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.

June 19, 1987

The Hockey News June 19, 1987

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03335/5165906-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Departments

The Hockey News Classified (416) 445-5702

<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/f0007-011220/5164600-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="117" height="115"></div>BUFFALO&mdash;The Buffalo Sabres will go to the draft having drawn the top card&mdash;but don&rsquo;t look for them to show it, at least not until June 13.General manager Gerry Meehan and his staff have completed their pre-draft investigations, but whether they&rsquo;ll draft Granby scoring star Pierre Turgeon first overall that day remains anybody&rsquo;s guess.Part of the reason, of course, is trade bait.Meehan has indicated he would not readily trade the pick, but in his latest statement he did not rule out that option either.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not likely,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Normally we would consider any reasonable suggestion for our first pick, but if you assess it, this time you&rsquo;re dealing with the first pick overall. With that in mind it would have to be a vastly superior player for us to even consider it (a trade).&rdquo;The Sabres are acutely aware of the impact, both on the team and the community, that their last No. 1 overall choice, Gilbert Perreault, had when he joined the team in 1970.In his 17 seasons with Buffalo, Perreault became the cornerstone on which the franchise was built.According to most, Turgeon, has the ability to be a franchise player.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s clearly the best available talent,&rdquo; said Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; chief scout Barry Fraser. &ldquo;Of course, he&rsquo;s just 17 and you can&rsquo;t really get in there and judge what&rsquo;s in a 17-year-old&rsquo;s mind and how he&rsquo;s going to develop, but the skill level is all there. You really can&rsquo;t afford not to take him.&rdquo;Though there have been small pockets of support within the organization for Dave Archibald of Portland and defenseman Wayne McBean of Medicine Hat, Turgeon still appeared to be the prize.The Granby center can shoot, skate, score and handle the puck, all skills that should endear him to the talent-thin Sabres, especially the scoring part&mdash;68 goals and 85 assists during 1986-87.The Sabres could even employ him at left wing, where they are woefully short of scoring power.Assuming the Sabres do draft Turgeon in the first round, they might go for a defenseman with their second pick (22nd overall).The Sabres&rsquo; blueline situation will depend on the availability of ex-Sabre Hannu Virta.Virta, a small but highly-skilled player who proved particularly useful on the power play, recently completed his military obligations in his native Finland and is again free to rejoin the Sabres. The club still holds his National Hockey League rights and is hopeful of enticing him back into the league next season.Even if Buffalo doesn&rsquo;t sign Virta, they could well deal his rights for a quality player. Such a deal would certainly affect their draft philosophy in the second or third rounds.The status of goaltender Tom Barrasso could also affect the Sabres&rsquo; draft plan.Though Barrasso has indicated he does not want to be traded and the Sabres have maintained they are not actively seeking to trade him. several teams have asked about him.Washington Capitals were the latest team reported to have expressed an interest, although both sides deny it.Rochester American goaltender Daren Puppa is waiting in the wings. Puppa, who led RPI to the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship two seasons ago, backstopped the Amerks to this year&rsquo;s Calder Cup championship.If Puppa proves effective at the NHL level, the Sabres would have three NHL-calibre goaltenders (including Jacques Cloutier) reporting to training camp.SABREPOINTS&mdash;Right winger Jan Ludvig, who never lived up to his offensive potential during five years in New Jersey, was acquired for tough defenseman-winger Jim Korn, Ludvig earned seven goals, nine assists and 98 penalty minutes in 47 games, Korn four, 10 and 158 in 51. &#9632;</div>

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Sabres Playing No. 1 Choice Close To Vest

<div class="byline">BY LARRY HUMBER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01180/5166770-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04240/5166763-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="584" height="596"></div><h2>ACROSS:</h2>1. Where pictured player, Pierre Turgeon, played his junior hockey (6).4. Dan Maloney hails from this Ontario town (6).9. Suited up (7).10. Shade of blue worn by the Canadiens (5).11. The Canadiens were 82-37 in Cup play under this coach (5).12. The Blackhawks&rsquo; first coach, he supposedly cursed the club when let go in 1927 (7).13. Home of the International League&rsquo;s Komets,&mdash;-Wayne (4)15. Former Flame Beers (4).18. Both he and Bob Berry were axed by the Penguins in early April (7).21. He appeared in all but one game for New Jersey in 1984-85 (5).24. Animal featured on the logo of the defunct Kansas City Scouts (5).25. Long-ago Calder Trophy winner now featured on TSN&rsquo;s NHL telecasts (6).26. His memoirs were entitled, &ldquo;If You Can&rsquo;t Beat &rsquo;Em in the Alley&rdquo; (6).<h2>DOWN:</h2>1. He succeeded Sid Abel as Red Wing coach in 1968 (6).2. Blues&rsquo; building, St. Louis&mdash;(5).3. Late owner of the defunct Birmingham Bulls (7).5. NHL playoff month (5).6. First name of the Bruins&rsquo; leading point-getter the past season (7).7. Swedish-born Flyer (6).8. Lesser-known Sabre Creighton (4).14. Toronto-born Maple Leaf previously with the Red Wings and Rangers (7).15. Defenseman acquired by the Caps from Montreal in September of 1982 (7).16. One of several North Stars to represent Canada at this year&rsquo;s World Championships in Vienna (6).17. Caps&rsquo; building, Capital (6).19. Netminder taken third by Toronto in the 1984 draft, Jeff-----(5).20. Droops (4).22. He tallied 50 times for Detroit in 1974-75 (5).Crossword solution in Classified Section on page 34. &#9632;

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CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03480/5165313-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="140" height="104"></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Once again, the Philadelphia Flyers will be going to the draft table with the idea of projecting at least two or three years from now.The only disadvantage to having a strong regular season is the fact that a club gets a bad drafting position, and the Flyers will be 20th in line at this year&rsquo;s entry draft.Philadelphia has drafted among the top 15 just twice in the last eight years.&ldquo;Just like last year, we&rsquo;ll be looking for guys who can help us down the road,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; assistant general manager Gary Darling.&ldquo;We look at this draft as pretty strong through three rounds or so. After that it&rsquo;s a shot of luck. We think most of the talent in this draft is in North America.&ldquo;Even though we don&rsquo;t have a high drafting position, we think we&rsquo;re going to do all right. We&rsquo;ve got an extra second-round pick, and we think we&rsquo;ll get some good players there.&rdquo;The Flyers&rsquo; extra second-round pick was acquired in a swap with the Quebec Nordiques at last season&rsquo;s draft. In addition, they also have a fifth-round pick from Vancouver.&ldquo;If you look at our history,&rdquo; said Darling, &ldquo;you&rsquo;ll see that we&rsquo;ve done very well with second- and third-round picks, and lower.&rdquo;Sure enough, the only first-round picks of their own on the Flyers&rsquo; present roster are Brian Propp and Ron Sutter.Look past that and you&rsquo;ll see Rick Tocchet, Derrick Smith and Peter Zezel from the sixth, third and second rounds, respectively, of 1983. They&rsquo;ve also scooped up players such as Ron Hextall, Lindsay Carson, Scott Mellanby and Ilkka Sinisalo without high picks.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done very well building our team without the highest picks,&rdquo; said Darling. &ldquo;And this year we think there is a solid lot of players who can play in the NHL.&ldquo;Maybe not right now, but we&rsquo;re not looking at right now.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

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Future Not Likely Now For Flyer Picks

In our July 31 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, which will coming your way in three weeks, we&rsquo;ll present one of the most action-and information-packed issues of the year.First and foremost, we&rsquo;ll take an in-depth look at the 1987 National Hockey League entry draft and how each team fared at the draft table. In addition to team-by-team reports, we&rsquo;ll also have a complete summary of the entire draft, pick by pick.Plus, we&rsquo;ll have complete coverage of both the NHL and THN awards, which were scheduled for June 10 and 18, respectively.Plus, complete team-by-team, player-by-player statistics from all pro and junior teams, the Hall of Fame inductions wrap-up and all the news from the NHL&rsquo;s annual meeting in Detroit.Don&rsquo;t miss all that plus more in the July 31 issue of THN. &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

NEXT WEEK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021050/5164441-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="345" height="469"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Dryden</figcaption></div>Garry Howatt is counting on some of his own bad experiences to be good experience.Howatt, who went through three agents during his 11-year professional career, has become one himself.The 34-year-old former New York Islander joined forces with New Jersey-based Harvey Lakind in International Artists and Athletes Management.Lakind&rsquo;s clientele includes basketball star Darryl Dawkins, a championship boxer and pro bowlers. Howatt has added hockey players.He goes into June 13&rsquo;s draft with six players, foremost among them defensemen Bob Wilkie of Swift Current and Jayson More of New Westminster, both prospective second-rounders.All of his players are from the Western League.&ldquo;You go where you have your contacts,&rdquo; explains Howatt. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easier to get started.&rdquo;Howatt, a native of Grand Center. Alta., got his own playing start in the WHL. His experience with Victoria and Flin Flon launched a career noted more for scoring with his fists than his hands.Howatt, a member of two Stanley Cupwinning teams with the Islanders, will have difficulty matching that level of achievement in the highly-competitive field of sports management.Yet, he&rsquo;s confident the trademark Howatt tenacity will hold him in good stead.&ldquo;All I&rsquo;m going to do is work as hard as I did on the ice,&rdquo; says Howatt, who earned 1,836 penalty minutes in 720 games with New York, Hartford and New Jersey.Howatt, whose first experience with agents included losing a chunk of money to the fraudulent Dick Sorkin, says he and Lakind form a natural partnership.Lakind has 20 years of negotiating experience and Howatt, the hands-on hockey background.&ldquo;I plan to have a more personal relationship with my players,&rdquo; says Howatt, who has had More living with him and his wife and working at the ex-tough guy&rsquo;s Mt. Freedom Golf Range.Howatt is selling the business to concentrate full-time on being an agent.<h2>Stand By Me-Norm Schmidt</h2>Norm Schmidt&rsquo;s standing in the hockey community has risen. Out of necessity.The Pittsburgh Penguin defenseman hasn&rsquo;t been able to sit down for more than 30 minutes at a time since undergoing a back fusion operation on April 16.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011287/5164434-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="1441" height="1851"></div>He had to stand on the flight home from Pittsburgh to Toronto and lie down in the back of a van for the 30-minute-plus trip from Toronto to Oshawa, where he is staying with the family of his fiancee, Heather Stewart.And recently, when Schmidt attended the Memorial Cup in Oshawa, he had to remain standing throughout the final game between the hometown Generals (his former junior team) and Medicine Hat Tigers.He could barely stand to watch the Generals lose the championship. But he had no choice, if he wants play in the NHL by late November&mdash;his projected date of return.Schmidt, 24, injured his lower back when he fell into a goal post during the 1985-86 season. He finished out the year, but in 1986-87 he became increasingly troubled by the ailment.A broken hand limited him to 36 American League games and 20 with the Penguins this past season. Back problems limited his effectiveness.&ldquo;I was used to playing better than I produced this season,&rdquo; says Schmidt, who finished the year with Pittsburgh and just six points (1-5-6). &ldquo;It (the injury) was kind of a stab in the back.&rdquo;The pun was unintentional.Schmidt, whose strength is his smoothness with the puck, wears a protective brace to maintain pressure on his lower back and ensure accidental contact does not hinder what progress he&rsquo;s made.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t screwed anything up,&rdquo; Schmidt reported after his first summer check-up on May 20. The second is in July. Maybe then he&rsquo;ll summon enough courage to ask a question that&rsquo;s been praying on his mind: When will he skate again?Before the summer&rsquo;s out, he&rsquo;s hoping.<h2>Ironic Twist-Brian Burke</h2>Vancouver&rsquo;s new director of hockey operations will be hard-pressed to suppress a smile when he performs one of his first official functions with the Canucks.So will those who know Brian Burke.Because it wasn&rsquo;t long ago that Burke, a Harvard-trained lawyer-agent, was taking steps (including retaining a top-notch anti-trust lawyer) to challenge the National Hockey League&rsquo;s college supplemental draft.Convinced it violated anti-trust regulations, he was looking toward voiding the selection of undrafted collegians that was carried out, for the first time, last fall.On June 13 in Detroit, shortly after the entry draft, Burke will be taking part in the second supplemental draft as a member of Pat Quinn&rsquo;s Canuck management team.He knows how it looks, but says&hellip;&ldquo;My feelings haven&rsquo;t changed just because I&rsquo;m working for Vancouver,&rdquo; says Burke.But don&rsquo;t count on the Canucks to pass when their turns come up.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think by abstaining from it (the supplemental draft),&rdquo; explains the Edina, Minn., native, &ldquo;we would be immune from a suit because we participated in it last year.&rdquo;He says anything more said about the draft should come from Gil Stein, the NHL&rsquo;s legal counsel. Months ago, when Burke discussed the issue freely and fervently, he argued that the NHL was pushing its legal luck in forcing freeagent college players to pass through further draft processes, even after teams had already passed over them several times in the entry draft.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s just no way a judge is going to say this is reasonable in my opinion,&rdquo; said Burke then, who added, &ldquo;For the league to think it will stand up to a lawsuit, I think, is nearsighted.&rdquo;Accordingly, the former Providence Friar and Maine Mariner sent a letter to the league, asking the draft be ended. Stein, replying on behalf of the league, saw it differently and said so in a conversation with THN.Ironically, the NHL implemented the supplemental draft to head off future bidding wars of the sort orchestrated by Burke in the summer of 1985, when Ray Staszak signed a milliondollar contract with the Detroit Red Wings.Detroit was burned badly. Staszak hasn&rsquo;t been able to make the Red Wings.Burke will apparently be spared that empty feeling endured by Detroit&rsquo;s Jimmy Devellano. One of Burke&rsquo;s responsibilities with Vancouver is negotiating contracts, but the same supplemental draft he fought against as an agent will work to his advantage now because freeagent collegians have been deprived of leverage.That is, assuming the supplemental draft proves lasting.Michigan lawyer Bob Goodenow, a former colleague of Burke, has also been involved in opposition to the supplemental draft.&ldquo;Our feelings on it are similar,&rdquo; said Goodenow, who didn&rsquo;t rule out the possibility of court action this summer. He said that some free-agent collegians have made it known they would like to challenge the draft.If action were taken, said Goodenow. it would center on the possibility of blocking this year&rsquo;s draft and rescinding it entirely in the future.<h2>&lsquo;Nine Too Late&rsquo;-Phil Esposito</h2>Quote of the week:&ldquo;From what our scouts have said in the meetings so far, only Pierre Turgeon seems to be ready to play right away&mdash;and we&rsquo;re going to be about nine picks too late to get him.&rdquo;&mdash;Phil Esposito, whose New York Rangers are picking 10th at the entry draft, on toprated Pierre Turgeon, page 19. &#9632;

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Ex-Islander Back In Game, But This Time As An Agent

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011315/5164472-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Edmonton sniper Jari Kurri, the playoff leader in goals with 15, deposits one past the sprawling Ron Hextall. He scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in game seven.</figcaption></div>Employing the cunning wizardry of a Philadelphia lawyer, the Edmonton Oilers earned a pardon&hellip;after being sentenced to ignominy 13 months earlier.The Oilers are no longer imprisoned by the memory of their stunning loss to Calgary in the division finals last year.They freed themselves May 31 with a complete, and convincing, 3-1 win over the stubborn Philadelphia Flyers in a Stanley Cup final series pushed to its outer limits.But, it wasn&rsquo;t until Glenn Anderson&rsquo;s 30-footer evaded spectacular Flyers&rsquo; goalie Ron Hextall with 2:24 remaining that the SRO Northlands Coliseum crowd of 17,502 could safely envision a third Stanley Cup banner being raised to the rafters.Hextall finished with 40 saves as the Oilers doubled the shots (43-20) on the standup&mdash;and standout&mdash;rookie backstopper, who was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP.&ldquo;It was a great year for both teams,&rdquo; said Hextall, &ldquo;and it was an honor to win the Conn Smythe. But, I&rsquo;d trade it for a Stanley (Cup) any day.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have as talented a team as Edmonton, but I&rsquo;ll tell you, we&rsquo;ve got a lot of guts.&rdquo;If there was one member of the Oilers whose season concluded on a brighter note than 1986, it was Steve Smith who got to participate in the Stanley Cup-winning triumph.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t describe how exciting it is. I&rsquo;ve been saying all along that we have the guts to do it and it was just a matter of time before all of our character-builders came through,&rdquo; said Smith, noting Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson were the Oilers&rsquo; marksmen in the Cup-winning triumph. (Only Kurri had distinguished himself offensively in games four through six.)A year ago the final goal of the Oilers&rsquo; playoffs was inadvertently knocked into their own net by Smith, who banked the puck off goalie Grant Fuhr. That goal permitted Calgary Flames to win game seven of the Smythe Division final series 3-2.The occasion was Smith&rsquo;s 23rd birthday.A year, a month and a day later, he discussed the turnaround in events.&ldquo;I was in tears last year and I&rsquo;m in tears again this year, although it&rsquo;s a different set of circumstances,&rdquo; said Smith. &ldquo;This time they&rsquo;re tears of joy. When I looked around at the end there were an awful lot of excited guys out there. I was just excited to play and be able to contribute.&ldquo;Obviously there was a lot of controversy going on last year with myself and with the SI (Sports Illustrated) article,&rdquo; said Smith of the story linking unnamed members of the Oilers to cocaine use. &ldquo;It just makes it that much more exciting when something like that happens and you can turn things around.&rdquo;The Oilers knew the Flyers would extend them to the limit.&ldquo;What a thrill!&rdquo; bubbled Craig MacTavish, one of seven first-time Cup winners among the Oilers. &ldquo;It was much bigger than I thought. Especially after a seventh game that could have gone either way like this.&rdquo;&ldquo;It was tough,&rdquo; exhaled defenseman Paul Coffey. &ldquo;Was it tough to watch?&rdquo;With the exception of a 13-3 blowout in game two against L.A., the Oilers&rsquo; entire 21-game playoff trail was liberally sprinkled with nail-biters.&ldquo;This is the biggest night of my life,&rdquo; smiled Wayne Gretzky. &ldquo;It would have been the biggest disapppointment of my life if we would have lost.&rdquo;It was only a game, stressed manager-coach Glen Sather. But, quite the game, indeed.&ldquo;I told the team I didn&rsquo;t particularly care whether they won or lost, because I think they&rsquo;re a great hockey team,&rdquo; Sather. &ldquo;But, if they wanted to really win, they were going to have to push themselves a little bit harder.&ldquo;Actually on Saturday, I watched the Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons and I thought we had it in the bag then,&rdquo; added Sather. &ldquo;The Bird&rsquo;s (Larry Bird of the Celtics) career seems to have gone the way Wayne&rsquo;s has. I&rsquo;m just glad our series was over before theirs and L.A.&rdquo;Gretzky didn&rsquo;t harvest a ton of points, but one pass was sufficient for Kurri&rsquo;s winning goal. Kurri whipped Gretzky&rsquo;s pass low to the far comer from 25 feet away. Esa Tikkanen&rsquo;s name didn&rsquo;t appear in the summary, but the sophomore Finn initiated the play by bumping Flyers&rsquo; defender Doug Crossman off the puck.After that, the Oilers shut down the Flyers. There were to be no miracle comebacks.The Oilers were two men short when the Flyers opened the scoring for the first time in the series. Murray Craven connected with 101 seconds gone.Fuhr wasn&rsquo;t beaten after that, making a couple of outstanding second-period stops on Ilka Sinisalo with the score 1-1.&ldquo;It helps, but I was just doing my part,&rdquo; said Fuhr, whose workload became easier as the game wore on. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t doubt yourself. If you doubt yourself, you lose. The guys played well enough to win and deserved to win.&rdquo;Hextall won the Conn Smythe, but Fuhr wound up with his favorite trophy.&ldquo;This is the trophy I like best,&rdquo; grinned the Oilers&rsquo; goaltender, who faced just two shots over the final 20 minutes. &ldquo;This is wonderful. I mean, at the start of the year, people doubted us because of what happened last year. Now we&rsquo;re here and we&rsquo;ve won it in a seventh game. We&rsquo;ve proved everything to everybody. This is the best one yet.&ldquo;Hopefully, we&rsquo;ll bring in four or five more in.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Oilers In Seventh Heaven

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011189/5164510-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Philadelphia was at its best while employing a smothering defense against the likes of Edmonton&rsquo;s Glenn Anderson. Here, Anderson is in the embrace of defenseman Kjell Samuelsson, as Dave Poulin and Brad Marsh (8) stand at the ready to help out.</figcaption></div>One of the most poignant sights in sports is that of a noble loser, and that is exactly what the Philadelphia Flyers were on the final night of the hockey season.Despite a gritty and determined comeback effort, which will become as much a chapter of honor in their storied history as their championships, the Flyers did not win the Stanley Cup.Instead, they were beaten in a deciding seventh game by the Edmonton Oilers 3-1.And with their legs wobbly from a record 26 playoff games, their hearts emptied of effort, and their heads bowed, the Flyers had to watch as Wayne Gretzky and the Oilers celebrated their third Cup championship in four years&mdash;two of which have come at the Flyers&rsquo; expense.The first occurred in 1985, when they beat the Flyers in five games. This series, which was the first Stanley Cup final to go the full seven games since 1971, was a more riveting encounter, and will surely go down in Cup history as one of the premier confrontations.&ldquo;We played well, but I think all losses hurt just as bad,&rdquo; said Flyer winger Rick Tocchet, who scored 11 goals in the playoffs.&ldquo;We were what? One game from winning the Stanley Cup. Maybe only a few minutes from winning the Stanley Cup. To dig yourself out of a hole as big as we did in this series is unbelievable.&rdquo;Actually, the Flyers didn&rsquo;t get themselves out of that hole. They managed to get to eye level, and then the Oilers buried them for real in game seven.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to be hearing a lot about how well we played, and that we should be proud,&rdquo; said Flyer defenseman Brad Marsh. &ldquo;But right now, we feel empty. Very empty.&ldquo;It was so close. We could taste it. That&rsquo;s what makes it so tough, we could taste it.&ldquo;I guess that&rsquo;s why we all feel empty. We had a goal to win the Stanley Cup, and we didn&rsquo;t do it. Right now, I guess we feel like 19 other teams that didn&rsquo;t win the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;The one piece of hardware the Flyers did. earn was the Conn Smythe Trophy, which goes to the playoff&rsquo;s most valuable player. To the surprise of nobody, that award went to rookie goalie Ron Hextall.It was the first time a player from a losing team had been awarded the Trophy since 1976, when Reggie Leach won it for the Flyers. It was also fitting that the Flyers get some glory out of this series, as they put together one of the most valiant comeback bids in playoff history.Not only had they trailed the series three games to one, but in each of their three wins they also had to come back from two-goal deficits.Even giving their best on the last night they trailed 2-1 after two periods, but could not make a final comeback. And the Oilers put it away when Glenn Anderson beat Hextall with 2:24 to play.&ldquo;When we came into the final period trailing, we felt we were going to win,&rdquo; said Flyer captain Dave Poulin. &ldquo;We were extremely confident.&ldquo;Maybe it was the fact we&rsquo;d come back before in this series, but there was no feeling that we were out of it.&rdquo;Ironically, for the first time in the series they actually took an early lead in the game. Murray Craven made it 1-0 at just 1:41 of the first period on a five-on-three power play.That lead evaporated when Mark Messier scored for Edmonton at 7:45 of the first period, and the Oilers took a 2-1 lead in the second period on a goal by Jari Kurri.&ldquo;I think that second period was the key,&rdquo; said Mark Howe. &ldquo;In most of the other games, we started to control in the second period.&ldquo;Tonight, we didn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;Tonight, Edmonton took the lead, and they played very well in the third period. We didn&rsquo;t give away this game, the Oilers won it. In the third period, they played like the champions they are.&rdquo;And they very well might have been champions a lot earlier if it weren&rsquo;t for Hextall.&ldquo;Hextall kept us in it, and we just couldn&rsquo;t drum up the offense,&rdquo; said Poulin. &ldquo;Just like we expected, he kept us alive, but we couldn&rsquo;t get the goals we needed.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02874/5164503-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="673" height="1054"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Mark Howe says the Flyers didn&rsquo;t lose the seventh game; the Oilers won it.</figcaption></div>The loss ended the Flyers&rsquo; quest to become only the second team in National Hockey League history to rally from a 3-1 games deficit and win a final series.It will likely be argued for at least another season whether the Flyers would have won had leading scorer Tim Kerr&mdash;out with an injured shoulder&mdash;been able to play in the series. Or if Poulin hadn&rsquo;t been hampered with a cracked rib. Or Ron Sutter not been slowed with a bad back.&ldquo;You can always look back at that,&rdquo; said Poulin, &ldquo;but we played with the guys that got us here.&rdquo;Throughout these playoffs Hextall shouldered most of the burden for the Flyers. He was their Atlas, and if the Oilers were waiting for Atlas to shrug, it never happened.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the guy I really feel sad for,&rdquo; said Tocchet. &ldquo;I mean, that guy&mdash;he was unbelievable. I thought fate was going to give it to him tonight.&rdquo;In addition to Hextali and Sutter, the Flyers got exceptionally strong playoff showings from Brian Propp&mdash;who set a club record with 26 points&mdash;Howe, Pelle Eklund and a surprisingly super effort from defenseman Kjell Samuelsson in the final series. &#9632;

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Flyers Finally Ran Out Of Time

<div class="byline">BY CAM COLE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011371/5164569-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Hextall&rsquo;s goaltending kept Philadelphia in the series long after most thought they would last after falling behind 3-1 in games.</figcaption></div>The Ron Hextall nobody wanted to vote for was the one who wound up with a full backswing and levelled the cutting edge of his goal stick at Kent Nilsson&rsquo;s legs in game four of the Stanley Cup final.&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll have to change to an overlapping grip,&rdquo; someone heard avid golfer Grant Fuhr say later, &ldquo;or he&rsquo;ll never get any distance.&rdquo;The Hextall who could never win the Conn Smythe Trophy was the one who cracked his stick over Mike Krushelnyski&rsquo;s arm; who jumped on Craig MacTavish&rsquo;s sliding form in the goal crease and released his frustrations by beating a tatoo on the Edmonton Oiler&rsquo;s head in game seven.But he was also the Ron Hextall who singlehandedly stiffened the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; backbone every time the Oilers threatened to run away and hide with the best-of-seven series; the one who stubbornly refused to surrender the next goal; who kept the Flyers from being swept in straight games.The one who set an all-time record for playoff games (26) and minutes (1,540) played, and held the fort through three heroic Philly comebacks, in one of the greatest Stanley Cup finals ever played.That&rsquo;s the Hextall who was a near-unanimous choice for the playoff MVP trophy&mdash;the seventh goaltender, only the third rookie and just the fourth member of a losing Cup team to have ever won the award.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great honor, but I&rsquo;d trade it for the Stanley (Cup) any day,&rdquo; said the downcast 23-year-old, after finally giving up a goal the Flyers couldn&rsquo;t negate, Glenn Anderson&rsquo;s screened 30-footer 2:24 from the end of the seventh game.The Oilers unleashed a 43-shot barrage in game seven, their best performance of the series, yet with three minutes left, the never-say-die Flyers were one shot away.&ldquo;I think the whole Flyers team won the Conn Smythe,&rdquo; said Hextall, whose playoff average was 2.77.Hextall was the man who gave them a chance, though, as virtually every Flyer acknowledged.&ldquo;He was instrumental all year,&rdquo; said defenseman Mark Howe. &ldquo;If anyone remembers the first game of the season against the Oilers, we were a little shaky in the first period but he just stood on his ear.&ldquo;He gained our confidence in the first 20 minutes of the hockey season, and he kept it the whole year. He&rsquo;s a fierce competitor and he, like myself and a few others&hellip;well, there were a lot of tears shed in here.&rdquo;&ldquo;Hextall was without question the best player in the playoffs this year,&rdquo; said Flyer coach Mike Keenan. &ldquo;Not only did he play out of his mind in this particular series, but you can&rsquo;t really describe the leadership he showed, the expertise he displayed, the high level he achieved throughout the playoffs.&rdquo;On the final night of the season, Hextall and the Oilers&rsquo; Fuhr staged a magnificent goaltending battle, and Wayne Gretzky was left shaking his head in admiration at the end.&ldquo;I said earlier Ron Hextall may be the best goaltender I&rsquo;ve ever played against,&rdquo; said The Great One. &ldquo;But then, I&rsquo;ve never played against Grant.&rdquo;<h2>Road To The Stanley Cun</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02989/5164562-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="379" height="199"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03644/5164555-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="388" height="391"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04426/5164548-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="394" height="223"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05346/5164541-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="2950" height="1255"></div> &#9632;

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Hextall The Only Choice As Playoff MVP

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011305/5164631-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div>I WAS A COACH-GM in professional hockey for 15 years. So I think I can be credited with having above average knowledge of good and bad referees.To my mind. Kerry Fraser is decidedly among the very best. I have always found him to be fair, consistent and knowledgeable regarding the rules. I have watched him work throughout his career and judged him to be the best skater in keeping up with the play.I can only think that politics were involved in this decision to not let him work in the finals of the Stanley Cup. I sincerely believe that in the long run this decision will be very detrimental to officials today and in the future. Where will referees get their backing if not from the league when they have to make a tough call?Shame on the officials who made this decision on Kerry Fraser. We need more referees like him.Ted Garvin, Sarnia. ON(Ed. Note&mdash;Ted Garvin coached the Detroit Red Wings for 11 games in 1973.)<h2>FRASER THE BEST!</h2>In a job few men can do and most wouldn&rsquo;t want, the hours are terrible and perks negligible, Kerry Fraser does it as well as anybody.Fraser, 34, a native of Sarnia, Ont&hellip;is widely recognized as the best NHL referee, even though he&rsquo;s only in his eighth season in the most demanding officiating job in professional sports. The last two seasons, he has worked in the Stanley Cup finals.Kerry Fraser ranks at the top of a short list of excellent referees, yet he was dropped from the remainder of the 1987 playoffs.Although no official reason was given, his dismissal stems from game five of the Montreal-Quebec series, when Fraser waved off the Nordiques apparent go-ahead goal because he was about to call off-setting minor penalties.Replays showed his call was correct, but NHL executive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill wouldn&rsquo;t support him in an interview in the Montreal Gazette. Kerry Fraser was then dismissed from game seven between Detroit and Toronto.Away from the rink, Kerry Fraser is gracious, pleasant, and easy to befriend. On the ice, his intensity rivals that of any player. He&rsquo;s tough, but fair, and his impartiality sets him apart. He&rsquo;ll call a penalty in the first minute of game or the last; in October or May; against the visitors or against the home team.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a no-win situation,&rdquo; Kerry Fraser says of the job. Apparently, he&rsquo;s right.Thomas Kurdziel, Woodhaven. MI<h2>NHL BLUNDER</h2>The mentality of the NHL hierarchy continues to amaze me. I cannot believe that they did not permit Kerry Fraser to officiate any of the Cup semi-final games.In my view he and Don Koharski are the most competent referees in the NHL, yet the league saw fit to send Fraser on vacation in favor of Denis Morel.On the other hand, Andy van Hellemond vanished from sight during the marathon overtime game in the Capital center and he was rewarded with the Montreal-Quebec seventh game and several in the semi-finals.Gerald J. Post, Lanham. MD<h2>HEXTALL BAD SPORT</h2>I couldn&rsquo;t believe my eyes!Ron Hextall ought to have his rear end kicked. The slashing committed against Kent Nilsson in game four of the Stanley Cup finals was unbelievable.How can everyone talk about how &ldquo;great&rdquo; Hextall is, when his sportsmanship is garbage?Anne Peyton, Anaheim. CA &#9632;

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Garvin Comes To Defense Of Exiled Referee Fraser

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;

FAN FORUM

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021088/5164686-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="387" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie</figcaption></div>RANDOM THOUGHTS on the last night of the longest National Hockey League season ever:&bull; How good was the 1987 Stanley Cup final?So good that when it was all said and done, the Philadelphia Flyer-Montreal Canadien pregame fiasco of May 14 and Flyer goalie Ron Hextall&rsquo;s brutal hacking of Edmonton Oiler Kent Nilsson in game four were overshadowed by quality competition.Ultimately, 1987 will be remembered as the year of the grand finale, which is as it should be.The Flyers and Oilers put on a masterful display, presenting a series touted by many as the most exciting finish to an NHL season&mdash;ever.&bull; As good as it was, though, we should not overlook the black marks.The pre-game brawl was nothing less than an embarrassment, which might explain why NHL president John Ziegler ducked his annual Stanley Cup press conference.Funny, isn&rsquo;t it, that a year ago he used that press conference to go on the offensive to decry drugs-in-hockey allegations and the media treatment of them.Funny, isn&rsquo;t it, that a year later, the drug issue is invisible and so is the president.As for Hextall, his slash on Nilsson should have netted him a match penalty and subsequent disciplinary review by the league.It was clearly a case of intent to injure. Had it happened during the regular season, you can be sure further action would have been taken.And had the Oilers lost game four, you can be equally sure Oiler GM Glen Sather would not have been nearly so understanding about Hextall&rsquo;s &ldquo;frustration&rdquo; or referee Andy van Hellemond&rsquo;s handling of it.&bull; Speaking of the officials, it doesn&rsquo;t much matter whether there is a serious problem with their performance or not. The bottom line is that the players, coaches, managers and public believe there is a problem.So, there is a problem.It has to be addressed this off-season. If it isn&rsquo;t, the credibility of the game is at stake.&bull; Hextall, save one swing of the stick, was as brilliant as any goalie in Cup play, be it Sawchuk, Dryden or Parent.His victory in Conn Smythe Trophy balloting was well deserved. No player, not Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier or even Grant Fuhr, played as consistently well through every round of the 1987 playoffs as Hextall.It&rsquo;s incredible to think that less than two years after the death of all-star Pelle Lindbergh, the Flyers have found a young netminder with star qualities to fill the void.&bull; Post-Cup praise of the Flyers centered on their youth and how the experience of this year would make them a force to be reckoned with in the years to come.But it&rsquo;s worth noting that their defense, a four-man unit for most of the season, is growing old.Mark Howe is 32 and Brad Marsh 29. Kjell Samuelsson, something of a playoff revelation, may only be an NHL rookie, but he&rsquo;s 30. Brad McCrimmon is 28, Doug Crossman 27.Which is why the development of J.J. Daig-neault, 21, will be closely monitored.The Flyers&rsquo; aging defense may explain why GM Bob Clarke started this season by saying that the Flyers&rsquo; future is right now.&bull; The Edmonton Oilers scored a team victory, but winger Marty McSorley scored a personal triumph.His disciplined and technically-sound play throughout the &rsquo;87 playoffs proved beyond any doubt that the lumbering winger is much more than the mere enforcer he was thought to be.&bull; Is there anything more ominous for Canadian hockey fans than the suggestion by Wayne Gretzky that he has not decided&mdash;100 per cent&mdash;whether he&rsquo;ll be playing in the Canada Cup.?He did say that he was 99 percent sure he&rsquo;d participate, but he did leave himself an out. If, by chance, he decided against competing, who could really blame him? &#9632;

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’87 Final So Good It Overshadowed Problems

<div class="byline">COMPILED BY RICHARD BEALES Editorial Staff</div>Buffalo Sabre forward Paul Cyr was hailed as a hero by police in the Dominican Republic, after he fought off attackers during an attempted robbery in Puerto Plata.Cyr, 22, suffered a gunshot wound to his side during the attack, but was expected to be recovered within two weeks of the May 20 incident.His hockey career is not in jeopardy.Cyr said that he and girlfriend Cheryl Pera were in a Puerto Plata taxi at about 9:30 p.m., on their way to watch a weightlifting competition in nearby Sosua. The cab pulled over at the site of an apparent traffic accident, where a bus had gone off the road into a field of sugar cane.The &ldquo;accident,&rdquo; in fact, was a hijacking. Two men and a woman, who had forced the bus off the road to rob its passengers, then seized the cab.Cyr, a 22-year-old native of Vancouver, said the female hijacker held a bayonet to Pera&rsquo;s throat and demanded her necklace. Cyr shoved the knife away.According to Cyr, one of the gunmen pointed an automatic pistol at him, saying, &ldquo;The woman dies.&rdquo; The Sabre winger waited for the gunman to relax his grip, then grabbed the gun. The two men wrestled in the front seat of the cab, and a shot went through the floor.Cyr scored 11 goals and 16 assists in 73 games this past season.<h2>CANADA CUP SKED</h2>The National Hockey League Players&rsquo; Association has released its tentative schedule for the six-nation Canada Cup tournament this summer:Aug. 28&mdash;Canada vs. Czechoslovakia, at Calgary, USA vs. Finland, at Hartford; Aug. 29&mdash;USSR vs. Sweden, at Calgary; Aug. 30&mdash;Canada vs. Finland, at Hamilton; Aug. 31&mdash;USSR vs. Czechoslovakia, at Calgary, USA vs. Sweden, at Hamilton; Sept. 2&mdash;Canada vs. USA, at Hamilton, Sweden vs. Czechoslovakia, at Ottawa; USSR vs. Finland, at Halifax. Sept. 4&mdash;Canada vs. Sweden, at Montreal, USA vs. USSR, at Hartford, Finland vs. Czechoslovakia, at Hamilton; Sept. 6&mdash;Canada vs. USSR, at Hamilton, USA vs. Czechoslovakia, at Ottawa; Finland vs. Sweden, at Halifax. Sept. 8&mdash;Semi-final A, at Hamilton; Sept. 9&mdash;Semi-final B, at Montreal; Sept. 11&mdash;Game one of final, at Montreal; Sept.&mdash;Game two of final, at Hamilton; Sept. 15&mdash;Game three of final, if neccesary, at Hamilton.<h2>BUBLA CHARGED</h2>Former Vancouver Canuck defenseman Jiri Bubla is being held in an Austrian prison on charges of conspiracy to traffic in heroin, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman said.Staff Sgt. Smokey Stovern said Bubla was arrested April 17 in Vienna, following an Austrian police investigation into a drug overdose in Vienna.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011279/5164717-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="558" height="759"><figcaption class="caption-body">Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; winger Paul Cyr was shot in an ambush in the Dominican Republic.</figcaption></div>A North Vancouver neighbour of Bubla&rsquo;s, fellow Czechoslovak expatriate Joe Janda, was arrested in February. Austrian authorities recovered 1.5 kilograms of heroin.Bubla&rsquo;s wife of 13 years said she knew nothing of the charges against her husband. Ivana Bubla suggested to Canadian Press that it could have been a case of mistaken identity; her husband&rsquo;s name is quite common in their native country.She said her husband, who is now in the import business, spoke to her after the alleged arrest and told her nothing of it.The 37-year-old Bubla was one of several aging Czechoslovak stars granted a release from their country&rsquo;s hockey program in the early 1980s, so they could play in the NHL.Bubla played five seasons for the Canucks, after several with the Czechoslovakian national team. He retired from the NHL in the spring of 1986, after scoring 17 goals and 101 assists on 256 NHL games.<h2>OHL BOYCOTTS NATS</h2>The Ontario League is withdrawing its support of the national junior program and will urge its two major junior Canadian Hockey League partners to do the same.At the league&rsquo;s May 28 meetings, OHL owners decided unanimously that a pullout is the last remaining way to protest the International Ice Hockey Federation&rsquo;s handling of the Jan. 4 bench-clearing incident between Canada and the Soviet Union, at the World Junior Championships in Czechoslovakia.The OHL is outraged that North Bay Centennials&rsquo; coach Bert Templeton, who served as Team Canada head coach, was suspended by IIHF president Dr. Gunther Sabetzki from all international competition for three years, without benefit of a hearing.The OHL will present its stand to the Western and Quebec Leagues at meetings during the National Hockey League draft in Detroit, June 13.Meanwhile, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and CHL announced York University Yeoman coach Dave Chambers will replace Templeton as coach of the national junior team.<h2>IS EIGHT ENOUGH?</h2>Only Boston Bruin defenseman Ray Bourque and Hartford Whaler goalie Mike Liut stand in the way of an unprecedented eighth consecutive Hart Trophy for Wayne Gretzky.The Edmonton Oiler superstar, who was recently presented with his seventh consecutive Art Ross Trophy as league scoring champion, has won the Hart as league MVP every year since he joined the NHL in the 1979-80 season.Neither of the other finalists, Bourque and Liut, has won the Hart before.Bourque is also a finalist for the James Norris Trophy as the league&rsquo;s best defenseman. His competition for that award will come from Mark Howe of the Philadelphia Flyers and Larry Murphy of the Washington Capitals.Liut, meanwhile, is one of three finalists&mdash;Ron Hextall of Philadelphia and Grant Fuhr of Edmonton&mdash;for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s top goalie.All three awards will be presented at a league banquet in Toronto, June 10. Other awards to be presented that night, and the finalists, are:Lady Byng Trophy (sportsmanship and playing ability)&mdash;Gretzky; Rick Middleton, Boston; Joe Mullen, Calgary-Calder Trophy (top rookie)&mdash;Jimmy Carson, Los Angeles; Ron Hextall, Philadelphia; Luc Robitaille, Los Angeles.Selke Trophy (top defensive forward)&mdash;Guy Carbonneau, Montreal; Bobby Gould, Washington; Dave Poulin, Philadelphia.Jack Adams Trophy (best coach)&mdash;Jacques Demers. Detroit; Jack Evans, Hartford; Dan Maloney, Winnipeg.League award winners already announced include Hartford Whaler center Doug Jarvis (Bill Masterton Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey); Gretzky; and Montreal goalies Patrick Roy and Brian Hayward (William Jennings Trophy for lowest total goals against).<h2>GERMANS, IIHF SETTLE</h2>It&rsquo;s now official&mdash;West Germany&rsquo;s protest of the reversal of two World Championship victories has proven successful.The West Germans, who demanded and got an injunction to return victories over Finland and Canada&mdash;of which the International Ice Hockey Federation had stripped them&mdash;settled out of court with the IIHF.The IIHF picked up the West Germans&rsquo; legal fees, rather than fight the eligibility case of Miroslav Sikora before the Provincial Court of Vienna. West Germany used Sikora in the two disputed victories, but was later told by the IIHF that, since Sikora had previously played for another country (Poland in 1977), he was ineligible.<h2>TIKHONOV STAYS</h2>The rumors of a major coaching change in Soviet hockey circles can be put to rest. Viktor Tikhonov will be back to coach the national squad for both the Canada Cup and the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.Soviet hockey officials said Tikhonov&mdash;whose coaching came under criticism after the heavily-favored national team won only a silver medal at the World Championships in Vienna&mdash;will assemble a roster of 28 players for dryland training at Sochi, a resort town on the Black Sea. &#9632;

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Cyr Braves Bullet Wound, Foils Heist

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011347/5164748-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="325" height="475"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jay Greenberg</figcaption></div>IT WENT TO the end. And the best team won by playing great. One could not ask any more than this from the Oilers and the Flyers. Or from a season.&ldquo;I told the team I didn&rsquo;t particularly care whether they won or lost, because I think they are a great hockey team,&rdquo; said Glen Sather, the Oiler coach-GM. &ldquo;But if they wanted to really win, they were going to have to push themselves a little harder.&rdquo;The Flyers pushed the Oilers to the limit. And Edmonton pushed back and back, until finally Ron Hextall and the Flyers went over the brink. The brilliant Flyer rookie goalie made the Oilers be dominating and they were.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re better in game seven, you deserve to win the Cup,&rdquo; said Mike Keenan, the Flyer coach.&ldquo;We did everything we could, the players gave us every ounce, absolutely everything they had. You can&rsquo;t ask for anything more. We played the best team in the world. We were second best. There just wasn&rsquo;t enough here to get by them.&rdquo;It didn&rsquo;t necessarily have to take seven games for the Oilers to prove themselves as one of the sport&rsquo;s great teams. Certainly three championships in four seasons bodes well for their place in history. It also puts what happened last year in its proper perspective as one of sport&rsquo;s greatest all-time accidents.They could have accomplished all these things in four games, or five or six. But the Oilers had to survive the crucible, which made their satisfaction all the greater.&ldquo;This was the hardest Cup we ever won,&rdquo; said Wayne Gretzky. &ldquo;We were up 3-1 with these guys and everyone is saying well, when&rsquo;s the parade, when&rsquo;s everybody partying?&ldquo;Then, all of a sudden it&rsquo;s 3-3 and we go from heroes, maybe the best team ever, one of the best teams people can ever remember watching, to maybe goats. Everybody rebounded, came back and played the game of their lives.&rdquo;The Oiler stars starred. Mark Messier, who finished off a three-on-two to tie the game 1-1, was dominating. Wayne Gretzky made a pass that only Great Ones make to set up the winning goal. Jari Kurri, who had thrown away the winning goal in game six, converted Gretzky&rsquo;s feed like only a 70-goal scorer can.Glenn Anderson finally broke Hextail down in the final three minutes. But most impressive of all was the two-shot third-period blanket the Oilers threw on a stubborn resilient Flyer team that believed to the end it was going to find a way to win.&ldquo;We were still only one goal away because of Hexy,&rdquo; said Murray Craven. &ldquo;We could have won 1-0 the way he was playing.&rdquo;The enormous hearts that brought the Flyers to within one beat of their first Stanley Cup in 12 years were now broken.They left little pieces of themselves all over Northlands Coliseum. There was no reason for them to feel shame. And absolutely no consolation for them either. They politely lined up, shook hands, and went to their locker room to bleed.They were suffering terribly when the doors opened 10 minutes later. And the media probably didn&rsquo;t see the half of it. &ldquo;I buried my head in the water for five minutes to stop crying,&rdquo; said Mark Howe. &ldquo;This is really, really hard.&rdquo;How valiant was their fight, how devastating it was for them to fall just short.&ldquo;There were probably guys here who began to believe it was destiny that we win,&rdquo; said Craven through reddened eyes. &ldquo;We overcame so many injuries and got some breaks and Ronnie played so well.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really believe in that destiny stuff. The Oilers were better than us in the seventh game and they deserved it. We have no reason to be embarrassed, we gave everything we had, but that doesn&rsquo;t make me feel any better. Not now, anyway. We were just so close. So close.&rdquo;Philadelphia&rsquo;s unwillingess to fold, the skill level it showed and the brilliant young goaltender it modeled won begrudging admiration from a legion of Flyer haters and baiters.&ldquo;They (the Oilers) have so much talent,&rdquo; said Brad Marsh. &ldquo;Two years ago when we lost to them I thought we had the better team, but they had the better superstars. I don&rsquo;t feel any differently now.&rdquo;Only worse. Two years ago, when they lost to these Oilers in five, the Flyers were younger and much more happy just to be here. This time, having handfought through the first three rounds in two less than the maximum number of games and arriving at the finals without Tim Kerr, they were underdogs again.They were better than they were two years ago. But so were the Oilers. Arguably Kerr could have made a difference in three games that were decided by two goals or less. There will be another year.But that seemed so terribly far away to a bunch of kids who next spring will have to go back into the 16-team pool and fight their way through three more tough rounds. All to requalify for another chance at what they believed they were going to be able to win this time.They really thought they were going to do it. The Flyers thought they were going to win the Stanley Cup.&ldquo;Before the game I said I thought the sun was shining on us,&rdquo; said Rick Tocchet. &ldquo;Ron Hextail was our sunshine.&ldquo;But we just ran out of gas.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Columnists

Flyers Believed They Were Going To Win

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021034/5164779-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="189" height="144"></div>EAST RUTHERFORD. N.J.&mdash;Virtually everyone in the National Hockey League expects the entry draft to open without a surprise&mdash;the Buffalo Sabres selecting Pierre Turgeon or Brendan Shanahan with their No. 1 pick, and the New Jersey Devils taking the other second.That would be the safe bet, since Central Scouting and almost every other scouting system has those two forwards rated one-two. Either would provide instant media recognition and take general managers off the hook, as opposed to selecting a lesser-known player who might flop.But the Devils are ready to pull another surprise. They are leaning toward a defenseman as their No. 1 selection, in which case they may choose to trade their pick in an 11th-hour deal that could land an established NHL player, while still guaranteeing them a shot at a top young backliner.&ldquo;Going for a top-calibre defenseman this year might not be the worst thing for us,&rdquo; said general manager Max McNab. &ldquo;After the top three guys, which includes Portland center Dave Archibald, there are four toprated defensemen.&ldquo;You can imagine what you could do with Montreal if you wanted to make a trade with Turgeon (or with Boston involving Shanahan). I&rsquo;m not saying we&rsquo;d want to move one of our first two picks, but this is the first time we&rsquo;ve given it consideration.&rdquo;The defenseman who tops New Jersey&rsquo;s list is Medicine Hat&rsquo;s Wayne McBean, who was voted most valuable player in the Memorial Cup. The Devils have hinted that the 6-foot-2, 190-pound McBean could be their man.Right behind the Tigers&rsquo; star are Glen Wesley of Portland and Chris Joseph of Seattle, both Western League all-stars. And rounding out the Devils&rsquo; list is Peterborough defenseman Luke Richardson.Wesley (6-foot-1, 190) was a member of the Canadian national junior team, but had to overcome a broken jaw this season. Joseph (6-foot-2, 200) and Richardson (6-foot-3,204 pounds) were also members of the Canadian national junior team.Of course, the Devils may get cold feet and decide to play it safe with Turgeon (Granby Bisons), Shanahan (London Knights) or even Archibald. Rather than waiting three or four seasons for a young defenseman to develop, they could have a big-name scorer in the lineup by next season.HOT STUFF&mdash;Right winger Jan Ludvig, who has spent his entire five-year NHL career with the Devils, was traded to Buffalo on May 22 for defenseman-left winger Jim Korn in a one-for-one swap. Korn (4-10-14, 51 games), a graduate of Providence College, is the first ex-Friar brought to the Devils since former school athletic director Lou Lamoriello joined New Jersey as club president. Ludvig had seven goals and nine assists in 47 games for the Devils last season&hellip; &#9632;

f0010-02

Devils’ First Pick Could Be On Trade Block

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011228/5164810-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="557" height="617"><figcaption class="caption-body">Harry Sinden says Boston didn&rsquo;t grade out as &ldquo;good enough&rdquo; at any position.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02930/5164817-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="115" height="117"></div>BOSTON&mdash;Boston Bruin general manager Harry Sinden was playing it coy&hellip;as usual.&ldquo;We think there are two players who could play in the National Hockey League next year,&rdquo; he said of the 18-year-olds who will be available in the June 13 entry draft.&ldquo;There may be more. That would have to show up at training camp. But, at the moment, if we get either one of two players he could probably play next year in Boston.&rdquo;And who are those possible Bruins of 1987-88? Sinden wouldn&rsquo;t say&mdash;but the top two players in the draft, Pierre Turgeon of Granby and Brendan Shanahan of London, are likely to wind up with Buffalo and New Jersey, respectively.That would seem to box out the Bruins, who have the third and 14th choices.As befits a team that was eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs in four straight games in the opening round, the Bruins needs are everywhere.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>The team&rsquo;s brass and scouts huddled after the season and assessed the club&rsquo;s strengths and weaknesses.&ldquo;Right wing got off the most lightly,&rdquo; said Sinden, &ldquo;but no position came out as good enough.&rdquo;The biggest need appears to be in the area of defense, which was hobbled by injury and advancing age during the 1986-87 season.Raymond Bourque and Michael Thelven, who was beset by injuries, were the solid performers.Mats Thelin may not return from Sweden for a third year. Mike Milbury (35 on June 17) is eager to coach. Reed Larson (31 on July 30) was a disappointment. Gord Kluzak may never play again. Frank Simonetti and Wade Campbell are journeymen. The kids, Allan Pedersen, Alain Cote and Gord Hynes, have a ways to go.Fortunately, the 1987 draft is loaded with defenseman. Of the first 21 players rated by the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau, no less than 11 play behind the blue line. Seven are centermen, two are left wingers and one a right winger.Ruling out Turgeon and Shanahan, the Bruins&rsquo; first choice would appear to be among the group of center Dave Archibald and defenseman Glen Wesley, both of Portland, plus rearguards Chris Joseph of Seattle and Wayne McBean of Medicine Hat. Bet on one of the defensemen.Sinden is not satisfied with the Bruins&rsquo; goaltending but he is unlikely to use the coveted third pick, obtained from Vancouver in the Barry Pederson deal, to select Jimmy Waite of Chicoutimi, the best goalie in the draft.The Bruins&rsquo; boss figures him to go somewhere around sixth or eighth and is not expected to be available when Boston makes its 14th pick.&ldquo;There is a possibility of using one of the first-round choices in a trade,&rdquo; said Sinden.The Bruins have not had notable success with their first-round draft choices over the past seven years, not since they picked Bourque eighth in 1979.Last year&rsquo;s selection, Craig Janney, is still in college. The previous year&rsquo;s pick went to Los Angeles for Charlie Simmer. Dave Pasin (1984) has not been able to skate in the NHL. Nevin Markwart (1983) is a journeyman winger.&ldquo;We lost three picks in a row (Kluzak, Normand Leveille and Pederson) all with serious injuries,&rdquo; said Sinden. &ldquo;But we understand that those things should not be considered. The public deserves winners, whether or not you lose your whole team in an accident or whatever.&rdquo;The prognosis on Kluzak is not good. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee for the fourth time, on May 29, in an effort to locate the seat of the pain that has kept him from skating.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very tough individual mentally,&rdquo; said Sinden, &ldquo;to have to go through something like this. I wouldn&rsquo;t say he&rsquo;s panicked but I think he&rsquo;s pessimistic. We&rsquo;ll just have to wait and see what summer brings.&rdquo;WHAT&rsquo;S BRUIN&mdash;Harry Sinden is coming to the conclusion that the alarming number of injuries the Bruins have suffered in the past four years may be the fault of the rink they play in. &ldquo;A number of players who have come here from other teams tell me the incidences of contact goes up dramatically when you play in Boston Garden,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There may very well be something to the fact that we play 40 games in this rink. I&rsquo;ve never really conceded that before.&rdquo; The Garden is 191 feet by 83 feet. The standard size is 200 by 85. &#9632;

f0011-01

Bruins Quietly Hope For One Of Top Two

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011320/5164848-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="335" height="445"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Fischler</figcaption></div>Now that the champagne has warmed over&hellip;&bull; Please, let&rsquo;s hold off on the &ldquo;Oilers-are-a-dynasty&rdquo; talk for at least two years. A true dynastic NHL club wins three or more Stanley Cups in a row. The Oilers have two big ones to go.&bull; I&rsquo;m surprised nobody talked up Kevin Lowe for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. He was the best defenseman from beginning to end, and he also scored two of the most important goals&mdash;both shorthanded&mdash;in the finals. He also hit the hardest and never lost his cool.&bull; No objections, though, to Ron Hextall winning the Smythe.&bull; The Flyers looked as though they quit in the third period of the seventh game, as Edmonton gave a wonderful demonstration of how &ldquo;the best defense is an overpowering offense.&rdquo;&bull; Frankly, I expected Tim Kerr to play in game seven.&bull; If the Flyers, as had been reported, didn&rsquo;t like Mike Keenan, it sure didn&rsquo;t show in the playoffs.&bull; How come, if Dave Brown was an &ldquo;offensive asset&rdquo; in game six, he got no ice time in game seven? Was Keenan saving him for an eighth game, or the Canada Cup?&bull; There isn&rsquo;t a Flyer who can honestly say that the best team didn&rsquo;t win the Stanley Cup.&bull; Reijo Ruotsalainen, who likes to play a season in Europe and the playoffs in the NHL, doesn&rsquo;t deserve to be on a Cup-winner.&bull; For the sake of lyrical, artistic and often beautiful hockey, it is good for the NHL that the gifted Oilers won the Cup. But the fact that the Flyers went to a seventh game virtually assures a continuation of goony, law-breaking bullytype hockey for years to come.&bull; I&rsquo;m happy for Steve Smith.&bull; The Cup road was surprisingly smooth for the Oilers. Consider they played two clubs who finished below. 500 (L.A. and Detroit). And they faced no fewer than three rookie goalies (Pokey Reddick, Dan Berthiaume and Hex-tall). But that&rsquo;s not Edmonton&rsquo;s fault.&bull; Philly&rsquo;s Bullies came off against Kevin McClelland, Marty McSorley and Lowe like a bunch of wimps.&bull; The Oilers are the best-passing team, on the fly, of all time. Montreal&rsquo;s Flying Frenchmen of the early 1930&rsquo;s, the Bruins of the late &rsquo;30s and the super Gordie Howe Wings could pass like fiends, but Gretzky & Co. collectively move a good 25 per cent faster than any of the early teams.&bull; Most Agonizing Unanswered Question of Spring: Would we be toasting Edmonton today had the Oilers met the Flames in round one or two?&bull; The most important factor separating the 1987 Oilers and Edmonton&rsquo;s 1984 and 1985 champs is maturity. The current club has a significantly higher overall I.Q. than the others.&bull; If it&rsquo;s possible to feel sorry for an Oiler, my pick is Andy Moog.&bull; He ain&rsquo;t Mister Popularity, but Glen Sather sure knows what he&rsquo;s doing. I wonder whether any of his hats will fit him at the end of the summer.&bull; Does Brian O&rsquo;Neill realize how ridiculous he looked when&mdash;as league warden&mdash;he levied those phony fines ($24,500) for brawls like the Canadien-Flyer fiasco?&bull; Put Greg Stefan on the Canadiens and the Habs would have been in the finals.&bull; If the Canadiens had Hextall in goal, they could have taken the Oilers in six.&bull; Bad Taste I: O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s mealy-mouthed failure to support Kerry Fraser after the ref&rsquo;s courageous and correct call in the MontrealQuebec series was about as sickening as any episode in the playoffs.&bull; When there are disputes over officiating, who should we really listen to&mdash;John McCauley or Jim Gregory? (If there isn&rsquo;t a power struggle in that bureau, there sure should be.)&bull; Gerard Gallant and Bob Probert won a lot of points with me for their play against Edmonton.&bull; If Red Wing forwards do a better job of finishing off plays in the offensive zone&mdash;and don&rsquo;t get any worse in their own and the neutral zones&mdash;they will top the Norris Division next year.&bull; Most people I talk to believe that Flyer coach Keenan bears ultimate responsibility for triggering the Montreal-Philadelphia pre-game brawl that has done more to damage the NHL&rsquo;s image than any other event this year.&bull; I wonder whether Flyer fans realize which Bob was responsible for Rick Tocchet, Peter Zezel, Pelle Eklund and Derrick Smith playing in Philly. No, not Bob Clarke. It&rsquo;s Bob McCammon (Remember, he of the anti-Smurf campaign).&bull; There&rsquo;s one, and only one, way to stop Wayne Gretzky, and that&rsquo;s the way the Red Wings did it: hit him whenever he exhales. It&rsquo;s very possible, as Jacques Demers demonstrated, yet the Flyers treated him like St. Francis of Assisi.&bull; Just for the sake of solidarity, it would have shown some class if refs like Andy van Hellemond, Denis Morel, Dave Newell and Terry Gregson had joined forces and publicly denounced the dumping of Fraser from officiating the final two rounds.&bull; The absolutely dumbest unwritten law in hockey is the one where attackers refuse to ram roaming goalies, even when they are fair game for bodychecks&mdash;which is whenever they&rsquo;re out of their creases.&bull; Isn&rsquo;t it ironic how a remarkably cool and intelligent young man (off the ice) like Ed Hospodar can perpetrate so stupid a move as battering Claude Lemieux in pre-game practice?&bull; Now that he&rsquo;s about to retire, it&rsquo;s painful to think that Chico Resch&rsquo;s last &ldquo;meaningful&rdquo; act as a player was his tossing a goalie stick at Lemieux, helping to detonate a 15-minute free-for-all.&bull; Lanny McDonald should do himself&mdash;and the Flames&mdash;a favor and retire.&bull; I&rsquo;m getting tired of waiting for Dave King to demonstrate that he can coach in the NHL. He must have one helluva press agent, considering all the ink he gets and how little he accomplishes. &#9632;

f0012-01

Gettino Lowedown On Cup Showdown

<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/f0012-021104/5164879-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="127" height="113"></div>BLOOMINGTON, Minn.&mdash;A certain simplicity follows those teams which don&rsquo;t make the National Hockey League playoffs. Take the Minnesota North Stars, for example.After their late-season collapse, general manager Lou Nanne knows one thing&mdash;the Stars can use help at just about every position. Picking fourth overall in the entry draft, that leaves the Stars with a handful of options.Do they select a big center? They could use one of those. The only question is whether the three best centers&mdash;Pierre Turgeon, Brendan Shanahan and Dave Archibald&mdash;will be gobbled up one-two-three. Do they select a defenseman? They could use one of those, too&mdash;and Nanne is betting at least one of his top two candidates, Portland&rsquo;s Glen Wesley or Medicine Hat&rsquo;s Wayne McBean, will be available. Or do they select a goalie? Nanne is starting to think they also need one of those, and Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Jimmy Waite is just waiting to become the goaltender selected highest ever in the draft.Waite is the guy who has Nanne most confused. Just how good is he? How good can he become? How badly do the Stars, with the up-and-down Don Beaupre and the developing Kari Takko, need a goaltender? Is the need really important enough to use the fourth pick?&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the toughest question,&rdquo; Nanne said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easier to compare skaters with other skaters. It&rsquo;s hard to judge how much of an impact a guy like Waite could have.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s especially difficult for Nanne because he considers Waite in the same class as Edmonton&rsquo;s Grant Fuhr, who was the eighth pick overall in 1981. Nanne sees the impact Fuhr has made and can&rsquo;t help but wonder if Waite might be able to do the same. But another consideration is the fact that Waite was benched late during the Quebec League playoffs.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s 17,&rdquo; Nanne said, &ldquo;but he&rsquo;s already played so damned much hockey that being benched really isn&rsquo;t going to hurt him in the draft. He&rsquo;s already shown he&rsquo;s going to be an excellent goaltender. But we have to take other things into consideration. You look at Donnie&rsquo;s record and you see that he has been able to bounce back after he hasn&rsquo;t played particularly well.&rdquo;A more likely choice would be a defenseman. The Stars already have a slew of young defensemen in Frantisek Musil, Jari Gronstrand, Chris Pryor and Bob Rouse, but Nanne said he wouldn&rsquo;t hesitate to throw another youngster in there. The Stars like Glen Wesley, a 6-foot-1, 190-pounder, but McBean and Seattle&rsquo;s Chris Joseph also have to be considered. Either Wesley or McBean probably could step in and play for the Stars next season. All three are offensive defenseman, a breed for which Nanne constantly searches.&ldquo;Wesley handles the puck better, but McBean has such great speed,&rdquo; Nanne said. &ldquo;He may be the best skater in the draft. We like them both.&rdquo;Nanne also likes Shanahan and Archibald&mdash;but, Nanne said, chances are Buffalo will take Turgeon No. 1 and New Jersey will snap up Shanahan. If Boston then takes Archibald, Nanne would be looking at a defenseman or Waite.STARDUST&mdash;Wayne Thomas, who coached Salt Lake City to the International League championship, was interviewed May 26 and 27 by Lou Nanne and coach Herb Brooks tor the Stars&rsquo; assistant coaching position. Thomas, who would work mainly with the Stars&rsquo; goaltenders, is Brooks&rsquo; No. 1 choice, but Nanne said Thomas also probably would talk to Chicago because he is a friend of newly-appointed coach Bob Murdoch&hellip;Nanne is expected to make a pitch for goalie Bob Mason, a free agent without compensation. Mason reportedly came close to signing with Washington, but in late May he said the two sides were far apart. He became a free agent on June 1. Not only is Mason, a native of International Falls, Minn., searching for a team, he&rsquo;s also searching for an agent. His agent, Boston attorney Brian Burke, recently accepted a front-office job with Vancouver. &#9632;</div>

f0012-02

Fourth Draft Spot Opens Up Stars’ Options

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK AND MIKE PERRICONE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011246/5164910-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">To the surprise of everybody associated with Bob Johnson, The Badger has left coaching for an administrative job with AHAUS.</figcaption></div>Two down, and apparently three to go.Calgary Flames quickly filled the vacancy behind their bench, when Bob Johnson left unexpectedly. Chicago Blackhawks did the same soon after.But new coaches of the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers had yet to be announced. The Vancouver Canucks, too, seemed certain to make a change although coach Tom Watt has another year to run on his contract.In the middle of all that was firmed up before Edmonton won its third Stanley Cup in four years were the Flames.Johnson&rsquo;s departure, to take over as executive director of the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States, led to National Hockey League coach-in-waiting Terry Crisp&rsquo;s elevation from the American League.He was chosen over, among others, assistant coach Bob Murdoch, who then left the Calgary organization to become head coach of the Blackhawks.It was however, an old coach, not the two new coaches, who commanded most of the attention. Johnson shocked the hockey community with his move from the NHL to AHAUS on May 20.Johnson gave up the final two years of his Flames&rsquo; contract, believed to be worth $200,000 (U.S.) per year, to accept a position that could be his for up to 15 years.The 56-year-old Johnson described the opportunity as a &ldquo;chance in a lifetime.&rdquo; Although not ready to stop coaching at this precise moment of his career, Johnson was aware that the AHAUS job would not necessarily be open if he delayed his decision.&ldquo;There comes a time in every athlete&rsquo;s career when you have to call it quits,&rdquo; said Johnson, who owns a condominium near the AHAUS Colorado Springs, Col., offices. &ldquo;Usually in this business, you&rsquo;re forced out. Seldom is the decision voluntary. After spending my life as a career coach, it&rsquo;s time to make a career change.&rdquo;In Johnson&rsquo;s five years behind the bench, the Flames established franchise records in almost every department: wins, road wins, points, goals scored. His 193-155-50 record makes him the winningest coach in franchise history. He also led the Flames to their best-ever playoff performance in 1986, when they upset Edmonton Oilers in the Smythe Division final and made it to the Stanley Cup final before losing to Montreal Canadiens.Johnson said he would make his farewell to coaching in the Canada Cup, where he will guide Team USA in August and September.General manager Cliff Fletcher said Johnson first raised the subject of leaving on May 8.&ldquo;He did a hell of a job for us, but now he&rsquo;ll be the major domo of hockey in the U.S.,&rdquo; said Fletcher. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a job he can do five minutes from home and it&rsquo;s a job he can keep until he&rsquo;s 70 years of age.&rdquo;Unlike some teams, Fletcher wasted little time naming Johnson&rsquo;s replacement, appointing Terry Crisp to the position May 22.Crisp spent two years in Moncton, coaching the Flames&rsquo; No. 1 minor-league affiliate, the Golden Flames. When he joined the organization in 1985, it was with a view to eventually replacing Johnson behind the Flames&rsquo; bench.When it looked as if Johnson could be there for years to come, Crisp began exploring other NHL possibilities and had been interviewed for at least two head coaching positions. Then Fletcher became aware that Johnson could be leaving and tipped off Crisp.He began his coaching career in 1977 as an assistant to Fred Shero in Philadelphia. Then he moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., for six years, leading the Greyhounds to three OHL championships and winning the OHL coach-of-the-year award twice.In Chicago, shortly after Bob Murdoch was named coach of the Blackhawks, he began looking for help.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve talked to three individuals about the possibility of becoming an assistant coach,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve received permission from general manager Bob Pulford to bring in one or two.&rdquo;Murdoch would not comment on his choices, except to say that Hawk captain Darryl Sutter would be &ldquo;an excellent choice&rdquo; if available. He did say that Roger Neilson, the Hawks&rsquo; co-coach. was not in his plans at present.Murdoch, 40, is the Hawks&rsquo; fifth head coach in the past 10 years. Terms of the agreement were not announced, but reliable sources indicated the contract was for two years, plus an option for a third, at $125,000 per year.Murdoch&rsquo;s association with Pulford goes back to 1973-74 in Los Angeles, when Pulford was the Kings&rsquo; coach and Murdoch arrived from Montreal to play defense. Murdoch&rsquo;s toughest challenge might be to avoid the appearance of being Pulford&rsquo;s stand-in.&ldquo;I think people are going to find me quite different than Bob Pulford,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &ldquo;For one thing, I think I communicate better. I know I show emotion more, though Pulford does show anger. I&rsquo;ve tried to learn from some of his strengths, but I certainly don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s the end-all.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-01

Career Coach Begins New Career

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI AND TONY GALLAGHER</div>The search spanned more than six weeks, but the Pittsburgh Penguins finally appeared to have settled on a replacement for fired coach Bob Berry.All they needed was for Sherbrooke Canadiens&rsquo; coach Pierre Creamer, the last of eight candidates to be interviewed by vice president Paul Martha and general manager Eddie Johnston, to decide he&rsquo;s interested in the job.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to try to sit back and see exactly what I should do next year,&rdquo; Creamer said.The Penguins&rsquo; timetable&mdash;revised numerous times throughout the spring&mdash;was to name a coach before the June 13 entry draft, although a decision during the first week of the month was possible.If Creamer elects to stay with the Montreal organization, for whom he has worked the past three seasons, the Penguins are expected to go after Muskegon Lumberjacks&rsquo; coach Rick Ley.Ley, also being considered in Vancouver and New York, was interviewed by Martha and Johnston while they were in Muskegon to announce the Lumberjacks will replace Baltimore as the Penguins&rsquo; top minor-league affiliate.The Penguins renewed&mdash;or at least, accelerated&mdash;their search several, weeks ago, when Terry Crisp signed to replace Bob Johnson as coach of the Calgary Flames.Crisp was the first coach interviewed for the Penguins&rsquo; job and was rated the early frontrunner.Creamer said his reluctance to make an immediate commitment to the Penguins was due largely to personal considerations, such as whether he wanted to uproot his family from its francophone roots.The Penguins&rsquo; interest in Creamer is rooted in his success in developing young players for the Canadiens.Johnston said the Penguins did not offer Creamer a contract during his interview, but acknowledged discussing possible terms. He said, however, that was done with several other candidates.Meanwhile, the only thing new Vancouver president Pat Quinn had admitted about persistent Ley rumors was that his former teammate was a candidate to be coach of the Canucks.&ldquo;Tom Watt (the incumbent) is also a candidate,&rdquo; said Quinn, &ldquo;and there are several other people I want to talk with, to make sure we get the right man for the job here.Quinn has held what he termed &ldquo;informal chats&rdquo; with Ley and Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; director of player development Bob McCammon, just to name a couple. But he said he had not discussed the coaching job with either.Ley&rsquo;s International League record includes three straight appearances in the IHL championship series.Watt, who has one year left on his contract to coach the Canucks, might be offered the opportunity to stay on as assistant general manager, a title which he presently holds. After Quinn&rsquo;s critical statements of his coaching last month, chances of his returning behind the bench seem minimal.In New York, the top choices were believed to be Ley, Gene Ubriaco of the Baltimore Skipjacks, Calgary Flame assistant coach Pierre Page. Denver University coach Ralph Backstrom, and University of North Dakota athletic director Gino Gasparini.Page received strong backing from Rangers&rsquo; scouting director Jack Ferreira, who worked with Page in Calgary. Ley was also given a high rating because of his defensive background and the number of youthful backliners on the Rangers.Gasparini was considered the top choice but he apparently demanded a contract of more than two years, which Ranger GM Phil Esposito is not willing to offer.Esposito said he didn&rsquo;t expect to name a coach until after the entry draft. &#9632;

Creamer Could Just Rise To The Top

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>The National Hockey League&rsquo;s new PR veep. Jack Falla, scored a major coup, planting an upbeat Business Week magazine piece on how prexy John Ziegler &ldquo;saved&rdquo; the NHL. Ziegler notes that the 1986-87 campaign will be the most financially rewarding the league has had, topping last year&rsquo;s profit of more than $12 million. How significant is that? &ldquo;From 1975 to 1983,&rdquo; says Ziegler, &ldquo;the NHL accumulated losses in excess of $75 million.&rdquo; Business Week adds, &ldquo;The man chiefly responsible for hockey&rsquo;s new affluence is Ziegler.&rdquo;&hellip;Peter Pocklington&rsquo;s decision to have his Oilers sell stock in itself to the public made a dent on Wall Street and on Manhattan&rsquo;s business pages. One business page item suggested: &ldquo;Islander and Ranger fans, you may soon be able to buy Wayne Gretzky for your team. Or at least for your portfolio.&rdquo;Montreal sources report that Hab GM-Serge Savard was so disgusted with the Flyers-Canadiens series that he told friends drastic changes must be made in the NHL. Savard reportedly is suggesting that a hockey commissionership (above Ziegler) be created with full powers to oversee the game&hellip;Two GMs say they foresaw the threat of a pre-game brawl like the Canadien-Flyer fiasco that has blemished the NHL&rsquo;s rep. John Ferguson tells BLUELINES that he broached the problem with league veep Brian O&rsquo; Neill. Likewise, Phil Esposito tells BLUELINES that he warned NHL prexy John Ziegler about hostile pre-game behavior by the Flyers early in the playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011297/5164972-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="336" height="539"><figcaption class="caption-body">Serge Savard</figcaption></div>A few major corporate entities are probing the possible purchase of the Rangers as well as the sister NBA Knicks from the Gulf & Western conglomerate. G&W has put all interested parties on temporary &ldquo;hold&rdquo; pending completion of final plans to move Madison Square Garden to a new location on the Hudson River&hellip;Canadiens are expected to unload Stephane Richer and Chris Nilan, who have shared space in coach Jean Perron&rsquo;s doghouse&hellip;More and more NHL fighters are coming to realize the dangers of punching helmets and visors. Both the Rangers&rsquo; George McPhee and Nilan of Montreal played with badly-hurt hands this year, a result of helmet-knocking&hellip;Flyer immortal Bernie Parent will be featured in a larger-than-life-sized portrait in the NHL&rsquo;s new Fifth Avenue offices. Parent wears a Rendez-vous &rsquo;87 sweater.Supposedly-secret blueprints of the new Boston Garden have been viewed by a select few Bruin types, although plans for the new arena won&rsquo;t be formally announced for at least a month. One viewer tells BLUELINES: &ldquo;The inside of the building will be designed like the Spectrum, while the outside will look like the Hartford Civic Center and feature a shopping mall and stores.&rdquo;&hellip;Patricia Pederson, wife of the Canucks&rsquo; Barry Pederson, is one of the best female marathon runners in British Columbia. Her big race this year was the Vancouver International Marathon during which she suffered guilt pangs. At the same time she was running, her hubby was facing-off against Sweden at the World Championships in Vienna. &ldquo;I would have liked to have been with Barry,&rdquo; she admits, &ldquo;but I had been training all year for the marathon. Besides, Barry thought I should go for it.&rdquo;&hellip;Candid Jim Kyte on his role with the Jets: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t instigate fights; I neutralize the instigators!&rdquo;Blackhawk insiders would not be surprised if Al Secord or Doug Wilson, both former &ldquo;untouchables,&rdquo; are dealt by GM Bob Pulford. The Hawks are interested in a variety of potentially-available types, including Tom Barrasso to shore up the goaltending, Phil Housley on defense, plus forwards Gaetan Duchesne and Petri Skriko&hellip;North Stars are eyeing University of Minnesota forward Dave Snuggerud in the collegiate supplemental draft&hellip;The Caps&rsquo; Greg Adams is not impressed with the Rangers&rsquo; acquisition of Marcel Dionne. &ldquo;Two years down the road they&rsquo;ll be lucky to get 50 points out of Dionne,&rdquo; Adams told a pal.Jacques Demers denies there is&mdash;or was&mdash;a power struggle between himself and GM Jimmy Devellano for the Red Wings&rsquo; throne. &ldquo;I had been apprehensive when I came to Detroit,&rdquo; Demers tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;but Jimmy D has been a great boss. When I asked him to get me a player like Mel Bridgman, he went out and got him.&rdquo; Demers insists he&rsquo;s been vocal in support of Jimmy D. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said that he deserves credit for building this team.&rdquo;&hellip;An Adams Division coach lost points with some of his players after sending his trainer out to get sets of pantyhose which, then, were hung in the lockers at the close of the season&hellip;ESPN confirms that its playoffs ratings slipped up to 25 percent from the 1986 playoffs to the 1987 series. &ldquo;I have no explanation why it happened,&rdquo; says an ESPN spokesman. ESPN&rsquo;s three-year contract with the NHL runs out at the end of next season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021017/5164965-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="339" height="483"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Secord</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0014-01

Ziegler Applauded For NHL Prosperity

<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/f0014-03714/5165003-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="129" height="118"></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;This just might be one of the truly cruel ironies of the 1987 entry draft.While many teams go into the draft seeking only that most vague and elusive commodity, the best athlete available, the Pittsburgh Penguins know precisely what they want in the first round.Scan the goal production by their right wingers last season&mdash;Dan Frawley was the most prolific, with 14&mdash;and it&rsquo;s not hard to see the area of their most pressing need.The problem is, while the Penguins are absolutely sure about what they want, they are equally certain they won&rsquo;t be able to get it.&ldquo;The only one there now is (Brendan) Shanahan&mdash;we think he&rsquo;d be a hell of a right wing&mdash;but I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;ll be there for us,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;But there&rsquo;s no question that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;d love to get.&rdquo;Shanahan is expected to be taken among the first few picks of the draft; the Penguins have the fifth choice.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">The Penguins plan to draft a goalie in the first two rounds.</blockquote>Johnston said the Penguins have talked to a &ldquo;couple of teams&rdquo; about the possibility of trading up for a higher selection, but it is highly unlikely they will complete a deal.Throughout much of the regular season, the Penguins were enamored of Chicoutimi goalie Jimmy Waite, whom they figured to take in the first round if he were still available when it was their choice.Waite struggled and was benched during the Quebec League playoffs, however, prompting the Penguins to consider the myriad virtues of three defensemen from the Western League.While Johnston would not rule out the possibility of taking Waite, the Penguins are likely to end up with Glen Wesley (Portland), Chris Joseph (Seattle) or Wayne McBean (Medicine Hat).&ldquo;We&rsquo;d like any one of those big guys, any one of them,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;All of them are big and mobile, they all move the puck exceptionally well coming out of their own end &ldquo;The Penguins are believed to be leaning toward McBean, although his superb showing in leading Medicine Hat to the Memorial Cup championship might cost them a chance to draft him.All three defenseman are imposing specimens&mdash;Wesley is 6-foot-1, 190 pounds; Joseph 6-foot-2, 195 and McBean 6-foot-2, 196.The Penguins&rsquo; pick in the first round will have an impact on their philosophy in the second.Unless Waite is added to the DeBartolo Corp, payroll in the early going, the Penguins figure to use their No. 2 choice on a goalie.&ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t take Waite there, we&rsquo;re definitely going to take a goaltender in the second round if any of three guys we like are there,&rdquo; Johnston said.He declined to identify the three candidates, but they apparently are Jeff Hackett (Oshawa), Rick Tabaracci (Cornwall) and Mark Fitzpatrick (Medicine Hat).While the Penguins&rsquo; goaltending seems reasonably sound&mdash;Steve Guenette, Gilles Meloche and Pat Riggin will be back next season&mdash;it is conceivable a goalie taken in the second round could make the Penguins&rsquo; roster next season.Providing, of course, he can demonstrate something of a scoring touch from the right side.PENPOINTS&mdash;The Penguins, who earlier had cut their five-year-old ties to Baltimore Skipjacks of the American League, shifted their primary farm team to Muskegon of the International League&hellip;The Penguins were ecstatic when Team Canada defenseman Zarley Zalapski. their No. 1 draft pick last year, was named a finalist for the THN-Labatt&rsquo;s International Player-of-the-Year award. &ldquo;We know now we made the right choice,&rdquo; Eddie Johnston said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to get a heck of a hockey player.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-03

Penguins Need A Winger, But The Pickings Are Slim

<div class="byline">BY BOB MCKENZIE Editor-In-Chief</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011218/5165034-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"></div>Rest assured that the 1987 National Hockey League entry draft will be like no other before it.Yes, the event on June 13, at Detroit&rsquo;s Joe Louis Arena, is being held in the United States for the first time.But no, that is not the real reason why this year&rsquo;s proceedings will differ so vastly from those of the past.New drafting rules and eligibility requirements&mdash;implemented as part of last summer&rsquo;s NHL collective bargaining agreement&mdash;are the true factors.Simply, this is a draft year in which all is not as it seems.For example, it is likely that the number of the U.S.&rsquo;high school players drafted this year will be at least double the number drafted in previous years.Yet it is a bad year, in terms of quality, for U.S. high school players.Fewer major junior players from the Western, Ontario and Quebec Leagues will be taken this year than at any time in the past.Yet it is an excellent year for quality major junior players.Confused?You&rsquo;re not alone as the hockey community comes to grips with the new draft legislation that.For the first three rounds of this year&rsquo;s draft, nothing of note has been altered. As long as a player has turned 18 as of Sept. 15, 1987 or is 19 or 20 at any time during the calendar year 1987, he is eligible to be taken.But as soon as the 63rd overall pick is made, the new eligibility requirements take effect.In rounds four through 12, a player is only eligible if he meets one of the following conditions:&bull; He has played three seasons of major junior.&bull; He has played three seasons of U.S. high school or its equivalent.&bull; He has played one season of college or university.&bull; He has played two seasons of Elite or Division One in Europe.In effect, there are two drafts this year.&ldquo;As soon as that 63rd pick is made,&rdquo; says Washington Capital director of player personnel and recruitment Jack Button, &ldquo;you can put that ratings list aside and forget about it until next year. You can&rsquo;t get at the 64th-best player because he&rsquo;s no longer eligible. Then you pick up another list and start working from it.&rdquo;New York Ranger director of player personnel Jack Ferreira says few major junior players will qualify in the second portion of the draft, so the teams will lean heavily to U.S. high schoolers and collegians.Only one player&mdash;University of Michigan winger Bryan Deasley, rated 21st&mdash;on the NHL&rsquo;s final Central Scouting Bureau rankings list played outside the Western, Ontario and Quebec Leagues.It&rsquo;s conceivable that all 21 picks in the first round could be from major junior and, with the exception of North Bay Centennial defenseman Adam Burt, a native of Detroit, they are all likely to be Canadians.It is not a good year for Europeans. In fact, Winnipeg Jet assistant GM and director of scouting Mike Smith said it&rsquo;s possible no Europeans will be taken in the first three rounds.Burt appears to be the only American assured of going in the first round, though at least six or seven may go in the second.As far as drafting by position is concerned, 11 of CSB&rsquo;s top 20 are defenseman. CSB ranks goaltenders separately. Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Jimmy Waite is clearly the No. 1 puckstopper available and he&rsquo;s expected to go in the first round.Granby Bison center Pierre Turgeon is considered a lock for first selection, which is held by the Buffalo Sabres. London Knight center Brendan Shanahan is conceded by most to be the second-best player available, but the New Jersey Devils remain non-commital on who they&rsquo;ll select. Boston Bruins, by virtue of last summer&rsquo;s trade with the Vancouver Canucks, own Vancouver&rsquo;s pick, third overall.Order of selection is determined by inverse order of regular-season finish, with nonplayoff teams getting a priority spot. The order, assuming no deals are made, is as follows: 1. Buffalo 2. New Jersey 3. Boston (from Vancouver) 4. Minnesota 5. Pittsburgh 6. Los Angeles 7. Toronto 8. Chicago 9. Quebec 10. New York Rangers 11. Detroit 12. St. Louis 13. New York Islanders 14. Boston 15. Washington 16. Winnipeg 17. Montreal 18. Hartford 19. Calgary 20. Philadelphia 21. Edmonton. &#9632;

f0015-01

A Draft Like No Other

Perhaps the best thing that can be said about the National Hockey League&rsquo;s supplemental draft of North American college-university players is that it serves its purpose.Which is to stamp out, as much as possible, the college free agent.Otherwise, the second annual supplemental draft doesn&rsquo;t generate much excitement or anticipation, at least not compared to the NHL entry draft.Both will be held June 13 at Detroit&rsquo;s Joe Louis Arena.The supplemental draft, introduced last summer as part of the new NHL collective bargaining agreement, will immediately follow the 12-round, 252-player entry draft.&ldquo;There is no real clear-cut guy who is expected to go No. 1,&rdquo; says Hartford Whaler U.S. scout Dave McNab. &ldquo;Not like last year when everyone knew Ian Kidd (of the University of North Dakota) was regarded as the best player available.&rdquo;As it turned out, though, Kidd wasn&rsquo;t available. He didn&rsquo;t meet the criteria for selection, but the Detroit Red Wings, picking first overall, drafted him.They had to forfeit the pick, which didn&rsquo;t do anything to add lustre to the supplemental draft proceedings. It didn&rsquo;t hurt Kidd, however, who went on to be an all-America selection and is now in the enviable position of being a sought-after free agent.This year, the Buffalo Sabres, by virtue of their last-place finish overall, will pick first. Supplemental draft regulations call for the nonplayoff teams (Buffalo, New Jersey, Vancouver, Minnesota and Pittsburgh) to make two selections each (in that order) before the remaining 16 teams select once, in inverse order of regular-season finish. Therefore, if all teams make a selection&mdash;the Philadelphia Flyers passed last year&mdash;a total of 26 players will be taken.A random poll of NHL scouts suggests University of Minnesota left winger Dave Snugger-ud and Ohio State right winger Jeff Madill are possible No. 1 candidates.Snuggerud, 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, was voted the Golden Gophers&rsquo; most valuable player (30 goals and 29 assists in 39 games) and is a good candidate to make the 1988 U.S. Olympic team.Madill, son of former NHL referee Greg Madill, is 6-feet, 190 pounds and was a top offensive threat for the Buckeyes. He had 38 goals and 32 assists in 43 games last season.To be eligible for the supplemental draft, a North American college or university player must never have been drafted by an NHL team, never played professional hockey, be 21 or older during the calendar year 1987 and have played one of his college/university seasons when he was 18, 19 or 20 years old. &#9632;

Colleaians Up For Grabs

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011095/5165089-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chicoutimi netminder Jimmy Waite is expected to go in thefirst round despite a poor Quebec League playoff performance.</figcaption></div>It&rsquo;s just too close to call. There is so little&rsquo; to choose between so many of the 1987 National Hockey League entry draft candidates that it would be folly to fearlessly forecast an order of selection.Instead, we present to you the first-round candidates, as rated by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau. We&rsquo;ll list them in the order CSB ranks them, and then tell you just how high we expect them to go.Our opinions are based on a random survey of NHL team scouts and the order in which clubs will be selecting.CSB&rsquo;s rankings, along with the players&rsquo; regular-season statistics (games played, goals, assists, points and penalty minutes), are as follows;<h2>1. PIERRE TURGEON (58-69-85-154-8)</h2>The 6-foot-3, 203-pound Granby Bison center is clearly the most gifted offensive player available. He&rsquo;s prone to lazy spells, but then so is Mario Lemieux. Buffalo is expected to take him No. I overall.<h2>2. BRENDAN SHANAHAN (56-39-53-92-128)</h2>While Turgeon takes nights off, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound London Knight center-right winger has an outstanding work ethic and isn&rsquo;t without skill either. But he&rsquo;s not flashy. Strictly a power player. He&rsquo;ll likely go either No. 2 to New Jersey or No. 3 to Boston.<h2>3. DAVE ARCHIBALD (65-50-57-107-40)</h2>A gifted offensive center, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Portland Winter Hawk center is certainly among the top half-dozen players available. But a premium on defensemen may drop him lower than No. 3.<h2>4. GLEN WESLEY (63-16-46-62-72)</h2>Solid all-around Portland Winter Hawk defenseman, the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder may be headed for the Minnesota North Stars. Good offensive skills, a power-play quarterback with good shot.<h2>5. CHRIS JOSEPH (67-13-45-58-155)</h2>Almost a full year younger than other toprated defenseman, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Seattle Thunderbird defenseman is an outstanding skater who is being projected as an offensive dynamo. He&rsquo;ll be the third defenseman picked, after McBean and Wesley.<h2>6. WAYNE McBEAN (71-12-41-53-163)</h2>CSB missed the boat on this ranking. The 6-foot-2, 196-pound Medicine Hat Tiger rearguard is considered by some scouts to be Turgeon&rsquo;s closest rival for the No. 1 spot. Another outstanding skater, he&rsquo;s expected to go to New Jersey or Boston.<h2>7. BRYAN FOGARTY (56-20-50-70-46)</h2>As far as defensemen are concerned, the 6-foot-1, 194-pound Kingston Canadian&rsquo;s offensive abilities are second to none. At this point, though, defensive play, toughness and discipline, on and off the ice, aren&rsquo;t his strong suits. A difficult read. Could go as high as No. 5 or 6 or drop to bottom half of first round.<h2>8. LUKE RICHARDSON (59-13-32-45-70)</h2>Scouts drool over the physical tools of 6-foot-4, 203-pound Peterborough Pete defenseman. Toronto, picking seventh, is said to be his likely destination. Scouts would like to see him make better use of his size and wonder about his hockey sense.<h2>9. JODY HULL (49-18-34-52-22)</h2>The 6-foot-2, 198-pound Peterborough right winger attained his high rating not so much on his performance&mdash;described as mediocre&mdash;but on his enormous potential. Possesses size and skills to be successful, but complacency may hurt him. Still secure as a mid-first round cho&rsquo;ce.<h2>10. JOE SAKI (72-60-73-133-31)</h2>Described by one scout as this year&rsquo;s Adam Graves (22nd overall a year ago to Detroit from Windsor Spitfires), the 5-foot-10, 160-pound center is gifted offensively but on the small side. The Graves&rsquo; reference means he&rsquo;s a highly-rated player who could slide a long way, anywhere from No. 10 into the second round.<h2>11. STEPHANE QUINTAL (67-13-41-54-178)</h2>The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Granby defenseman is big and tough and mobile. It would surprise no one if he went in the top 10 and considering Quebec is picking ninth overall, the Nordiques may be in his future.<h2>12. ADAM BUR (57-4-27-31-138)</h2>The only American rated by CSB in the first round, the 6-foot-2, 192-pound North Bay Centennial defenseman is strictly the stay-at-home variety. Could land anywhere between No. 10 and 21.<h2>13. DARREN RUMBLE (64-11-32-43-44)</h2>The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Kitchener Ranger defenseman is an offensive defenseman with good skills. It&rsquo;s possible his CSB rating is accurate, but watch for him to drop into the bottom quarter of the first round, maybe 19th or so, to Calgary&rsquo;s pick.<h2>14. PETER SOBERLAK (68-33-42-75-45)</h2>The 6-foot-2, 175-pound left winger had his stock shoot up significantly over the course of the season. No. 14 may be too high. Some scouts believe he was the benefactor of playing on Sakic&rsquo;s line and one suggested he&rsquo;ll drop, perhaps as far as the second.<h2>15. ROB MURPHY (70-35-54-89-86)</h2>Another late bloomer, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Laval Titan center emerged as a solid first-round prospect and could go higher than No. 15. It&rsquo;s said the power center won&rsquo;t drop past No. 18, where the Hartford Whalers have eyes for him.<h2>16. GORD KRUPPKE (49-2-10-12-129)</h2>A ruptured spleen kept the 6-foot-1, 206-pound Prince Albert Raider defenseman on the shelf for half the season. His forte is toughness, a quality in high demand these days. Fair ranking.<h2>17. KEITH OSBORNE (61-34-55-89-31)</h2>The 6-foot-I, 173-pound North Bay right winger made big strides in the same fashion as Soberlak and Murphy. A hard-working, goodskating prospect with reasonable offensive abilities, he could and probably will go higher than his CSB ranking.<h2>18. JEFF BALLANTYNE (55-2-13-15-75)</h2>The 6-foot-2, 188-pound Ottawa defenseman is a prospect who earns neither rave reviews nor stinging criticism. Steady, reliable but not flashy, the 67&rsquo;s rearguard is expected to be on the borderline between the first and second rounds.<h2>19. JOHN MclNTYRE (47-8-22-30-95)</h2>A leg injury kept the 6-foot-1, 175-pound center-left winger of the Guelph Platers out of the second half of the season. He isn&rsquo;t expected to be a first-round pick, although whispers had the St. Louis Blues, 12th overall, interested in him. Outstanding character, he&rsquo;s likely to make an excellent second-round pick.<h2>20. BRYAN MARCHMENT (52-6-38-44-238)</h2>The best open-ice bodychecker available in the draft, the 6-foot-1, 195-pound Belleville Bull defenseman is slated to go higher than No. 20. Could sneak into the top 10 but likely to go in the middle of the round. Toughness, again, is the attraction, though Marchment must learn to control an outrageous temper. Detroit bound? A possibility.<h2>21. BRYAN DEASLEY (38-13-11-24-74)</h2>The only college player rated in CSB&rsquo;s first round, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound left winger is considered a good grinder with passable offensive skills. A late first-round prospect who might slip to the second.CSB ranks goaltenders separately, and Chicoutimi Sagueneen Jimmy Waite is a clear-cut No. 1. The 6-foot, 163-pound Quebec League rookie is so talented that he is expected to be a first-round pick. And a high one at that.Waite, who has an unorthodox style and relies heavily on cat-like reflexes, struggled early in the playoffs and was benched for the remainder, but scouts still predict he&rsquo;ll go in the top 10.Pittsburgh and Chicago are listed as likely destinations.The second-ranked netminder, Mark Fitzpatrick of the Medicine Hat Tigers, is highly-regarded but is more likely to be a high second-round pick. The 6-foot-1, 195-pounder is a stand-up netminder who relies on good positioning.Other players, not ranked in CSB&rsquo;s first round, who may crack the top 21, include: Ottawa 67&rsquo;s 6-foot, 161-pound center Andrew Cassels; New Westminster Bruins&rsquo; 6-foot-2, 190-pound defenseman Jayson More; Medicine Hat&rsquo;s 6-foot-1, 190-pound defenseman Dean Chynoweth; Granby&rsquo;s 6-foot-1, 183-pound defenseman Eric Desjardins; Bellows (St. Alban&rsquo;s, Vt.) Free Academy&rsquo;s 6-foot-1, 190-pound left winger John LeClair (of St. Alban&rsquo;s, Vt.) and a longshot&mdash;St. Michael&rsquo;s (Toronto) High School&rsquo;s 6-foot-4, 225-pound right winger Jeff Harding. &#9632;

f0016-01

A Rough Draft [To Predict]

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN Associate Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01965/5165120-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don&rsquo;t expect NHL teams to be scared off center Dave Archibald because past Portland players have not met raised expectations. (Photo by Jim Kelly)</figcaption></div>Beware of Portland Winter Hawks.Over the years, that warning could have been posted at National Hockey League entry drafts.No other major junior team has such a curious record of producing star graduates who, amidst great expectations, become good, but not great, professionals.Of 25 Portland players drafted in the first and second rounds between 1977 and 1984, only one has emerged as a dominant player. Another could develop into one.But right winger Cam Neely, a regularseason revelation and playoff sensation for the Boston Bruins, and defenseman Brian Benning, the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; first-rate rookie, are the exceptions.Few others have come close to realizing the enormous potential they flashed in the Western League. It is a circumstance that has perplexed both NHL scouts and Portland officials.Why have so few former Winter Hawks become exceptional pros?&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t deny that we&rsquo;ve asked that question ourselves,&rdquo; says one NHL executive, who leads his team at the draft table.He is well aware of the relatively minimal impact Gary Nylund, Ken Yaremchuk, Jim Benning, Dave Babych, Perry Turnbull, Keith Brown and Wayne Babych&mdash;all top-10 selections from Portland&mdash;have made over their NHL careers.What he may not be aware is that the malaise extends to the second round. Only three&mdash;Brian Benning, Brian Curran and Richard Kromm&mdash;of the 13 picked between 1977 and 1984 are playing in the NHL.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of baffling,&rdquo; admits Portland general manager Brian Shaw. &ldquo;Look at the juniors we&rsquo;ve put out of here and there hasn&rsquo;t been one (with the exception of Neely) who has come close to doing what he did in junior.&rdquo;For example:&bull; Alfie Turcotte, Memorial Cup MVP in 1983, was drafted 17th overall by Montreal that year. The center couldn&rsquo;t crack the Canadiens&rsquo; lineup, was traded to Edmonton and has since returned to the Habs.&bull; Nylund, third overall choice in 1982, was hampered by knee injuries in Toronto before leaving for Chicago as a free agent with compensation. The defenseman has been slow to develop.&bull; Yaremchuk, one of the players Toronto obtained in return for Nylund, was the seventh choice in 1982. The center&rsquo;s single-season NHL high of 34 points pales beside the 160 he collected in his final junior year.&bull; Jim Playfair, 20th choice in 1982, has played just two games on the blue line for Edmonton in three years.&bull; Benning, No. 6 in 1981, was a disappointment in Toronto before being dealt to Vancouver. The rearguard had 139 points in his final junior season and has topped out at 51 in the NHL.&bull; Dave Babych, chosen second by Winnipeg in 1980, was traded to Hartford after he didn&rsquo;t become a franchise defenseman, as was expected.&bull; Turnbull, second only to Rob Ramage in 1979, had three 30-goal seasons with St. Louis, but the left winger has been a bust in Montreal and Winnipeg.&bull; Brown, picked seventh in 1979, one choice ahead of fellow &ldquo;defenseman Ray Bourque, has never scored, note than 43 points after picking up 96 in his final junior year.&bull; Wayne Babych, No. 3 in 1978, had a 50-goal year with St. Louis, but the right winger has since been traded three times.Shaw, justifiably proud of his organization, is at a loss to explain why his players have not fared better in the NHL.&ldquo;Is there something missing (here)?&rdquo; he asks. &ldquo;We just can&rsquo;t understand it&hellip;We think we&rsquo;ve prepared the players properly, but something has gone wrong between Portland and the NHL.&rdquo;The majority owner, who moved the franchise from Edmonton, praises his longtime coach, Ken Hodge, with getting the most out of the Winter Hawks.&ldquo;These kids play tremendous hockey for us,&rdquo; says Shaw. &ldquo;But if somebody else can&rsquo;t get it out of them, it&rsquo;s not our problem.&rdquo;Shaw has earned a reputation for working hard on behalf of his players, maybe too hard&mdash;sometimes raising his players&rsquo; profiles (and expectations) unrealistically high. But scouts are big boys, and it&rsquo;s them, not Shaw, who ultimately influence drafting.Portland, with its 9,910-seat Memorial Coliseum, is the luxury model of major junior hockey. No-frills hockey, it isn&rsquo;t.Three times, the Winter Hawks chartered flights to playoff games this year, before losing in the WHL finals to the Memorial Cupchampion Medicine Hat Tigers. At the end of the year, team members and staff were flown to Barbados for an eight-day vacation.You can afford to do that when your average attendance is 6,947&mdash;which is not only best in the WHL, but higher than that of any team in either the International or American Leagues.As one scout notes, &ldquo;Winter Hawk players think they&rsquo;re going to the minors when they go to the NHL.&rdquo;Part of the Portland package is the uncommon protectiveness and discipline of Shaw and Hodge. Players aren&rsquo;t allowed to have girlfriends. They aren&rsquo;t permitted radios on the team bus. And each player has a telephone installed in his room. It is a hotline intended mainly for curfew checks. Only the Winter Hawks&rsquo; management knows the players&rsquo; phone numbers. In other words, the only incoming calls are those from the team.&ldquo;If we phone and that phone is busy, there&rsquo;s hell to pay,&rdquo; says Shaw.Whether the perks and pains to which Portland goes to care and protect its players ultimately hurt them is a source of speculation.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard stories and suggestions that players coming out of Portland have trouble adjusting to environments less restrictive,&rdquo; adds an agent.&ldquo;Maybe in junior, you&rsquo;ve got to pay certain dues that the guys in Portland don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; says an NHL GM.Or maybe, as the GM says, scouts are victims of Portland&rsquo;s charms&mdash;spending a disproportionate amount of time in the city because it&rsquo;s a big-league city in a junior league.&ldquo;People like to go to Portland,&rdquo; says one scout. &ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s why they&rsquo;re overrated. (But) I don&rsquo;t know why the ones who are really good don&rsquo;t tum out.&rdquo;One WHL coach thinks that NHL scouts get false readings on Winter Hawks because they&rsquo;re viewed mostly at home. Portland has traditionally fashioned much better home than road records.&ldquo;Until this year,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;they&rsquo;ve had really high-skilled teams that played well at home but not on the road&hellip;If a kid&rsquo;s got a faint heart, it won&rsquo;t show up at home.&rdquo;All of which doesn&rsquo;t mean NHL teams have learned to shy away from Portland products. None of those interviewed say they would let history influence their future decisions.Center Dave Archibald and defenseman Glen Wesley, for instance, are both ranked among the top five prospects eligible for this year&rsquo;s draft.Don&rsquo;t expect the early selectors to lay off them.As one scout says, voicing a widely-held opinion, &ldquo;If we could get Archibald or Wesley, we wouldn&rsquo;t hesitate to pick them.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0017-01

Portland’s Past Puzzles NHLers

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Steve Dryden</div>For years, hockey people have said fewer Portland Winter Hawk grads make exceptional pros than those produced in other traditional major junior proving grounds.It&rsquo;s become a matter of hockey dogma, in fact.Well, we wanted some evidence. So, we asked THN statistician Murray Townsend to look into the NHL production and longevity of major junior players drafted between 1977&mdash;the first draft involving the Winter Hawks&mdash;and 1984&mdash;the last draft from which you could reasonably expect players to have already made an impact.Townsend decided to use goals and points as measuring sticks for forwards and longevity, for defenseman (and forwards). What he discovered bears out the long-held feeling about the Winter Hawks. Here are some of his findings:&#9633; Portland&rsquo;s 25 first- and second-rounders represent nine more than runner-up Kitchener (nine firsts and seven seconds), in the eightyear period from 1977 to 1984. The Winter Hawks led all teams with 60 players drafted overall, two better than Peterborough&rsquo;s 58.&#9633; The six Portland forwards drafted in the first round have averaged 47 points per 80 NHL games, through the 1986-87 season. That&rsquo;s 16 points below the average of 63 earned by the 96 forwards, who have been drafted from the major junior ranks and have played in the NHL. The Western League average of 50 is lower than both the Quebec (79) and Ontario (59). WHL second-rounders are also lowest, at 37, compared to the OHL (50) and QMJHL (40). Portland&rsquo;s second-round average is 33.&#9633; Four of five Oshawa first- and second-round forwards have scored 25 goals in a season at least once. Five of nine Kitchener grads and three of six Brandon alumni have done the same. Only three of 15 Portland forwards have done so.&#9633; Ten of the 12 Portland first-rounders, both defensemen and forward, played last year&mdash;an indication that 83 per cent of them have proved to be of lasting value. Kitchener, with nine of nine, Oshawa (six of six), Peterborough (four of four), Victoria (four of four), Ottawa (seven of eight) and Lethbridge (six of seven) have better percentages.&#9633; Only three of Portland&rsquo;s 13 second-rounders (23 per cent) played last year. Just Lethbridge and Medicine Hat, both with one of five still playing, and Peterborough, none of seven, had lower percentages than the Winter Hawks. Toronto was tops with four of five (80 per cent). &#9632;

Giving Perspective To Draft

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01995/5165175-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="379" height="406"><figcaption class="caption-body">Frank Orr</figcaption></div>THE STANLEY CUP final was one the National Hockey League needed&mdash;a tight, exciting, seven-game confrontation that took the game to splendid heights, and within an hour of June.Edmonton Oilers, all speed and skill and stars, did it when they had to over Philadelphia Flyers, all toilers and full of guts and pluck.Much of the hockey in the seven games was superb. The tempo, ferocity and tension of the series was as high as it gets.&ldquo;It was just very, very competitive,&rdquo; said Flyer defenseman Brad Marsh, an outstanding figure in the playoffs.&ldquo;Both teams were very much involved in the series, which is how it should be,&rdquo; said Flyer captain Dave Poulin. &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s how it was for us in all our series this spring. We played 26 games in 53 days, something that doesn&rsquo;t allow you to lift your head and breathe easy. But, really, that&rsquo;s how it should be.&rdquo;While the hockey was excellent entertainment, it ranks among the dirtiest series ever played. Sure, it didn&rsquo;t have much fighting or play-stoppage posturing by the trouble-causers.What it had was about as many stick fouls as any seven games ever played. Few exchanges didn&rsquo;t contain a cheap shot, most delivered with maximum sneakiness.Both sides were guilty of the garbage and if the referees had called every punishable offense, there would have been no series.The final also had Ron Hextall and serious controversy about referees, a subject that&rsquo;s become much too prominent in the game.Hextall is the wonderful young goalie of the Flyers, who (a) won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable performer in the playoffs and (b) stirred up almost as much mud as the referees.Hextall has battled an assortment of opponents this season and he continued that in the playoffs. The one that heated things up for him came in the fourth game of the final.The Oilers&rsquo; Glenn Anderson, no innocent himself, skated past the net after Hextall stopped a shot and gave the young goalie a routine swat with his stick.Hextall thought it more than routine and when he took his big club in both hands, it was obvious the first Oiler into his area would be made to pay. That happened to be Nilsson and Hextall scythed him with a mighty swing.Luckily for Nilsson, the goal stick struck him on the back of the leg and a bruise was the only wound.Hextall was handed a major penalty, a sentence many felt was laughable, figuring that it should have been a match sentence. Although Flyer coach Mike Keenan claimed that Hex-tall&rsquo;s act was &ldquo;uncalled for,&rdquo; Hextall himself never wavered in his outlook that what he did was no worse than Anderson&rsquo;s slash.The young goalie demonstrated the major attribute of the great goalie&mdash;the ability to shut the door on the opposition at critical points in a hockey game.The Oilers had one-, three-, and two two-goal leads, each of them situations when additional goals would have been Flyer-killers. But it seems Hextall simply said that they weren&rsquo;t going to get them&mdash;and they didn&rsquo;t. The Flyers built three comeback victories on those saves.Because there were so many fouls in the final, the referees (Don Koharski, Dave Newell. Andy van Hellemond) were in a heavy pressure-cooker, faced with as tough assignments as any zebras in history. Considering the fact that the task was impossible, they took a pretty good shot at it, anyway.The showdown seventh game was everything that such a match should be. The Oilers finally outplayed the Flyers but because of Hextall. the outcome was in doubt until late in third period.That game gave the Oilers the chance to show their defensive ability, determination and skill and the Flyers their grit.Good stuff! &#9632;

f0018-01

In The End, Speed, Skill And Stars Won Out

<div class="byline">BY CON GRIWKOWSKY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02747/5165206-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="562" height="906"><figcaption class="caption-body">Glen Sather, above, likes what little he has seen of defector Ivan Matulik.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03536/5165213-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="116" height="115"></div>EDMONTON&mdash;Barry Fraser&rsquo;s perplexing departure to Europe in the middle of the Stanley Cup final seemed somewhat uncharacteristic.With the National Hockey League draft coming up June 13 and the entire Edmonton scouting staff hanging around the Coliseum, people briefly wondered what Fraser was up to.But only briefly, because there was such heavy concentration on what was happening on the ice.At what was tabbed a major news conference the day before Edmonton won its third Stanley Cup in four years, the Oilers&rsquo; chief scout and director of player personnel finally came clean.It was announced Fraser had been in Europe to sign winger Ivan Matulik, an 18-year-old Czechoslovakian defector.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great bonus for us to get a player like this,&rdquo; said Oilers&rsquo; coachgeneral manager Glen Sather. &ldquo;For a team that&rsquo;s going to pick last in the first round, we&rsquo;re obviously very happy.&rdquo;</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Matulik. 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds, first caught the eye of Oiler scouts at the annual Viking tournament in Camrose, a city 40 miles south-east of Edmonton.Matulik was there in January, 1986 with the Czechoslovak under-17 team.Impressed with his abilities, the Oilers drafted him seventh, in last summer&rsquo;s annual player lottery.Fraser may agree with Sather&rsquo;s assessment that Matulik will turn out to be a better player than the Oilers can get June 11. but he was noncommital.&ldquo;I certainly don&rsquo;t want to put any undue pressure on him,&rdquo; Fraser said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s enough pressure on him personally.&rdquo;On May 30, the member of Czechoslovakia&rsquo;s silver-medal entry at the World Junior Championships skated with the Oilers for the first time.One day later, he watched them win the Stanley Cup.All the globe-trotting and intrigue has kept Fraser busy.&ldquo;We really haven&rsquo;t had time to sit down together and decide what we&rsquo;re going to do (at the draft),&rdquo; said Fraser.Not that it seems to matter to the Oilers. Because of their traditionally low drafting position, the Oilers have lately built their supporting cast through trades and free-agent signings.In recent years, Sather has replenished his roster by wheeling and dealing, rather than depending heavily on the draft.Craig MacTavish, Marty McSorley, Craig Muni, Kent Nilsson and Reijo Ruotsalainen all appeared on other team&rsquo;s draft lists before their names appeared on the Stanley Cup for the first time. &#9632;

f0018-02

Oilers Snare Young Czechoslvakian Defector

<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/f0018-04357/5165244-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="118" height="111"></div>CHICAGO&mdash;After another year with one of the worst defensive records in the National Hockey League, there is no doubt that the Chicago Blackhawks are looking for a defenseman in the first round of the entry draft.And there are some good, big defensemen available this year.Of course, like several other NHL clubs, the Hawks will be interested if Chicoutimi goaltender Jimmy Waite is still available when their turn comes up eighth overall.But they expect Waite to be gone by then, and are focusing on a defenseman as their first-round pick.&ldquo;We think it will be one of four guys,&rdquo; said Hawks&rsquo; scouting director Jack Davison.The Hawks are playing their draft choices close to the vest, but they expect three or four defenseman to be taken in a row during their segment of the first round.There are indications they expect their choice to come from among Peterborough&rsquo;s Luke Richardson (6-foot-4, 203 pounds), Belleville&rsquo;s Bryan Marchment (6-foot-1, 195), Seattle&rsquo;s Chris Joseph (6-foot-2, 195) and Kingston&rsquo;s Bryan Fogarty (6-foot-1, 194).The Hawks like to load up on first-round draft choices on defense. They have more of them than virtually any other NHL club: Doug Wilson (1977); Behn Wilson (1978 by Philadelphia); Keith Brown (1979); Gary Nylund (1982 by Toronto) and Dave Manson (1985).But the Hawks are getting long in the tooth on defense.Doug Wilson will be 30 before next season begins, as will Jack O&rsquo;Callahan. Bob Murray will be 33 in November. Behn Wilson will be 29 in December, and missed all of last season with a back ailment. Keith Brown is 27. Only Manson (20), Nylund (23) and Marc Bergevin (22) are under 25 years old.The Hawks figure it&rsquo;s time to stockpile some talent on the blue line, and this is the year to do it.But the focus in Detroit will be whether the Hawks begin to make the changes promised by general manager Bob Pulford and president William Wirtz after their latest playoff disaster.Wirtz has said the Hawks will rid themselves of players who wilted in the 1986 playoffs against Toronto and the 1987 playoffs against Detroit. Pulford has said the Hawks must acquire a goaltender.The Hawks have shown interest in Buffalo&rsquo;s Tom Barrasso. They have made inquiries about Edmonton goaltender Andy Moog, who will be a free agent with compensation. They are sure to be interested in Washington&rsquo;s Bob Mason, who will be a free agent without compensation.Yet, with the introduction of Bob Murdoch as their new coach, the Hawks seemed to be reverting to their old line that &ldquo;the talent is there.&rdquo; At Murdoch&rsquo;s press conference, Pulford said the Hawks might make only one or two changes.And Murdoch tread cautiously, saying it was inadvisable to talk about making &ldquo;wholesale changes.&rdquo;&ldquo;The team has talent,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &ldquo;Two years ago they were one of the top teams in the league.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0018-04

Chicago’s Most Pressing Need Clearly Back Of The Blue Line

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02689/5165275-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="555" height="778"><figcaption class="caption-body">Luke Richardson is one of the defensemen New York watched closely this year.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01926/5165282-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="116" height="118"></div>NEW YORK&mdash;As he approached his first draft as director of player personnel for the New York Rangers, Jack Ferreira said he would stick with the old axiom of taking the best player available&hellip;as long as that player is a defenseman.&ldquo;We would really like a defenseman in the first round,&rdquo; Ferreira admitted. &ldquo;We have five or six names that we like in the No. 10 spot and they are ail defensemen.&rdquo;The refreshingly-candid Ferreira, one of the few Phil Esposito acquistions that wasn&rsquo;t second-guessed last season, has been more open about his intentions than most executives in similar positions.&ldquo;I guess what I&rsquo;m saying is that we&rsquo;re going to take the highest-rated player on our list who is available&hellip;but our list is kind of weighted toward defensemen.&rdquo;With an aging defense corps which includes Ron Greschner (32), Pat Price (32), Willie Huber(29) and Larry Melnyk (27), it is not surprising that Ferreira and Esposito want to add some youth and quickness.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>They do not, however, expect the 18-year-old player they select in the first round on June 13 in Detroit to jump into the Ranger lineup next right away.&ldquo;From what our scouts have said in the meetings so far,&rdquo; Esposito noted, &ldquo;only Pierre Turgeon seems to be ready to play right away&mdash;and we&rsquo;re going to be about nine picks too late to get him.&ldquo;Anything can happen but. in all probability, we&rsquo;ll be sending our first-rounder back to his junior team for at least one more year.&rdquo;Not surprisingly, neither Ferreira nor Esposito was willing to name the defensemen they are hoping will be around by the middle of the first round.Ferreira, however, has not denied he has seen a lot of Kingston&rsquo;s Bryan Fogarty, Peterborough&rsquo;s Luke Richardson, North Bay&rsquo;s Adam Burt and Granby&rsquo;s Stephane Quintal.After the first round, the Rangers have a basic game plan.&ldquo;In the second round,&rdquo; Ferreira revealed, &ldquo;we&rsquo;ll go for the best player&mdash;and then, in the third, we&rsquo;re probably going to go for a specialist kind of a player. We&rsquo;re looking for somebody who could maybe add a dimension to our club that hasn&rsquo;t been there&hellip;a power-play specialist, or perhaps a tougher-than-average player or a goalie.&rdquo;BIG APPLESAUCE&mdash;Jack Ferreira predicted center Steve Nemeth, a late Ranger pick in &rsquo;85, will be reinstated on the Canadian national team. Nemeth, then on loan to the Canadian national team, was one of the players suspended after the brawl with the Soviet Union at the World Junior Championships in Czechoslovakia. Ferreira believes Nemeth has NHL-level skills right now&hellip;1985 first-rounder Ulf Dahlen signed a three-year contract with an option year which will reportedly climb to $400,000 per&hellip;Phil Esposito&rsquo;s search for a coach hit some major stumbling blocks. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not even close,&rdquo; he admitted on May 21. &ldquo;I probably won&rsquo;t have one by the draft.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0019-02

Rangers Scouting Defensemen For Round 1

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div>A vignette from a game during the 1972-73 season says a lot about two gentlemen&mdash;Bobby Clarke of Philadelphia and Jacques Laperriere of Montreal&mdash;headed for the Hockey Hall of Fame.The game was at the Montreal Forum, and the Flyers, rapidly climbing to respectability, would upset Les Canadiens 7-6. The score was tied at six, with fewer than four minutes remaining when Clarke made his move.He stole the puck from defenseman Bob Murdoch and moved in on goalie Ken Dryden. Suddenly. Laperriere made a desperate lunge, forcing Clarke to turn away from the net.Seemingly smothered by Laperriere, Clarke somehow found the bouncing puck and sliced a shot past all-star goalie Ken Dryden. It not only signalled a three-goal night, but cemented the Flyers&rsquo; win.&ldquo;Not many guys tried harder than Clarkie,&rdquo; recalls Murdoch, now coach of the Chicago Blackhawks. &ldquo;He had as much intensity as any player I ever faced.&ldquo;What made the play so difficult was that he had to do it while covered by a great one like Laperriere. And they&rsquo;re both deserving Hall of Famers.&rdquo;So did the voters who covered the careers of Clarke, 38, Laperriere, 46, and Ed Giacomin, 48. Those three will be inducted into the Hall, June 15 at Detroit&rsquo;s Renaissance Center.Clarke was the quintessential tenacious digger and leader; Laperriere, the cerebral defenseman who efficiently tended his zone, but also could execute deft offensive plays.&ldquo;Eddie Giacomin was a bit different,&rdquo; recalls Hartford Whaler president Emile (The Cat) Francis, who signed the goaltender to his first NHL contract, with the New York Rangers.&ldquo;There wasn&rsquo;t a goaltender around who could stickhandle the puck like Giacomin or feed passes to his forwards. He was unique for his time&mdash;the goalie who set the style for people like Ron Hextall today.&rdquo;When Giacomin became a Ranger in 1965, the New York papers referred to him as &ldquo;Goalie-A-Go-Go&rdquo; and he immediately captured the fancy of Big Apple fandom. The love affair lasted until 1975, when Giacomin was dealt to the Detroit Red Wings in a deal that almost left Francis smothered by riotous fans.Despite his fine record, which scanned a 13-year NHL career, Giac jmin never played for a Stanley Cap winner. By contrast, Clarke spearheaded the Flyers to their first swig of champagne in 1974 and then another in 1975, both under coach Fred Shero.&ldquo;Clarke would make opponents mad,&rdquo; recalls Shero, &ldquo;because he was like a leech&mdash;check, check, check. He was the ultimate competitor. He&rsquo;d fight everybody for the puck&mdash;and beat &rsquo;em.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01784/5165344-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="556" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Philadelphia Flyer great Bobby Clarke is remembered best for his tenaciousness.</figcaption></div>Clarke broke in with the Flyers in 1969 and concluded his career 15 years later, when he retired to become Philadelphia&rsquo;s GM. His legacy includes three Hart Trophies as the league&rsquo;s most valuable player.Facing the Flyers in the Wales Conference finals this year was Laperriere, who worked behind the Canadiens&rsquo; bench as the Habs&rsquo; assistant coach.Throughout a 12-year NHL career, Laperriere was overshadowed from time to time, but still won the Calder Trophy (top rookie) in 1964 and Norris Trophy (best defenseman) in 1966. He was named to the first all-star team in 1965 and 1966.Laperriere played on Montreal&rsquo;s Stanley Cup-winners in the years 1965. 1966. 1968. 1969, 1971 and 1973.Laperriere&rsquo;s size (6-foot-2, 190 pounds) enabled him to use the poke check to great advantage, and he played a hard-but-clean game. A leg injury during the 1972-73 season set him back and, although he played part of the 1973-74 campaign, the leg still bothered him and he was unable to start the 1974-75 season. He retired in July, 1975 to become coach of a junior team.An assistant coaching job was Giacomin&rsquo;s lot with the Rangers last season, after a series of front-office disappointments following his retirement in 1977.But Eddie had long ago learned to weather disappointment. He was buried in the American League, seemingly overlooked when Francis dealt goalie Marcel Paille, forwards Jim Mikol and Don McGregor, and defenseman Aldo Guidolin for the unproven goalie.After a shaky start with the Broadway Blueshirts, the agile goalie got his act together and became renowned for his puck-stopping and puck-handling.Giacomin won the Vezina Trophy (along with back-up Gilles Villemure) in 1971 and was named to the first all-star team in 1967 and 1971.The builders&rsquo; section of the Hall of Fame will welcome a couple of new members&mdash;NHL president John Ziegler and former NHL linseman Matt Pavelich, both 53.Pavelich, who is now a supervisor of NHL officials, was one of the league&rsquo;s most efficient&mdash;and popular&mdash;linesmen. From the start of his career in 1956 to its conclusion in 1979, Pavelich handled 1,727 regular-season NHL games, 245 playoff matches and 11 All-Star Games.Ziegler succeeded Campbell as NHL president in 1977. One of Ziegler&rsquo;s greatest achievements was his leadership role in the NHL&rsquo;s partial merger with the World Hockey Association in March, 1979.Ziegler not only ended the sevenyear war on the NHL&rsquo;s terms but also orchestrated the absorption of the WHA&rsquo;s Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hartford and Quebec franchises into the NHL. Since then, the league has climbed closer than ever to achieving parity and has turned some of the biggest fiscal profits in its history. &#9632;

f0020-01

Hall Opens Doors To Three Stars

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01584/5165375-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="383" height="419"></div>Two Boston-based hockey media veterans are among the Hockey Hall of Fame&rsquo;s five newest media inductees.Fran Rosa, who started in newspapers as a copy boy at the Boston Globe in 1938 and worked his way up to sports editor (1967-69), is a full-time beat writer and columnist covering the Bruins.Bob Wilson, the radio play-by-play announcer of Bruins games for 21 years, will be enshrined in the broadcast section of the Hall.Toronto Star journalist Rex MacLeod, a 42-year veteran of Ontario newspapers, spent many years covering the Maple Leafs for the Toronto Globe and Mail.New York-based Ben Olan, a former Associated Press hockey editorfeature writer (1954-67), played a major role in introducing complete game summaries to the media. Today, Olan writes for AP and freelances for magazines.Bill Brennan wrote for the Toronto Globe and Mail and the Windsor Star before becoming a fixture at the Detroit News. Brennan, who retired in 1985, covered the Red Wings for nearly 30 years.All five will be inducted during ceremonies in Detroit, June 15. &#9632;

f0021-01

Media Men In Spotlight

As the 80-game, barnstorming season came to a close for Canada&rsquo;s national team, several positive signs emerged.The team weathered constant personnel changes&mdash;only six players participated in 70 or more games&mdash;to post a fine 4926-5 record.A big reason for the team&rsquo;s success was disciplined defense. Team Canada allowed only 249 goals, or an average of just over three per game.Two of the team&rsquo;s mainstays in its own zone were defenseman Zarley Zalapski and goaltender Sean Burke. They are this year&rsquo;s finalists for THE HOCKEY NEWS-Labatt&rsquo;s International Personality of the Year Award, to be presented June 18 in Toronto.Coach Dave King was lavish in his praise of the two finalists.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re two very fine hockey players,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;These guys are a good example to younger players that there is a good, alternate method of development {to staying in junior or graduating to minor pro).&rdquo;One of King&rsquo;s biggest problems has been convincing players to stay with the team for the long haul, and play for Canada in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Zalapski, a first-round selection (fourth overall) by Pittsburgh in the 1986 National Hockey League entry draft, and Burke, a second choice (24th overall) of New Jersey in 1985, have both committed themselves to the program.For Zalapski, a 19-year-old native of Leduc, Alta., 1986-87 was his second year with the national team. Offensively talented, he has also shown strong defensive ability. He scored 11 goals and 29 assists for 40 points in 74 games this year, for a two-season total of 13-33-46 in 106 games.Zalapski was named top defenseman at the prestigious Izvestia tournament in Moscow.King said he&rsquo;s seen an improvement in Zalapski&rsquo;s play since the defenseman joined the team last year, from the Tier II junior Fort Saskatchewan (Alta.) Traders.&ldquo;Zarley, we think, in his year and a half with the program, has developed very well,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;He has a good attitude and he works hard. He&rsquo;s benefitting now from his investment (in Team Canada).&rdquo;Burke, a 20-year-old from Windsor, Ont., returned to the Toronto Marlboros for a year after being drafted, then decided to join Team Canada.Burke and Rick Kosti have given Team Canada a solid one-two punch in net. Though Kosti posted the superior goals-against average (2.94 to Burke&rsquo;s 3.05), Burke turned in a slightly-better save percentage (.906 to. 901).In his first year as a national team member, Burke won 27 and tied two of his 42 decisions.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just a great goalkeeper,&rdquo; King enthused. &ldquo;Sean Burke and Rick Kosti were big parts of our success. He (Burke) has a great work ethic and is a very coachable goalie.&rdquo;Burke and Zalapski, King added, were &ldquo;almost models for our program.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re both very levelheaded kids, pretty much in control of what they&rsquo;re doing.&rdquo; &#9632;

Zalapski, Burke Up For International Award

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02459/5165430-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="547" height="913"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Kings aren&rsquo;t likely to get a shot at Wayne McBean, who has impressed them.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01654/5165437-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="163" height="116"></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; first off-season concern was solved when Mike Murphy signed a two-year contract as head coach.Now, Murphy and the rest of the Kings have turned their attention to the second concern: Which defensemen will be available in the first round when it comes time for them to pick?&ldquo;Last year, with only one team ahead of us, it wasn&rsquo;t so difficult,&rdquo; general manager Rogie Vachon said. &ldquo;Trying to figure out what the other clubs are going to do now is more or less a guessing game.&rdquo;The Kings selected Jimmy Carson with the second overall pick in 1986 and the 18-year-old center was an immediate hit, collecting 37 goals and 79 points. Those achievements would have been club records for a rookie if Luc Robitaille hadn&rsquo;t produced 45 goals and 84 points.Picking sixth overall this time, the Kings figure to get a quality player, though he probably won&rsquo;t have such an immediate impact.The Kings like Portland center Dave Archibald and Peterborough right winger Jody Hull, yet figure to go for one of four defensemen.They are most impressed with Medicine Hat&rsquo;s Wayne McBean, MVP of the Memorial Cup tournament, but he won&rsquo;t be around.That leaves Portland&rsquo;s Glen Wesley (6-foot-1, 190 pounds), Seattle&rsquo;s Chris Joseph (6-foot-2, 195), Kingston&rsquo;s Bryan Fogarty (6-foot-1, 194) and Peterborough&rsquo;s Luke Richardson (6-foot-4, 203). They&rsquo;re rated fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth, respectively, by the Central Scouting Bureau.&ldquo;When you pick sixth, you&rsquo;ve got to go with the best player available,&rdquo; Vachon said. &ldquo;There are a lot of defensemen available in the top six. In fact, eight of the top 13 players on Central Scouting&rsquo;s list are defensemen.&ldquo;All these guys are pretty talented. They all have good hands,&rdquo; Vachon said, comparing them to Steve Duchesne, who scored 13 goals as a rookie last year for the Kings. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re mobile and they can shoot.&rdquo;No defensive types?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very tough to get a big bruiser with good hands,&rdquo; Vachon said.Vachon said he realizes the Kings can&rsquo;t afford to make a mistake because they&rsquo;re picking so high.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s always pressure,&rdquo; he said.&rdquo; If a team picking 21 st gets a guy who doesn&rsquo;t pan out, everyone says, &lsquo;Well, what did you expect?&rsquo; But you expect a high first-rounder to make it.&ldquo;In general, we&rsquo;re pretty satisfied with the people we&rsquo;ve drafted so far.&rdquo;Since taking over as GM in 1984, Vachon&rsquo;s first-round choices have been defenseman Craig Redmond, wingers Craig Duncanson and Dan Gratton, and Carson.Redmond has been somewhat of a disappointment, though he&rsquo;s also had physical problems. Duncanson is expected to make the team in the fall, but Gratton has had some maturing to do.&ldquo;A couple of guys have to answer the bell this year,&rdquo; Vachon said. &ldquo;Danny (Gratton) has made a lot of progress. There&rsquo;s never been any question about his talent. He&rsquo;s starting to grow up. I saw him at the Memorial Cup and he has changed for the better.&ldquo;You have to remember how young these kids are that you&rsquo;re drafting, mentally as well as physically. Jimmy Carson was such an exception. You don&rsquo;t get many of those.&rdquo;ROYALTIES&mdash;The Kings went 13-21.-4 under Mike Murphy, who replaced Pat Quinn as coach on Jan. 9, before falling to Edmonton in five games in the playoffs. Unlike the contract belonging to Quinn. Murphy&rsquo;s will be registered with the league office. &ldquo;You better believe it,&rdquo; GM Rogie Vachon said&hellip;Murphy, 36, was given high marks by most everyone for keeping the Kings&rsquo; ship afloat, following Quinn&rsquo;s expulsion for signing a future contract with Vancouver. &ldquo;He took over the team in a very tough situation and prevented it from going into the tank,&rdquo; Vachon said&hellip;&rdquo;I&rsquo;ve been really fortunate with the unfor-tunate turn of events here,&rdquo; Murphy said. &ldquo;Pat and Rogie started something good here and I hope to continue the improvement. I want to see as much improvement next season as we had this year.&rdquo; The Kings finished 31-41-8, a 16-point rise from 1985-86&hellip;Assistant coach Phil Myre was expected to sign a contract soon&hellip;The Kings will keep their top minor-league club in New Haven, after the AHL Nighthawks met deadlines for selling 1,300 season tickets and reducing their budget by $100,000. &#9632;

f0024-02

No Carsons Available For Kings This Draft

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03312/5165468-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="381" height="451"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Strachan</figcaption></div>WHEN THE MONTREAL Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers staged a pre-game brawl in the Prince of Wales Conference finals, the reaction was one of outrage.Fans, coaches and general managers professed surprise at the spectacle. But the only real surprise was that it hadn&rsquo;t happened before. And barring substantial rule changes, you can bet that it will happen again. In fact, it almost did during game four of the Stanley Cup finals.It&rsquo;s interesting to note that none of the professional hockey people decrying the situation claimed that they couldn&rsquo;t understand why it happened.They know why it happened.They know the psyche of hockey players; they know the importance that is attached to ritual; they know of the intimidation factor in hockey and they know of the acceptance of territorial rights.And that&rsquo;s why they also know that another such incident&mdash;or something very close to it&mdash;will happen again.Without trying to turn this into a psychology lesson, it must be pointed out that disorientation has a profoundly negative effect on the human mind. A person who is normally confident and self-assured can quickly become flustered and confused if he&rsquo;s not familiar with his surroundings.When hockey players follow certain routines, or indulge themselves in superstitions, they&rsquo;re trying to erase any unfamiliarity that might exist. They may find themselves in strange hotels and strange towns, but their lucky charms are the same as those they carry around their own homes.Don Cherry recalls that when he coached the Boston Bruins, his team nearly got involved in a brawl during the morning skate.&ldquo;We sent a telex around the league, saying that we always wanted to go on the ice at a certain time when we were on the road,&rdquo; Cherry said. &ldquo;It was something that we believed in. It was part of our routine. In return, we were always very good about getting off our ice in Boston for the visiting team.&ldquo;One time we were in Detroit and the clock was getting closer to the time for us to go on and our guys were gathering at the boards. They were ready. But there were six guys from the Wings staying on the ice fooling around. You could see that our guys were getting upset.&ldquo;Finally the clock ticked over and some of the Detroit guys were still out there. Our guys went out and started shooting pucks at them.&rdquo;Because the Boston players included Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, Stan Jonathan, John Wensink and Wayne Cashman, the Wings decided not to make an issue of it. They left. But Cherry insists that the situation was within one degree of the boiling point.&ldquo;If they hadn&rsquo;t gone off, or if some of the other guys had decided to make an issue of it, we would have had a brawl right there in the morning skate,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know it sounds silly, but unless you&rsquo;ve actually played, you can&rsquo;t understand the importance you attach to something like that.&ldquo;Sure it seems like a stupid thing, but it&rsquo;s part of your routine and you come to believe that if it gets screwed up, everything else will go wrong.&rdquo;The brawl in Montreal began in a similar fashion. Two Canadiens, Shayne Corson and Claude Lemieux, had a routine of shooting a puck into the opponent&rsquo;s net at the end of the pre-game warmup. The Flyers took exception.And in the words of Cherry, &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t back down.&rdquo;Had the Flyers ignored the Canadiens&rsquo; practice, the matter would have ended there. But once the Flyers showed their intention to stop the Montreal routine, they couldn&rsquo;t back down. If they had, it would have been a moral victory for the Canadiens because hockey is very much a game of intimidation.Intimidation is more subtle than it used to be. The bench-clearing, beat-them-to-a-pulp approach has faded. But right or wrong, physical intimidation is an integral part of hockey.Look at the Stanley Cup winners over the last couple of decades. Every one&mdash;and this includes those high-flying Montreal teams of the &rsquo;70s&mdash;was either the toughest team in the league or so close to it that the difference was negligible.Some fans don&rsquo;t like this and maybe the sport would be better without it. But that&rsquo;s a different discussion. The fact is that the intimidation is there and it&rsquo;s crucial to success.Until that fact changes, and there is no great move within the NHL to bring about such reform, there will be battles at every stage of the game.Most will be on the ice but some, as has been the case before now, will be in the streets or under the stands. Most will be during the game but some will be after it, and some will be before it. &#9632;

f0024-03

Flyer-Hab Pre-Game Brawl Reflects Trappings Of NHL

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN Associate Editor</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01603/5165499-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="138" height="128"></div>TORONTO&mdash;In this, a year bursting with blueline prospects, it seems reasonable to assume the Toronto Maple Leafs will select one of 11 defensemen rated among the top 21 skaters eligible for the entry draft.After all, the Leafs were down to just four trustworthy and able-bodied defensemen by year&rsquo;s end&hellip;a year during which Toronto surrendered 319 regular-season goals.Even though that was 67 goals fewer than they surrendered in 1985-86, it still ranked them 18th in the league.So, count on Toronto to take a defenseman, right?&ldquo;In the first round,&rdquo; said general manager Gerry McNamara, &ldquo;you always take the best man available. You can&rsquo;t afford not to. Later on, you start filling in by position.&rdquo;McNamara, as is his custom, would reveal nothing of the Leafs&rsquo; strategy. But, defense must be a priority.By the time the Detroit Red Wings eliminated the Maple Leafs in April, coach John Brophy was relying on Borje Salming, Al lafrate, Todd Gill and Rick Lanz. Chris Kotsopoulos was out with a groin injury.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question we&rsquo;re on the lookout for a defenseman,&rdquo; said Brophy, who is seeking a blueliner with a few years of NHL experience.He&rsquo;s not likely to get any immediate help from the draft. That&rsquo;s why there is no guarantee a defenseman will be taken, just a logical assumption.Although there is a surplus of young defenders in this year&rsquo;s draft, few, if any, are considered capable of stepping in next year. The top prospects are Wayne McBean of Medicine Hat, Glen Wesley of Portland and Chris Joseph of Seattle.McBean, the Memorial Cup MVP, is rated sixth by Central Scouting, Wesley fourth and Joseph fifth.None of them is likely to be available when the Leafs choose seventh overall, the seventh straight year Toronto has selected among the top third of the 21 teams.But with only three forwards&mdash;No. I Pierre Turgeon, No. 2 Brendan Shanahan and No. 3 Dave Archibald&mdash;ranked ahead of a group of five rearguards, a defenseman will probably be the best player available.Choosing one will help shore up a shortcoming in the system.It&rsquo;s time to replenish the rearguards after using No. 1 choices the past two years on forwards (Clark and Vincent Damphousse) and having little to show for three years of drafting from 1980 to 1982.During that disastrous three-year period, Toronto picked Gary Nylund third overall (1982), Jim Benning sixth overall (1981) and Craig Muni and Bob McGill, 25th and 26th overall (1980), with their top four picks.Nylund is now with Chicago. Benning was traded to Vancouver in the deal that brought Lanz here. Craig Muni is with Edmonton. And McGill was benched for all but three of 13 playoff games.After the big three from the Western League come&mdash;among others&mdash;Kingston&rsquo;s Bryan Fogarty, Peterborough&rsquo;s Luke Richardson and Granby&rsquo;s Stephane Quintal, rated sevenths eighth and 11th, respectively. &ldquo;Of the three, the Leafs are believed to favor Richardson, an uncommonly agile skater for someone 6-foot-3, 204 pounds.Richardson earned 13 goals, 32 assists and 70 penalty minutes in 59 games this past season.Fogarty is a wild card among defensemen. He is undeniably talented, with 20 goals and 50 assists in just 56 games this past season. But the OHL&rsquo;s scoring leader among defensemen is considered a hard-read in terms of draft prospects. &#9632;</div>

f0026-01

Leafs Need Defensive Help—Now And Later

<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/f0026-02419/5165530-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="144" height="100"></div>DETROIT&mdash;Character and size. Size and character.Those are the two ingredients the Detroit Red Wings will be looking for in the entry draft.Rather than attempt to zero in on a position, coach Jacques Demers has instructed the Wings&rsquo; scouting staff to draft by concept. Demers wants players with size and players with character.The Red Wings, picking 11th, would ideally like to solve a pressing problem at right wing, and lesser shortcomings at center and defense. In any event, the player selected won&rsquo;t be expected to step immediately into the lineup in 1987-88.Demers said the Wings are five players away from being a top-five club.The Wings need two right wingers; a couple of youthful defensemen to take over when Snepsts, Mike O&rsquo;Connell and Dave Lewis are ready to step aside; and another top-notch center.The goaltending is in capable hands with the tandem of Greg Stefan and Glen Hanlon. No changes are expected there.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got the guys right now in the organization who can turn the whole team around,&rdquo; Demers said.He named Brent Fedyk, the No. 1 pick in 1985; Joe Murphy, No. 1 overall in 1986; and Adam Graves, 22nd overall, 1986. The Wings announced they have signed Graves to a four-year contract. Fedyk and Murphy are right wingers, Graves a center. Murphy can play center as well.Each is probably still at least a year away. Fedyk would benefit from a season of minor pro and Graves has another season of junior eligibility remaining.&ldquo;What we want to do is, basically, slip in our own players,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;Because now that we&rsquo;ve come this far, it&rsquo;s time to stay within our organization. I can&rsquo;t say there won&rsquo;t be a trade. I&rsquo;m just saying we&rsquo;ll build within our organization, with our people.&rdquo;Demers is confident the defense, long a problem area for the Wings, has been sufficiently restructured.&ldquo;What Snepsts, Lewis and O&rsquo;Connell did for us is break ground for a future Stanley Cup,&rdquo; Demers said.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll be back next year. And we have young defensemen like Jeff Sharples, Steve Chiasson and Doug Houda. With Darren Veitch. Lee Norwood, Gilbert Delorme and Rick Zombo, first of all, we have enough defensemen&mdash;although you can&rsquo;t ever have too many.&rdquo;The situation is quite different on right wing.&ldquo;Definitely, on the right side, we need goal scoring,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;We have solid, grinding-type players there but we need goal scorers.&rdquo;Dave Barr, acquired in January from Hartford in the Randy Ladouceur deal, led the right wingers in goals with 13 in 37 games with Detroit. Tim Higgins had 12 goals and Joe Kocur nine. Ric Seiling was a defensive role player and Mark Kumpel really never got untracked in a Detroit uniform.Kocur will be a free agent, and anywhere from eight to 10 NHL teams will seek his services.Transplanted left wingers&mdash;usually Gerard Gallant or Bob Probert&mdash;helped out with the offensive production when they were used on right wing. &#9632;</div>

f0026-02

Wings Are Seeking ‘Character Players

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03344/5165561-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="350" height="458"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Molinari</figcaption></div>HARD TO BELIEVE this hockey season is over, just a decade or so after it began, eh?Oh, those glorious 1987 playoffs, when North America was subjected to a spring pregnant with all the things that make NHL hockey the spectacle we so dearly love.Mindless violence. Better tackling than can be found in the NFL. Coaches who accept defeat and adversity with the grace and maturity of hungry two-year-olds.Is this a great game, or what?But now it&rsquo;s time to savor the things which make summer&mdash;those nine days separating the entry draft from the start of Canada Cup training camps&mdash;the most delightful of seasons.Sunburns. Insect bites. Talk from teams like New Jersey and Pittsburgh about how they are only a few players away from becoming contenders. What they neglect to mention is that the players in question are Gordie &#2404; Howe, Bobby Orr and Georges Vezina.Of course, the season isn&rsquo;t officially over until every team has gotten exactly what it was hoping for in the June 13 entry draft, an event which promises to be rife with compelling moments.Like when the Buffalo Sabres announce they have decided to use the first pick to sentence Pierre Turgeon to a tour of duty on the Niagara Frontier.Minutes later, members of the Sabre hierarchy will peer down the barrels of a dozen TV cameras and allow ly how they couldn&rsquo;t believe Turgeon was still available when it was their turn to pick.A few hours later, one of the chronic non-contenders will use a middle-round pick on an undersized forward who had 12 goals, four penalty minutes and unlimited character.Shortly thereafter, team officials will swear they had him ranked somewhere between Turgeon and Brendan Shanahan.Which might be true&mdash;and which explains how the perennial powderpuffs got to be that way.But this is no time to look to the future, not when there&rsquo;s still a chance to belabor the past.So let us slip back to the most tender, memorable moment of the playoffs&mdash;even more touching than the near-blizzard which swept through Edmonton between games one and two of the finals.I refer, of course, to the night Ed Hospodar sacrificed himself for the betterment of the NHL.Hospodar secured his spot among the game&rsquo;s legends by taking swift, decisive action to guarantee the league would correct its oversight of having only vague legislation covering pre-game festivities like those which preceded game six of the Philadelphia-Montreal semi-final.No longer can anyone accuse the NHL of being soft on wanton violence, not after it came down on Hospodar for indulging in a little assault and battery about 15 minutes ahead of schedule.Booted him right out of the playoffs, the league did, thus denying Philadelphia the services of a guy who had played in all but 14 of his team&rsquo;s first 19 playoff games.Is it any wonder Edmonton was so heavily favored to beat Philly in the finals?But then the league got downright vindictive, really made an example of Hospodar.The contention of league officials seemed to be that they had no choice, that the precedent established long ago had to be honored.And that explains why Hospodar will be barred from coaching the Vancouver Canucks until the 1990-91 season.Thought you might like to know. &#9632;

f0026-03

NHL Lowers Boom On Flyer, He Can’t Coach The Canucks

<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/f0027-01568/5165592-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="126" height="123"></div>UNIONDALE, N.Y.&mdash;You scout 10 million games, file reams of reports, watch miles of videotape, compare notes and then project how a 17-year-old boy will function half a decade later as a National Hockey League man.You have to be good&hellip;and you had better be lucky. Looking for a lucky charm? The Islanders select 13th on June 13 in Detroit.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to be the most prepared of the 21 teams,&rdquo; said Gerry (Tex) Ehman, the Islanders&rsquo; assistant general manager and director of scouting since 1983. &ldquo;I want to be better prepared than anyone else. You do your homework and hope to get lucky.&rdquo;Who do the Islanders have their eyes on in the first round? Go ask your nextdoor neighbor to account for the Iran-Contra money. You&rsquo;ll have an easier time getting that question answered.The Islanders are one of the NHL&rsquo;s most secretive teams when it comes to internal affairs, like preparing for the annual entry draft. Nobody likes to name names before Draft Day, but the Islanders long ago turned silence into an art form.Ehman did say that this year&rsquo;s eligible crop includes a fair number of promising defensemen&mdash;the Islanders could use one who skates and hits, but who can&rsquo;t? And that this is a &ldquo;stronger year than we&rsquo;ve had in the past&rdquo; for goalies&mdash;Billy Smith will be 37 in December and there is no phenom in the system.More likely than not, though, the Islanders will not draft for immediate need. Since no 18-year-old has ever stepped out of the draft and into an Islander uniform (even an underaged junior named Bryan Trottier was returned to the WHL after being drafted 22nd overall in 1974), it is senseless to project that the Islanders will spend their first-round pick on a high-scoring or hard-hitting winger.They will select a player whose game has improved over the last few seasons, because they feel steady improvement is what any 17- or 18-year-old will have to show to break into the NHL in 1989-90. They will seek size, strength and skating ability, but will-put great emphasis (perhaps greater than most teams) on intangibles: Maturity, desire, character, work habits, winning attitude, perspective.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re right in the pack there,&rdquo; Ehman said. &ldquo;Picking 13th, I still hope to have a player who&rsquo;ll one day be a National Leaguer.&rdquo;That narrows it down.Ehman went to Europe twice last season and combed Western Canada, the Islanders&rsquo; favorite breeding ground. Harry Boyd, who also scouts Ontario, went overseas once.Richard Green (New England) and Jack Vivian (Minnesota) scouted the United States. Mario Saraceno handled Quebec and Ontario. Earl Ingarfield and Bert Marshall were crosscheckers, comparing the prospects from different leagues.&ldquo;The general staff probably does 175 games each,&rdquo; Ehman said.Ehman likes the new eligibility requirements. Only in rounds one through three can teams select underagers who have not played one of: three years in major junior; three years in high school; one year in college; or one year in a European elite league.ON THE ISLE&mdash;The Isles own just their 12 picks, the first time since 1982 that GM Bill Torrey hasn&rsquo;t added at least one in a trade&hellip;Trade up? Not likely. Torrey did that twice in previous four drafts. He traded Rollie Melanson for Minnesota&rsquo;s No. I pick in the &rsquo;85 draft (sixth overall) and selected Brad Dalgarno. He traded Bob Lorimer and Dave Cameron for Colorado&rsquo;s first pick in the &rsquo;83 draft (third overall) and took Pat LaFontaine&hellip;The Isles drafted 17th last season, 13th in 1985. &#9632;</div>

f0027-01

For Isles. Drafting Is Speculative Science

<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/f0028-01574/5165623-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="116" height="115"></div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;Some good has come out of the bad of the regular season.After struggling to a 31-39-10 record, the second-worst in their eightyear National Hockey League history, the Quebec Nordiques enjoyed a lucrative post-season with six home gates.And on June 13, the Nordiques will be picking in the top 10 at the NHL entry draft for the first time ever.Quebec is slotted in the ninth position.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really pleasing to be selecting so high,&rdquo; said Martin Madden, the Nordiques&rsquo; director of recruitment. &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re among the 10 first to select, you really know who&rsquo;s around. We have a better idea of who we are going to pick.&rdquo;Many observers feel the Nordiques need a &ldquo;natural&rdquo; right winger&mdash;that is, one who shoots from the right side. Madden doesn&rsquo;t neccesarily agree.&ldquo;For the past three or four years, people have been urging us to search frantically for a right winger,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But in my books, a natural right winger isn&rsquo;t as important as it used to be.&ldquo;If you check around and look at most of the NHL and Europeen teams, you&rsquo;ll notice that many of the dominant right wingers shoot, in fact, from the left. They pack a whole lot more power that way, coming off their wrong side. And we also have a couple of promising youngsters who are coming along.&ldquo;Everyone knows the Nordiques have enough firepower on the left flank (Michel Goulet and John Ogrodnick), so we won&rsquo;t be looking for reinforcements on that side of the ice. The two spots we are looking at are center and defense.&rdquo;Good defensemen are plentiful in this year&rsquo;s draft, so the Nordiques might have to turn their first priority to centers.&ldquo;Center is the key position,&rdquo; Madden said. &ldquo;And we all found out this season how important it is to have a good reserve of centermen.&ldquo;When Peter Stastny and Dale Hunter were injured, we played Paul Gillis too much because we didn&rsquo;t have anyone else who was really ready. Jason Lafreniere was around, but he was only a rookie who we had wanted to break in slowly. We want more insurance. And we&rsquo;re looking at the future at the same time.&ldquo;And on defense, it&rsquo;s the same story. At the present time, there are 10 or 11 defensemen under contract with the Nordiques. It&rsquo;s far from being enough.&ldquo;If you project that an NHL team usually carries seven backliners, that only leaves three or four for our farm team. And if a couple of our main guys get hurt in the course of the season&mdash;as has to be expected&mdash;our farm team pays the price. Fredericton was really overextended last year because we had a shortage of pro-calibre defensemen.&rdquo;If the Nordiques decide to go for a defenseman, one possibility is Stephane Quintal, a 6-foot-3, 220-pounder who has just finished his second full season with Granby of the Quebec League.An excellent offensive backliner with a heavy shot, Quintal would fit right in with the Nordiques. He&rsquo;s tough, too, but his defensive abilities are suspect.With assistant coach Guy Lapointe around to teach him, that could be a secondary consideration.NORDIQUE NOTES&mdash;The Nords have no pick in the second round, having traded it for the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; second-round pick last year. Quebec used that pick to select defenseman Stephane Guerard, who&rsquo;ll be given a shot at cracking the lineup next year as a 19-year-old. &#9632;</div>

f0028-01

Centers, Defensemen Nordiques’ Priorities

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02402/5165654-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="138" height="96"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Soon after the Montreal Canadiens were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, the 1987-88 season began.Managing director Serge Savard and his staff have been in close consultation since then, working out entry draft strategies and evaluating players in the team&rsquo;s minor-league system.The consensus: Any immediate help for 1987-88 will come from the crop of talented youngsters in the organization, and not from the draft.Few draft-eligible players are expected to be able to make an immediate impact in the National Hockey League. Certainly, none will be available by the time the Canadiens pick, 17th overall.The Canadiens are keeping mum about what they plan, even more so than usual.&ldquo;Our principal priority right now is to develop the young players we have,&rdquo; Savard said. &ldquo;They have to be ready to meet the challenges that lie ahead.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been fortunate that we have had veterans like (Larry) Robinson, (Bobby) Smith, (Ryan) Walter and (Bob) Gainey. They have helped us progress a lot faster. Without them we would not have won the Cup last year.&ldquo;Our young players are going to get special attention this summer.&rdquo;Leading the pack of stars-in-waiting is Shayne Corson, a playoff standout, particularly in the Wales Conference final against Philadelphia.Then there is the enigmatic Stephane Richer, who has the talent&mdash;but so far, has not shown the commitment&mdash;to be a star in the NHL.Forwards Mike Keane (free-agent signing) and Brent Gilchrist (fourth round, 1985)&mdash;who starred in the Western League during 1986-87 then played well for Sherbrooke in the American League playoffs&mdash;will attract attention at training camp this fall.Mark Pederson, the Canadiens&rsquo; No. 1 draft pick last season, is not ready to graduate to the pros just yet&mdash;even though he is a goal-scorer (144 goals in three years at Medicine Hat). The Canadiens are in desperate need of a sniper. Smith, with just 28, led the team in goals this past year.There has been speculation that Montreal might try to make a deal to move up in the draft, perhaps with New Jersey, especially if Buffalo does not take Pierre Turgeon. It is more likely, though, that the Canadiens will select from their assigned spot.With Robinson near retirement, the Canadiens are looking to groom his replacement on the blue line.A man they would like to get is defenseman Wayne McBean of Medicine Hat. Again, they would likely have to put together a package and move up in the draft order. McBean is ranked sixth by the Central Scouting Bureau, but will surely go higher.IN PASSING&mdash;Center Randy Bucyk, who played for Montreal&rsquo;s Stanley Cup-winning team in 1986, is expected to be gone from the organization this summer&hellip;Left winger Mike McPhee signed a two-year deal, plus an option with the Canadiens&hellip;Goaltenders Patrick Roy and Brian Hayward were subjects of a trade rumor, just as the Stanley Cup final got under way. It was hypothesized that one or the other would be headed to Chicago, along with wingers David Maley and Stephane Richer, for Denis Savard. Do not hold your breath&hellip;Center Ernie Vargas is expected to have an excellent chance of graduating to Montreal from Sherbrooke next fall&hellip;The Canadiens plan to put center Shayne Corson and defenseman Petr Svoboda on weight training programs for the summer. &#9632;</div>

f0028-02

Canadiens’ Lips Are Sealed About Entry Draft Strategy

<div class="byline">BY JEFF GORDON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02341/5165685-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="550" height="1266"><figcaption class="caption-body">Former Ranger Tony McKegney will help fill the Blues&rsquo; deficiency on left wing.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01495/5165692-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="115" height="117"></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Though he had just obtained a left winger in a trade with the New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues&rsquo; general manager Ron Caron craved more of the same.And the GM said he was willing to pay a big price.&ldquo;My first-round pick is still available and a lot of teams know that,&rdquo; said Caron, after obtaining Tony McKegney and minor-league defenseman Rob Whistle, in exchange for defenseman Bruce Bell and a 1988 draft pick.Caron said he&rsquo;d part with the 12th overall choice because the draft doesn&rsquo;t have what he wants.The highest-ranked players at left wing, according to the Central Scouting Bureau, are Peter Soberlak of Swift Current (14th) and Bryan Deasley of the University of Michigan (21st).Neither is expected to go among the top 11 picks.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen these guys,&rdquo; Caron said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like them. If we execute our pick, we have a pretty good idea of who we want and it&rsquo;s very unlikely we could find a left winger who could help us in the draft.&rdquo;Caron was shopping his No. 1 pick around the league, hoping to put together a package that would bring the versatile left winger or wingers he needs. He would be willing to deal a defenseman or goaltender, as well.Should a trade, involving the Blues&rsquo; first-round pick, be worked out, Caron won&rsquo;t have any fears about starting the draft in the second round.He has been successful starting there in the past, picking up Brian Benning and Tony Hrkac in 1984 and Herb Raglan in 1985.McKegney, who scored 31 goals and 20 assists in 75 games split between Minnesota and the Rangers, is one of the league&rsquo;s most travelled players. Since 1983, he has played for, in order, Buffalo, Quebec, Minnesota and the Rangers.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>&ldquo;That doesn&rsquo;t bother me at all,&rdquo; Caron insisted. &ldquo;I know him personally. I met him when he was 15, when I signed his brother.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s had an excellent career (220 goals and 235 assists in nine seasons) and I think he&rsquo;ll be a pleasant surprise for the Blues.&rdquo;Bell, hampered by injuries last year, played just 45 games, scoring three goals and 13 assists. Whistle played 55 games for the American League New Haven Nighthawks, scoring four goals and 12 assists.BLUENOTES&mdash;The pick surrendered to New York will be a fourth-rounder unless Tony McKegney meets unrevealed performance clauses, in which case it will be elevated to a third-rounder&hellip;Left wingers Kent Carlson and Eddy Beers figure to get standard contract offers by June 1. Both are entering their option years and Ron Caron doesn&rsquo;t want them to become free agents. If they fail their pre-season physicals&mdash;both players missed last season after undergoing back operations&mdash;the Blues wouldn&rsquo;t have to pay them until they are fit. And all the while, Caron said, he would retain their rights&hellip;Caron expects few problems on other negotiating matters. Greg Paslawski, Rick Wamsley and Rob Ramage are among the dozen players up for renewals&hellip;Among the left wingers Caron covets is Calgary&rsquo;s Gary Roberts, who scored 44 goals for the Guelph Platers in 1985-86, under current Blues&rsquo; coach Jacques Martin. &#9632;

f0029-02

McKegney First Of New Blue Left Wingers

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02412/5165723-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="551" height="654"><figcaption class="caption-body">Philadelphia&rsquo;s Dave Poulin, above, has faith in Brian Burke&rsquo;s hockey smarts.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01567/5165730-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="103" height="100"></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;Reaction to the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; hiring of lawyerhockey agent Brian Burke as vicepresident and director of hockey operations has been that of disbelief.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m astonished, absolutely astonished,&rdquo; said Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; president and general manager Glen Sather. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s his background? Have there been any other guys go from agent to this kind of position?&rdquo;&ldquo;Brian Burke, eh?&rdquo; said Detroit Red Wing GM Jimmy Devellano. &ldquo;He was always telling me how great Ray Staszak was. I wonder if he wants him back?&rdquo;Burke, Staszak&rsquo;s agent, negotiated a million-dollar contract for the University of Illinois-Chicago product in the summer of 1985. Staszak has not been able to make the Red Wings.There seemed to be no end to the cheap shots levelled at the 31-year-old Harvard lawyer, who played hockey for Providence Friars and Maine Mariners.But there were also staunch supporters, such as Dave Poulin of the Philadelphia Flyers, who was a Burke client.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;ll do very well,&rdquo; said Poulin. &ldquo;He was one agent who has played the game at a high level recently. I think he&rsquo;ll do fine. He knows the game and the players very well and he has the ability to recognize talent.&rdquo;Burke&rsquo;s appointment was presidentgeneral manager Pat Quinn&rsquo;s first major move since replacing former GM Jack Gordon.The newest Canuck executive said his responsibilities will include negotiating contracts, directing the Canucks&rsquo; scouting and running Vancouver&rsquo;s minor-league affiliate in Fredericton, N.B.The tobacco-chewing former college hockey star is opinionated and has an extensive knowledge of players in the U.S. colleges, where one might expect the Canucks&rsquo; drafting focus to swing.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;d be giving preference to college players,&rdquo; said Burke. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be going after the best players we can. no matter whether they play in college or anywhere else in the world.&rdquo;The move for Burke is expected to be a step up and not the cut in pay one might think for an agent with a stable of 45 clients. Burke was an employee of a Boston law firm and, as such, charged by the hour for his work as opposed to a set percentage of contracts as with many agents.Burke, who played for Bob McCammon in Maine of the American League, would give the Canucks a long-needed presence in hockey&rsquo;s thick of things but his knowledge of problems faced by western teams will have to be learned by word of mouth.Burke will almost certainly be handling the draft with assistance from Gordon and Rota, though he will be getting reports from chief scout Mike Penny and the rest of the club&rsquo;s staff. Gordon had planned to run the draft in Quinn&rsquo;s absence, and the staff had already had its final meetings before Burke came on board.VAN LINES&mdash;How, or if Brian Burke&rsquo;s appointment will affect director of player development Darcy Rota&rsquo;s position remained to be seen&hellip;Immigration problems surrounding Burke, a native of Edina. Minn., working in British Columbia were quickly cleared up&hellip;The Canucks have made an initial offer for the services of free-agent defenseman Ian Kidd, an all-America from University of North Dakota, but Canadian teams (offering Canadian dollars) are not in the greatest position when it comes to landing the high-priced talent.</div><div style="clear: both;"> &#9632;</div>

f0030-02

Agent Burke Joins Canucks’ Executive Suite

<h2>TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE&hellip;</h2>1. Name the last team to defeat Montreal Canadiens in a Stanley Cup final.2. Name the California Angel pitcher who was drafted by Winnipeg Jets in 1981.3. Who holds the record for most goals scored by a rookie in the Stanley Cup playoffs?4. What was Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s first professional team?5. In 1967, Chicago Blackhawks traded Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield to Boston Bruins. Name the three players the Blackhawks got in exchange.6. What were the nicknames of Toronto&rsquo;s two other NHL franchises?7. What player played in every Stanley Cup final from 1965 through 1970?8. Who played in each of the past three Memorial Cups?9. Who was the first Canadian major junior player of the year, in 1975?10. Which of Canada&rsquo;s three major junior leagues celebrated its 20th anniversary this season?<h2>ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ</h2>1.Toronto, 1966-67.2. Kirk McCaskill.3. Dino Ciccarelli, 14 goals in 1980-81.4. Indianapolis Racers.5. Gilles Marotte, Pit Martin and Jack Norris.6. The Arenas and St. Patricks.7. Jim Roberts.8. Bobby Desjardins.9. Ed Staniowski.10. Western Hockey League. BONUS ANSWER: Andy Hebenton.<h2>BONUS QUESTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03284/5165761-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="560" height="820"><figcaption class="caption-body">BONUS: He played nine consecutive NHL seasons without missing a game&mdash;then was sent to the minors, and never played another NHL game over the last 11 years of his pro career.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0030-03

THN HOCKEY TRIVIA

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01516/5165792-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="124" height="111"></div>HARTFORD&mdash;For the last five or six years, the draft has been critical to the immediate future of the Hartford Whalers.This year it isn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the price you have to pay for having a good team,&rdquo; said assistant general manager Bob Crocker. &ldquo;If our No. 1 pick plays for us two years from now, we&rsquo;ll be ecstatic.&rdquo;The Whalers, thanks to their best-ever National Hockey League season, topped off with an Adams Division regular-season championship, will pick 18th this time around.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a different game for us this year,&rdquo; Crocker said. &ldquo;In the past, we drafted players who potentially could play for us right away. That was our hope anyway. We might have always said that we were drafting for the future, but this year we mean it. The players we draft in June are not for today, but tomorrow.&rdquo;The first half-dozen or so picks will not produce any surprises, Crocker said. But the Whalers will be watching those with interest because Sylvain Turgeon&rsquo;s brother, Pierre, is sure to be among the top selections, likely the first by Buffalo.&ldquo;Pierre would be my No. 1 pick,&rdquo; Crocker said, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got size, speed and skill. Plus he&rsquo;s only 17. Of all the players I&rsquo;ve seen, he&rsquo;s the most talented.&rdquo;Crocker and the Whalers are hoping that the arrival of Pierre will spur Sylvain, who is 22 and entering his fifth pro season, on to bigger and better things.&ldquo;From a motivational point of view, I think it&rsquo;ll be good for Sylvain that his brother is coming into the league,&rdquo; Crocker said. &ldquo;Pierre may be Sylvain&rsquo;s equal, too. Big brothers, normally, don&rsquo;t like that. Pierre&rsquo;s presence should be a challenge for Sylvain. It should give him a competitive push.&rdquo;Historically, the Whalers have held their own on draft day. Their first two NHL drafts&mdash;which produced Ray Allison, Stuart Smith, Fred Arthur and Michel Galarneau&mdash;were downright lemons. But since then, they&rsquo;ve drafted well, especially in 1982 when they turned the whole act around by landing Paul Lawless (14th overall), Kevin Dineen (56th), Ulf Samuelsson (67th) and Ray Ferraro (88th).When Emile Francis arrived in 1983, he saw little of value aside from Ronnie Francis, the fourth overall pick in 1981. Little did he realize that the talented crop of 1982 draftees was only a year away.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve always gone for the best player, no matter his position,&rdquo; Crocker said. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s the way &lsquo;we&rsquo;ll go again. We may need big for. wards, say, but we&rsquo;ll draft a defenseman if he&rsquo;s the highest-rated player on our list.&rdquo;Crocker rattled off some names&mdash;Kingston&rsquo;s Bryan Fogarty, North Bay&rsquo;s Adam Burt, Peterborough&rsquo;s Jody Hull and Luke Richardson, Laval&rsquo;s Rob Murphy, and Ottawa&rsquo;s Andrew Cassels and Jeff Ballantyne&mdash;in a tentative attempt to project the Whalers&rsquo; draft.&ldquo;Chances are, the people in Hartford won&rsquo;t see any of this year&rsquo;s picks for two years or even longer,&rdquo; Crocker said. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s not necessarily a bad thing. What it means, basically, is that we&rsquo;ve got a pretty good team in Hartford right now.&rdquo;WHALER SCUTTLEBUTT&mdash;Defenseman Ulf Samuelsson was jolted by the Swedish national team&rsquo;s decision to exclude him from this summer&rsquo;s Canada Cup tournament. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m upset.&rdquo; Samuelsson says. &ldquo;I felt I had a really good season and I figured I&rsquo;d be on the team.&rdquo; Samuelsson, who played at Rendez-vous &rsquo;87, injured his neck late in the playoffs and did not join the Swedish team at the World Championships in April. Perhaps, his refusal to fly to Vienna tweaked the noses of Swedish officials. The Whalers, for the most part, were stunned. &ldquo;If they&rsquo;re holding that against Ulfie, it&rsquo;s stupidity on their part,&rdquo; Emile Francis said. &ldquo;If I was running that team, he&rsquo;d be my first pick for defense.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0031-01

Instant Help Not Crucial To Whalers’ Draft

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02396/5165830-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Amerk captain and AHL playoff MVP Dave Fenyves hoists the Calder Cup, while teammate Richie Dunn joins in the celebration.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01542/5165837-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="125" height="120"></div>ROCHESTER&mdash;The Calder Cup championship series went the full seven games for the first time in 24 years, but that was fine by the Rochester Americans.When the Amerks won the fifth Cup in their history, on May 23 with a 4-2 win over the Sherbrooke Canadiens, it marked the second time this year the Amerks pulled out a championship on the final day.In the regular-season finale, they beat the Binghamton Whalers in a shootout for the Southern Division title.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what we were thinking about,&rdquo; said Amerk defenseman Dave Fenyves, who won the Jack Butterfield Trophy as most valuable player in the playoffs.&rdquo; It seemed kind of funny that both would come down to one game.&ldquo;We all joked about it in the dressing room and we said that, back in September, we should have just played two games all year&mdash;one for the regular-season title and one for the Calder Cup.&ldquo;I think we had an advantage, because we played well the game before and had a lot of confidence.&rdquo;The final series, which lasted 18 days, was loaded with highs and lows for both teains, who combined for three two-game winning streaks in the series.Sherbrooke trailed the series two games to one, before thoroughly dominating Rochester in the next two games, 7-3 and 6-1.After the 6-1 loss, Rochester coach John Van Boxmeer, fearing his team was being distracted, put his players in a Batavia, N.Y., hotel (without phones) for two days before game six at Rochester.&ldquo;Everyone was concerned because they had played so well and were dominating us in our own end,&rdquo; Fenyves said. &ldquo;It was not a happy situation.&ldquo;We just wanted to settle down and decided we had to give it our best and not give them the open ice. In the games that they won, we gave them too much room. They have a fast-skating team and they like that room.&rdquo;At first, it didn&rsquo;t appear Van Box-meer&rsquo;s strategy worked. The Canadiens, trying to win the Cup for the second time in three years, blitzed the Amerks in the first period and led 3-1.&ldquo;When they went up 3-2 in the series, I think they thought we&rsquo;d roll over and die,&rdquo; Fenyves said. &ldquo;And after the first period, I&rsquo;m sure they thought we were going to do that.&rdquo;But the Amerks regrouped, scored three second-period goals to take the lead and never trailed the rest of the series.&ldquo;The turning point came in the sixth game,&rdquo; Sherbrooke coach-general manager Pierre Creamer said. &ldquo;We had five good chances to score when it was 3-1. That&rsquo;s the things that can really kill you. Then they made it 3-2 and they were going.&rdquo;In the final game, the Amerks jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Ray Sheppard and Jayson Meyer. After Sherbrooke&rsquo;s Karel Svoboda cut the margin ealy in the second period, Rochester opened it up to 4-1 on goals by Gates Orlando&mdash;the eventual Cup-winner&mdash;and Jody Gage.Gage&rsquo;s goal was his 14th of the playoffs, tying a league record. Former Amerk Sean McKenna had 14 during Rochester&rsquo;s last championship season.Rochester didn&rsquo;t take many chances in the final period, just holding on and counting down to its first championship since 1982-83. By the time Steven Fletcher scored the 4-2 goal for Sherbrooke, the outcome had been decided.Rochester&rsquo;s Daren Puppa turned away 32 shots, while Vincent Riendeau stopped 20 for Sherbrooke.When the Amerks flew home that night, they were greeted by almost 3,000 fans at the airport. The city of Rochester had a parade three days later, followed by a victory celebration that night in the War Memorial.&ldquo;I think experience was part of the difference,&rdquo; said Creamer, whose team won the Northern Division title with a league-high 102 points. &ldquo;They played up in the big game and they were ready for that game.&ldquo;They (Rochester) played well in the playoffs and they deserve all the glamor of winning the Calder Cup.&rdquo;And Fenyves, one of the league&rsquo;s top defensemen during the regular season, continued his strong play while adding a touch of offense.In 18 playoff games, Fenyves had three goals and 12 assists for 15 points&mdash;seven fewer than he compiled in 71 regular-season games.During the semi-final series with the Whalers, Binghamton center Bill Gardner said of Fenyves, &ldquo;We were calling him &lsquo;Bobby Orr&rsquo; in the room.&rdquo;Fenyves finished the playoffs with a plus-15 and was a logical choice as playoff MVP. He is the first defenseman to be so honored in the four years the award has been presented.NOTES&mdash;Hershey&rsquo;s Tim Tookey was named the league&rsquo;s most valuable player in a vote of league players and journalists. Tookey, who won the scoring race with 51 goals and 73 assists, received the Les Cunningham Plaque. Other award-winners, voted on by the media and players, were Binghamton&rsquo;s Brad Shaw, winner of the Eddie Shore Plaque as top defenseman, and Moncton&rsquo;s Brett Hull, winner of the Red Garrett Trophy as top rookie. League coaches chose Adirondack&rsquo;s Mark Laforest best goalie (Baz Bastien Trophy) and Adirondack&rsquo;s Glenn Merkosky most sportsmanlike (Fred T. Hunt Trophy).</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>AHL All-Star Teams</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03264/5165823-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="1089" height="595"></div> &#9632;

f0032-02

The Minors

AHL’s Amazing Amerks No. 1

<div class="byline">BY BILL PICKETT</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02435/5165868-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01556/5165875-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="103" height="116"></div>MUSKEGON&mdash;Larry Gordon doesn&rsquo;t relish the thought of meeting Rick Heinz in another championship series.The Salt Lake Golden Eagles, with Heinz in net, defeated Gordon&rsquo;s Muskegon Lumberjacks for the Turner Cup championship in six games.It marked the third time a team with Gordon as general manager lost in a championship series to a team with Heinz in goal.When Gordon was at Wichita, Heinz was in goal as Salt Lake City won its second straight Central League Adams Cup in a seven-game final against the Wind.Three years ago, Heinz was in goal for Peoria as the Rivermen defeated Muskegon in seven games to claim the Turner Cup. And this year, the Salt Lake goaltender was named playoff MVP, for his 12-4 record and 3.49 goals-against average.The Eagles blasted the Lumberjacks 7-3 at Muskegon in game six to capture the International League&rsquo;s best-of-seven championship series 4-2. Salt Lake trailed once in the finals, losing the opener at Muskegon 6-3. They won game two by a 5-3 score, then took a two-game edge with a pair of wins at the Salt Palace, 3-2 and 8-7.Muskegon handed Salt Lake just its second loss in nine home games in the Salt Palace with a 5-2 victory in game five, but the Golden Eagles scored early and often in the clincher to win the Cup.Salt Lake had more than defense in the playoffs. Linemates Mike Rucinski and Todd Hooey were one-two in league post-season scoring and Chris Brant was No. 4.Rucinski had 27 points in 17 contests, including a playoff-leading 18 assists. Hooey tied with Muskegon&rsquo;s Jim McGeough in goal scoring. Both had 14.Gordon and Muskegon got some good news, however, in spite of their loss to Salt Lake City.The Pittsburgh Penguins announced they have agreed to a multi-year contract with the Lumberjacks to make Muskegon their No. 1 developmental club.The pact calls for Pittsburgh to provide at least 16 pros for the 1987-88 season. In addition, the Penguins will play a pre-season exhibition in Muskegon&rsquo;s Walker Arena and the Lumberjacks will play one regular-season game in Pittsburgh.The Pittsburgh move brings to four the number of IHL cities with primary NHL affiliation. The others are Salt Lake City (Calgary), Peoria (St. Louis) and Denver (New York Rangers), the league&rsquo;s newest franchise.Minnesota will put a team in the IHL and, although Indianapolis appeared to have the inside track earlier, the North Stars also are reported to be considering Kalamazoo.Minnesota had as many as 11 players in Indianapolis last season, but the North Stars and Checker owner Larry Woods haven&rsquo;t resolved the paperwork.&ldquo;Minnesota will be somewhere in the IHL,&rdquo; said league commissioner Bud Poile. &ldquo;It won&rsquo;t be in Milwaukee, because the Admirals have indicated they are going to go it alone for another season.&rdquo;Talks continued between Chicago and Saginaw, and should the New York Islanders decide to end their affiliation at Springfield of the AHL, it&rsquo;s anticipated they also will turn to the IHL.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>IHL All-Star Teams &#9632;</h2>

f0034-02

Heinz Pours It On For Champion Eagles

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01526/5165937-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="548" height="831"><figcaption class="caption-body">Verdun&rsquo;s Carol Vadnais, above, was delighted to get Martin St. Amour first overall.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02419/5165944-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="131" height="79"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;The Quebec League reaped one of the biggest and best yields ever from its primary feeder system&mdash;Quebec&rsquo;s seven-team midget AAA league&mdash;at its 17th annual midget entry draft, held at Maurice Richard Arena, May 30.&ldquo;These are big kids, 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-4,&rdquo; said Pierre Dorion of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau. &ldquo;It looked like there were just one or two small kids in the first two rounds.&rdquo;That was just fine by the QMJHL&rsquo;s head scout, Flo Potvin.&ldquo;There are a lot of bigger kids,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and this league has to get bigger.&rdquo;To nobody&rsquo;s surprise, the Verdun Jr. Canadiens made 6-foot-2, 188-pound left winger Martin St. Amour, 16, from the Laval-Laurentide-Lanaudiere Regents, the first pick overall.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great feeling,&rdquo; said St-Amour, of St-Eustache, who scored 55 goals and set league records with 95 assists and 150 points in 42 games with the Regents.&ldquo;Verdun is one of the great major junior teams. You have to work harder when you wear the &lsquo;C-H&rsquo; and live in Montreal. I have some problems on defense but I&rsquo;m sure they&rsquo;ll teach me how to get back.&rdquo;</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>Defense wasn&rsquo;t foremost on the mind of Verdun general manager Carol Vadnais, however.&ldquo;We like what we see,&rdquo; Vadnais said. &ldquo;We liked Pascal Dufault, we liked Francois Leroux, but we think he (St. Amour) is the best player.&rdquo;With five defensemen returning, the Hull Olympiques passed over 6-foot-5, 211-pound Regent defenseman Leroux, in favor of another 16-year-old, left winger Martin Gelinas (5-foot-10, 183) from the Cantonnieres de I&rsquo;Est of Magog.&ldquo;I thought about what it would be like to come to Hull because I like their aggressive style,&rdquo; said the Shawinigan native, a Bob Gainey-type who led the Cantonnieres in scoring with 36 goals and 42 assists in 41 games. &ldquo;But I didn&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d go that high.&rdquo;Charlie Henry, the director of operations for the Olympiques, disagreed with the player&rsquo;s self-assessment.&ldquo;Gelinas was possibly the best in the draft with St. Amour,&rdquo; said Henry. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very dedicated.&rdquo;The Olympiques, who will lose only three players next season, made up for lost size in the fifth round, when they took the biggest player available, 6-foot-3, 240-pound right winger Craig Martin, a 15-year-old from Amherst, N.S.The St-Jean Castors took Leroux, 16, a stay-at-home defenseman, third overall. The Trois-Rivieres Draveurs then claimed Dufault. 16, another strong defensive defenseman, who scored six goals and 29 assists for the Air Canada Cup national midget champion Richelieu Riverains.&ldquo;Trois-Rivieres is really where I wanted to go,&rdquo; said Dufault, a 6-foot-1, 188-pounder, &ldquo;because John Paris is coaching the team.&rdquo; Paris coached the Riverains last season, then signed on with the Draveurs to replace Alain Vigneault, who joined the Shawinigan Cataractes as an assistant.&ldquo;I think he (Paris) is going to recreate the kind of team we (the Riverains) had this year,&rdquo; said Dufualt.Defenseman Serge Englehart, from the Frontaliers de I&rsquo;Outaouais, was pleased to be selected fifth by the Drummondville Voltigeurs, where he will be reunited with former Frontalier teammates Dan Dore and Richard Matte.The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Gatineau native collected four goals, 27 assists and 102 penalty minutes, skating 40 minutes a game for the Frontaliers.Regent center Denis Chalifoux may have bucked the size trend at 5-foot-8 and 140 pounds, but the Laval Titan&rsquo;s 15-year-old first-rounder (sixth overall) had more assists than Mario Lemieux in his first midget year. Chalifoux scored 44 goals and had 79 assists for 133 points in 42 games.Dufault&rsquo;s all-star defensive partner, Claude Barthe, 16, a 6-foot-2, 187-pound rushing blueliner from the Riverains, was the Chicoutimi Sagueneens&rsquo; first pick. Barthe scored a goal and 32 assists for Richelieu.Shawinigan went for 6-foot-2, 200-pound center Francois Belanger. The 16-year-old playmaker from the Ste-Foy Gouverneurs had 31 goals and 53 assists in 42 games.Although Stephane Fiset, 16, had a 5.89 goals-against average with lastplace Montreal Bourassa, the Riverains picked him up for the Air Canada Cup and he won the Ken Dryden Cup as the AAA midget league&rsquo;s most talented goalie. He was selected by the defending champion Longueuil Chevaliers.The regular-season champion Granby Bisons selected 6-foot-2, 161-pound defenseive defenseman Carl Mantha to complete the first round.QUEBEC CACHE&mdash;Drummondville and St-Jean also made coaching changes and brought two familiar faces back to the league. Jean Begin returned from Amiens, France, to coach the Voltigeurs after serving with Hull, Laval, Verdun and Trois-Rivieres. He replaced Michel Parizeau, who was released after the season had concluded&hellip;Mario Bazinet took over from Jacques Tremblay in St-Jean. In previous years, Bazinet had coached Trois-Rivieres, Chicoutimi and Longueuil. &#9632;

f0035-01

The Juniors

Quebec League Was Hunting For Big Game

<h2>FIRST-ROUND PICKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03332/5166066-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="757" height="417"></div><h2>TEAMBYTEAM DRAFT</h2><h3>CHICOUTIMI (19)</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04274/5166059-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="747" height="591"></div><h2>DRUMMONDVILLE (16)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05225/5166052-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="742" height="439"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06205/5166045-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="731" height="65"></div><h2>GRANBY (16)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07193/5166038-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="745" height="511"></div><h2>HULL (19)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08172/5166031-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="743" height="593"></div><h2>LAVAL (15)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09163/5166024-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="741" height="299"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10142/5166017-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="734" height="185"></div><h2>LONGUEUIL (17)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-11130/5166010-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="749" height="536"></div><h2>SHAWINIGAN (17)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-12114/5166003-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="740" height="533"></div><h2>ST. JEAN (17)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-13100/5165996-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="741" height="209"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1482/5165989-1-eng-US/f0035-142.jpg" title="f0035-14" width="731" height="329"></div><h2>TROIS-RIVIERES (19)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1572/5165982-1-eng-US/f0035-152.jpg" title="f0035-15" width="745" height="593"></div><h2>VERDUN (19)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1666/5165975-1-eng-US/f0035-162.jpg" title="f0035-16" width="748" height="593"></div> &#9632;

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QUEBEC LEAGUE MIDGET DRAFT

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02376/5166104-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="549" height="1249"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sudbury director of operations Marcel Bedard decided against keeping his coach.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01500/5166111-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="137" height="71"></div>TORONTO&mdash;The Sudbury Wolves drew both envy and scorn from their Ontario League rivals, at the annual entry draft of graduating midgets.OHL club officials turned green as the Wolves claimed defenseman John Uniac with the No. 1 pick of the draft, but saw red when they discussed the team&rsquo;s treatment of departed coach and general manager Guy Blanchard.It was a foregone conclusion the Wolves were going to take Uniac, a 16-year-old franchise-type player from Stratford. It also seemed a safe assumption that Blanchard was going to be back for a second season with the Wolves.After all, Wolves&rsquo; director of operations Marcel Bedard told THE HOCKEY NEWS in January that Blanchard would definitely be back for the 198788 season.And in February, Bedard was quoted as saying, &ldquo;The job is his for good if he wants it.&rdquo;&ldquo;For good&rdquo; didn&rsquo;t turn out to be for long.On May 26, just four days before the draft, Blanchard resigned when the Wolves told him they weren&rsquo;t about to renew his contract, set to expire on June 15.In a complete about-face, Bedard said he and Burgess decided that &ldquo;due to the high expectations of the fans, the team could not risk another dismal season. Guy is going to be a good OHL coach one day. But he&rsquo;s not the man for the job right now.&rdquo;When asked about his previous statements that Blanchard would definitely return, Bedard said he had &ldquo;nothing more to say on the matter.&rdquo;Blanchard, however, said he felt &ldquo;betrayed&rdquo; by the Wolves.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>&ldquo;I started hearing rumours about this whole thing about a month ago,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and every time I approached Marcel about it, he told me there was no problem.&rdquo;Blanchard attended the draft, but at the table of the North Bay Centennials, where he was an assistant coach to Bert Templeton before taking the Sudbury job. He may be in the line for that position again.As for the Wolves&rsquo; vacancy, word at the draft was circulating that Sudbury had already talked to Michigan State Spartan assistant coach Terry Christensen about replacing Blanchard.If he joins the team, he&rsquo;ll be able to rebuild it around Uniac, a 5-foot-11, 185-pounder who collected two goals, 22 assists and 77 penalty minutes in 28 Mid-Western Jr. B League games.Uniac wasn&rsquo;t concerned about the Wolves&rsquo; last-place record.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not worried about that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It will be a good learning experience.&rdquo;Unlike No. 3-rated Scott Thornton of London&mdash;who sent a note to commissioner Dave Branch, indicating he would play only for certain teams&mdash;Uniac said he wouldn&rsquo;t dictate terms to any team interested in drafting him.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you have a right to say, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t pick me,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said after the draft. &ldquo;Wherever you play hockey, you&rsquo;re going to be what you are.&rdquo;Thornton, incidentally, was selected fifth overall by the Belleville Bulls, a team not on his list. He said, however, that he would report to the Bulls as long as he received some educational guarantees.When Uniac was introduced to the audience, he paid tribute to his late father, Jim, who played professional hockey in the Detroit Red Wing organization.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m here for him,&rdquo; Uniac said of his father, who died two years ago of a heart attack. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s great to hear your name called first. Inside, it means a lot.&rdquo;The Toronto Marlboros, with the No. 2 selection, took Jason Winch, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound center-left winger from the St. Catharines Jr. B Falcons.The OHL&rsquo;s third non-playoff team, the London Knights, then opted for Rick Corriveau of Welland Jr. B. Corriveau is the younger brother of Yvon Corriveau, the former Marlie who was a first-round pick of the Washington Capitals two years ago.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03300/5166097-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="549" height="1249"><figcaption class="caption-body">Guy Blanchard resigned after feeling betrayed by the Wolves&rsquo; management.</figcaption></div>Cornwall then selected defenseman Derek Booth of Owen Sound Tier II Jr. A. before Belleville took Thornton, who played Jr. B last year in London.The remaining first-round picks were: (6) Kingston&mdash;Steve Widmeyer, RW, Dartmouth (N.S.) midgets; (7) Guelph&mdash;Mike Speer, D, Toronto Marlboro midgets; (8) Sault Ste. Marie&mdash;Shane Sargent, LW, Barrie Jr. B; (9) Kitchener&mdash;Cory Keenan, D, St. Marys Jr. B; (10) Ottawa&mdash;Joey St. Aubin, C, Oshawa midgets; (11) Peterborough&mdash;Joey Hawley, RW, Peterborough midgets; (12) Windsor&mdash;Jamie Allan. RW, Brockville Jr. A; (13) Hamilton&mdash;Jason York, D, Smiths Falls Jr. A; (14) North Bay&mdash;Mark Major, LW, Don Mills midgets; (15) Oshawa&mdash;Jarrod Skalde, C, Fort Erie Jr. B.Most surprising of the first-round choices was Skalde, the 15th pick. Oshawa flew in the face of advice offered by the OHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau, which had the minor-midget Skalde rated 169th overall.Minor-midgets, players aged 16, must be chosen within the first five rounds. Each team is allowed a maximum of three.NOTEBOOK&mdash;Like Sudbury, the Kingston Canadians and the Toronto Marlies went through the draft without a coach. Kingston is looking to replace Fred O&rsquo;Donnell, who resigned last month, and the Marlies are looking to replace Brian Hough, who was fired during Memorial Cup week. No names have surfaced as candidates for the Kingston job. But Terry Martin, a player-assistant coach with the American League&rsquo;s Newmarket Saints this past season, is said to have the inside track on the Marlie job&hellip;Coach Orval Tessier has re-signed with the Cornwall Royals&hellip;The Windsor Spitfires, as expected, welcomed Tom Webster back as coach. Webster coached Windsor for a year and a half, before taking the New York Ranger job midway through last season. Webster was forced to resign from the Rangers because an inner ear problem made it impossible for him to fly. &#9632;

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Blanchard Out, Uniac In As Wolves Shuffle

<h2>FIRST-ROUND PICKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04221/5166191-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="756" height="613"></div><h2>TEAM-BY TEAM DRAFT</h2><h3>BELLEVILLE (14)</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05176/5166184-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="741" height="445"></div><h2>CORNWALL (19)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06154/5166177-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="742" height="589"></div><h2>GUELPH (18)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07146/5166170-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="741" height="561"></div><h2>HAMILTON (19)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08141/5166163-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="740" height="591"></div><h2>KINGSTON (18)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-09135/5166156-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="739" height="551"></div><h2>KITCHENER (20)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-10132/5166149-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="738" height="623"></div><h2>LONDON (18)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-11128/5166142-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="735" height="563"></div> &#9632;

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ONTARIO LEAGUE MIDGET DRAFT

<div class="byline">BY BEN KUZMA</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02312/5166222-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Butch Goring, who started the 1986-87 season in Boston, will begin the 1987-88 season in Spokane as coach of the Jets.</figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01435/5166229-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="117" height="111"></div>SPOKANE, Wash.&mdash;Bob Strumm is humming a new Western League tune these days.The general manager of Spokane Chiefs, looking to fill a vacant head coaching position with the West Division club, landed Butch Goring thanks to a little word of mouth.Goring, who had never been to the Washington State city until early May, began negotiations with Strumm after learning from Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; GM Bob Clarke that there was a coaching position open in Spokane.Strumm and Goring hit it off and now Goring is armed with a two-year contract to turn the Chiefs from pretenders into contenders.&ldquo;Butch made the first contact,&rdquo; said Strumm &ldquo;He had talked to Clarke and he mentioned we were looking for someone. I&rsquo;ll have to phone and thank him.&rdquo;The May 27 appointment of Goring came on the heels of two other coaching moves. In Moose Jaw, the Warriors promoted assistant Jim Harrison to coach while Ed Staniowski was hired as assistant coach to replace Greg Kvisle. And in New Westminster, John Van Horlick took over as coach for Ernie (Punch) McLean, who resigned to devote time to his mining interests.Goring, fired as coach of Boston Bruins on Nov. 7 after the National Hockey League club got off to a 5-7-1 start, looks upon the challenge in Spokane as an opportunity to work with players who&rsquo;ll respond to his teaching.&ldquo;That basically has a lot to do with coming here,&rdquo; said the 37-year-old Goring. &ldquo;When I coached the Bruins and was a playing coach with the Islanders, I worked a lot with kids 18 to 20 years old so I really thought this was a good spot for me.&ldquo;They have aspirations of playing pro and are anxious to learn. Having played pro and done just about everything at that level, when I say something, at least they (players) will know I know what I&rsquo;m talking about.&rdquo;What Goring will talk about is what it will take to become a leader rather than an also-ran. The Chiefs placed third in the division with a 37-31-12 mark but made a quick playoff exit at the hands of Portland Winter Hawks. That spelled the end for coach Peter Esdale.He must mold a team with a penchant for the rough stuff into a squad that can make the most out of the talent it possesses.What Goring wants is for the Chiefs to put forth the kind of effort that earned him the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player in the 1981 NHL playoffs with the New York Islanders. Or maybe the kind of effort that saw Goring grab both the Lady Byng Trophy and Masterton Trophy in 1978.Goring, who played for Los Angeles Kings, Islanders and Bruins in a career that spanned from 1969 to 1985, also owns four Stanley Cup rings. And it&rsquo;s that championship feeling that Strumm is hoping will rub off on his Chiefs.&ldquo;Everybody knows how he played the game,&rdquo; said Strumm. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve made a lot of strides and want to create a professional image in this city. He (Goring) adds a lot of credibility to our organization.&ldquo;It will be his team. I have the utmost confidence in him.&rdquo;In Moose Jaw, the Warriors elected to stay within the organization to fill their positions.Harrison, whose 12-year professional playing career included stops in Boston, Toronto and Chicago in the NHL and Edmonton and Cleveland in the World Hockey Association, started his coaching career last season as an assistant in Moose Jaw.Staniowski, a member of the 1974 Memorial Cup-champion Regina Pats, played six seasons for St. Louis Blues, and then was dealt to Hartford Whalers, where he played two years before an injury forced his retirement.Last season, Staniowski served as a goaltending coach with the Warriors.They had a good season and ousted Regina Pats in the first round of the playoffs before bowing to the eventual Memorial Cup-champion Medicine Hat Tigers.&ldquo;We could have a fairly young club next year so we&rsquo;re looking at bringing back four 20-year-old players,&rdquo; added Roy.Glenn Seymour, Pat Beauchesne, Lee Trim and Trevor Jobe are our best overage bets while Mike Keane, Kevin Herom and Neil Pilon may also return.In New Westminster, it will take a lot to turn around a club which won just 19 games last season.But if optimism is worth anything, then the Bruins will improve under new coach Van Horlick, who agreed to a one-year contract.&ldquo;I think we have the players to win the division and that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re going to do,&rdquo; boldly predicted the 38-year-old Horlick, who spent the last five seasons coaching Williams Lake (B.C) Mustangs in the Peace Cariboo League.&ldquo;We do have a good nucleus, we just need a little direction. I thought the team didn&rsquo;t show that last year and getting off to a slow start didn&rsquo;t help.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>&ldquo;They made some trades to strengthen their future, and although it hurt them last year, it will certainly help this year.&rdquo;When you think of New Westminster, you think of the glory days of back-to-back Memorial Cup championships in 1977 and 1978. You think of McLean, of tough hockey, of first-place hockey.Van Horlick was noted for having rough-and-tumble teams in Williams Lake, something that would seem to make him a perfect candidate to step into Queens Park Arena where they like their hockey rough.WHL NOTEBOOK&mdash;Kamloops coach Ken Hitchcock, 34, has been named an assistant coach of Canada&rsquo;s national junior team. He&rsquo;ll work with head coach Dave Chambers of Toronto&rsquo;s York University and assistant coach Clement Jodoin of Quebec. The announcement came after the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association decided to replace Bert Templeton and his staff. Canada was expelled from the World Junior Championships last January for a game-ending brawl with the Soviets. Templeton had already been suspended by the International Ice Hockey Federation. &#9632;

f0037-02

Can Chiefs Be Made Over In Goring’s Image?

<h2>NORTH BAY (20)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03240/5166309-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="749" height="625"></div><h2>OSH AWA (16)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04199/5166302-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="752" height="507"></div><h2>OTTAWA (16)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05173/5166295-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="750" height="505"></div><h2>PETERBOROUGH (17)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06149/5166288-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="743" height="533"></div><h2>S.S. MARIE (16)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07127/5166281-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="748" height="505"></div><h2>SUDBURY (17)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-08104/5166274-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="747" height="533"></div><h2>TORONTO (20)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0990/5166267-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="729" height="611"></div><h2>WINDSOR (19)</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1083/5166260-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="735" height="591"></div> &#9632;

f0037-03

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01509/5166347-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01479/5166340-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="3299" height="3365"></div> &#9632;

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NHL PLAYOFF REPORT

<h2>PLAYOFF STANDINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01214/5166469-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="547" height="453"></div><h2>STANLEY CUP FINALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02137/5166462-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="535" height="107"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>SUN. MAY 17PHILADELPHIA 2 AT EDMONTON 4WED. MAY 20PHILADELPHIA 2 AT EDMONTON 3ERI. MAY 22EDMONTON 3 AT PHILADELPHIA 5SUN. MAY 24EDMONTON 4 AT PHILADELPHIA 1TUE. MAY 26PHILADELPHIA 4 AT EDMONTON 3THU. MAY 28EDMONTON 2 AT PHILALDELPHIA 3SUN. MAY 31PHILADELPHIA 1 AT EDMONTON 3<h2>CAMPBELL CONFERENCE</h2>PRELIMINARY ROUND<h3>NORRIS DIVISION</h3>Division Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0391/5166455-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="538" height="253"></div>Division Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0467/5166448-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="536" height="133"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>TUE. APR. 21TORONTO 4 AT DETROIT 2THU. APR. 23TORONTO 7 AT DETROIT 2SAT. APR. 25DETROIT 4 AT TORONTO 2MON. APR 27DETROIT 2 AT TORONTO 3WED. APR. 29TORONTO 0 AT DETROIT 3FRI. MAY 1DETROIT 4 AT TORONTO 2SUN. MAY 3TORONTO 0 AT DETROIT 3<h3>SMYTHE DIVISION</h3>Division Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0551/5166441-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="533" height="243"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>WED. APR. 8WINNIPEG 4 AT CALGARY 2THU. APR. 9WINNIPEG 3 AT CALGARY 2SAT. APR. 11CALGARY 3 AT WINNIPEG 2SUN. APR. 12CALGARY 3 AT WINNIPEG 4TUE. APR. 14WINNIPEG 3 AT CALGARY 4THU. APR. 16CALGARY 1 AT WINNIPEG 6<h3>Division Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0644/5166434-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="531" height="133"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>TUE. APR. 21WINNIPEG 2 AT EDMONTON 3THU. APR. 23WINNIPEG 3 AT EDMONTON 5SAT. APR. 25EDMONTON 5 AT WINNIPEG 2MON. APR. 27EDMONTON 4 AT WINNIPEG 2<h3>CONFERENCE FINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0739/5166427-1-eng-US/f0040-072.jpg" title="f0040-07" width="529" height="131"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>TUE. MAY 5DETROIT 3 AT EDMONTON 1THU. MAY 7DETROIT 1 AT EDMONTON 4SAT. MAY 9EDMONTON 2 AT DETROIT 1MON. MAY 11EDMONTON 3 AT DETROIT 2WED. MAY 13DETROIT 3 AT EDMONTON 6<h2>WALES CONFERENCE</h2><h3>ADAMS DIVISION</h3>Division Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0833/5166420-1-eng-US/f0040-082.jpg" title="f0040-08" width="529" height="134"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>WED APR. 8QUEBEC 2 AT HARTFORD 3THU. APR. 9QUEBEC 4 AT HARTFORD 5SAT. APR. 11HARTFORD 1 AT QUEBEC 5SUN. APR 12HARTFORD 1 AT QUEBEC 4TUE. APR. 14QUEBEC 7 AT HARTFORD 5THU. APR. 16HARTFORD 4 AT QUEBEC 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0929/5166413-1-eng-US/f0040-092.jpg" title="f0040-09" width="536" height="105"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>WED. APR. 8BOSTON 2 AT MONTREAL 6THU. APR. 9BOSTON 3 AT MONTREAL 4SAT. APR. 11MONTREAL 5 AT BOSTON 4SUN. APR. 12MONTREAL 4 AT BOSTON 2<h3>Division Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1029/5166406-1-eng-US/f0040-102.jpg" title="f0040-10" width="537" height="132"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>MON. APR. 20QUEBEC 7 AT MONTREAL 5WED. APR. 22QUEBEC 2 AT MONTREAL 1FRI. APR. 24MONTREAL 7 AT QUEBEC 2SUN. APR. 26MONTREAL 3 AT QUEBEC 2TUE. APR. 28QUEBEC 2 AT MONTREAL 3THU. APR. 30MONTREAL 2 AT QUEBEC 3SAT. MAY 2QUEBEC 3 AT MONTREAL 5<h3>PATRICK DIVISION</h3>Division Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1128/5166399-1-eng-US/f0040-112.jpg" title="f0040-11" width="530" height="137"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>WED. APR. 8NY RANGERS 3 AT PHILADELPHIA 0THU. APR. 9NY RANGERS 3 AT PHILADELPHIA 8SAT. APR. 11PHILADELPHIA 3 AT NY RANGERS 0SUN. APR. 12PHILADELPHIA 3 AT NY RANGERS 6TUE. APR. 14NY RANGERS 1 AT PHILADELPHIA 3THU. APR. 16PHILADELPHIA 5 AT NY RANGERS 0<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1226/5166392-1-eng-US/f0040-122.jpg" title="f0040-12" width="530" height="106"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>WED. APR. 8NY ISLANDERS 3 AT WASHINGTON 4THU. APR. 9NY ISLANDERS 3 AT WASHINGTON 1SAT. APR. 11WASHINGTON 2 AT NY ISLANDERS 0SUN. APR. 12WASHINGTON 4 AT NY ISLANDERS 1TUE. APR. 14NY ISLANDERS 4 AT WASHINGTON 2THU. APR. 16WASHINGTON 4 AT NY ISLANDERS 5SAT. APR. 18NY ISLANDERS 3 AT WASHINGTON 2<h3>Division Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1324/5166385-1-eng-US/f0040-132.jpg" title="f0040-13" width="530" height="132"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>MON. APR. 20NY ISLANDERS 2 AT PHILADELPHIA 4WED. APR. 22NY ISLANDERS 2 AT PHILADELPHIA 1FRI. APR 24PHILADELPHIA 4 AT NY ISLANDERS 1SUN. APR. 26PHILADELPHIA 6 AT NY ISLANDERS 4TUE. APR. 28NY ISLANDERS 2 AT PHILADELPHIA 1THU. APR. 30PHILADELPHIA 2 AT NY ISLANDERS 4SAT. MAY 2NY ISLANDERS 1 AT PHILADELPHIA 5<h3>CONFERENCE FINALS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1519/5166378-1-eng-US/f0040-152.jpg" title="f0040-15" width="535" height="111"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>MON. MAY 4MONTREAL 3 AT PHILADELPHIA 4WED. MAY 6MONTREAL 5 AT PHILADELPHIA 2FRI. MAY 8PHILADELPHIA 4 AT MONTREAL 3SUN. MAY 10PHILADELPHIA 6 AT MONTREAL 3TUE. MAY 12MONTREAL 5 AT PHILADELPHIA 2THU. MAY 14PHILADELPHIA 4 AT MONTREAL 3 &#9632;

f0040-01

STANLEY CUP SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1618/5166514-1-eng-US/f0040-162.jpg" title="f0040-16" width="354" height="617"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1715/5166507-1-eng-US/f0040-172.jpg" title="f0040-17" width="354" height="617"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1813/5166500-1-eng-US/f0040-182.jpg" title="f0040-18" width="356" height="637"></div> &#9632;

f0040-16

STANLEY CUP WINNERS

<h2>Wed. May 20</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1911/5166601-1-eng-US/f0040-192.jpg" title="f0040-19" width="576" height="735"></div><h2>Fri. May 22</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-2010/5166594-1-eng-US/f0040-202.jpg" title="f0040-20" width="561" height="309"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-2110/5166587-1-eng-US/f0040-212.jpg" title="f0040-21" width="555" height="429"></div><h2>Sun. May 24</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-2210/5166580-1-eng-US/f0040-222.jpg" title="f0040-22" width="570" height="654"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-239/5166573-1-eng-US/f0040-232.jpg" title="f0040-23" width="558" height="66"></div><h2>Tue. May 26</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-249/5166566-1-eng-US/f0040-242.jpg" title="f0040-24" width="546" height="633"></div><h2>Thu. May 28</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-257/5166559-1-eng-US/f0040-252.jpg" title="f0040-25" width="567" height="339"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-266/5166552-1-eng-US/f0040-262.jpg" title="f0040-26" width="555" height="432"></div><h2>Sun. May 31</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-275/5166545-1-eng-US/f0040-272.jpg" title="f0040-27" width="546" height="627"></div> &#9632;

f0040-19

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0040-28" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-284/5166632-1-eng-US/f0040-282.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0040-28

SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01175/5166663-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="133" height="116"></div>CALGARY&mdash;First, the bad news.By finishing third overall in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s cumulative standings this season, Calgary Flames will choose 19th in the annual entry draft, their lowest position ever.Now, the good news. By trading Kent Nilsson to Minnesota North Stars and Don Edwards to Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1985 season, the Flames hold two extra selections in the draft&mdash;Minnesota&rsquo;s second-rounder and Toronto&rsquo;s fourth-rounder.The North Stars&rsquo; choice, 25th overall, is high enough to get a good player, said general manager Cliff Fletcher. And although the fourth to 12th rounds of the draft will be thinned out by the new rules governing player eligibility, Fletcher thought the Toronto choice&mdash;seventh in the fourth round&mdash;is early enough to get one of the better players in the second phase of the draft.&ldquo;Our first choice may be the lowest pick we&rsquo;ve ever had,&rdquo; said Fletcher, &ldquo;but what compensates for it is it&rsquo;s a pretty even draft. We could get a couple of pretty good players where we are.&rdquo;The other factor to consider is that traditionally, the Flames have a history of drafting well beyond the first round.In 1986, their No. 1 choice, George Pelawa, lost his life in a motor vehicle accident. However, their second pick&mdash;6-foot-4 defenseman Brian Glynn of Saskatoon&mdash;is considered a strong prospect to make the team next year.In 1985, their No. 1 choice, Chris Biotti, ripped the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee playing for Team USA at the World Junior Championships. That forced Biotti to undergo what Fletcher described as &ldquo;about the most major (knee) reconstruction you can have,&rdquo; and it took Biotti until the end of this past season to get his skating to come around.However, the Flames&rsquo; second choice in 1985, center Joe Nieuwendyk, looks like an outstanding prospect. Nieuwendyk joined the team in March of this past year and played well, scoring five goals in nine regularseason games and finishing second on the team in playoff scoring. He will be one of the favorites for next year&rsquo;s Calder Trophy.The Flames also believe Harvard left winger Lane McDonald, a third-round choice in 1985 and a candidate for the U.S. Olympic team, is a future NHLer.Calgary&rsquo;s No. 1 choice in 1984, left wingerGary Roberts, broke in with the team this year and looks as if he&rsquo;ll play regularly in the coming season. However, the team&rsquo;s ninth-rounder-that year, Gary Suter, turned pro two years ago and won the Calder in his rookie season.The 1984 draft also yielded a pack of other prospects: Wisconsin forward Paul Ranheim, another possible U.S. Olympian; Brett Hull, a 50-goal scorer in Moncton last season; and Czech star Jiri Hrdina, who will join the Flames either for training camp or after the Olympics.Their first choice in 1983, Dan Quinn, worked out well&mdash;for Pittsburgh. a team he joined this season in the trade for Mike Bullard. Quinn finished in the top 25 of league scorers.That year, the Flames also secured three other NHLers in later rounds&mdash;center Brian Bradley, right winger Perry Berezan and defenseman Kevan Guy. A fourth possibility is Czechoslovakian forward Igor Liba, another player who has received permission to leave his country to play in North America the year after next.As always, the Flames say they do not draft by position in an 18-year-old draft, they choose the best available talent. However, if they do go out of their way to get somebody this season, that somebody will probably be a defenseman.If the 1987 playoffs proved one thing to the Flames, it was that you can never have enough rearguards. In consecutive games against Winnipeg Jets, they lost Al Maclnnis, Paul Reinhart and Jamie Macoun&mdash;three of their four best defensemen&mdash;to injuries. In the end, they could not overcome the trio&rsquo;s absence. &#9632;</div>

f0041-01

Flames Adept At Drafting After First Round

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02120/5166694-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="552" height="973"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff Greenlaw, the Caps&rsquo; first pick in 1986, was going well until he injured his back.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01180/5166701-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="156" height="89"></div>LANDOVER, Md.&mdash;Success has taught the Washington Capitals patience.When the Capitals make the 15th selection in the National Hockey League entry draft on June 13, they will be exercising their highest pick since 1982, when they grabbed defenseman Scott Stevens fifth overall.Accordingly, the Capitals do not figure to get any immediate help on draft day.&ldquo;Our position has changed over the last few years,&rdquo; said general manager David Poile. &ldquo;It was once important that the first-round choice play on our team but now, drafting 15th, we will be drafting with the future in mind.&ldquo;We must project what a player&rsquo;s abilities will be two or three years down the road. And, if we&rsquo;re picking a major junior player, we will be doing so with the expectation that he will finish his junior eligibility down there.&rdquo;With that philosophy in mind, Poile can say with more than just a turn of the cliche that he will be taking the best player available when his turn finally comes around.&ldquo;If we had a deficiency today, it might not be the situation in two or three years when the draft choice is ready for the NHL,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;It would be nice to have balance and draft in a depth-chart pattern&mdash;a goaltender, a couple of defensemen, forwards scattered among th&eacute; various positions. But when you&rsquo;re watching 20 other teams pick between your selections, all you can do is go for the best player available.&rdquo;Still. Poile has no complaint.&ldquo;If it came to a choice of 21st (choice) or first,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I know what my answer would be. Of course, in the past, the better teams have improved their position by trading off depth. But now, few teams have much depth to spare and the lesser teams have learned that such deals haven&rsquo;t helped them. There are very few changes in the drafting order as a result of trades.&rdquo;The Capitals&rsquo; principal shortcoming remains at left wing, a hole they tried to fill by drafting Jeff Greenlaw last year and Yvon Corriveau in 1985. Both started the past season in Washington, but Greenlaw was shackled by a stress fracture in the back and Corriveau was returned to the Toronto Marlboros.Stevens is one of three first-round picks playing a major role for the Capitals. The others are right winger Mike Gartner (1979) and defenseman Kevin Hatcher (1984).Five of Washington&rsquo;s first-rounders are playing on other NHL teams. They are defenseman Rick Green (1976) and center Ryan Walter (1978) of Montreal, defenseman Robert Picard (1977) of Quebec, defenseman Darren Veitch (1980) of Detroit and center Bob Carpenter (1981) of Los Angeles.CAPSULES&mdash;Asked about coach Bryan Murray&rsquo;s future, owner Abe Pollin gruffly suggested that the questioner discuss that subject with general manager David Poile. Since Poile previously endorsed Murray, the coach will be back for a seventh season&hellip;At a press conference announcing center Bengt Gustafsson&rsquo;s return to the club. Pollin asked the Swede his brand of beer, with the aim of pouring some into the Stanley Cup next year. Considering Pollin&rsquo;s high expectations, Murray surely must take his team a long way in the playoffs to gain a contract extension beyond 1988&hellip;The Capitals have agreed to terms with center Scott McCrory of Oshawa, the Ontario scoring champion who was a 12th-round selection in 1986. McCrory agreed to a two-way contract and bonus of $35,000. &#9632;

f0042-02

Washington’s Picks Are Capital Investments

<div class="byline">By Bob Duff</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-0388/5166732-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="439" height="450"></div>Q: If a team replaces its starting goalie, can it put him back in the game if his replacement is injured?W. Wilson, Oklahoma City. OKA: The coach may change his goaltender as many times as he wishes in a game, and for whatever reason. Back in the 1940s, for instance, the New York Rangers experimented briefly with a system in which they rotated two goalkeepers throughout the game. As you probably noticed in game two of the Wales Conference final between Montreal and Philadelphia, Flyers&rsquo; coach Mike Keenan switched Ron Hextall and Glenn Resch five times during the third period.Q: Is the Arena in St. Louis the same place as the Checkerdome?Craig Fuharo,&nbsp; East Haven, CTA: Yes, it is. The rink was originally known as the Arena. But when Ralston-Purina purchased the St. Louis Blues in the late 1970s, it changed the rink&rsquo;s name to the Checkerdome. A checkerboard pattern is traditional on the packaging of the company&rsquo;s products. The rink again became known as the Arena in I983, when Harry Ornest purchased the club. It has remained the Arena since.Q: Could you please tell me the Soviet Red Army&rsquo;s all-time record versus NHL opposition?John P. Fleming,&nbsp; Jeffersonville, PAA: The Red Army club is 10-4-1 against NHL opposition since the first meeting between the two in December, 1975. The Philadelphia Flyers were the only team to beat the Red Army that season. Montreal tied the team that year and beat it in 1980, as did the Buffalo Sabres. Last season, the Quebec Nordiques posted a victory against the Red Army. Overall, Soviet club teams hold a 29-16-1 edge in games against NHL teams.Q: None of the accounts of the recent four-overtime game between the New York Islandersand Washington mentioned whether Washington&rsquo;s 75 shots, or the combined total of 132 shots, was an NHL playoff record. What is the record for most shots on goal in a Stanley Cup game?Phil Cotroneo Oakland. CAA: The unofficial records for shots by both teams, and by one team, came in the longest game in Stanley Cup history, as the Detroit Red Wings blanked the Montreal Maroons 1-0, March 24-25, 1936. According to one Montreal newspaper report, supplied by Detroit goalie Norm Smith, himself, the two teams combined for 157 shots. Smith stopped all 91 shots he faced, while Montreal&rsquo;s Lome Chabot made 65 saves before allowing Mud Bruneteau&rsquo;s goal at 16:30 of the sixth overtime period. The 91 shots fired by the Maroons stands as the unofficial Stanley Cup record for one team in a game.If you want your question answered by the Duffer, send the query to:ASK THE DUFFER,347 Whitewood Rd.,Saskatoon, SKS7J 4K8 &#9632;

f0042-03

ASK THE DUFFER

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02130/5166801-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Think the Red Wings got a fair shake from this officiating crew? Ex-Detroit greats Frank Mahov-lich, left, Gordie Howe, center, and Alex Delvecchio wore the stripes one evening in 1969, when they refereed a Toronto-Detroit oldtimers&rsquo; game at the Olympia. Mahovlich was a Maple Leaf for more than 10 years, before his trade to Detroit in 1968. By the way, Detroit won the game.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0043-02

THE WAY WE WERE

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SCHULTZ</div>Dallas Smith&rsquo;s National Hockey League career was almost over before it had a chance to blossom.The defenseman, who came up to the Boston Bruins at the tender age of 19 and played 82 games over parts of three seasons, was sent to the minors at 21&mdash;apparently, never to return.With the exception of a two-game stint in 1965-66, Smith saw no NHL action during the five years after 196162. Then, in 1966-67, the year Bobby Orr joined the Bruins, he was called up to stay. Ironically, he couldn&rsquo;t crack the lineup during the team&rsquo;s lean years, but became an integral part of the Bruins during their glory days.Smith had come out of the junior ranks as one of the top defensive defensemen of the times. In just one full season with the Bruins (1960-61), however, he learned a valuable lesson that would stick with him the rest of his career.&ldquo;It was a very humbling experience during that one year with the Bruins,&rdquo; recalled Smith, who played 15 of his 16 NHL years with Boston, and the other with the New York Rangers. &ldquo;I learned a lot that first year about the Bruins and the NHL, and the team learned a great deal about me.&ldquo;When I came back to the NHL to stay, I understood the game better.&rdquo;Smith was one of hockey&rsquo;s best positional defensemen, but he could also handle the puck and score a few goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03107/5166832-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="559" height="1197"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dallas Smith</figcaption></div>He proved how well during the 1976 Stanley Cup semi-finals against the Philadelphia Flyers. In an Orr-type rush. Smith lugged the puck the length of the ice and scored the winner in the opening game, the only contest Boston won.Smith had no illusions of grandeur.&ldquo;There was only one Bobby Orr,&rdquo; said the native of Hamiota. Man. &ldquo;I could never do the things he did. But I could hold my own on offense if I had to and I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to carry the puck.&rdquo;Another of Smith&rsquo;s defensive partners was Ted Green. Smith recalled that fateful night in September, 1969, when Green&rsquo;s, skull was fractured in a stick-swinging incident with the late Wayne Maki.&ldquo;I was on the ice when it happened,&rdquo; said the former defenseman. &ldquo;Play had continued on when the stick swinging broke out. I didn&rsquo;t see Maki swing his stick, but I did see Teddy down on the ice. It was the worst sight I&rsquo;ve ever seen. I&rsquo;m just glad Ted&rsquo;s still around to talk about it.&rdquo;Green recovered to play several more years, and is now an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oilers.After Smith retired from the Bruins, former teammate Phil Esposito talked him into coming back with the Rangers.&ldquo;Phil was playing for the Rangers at the time (1977-78) and thought I could help the team,&rdquo; said Smith. &ldquo;But it was the worst mistake I ever made. I wasn&rsquo;t in shape and I had a terrible year. I retired for good after that.&rdquo;Today, at 45, Smith resides with his wife and family in Portland, Ore., where he works in construction. He also co-owns a farm, with his brother, in Hamiota. &#9632;

f0043-03

Smith Bolstered Blue Line

<h2>30 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; Gordie Howe proved he could lead the pack in a sport other than hockey. In the annual NHL players golf tournament, Howe shot a 75 to post the lowest score. Howe&rsquo;s Red Wing teammate, Marcel Pronovost, carded a 93 to give Detroit the team trophy. The Toronto twosome of Ted Kennedy and Jim Morrison were in second place with scores of 86 and 91, respectively. Howe&rsquo;s impressive round resulted in many observers urging him to play in the Labatt Open, a professional tournament getting under way the next day. He didn&rsquo;t.&bull; A seemingly minor trade was made between the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings. The Bruins traded goalie Terry Sawchuk to the Boston Bruins for Johnny Bucyk, an unproven forward. Sawchuk went on to post an NHL-record 102 shutouts during a sparkling Hall-of-Fame career. Bucyk went on to shine with the Bruins, becoming one of the finest players in their history. Bucyk finished up his Hall-of-Fame career with 556 goals and 813 assists.<h2>25 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; A 12-year-old scoring star from Lindsay, Ont., was regarded as the best peewee-aged player in Canada. Rick MacLeish scored 270 goals in 58 games. Nine years later, MacLeish broke into the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers. He would go on to score 339 goals and 388 assists in a 13-year career. &#9632;

THIS MONTH…

<div class="byline">BY REYN DAVIS</div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0044-01/5166887-1-eng-US/c0044-012.jpg" title="c0044-01" width="109" height="114"></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;The Winnipeg Jets will be looking for a needle in the haystack that is the 1987 entry draft.In a draft year where good defensemen are plentiful and left wingers are scarce, the Jets are going in already strong on the blue line and weak on the port side.A forward, preferably a left winger, will nonetheless be the priority, as the Jets pick in 16th spot in Detroit June 13.&ldquo;We have a number of good defensemen in the system already drafted,&rdquo; said Mike Smith, the Jets&rsquo; assistant general manager and director of scouting. &ldquo;Teppo Numminen, a Finn, is an outstanding prospect. And there are a couple in the minors as well.&rdquo;Two who come to mind are Peter Taglianetti and Bobby Delias, both of the Sherbrooke Canadiens.Since 1983, the Jets have been drafting right wingers with their first choices. Taken, in order, were Andrew McBain (eighth overall), Peter Douris (30th), Ryan Stewart (18th) and Pat Elynuik (8th).</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;I would not expect many, if any, European players will be taken in the first three rounds.&rsquo;</blockquote><blockquote class="pullQuote">&mdash;Smith</blockquote>Just a year ago. three of their top four picks were right wingers&mdash;Elynuik and two Finns, Esa Palosaara (50th) and Hannu Jarvenpaa (71st).Smith conceded that there are four conspicuously bright prospects this year, all of whom will likely go early on.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t except to see Dave Archibald, Brendan Shanahan, Pierre Turgeon or Jimmy Waite when our tum comes,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But anybody else could be there.&rdquo;General manager John Ferguson isn&rsquo;t concerned about drafting 16th.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter,&rdquo; he said.&rdquo; After the top four or five have gone, any one could be the best. Sure, I&rsquo;d like to move up in the draft&mdash;but if I can&rsquo;t, 16th is as good a spot as any.&rdquo;Ferguson mentioned the names of six players, one of whom might be available when he picks.Named were Laval center Rob Murphy, Belleville defenseman Bryan Marchment, Medicine Hat defensemen Dean Chynoweth and Scott McCrady, Swift Current left winger Peter Soberlak and Granby defenseman Stephane Quintal.&ldquo;These are all talented kids,&rdquo; said Ferguson. &ldquo;But they are all two or three years away. Don&rsquo;t expect any instant surprises.&rdquo;If the Jets are affected in any manner by the new rules pertaining to the draft, it would be their penchant for taking Tier II players on their way to U.S. colleges.Tier II players can still be drafted, but they have to be taken in the first three rounds.&ldquo;The rules seem to encourage Tier II players to move up to Tier I if they want to be drafted,&rdquo; said Smith, &ldquo;but another way they can go is to go to a U.S. college and, after one year, be eligible for the draft.&rdquo;Smith said he expects to see more U.S. players taken in this year&rsquo;s draft, because high school players are more likely to be eligible beyond the third round.Don&rsquo;t look for the Jets to make many European picks, however.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my opinion that it&rsquo;s a weak year in Europe,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;I would not expect many, if any, European players will be taken in the first three rounds.&ldquo;Certainly, there was a strong group of Finns available last year. The year before, the Swedes had a lot of the best prospects.&rdquo;BENCH BITS&mdash;The agent for Brian Mullen, Larry Rauch of New York, said general manager John Ferguson has promised to try to trade the left winger from the Jets. &ldquo;It appears John is going to try to move him, said Rauch. &ldquo;There is no friction. We&rsquo;re being totally above board. But he hasn&rsquo;t played a whole lot in Winnipeg I&rsquo;d like to think he could help a number of clubs. I just hope he gets a break.&rdquo; Rauch believes the teams in the New York area would love to have Mullen, a native of Hell&rsquo;s Kitchen in New York. &ldquo;New Jersey, in particular. They have a lot of holes to fill.&rdquo; &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

June 19, 1987

The Hockey News Classified (416) 445-5702

Sabres Playing No. 1 Choice Close To Vest

CROSSWORD

Future Not Likely Now For Flyer Picks