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.

May 15, 1987

The Hockey News May 15, 1987

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03330/5159933-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="552" height="1318"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick MacLeish</figcaption></div>Rick MacLeish is best remembered for his goal-scoring exploits, but it was his defensive work that helped the Philadelphia Flyers to their second straight Stanley Cup in 1975.Placed in the &ldquo;shadow&rdquo; role against high-scoring Buffalo center Gilbert Perreault, MacLeish held his flashy rival to just one goal and one assist in the six-game final series.&ldquo;Just before our series began it was decided by (Flyer coach) Freddie Shero that I would be put up against Perreault,&rdquo; MacLeish said. &ldquo;I knew it wasn&rsquo;t going to be an easy assignment. But I knew I could skate with him and that was half the battle.&rdquo;The native of Cannington, Ont., was the consummate money player. Not only did he check Perreault to a standstill, he also led the league in playoff scoring (11-9-20) for the second straight year.His 1974 totals (13-9-22) included the Cup-winning goal.With Philadelphia ahead of Boston three games to two in the final series that year, MacLeish tipped in Andre Dupont&rsquo;s point shot in the sixth game&mdash;the only goal the Philadelphia Flyers needed to shut out the Bruins 1-0 and win the Cup.&ldquo;We were in a four-on-four situation,&rdquo; recalled MacLeish. &ldquo;I was facing off against Gregg Sheppard. I won the draw and the puck went back to the point where Andre was. As he was taking the shot I just moved to the net in front of (Bruin goaltender) Gilles Gilbert. I think Gilbert was ready for it until I deflected it into the net.&rdquo;MacLeish was a left winger when Boston took him fourth overall in the 1970 amateur draft. But when he was traded by the Bruins to the Flyers in a three-way deal that sent Bernie Parent to the Toronto Maple Leafs, he was converted into a center. Despite the adjustment to taking faceoffs, the conversion was a success.In his first full season with the Flyers in 1972-73, MacLeish scored 50 goals and added 50 assists for 100 points. It turned out to be the high point, statistically, in MacLeish&rsquo;s career.After his trade from Philadelphia to Hartford in 1981, injuries and age cut into his greatest asset, his speed. He also played for Pittsburgh and Detroit before retiring in 1983-84.Today, at 37, MacLeish works as an agent for a financial services company in Mt. Laurel, N.J. He resides with his wife and family in nearby Voorhees. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

MacLeish A Playoff Terror

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011303/5158505-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div>Let your voice be heard. Send your comments to Fan Forum, THE HOCKEY NEWS, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont. M3B 2R2. THN reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

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Departments

FAN FORUM

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011318/5158743-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="371" height="409"><figcaption class="caption-body">Frank Orr</figcaption></div>VIENNA&mdash;When the story broke, it was among the biggest of the hockey season. In the World Junior Championships in Czechoslovakia, all-star teams from Canada and the Soviet Union participated in a long brawl involving almost all of the players from both teams.The Canadian team&rsquo;s chances for a gold medal&mdash;which would have been accomplished had it beaten the USSR by five goals&mdash;went down the drain when the game was abandoned in the second period and both teams were kicked out. Coaches and players were supended from all international competition for at least 18 months.For days, the junior fiasco was the big sports story, especially in Canada. Some thought Canada should boycott future world competitions. Others said the Canadian coaches were to blame, while still others put the finger on the Norwegian referee. The more cynical said the fight showed the Canadian team was strong in good NHL prospects.What expanded the story&rsquo;s impact and importance in Canada was a debate during the telecast of the game, between top sports announcer Brian Williams (he said it was a disgrace in general and both teams should be punished) and Don Cherry (he said the Soviets were to blame and Canada was lily-white in the whole thing).Canadians seemed split on the issue and took approximately the same views as Williams and Cherry.There were charges that Dr. Gunther Sabetzki, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation and his committee, had stepped outside their power when they gave the boot to both teams.The decision would prevent any members of the Canadian team from competing in the 1988 Calgary Olympics, and strip the Soviets of its best for next year&rsquo;s World Junior Championships in Moscow. That knowledge added to the furor.While all the noise was being made about how Canada could strongarm the IIHF into lifting the suspensions&mdash;leading to a dime&rsquo;s worth of publicity for a few politicans&mdash;Murray Costello, the low-key man who is president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, quietly went to work on doing what he could to change the punishment. The Soviet Union hockey folks did it the same way and, with no fuss, bother or threats, it appears that the matter will be repaired by the end of the summer.&ldquo;We (Canada and the Soviets) met with Dr. Sabetzki and asked him to reconsider the severe penalties,&rdquo; Costello said. &ldquo;He seemed to twig to the idea that a lesson had been learned and to carry on with it won&rsquo;t help.&ldquo;He said that he would look closely at the players&rsquo; situation, but he couldn&rsquo;t see anything being done to change the coaches&rsquo; suspensions. We expect that the 18-month suspension part for the players will become a probationary period. As president, Dr. Sabetzki has the right to act on committee decisions and we&rsquo;re confident he will in this matter.&rdquo;Thus, all the bombast from folks back home, about all of the extreme things Canadian hockey should do goes the way of most such baloney in international diplomacy. Gains are made by a man who works quietly, as Costello did.Timing is important, too, in such negotiations. The IIHF was in a storm over the West German national team and its use of an ineligible player-in the World Championships. The federation tried to strip the team of points it won while using the player, but a court injunction blocked that action and left some bitter feelings.If Costello had made a big deal about the junior question, the matter would have likely gone to a harassed IIHF directorate, and any change voted down quickly.The Canadian approach of quiet bargaining, lobbying and general politicking in the international tanks will also be the method U.S. hockey people will try to find an answer to the Scott Young matter.Young is the good young prospect for the U.S. Olympic team and the Hartford Whalers. He took an over-the-counter decongestant when he caught a cold at the world tournament, then tested positive for banned substances. That automatically earned an 18-month suspension from international competition, a punishment as cruelly wrong as 10 years in jail for eating a chocolate bar.That one will be fought quietly at various IIHF levels, because any tumult and shouting in international puck negotiations just screws things up. &#9632;

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Columnists

You Can’t Play Hardball With IIHF Directorate

<h2>TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE&hellip;</h2>1. Who is the only goaltender to win the Hart Trophy playing for a team that gave up the most goals in the league?2. Who holds the NHL record for most consecutive games scoring at least one goal?3. When did an Edmonton team first play in the Stanley Cup finals?4. Name the only brothers who have each scored five goals in an NHL game.5. Which current NHL goaltender played all of his major junior and NHL hockey for teams based in the same city?6. What former NHL defenseman once held the Canadian amateur heavyweight boxing championship?7. Who won the Vezina Trophy in the first three years it was awarded?8. Who was the last player to score five goals in a Stanley Cup game?9. Who scored the fastest goal from the start of a playoff game?10. Who is the only current NHLer whose father won the Jack Adams Trophy as coach of the year?<h2>ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ</h2>1. Al Rollins, 1953-54.2. Harry (Punch) Broadbent, 16.3. Edmonton Eskimos, 1923. 4. Corb and Cy Denenny. 5. Mike Vernon, Calgary Wranglers and Calgary Flames. 6. Murray (Muzz) Patrick. 7. George Hainsworth. 8. Reggie Leach. 9. Don Kozak, six seconds. 10. Richard Kromm (father Bobby won in 1978). BONUS ANSWER: Fred Shero.<h2>BONUS QUESTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04162/5159585-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="533" height="865"><figcaption class="caption-body">BONUS: Name this former player who had a three-year stint in the NHL and won two Stanley Cups as a coach.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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THN HOCKEY TRIVIA

In next week&rsquo;s May 22 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, we&rsquo;ll continue our coverage of the National Hockey League 1987 Stanley Cup playoffs.We&rsquo;ll have updates on the four remaining teams in the hunt for the hardware as well as reports from the other 17 NHL cities, where the clubs are busy preparing for the entry draft and, in some cases, making decisions on new coaches.Plus, we&rsquo;ll have an update on the Memorial Cup tournament, which will be played in Oshawa, Ont., May 9-16, and a complete wrap-up on the Centennial Cup Tier II national championship tournament, being played May 19 in Humboldt, Sask.In addition to all that, we&rsquo;ll present our regular Numbers Game feature and all the news and views and from every level of hockey.Don&rsquo;t miss all that, plus much, much more. &#9632;

NEXT WEEK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021048/5158195-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="346" height="438"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Dryden</figcaption></div><h2>Former Linesman Hayes Says He&rsquo;s Been Wronged</h2>More than 22 years later, George Hayes remains on the outside looking in&hellip;largely by his own choice.The former National Hockey League linesman was fired in 1965 by former president Clarence Campbell because of his refusal to take an eye test. Hayes says it wasn&rsquo;t necessary&mdash;he underwent one every night when he looked across the bar and read the labels on whiskey bottles.It was the end to a stormy and colorful career that spanned more than 1,700 games.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a strange breed of cat,&rdquo; former referee Red Storey said a couple of years ago. &ldquo;He was the greatest companion any official ever had. He was just 24 hours of delight. Damon Runyon wrote about characters like George Hayes.&rdquo;Today, Hayes occupies the hours tramping around his Beachville, Ont., property (near London). He is a healthy 68 years old, and hasn&rsquo;t worked a day since his departure from the NHL.&ldquo;The only jobs I ever had were in sports,&rdquo; he says.He continues to wear his defiance like a badge of honor, daring others to meet him on his own terms. But his contrary nature is tempered by a special warmth.Hayes, bom three blocks from the Montreal Forum, gives the impression of a man without regrets, a man beholden to nobody. And for the most part, he is just that.There is, however, a nagging bother&mdash;his exclusion from the Hall of Fame. Based on performance, he is a worthy candidate. Hayes is convinced that his public involvement in a 1962 scandal has kept him out.It was 25 years ago that Hayes says he witnessed referee-in-chief Carl Voss tell referee Dalton McArthur to ease up on the playoffcontending New York Rangers, in a game with the last-place Boston Bruins.&ldquo;He said, &lsquo;This is a big game for the New York Rangers because if they win, they&rsquo;re practically in the playoffs,&rsquo; goes Hayes&rsquo; version of Voss&rsquo; instructions.&rdquo; I don&rsquo;t want you to call any penalties in the attacking zone or the neutral zone but if you see a penalty in the defending zone, you call it.&rsquo;&rdquo;The Rangers won and made the playoffs.Eventually, the story broke and made national headlines. McArthur went on record saying he believed Voss told him to ease up on the Rangers. Voss, now 80 and living in Lake Park, Fla., has a different version of the story.&ldquo;What I did say to him was, &lsquo;Watch your penalties. Don&rsquo;t go off the track and be throwing everybody and his brother off the ice,&rsquo; says Voss. &ldquo;The way they (said) it, I instructed him. I never instructed (anybody) in the 15 years I was referee-in-chief.&ldquo;What I was trying to do was tell him to make the penalties be penalties. It was sort of a language in the fraternity.&rdquo;While Hayes is still steaming over the incident and Voss&rsquo; part in it, Voss isn&rsquo;t and speaks fairly about Hayes. &ldquo;George Hayes was probably the best linesman the National Hockey League ever had,&rdquo; Voss says.Apparently, not enough people on the Hall of Fame selection committee agree.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if they ever will,&rdquo; Hayes says, &ldquo;but I know I should be in.&rdquo;<h2>A Fan&rsquo;s Fan-Joel Bergman</h2>So you think you&rsquo;re a big hockey fan, eh?You have season tickets to see your favorite team. Belong to the booster club. And make an out-of-town trip every year.Big-time fan, right? Almost&hellip;You want Captain Fantastic. Try this guy.One of the most fanatical hockey fans in North America is Joel Bergman, a 36-year-old systems analyst who lives in Costa Mesa, Calif.We&rsquo;re talking Los Angeles Kings country.And we&rsquo;re talking about fanaticism that makes WWII Japanese kamikazes look like a bunch of weak-willed country-clubbers who failed their pilot tests.Bergman attends about 30 Kings&rsquo; games a year(the ultimate test of hockey fandom) in his role as correspondent for THN&rsquo;s Stan Fischler. Those are his home games. His road games take him mostly to the East Coast, but he&rsquo;s been to &ldquo;11 or 12&rdquo; of the NHL&rsquo;s 21 rinks.Many of those have been visited since the New York City native left the Big Apple for Los Angeles four years ago. Hell, he logs more air miles than the New York Rangers&mdash;for whom, by the way, he holds season tickets.Two pairs.He rarely uses them, of course, but he farms them out to friends and family, retaining them for possible future use. He&rsquo;s had them since 1971 and figures that should better seats than his &ldquo;blues&rdquo; come available, his seniority will come in handy.No, this guy (who attended the epic fourovertime New York-Washington game and game five of the Philly-Ranger series in April) isn&rsquo;t independently wealthy.Just shrewd.He&rsquo;s actually made money on some trips, by paying close attention to frequent flyer programs and capitalizing on a foible in the airline business. When he has time, Bergman purposely purchases tickets on flights that are likely to be overbooked. If he gets bumped, he still gets placed on the next flight out and receives a voucher for another round trip for his trouble.Bergman has twice turned around and sold the vouchers for more than he paid for the original flights.His personal high for one season is in the vicinity of 70 NHL games, which still leaves him about 20 short of Boston pal Phil Czochanski.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011285/5158188-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="1445" height="1760"><figcaption class="caption-body">George Hayes is framed by the trophy presented to him on the occasion of his 1,000th NHL game. He is proud of the trophy but bitter that the late Clarence Campbell&rsquo;s name is one of those on the plaque. Hayes and Campbell were long-time adversaries.</figcaption></div>But Czochanski does have the advantage of living in the northeast, where eight of the 21 NHL teams are located. Call it home-ice advantage.<h2>Mott&rsquo;s Madness-Don Robertson</h2>It should have come as no surprise when Brantford Mott&rsquo;s Clamatos recently won the Allan Cup.After all, the Ontario team seemed to have as many NHLers as, say, this past year&rsquo;s Buffalo Sabres, in the lineup that beat the Nelson (B.C.) Maple Leafs four straight times for the Canadian senior championship.Eight ex-big leaguers&mdash;among them goalie Don Edwards and forwards Stan Jonathan and Stan Weir&mdash;were members of the team that won 42 of 56 games this year.Only two of the remaining players didn&rsquo;t have major junior experience.The man responsible for bringing together the best senior team in Canada is general manager Don Robertson, a Dundas, Ont., bar-hotel owner who lures players more with dangling carrots than dollars.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the opportunity not to make $50 for a win and $5 for a loss,&rdquo; says Robertson, &ldquo;but the opportunity to win an Allan Cup.&rdquo;Robertson, who scours THN for news on player availability, is a poor man&rsquo;s Sam Pollock. He has all the same acquisitive instincts as the former Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; general manager.Like Pollock, he believes in stockpiling players.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t need to have a couple of guys we signed (this year),&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;but we didn&rsquo;t want them playing against us&hellip;It made us virtually unbeatable.&rdquo;The formula works. Robertson says his seven-year winning percentage as a senior league GM is a gaudy.800.As for his own style, the 30-year-old favors personal contact and personal touches. Armed with promises that professionals truly appreciate&mdash;forexample, providing personalized stick patterns&mdash;Robertson recruits players face-to-face, not ear-to-ear.&ldquo;The key is that I personally go to see them,&rdquo; says Robertson, who made 20 visits to Jonathan last year before finally landing the former Boston Bruin.Why so keen on Jonathan?&ldquo;I just like the way he plays,&rdquo; says Robertson, whose fondness for the tough winger is shared by a certain ex-Bruin coach. &ldquo;Maybe I want to be like Don Cherry when I grow up. I&rsquo;ve already got the sports bar.&rdquo;<h2>&lsquo;Head Cases&rsquo;-Dave Maloney</h2>Quote of the week:&ldquo;1 often compare that Minnesota team with the Rangers. They&rsquo;re both head cases. You can never quite figure them out. You question their character, but some of those guys are in for a rude awakening. A guy like Brian Bellows is going to say, &lsquo;My God, what is this?&rsquo;&rdquo;&mdash;Former Ranger Dave Maloney on the North Stars&rsquo; hiring Herb Brooks as coach, page 22. &#9632;

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Rebel With A Cause

<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/f0004-011313/5158226-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="115" height="114"></div>EDMONTON&mdash;A couple of weeks ago, cocoach John Muckier took Glenn Anderson aside.&ldquo;You keep this up, Andy, and you&rsquo;re going to develop an awful reputation,&rdquo; said Muckier, leaving a preliminary indication he was about to scold the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; left winger.&ldquo;What sort of reputation?&rdquo; inquired a puzzled Anderson.&ldquo;People are going to start thinking you&rsquo;re an all-round hockey player,&rdquo; grinned Muckier, a long advocate of defensive play.Anderson responded with a loud guffaw.In his ability to think for himself, the 26-year-old Anderson ranks among the leading free spirits in the National Hockey League&mdash;although some prefer the term from the 1970s when such independent characters were refers red to as &ldquo;flakes.&rdquo;Glenn Chris Anderson qualifies.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s talk politics,&rdquo; Anderson was saying&mdash;decked out in a stylish black sweat shirt, Bermuda shorts and dark sunglasses.Okay, Glenn, what are your political beliefs?&ldquo;One is not to see Peter Pocklington get into office,&rdquo; he bolts from out of the blue about the Oilers&rsquo; owner.When you&rsquo;re on the second year of a lucrative eight-year contract worth about $3 million and currently playing the finest hockey of your career, you&rsquo;re at liberty to make jokes concerning political ambitions of the boss.But, when it comes to his immediate superior, coach-manager Glen Sather, Anderson isn&rsquo;t so inclined to humor.Two nights before Christmas, following a 2-1 loss at home to the Winnipeg Jets, Sather blew his stack at Anderson and Jari Kurri.&ldquo;Glenn is going to have to pull up his socks pretty high,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not doing anything and I told him that. I&rsquo;m upset (at) the way he&rsquo;s been playing. He&rsquo;s a much better player than that and he&rsquo;s going to have to give a much better effort.&ldquo;A lot of guys will try and try, and that&rsquo;s enough for me. But, talented players aren&rsquo;t giving the effort&hellip;&rdquo;With Anderson having contributed nine goals and 16 points through nine Stanley Cup playoff games and challenging linemate Mark Messier for Conn Smythe Trophy potential through two playoff rounds, Sather&rsquo;s been whistling a different tune.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say enough good things about him,&rdquo; Sather said between playoff rounds. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s just playing fantastic. He has had help from Nilsson, too. Kent has added another dimension to that line.&ldquo;But, Kent is not solely responsible for what happened to Glenn. The way he plays, Glenn does a lot of that on his own. When he&rsquo;s playing like he can, he gets into the hole well for Mark, goes to the net hard and has a great shot.&rdquo;Sather shrugged off his pre-Christmas remarks as something that comes and goes with the territory.&ldquo;Everybody needs a pat on the back or a kick in the rump occasionally.&rdquo;Following a mediocre season of 35 goals and 73 points, Anderson is back on pace in the playoffs. But it&rsquo;s been the two-way play of the Burnaby, B.C., native that has the coaching staff flashing smiles of relief.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s very determined, just like the rest of these guys are, not to make mistakes in his own end,&rdquo; said Sather.Anderson flatly refused to discuss Sather&rsquo;s tongue-lashing or what affect it had on his improved play.&ldquo;One thing turned it around&hellip;Me!&rsquo;&rsquo; said the son of a B.C. fisherman. &ldquo;You get to a point where you&rsquo;ve got to start dedicating yourself to the game you love.&rdquo;There was talk that, as a bachelor, his diet and office living habits were hindering his play.&ldquo;That has nothing to do with it,&rdquo; he stressed. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all mental. We eat well anyhow, we have our peas and carrots. It boils down to mental preparation. It&rsquo;s that time of year, it&rsquo;s the time to get uptight.&rdquo;IN THE CREASE&mdash;Steve Smith celebrated his 24th birthday April 30. &ldquo;I thought last year the day after, I&rsquo;d never want to celebrate a birthday again. But, now that it&rsquo;s come around, I don&rsquo;t think that way anymore,&rdquo; said Smith, the Oilers&rsquo; defenseman who gained notoriety in the sporting world on his 23rd birthday by inadvertently knocking the puck into his own net for the goal that eliminated Edmonton from the playoffs&hellip;Randy Gregg reports the back spasms that kept him out of three Smythe Division final games against the Winnipeg Jets have all but cleared up&hellip;Another Oilers&rsquo; defenseman, Craig Muni, has also been having some back problems. Muni took a hard check from behind during the third period of the final game against Winnipeg. He was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure to determine if there was any liver or spleen damage, but was later released. Tests were still being taken, however. &#9632;</div>

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Anderson A Leading Conn Smythe Candidate

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021221/5158257-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="553" height="978"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Wilson said he felt the Jets showed &ldquo;too much respect&rdquo; to the Edmonton Oilers.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031043/5158264-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="109" height="111"></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;Dismissed in four by Edmonton Oilers, a team they have never beaten in a Stanley Cup playoff game, let alone a series, the Winnipeg Jets felt unsatisfied.&ldquo;Until we win the Stanley Cup, we won&rsquo;t be happy,&rdquo; said Doug Smail, a left winger whose play was inspiring.&ldquo;We have so much left to accomplish. We have made great strides. We&rsquo;ve become one of the best defensive teams in the league, but we can&rsquo;t seem to get out of our division.&rdquo;Prior to the series, coach Dan Maloney said the Jets would play the same way the Calgary Flames have against the Oilers, with hopes of duplicating the Flames&rsquo; mastery over Edmonton.But while the Jets dominated Calgary in the first round, they couldn&rsquo;t repeat the trick against the Oilers.&ldquo;For some reason it just wasn&rsquo;t the same as it was against Calgary,&rdquo; said Ron Wilson, the Jets&rsquo; penalty-killing specialist.&ldquo;Myself, I think we showed too much respect for Edmonton. Calgary doesn&rsquo;t respect them. The Flames treat them like everyone else in the league. Maybe we should be treating the Oilers the same way.&rdquo;If historians should ask why they were beaten, the Jets can cite a few reasons.Grant Fuhr was a better goaltender than their two kids, Daniel Berthiaume and Pokey Reddick. Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Esa Tikkanen were controllable, to a certain extent, but the line of Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson and Kent Nilsson was unstoppable. The Oilers&rsquo; big players&mdash;Craig Mac-Tavish, Kevin McClelland, Mike Krushelnyski, Dave Hunter and Marty McSorley&mdash;played bigger than the Jets&rsquo; big players.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>The reality of being swept by the Oilers in the Smythe Division final did not dull Maloney&rsquo;s enthusiasm for the season as a whole.He called the team&rsquo;s 11-place jump &ldquo;a large step,&rdquo; and it was. A sixthplace overall finish put the Jets in the top third of the league for the second time in three years.&ldquo;We injected five rookies into the lineup&mdash;two goalies (Daniel Berthiaume and Pokey Reddick), two defensemen (Fredrik Olausson and Brad Berry) and one forward (Hannu Jarvenpaa),&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If we can keep adding good players like we did this year, we should be a solid team for years to come.&rdquo;General manager John Ferguson repeated his belief that the Jets have never been better.&ldquo;This team was good enough to win the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; he said.But he won&rsquo;t stand pat.Not expected back are left winger Perry Turnbull and goaltender Steve Penney. Brian Mullen was worried about his contract, which is entering its option year, and wonders if he&rsquo;s going to be traded.Leaving, too, is Rick Bowness, an assistant coach since 1983. Bowness is leaving the Jets&rsquo; major league team, but he&rsquo;s staying in the organization as the director of hockey operations and coach of the team&rsquo;s new American League franchise in Moncton. N.B., the city where he was bom.Turnbull, who knew he lost the confidence of the coach, would like to return to St. Louis, where he owns a travel agency.&ldquo;If we can improve our club, I will move him,&rdquo; said Ferguson. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not down on Perry. He missed 60 games with a shoulder injury. He&rsquo;s the type we need.&rdquo;Penney asked to be traded in the belief that the Jets&rsquo; goaltenders for years to come will be Reddick and Berthiaume.&ldquo;I expect to be traded,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m 60 percent sure I&rsquo;ll be traded because I can&rsquo;t see them putting me ahead of Pokey or Daniel.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had fun. There are no regrets.All I want is to play.&rdquo;Among the players who seem to fit in the Jets&rsquo; plans for next season are two Swedish players, defenseman Roger Ohman and left winger Jan Ingman, and junior right winger Pat Elynuik.The six-foot-two, 200-pound Ohman was the Jets&rsquo; second-round draft choice, 39th overall, in 1985.Ingman, a second-round choice (29th overall) of the Montreal Canadiens in 1981, was a throw-in in the trade that sent Brian Hayward to Montreal for Penney.Elynuik, 19, was the Jets&rsquo; first-round choice, eighth overall, in 1986.Others given a fighting chance of making the Jets are defensemen Peter Taglianetti and Bobby Dollas, right winger Peter Douris and left winger Tom Martin.BENCH BITS&mdash;General manager John Ferguson said his star center, Dale Hawerchuk, is owed an apology by Glen Sather, the coach-GM-president of the Oilers. Sather&rsquo;s star, Wayne Gretzky, suffered an eggsized bump on the back of his head when Hawerchuk threw him to the ice. &ldquo;Trying to hurt someone like Gretzky is a bit pathetic,&rdquo; said Sather. Sather insists he was misquoted, but tapes prove the statement was made. &#9632;

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Ousted Jets Left To Prepare For Next Year

VIENNA&mdash;Their priorities were, in order:&bull; To finish in the tournament&rsquo;s top six teams, so they could get a favorable draw for the Olympics;&bull; To play a half-dozen of their finest young players so they could profit from the World Championship experience in next year&rsquo;s Olympics;&bull; To perhaps score an upset or two along the way, something they&rsquo;ve done from time to time in the past.Ultimately, however, the members of Team USA finished with a goose egg at the World Championships, meeting none of their primary goals.When Finland and West Germany played to a 2-2 tie on the last day of the consolation round, the result dropped the U.S. to seventh place in the tournament. That put the Americans in a top-heavy pool of teams for the Olympics&mdash;including the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, West Germany, Norway and Austria.In all probability, the U.S. will open the Olympics by playing a must game&mdash;against the Czechoslovaks&mdash;right away.Perhaps a more serious development was the case of Scott Young, the Boston University forward who had the bad luck of failing a dope test following a 4-2 loss to Czechoslovakia. Young tested positive for ephedrine&mdash;a decongestent commonly found in sinus tablets, but a drug also found on the International Ice Hockey Federation&rsquo;s lengthy list of banned substances.The Amateur Hockey Association of the United States will appeal, but for the moment, Young is suspended from international competition for 18 months. If AHAUS cannot get the 11HF to overturn or commute the sentence, then Young will be ineligible to play in the 1988 Olympic Games.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been told that, in the (IIHF) meeting in October&mdash;once the emotions have died down&mdash;there&rsquo;s a pretty good chance of reduction or total withdrawal of the suspension,&rdquo; said David McNab, Team USA&rsquo;s assistant general manager.Art Berglund, the team&rsquo;s general manager, said he would proceed on the assumption that Young will be able to play, Accordingly, Young will attend the lengthy series of Olympic trials that begin with the annual Summer Sports Festival.The entire event didn&rsquo;t rate a ringing success for the Americans.&ldquo;Yes, it&rsquo;s been a disappointing tournament,&rdquo; said McNab. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t beaten anybody that we weren&rsquo;t supposed to beat. For the second straight year, all we&rsquo;ve done is beaten teams that will finish in the bottom half of the tournament.&rdquo;&mdash;Eric Duhatschek &#9632;

Tournament To Forget For Americans

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011187/5158319-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Canada&rsquo;s Al Secord looks to have a goal within his grasp as Soviet netminder Evgeny Belosheikin is well out of position. But defender Alexei Kasatonov made the save and the two teams played to a goalless draw. (Canapress Photo Service)</figcaption></div>VIENNA&mdash;In an ending wholly in step with the way the 1987 World Championships unfolded, Sweden won its first title in 25 years with its players grouped around a television set&mdash;champagne bottles in hand&mdash;and its coach hiding in the cloak room, unwilling to watch the final drama unfold.The Swedes were waiting for the conclusion of the Soviet Union-Czechoslovakia game. By defeating Canada 9-0 in the day&rsquo;s opening game, the only way they could not win the gold medal was if the Czechoslovaks won their game&mdash;or the Soviet Union won by a 10-goal margin.The final was a cliffhanger to the end, but when two third-period goals by the Soviets gave them a 2-1 win&mdash;some 200 feet away from the ice, in the Stadthalle press room, the corks popped and the celebration began.Not since 1962&mdash;a championship tainted by the absence of the Soviet and Czechoslovakian teams&mdash;have the popular Swedes been on top of the hockey world.They were a little lucky, but they were also the first to admit it. Sweden qualified for the medal round only because the High Court of Vienna intervened, stripping Canada and Finland of games they&rsquo;d won by forfeit and awarding the new champions a place in the final four ahead of the Finns.In the end, Sweden finished the playoff round tied with the Soviet Union and won the title on an antiquated principle of the championships&mdash;a superior goal differential, nine to one.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s great,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Calgary Flames&rsquo; forward Hakan Loob, summing it up for his teammates. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a great feeling.&rdquo;The last time Sweden won a world championship, Loob was just a year old. Understandably, he didn&rsquo;t remember it especially well&mdash;but he was well-versed in the circumstances. The championships were held in Colorado Springs just after the Berlin Wall had been completed. The U.S. would not allow East Germany to compete. In a show of support for their ideological cousins, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union boycotted the event.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Sweden&rsquo;s ever won a gold medal when everybody&rsquo;s been there,&rdquo; said Loob. &ldquo;This time, everybody&rsquo;s here. This is a very, very big day for Swedish hockey.&rdquo;Loob didn&rsquo;t join the team until the second game of the tournament and didn&rsquo;t do much until the fifth game. Then coach Tommy Sandlin switched him to left wing on a line with Bengt Gustafsson and Tomas Sandstrom. In the last five games, he scored five goals to help his team record its historic triumph.In the first two medal-round games, Loob scored all three goals in a 3-3 tie with Czechoslovakia, then set up Sandstrom for the tying goal in a 2-2 deadlock with the Soviet Union. That put them in a position to win the gold on the last day of the tournament.Sandlin said the additions of Loob and Sandstrom put Sweden over the top, &ldquo;but Gustafsson was our leader.&rdquo;Because they played in the day&rsquo;s first game against Canada, Sweden didn&rsquo;t know how many goals&mdash;one or 10&mdash;it would need to win the gold medal. Accordingly, they kept the pressure on from start to finish.As it turned out, two would have been enough to win the gold medal.The result proved to be especially frustrating for the defending champions from the Soviet Union.By running up the score against Canada, Sweden all but eliminated the Soviet Union from the gold medal race even before they stepped on the ice. The Soviets settled for the silver without recording a single loss (8-0-2) in the tournament.Soviet coach Viktor Tikhonov took the result in stride. He reiterated his opposition to the playoff format, saying: &ldquo;It brings more tension to the final games, but it also means you need luck to win. It does not always allow the best team to win.&rdquo;Others were less gracious. One Soviet reporter told Alan Eagleson that in his view, the Canadians threw the last game.Later, Eagleson called the Soviet&rsquo;s displeasure with Canada &ldquo;the only good thing to come out of this.&rdquo;Similar, veiled hints were dropped by a Swiss reporter at coach Dave King&rsquo;s press conference. King called the insinuations a tremendous insult.&ldquo;That insults our intelligence and our mentality very much,&rdquo; said King. &ldquo;If a person&rsquo;s saying that, then they&rsquo;ve got a small mind. They obviously don&rsquo;t understand Canadians&hellip;&rdquo;The loss ended the tournament on a sour note for Canada. They played some excellent hockey&mdash;a scoreless tie with the Soviets, a 1-1 tie with the Czechs, They also played some brutal hockey&mdash;a 5-3 loss to West Germany and the disaster against Sweden.Overall, not much happened in the tournament that made sense&mdash;from the Miroslav Sikora eligibility controversy to the one-sided way Soviet referee Nikolai Morozov called the second meeting between Canada and Czechoslovakia, a 4-2 loss.On the bright side, the IIHF tournament directorate did name Team Canada&rsquo;s Craig Hartsburg as the best defenseman. Czechoslovak Dominik Hasek and Soviet Vladimir Krutov were named top goaltender and forward, respectively.Perhaps the most fitting summation came when the predominantly European press put two German players&mdash;center Gerd Trunschka and defenseman Udo Kiessling&mdash;on the first all-star team but ignored the top players on the world champions&mdash;Gustafsson, Loob and Anders Eldebrink.Hasek was selected as the goaltender, Viacheslav Fetisov of the Soviet Union joined Kiessling on defense and Soviets Sergei Makarov and Krutov flanked Trunschka on the forward line.Much of the tournament action happened in the backrooms, the boardrooms and the courtrooms. Maybe it&rsquo;s only fitting that it ended on a controversial note in the pressroom, too.NOTES&mdash;It was incorrectly reported in THN last week that West Germany, as the result of a better performance than Finland in the preliminary round, would be granted a berth in the six-team Canada Cup tournament this fall. In fact, Finland, on the basis of a better overall finish in the entire tournament, will get the invite, along with the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and the U.S. &#9632;

f0005-01

Canadian Collapse Gives Sweden First Championship In 25 Years

<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/f0006-02987/5158350-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="144" height="98"></div>DETROIT&mdash;Jacques Demers called it &ldquo;the miracle that wasn&rsquo;t supposed to happen.&rdquo;The Detroit Red Wings, down two games twice in the series at 2-0 and 3-1, completed a remarkable comeback behind goaltender Glen Hanlon to win the Norris Division playoff title and advance to the Campbell Conference finals against the Edmonton Oilers.In the seventh and deciding game, Hanlon blanked the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second time in five days&mdash;both by 3-0 counts&mdash;at Joe Louis Arena.Hanlon was in goal for all four Detroit victories and gave up a total of seven goals in five games.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re in agroove like I am, things slow down a bit for you,&rdquo; Hanlon said. &ldquo;You almost see the play before it happens.&rdquo;It had been 21 years between playoff shutouts by a Detroit goaltender. Roger Crozierdid it in 1966, blanking the Chicago Blackhawks 7-0. Hanlon ended the drought in game five and then repeated the feat five nights later.&ldquo;Hanlon was absolutely super,&rdquo; said Toronto coach John Brophy.Detroit coach Jacques Demers said the turning point in game seven was Hanlon&rsquo;s first-period heroics. He made 30 saves in all.&ldquo;I think after Hanlon made those three miraculous saves in the first period. I said this guy couldn&rsquo;t be beat,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t want to get beat. Hanlon kept us in the game in the first period.&rdquo;Only three teams in NHL history previously had come back from 3-1 series deficits&mdash;the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, who trailed Detroit 3-0 in the Stanley Cup final; the 1975 New York Islanders, similarly down 3-0 in a quarter-final series with Pittsburgh; and this year&rsquo;s Islanders, who trailed Washington 3-1 in a first-round series.After losing the first two games of the series at home, the Wings battled back, mostly because of Hanlon, the No. 2 goaltender during the regular season. After a 3-0 victory at home in game five, they won game six in Toronto on Bob Probert&rsquo;s third-period goal to return the series to Joe Louis Arena for a deciding game.Tim Higgins, the veteran right winger. said the outcome should not have been unexpected.&ldquo;Realistically, if you look at the team Jacques put together at training camp, you had to know something good would happen,&rdquo; said Higgins. &ldquo;We had a lot of young talent at camp, and those guys came up big for us. Guys like Shawny Burr. And if you ask me, Joey Kocur and Bobby Probert won this series for us.&rdquo;Another young guy who &ldquo;came up big&rdquo; was Adam Oates. He scored the winning goal in the final game and set up another by Darren Veitch. Steve Yzerman also scored.&ldquo;He was doing things with the puck he&rsquo;s never done before,&rdquo; Higgins said of Oates.Yzerman said, &ldquo;Last year was really a disaster around here. Jacques obviously turned the club around. He&rsquo;s got us playing his system. Anyone who knows him knows he&rsquo;s an enthusiastic person. That rubs off.&rdquo;The Wings kept things interesting off the ice, too. Within days, their No. I goalie, Greg Stefan, pulled himself as the back-up goaltender for game four and sniper Petr Klima was benched for game six for not producing offensively and being a liability defensively.&ldquo;He (Stefan) said he didn&rsquo;t feel comfortable if something happened to Glen Hanlon,&rdquo; Demers said, noting Stefan&rsquo;s absence.Stefan was in goal as Detroit lost the first two games in the Norris Division final. He was replaced for game three by Hanlon. The Wings won 4-2, and the next day Demers designated Hanlon as the Detroit goaltender for the rest of the series. He said that Stefan couldn&rsquo;t seem to beat the Leafs, so he wouldn&rsquo;t play anymore against Toronto. Stefan read about his fate in the newspapers.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not happy about what happened,&rdquo; Stefan said. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m not going to play, I&rsquo;m not going to sit on the bench. I&rsquo;m in a bad mood and that would only hurt the team. I wouldn&rsquo;t do them any good sitting there being mad.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Jacques intended to hurt me. I wish he had told me himself&hellip;I just don&rsquo;t feel like part of the team. I couldn&rsquo;t play even if I wanted to. My mind isn&rsquo;t into it.&rdquo;Demers responded. &ldquo;All I said is he wasn&rsquo;t going to play against the Leafs anymore. That didn&rsquo;t mean he wasn&rsquo;t going to play in the next series. I said he&rsquo;ll be ready for the third round.&rdquo;When the Wings finally won the series in game seven, Stefan was back on the bench. Demers asked Stefan if he could play. Stefan said yes.&ldquo;I told him to get in there,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;The team comes first.&ldquo;Greg Stefan showed a lot of class tonight. He was in the room, cheering for the players, rooting forthem, doing everything he could to help. I respect that.&rdquo;WING TIPS&mdash;The hard feelings behind them, Jacques Demers said Greg Stefan would play against Edmonton. &#9632;</div>

f0006-02

Hanlon Sensational In Leading Comeback

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011369/5158381-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="325" height="461"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jay Greenberg</figcaption></div>SOME PLAYOFF THOUGHTS:Here&rsquo;s my latest, and best, proposal to change the format so as to put more meaning into the regular season: Every division champion should get to play Chicago in the first round. Better than a bye.There is a roguish quality to Michel Bergeron that makes him difficult to dislike. But the act gets a little thin after a while.Hockey people have a way of diverting attention away from the games and players themselves by creating side issues. Sometimes it&rsquo;s by design of a coach to take pressure off his players. Sometimes it&rsquo;s just chronic, ill-mannered bitching about everything from the officials to water bottles.I never take it too seriously. But am I wrong or do baseball, football and basketball lend more class to their championship events by carrying them off with greater dignity?The Rangers&rsquo; best players in the playoffs were Ron Duguay, Ron Greschner and Don Maloney, which tells me they are in trouble. Phil Esposito&rsquo;s trades made them old very fast. Marcel Dionne, who admits he was, running a bluff to get a new contract in L.A. when he asked to be traded, played like, &lsquo;Omigod, what have I done?&rsquo;When Phil says he planned to make a lot of trades the first year and then bring along some kids, does anybody believe him? Does Phil believe himself?The stunning number of road wins in the playoffs has only a little bit to do with officials putting their whistles away. My theory is it&rsquo;s largely a case of nerves.Divisional playoffs add to the pressure. You defeat these teams five or six times out of eight during the season and all the while they are learning something about you that they can beat you with by just bearing down a little harder for two weeks.You&rsquo;re not just playing Team J anymore to take another step on the road to the Cup. You&rsquo;re playing somebody who hates you and whom your management and fans say you&rsquo;d better beat because you&rsquo;ve got to keep beating them next year, too.This has added a lot more tension to the early rounds. And it shows up more at home because the fans have a low panic point and the players can pick up on it very quickly. Tell me, with all the additional pressure on the players in a Montreal-Quebec series, that plain, old jitters don&rsquo;t have anything to do with the teams being unable to win at home.I call this the Madison Square Garden effect. When you sit through the national anthem there, the place is so loud and intimidating that you cannot believe the Rangers don&rsquo;t go 38-2 there every year. But if they don&rsquo;t get ahead, the mob turns. And the visiting team makes the crowd work for it.I&rsquo;d like to see Herb Brooks bring in the smurfs again and teach the same system to the North Stars he used in New York. It always fascinated me watching one team play so differently than the other 20. And I&rsquo;m not absolutely convinced, either, that it didn&rsquo;t work.Brooks&rsquo; Ranger teams had the ill-timing to peak at the same time as the Islanders, who will go down as one of the great clubs in history. He also came closer against the Isles than people remember (six games twice, a classic deciding-game overtime another time) and I&rsquo;m not so sure, had he stuck with his speed and possession system, he wouldn&rsquo;t have eventually succeeded. It looked like he backed off and started playing in stright lines more towards the end.Maybe a bunch of little guys skating in circles and swinging in behind the play isn&rsquo;t the way to go in the Patrick Division. It&rsquo;s a little harder to stay out of the corners there and still win. But just about anything would work in the Norris.I always thought divisional playoffs were a good idea because they build up rivalries. But I have to admit seeing good teams go out and sub-500 Norris teams advance is beginning to wear on me.My point was that the strength of the divisions will fluctuate but in the long run even out. And that the accident of a bad team getting through to the finals too easily was a tradeoff for renewing good fear and loathing between year-in, year-out rivals in the first two rounds.But season after season the Norris has failed to produce a top-quality team. And now it seems to be getting worse instead of better. You wonder whether incentive isn&rsquo;t part of the problem.I, too, wound up jumping on the Ray Bourque bandwagon at the end of the season. Mark Howe got hurt and it was hard to argue with all of Bourque&rsquo;s points. Hopefully Howe&rsquo;s performance in the playoffs, will open some eyes as to just what I see from him practically every game the Flyers play. Save Wayne Gretzky, I don&rsquo;t think any player in the league, night-in, night-out, is more effective.I&rsquo;m not saying Montreal can beat anybody good. But I would like to see them do it.I&rsquo;ve never seen two teams, particularly longtime divisional rivals, show as much respect for each other as the Flyers and Islanders did in their series. No cheap shots. No badmouthing. Nothing. In fact, they showed so much respect for each other, I completely lost respect for them. &#9632;

f0006-01

One Man’s Plea: Herbie, Bring Back The Smurfs

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011218/5158412-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Coach Jean Perron&rsquo;s Montreal Canadiens were the beneficiary of controversial officiating in game five, but won game seven fairly and squarely.</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Brian Hayward sat in his locker, happy but exhausted.The Montreal Canadiens had just defeated the Quebec Nordiques 5-3 in the deciding game of the Adams Division final series. The Battle of Quebec, of La Belle Province, was over.&ldquo;Finally, we are going to be able to play hockey,&rdquo; said Hayward, who assumed the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; No. 1 goaltending job in game one of the series against the Nordiques.It was a bitterly-contested best-of-seven affair which sometimes took on a circus-like atmosphere, especially after game five, won by Montreal 3-2.That night, the Nordiques had a goal at 17:07 of the third period disallowed by referee Kerry Fraser after Paul Gillis became entangled with Mats Naslund. Between them, they managed to knock Hayward out of position while Quebec&rsquo;s Alain Cote scored what seemed certain to be the game-winning goal.Both Gillis and Naslund were penalized on the play.&ldquo;It was a flagrant case of interference,&rdquo; said Hayward. &ldquo;It was a call that Kerry Fraser had to make.&rdquo;Within 14 seconds Ryan Walter scored the game-winning goal.The Nordiques were incensed. Coach Michel Bergeron accused, again, the National Hockey League of being anti-Nordique.Team president Marcel Aubut was as mad as Bergeron.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s terrible,&rdquo; said Aubut, who supports the use of video-tape replays for contentious plays. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t let millions of people see such a disgrace on television. We have to take a close look at the refereeing situation in the NHL.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t let one man ruin careers and make a team lose millions of dollars simply by blowing a call on the ice. Things have to change and they will.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just too bad that we had to lose such an important game so that changes could be made.&rdquo;The defending Stanley Cup champions had a chance to wrap up the series in game six, but blew a 2-0 lead and lost 3-2, thus forcing a seventh game which had the province&rsquo;s hockey fans on the edge of their seats.Montreal was 0-2 in deciding games on Forum ice against its provincial rivals.In 1982, Dale Hunter dispatched Montreal with a goal 22 seconds into overtime of game five in the divisional semi-final. On May 2, 1985, Peter Stastny eliminated Montreal in overtime of game seven in the division final.But history would not repeat two years to the day later.It seemed in the opening period of the deciding game, the Canadiens were just as uptight as their supporters.The Nordiques blitzed Hayward with 12 shots, with John Ogrodnick scoring at 8:22 while Montreal captain Bob Gainey was cooling his heels in the penalty box.The Canadiens weren&rsquo;t satisfied after period one and there was a fair degree of high decibel communication between the players during the intermission. Fingers were pointed&mdash;particularly in the direction of Claude Lemieux.It was explained to Lemieux that his theatrics were not drawing the attention of the officials as they had done in the past and it was time to knock off the rolling and diving.At one point in the first period, Lemieux lay on the ice for a good 10 seconds after being hit by Steven Finn and when no call was made, he took just as much time skating to the Montreal bench. Meanwhile, the Nordiques had moved into the Montreal zone and were outmanning the Canadiens because of Lemieux&rsquo;s absence.When the second period got under way, Lemieux seemed a lot more alert and so did the rest of the club. Walter, who had six goals in the series, got his first of two straight while Montreal was killing a penalty to Chris Chelios at 2:03.Walter, with eight of his 10 playoff goals against Quebec, added a second goal within four minutes when Bobby Smith&rsquo;s wrist shot glanced off his leg.Smith, Shayne Corson and Mike McPhee also scored in the five-goal second period.Then it was up to Hayward to protect the lead, which he did, turning aside 12 of 14 shots in the final 20 minutes.The Battle of Quebec is over, but it left some scars.&ldquo;We had to come back from a 2-0 deficit and go into Quebec,&rdquo; said coach Jean Perron. &ldquo;We were getting a lot of feedback from the fans there. Some of the guys had a rough time to accept that.&ldquo;I guess some of the players had their wives going to Quebec and (they were) receiving all kinds of jokes and vulgarities from the fans.&rdquo;The reception in Montreal for the Nordiques was apparently no better than that accorded the Canadiens in Quebec. Bergeron and his players were the targets for garbage-throwing fans, prompting the coach to ask for protective glass.That request was seconded from Vienna, where National Hockey League Players&rsquo; Association leader Alan Eagleson was attending the World Championships.No action could be taken on such short notice, but steps are expected to be taken this summer.The bitterness between the Nordiques and Canadiens, plus Bergeron and Perron was not easily dissipated. Bergeron didn&rsquo;t shake Perron&rsquo;s hand after the decisive game.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t shake hands with Jean Perron because we didn&rsquo;t lose that series,&rdquo; said Bergeron. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never accept the outcome of the series. It was ours from the very beginning, but some individuals decided otherwise.&rdquo;Bergeron said it would have been hypocritical of him to congratulate Perron.&ldquo;This must be the first time in their history that the Canadiens have taken a four-out-of-seven series by winning only three games.&rdquo;Perron viewed the result somewhat differently, and praised his charges.&ldquo;I think the players,&rdquo; said Perron, &ldquo;knew that the reputation of the hockey club was at stake.&rdquo;In light of the controversy surrounding the series, perhaps more than the reputation of the Canadiens was at stake.<div class="sidebar">&lsquo;We can&rsquo;t let millions of people see such a disgrace on television.&rsquo;&mdash;Aubut &#9632;</div>

f0007-01

War Over!

<div class="byline">BY BOB MCKENZIE AND STEVE DRYDEN</div>Thank the hockey gods for a return to normalcy.Unlike last year, when THN&rsquo;s seven top-ranked playoff teams didn&rsquo;t make it past the second round, three of our top four are amongst the final four.No. 1-ranked Edmonton, No. 3 Montreal and No. 4 Philadelphia are all aiming for a berth in the Stanley Cup finals. Only No. 2-slotted Washington didn&rsquo;t meet our expectations.But, of course, if the Capitals were in the final four, Philadelphia wouldn&rsquo;t be.So, we&rsquo;re actually batting 1.000 because, although No. 11-ranked detroit is the fourth member of the final grouping, they&rsquo;ve got as much chance of winning the Stanley Cup as, say, Ned Harkness does of returning to run the Red Wings.The rankings reflected Stanley Cup-winning potential, something no Norris Division team has&mdash;Detroit, included.Anyway, three final predictions.First, the shocker. Edmonton will beat Detroit.Second, the toss-up. Philadelphia will overcome its injury problems to edge Montreal.And third, the inevitable. Edmonton will win the Stanley Cup.Below, you will find the semi-finalists&rsquo; head-to-head records against each other in the 1986-87 regular season.<h2>DETROIT vs EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02862/5158450-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="704" height="204"></div><h2>MONTREAL vs PHILADELPHIA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03595/5158443-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="704" height="204"></div> &#9632;

f0007-02

Oilers Still Our Cup Choice

I AM WRITING out of concern for the current state and future of the National Hockey League. What was once the world&rsquo;s fastest and most exciting sport has become a slow, boring equivalent to football on ice. The common tactic of your bigger, slower teams (e.g. New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers) is to neutralize the game&rsquo;s more graceful and swift athletes by hooking, holding and even tackling them.The problem is only perpetuated by the NHL&rsquo;s obvious attitude of ignoring these violations. What would happen if the NFL decided to ignore pass interference or holding? The NHL has apparently decided to tell referees not to call these violations.Why? I believe the answer is the Edmonton Oilers. The league has done practically everything to try to neutralize their dominance in recent years. First, they institute the silly coincidental minors rule to practically eliminate the exciting four-on-four situations, which Edmonton was deadly on. Now, as a result of watching Calgary&rsquo;s disposing of Edmonton last year in the playoffs, with a &ldquo;clutch-grab-and-tackle&rdquo; strategy, the league has eased its enforcement of these violations.A perfect example of the &ldquo;new hockey&rdquo; was this year&rsquo;s playoffs series between Washington and the Islanders. The Islanders strategy was simple&mdash;neutralize the Capitals&rsquo; superior speed and quickness by holding, hooking, tackling, and eventually frustrating Mike Gartner, Alan Haworth, and Dave Christian. During the entire series the referees ignored obvious violations until the point that the games got frustrating to watch, not to mention play.The NHL has a decision to make. It can let hockey return to what we saw during the Rehdezvous &rsquo;87 series, or they can let it deteriorate into a game in which there are 12 William (The Refrigerator) Perrys on the ice at once.James Stone,&nbsp; Arlington, VA<h2>NOT WASTED SPACE</h2>I am an avid reader of Stan Fischler&rsquo;s column, which I always enjoy, and I was not disappointed with the &ldquo;wasted space&rdquo; entitled&ldquo;And The Sexiest Man In The NHL is&hellip;&rdquo; as was Mr. Spadola, in your April 24th edition of Fan Forum.But I will tell you what I am disappointed in is the wasted pace in Sports lllustrated&rsquo;s swim suit issues.Give me a break! Their pictures are splattered all over the place. Thanks, Stan for giving us at least something to think about!Valerie Grzywacz,&nbsp; Pittsburgh, PA<h2>GIVE AN EFFORT</h2>I&rsquo;ve been a die-hard Ranger fan for 25 years. I&rsquo;ve shared their joy in good times, and suffered through the bad. But this year&rsquo;s playoffs gave a new meaning to the word disappointment.The Rangers&rsquo; performance in game six against the Flyers was beyond comprehension. This was the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Crown Jewel of Hockey! But there were the Rangers playing as if it were a pre-season contest. No effort, no emotion! I wonder if anyone broke a sweat. Or were they concerned with the following day&rsquo;s tee-off time?Phil, you&rsquo;re the greatest thing that&rsquo;s happened to this franchise in a long time. But no matter what kind of talent you assemble, with no motivation or enthusiasm, they&rsquo;ll never succeed.I pay hard-earned dollars for season tickets but was embarrassed by that disgraceful performance. Please Phil, I don&rsquo;t expect a miracle (why should I after 47 years), but an honest effort isn&rsquo;t much to ask for.A. Petruzziello, Verona, NJ &#9632;

The ‘Ice Fridge’ Cometh Warns Worried NHL Fan

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021086/5158536-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="381" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie</figcaption></div>JUST CALL ME Billy. As in goat.I don&rsquo;t know that my gaffe ranks up there with those established by Edmonton defenseman Steve Smith when he scored on his own net to end the Oilers&rsquo; bid for a third consecutive Stanley Cup&hellip;but it may not be far off.Grab last week&rsquo;s issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS and turn to this space.In the event that you don&rsquo;t save your back issues, here&rsquo;s a brief synopsis.I decreed that Canadian Amateur Hockey Association president Murray Costello had lost a fight before it began. Costello was in Vienna at the International Ice Hockey Federation Congress to appeal the excessive penalties levied against Canadian players involved in the bench-clearing brawl with the Soviet Union, Jan. 4 at the World Junior Championships in Piestany, Czech.In my infinite wisdom, I wrote that a quiet diplomat such as Costello had no hope in hell of reversing the harsh decisions of IIHF president Gunther Sabetzki.If my memory serves me correctly, I described it as going into battle with an unloaded gun; that if we wanted results, we needed Alan (Rambo) Eagleson over there to stir the pot and railroad IIHF delegates the way Sabetzki does it.Well, guess who got shot? Yup, right between the eyes.Last week&rsquo;s issue of THN hadn&rsquo;t even hit the newsstands or collected any dust at the post office when the radio reports announced it.Sabetzki, apparently, decided to reconsider the stiff sentences and Costello said he was optimistic they would be repealed in plenty of time for the next World Junior Championships.Suddenly, Sabetzki appeared a man of reason and Costello is hailed for his cagey approach, his quiet diplomacy, as Frank Orr puts it in this issue of THN.And I, of course, look like a horse&rsquo;s ass.My first reaction, after getting the car back under control, was to blame someone else.I considered assistant editor Steve Dryden. He edited the column. He should have known better.Besides, as I sit here and write this, he&rsquo;s laughing at me. Oh, he never says that&rsquo;s what he&rsquo;s laughing about, but when I ask him what&rsquo;s so funny, he says, &ldquo;Oh, nothing.&rdquo;But did Steve Smith blame Grant Fuhr for blocking his pass out from behind the net?All a rather wordy way to make a formal apology to Costello for doing what I never thought was possible.Of course, I could be gracious, pat Costello on the back for a job well done and celebrate the good news that Canadian and Soviet juniors won&rsquo;t suffer long-term effects from the Piestany Punch-Up.But to tell you the truth, I&rsquo;m finding it tough.I mean, I still believe a lot of what I wrote a week ago. I wonder if the good news out of Vienna should be attributed more to Sabetzki&rsquo;s unpredictability than Costello&rsquo;s smooth approach. I wonder if we can take Sabetzki&rsquo;s comments at face value.This, after all, is a man who only days before the Congress began said he wouldn&rsquo;t even entertain any form of appeal.And now that I&rsquo;ve digested my helping of humble pie, I wonder whether any of this would have been necessary if we had the militant approach of an Eagleson versus the quiet diplomacy of the CAHA&rsquo;s Dennis MacDonald back on Jan. 4.That was the fateful day when Sabetzki, ignoring his federation&rsquo;s own rules, strongarmed a weak tournament directorate into expelling both teams from the event.My foray into foolhardiness of a week ago aside, it still strikes me as odd that, at the international level, two governing bodies (Hockey Canada and the CAHA) operate independently.And that, in this instance, one appeared to carry the ball (the CAHA) while the other (Hockey Canada) looked on as a spectator.Oh, well, all&rsquo;s well that ends well, I suppose. The bottom line is that I was out of line. Pass the goat&rsquo;s milk and humble pie. &#9632;

f0008-02

Dining On Some Humble Pie And Goat’s Milk

<div class="byline">COMPILED BY RICHARD BEALES Copy Editor</div>Charges will not be laid against three members of the Montreal Canadiens for alleged sexual misconduct with two teenage girls.The assistant chief prosecutor for the Montreal region, Jean Morin, said he wouldn&rsquo;t lay charges because no criminal acts were committed.The parents of the two girls had complained to police that their daughters did not return from Montreal&rsquo;s Dorval Airport, where they had gone to welcome the team back from the Canadiens&rsquo; final regular-season game in New York, April 6.An investigation was begun, and a Quebec City radio station broadcast the names of three players allegedly involved. Canadien managing director Serge Savard threatened to sue the station, but Canadiens&rsquo; personnel did not know if he would follow through, as of May 4.<h2>JUNIOR BANS LIFTED?</h2>It&rsquo;s looking more likely that the Canadian and Soviet Union players who were suspended for brawling at the World Junior Championships last January will be reinstated.All but two players on both teams&mdash;the substitute goalies were not penalized&mdash;were banned from international play for 18 months, after a benchclearing brawl Jan. 4 at Piestany, Czech.Both teams were expelled from the tournament and that expulsion cost the Canadians a medal, quite possibly a gold.Canadian Amateur Hockey Association president Murray Costello emerged optimistic from a meeting in Vienna with IIHF president Gunther Sabetzki. Soviet officials also met with Sabetzki, then representatives of both countries joined him in conference.&ldquo;Dr. Sabetzki seemed to accept the logic that a lesson had been learned by the suspension to date,&rdquo; Costello said, &ldquo;and more won&rsquo;t be learned by stretching it to 18 months.&rdquo;The IIHF is likely to officially reconsider the suspensions at its October meeting.Canadian and Soviet coaches were also suspended until Dec. 31, 1989. The chance of their bans being reduced was not considered as likely.<h2>PREUSS GETS $442,000</h2>Former University of Minnesota player David Preuss has been awarded close to $442,000 in a lawsuit against a doctor at the school&rsquo;s hospital.Preuss, who was selected 34th overall by the Minnesota North Stars in the 1981 National Hockey League entry draft, contended that mistreatment of a foot injury cost him a pro career with the Calgary Flames, who had acquired his rights from the Stars.Preuss was injured on Dec. 31, 1982, when a teammate wearing skates stepped on his bare foot in the Gopher locker room. He was sent to the hospital, where emergency room doctor Steven Reindl cleaned and stitched his cut.The following spring, another physician discovered the tendon had been severed and not repaired. Surgery performed in May, 1984 was unhelpful, and Preuss was left with a permanent condition called &ldquo;drop foot,&rdquo; which left him unable to pursue a pro career.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011278/5158567-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="549" height="734"><figcaption class="caption-body">A court deposition has been requested of Wings general manager Jimmy Devellano.</figcaption></div><h2>NEW PLATER COACH</h2>Floyd Crawford has been named the new head coach of the Ontario League&rsquo;s Guelph Platers.Crawford, who coached the Cornwall Royals in 1984-85 and &rsquo;85-86, becomes the sixth head coach in the Platers&rsquo; major junior history. He takes over from interim coach/general manager Rob Holody, who assumed coaching duties when Gary Spoar was fired 29 games into the season.Crawford&rsquo;s son Marc plays for the Vancouver Canucks, and his son Bobby is in the Washington Capitals&rsquo; organization.<h2>BRONCOS BUCKING</h2>The host Humboldt (Sask.) Broncos, inspired by their hometown fans, jumped to a 2-0 start in round-robin play at the Centennial Cup Tier II Jr. A national championship.The Broncos defeated the Central Canada-representative Pembroke (Ont.) Lumber Kings 4-2, two days after they humbled the Easternre presentative Dartmouth Fuel Kids 72.Kevin Luke, Rob Rice, Curtis Chamberlin and Duncan Ryhorchuk scored for Humboldt against Pembroke, while Mike Eastwood had both Lumber King goals.Against Dartmouth, Mike Gaber scored once and had three assists for Humboldt. Bill McDougall and Dave Shyiak added two goals apiece, with singles going to Mike Chighisola and Al Novakowski. Steve Brown and Norman LeBlanc replied for Dartmouth.In other action, Western representative Richmond (B.C.) Sockeyes gassed the Fuel Kids 7-3. Jason Phillips scored three for Richmond, while Jerry Scott had two goals for Dartmouth.The top round-robin finisher advances to the May 9 final, while the second-and third-place teams square off in semi-final action May 7.<h2>COURT REQUESTS</h2>Three Detroit Red Wing officials have been asked to supply depositions to Wayne County (Mich.) Circuit Court, to be used as evidence in the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; case against Detroit for signing coach Jacques Demers.Wing general manager Jimmy Devellano and assistant coaches Danny Belisle and Don MacAdam were asked to give depositions May 14. The Blues are suing the Red Wings for signing Demers when, they allege, he was still under contract to them.The court also asked for submission of all phone records between December, 1985 and June, 1986 of five people, including Red Wing executive vice-president Jim Lites.<h2>U.S. WAIVES PROTEST</h2>The United States has withdrawn its objection to permitting professional hockey players to participate in the 1988 Olympics.Walter Bush, the U.S. representative on the International Ice Hockey Federation council, had said he objected to the &ldquo;professionalism of Olympic sports.&rdquo;But when Bush could gamer no support for his feelings in other IIHF camps, he dropped the issue.<h2>GENERALS REUNITE</h2>The Greensboro Generals, who played in the now-defunct Eastern and Southern leagues from 1959 to 1977, will be holding a reunion in the North Carolina city from July 19 to 26.The reunion of the Generals, who won their only championship in 196263 as members of the Eastern League, has been scheduled to coincide with the U.S. Olympic Festival Ice Hockey Games at the Greensboro Coliseum.For more information, contacl Brian Randall, Greensboro Generals Reunion, P.O. Box 5054, Greensboro, N.C. 27435, phone (919) 272-3266. &#9632;

f0009-01

Charges Not Laid Against Three Canadiens

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011345/5158598-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="331" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Fischler</figcaption></div>Facts and opinions:Fact: Herb Brooks signed by the North Stars.Opinion: Brooks landing the Minny coaching job is as natural as Bobby On getting into the Hall of Fame. Brooks is as special to U.S. hockey as his mentor, Johnny Mariucci, was in decades past. For purely selfish reasons, I&rsquo;m delighted that Brooks is back. He&rsquo;s a superb ad for the NHL and a godsend to we media blokes. If he turns the North Stars into winners, all the better.Fact: NBA adds expansion teams in Miami, Minnesota, Charlotte and Orlando.Opinion: This figures to stir up &ldquo;expansionitis&rdquo; among some NHL governors who like to bring up the names of Dallas, Seattle, San Francisco and Hamilton as potential additions to the fraternity. It would be a wonderful idea for travel agents, airlines, and hotels but stinko for the NHL. A good 20 years has been required for big-league hockey to attain a modicum of parity since its original expansion in 1967. Face it, folks, the talent pool is at a low level&mdash;why do you think there are so many Europeans in the league?&mdash;and still sinking. What&rsquo;s essential now is the bolstering of weaker NHL franchises so that the hoped-for parity becomes more real than imagined.Fact: Caps&rsquo; first-round playoff exit stirs coach-firing and choke talk in Washington.Opinion: I recall watching the Capitals blow a three-goal lead last December en route to a loss to the Devils. Bobby Carpenter by that time, had been deactivated, Mike Gartner was worse than slumping and the club, in general, looked pitiful. What impressed me then about the Caps was coach Bryan Murray&rsquo;s exceptional calm. Even more extraordinary was the manner in which the Caps finally pulled themselves together&mdash;credit GM David Poile for landing Mike Ridley and Kelly Miller&mdash;and climbed all the way to second place. That is reason enough for Murray to be returned as coach. True, the Caps blew a 3-1 series lead to the Islanders and lost the playoff in a marathon classic but is that sufficient cause to fire a commendable coach? No way. Is that reason to label the Caps a choke team? Perhaps it is for those far removed from the nitty-gritty of the game. A goalpost shot by Bobby Gould in overtime almost won the marathon game for Washington. Had it gone in, the &ldquo;choke&rdquo; bromide never would have surfaced. The Caps have been unfairly maligned.Fact: Whalers go belly-up in the first playoff round.Opinion: This year, for the first time, folks really were talking up The Whale and that pressure might have tied up the Connecticut lads. As always, there was the never-in-the-clutch goaltending of overpaid Mike Liut. I&rsquo;d have given anything to see what would have happened had Steve Weeks been in the Hartford goal for six games. Betcha&rsquo; the series would have been tied at three apiece.Fact: Rangers fail to win Stanley Cup for 47th straight year.Opinion: On Broadway, at least, the Law of Averages is a crock.Fact: Tomas Sandstron, the Rangers&rsquo; third-leading scorer, produces one goal in six games against the Flyers.Opinion: Here&rsquo;s proof positive that intimidation still works wonders in the NHL. Late in the season Dave Brown of the Flyers nearly decapitated Sandstrom with one of the most vicious crosschecks to the head since the invention of the guillotine. Brown served a five-game suspension for his goonery, yet served his Flyers well. Sandstrom was never the same Tomas in the playoffs and the Brown clobbering had as much to do with it as anything. Probably more.Fact: Flames fizzle.Opinion: They sure fooled me. And the Oilers. Every time I watched Calgary during the regular season, they looked good and scary. Turns out there was too much dead wood on Bob Johnson&rsquo;s team, and not enough goaltending. (And a tip of the fedora to Dan Maloney for outcoaching Badger Bob).Fact: Referee Andy van Hellemond and linesmen Ron Finn and John D&rsquo;Amico officiate during the 128:47-minute Islanders-Caps marathon.Opinion: Much credit has been heaped on the players in that classic among classics, but none has been shared by the three officials who, unobtrusively, worked the six-periods-plus, or 847 minutes, without substitution.Fact: Phil Esposito suggests that Barry Beck might rejoin the Rangers.Opinion: That would make it 48 years without a Stanley Cup, for sure.Fact: Charlie Bourgeois finishes with best plus-minus rating on the Blues.Opinion: If Doug Gilmour would pass Charlie the puck a bit more next season, Bourgeois might also lead the Blues in scoring.Fact: Brad Marsh stars for Flyers despite lousy haircut.Opinion: Smartly secretive about the barber who scalped him at the start of the playoffs, the Flyers&rsquo; impeccable backliner has to be the most underrated defenseman since Charlie Bourgeois. There are only two differences between them: (a) Charlie has a fan club and (b) Charlie has a better barber.Fact: NHL will hold annual entry draft in Detroit for the first time.Opinion: That&rsquo;s swell, but someone should remind the governors that New York is still the largest city in North America and has three NHL teams in its metropolitan area (not to mention two more&mdash;Hartford and Philadelphia&mdash;hardly more than a slapshot away). So how about having the business held in The Apple in 1988?Fact: Bill Brennan, Ben Olan and Rex MacLeod voted into the journalists sector of Hockey&rsquo;s Hall of Fame.Opinion: Even at my nit-pickiest worst, I couldn&rsquo;t quarrel with this triumvirate. Having read Brennan when he was on the Red Wings&rsquo; beat during their Howe-Lindsay-Abel heyday, I can assure you there was no better reporter on the Motor City hockey scene than Bill. Olan has been one of the unsung reportorial heroes of American hockey journalism. He put the NHL On the Associated Press map, and was one of the ice game&rsquo;s most avid and reliable chroniclers for decades, both for the wire service and magazines. As for MacLeod, words fail me. Suffice to say that I have collected his precious works going back to his days at the Toronto Globe and Mail and continue to read him in the Toronto Star, where he remains the best hockey writer in North America. To top it all, you couldn&rsquo;t ask for three nicer guys, on or off the ice beat. &#9632;

f0010-01

Capitals Don’t Deserve Choker Label

<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/f0010-021032/5158629-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="135" height="129"></div>TORONTO&mdash;In the end, the Toronto Maple Leafs ran out of players even before they ran out of time.And the latter circumstance arrived shortly before 11 p.m., on May 3, when the Detroit Red Wings completed a stirring comeback with their third straight victory to win the Norris Division final series 4-3.With two chances to derail Detroit, it shouldn&rsquo;t have come to that.Only three other teams in National Hockey League history have rebounded from 3-1 deficits to win a best-of-seven series.Two of the Red Wings&rsquo; three straight victories were 3-0 shutouts&mdash;administered by goaltender Glen Hanlon&mdash;including the series-winning triumph.For those who watched the unpredictable Leafs all season, the frustrating finish came as no surprise. It was the eighth time that the Maple Leafs had lost at least three consecutive games this year.Not even the playoffs, however invigorating was the win over St. Louis Blues, could change the essence of the Maple Leafs.When everybody was healthy, Toronto represented a reasonable team&mdash;witness a 7-2-3 start&mdash;but when injuries and other irritations struck, the Maple Leafs oft-times struck out.Playing without forwards Gary Leeman (kneecap), Tom Fergus (virus), Mirko Frycer (pelvis). Mark Osborne (knee) and defenseman Chris Kotsopo-lous (groin), the Leafs didn&rsquo;t have enough in reserve.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to make any excuses,&rdquo; said Brophy. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;d like to have a shot at them again with Fergus. Frycer, Kotsopolous, Leeman and Osborne in the lineup.&ldquo;No team in the NHL can have five players of that calibre missing from their lineup no matter what you have on the farm team.&rdquo;The Leafs didn&rsquo;t have much on Newmarket Saints&mdash;the farm team.Hanlon acknowledged the Wings expected to take advantage of Toronto&rsquo;s manpower problems.&ldquo;We had the names of their injured guys on the blackboard.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We knew they had a lot of guys out. You can&rsquo;t play with 10 players in a big series like this and expect to do well.&ldquo;&hellip;We knew deep down that they were in difficulty. I played with Mark Osborne in New York and I know he could have been the difference.&rdquo;The absence of Kotsopolous stung the Leaf defense.Forced to go mostly with four defenseman, coach John Brophy watched in despair as Borje Salming turned over the puck on the winning goal in Detroit&rsquo;s game-six 4-2 win.&ldquo;The man&rsquo;s not superman,&rdquo; said Brophy. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s on the ice 30 to 35 minutes a game.&rdquo;&ldquo;I tried my best,&rdquo; said a worn-out Salming. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s all you can do. I just goofed up.&rdquo;Ironically, two nights earlier, it was Salming who scolded winger Brad Smith, in full view of more than 19,000 fans at Joe Louis Arena, for being out of position on Detroit&rsquo;s second goal in a 3-0 win.A final indication of Toronto&rsquo;s inability to ice a full complement of defensemen, in whom it had confidence, occurred in game seven when Terry Johnson filled in for Kotsopolous.Adam Oates scored the game&rsquo;s first and winning goal on Johnson&rsquo;s first and only shift. Bill Root, his partner, played just one more shift.But even with obvious shortcomings on the blue line, it wasn&rsquo;t lack of defense&mdash;goalie Ken Wregget played well enough to win most series&mdash;but lack of offense that short-circuited the Leafs.Toronto scored just twice on 84 shots against Hanlon over the final three games. Apart from Wendel Clark, who had four goals in the series, Toronto&rsquo;s other four healthy 20-goal scorers accounted for just one goal over the final five games.The Leafs didn&rsquo;t look sharp after going up 3-1 in games with a 3-2 win on Mike Allison&rsquo;s overtime goal. Clark, who scored the Leafs&rsquo; other two goals, drew an assist on the play.Red Wings&rsquo; coach Jacques Demers had seen enough.&ldquo;I thought Clark really manhandled us in the game we lost here,&rdquo; Demers said later. &ldquo;I thought we had to something to stop Clark.&rsquo;&rsquo;Demers assigned Joey Kocur, Clark&rsquo;s cousin from Kelvington, Sask., the job of shadowing the Leafs&rsquo; most dangerous player. Shawn Burr and Mel Bridgman comprised the rest of the line. And Demers made sure physical defensemen Gilbert Delorme and Lee Norwood were on the ice whenever Clark was.Clark was limited to one power-play goal in the final three games. Nobody else picked up the slack. Rick Vaive, for one, was handicapped by a hand injury that kept him out of the final two periods of game seven.The match-up between Clark and Kocur, two of the league&rsquo;s most rugged players, was relatively tame. Although not kissing cousins, Clark indicated a truce of sorts had been reached.&ldquo;We won&rsquo;t fight,&rdquo; said the combative Clark.When repeatedly pressed by a newsman on why they wouldn&rsquo;t fight, an annoyed Clark said, &ldquo;Do you want me to fight you?&rdquo;The reporter declined the invitation: &ldquo;Absolutely not!&rdquo;&ldquo;Then, be quiet about it,&rdquo; said Clark.Ultimately, it was the Leafs who were silenced. Just when it seemed they were ready to make some noise for one of the rare times since 1967, when they last won the Stanley Cup.Toronto was within one victory of winning two best-of-seven series in one season for the first time since then. Twenty troubled years proved too burdensome a past to shrug off.LEAFLETS&mdash;Leaf owner Harold Ballard reiterated that John Brophy is his choice to coach the Leafs again next year&hellip;Newmarket Saints Wes Jarvis and Miroslav Ihnacak played in game seven.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="sidebar">&lsquo;I thought Clark really manhandled us in the game we lost here. I thought we had to do something to stop Clark.&rsquo;&mdash;Demers &#9632;</div>

f0010-02

Leafs Had Nothing Left At The Finish Line

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02928/5158681-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="361" height="183"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03685/5158674-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="384" height="383"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-04549/5158667-1-eng-US/f0011-042.jpg" title="f0011-04" width="376" height="224"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-05446/5158660-1-eng-US/f0011-052.jpg" title="f0011-05" width="2949" height="1258"></div> &#9632;

f0011-02

Road To The Stanley Cun

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN Assistant Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011226/5158712-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michel Bergeron, Le Petit Tigre, ferociously prowled the bench when calls went against his Quebec Nordiques in the playoffs.</figcaption></div>The suffering finally ended for Quebec Nordiques during Week IV of the National Hockey League playoffs.Quebec became the only team in NHL history to win nine post-season games and not advance to the third round.Ordinarily, eight is enough.Or. at least, that&rsquo;s the way Nordique officials doubtlessly saw it after being eliminated by Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in their best-of-seven Adams Division championship series.Quebec appeared to win five times, but only four counted in their first-round series with Hartford.In game one, John Ogrodnick seemed to give the Nordiques a last-second victory but it was ruled time had expired before his goal.Hartford won in overtime. Still, the Nordiques rallied from that setback to win the series 4-3.Then, with the Canadicn-Nordique series tied 2-2, Alain Cote appeared to all but guarantee Quebec a victory in the pivotal fifth game&mdash;but his apparent goal was disallowed when referee Kerry Fraser called coincidental penalties against Montreal&rsquo;s Mats Naslund and Quebec&rsquo;s Paul Gillis at 17:07 of the third period.Quebec coach Michel Bergeron, more animated than Bugs Bunny at the most sedate of times, was predictably enraged. Ryan Walter scored 14 seconds later to give Montreal a 3-2 win and lead in the series.Quebec managed to tie the series with a comeback 3-2 victory at Le Colisee, but had nothing left in a 5-3 seventh-game loss.Montreal, which had switched from 1986 Conn Smythe winner Patrick Roy to Brian Hayward in goal, earned a date with Philadelphia Flyers in the Wales Conference championship series.Philadelphia, beset by injuries, struggled but finally subdued the remarkably resilient New York Islanders in the Patrick Division final.The Flyers, leading 3-1 in the scries, lost twice before whipping the worn-out Islanders 5-1 in the deciding game behind the inspirational leadership of captain Dave Poulin. New York couldn&rsquo;t repeat a second straight two-game-down comeback.After two rounds, nobody had played as much playoff hockey as the Islanders, who also went the distance (and then some) against the Washington Capitals.In the meantime, Edmonton Oilers patiently awaited a winner to emerge from the Norris Division series between Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs.The Oilers, who swept Winnipeg Jets in the Smythe Division, had eight days between games while it took Detroit the full seven games to sideline the injury-riddled Maple Leafs.Detroit, on the brink of elimination after losing the first two games of the series at home and another in Toronto, became only the fourth team in NHL history to rally from a 3-1 deficit to win a playoff series. (The Islanders, in beating the Capitals, were the third.)Most of the credit for Detroit&rsquo;s victory belonged to goalie Glen Hanlon, who came off the bench, replacing a petulant Greg Stefan, to win four of the final five games&mdash;allowing just seven goals along the way.He recorded two 3-0 shutouts, including the series-deciding triumph.It had been 21 years since Roger Crozier recorded Detroit&rsquo;s last playoff shutout and 35 years since Terry Sawchuk was the last Red Wing goalie to earn two shutouts in one series. &#9632;

f0011-01

Hard-Luck Nords Suffer Unfortunate Fate

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03740/5158774-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Captain Dave Poulin, playing with a flak jacket to needed lift in game seven of its series with New protect injured ribs, gave Philadelphia a much-York Islanders.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021102/5158781-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="142" height="100"></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;It&rsquo;s never been a secret the only way to kill the New York Islanders is to drive a stake or two. or three through their many hearts.Finally, the Philadelphia Flyers did just that in the seventh game of their Patrick Division finals against the Islanders. And then they went one step further&mdash;they suffocated the Islanders.The combination was too much for even the Never-Say-Die Islanders, and the Flyers moved into the Stanley Cup semi-finals with a 5-1 victory over the Isles in game seven at the Spectrum.But the looming question which hung over the Flyers as they got one lone day off between series, was whether or not that had also put a spike through their own hearts.After taking a 3-1 lead in the series against the Isles, they still got dragged into seven games. In doing so, they lost their leading scorer, Tim Kerr, with a shoulder injury, and also put some hard miles on legs which have a while to go before possibly skating around an ice surface with the Stanley Cup.As it was, they needed a massive jolt of adrenalin from captain Dave Poulin to help propel tham past the Isles. Playing with a cracked rib which was protected by a flak jacket and oversize shoulder pads, Poulin assisted on two first-period goals to kick start the Flyers past the Isles.By the end of that period, the Flyers had scored two shorthanded goals on the same penalty, and the Isles were finished&mdash;which allowed Poulin to spend most of the remainder of the game on the bench.Meanwhile, center Ron Sutter appeared to be getting stronger as he played his third game since returning from a back injury which had kept him out of the lineup since January 11. And Ilkka Sinisalo scored two third-period goals in his best showing since being hampered in the playoffs by both a broken foot and pulled stomach muscles.What the Flyers are hoping is that the silver linings outshine the dark clouds of injury in the semi-finals against the Habs.&ldquo;On the one hand,&rdquo; said Flyers coach Mike Keenan, &ldquo;we do have some injury problems. But on the other hand, we have some guys coming back and getting stronger.&rdquo;The key man who is &ldquo;getting stronger&rdquo; is Sutter, a physical center who will play a big role against the Habs. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m still not 100 per cent.&rdquo; said Sutter after the final game, &ldquo;but every game I&rsquo;m starting to feel better.&ldquo;I hope the progress continues.&rdquo;The darkest clouds surround Poulin, who is definitely bothered by the cracked rib, and Kerr. Given the fact that goals will be at a premium in a series between the NHL&rsquo;s two top defensive clubs. Kerr&rsquo;s absence could be devastating.Kerr had been wearing a brace to aid the damaged left shoulder for about six weeks, and had long ago consigned himself to the fact he would need postseason surgery to correct a problem with the muscles around his rotator cuff.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a matter of playing with pain,&rdquo; said Kerr, &ldquo;the problem is that the muscles are so damaged that they won&rsquo;t hold the shoulder in place.&ldquo;I could reach, and it feels like my shoulder is just going to come flying out.&ldquo;Hopefully, with a few days of rest, it&rsquo;ll get back to the point where I can wear the brace and still be effective.&rdquo;Also displaying floats in the Flyers&rsquo; injury parade are forward Murray Craven&mdash;out for at least another 10 days with a broken foot, and defenseman J.J. Daigneault, who could be back in a week from his severely-sprained ankle.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Strangely, when the Flyers marched to the finals in 1985 they had similar injury woes, as Kerr was hobbled with a bad knee, Poulin with a pulled groin and bruised ribs, and defenseman Brad McCrimmon sidelined with a separated shoulder.&ldquo;This just shows the need for depth in the organization,&rdquo; said Keenan. &ldquo;We used a record number of players this season (46), and we feel like we can insert players who know our system and can help us.&rdquo;The biggest help the Flyers could get would be a quick healing of Kerr&rsquo;s shoulder (which is unlikely), and a continued strong performance by Brian Propp of the calibre he put together in the last game against the Isles, when he scored one of the shorthanded goals.&ldquo;He played like a man possessed,&rdquo; said Mark Howe, who himself played marvelously over the full seven games.So, too. did rookie goalie Ron Hex-tall, who gave up more than two goals against the Isles in only two of the seven games, and went into the Montreal series with a 2.22 playoff goals-against average and two shutouts. &#9632;

f0012-03

Flyers Advance But Will Health Hold Out?

<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/f0013-011244/5158812-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="113" height="112"></div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;The rivalry has existed for only eight years, but it throws fans in the province of Quebec into a frenzy.And the people involved, too.Even after the Quebec Nordiques fell 5-3 to the hated Montreal Canadiens in game seven of the Adams Division final, Quebec coach Michel Bergeron remained livid over an incident tha had occurred four days earlier.A graceful loser he wasn&rsquo;t.He said the Canadiens, owners of numerous Stanley Cup records, can now add another to their scrapbook&mdash;first seven-game series victory with only three wins.Most of the series fit into the traditional mold of Montreal-Quebec battles&mdash;always entertaining, always controversial and always all hell breaking loose.Two questionable calls made game five, at the Forum, the turning point. With the score and series tied 2-2, Kerry Fraser signalled a penalty. The Nords had control of the puck so goalie Clint Malarchuk, assuming the call was against Montreal, left his net and headed off for an extra attacker. To his surprise, Montreal intercepted the puck and Guy Carbonneau fired it in the empty net.Fraser said the goal counted, but after hearing his linesmen explain that Quebec really had control of the puck, he disallowed it.With fewer than three minutes left in the third period, another call changed the course of the game and, perhaps, the series. The Nordiques&rsquo; Alain Cote burst into Montreal territory and, with Paul Gillis and Montreal&rsquo;s Mats Nas-lund heading at full steam towards the net, fired and scored.Fraser waved the goal off, claiming two penalties had preceded it. He ruled Gillis had interfered with goalie Brian Hayward while Naslund was guilty of cross-checking Gillis.The Canadiens scored shortly after and won the game 3-2.An enraged Bergeron pulled at his hair, kicked the boards and, as soon as the game was over, ran after Fraser under the stands. As Forum policemen restrained him, he yelled, &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got no guts, Kerry, you&rsquo;ve got no guts!&rdquo; A bitter Bergeron met with the press.&ldquo;I only feel like crying,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s unbelievable what they&rsquo;re doing to my players. And this has been going on for the past seven years.&ldquo;When people talk about Montreal&rsquo;s great machine, its great organization, this is what they&rsquo;re talking about.&rdquo;Quebec bounced back to win game six 3-2 on three third-period goals, but were skating on empty in game seven when the Canadiens scored five times in the second period to sideline their arch-rivals.NORDIQUE NOTES&mdash;Teams visiting the Montreal Forum next year may have the Quebec Nordiques to thank for the installation of a plastic shield behind the players&rsquo; bench, if th Canadiens act on early indications. Michel Bergeron and his players were targets during the Adams Division final. Dale Hunter took a puck on the helmet, while Michel Goulet got one in the back. Batteries were thrown at Bergeron, as well as loose change, apples, oranges and eggs. Players&rsquo; association executive director Alan Eagleson, advised of the situation while still in Vienna at the World Championships, set the wheels in motion for the installation this summer of a screen behind the bench. &#9632;</div>

f0013-01

Nordiques’ Spark Snuffed In Game Seven

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>Bobby Carpenter says he looks at Los Angeles as &ldquo;the place I was destined to go.&rdquo; He adds, &ldquo;Tough times don&rsquo;t last forever but tough people do. I think I&rsquo;m still a tough person.&rdquo; Carpenter figures he&rsquo;s good for 40 goals as a King next year&hellip;Ron Hextail on his bad-guy image: &ldquo;Wherever I&rsquo;ve played, in junior, the minors, there haven&rsquo;t been many buildings where people like me. But that&rsquo;s all right; they pay for their tickets. Besides, I can see why they don&rsquo;t like me.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Although Gene Ubriaco has been mentioned as a candidate for the Penguins&rsquo; coaching job, the feeling is that Gino will remain in the AHL coaching the Pitt-Boston affiliate in Maine. The annual hockey fan club convention is slated for Aug. 7-8 in St. Louis. The still-thriving Atlanta Flames Fan Club will have a contingent on hand.Goalie trade talk has been intense during the playoffs with the major focus on the Blackhawks, Capitals, Sabres and Rangers. Despite&mdash;or, perhaps, because of&mdash;Bob Froese&rsquo;s success on Broadway. Phil Esposito may try to move the ex-Flyer simply to provide more ice time to top banana John Vanbiesbrouck. Desperate for improved netminding, the Hawks could find a Froese deal tempting or seek out Tom Barrasso from Buffalo. The Caps&rsquo; decision not to use veteran Pete Peeters in the critical final (four-overtime) playoff game with the Islanders, in favor of young Bob Mason, indicates that Peeters is available.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021015/5158850-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="337" height="490"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Barrasso</figcaption></div>Vancouver insiders whisper that they wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised to find a &ldquo;Sutter Reunion&rdquo;&mdash;Rich, Ron and Darryl&mdash;on the Canucks next season. Darryl&rsquo;s a free agent and Ron&rsquo;s relations with the Flyers&rsquo; high command has deteriorated to a point where a trade would seem almost welcome. Ron&rsquo;s problem has been the reaction of Philly&rsquo;s high command to his back injury. Brent and Duane have cautioned Ron through the spring and Duane has candidly put down the Flyers. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it (the stress fracture in Ron&rsquo;s lower back) has been treated right by the Flyers&rsquo; organization,&rdquo; says Duane. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re worried about the next day, not the next year or the year after. Ronnie&rsquo;s been pressured.&rdquo;Now that former heartthrobs Ron Duguay and Ron Greschner are married (each to a model), the hottest gossip column name is the Rangers&rsquo; handsome bachelor George McPhee. One item has McPhee annexing Loree Rodkin, the glamorous talent manager who had been dating actor Keifer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland&rsquo;s son&hellip;NHL will soon name Michael A, Berger of the Staten Island (N.Y.) Advance new editor of its GOAL magazine. He&rsquo;ll work with current editor Stu Hackel, who becomes executive editor&hellip;If the Oilers have any long-range plans for aspiring goon Wayne Van Dorp, the heir to Dave Semenko at least got a nod from Canadian national team coach Dave King. &ldquo;He (Van Dorp) is a better player than Semenko. He&rsquo;s quicker. Whether he&rsquo;ll be more intimidating, I don&rsquo;t know.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;The Yankees&rsquo; Tommy John wanted to rent John Tonelli&rsquo;s Long Island estate (60 acres, 60-yard, par-three golf hole, tennis court) but JT nixed the offer because he&rsquo;s using the dies himself. He told the pitcher he could have it after Sept. 1.While Mike Keenan has taken a beating from some segments of the media for his harsh attitude toward players, aide E.J, McGuire claims it&rsquo;s a distorted view. &ldquo;Whenever Mike uses video examples with a player, his philosophy is to knock a guy down&mdash;and knock him hard&mdash;with his left hand, then bring him back up with his stronger hand,&rdquo; says McGuire. &ldquo;For every negative thing on video there are three positives.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Hall of Fame inductee Ed Giacomin says he totalled only 19 stitches in his face. His worst injury was a broken nose, inflicted by a stick. &ldquo;I wore a face mask for my last five NHL years,&rdquo; he says,&rdquo; and often wondered what took me so lone to put one on.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03712/5158843-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="340" height="496"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Keenan</figcaption></div>If you&rsquo;re wondering just how Pat Quinn got his $100,000 signing bonus from the Vancouver Canucks, documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court by the NHL say it came in a sealed envelope, delivered at rink side when Quinn was in Vancouver with the Kings for a game against the Canucks last winter. The NHL alleges that Quinn received a $50,000 settlement on his contract with the Flyers in July, 1984 without telling the club he already had a new job as head coach of the Kings&hellip;John Kordic on his essential qualities: &ldquo;The Flyers used to come in and chop at Mats Naslund because they knew nobody would do anything about it. Guys like me and Chris Nilan won&rsquo;t let it happen anymore. &ldquo;&hellip;Vancouver Province reporter and THN correspondent Tony Gallagher won a trip to Hawaii for having the best record of predicting scores at Canuck home games. &#9632;

f0014-02

Carpenter’s ‘Destiny’ Was To Land In L.A.

<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/f0014-011295/5158881-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="125" height="119"></div>UNIONDALE, N.Y.&mdash;There was no seventh-game magic, no post-season reprieve this time. The 1986-87 ncver-say-Dielanders flirted with history and their Stanley Cup lives once too often.Their terrific Stanley Cup journey ended soberly at the Spectrum. They were overwhelmed by the Philadelphia Flyers 5-1, and eliminated from the playoffs in game seven of the Patrick Division finals.The Islanders had rallied from a three-games-to-one deficit to knock off the Washington Capitals in the first round. They had rallied from the same deficit to pull even with the Flyers in the second round. Never before in National Hockey League history had a team twice recovered from 3-1 holes in the same year.But in game seven, the Flyers were overwhelming. They blasted the Islanders out of the game just 10:41 after it began. Dave Brown&rsquo;s even-strength goal at 6:21 started the rout. After Brian Propp and Brad Marsh scored shorthanded goals 44 seconds apart at 9:57 and 10:41, while Lindsay Carson served a hooking penalty, the Islanders were rendered offenseless by the Flyers&rsquo; smothering defense.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s one of those unfortunate things,&rdquo; Denis Potvin said after the game. &lsquo;&lsquo;The power play got us there all year and through the playoffs, but tonight it killed us.&rdquo;Kelly Hrudey&rsquo;s fantastic goaltending carried the Islanders for 14 playoff games, so it would have been cruel and unfair to blame Hrudey on the third goal, Marsh&rsquo;s marker. The Flyers&rsquo; lumbering defenseman took a high slap shot from behind the left circle and near the boards that Hrudey tried to direct into the comer.Instead of hitting the goalie&rsquo;s stick arm or blocker, though, the puck grazed the shaft of his stick, ricocheted off the left post, and zipped into the net. As 17,222 fans at the Spectrum went nuts, the Islanders felt themselves sag. They were out of miracles.&ldquo;A 2-0 deficit you could overcome.&rdquo; Hrudey said, slumped sadly in his stall afterwards. &ldquo;But that third one makes it a mountain. I&rsquo;m not mad at myself, though, because I don&rsquo;t think I let anyone down.&rdquo;Nobody in the somber Islander dressing room was mad, but there were 29 drawn faces from the 29 players who were eligible for the post-season. In one stall, Brent Sutter was crying.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re packing our bags and that&rsquo;s very disappointing, very distressing,&rdquo; he said between sobs. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no satisfaction when you don&rsquo;t go all the way, when you fall short of something you dream about.&rdquo;What made the loss so painful was the 2-1 game-five victory in Philadelphia on third-period goals by Rich Kromm and Randy Wood, and the 4-2 victory in game six on two goals by Bryan Trottier, one by Bossy and one by Bob Bassen.It was believing that history could be made. It was believing in magic.&ldquo;I feel like we had the mat pulled out from underneath us,&rdquo; said Steve Konroyd. &ldquo;In our minds, we had already won the game. We were really confident. We really expected to be playing against Montreal or Quebec.&rdquo;&ldquo;Everybody worked their tails off (during the playoffs) and we raised our expectations and deservedly so,&rdquo; Bryan Trottier said. &ldquo;Everybody contributed so much. That&rsquo;s why it hurts.&rdquo;When the pain subsides, the Islanders will remember their mediocre regular season and marvelous playoff.They will recall how in mid-season they were 24 individuals under rookie coach Terry Simpson and how in April they suddenly jelled.April gave this proud organization every reason to be optimistic about 1987-88.&ldquo;Right now it&rsquo;s disappointing,&rdquo; general manager Bill Torrey said. &ldquo;In time it&rsquo;ll wash, but when you get this close, you don&rsquo;t like to lose your shot. We have no doubt about what we&rsquo;re doing here, with our program, with these kids.&rdquo;ON THE ISLE&mdash;Islanders will collect $6,000 per man for reaching the divisional final&hellip;They are 22-9 in Cup games when facing elimination, 6-3 in deciding games of series&hellip; &#9632;</div>

f0014-01

Flyers Finally Shoot Down The Never-Say-Dielanders

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02873/5158912-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="550" height="976"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Hartford Whalers plan to renew the contract of general manager Emile Francis.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011093/5158919-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="117" height="113"></div>HARTFORD&mdash;Like a cat on a hot tin roof, the Hartford Whalers have been treading softly.Maybe too softly.&ldquo;We had a great season, made a little money and won the Adams Division regular-season title,&rdquo; said Howard Baldwin, the team&rsquo;s chairman and managing general partner. &ldquo;The playoff series was disappointing, but I&rsquo;m certainly not discouraged.&rdquo;Those who expected the Whalers to be downcast after dropping four straight games to Quebec in the opening round of the playoffs don&rsquo;t know the club&rsquo;s front-office personnel. From Baldwin to general manager Emile Francis to coach Jack Evans, the immediate off-season tone was obvious:&ldquo;We had a great year. Lay off.&rdquo;Growing pains were among the most popular explanations for the Whalers&rsquo; unexpected demise.And&hellip;&ldquo;It wound up being the wrong guys with the puck at the wrong time,&rdquo;Francis said. &ldquo;The (Quebec) snipers always seemed to have the puck.&rdquo;Leave it to that crafty Michel Bergeron to come up with a game plan that included getting the puck to Peter Stastny, Michel Goulet and John Ogrodnick. What will he think of next?It&rsquo;s tempting to be hard on the Whalers because they are so reluctant to be hard on themselves.&ldquo;The loss was part of growing up,&rdquo; Baldwin said. &ldquo;Next year we&rsquo;re going to improve as a team.&rdquo;Not surprisingly, Francis agrees.&ldquo;This is by far the best team we&rsquo;ve had in our four years here,&rdquo; the GM said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll come back a better team. We&rsquo;ll improve because every team in the division will improve.&rdquo;The Whalers broke or tied 59 regular-season team records en route to a 43-30-7 record and an Adams Division championship.&ldquo;The loss to Quebec was disappointing,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;The division reminds me of the old six-team league. There are three things a team needs to be successful in the playoffs. No. 1, it needs to be healthy. No. 2, it has to have discipline. And No. 3&mdash;and this is very important&mdash;it has to have patience.&rdquo;At the team&rsquo;s season-ending press conference, Francis was very combative.&ldquo;In the playoffs, a team should never look beyond the first shift or the first period or the first game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And for the good of the team, a player has to learn to take a check, whether it be legal or illegal. This is what we call &lsquo;growing pains.&rsquo;&rdquo;Francis is sure the Whalers have learned a valuable lesson.&ldquo;We learned how to win in the season this year and I&rsquo;m sure we&rsquo;ll learn how to win in the playoffs,&rdquo; he said.Francis is in the fourth year of a five-year contract. The Whalers are expected to renew his pact, and give extensions to Evans and assistant Claude Larose, who have one year remaining on their current contracts.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve chatted back and forth,&rdquo;Baldwin said, referring to Francis. &ldquo;One of these days, we&rsquo;ll get it done. Emile isn&rsquo;t going anywhere. I hope he stays here forever.&rdquo;The 10-year contract of Gordie Howe, who officially is a special assistant to the chairman, also expires, but &ldquo;Gordie&rsquo;s not going anywhere either,&rdquo; Baldwin said.The front office appears set, but what about the team?&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been reluctant to make a trade,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;It may be next week or next month or during&rdquo; training camp in September. We have a couple of areas to move from. We&rsquo;ll leave no stone unturned.&rdquo;Asked to list those &lsquo;areas,&rsquo; Francis said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to explain our weaknesses. That&rsquo;s like putting up a &lsquo;For Sale&rsquo; sign.&rdquo;WHALER SCUTTLEBUTT-TWO of goaltenders Mike Liut, Steve Weeks and Peter Sidorkiewicz of Binghamton, it was thought, had to be protected for October&rsquo;s waiver draft, meaning the Whalers would lose one of them. Emile Francis, however, is no longer sure that&rsquo;s true. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll wait until the NHL tells me whether I have to put Sidorkiewicz on waivers or not,&rdquo; hesaid. &ldquo;It has to do with one of the bylaws put into the new league contract. I feel that Sidorkiewicz isn&rsquo;t available for the draft.&rdquo;&hellip;Defense man Mike McEwen, a star in his one and only playoff appearance with a goal and an assist in game five against Quebec, is the only Whaler who can become a free agent this summer. The Whalers have until June 1 to sign him.</div><div style="clear: both;"> &#9632;</div>

f0016-02

Whalers Unapologetic For Early Playoff Exit

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03677/5158950-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="398" height="459"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Simmons</figcaption></div>NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE officiating, already battered and bruised by charges of incompetence and favoritism, took another tumble in game five of the Adams Division final.When referee Kerry Fraser disallowed a legitimate late goal by the Quebec Nordiques, one that could have won the game for them, he hammered another nail into the coffin of league credibility.This year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs have had their share of disputed goals, but nothing compared to this goal, one of two controversial scoring plays waved off by Fraser in Montreal&rsquo;s 3-2 victory over Quebec, April 28.In the opening round of the playoffs, the St. Louis Blues scored a goal that wasn&rsquo;t counted; the Winnipeg Jets scored a goal that counted and shouldn&rsquo;t have; and the Nordiques scored a goal they still believe should have counted.These disputes caused at least two wily NHLers, Ron Caron and Bob Johnson, to call for the NHL to immediately adopt the use of instant replays.But in the case of the Montreal-Quebec game, instant replays weren&rsquo;t the problem. Judgement, or lack thereof, was. And that&rsquo;s where it becomes difficult.The first disallowed goal was one of the oddest ever. A delayed penalty was called against Quebec. A Quebec player carried the puck. The whistle did not blow.Quebec goalie Clint Malarchuk, seeing the referee&rsquo;s arm raised, seeing his teammate with the puck, did the natural thing&mdash;he skated to the Nordiques&rsquo; bench. The puck went to Montreal&rsquo;s Guy Carbonneau, who did the natural thing. He shot the puck into the empty net.What is bothersome here is this: Where was Fraser for the time during the seconds the Quebec players had control of the puck? Why didn&rsquo;t he blow the whistle? What was he thinking?He wasn&rsquo;t able to answer those questions. Instead, the league passed the buck. Jim Gregory didn&rsquo;t want to talk about it. Brian O&rsquo;Neill didn&rsquo;t want to talk about it. So poor John Ashley, a member of the officiating supervisory staff, came out and exonerated Fraser from wrongdoing.The league was not saying he did anything wrong without first taking the time to fully investigate the matter. It smelled of a coverup. It smelled of paranoia. It reeked of being bush league.Ahd the one area never questioned later was: What happened to those lost seconds that Fraser let tick off the clock while he failed to make the first call? Could the Nordiques have used those seconds in the end to try and tie the game?The second call was just as strange. It was the goal that probably would have given the Nords a win.Alain Cote veered in from the side and banked the puck off a player, beating Brian Hayward. In the meantime, Mats Naslund was backchecking Paul Gillis and the two&mdash;more Naslund than Gillis&mdash;fell into Hayward.Fraser quickly waved the goal off.At first I thought the goal was disallowed because a Quebec player ran the goalie over. The replay showed that wasn&rsquo;t true.Then I searched the replay for a penalty. I saw two&rdquo; players entangled, in the way players have checked throughout the playoffs. In a game where Fraser had let so much go, there seemed no need for a penalty.The Nordiques, who have claimed the league wants the Canadiens to win, only saw their worst fears realized. Ashley, speaking for Fraser, said the referee had blown the whistle prior to the puck going in the net.Players on neither the Canadiens nor the Nordiques heard any whistle.If the penalty call occurred earlier in the play&mdash;as some have indicated&mdash;then the whistle would have been heard for sure.The fact is, there is no precedent in a matter such as this. No way to protest. No way to see justice served.The referee needed help from the linesmen to determine whether the first disputed goal should count. There was no consultation on the second goal.The league has to come up with some answers, some explanations.Some ways of preventing future robbery. &#9632;

f0016-03

Referee Fraser’s Foul Up Harms League’s Credibility

<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/f0016-04524/5158981-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="112" height="114"></div>BOSTON&mdash;Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, mulling over a return as coach of the Boston Bruins, wasn&rsquo;t fussy about whose advice he accepted.As long as it was good.So, when his seven-year-old son Conor made note of O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;s yearlong unemployed status before accepting the Bruin job early this past season, the former National Hockey Leaguer couldn&rsquo;t dispute the boy&rsquo;s logic.&ldquo;He said, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t know Dad,&rsquo;&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Reilly. &ldquo;It took you such a long time to get a job. Maybe you&rsquo;d better hang on to this.&rsquo;&rdquo;O&rsquo;Reilly agreed.He is returning, along with assistant coach John Cunniff, for at least one year with the option for a second. O&rsquo;Reilly makes just one promise:&ldquo;What I will say is that I will work at this and I don&rsquo;t think I know anybody who will work harder than John Cunniff.&rdquo;But the Bruins have always worked hard&mdash;and they have been eliminated by the Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs four straight years. Perhaps it requires more than just hard work.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to name names,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Reilly. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to get into the level of talent. But I don&rsquo;t think I had it to beat Montreal.&rdquo;&ldquo;Trades could come at any point in time,&rdquo; said general manager Harry Sinden, but he refused to speculate whose head may be on the block. The consensus is that only Ray Bourque and Cam Neely are untouchables.One rumour has it that Sinden is interested in dealing rookie goalie Bill Ranford to the Chicago Blackhawks for a goal-scorer. The Bruins would then draft Jimmy Waite of Chicoutimi with Vancouver&rsquo;s choice (3rd overall) in the June entry draft.&ldquo;A lot of things a coach would want done or I would want done can&rsquo;t be done. We have to figure what can or what likely can be done,&rdquo; said Sinden, leaving a trail of questions behind the statement. &ldquo;I doubt that we (he and O&rsquo;Reilly) are in total agreement but I think we&rsquo;re close enough to work it out. No one is going in opposite directions.&rdquo;WHAT&rsquo;S BRUIN&mdash;Terry O&rsquo;Reilly plans on learning from his peers at a coaching clinic at Toronto&rsquo;s York University this summer. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll attend that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Some of the speakers will be Mike Keenan and Ted Sator. So maybe I&rsquo;ll get an inside look at exactly what the opposition is thinking.&rdquo;&hellip;A quality seemingly missing from the one-time Big Bad Bruins is overall toughness. Both goalies, Bill Ranford and Doug Keans, were roughed up a little during the Montreal series. No Bruins interceded, which led to a pertinent question: Are the Bruins, who could once ice a line of O&rsquo;Reilly, John Wensink and Stan Jonathan, tough enough to be considered Stanley Cup contenders alongside the Canandiens, Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers? &#9632;</div>

f0016-04

Coach Takes Word Of Trusted Advisor

<div class="byline">BY STEVE KEATING</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01963/5159012-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Theriault, above, joins Sherry Bassin to form a dynamic management team. How long they&rsquo;ll be together is a matter of speculation.</figcaption></div><h2>Oshawa Partners Breaking Up Soon?</h2>They are hockey&rsquo;s version of the odd couple.Paul Theriault, coach of the Oshawa Generals, plays the cool, sophisticated, impeccably-dressed Felix to general manager Sherry Bassin&rsquo;s outspoken, disheveled and seemingly-disorganized Oscar.Now, as they guide their Generals in a bid for the Memorial Cup, come rumors that one of the Ontario League&rsquo;s longest and most enduring partnerships may be coming to an end.Both parties have made it be known that their only remaining goal in junior hockey is a Memorial Cup and, with the host Generals early favorites to win the May 9-16 tournament, that goal may be realized.Standing in their way, depending on final league results, will be Portland or Medicine Hat from the Western League, Chicoutimi or Lon-gueuil from the Quebec League and, possibly, North Bay from the OHL.Although neither will confirm or deny it, all the signs point to the curtains closing on Bassin&rsquo;s and Theriault&rsquo;s days in Oshawa. Both names are constantly linked to openings in the National Hockey League, and both admit the NHL is something they&rsquo;d like to try.Bassin hinted they may go as a package deal.&ldquo;If this is the end, it will be sad,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but maybe it isn&rsquo;t over&hellip;Maybe we&rsquo;re ready to move on together. We&rsquo;d like it and we&rsquo;ve certainly established a formula for some success.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think either one of us would have been as successful without the other.&ldquo;Let me put it this way&mdash;if I become a general manager in the NHL, I wouldn&rsquo;t hesitate to hire him as a coach.&rdquo;Bassin stopped short of revealing which teams he&rsquo;s talked with, but did admit to having had serious discussions. Theriault, on the other hand, remains aloof, refusing to discuss his future until after the Memorial Cup.&ldquo;The only thing that&rsquo;s on my mind now is the Cup,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Come May 16th, if some NHL team is interested, I&rsquo;d gladly discuss it&mdash;but not until then.&rdquo;Theriault, 36, has been prominently mentioned as a candidate for the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; job, but Terry Crisp probably has the inside track. His name has surfaced for other openings, the Chicago Blackhawks, for example, and he started this junior season wondering if it might be his last. An American League posting may not be out of the question if the NHL doesn&rsquo;t beckon.&ldquo;If I do go to the NHL,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;going there with Sherry and the group we&rsquo;ve put together would be the ideal situation. It would be hard to go wrong, surrounded by guys like that.&rdquo;Since joining forces, Theriault and Bassin have met with extraordinary success.Theriault, forced to quit playing after suffering a skull fracture during a game while on scholarship at Lake Superior State, arrived in Oshawa for the 1979-80 season. He had spent the tail end of one season (Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s only year of major junior) and all of the next with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, before he was fired.His first tour of duty with the Generals was equally brief. After two seasons, he left to take a coaching position in West Germany.As fate would have it, Theriault was again looking for a job in 1981, and the Generals just happened to have one available. Coach Bill LaForge was suspended by OHL commissioner Dave Branch for 50 games, for his part in a playoff brawl.&ldquo;I hated to lose him the first time,&rdquo; Bassin said of Theriault, &ldquo;but he wanted to broaden himself. I was upset, but I make it a rule to never try to talk someone out of something they feel they have to do.&ldquo;As it turned out, when he came, we needed a coach. So we hired him. It&rsquo;s like we were always meant to be together.&rdquo;Theriault agreed.&ldquo;My first year in Oshawa was a tremendous experience,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but going to Germany was something I had to do. I hated to leave and, when I did, I thought my days in Oshawa were over forever.&ldquo;But it was fate&hellip;this is where I always wanted to be.&rdquo;Back in the Oshawa fold, Theriault led the Generals to the 1982-83 Memorial Cup in Portland, where they lost in the final to the host Winter Hawks. Since then, there has been no looking back. The club has made the playoffs every season and is making its second Cup appearance in four years.According to Bassin, one of Theriault&rsquo;s greatest strengths as a coach is his ability to concentrate. He has developed a singleminded-ness that allows little room for distraction. Others perceive him as arrogant or aloof.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a happy man, even though it may not always seem so,&rdquo; Theriault said. &ldquo;It takes a while to get to know me, but the friends I do have are good ones.&ldquo;Perhaps some people see me as arrogant, but I don&rsquo;t mean to be. I mean, after all, what do I have to be egotistical about?&rdquo;Bassin seems to be Theriault&rsquo;s exact opposite.It&rsquo;s probably been 30 years since the 47-year-old had his mind on one thing; his concentration drifts from project to project in minutes. But somehow, some way, Bassin developed the ability to handle each with equal aplomb.Over the years, critics have said Bassin has spread himself too thin. Still, they can&rsquo;t argue with his record of success.In 11 years with the Generals, Bassin has never had a losing record, except for the single season he coached the club (1976-77) and won just five games. Since taking over the general manager&rsquo;s reins, however, he has never been below the.500 mark.Away from the Generals he has two golds, a silver and bronze medal with Canada&rsquo;s entry in the World Junior Championships; is a successful businessman-entrepreneur, player agent and teacher at Oshawa&rsquo;s Durham College; does color commentary for various hockey games on all three Canadian networks; and is in great demand on the speaking circuit.This guy could give time management lessons to a punch clock.&ldquo;There could be no better GM than Sherry,&rdquo; praised Theriault. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a humanitarian Re understands people.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a hard man to follow, but he has a gifted ability that allows him to do several things at once. He could be at Durham teaching in the morning, down in London in the afternoon giving a speech, and back in Oshawa making a trade for the Generals at night. He thrives on it.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt he&rsquo;s deflected some of the attention and pressure off me. He&rsquo;s magic with the press, he&rsquo;s flamboyant. When people talk about the Oshawa Generals, it&rsquo;s Sherry Bassin and the Oshawa Generals.&ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t mean that to sound like I&rsquo;m offended. I&rsquo;m not. That&rsquo;s part of the reason for our success.&rdquo;If Bassin&rsquo;s opinion means anything, then Theriault will find himself employed in the NHL next season.&lsquo;&lsquo;I know now he&rsquo;ll be a great coach,&rdquo; Bassin said. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t have said that a few years ago. What impresses me most about Paul is his trust, the way he uses his assistants and delegates authority&hellip;if&rsquo;s good management. But I think he has to be supported by the right people&mdash;people who&rsquo;ll give him direction and the road to drive it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0017-01

Five-Star Generals

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD BEALES Copy Editor</div>If Scott McCrory isn&rsquo;t filling nets 10 years from now, he&rsquo;ll be filling teeth.The 20-year-old Oshawa Generals&rsquo; center, leading scorer this year in the Ontario League, is a pre-dentistry student at the University of Toronto. And his determination to be the best at whatever he does will help him go far, predicts Sherry Bassin, the team&rsquo;s general manager.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an achiever,&rdquo; Bassin says. &ldquo;No matter what he does, wherever he goes in life, he&rsquo;ll be successful. If he doesn&rsquo;t make it in the pros, then he&rsquo;ll make a hell of a dentist.&rdquo;He&rsquo;s certainly been successful as a junior hockey player. For the second straight year, he led his team in scoring&mdash;this year, with a league-high 150 points (51 goals, 99 assists).McCrory is one of three contenders for the Canadian Major Junior Hockey Leagues player-of-the-year award. Two other scoring champions&mdash;Rob Brown of the Western League&rsquo;s Kamloops Blazers and Marc Fortier of the Quebec League&rsquo;s Chicoutimi Sague-neens&mdash;are the others.All three share a common trait.They&rsquo;re zealous competitors, with a will to win that inspires their teammates and fans.Bassin describes McCrory as &ldquo;determined, unselfish, good under pressure&mdash;and he understands the game very well. They&rsquo;ve always told him he wasn&rsquo;t big enough to play (5-foot-10, 188 pounds), but he&rsquo;s done well at every age level. He is dissatisfied with mediocrity.&rdquo;Now. he has one last step to make. A 12th-round pick of the Washington Capitals in the 1986 entry draft, McCrory will attend the Capitals&rsquo; camp next season.The young center deflects some of the credit for his fine showings of the past two years.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a combination of good linemates and a good team,&rdquo; says McCrory, whose Generals earned host team status for this year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup.Wingers Lee Giffin and Derek King play on McCrory&rsquo;s line, and the three complement each other.&ldquo;Both of them can put the puck in the net and help me out,&rdquo; says McCrory, who concentrates on digging out the puck and making plays. &ldquo;We have that sixth sense that tells us if someone&rsquo;s open.&rdquo;Western League phenom Brown, too, is an exceptional playmaker. In his second year as league scoring champ (76-136-212), the 20-year-old Kamloops center outdistanced his nearest rival. Regina&rsquo;s Craig Endean, by 66 points.That&rsquo;s the kind of statistical dominance only Wayne Gretzky has shown in recent years.Like Gretzky, Brown is intense.&ldquo;I never quit on the ice,&rdquo; says Brown, a fourth-round choice of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1986 entry draft. &ldquo;Whether we&rsquo;re up by five or down by five, I still try just as hard.&ldquo;We have a saying here (in Kamloops)&mdash;&rsquo;We never want to die on the ice.&rsquo; We always play as if the score is tied.&rdquo;Coach Ken Hitchcock has depended on Brown&rsquo;s gung-ho attitude to pick up the team.&ldquo;I think, more than anything else, he excels because of his competitiveness on the ice,&rdquo; says Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the type of guy who, when the game is on the line, you can count on to get the chances.&rdquo;Brown makes use of the full ice surface, displaying a knack for knowing where players and the puck will be before the play develops.&ldquo;How he sees the ice is incredible,&rdquo; says Hitchcock. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll pass to a guy who you don&rsquo;t even know is in the play. All of a sudden, (the teammate) has got the puck and he&rsquo;s away.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01925/5159057-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="551" height="871"><figcaption class="caption-body">Oshawa&rsquo;s Scott McCrory is a predentistry student at the University of Toronto.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02688/5159050-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="555" height="865"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rob Brown&rsquo;s imagination with the puck made him a scoring star in the Western League.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03479/5159043-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="555" height="859"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Quebec League&rsquo;s Marc Fortier combines talent with an admirable work ethic.</figcaption></div>Brown may find it difficult to crack the Penguins&rsquo; roster next season, however. The team is strong at center, with fine young players such as Mario Lemieux, Dan Quinn and Craig Simpson already in that role. Still, he&rsquo;s prepared for the challenge.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to work very hard this summer to strengthen my ankle (injured late in the season) and go to camp with an open attitude,&rdquo; he says, adding that a new coach in Pittsburgh could also help his chances.The Quebec League&rsquo;s nominee, 21-year-old Marc Fortier of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, should find the road to the NHL even more rocky. Though he turned in an exceptional offensive season with 66 goals and 135 assists for 201 points, NHL scouts never thought enough of his abilities to draft him.Still, Fortier&rsquo;s play matured to the point where the Quebec Nordiques found it wise to sign him as a free agent.Also a center, Fortier impresses more with his work ethic than his offensive skills.Fortier&rsquo;s numbers are excellent, admits Sagueneens&rsquo; spokesman Marc Gagnon, but scoring isn&rsquo;t the biggest part of his game.&ldquo;First of all, Marc is a hard worker more than a scoring star,&rdquo; Gagnon says. He didn&rsquo;t emerge as a scorer until the 1985-86 season when, as a 20-year-old, he collected 133 points.&ldquo;He has the experience to control the puck now, and he&rsquo;s one step ahead of the others.&rdquo;Quebec League chief scout Flo Potvin agrees&mdash;Fortier&rsquo;s age gives him an edge.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been playing in the league for four years and he&rsquo;s always been a good player, &ldquo;Potvin says.&rdquo; But he has never stopped improving.&rdquo;Potvin says he hates to compare junior players to current pros because there&rsquo;s such a difference in the level of play, but he does allow that Fortier reminds of Mel Bridgman at a similar stage in his career.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an honest hockey player who gives 100 per cent every time. He never stops working.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a proud son-of-a-gun. He&rsquo;s not a great skater, to be honest with you, but he works so hard at it. The kid is unselfish; he handles the puck extremely well and that&rsquo;s his forte.&ldquo;His desire is No. I.&rdquo;As it is with McCrory and Brown.<div class="sidebar">&ldquo;He&rsquo;s (McCrory) an achiever. No matter what he does, wherever he goes in life, he&rsquo;ll be successful. If he doesn&rsquo;t make it in the pros, then he&rsquo;ll make a hell of a dentist-&hellip;They&rsquo;ve always told him he wasn&rsquo;t big enough to play, but he&rsquo;s done well at every level.&mdash;Bassin &#9632;</div>

f0019-01

Scoring Leaders Vie For Top Junior Award

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02530/5159116-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01782/5159123-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="124" height="52"></div>OSHAWA, Ont.&mdash;In the annual poker game that is the Memorial Cup host city selection process, there are no set rules&mdash;it&rsquo;s dealer&rsquo;s choice all the way.About the only consistent factor involved in picking a host city is that the three major junior leagues get to play Casino Royale on a rotating basis.Consider that in the past three years, the Ontario. Western and Quebec Leagues have all devised different formulas for deciding which team plays host to the week-long tournament.This year, it&rsquo;s Ontario&rsquo;s turn. The OHL board of governors decided before the start of the season that the two division winners would engage in a preliminary round best-of-seven Super Series to determine the Memorial Cup host.The Oshawa Generals edged the North Bay Centennials 4-3 in the series, thus earning an automatic berth in the May 9-16 playdowns as host entry.Last year when it was the Western League&rsquo;s turn, the team (Portland Winter Hawks) leading the league at the 30-game mark played host to the Cup. Before the site was confirmed, however, the team had to commit itself to playing games out of an arena capable of sitting at least 3,500 people.And the year before, the Quebec League concluded that the team finishing first overall (Shawinigan Cataractes) during the regular season would earn automatic entry into the Cup series as host entry.The OHL last played host to the Memorial Cup in 1984, when the Kitchener Rangers got the nod because of their first-place finish during the regular season.While satisfied with the way things went that year. Dr. Bob Vaughan&mdash;owner of the Belleville Bulls and chairman of the OHL&rsquo;s board of governors&mdash;said the Super Series was devised for this year, &ldquo;to add extra excitement.&ldquo;We felt a Super Series, matching the two division winners, would be a real boost for the league,&rdquo; said Vaughan, &ldquo;and it turns out we were right. The Series between Oshawa and North Bay went seven games and both rinks were packed for every game. And in that the series began as soon as the regular season ended, it gave the winner five full weeks to get ready for the Memorial Cup.&ldquo;We had discussed going a different way, like having it in Hamilton at the Copps Coliseum, which holds 17,500 people. But when you do that, you run into the danger of having little fan interest from the host city because, in that case, Hamilton was knocked out in the second round of the playoffs and wouldn&rsquo;t be involved in the Memorial Cup.&rdquo;Meanwhile, with last-minute Memorial Cup preparations going on in Oshawa, OHL general managers and scouts geared up for the annual priority selections draft, May 30 at the North York Centennial Arena.Central Scouting&rsquo;s final rated list has been compiled and, according to a confidential report obtained by THE HOCKEY NEWS, the top rated player is John Uniac, a right-shooting minor midget defenseman who played this past season with the Stratford Cullitons Jr. B club.The Sudbury Wolves, by virtue of their last-place finish, will select first at the draft. Sources indicate director of operations Marcel Bedard will agree to terms with the 5-foot-11.185-pound Uniac.Two more minor midgets follow Uniac, according to the Central Scouting list. Rated second is Jason Winch, a strapping 6-foot-1, 190-pound left winger who played Junior B at St. Catharines this past season. Rated third is 6-foot-2, 190-pound Scott Thornton, a center with the London Junior B&rsquo;s.Rounding out the list of players rated among the top 15 are: (4) Alex Nikolic, left wing, Barrie Jr. B; (5) Derek Booth, defense, Owen Sound Tier 11 Jr. A; (6) David Burke, defense, Detroit Compuware Tier II Jr. A; (7) Mike Speer, defense, Toronto Marlies Midget; (8) Steven Bancraft, defense, St. Catharines Jr. B (9) Marc Deschamps, defense, Port Colborne Jr. B; (10) John Valo, defense, Detroit Art Van Midget; (11) Jamie Allan, right wing, Brockville Tier 11 Jr. A; (12) Shayne Sargent, left wing, Barrie Jr. B; (13) Scott Luik, right wing, Toronto Marlie Midget; (14) Cory Keenan, defense, St. Mary&rsquo;s Jr. B;(15) Jim Solly, center, St. Catharines Jr. B.Goaltenders are rated on a separate list. The top-ranked puckstopper is George Dourian, a minor midget from Ottawa Tier II Jr. A.NOTEBOOK&mdash;Millionaire Jack Robillard said he has bought the London Gardens and the OHL&rsquo;s London Knights from Ottawa businessman Howard Darwin. Robillard said he will pay in the neighborhood of $2.3 million for the Gardens, the Knights and 10 acres of land which he will use for parking. &ldquo;I basically made the purchase to keep junior hockey going in London,&rdquo; said Robillard, who is also involved in the ownership of the Hamilton Steelhawks. Because of an OHL conflict-of-interest rule regarding one person&rsquo;s ownership of two teams, Robillard has proposed to the OHL that his business partners, Al Martin and Bob Wilson, operate the Knights.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>Memorial Cup Dates</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03369/5159109-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="1102" height="355"></div><h2>OHL All-Star Teams</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04241/5159102-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="1097" height="593"></div><h2>QMJHL All-Star Teams</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-05141/5159095-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="1097" height="724"></div><h2>WHL All-Star Teams</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-06113/5159088-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="1111" height="667"></div> &#9632;

f0020-02

The Juniors

Host League Holds Cards That Decide Site Of Cup

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-07101/5159168-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="359" height="463"><figcaption class="caption-body">LEN SOCCIO North Bay</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>Len Soccio has been the North Bay Centennials&rsquo; leader since the playoffs began and he wasn&rsquo;t letting up with the championship up for grabs.North Bay and Oshawa were locked in a final playoff showdown and Soccio came up with four points in three games to get the nod as OHL Player of the Week.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0890/5159161-1-eng-US/f0020-082.jpg" title="f0020-08" width="365" height="463"><figcaption class="caption-body">GLEN WESLEY Portland</figcaption></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>The Portland Winter Hawks had their sights set on the league championship and defenseman Glen Wesley was playing a major role.The 18-year-old rearguard was chosen WHL Player of the Week after he counted four points in the first three games of the final series with Medicine Hat.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-0969/5159154-1-eng-US/f0020-092.jpg" title="f0020-09" width="364" height="459"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY DESJARDINS Longueuil</figcaption></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>Goaltending has been a big part of the Longueuil Chevaliers&rsquo; success this season and with the playoffs on, it hadn&rsquo;t changed.Bobby Desjardins, who won the Jacques Plante Trophy as No. 1 goalie, sparked the Chevvies to a pair of wins over Chicoutimi in the final series. He won 37 games during the regular season. &#9632;

f0020-07

MICRON JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY RICK MA YOH</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01582/5159199-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="122" height="69"></div>CHARLESBOURG, Que.&mdash;The Quebec League has long been considered the weakest of the three major junior circuits.In the 16 years since the QMJHL was founded, the Ontario League has won seven Memorial Cups, the Western League five and the QMJHL four.Many argue that three of those Quebec League&rsquo;s titles&mdash;in 1972 under Orval Tessier, 1980 under Doug Carpenter, and 1981 with Bob Kil-ger&mdash;were really victories for Ontario hockey, because they were won by the Cornwall (Ont.) Royals, a team powered primarily by Ontario-grown talent. That left only the 1971 championship, when the Guy Lafleur-led Quebec Rcmparts went all the way.The common wisdom is that the QMJHL has been the domain of high-scoring junior stars such as Lafleur, Pierre Larouche, Mike Bossy, Denis Savard, Sylvain Turgeon, Pat LaFon-taine and Mario Lemieux. And the freewheeling style has made it a hotbed for goaltenders such as Billy Smith, Gilles Meloche, Denis Herron, Ricahrd Brodeur, Bob Sauve, Mario Gosselin. Roberto Romano, Patrick Roy and Daniel Bcrthiaume.The missing ingredient, as this thinking goes, is an adequate supply of defensive defensemen.But Quebec has been more competitive than many people think. The Montreal Jr. Canadiens won the Memorial Cup as the Ontario Hockey Associtiaon champion in both 1969 and 1970. under current Granby Bisons&rsquo; general manager Roger Bedard.Those clubs included Gilbert Perreault, Richard Martin, Marc Tardif, Rejean Houle, Guy Charron, Ian Turnbull. Andre Dupont, Bobby Lalonde and Jocelyn Guevremont.In addition to the four QMJHL Memorial Cup titles since 1970. trips to the championship game were made by the Rcmparts in 1973 and 1974, the Sherbrooke Castors in 1982, the Shawinigan Cataractes in 1985 and the Hull Olympiques in 1986.&ldquo;When it comes down to the final game, the Ontario and Western teams come up so tight on defense,&rdquo; said Bruce Newton of the Toronto-based CAHA Services, part-organizer of the Memorial Cup tournament.&ldquo;The Quebec teams don&rsquo;t seem to have the depth. Ontario and the West seem to have been able to throw four strong lines over the boards.&rdquo;Flo Potvin, the QMJHL&rsquo;s head scout, scouted for the 1970 Memorial Cup-champion Montreal Jr. Canadicns. He said there was some truth to the Quebec stereotype in past years, but not anymore.&ldquo;The league has really improved,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A lot of coaches such as Guy Chouinard (Longueuil Chevaliers), Pat Burns (Hull Olympiques) and Michel Parizeau (Drurnmondville Voltigeurs) are much more concerned about defense, and teams are drafting bigger players. There will be a lot of size at the (QMJHL) draft May 30.&rdquo;One of the first players expected to be selected is 6-foot-5, 210-pound defenseman Francois Leroux, from the Laval Titan Laurentide-Lanaudiere AAA midgets.The 1987 Air Canada Cup midgetchampion Richelieu Riverains were another example of the province&rsquo;s effort to develop defensive hockey. Riverain coach John Paris said his club consciously attempted to break the offensive stereotype this year.Burns is an exponent of defensive hockey. His Olympiques were an offensive powerhouse last year with current Los Angeles King Luc Robitaille and scoring champ Guy Rouleau, but they also relied heavily on defensemen such as Sylvain Cote (now with the Hartford Whalers) and Rick Hayward (now with Sherbrooke of the American League).&ldquo;We had a good enough team to win it last year,&rdquo; said Burns, whose club fell 6-2 to the OHL&rsquo;s Guelph Platers in the title match at Portland, Ore. &ldquo;If we had played Guelph in a best-of-five series, I think it would have been a different story.&rdquo;The game was marred by. tight scheduling; Hull had to take on the well-rested Guelph squad just 12 hours after beating WHL-champion Kamloops 93 in semi-final action. But there&rsquo;s no denying the effectiveness of the Platers&rsquo; defense under coach Jacques Martin, in both the final and a 3-1 win over Hull earlier in the tournament.QMJHL president Gilles Courteau, 29, remembers what the league was like in 1975-76, when he worked for the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs as Michel Bergeron&rsquo;s statistician.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the problem was defense,&rdquo; Courteau said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we had as much discipline.&ldquo;We tried to change things, play more physcially in the Memorial Cup. Cornwall played the same style they did in our league and won.&ldquo;The whole mentality of the league has changed,&rdquo; Courteau said. &ldquo;The level of coaching has come up.&rdquo;The question remains, however, when will the QMJHL&rsquo;s number again come up at the Memorial Cup?QUEBEC CACHE&mdash;Longueuil Chevaliers jumped to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven QMJHL final, with 9-2 and 4-3 wins over Chicoutimi Sagueneens. Marc Bureau and Martin Desjardins scored three goals each as the Chevs spotted Chicoutimi a 1-0 lead in game one, then struck nine consecutive times. Longueuil overcame a 2-0 deficit in game two with four straight goals&mdash;three of them by Mario DeBenedictis&mdash;before 4,365 fans in Chicoutimi. &#9632;</div>

f0021-01

Quebec League Jumps To Its Own Defense

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02327/5159230-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="114" height="108"></div>CALGARY&mdash;Had Pittsburgh Penguins based their 1984 National Hockey League draft projections on Memorial Cup performance. Mario Lemieux would be skating for someone else.That year Lemieux, a scoring whiz with the Quebec league Laval Voisins, was tabbed a can&rsquo;t-miss kid for the NHL entry draft.At the 1984 Memorial Cup in Kitchener. Ont., Lemieux was dubbed a can&rsquo;t-play projection in the eyes of numerous critics who watched the so-called sensation stumble his way through three Cup outings.Yes, there was the odd flash from the flying Frenchman but Lemieux was bad. How bad? So bad there was speculation Pittsburgh would deal its first-overall pick to Montreal Canadiens in return for their first-round selection and bonafide starters.The Penguins didn&rsquo;t budge and, as they say, the rest is history.Although much is made of Memorial Cup performance, those in the know will tell you the showcase seldom seals the fate of a hot prospect. That is done during the regular-season grind.With the Western League possessing most of the prize picks for the June draft in Detroit, it&rsquo;s expected as many as a dozen WHL prospects could be snapped up in the first round.&ldquo;I know personally I wouldn&rsquo;t put much credence in it (Memorial Cup),&rdquo; said the Penguins&rsquo; chief Western Canada scout Bruce Haralson. &ldquo;You evaluate the criteria through the year.&ldquo;You base your evaluation on what you see during the season. It&rsquo;s hard to base it on a situation like the Cup. The players are so high and they&rsquo;re playing with so much emotion&mdash;they either play above their heads or below their usual level.&rdquo;Just like Lemieux?&ldquo;You can base some performance on the Cup like how a player rises to a big occasion but with Lemieux, (Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; general manager) Eddie Johnston saw him play 20-25 times during the year. He did the kind of things to prove he wouldn&rsquo;t be a flop.&ldquo;I was there (Kitchener) and I saw him do more in one shift than some players did in a whole game.&rdquo;So that would seem to paint a pretty picture for WHL prospects bound for the Cup, whether they be Portland Winter Hawks or Medicine Hat Tigers, locked in a WHL final that went to a seventh game.The Hawks have center Dave Archibald and defenseman Glen Wesley rated as first-round picks while the Tigers have defensemen Wayne McBean, Dean Chynoweth and Scott McCrady, plus netminder Mark Fitzpatrick rated highly.&ldquo;Their stock is secure no matter where they&rsquo;re rated,&rdquo; said Haralson. &ldquo;They may move up a notch or two if they really stand out in the Cup in Oshawa but I couldn&rsquo;t see them dropping much.&rdquo;Some players have outstanding Memorial Cup performances and then don&rsquo;t deliver as a pro. Portland forward Alfie Turcotte was the MVP of the 1983 Cup and was taken in the first round by the Canadiens. He has struggled ever since.&ldquo;Some teams get totally captivated by the moment,&rdquo; said Haralson.All of which means the regular season is still the best measuring stick. And in the WHL, where players bus as many as 10 hours to a game, the 72-game schedule is a true test of skill and determination.WHL WEEK&mdash;Medicine Hat forced a seventh and deciding game in the league final with a 4-3 win in game six at Portland. Jeff Wenaas&rsquo; goal mid-way through the third period settled the issue. Portland took a 3-2 series lead with a 7-4 win on home ice as Jeff Sharpies paced the win with two goals. Medicine Hat won game four in Portland 7-1 as Guy Phillips scored twice. In the first three games at Medicine Hat, two were decided in overtime. Dale Kushner&rsquo;s goal at 13:44 of overtime in the series opener gave Medicine Hat the early edge but Brian Gerrits&rsquo; overtime tally at 15:23 in game two gave Portland a 3-2 win. Portland then went up 2-1 heading home with a 5-2 win&hellip;Ernie (Punch) McLean resigned as head coach of New Westminster. McLean said he needs to spend more time with mining interests in northern British Columbia. McLean will remain a director with the franchise.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="sidebar">&lsquo;You base your evaluation on what you see during the season. It&rsquo;s hard to base it on a situation like the Cup.&rsquo;&mdash;Haralson &#9632;</div>

f0021-02

Scouts Put Emphasis On Season

<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/f0022-01673/5159261-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="128" height="114"></div>BLOOMINGTON, Minn.&mdash;Few Minnesota North Stars have played for new coach Herb Brooks, but most know enough of his accomplishments to welcome his hiring with optimistic cheer.Brooks, who carved his reputation as coach of the University of Minnesota Gophers, the 1980 U.S. Olympic team and New York Rangers, was recently spirited away from his post at St. Cloud (Minn.) State by North Star general manager Lou Nanne.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m tickled,&rdquo; said center Neal Broten, who played for Brooks with the Gophers and the &lsquo;Miracle on Ice&rsquo; Olympic team. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great move for the North Stars. He&rsquo;s a good coach and he&rsquo;s proven it again and again&hellip;1 can&rsquo;t think of anybody else who is as brilliant as a game planner. I know it was hard to play against the Rangers when he was there.&rdquo;Said right winger Brian Bellows: &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s great. I&rsquo;ve met him a few times and I&rsquo; ve been impressed that he&rsquo;s smart and articulate. I&rsquo;m looking forward to working hard for the man and starting with a clean slate.&ldquo;I think Brooks will do a good job with the talent our team has. Personally, I&rsquo;m anxious to work a lot and have him hone my talents. I don&rsquo;t think my skills and confidence have been improved much in the last few years.&rdquo;Many of his former players said he&rsquo;s a master at unlocking hidden talent. They point to his New York Rangers, who recorded their three best seasons in a decade (92, 80 and 93 points) in Brooks&rsquo; first three seasons there.&ldquo;He gets the most out of everyone,&rdquo; said Broten, &ldquo;the mediocre players, the halfway players, the decent players. He somehow knows how to unlock the best in almost everyone.&rdquo;Boosters point to what Brooks got out of unpredictable center Pierre Larouche during their only full season together (1983-84). Larouche, who gave other coaches ulcers, gave Brooks 48 goals. When asked to rate Brooks among all the coaches he has ever had, Larouche said his former mentor sat &ldquo;at the top of the Christmas tree.&rdquo;Brooks has brought his motivational act to the perfect place, to a team that is supposedly blessed with talent but has had a near impossible time showing it.&ldquo;I often compare that Minnesota team with the Rangers,&rdquo; said former Ranger Dave Maloney, now a New York stockbroker. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re both head cases. You can never quite figure them out. You question their character, but some of those guys are in for. a rude awakening. A guy like Brian Bellows is going to say, &lsquo;My God, what is this?&rsquo;Maloney said Brooks&rsquo; technical knowledge of the game is unquestioned.&ldquo;Nobody doubts his Xs and Os, but it will depend how much he learned in New York about the professional athlete. His intensity? Well, thank God there aren&rsquo;t more Herb Brookses out there, but that&rsquo;s what makes him so good.&ldquo;But over the course from September to April you&rsquo;ve got to let up once in a while. You can&rsquo;t lean on people all the time. There were times when you just wanted to go, &lsquo;Holy cow, Herbie, lighten up.&rsquo; If he has learned to adapt, he&rsquo;ll go great. He professes to be an intelligent man. Now we&rsquo;ll see.&rdquo;STARDUST&mdash;Center Mark Pavelich, who joined the Stars for the final month of the season, signed a contract in late March to play next season for Zurich in the Swiss League. Pavelich, who played for Herb Brooks on the 1980 Olympic team, said he was tempted to stay with the Stars and play for him, but won&rsquo;t try to get out of his contract. He did leave the door open for a return at playoff time next year.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="sidebar">&lsquo;It is a great move for the North Stars. He is a good coach. I can&rsquo;t think of anyone else who is as brilliant a game planner.&rsquo;&mdash;Broten &#9632;</div>

f0022-01

Stars Optimistic About New Mentor Brooks

<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/f0022-02479/5159292-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="112" height="114"></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;When the St. Louis Blues stunned the Detroit Red Wings by swiping the Norris Division crown on the season&rsquo;s final day, coach Jacques Martin danced along the bench like a giddy schoolgirl.By the time they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Toronto Maple Leafs, however, Martin had passed through his National Hockey League coaching adolescence into the sadder-but-wiser world of grown-ups.Martin&rsquo;s rookie regime was a challenging and eventful one, spiced by injuries that cost the already-thin Blues 361 man-games. He succeeded the enormously popular Jacques Demers, an emotional leader, and tried to run the team in his stem but even-handed manner.All in all, he was a low-key success. He endured a trial by fire without getting singed. Many first-year coaches have done worse.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to give the guy a lot of credit,&rdquo; defenseman Rob Ramage said. &ldquo;He put a patchwork team on the ice a lot of nights. He came from the junior leagues, not knowing what to expect from the players, not knowing the teams or the rinks, trying to instill his system with the injuries we incurred.&rdquo;Martin started briskly, skating the Blues through a rugged training camp while using the Stanley Cup-champion Canadiens as his conditioning model. He also employed many of the organizational traits of Philadelphia Flyer coach Mike Keenan, who was one of his mentors in junior hockey.He broke the seasons into segments, setting goals and meeting individually with his players. Martin evaluated his players on a period-to-period basis, relying on assistant coach Doug MacLean and his ever-present computer printouts. His practices were crisp and well-organized, with extra emphasis on the special teams.The Blues quickly discovered that Jacques II was a whole different sort than Jacques I. But Martin established himself as a solid tactician, juggling his battered lines and squeezing the league&rsquo;s fourth-best power play out of a thin offensive talent pool.&ldquo;You have to be yourself,&rdquo; Martin said. &ldquo;You have to use the things that work for you as an individual. You have to do the job your way. Jacques Demers was an excellent coach and the players were used to certain things here. There were certain things I wanted to see, but you don&rsquo;t want to change things too quickly.&ldquo;As you get more familiar with the players, certain individuals, you can be tougher on them. Others, you can&rsquo;t be so aggressive with them. It takes time to develop that. We&rsquo;ve dealt with, what, about 30 individuals? You learn about what makes them tick. People forget, it takes time to build a relationship.&rdquo;Martin&rsquo;s greatest strength may have been his ability to remain calm while the Blues were left too shorthanded to win. Instead of turning on the team and losing its support, Martin nursed it through difficult times with a low-pressure approach.Though the Blues suffered a 40-game mid-season stretch when they won just 12 times, Martin looked back on the campaign with fondness.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a new experience, my first year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think you learn every year. There are quality people here, a lot of class and character. We have the right chemistry on this hockey club. We finished 10th overall in the league. And there is no doubt management is looking to build a club that will eventually be a top-seven team.&rdquo;Martin believes the season&rsquo;s abrupt end could help the Blues reach that goal more quickly.&ldquo;I believe you become better when something like this happens to you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You leam from these things; I really believe that. You become better for it. Look at Calgary, Hartford this year, or Philadelphia last year. These are things that happen.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0022-02

Martin Got Baptism By Fire In First Year As NHL Coach

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02457/5159323-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Esposito, left, with aide Wayne Cashman, is seeking out a coach for the second time during his brief reign as GM.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01652/5159330-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="120" height="119"></div>NEW YORK&mdash;When Phil Esposito played the game, he had a nose for the net. Now, he&rsquo;s hoping his bloodhound qualities can help him sniff out a coach and a few good players.Even though his New York Rangers were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round, the first-year general manager maintained an upbeat attitude.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very optimistic about next year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to improve this team by 15 to 20 per cent. That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m aiming for and hoping for.&rdquo;Esposito doesn&rsquo;t plan any personnel moves until a new coach is signed to replace Tom Webster who, on April 26, was forced to resign because of health problems.&ldquo;There will be some surprises, probably,&rdquo; Esposito speculated, &ldquo;and then there won&rsquo;t be some surprises, maybe. I don&rsquo;t know. Right now, my No. 1 priority is to get a coach.&rdquo;After firing Ted Sator on Nov. 21 and hiring Webster seven days later, Esposito has been overcome by deja vu.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe this is happening to me again,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to make sure I get the right guy. Maybe we&rsquo;ll have them (coaching candidates) take physicals.&rdquo;Although Esposito would not confirm the list, at least seven men were reported to be under consideration, including Moncton coach Terry Crisp, Oshawa coach Paul Theriault, Muskegon coach Rick Ley, University of North Dakota coach Gino Gasparini and New Haven coach Robbie Ftorek.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know where people are getting these names,&rdquo; Esposito said, &ldquo;because I just made up my first list this morning (Apr. 30).&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t any leading candidate right now. I haven&rsquo;t talked to anybody yet, but I will be. It&rsquo;s not like it will be a rush job this time.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to have somebody by the June draft but that&rsquo;s not absolutely necessary,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to investigate and interview and talk to people all over the place.&ldquo;I still wish Tom could do it. I think he would have been perfect, but that&rsquo;s in the past now.&rdquo;Webster&rsquo;s continuing inner ear problems forced him to step aside.Esposito&rsquo;s search for new players took him to the World Championships in Vienna, where he was pleased by the play of 1986 first-round draft choice Brian Leetch but disappointed by the absence of 1985 first-round choice Ulf Dahlen.&ldquo;Dahlen was supposed to play but he didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Esposito said, &ldquo;and I can only guess why. Neither the GM nor the coach of the Swedish team would even talk to me. It was ridiculous; Tomas Sandstrom was laughing like crazy.&rdquo;Although Esposito said before he left for Vienna that he was &ldquo;very anxious&rdquo; to watch Dahlen play for the first time, it is unlikely that Swedish officials were trying to dissuade the Ranger GM from trying to sign the big center by &ldquo;hiding&rdquo; him.A source in Sweden, in fact, suggested that Dahlen was disturbed enough by the national team&rsquo;s actions that he may forego the 1988 Olympics in order to sign with the Rangers for the 1987-88 season, a year earlier than he had originally planned.</div><div style="clear: both;"> &#9632;</div>

f0024-02

20 Per-Cent Improvement Esposito’s Goal

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03310/5159361-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="385" height="469"><figcaption class="caption-body">Barry Meisel</figcaption></div>FOR TWO SEASONS, or ever since he became one of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s best young goalies, Kelly Hrudey has had to accept anonymity.Circumstances have forced that upon him. Grant Fuhr won the second of two Stanley Cups in the town where Hrudey was bom and grew up. John Vanbiesbrouck won the Vezina Trophy and carried the New York Rangers, who got more of New York&rsquo;s attention last year than even the Islanders during their four-year Stanley Cup run. Patrick Roy and Mike Vernon took their teams to the finals.Hrudey was mentioned about as often as the first letter of his last name was pronounced. ROO-dee was the other guy in an Islander uniform and pads, the guy who played goal when Billy Smith got the night off. ROO-dee was that stand-up fellow with the friendly face.And then he made 73 saves in the seventh game of the Patrick Division semi-finals at Washington. He stopped his first shot at 7:40 p.m. on Saturday, April 18 and his last at 1:55 a.m. on Sunday, April 19.The Easter Epic, it was called. Pat LaFontaine scored 128:47 after the game began, at 8:47 of the fourth overtime period in the fifth-longest game in Stanley Cup history. Suddenly everyone knew how good Hrudey was.It was about time.ESPN televised the game from Capital Centre, so this cabled continent was able to see Hrudey stop 51 straight shots over a span of 90:02. The hockey public watched what Islander observers have seen since 1984&mdash;the heady, steady, textbook style; the coolness; the intelligence.They were told that Hrudey carried the underdog Islanders on his shoulders, that he was the reason they rallied from a 3-1 deficit. And suddenly people had a new name to discuss.Never mind that Hrudey is one of the nicest guys in the game. Forget that he is a devoted family man who considers his 13-month-old daughter, Jessica Meredith, the most important part of his life and places his wife of nearly three years, Donna, a very, very close second.And if you want to ignore the fact that Hrudey is very active in charity work on Long Island, go ahead.But do not for one more minute deny this 26-year-old four-year NHL veteran his due. There aren&rsquo;t many better in a crease.Fuhr, yes. Vanbiesbrouck, maybe. Mike Liut, perhaps. Vernon and Roy, No. Ron Hextall, Daniel Be thiaume, Bob Mason, let&rsquo;s see them do it again.Hrudey&rsquo;s too honest to deny that he considers himself &ldquo;in the top few,&rdquo; but he&rsquo;s too polite to name names.And he hasn&rsquo;t been overlooked by his bosses, who last season made him the first Islander goalie not named Billy Smith to start a playoff series since 1978.Before this season began, GM Bill Torrey rewarded Hrudey with a three-year contract believed to be worth $650,000. So let&rsquo;s not cry too hard for the man.He is this team&rsquo;s leader, its diplomat, its spokesman. He does not lie, does not cry, does not deny. The Islanders stunk a lot of this season and he said so. When they knocked off the Caps, he reminded the media and the fans that &ldquo;everyone wrote us off.&rdquo; But he was smiling as he did so. He&rsquo;s a genuinely happy person.But $200Gs-and-change per year doesn&rsquo;t erase the need for respect, for recognition beyond Nassau County. Hrudey wants badly to be the man, but doesn&rsquo;t know if he&rsquo;ll escape the shadow of the best money goalie in hockey history.&ldquo;As long as Billy Smith is here, I&rsquo;m never going to be thought of in that respect,&rdquo; Hrudey said. &ldquo;Every time we go into an opposing building it&rsquo;s: &lsquo;Aw, they&rsquo;re playing Hrudey instead of Smith.&rsquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve done interviews on the road this season, where people say: &lsquo;You&rsquo;re trying to win the No. 1 job from Billy. How&rsquo;s it going?&rsquo; I&rsquo;ve come to expect it. I&rsquo;m not about to go out and demand respect. You have to earn it.&rdquo;It took 73 saves for hockey to see that Hrudey has earned it. He is the Islanders&rsquo; No. 1 goalie, has been for two seasons. He is one of the NHL&rsquo;s steadiest and most talented goalies, has been for two seasons.On Easter Sunday, Hrudey got what he long ago deserved. &#9632;

f0024-03

Islanders’ Good-Guy Goalie Finally Gets Deserved Credit

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04192/5159392-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="157" height="89"></div>LANDOVER, Md.&mdash;Although Bryan Murray has compiled a remarkable 246-160-60 record in his six seasons as coach of the Washington Capitals, there is reason to wonder about his future with the club.That reason was provided by owner Abe Pollin, who had given Murray a ringing endorsement when the team was struggling early in the year. After yet one more playoff elimination by the New York Islanders, Pollin could think of nothing positive to say.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve learned that when I&rsquo;m in a state of depression, it&rsquo;s best to say nothing and I&rsquo;m still in a state of depression,&rdquo; Pollin said a week after the Capitals&rsquo; season ended abruptly.With his basketball Bullets one game from elimination, following a 128-85 loss to the Detroit Pistons, Pollin hardly figured to be in a better mood about his pro sports teams. The Capitals&rsquo; inability to reach the divisional final probably cost him close to $1 million.Except for the man whose decision is the only one that counts, Murray was backed solidly by the Capitals&rsquo; brass. Both team president Dick Patrick and general manager David Poile supported Murray without reservation.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m satisfied with our coaching,&rdquo; Patrick said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little surprised about the questions everybody&rsquo;s asking and the papers speculating about it. When I weigh our assets and non-assets, I think Bryan Murray is one of our assets.&ldquo;I think back to the series&mdash;and what could have been done differently&mdash;and I can&rsquo;t find fault. The matchups were good, what we wanted. We just weren&rsquo;t capable of putting the puck in the net frequently enough. That&rsquo;s not an easy problem to solve.&rdquo;Poile said he did not plan any coaching changes and, after watching a replay of the four-overtime loss to the Islanders in the seventh game, expressed renewed amazement that the Capitals had lost.&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t believe that we didn&rsquo;t win that game,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;For three-and-a-half periods, that was our game. We had so many good chances and they had so few, it was just hard to accept. It was just an incredible game, everything you could want or ask for in a hockey game, except the bad guy (Pat LaFontaine) scored the winning goal.&ldquo;As far as I&rsquo;m concerned, I&rsquo;m satisfied that the coaching of the Washington Capitals is not the problem for us not beating the Islanders. I feel more positive about our organization today than I did a year ago, when we lost to the New York Rangers. I feel good about our team, the way we played and the spirit we had.&rdquo;Murray, meanwhile, said he expected to fulfill his contract, which runs through the 1987-88 season.&ldquo;David and I have talked during the year and there has been nothing except that we&rsquo;d be going on as the norm,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;Of course, I&rsquo;m sure situations change.&rdquo;CAPSULES&mdash;Defenseman Greg Smith&rsquo;s broken kneecap was healing properly with a brace, so he was spared eight weeks in a cast&hellip;Center Alan Haworth&rsquo;s right knee was checked and found to be sound. He will need to do considerable work to build up the muscles around the knee, but no further surgery is necessary&hellip;General manager David Poile was inducted into the Northeastern University Hall of Fame on May 1. Poile, a graduate of the class of &rsquo;71, recorded 11 hat tricks and 82 goals in three varsity seasons with the Huskies&hellip;Assistant coach Ron Lapointe was granted permission to meet with Pittsburgh officials to discuss the Penguins&rsquo; head coaching vacancy. &#9632;

f0024-04

Only Owner Pollin Hasn’t Given Okay

<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/f0025-01570/5159423-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="128" height="118"></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;The Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; legacy of their first 20 years in the National Hockey League is one of defeat, compounded by despair and disappointment.But Terry Crisp contends the franchise&rsquo;s promise finally is about to overtake its problems.If so, there is a good chance Crisp&mdash;the first man interviewed by Penguins&rsquo; vice-president Paul Martha and general manager Eddie Johnston as a possible replacement for fired coach Bob Berry&mdash;will be on hand to witness the Penguins&rsquo; prosperity.He is, according to all available evidence, the Penguins&rsquo; top choice to succeed Berry.What&rsquo;s more, he seems genuinely intrigued, even inspired, by the idea.&ldquo;I told Mr. Martha and E.J. (Johnston) I had talked to various hockey people about their situation here, about their team, and had nothing but good vibes from all those people,&rdquo; Crisp said.&ldquo;The hockey men I talked to said they like what they see on the horizon for them, so whether it&rsquo;s me or any other coach coming in here, that&rsquo;s a plus sign for them.&ldquo;From what I hear about the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; organization. I like it.&rdquo;And the Penguins, it appears, would love to have Crisp make his NHL coaching debut at the Civic Arena.The only problem is, several other NHL teams&mdash;including Chicago&mdash;are expected to interview Crisp for coaching jobs.&ldquo;I gave (Martha and Johnston) my word I was going to talk to a couple of other teams,&rdquo; Crisp said. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m going to stick to my word.&rdquo;Even so, Crisp professes to believe his bargaining position is not particularly enhanced by having options.&ldquo;The only time you have leverage is if you win a Stanley Cup,&rdquo; Crisp said. &lsquo;&lsquo;If you&rsquo;re any other coach, you&rsquo;re just another coach out there.&rdquo;Crisp&rsquo;s only serious competition for the job is coming from Washington Capitals&rsquo; assistant Ron Lapointe, but early indications are the job will be Crisp&rsquo;s if he wants it.Still, the Penguins planned to interview a plethora of candidates&mdash;Lapointe prominent among them&mdash;in the days following Crisp&rsquo;s visit.&ldquo;If I get an interview, it will be a step forward,&rdquo; Lapointe said. &ldquo;It would be good for personal pride, too, because every assistant in the NHL wants to be a head coach.&rdquo;Lapointe would seem to have a decided edge over Crisp in one area&mdash;a working knowledge of the Penguins, who play in the Patrick Division with the Capitals.Although Crisp obviously has researched the Penguins&rsquo; personnel&mdash;&ldquo;He did his homework,&rdquo; Johnston said&mdash;Lapointe has an understanding bom of seeing Pittsburgh play on a regular basis during his two seasons with the Caps.&ldquo;I know the Penguins well, know the whole division well,&rdquo; Lapointe said. &ldquo;The last four or five weeks of the regular season, I did all our playoff preparation, scouted all the teams we might see in the playoffs, including Pittsburgh.&rdquo;At least some of his efforts were in vain, of course, since the Penguins missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year.Which is why the job came to be open in the first place.NOTES&mdash;Eddie Johnston returned from the World Championships in Vienna with glowing reports on defensemen Zarley Zalapski&mdash;whom Terry Crisp called &ldquo;one of the great young defensemen&rdquo;&mdash;and Doug Bodger, both of whom played for Team Canada&hellip;Paul Martha said the Penguins hope to decide on a $2, across-the-board increase in ticket prices and the site of their primary minor-league affiliate by mid-May.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="sidebar">&lsquo;The hockey men I talked to said they like what they see on the horizon for (the Penguins)&hellip;that&rsquo;s a plus sign for them.&rsquo;&mdash;Crisp &#9632;</div>

f0025-01

Crisp First In Line For Pittsburgh Opening

<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/f0026-01601/5159454-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="121" height="113"></div>CHICAGO&mdash;The lineup keeps on growing for the Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; head coaching job.Hawks&rsquo; president William Wirtz said he has a list of 11 candidates, and general manager Bob Pulford said he is widening the field, not narrowing it.Pulford himself is not a candidate. Next year, he will abandon his coach&rsquo;s role and operate in strictly a general manager&rsquo;s capacity.Speculation has centered on two possibilities for the job: Gino Gasparini, coach of the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux; and Bob Murdoch, assistant coach of the Calgary Flames.Gasparini, 40, won his third National Collegiate Athletic Association championship in nine years with the Sioux, beating Michigan State in the final game. He has a lifetime 257-11111 record, and the 40 wins by his team this season were the most by a team in college hockey history.Gasparini has sent several quality players to the NHL, including Hawk center Troy Murray and New York Ranger defenseman James Patrick. When Murray won the Selke Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s top defensive forward in 1985-86, he gave much of the credit to Gasparini&rsquo;s coaching and his emphasis on the defensive part of the game.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">Gino Gasparini&rsquo;s Fighting Sioux were tops this year.</blockquote>Gasparini, also the athletic director at North Dakota, made no pretense of playing hard-to-get.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m no different than anybody in any other profession,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If they&rsquo;re willing to sit down and talk, I&rsquo;m willing to sit down and talk.&rdquo;Gasparini did deny a TV report in Grand Forks, N.D., that he had already been offered the job with the Hawks., &ldquo;Bob Pulford and I have talked,&rdquo; Gasparini said from a coaches&rsquo; convention in Florida. &ldquo;We agreed we would talk again about the job. That&rsquo;s all.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t make a decision until I&rsquo;m forced to, and I&rsquo;m not in that situation. Nothing has been offered.&rdquo;Murdoch, 40, has worked for Pulford before. After playing on two Stanley Cup winners in Montreal, he was a mainstay on defense for four of Pulford&rsquo;s five seasons as coach of the Los Angeles Kings (1972-77).&ldquo;I always respected Bob Pulford as acoach,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &ldquo;I thought at the time he was the best coach I ever played for.&rdquo;Pulford had discussed the possibility of Murdoch joining the Hawks&rsquo; organization a few years ago, but Murdoch termed the talks &ldquo;very superficial&rdquo; and nothing came of them.Murdoch said he feels he is ready to take on the responsibility of coaching after five years as assistant under Bob Johnson. He called Pulford and Johnson &ldquo;the two greatest influences in my hockey career.&rdquo;Murdoch said it would take the right situation to make him leave Calgary for a head coaching job. But the Hawks seemed to satisfy his criteria.&ldquo;The one thing about Chicago is that they have some good talent,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They have talent, great fans, a lot of support, and that&rsquo;s a plus right away.&ldquo;Their ownership and their finances are very strong. The management is stable. They&rsquo;ve had some difficulties with coaching, but they do have good talent.&rdquo;HAWK TALK&mdash;The Hawks apparently would like captain Darryl Sutter to choose between three positions for next season: assistant coach in Chicago, head coach of their new minor-league affiliate in the International League, or a scouting job. Sutter might still want to play&hellip;Bob Pulford&rsquo;s second priority is obtaining a goaltender. &ldquo;We have to look very seriously in the draft,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We also have to look seriously around the league, too. Maybe you can improve your goaltending, but you&rsquo;re not going to get a real top goaltender.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0026-01

Gasparini, Murdoch Top Coach Candidates

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02417/5159485-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="115" height="113"></div>BUFFALO&mdash;Whether the Buffalo Sabres will do the expected, and pick Pierre Turgeon No. 1 overall in the National Hockey League entry draft, is anybody&rsquo;s guess.An awfully good guess, mind you, but still a guess.Sabre general manager Gerry Meehan called in his scouts and asked for their final evaluations. What comes from that meeting may never be made public, but rest assured the Sabres will know everything there is to know about Pierre Turgeon.&ldquo;We are aware of his capabilities,&rdquo; Meehan said prior to the meeting. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve looked at him all season, but we&rsquo;ve looked at others, too&mdash;and the purpose of this meeting is to complete the evaluation process.&rdquo;Meehan acknowledged there is a public perception&mdash;and especially in the media&mdash;that Turgeon, the slick center from Granby of the Quebec League, is the No. 1 talent available in the entry draft.The Sabres will discuss team needs, the quality of talent available, and how that talent could best suit the Sabres&rsquo; needs. The club still has not ruled out the possibility of trading the pick.The Sabres&rsquo; needs are fairly obvious. The team lacks scoring, especially on the wings. There is also still a cry to upgrade the defense, especially in the area of size and speed. Experience could also figure, if the pick is traded.Though he is a natural center, a position where the Sabres show some strength, they could surely find room for a player with Turgeon&rsquo;s credentials.A trade, though certainly possible, would appear unlikely. The Sabres have not chosen a player first overall since the club was formed in 1970. That was when Gilbert Perreault, another Quebec player of some repute, was available in the draft.The significance of Perreault to the then-fledgling expansion franchise and professional hockey in Buffalo cannot be underestimated, especially by the Sabres.Whether Turgeon is indeed a franchise player in the Perreault-Mario Lemieux-Wayne Gretzky mold is open to debate.In just 58 games this season, Turgeon scored 69 goals and 85 assists. His skating, passing and shooting skills are clearly superior to the rest of the available players. He also possesses extraordinary hockey sense. Supporters insist that he is like a chessmaster whose board is the rink.&ldquo;Every hockey player shows a weakness or two,&rdquo; Edmonton Oiler player personnel director Barry Fraser said. &ldquo;They haven&rsquo;t produced a perfect one yet. Still, Pierre Turgeon does a lot of things well and is clearly the No. 1 talent available in this draft. The only question about him is his age.You can see everything he has to offer on the ice, but you can&rsquo;t get inside his or any other 17-year-old&rsquo;s head.&rdquo;And that is the big question concerning Turgeon. Will the boy-man of 17 be the player everyone expects him to be at 20, 21 or 22? His critics question his intensity and his ability to give and take NHL hits. In many ways, they compare him to Lemieux at a similar stage of development. But while Lemieux has gone on to prove himself in the NHL, they still wonder about Turgeon.So, too, do Meehan and the Sabres.SABREPOINTS&mdash;Defenseman Tom Kurvers was one of the shining lights for an otherwise dismal Team USA at the World Championships in Vienna. Kurvers was a consistent goalscorer for coach Dave Peterson&rsquo;s team despite a leg injury that hobbled him in the final days of the Sabres&rsquo; regular season&hellip;Sabre head coach Ted Sator took in some of the tournament, and likely took a long look at Team Finland defenseman Hannu Virta. Virta spent all of the past season in Europe, but is still Sabre property. &#9632;</div>

f0026-02

Turgeon, Or Not Turgeon? That’s The Sabre Question

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01566/5159516-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="166" height="114"></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Negotiating with a head coach, or a prospective head coach, has become an annual postseason ritual for the Los Angeles Kings.In 20 National Hockey League seasons, the Kings have gone through 14 head coaches, six in the past six years.Continuity behind the bench has not been this team&rsquo;s strong suit, a fact of the franchise&rsquo;s life that has contributed to its 20-year record of 592-742-244.The Kings have won more games than they&rsquo;ve lost only five times, just twice in the last 10 seasons.Only two coaches, Bob Pulford and Bob Berry, have lasted as long as three seasons.In 1987-88, the Kings will begin a season with a coach other than the one they started the previous season with for the ninth time.Mike Murphy, 35, figures to be that man when camp opens in September, but he still hadn&rsquo;t signed a new contract two weeks after the Kings were eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.&ldquo;Rogie and myself have made verbal commitments,&rdquo; Murphy said of his talks with general manager Rogie Vachon. &ldquo;I have a great deal of trust in him, and I&rsquo;ll stand by my word. We&rsquo;ve talked enough that we both know the situation.&rdquo;When asked what he meant by &ldquo;his word,&rdquo; Murphy said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll coach this team next year.&rdquo;He sounded confident an agreement would be reached before the entry draft in June.Murphy, whose old contract is about to expire, was offered a one-year deal.&ldquo;I understand Rogie&rsquo;s point of view,&rdquo; said Murphy, referring to his status as an untested coach.Salary, according to Vachon, was the stumbling block.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re further apart than I expected. There&rsquo;s quite a difference in dollars,&rdquo; Vachon said.It seemed likely Murphy would be willing to accept fewer dollars for a longer contract, but would want more money for the relative insecurity of a one-year deal.The Kings would do well to keep Murphy, who took over as coach on Jan. 9 when Pat Quinn was expelled from the league for signing a futures contract to become president and general manager of the Vancouver Canucks.Murphy posted a 13-21-4 record over the final 38 regular-season games, has the respect of his players and had them well-prepared for Edmonton, which was forced to play exceptional hockey in knocking out the Kings in five playoff games.Another plus for Murphy is the fact he&rsquo;s been in the organization since 1973. He spent lOofhis 12NHL playing seasons as a King, including six years as team captain, and is as familiar with the problems of playing in Southern California as anyone.After retiring before the 1983-84 season, Murphy was named special assistant to then-GM George Maguire. He became an assistant coach later that season when Roger Neilson replaced Don Perry behind the bench.ROYALTIES&mdash;Assistant coach Phil Myre&rsquo;s contract was to expire as well, but the Kings indicated they wanted him back, 100&hellip;GM Rogie Vachon wants to hire a second assistant once an agreement with Mike Murphy is reached&hellip;Left winger Luc Robitaille, entering the option year of his contract, will get a new one. The timing couldn&rsquo;t be better for Robitaille, who led the Kings in goals (45) and points (84) as a rookie. &#9632;

f0027-01

Murphy Will Be Back, But Pact Not Signed

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02364/5159547-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="555" height="603"><figcaption class="caption-body">Coach Tom Watt is rumored headed for the team&rsquo;s assistant general manager&rsquo;s job.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03236/5159554-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="104" height="109"></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;The hockey club that hasn&rsquo;t known a.500 season in 11 years has put its ticket prices up about 20 per cent.The Vancouver Canucks are trying to cut their huge losses of the past years, including a shortfall of close to $2 million this past season. Even though those losses were cut significantly by the sale of its private jet. the team has once again found itself in the position of having to test its. long-suffering fans.It&rsquo;s said the prices are going up to pay the fines and legal cost associated with the Pat Quinn affair. Quinn&rsquo;s salary, which starts at $200,000 (U.S.), could also be a factor.The top-priced seats are going from $ 15 to $ 18.50 on a season-ticket basis, but anyone planning to come to the games on a casual basis will have to dig deeper, since the walk-on price has been boosted from $18 to $24.And while season-ticket holders in the cheap seats can still see a game for $5, their walk-on counterparts will have to shell out $ 11 instead of $8. The club has managed to forestall increases over the last three seasons even though expenses have risen, but that doesn&rsquo;t make the pill much sweeter.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>The club has made an effort, however, to be sensitive to its subscribers.&ldquo;The one consistent complaint we&rsquo;ve had from our season-ticket holders,&rdquo; said marketing vice-president Glen Ringdahl, &ldquo;is that they don&rsquo;t like paying for exhibition games. This year, we have (in the season-ticket package) two exhibitions in the building, but only because of prior commitments.&ldquo;Next year (1988-89), we won&rsquo;t have any. We will play all of our exhibitions in other cities. We have looked extensively at the Sea-Tac Dome (in Seattle-Tacoma. Wash.).&rdquo;But team officials showed less sensitivity about the quality of the on-ice product. They launched into an extended discussion of how tickets were priced in other cities like Calgary and New York, without bothering to compare team records.Whether the Canucks reached the absolute hard-rock fan support at the 6,100 season tickets sold last season remains to be seen. But it seems likely there will be more slippage, despite the team&rsquo;s decent second half.The family of team chairman Frank Griffiths, meanwhile, has already rolled out the red carpet for Quinn. As part of his contract, the new president-GM insisted the team buy a house and lease ito him for $900 a month.The house won&rsquo;t be ready until early fall, so Quinn was moved into an apartment recently occupied by the Griffiths.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve just vacated to let Pat and (wife) Sandra in, in the west end,&rdquo; Griffiths said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s &lsquo;bought&rsquo; a place on the north shore, and we wanted to leave him a place here for the summer months until his place is ready for occupation.&rdquo;VAN LINES&mdash;Tom Watt, who headed off to Europe with Team Canada, will probably not be back as coach. Pat Quinn will not comment on team matters until he officially becomes a team employee on June 1, but rumors have Rick Ley (coach of the International League&rsquo;s Muskegon Lumberjacks) or Terry Crisp (coach of the American League&rsquo;s Moncton Golden Flames) in line for the Canucks&rsquo; bench job. Watt, it is presumed, will be kicked upstairs to the post of assistant general manager. Assistant coach Jack Mcllhargey has another year left on his contract and it seems certain he&rsquo;ll be around again. His relationship with Quinn is said to be quite good. &#9632;

f0027-02

Are Fans Footing Bills For Quinn?

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02401/5159616-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The success of the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; Daniel Berthiaume, above, has raised hopes for Sherbrooke Canadien star goalie, Vincent Riendeau.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01572/5159623-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="123" height="121"></div>SHERBROOKE, Que.&mdash;Vincent Riendeau&rsquo;s on-again, off-again career is on again, in a big way.Two years after he considered putting his equipment in the closet and concentrating on his studies at the University of Sherbrooke, Riendeau has emerged as one of the best goaltenders in the American League, and a solid prospect in the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; organization.Riendeau, 21, finished his rookie season with the Sherbrooke Canadiens ranked third in the league, with a 2.89 goals-against average in 41 games. He compiled a 26-14-1 record and won his last nine starts. The magic continued in the playoffs&mdash;a 5-1 record and a 2.63 GAA in six appearances.However, if it hadn&rsquo;t been for the perseverance of Sherbrooke goaltending coach Francois Allaire and head coach Pierre Creamer, Riendeau probably would be completing his third year in the business curriculum.Riendeau quit major junior hockey in 1984 after his rookie season in Verdun. He played for the university team, but found he was losing interest in the sport.&lsquo;&lsquo;That summer,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I thought about quitting hockey, just living a normal life like everybody and going to school. But I had a last chance to try and it worked out for me.&rdquo;As fate would have it, Creamer and Allaire, Riendeau&rsquo;s coaches at Verdun, landed in Sherbrooke in 1984 with Montreal&rsquo;s new AHL team. They saw Riendeau play for the university and occasionally asked him to work at their practices when they were short of goaltenders.&ldquo;I was watching him and he was even better than the year before in junior,&rdquo; Allaire said. &ldquo;I talked to Andre Boudrias (Montreal&rsquo;s director of scouting) and said, &lsquo;Maybe that guy deserves a tryout for the next training camp.&rsquo;&rdquo;Riendeau accepted the offer, turned in an impressive performance and signed a contract. Since he still had junior eligibility remaining, Riendeau played the 1985-86 season with his hometown Drummondville Voltigeurs. He finished second in the league with a 3.87 goals-against average and was named to the second allstar team.Sherbrooke opened the season with rookies Daniel Berthiaume and Riendeau, both junior stars in Quebec, on its roster. Berthiaume moved up to the Winnipeg Jets after seven AHL games. Riendeau remained, played regularly and turned in some solid numbers for the Northern Division champions. He was recalled twice to Montreal but did not play in any games.&ldquo;I wanted to be in the top five and have a good season,&rdquo; Riendeau said, &ldquo;so Montreal wouldn&rsquo;t be scared to call me up.&rdquo;Riendeau has developed into a confident stand-up goaltender.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m less nervous now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I take the game in the opposite way that I was taking it before. I was always nervous and asking myself if I played good. Now, I just Jet myself go. I know that I can stop the puck and I know that they are going to score some goals against me. I just have to accept that.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>&ldquo;Francois Allaire really taught me that&mdash;because the higher you are getting, the more pressure you&rsquo;ve got. I couldn&rsquo;t take it anymore. I was too nervous.&rdquo;Riendeau said he believes he can challenge for a job in Montreal&rsquo;during training camp, but with Patrick Roy and Brian Hayward in place, making the team won&rsquo;t be easy.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re having a great year. I&rsquo;m sure I&rsquo;m ready to make the league, but they have two good goalies and I don&rsquo;t know what is going to happen.&rdquo;Allaire said Riendeau has the ability to move up.&ldquo;If Daniel Berthiaume can play so well in the NHL, I think Vincent can too,&rdquo; Allaire said. &ldquo;Last year, they were two of the top goalies in major junior. They were here at the beginning of the season and they were pretty close.&rdquo;AROUND THE DIVISION&mdash;Sherbrooke took the first two games of their series with Adirondack, 3-1, and 5-4 in double overtime. The Red Wings came back to win the third game 3-2, after trailing 2-0 in the first two minutes of the first period&hellip;Long-time Maine Mariners&rsquo; president Ed Anderson announced that his group, the Maine Hockey Partners, has purchased the inactive AHL franchise owned by the Winnipeg Jets. Anderson is expected to run a Boston Bruins&rsquo; affiliate team in Portland, Maine. The Mariners&rsquo; previous NHL parent, the New Jersey Devils, will operate their AHL team in Utica, N.Y., next season&hellip;Winnipeg confirmed that it will have its player development team in Moncton next season. &#9632;

f0028-02

Ex-Scholar Enrols At School Of Hard Pucks

<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/f0029-01493/5159654-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="122" height="116"></div>ROCHESTER, N.Y.&mdash;Ray Sheppard learned his lesson this season, but not before spending some time alone in the comer.For the first half of this season, Sheppard was rarely used by Rochester coach John Van Boxmeer. Is that any way to treat a right winger who scored 81 goals the previous season with Cornwall of the Ontario League?&ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t deserve to play,&rdquo; Van Boxmeer said. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t come to training camp in the best of shape and it was an uphill battle for him. He just got off on the wrong foot.&rdquo;Sheppard had to learn about pro hockey. As he quickly discovered, it wasn&rsquo;t going to be as easy as it was in the OHL, where he scored 150 goals in three seasons with the Royals.When Sheppard did play, he rarely scored. And since his defensive skills were not up to pro standards, he did little to help his chances of becoming a regular in the Amerks&rsquo; lineup.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not the first or last guy to have success in junior hockey and expect it to carry over just like that,&rdquo; Van Boxmeer said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the same in pro hockey. Guys here are trying to make a living. This is their livelihood. They&rsquo;re not going to let him waltz around in their end of the ice.&ldquo;He was used to what it was like in junior hockey. He was a onedimensional hockey player from the blue line in. As far as forechecking and backchecking and playing in his own end, that&rsquo;s something he never worked hard at.&rdquo;But it was something he had to learn if he wanted to play in the National Hockey League one day. But first, and more importantly, he had to work his way back into an American League lineup.The defensive problems are expected from most high-scoring players just out of junior hockey, but Sheppard was also having problems scoring goals, formerly his specialty.Before his two-goal game at Springfield on Feb. 14, Sheppard had just five goals. The performance against the Indians seemed to restore his confidence. The next afternoon at New Haven, he added two more against the Nighthawks.&ldquo;I started to shoot the puck a lot faster,&rdquo; Sheppard said. &ldquo;I was getting it and shooting it quicker. I wasn&rsquo;t looking for the pass and I think I caught a lot of goalies napping.&rdquo;Sheppard listened to everything he was told after his poor start. He worked hard at improving and was a regular contributor by season&rsquo;s end, finishing with 18 goals, including his pro hat trick against Baltimore in late March&mdash;just two days after getting married.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s come a long way this season, &ldquo;Van Boxmeer said.&rdquo; He&rsquo;s come from being a write-off in training camp to someone who can contribute to the organization. I think he realizes that before, he just didn&rsquo;t know what it was like to be a pro.&rdquo;Sheppard has continued his success in the playoffs, scoring seven goals in 10 games as the Amerks came within one win of eliminating Binghamton and advancing to the finals for the first time since 1983-84.&ldquo;The first half of the season in Rochester there were quite a few hecklers on my back about not putting the puck in the net,&rdquo; Sheppard said. &ldquo;They said I didn&rsquo;t belong in the AHL and that they should send me to Flint (of the International League).&ldquo;Since I started scoring, those people have changed. Now they&rsquo;re behind me. I think I&rsquo;ve proved something to them and to the people in the organization.&rdquo;AROUND THE SOUTH&mdash;New Haven reached its quota of selling 1,300 season tickets and will have an AHL team next season. The Los Angeles Kings, who own the New Haven team, threatened in late March to suspend the franchise if 1,300 weren&rsquo;t sold by May 1. New Haven reached the limit with two days to spare. &#9632;</div>

f0029-01

The Minors

Sheppard Turns It On After A Slow Start

<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/f0029-02339/5159685-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="99" height="109"></div>SALT LAKE CITY&mdash;Chris Brant&rsquo;s leg was broken earlier this season. Not his spirit.The 21-year-old Golden Eagle left winger, never known as much of a scorer, had four goals and seven points in 10 games when he was sidelined with a fractured fibula.He had skated with the injury, not realizing the extent of the damage. But when the pain started interfering with his sleep, he decided to have it checked out.The crack in the bone was discovered and he spent six weeks waiting for the leg to heal.When he returned to the lineup, he started scoring as never before. He averaged close to a point a game, finishing with 27 goals and 66 points in 67 games&mdash;better numbers than he&rsquo;d ever posted in any season, junior or pro.The Belleville, Ont., native picked up his scoring pace even more in the first round of Turner Cup playoffs. He scored seven goals (tied for the league lead with Saginaw&rsquo;s Darin Sceviour) and 10 points as Salt Lake advanced to the West Division finals against Fort Wayne by eliminating Milwaukee 4-2 in the best-of-seven series.Meanwhile, Saginaw and Muskegon faced off for the East Division crown.&ldquo;Chris has come a long way this season,&rdquo; Golden Eagle coach Wayne Thomas said, as his squad prepared to battle Fort Wayne for the division title.After two Ontario League seasons with Kingston and two with Sault Ste. Marie, Brant accomplished little (9-716 in 78 games) in his first pro year, split between Binghamton (American League) and Salt Lake.&ldquo;I was a rookie, of course, and I was given a chance that I didn&rsquo;t take full advantage of,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just didn&rsquo;t know how to go about it, I guess. This year I got a chance from day one and it&rsquo;s turning out-better.&ldquo;Things just came around this season. I&rsquo;ve been teamed with (Mike) Rucinski and (Todd) Hooey since the middle of the year and those guys really have helped me out.&rdquo;Though the line enjoyed offensive success in the opening series&mdash;Rucinski topped all scorers at 5-8-13, while Hooey counted 4-6-10&mdash;Brant anticipated no scoring sprees against Fort Wayne.I-LITES&mdash;1HL coaches voted Jock Callander of Muskegon and Jeff Pyle of Saginaw as co-winners of the Gats-chene Trophy as league MVP. Both also tied for the Lamoureux Trophy as leading scorer, while center Ron Handy of Indianapolis finished third in the competition for both awards&hellip;Jim Burton of Fort Wayne was voted the Governor&rsquo;s Trophy as the league&rsquo;s top defenseman for the second straight season&hellip;Commissioner Bud Poile said there probably will be 10 teams in the IHL next season. The 10th team, to be known as the Colorado Rangers, will be set up in Denver by the New York Rangers. It&rsquo;s expected that franchise owners and the city will reach agreement on renovation costs of the Denver Coliseum-&hellip;Poile also said Toledo owner Virgil Gladieux has been talking with local businessman Bill Cook about the possibility of reviving that city&rsquo;s nowdormant franchise. &#9632;</div>

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Brant Enioving Best Year Or Career

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01565/5159716-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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The Hockey News NHL PLAYOFF REPORT

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01540/5159747-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY PAUL WOODS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02433/5159778-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Calgary Flames will have to make room on the roster for rookie center Joe Nieuwendyk.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01554/5159785-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="130" height="121"></div>CALGARY&mdash;The hockey season ended about six weeks earlier than the Calgary Flames had hoped, but there were a couple of bright spots in their disappointing playoff showing against the Winnipeg Jets.&ldquo;The playoffs showed us that Brett Hull and Joe Nieuwendyk can play,&rdquo; said Flames&rsquo;coach Bob Johnson. &ldquo;We have to make room for those guys.&rdquo;Late-season additions Hull and Nieuwendyk&mdash;along with forward Mike Bullard and goaltender Mike Vernon&mdash;were Calgary&rsquo;s best players in the six-game, first-round National Hockey League series.Hull, the son of former Chicago Blackhawk great Bobby Hull, spent almost the entire season in the American League, where he scored 50 goals and set a league record by tallying in 14 consecutive games.He was not recalled until the night before game three of the Winnipeg-Calgary series, when an injury to defenseman Al Maclnnis left the Flames desperate for firepower.In four playoff games, Hull scored two goals and an assist. He also fired 18 shots at Jets&rsquo; goalie Daniel Berthiaume, most of them dangerous.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if the old man (Bobby Hull) shot the puck that hard because I never played against him,&rdquo; Berth-iaume said. &ldquo;But I took one of his (Brett&rsquo;s) shots and I&rsquo;m still feeling it&mdash;and that was only his wrist shot.&rdquo;Hull, who plays right wing&mdash;his father patrolled the left side&mdash;has been a sniper at every level. In Tier II at Penticton, B.C., three years ago, he scored 105 goals and 83 assists in 56 games.That showing prompted the Flames to draft him in the sixth round of the 1984 draft. But Hull went to the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where he scored 84 goals and 60 assists in 90 games over two years.Prior to signing with the Flames in the spring of 1986, he played for the United States at the World Championships. Hull led the U.S. squad in scoring at the Moscow tournament, notching seven goals and four assists.&lsquo;&lsquo;The puck seems to hit his stick and the net at the same time,&rdquo; said former Flames&rsquo; scout Jack Ferreira, who is now the New York Rangers&rsquo; director of player development.It seemed Hull was destined to make the Calgary roster last fall, but he was sent down to Moncton, a move he admitted was &ldquo;a blast to my ego.&rdquo;Despite his scoring prowess with the minor-league Golden Flames (50-4292 in 67 games), Hull appeared stuck in Johnson&rsquo;s bad books. The Calgary coach seldom knocks his own players, but he made several comments during the season that suggested he was not pleased with Hull&rsquo;s defensive abilities and work habits.Even now, the Flames seem concerned that Hull might not apply himself the way he should.&ldquo;Assuming he works hard with his off-season conditioning program, he should be ready to start for us next season,&rsquo;.&rsquo; Calgary general manager Cliff Fletcher said.Hull, who has been dubbed both &ldquo;The Golden Brett&rdquo; and &ldquo;The Great Brettzky,&rdquo; said he learned his lessons down on the farm.&ldquo;The minor leagues were good for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I learned an awful lot about the game&mdash;mostly, I think, discipline.&rdquo;Calgary&rsquo;s other fine newcomer, Nieuwendyk, signed on March 5 after starring for three seasons at Cornell University. A second-round draft choice in 1985, he managed to get into nine regular-season games, scoring five goals and adding an assist.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>In the playoffs, the lanky center scored twice and assisted on another pair. He spent the last few playoff games teaming up with Bullard and an assortment of wingers to form the Flames&rsquo; most dangerous forward line.Prior to the playoff series, Johnson said he was pleased with Nieuwen-dyk&rsquo;s performance since his arrival from Cornell.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s made the adjustment very well,&rdquo; said the coach. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s big and strong and a good skater. He&rsquo;s a competitor with that second and third effort.&rdquo;FLICKERS&mdash;Bob Johnson, who will coach the U.S. entry in the Canada Cup this fall, plans to invite four Flames to the summer camp&mdash;Joel Otto, Gary Suter, Neil Sheehy and Joey Mullen. &#9632;

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New Boys In Town Fanning Flames’ Hopes

<div class="byline">By Bruce Hood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03333/5159816-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="365" height="446"></div>Q: In refereeing a game when you convert to running time where the clock does not stop, and you see a penalty with, say, six seconds left in the game. Does the clock stop when the penalty is called, and then get reset at six seconds, or should no call be made and time expire?Casey Miezin, Euclid. OHA: Interesting question that really has a local answer. Some leagues have a set rule that the last minute of a &ldquo;running-time game&rdquo; will be stop time, while others just allow the time to run out. The referee should always call a penalty, if he deems it necessary, even though when he blows the whistle it virtually ends the game as time will run out before it can be restarted. Make sure it&rsquo;s a good penalty, though.Q: Say there was a game between the Canucks and Flames, and the face-off was in the Calgary zone. If the centerman won the draw cleanly back to his defenseman, who in turn, accidentally scored on his own net, who on the Canucks would get credit for the goal?Jason Stevens, Creston, BCA: A possibility I suppose, and the goal would be credited to the Canuck player who had been involved in the face-off. The rule states that in the instance where a player puts the puck into his own net, the player from the opposing team who last touched the puck will be credited with the goal and although the opposing player taking the faceoff may not have actually made contact with the puck, it would be deemed so for this purpose.Q: I was listening to game five of the Oiler-King playoffs series. In the Oilers&rsquo; zone, one of the Kings took a shot at the net and it hit referee Ron Hoggarth in the head. Then, the puck deflected toward the net and Grant Fuhr had to make a quick save. The puck didn&rsquo;t go in. But if it did, would the goal have counted? Also, if a player receives a game misconduct, are any minutes added to their overall individual penalties?Jennifer Humphrey, Palmdale, CAA: Yes, the goal would have counted. The officials are considered part of the play and puck deflections off of them don&rsquo;t constitute a stoppage unless it causes an offside, or the puck bounces over the boards and out of the playing surface. A player receives 10 minutes in his penalty record for a game misconduct. &#9632;

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ASK THE REFEREE

<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/f0034-04238/5159847-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="87" height="83"></div>EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.&mdash;John J. McMullen had envisioned sellouts at the Meadowlands Arena virtually every night, and a young New Jersey Devils&rsquo; team battling in the Stanley Cup playoffs.But his New Jersey Devils&rsquo; franchise has still not secured a playoff berth in the five years since it transferred from Colorado. Its average home attendance, in a building which seats 19,040. has been 10,975.Something had to be done.So four-year president Bob Butera announced his resignation on April 24. leaving a team which has finished out of the playoffs in all five seasons since the franchise shifted from Colorado to New Jersey.&ldquo;When I saw we were going to end up this year (last in the Patrick Division, 20th overall) again with an average attendance of 12,500,&rdquo; McMullen said. &ldquo;I came to the conclusion we had to have a fresh approach. We just can&rsquo;t stand pat. We&rsquo;ve had the same attendance for five years and obviously it wasn&rsquo;t going to change.&rdquo;Six days after Butera&rsquo;s resignation, McMullen introduced his new president, former Hockey East commissioner Lou Lamoriello.Lamoriello, 44, also left his job as athletic director at Providence College, the school he attended (class of &rsquo;63) and coached at (lifetime 248-17913 record).&ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited,&rdquo; the new president said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m certainly looking forward to the challenge. I asked Dr. McMullen the job description and he said, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s very simple. Two points: No. 1.1 want the building sold out every night; and No. 2, I want to win a Stanley Cup.&rsquo; I got up and walked out.&rdquo;Removing tongue from cheek, Lamoriello talked about the task ahead.&ldquo;I feel very comfortable,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Dr. McMullen has given me the tools and the authority in this position. We&rsquo;re going to do as much as we can to get the Devils where we all want them. We&rsquo;d like to have the Stanley Cup tomorrow morning, but we have to be realistic.&rdquo;For Lamoriello, that means on-the-job training, with help from McMullen and general manager Max McNab.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s some uncertainty and a lot of unkowns. My approach is simple&mdash;I have no preconceived notions. It&rsquo;s only a matter of time before I make recommendations to Dr. McMullen. I will have to rely on Max McNab&rsquo;s hockey experience.&rdquo;The odd man out, Butera, will stay with the club as an alternate governor and management consultant.&ldquo;In one sense, obviously, I feel incomplete,&rdquo; Butera said in a prepared statement released by the club. &ldquo;The job is not done. We have not yet made the playoffs. We are not sold out every night. But I know that the base is here and in place and that great strides have been made over the last four seasons.&ldquo;The Devils have a solid foundation of playing personnel in New Jersey, the American Hockey League, and in junior, college and Europe&mdash;and as. our young players continue to mature and develop, this team is going to be a consistent contender.&ldquo;We (Butera and McMullen) had several discussions this spring and reached the conclusion together that I could now best serve the organization in a part-time role, giving counsel, with someone else running the business day-to-day.&rdquo;HOT STUFF&mdash;One day before Bob Butera&rsquo;s resignation, he announced that the Devils&rsquo; top AHL farm team in Portland, Maine, was moving to Utica, N.Y. As yet unnamed, the club will play in the 4,050-seat Utica Memorial Auditorium&hellip;GM Max McNab and director of player personnel Marshall Johnston were in Vienna to watch the World Championships. McNab planned to speak to Anders Carlsson regarding the player&rsquo;s blast against Doug Carpenter. The GM also watched 19-year-old Finnish center Janne Ojanen, the Devils&rsquo; third-round pick in 1986, score two goals in a 4-1 victory over Sweden. Ojanen, rated among the top five young players in Europe, won&rsquo;t be available to the Devils until the 1988-89 season&hellip;Goalie Sean Burke of Canada received rave reviews. &#9632;</div>

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Hockey East Commissioner Assumes Devils’ Presidency

<h2>15 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; About 10,000 ecstatic Bruin fans crammed into Logan International Airport in Boston to greet the returning Stanley Cup champions. The Bruins defeated New York Rangers 4-2 in the best-of-seven final to win their fifth Stanley Cup. Boston recaptured the Cup that it lost the previous year to Montreal Canadiens. Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito tied for the lead in playoff scoring with 24 points each.&bull; For the second time in three years, Boston Bruin superstar Bobby Orr was the NHL&rsquo;s most honored player. After winning the Conn Smythe Trophy for his superb performance in the playoffs, the Bruin defenseman won the Norris and Hart Trophies. Meanwhile, Chicago&rsquo;s Tony Esposito won the Vezina Trophy. The Lady Byng went to Jean Ratelle of the New York Rangers. Rookie-of-the-year honors went to Ken Dryden.<h2>10 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; chances of continued improvement were dealt a severe blow when Bobby Orr announced he would not play for the entire 1977-78 season. Orr&rsquo;s sixth knee operation forced the layoff. He returned for only six games in the 1978-79 season before calling it quits. As a tribute to Orr, the Hall of Fame waived its usual policy of waiting five years before inducting a player. Orr joined the Hall the same year he hung up his skates.&bull; Toronto&rsquo;s Dave (Tiger) Williams angered many in the hockey world by refusing to shake hands with the Flyers after Philadelphia defeated the Maple Leafs in their quarter-final series. The Leaf forward&rsquo;s actions were regarded as a severe breach of hockey etiquette. &#9632;

THIS WEEK…

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02417/5159902-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Jeffrey was in demand on this night during the early 1960s after a game at the Olympia in Detroit. Both Jeffrey and the Olympia are no longer part of the Detroit hockey scene.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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THE WAY WE WERE

<div class="byline">BY LARRY HUMBER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01524/5159964-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div><h2>ACROSS:</h2>1. The NHL&rsquo;s all-time playoff goal-scoring leader, pictured (5).8. First of four Islanders to capture the Conn Smythe Trophy (8).9. Undersized (5).10. Though he failed to capture the Smythe Trophy, he topped playoff scorers three times (8).11. Traditional pre-game meal (5).14. A U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer, he&rsquo;s best known for the trophy named after him presented to the top U.S. college player each year (5).15. Stall (5).20. Goal posts (5).21. The Calder Cup is this league&rsquo;s championship trophy (8).22. Number worn by the legendary Howie Morenz (5).23. This NHL club&rsquo;s last playoff appearance was in 1982 (8).24. Nickname of former netmin-der Michel Larocque (5).<h2>DOWN:</h2>2. He was with Toronto&rsquo;s 1962 Cup-winning club (8).3. Nordiques acquired him in swap that sent John Anderson to Hartford (8).4. Illegal check using stick (5).5. Crouch (5).6. Deflected goal (3,2).7. They captured the Grey Cup the year the Islanders took their fourth straight Stanley Cup (5). 12. First Smythe Trophy winner (8).13. One of a number of Smythe Trophy winners in the Hall of Fame (4,4).16. Nickname of Clarence Day, who coached the Leafs to a handful of Cups (5).17. Bruin netminder previously with Los Angeles (5).18. The Emery Edge Award goes to the NHL&rsquo;s plus leader (5).19. First name of Flames&rsquo; No. 9 (5). &#9632;

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CROSSWORD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01498/5159995-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg"></div>Hockey, with Team Canada, is a thinking man&rsquo;s game&hellip;and captain Ken Berry is one thinking man who loves it just the way it is.Berry, who joined the national team in October, revels in the participation and anticipation of international hockey.The New Westminster, B.C., native enjoyed his first season with the nats since 1980 when he was a member of Canada&rsquo;s sixth-place Olympic entry.And the left winger is looking toward. with high hopes, a second opportunity in Calgary next February.But not even the captain is guaranteed a place on the Olympic roster.&ldquo;Nobody is a sure thing,&rdquo; says Berry, who played for Canada at the Izvestia and Spengler tournaments last season, before returning to the program on a full-time basis this season.&ldquo;I had told Dave (coach King) that if I had the opportunity to come back I would,&rdquo; says Berry, who played for Bayreuth in West Germany during 1985-86.He scored 27 goals and 25 assists in 33 games.This year he had plans to play in Italy but a promised job didn&rsquo;t materialize.So. the 26-year-old opted for the red and white Maple Leaf.His contribution was substantial. Never more so than during this year&rsquo;s Izvestia tournament in Moscow, where he played an important (and reckless) role in Canada&rsquo;s silver medal-winning effort.&ldquo;He was unbelievable the first two games of the tournament,&rdquo; says director of scouting Paul Henry. &ldquo;He ran everything in sight. He really contributed leadership. He got us out of the gate with the way he played.&rdquo;Izvestia represents the season&rsquo;s high point for Berry.&ldquo;What I remember most about the tournament was the team effort,&rdquo; says Berry, who scored 44 points (17-2744) in 52 games this year. &ldquo;We were at the peak of our play&hellip;&rdquo;Unfortunately, Canada hit a valley shortly thereafter, losing to a makeshift Team USA at the Calgary Cup. The Canadians partially atoned for the loss by beating the Americans in the bronze-medal game.Berry remembers more of Moscow than Calgary when he thinks about Canada&rsquo;s medal hopes next year.&ldquo;We proved that we can win a medal at Izvestia,&rdquo; he says.One of the reasons for his optimism is the presence of team coach-general manager Dave King, who has earned the respect of his captain.&ldquo;He knows the game inside out,&rdquo; says Berry. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a student of the game.&rdquo;Berry, too, is a student&mdash;both of the game and of Canadian securities, a business course that he hopes to parlay into eventual employment.He has been taking courses ever since leaving University of Denver in 1981.From there, the industrious forward joined the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; organization playing 28 games with the National Hockey League team over the next four seasons.Though his exposure to Edmonton was relatively brief, he is quick to answer when asked whom he considers the world&rsquo;s premier player.&ldquo;I played with him.&rdquo; says Berry, shrugging off Soviet candidates Sergei Makarov and Vladimir Krutov.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the best, definitely,&rdquo; Berry says without even bothering to mention Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s name. &ldquo;He just plays at a different level.&rdquo;It is a level Canada will have to, atleast, approach next year to fare well at the Olympics. &#9632;

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May 15, 1987

MacLeish A Playoff Terror

FAN FORUM

You Can’t Play Hardball With IIHF Directorate

THN HOCKEY TRIVIA