do what we had been doing all game,&rdquo; said Saskatchewan coach Brent McEwan.UQTR&rsquo;s Stephane Thivierge banged in a tic-tac-toe play with 1:31 remaining to ice the win.LAST SHOTS&mdash;The two finalists provided the entire tournament all-star roster: Goalie Claude Guerard, defensemen Reid Williams of Saskatchewan and Christian Thellend, and forwards Martin Nicoletti, Alain Bisson and Huskies&rsquo; Ken Morrison. &#9632;

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The Colleges

Patriotes No. 1!

<div class="byline">BY HEATHER LaROI</div>EDMONTON&mdash;For most of the year, Dave Quigley prowls the crease, guarding a personal domain defined by goal pipes and twine.But March 19 in Edmonton, the 22-year-old goaltender from the University of Moncton Blue Eagles stepped into the limelight to accept the Senator Joseph A. Sullivan Trophy, given annually to the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union&rsquo;s player of the year.&ldquo;All of these guys here today are excellent players,&rdquo; said Quigley, anative of Trois-Rivieres, Que. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very surprised to win. In past years, it&rsquo;s always forwards. My chances? I didn&rsquo;t think they were very good.&rdquo;Quigley&rsquo;s competition was, naturally, three forwards: Toronto&rsquo;s Don McLaughlin, McGill&rsquo;s Mark Reade and Calgary&rsquo;s Paul Geddes.Quigley posted a 14-2 win-loss record, .911 save percentage and 2.74 goals-against average.&ldquo;Right now I&rsquo;m negotiating with the Winnipeg Jets for a contract,&rdquo; smiled Quigley, who was picked by the National Hockey League team in the 10th round of the 1985 entry draft. &ldquo;So this award, it&rsquo;s not bad for me. I&rsquo;m crossing my fingers; I had a good training camp in Winnipeg last year, and my goal is to play there, so I knew I had to have a good season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a lot better with my stick now and steadier. No cheap goals. When the coach put me in the game, he knew what I was going to do.&rdquo;Quigley&rsquo;s Blue Eagles, whose 20-4 mark tied them with UPEI for first in the AUAA&rsquo;s McAdam Division, were upset by St. Francis-Xavier in the first round of the Atlantic Universities Athletic Association playoffs.Western Ontario&rsquo;s Barry Martinelli, meanwhile, was named CIAU coach of the year. In only his second season as the Mustangs&rsquo; head coach, Martinelli guided Western to a 20-2-2 record and first place in Ontario. Western made its first trip to the national championship tourney on a wild-card nomination, after losing to York in the OUAA finals.Calgary forward Paul Geddes, who set a Canada West single-season scoring record with 69 points, was awarded the UBC Alumni Trophy as the CIAU&rsquo;s most sportsmanlike player, for the second straight year.And Waterloo goaltender Mike Bishop, who posted a 2.87 goals-against average over 24 games, was named rookie of the year.For all-Canadian team, see Notebook on page 9. &#9632;

Eagles’ Goalie Quigley Honored

<div class="byline">BY BILL CRAWFORD</div>EAST LANSING, Mich&mdash;The Michigan State University Spartans simply would not be denied a shot at their second straight national championship.Often outplayed by the upstart Maine Black Bears, the Spartans combined impressive goaltending with timely scoring in a 6-2, 5-3 sweep on their home ice, sending them into the Final Four tournament at Joe Louis Arena.MSU meets the University of Minnesota on March 27 in one semi-final, while Harvard plays North Dakota in the other, on March 26.&lsquo;&lsquo;Our seniors didn&rsquo;t want to lose their last games here,&rdquo; said winger Mitch Messier, who had three goals in the two wins. &ldquo;We played well at Munn (Arena) and we didn&rsquo;t want to let our fans down. We think we have the team to win it again.&rdquo;Six different players scored March 20, as MSU won the total-goals opener 6-2. Guy Perron, an outstanding freshman for Maine, had both of the Black Bears&rsquo; goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01731/5926456-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="583" height="967"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mitch Messier scored three goals to lead Michigan State past the Black Bears.</figcaption></div>The next day, Messier scored two goals as the Spartans broke a 3-3 tie in the final period. The Black Bears pulled goalie Scott King in an attempt to get back into the total-goals series, but the move backfired as MSU counted a pair of empty-netters. Sophomore Todd Jenkins scored twice for Maine.&ldquo;I had a good feeling about this series and about us being in the Final Four,&rdquo; said Spartan senior Don McSween, a defenseman who scored a goal in the first game. &ldquo;We have the kind of people who hate to lose.&rdquo;The Spartans, who beat Harvard 6-5 to win the national title a year ago in Providence, were outshot 35-32 in the first game with Maine. The Black Bears often carried the play in the second game, as well.The big difference was the goaltending of Spartan seniors Norm Foster (first game) and Bob Essensa (second game).&ldquo;You need solid goaltending to get this far,&rdquo; said MSU caoch Ron Mason, &ldquo;and we got the goaltending. Based on what I&rsquo;ve seen the last four weeks, I&rsquo;d say we have a good chance of winning again.&rdquo;The Spartans are the &ldquo;home team&rdquo; at Joe Louis, where they have had some of their greatest triumphs in recent years, including the Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoff championships three weeks ago. Joe Louis Arena is known as &ldquo;Munn East&rdquo; to Spartan followers, who pack the building for MSU games.The Maine-MSU quarter-final pitted mentor against pupil, with Mason&rsquo;s Spartans beating Shawn Walsh&rsquo;s Black Bears. Walsh was Mason&rsquo;s assistant not only at MSU, but before that at Bowling Green State.&ldquo;The effort we showed was beyond belief,&rdquo; Walsh said. &ldquo;I love this place (Munn), except for the 27 hours we spent here this weekend. I think I&rsquo;m going to go to Joe Louis Arena, and 1&rsquo;11 be wearing a green jacket (MSU&rsquo;s colors are green and white). I don&rsquo;t care what the other coaches think.&rdquo;Walsh said the loss to MSU could be attributed directly to the goaltending of Foster and Essensa. His team missed too many chances, he added.But Walsh has good reason to smile, because he made the quarter-finals with a very young team. Only three seniors dot the Maine line-up. Returning will be five juniors, eight sophomores and five outstanding freshmen. &#9632;

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Spartans Paw Bears, Advance To Final Four

<div class="byline">BY TOM BOGGIE</div>CAMBRIDGE, Mass.&mdash;Welcome back from the shadows, Dickie McEvoy.For four years, &lsquo;Dickie Who&rsquo; has always been following in someone&rsquo;s footsteps, never getting the recognition he deserves.But after stonewalling Central Collegiate Hockey Association regular season-champion Bowling Green to put Harvard in the National Collegiate Athletic Association&rsquo;s Division I semifinals, it&rsquo;s about time people realized just how good McEvoy is.A senior from Falmouth. Mass., McEvoy stopped 74 of the 75 shots he faced in two nights to carry the Crimson to surprisingly easy 7-1 and 3-0 wins over the Falcons in the quarterfinals at Bright Arena.The weekend included a career-high 40 saves in the 3-0 shutout on Saturday night. After opening up the six-goal margin in the total-goals series on Friday night, the rest of the Crimson team just went through the motions on Saturday, leaving it up to McEvoy to put the Falcons away for good.&ldquo;Dickie put on a great show,&rdquo; said Harvard coach Bill Cleary after his Eastern College Athletic Conference championship team swept the series and improved its record to 28-4, going into a semi-final match-up with top-ranked North Dakota. &ldquo;There probably hasn&rsquo;t been a better show put on by any goaltender in this rink before.&rdquo;McEvoy, who spent his junior year studying in Scotland just so he could get out of the shadow of Grant Blair and get a chance to cam the No. I spot this season, outplayed Bowling Green&rsquo;s Gary Kruzich, who came into the series with 88 caeer wins and a glittering reputation.&ldquo;The difference in the game was McEvoy,&rdquo; said Bowling Green coach Jerry York on Saturday night. &ldquo;It was not your typical shutout. Usually when you&rsquo;re shut out, you get 15 shots and it means you didn&rsquo;t play well offensively.&rdquo;Not everyone was surprised by McEvoy&rsquo;s performance against the Falcons. Nothing McEvoy does surprises Cleary. It was Cleary who had so much faith in McEvoy&rsquo;s ability that he didn&rsquo;t even bother to bring in any other goalies this season, leaving the job up to McEvoy and junior John Devin.McEvoy responded by leading the ECAC with a 1.92 goals-against average and .921 save percentage, but surprisingly, he wasn&rsquo;t even named to the first or second all-star teams, finishing behind sophomore Mike O&rsquo;Neill of Yale and junior Scott Yearwood of St. Lawrence.For all practical purposes, Harvard won the series on Friday with the lopsided 7-1 win. The Crimson&rsquo;s lethal power play converted four of five opportunities, but it was a shorthanded goal by freshman C.J. Young that broke Bowling Green&rsquo;s back.Leading scorer Lane MacDonald and Allen (Mr. March) Bourbeau, who is always best at playoff time, each had a goal and two assists in that game.The Falcons (33-10-2) pulled out all the stops on Saturday night, outshooting Harvard 34-14 in the first two periods, but McEvoy was superb. Andy Janfaza scored the game-winner in the first period and Bourbeau and Rick Haney tacked on power-play goals in the third period to sent Harvard to Joe Louis Arena in Detroit for the semi-finals.&ldquo;Harvard has a very fine hockey team,&rdquo; said York. &ldquo;They can certainly bring the first national title to Cambridge.&rdquo;If they going to do that, Harvard must first get past North Dakota, and do it without the services of versatile sophomore Chris Biotti, who has played both defense amd forwards for theCrimson this season. Biotti received a spearing penalty and an automatic game disqualification on Saturday night and must sit out the semi-final.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02537/5926487-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="578" height="856"><figcaption class="caption-body">Harvard&rsquo;s Dickie McEvoy posted the best numbers for an ECAC goalie this season.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Marvelous McEvoy Harvard Sparkplug

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>BOSTON&mdash;For the second time in three years, the Boston College Eagles ran into that most feared of all demons in National Collegiate Athletic Association playoff hockey&mdash;the hot goaltender.In 1985, it was Providence&rsquo;s Chris Terreri; this year, it was Minnesota junior John Blue. Blue kicked out 42 shots in the Golden Gophers&rsquo; 4-1 opening game win March 20, then stymied the Eagles 36 times the next day, in a 3-2 BC victory.Boston College averaged more than six goals a game in cruising to a best-ever record of 31-8. Since Maine lost its series to Michigan State, Hockey East will be without a Final Four representative for the second consecutive year.Minnesota, meanwhile, will take on Michigan State in the NCAA tournament at Joe Louis Arena. As expected, BC attacked from the start in the first game, using its aggressive forechecking style to force the breaks. Minnesota countered with a more deliberate approach, leading to two-on-one breaks when pinching BC defensemen Brian Leetch and Greg Brown got caught up ice.The strategy worked for the Gophers, but it would have been futile had Blue not played perhaps the best game of his life. The Eagles failed to convert several good scoring chances over the first two periods and found themselves on the short end of a 3-1 score. Craig Janney was foiled on two breakaways, Dan Shea, Chris Stapleton and Leetch on one each.Minnesota&rsquo;s Dave Snuggerud, with his second goal of the game, rounded out the scoring with 2:48 to play. He broke up a BC rush, then turned it back the other way. beating David Littman with a long, low slap shot.BC coach Len Ceglarski was disappointed with the result, but not displeased with his team&rsquo;s effort. The power play was ineffective, missing on all seven chances. The lines centered by Ken Hodge and Janney worked heavily in man-advantage situations and also on three shorthanded situations. By the end of the game, they were dragging.Janney, with two goals, and Hodge, with a third, picked up the pace sufficiently in the second game to stake BC to a 3-0 lead&mdash;tying the total goals series at 4-4. But as they had in the first game, the Eagles ran out of gas. Lacking the depth of the Gophers&mdash;who employed four lines and three defense pairings&mdash;BC allowed Minnesota to pull ahead for good in the third period, on goals by Peter Hankinson and Snuggerud.The Gophers turned the tables on BC in the third, breaking out of their defensive shell and counting Hankinson&rsquo;s quick goal at 1:01. Suddenly, BC was back in the hole. Their breakout passes weren&rsquo;t connecting and the Gophers sensed a kill.&ldquo;I thought we could use our 15th through 19th guys more effectively,&rdquo; said Minnesota coach Doug Woog. &ldquo;They lost a little jump near the end there.&ldquo;You know, we&rsquo;ve really had a tough schedule the past month. We&rsquo;ve played a lot of tough games on the road. Tonight we had reason to quit, and never did. &ldquo;Meanwhile, Ceglarski said he felt proud of his Eagles, whose team didn&rsquo;t have a home this year because their rink is under construction.&ldquo;It was a real test of character to come back from three goals down, the way we did.&rdquo; said the NCAA&rsquo;s all-time victory leader. &ldquo;Our kids just weren&rsquo;t going to quit. We&rsquo;ve been on the road for every game this year, and the kids have been through a lot. They really deserved to make it to Detroit.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01696/5926518-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="574" height="668"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gopher goalie John Blue stopped a total of 78 shots against Boston College.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Gopher Goalie Leaves Boston College Blue

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div>GRAND FORKS, N.D.&mdash;The fight for a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I hockey title never gets tiresome for the University of North Dakota.The Fighting Sioux, winners of four titles and Final Four competitors on six other occasions, have a chance to win it all again.North Dakota won a berth in the 1987 Final Four tourney by whipping St. Lawrence 9-4 in the total-goals quarter-finals, winning 3-1, then 6-3.It could be considered just another day at the office for the Sioux and their fans, but excitement abounded in Grand Forks nonetheless&mdash;partly because of the electrifying performances of sophomore sensation Tony Hrkac and partly because of UND&rsquo;s record-shattering season.Hrkac became college hockey&rsquo;s all-time single-season leading scorer by counting two goals and assisting on five others. That gave him 111 points in 46 games, breaking the previous national record of 109, set by Minnesota-Duluth&rsquo;s Bill Watson in 1984-85.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;The records are nice but all that is secondary&hellip;&rsquo; &mdash;Gasparini</blockquote>A capacity crowd of 6.067 gave Hrkac two standing ovations when he broke Watson&rsquo;s record with a shorthanded goal at 4:03 of the second period.&ldquo;It sent a chill right down my spine,&rdquo; Hrkac said.The sweep gave UND a 38-8 won-lost record, tying the NCAA record for victories, set by Michigan State in 1984-85. The Sioux will play two more games in the Final Four in Detroit. so the record could belong exclusively to them before it&rsquo;s over.&ldquo;The records are nice.&rdquo; saic UND coach Gino Gasparini. &ldquo;and I&rsquo;m happy for them, but all that is secondary to getting to Detroit (Joe Louis Arena, site of the tournament).&rdquo;This becomes the fifth Sioux team in Gasparini&rsquo;s nine seasons to advance to the Final Four. His teams won NCAA titles in 1980 and 1982. finished second in 1979 and third in 1984.St. Lawrence, which ended with a 24-11-1 record, led in both games. Dave Saunders gave the Saints a 1-0 lead just 1:17 into the first game, but the Sioux came back with a goal in each period&mdash;by Lee Davidson, Steve Johnson and Bob Joyce&mdash;to post the victory.Pete Lappin scored for the Saints early in the second game, but Hrkac scored twice and Mal Parks once as the Sioux took charge. Joyce later pocketed his second goal of the scries, giving him 50 for the season, best in the nation. Only nine college hockey players before Joyce had ever hit the halfcentury mark.Rookie goalie Ed Belfour was outstanding again for the Sioux, stopping 68 of the 72 shots he faced in the series, for a .945 save percentage.&ldquo;St. Lawrence is a very good team, as good as a lot of teams in our league.&rdquo; said Gasparini.St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh took the loss in stride.&ldquo;North Dakota was just better than us.&rdquo; Marsh said. &ldquo;But our guys never quit and I&rsquo;m proud of that. We got beat by a good, solid team. When you make a mistake against them, it&rsquo;s magnified 100 times.&rdquo; &#9632;

All In Dav’s Work For Mighty Sioux

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01662/5926573-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="182" height="138"></div>PETERBOROUGH, Ont&mdash;This year&rsquo;s Peterborough Petes didn&rsquo;t dominate the Ontario League as have Pete teams of the past, but they&rsquo;re prepared to make their mark in the playoffs.After an uncharacteristic start which saw them win just five of their first 19 games, the Petes went 16 games over the .500 mark the rest of the way to finish a strong second in the Leyden Division.Peterborough coach Dick Todd is of the opinion that injuries played a factor in the 5-12-2 start of his club.&ldquo;Look, we had two defenseman&mdash;Larry Shaw and Dallas Eakins&mdash;come back from the pro camps and start the season on the injured list. And the same with forwards Rob Murray. Glen Seabrooke, and Kevin MacDonald.&ldquo;We are talking about five very experienced and key players. Once they hit their stride and Kris King came back as an overage, we hit stride.&rdquo;King, like Shaw, Eakins, Murray, and MacDonald, attended the National Hockey League training camp of the Washington Capitals last fall. But rather than ride the bench with Binghamton of the American League, King opted for his fourth season with the Petes.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s big, tough, aggressive and can score,&rdquo; Todd said. &ldquo;He adds so much to our team. We started turning it around at about the time he came back.&ldquo;But overcoming all of those injuries in the early part played a significant role in our turnaround, too.&rdquo;Todd elected to go with two 19-year-old goalies this season&mdash;fourth-year man Kay Whitmore and third-year performer Ron Tugnutt. The two more or less split the duties down the middle, and Todd said both were content with sharing.&ldquo;Sure, the fashionable thing would have been to trade one and go with a youngster as a backup,&rdquo; Todd continued, &ldquo;but we didn&rsquo;t for two simple reasons: We weren&rsquo;t able to come up with another goalie and teams weren&rsquo;t offering fair value for Kay or Ron.&ldquo;There was no way I was going to give one away just for the sake of not going with two 19-year-olds.&ldquo;When Ottawa won the Memorial Cup in 1984, they did it with two 19-year-olds in goal (Darren Pang and Greg Coram). And the very next year, Soo did the same thing when they went to the Cup with Scott Mosey and Marty Abrams in the net.&rdquo;While acknowledging the outstanding season enjoyed by Leydenchampion Oshawa, Todd said he wouldn&rsquo;t mind playing the Generals in the playoffs.&ldquo;I think you would see a really tight scries,&rdquo; Todd said. &ldquo;Oshawa has the big line and they are tough and mobile back of the blue line, but I think we arc comparable defensively.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve won a lot of 3-2 and 4-3 games this season. We&rsquo;re used to the tight, pressure-packed games.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK&mdash;Dick Todd said he thinks three of his Peterborough players&mdash;forwards Jody Hull and Ross Wilson, and defenseman Luke Richardson&mdash;have &ldquo;very good&rdquo; chances of being drafted in the first round of this year&rsquo;s NHL entry draft-&hellip;Scoring champion Scott McCrory hit the 150-point mark in the final game of the regular season, as his Oshawa Generals beat Belleville 4-3. Oshawa went over the 100-point mark with the victory&hellip;Sudbury&rsquo;s Mario Chitaroni. a 50-goal scorer this season. planned to join Flint Spirits of the International League when the Wolves&rsquo; season ended. &#9632;

f0036-01

The Juniors

Petes Preparing For Powerful Playoff Push

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02482/5926618-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="365" height="465"><figcaption class="caption-body">LARRY MITCHELL Cornwall ONTARIO LEAGUE</figcaption></div>The Cornwall Royals squeezed the Toronto Marlboros out of the playoffs during the final week and they did it with the help of Larry Mitchell.The Royals&rsquo; right winger starred for the Leyden Division club, collecting nine points&mdash;five of them goals&mdash;in two games to get the nod as OHL Player of the Week.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03389/5926611-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="362" height="460"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROB BROWN Kamloops WESTERN LEAGUE</figcaption></div>Kamloops center Rob Brown set three records this year on the way to winning his second straight scoring title.Brown finished up with 10 points in two games to earn the nod as WHL Player of the Week. He established new league marks for single-season assists and points and career points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04295/5926604-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="357" height="456"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARC FORTIER Chicoutimi QUEBEC LEAGUE</figcaption></div>Prolific center Marc Fortier won his first scoring championship and he did it with a closing flourish.The Chicoutimi Sagueneens&rsquo; whiz, signed by the Quebec Nordiques, was named QMJHL Player of the Week after he collected 13 points in three games, including two-five point games.At the end of the current season, THE HOCKEY NEWS will select a Micron Junior Player of the Year.WE PUT THE PROTECTION INTO PERFORMANCE &#9632;

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MICRON JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01577/5926649-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="176" height="131"></div>CALGARY&mdash;Reports of Ed Chynoweth&rsquo;s resignation have been greatly exaggerated.Chynoweth said he was &ldquo;hurt&rdquo; by a published report that claimed he planned to abandon his Western League presidency of 15 years, after requesting the board of governors provide him pension and insurance benefits.The story, which appeared in the Regina Leader-Post, also said Chynoweth was still eyeing a front-office position in the National Hockey League. The speculation prompted the scheduling of an emergency meeting of the WHL board, which Chynoweth promptly cancelled.Chynoweth&rsquo;s five-year contract does expire in June, 1988, and he does have pension concerns, especially after suffering a mild heart attack last year. But the 45-year-old administrator isn&rsquo;t about to change horses in what has been a rough WHL stream.&ldquo;It hurts that someone would think I&rsquo;d jump ship in the playoffs or at the end of the season,&rdquo; Chynoweth said, adding that he was never contacted before the story was written. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve given 15 years and the WHL has been good to me.&ldquo;There was a time when the NHL was foremost on my mind but, since the (Philadelphia) Flyers&rsquo; interest, my worries about going to the NHL have been forgotten.&ldquo;Like anybody else, if the right offer came along you&rsquo;d look at it&mdash;but it&rsquo;s a situation that, when you get older, you cool a bit.&rdquo;Chynoweth was interviewed for the assistant GM&rsquo;s post in Philadelphia in 1983, but the position went to Gary Darling.In recent years there has been more talk of Chynoweth going to the NHL, than the NHL coming to Chynoweth.&ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t any teams lining up outside my door,&rdquo; he said.Chynoweth gave the board of governors notice to get the ball rolling on his pension. It was misinterpreted as throwing in the towel. When he moved into a townhouse project in Calgary, doubters said it was temporary and that he had a hot NHL iron in the fire.&ldquo;If I had to do it over again I would have withdrawn the notice,&rdquo; admitted Chynoweth. &ldquo;It was misinterpreted as if I was pointing a gun at somebody&rsquo;s head, and that I would just walk away from my job.&ldquo;The twister (heart attack) is what really brought it (pension) all about.&ldquo;When you have one of those, you think a little differently, no doubt about it. In hindsight it (pension) is a situation I should have been thinking about a long time ago.&ldquo;The gist of it is that (the story) was totally out of whack. I&rsquo;m not looking for a raise or anything like that. How many people can you name who have a five-year contract with no raises? That&rsquo;s what I wanted.&rdquo;Chynoweth, according to reports, is being paid $80,000 in 1987.The recent speculation may have been trying for Chynoweth, but it&rsquo;s nothing compared to the season of sorrow his league has known.The bus crash that killed four Swift Current Broncos, and the spinal cord injury which paralyzed Regina Pat center Brad Hornung, have been especially hard on Chynoweth.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not easy to deal with death or permanent injury,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and it doesn&rsquo;t make it any easier just because it&rsquo;s in sports.&rdquo;Hornung will receive $165,000 from the league&rsquo;s insurance company. The settlement could have been only a tenth of that amount, had the WHL not recently increased its coverage. But lifetime medical costs for Hornung could be $1 million, according to a spokesman for the Toronto-based Committee on Prevention of Spinal Injuries Due to Hockey.A spokesman for the Committee said there have been about 100 spinalcord injuries in hockey since 1976, caused mostly by checks from behind and collisions with the boards.Although this has been a season of rare occurrences, an ongoing headache for Chynoweth is franchise viability. And it appears the Calgary Wranglers may be the latest team to move.The Wranglers, who failed to make the playoffs in the East Division with a 23-44-3 mark, are on the auction block.Should the Wranglers move, Chynoweth expects the league office to remain in Calgary because of its geographical location.And Chynoweth? Well, he expects to stay there, too.WHL WEEK&mdash;Kamloops center Rob Brown broke the league record for career points, when his six-point effort against Victoria gave him 514, three more than Brian Propp had with Brandon from 1976-1979. Two days earlier, Brown bettered the WHL mark for points in a season, collecting his 198th to pass the mark of 197 established by Cliff Ronning of New Westminster in 1984-85&hellip;Victoria set a new pernalty-minute mark of 3,630, eclipsing the team&rsquo;s league record of 3,476 set last season. &#9632;

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It’s Been A Tough Year, But Prez Hangs In

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02418/5926680-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="178" height="135"></div>ST-JEAN&mdash;Stephane Brochu hasn&rsquo;t forgotten the date.On March 27, 1986, the St-Jean Castors&rsquo; defenseman was at the Verdun Auditorium helping his club skate to its third of four consecutive overtime wins against the favored Jr. Canadiens, in the opening round of the Quebec League playoffs.Late in the second period, he laid a heavy mid-ice check on Verdun&rsquo;s Richard Little and both players went down. Then Brochu went back to his bench to await his next shift. &ldquo;All of a sudden, he turned all white and had trouble getting up,&rdquo; said St-Jean coach Jacques Tremblay.Brochu didn&rsquo;t know what was wrong and limped to the dressing room. Castors&rsquo; physiotherapist Francois Jovin knew right away. The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder from Sherbrooke had tom up his right knee.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t feeling any pain and I thought it wasn&rsquo;t that bad,&rdquo; said Brochu, 19, a ninth-round pick of the New York Rangers in the 1985 National Hockey League entry draft. &ldquo;It just felt kind of weird. Then I tried to walk in the dressing room and fell down.&rdquo;A week later, the Rangers&rsquo; highly-regarded prospect was on the operating table at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York City, having two sets of completely tom ligaments repaired.&ldquo;It was the most serious knee injury I&rsquo;ve seen in my career,&rdquo; said Tremblay, who has coached two years at St-Jean and 15 more in Europe.On March 17 in Hull, Brochu was back on St-Jean&rsquo;s blue line, handing out checks against the Hull Olympiques in a battle for third place in the QMJHL&rsquo;s LeBel Division.&ldquo;It was kind of a thrill to see him back,&rdquo; Tremblay said. &ldquo;I really like the guy. If he had not been hurt, he would have been my captain this year.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s very calm, plays well in all three zones, can hit hard and is a complete two-way defenseman.&rdquo;Brochu skated for the Quebec Remparts as a rookie, then went to St-Jean in the Remparts&rsquo; dispersal draft. He had a good year, with 14 goals, 41 points and 121 penalty minutes in 63 games.&ldquo;He was a surprise at the Rangers&rsquo; camp (in 1985),&rdquo; Tremblay said.The Castors swept Verdun in the playoffs, then, without Brochu, were swept in turn by the Olympiques.The recuperative process was long and hard for Brochu, who was still wearing a brace and limping at Christmas. But he said he never thought of giving up.&ldquo;I know I missed a whole year,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m feeling confident. I&rsquo;ve kept in good shape and I think I&rsquo;ll be able to contribute in the playoffs.&rdquo;QUEBEC CACHE&mdash;Under the QMJHL&rsquo;s unique playoff structure, the first- and second-place teams in each division play four games each against the third- and fourth-place teams in their division. The two teams in each division with the best record after the partial round-robin series advance to best-of-seven divisional finals. The two divisional winners then meet in a best-of-seven final. &#9632;

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Blueliner Makes Gritty Comeback Bid

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01663/5926725-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01626/5926718-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="3097" height="3808"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01339/5926711-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="3088" height="3342"></div> &#9632;

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NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0041-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01279/5926756-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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SCOREBOARD

BOSTON&mdash;Dave Reid, LW, recalled from Moncton of AHL.BUFFALO&mdash;Bob Logan, RW, recalled from Rochester of AHL.DETROIT&mdash;Mark Kumpel, LW, recalled from Adirondack of AHL. Peter Ekroth, D, signed from Swedish National Team and assigned to Adirondack.HARTFORD&mdash;Jean-Marc MacKenzie, RW, signed from London of OHL as free agent and assigned to Binghamton of AHL.EDMONTON&mdash;Wayne Van Dorp, RW, recalled from Nova Scotia of AHL.MINNESOTA&mdash;Sean Toomey, LW, signed to pro contract from Univ. Minnesota-Duluth and assigned to Indianapolis of IHL. Emanuel Viveiros, D, and Paul Houck, RW, returned to Springfield of AHL.MONTREAL&mdash;Scott Sandelin, D, returned to Sherbrooke of AHL.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Dave Pichette, D, recalled from Maine of AHL and later returned. Doug Brown, RW, sent back to Maine.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Derek King, LW, recalled from Oshawa of OHL.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Craig Berube, LW, and Brian Dobbin, RW, recalled from Hershey of AHL.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Carl Mokosak, RW, recalled from Baltimore of AHL. Jim McGeough, C, suspended for refusing to report to Baltimore of AHL. Reassigned to Muskegon of IHL.QUEBEC&mdash;Richard Sevigny, G, recalled from Fredericton of AHL. Scott Shaunessy, D, signed to pro contract from Boston University.TORONTO&mdash;Derek Laxdal, RW, recalled from Newmarket of AHL.WINNIPEG&mdash;Brad Jones, C, signed to tryout contract from University of Michigan.<h2>INJURY LIST</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Reed Larson, D, back in lineup. Lyndon Byers, RW, separated shoulder, Gord Kluzak, D, knee surgery, and Louis Sleigher, RW, groin surgery. Sleigher, Byers and Kluzak out for rest of season.BUFFALO&mdash;Shawn Anderson, D, back in lineup. Mikael Andersson, RW, sprained ankle, Wilf Paiement, RW, knee surgery, John Tucker, C, back surgery, and Lindy Ruff, LW, broken collarbone. Andersson out day to day, the rest sidelined for the remainder of the season.CALGARY&mdash;Neil Sheehy, D, and Perry Berezan, LW, back in lineup. Hakan Loob, RW, broken finger, Joel Otto, C, knee injury, and Brian Engblom, D, back surgery. Otto out two more weeks, Loob three week, Engblom for rest of season.CHICAGO&mdash;Bob Sauve, G, and Murray Bannerman, G, back in lineup. Doug Wilson, D, sprained knee, and Steve Ludzik, C, broken collarbone. Ludzik sidelined one more week, and Wilson 10 days. Behn Wilson, D, out for season while recovering from back surgery.DETROIT&mdash;Dave Lewis, D, and Harold Snepsts, D, separated shoulders, Lewis out one more week, Snepsts two. Doug Halward, D, developed phlebitis in his injured knee and is out for the rest of the season.EDMONTON&mdash;Grant Fuhr, G, back in lineup. Randy Gregg, G, dislocated shoulder, out indefinitely.HARTFORD&mdash;Paul MacDermid, RW, and Joel Quenneville, D, back in lineup. Ron Francis, C, bruised shoulder, and Torrie Robertson, LW, broken leg. Francis out day to day, Robertson sidelined indefinitely.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Craig Redmond, D, knee injury, Dave Langevin, D, sprained knee, and Larry Playfair, D, knee surgery. Langevin sidelined day to day, Redmond indefinitely, and Playfair out for rest of season.MINNESOTA&mdash;Jari Gronstrand, D, and Dino Ciccarelli, RW, back in lineup. Scott Bjugstad, LW, abdominal strain, Ron Wilson, D, separated shoulder, Neal Broten, C, shoulder injury, Steve Payne, LW, knee injury, and Tom Hirsch, D, shoulder surgery. Bjugstad out day to day, Wilson three more weeks, Broten four, Payne and Hirsch indefinitely.MONTREAL&mdash;Sergio Momesso, C, Larry Robinson, D, and Shayne Corson, C, back in lineup. Bob Gainey, LW, pulled groin, and Petr Svoboda, D, cut finger. Both sidelined day to day.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Peter McNab, C, back in lineup. Andy Brickley, LW, broken thumb, and Timo Blomqvist, D, broken nose and left eye orbit. Both sidelined for rest of season.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Patrick Flatley, RW, back in lineup. Gord Dineen, D, and Greg Gilbert, LW, separated shoulders, Brent Sutter, C, strained leg, Richard Kromm, LW, Dale Henry, LW, and Denis Potvin, D, sprained knees, and Tomas Jonsson, D, broken jaw. All sidelined indefinitely.NY RANGERS&mdash;Lucien DeBlois, RW, back in lineup. Jeff Jackson, LW, groin injury, Don Maloney, LW, separated shoulder, Jan Erixon, LW, bruised hip, Stu Kulak, RW, eye injury. Maloney, Erixon and Jackson sidelined day to day. Kulak out indefinitely.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Peter Zezel, C, underwent arthroscopic knee surgery, Rick Tocchet, RW, bruised hand, Ron Sutter, C, back injury, and Darryl Stanley, D, ankle injury. Stanley sidelined day to day, Tocchet 10 more days, Zezel and Sutter indefinitely.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Craig Simpson, RW, back in lineup. Randy Hillier, D, bruised hand, Ville Siren, D, sprained knee, and Kevin LaVallee, LW, shoulder surgery. Hillier out one week, Siren and LaVallee indefinitely.QUEBEC&mdash;Normand Rochefort, D, wrist injury, and Dale Hunter, C, reinjured his leg. Both out day to day.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Brian Sutter, LW, severe shoulder injury, Ed Beers, LW, back surgery, and Kent Carlson, LW, spinal surgery. Sutter, Beers and Carlson sidelined for rest of season.TORONTO&mdash;Mike Allison, C, shoulder-injury, Miroslav Frycer, RW, cracked pelvic bone, Chris Kotsopoulos, D, groin injury, and Ken Yaremchuk, C, broken foot. All sidelined indefinitely.VANCOUVER&mdash;Brent Peterson, C, concussion, sidelined indefinitely.WASHINGTON&mdash;Michal Pivonka, C, ankle injury, and John Barrett, D, broken kneecap. Pivonka out day to day, Barrett indefinitely.WINNIPEG&mdash;Paul MacLean, RW, strained knee ligaments, and Hannu Jarvenpaa, RW, severely damaged knee ligaments, MacLean out two more weeks, Jarvenpaa sidelined for rest of season.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>ADIRONDACK&mdash;Randy Hansch, D, recalled from Kalamazoo of IHL. Chris Pusey, G, returned to Indianapolis of IHL. Mike O&rsquo;Neil, D, released. Pierre Aubry, LW, and Steve Martinson, RW, signed as free agents. Geordie Robertson, C, out for season with shoulder injury.BALTIMORE&mdash;Mike Richard, C, signed to pro contract from Toronto of OHL.BINGHAMTON&mdash;Shawn Cronin, D, recalled from Salt Lake of IHL. Mark Vichorek, D, sent to Salt Lake.FREDERICTON&mdash;Claude Julien, D, signed as free agent. Richard Zemlack, LW, suspended for 10 games by AHL for cross-checking infraction.HERSHEY&mdash;John Dzikowski, LW, assigned to Kalamazoo of IHL. Len Hachborn, C, signed as free agent.MAINE&mdash;Jim Bissett, LW, signed as free agent.ROCHESTER&mdash;Mike Craig, G, assigned to Flint of IHL. &#9632;

TRANSACTIONS

<h2>TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE&hellip;</h2>1. Name the Chicago Blackhawk who hails from Cornerbrook, Nfld.2. Name two members of the 1986-87 Toronto Maple Leafs who played their junior hockey with the Saskatoon Blades?3. Which Pittsburgh Penguin is the son of a member of Canada&rsquo;s 1952 Olympic track team?4. Which current NHL GM was among six players Chicago purchased from Detroit for $75,000 on Aug. 20, 1951?5. What famous former NHLer was born in Floral, Sask.?6. Who won back-to-back NHL scoring titles in 1935-36 and &rsquo;36-37?7. Which school has appeared in the most NCAA hockey tournaments?8. Which four 1985-86 QMJHL all-stars are currently playing in the NHL?9. Which current Detroit Red Wing was named the outstanding defenseman in the International League, in 1985-86?10. Who was the first Finnish-born player to have a 100-point season in the NHL?<h2>ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ</h2>ANSWER: 1. Keith Brown. 2. Wendel Clark and Terry Johnson. 3. Craig Simpson. 4. Max McNab. 5. Gordie Howe. 6. Dave (Sweeney) Schriner. 7. Boston College (15). 8. Luc Robitaille, Jocelyn Lemieux, Vincent Damphousse and Jimmy Carson. 9. Lee Norwood. 10. Jari Kurri (104 in 1982-83). BONUSE ANSWER: Real Cloutier.<h2>BONUS QUESTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0877/5926940-1-eng-US/f0042-082.jpg" title="f0042-08" width="568" height="938"><figcaption class="caption-body">BONUS: A 75-goal scorer in the WHA, he never hit 50 in the NHL</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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THN HOCKEY TRIVIA

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02140/5926971-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="584" height="1150"><figcaption class="caption-body">Zarley Zalapski turned down yet another request for him to join the Penguins.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01218/5926978-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="178" height="135"></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;The Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; desperate cry for help carried across the continentAll the way. in fact, from Pittsburgh to Anchorage, Alaska, where it filled the ears of one Zarley Bennett Zalapski. future Canadian Olympian and a defenseman whose potential seems limited only by the imagination.Someday. Zalapski likely will be the fulcrum of the Penguin defense, a cornerstone in their efforts to construct a contender.But not soon enough to help the Penguins salvage this season, which apparently will be the fifth in as many years they fail to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.The Penguins asked Zalapski, their No. 1 pick in the entry draft last June, to join them after defenseman Ville Siren sprained his left knee in a 6-3 victory over Quebec, March 12. The injury is expected to sideline Siren for the rest of the regular season.At that point, the Penguins had 10 regular-season games left and were three points behind the fourth-place New York Rangers.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;&hellip;we&rsquo;re short of defensemen that can make plays offensively and contribute on the power play.&rsquo; &mdash;Berry</blockquote>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re short on defensemen,&rdquo; Penguins&rsquo; coach Bob Berry said. &ldquo;More specifically, we&rsquo;re short of defensemen that can make plays offensively and contribute on the power play.&rdquo;Zalapski, the Penguins felt, could do both. Eventually, he almost surely will. But not now.Zalapski, at the World Invitational Tournament in Alaska with the Canadian national team, considered the proposal for two days, before telling the Penguins he would not be coming.&ldquo;I just decided to stay with the team right now,&rdquo; Zalapski said.His reluctance to join the Penguins is rooted in a fear that playing in the National Hockey League will jeopardize his eligibility for the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary.It did not matter that Olympic officials are expected to open the Games to professionals during a meeting next month.&ldquo;The whole concept now is to open it up,&rdquo; Penguin general manager Eddie Johnston said.&ldquo;According to what we hear from the Canadian contingent and Hockey Canada, the rule is going to change,&rdquo; said Dor Meehan, Zalapski&rsquo;s agent.&ldquo;If that&rsquo;s the case&hellip;then Zarley&rsquo;s hope to play in the Olympic Games wouldn&rsquo;t be jeopardized.&rdquo;Even if pros are not allowed to compete, Zalapski&mdash;who had 10 goals and 22 assists in his first 58 games with Team Canada this year&mdash;likely will attend the Penguin training camp next fall.It is scheduled to begin about one month after Team Canada&rsquo;s and, Zalapski said, &ldquo;I might have to go to both.&rdquo;The day after Zalapski rejected the Penguins&rsquo; request, their playoff hopes were reduced from nominal to negligible by a 3-2 overtime less to the Rangers, March 14.Right winger Dave Hannan called the defeat &ldquo;devastating&rdquo; and no one was inclined to argue with that assessment.For the Penguins, it was something of a nightmare, while thoughts of a lineup including Zarley Zalapski remained nothing more than a distant drcam.&ldquo;Next year.&rdquo; Zalapski said, &ldquo;it probably will be a different story.&rdquo;But that will be too late to prevent the Penguins from enduring the same old story this season.NOTES&mdash;Center Mario Lemieux, who nudged into third place in the NHL scoring race despite missing 17 games this sesaon, reached the 50-goal mark for the first time in his career with a hat trick against Quebec. &ldquo;I missed it last year by two goals,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;I wanted to make sure this year I got it.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Lemieux joined Rick Kehoe. Pierre Larouche, Jean Pronovost and Mike Bullard as the only Penguins ever to score 50 or more goals&hellip;The hat trick against Quebec was Lemieux&rsquo;s sixth of the season, a team record&hellip;The Penguins&rsquo; 35-game attendance was 532,111, well beyond the franchise record of 503,020 set in 40 games last season. &#9632;

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Zalapski Won’t Be Leaving Mark This Season

<div class="byline">BY JEFF GORDON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01183/5927009-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="175" height="135"></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;When St. Louis Blues&rsquo; general manager Ron Caron sent Perry Turnbull to the Montreal Canadiens in a three-for-one deal four seasons ago, his key acquisition seemed to be center Doug Wickenheiser, a former No. 1 overall draft pick.Defensemen Gilbert Delorme came in the deal. but he was sent to Quebec a year later for Bruce Bell. Greg Paslawski was included, too, but he was just an unproven National Hockey League right winger.Times change.Paslawski has become the key Blue in the one-sided deal. Turnbull flopped in Montreal, was quickly sent to Winnipeg and has been injured much of this season. The Blues almost got him back for a draft pick before the trading deadline.While Wickenheiser has been mediocre this season, Paslawski emerged as the team&rsquo;s clutch scorer. In his first 66 games this season, he scored 24 goals, seven of them gamewinners and one a game-tying goal.With 10 games left in the season, only Joey Mullen of Calgary, Jari Kurri of Edmonton, Mike Gartner of Washington, Brent Sutter of the Islanders and Tim Kerr of Philadelphia had more game-winners.Paslawski has been in the middle of most of the Blues&rsquo; late-season theatrics.On Feb. 21 in The Arena, the Blues blew a 3-0 lead to the Quebec Nordiques. who scored twice in the last 55 seconds to force a 3-3 tie and overtime.But 1:23 into overtime, Paslawski converted a beautiful Ron Flockhart pass for the winner.On March I in Pittsburgh, the Blues trailed the Penguins 5-3 in the third period. But Mark Hunter pulled the Blues within one, and Paslawski scored with 1:57 left, salvaging a 5-5 tie.On March 9 in The Arena, Paslawski scored perhaps the biggest goal of the season&mdash;a drive from the slot with 59 seconds left in overtime, giving the Blues a key 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.Paslawski is one of several Blues who have elevated their play for the stretch run. After the all-star break, he had nine goals and five assists in 16 games.&ldquo;Since Rendez-vous, he has really come in and played well,&rdquo; Blues&rsquo; assistant coach Doug MacLean said. &ldquo;Defensively, he has done a good job. He seems more intense. He takes his man out of the play a lot more.&ldquo;A lot of times he makes a big play along the boards to get the puck out of our zone, things you don&rsquo;t notice. He and Doug (Gilmour) have done a great job killing penalties for us. He&rsquo;s got his confidence. All of a sudden everything becomes easier when you play with confidence.&rdquo;Paslawski was erratic earlier this season. He twice scored gamewinning goals in back-to-back games, but he also fell into slumps, going seven and eight games without a goal.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a little frustrating when the puck isn&rsquo;t going in for you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It gets you down a little bit. Last year, having the playoffs I did, I thought I would come in and have a big year.&rdquo;He scored 10 goals and added seven assists in 17 playoff games. The Blues hoped Paslawski. given a full season to fill Mullen&rsquo;s skates as a sniper, would emerge as a 30-goal scorer after consecutive 22-goal seasons here.&ldquo;Before they traded Mullen, we had a lot of right wingers here,&rdquo; Paslawski said. &ldquo;That gave me the opportunity-&hellip;They say I&rsquo;m a streaky goal-scorer, but I don&rsquo;t want to be. I&rsquo;m getting my chances. I&rsquo;m averaging three or four shots a game. It would be nice to hit 30.&rdquo;Paslawski, 25, knows this season is pivotal. He is entering the option year of his contract and would like a new, long-term deal. He is planning to get married and wants to buy a house. But he isn&rsquo;t one of the Blues&rsquo; untouchables yet. Club sources say he and Wickenheiser were offered to the Washington Capitals for Bobby Carpenter earlier this season.&ldquo;Everybody on the team wants to stay,&rdquo; Paslawski said. &ldquo;We want to have the same 20 guys every year. We know it can&rsquo;t be that way. But I&rsquo;d like to be one of those five or six top guys.&rdquo;BLUENOTES&mdash;The Jacques Demers compensation case was scratched from the agenda at the board of governors meeting in March. Detroit Red Wing owner Mike Ilitch was advised by his attorneys not to talk with Blues&rsquo; chairman Michael Shanahan, who wanted to iron something out. &#9632;

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Paslawski’s Becoming Blues’ Big-Goal Man

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02129/5927040-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="178" height="135"></div>LANDOVER, Md.&mdash;It will be a long time before anyone in Washington or Pittsburgh parrots the National Hockey, League line that hockey fights are a good outlet for overheated tempers and nobody ever gets hurt in them.Superstar Mario Lemieux of the Penguins, obviously frustrated by the close checking of Washington&rsquo;s Bob Gould, dropped his gloves in the second period at Capital Centre on March 20 and was immediately reduced to jelly by a right uppercut.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never hit anybody any harder,&rdquo; said Gould, who was giving away six inches and 25 pounds.The one-sided bout began innocently enough, with some scuffling along the boards during a delayed penalty, after Gould was cross-checked by Doug Bodger. The two were shoved apart by linesman Mark Vines, who then joined partner Kevin Collins in untangling some other bodies.Suddenly, Lemieux dropped his gloves and tried to grab Gould with his left hand, preparatory to swinging a right. Lemieux missed and Gould didn&rsquo;t, landing two rights and a left before Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Craig Simpson jumped on him. All the players on the ice piled in and when they were unstacked, Lemieux was in distress.Lemieux was assisted off the ice and rushed to George Washington University Hospital. At first it was feared that he had suffered damage to the orbital bone around the left eye, but tests and X-rays showed no damage beyond a slight concussion and a bruise below the eye.&ldquo;He hit me in the comer and I gave him a push back,&rdquo; Gould said. &ldquo;The whistle blew and we were talking. Then he said, &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s go&rsquo; and I said, &lsquo;Okay.&rsquo; He dropped his gloves and I was fortunate to get the first punch in.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not that type of player. I didn&rsquo;t go looking for it. And there was no need for him to go looking, either. The first thing that came to mind when he said &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s go&rsquo; was that I could get him off the ice for five minutes. I never thought about hurting him.&rdquo;Simpson said, &ldquo;Mario just tried to grab his arms and missed. Gould got in a punch and it was a good one. It obviously hurt Mario and he was defenseless, which was why I went in.&rdquo;This was only the 20th fight in which Gould has been involved in six NHL seasons. Over the last two years, he had fought only twice, both times against James Patrick of the New York Rangers.&ldquo;Mario Lemieux is a great fighter,&rdquo; said Murray. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen him throw some good ones. But Bob Gould obviously is a heavyweight.&rdquo;Gould was a heavyweight in this key Patrick Division contest in more ways than with his fists. He scored two goals, reaching 20 for the fourth time in six seasons, as Washington won 43, and fought off the Penguins&rsquo; bid to gain a share of fourth place.&ldquo;This was a playoff hockey game and Bob Gould has played playoff hockey all year,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s probably had only three average games all year. He&rsquo;s been really consistent from day one.&rdquo;CAPSULES&mdash;Center Michal Pivonka, who missed four games because of strained ankle ligaments suffered in a wrestling match with Boston&rsquo;s Steve Kasper, tried to return against Pittsburgh, but was forced to depart after two shifts&hellip;Greg Adams, in his third game back after a month&rsquo;s layoff with a collapsed lung, recorded his first NHL hat trick in a 5-4 loss to Los Angeles&hellip; Gaetan Duchesne scored at eight seconds of the first period, fastest goal in Capitals&rsquo; history, during a 3-3 tie at St. Louis. &#9632;

f0046-02

Gould Scores With His Fists And Stick Against Penguins

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0391/5927071-1-eng-US/f0046-032.jpg" title="f0046-03" width="452" height="453"><figcaption class="caption-body">By Bob Duff</figcaption></div>Q: Could you please give me the career NHL statistics on Bob Dailey and his cousin, Chris?Lee Stratford, Van Nuys, CAA: Dailey, a first-round draft choice of the Vancouver Canucks in 1973, played nine NHL seasons with the Canucks and Philadelphia Flyers, who acquired him from the Canucks midway through the 1976-77 season. He played in 561 games, scored 94 goals and 231 assists, and earned 814 penalty minutes.In Stanley Cup action, Dailey had 12 goals, 34 assists and 106 penalty minutes over 63 games.If Dailey has a cousin named Chris, he has never played a game in the NHL.Q: Which are the three largest rinks in the NHL, both in terms of seating capacity and ice surface?John Kuzub, Flin Flon, MBA: Detroit&rsquo;s Joe Louis Arena, with a seating capacity of 19,275, is the largest rink in that regard. New Jersey&rsquo;s Brendan Byrne Arena follows close behind with 19,040 seats, while the Capital Center in Landover, MD., home of the Washington Capitals, seats 18,130.As for ice surface, all the NHL rinks measure 200 feet by 85 feet except Boston Garden (191 by 83), Buffalo (196 by 85) and Chicago (185 by 85).Q: I would like to know where I can write to the Detroit Red Wings?Robert H. Robbins, Memphis, TNA: You can reach the Red Wings at the following address: Detroit Red Wings, 600 Civic Center Drive, Detroit, MI, 48226.Q: My question is about the night Darryl Sittier scored 10 points in one game against Boston. I remember watching the game on TV but I cannot recall who scored the only goal that Sittier did not get a point on. Also I was wondering who were the two backup goaltenders that night?Larry Stevens, Boutiliers Point, NS A: Sittler picked up four goals and six assits against Boston goalie Dave Reece on Feb. 7, 1976, to set an NHL record for points in one game. He failed to register a point on the Maple Leafs&rsquo; seventh goal in their 11-4 win over the Bruins. That goal was scored by George Ferguson. Inge Hammar-strom and Scott Garland drew assists.The backup goaltenders on that record-setting night were Gord McRae for Toronto and Gerry Cheevers for Boston.If you want your question answered by the Duffer, send the query to:ASK THE DUFFER, 347 Whitewood Rd., Saskatoon, SK S7J 4K8 &#9632;

f0046-03

ASK THE DUFFER

<div class="byline">BY LARRY HUMBER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01208/5927102-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg"></div><h2>ACROSS:</h2>1. He led all Flames with 241 shots on goal last season (8).5. Abbreviation for National Collegiate Athletic Association (4).9. Canadien who has twice led the NHL in penalty minutes (5).10. Former Bruin Leveille (7).11. Nickname of Nelson Skalbania&rsquo;s WHA team (6).12. Jab opponent with stick blade (5).14. Appropriate nickname of &lsquo;King Richard&rsquo; Brodeur&rsquo;s last amateur club (6).16. Almost forgotten Red Wing who topped playoff scorers in 1942, Don (6).19. Yanks (5).21. Reply (6).24. Late hockey great Eddie Shore&rsquo;s nickname, &ldquo;The Edmonton (7).25. One of several &ldquo;Babes&rdquo; in hockey&rsquo;s Hall of Fame (5).26. 1980 U.S. Olympic team member who was with Winnipeg last season (4).27. Birthplace of Oilers&rsquo; Mark Messier and Randy Gregg (8).<h2>DOWN:</h2>1. He led NHL in penalty minutes in 1979-80 (4).2. Birthplace of rugged Flame Tim Hunter (7).3. North Stars&rsquo; GM (5).4. Former Penguin netminder (6).6. Pursue (5).7. He was first pick of Sabres in last draft (8).8. Blackhawk previously with Canucks (6).13. American League great Art Stratton was a graduate of this North Bay senior club (8).15. Patrick in Hall of Fame (6).17. Hall of Famer &lsquo;Nels&rsquo; (7).18. Relayed puck to a teammate (6).20. Former Canuck nicknamed &lsquo;Loop&rsquo; (5).22. Flyers&rsquo; second choice in last draft (5).23. First name of veteran Canuck.Crossword solution in Classified Section on page 44. &#9632;

f0047-01

CROSSWORD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02150/5927133-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The hockey world will never know just how good &lsquo;Michel Briere could have been. The Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; promising young center died in a car crash, following his rookie season in 1969-70. He scored 12 goals and 32 assists in his first year, and was regarded as a future star.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0047-02

THE WAY WE WERE

<h2>30 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; In a game against New York Rangers, Bert Olmstead of Montreal Canadiens tied a playoff record by assisting on five goals. The Habs&rsquo; left winger shared the mark with fellow Canadien greats Toe Blake and Maurice Richard. Former New York Ranger Mikko Leinonen now holds the record of six, set in April, 1982.&bull; Hap Day resigned as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs amidst a storm of controversy. Day admitted he felt &ldquo;publicly dismembered&rdquo; after Leaf owner Conn Smythe held a press conference to address the team&rsquo;s problems.&bull; Harry Lumley and Johnny Bower were regarded as star goaltenders in the American League. But. Rochester&rsquo;s Bobby Perreault moved to the head of the netminding class in the playoff&rsquo;s early going. Perreault recorded back-to-back shutouts against the Providence Reds in the first two games of the Calder Cup playoffs.<h2>15 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; Bobby Hull of Chicago Blackhawks scored the 600th goal of his illustrious NHL career against Boston&rsquo;s Gerry Cheevers. All of sudden, Gordie Howe&rsquo;s career mark of 786 goals looked attainable. If Hull maintained a pace of 40-plus goals per season over the next four-and-a-half years, he would have beaten Howe&rsquo;s record. However, the following season, Hull jumped to the fledgling World Hockey Association and Howe&rsquo;s record was safe.&bull; Detroit Red Wing center Marcel Dionne set a new rookie scoring mark. The 20-year-old budding superstar had a four-point game while earning his 75th point of the season. Gilbert Perreault held the previous record of 72.&bull; The Philadelphia Flyers signed Bobby Clarke to a five-year contract. The contract was worth $80,000 per season for the 22-year-old center and kept him safely out of the WHA&rsquo;s clutches. &#9632;

THIS WEEK…

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-03117/5927188-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg" title="f0047-03" width="584" height="1446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dale Rolfe</figcaption></div>At 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, defenseman Dale Rolfe was an imposing figure during his nine-year National Hockey League career.But size didn&rsquo;t make any difference to Philadelphia penalty king Dave (Hammer) Schultz on the night the two met in one of the most one-sided fights in NHL playoff history.It was the seventh game of the 1974 semi-final series and Rolfe, along with the rest of his New York Ranger teammates, were being intimidated all night long by Schultz and the Philadelphia Flyers.Finally, in an uncharacteristic move, Rolfe decided to take matters into his own hands, squaring off with Schultz. But before Rolfe could throw a punch, Schultz lowered the boom several times on Rolfe&rsquo;s face. By the time the linesman stepped in to separate the duo, Rolfe&rsquo;s knees had buckled and he fell to the ice.As Rolfe got to his feet he had blood running down his face from a cut above his eye. It was a low point in his hockey career, and something Rolfe has never forgetten.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind talking about it, really I don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Rolfe, who played for the Los Angeles Kings, Detroit RedWings, Boston Bruins and Rangers. &ldquo;Fighting is a part of hockey. There&rsquo;s nothing I can do about that.&ldquo;The Flyers had been trying to get Brad Park and myself out of the Rangers&rsquo; lineup, because we were playing so well back on defense. On this particular play, play had stopped and a couple of Flyers took a couple of extra shots on Park.&ldquo;I decided to step in. The next thing I know I&rsquo;m paired up with Schultz. The one big thing I remember about the fight is that nobody from the Rangers stepped in to help. Nobody helped me. I&rsquo;ll never forget that.&rdquo;Rolfe arrived in the NHL to stay in 1967 when expansion doubled the size of the league. The major-league opportunity came just in time because, after four years with Eddie Shore&rsquo;s American League Springfield Indians. Rolfe was considering retirement.Shore&rsquo;s methods were somewhat different.&ldquo;Had I had to play one more season with Shore I would have retired,&rdquo; said Rolfe, who played forward in junior hockey. &ldquo;Fortunately the (L.A.) Kings bought the Springfield franchise and I was saved. Playing under Shore was unbelievable, almost inhuman.&rdquo;Today, at 46, Rolfe co-owns the Gravenhurst Plumbing and Electric Company in Gravenhurst, Ont., where he resides with his wife and family. &#9632;

f0047-03

Rolfe Victim Of ‘Hammer’ing

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0378/5927219-1-eng-US/c0004-032.jpg" title="C0004-03" width="545" height="799"><figcaption class="caption-body">BERNIE NICHOLLS</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-01229/5927233-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg" title="C0004-01" width="190" height="180"></div>Dodge-Plymouth is the official sponsor of NHL All-Star Fan Balloting<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-02139/5927226-1-eng-US/c0004-022.jpg" title="C0004-02" width="148" height="154"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Los Angeles King center Bernie Nicholls led all scorers with six goals and eight points in four road games to earn the Chrysler-Dodge Player of the Week Award for the period ending March 22. Nicholls, who steered his club to a 2-2-0 record during the week, outdistanced Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; goalie Greg Stefan, Calgary Flames&rsquo; center Mike Bullard and Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; left winger Ryan Walter for the award.On Nicholl&rsquo;s behalf, ChryslerDodge will donate $500 to the youth hockey organization of the player&rsquo;s choice. ChryslerDodge also sponsors the Player of the Month and the Player of the Year, for which the latter receives the Chrysler Corporation vehicle of his choice.The 25-year-old Nicholls, a native of Haliburton, Ont., scored goals in each of the Kings&rsquo; four road games this past week, including his second game-winner of the season on Tuesday, March 17. In that contest, a 5-4 win over the Washington Capitals, Nicholls also set a season-high for a Los Angeles player with five points, including his ninth career hattrick and two assists. The eightpoint week lifted his season scoring total to 30-44-74.The most durable of active Kings, Nicholls has now extended his consecutive games played streak with the club to 258, which currently ranks fourth overall in the NHL. Only three skaters&mdash;Harford Whalers&rsquo; center Doug Jarvis (956), Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; right winger Steve Larmer (394) and Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; center Dale Hawerchuk (363)&mdash;maintain longer streaks. &#9632;

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April 3, 1987

Chico’s Collection Agency: Seeking Out Hockey Memorabilia

‘Skoro’ Playing For Today And Tomorrow

NHL SUMMARIES

Slap Cuffs On Filion For Impersonating GM