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October 9, 1987
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.
Playing NHL Teams Strengthens Olympians
If you want to be the best, you have to play the best. That’s exactly what the Canadian Olympic Team was thinking when it substituted NHL teams for American League and college matchups this season. And, with games still to play against Calgary, Minnesota and Winnipeg, the move had already paid dividends. Under head coach Dave King, the Olympians won two and tied one of their first six games against NHL teams. Aside from an 8-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, Sept. 24 in Drummondville, Que., Team Canada had been competitive. The Calgary-based Olympic team opened its NHL schedule with a 3-3 tie against the Stanley Cup-champion Oilers in Edmonton. Team Canada then beat the Calgary Flames 5-3 before 10,000 fans in the Calgary Saddledome, split a pair with the New Jersey Devils (winning…
Binkley Beat Best In Boston
Les Binkley was the Cinderella of pro hockey. The native of Walkerton, Ont., started his hockey career as a trainer with the American League Cleveland Barons in 1957-58. During practice, he would strap on the pads and play goal. He got so proficient at puck-stopping that he was actually given the job as Barons’ goaltender the following season. He played seven years in Cleveland and one in San Diego before signing with the NHL expansion Pittsburgh Penguins in 1967. Veteran goalie Hank Bassen, a Detroit cast-off, won the starting nod at Pittsburgh’s training camp and played in the Penguins’ first-ever game, a 2-1 loss to Montreal. Before long, however, the extrainer overtook Bassen and became the best goalie in the NHL’s new West Division. During the first year of expansion, 1967-68, Binkley tied Minnesota’s…
Team Canada And NHL Big Winners In 80s
AFTER TEAM CANADA triumphed in the 1984 Canada Cup tournament, head honcho Glen Sather was asked if there was any special significance in the triumph, accomplished with that superb semi-final win over the Soviet Union and a sweep of Sweden in the final. “You’re damned right there is,” Sather said. “It means the NHL can hold its head high for the next four years knowing it proved on the ice that it plays the best hockey in the world.” Slats’ words were recalled in the euphoria of Team Canada’s victory in this year’s version of the tournament, a win made even sweeter by the fact that it came over the USSR in three extraordinary hockey games. The ’84 and ’87 triumphs gave the NHL a big run through the decade that started with…
Speedy Smith Aims To Maximize Chief Asset
BUFFALO—Doug Smith has been to the American League. He has no plans for a return visit. The center, exiled to Rochester Americans for 15 games last year, intends on playing this entire season with the Buffalo Sabres. Smith figures he’s got an edge on would-be Sabres—an NHL edge. “What I want to do is be able to use my speed to my advantage,” said the 24-year-old. “The one thing that the AHL taught me is that there are a lot of good players there, players who can do great things with the puck. The primary difference is speed.” Smith, drafted second overall by the Los Angeles Kings behind Dale Hawerchuk in 1981, has always had speed. He’s had it in abundance. This year, however, he’s trying very hard to find new ways to exploit…
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