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 17, 1987

The Hockey News April 17, 1987

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02327/5071586-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="558" height="742"><figcaption class="caption-body">Forward Sheldon Kennedy was coming off a broken ankle against Prince Albert.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01476/5071593-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="110" height="111"></div>SWIFT CURRENT, Sask&mdash;The final countdown had begun and, instead of a sombre atmosphere in the Centennial Civic Arena, the appreciative roar was deafening.It was the final minute in the final Western League game of the season for Swift Current Broncos. And despite exiting the playoffs quicker than they would have liked, the Broncos were being applauded as champions.The fans were cheering for a team which endured both tragedy and triumph. The Dec. 30 bus crash which claimed the lives of four Broncos (Scott Kruger, Chris Mantyka, Brent Ruff and Trent Kresse) was still on everybody&rsquo;s mind, fans and players alike.Both pressed on in the face of adversity. The fans filled the 2,350-seat arena and the Broncos responded by gaining the sixth and final playoff berth in the East Division.On the final night, it did not matter that the Prince Albert Raiders claimed a 7-4 win to win the best-of-five division quarter-final series 3-1.&ldquo;In the last minute of the last game, a fan stood up behind our bench and yelled, &lsquo;Thanks for a hell of a season,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Swift Current trainer Gord Hahn. &ldquo;The fans joined in and gave us a long standing ovation&mdash;and then the Prince Albert bench joined in. It sent a shiver down my spine.&rdquo;There were plenty of misty eyes among the more than 3,000 in attendance March 28. But enduring the pain has gained the Broncos everlasting respect.&ldquo;Like Don Cherry said, &lsquo;We had a built-in excuse,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Swift Current coach Graham James. &ldquo;We could have gone through the motions. We had to put guys in new roles and reorganize the team. The players did a good job; we had a tremendous second half.&ldquo;We tried to put it (accident) behind us as much as possible and there&rsquo;s no doubt it was very intense from the end of January to the end of March. It seemed every night it was a must-win game.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had provincial champions but I&rsquo;ve never felt better about a team. It&rsquo;s disappointing when you lose a game and realize it&rsquo;s finally over. The spotlight is turned out and you&rsquo;re not sure where you&rsquo;re supposed to go. I felt like that for awhile.&ldquo;But we went through something nobody has gone through and hopefully nobody will have to go through again.&rdquo;The Broncos appeared in the thick of their playoff series, winning 4-2 after losing the opener 6-3. But Prince Albert&rsquo;s 5-2 and 7-4 triumphs proved the third-place Raiders were a better club.&ldquo;They wore us down with four lines and we didn&rsquo;t have the depth, with Peter Soberlak out and Sheldon Kennedy just coming back from a broken ankle,&rdquo; admitted James. &ldquo;The numbers got to us. They wore us down physically and with experience&mdash;they have players with Memorial Cup experience.&ldquo;But we gave a good account of ourselves. We went as far as we could.&rdquo;Going further next season is a good possibility for the Broncos. Not only are they in good financial shape, the club will boast three of the league&rsquo;s most-talented forwards Soberlak, Kennedy and Joe Sakic.Soberlak, a 75-point man, center Joe Sakic and defenseman Ryan McGill are all expected to go early in the National Hockey League entry draft.Sakic had an incredible season. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound rookie center had 133 points on 60 goals and 73 assists and is the division&rsquo;s nominee for player-of-the-year honors. He&rsquo;s up against Kamloops Blazer center Rob Brown, who scored a WHL-record212 points.&ldquo;Joe&rsquo;s incredible,&rdquo; said James. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if it has anything to do with it, but his father is a carpenter and fisherman and Joe led us out of the wilderness.&ldquo;We took a chance on Soberlak but Lome Frey (assistant coach) followed him and felt he had everything to be a top-notch player.&ldquo;We have to play better defensively from the goal out and be physically stronger. If we do that we have the makings of a decent team.&rdquo;Off the ice the picture is bright too. The Broncos benefited from no inter-divisional play, low budget and good attendance.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to make a few bucks,&rdquo; said James. &ldquo;We based our budget on an average of 1,600 fans and we were close to 2,200 and of course everything in the playoffs is gravy. The final figures aren&rsquo;t in but it certainly looks good.&rdquo;James added it was a lot more than just sympathy which drew fans in the city that regained its franchise from Lethbridge last summer.&ldquo;Sympathy, sure there was some of that but we got the women and children out all year too,&rdquo; said James. &ldquo;The fans who remember the old days could never recall that happening. We have an exciting team with the kind of players the fans can identify with.&rdquo;And admire, too.WHL WEEK&mdash;Moose Jaw swept Regina in three games (4-1, 5-4, 6-0) for the right to meet Medicine Hat in one East Division semi-final; Prince Albert meets Saskatoon in the other.</div><div style="clear: both;"> &#9632;</div>

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The Juniors

‘Hell Of A Season’ Ends For Gutsy Broncos

<h2>Mon. Mar. 30</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01534/5071902-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="553" height="1622"></div><h2>Tue. Mar. 31</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02416/5071895-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="545" height="1993"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03318/5071888-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="554" height="1390"></div><h2>Wed. Apr. 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04223/5071881-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="554" height="2247"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05173/5071874-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="554" height="1967"></div><h2>Thu. Apr. 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06147/5071867-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="552" height="1661"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07136/5071860-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="546" height="1121"></div><h2>Fri. Apr. 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08128/5071853-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="541" height="796"></div><h2>Sat. Apr. 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09116/5071846-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="547" height="1664"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10113/5071839-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="557" height="3663"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01505/5071832-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="552" height="1447"></div><h2>Sun. Apri. 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02401/5071825-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="545" height="585"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03317/5071818-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="557" height="2062"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04264/5071811-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="544" height="972"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05217/5071804-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="550" height="970"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06198/5071797-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="554" height="2081"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07186/5071790-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="1180" height="991"><figcaption class="caption-body">Denis Savard scored a hat trick to give Chicago a 5-2 win over Toronto and berth in the Norris Division playoffs.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="byline">COMPILED BY RICHARD BEALES Copy Editor</div>Now that the regular season has ended and five teams have been eliminated from further play, national teams have been quickly adding reinforcements&mdash;or building from scratch&mdash;for the World Championships, starting April 17 in Vienna.Team Canada won&rsquo;t be getting Mario Lemieux unless the Pittsburgh Penguin star has a sudden change of heart.He was asked if he planned on going to Vienna?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think so,&rdquo; he replied.Why not?&ldquo;Too many injuries this year.&rdquo; Lemieux missed several games with a knee injury and a bout of bronchitis.He simply shrugged when asked if he knew his decision would upset people.&ldquo;One more time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m used to it.&rdquo;Lemieux has twice refused in the past to play for a representative Canadian team.Meanwhile, 11 Canadian NHLers and two members of the national team accepted invitations to join the team.Lemieux&rsquo;s Pittsburgh teammate, Doug Bodger, will join New Jersey&rsquo;s Bruce Driver and Team Canada&rsquo;s Zarley Zalapski on defense, while national team goalie Sean Burke mans the nets.Four Minnesota North Stars&mdash;Dino Ciccarelli, Brian Bellows, Keith Acton and Dirk Graham&mdash;lead the forward brigade, while Vancouver&rsquo;s Tony Tanti and Barry Pederson, New Jersey&rsquo;s Kirk Muller and Pat Verbeek and Buffalo&rsquo;s Mike Foligno also answered the call.National Hockey League Players&rsquo; Association spokesman Sam Simpson said the team is still waiting for answers from Vancouver goalie Richard Brodeur and Canuck defenseman Doug Lidster.The players will assemble in Hamilton, Ont. and play Canada&rsquo;s national team April 10 and 11 at Copps Coliseum.Simpson said the selection committee&mdash;NHL hockey operations director Jim Gregory, NHLPA executivedirector Alan Eagleson, national team coach Dave King and Hockey Canada executive Sam Pollock&mdash;may go with just 17 players in the team&rsquo;s first game, April 17 against the U.S.By that time, NHL first playoff rounds will have gone six games, and the team will be able to pick up players from eliminated clubs.The U.S. team, which will be partially comprised of college players, will also add some pros to round out the lineup, ideally, the U.S. team would like to get North Star Neal Broten but he&rsquo;s recovering from a shoulder injury and may not be available. Other North Stars being considered include Gordie Roberts and Brian Lawton.<h2>END OF AN ERA</h2>Dave Hodge&rsquo;s 16-year career as host of Hockey Night in Canada is over.Whether he quit or was fired is a matter of interpretation that Hodge and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp, have agreed to disagree on. And while it&rsquo;s too early to tell, it would surprise no one if the answer is found in a court of law.The bottom line, for now, is that he won&rsquo;t be back in his familiar light blue blazer. In fact, he was negotiating to join the Global television network for NHL playoffs game it will televise this spring.Hodge, considered one of Canada&rsquo;s top broadcast journalists, stirred controversy when he criticized CBC network policy on air, March 14.Hodge, host for the completed Calgary-Toronto game, was irate when he was informed that after filling the HN1C time slot with the end of regulation play between Montreal and Philadelphia, the overtime period would not be shown. The national news was presented instead.Hodge, who was upset over a CBC decision earlier that day to not show the closing minutes of national championship curling action, reacted angrily and told the viewers the decision was typical of how the CBC operates.In the ensuing two weeks, Hodge was replaced as host by Ron MacLean. CBC and Ohlmeyer Communications, producers of HN1C, said Hodge was under &ldquo;indefinite suspension&rdquo; and his situation would be reviewed after a meeting involving Hodge, the network and Ohlmeyer.No meeting ever took place because Hodge said he interpreted his being replaced on two telecasts as being &ldquo;effectively fired.&rdquo;<h2>STREAK ENDED</h2>The Canadian national team&rsquo;s six-game unbeaten streak came to an end April 5, when the Moscow Selects won 4-3 in Medicine Hat, Alta.The loss dropped Canada&rsquo;s record in the 10-game series against Moscow to 5-2-1. Anatoly Fedotov scored the winner on a power play, while Wally Schreiber, Don McLaren and Larry Trader notched Canada&rsquo;s goals.Team Canada came close to defeat March 30 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., but Serge Roy scored in the last minute to tie the game 3-3 after goalie Sean Burke was pulled for an extra attacker. Schreiber and Marc Habscheid had the other Canadian goals.<h2>MASTERTON NOMINEES</h2>The Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association has selected its slate of 21 team nominees for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL player &ldquo;who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.&rdquo;The nominees are: Boston&mdash;Rick Middleton: Buffalo&mdash;Lindy Ruff; Calgary&mdash;Joe Mullen; Detroit&mdash;Dave Lewis; Edmonton&mdash;Kevin Lowe; Hartford&mdash;Doug Jarvis; Los Angeles&mdash;Dave Taylor; Minnesota&mdash;Keith Acton; Montreal&mdash;Rick Green; New Jersey&mdash;Doug Sulliman; N.Y. islanders&mdash;Ken Morrow; N.Y. Rangers&mdash;Don Maloney; Philadelphia&mdash;Dave Poulin; Pittsburgh&mdash;Randy Cunney worth; Quebec&mdash;Mike Eagles; St. Louis&mdash;Bernie Federko; Toronto&mdash;Rick Vaive; Vancouver-Richard Brodeur; Washington&mdash;Lou Franceschetti; Winnipeg&mdash;Jim Kyte.<h2>PROBERT EXPELLED</h2>Detroit Red Wing Bob Probert has been expelled from an alcoholism treatment center in Windsor. Ont&hellip;because the center&rsquo;s director felt the winger had an indifferent attitude toward his own rehabilitation.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just loafing, he&rsquo;s going through the motions,&rdquo; Rev, Paul Charbonneau was quoted as saying in a Canadian Press story.Probert&rsquo;s expulsion from the Brentwood Recovery Home for Alcoholics was not motivated by a return to drinking, another report said, but to his frequent departures for games and practices. Others in the institution were said to resent the special treatment.Probert was ordered to check into the home after his conviction on impaired driving charges. &#9632;

Departments

Lemieux Won’t Play In World Tournament

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02406/5071231-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="113" height="113"></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;A team with Dale Hawerchuk, Randy Carlyle and Paul MacLean should be able to form an effective power play. But for the Winnipeg Jets, the pieces have never fallen into place.Coach Dan Maloney has spent countless hours of practice time refining the unit, with the same meagre results. After 78 games, they had the fewest goals (51), one of the three lowest success rates (17.7 per cent) and the fewest chances (288) of any power play in the National Hockey League.One member of the unit, Carlyle, once quarterbacked the most successful power play in league history&mdash;that of the 1981-82 Pittsburgh Penguins, which set an NHL record with 99 goals.Coach Dan Maloney remained optimistic, however, saying he thinks he knows where the breakdown has occurred.&ldquo;We have to have people who&rsquo;ll pay the price by going to the slot,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There is no reason why we can&rsquo;t be big in the slot area and score off deflections and rebounds like other teams do.&ldquo;Its not a question of being big enough. We&rsquo;re as big as any team in the league. But in the playoffs, games are played by inches. Power plays are critical. That&rsquo;s where you win or lose.&rdquo;Oddly enough. Maloney said his players seem to be willing to stand tough in the slot when the team is playing at even strength.The Jets&rsquo; power play does have potentially good components. Hard shooters such as Dave Ellett, Fredrik Olausson, Mario Marois and Carlyle staff the points, with good puckhandlers such as Dale Hawerchuk, Paul MacLean, Brian Mullen and Thomas Steen working up front.MacLean is the most adept at creating a screen, tipping shots and cashing rebounds, Mullen and Steen are liable to be found on the edge, lurking for long rebounds and loose pucks. The key is Hawerchuk, who reads the situation and reacts accordingly.&ldquo;We have all of the right people on the power play,&rdquo; said Maloney, &ldquo;but it hasn&rsquo;t clicked. We&rsquo;ve got to sort it out before the playoffs.&rdquo;While Maloney puzzled over the power-play picture, he also welcomed a new recruit to camp&mdash;defenseman Peter Taglianetti, called up for the playoffs from Sherbrooke of the American League.&ldquo;It is a compliment to be called up now,&rdquo; said the 23-year-old, Winnipeg&rsquo;s fourth choice (43rd overall) in the 1983 entry draft. &ldquo;It allows you to ease your way into the lineup rather than being rushed into action in the playoffs if you are needed.&rdquo;Last fall, Taglianetti had a notion he would be spending the entire season in Winnipeg. His relegation to the minors hurt.&ldquo;Being sent down was a blow,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I didn&rsquo;t mope. I worked hard and picked up my game. I got a lot of ice time in Sherbrooke. I killed penalties and played the power play and took a regular shift.&rdquo;At Sherbrooke, Taglianetti was asked to handle the puck more, skate with it and contribute to the flow of the game. The results have been less than flabbergasting, but it is obvious he has come a long way.&ldquo;I was pleased with what I saw of him,&rdquo; said general manager John Ferguson, after Taglianetti&rsquo;s first game in the NHL this season, on March 31 against Edmonton.Taglianetti&rsquo;s debut, in a 5-4 loss, was eventful. Twice, he slammed Glenn Anderson into the boards, then crushed Moe Lemay. Later, he took a heavy hit from Dave Hunter. The force of the blow dislodged a pane of glass.BENCH BITS&mdash;Right winger Jim Nill, a superb checker, hoped to be ready for the start of playoffs. He has been bothered by a groin pull&hellip;Left winger Steve Rooney has recovered from bruised ribs&hellip;Paul MacLean has been wearing braces on both knees&hellip;Twenty-seven players were on the Jets&rsquo; roster as the team concluded its regular schedule on the road. Among them were Craig Endean, the Jets fourth-round draft choice in 1986, from the Regina Pats. A gifted scorer, Endean had 69 goals and 77 assists for 146 points to finish second in Western League scoring. &#9632;</div>

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Jets’ Power Play Source Of Problems

In next week&rsquo;s April 24 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, we will announce our annual THN Comeback Players of the Year.Each year at this time, we select one goaltender, one defenseman and one forward who have bounced back from poor showings or off-seasons to playa dominant role for their respective teams.All we can say at this point is expect two of the three Comeback Players of the Year to come from the National Hockey League&rsquo;s unofficial comeback team of the year.In addition to that, we&rsquo;ll also have Stanley Cup playoff updates as well as complete playoff scoring and summaries.Plus, we&rsquo;ll preview the 1987 World Championships, scheduled for April 17-May 3 in Vienna. We&rsquo;ll have in-depth reports on Team Canada and Team USA plus capsule comments on the other participating nations. &#9632;

NEXT WEEK

Out-of-work Lome Henning is a National Hockey League coach&hellip;now more than ever.He has officially endured his profession&rsquo;s rite of passage.&ldquo;I saw Al Arbour the other day in Washington and we were talking about Henning,&rdquo; Harry Neale said two days after the former journeyman player was fired by the Minnesota North Stars. &ldquo;And Al said, &lsquo;Well, he&rsquo;s (Henning) a real coach now. It&rsquo;s happened to him, too.&rsquo; &ldquo;Another one bites the ice chips.Nobody is safe from the innate insecurities of an NHL coaching job. Neale wasn&rsquo;t. Not even Scotty Bowman was. Or Arbour, although he achieved star status with the New York Islanders after being dismissed by the St. Louis Blues.&ldquo;Al Arbour&mdash;he&rsquo;s been fired once,&rdquo; said Neale, &ldquo;but he&rsquo;s the envy of every NHL coach because he coached 13 years on the Island, won four Stanley Cups, quit on his own terms and they had a night for him.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021032/5070057-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="344" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Dryden</figcaption></div>Heaven on earth for an NHL coach.Henning was the fourth league coach to be fired this year. A fifth&mdash;Pat Quinn&mdash;was fired by the league. There will be more during the off-season. Detroit&rsquo;s Jacques Demers, the 11th Red Wing coach in the past 11 seasons, will not be among them.That circumstance will cut into the starting field of Neale&rsquo;s golf tournament for ex-coaches this summer. One of the television commentator&rsquo;s favorite running gags, he anticipates the need for two courses just to accommodate all the Detroit cast-offs.Neale, of course, is in that group. A member of the class of 1985-86. So was Brad Park.&ldquo;It started off with the Detroit alumni because they&rsquo;ve got a very active alumni,&rdquo; says Neale of his golf gag. &ldquo;Every once in a while, some of the guys say, &lsquo;Hey, you&rsquo;re in the group now. I see Bobby Kromm, or Sid Abel, or Nick Polano, or Parkie (Brad Park), we have a kind of camaraderie&hellip;&rdquo;Neale, although disturbed by what he calls the &ldquo;rather fashionable move&rdquo; of firing coaches, has been on both sides of the prickly fence. While running the Vancouver Canucks, he let go both Roger Neilson and Bill LaForge, the latter after just 20 games.&ldquo;And that was an unfair thing to happen to him (LaForge),&rdquo; Neale related, &ldquo;but at the time I thought it absolutely necessary. Who knows if you&rsquo;re right or wrong?&ldquo;I know it wasn&rsquo;t in the case of Roger or Bill, but a lot of times it&rsquo;s a desperation move&hellip;It&rsquo;s a desperation move with a fairly high impact that has often worked for the short term. But not many teams have played much better for very long if they&rsquo;ve kept the same players.&rdquo;But coaches, Neale noted, are well compensated for the vagaries of their business.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t think of many coaches that I&rsquo;ve ever met,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;m including myself in that group, that could make that kind of money doing something else.&rdquo;Call it danger pay.<h2>Back In OHL-Medical Marvel</h2>Andre Belzile has taken the long way home.It took the 19-year-old defenseman two years to get back to the Ontario League, but he&rsquo;s back and in his hometown of Kingston&mdash;skating for the Canadians.Belzile was playing in the Sudbury Wolves&rsquo; final game of the 1984-85 season when he was suddenly tripped up, and then, moments later, surprised by a punch to his head.Within 24 hours, he experienced two seizures. After the first, a mild concussion was suspected. After the second, doctors grew more concerned and further tests were ordered.What they found shocked Belzile&mdash;he had an arteriovenos malformation on his brain. A congenital ailment, it had been growing in size.The punch triggered bleeding&hellip;and forced discovery of the problem.On March 18, 1985, the malformation was removed. An infection forced a second head operation. A piece of his skull&mdash;a bone flap&mdash;was removed in a third. Finally, a plastic plate was inserted Aug. 9.It was after the third surgery that Belzile was told, &ldquo;my chances for playing hockey would be very slim.&rdquo;Undaunted, Belzile worked out all summer (&ldquo;when I was jogging, I could feel my brain sloshing around&rdquo;), laughed at his new nickname of E.T. (because swelling had misshaped his head) and aimed to continue his hockey career.Amazingly, he never missed a game, even though he wasn&rsquo;t asked back to Sudbury. So, Belzile played for Pembroke, Ont&hellip;and Smiths Falls, Ont., in the Central Jr. A League during the 1985-86 season. He returned to Smiths Falls this season but quit and joined Kingston Voyageurs in the Metro Jr. B League.He established himself as one of the league&rsquo;s top blueliners, earning a share of his division&rsquo;s top defenseman award. One of his teammates with the Voyageurs was the former rival who slugged him in 1985.There are no hard feelings.&ldquo;He basically saved my life,&rdquo; says Belzile, who was called up by the Canadians after the Voyageurs&rsquo; season ended. The Canadians are currently in a second-round series with Oshawa, after the steady Belzile helped them side-line Belleville.&ldquo;I always wanted a chance to come back to the OHL to prove to myself and Sudbury that I can play in the league.&rdquo;Dressing-room humor being what it is, Belzile&rsquo;s medical history does not escape mention&mdash;particularly from goaltender Chris Clifford, who coveniently overlooks the fact the plate in the defenseman&rsquo;s head is plastic, not metal.&ldquo;Clifford usually goes, &lsquo;The only thing that can slow down that Belzile kid is a magnet,&rsquo;&rdquo; says the bilingual Belzile. &ldquo;I get the odd joke but it&rsquo;s all in good fun.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011262/5070050-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="1456" height="2260"><figcaption class="caption-body">Serge Boisvert has been Montreal&rsquo;s playoff specialist over the past two years&mdash;contributing both on and off the ice.</figcaption></div>Belzile, who expects to be playing Canadian university hockey next year, is in on the fun, too.On Aug. 9, he plans on celebrating his second annual &lsquo;Plate Night.&rsquo;<h2>Two-Team Hab-Serge Boisvert</h2>Forget Patrick Roy and Claude Lemieux, the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; leading playoff specialist is Serge Boisvert.In 1984-85 and 1985-86, the 5-foot-9, 170-pound winger played almost as many playoff games as regular-season, 20 to 23.The speedy Boisvert is ready again this year should he be summoned from the American League&rsquo;s regular-season champion Sherbrooke Canadiens, who will be making a strong bid for the Calder Cup this year while their parent club does the same for the Stanley Cup.Boisvert will remain with Sherbrooke unless injuries or hard times hit the Habs.A high scorer in the AHL, 26-54-80 in 76 games this season, the 27-year-old isn&rsquo;t as potent in the NHL (0-0-0 in one game this year) but he does intimidate people with his speed&hellip;and drive.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got that intensity,&rdquo; says Sherbrooke coach Pierre Creamer. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll play four shifts in a game and he&rsquo;ll be ready.&rdquo;Creamer compares Boisvert to a fireballing reliever, who comes in for an inning and gives everything he&rsquo;s got.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a team man, not only on the ice but off the ice,&rdquo; says Montreal coach Jean Perron. &ldquo;He was tremendous last year in the playoffs. He didn&rsquo;t play in some games. (But) he was behind the guys. He gave them good advice&mdash;pats on the back.&ldquo;He knew which guys had to be comforted because he&rsquo;d played with (Stephane) Richer before, he&rsquo;d played with (Claude) Lemieux before.&rdquo;Boisvert, whose high-tempo game has attracted the notice of Canadian national team coach Dave King, understands his limited role.&ldquo;I cannot make the team during the season but (I know that) in the playoffs I&rsquo;m going to play,&rdquo; says Boisvert, who was a member of Sherbrooke&rsquo;s Calder Cup-winning team in 1984-85 and Montreal&rsquo;s Stanley Cup-winning team in 1985-86.With the two Canadiens&rsquo; teams legitimate contenders, he&rsquo;s got a good shot at three-for-three.<h2>Sakic Leader-Graham James</h2>Quote of the week:&ldquo;Joe&rsquo;s incredible. I don&rsquo;t know if it has anything to do with it, but his father is a carpenter and fisherman and Joe led us out of the wilderness.&rdquo;&mdash;Swift Current coach Graham James on star Joe Sakic, page 29. &#9632;

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DANGER PAY

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011291/5070088-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="118" height="116"></div>EDMONTON&mdash;The Southern California view was nice. Magnificent, in fact.But. it can often be misleading.At least, that&rsquo;s the way Paul Coffey viewed the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; regularseason ending 7-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re smart enough to know they&rsquo;re a better team than that.&rdquo; Coffey said as the Oilers returned home from the Stanley Cup playoff dress rehearsal against the Los Angeles Kings. &ldquo;At least. I feel that way and I&rsquo;m sure the other guys on our team do, too.&rdquo;Coffey and Wayne Gretzky, nursing minor ailments, were given the night off and watched part of Edmonton&rsquo;s National Hockey League regularseason finale from the bench.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather be down there than up top (press box),&rdquo; said Coffey, who suffered a bruised left shoulder in a collision with Calgary&rsquo;s Colin Patterson in the last week of the season. &ldquo;It looks too easy from up top.&rdquo;After the Oilers opened a 5-3 lead in the first minute of the second period&mdash;on Reijo Ruotsalainen&rsquo;s goal just 31 seconds&mdash;after an L.A. score, the match did appear to be on a downhill slide for the Oil.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t that tense on the bench,&rdquo; confessed Coffey, who will rejoin the lineup for the opener&mdash;along with Gretzky and Randy Gregg. &ldquo;Our guys played great, but L.A. didn&rsquo;t do much. I don&rsquo;t know if they were playing pos-sum or what&hellip;But, it&rsquo;ll be a whole different ball game (in the playoffs).&rdquo;This will be the third playoff meeting between the Oilers and Kings, but the first best-of-seven. L.A. upset the Oilers in a fifth and deciding game in 1982, while the Oilers won three straight in 1985&mdash;two in overtime.The Oilers beat the Kings rather handily during their last two meetings this season (9-3, 7-3) and held a 4-2-2 edge in the series, although L.A. has held its own at the Northlands Coliseumfl-1-2). The way Coffey sees it, the final one-sided outcome will have no bearing once the playoffs commence.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t mean anything. L.A. didn&rsquo;t play very well. If anything, I don&rsquo;t like games like that. Sometimes when you beat a team convincingly like that, you can be overconfident&hellip;although I don&rsquo;t think our team will be.&rdquo;They most certainly shouldn&rsquo;t be, but with the ever-unpredictable Oilers, one never knows. Suffice that they be reminded of an 8-1 drubbing of the Kings in L.A. that was followed by a 6-1 reversal&mdash;representing Edmonton&rsquo;s largest margin of defeat in 1986-87&mdash;four nights later in a rematch at the Coliseum.Co-coach John Muckier figured the finale was anything but a waste of time, although the Oilers had locked up first place overall in a 4-4 tie with Calgary two nights earlier.He felt that way for a number of reasons.Coffey and Gretzky, who will probably require minor surgery on a toenail at the conclusion of the season, were rested. Gregg could have returned after suffering a dislocated shoulder March 17, but this way he gets three extra days.Rookie Jeff Beukeboom replaced Coffey, scored a goal, got into a fight and made his presence felt. &ldquo;Beuk needed a boost,&rdquo; said Muckier. &ldquo;Just like Smitty (Steve Smith) did against Winnipeg and Calgary. (Mike) Moller played and played well. This game gave those people who hadn&rsquo;t seen much ice time a chance to gain some confidence.&rdquo;Goalie Andy Moog, whose only previous action during the final week was a 23-minute stint in relief, survived a couple of early goals to turn aside 31 shots. &ldquo;Andy needed a game, too, and he became more relaxed from part of the first period on,&rdquo; said Muckier. Grant Fuhr, however, is expected to be the Oilers&rsquo; starting netminder in the playoffs.&ldquo;We did what we wanted to accomplish. We didn&rsquo;t want to get into any bad habits,&rdquo; said Muckier, although the Oilers did allow a couple of early goals after securing a 2-0 lead in the opening 41 seconds. &ldquo;At that stage, I felt it could have been 12-11, but we got back on track and played the way we wanted to.&rdquo;Muckier reasoned the Kings did not receive the quality goaltending normally supplied by Rollie Melanson. &ldquo;He had a bad night, and you figure he&rsquo;s got to play better. But, that doesn&rsquo;t concern me. I know we can play better, too.&ldquo;We have to respect their team. In (Jimmy) Carson, they have one of the best rookies in the league. (Luc) Robi-taille may be the best. And (Bernie) Nicholls is a solid player. If you get into a shootout with L.A., they can do very well.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0004-01

Oilers Respectful Of Kings’ Scoring Power

I OWE YOU a column on what&rsquo;s good about this game. But you&rsquo;ll have to wait for it. I&rsquo;m not much in the mood now.I&rsquo;ve got the New York Rangers in one ear whining again about the Flyers. I&rsquo;ve got the Flyers in the other, attacking Tomas Sandstrom and Brian O&rsquo;Neill for Dave Brown&rsquo;s five-game suspension.For 12 years I&rsquo;ve had to listen to all this junk, and wasted too much time&mdash;out of some perverse sense of journalistic obligation&mdash;writing about it. I don&rsquo;t have any patience for it anymore.Of course, referee-baiting and Flyer-hating has been part of the fabric of the NHL for much longer than I&rsquo;ve been around. So the thought crosses my mind that maybe I&rsquo;ve become jaded and it&rsquo;s time to find something else to do. But then I decide that&rsquo;s not true. I can&rsquo;t wait to watch the coming playoff series between the Flyers and Rangers. I just don&rsquo;t want to listen to it.I&rsquo;m a pragmatist about fighting and all the grey areas of intimidation that surround it. I&rsquo;m convinced the NHL could probably get rid of brawling tomorrow and the gains would outweigh the losses, but actually I&rsquo;m more bored by the fighting than offended by it.Because hockey is played by players who carry sticks in their hands, there are discipline problems inherent to the game that other games don&rsquo;t have to deal with. So, I&rsquo;ve never really believed that if the NHL said tomorrow, &ldquo;Fight and you&rsquo;re gone,&rdquo; the game would suddenly and magically become the way Sports Ilustrated tells us (every week) it should be.I do think the league has to spend too much of its time and energy defending and disciplining itself to make fighting really worthwhile in the long run. But, sorry, I do think that there are times it saves some stick swinging. And I do think the odd good fight is entertaining.In the meantime, I understand that hockey is very much a game of intimidation. As long as coaches can use it, I don&rsquo;t blame them at all for pushing the rulebook until it breaks.Me? I don&rsquo;t mind a little bleeding. I just can&rsquo;t stand the bleating.I am tired of a coach like Phil Esposito, who employs a Tomas Sandstrom, complaining about the tactics of a team like the Flyers. The league was right. It can&rsquo;t allow players like Dave Brown, whether provoked by seeing a teammate high-sticked or not, to swing his stick at Sandstrom as he did. I just don&rsquo;t like a guy like Sandstrom, who is as dirty a player as I&rsquo;ve ever seen, being cast as a victim.I am also tired of the Flyers, who have clearly chosen intimidation as a tactic through the years, complaining when the league comes down on them. They have sometimes succeeded with it&mdash;and there have been playoff series, too, when the Rangers made them pay for it. In the long run, the penalty minutes don&rsquo;t lie. Generally, the Flyers have gotten what they deserve.If they keep their sticks down and Mike Keenan stops sending Brown out for cruises in last minutes of games that are already decided, they won&rsquo;t have to worry about any alleged inconsistencies in Brian O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s decisions.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011163/5070119-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="319" height="459"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jay Greenberg</figcaption></div>The Flyers can push the rules and their opposition as far as they want. I just don&rsquo;t want to hear how it&rsquo;s the referee&rsquo;s fault for losing control of an incident that they helped to start. Or that paranoid junk about how the orange-and-black is still a red flag in front of the league. Because the Flyers really believe it doesn&rsquo;t mean that I have to.At the same time, I don&rsquo;t want to hear the Rangers&mdash;who year-in and year-out somehow manage to assemble the league&rsquo;s biggest collection of whiners, mopers and complainers&mdash;tell me about the Flyers. The way to handle them is to do what the Islanders did. They got themselves a Clark Gillies, a Bob Nystrom and a power play, and never had any problems.I am tired of coaches who constantly use the officials as scapegoats. And I resent their attempts to use me at some point in every playoff series to get the next referee&rsquo;s ear. I&rsquo;m tired, too, of some writers and broadcasters making anything stronger than an interference penalty into a morality issue. I laughed when Stan Fischler, who does color work on Devils&rsquo; telecasts, described an incident as &ldquo;Flyer mentality.&rdquo; This is the same person who writes columns about the guys who collect hockey fight tapes. It&rsquo;s Fischler&rsquo;s mentality, too.Me, I don&rsquo;t pass judgment until I see the goons go after the skilled, clean players. Frankly, I see very little of that anymore.The other night in Detroit, Gerard Gallant strafed Ron HextaLl, whose short fuse went off, which brought Brian Propp into it, which brought Brad McCrimmon into it, which got more Wings into it, which resulted in a 104-penalty-minute first period.I wouldn&rsquo;t call it a great moment in hockey history, but I recognize these things are open to individual tastes.It was a good game after the first period, but I didn&rsquo;t feel I could gloss over the ugly stuff. So I asked Jacques Demers for his version.&ldquo;We were just as guilty as they were,&rdquo; said Demers. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d beaten them in Philly. They came out determined to play physical and we came out determined not to back down. These are the two most-penalized teams in the league. Neither one of us are angels.&rdquo;I said, &ldquo;Amen.&rdquo; And went off to write about the game. &#9632;

f0005-01

Columnists

It’s Time For Flyers, Rangers To Shut Up

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02859/5070150-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="98" height="101"></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;The Vancouver Canucks are suing the National Hockey League and its president, John Ziegler.The Canucks filed an application in British Columbia Supreme Court to set aside the findings of Ziegler, and the fines of $310,000, arising out of the Canucks&rsquo; signing of Pat Quinn as general manager while he was still coach of the Los Angeles Kings.Details of the action were sketchy, but it is expected that the Canucks will seek to expose more facts of the case while not seeking monetary damages from the league.Both Canuck majority owner Frank Griffiths Sr. and Quinn have been anxious to disassociate themselves from Ziegler&rsquo;s words &ldquo;dishonorable and prejudicial conduct,&rdquo; which the president used to describe the pair&rsquo;s five-year deal and $100,000 advance payment.&ldquo;The action will not involve me directly other than by affidavit or eventually as a witness,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;But if it is successful, it will have a carryover effect on me and my position.&rdquo;The action will bring forth an affidavit filed by Griffiths, which says that, in 1984, he asked Ziegler for&mdash;and received&mdash;specific information on how to go about securing non-playing personnel from other clubs.In the affidavit, Griffiths will claim Ziegler told him he could talk to people whose contracts were not filed with the league. The Canuck owner will say Ziegler gave him the name of a person who could tell him which contracts were on file and which were not. Further, it will say Griffiths followed the recommended steps in seeking Quinn&rsquo;s services.&ldquo;There will be further revelations to the effect that on Jan. 9, Mr. Ziegler spoke to Quinn and Kings&rsquo; owner Jerry Buss (by phone) in the latter&rsquo;s office, and said that he might be willing to think about letting the teams solve the problem between themselves,&rdquo; said Quinn&rsquo;s Philadelphia lawyer, Morris Chucas.&ldquo;Just as Dr. Buss got off the phone and went to dial Mr. Griffiths&rsquo; number in Hawaii, the expulsion ruling came over the telex.&rdquo;When Ziegler ordered Quinn expelled from the league, and the Canucks and Kings fined, he used the analogy of the Super Bowl, saying the National Football League would be a laughingstock if a situation arose &ldquo;in which the Denver coach had months before agreed to become the president and general manager of the Giants and had accepted $100,000 in consideration thereof.&rdquo;The Canucks will use an actual precedent to support their claim that Quinn&rsquo;s action was not &ldquo;dishonorable and prejudicial.&rdquo; In 1964, baseball manager Johnny Keane of the St. Louis Cardinals agreed in August to manage the New York Yankees the following season. The two teams later met in the World Series&mdash;but baseball commissioner Ford Frick didn&rsquo;t even investigate, despite the obvious potential for conflict of interest.&ldquo;We want to show that Mr. Ziegler&rsquo;s action was not only wrong, arbitrary and capricious, but that it was completely off the wall and that it came out of nowhere without any way of Pat or the Canucks predicting such a response,&rdquo; said Chucas.&ldquo;We also find it strange that Ziegler did not take action under Section 15 of the league bylaws, which deals with the approaching of non-playing personnel, but rather Section 17, in which he has these broad powers which have never before been invoked.&rdquo;The Canucks will not have Chucas directly involved in the Canadian action. The litigation will be handled by Vancouver lawyer Barry Kirkham, though a separate action from Quinn could be a possibility in the future.VAN LINES&mdash;Tony Tanti became the only Canuck ever to post two 40-goal seasons, when he scored against L.A., April 1. &#9632;</div>

f0005-02

Vancouver Fights Back Against Quinn Fines

With the playoffs under way it is only natural to wonder whether the National Hockey League&rsquo;s most talented team, the Edmonton Oilers, will do what 500,000 Edmontonians are demanding of them; that is, win the Stanley Cup.There are several compelling reasons to think not; four come to mind readily:1. They can&rsquo;t beat the Flames: Look at the record. Calgary won the playoffs last year and dominated this season&rsquo;s series 6-1-1.2. Edmonton&rsquo;s players have too much finesse and not enough toughness: Gretzky, Kurri. Ruotsalainen and Nilsson are softies, to be sure.3. Bob Johnson is smarter than Glen Sather: A number of journalists in Edmonton, as well as Calgary, believe the Badger can outwit Slats.4. Paul Coffey and Jari Kurri choke in big games: That whisper became a shout after the 1986 playoff debacle.There is more than a suspicion that if the Oilers and Flames meet in the second playoff round, there will be a general day of mourning at Northlands Coliseum within two weeks. Furthermore, the Oilers playoff demise will be precisely because of the four points listed above. But on closer scrutiny each of the points looks more myth than fact, which is why you should place your shekels on the Oilers to bring the silverware back to Edmonton.Myth I destroyed: In citing the Flames&rsquo; superiority over the Oilers, experts employ last season&rsquo;s playoffs as the critical example. What I they fail to note is that the second most critical Oiler. Grant Fuhr, had lost his father two weeks prior.to the playoffs and, because of that, was not able to perform up to par.Furthermore, the Oilers lost all of their home games to Calgary last spring. That could not possibly happen again. As for this season, the Flame victories are not to be denied, but the Edmonton six at playoff time is infinitely superior to the sextet iced earlier in the season.Myth II destroyed: The Flames created an illusion of being able to push around the Oilers. In fact Mark Messier, Kevin McClelland, Dave Lumley, Dave Hunter, Moe Lemay and Glenn Anderson are as tough, collectively, as any similar group the Flames can ice. What&rsquo;s more. Messier and Anderson combine high skill with their rugged play. (Between Kevin Lowe, Charlie Huddy, Paul Coffey and Craig Muni, the Oilers have as tough-steady a collection of defensemen as can be found anywhere west of Moscow. They can bring out the best in Ruotsalainen.) Calgary (or anyone, for that matter) won&rsquo;t outhit Edmonton.Myth III destroyed: There are few wiser icemen than the Badger, but Slats is no slouch, provided he does the coaching. Furthermore, he&rsquo;s got a spiritual asset he didn&rsquo;t have before&mdash;aide Ted Green is back after a one-year sabbatical. Teddy is not to be underestimated. Since Sather&mdash;by Johnson&rsquo;s admission&mdash;has the horses, Badger is in the reactionary role of &ldquo;stopping&rdquo; the Oilers and, because of that, more attention is paid to Johnson&rsquo;s strategy than Sather&rsquo;s.Myth IV destroyed: In the 1986 series, Coffey often was victimized by the failure of his forwards to do adequate backchecking, or setting up of picks, for him to move more freely. The Coffey-the-choker image was concocted by Edmonton detractors. Jurri had a clear-to-the-world bummer of a playoff against Calgary last spring, but that was more an aberration than the norm. Look for him to go nuts with goals this term.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011345/5070181-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="332" height="447"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Fischler</figcaption></div>Calgary beat Edmonton by the margin of a fluke goal engineered by Steve Smith. The chances of that happening again&mdash;or of the Oilers being upset&mdash;are close to nil.With their lineup, the Oilers have absolutely no excuses for failing to march to the finals. If they get knocked off beforehand, the mayor of Edmonton should order a public spanking of the Oilers at city hall!<h2>GOONIES NOT GONE</h2>One of the biggest jokes perpetrated on hockey fans this season was the NHL&rsquo;s suggestion that goonism would go the way of the dinosaur.Remember those balmy days last fall when word was out that this was the year of the &ldquo;instigator&rdquo; rule, and that bashers like Dave Brown had better look for a day job?Forget it.From personal experience, and the word of many respected critics, I can assure you that goon hockey is alive, well and prospering in a business-as-usual manner. In fact, the &ldquo;Help Wanted&mdash;Intimidator&rdquo; ads are growing in size.I say this with the knowledge that, at any moment, an NHL pigeon will come flying to my windowsill with a battery of stats assuring me that the arithmetic proves goonism is gone.Sorry, chaps, but the stats are irrelevant. The facts&mdash;what happens on the ice&mdash;are more relevant. For instance, the Rangers were overjoyed with the arrival of Jay Caufield, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound monster whose primary function will be to beat up Dave Brown in the playoffs, should the two teams renew their annual rivalry as expected.In Edmonton, I discovered that Oiler fans were drooling with delight over&mdash;no, not Gretzky or Coffey&mdash;but rather a skating brontosaurus named Wayne Van Dorp who, at last measurement, weighed in at something the size of the Empire State Building, and skated as well as the Eiffel Tower.As pure goon as one can get, Van Dorp was imported to beat up Tim Hunter and as many Calgary Flames as possible in their final meetings of the season and any playoff encounters (Van Dorp, by the way, was sent to the minors shortly after losing a fight with Calgary&rsquo;s Nick Fotiu).The Flyers have not been sleeping in the neanderthal department, either. A communique from Broad Street revealed that GM Bob Clarke signed Jeff Brubaker on with his Bullies. The high point in Brubaker&rsquo;s career was 1984-85 when he totalled 209 penalty minutes with the Maple Leafs.On a goon scale of 10, Brubaker rates a 15, which places him right up (down) there with Van Dorp (19) and Caufield (20). So as you can see, all is well with the NHL&mdash;if you like blood with your goals! &#9632;

f0006-01

Myth And Reality: Making Case For Oilers

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02971/5070212-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="138" height="97"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Familiarity has bred success for the Montreal Canadien-s&hellip;almost every time they have met the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup playoffs.For the last 17 series between the two, Montreal has emerged the winner, including Stanley Cup final victories in 1946,1953,1957,1958,1977 and 1978.The Canadiens have beaten Boston in the first rounds each of the last three years.Once again, it is Boston vs. Montreal in an Adams Division semi-final and this time, the Canadiens are again favored to bump Boston onto the golf course.&ldquo;Right now we are playing as well as we have all year,&rdquo; said left winger Mike McPhee, who feasts on the Bruins. &ldquo;We are playing with a lot of confidence, with a style like the playoffs last year.&ldquo;We are playing tight hockey and coming up with the close decisions.&rdquo;McPhee knows that even though the Canadiens won the season series against the Bruins, Montreal has to be prudent in the best-of-seven divisional series.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t count out Boston,&rdquo; he noted. &ldquo;During the season, we usually split the games. We usually play. 500 hockey against them.&rdquo;In 1986, the Canadiens dispatched the Bruins in three games, one year after going to the five-game limit and winning the fifth game in the last minute on a Mats Naslund goal.In 1984. the Canadiens surprised the Bruins with a three-game sweep in targe part due to Steve Penney&rsquo;s goal-tending.Lest anyone forget, while the Canadiens did sweep the series in 1986, there was some luck and excellent goaltending by Patrick Roy involved. Somehow, the Bruins managed to shoot themselves in the foot, just as they have in every meeting since 1943, the last time they defeated Montreal in a playoff round.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;We are playing with a lot of confidence, with a style like the playoffs last year.&rsquo;&mdash;McPhee</blockquote>Since then, the Bruins have lost 17 consecutive series to Montreal finding different ways to do it almost every year.Both teams headed into the series relatively hot. The Canadiens ended March with a seven-game unbeaten streak and started April with a 3-2 home-ice victory over Hartford, depriving the Whalers of a chance to clinch first place in the Adams Division.Last season, the Canadiens went into the playoffs, slipping and sliding into the second place on the final night of the season because the Bruins lost.&ldquo;Our team went into the playoffs last year not knowing what was in front of us and not looking any further than our next game,&rdquo; said team captain Bob Gainey. &ldquo;If there is one thing we have to remember about our success, it is that very thing.&rdquo;The Canadiens will be counting on the leadership of Gainey and veteran defenseman Larry Robinson to over-come the Bruins again. The two veterans have been involved in six consecutive series victories over the Bruins.Guy Carbonneau, who finally has Gainey and Chris Nilan alongside him, noted the rivalry with the Bruins has become just as torrid as that with Quebec.&ldquo;When I came into the league five years ago, it was just a rivalry between Quebec and Montreal,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The rest of the games were good games but not big rivalries. Three years ago when we beat Boston in three and then the rivalry became a little more intense.&ldquo;You have to say it&rsquo;s getting tougher in our division. Maybe we don&rsquo;t score lots of goals, but the games are interesting.&rdquo;Montreal and Boston affairs certainly do attract more than passing interest from the casual hockey fans. They are always physical, sometimes fight-filled as evidenced by the benchclearing brawl Nov. 20 at the Garden.No doubt at some point in the series. Jay Miller of the Bruins will renew acquaintances with his ol&rsquo; buddy Chris Nilan. There are also a few other scores to be settled as well.However, it will be the team that plays the best hockey in early April that will go on, not the team that fights the best.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve beaten Boston the last three years but they are going to have something up their sleeve,&rdquo; cautioned Ryan Walter. &ldquo;They need to get out of the first round but so do we.&ldquo;We are cautiously afraid to lose.&rdquo;IN PASSING&mdash;Patrick Roy returned to the Canadiens&rsquo; goal April 1 and stopped 24 shots in a 3-2 victory over Hartford. Roy had been out with an abscessed tooth&hellip;Coach Jean Perron is shuffling defensemen in and out of the lineup with Gaston Gingras and Mike Lalor doing the majority of the alternating&hellip;Petr Svoboda recorded the first two-goal game of his career March 29 in Pittsburgh&hellip;Defenseman Rick Green was voted the winner of the 4th star award which goes to the team&rsquo;s unsung hero. &#9632;

f0006-02

Will Hab Dominance Over B’s Continue?

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011198/5070243-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="561" height="891"><figcaption class="caption-body">Fifty-goal man Tim Kerr says the Flyers have a score to settle with the Rangers.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02853/5070250-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="140" height="104"></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;When the Philadelphia Flyers traded goalie Bob Froese to the New York Rangers back in December, the general reaction of the club&rsquo;s fans was to slap themselves on the forehead with disbelief.&ldquo;We can see it now,&rdquo; was the reaction. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll end up playing the Rangers again in the first round of the playoffs, and this time Froese will beat them.&rdquo;Well, just as expected, the Flyers have again drawn the Rangers in the first round. This will be the third consecutive season that the Flyers have been matched against the Rangers in the first round, and their fifth playoff meeting in the past six springs.And while the Flyers&rsquo; history against the Rangers (three wins and four losses) isn&rsquo;t nearly as eerie or horrendous as the Boston Bruins against Montreal (17 straight playoff series losses), there is legitimate reason for Philly fans to be nervous.After all, on more than one occasion the Rangers have managed to spoil a Flyer season with a big playoff series&mdash;and there usually is a hot goalie involved. If it wasn&rsquo;t John Davidson, it was Eddie Mio, or somebody else all the way to last season, when John Vanbiesbrouck led the Rangers to a 3-2 triumph in the five-game series, scoring two wins in Philadelphia.Last season&rsquo;s loss was the most stinging since the 3-0 loss to the Rangers under coach-general manager Bob McCammon in 1983. It was in that series that McCammon referred to the Ranges as Smurfs&mdash;and was forced to eat his words.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure there is going to be a lot of hype about how we have trouble against the Rangers in the playoffs,&rdquo; said Flyer defenseman Brad Marsh, &ldquo;but we started with a new team here three years ago.&ldquo;Since then, we&rsquo;ve beaten them once in the playoffs (1985), and lost to them once (last season). So, I guess you can look at this as the rubber match.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t really go back any further. There&rsquo;s a whole new feeling. You can&rsquo;t dig up what happened under McCammon against the Rangers, and all that kind of stuff.&ldquo;Heck, we&rsquo;ve only got three or four guys left who played at that time. Besides that. I think we learned a lot from last year&rsquo;s playoff, just to respect the opponent, whoever we play.&rdquo;By their own admission, the Flyers took the Rangers a little lightly last season. All chesty from their second consecutive Patrick Division title, they proceeded to lose the first, third and fifth games of the series as they were stoned by Vanbiesbrouck.In addition to their playoff failures against the Rangers, the Flyers can look at other situations which should blunt any overconfidence.In the first place, they lost the season series to New York 4-3&mdash;including an alarming record of 1-3-0 at the Spectrum.Over the seven games each team scored 20 goals, but the Flyers were beaten twice by Froese, who gave up only one goal in each of his starts against his former teammates. With Vanbiesbrouck and Froese. the Rangers can come at you with a roatation of Koufax and Drysdale, and the Flyers know what a hot goalie can do.On the other hand, they think they&rsquo;ve got the better goalie in Ron Hextall. He&rsquo;s backed up by Chico Resch.However, they will go into the series with a real injury problem. There is no way they will have center Ron Sutter for the series, and early reports that center Peter Zezel might be ready for the third or fourth games, have been pushed back a week.Likewise, forward llkka Sinisalo&rsquo;s fractured foot isn&rsquo;t mending as quickly as expected, and he is unlikely to play in the first two games.&ldquo;Personally, I&rsquo;ve always wanted to play the Rangers in the first round,&rdquo; said winger Tim Kerr. &ldquo;I feel like we owe them something, and I think most of the guys feel that way.&ldquo;I know people think that we have trouble against them, but I like it this way, we&rsquo;ll be all pumped up. Even with our injuries. I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ll be in bad shape.&ldquo;But if Ron Hextali plays the way he has all season. I don&rsquo;t see any problems. I think we ought to be able to get past them.&rdquo;PHILLERS&mdash;The Flyers lost the Jennings Trophy on the final night of the season, giving up nine goals in a 9-5 loss to the New York Islanders. Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens surrendered just two goals against the Rangers to win the goals-against title by four goals. The Flyers&rsquo; Bob Froese and Darren Jensen shared the honor last year. Philadelphia, in allowing 245 goals over the season, missed out on its objective of giving up an average of three or less goals a game. &#9632;

f0007-01

Flyers, Rangers Pair Off In ‘Rubber Match’

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011281/5070281-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div>COME ON. MIKE BOSSY!It&rsquo;s one thing to be upset that you lost a tough game to the Rangers at MSG (March 4, 7-5), but to insult Jan Erixon the way you did for doing a shadowing job on you that he was asked to do is very unprofessional, especially for someone of your calibre.Erixon has stated that he doesn&rsquo;t enjoy shadowing a player. But if Phil Esposito feels that to help his team win he must designate someone to check a known sniper, it is up to the opposition to accept and to try and counter the move.And if Erixon performs that not-very-enviable task effectively even though he doesn&rsquo;t enjoy doing it, he should be given praise, not be degraded. And you should actually be proud that you were designated as a player that needed to be shadowed.Tom Pantino, New Hyde Park, NY<h2>SPENCER MAKES PLEA</h2>I skated off the ice for the last time professionally about 10 years ago. Maybe you remember me&mdash;Spinner Spencer.I&rsquo;m writing you now from a Florida jail, waiting trial on charges of murder. Believe me, jail is no place for any decent human soul. And believe me, while I&rsquo;ve done a lot of things that wouldn&rsquo;t measure up, I didn&rsquo;t do this.I know every accused person says the same. But I really didn&rsquo;t. I hope that God and the American justice system sees the truth and sets me free.Meanwhile, I sit here with two passions, really two wishes that you, in your charity, might help fulfill.First, I hope you find it in your heart to think a kindly thought and to say a prayer from and for my two lovely boys, aged nine and 10, that they come through this nightmare unscathed. And for sure, I hope you will say a prayer for their mother, a woman as rare as she is beautiful&mdash;who for the last five years now has had to endure and bravely struggle against a myriad of health problems.Second, if you could please write me. You cannot imagine how devastating it is to be wrongfully locked in a cage day after day, or how depressing it is to continually be only with hardened criminals&mdash;angry, cold-eyed, violent men who have no sense of morality or dignity or shame.Maybe the &ldquo;glory days&rdquo; are over, but not my memory of how incredibly uplifting the fans are, and what a joyous part of my life you were, you are, and you always will be.If you do write, even a note, it will be the most wonderful gift, and I promise to write you in return. &raquo;Many thanks and God bless.Brian (Spinner) Spencer, Palm Beach County Jail. Pouch 188, 3228 Gun Club Road, West Palm Beach. FA 33409<h2>GOON PROBLEMS</h2>When you live in Alabama, you have to be thankful forcable television that brings hockey into your home, but you don&rsquo;t always have to be appreciative of what you see.This past weekend, for instance, I got to see one of hockey&rsquo;s most skillful and exciting players. Denis Savard, viciously cross-checked by the Rangers&rsquo; Jeff Jackson. The attack was so out of the flow of the action that apparently none of the officials even saw it, but the camera did.I would hope the league would take disciplinary action, but we all know they never do. What kind of idiocy governing the NHL allows thugs to deprive fans of the chance to see the stars of the game display their talents?Jonathan Adler, Mobile, AL &#9632;

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Who Upset Mike Bossy? Only The Shadow Knows

Let your voice be heard. Send your comments to Fan Forum, THE HOCKEY NEWS, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 2R2. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

FAN FORUM

BLESS THE Adams Division playoff race.In this, the year when the Pat Quinn Affair threatened to taint the perception of NHL integrity, if not integrity itself, the playoff race guaranteed that the Buffalo Sabres would be honorable losers.Yes, they finished last overall in the NHL and yes, they will be rewarded with the first pick&mdash;likely Pierre Turgeon&mdash;at the NHL entry draft. June 13 in Detroit.But no, they did not embarrass the league. They couldn&rsquo;t, since they were in a playoff race until April 2. And while it looked as though they fought the good fight right down to the last game&mdash;a 6-0 pasting of the starless Hartford Whalers on April 5&mdash;appearances were deceiving.Truth be known, the win over Hartford was merely window dressing. As of April 4, Buffalo had last place locked up.Had the Vancouver Canucks lost (not won 5-2) against the Los Angeles Kings on April 5, they would have finished with 64 points. That would have tied them with the Sabres and New Jersey Devils, who took the Washington Capitals to overtime before losing 6-5.But since both Vancouver and Buffalo would have had fewer wins than the Devils (28 versus 29), the Canucks and Sabres would settle last place on the basis of head-to-head competition. The Canucks were 3-0 against the Sabres, so, you see, Buffalo had nothing to worry about.Now, that is not to suggest that, given the opportunity, the Sabres would do anything so dastardly as lose on purpose to solidify their hold on last place.But a diehard fan or a member of the media with an ends-justifies-the-means mentality would argue a team with the opportunity, such as the Devils, should have gone into the tank as soon as it became apparent they were out of the playoffs.Devil GM Max McNab has heard it all before in 1984, when the stakes were a kid named Mario Lemieux, the Devils surged and the Pittsburgh Penguins faltered in the stretch. We all know what happened.&ldquo;You look at what our franchise has been through,&rdquo; says McNab, &ldquo;and you find it hard to believe that we would ever be criticized for winning. But that is what happened that year.&rdquo;And again this season as the Devils played respectably right down to the last night of the season.Which brings us to the larger issue for the league&mdash;the question of integrity. And as NHL president John Ziegler said when he suspended Quinn for having signed contracts with two teams at the same time, integrity must not only be maintained, but the perception of integrity must also be protected.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021073/5070336-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="394" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie</figcaption></div>This year, thanks to the Sabres&rsquo; playoff hopes, the Devils&rsquo; honor and the disinterested Canucks, who had nothing at stake because they traded away their No. I selection to the Boston Bruins, it was. Next year? Who knows?It is not an uncommon problem in sport. The National Basketball Association experienced it, objected and made changes.&ldquo;The perception was that teams who were going to miss the playoffs were doing less well to improve their draft position,&rdquo; says NBA vice-president of communications Rick Welts.So in I985, the seven NBA teams that didn&rsquo;t qualify for post-season play entered a lottery to determine draft order. Seven envelopes, each containing a team logo, were put in a plexiglass drum, mixed up and then placed alongside numbers ranging from one to seven. The envelopes were opened and, voila, instant order of selection for the draft.As an added bonus, the NBA televised the proceedings live at half time during a playoff game. Great television, great drama and great marketing.This year, the NBA will reduce its May 17 lottery to include only the worst three teams. Obviously, the possibility of a clear-cut lastplace team picking seventh overall was just a little too unfair and changes had to be made.There&rsquo;s no reason why the NHL, in an effort to safeguard its integrity or should we say the perception of integrity, couldn&rsquo;t try the lottery.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to see it considered.&rdquo; McNab says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not fair for a team like ours to be criticized for winning just because we&rsquo;re out of the playoffs.&rdquo;Sabre GM Gerry Meehan doesn&rsquo;t necessarily agree. &ldquo;For obvious reasons,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;in our position I like the status quo.&rdquo;Of course, there is another solution. If everyone traded their No. 1 picks, a la the Vancouver Canucks, they wouldn&rsquo;t care where they finished. &#9632;

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NHL Could Learn From The NBA Draft Lottery

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011321/5070391-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Winnipeg coach Dan Maloney offers a few words of advice earlier this season. Maloney&rsquo;s Jets have handled Calgary in much the same way the Flames have handled Edmonton, and they stand in the way of an Edmonton-Calgary rematch.</figcaption></div>On the day before the Calgary Flames were to meet the Edmonton Oilers for the final time in the regular season, coach Bob Johnson was devising a game plan.&hellip;for the Winnipeg Jets.That&rsquo;s right, the Winnipeg Jets&mdash;the No. 6 team in the National Hockey League and the major stumbling block between the much-anticipated Calgary-Edmonton war in the second round of the playoffs.Just about everybody agreed that last year&rsquo;s most interesting playoff series was the dramatic seven-game Battle of Alberta. It had everything: Tempo, hitting, scoring, great goaltending, lucky goals, suspense, nightmares and a wildly-improbable finish that knocked the twotime champions out of the running for the Stanley Cup.This year, the Oilers want to get the Cup back and the Flames want to prove their upset win wasn&rsquo;t a fluke. Their meeting would be a dream series. First, though, they must face up to the reality of the Jets and Edmonton&rsquo;s opponents, the Los Angeles Kings, in the ever-dangerous opening round.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;You think you&rsquo;re going to win but you&rsquo;re afraid you&rsquo;re going to lose. It&rsquo;s as simple as that.&rsquo;&mdash;Johnson</blockquote>&ldquo;I would say the time not to play anybody is the first round,&rdquo; said Johnson. &ldquo;The bad teams can take all of their frustrations out in the first series and be successful. A lot of times, they had bad years because the things they were expecting to happen didn&rsquo;t work out. This is their chance to salvage something from the season.&ldquo;Winnipeg has a good club. They proved they can play defense. I would say the best time to beat Edmonton is the first round, as well. This year is a little different for Edmonton. In years past, they had it wrapped up early, so when the playoffs came, they could get keyed up and stay that way.&ldquo;This year, they had to get jacked up a couple of times. They didn&rsquo;t have first place wrapped up until the last three games of the season. So it&rsquo;s a little different for them. Can they stay jacked up for two months? That remains to be seen.&rdquo;Accordingly, the one thing Johnson didn&rsquo;t want to do when preparing for the post-season was look beyond the Jets. He thought he could sacrifice the final regular-season game against Edmonton, by holding six regulars out of the lineup, if it meant added rest and preparation time for the Winnipeg series.&ldquo;You think you&rsquo;re going to win,&rdquo; Johnson said of the first series, &ldquo;but you&rsquo;re afraid you&rsquo;re going to lose. It&rsquo;s as simple as that.&rdquo;Simple, but complicated too. Logically, whoever emerges from the Smythe Division gets a virtual bye to the finals. Not one team in the Norris Division succeeded in winning as many games as it lost this season. By contrast, the Smythe included three of the league&rsquo;s top teams. Moreover, no matter how hard the Adams and Patrick Division teams would try to tell you differently, the Smythe Division was statistically light years ahead of everybody else in the NHL.Outside the division, Smythe teams played. 552 hockey. Next best was the Adams at. 513. Teams from the Patrick stumbled in at. 500, while the Norris brought up the rear with a. 435 extra-divisional percentage.So as the 1987 post-season began, the question on everybody&rsquo;s minds was (or should have been): Can the Winnipeg Jets spoil the Flames-Oilers party by beating Calgary?The Jets held a 6-2 advantage in the season series, largely on the strength of a perfect 4-0 mark at the Arena in Winnipeg. The Flames, however, held the home-ice advantage in the playoffs, meaning they could conceivably capture the series without winning on the road.Apart from their dismal showing in Winnipeg, the Flames were a good road team. In fact, they finished with the top road record in the league, 21-18-1. If they do need to win a game away from the Olympic Saddledome, they may be able to do it.In Winnipeg, the Flames&rsquo; biggest problem was falling behind. They were outscored 13-3 in the first period and lost the games by a cumulative score of 27-8. The Jets succeeded when they put the pressure on the Flames with effective forechecking. The Flames succeeded when they were able to play physically and slow the game down.Jet defenseman Jim Kyte said he didn&rsquo;t put much stock in the home-ice advantage.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s a significant factor,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It just means the bonus money (for finishing second) goes to them.&rdquo;Added goaltender Eldon (Pokey) Reddick after a 3-1 loss to the Flames in Calgary: &ldquo;The playoffs are going to be a lot tougher. They only beat us twice this year. We can&rsquo;t let the two games they won worry us.&rdquo;The Oilers made two significant lineup changes as they prepared for the playoffs, supplementing an already-potent offense with defenseman Reijo Ruotsalainen and right winger Kent Nilsson.&ldquo;Getting Ruotsalainen has taken an awful lot of pressure off of Paul (Coffey),&rdquo; said Edmonton GM-coach Glen Sather. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s given us another dimension.&ldquo;Getting Nilsson has really helped Glenn Anderson because now teams can&rsquo;t key on Anderson. There are two guys on the wing they have to watch out for.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a better hockey club now than we did last year but we lost some character people (Lee Fogolin, Don Jackson, Mark Napier, to name three of seven gone from a year ago), some people with experience. Now whether that will make a difference or not, I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;In the first round, the Oilers&rsquo; attention is likely to be split between the Kings and the scoreboard. Since they won only one game in eight tries against Calgary (1-6-1), it&rsquo;s reasonable to assume they&rsquo;re Jet fans. Most Oilers would just as soon not see the Flames again this season, although some suggested they&rsquo;d like to beat the Flames and get the monkey off their back.While Sather won&rsquo;t talk much about the Flames&mdash;he&rsquo;s confining his immediate interests to the Kings&mdash;he sees many good signs for his team compared to a year ago, in spite of the poor season series record with Calgary.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re much better defensively than we were last year,&rdquo; he said of the team&rsquo;s lowest ever goals-against average of 3.55.&ldquo;This is the first year we haven&rsquo;t been chasing records at the end of the season. The only thing we were going for was first place. And the division we played in was the strongest in the NHL. It&rsquo;s a funny division. Winnipeg beats Calgary all the time, Calgary beats us, Vancouver beats L. A. The strength of the the division has got our team a little better prepared than in the past.&rdquo;As for the Flames, they may be the most anonymous good team in the league this season. They finished third overall, despite a massive run of injuries. Once again, their depth stood them in good stead.Instead of dropping back into the pack following last season&rsquo;s trip to the finals, the Flames moved ahead.&ldquo;There were times there, like when we started the season 3-7, when you wondered,&rdquo; said Johnson. &ldquo;We had as many injuries as anyone. You look at Quebec. They lost Peter Stastny and Dale Hunter and they dropped. We lost Joel Otto and Hakan Loob and Doug Riseb-rough for long periods of time and we stayed in there. We made it interesting. We&rsquo;ve done a pretty good job building up. I think we&rsquo;re ready for a long marathon.&ldquo;But you have to get by the first team&hellip;and it&rsquo;s not easy. It&rsquo;s scary.&rdquo; &#9632;

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The Smythe DIVISION

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011208/5070422-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky has to pick himself up off the ice when Calgary&rsquo;s Neil Sheehy, inset, has his wav during Oiler-Flame games.</figcaption></div>Just who is Neil Sheehy, and why is he driving the No. 1 player in hockey crazy?Until recently, it may have been the National Hockey League&rsquo;s best-kept secret&mdash;the confrontation between the Great One and the Butcher from Harvard.The Great One, of course, is the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; Wayne Gretzky. The other guy, who picked up his nickname after Sports Illustrated paraphrased a sign posted in the Northlands Coliseum, is ex-Harvard Crimson defenseman Sheehy.Sheehy, now with the Calgary Flames, has developed a reputation as the first&mdash;and maybe the only&mdash;player in the league who can consistently drive Gretzky to distraction. He does it in subtle, understated ways&mdash;an extra push here, an extra hit there&mdash;always treading the fine line between what is legal and what isn&rsquo;t.But he does it so effectively that the Gretzky-Sheehy confrontation has become the most important subplot in any meeting of the Flames and Oilers. It is the subject of editorial cartoons and newspaper headlines. Above all, it is one of the reasons the Flames were 6-1-1 in their season series with Edmonton.Should Calgary stave off the first-round playoff challenge of the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton does the expected by dumping the Los Angeles Kings, the Alberta Uncivil War will resume in the division final. Sheehy and Gretzky will be center stage again.&ldquo;He (Gretzky) isn&rsquo;t used to being bumped or being taken out of the play,&rdquo; explained Sheehy. &ldquo;So many times, when he moves the puck, the defenseman will turn away. I try to finish the check.&rdquo;Knowing how much Sheehy&rsquo;s presence on the ice bothers Gretzky, coach Bob Johnson tries to get him out there whenever possible. Not only do the Flames use a checking center&mdash;usually Carey Wilson&mdash;against the Oilers&rsquo; star, they also put Sheehy and his partner, Paul Reinhart, on the ice.Reinhart is so good on his skates that he rarely gets beaten one-on-one. Sheehy just tries to put himself near enough to Gretzky to get an arm or a stick or a shoulder on him.Gretzky acknowledged that Sheehy&rsquo;s tactics are one reason that he&rsquo;s been relatively silent in games against Calgary.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to put him out of your mind, but I&rsquo;m going to try,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He does a good job on me. He stands up and plays the man. I think he plays wth more emotion against us than he does against other teams. He keeps pounding away&mdash;nothing illegal, but he keeps coming at you to get you off your game.&rdquo;Gretzky&rsquo;s teammates have also noticed.&ldquo;The guy&rsquo;s doing a hell of a job,&rdquo; Paul Coffey said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s doing it to perfection.&rdquo;Sheehy&rsquo;s performance in the last home-and-home series between the Flames and Oilers&mdash;two Calgary wins&mdash;resulted in great cries of outrage from Edmonton. Oilers&rsquo; assistant coach John Muckier, for one, warned that if the Sheehy persisted, then the Flames better all be ready to respond, &ldquo;even Mr. Mullen and Mr. Bullard.&rdquo;Sheehy&rsquo;s response: &ldquo;When Gretzky drops the gloves with me, then 1&rsquo;11 expect Mullen and Bullard to drop the gloves with their guys.&rdquo;Oiler enforcer Marty McSorley, who missed the sixth and seventh games of the series, took a different approach. He accused Sheehy of cowardice because he refused to fight when challenged by a couple of the Oilers&rsquo; heavyweights. The Flames say even Gretzky called Sheehy a &ldquo;turtle&rdquo; in the penalty-filled March 20 game. Gretzky would not comment on the report.Of Sheehy, McSorley said, &ldquo;He usually attacks when there&rsquo;s nobody on the ice who can do anything. He turtled on Mac (Kevin McClelland). He doesn&rsquo;t have any desire to stand up to the big guys.&rdquo;Sheehy countered the charge by saying he is more effective on the ice than in the penalty box. Asked what it would take to draw him into an altercation, he answered: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d have to see our team gain some advantage. The bottom line is to win the hockey game. We have to win on the scoreboard. If I were to fight for myself, I&rsquo;d just be being selfish.&rdquo;Sheehy dismissed the charges of stickwork the Oilers levelled against him.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t stick anybody,&rdquo; said Sheehy. &ldquo;The only thing I did was give (Kent) Nilsson a two-hander&mdash;and I hit him on the stick, not his hands.&rdquo;Sheehy said the Oilers were speaking out of frustration. Counting last season&rsquo;s playoffs, the Flames held an 11-4-1 edge in the last 16 meetings between the teams.&ldquo;Calgary&rsquo;s been dumped on by Edmonton so long,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everybody from Edmonton always rubbed everybody from Calgary&rsquo;s faces in defeat. As soon as Calgary gets something on Edmonton&mdash;any victory&mdash;all of a sudden, their pride comes out.&ldquo;The reason this is getting ugly is we&rsquo;ve been successful against them for a period of time. People from Edmonton just don&rsquo;t like it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0011-01

Beauty And The Beast?

<div class="byline">BY BOB MCKENZIE AND STEVE DRYDEN</div>If at first you don&rsquo;t succeed, try again&hellip;and pray for better results.Last year, THN offered its first-ever ranking of playoff contenders and only missed by a Montreal mile&mdash;slotting the eventual Stanley Cup champions in eighth position.Calgary Flames, the other finalist, were ranked No. 11.None of our top seven picks made it past the second round.Pretty good, eh?We were, however, hardly alone in our failed forecasts. Nobody else expected our No. 15, New York Rangers, to bump off the second-ranked Philadelphia Flyers or the Flames to topple the top-ranked Edmonton Oilers.So, we&rsquo;ve dared to establish yet another pecking order, again rating teams one through 16 (on pages 12 and 13)&mdash;and mindful that should we be as successful as last season, we could just be the ones to finally bring THN to its knees after 40 years.There are some, no doubt, who would thank us should that circumstance be accomplished, but certainly not our families who have come to appreciate three squares a day.Once again, we&rsquo;re making Edmonton the odds-on favorite to win the Campbell Conference and Stanley Cup. Which hardly makes us unique&hellip;or correct, should Calgary get past Winnipeg and continue to dominate their Alberta cousins. Still, we find it impossible to bet against Wayne Gretzky, Neil Sheehy or no Neil Sheehy.<h2>THN RANKINGS</h2>After wrestling with ranking Philadelphia No. 2 again, we backed off, knocked them down a couple of pegs and decided on a two-three combination of Washington and Montreal.The Capitals have earned their high ranking on the basis of superb play down the stretch and the emergence of steady goaltending. Now if only the latter holds up through the playoffs.Montreal is peaking at just the right time and would have been picked No. 2 had they not failed to win even once in nine games against Edmonton, Philadelphia and Washington. Washington has beaten the Habs nine of the last 12 games they&rsquo;ve played.Next comes Philadelphia, who merits higher consideration on the basis of overall season record but have been hard hit by injuries and troubled by uncertain late-season goaltending. Rounding out the top five is Hartford, the choice of many to win the Cup this year.Ranking Calgary as low as No. 6 may seem preposterous, but we are of the opinion that even if the Flames do beat Winnipeg and then sideline the Oilers (which would hardly be an upset), they won&rsquo;t beat the Wales Conference representative.If everything goes according to THE HOCKEY NEWS, then, look for Edmonton to beat Washington or Montreal in the finals.The other teams, in order of our ranking, are: (7) Winnipeg; (8) Quebec; (9) Boston; (10) St. Louis; (11) Detroit; (12) New York Islanders; (13) New York Rangers; (14) Toronto; (15) Chicago; (16) Los Angeles.Profiles on all 16 Stanley Cup contenders, prepared by THN correspondents, follow on the next two pages. On page 14 is a listing of all head-to-head games this season between first-round opponents and a Stanley Cup flow chart. &#9632;

Look For Oilers And Cans In Final

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011294/5070582-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="683" height="773"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Coffey</figcaption></div><h2>1. EDMONTON</h2>For the third time in four seasons, the Oilers finished first overall in the National Hockey League standings&hellip;The Oilers should be at full health during the playoffs with the anticipated return of steady defenseman Randy Gregg, who dislocated his left shoulder March 17&hellip;The top line was in a slump as the season wound down. Wayne Gretzky had gone three games without a point for the first time since his infant NHL season (1979-80) and, until No. 99 found the mark during a 4-4 tie with the Flames, April 2, he&rsquo;d been without a goal for seven games. Linemates Esa Tikkanen and Jari Kurri had also been muzzled&hellip;The goaltending tandem of Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog was not consistently sharp down the stretch&hellip;Oilers have added a wealth of talent and experience, led by defenseman Reijo Ruotsalainen and forward Kent Nilsson&hellip;Superstar defenseman Paul Coffey, hindered by back problems all year, is healthy.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021084/5070575-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="683" height="773"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Gartner</figcaption></div><h2>2. WASHINGTON</h2>The Capitals, after a mediocre four months, seem to be peaking at the right time for the playoffs&hellip;Unlike last season, when Bengt Gustafsson was lost with a broken leg and Mike Gartner and Bob Carpenter were hampered by knee problems, the team is healthy, missing only defenseman John Barrett with a fractured kneecap&hellip;Pete Peeters and Bob Mason were superb down the stretch, providing a strong one-two goaltending punch&hellip;The overall defense was excellent, led by the checking line of Bob Gould, Kelly Miller and Gaetan Duchesne and with a strong blue-line corps anchored by Rod Langway, Scott Stevens and Larry Murphy&hellip;With seven 20-goal scorers, among them Mike Gartner, there is enough offense to win close games&hellip;Even the long-dormant power play is awake, with 16 goals in a 10-game stretch&hellip;There is a feeling, gaining momentum with each victory, that this could be the year that might have been in 1986.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03728/5070568-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="683" height="773"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrick Roy</figcaption></div><h2>3. MONTREAL</h2>Bobby Smith, who scored the Cup-winning goal for the Canadiens in Calgary last spring, continued to be a clutch man for Montreal in 1986-87. He led the team in game-winning goals&hellip;Last year&rsquo;s playoff hero, Claude Lemieux, has been the steadiest and most consistent of the Montreal forwards&hellip;The Guy Carbonneau-Bob Gainey-Chris Nilan checking line is healthy for time first time this season&hellip;The Brian Skrudland-Mats Naslund-Mike McPhee line has become a good offensive threat. Naslund, who slumbered throughout most of the season, has been revived by his two linemates&hellip;The Canadiens, with Conn Smythe-winning Patrick Roy and Brian Hayward, go into playoffs with more stable goaltending than last year&hellip;Habs enter playoffs with momentum, but winless in nine games against Edmonton, Philadelphia and Washington&hellip;Haven&rsquo;t lost to Boston in playoffs since 1943. They&rsquo;ve won 17 straight series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-04452/5070561-1-eng-US/f0012-042.jpg" title="f0012-04" width="683" height="773"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Hextail</figcaption></div><h2>4. PHILADELPHIA</h2>Like all season, the Flyers&rsquo; biggest playoff concern will be injuries. They will not have the services of center Ron Sutter (back) for at least the first round. They don&rsquo;t expect center Peter Zezel (minor knee surgery) to be ready until the third or fourth game of the first-round series, llkka Sinisalo (foot) is expected to be ready-&hellip;Goalie Ron Hextall was awarded the Bobby Clarke Trophy as the club&rsquo;s MVP for the regular season. The voting was done by a media panel&hellip;Tim Kerr recorded his fourth straight 50-goal year&hellip;Many people will be looking at the performance of Brian Propp in the first round. Fairly or not, Propp suffered much of the blame for last season&rsquo;s first-round ouster at the hands of the Rangers&hellip;Also under scrutiny will be defenseman Brad McCrimmon, who signed a one-year deal after a contract disupte this season. The Flyers must offer him a 15 percent raise or he&rsquo;ll be free to deal with other teams (with compensation).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-05329/5070554-1-eng-US/f0012-052.jpg" title="f0012-05" width="683" height="773"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kevin Dineen</figcaption></div><h2>5. HARTFORD</h2>Goaltender Mike Liut holds the key to Hartford&rsquo;s chances. The Vezina Trophy candidate has been exceptional this year&hellip;Ronnie Francis, who played on an injured ankle in the playoffs last year, looked ready to make amends. He was riding a 12-game scoring streak (6-17-23) and hit the 90-point plateau (30-63-90) for the second time in his career-&hellip;Francis, Liut, feisty Kevin Dineen and defenseman Ulf Samuelsson have been Hartford&rsquo;s best players this year&hellip;Since the all-star break, usually-reliable defenseman Dave Babych had played just four plus games&hellip;Paul Lawless (broken bone in right hand) will most likely miss the Quebec series. John Anderson will fill in with Francis and Dineen&hellip;Hartford boasts a strong checking line in Dave Tippett, Doug Jarvis and Paul MacDermid&hellip;High-scoring Sylvain Turgeon, finally over lingering stomach muscle problems, could play a major role.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-06273/5070547-1-eng-US/f0012-062.jpg" title="f0012-06" width="683" height="767"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Reinhart</figcaption></div><h2>6. CALGARY</h2>Flames finished with the best regular season in the history of the franchise, accumulating 95 points, one more than the previous best of 94, set in the 1984-85 season&hellip;Play off chances will be enhanced by the presence of Doug Risebrough, who missed four months because of knee surgery&hellip;Calgary relies heavily on the scoring of right winger Joey Mullen&hellip;Hames dominated Oilers 6-1-1 this year&hellip;There&rsquo;s a decision to make in goal&mdash;last year&rsquo;s playoff&rsquo;s hero Mike Vernon or the red-hot Reggie Leme-lin&hellip;Of their injured players, only giant centre Joel Otto will definitely be out for the start of the playoffs, recovering from knee surgery-&hellip;The power play has been excellent this sea-son&hellip;Right winger Mike Bullard provided added punch to the league&rsquo;s second-highest scoring team (for the third year running)&hellip;Paul Reinhart played outstanding hockey down the stretch, alternating between center and defense.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-07237/5070540-1-eng-US/f0012-072.jpg" title="f0012-07" width="683" height="773"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul MacLean</figcaption></div><h2>7. WINNIPEG</h2>Jets are confident after sweeping Calgary on Winnipeg ice and winning twice in the Saddledome&hellip;Goalie Pokey Reddick got all four wins in Winnipeg while Daniel Berthiaume delivered the wins in Calgary&hellip;Jim Nill will draw the assignment of checking Flame sniper Joey Mullen&hellip;Defenseman Fredrik Olausson, a candidate for the NHL&rsquo;s all-rookie team, has missed games recently with a bruised thigh. He gives the Jets a needed spurt of speed behind the blue line&hellip;The season has seen the magnificence of Mario Marois rise to unexpected heights. Brazenly rough, quick with the puck and heavy with his stick, the 29-year-old defenseman might have been the best rearguard in the Campbell Conference&hellip;Dale Hawerchuk remains the main man on offense, with 98 points&mdash;among them 47 goals&hellip;Gilles Hamel has been a revelation&hellip;Ron Wilson distinguished himself as the league&rsquo;s premier penaltykiller.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-08209/5070533-1-eng-US/f0012-082.jpg" title="f0012-08" width="683" height="773"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michel Goulet</figcaption></div><h2>8. QUEBEC</h2>Barring a major problem, Clint Malarchuk will start ahead of Mario Gosselin in goal&hellip;Defenseman David Shaw is expected to miss three weeks with mononucleosis and center Mike Eagles two playoff rounds with a sprained knee. Normand Rochefort is playing with a badly sprained thumb&hellip;Lane Lambert has proven a worthwhile acquisition, teaming well with Michel Goulet, the Nords&rsquo; player of the year who missed his fifth straight 50-goal year by just one goal, and Dale Hunter&hellip;Risto Siltanen&rsquo;s trip to the minors did him a world of good. He was named Quebec&rsquo;s top defensive player for the month of March&hellip;According to coach Michel Bergeron, Anton Stastny is playing his best hockey since arriving in North America. His brother, Peter, has not got untracked this season. Injuries have plagued him, but he&rsquo;s a clutch player&hellip;After a season of frustration, Quebec went into the playoffs on a streak of. 500 hockey.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011220/5070526-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="691" height="765"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray Bourque</figcaption></div><h2>9. BOSTON</h2>The Bruins have lost to Montreal in the opening round each of the last three years. Boston has lost 17 straight playoff series to Montreal. The difference this year could be goaltending and scoring punch In the late stages of the season, the goaltending duo of Bill Ranford and Doug Keans played its best hockey, though the 20-year-old Ranford has shown streaks of inconsistency&hellip;Offense got a boost with the unexpected emergence of Cam Neely as a 30-goal scorer, the addition of Tom McCarthy and the return to form of Rick Middleton&hellip;Defenseman Ray Bourque, enjoying his best season in terms of both scoring and leadership, is the key to Boston&rsquo;s chances. The question is whether the Bruins have leaned too heavily on their ace, who has played up to 40 minutes a game this season&hellip;New coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly is three parts inspiration, one part tactician behind the bench. The Bruins have been wildly inconsistent under his command.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02898/5070519-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="691" height="765"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Gilmour</figcaption></div><h2>10. ST. LOUIS</h2>Doug Gilmour finished the season with a flourish, capping off his best season ever. He represents the heart of the Blues&hellip;Others were hot too, including Greg Paslawski, defenseman Brian Benning and Bernie Federko, whose string of 100-point seasons ended at three. He had 29 points in 21 games after returning from a broken jaw&hellip;Gilmour and Paslawski are joined by Gino Cavallini on the No. 1 line. Federko and Mark Hunter team with a variety of left wingers&hellip;Heavily-injured throughout the year, only Boston suffered more than the Blues who&rsquo;ll have defenseman Rob Ramage, but not forwards Brian Sutter and Eddy Beers&hellip;Blues are not a great even-strength club, but can beat you in low-scoring games with their special units. They&rsquo;re in big, big trouble when the opposition gets more than three goals&hellip;Goaltending will probably be split, though Greg Millen started six of eight games down the stretch.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03733/5070512-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="691" height="765"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Yzerman</figcaption></div><h2>DETROIT</h2>Coach Jacques Demers plans to use both goalies, Greg Stefan and Glen Hanlon, in the playoffs&hellip;With veteran Harold Snepsts (shoulder separation) due back, the Wings will have two extra defensemen. Darren Veitch is a key blueliner. Gilbert Delorme and Lee Norwood will be counted upon, too&hellip;The Wings&rsquo; aboveaverage special teams are another factor in their favor&hellip;Steve Yzerman and Gerard Gallant are the catalysts on offense&hellip;With the return of Snepsts and Dave Lewis, the Wings went into the playoffs in good health&mdash;apart from Doug Halward (phlebitis), out for the season&hellip;The Wings established themselves as a solid home team, winning nine straight at home at one point late in the season. With the home-ice advantage in the divisional match-ups, it could be significant. But the Wings have never won a playoff game at Joe Louis Arena. They&rsquo;re 0-3&hellip;Wings haven&rsquo;t won a playoff series since 1978.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04644/5070505-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="691" height="765"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat LaFontaine</figcaption></div><h2>12. NY ISLANDERS</h2>If you could overlook the Islanders&rsquo; season-long fit of inconsistency, their absence of goalscoring and their lack of depth heading into the playoffs, you would be faced with their health. Four players entered the playoffs just back from injuries&mdash;Denis Potvin (knee), Brent Sutter (groin), Mike Bossy (back) and Tomas Jonsson (jaw)&hellip;Isles will rely on Kelly Hrudey&rsquo;s goaltending and a defensive-minded approach that has worked sporadically&hellip;Center Pat LaFontaine has had a superb second half&hellip;With Sutter out, Bryan Trottier had been a workhorse-&hellip;When Jonsson and Potvin went down, Ken Morrow lost the opportunity to rest his arthritic right knee. Morrow, as usual, has been the team&rsquo;s steadiest defenseman. But he needs help as do the former four-time champions&hellip;Without Sutter, Bossy and a healthy Potvin, the Islanders will go nowhere. With them, they will have trouble winning a Patrick Division round.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-05525/5070498-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="684" height="765"><figcaption class="caption-body">Walt Poddubny</figcaption></div><h2>13. NY RANGERS</h2>With goaltenders as good as John Vanbies-brouck and Bob Froese, they could score another series of upset KOs&hellip;PhiI Esposito&rsquo;s offensive-minded team, however, should not be confused with Ted Sator&rsquo;s overachieving defensive club from last spring. Seven of the Rangers&rsquo; top 11 scorers from the team which shocked Philadelphia and Washington are gone and, amazingly, 15 of the 26 players who appeared in last year&rsquo;s playoffs for New York have been swept away by Espo&rsquo;s big broom-&hellip;The Rangers, who came into the playoffs a year ago without a 30-goal scorer, have a pair of 40-goaI snipers in Walt Poddubny and Tomas Sandstrom&hellip;Team defense, however, was a problem all season and the defense corps, except for slick James Patrick, is slow and not very deep&hellip;Veteran forwards Pierre Larouche, Ron Duguay, Tony McKegney, Don Maloney and Marcel Dionne are all capable of playoff explosions.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-06440/5070491-1-eng-US/f0013-062.jpg" title="f0013-06" width="684" height="765"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wendel Clark</figcaption></div><h2>14. TORONTO</h2>Toronto will be hard-pressed to repeat last year&rsquo;s playoff heroics&hellip;Goalie Ken Wregget, the key man in 1986, has been uneven down the stretch as has the Leafs&rsquo; weak defensive unit, which misses Chris Kotsopoulos (groin). Borje Salming can only do so much&hellip;Netminder Allan Bester dominated Detroit this year-&hellip;With eight 20-goal men, including Steve Thomas, Rick Vaive and Wendel Clark, Toronto can score. With an error-prone defense, it can be scored upon&hellip;Clark, disappointing much of this season, has turned it on&hellip;Mercurial center Russ Courtnall has been moved to the wing, to get sluggish Tom Fergus moving&hellip;Vaive is teamed with Steve Thomas and Peter Ihnacak&hellip;Mark Osbome has been an excellent acquisition from the Rangers&hellip;Leafs were incapable of any kind of consistency during the regular season. They won more than two games in a row only once and that four-game streak came to an end Nov. 5.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-07404/5070484-1-eng-US/f0013-072.jpg" title="f0013-07" width="684" height="765"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Larmer</figcaption></div><h2>15. CHICAGO</h2>The Hawks&rsquo; goaltending is shaky going into the playoffs. Bob Sauve is still bothered by a bad back, Murray Bannerman is struggling, and Warren Skorodenski was recalled from the minors to start a key game in Chicago against Minnesota&hellip;Left winger Curt Fraser is doubtful to start the playoffs, with two fractures of the pinky and ring finger on his left hand&hellip;Defenseman Doug Wilson is back, after missing eight games with a knee sprain, and so is flashy 40-goal man Denis Savard, back from a bruised back. Hawks don&rsquo;t win without this pair of all-stars playing well for them&hellip;Left winger Al Secord approached the end of the season in a slump, with three goals in 21 games&hellip;Special teams are a special problem. Their power play is last in the NHL and their penalty killing is near the bottom&hellip;A major bright spot is right winger Wayne Presley, who blossomed into a 30-goal scorer and consistent forward in his second season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-08377/5070477-1-eng-US/f0013-082.jpg" title="f0013-08" width="684" height="765"><figcaption class="caption-body">Luc Robitaille</figcaption></div><h2>LOS ANGELES</h2>The Los Angeles Kings didn&rsquo;t play well in back-to-back games during the regular season, a critical factor because the first four playoff games against the powerful Edmonton Oilers are back to back. They went 3-13-2 in second games and were swept eight times&hellip;For the Kings to duplicate their 1982 playoff upset of the Oilers, team MVP goalie Rollie Melanson will have to play the series of his life. Only five Kings remain from the team that pulled off the &lsquo;82 upset: Dave Taylor, Bernie Nicholls, Jim Fox, Jay Wells and Mark Hardy&hellip;Rookies Luc Robitaille and Jimmy Carson were the hottest Kings down the stretch. Nicholls is capable of carrying a team&hellip;They need a solid series from Bobby Carpenter, who only had one goal since the Marcel Dionne trade&hellip;The Kings finished with the worst penalty-killing percentage in the league for the second straight year. They scored a club-record 95 power-play goals, but gave up 91. &#9632;

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STANLEY CUP PREVIEW

<h2>DETROIT vs CHICAGO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011273/5070669-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="713" height="367"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS vs TORONTO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021002/5070662-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="713" height="363"></div><h2>EDMONTON vs LOS ANGELES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03702/5070655-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="713" height="367"></div><h2>CALGARY vs WINNIPEG</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04498/5070648-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="713" height="367"></div><h2>HARTFORD vs QUEBEC</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-05351/5070641-1-eng-US/f0014-052.jpg" title="f0014-05" width="713" height="367"></div><h2>MONTREAL vs BOSTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-06281/5070634-1-eng-US/f0014-062.jpg" title="f0014-06" width="713" height="367"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA vs NY RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-07226/5070627-1-eng-US/f0014-072.jpg" title="f0014-07" width="713" height="336"></div><h2>WASHINGTON vs NY ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-08194/5070620-1-eng-US/f0014-082.jpg" title="f0014-08" width="713" height="332"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-09178/5070613-1-eng-US/f0014-092.jpg" title="f0014-09" width="1431" height="1768"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mats Naslund (25-55-80) didn&rsquo;t count as many points as the Habs expected this year, but he&rsquo;ll be counted on to help Montreal beat Boston.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Head-To-Head Records For First-Round Rivals

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-10161/5070721-1-eng-US/f0014-102.jpg" title="f0014-10" width="376" height="205"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-11144/5070714-1-eng-US/f0014-112.jpg" title="f0014-11" width="400" height="391"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-12132/5070707-1-eng-US/f0014-122.jpg" title="f0014-12" width="385" height="226"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-13114/5070700-1-eng-US/f0014-132.jpg" title="f0014-13" width="2941" height="1266"></div> &#9632;

f0014-10

Road To The Stanley Cup

<h2>EURONOTES</h2>Bjorkloven defeated defending-champion Farjestads 3-1 in the Swedish Elite League best-of-five final and New York Ranger fans will be happy to know that Ulf Dahlen played a key role. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound center, the Rangers&rsquo; first choice (seventh overall) in 1985, scored six goals in six playoff games and emerged as a dominant figure. The 20-year-old is expected to remain in Sweden next season, play for Bjorkloven and then the Swedish national team at the Winter Olympics in Calgary. There is some speculation that he&rsquo;ll join the Rangers immediately after the Olympics, but he has yet to fulfill his military obligation. Unless he can get it in before the Olympics, his North American ETA is uncertain&hellip;Bjorkloven knocked off Djur-garden 2-0 in their best-of-three semifinal while Farjestads sidelined Lulea 2-1. Former Montreal Canadien prospect Thomas Rundqvist scored the winning goal in overtime of the deciding game&hellip;The Swedish Elite League will expand from eight teams to 10 next fall, when AIK Stockholm and Vasby gain admittance from the First Division. Vasby&rsquo;s inclusion is something of a shock&mdash;the North American equivalent would be the Hershey Bears joining the NHL&mdash;although the nondescript club from a Stockholm suburb earned its promotion. A seemingly minor team with no major stars, Vasby passed an incredible series of competitive tests, including two round-robin series and two five-game playoff series, to earn the honor. Vasby&rsquo;s best player is Calgary native Chris Matchett, a Boston University grad.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Swedish squad earns surprise promotion.</blockquote>For the second consecutive year, Tappara is the Finnish Elite League champion. Coach Raono Korpei, who also guides the fortunes of the Finnish national team, led his club team to a 4-1 win over Karpat in the best-of-seven final. Karpat finished first in the regular season, with Tappara in second place. Youngsters Janne Ojanen, 19, a third-round draft pick of the New Jersey Devils, and Teppo Numminen, 18, a second-round draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets, played key roles in the title victory&hellip;In Czechoslovakia, unheralded defenseman Jan Levinsky scored the winning goal 11 minutes into sudden-death overtime to give Pardubice a 3-2 win over the army team of Dukla Jihlava in the fifth and deciding game of the playoff championship&hellip;Defending-champion Cologne Sharks romped to another playoff title in West Germany&rsquo;s top division. The Sharks swept Mannheim (5-0, 60, 9-2) in the best-of-five final. Leading playoff scorers were Doug Berry (8-12-20), Miroslav Sikora (10-9-19) and defenseman Udo Kiessling (4-1115), all of Cologne&hellip;In Switzerland, where playoffs were introduced for the first time last year, defending-champion Lugano remained unbeaten, extending its string of playoff victories to 10. That included victories of 6-2, 3-1 and 4-0 against Kloten in the championship. Lugano&rsquo;s Kent Johansson, a Swedish import, was the top playoff scorer with eight goals and four assist-s&hellip;Goaltender Richard Bucher of Davos, a prize pupil of the late Jacques Plante, was named the first recipient of the Jacques Plante Trophy, awarded by the Montreal Canadiens to the best Swiss League goalie&hellip;U.S. native Bill Gilligan, who once played for Indianapolis of the World Hockey Association, coached Klagenfurt to its third consecutive title in the Austrian League. Klagenfurt downed Vienna 30 in the best-of-five final&hellip;Goaltender Jim Corsi led Varese to the Italian League title, allowing just five goals in a three-game sweep of Bolzano.Poland, with a 6-1-0 record, won the World Championship &lsquo;B&rsquo; Pool in Canazei, Italy. The Poles, along with Norway (5-1-1) and Austria (5-2), have qualified for the 1988 Winter Olympics as a result of their finishes in the tournament. Fourth-place France (4-1-2) must meet &lsquo;C&rsquo; Pool champion Japan in a two-game series to determine another Olympic berth. The remaining berths will be determined in the &lsquo;A&rsquo; Pool World Championships in Vienna&hellip;West Germany won the World Junior Championship &lsquo;B&rsquo; Pool tournament with a 7-0 record. The title will put them back into the World Junior Championship &lsquo;A&rsquo; Pool in the Soviet Union at Christmas. Switzerland, last at the 1987 World Junior Championships, will be moving to the &lsquo;B&rsquo; Pool. &#9632;

Dahlen Leads Bjorkloven To Playoff Title

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Wayne Gretzky gets riled when it&rsquo;s suggested that he takes conspicuously fewer hits than Mario Lemieux or Mike Bossy, who have been singled out for abuse this year. Gretzky sounded particularly perturbed during an unusual appearance on John Short&rsquo;s Edmonton phone-in radio show when a caller told Gretzky he felt Wayne got preferential treatment from the foe. &ldquo;I get hit as hard and just as much as Lemieux and Bossy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel they take more hits than Wayne Gretzky. Try telling the Calgary Flames that I don&rsquo;t get hit!&rdquo;&hellip;Bob Clarke on why he didn&rsquo;t swing a deal for goaltending insurance before the trade deadline: &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t trade for a goalie to win the Stanley Cup. If we&rsquo;re going to win, it will be because of Ron Hextail. Next year Darren Jensen will be our back-up.&rdquo;The Vancouver Province may help decide I coach Tom Watt&rsquo;s fate. The daily newspaper is I asking fans to send letters, either in support of, or in opposition to Watt. TSN broadcaster Howie I Meeker, who lives in the Vancouver area, is one who believes the Canucks need a coaching change&hellip;A quiet move to bring pro hockey back to Atlanta&rsquo;s Omni is afoot. Rental would be negligible, according to sources close to the source. Former Flame Curt Bennett, now a bigtime Atlanta realtor, is said to be pushing the bring-back-hockey movement&hellip;Former Blackhawk Reggie Fleming is involved with Red Cloud, a charitable organization that helps Indians on Sioux reservations in the Dakotas.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011074/5070783-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="333" height="569"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Watt</figcaption></div>After hearing that Terry Crisp once again is being mentioned for an NHL coaching job, John Vanbiesbrouck. who played for Crisp in Sault Ste. Marie, was quick to endorse his former boss. &ldquo;Terry is extremely loyal to his players,&rdquo; Beezer tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;and very dynamic. Sometimes very excitable. Once the owner of our team sat right behind our bench. After the period was over Terry told us to be very careful about our language. No four-letter words. As soon as the period started he forgot everything he&rsquo;d told us and was tossing every obscenity in the book at the ref.&rdquo;&hellip;Terry O&rsquo;Reilly says he&rsquo;ll decide his coaching future with the Bruins after the playoffs. He&rsquo;ll take the family on vacation, talk it over with his wife, and then GM Harry Sinden.Blues uniforms may undergo yet another change. New St. Louis hockey boss Mike Shanahan is polling fans and the club members to determine whether they want to drop the current bold jersey style, created by Ruth Ornest, wife of former owner Harry Ornest, in favor of the club&rsquo;s original bland blue-note design. Shanahan will decide after the playoffs&hellip;Now that he has a satellite dish, Habs&rsquo; boss Ron Corey has taken in more than 115 games on the tube this year alone&hellip;Although Glen Sather is telling Alberta writers that the NHL is putting the squeeze on Edmonton to take the 1989 All-Star Game, league insiders deny the charge. One NHL source says the Oilers will gladly host the classic followed by Montreal in 1990 and Philadelphia a year later. Originally, says one league tipster, the Oilers had hoped to have the All-Star shindig in 1988 to precede&mdash;and upstage&mdash;the Winter Olympics in Calgary.Mark Pavelich on the confusion caused by his walkout on the Rangers last year: &ldquo;My wife couldn&rsquo;t understand it and my parents were furious. I love the outdoors more than anything and I had some things I had to do. It was important for me to take the year off.&rdquo;&hellip;The Bruins&rsquo; Frank Simonetti was persuaded to make a TV appearance between periods on the New England Sports Network although he, at first, was hesitant. TV aide George Falkowski assured him, &ldquo;Good things happen to people who appear on our shows.&rdquo; Simonetti did the interview, then returned to the ice and scored his first goal of the season. &ldquo;Believe it ornot, it was a 50-foot dart to the short side, exactly where I was aiming it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02862/5070776-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="333" height="562"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Pavelich</figcaption></div>An eye-catching poster of a beautiful female rock singer&rsquo;s performance in Los Angeles turned out to be that of Kings&rsquo; coach Mike Murphy&rsquo;s wife, Evon. For her most recent appearance at Carlos Charlie&rsquo;s, Evon was on the same bill as Harris Peete, the stand-up comic who also doubles as Kings&rsquo; practice goalie from time to time&hellip;Many curious deals have been attempted to settle the Blues-Red Wings conflict over Jacques Demers&rsquo; leap to Detroit. The first was a Red Wing offer of $300,000 cash. More recently the Wings tried to settle it with an offer of Ray Staszak and Adam Oates, but Blues&rsquo; GM Ron Caron nixed the deal&hellip;Latest NHLer-turned-restaurateur is the Rangers spike-haired George McPhee, who has already made the Manhattan gossip columns with his Blue Moon Mexican eaterie. &#9632;

f0016-01

99 Doesn’t Escape Hit-Happy Flames

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04520/5070814-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="546" height="677"><figcaption class="caption-body">Buffalo GM Gerry Meehan holds the first pick in the 1987 NHL entry draft.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03669/5070821-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="119" height="115"></div>BUFFALO&mdash;It&rsquo;s ironic that the end should come in St. Louis.It was in St. Louis that former Buffalo Sabre coach and general manager Scott Bowman first came to National Hockey League fame. And it was in the same city that the team of his design, the 1986-87 Sabres, fell out of the Stanley Cup playoff race.Actually, by game&rsquo;s end, they weren&rsquo;t really in it any longer. The Sabres lost 5-3 to the St. Louis Blues but even before Blues&rsquo; defenseman Rob Ramage scored a controversial power-play goal that snapped a 3-3 tie and sent the Sabres on their way to a club-record 44th loss, their fate was sealed.The out-of-town scoreboard revealed that the Quebec Nordiques had already logged a 4-I triumph over the New York Islanders. The Quebec victory offically ended, for the second year in a row, any hopes the Sabres had of gaining the fourth and final Adams Division playoff spot.There will be, however, some good to come out of the bad.Even with a final-weekend 6-6 draw with New York Islanders and 6-0 waxing of the Hartford Whalers, the Sabres finished last overall to earn (?) first choice and, likely, first shot at Granby Bison superstar Pierre Turgeon in the entry draft June 13.Acutally, Buffalo tied for last with New Jersey&mdash;both had 64 points&mdash;but ranked lower because of fewer wins, 28 to 29.The last time the Sabres had the No. 1 pick, then-general manager Punch Imlach chose franchise-player Gil Perreault. Ironically, Perreault retired earlier this year&mdash;his career spanning from one Buffalo No. I selection to another.Buffalo has come full circle&hellip;much to the disappointment of acting captain Mike Foligno.&ldquo;Bitter? Yeah, I guess you could say we&rsquo;re a little bitter,&rdquo; said Foligno. &ldquo;To do what we did, run them (the Nordiques) down like we did, and then not get there. That&rsquo;s a hard thing to take.&ldquo;We fought for so long and then to get there and have it go the other way&hellip;&rdquo;Foligno was referring to the well-documented 18-point gap, the one that separated the Sabres from the Nordiques and fourth place in midDecember. Three coaches, several new players and a new general manager later, the team caught the Nordiques, but let them get away.Injuries and a genuine lack of talent were the two biggest reasons.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been a kind of unidimensional team,&rdquo; Sabre coach Ted Sator acknowledged, after injuries to John Tucker, Lindy Ruff, Wilf Paiement, Shawn Anderson and Lee Fogo-lin robbed the team of much of its offense and some of its defensive strength.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s disappointing knowing what we might have accomplished had we been operating on all cylinders.&rdquo;SABREPOINTS&mdash;In addition to surpassing the all-time team record for losses in a season (43), the Sabres equalled the club record for losses on the road with 26&hellip;Shawn Anderson suffered a separated shoulder in a loss at Montreal, his second shoulder injury of the season. Both left and right sides were hurt&hellip;Daren Puppa, recalled from Rochester, played in losses at Montreal and home to Edmonton. Sabre management started a minor flap when they started Puppa in Montreal and didn&rsquo;t dress Tom Barrasso. Barrasso left the team before the game and returned to Buffalo, but did so with coach Ted Sator&rsquo;s permission.</div><div style="clear: both;"> &#9632;</div>

f0016-04

Sabres Just Ran Out Of Gas On Last Lap Of Stretch Run

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01945/5070852-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="369" height="417"><figcaption class="caption-body">Frank Orr</figcaption></div>JOHN MARIUCCI NEVER stopped beating the drum for hockey players from the U.S. and. sometimes, he created the impression that his idea of heaven on earth would have been a powerhouse Minnesota North Star team comprised solely of American skaters.If all of the Yanks had been from the state of Minnesota, that would have been even better.Not that Mariucci was anti-Canadian or-European but, when he died recently after a long battle with cancer. U.S. hockey players lost perhaps their biggest booster. During his 14 years as coach of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, he used only homebrews on his teams, not Canadians like many schools.That approach necessitated a &ldquo;farm system,&rdquo; and Mariucci&rsquo;s encouragement helped turn hockey into a major high school sport in the state.The past year or so has seen the deaths of several truly distinguished hockey citizens, men who were a big part of the game&rsquo;s history. Aurel Joliat, Bill Cook, Jacques Plante, King Clancy and John Mariucci each played his own large part in the game&rsquo;s development, albeit in very different ways.Over the years, it was a great joy to have logged some time with these men and talk about &ldquo;the good old days.&rdquo; I don&rsquo;t know if they were good but they were old. and the stories they told left images of a dandy sport and the times in which it was played.An interesting overlap in the careers of Joliat and Cook was that both started their climb up the hockey ladder in Saskatoon. Joliat played for the Saskatoon Sheiks and later became a Montreal Canadien, in a trade for Newsy Lalonde. There was a sizeable uproar in Montreal when the Canadiens traded the great Lalonde for a 130-pound forward. But Joliat was a brilliant, feisty little player and he teamed with Howie Morenz to initiate &ldquo;firewagon&rdquo; hockey. They were the much-needed big draws in the game&rsquo;s infancy.Bill Cook and his brother Bun were playing in Saskatoon, when the fledgling New York Rangers bought that team&rsquo;s players, part of a group that got hockey off to a good start in Manhattan.The Cooks and Frank Boucher formed a forward line that oldtimers have always used as an example of smooth passing and hockey smarts.Few players exerted as much direct influence on the game as Plante. He changed the approach to the game&rsquo;s most important position&mdash;goaltender. Plante was the first to skate out of the net to snare loose pucks, and he was the first to wear a face mask on a regular basis.Clancy spent 65 years in the game as a player, coach, referee, executive and walking history book. His total recall of the people and incidents since World War I filled in large parts of the game&rsquo;s oral history.Mariucci, a product of Minnesota&rsquo;s Iron Range town of Eveleth, went to U. of Minnesota as a football player. He switched to hockey and became an all-American. Big and tough, he had no illusions of why the Chicago Black-hawks wanted him on their defense. They had small players and Mariucci&rsquo;s job was to protect them.But he became a solid player in his six-year career, which was interrupted for three years by the war. He later took the college job and exerted his influence on four famous hockey figures who studied under him&mdash;Lou Nanne, Bob Johnson, Herb Brooks and Glen Sonmor. When the North Stars entered the NHL in &lsquo;67, Mariucci came along and continued his fine work as a scout and assistant GM.John Mariucci will be remembered, and missed. &#9632;

f0017-01

Hockey’s Famed Old Guard Fondly Remembered

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02764/5070883-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="117" height="113"></div>HARTFORD&mdash;From the outside looking in, the first-round showdown between the Hartford Whalers and Quebec Nordiques appears to be a mismatch.&ldquo;Hartford in three,&rdquo; joked Francis Rosa of the Boston Globe, fully aware of the new best-of-seven format. &ldquo;If that was the real Quebec team that I saw late in the season against the Bruins, then I think Hartford will romp. If Peter Stastny gets pumped up, he could make a difference&mdash;but even then, I can&rsquo;t see it going more than five games.&rdquo;Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette agreed.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be very surprised if it goes beyond five games,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You have to pick Hartford for all the obvious reasons. They have better goaltending, a better defense and better forwards.&rdquo;Philippe Cantin of Journal Le Soleil in Quebec made it unanimous.&ldquo;Hartford, easy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Five games, tops. The Nordiques are completely down this season. Peter (Stastny) hasn&rsquo;t been going at all.&rdquo;These are not startling predictions, considering that Hartford claimed its first-ever Adams Division title with roughly 25 more points than the fourthplace Nordiques, who waited until Game 78 to close out the Buffalo Sabres for the last playoff spot.From the inside looking out, however, the series doesn&rsquo;t appear all that lopsided.&ldquo;C&rsquo;mon, nothing is easy in the Adams Division,&rdquo; Mike Liut said. &ldquo;We tied them in the season series and didn&rsquo;t win a game in their building. What does that tell you? There isn&rsquo;t anyone in this locker room who thinks we&rsquo;re just going to walk over the Nordiques.&rdquo;Sure enough, the Whalers have had more problems with the Nordiques than any other team in the division. The season series ended, 3-3-2, with all three of Hartford&rsquo;s victories coming by one goal. At Le Colisee. the Whalers were 0-3-1.The Nordiques, who were badly injured on defense at the time, were eliminated by Hartford in three straight games last year, so revenge will be foremost on their minds.The odds against Quebec pulling off an upset were shortened when highflying left winger Paul Lawless went down with a broken bone in his hand in Game 78 at Montreal. Lawless had 22 goals and 54 points in 60 games and was a plus-25, tops among Whaler forwards.Lawless was injured in the closing seconds of a 3-2 loss to Montreal, one of the best games of the season. Lemieux slashed him, Lawless said, &ldquo;for no reason at all. He went out of his way to do it. I went after him and got him pretty good.&rdquo;Unfortunately, the damage had been done.Lawless suffered a fractured bone in his right hand and could be lost up to three weeks, which would mean that he would miss the Quebec series entirely. His cast was scheduled to come off in 10 days.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s possible that Paul could come back then,&rdquo; Evans said. &ldquo;Hopefully, that will be the case. We&rsquo;ll just have to wait and see.&rdquo;Lawless had filled the left-wing slot next to Ronnie Francis and Kevin Dineen beautifully, and was playing the best hockey of his pro career.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s typical of the way my year has gone.&rdquo; said Lawless, who earlier missed 18 games with a strained knee ligament.WHALER SCUTTLEBUTT&mdash;Kevin Dineen was voted favorite Whaler by the fans&hellip;Mike Liut was named Booster Club MVP&hellip;Dean Evason was chosen the unsung hero by a vote of media. &#9632;</div>

f0017-02

Series Not As One-Sided As Would Appear

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03589/5070914-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="112" height="110"></div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;Thanks largely to a sudden collapse by the Buffalo Sabres, the Quebec Nordiques found themselves in the 1987 Stanley Cup playoffs.As the Sabres headed into a tailspin that saw them lose nine of 10 between games 69 and 78, the Nordiques played just well enough (4-5-1) to secure the fourth and final Adams Division playoff berth.The Nords didn&rsquo;t need to defeat the New York Islanders April 2 (Buffalo eliminated itself by losing 5-3 to St. Louis the same night), but they entered the playoff picture through the front door with a 4-1 decision on Long Island.Such a convincing win away from Le Colisee pleased coach Michel Bergeron.&ldquo;What a way to end the season,&rdquo; he enthused, even though games against New Jersey and Boston officially remained. &ldquo;Everyone played well. We won the game as a team. And if we keep up the good work, everything will be possible in the playoffs.&rdquo;For Bergeron, who had lashed out at his troops a month earlier for allowing the Sabres to come from nowhere and tie them in the standings, it was a time to forgive and forget.&ldquo;I overused a few of the guys when Peter (Stastny), Dale (Hunter) and Gord (Donnelly) were out of the lineup.&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m talking about fellows like Paul Gillis, Alain Cote and Mike Eagles. They gave their all for the team. I really can&rsquo;t get over what they did for us when we were hard up.&rdquo;The pressure remained at season&rsquo;s end, however. The Nordiques were slated to meet the Hartford Whalers, a team that ousted them in three straight games in the first round of last year&rsquo;s playoffs.The Nordiques could fall just as easily in this year&rsquo;s best-of-seven set, but there are reasons for optimism around the Quebec camp.The teams split their season series (3-3-2), and the Nords&rsquo; three losses all came in one-goal games.&ldquo;We simply love to play the Whalers,&rdquo; defenseman Randy Moller said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve always played well against them. They are exactly who we wanted to meet in the playoffs. We have a score to-settle.&rdquo;Peter Stastny and Dale Hunter have shown signs of being close to full recovery after missing much of the season with injuries. Quebec&rsquo;s problems started when the two centers were sidelined.Last year, the Whalers were the underdogs who had been fighting for a playoff spot until the last few days of the regular season. This season, the Nordiques find themselves in the same spot.Quebec&rsquo;s major obstacle to playoff success could be Mike Liut, the Hartford goalie who has staked a firm claim on the Vezina Trophy.Liut has been poison to Quebec in the past few years. Last season, he helped decide the outcome of the series against the Nordiques when he kept Bergeron&rsquo;s skaters off the scoresheet in the first minutes of Game One.NORDIQUE NOTES&mdash;In the eight-game season series, Michel Goulet led the Nordiques in scoring (5-3-8). followed by Anton Stastny (2-4-6) and Mike Eagles (4-1-5). Peter Stastny scored five ponts in five games&hellip;Ron Francis (3-7-10) led the Whalers, while ex-Nord John Anderson (1-5-6), Kevin Dineen (2-4-6) and Ray Ferraro (2-2-4) also supplied some punch. &#9632;</div>

f0017-03

Optimistic Nordiques Ready For Adams Champ Hartford

<div class="byline">BY JEFF GORDON</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01974/5070945-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="118" height="118"></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;At a glance, the St&hellip;Louis Blues may look like a good bet against the Toronto Maple Leafs in their first-round playoff series.The Blues won the season series 52-1. They have a 14-0-2 regularseason unbeaten streak against the Maple Leafs at the St. Louis Arena, and the home-ice edge for the series.The Blues knocked the Maple Leafs out of the playoffs last year, in a dramatic seven-game series. And they entered the playoffs as one of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s hottest teams, having compiled a 12-6-5 record in their last 23 games to steal the Norris Division title on the season&rsquo;s final day.But the Blues respect Toronto for two big reasons&mdash;the Maple Leafs are riding their own emotional crest into the playoffs, and they have arguably the most firepower in the Norris Division.&ldquo;You have to give the Maple Leafs a lot of credit for making the playoffs,&rdquo; Blues&rsquo; coach Jacques Martin said. &ldquo;And you look at their lineup&mdash;Steve Thomas. Rick Vaive. Tom Fergus. Russ Courtnall. They have some scorers. We&rsquo;re going to have to do a job limiting their chances.&rdquo;The Blues win with defense and lose when they open up. They were 4-29-8 this season when they allowed more than three goals.Mark Reeds, who works with left winger Rick Meagher and center Doug Wickenheiser on the Blues&rsquo; checking line, knows the Blues can&rsquo;t focus their defense.&ldquo;Really, we&rsquo;re all going to have to play defensive hockey,&rdquo; Reeds said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t look at it as one line to play defense. It&rsquo;s important for everybody to do it. That&rsquo;s what we did to have so much success in the last month of the season.&rdquo;In their last two games with the Maple Leafs, the Blues won 4-3 and. in overtime. 3-2. Goaltender Rick Wamsley saved the Blues each time, shutting the door when they allowed too many scoring opportunies. Wamsley was 4-0 against&rsquo; the Maple Leafs this season, with a 2.50 goals-against average.But the Blues can&rsquo;t expect Wamsley or Greg Millen to save every game. They have to close down the ice.&ldquo;Look at our last three games (5-3. 4-1 and 3-2 victories to close out the season),&rdquo; Reeds said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t allow too many chances. We have to do what we&rsquo;ve done those last couple of games.&rdquo;For Wamsley, that means a clear slot.&ldquo;We know they can score goals.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got a lot of players who can put the puck into the net. Vaive has the big shot. Fergus always seems to play well against us.&rdquo;While the Chicago Blackhawks. Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota North Stars faded badly down the stretch, the Maple Leafs were able to win some big games. The Blues, who did the same, appreciated their accomplishment.&ldquo;At one time, it looked like they were really out of the playoffs,&rdquo; Wamsley said, &ldquo;so whatever they do in the playoffs is gravy for them. That&rsquo;s how they could make or break their season. If they have a good playoff. everything else they did in the season doesn&rsquo;t matter.&rdquo;Center Bernie Federko said the Leafs won&rsquo;t be cowering in the Blues&rsquo; shadows.&ldquo;They should have a lot of confidence from last year&rsquo;s playoffs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They took three straight from last year&rsquo;s champion. Chicago. It&rsquo;s going to be a tough scries. They played well to get here. &ldquo;BLUENOTES&mdash;The Blues signed University of North Dakota center Tony Hrkac one day after Hrkac, a 1984 second-round draft pick, received the Hobcy Baker Award as the top U.S collegiate player. But Hrkac, now the Blues&rsquo; sixth center, isn&rsquo;t expected to sec much more than spot duty&hellip;Last season, Bernie Federko and Doug Gilmour tied for top scorer in the NHL playoffs, with 21 points. Both entered this post-season hot. Federko had 32 points in his last 24 games of the season and Gilmour had 21 points in the last nine. &#9632;</div>

f0018-01

Blues Planning Tight Defense Against Leafs

&ldquo;SO WHO ARE you voting for?&rdquo; a colleague asked me the other day. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have a vote,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t have a vote?&rdquo; &ldquo;I just said that.&rdquo;&ldquo;Well, if you had a vote, who would you be voting for?&rdquo;&ldquo;Gretzky.&rdquo;&ldquo;Gretzky?&rdquo;&ldquo;I always vote for Gretzky.&rdquo;&ldquo;No, I mean for the big one, the rookie-of-the-year award. You can&rsquo;t vote for Gretzky. He&rsquo;s not a rookie.&rdquo;&ldquo;They never let him be a rookie.&rdquo;&ldquo;So who would you vote for. Luc Robitaille or Ron Hextall?&rdquo;&ldquo;Both.&rdquo;&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t vote for both.&rdquo;&ldquo;Sure you can. You get three choices on the ballot.&rdquo;&ldquo;That&rsquo;s not what I mean. I mean, who are you choosing first, Robitalle or Hextall?&rdquo;&ldquo;Neither.&rdquo;&ldquo;Neither?&rdquo;&ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t I just say that?&rdquo;&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t tell me you&rsquo;re one of those weirdos who thinks defense all the time and is voting for Shawn Burr?&rdquo;&ldquo;Nope.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got it. You&rsquo;re sticking to your old alliances and voting for a westerner, one vote each for the Winnipeg goalies.&rdquo;&ldquo;Nope.&rdquo;&ldquo;Then who?&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m voting for the best rookie in the NHL this season., That&rsquo;s what the vote is for, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;&ldquo;Then who, dammit?&rdquo;&ldquo;Jimmy Carson.&rdquo;&ldquo;Jimmy Carson?&rdquo;&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I just said.&rdquo;&ldquo;Why him?&rdquo;&ldquo;Have you seen him play?&rdquo;&ldquo;Not much.&rdquo;&ldquo;Then you don&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;m talkng about.&rdquo;&ldquo;Why?&rdquo;&ldquo;Because he&rsquo;s a dominant player. Because he has the ability to control a game. Because he&rsquo;s intelligent defensively and because in the second half of the season&mdash;the half that counts&mdash;he&rsquo;s outplayed his teammate Robitaille as well as Hextall.&rdquo;&ldquo;Do you think he has a chance?&rdquo;&ldquo;No.&rdquo;&ldquo;Why not?&rdquo;&ldquo;Politics.&rdquo;&ldquo;Politics?&rdquo;&ldquo;For one thing, not enough of the voters pay attention to what the Los Angeles Kings are doing. For another thing, Carson&rsquo;s a victim of lack of publicity. L.A. has two terrific rookies but had to nick one for promotional purposes early. Robitaille had the better start, so he was the guy chosen. Now he&rsquo;s got most of the attention and it&rsquo;s developed into a two-man race between Robitaille and Hextall.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02735/5070976-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="304" height="454"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Simmons</figcaption></div>&ldquo;But using that approach, isn&rsquo;t it possible that Robitaille and Hextall could cancel each others&rsquo; votes out and Carson could sneak through the middle and win?&rdquo;&ldquo;No it isn&rsquo;t. Again, politics enter in. The Winnipeg voters will spread some votes around with the Jet goaltenders. The St. Louis voters will likely give Brian Benning some attention. Detroit voters might do the same thing for Shawn Burr. And when you add up all the regional factors. Carson&rsquo;s chances aren&rsquo;t great, which is unfortunate because he&rsquo;s had such a great season.&rdquo;&ldquo;What about the other awards?&rdquo;&ldquo;I like Gretzky.&rdquo;&ldquo;For all of them?&rdquo;&ldquo;For as many as he qualifies for.&rdquo;&ldquo;Okay. Say you had a vote. I&rsquo;ll go through the awards, you give me your winners. Starting with the Vezina.&rdquo;&ldquo;Mike Liut.&rdquo;&ldquo;Not Hextall? Next, the Hart Trophy.&rdquo;&ldquo;Gretzky, of course.&rdquo;&ldquo;Adams?&rdquo;&ldquo;Jacques Demers.&rdquo;&ldquo;Norris?&rdquo;&ldquo;Ray Bourque.&rdquo;&ldquo;Selke?&rdquo;&ldquo;Is that an award or a television producer?&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s for the best defensive forward.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take the Montreal Canadiens.&rdquo;&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t take the whole team.&rdquo;&ldquo;Then I&rsquo;ll take Guy Carbonneau. The best defensive forward on the best defensive team.&rdquo;&ldquo;How about the Lady Byng?&rdquo;&ldquo;Joe Mullen.&rdquo;&ldquo;Is that all of them?&rdquo;&ldquo;I hope we haven&rsquo;t missed any.&rdquo;&ldquo;And you still like Carson?&rdquo;&ldquo;I watch him every night.&rdquo;&ldquo;That&rsquo;s Johnny, not Jimmy. Oh, never mind.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-02

Forget Robitaille, Hextall, Carson Is The Top Rookie

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN Assistant Editor</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03526/5071007-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="136" height="129"></div>TORONTO&mdash;The buzzards had been circling in hungry anticipation for more than a week.But in the end. they were denied the Toronto Maple Leafs.&ldquo;Where are all those guys who said we were dead?&rdquo; coach John Brophy asked a pack of reporters, after the Leafs earned a playoff berth with a 3-1 win over Chicago Blackhawks on the &lsquo;second-last night of the regular season.That win, combined with Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; 4-1 loss to St. Louis Blues, completed a remarkable rise for the previously-falling Leafs.Left for dead after losing to Minnesota 6-2 in game 75, Toronto rallied to beat Edmonton 4-2 and Winnipeg 6-2, lost to Washington 4-2, and then dominated the Blackhawks on April 4 at home.One night later, the Blackhawks upended Toronto 5-2 at Chicago Stadium to salvage a playoff berth, relegate the Leafs to fourth and squeeze Minnesota out of the post-season picture.A win would have eliminated the Hawks and made for an easier playoff matchup for the Leafs, who face St. Louis in the best-of-seven opening round. The Red Wings, beaten by the Leafs 5-2-1 in their season series, were the alternative.Instead. Toronto meets the Blues, who were 5-2-1 against the Leafs.St. Louis, which defeated Toronto 4-3 in the Norris Division finals last year, won the final three meetings this season. None of the seven victories was decided by more than two goals.Logically, the Leafs are underdogs but logic is not always a factor in the Norris.After all. few people expected the Leafs to rebound from the devastating loss to Minnesota (March 25), which left them five points out of a playoff picture. Then again, few expected Minnesota (2-12-3) and Chicago (2-84) to be as hopeless down the stretch as they were.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t back in.&rdquo; Brophy insisted. &ldquo;We did the work we had to do at the end of the year.&rdquo;The Leafs didn&rsquo;t enter the playoffs by the back door but that was partly because the North Stars and Black-hawks were blocking the rear entrance.Unusual measures were taken to ensure Toronto was ready for its most important game of the year.First, owner Harold Ballard made his only pre-game appearance of the season in the dressing room. One reporter overheard Ballard tell a friend that he planned to offer the Leafs $500 each for beating the Hawks two straight.The players said no such offer was made.&ldquo;He just said that he was proud of us. and in the next two games for us to give it our best shot,&rdquo; said defenseman Al lafratc.And second. Brophy would not allow the Minnesota-St. Louis game to be monitored on the end scoreboards. Not until the Leafs were safely ahead and just 2:45 remained did the raucous crowd of more than 16.000 learn that St. Louis was well ahead of Minnesota.&ldquo;Who wants to look at the St. Louis scoreboard all night long?&rdquo; said Brophy. reviving a tactic once used against him in the World Hockey Association.Steve Thomas, who gave Toronto a 3-0 lead, was one of the few Leafs who did know the score&mdash;finding out when he was penalized and sent to the dressing room early in the second period.He didn&rsquo;t tell anybody, but did delight in gently telling off Leaf detractors.&ldquo;We made liars out of a lot of people,&rdquo; said the talented goal-scorer.Yes, but only because it took them so long to tell the truth.LEAFLETS&mdash;Leafs&rsquo; record of 3242-6 represented an improvement of 13 points over 1985-86 when the Leafs were 25-48-7&hellip;Wendel Clark ended the season on a nine-game pointscoring streak (6-5-11)&hellip;Steve Thomas. too. was hot with four goals in five games&hellip;Two unsung heroes played large roles in the final-weekend win over Chicago. Dan Daoust shut down Denis Savard and Greg Terrion scored the key first goal. &#9632;</div>

f0018-03

Presumed Dead, Leafs Recovered

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01908/5071038-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="141" height="97"></div>DETROIT&mdash;The disappointment wouldn&rsquo;t last. At least the Detroit Red Wings had that going for them.&ldquo;Obviously, right now we&rsquo;re thinking we blew it,&rdquo; Harold Snepsts said. &ldquo;But once we skate tomorrow, I&rsquo;m sure we&rsquo;ll forget it.&rdquo;The Red Wings, eight points ahead with two weeks left in the regular season and still seven points up in the final nine days, let it all slowly slip away until what looked to be their first championship season in 22 years went to the St. Louis Blues instead.The Blues skated into Joe Louis Arena for the regular-season finale and knocked off the Red Wings 3-2, on Rob Ramage&rsquo;s overtime goal to capture the Norris Division crown. The Blues finished with 79 points, one more than Detroit.The loss dropped the Wings into second place for a Norris Division semi-final playoff series against the Chicago Blackhawks.&ldquo;From where we were to where we came, that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;d like to talk about,&rdquo; coach Jacques Demers said. &ldquo;The positive things. I love what they did for me as coach. We&rsquo;ve become respectable.&rdquo;Detroit, with 78 points, earned 38 more than last year when it bottomed out at 40.&ldquo;Nobody feels good about it,&rdquo; Gerard Gallant said about the late-season woes. &ldquo;But the bottom line is we&rsquo;re in the playoffs. If we win our division in the playoffs, the regular season is forgotten. We were one point shy. It would have been nice. We were there so long. I thought we deserved it.&rdquo;The Wings moved into sole possession of first place on Feb. 7 and remained for almost two months&mdash;until the final night.The Detroit-Chicago playoff series figures to be a not-so-classic matchup of offense versus defense.And if the defense ever had a clearcut advantage, this is it.Playoff time is time for goaltending and defense, and the Red Wings figure to have the edge in both categories.Only two teams, Los Angeles and New Jersey, gave up more goals than Chicago this season. The Blackhawks yielded 313 goals&mdash;for a 3.91 goals-against average.That&rsquo;s in contrast to the 274 goals allowed by Detroit, for a 3.36 mark.The Blackhawks scored 290 goals to Detroit&rsquo;s 260.&ldquo;They do have more offense than we do,&rdquo; said Demers. &ldquo;Our defense is stronger than Chicago&rsquo;s. Our approach won&rsquo;t change. We&rsquo;ll play the same way we&rsquo;ve played all season.&ldquo;The Blackhawks got eliminated quickly last year (losing three straight to Toronto.) They&rsquo;ll approach the playoffs as a chance to redeem themselves. They won&rsquo;t be easy.&rdquo;The Wings won the season series 4-3-1. The Blackhawks were 0-for-4 at Joe Louis Arena, site of the first two playoff games. Detroit posted a 0-3-1 mark at Chicago Stadium, gaining a 2-2 tie in its final appearance there on Feb. 22.WING WIRE&mdash;Veteran right winger Tim Higgins suffered a knee injury in the final game, the extent of which wasn&rsquo;t immediately known. His status is uncertain. &#9632;</div>

f0019-01

Wings Must Regain Composure For Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02678/5071069-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="121" height="112"></div>CHICAGO&mdash;It wasn&rsquo;t exactly a hot stretch drive. But this is the Norris Division, and winning two of their last 14 games was enough to get the Chicago Blackhawks into the playoffs.&ldquo;For some reason.&rdquo; said Denis Savard, &ldquo;it seems like whenever we&rsquo;re in trouble we come up with a good effort.&rdquo;The Hawks came up with a good enough effort to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on the final night of the season, to vault past the Leafs and finish third in the Norris Division.They still needed the third goal of Savard&rsquo;s eighth career hat trick to clinch it in the third period.The Hawks almost cost themselves the playoff spot by going 2-8-4 after March 7, when they finished an eight-game unbeaten streak.Their only two victories were over Toronto&mdash;March 18 at Maple Leaf Gardens, and April 5. They were the difference between making the playoffs and missing them, which loomed large on the Hawks&rsquo; minds the final week or so.&ldquo;You better believe it did,&rdquo; said goaltender Bob Sauve. &ldquo;How about for the last month? Look how close we came. We played with fire, that&rsquo;s for sure, but now it&rsquo;s all over with.&rdquo;The Hawks opened the playoffs at Detroit, with a chance to atone for the second-worst season in Bob Pulford&rsquo;s 10 years as the club&rsquo;s general manager.The Hawks lost the season series 3-4-1 to Detroit, and know they are in for a difficult series against the second-place Red Wings&rsquo; tight-checking style.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be an interesting series, a tough series,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have to grind it out.&ldquo;The way I see it, the way to beat Detroit is to forecheck as much as we can. They&rsquo;re the kind of team that plays one guy up and four guys back. They don&rsquo;t have a lot of guys back there on defense who can handle the puck very well, and we&rsquo;ve got to try and get on them.&rdquo;HAWK TALK&mdash;The Hawks finished with 29 wins, the fewest in Bob Pulford&rsquo;s 10 years as general manager. They also had 29 in 1978-79, when Pulford also coached the entire season&hellip;Their 72 points were the second-lowest in Pulford&rsquo;s regime. They had 68 points in 1983-84 under coach Orval Tessier, the year after they piled up 104 points and Tessier won coach-of-the-year honors&hellip;Pulford has a personal record to straighten out. When he has coached the full season, the Hawks have not won a single playoff game. They were swept in 1977-78 by the Boston Bruins, in 1978-79 by the N.Y. Islanders, and in 1985-86 by the Toronto Maple Leafs&hellip;The Hawks hoped to have left winger Curt Fraser back in time for the playoffs. Fraser suffered two fractured fingers on his left hand, March 28 at Quebec. Hiscast was removed April 3, and he wore two aluminum splints to protect the fingers&hellip;The Hawks scrambled their goaltending at the end of the season. Bob Sauve started the final two games, but Darren Pang was called up from Nova Scotia (American League) as his backup. Sitting out were Warren Skorodenski and Murray Bannerman. &#9632;</div>

f0019-02

Hawks’ Last-Game Victory Salvages Berth In Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01651/5071100-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="158" height="100"></div>LANDOVER&mdash;The Washington Capitals are carrying a new attitude into a familiar rivalry as they battle the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the fifth straight season.Disappointments in past playoffs and utter flops over the first half of this season, the Capitals closed out the regular campaign with five straight victories and nine-game unbeaten streak.Additionally, they were undefeated in their last five meetings with the Islanders and carried memories of a year ago. when they finally overcame the Islanders with a three-game blowout.&ldquo;The big thing is that this year we&rsquo;re trying to peak at the right time,&rdquo; said coach Bryan Murray. &ldquo;If we&rsquo;re fortunate enough to stay healthy, I&rsquo;m confident that we&rsquo;ll do very well in the playoffs. Our level of play right now is even higher than last year, when we had a bit of a dropoff at the end.&ldquo;The team seems to be peaking, mentally and physically. If we can continue to play at a high level, we will have the same opportunity we had last year, when everybody was suggesting that we were the team to beat.&rdquo;Although the Capitals wound up with 86 points, compared to 107 a year ago, they posted a 16-5-2 record after the all-star break to finish second in the Patrick Division for the fourth straight season.&ldquo;Last year we were second with 107 points and it&rsquo;s nice to get points, but who remembers it if you lose in the playoffs,&rdquo; said winger Gaetan Duchesne. &ldquo;If we go far in the playoffs, everybody will remember it 10 years from now.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve always had great regular seasons and sputtered,&rdquo; said defenseman Scott Stevens. &ldquo;Maybe now we can build up to it and go farther. We&rsquo;re playing really good hockey right now.&rdquo;Stevens&rsquo; situation was the only sticky area for the Capitals. He was involved in a head-butting duel with Al Stewart of New Jersey in the closing game of the regular season and received a match penalty from referee Bill McCreary. Such a foul carried the threat of a possible suspension.Stevens said, &ldquo;When the linesman separated us, I asked him, &lsquo;Did you get the head butt? He said, &lsquo;Yeah, and I got you, too.&ldquo;I got jumped two nights in a row and I dropped the gloves, because those games didn&rsquo;t mean anything. I won&rsquo;t do that in the playoffs.&rdquo;Stevens was one of the key factors in the Capitals&rsquo; resurgence, collecting 24 assists in the last 20 games and playing a solid defensive game.Larry Murphy, plus-20 over the last 24 games, wound up the club leader at plus-25 and set team records for a defenseman of 23 goals, 58 assists and 81 points.Mike Gartner, after netting only 10 goals in the first 45 games, finished with 41. He was successful on his second penalty shot of the season when he beat Philadelphia&rsquo;s Chico Resch, April 4. He put one past Hartford&rsquo;s Mike Liut, Jan. 17, and is now three for three in his NHL career, having beaten Wayne Thomas of the New York Rangers in 1980.Much of Gartner&rsquo;s success was due to his placement alongside Mike Ridley, who collected 15 goals and 19 assists after being obtained from the Rangers, Jan. 1. Kelly Miller, the other figure in the Bob Carpenter deal, had 10 goals and 12 assists, was plus-11 and joined Bob Gould and Gaetan Duchesne on a superb checking line that also was winning games with offense.Alan Haworth, gamely continuing to play on a shaky knee, was proving extremely valuable, too. The Capitals were 14-2-1 since the all-star break with Haworth in the lineup, 2-3-1 without him.&ldquo;That guy is the key,&rdquo; Murray said of Haworth.&rdquo; He gives us another line. Having him out there keeps teams from keying on the Ridley line.&rdquo;Both Pete Peeters and Bob Mason played well down the stretch. Peeters was unbeaten in his last six starts, allowing only 14 goals, and most likely sewed up the starting job when he stopped 38 Islander shots in a 2-2 tie, March 27.Should Peeters falter, Murray can expect more second guessing, such as he endured last year when he elected to start Peeters against the Rangers instead of Al Jensen, and the Capitals were ousted.For the season, Mason was 3-0-1 against the Islanders, with a 1.71 goals-against mark. Peeters was 0-2-1, 5.19.Although Murray declined to name a starter and said he would withhold that information throughout the play-offs, he insisted both goaltenders would be used, in contrast to last season, when Jensen was ignored in the playoffs.CAPSULES&mdash;From Jan. 1 on. the Capitals were 12-0 in games in which Bob Gould scored a goal&hellip;Mike Gartner was named the team&rsquo;s man of the year for community involvement. &#9632;

f0022-01

Washington Caps Off Superb Final Quarter

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03357/5071138-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="378" height="461"><figcaption class="caption-body">Barry Meisel</figcaption></div>ON THE 170TH DAY of the 180-day National Hockey League season, they divvied the cash. On March 26&mdash;13 days before the playoffs began&mdash;the league finally announced how $3.15 million in prize money will be awarded this spring.The new collective bargaining agreement called for a 20 percent hike in the prize money pool, from $2.63 million last year to $3.15 million. Both sides wisely decided to add financial incentive to finishing higher in the standings, going further in the playoffs, and winning personal awards.Because that had already been decided in principle before the season, neither NHL president John Ziegler nor players&rsquo; association chief Alan Eagleson&mdash;the architects of the revised award money plan&mdash;felt a pressing need to finalize the format.The sides sat down during Rendez-vous &lsquo;87 and threw some ideas around. The subject was dropped for a while, then finalized in haste. The league&rsquo;s release was out before some teams knew it was finalized.&ldquo;We spent so much time with the pension,&rdquo; Eagleson said, &ldquo;and then we said we better figure the goddamned award money.&rdquo;The moral of the story? Don&rsquo;t finish third or fourth and get knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. While a large majority of players in prize-winning positions will eam more this season because of the 20 percent boost, the losers are players on teams that finish third and get kayoed in their Stanley Cup-opening series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04263/5071131-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="871" height="601"></div>If you played for a team that finished third last season and lost in the first round, you won $3,000. If you play for a team that finishes third this season and loses in the first round, you win $3,000.No 20 percent increase there.If you played for a team that finished fourth last season and lost in the first round, you won $2,600. If you play for a team that finishes fourth this season and loses in the first round, you win $3,000.That&rsquo;s about a 15 percent increase.&ldquo;We wanted there to be more incentive to finishing higher in the standings,&rdquo; reasoned Sam Simpson, Eagleson&rsquo;s assistant.That makes sense. Rewarding NHL teams for finishing fourth is like awarding a degree to college football players for knowing how to read the numbers on the front of their jerseys.Eagleson also insisted the NHL add cash prizes to two trophies which never were officially sanctioned by the league, the Masterton and Pearson Trophies. &ldquo;We wanted to upgrade their importance,&rdquo; Eagleson said.I have no problem there, either. But I don&rsquo;t agree with the huge markup in personal award money. The prizes for second-team all-stars and trophy winners rose 100 per cent. The prize for a first-team all-star berth rose 150 per cent.Why? The players who need the money most are the rookies making $70,000 and busting their butts to help their teams finish second. The guys who scoop up the awards&mdash;I don&rsquo;t need to name names&mdash;already make $200,000 to $500,000 per year.But the rich always get richer, don&rsquo;t they? &#9632;

f0022-03

Just Where Is The Fairness In New Allocation System?

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02463/5071169-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="124" height="121"></div>UNIONDALE, N.Y.&mdash;When Denis Potvin became the first defenseman in National Hockey League history to record 1,000 points, you could almost picture the way it once was.But in that game&mdash;No. 79 of an extraordinarily inconsistent season, a sloppy 6-6 tie with Buffalo&mdash;the New York Islanders lost a shot at second place.By clinching third for the third straight season, and drawing the Washington Capitals in the first round for a third straight season, we were simply reminded of the way it is.Mediocre.The Isles finished ninth overall at 35-33-12. They neither won, lost nor tied more than three games in a row all season. They scored 279 goals, allowed 281.They charged into Game One at Capital Centre with a 2-3-2 record in their last seven games. When they play Game Three at Nassau Coliseum, they will be trying to snap an 0-3-1 homeice winless streak.And after winning two early games in the season over Washington, they went 0-3-2 in their last five.&ldquo;In spite of all the concerns we could have, we&rsquo;re just going to have to give it our all,&rdquo; said Bryan Trottier, who has conjured images of the four Stanley Cup years by sprouting a playoff beard. &ldquo;And let things fall where they will.&rdquo;Trottier. will welcome back sore-backed Mike Bossy after a seven-game rest, but Brent Sutter&rsquo;s pulled groin&mdash;he missed the final 11 games&mdash;is not 100 per cent.The Islanders ended their season with a 9-5 scrimmage victory at Philadelphia. The low-scoring, defensive-postured Islanders scored 15 and allowed 11 in their final two games.It was a season that made no sense, right to the end.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re grabbing for things to be optimistic about,&rdquo; said Potvin, who scored career point 1,001 with an assist in Philadelphia. &ldquo;This is much better than a 3-2 loss.&rdquo;Even the goalie agreed.&ldquo;We can say that we let in 11 goals in these last two games and obviously that&rsquo;s not encouraging,&rdquo; Kelly Hrudey began, &ldquo;but the way everybody has to look at it is that we won three out of four points&mdash;and we came back big in both games.&rdquo;.Hrudey, in case you hadn&rsquo;t been watching, has been established as the Islanders&rsquo; playoff goalie. Coach Terry Simpson refused to admit that after Game 80, but it became obvious when Hrudey started nine of the last 13 games.With four games left, Potvin returned from five weeks off with a sprained left knee, needing three points for 1,000. He picked up an assist in his second game back, then scored two third-period goals in the tie with Buffalo.The historic point came on a Mikko Makela slap shot with 17 seconds left in regulation time, that hit Potvin&rsquo;s left arm and deflected in.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the way I envisioned it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s certainly gratifying.&rdquo;Potvin looked recuperated from his injury, but Tomas Jonsson did not. Jonsson returned for the team&rsquo;s final two games, after missing 30 with a broken jaw suffered in an auto accident on Jan. 22. He appeared rusty and tentative. He did not know if Simpson planned to use him against Washington.&ldquo;Terry&rsquo;s got to decide,&rdquo; Jonsson said, &ldquo;but I certainly hope I play.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0022-02

New York Islanders Study In Mediocrity

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01588/5071200-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="163" height="115"></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;You might call the 20th regular season in the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; history, well, unique.Controversial, tumultous. An 80-game roller-coaster ride.&ldquo;A very emotional season,&rdquo; coach Mike Murphy called it.The man Murphy replaced behind the bench, Pat Quinn, was expelled from the National Hockey League in January for signing a future contract with the Vancouver Canucks.Then the king of the franchise, Marcel Dionne, was traded to the New York Rangers in March. Two weeks later, Dionne would say he &ldquo;never wanted to leave,&rdquo; that his trade request was simply a ploy to precipitate discussions on a new contract.Even before all of this, club owner Jerry Buss was taking in a new partner, selling the 25 per cent of the team&rsquo;s shares that belonged to his ex-wife to long-time King fan Bruce McNall.Later, the team would ridicule an outrageous rumor of a move to Dallas.Still, Los Angeles managed to survive the season for yet another Stanley Cup playoff confrontation with the Edmonton Oilers, the third between the teams in six years.The Kings, known to some as Team Turmoil, have been through this before.The year was 1981-82 and they were coming off a strife-ridden 24-41-15, 63-point season, finishing fourth again in the Smythe Division (barely beating out the Colorado Rockies).All-star winger Charlie Simmer was struggling to recover from a badly broken leg. Coach Parker MacDonald was fired. His replacement, Don Perry, was suspended and the team fined for what would come to be known as the Paul Mulvey Incident.Perry, during a game against the Canucks, ordered Mulvey to leave the bench and join a brawl, prompting headlines and scathing editorials from coast to coast.Mulvey, who rebuffed Perry&rsquo;s command to &ldquo;Go, and don&rsquo;t just dance,&rdquo; would eventually be shipped to the minors. He later charged he was blackballed from the NHL and filed a lawsuit against the Kings, which was settled out of court last summer.Then came the playoffs, the Miracle-on-Manchester game. and the stunning upset of the Oilers in the five-game series.Captain Dave Taylor is one of five Kings who remain from &lsquo;81-82. Jim Fox, Bernie Nicholls (who blossomed as a rookie the way Robitaille and Co. did this year), Jay Wells and Mark Hardy all had hands in the big upset. Murphy, now the coach, was still active as a player.&ldquo;I think right now we have the players,&rdquo; Taylor said, &ldquo;but we haven&rsquo;t quite gotten together, at least on the ice. Certainly, there was a lot of turmoil this year. In the long run, I think it will make us a stronger team.&ldquo;I certainly hope, when the playoffs are over, that we can draw some parallels to &lsquo;82. That would be something, wouldn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;ROYALTIES&mdash;The Oilers won the season series, 4-2-2, winning the final two meetings 9-3 and 7-3&hellip;The Kings filed a grievance with the league, seeking compensation from Vancouver over the loss of coach Pat Quinn. They haven&rsquo;t decided on the type of compensation, but the matter will be taken up by the board of governors during June meetings&hellip;Rookie Luc Robitaille led the team in scoring with 45 goals and 84 points. He set club records for goals and points by a rookie. Only Mike Bossy scored more goals (53 in 1977-78) as an NHL rookie&hellip;Rollie Melanson (18-21-6, 3.69) was voted team MVP by the media. &#9632;

f0023-01

Team Turmoil Looks To Oust Oilers Again

<div class="byline">BY JERRY ZGODA</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01631/5071262-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="124" height="110"></div>BLOOMINGTON, Minn.&mdash;Minnesota North Star general manager Lou Nanne&rsquo;s worst nightmares came true on the final day of the National Hockey League regular season, when the Stars were dumped from the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 1979.For two weeks, he had visions that everything was going to go terribly wrong. The Stars won just twice in their last 17 games (2-12-3). And in sheer desperation. Nanne fired coach Lome Henning with two games to go and retrieved former coach Glen Sonmor.The move didn&rsquo;t work, in Sonmor&rsquo;s debut, Ron Wilson scored with six seconds left for a dramatic 4-4 tic at Chicago. But the Stars could have clinched a playoff spot with a victory or a tie in their season finale at St. Louis. They lost 4-1, allowing Chicago to knock out the Stars with a last-day 5-2 victory over Toronto.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been dreading this for the last two weeks,&rdquo; Nanne said. &ldquo;I got these funny feelings. I could just see them: &lsquo;Geez, it&rsquo;s going to happen.&rsquo; The worst thing is we collapsed when we easily had it in our grasp. We only got seven points out of a possible 34 in our last 17 games&mdash;and 13 of our last 18 opponents were below. 500. We were sitting home free and we let it slip right away.&rdquo;Said right winger Dino Ciccarelli: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sick and tired of hearing how good this team is and how much talent we have. How could we let ourselves get here? You give me the answers. I want to know. I don&rsquo;t have any answers. I think the biggest problem is amongst ourselves. We should have been in the playoffs a long, long time ago.&rdquo;Nanne started a week of raging controversy by firing Henning after a 6-5 loss to the New York Rangers on March 31. Player reaction was immediate and harsh.&ldquo;There have been some stupid things done in my eight years, but to me, this ranks up with the stupidest,&rdquo; captain Craig Hartsburg said. &ldquo;Everybody in the organization has to take some blame. The people in the front office haven&rsquo;t done the job they think they&rsquo;ve done&hellip;At one time, we had a bunch of good guys who really cared and now it&rsquo;s all gone. I don&rsquo;t know what they&rsquo;re thinking.&rdquo;Henning accused Nanne of second-guessing and lack of support. &ldquo;This could have been done with more patience,&rdquo; said Henning, a 1986 coach-of-thc-year finalist who was fired with two seasons remaining on his contract.&ldquo;Sometimes you have to go through the tough times to find out what your problems are. then you correct them. Everyone&rsquo;s always looking for the quick fix, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet&hellip;They brought me in from an organization (New York Islanders) that knows what it takes to win, but Louie and I just didn&rsquo;t agree on what it took to win.&rdquo;Henning&rsquo;s comments privately angered Nanne and publicly enraged Sonmor, a long-time friend of the GM.&ldquo;He makes it sound like he&rsquo;s a genius, like he&rsquo;s the only one who knows how to win and we don&rsquo;t know how to win,&rdquo; Sonmor said. &ldquo;Like, this organization is in great disarray&hellip;Louie let Lome do everything he wanted, except he wouldn&rsquo;t let him trade Hartsburg and Ciccarelli last year and he wouldn&rsquo;t let him trade Lawton and Bellows this year.&ldquo;He (Henning) wanted us to get rid of all our top players and, against better judgment, he got us to get rid of quite a few&mdash;McKegney, Richter, Giles, McCarthy. He said they all had to go. He was trying to run the entire organization and no organization operates like that.&rdquo;After the Stars missed the playoffs, Nanne said he had no regrets about making the change.&ldquo;I should have made it much earlier,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I made any mistake. I waited much longer than I should have.&rdquo;Nanne said he is not worried about losing his job, despite the Stars&rsquo; 93-116-31 record the past three years. He said he had considered quitting because of health reasons, but cannot do so now.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t leave on this note,&rdquo; Nanne said. &ldquo;This is the low point of my athletic career and it would be tough to walk away beaten.&rdquo;Nanne said he has no timetable to name a new coach, but the heavy favorite, once again, is hometown hero Herb Brooks. Publicly, both Nanne and Brooks are remaining relatively. quiet, but both are talking about how it can work this time.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s won everywhere he&rsquo;s been,&rdquo; Nanne said. &ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t be any problem for us to work together.&rdquo;STARDUST&mdash;Dino Ciccarelli finished the season with a team-leading 52 goals and 103 points, which left him tied with Bill Goldsworthy for the Stars&rsquo; all-time regular-season scoring lead, at 506 points. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t even enjoy the kind of year I had. not after something like this,&rdquo; Ciccarelli said&hellip;Because of their poor performance, the Stars will have the fourth overall pick in the June draft. &#9632;</div>

f0024-01

North Stars’ Coaching Switch Didn’t Work

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02446/5071293-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="111" height="113"></div>BOSTON&mdash;The secret to success&mdash;underpromise and overdeliver&mdash;has begun to dawn on Rick Middleton.&ldquo;Two years ago,&rdquo; the veteran Bruin winger said, &ldquo;I had what people called a bad year with 30 goals. This year I&rsquo;ve got 30 and they&rsquo;re calling it a good year. You figure it out.&rdquo;Easy. Two years ago, with five straight 40-goal seasons behind him. 30 goals was a disappointment. This year, after all but being written off as a has-been early in the season, he has come back to play a key role as the Bruins geared up for the playoffs.Apart from final-weekend losses to Montreal and Quebec. Boston finished well&mdash;and Middleton, playing the off-wing regularly, was showing the way with 15 goals in his last 20 games. He had 31 goals and 37 assists on the season. After last year&rsquo;s 14 goals in 49 games, that&rsquo;s a major success story.&ldquo;Early in the season, I didn&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d get 30 goals and be wrapped up in the offense as I am,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Since 1977 or &lsquo;78, I&rsquo;ve been counted on to be a big part of the offense. I like the job and the pressure. I like to be depended on to get the big goals.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy where I am now. I&rsquo;m back on the power play and I&rsquo;ve been on a line with some good players.&rdquo;Eight years ago, when he first scored 40 goals in a season, Middleton was right winger to Jean Ratelie&rsquo;s center. Six years ago. when he struck for 51 goals, Barry Pederson was his pivot. Now, he&rsquo;s a left winger with Thomas Gradin at center and Cam Neely on the right.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a difficult adjustment.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter which wing I&rsquo;m on, I like to make plays moving across the middle. It opens things up.&ldquo;The only trouble I&rsquo;ve had is taking passes on my backhand without losing stride. I&rsquo;m used to taking them on my forehand for so many years.&rdquo;Last season was a virtual write-off for Middleton, who missed 31 gaves with a neck ailment and serious head injury, suffered when he was struck on the temple in practice by a Nevin Mark wart shot. This year, for the first time, he has worn a helmet regularly.The newly-rejuvenated &ldquo;Nifty&rdquo; could provide the difference, as the Bruins face the Montreal Canadiens in the opening playoff round for the fourth consecutive year. They lost all three of the previous series, scoring only 25 goals as they won two and lost nine.New coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly is hoping to turn the tables.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing good hockey,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;the kind you want to be playing with the playoffs about to begin. We&rsquo;ve played a variety of styles, too. We&rsquo;ve played tight when we had to, we&rsquo;ve come from behind when we had to, and we&rsquo;ve shown character in the process.&rdquo;The Bruins have been getting good goaltending, too, from both Bill Ran-ford and Doug Keans. Keans is supposed to be a backup goalie, but has played as many games as Ranford, winning 18 to seven losses and four ties.&ldquo;Both of our goalies are playing exceptionally well right now, which is the best time to do it,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Reilly said.&ldquo;I see the playoffs as a goalie partnership. The first series starts with four games in five nights. I don&rsquo;t see that as a one-man job.&rdquo;WHAT&rsquo;S BRUIN&mdash;Cam Neely, who was acquired by the Bruins from the Vancouver Canucks with a draft choice for Barry Pederson, won the Seventh Player Award, given annually to the Bruin whose play furthest exceeds expectations. &#9632;</div>

f0024-02

Nothing Middling About Middleton’s Totals

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03303/5071324-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="116" height="118"></div>NEW YORK&mdash;A Dave Brown crosscheck to the faceshield hasn&rsquo;t caused Tomas Sandstrom to take even a halfstep backward.Less than an hour after the fourthplace New York Rangers finished their regular season with a three-game losing streak, the irrepressible Swedish winger predicted his team would upset Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs.&ldquo;Six games,&rdquo; Sandstrom declared. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll win 4-2.&rdquo;Such an optimistic post-season prediction is not particularly surprising, despite the fact that the Rangers won only three of their last eleven games (3-8-0) and appeared to fall apart defensively.&ldquo;None of that matters,&rdquo; said the Rangers&rsquo; 1986 playoff hero, goalie John Vanbiesbrouek. &ldquo;We still carry the same chance of winning into this series as Philly has.&rdquo;As VBK might suggest, you can look it up.For the fifth time in six years, the New York Rangers will skate against the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round. New York has won three of the last four series.The Rangers upset Philadelphia in five games last spring, but general manager-interim coach Phil Esposito concedes that the change in first-round format to seven games should benefit Philly.&ldquo;If you analyze it,&rdquo; Esposito said, &ldquo;the team that has shown the most consistency is better off in a longer series.&rdquo;After a long, difficult rookie season, Esposito declined to make a prediction of his own. He seemed tired and a little discouraged by his team&rsquo;s poor finish.&ldquo;Now I have to recharge my batteries,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Does it (the poor finish) matter? I don&rsquo;t know. We&rsquo;ll see. if I was playing it would matter to me. I&rsquo;d be bleeped off.&rdquo;Asked to summarize the Ranger season, Esposito shook his head in apparent frustration and then said: &ldquo;I wish Tom Webster hadn&rsquo;t gotten sick.&rdquo;Esposito took the coaching reins in December, after it was found that Webster&rsquo;s inner ear problems would not allow him to fly. The GM has not enjoyed his coaching stint, despite a winning record of 25-19-0.Veteran center Walt Poddubny said he believes the Rangers will get going again.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve got a lot of veterans who know what is important,&rdquo; New York&rsquo;s leading regular-season scorer (40-47-87) said. &ldquo;Everybody is going to be willing to make the necessary sacrifices.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to find a way to shut down that one line with Tim Kerr and Brian Propp on it. I think we&rsquo;ve got a good chance. For one thing, the injuries to Peter Zezel and llkka Sinisalo take away some of their depth.&rdquo;BIG APPLESAUCE&mdash;The Rangers won the season series over the Flyers, 4-3-0, including three victories at the Spectrum. &#9632;</div>

f0024-03

Sandstrom Makes Prediction: Picks Blueshirts In 6 Games

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01552/5071355-1-eng-US/f0025-012.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 off-ice 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 &lsquo;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:Molson NHL Slo-Pitch Challenge 5034 Victoria Avenue, Niagara Falls, ON L2E 4E1 &#9632;

f0025-01

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

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01584/5071386-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="120" height="119"></div>NEW HAVEN, Conn.&mdash;The Night hawks are used to hanging on by their fingernails&mdash;they battled for playoff berths in &lsquo;84-85 and 85-86&mdash;but this season, the story has a new twist.New Haven clinched a berth in the Southern Division playoffs, but is still fighting to continue its 15-year life in the American League.The Los Angeles Kings, owners of the franchise since 1982-83, gave the people of New Haven an ultimatum: Raise season-ticket sales quickly or they will ask the team&rsquo;s board of governors to put the franchise in suspension and move elsewhere.&ldquo;We have 30 days to sell 1,300 tickets or else we are out of business,&rdquo; New Haven general manager Roy Mlakar said at a March 27 press conference. &ldquo;Tve been mandated to cut the budget (by) over $100,(XX).&rdquo;About $50,000 was sliced through a revised agreement with the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum.&ldquo;We have a change in relationship from a tenant/landlord to a partnership,&rdquo; Mlakar said. &ldquo;They are going to take over our advertising.&rdquo;The big part, of course, is the selling job. New Haven&rsquo;s task isn&rsquo;t an easy one. The Nighthawks sold 846 season tickets this season, a franchise low.Mlakar said the team sold a team-high 1,700 season tickets in 1975, after the Nighthawks won their first Southern Division title and appeared in the Calder Cup finals for the second straight year.Since then, attendance and season-ticket sales have dipped. In the previous six seasons, New Haven has had only two winning teams and neither contended for the division title.The six lean years apparently have made fans skeptical. Even though the Nighthawks have been near or at the top of the standings all season, they finished their home schedule with a franchise-low total of 115.927 fans. That&rsquo;s an average of just 2,898 per game.The drive to keep the Nighthawks in business began the afternoon after Mlakar&rsquo;s press conference. Former New Haven owner Joel Schiavone, who sold the team to the Kings, got on the microphone between periods and encouraged the crowd to help keep hockey in New Haven.The early returns weren&rsquo;t bad. Five days after the announcement, the Nighthawks had sold 350 season tickets at $215 per package.New Haven has another problem. Sections of a parking garage situated on top of the Coliseum have been closed because they&rsquo;ve been ruled unsafe. There was some concern the entire building might have to come down in the future.&ldquo;The garage and Coliseum are two separate issues.&rdquo; Mlakar said. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s going to take awhile. (The garage&rsquo;s) life expectancy is another four years. We&rsquo;re looking at survival for one year.&rdquo;Mlakar told the AHL board of governors his unpleasant news at a meeting three days later in Boston. But he wasn&rsquo;t the only one with a sob story.Baltimore Skipjack governor John Haas revealed the status of his franchise was also in limbo. The Pittsburgh Penguins told him they want to study their options before making a commitment to return to Baltimore for a sixth season.Should Pittsburgh decide to leave, there have been two rumored options. One has the Penguins going to Muskegon in the International League and another has them going to Moncton.Regardless of what Pittsburgh does, Haas remained confident Baltimore will have an AHL team next season.&ldquo;We have a building and investors that want to keep hockey here,&rdquo; Haas said. &ldquo;I think we have a very good shot at having a team here. We&rsquo;ve been contacted and we&rsquo;ve also made some calls.&rdquo;One of those calls was to Washington GM David Poile.&ldquo;I told them we&rsquo;re going back to Binghamton,&rdquo; said Poile, who had one year remaining on his agreement. &ldquo;I think they&rsquo;re trying to get something going and we&rsquo;re likely targets because we&rsquo;re so close. But we&rsquo;ll be back in Binghamton next season.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0026-01

The Minors

Kings Out If ‘Hawks Bomb In New Haven

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02409/5071417-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="93" height="105"></div>INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;The 1986-87 season has been a learning experience for most of the Indianapolis Checkers.But that&rsquo;s the reason they&rsquo;re playing in Indy, coach Ron Ullyot said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got 13 first-year players on the roster,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;and I think that, around January, they learned what a long season it can be.&rdquo;His young team got off to a quick start, but started to flag as the 80-game season wore on.For much of the 1986 portion of the season, the Checkers occupied first place in the West Division, and even led the league for a while.Then the calendar turned.&ldquo;I think they all ran into a slump about then, playing so many games for the first time.&rdquo; Ullyot observed. &ldquo;On top of that we ran into some goaltending trouble&hellip;(Dave) Parro got sick and didn&rsquo;t have the stamina to play back-to-back games. Then Mike Zanier joined us from Europe and immediately hurt his back.&ldquo;Then we ran into injuries. We&rsquo;ve had four defensemen out at the same time and we&rsquo;ve been struggling ever since.&rdquo;The Checkers went from the top of the heap to third place in the West. Heading into the final week of the regular season, they were battling to hang on to the final Turner Cup playoff position.Despite their problems, the Checkers have enjoyed roster stability, dressing only 36 players this season.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve about the second-lowest in turnover in the league,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had 11 or 12 players from Minnesota (North Stars) depending on the time in the season, and one (Neil Davey) from New Jersey (Devils).&rdquo;The North Stars interfered little with the Indy operation, though observers wonder why they&rsquo;ve never recalled the likes of a George Servinis or signed free agent Ron Handy.Servinis went on a franchise record 23-game scoring streak (20 goals, 20 assists) and Handy led the league in goals (53) and points (131). His 78 assists tied him with Jeff Pyle of Saginaw.&ldquo;Servinis has shown the most improvement lately,&rdquo; Ullyot said. &ldquo;He has been steady, but he came on strong in the last month or so until he was hurt.&rdquo;The left winger was lost for the season when, on March 28 in Saginaw, his foot was broken by a slap shot.The Saginaw game, a 14-0 blowout for the Generals, was the season&rsquo;s low point. But the team regrouped and earned a 6-4 victory over Fort Wayne on March 29, followed by a well-played 4-2 loss to the Komets two day&rsquo;s later.Despite his team&rsquo;s effort in the loss to Fort Wayne, Ullyot was incensed. The normally placid coach was so upset with the officiating that he tossed water bottles and sticks on the ice. &ldquo;I would have thrown the bench but it was too heavy to pick up.&rdquo; he said.I-LITES&mdash;The Checkers attracted 169,378 fans for 1986-87 (with one home date remaining), compared with 81,581 a year ago, their first season under owner Larry Woods&hellip;Rookie goaltender Peter Richards, from Sudbury of the Ontario League, allowed just four goals in his first two pro starts for Flint, both victories.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0026-02

When The Calendar Turned So Did Checkers’ Fortunes

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01547/5071448-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="126" height="120"></div>SHERBROOKE. Que.&mdash;Using the direct, no-frills approach, the Sherbrooke Canadiens captured their first Northern Division title March 31 at Halfiax.The championship recipe was simple: win every game and you don&rsquo;t have to worry about the other teams in the division. The Canadiens did just that, compiled a remarkable 20-1-1 record from Feb. 15 to April 1, strolled off with their first pennant and made themselves the playoff favorites.Sherbrooke clinched the title with a 5-2 victory over the Nova Scotia Oilers that put the finishing touches on a memorable 12-0-1 record in March. The next night they opened April with a 6-4 victory at Moncton.The bulk of the 20 victories came during a 14-game winning streak that began Feb. 25 against Fredericton and concluded on March 29 with a 3-2 shootout loss at home to Baltimore. In the process, Baltimore saved its own American League record of 16 consecutive victories set in 1984-85. The team that stopped Baltimore two seasons ago was Sherbrooke.A week off during the Rendez-vous *87 festivities in mid-February allowed coach Pierre Creamer and his assistants time to prepare the club for the final seven weeks of the season. Creamer gave the players two days off and then went back to work.The Canadiens won four straight, dropped an overtime decision at Nova Scotia and then reeled off the 14 victories. When the streak ended, Sherbrooke needed just one point to clinch.Creamer believes the mid-season break was critical to the team&rsquo;s turnaround.&ldquo;Just before Rendez-vous &lsquo;87 we had a tough month in January,&rdquo; Creamer said. &ldquo;We played a lot of games away and we had to travel and that influences your performance. We had a good rest in Rendez-vous; we didn&rsquo;t play for a whole week. We started back with Moncton on a Sunday and we played a good game. We went to Maine and played another good game defensively and that carried over. When you play good defensively you don&rsquo;t need too many goals to win hockey games.&rdquo;Offense has never been a problem for the Canadiens. Defense was another matter altogether.Last season, the Canadiens finished tied for second in goals for with 340, but was 11th in the 13-team league in goals against, 341. With two games remaining, they were again tied for second in goals for, 320, but had moved up to second in goals against, 249.They&rsquo;ve done it with good goaltending and a no-name defense that includes AHL veteran Rejean Cloutier and Montreal prosect Scott Sandelin. The defense also includes Bobby Delias, Andre Villeneuve, Luc Gauthier, Rick Hayward and Bill Campbell. Peter Taglianetti had been called up by the Winnipeg Jets.Rookies Vincent Riendeau and Jocelyn Perreault and veteran Marc Behrend has developed into a strong goaltending group. Riendeau was the leader of the pack with a 25-13-0 record and 2.84 goals-against average.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">Sherbrooke had a 12-0-1 record in March.</blockquote>During the 22 games from the end of Rendez-vous through April 1, the Canadiens outscored their opponents 112-51, an average of 5.0 goals for to 2.3 goals against. Thirteen times, they gave up two goals or less in a game. In the winning streak, the goal differential was 77-31.&ldquo;Our defense was improving every game,&rdquo; said assistant coach Jean Hamel, who handles the defense. &ldquo;I think we have more experience with Cloutier, Taglianetti and even Sandelin, who only has played this year. He&rsquo;s been playing very good. We&rsquo;ve been controlling the play pretty good in our own zone. That made the big difference.&rdquo;The offense is much more balanced this season, with just one player, Serge Boisvert among the league&rsquo;s top 10 scorers. The Canadiens have eight players with at least 20 goals.Another major factor in the Canadiens&rsquo; rise in the second half was the stability of the roster. There were few injuries and few recalls.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve really got a good group,&rdquo; Creamer said. &ldquo;What really makes a difference through the whole season is that we had the same players most of the time. In the second part of the season the players know each other and we try to play with the same system, with a few adjustments. Staying together all year sometimes makes a difference at the end of the season.&rdquo;In this case, it was a huge difference.AROUND THE DIVISION&mdash;Maine and Fredericton were eliminated from the Calder Cup playoffs. It&rsquo;s the first time Maine, which has won three championships, has failed to make the playoffs in 10 seasons in the league&hellip;Among the changes expected to be announced at a league meeting in late April is the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; decision to leave Portland, Me. The Devils are likely to locate in Utica, N.Y., now the home of an Atlantic Coast League team. Utica is a strong candidate for league membership next year&hellip;Adirondack rookie Randy Hansch was named AHL player of the week for winning four straight games with a 3.00 goals-against average. Hansch made it five in a row April 1 with a 6-5 shootout victory over New-market&hellip;Adirondack forward Glenn Merkosky gave up his chase of Paul Gardner&rsquo;s league record for goals in a season when he accepted coach Bill Dineen&rsquo;s offer to take three games off and rest for the playoffs. Merkosky had 54 goals through 78 games. Gardner scored 61 a year ago&hellip;Maine forward Archie Henderson moved past former Hershey player Larry Zeidel into fourth place on the AHL&rsquo;s career penalty minutes list with 1,647 in 436 games&hellip;First-round playoff matchups: Sherbooke vs. Nova Scotia; Adirondack vs. Moncton. &#9632;

f0027-01

No Frills, Just Lots of Thrills For Sherbrooke

<h2>TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE&hellip;</h2>1. Who are the only players to score six goals in an NHL game while playing for an American-based team?2. Who scored the New York Islanders&rsquo; first goal?3. In 1967, the Chicago Blackhawks traded Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield to the Boston Bruins. Name the three players the Blackhawks got in exchange.4. Who holds the record for most goals scored by a rookie in the Stanley Cup playoffs?5. Who was the top rookie scorer in last season&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs?6. What two players finished one-two in Stanley Cup scoring last spring, even though their club did not play in the finals?7. Name the four goalies that recorded shutouts in last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs.8. Who captained Chicago to the Stanley Cup in 1960-61?9. Name the only player to win the Lady Byng Trophy four times in succession.10. Name the two players picked in the first two rounds of the 1971 NHL entry draft still playing in the NHL.<h2>ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ</h2>1. Red Berenson (St. Louis), Syd Howe (Detroit).2. Ed Westfall.3. Jack Norris, Pit Martin, Gilles Marotte.4. Dino Ciccarelli, 14 in 1980-81.5. Claude Lemieux, 15 points.6. Doug Gilmour and Bernie Federko of St. Louis.7. Ken Wregget, Patrick Roy, Mike Liut, John Vanbiesbrouck.8. Eddie Litzenberger.9. Frank Boucher (1928-31).10. Larry Robinson and Marcel Dionne. BONUS ANSWER: Gerry Meehan.<h2>BONUS QUESTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02353/5071479-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="535" height="949"><figcaption class="caption-body">BONUS: Name this current GM who played for six teams in the NHL.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0027-02

THN HOCKEY TRIVIA

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01555/5071510-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="132" height="58"></div>OSHAWA&mdash;Critics suggested they were a one-line, one-dimensional team incapable of winning a tough sevengame playoff series against a balanced team.Their critics were wrong.The Ontario League&rsquo;s Super Series&mdash;pitting the Leyden Divisionchampion Oshawa Generals and Emms-winning North Bay Centennials, to decide the 1987 Memorial Cup site and host team&mdash;was just that-&hellip;super.And in Game Seven at Oshawa, the Generals recorded a convincing 3-0 victory to cap the series and prove there&rsquo;s more to this team than the big line of Scott McCrory, Lee Giffin and Derek King.&ldquo;I think the Oshawa Generals proved they aren&rsquo;t a one-line team,&rdquo; said North Bay coach Bert Templeton, gracious in defeat. &ldquo;Brian Hunt was a real force out there and so were guys like Sean Williams and John Andersen.&ldquo;And they&rsquo;ve got an excellent defense. Petri Matikainen and Marc Laniel can move the puck and Gord Murphy and Jim Paek are really solid defensively.&rdquo;Oshawa&rsquo;s detractors can be forgiven for assuming the Generals lacked depth and balance. McCrory, the league scoring leader, King and Giffin combined for a total of 356 points during the regular season&mdash;numbers large enough to obscure the dedication and talent of their teammates, not to mention strong team defense.And while the big line continued to get the lion&rsquo;s share of ice time against North Bay. the Generals&rsquo; supporting cast strutted its stuff.Giffin, sidelined with injured ribs, didn&rsquo;t even dress for the deciding game.&ldquo;I said it would be a hell of a series, and that&rsquo;s just what it was.&rdquo; said Generals&rsquo; coach Paul Theriault, who&rsquo;ll be going to the Memorial Cup tourney, May 9-16. for the second time in his OHL coaching career. His Generals lost to the Portland Winter Hawks in the 1983 Memorial Cup final.&ldquo;When you have two good teams like us and North Bay. the series is bound to go the limit.&rdquo;But the door to an OHL championship and second Memorial Cup berth isn&rsquo;t closed to the Centennials, or the Hamilton Steelhawks, Windsor Spitfires, Kingston Canadians, Kitchener Rangers, Peterborough Petes or Ottawa 67&rsquo;s, for that matter.If any team other than the Generals win the OHL playoff championship, it, too. will join the Generals and reps from the Western and Quebec Leagues. If Oshawa goes on to win the OHL championship, the Memorial Cup will be a three-team affair.In quarter-final match-ups. North Bay drew Kitchener while Oshawa faced Kingston. Other confrontations were Hamilton vs. Windsor and Peterborough vs. Ottawa.In the Super Series, momentum shifted a couple of times. Oshawa won the first game. 5-2. but the Cetennials stormed back with a pair of victories, 5-2 and 4-3. the latter coming in overtime at Oshawa. But the Generals went into North Bay for Game Four and evened the count, 7-2, returned home to take the lead. 7-4. and headed north with hopes of wrapping it up in Game Six.But the Centennials, trailing 2-0, rallied for a 3-2 win to send the series to the limit.In Game Seven, North Bay missed many chances early, either shooting wide or directly at overage netminder Sean Evoy. Once the Generals were able to secure a two-goal lead, they swarmed all over the Cetennials. What few good chances North Bay had, especially in the third period, were neatly turned aside by Evoy, who recorded the 24-save shutout.Evoy sat out the first three games of the series with an injured knee.The shutout by Evoy and his 3-0 record in the series&mdash;he didn&rsquo;t start in the Game Six loss at North Bay&mdash;underscored his mastery over the Centennials. The shutout was the sixth of his OHL career and his third against North Bay. He picked up the first two in back-to-back seasons as a member of the last-place Sudbury Wolves.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good goalie who&rsquo;s always been very good against us,&rdquo; said Templeton. &ldquo;Oshawa played very well. They&rsquo;re a heck of a hockey team. But we battled them right to the end.&rdquo;While Theriault switched back and forth with Evoy and Jeff Hackett, Templeton went all the way with veteran John Reid, a 33-game winner during the regular season.Including the playoffs, Evoy had a 26-3-1 record and 2.99 goals-against average this season.While Evoy was shutting down the Centennials, McCrory was doing what he does best at the other end of the rink&mdash;scoring twice to give the Generals all the goals they needed.Two days later, the 5-foot-10, 188-pound center was named the OHL&rsquo;s nominee for Canadian major junior player of the year. Candidates from the WHL and QMJHL had not yet been named.After finishing second to Ray Sheppard of Cornwall in the scoring race last year with 132 points, McCrory was aiming for the top this season&mdash;his third in the OHL.&ldquo;In the back of my mind,&rdquo; the Sudbury native admitted, &ldquo;I was thinking of getting player of the year.&rdquo;McCrory, a 12th-round selection of the Washington Capitals in last year&rsquo;s NHL entry draft, scored 51 goals and 99 assists in 66 games.The 150 points tied him with Vancouver Canuck Tony Tanti (1980-81) for the Generals&rsquo; team record for most points in a season.North Bay&rsquo;s Dave Dave McLlwain finished second in voting and Kitchener&rsquo;s David Latta, third.NOTEBOOK&mdash;Tests showed defenseman Mark Haarmann. who left the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds with five games remining in the regular season. has been suffering from a bleeding ulcer. The Washington Capitals&rsquo; eighth-round choice in the 1985 NHL entry draft hopes to play for University of Toronto next year. &#9632;</div>

f0028-01

Generals Motor To Berth In Memorial Cup

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02390/5071555-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="327" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE RUTHERFORD Ottawa</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>The Ottawa 67&rsquo;s breezed past the Cornwall Royals in the first round of the playoffs and one of the scoring heroes was Mike Rutherford.The 19-year-old Ottawa right winger counted all four goals as the 67s won 4-3 to eliminate Cornwall in five games and earn Rutherford the nod as OHL Player of the Week.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03283/5071548-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="327" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAN WOODLEY Portland</figcaption></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>The Spokane Chiefs were no match for the Portland Winter Hawks in the playoffs mainly because they failed to stop players like Dan Woodley.The Portland center, a 1986 Vancouver draft pick, scored eight times and set up seven more for 15 points in a five-game sweep to win WHL Player of the Week honors.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04205/5071541-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="327" height="429"><figcaption class="caption-body">PATRICE TREMBLAY Chicoutimi</figcaption></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>Patrice Tremblay scored 76 times this season for Chicoutimi in the regular schedule and now that the playoffs are in progress, he hasn&rsquo;t lost his touch.Tremblay was selected QMJHL Player of the Week after he collected eight goals, five of them in one game, and scored an overtime winner to beat Granby. &#9632;

f0028-02

MICRON JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03210/5071624-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="127" height="71"></div>GRANBY, Que,&mdash;The regularseason champion Granby Bisons circled their wagons and took a stand after losing their first four games in the Quebec League&rsquo;s modified roundrobin quarter-finals.&ldquo;Now we have to win our last two games against Chicoutimi,&rdquo; said Granby coach Real Paiement, after his club downed the Drummondville Voltigeurs 7-3 and 5-3 to halt the unexpected slide.&ldquo;Everything went berserk,&rdquo; said Bisons&rsquo; general manager Roger Bedard. &ldquo;Maybe they thought it was going to be easy. Giveaways killed us and then the whole team was so tense. Everybody was afraid of making a mistake.&rdquo;Granby lost 6-3 and 4-2 to Drummondville in it&rsquo;s opening games then fell 11-6 and 6-5 in double overtime to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. That was after the Bisons skated to a 48-18-4 record to win the QMJHL pennant with the third-best record in major junior hockey.Shawinigan Cataractes (5-1) led the Dilio Division playoff standings after running up five consecutive victories and then getting pounded 11-0 by Chicoutimi (3-3). Drummondville (2-4) and Granby (2-4) were chasing the Sags for the second berth in the best-of-seven division final.&ldquo;Our offense didn&rsquo;t work,&rdquo; Paiement said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t get too many key saves but it wasn&rsquo;t only our goalie (Eric Bohemier). In our first game at home against Chicoutimi (11-6 loss), their first four goals came on rebounds. We weren&rsquo;t clearing the front of the net.&ldquo;The two lines we were expecting goals from weren&rsquo;t scoring and we got behind all the time. Then team play deteriorated as everybody tried to do it by themselves.&rdquo;Bisons&rsquo; star Pierre Turgeon was ejected from the opening game for butt-ending Drummondville&rsquo;s Mario Doyon in the second period. That resulted in a suspension for the second game. Then the Boston Bruins called up defenseman Alain Cote after the third game.Granby had acquired Bohemier from the Memorial Cup-finalist Hull Olympiques at the start of the season and obtained James Blanchard from the Verdun Jr. Canadiens at the midFebruary trading deadline.The club decided to go with Blanchard in the fourth game and he was outstanding, facing 59 shots in a double-overtime loss. Blanchard continued to play well in Granby&rsquo;s two wins.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not giving up as many chances and we&rsquo;re waiting for our opportunities,&rdquo; Paiement said. &ldquo;Pierre Turgeon showed the scouts why he is going to have to go No. 1 (in the National Hockey League entry draft).&rdquo;Turgeon scored three goals in the Bisons&rsquo; 7-3 win and two goals and an assist in their 5-3 decision over Drum-mondville. He led his team in playoff scoring with seven goals and five assists in four-and-a-half games after finishing fifth in league scoring with 69 goals and 85 assists for 154 points in 58 games.&ldquo;The last two games proved they have a better team than we do,&rdquo; said Volts&rsquo; coach Michel Parizeau. &ldquo;Pierre had the best game I&rsquo;ve seen him play this year (in Granby&rsquo;s 7-3 win). They really outplayed us.&ldquo;It was kind of a surprise to beat them in the first two games but our team played well and the guys were ready. We lost 5-4 to Shawinigan in one game and 3-1 in another but we didn&rsquo;t play with the same instensity.&rdquo;The Bisons didn&rsquo;t make the playoffs in the past two seasons but Bedard and Paiement don&rsquo;t cite lack of playoff experience as a factor in their predicament.The pressure on the club has been great.&ldquo;I knew if anything went wrong I&rsquo;d be the one who gets blamed, that&rsquo;s part of the game,&rdquo; said Paiement.Bedard won the the 1969 and 1970 Memorial Cups with the Montreal Jr. Canadiens and coached 15 seasons. He said it would be the biggest disappointment of his career if the Bisons get knocked out in the first round.&ldquo;Taking a last-place club to first was a lot of work. Everybody would be disappointed.&rdquo;QUEBEC CACHE&mdash;The Longueuil Chevaliers and Laval Titan were locked in a tight race in the LeBel Division with 4-2 records, followed by the Hull Olympics at 3-3. The St-Jean Castors were out of contention at 1-5. &#9632;</div>

f0029-03

Bisons Rebound From Horrible Start

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01545/5071669-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01498/5071662-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="3060" height="3765"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01520/5071655-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="3064" height="3807"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01470/5071735-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"></div>BOSTON&mdash;Bob Sweeney, C, recalled from Moncton of AHL. Mike Milbury, D, back problem, and Jay Miller, D, hamstring, both ready for first round of playoffs. Lyndon Byers, RW, shoulder, and Mats Thelin, D, groin, ready for second round only. Louis Sleigher, RW, and Gord Kluzak, D, out for season.BUFFALO&mdash;Richard Hadju, LW, recalled from Rochester of AHL and later returned along with Darren Puppa, G. Lee Fogolin, D, Wilf Paiement, RW, John Tucker, C, and Lindy Ruff, LW, all missed season closing with injuries.CALGARY&mdash;Doug Dadswell, G, recalled from Moncton of AHL. Kevan Guy, D, Joel Otto, C, and Hakan Loob, RW, back for first round of playoffs. Brian Engblom, D, out for season.CHICAGO&mdash;Warren Skorodenski, G, and Darren Pang, G, recalled from Saginaw of IHL. Denis Savard, C, and Doug Wilson, D, back in lineup. Curt Fraser, LW, cut finger, and Steve Ludzik, C, broken collarbone, back for first round of playoffs.DETROIT&mdash;Mark Lamb, C, recalled from Adirondack of AHL. Harold Snepsts, D, separated shoulder, and Ric Seiling, RW, shoulder injury. Both back forfirst round of playoffs. Doug Halward, D, out for season.EDMONTON&mdash;Mark Messier, C, back in lineup. Randy Gregg, D, back for first round of playoffs.HARTFORD&mdash;Scot Kleinendorst, D, back in lineup. Torrie Robertson, LW, and Paul Lawless, LW, out for season.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Darren Eliot, G, recalled from New Haven of AHL. Dave Langevin, D, back in lineup. Craig Redmond, D, and Larry Playfair, D, out for the season.MINNESOTA&mdash;Dennis Maruk, C, back in lineup. Scott Bjugstad, LW, Ron Wilson, D, Neal Broten, C, and Tom Hirsch, D, missed season closing with injuries.MONTREAL&mdash;Vincent Riendeau, G, returned to Sherbrooke of AHL. Patrick Roy, G, Bob Gainey, LW, Sergio Momesso, LW, and Petr Svoboda, D, all back in lineup.NEW JERSEY&mdash;Allan Stewart, LW, recalled from Maine of AHL. Peter McNab, C, Craig Wolanin, D, Timo Blomqvist, D, and Andy Brickley, LW, all missed season closing with injuries.NY ISLANDERS&mdash;Denis Potvin, D, Tomas Jonsson, D, and Dale Henry, RW, back in lineup. Mike Bossy, RW, Brent Sutter, C, and Gord Dineen, D, all back for first round of playoffs.NY RANGERS&mdash;Norm Maclver, D, Dave Gagner, C, Gord Walker, RW, and Paul Fenton, RW, recalled from New Haven of AHL Tomas Sandstrom, RW, and Dan Maloney, LW, back in lineup. Stu Kulak, RW, out for season.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Don Nachbaur, RW, returned to Hershey of AHL. Ilka Sinisalo, RW, and Peter Zezel, C, sidelined with injuries but could be back for second round of playoffs. Ron Sutter, C, back injury, out for season.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Moe Mantha, D, Ville Siren, D, and Kevin LaVallee, LW, all missed season losing with injuries.QUEBEC&mdash;Greg Malone, C, recalled from Fredericton of AHL. Doug Shedden, RW, returned to Fredericton. Mike Eagles, LW, sprained knee, back for first round of playoffs. Normand Rochefort, D, sprained thumb, out for season.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Mark Hunter, RW, back in lineup. Ed Beers, LW, Brian Sutter, LW, and Kent Carlson, LW, all out for season with injuries.TORONTO&mdash;Bill Root, D, back in lineup. Miroslav Frycer, LW, Ken Yarem-chuk, C, and Chris Kotsopoulos, D, all out for season with injuries.WASHINGTON&mdash;Yvon Corriveau, RW, recalled from Toronto of OHL and assigned to Binghamton of AHL. John Barrett, D, out for season with broken kneecap.WINNIPEG&mdash;Joel Baillargeon, LW, Peter Taglianetti, D, and Peter Douris, RW, recalled from Sherbrooke of AHL. Douris later returned. Paul MacLean, RW, back in lineup. Hannu Jarvenpaa, RW, and Brad Jones, C, out for season with injuries.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>BALTIMORE&mdash;Jeff Cornelius, D, signed as free agent. Murray Nystrom, RW, signed from London of OHL.MAINE&mdash;Dave Emerson, D, signed as free agent.NEW HAVEN&mdash;John English, D, assigned to Flint of IHL. Brent Sapergia, RW, and Mal Davis, RW, signed as free agents.NEWMARKET&mdash;Tim Armstrong, C, signed as free agent from Toronto of OHL.ROCHESTER&mdash;Jason Meyer, D, recalled from Flint of IHL.SPRINGFIELD&mdash;Bruce Eakin, C, signed as free agent. Garnet McKechney, LW, recalled from Peoria of IHL. Allan May, C, and Bill Berg, D, signed as free agents.<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>FORT WAYNE&mdash;Steve Hollett, C, recalled from S.S. Marie of OHL.KALAMAZOO&mdash;Rob Nichols, LW, out for season with broken ribs.<h2>GOALTENDING</h2>ALL GOALS AGAWST A TEAM IN ANY GAME ARE CHARGED TO THE GOALTENOER OF THATGAME FOR PURPOSES OF AWARDING THE BUL JENNINGS TROPHYWON-LOST TIED RECORD IS BASED UPON WHICH GOALTENDER WAS PLAYING WHEN THE WINNING OR TYING GOAL WAS SCOREDEMPTY NET GOALS ARE NOT COUNTED IN PERSONAL AVERAGES BUT ARE INCLUDED IN THE TEAM TOTAL AND THE SHOT(S) IS INCLUDE 0 IN THE GOALTENDER&rsquo;S SHOTS AGAINST (SA) TOTAL (GP) GAMES PLAYED IN (MINI MINUTES PLAYED lAVGl 60 MINUTE AVERAGE (GA) GOALS AGAINST (SAI SHOTS AGAINST (PCT) SAVE PERCENTAGE<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02337/5071728-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="439" height="459"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Hayward</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03240/5071721-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="439" height="459"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Liut</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04184/5071714-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="1018" height="710"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05151/5071707-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="1000" height="269"></div><h2>GOALTENDING LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06126/5071700-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="982" height="835"></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

TRANSACTIONS

<h2>CAMPBELL CONFERENCE</h2>Semi-FinalsNorris Division<h3>TORONTO vs ST. LOUIS</h3>Wed. Apr. 8 at St. LouisThu. Apr. 9 at St. LouisSat. Apr. 11 at TorontoSun. Apr. 12 at TorontoTue. Apr. 14 at St. LouisThu. Apr. 16 at TorontoSat. Apr. 18 at St. Louis<h3>CHICAGO vs DETROIT</h3>Wed. Apr. 8 at DetroitThu. Apr. 9 at DetroitSat. Apr. 11 at ChicagoSun. Apr. 12 at ChicagoTue. Apr. 14 at DetroitThu. Apr. 16 at ChicagoSat. Apr. 18 at DetroitSmythe Division<h3>LOS ANGELES vs EDMONTON</h3>Wed. Apr. 8 at EdmontonThu. Apr. 9 at EdmontonSat. Apr. 11 at Los AngelesSun. Apr. 42 at Los AngelesTue. Apr. 14 at EdmontonThu. Apr. 16 at Los AngelesSat. Apr. 18 at Edmonton<h3>WINNIPEG vs CALGARY</h3>Wed. Apr. 8 at CalgaryThu. Apr. 9 at CalgarySat. Apr. 11 at WinnipegSun. Apr. 12 at WinnipegTue. Apr. 14 at CalgaryThu. Apr. 16 at WinnipegSat. Apr. 18 at Calgary<h2>WALES CONFERENCE</h2>Semi-FinalsAdams Division<h3>QUEBEC vs HARTFORD</h3>Wed. Apr. 8 at HartfordThu. Apr. 9 at HartfordSat. Apr. 11 at QuebecSun. Apr. 12 at QuebecTue. Apr. 14 at HartfordThu. Apr. 16 at QuebecSat. Apr. 18 at Hartford<h3>BOSTON vs MONTREAL</h3>Wed. Apr. 8 at MontrealThu. Apr. 9 at MontrealSat. Apr. 11 at BostonSun. Apr. 12 at BostonTue Apr. 14 at MontrealThu. Apr. 16 at BostonSat. Apr. 18 at MontrealPatrick Division<h3>NY RANGERS vs PHILADELPHIA</h3>Wed. Apr. 8 at PhiladelphiaThu. Apr. 9 at PhiladelphiaSat. Apr. 11 at New YorkSun. Apr. 12 at New YorkTue. Apr. 14 at PhiladelphiaThu. Apr. 16 at New YorkSat. Apr. 18 at Philadelphia<h3>NY ISLANDERS vs WASHINGTON</h3>Wed. Apr. 8 at WashingtonThu. Apr. 9 at WashingtonSat. Apr. 11 at New YorkSun. Apr. 12 at New YorkTue. Apr. 14 at WashingtonThu. Apr. 16 at New YorkSat. Apr. 18 at Washington &#9632;

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-08" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08165/5071933-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0035-08

The Hockey News Classified

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01482/5071964-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0036-01

SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01492/5071995-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="93" height="89"></div>EAST RUTHERFORD. N.J.&mdash;Max McNab showed remarkable poise and calm for a man whose job is on the line.The Devils&rsquo; general manager didn&rsquo;t break a sweat as media members peppered him with potshots about his wait-and-see style, of the team&rsquo;s refusal to discreetly end the season with a few losses and pick up a better drafting position, and of his relationship with veteran players.But when two questioners suggested that Devils&rsquo; owner John McMullen should either fire McNab or bring in former Ranger GM Craig Patrick as his understudy and eventual successor, McNab broke his silence and fired back.&ldquo;I still believe we&rsquo;re doing the right thing, even though you guys (the media) have all the answers,&rdquo; McNab said. &ldquo;Somewhere along the line we had to say, &lsquo;Whoa! No more trading draft choices.&rsquo; Maybe our improvement is a little slow for you guys, but I sleep well at night.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to get a hold of those &lsquo;Max Must Go&rsquo; signs. I&rsquo;d like to show you my mail, all the letters that say to hang tough. They&rsquo;re very supportive. There&rsquo;s more to a team than ability. There&rsquo;s a feeling there. I may not be around to enjoy it all but I know we&rsquo;re on the right track.&rdquo;The Devils have tried to keep spending to a minimum while building through the draft&mdash;but in the meantime, McNab has been involved in some unfavorable comparisons to the league&rsquo;s more daring GMs.&ldquo;Everybody keeps talking about making trades, but my complaint is nobody analyzes the situation,&rdquo; McNab complained. &ldquo;Would you trade Pat Verbeek? Would you trade Kirk Muller? Would you trade our first-round pick?&ldquo;Everybody has fringe players. They don&rsquo;t want our fringe players. I wouldn&rsquo;t have traded Verbeek to the eight clubs who were asking. What they were offering, you&rsquo;ve got to be stupid to take. In my mind there&rsquo;s a way to get into the playoffs and a way to win the whole thing. That&rsquo;s the way we&rsquo;re going.&rdquo;So why not ease up and improve your draft position?&ldquo;If you want to fool around with games, well&hellip;! don&rsquo;t point a finger at anybody but I feel there&rsquo;s got to be a reward for basic honesty,&rdquo; McNab said, in a disguised reference to the 1983-84 Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; late-season collapse.The Penguins finished dead last that year and wound up drafting Mario Lemieux, ahead of New Jersey&rsquo;s selection of Kirk Muller.&ldquo;If there&rsquo;s even a hint we&rsquo;re not going to play every game to win, it makes me angry,&rdquo; McNab said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a firm believer in the lottery system but, with one or two points separating three teams, you&rsquo;re damned if you do and damned if you don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;When the Devils refused to fold in &lsquo;84, he added, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we blew anything. We got a guy (Muller) with an awful lot of character. When they&rsquo;re surrounded by an identical cast, our guy is one hell of a character player. I don&rsquo;t think we got the short end of that.&rdquo;Did the Devils pay a price for not participating in the Bobby Carpenter or Bob Froese sweepstakes?&ldquo;Washington wanted a first-rounder, Mel Bridgman and one of our young players for Carpenter,&rdquo; McNab revealed. &ldquo;They wanted a Sean Burke, Neil Brady, Paul Ysebaert or Eric Weinrich. That&rsquo;s where that trade broke down.&ldquo;About the time Froese was traded, Alain Chevrier was our MVP after 40 games. Do you realize that maybe Chevrier might be a legitimate goalie?&rdquo;HOT STUFF&mdash;Pat Verbeek&rsquo;s shot at 40 goals ended when he suffered a strained right knee&hellip;The Devils set a franchise record with their 29th victory&hellip;Alain Chevrier became the first goalie in franchise history to record four straight wins.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0038-01

McNab Savs ‘No’ To ‘Max-Must-Go’ Signs

<div class="byline">By Bruce Hood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02389/5072026-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="357" height="451"></div>Q: In a game at the L.A. Forum between the Kings and Philadelphia Flyers, the Kings&rsquo; Dave Taylor took a shot that got by goalie Glenn Resch. But Brad Marsh, standing in the crease, caught the puck and attempted to throw it into the crowd. Was the referee correct to give a two-minute minor? Why wasn&rsquo;t a penalty shot assessed?Chris Johnson, San Gabriel, CAA: There are a number of possibilities in this situation. The determining point would be&mdash;did the player pick the puck up while it was in the crease? If so, that constitutes a penalty shot; if the puck bounced into the air, did the player bat it into the stands deliberately? If so, it would call for a minor penalty for delay of game. The rule has been more strictly enforced than ever this year. The idea is to keep the puck in play and the game moving. If the player actually caught the puck in his hand while in the crease then a penalty shot should be called.Q: I was recently watching a game between the Montreal Canadiens and Hartford Whalers. During play, Patrick Roy took a shot on the arm and seemed to be slightly injured. None of the Canadien players&rsquo; noticed and play went on into the neutral zone, the Whalers&rsquo; zone and so forth. My question is this: Is Patrick Roy eligible to change on the fly if he is injured but there is no stoppage in play? If so, what if Roy had to go across center ice to get to his bench and found himself in the middle of play?Felipe Garcia, Fairvale, NBA: A goalkeeper can change on the fly any time he chooses&mdash;whether he is slightly injured or not. As to the question of being caught in the play on the other side of the centerline&mdash;he must not deliberately be involved. If he does get caught up in the action, it&rsquo;s up to the referee to determine if it was deliberate, even though the rule says that he must not participate in the play &lsquo;in any manner&rsquo; beyond the center line.II you want your questions answered, write to:ASK THE REFEREE16 Martin StreetMilton, Ont.L9T 2P9All questions will be considered, but only those published will be answered. Personal responses are not possible. &#9632;

f0038-02

ASK THE REFEREE

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03312/5072057-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="128" height="117"></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;The end, when it came, was swift and decisive.A six-point swing in little more than 48 hours assured the Pittsburgh Penguins of missing the Stanley Cup play-offs for the fifth straight season, and the 11th time in their 20-year history.&ldquo;The ship,&rdquo; coach Bob Berry said after the final, fatal blow came in a 4-1 loss to Montreal on March 29, &ldquo;has sunk.&rdquo;In truth, however, it had been listing badly for several months. The Penguins were unable to put together more than two consecutive wins since they won seven straight to open the season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been saying for the last two months that all we&rsquo;ve got to do is put four or five games together,&rdquo; Berry said.&ldquo;When you don&rsquo;t win more than two games (in a row) over a period of 55 or 60 games (actually 73), then maybe you&rsquo;re not capable of winning.&ldquo;The bottom line is, when push came to shove down the stretch, we failed to win hockey games.&rdquo;The Good Ship Flightless Waterfowl finally slipped beneath the surface on the next-to-last weekend of the season.First, the New York Rangers beat St. Louis 6-4 to swell their lead over the Penguins to six points.Then, the Penguins lost 5-4 in Hartford to move to the very precipice of elimination. Montreal gave the final shove the following night.Indications were that Berry, assistant coach Jim Roberts and possibly general manager Eddie Johnston would go down with the ship.All three were expected to meet with owner Edward J. DeBartolo in Youngstown, Ohio, shortly after the end of the regular season.It is expected DeBartolo will dwell on the Penguins&rsquo; inability to reach the playoffs or equal their 76-point total of last season, rather than the 17 games Mario Lemieux missed because of a sprained knee and bronchitis, or the Penguins&rsquo; surprisingly solid ratio of goals for and goals against.So, the Penguins sputtered into the final days of the season, waiting to find out who would be in power when training camp opened in September, and trying to convince themselves they had gotten more out of the 1986-87 season than simple frustration.It was an argument they could not win.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had people come up to me and say, &lsquo;Hey, you&rsquo;ve had a great year,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Randy Cunney worth, the Penguins&rsquo; most prolific winger this season.&ldquo;But it still feels like it wasn&rsquo;t a very successful year, even though I did have a good one personally. I always tell them I would trade it all for a playoff spot, because that&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s all about.&rdquo;For the Penguins, however, the final games of the regular season meant nothing more than determining draft position and holding off the New Jersey Devils for fifth place in the Patrick Division.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough getting up for these games,&rdquo; Lemieux said.Cunneyworth agreed.&ldquo;This is really a funny way to finish off the season,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;with the rest of the games meaning nothing.&rdquo;PEN POINTS&mdash;The Penguins finished with a road record of 11-23-6. Last year, they were 14-23-3&hellip;Penguin vice-president Paul Martha said a decision on whether to move the Penguins&rsquo; primary minorleague affiliate out of Baltimore was delayed, because of a revised offer from Baltimore investors. The Penguins might transplant their farm team to Muskegon in the International League. &#9632;</div>

f0038-03

There Was Only Frustration After Most Promising Start

<div class="byline">BY LARRY HUMBER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01462/5072095-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09157/5072088-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="578" height="579"></div><h2>ACROSS:</h2>1. Blocks the view of the opposing netminder (7).4. Former Flyer blueliner (5).7. Nickname of Oilers&rsquo; No. 9 (4).8. Maple Leaf named Lady Byng Trophy winner in 1951-52 and again in 1954-55 (3,5).10. Lesser-known Nordique, he appeared in 73 games for Quebec last season and is likely to surpass that number this season (4,6).12. Leaf rookie Damphousse (5).13. Sutter taken in the 1980 NHL draft (5).14. Building occupied by Peter Pocklington&rsquo;s hockey club (10).18. Former Ranger netminder originally drafted by Chicago (5,3).19. Former Leaf Hammarstrom (4).20. Perspire (5).21. This NHL coach and Wayne Gretzky share the same hometown (7).<h2>DOWN:</h2>1. Noted power skating instructor, she&rsquo;s best known for her work with Bob Nystrom (5).2. Football team owned by Jack Kent Cooke, who brought the Kings to Los Angeles (8).3. Smart (5).4. Sport whose season parallels hockey&rsquo;s (10).5. Cause to stumble (4).6. Fatigue (7).9. Right winger acquired by Buffalo in exchange for Eddie Shack in 1972 (4,6).11. Rick Wamsley and Denis Herron were the first winners of this trophy (8).12. Rangers&rsquo; last Calder Trophy winner (7).15. What Rich and Ron Sutter are (5).16. Swedish-born Jet (5).17. Plus-minus trophy Emery&mdash;(4). &#9632;

f0039-01

CROSSWORD

<h2>25 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; Johnny Wilson, the NHL&rsquo;s ironman, announced his retirement from the New York Rangers shortly after the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs by Toronto Maple Leafs. Wilson played in 580 consecutive games over a 10-year period beginning in 1951.&bull; Stan Mikita of the Chicago Blackhawks was leading all playoff scorers with 17 points after nine games. Surprisingly, Toronto&rsquo;s star defenseman, Tim Horton, was in second place with 11 points.&bull; In playoff action, Toronto Maple Leafs defeated New York Rangers in six games while Chicago Blackhawks did the same to Montreal Canadiens. After the first three games of the final series, Toronto was leading Chicago two games to one.&bull; Two of the toughest, most colorful characters in hockey history received special recognition. Ted Lindsay and Jimmy Orlando were elected to the Detroit Hockey Hall of Fame.<h2>15 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; The fastest overtime goal in history was scored, in a playoff game between Chicago and Pittsburgh. Pit Martin won the game for the Blackhawks only 12 seconds into extra time. Unfortunately, a good portion of the crowd missed the goal because they hadn&rsquo;t made it back from the intermission.&bull; The Philadelphia Flyers held a special night for Bruce Gamble after a heart attack forced the goaltender to retire from hockey. Gamble was presented with a Cadillac and a host of other gifts. Mike Nykoluk was having a night of his own in Hershey. The Bears retired his No. 8 jersey.&bull; In a bid to give their league respectability, the World Hockey Association&rsquo;s St. Paul Fighting Saints offered Wayne Connelly a five-year contract worth $250,000. Connelly eventually signed with the WHA. &#9632;

THIS WEEK…

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02320/5072150-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Los Angeles King captain Bob Pulford sweeps in front of the net and goaltending great Glenn Hall of the St. Louis Blues. Both are still associated with the National Hockey league. Pulford, of course, as coach-GM of the Chicago Blackhawks and Hall, as goaltender coach of the Calgary Flames.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0039-02

THE WAY WE WERE

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03229/5072181-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="561" height="1389"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gilles Tremblay</figcaption></div>The Detroit Red Wings cringed when Gilles Tremblay came to town.Tremblay played nine seasons in the National Hockey League, all with the Montreal Canadiens, and always enjoyed his greatest success against Detroit.Never was his mastery more profound than in 1961-62, his sophomore year. In 14 games against Detroit, Tremblay scored 11 goals. Over the full 70-game schedule, he notched a career-high 32.&ldquo;I guess certain guys have great luck against certain teams,&rdquo; said the native of Montmorency, Que. &ldquo;What is even more ironic is that the guy I played across from most of the time against the Wings was Gordie Howe.&ldquo;I played against Howe quite a bit throughout most of my career and had some good battles. I really don&rsquo;t know why I played so well against them. I just did.&rdquo;The left winger didn&rsquo;t always have such good luck against Howe. There was the night, in 1963-64, when Howe scored against him to tie a record and break the hearts of the Canadiens&rsquo; fans.&ldquo;I was on the ice when Howe scored the goal (his 544th) that tied him with Rocket Richard on the all-time goalscoring list,&rdquo; Tremblay recalled. &ldquo;Howe was not a favorite of Montreal fans. And what made it worse was that he did it against Rocket&rsquo;s old team. That hurt even more.&rdquo;Tremblay spent most of his career with Jean Beliveau as his center and either Bernie (Boom Boom) Geoffrion or Yvan Coumoyer at right wing. He recalled when Cournoyer took over from Geoffrion.&ldquo;They kept Yvan on the bench for two years because he was all offense and no defense,&rdquo; said Tremblay, who switched to Geoffrion&rsquo;s uniform number 5 from 21, after the Boomer was traded.&ldquo;He (Cournoyer) played on the power play for the most part&mdash;but he was ready to play full-time, both ways, when Bernie was traded.&rdquo;At the age of 30, when many players were hitting their peaks, Tremblay retired because of asthma, brought on by an anti-flu shot. He still got the flu and never recovered from the asthma.Today, at 49, Tremblay is a color commentator for the French-language broadcasts of Canadien games. During the off-season he does promotional work for Molson Breweries in Montreal. He resides in Repentigny, Que. with his wife, Nicole, and daughter Nancy. &#9632;

f0039-03

Tremblay Was Wing-Clipper

Patrick Rov selected this week&rsquo;s Chrysler-NHL Player of the WeekCHRYSLER IS THE EXCLUSIVE SPONSOR OF THE NHL PLAYER OF THE WEEK, MONTH AND YEAR AWARDS.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-01177/5072219-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg" title="c0004-01" width="553" height="553"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-02108/5072212-1-eng-US/c0004-022.jpg" title="c0004-02" width="565" height="816"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrick Roy</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Goaltender Patrick Roy of the Montreal Canadians, who captured the William M. Jennings Trophy along with teammate Brian Hayward, registered a 2-0-0 record and 1.50 goals-against-average to win the Chrysler-Dodge Player of the Week award for the period ending April 5.Roy edged Washington Capitals&rsquo; goaltender Pete Peeters, St. Louis Blues&rsquo; center Doug Gilmour and a trio of New York Islanders&mdash;Pat LaFon-taine, Mikko Makela and Bryan Trottier&mdash;for the award.On Roy&rsquo;s behalf, Chrysler-Dodge will donate $500 to the Ste-Foy (Quebec) Minor Hockey Association, the youth hockey organization of the player&rsquo;s choice. Chrysler-Dodge 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 21-year-old native of Quebec City stopped 42 of 45 shots (.934 save percentage) as the Canadiens posted a pair of important wins over Adams Division rivals Hartford Whalers (3-2, Apr. 1) and Boston Bruins (3-1, Apr. 4). With his performance during the week, Roy lowered his average for the season to 2.93&mdash;second only to Hayward&rsquo;s 2.81.The Canadiens, who allowed an average of 2.97 goals-per-game, were the only NHL club to surrender an average of fewer than three goals per game in 1986-87.Peeters registered a 2-0-0 record and 1.46 average, while Gilmour (4-4-8); LaFontaine (35-8); Makela (2-6-8); and Trottier (0-8-8) each totalled eight points in four games. &#9632;

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April 17, 1987

‘Hell Of A Season’ Ends For Gutsy Broncos

NHL SUMMARIES

Lemieux Won’t Play In World Tournament

Jets’ Power Play Source Of Problems