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.

December 4, 1987

The Hockey News December 4, 1987

<div class="byline">BY GRANT McGINNIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02790/5348396-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="182" height="136"></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;If the hockey doctor had to prescribe a cure for the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; recent slump, it probably wouldn&rsquo;t have been a date with the high-flying Edmonton Oilers.But a visit to the Winnipeg Arena by the Stanley Cup champions proved to be exactly what the sagging Jets needed to break out of a five-game winless streak. Despite surrending a three-goal lead to Edmonton Nov. 22, the Jets came back to win 4-3 in overtime on a controversial goal by captain Dale Hawerchuk.Hawerchuk&rsquo;s deflection of Dave Ellett&rsquo;s wrist shot from the point&mdash;the Oilers claimed his stick was above shoulder height&mdash;came as welcome relief for the Jets. They hadn&rsquo;t won since a similar 4-3 overtime victory Nov. 10 over the Calgary Flames.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been working so hard and struggling so much,&rdquo; Hawerchuk said. &ldquo;But it finally fell into place. We knew we weren&rsquo;t playing that bad the last four games. We just weren&rsquo;t getting the breaks.&rdquo;The Jets&rsquo; woes began on the road with a 1-1 tie at New Jersey, followed by a 7-3 loss to the New York Islanders, 6-4 defeat to the New York Rangers and back-to-back 4-3 losses at home to the Bruins and Rangers.The slump was Winnipeg&rsquo;s longest since a nine-game winless period last December and broke a five-game winning streak the Jets had established on home ice. No matter how hard Winnipeg worked, nothing seemed to work.Jets&rsquo; coach Dan Maloney threatened changes&mdash;he eventually recalled Pat Elynuik, lain Duncan and Joel Baillargeon from Moncton, sending Hannu Jarvenpaa to the farm&mdash;but that didn&rsquo;t pay immediate dividends. The coach shuffled his lines, using more than a dozen combinations, and benched high-scoring winger Paul MacLean. Practices were long and intense.Exasperated, Maloney tried to boost his players with positive thoughts and a loose workout, a move which seemed to pay off.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t get it back,&rdquo; Maloney said of the lost points in mid-slump. &ldquo;You have to be honest and frank with your players about the things we have to work on. You don&rsquo;t just happen your way out of slumps. You work your way out of them. But you have to keep a positive frame of mind.&rdquo;Veteran center Ron Wilson, who, at age 31, has survived more than one such dry spell in his career, said the positive approach was welcome.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had practices where everybody is uptight,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;And when you&rsquo;re uptight, you don&rsquo;t do the things you&rsquo;re supposed to do.&rdquo;Prior to the slump-busting victory, Maloney said he wasn&rsquo;t worried about trying to break out of the skid against the Oilers, a team which had lost just once in its previous nine games. He was confident the Jets would eventually solve the jinx, no matter whom the opposition.And his thoughts proved correct as the Jets again rose to the occasion for a match with a team from their own Smythe Division, where they had a 7-1 record.NOTES&mdash;Winnipeg lost defenseman Mario Marois on Nov. 20 against the New York Rangers when he was hit in the face by a Michel Petit shot. Marois took seven stiches on the cheek and his left eye was swollen shutDefenseman Peter Taglianetti took a Glenn Anderson high stick on Nov. 22 and suffered a mild concussion&hellip;The demotion of Finnish rookie Hannu Jarvenpaa to Moncton of the American League caused a stir. Although he hadn&rsquo;t scored since Nov. I, most observers considered Jarvenpaa among the best Jets&hellip;Left winger Steve Rooney was hit by Jim Kyte&rsquo;s shot in a game with Boston and suffered a broken ankle. He&rsquo;ll be lost to the team for four weeks.<h2>JETS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 16: Brad Berry, D, recalled from Moncton (AHL).Nov. 19: Hannu Jarvenpaa, RW, assigned to Moncton. Pat Elynuik, RW, Joel Baillargeon, LW, and lain Duncan, LW, recalled.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dale Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen, Laurie Boschman, Ron Wilson.LW&mdash;Andrew McBain, Doug Smail, Gilles Hamel, lain Duncan, Joel Baillargeon.RW&mdash;Paul MacLean, Ray Neufeld, Pat Elynuik, Jim Nill.LD&mdash;Randy Carlyle, Dave Ellett, Jim Kyte.RD&mdash;Peter Taglianetti, Brad Berry, Tim Watters.G&mdash;Eldon Reddick, Daniel Berth-iaume.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Mario Marois, D, cheek bone, day to day.Fredrik Olausson, D, shoulder surgery, indefinite.Steve Rooney, LW, ankle, Dec. 20. &#9632;

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How Do Jets Spell Relief? OT Victory Against Oilers

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01465/5349664-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

BOOK LOCKER

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-08" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-08143/5349038-1-eng-US/f0026-082.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04274/5349031-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="426" height="530"><figcaption class="caption-body">DARYN McBRIDE Denver</figcaption></div><h2>WCHA</h2>Sophomore right winger Daryn McBride of Denver had a hand in all four goals&mdash;scoring three and assisting on the other&mdash;in Denver&rsquo;s 4-2 win over North Dakota Nov. 21.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05217/5349024-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="428" height="531"><figcaption class="caption-body">GORD CRUICKSHANK Providence</figcaption></div><h2>HOCKEY EAST</h2>Senior winger Gord Cruickshank was the driving force behind Providence College&rsquo;s weekend sweep of Lowell (3-2) and Boston University (7-6).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06180/5349017-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="419" height="535"><figcaption class="caption-body">REJEAN BOIVIN Colgate</figcaption></div><h2>ECAC</h2>Senior right winger Rejean Boivin scored an amazing eight goals, including four against Clarkson and three against Boston University.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-07156/5349010-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="430" height="529"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANDY GRIBBLE Bowling Green</figcaption></div><h2>CCHA</h2>Senior right winger Andy Gribble scored 10 points as Bowling Green swept Ferris State. His efforts included a three-goal outburst in the series&rsquo; second game.Performers of the week for the period Nov. 16-22.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Bauer FIT FOR PERFORMANCE</blockquote> &#9632;

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Bauer’s COLLEGE ‘Performers OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY BARRY MEISEL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02938/5348079-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The play of right winger Alan Kerr has been one of the most pleasant surprises in a surprising Islander season.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011286/5348086-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="179" height="137"></div>UNIONDALE, N.Y.&mdash;What a first quarter: A 14-5-1 record that was the NHL&rsquo;s best; a three-point lead in the Patrick Division over New Jersey; and second place in the league&rsquo;s overall standings.&ldquo;Not bad,&rdquo; New York Islander coach Terry Simpson deadpanned. &ldquo;Three more like this and I&rsquo;ll be pretty pleased.&rdquo;The quarter ended spectacularly in the Spectrum Nov. 21, when the Islanders rallied from a4-1 deficit with five third-period goals and shocked the struggling Philadelphia Flyers 6-4.In a season filled with improbabilities, this was the most improbable.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe this one,&rdquo; Denis Potvin exclaimed. &ldquo;In Philly? Just great.&rdquo;But how?&ldquo;We&rsquo;re stupid enough and young enough to think we&rsquo;ve always got a chance,&rdquo; Steve Konroyd said.The never-say-Dielanders rallied three times in 21 days for dramatic wins. On Nov. 1 in Boston, they came back from 5-2 in the third to beat the Bruins in overtime 6-5.On Nov. 17 at home, they came back from 3-1 with seven minutes left to beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-3.And they beat the Flyers with a goal from Randy Wood at 0:21, two from Mikko Makela at 3:31 and 6:26, the winner from Bob Bassen at 17:46 and Wood&rsquo;s empty-netter with two seconds left. Philly was outshot 14-2 in the final period.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really think we were going to win it,&rdquo; Simpson admitted. &ldquo;But I thought we&rsquo;d come out with a strong third period.&rdquo;&ldquo;He may not have thought we did, but he told us we did,&rdquo; said Kelly Hrudey, whose strong goaltending (11-3-1,3.11 GAA, .901 save percentage) buoyed the entire quarter. &ldquo;He came in and said, &lsquo;We have a chance to win this if we play with a lot more enthusiasm and a lot more drive.&rsquo;&rdquo;Enthusiasm and drive have been the Islanders&rsquo; magic words this season, because this team is not abundantly talented.It just tries and tries and tries. It listens to its coach most of the time, stays in great condition all the time, and follows a strict system that encourages two-man forechecking, but preaches defensive coverage.First-quarter unsung heroes? Start on the wings, where Randy Wood and Alan Kerr top a crowded list of overachievers. A year ago after 20 games, Kerr was 0-3-3, and Wood was in Springfield of the American League.Kerr finished the quarter at 9-14-23. Wood, who has emerged as a legitimate Calder Trophy and all-rookie team candidate, was 10-3-13.At center, Pat LaFontaine, Bryan Trottier and Brent Sutter are surprising nobody with productive seasons. But Bob Bassen has been a sophomore lynx.Bassen was 1-2-3 after 20 games last season. His game-winner at Philadelphia finished his quarter 4-7-11.Wingers Mikko Makela and Greg Gilbert also picked up their scoring totals. And the team has shown its toughness by going 7-1 in one-goal games.When the season began, general manager Bill Torrey said his team could succeed without Mike Bossy&mdash;if certain players improved their offensive production from a year ago. He named names, singling out Makela, Kerr and Gilbert.It&rsquo;s happening just as he said it would.NOTES&mdash;Despite the Isles&rsquo; great start, attendance is way down at Nassau Coliseum for the second straight season. After 11 dates this season, the average crowd was 13,657, down from 14,552 last year and 15.652 the year before. Expensive ticket prices ($27, $23, $17 and $10) and stricter U.S. laws regarding tax write-offs are possible reasons why.<h2>ISLANDERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 19: Jeff Hackett, G, returned to Oshawa (OHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bryan Trottier, Pat LaFontaine, Brent Sutter, Bob Bassen.LW&mdash;Rich Kromm, Greg Gilbert, Brad Lauer, Derek King.RW&mdash;Alan Kerr, Mikko Makela, Randy Wood, Brad Dalgarno.LD&mdash;Steve Konroyd, Denis Potvin.RD&mdash;Gord Dineen, Tomas Jonsson, Ken Morrow, Ken Leiter.G&mdash;Kelly Hrudey, Bill Smith.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Brian Curran, D, sprained right knee, Dec. 1.Gerald Diduck, D, navicular fracture of left foot, Nov. 28.Patrick Flatley, RW, separated right shoulder, day-to-day. &#9632;

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Dow Jones Would Love Quarter Like This

The National Hockey League has played a full quarter of its schedule, and there are surprises galore. The New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils (!) are all fighting for the overall lead, while the Philadelphia Flyers are floundering near the cellar floor.Next issue, we&rsquo;ll take a look at a few of the trends&mdash;surprising and otherwise&mdash;during the NHL&rsquo;s first quarter. Included is a special look at penalty calls. In the off-season, the NHL directed its officials to call more restraining fouls. Have the officials lived up to their end of the deal? Find out what kind of penalty is being called, and how often.Plus, read about New Haven goalies Bob Janecyk and Al Jensen, a pair of ex-NHLers playing in the AHL. You&rsquo;ll get all this, our unequalled statistics package, and much, much more, in your Dec. 11 edition of THE HOCKEY NEWS. &#9632;

NEXT WEEK

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011330/5347590-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">New York Islander goalie Bill Smith, in combat with Winnipeg&rsquo;s Paul MacLean, has an on-ice feud going with former teammate Bob Bourne.</figcaption></div>An on-ice feud between ex-teammates Bob Bourne and Bill Smith, which began on opening night in Los Angeles, looked for a moment like it would erupt again during a recent morning pre-game skate when the Kings and Islanders met again at Nassau Coliseum. The impending clash took shape following a New York Daily News story that suggested Bourne would resume his battle with the goaltender, which included a Smith stick in Bourne&rsquo;s face last year and Bourne jumping Smith in October. While maintenance workers and a few railbirds were watching the Islanders take their morning skate, Bourne entered the arena in street clothes and walked directly to the gate leading to the ice. Smith instantly spotted his nemesis and raced to the door, stick upraised. Onlookers thought the two would go at it then and there. But when Smitty got to the door, the ex-buddies burst out laughing. &ldquo;It (the feud) goes only as far as the ice,&rsquo;&rsquo; Bourne explains. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why we laughed about it this time. Our disagreement is nothing personal, just spontaneous. I don&rsquo;t like that stuff (Smith battling with Kings&rsquo; Phil Sykes) on the ice and I have to back up my teammate. But Smitty and I still can have a smile over it, too.&rdquo; Whatever anger remains will have to be put on hold until the clubs meet again, March 23 in L.A.<h2>LUCKY NO LAWSUIT?</h2>Some NHL insiders consider the Flyers&rsquo; Dave Brown fortunate that Tomas Sandstrom of the Rangers did not sue as a result of the Brown assault Oct. 26. They point out that a Los Angeles jury awarded $3.3 million to Houston Rocket forward Rudy Tomjanovich as a result of injuries he sustained when punched in the face by Laker forward Kermit Washington. Capitals&rsquo; captain Rod Langway tells BLUELINES that had he been in Sandstrom&rsquo;s shoes, he wouldn&rsquo;t have been content with the NHL&rsquo;s 15-game suspension. &ldquo;If I was the player who got hit deliberately and after the whistle,&rdquo; said Langway, &ldquo;I would seriously think of a lawsuit. It&rsquo;s normal for anyone to protect himself. Our game is supposed to be played under rules. He (Brown) would be arrested and put in jail if he did what he had done to Sandstrom on the street.&rdquo;<h2>THE COLOR BLACK</h2>A Cornell psychology professor suggests that clubs like the Flyers, who employ black in their color scheme, play more aggressively because that&rsquo;s the way the color makes them feel. &ldquo;We did lab research,&rdquo; says Tom Gilovich, the Cornell prof, &ldquo;and found that black in the uniforms spurs aggressiveness.&rdquo;&hellip;Ref Denis Morel&rsquo;s nickname among his officiating colleagues is &lsquo;The River Skater&rsquo; because of his long excursions around the pond&hellip;The league has quietly urged the officiating corps to be more available to the media and the refs and linesmen have obliged&hellip;Boston agent Steve Freyer, who represents Ray Bourque and Keith Crowder, among others, dispatched a stiff note to NHL prexy John Ziegler over tough NHL play. Freyer wrote: &ldquo;The acquisition of tough, hardnosed enforcers by Adams Division teams in the off-season resembled an arms race and has no place in hockey.&rdquo;<h2>KAMINSKY&rsquo;S DOUBLE SHUTOUT</h2>Agent Art Kaminsky is crowing over a rare parlay: two of his College-grad goaltending clients, Bryan (Cornell) Hayward and Mike (Bowling Green) Liut, faced each other recently and produced a 0-0 shutout in a Montreal-Hartford clash. Kaminsky was the first agent to develop the U.S. collegiate market into a big business&hellip;Saskatoon&rsquo;s new 8,000-seat rink, slated for a February opening, is expected to host games with both the Soviet and Swedish Olympic teams playing against Canada&rsquo;s national squad&hellip;New Jersey-born Pat Dapuzzo is fast becoming one of the NHL&rsquo;s most popular linesmen thanks to his good humor. Dapuzzo recalls his worst blunder in three years: &ldquo;Play had stopped at the Meadowlands and, in front of 18,000 fans, I went skating after the puck. No one was near me as I bent down to get the puck and fell on my rear end. I didn&rsquo;t even try to stop, and I went sliding into the boards. When I got up, everyone started to clap.&rdquo;<h2>ORR&rsquo;S NUMBER THE PRIZE</h2>Bruin defenseman Frank Simonetti recalls Bobby Orr&rsquo;s impact on his Stoneham, Mass., community when he was a bantam player. &ldquo;We always used to fight over who was going to get Orr&rsquo;s number (four)&mdash;and I got it a few times.&rdquo;&hellip;The Rangers&rsquo; dealing of defenseman Larry Melnyk puzzled many observers because of Melnyk&rsquo;s generally strong play in the Patrick Division. &ldquo;He always hurt us,&rdquo; Caps&rsquo; coach Bryan Murray tells BLUELINES. Murray reveals that Melnyk, for some reason, has been labelled &ldquo;sour&rdquo; by some coaches because he lacks a rah-rah disposition&hellip;Pressed to evaluate the Melnyk-Willie Huber-Michel Petit, Ranger-Vancouver deal, Wings&rsquo; GM Jimmy Devellano tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t like any one of them!&rdquo;&hellip;The Kings&rsquo; Luc Robitaille concealed an embarrassed giggle during an appearance on ESPN&rsquo;s Sports Look. Interviewer Ted Green (no relation to the Oilers&rsquo; asst, coach) mentioned to Luc that Los Angeles boasts one of the NHL&rsquo;s younger teams with aces such as &ldquo;Jimmy Carson, Steve Duchesne and Pierre Turgeon.&rdquo; At last report Turgeon still was a Sabre.<h2>LAUGHS WITH LaFONTAINE</h2>The Islanders&rsquo; all-American boy Pat LaFontaine slipped out of character when he pulled a fast one on broadcaster Jiggs McDonald during a pre-game taped interview prior to the first Isles-Caps game this year. Toward the end of the question-and-answer session, McDonald recalled LaFontaine&rsquo;s fourth overtime sudden-death goal last spring, and asked Pat about it. Completely out of character, LaFontaine frowned, then snapped, &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t time for questions like that; I have more important things to do.&rdquo; The Isle then ripped off the mike and stormed out of the studio while Jiggs stared in astonishment. A few seconds later, LaFontaine returned to the interview and let McDonald in on the gag. &ldquo;Jiggs didn&rsquo;t know what to ask me for the rest of the interview,&rdquo; says Pat.<h2>BAD RAP ON KINGS</h2>Tiger Williams is miffed at the NHL official who, pleading anonymity, derided Kings&rsquo; boss Jerry Buss and insisted that the California club is on a treadmill to oblivion. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got a fine organization,&rdquo; Williams tells BLUELINES, &ldquo;but the schedule kills them. And this Bruce McNall (the Kings&rsquo; new prexy) will do a lot for the club.&rdquo; McNall began amassing his millions through the collection of rare coins. At age 24 he paid $420,000 for a 2,000-year-old Greek coin that he later sold for nearly a million. McNall&rsquo;s net worth now is estimated at $100 million&hellip;Sign on a license plate-holder in the L.A. Forum parking lot: &ldquo;L.A. Kings&mdash;Jerry&rsquo;s Kids Need Help!&rdquo;<h2>NHL AND PRISON RIOTS</h2>Stand-up comic Jeff Cesario has a routine during which he blames the NHL for prison riots. &ldquo;Imagine the convict, sitting in his cell, watching a hockey player getting a two-minute penalty. And he&rsquo;s serving 17 years for the same offense!&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Greg Adams of the Canucks and Greg Adams of the Caps have gotten to know one another although they&rsquo;re unrelated. The Canucks&rsquo; Adams says, &ldquo;The other Greg Adams got my income tax one year and I had his skates. It would have been nice if we had left it that way; provided he paid my taxes!&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Some visitors to Joe Louis Arena are chiding the Red Wings for hoisting a new banner&mdash;&rdquo;Norris Division Playoff Champions 1986-87&rdquo;&mdash;alongside Detroit&rsquo;s hallowed Stanley Cup banners. Some media types wonder whether owner Mike Ilitch would have hung up two banners if his club had finished first in the Norris Division.<h2>PULLING FOR A FRIEND</h2>The Kings Grant Ledyard has quietly dedicated this season to 28-year-old Dan McLeod of Winnipeg, a seriously-ill friend he&rsquo;s known since childhood. &ldquo;I want him to know we&rsquo;re all pulling for him,&rdquo; says Ledyard, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;ve dedicated this season to him.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Mark Messier&rsquo;s call for Olympic-sized NHL rinks has spurred considerable discussion. The Hartford Courant carried a major story on the issue recently. Rather than the larger rink, much sentiment is with Bob Clarke&rsquo;s proposal for reducing ten feet in the neutral zone, eliminating the two-line offside and creating 15 instead of ten feet behind the net. (See Barry Meisel&rsquo;s column on page 16.) However, the proposal is opposed by Whalers&rsquo; goalie Mike Liut who told the Courant&rsquo;s&nbsp;Jeff Jacobs: &ldquo;If you allow the two-line pass, you will create more floating. It wouldn&rsquo;t be as honest a game. Guys would be hanging out high. The defenseman would swing around his net and send a 120-foot home-run pass.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Departments

Feud Wasn’t Bourne-Again

CHRYSLER CANADA IS THE EXCLUSIVE SPONSOR OF THE DODGE-NHL PERFORMER OF THE WEEK, MONTH AND YEAR AWARDS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011353/5347621-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="565" height="820"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bernie Nicholls</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; center Bernie Nicholls registered six goals and six assists for 12 points in four road games to capture the Dodge Performer of the Week Award for the period ending November 22. Nicholls edged out teammate center Bob Carpenter, Boston Bruins&rsquo; center Steve Kasper, Hartford Whalers&rsquo; defenseman Dave Babych and Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; goaltender Glen Hanlon to earn the honor.On behalf of Nicholls, the Dodge and Chrysler Canada divisions of Chrysler Motors will donate $500 to the youth hockey organization of the player&rsquo;s choice. The Dodge and Chrysler Canada divisions of Chrysler Motors also sponsor the Performer of the Month and the Performer of the Year Awards, for which the latter receives the Dodge Vehicle of his choice.The 26-year-old Nicholls, a native of Haliburton, Ontario, started the week with one assist in a 4-3 loss to the New York Islanders (Nov. 17). He added one goal and two assists in a 7-5 loss against the Philadelphia Flyers (Nov. 19). In Toronto, Nicholls scored two goals, including one power-play marker in a 6-6 tie (Nov. 21), while the following night in Buffalo, he ended the Kings&rsquo; road trip with a six-point performance (3 goals and 3 assists) including both a power-play and short-handed goal en route to an 8-5 Kings&rsquo; victory.Carpenter registered nine points (4-5-9) in four games. &#9632;

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DODGE NHL PERFORMER OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011234/5347652-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Housley scored more goals&mdash;10&mdash;during his first 15 games than any other defenseman in NHL history, including Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey. His emergence was the most important factor in Buffalo&rsquo;s good start.</figcaption></div>Phil Housley rushed right to the heart of the question.&ldquo;Bobby Orr was in a class by himself,&rdquo; answered the Buffalo Sabre defenseman when pressed with yet another question concerning the legendary Boston Bruin defenseman. &ldquo;He came from a different decade, from a different point in the history of the game and he dominated that decade.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not Bobby Orr. I just want to be Phil Housley and be as good as Phil Housley can be.&rdquo;That can be pretty good all by itself.In fact, if you measure 15 games from the start of a season, Housley&rsquo;s goal production was better than Orr&rsquo;s. It was better than any defenseman who ever played the game.Housley scored 10 goals through the first 15 games of this season. That&rsquo;s one more than Orr&rsquo;s best start ever (nine goals at the start of the 1974-75 season). Two more than Doug Wilson&rsquo;s best (eight, 1981-82) and three more than Paul Coffey&rsquo;s best (seven in 1983-84 and again in 1985-86).Through the first 21 games this season, the native of South St. Paul, Minn., had 13goals. in his 400th career National Hockey League game, Nov. 15 vs. Toronto, the 23-year-old scored two goals, the 114th and 115th of his still young career.To keep this in perspective, it should be pointed out that Housley is definitely not scoring like Orr. Orr had 21 assists and 30 points through 15 games in 1974-75, compared to Housley&rsquo;s seven and 17, but it should also be noted that the 1987-88 Buffalo Sabres aren&rsquo;t on a par with the 1974-75 Bruins.They are not even close, which makes a large portion of the Sabres&rsquo; early-season success directly attributable to Housley.He earned points in 16 of his first 21 starts. He put together an eight-game scoring streak early in the season. He had two two-goal games and four games with at least one goal and one assist.He&rsquo;s also the team&rsquo;s iron man of record. In addition to this year&rsquo;s 21 games, he played in the last 71 consecutive games of the 1986-87 campaign.Still, what people notice most is that Housley is scoring goals. So many of them in fact that he&rsquo;s making Sabres&rsquo; radio broadcaster Rick Jeanneret work overtime. It&rsquo;s Jeanneret who coined the expression, &ldquo;Wowie, Housley,&rdquo; after watching the youngster score a sensational goal early in his career.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve ever had them come like this,&rdquo; said Housley, sixth overall selection in the 1982 entry draft. &ldquo;When I was playing up front (center) I got off to a good start, but I don&rsquo;t remember how many games I played at forward or defense.&rdquo;That was the 1983-84 season, a &ldquo;win-now&rdquo; period in which Housley finished with a career-high 31 goals.Despite the success of that campaign, Housley insists his days at forward (he was used largely at center) were disappointing ones and he yearned to return to defense and establish himself as a regular.&ldquo;My third and fourth seasons are when I started getting bounced around back and front,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Scotty (former Sabre coach and general manager Scott Bowman) wanted results and then Jim Schoenfeld (Bowman&rsquo;s replacement until he was fired and replaced by Bowman) at first wanted to use. me only on the power play and when we were behind by a goal or two.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t hold it against either man. They thought that&rsquo;s what they had to do to win, but I didn&rsquo;t want to be known as just as offensive player. That&rsquo;s why I think I started to slip (career lows of 16 goals in 1984-85 and 15 in 1985-86). I have to play a lot to keep my confidence up, because if I make a mistake I honestly feel I can do something to help get (a goal) back.&rdquo;Yo-yoing between two positions with one coach and getting limited ice time with another was probably the low point of Housley&rsquo;s career.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re switching back and fourth all the time, it always takes you a couple of games to get adjusted to the different position,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d start to get comfortable in one position and then I&rsquo;d be somewhere else.&ldquo;Then each one (Schoenfeld and Bowman) sat me out a game (in 1985-86). I think that was the low point. I don&rsquo;t think I should have been blamed for all our problems then but I didn&rsquo;t want that to ever happen again.&rdquo;Housley set out to make sure that it wouldn&rsquo;t.He credits his current resurgence to three things, a stronger sense of desire and commitment, the arrival of Ted Sator as coach of the Sabres and a strong performance for Team USA in the 1987 Canada Cup Tournament.&ldquo;Ted did a lot to build up my confidence,&rdquo; said Housley. &ldquo;He asked me to be an assistant captain and to accept the responsibility that goes along with that.&rdquo;Last year, with 21 goals, he was a dominant player on a team that was destined to go nowhere. He carried on with a strong performance in the Canada Cup.Housley maintains the sudden outburst in scoring is indeed tied to his Cup performance, that and a better understanding of offensive situations.&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m finding the holes better now and have a better sense of timing, which I think is crucial. In the past I think I&rsquo;d commit too early. I&rsquo;d make a move before a pass could be made or when it was too congested around the net. I think I&rsquo;ve developed a better feel as to when to go in. and when to hang back.&ldquo;Ted&rsquo;s told me to go in when I think I can do the most good. He pretty much leaves it up to me.&rdquo;Sator was an assistant coach for Team USA during the 1984 Canada Cup, and although Housley was not a huge factor in that team&rsquo;s performance, Sator came away liking what he saw.&ldquo;It struck me right away what a pure talent he was,&rdquo; said Sator. &ldquo;I thought he was one of the best pure skaters in the NHL. When I came here, I tried to put him in a situation where we could use that strength because you can&rsquo;t teach something like that. That&rsquo;s a gift you go searching for in the draft.&rdquo;The other parts of his game, mainly strength and defensive skills, are what truly separate Housley from entering the select circle of Norris Trophy candidates. He neither hits like Ray Bourque nor controls the defensive tempo like Rod Langway or Mike Ramsey.In past years, Ramsey or the now-retired Bill Hajt, often carried an extra burden playing with Housley. When Housley went up, Ramsey, Hajt or another stay-at-home-type was left to mind the store.Lately, however, Housley has been determined not to place that burden on his partner.&ldquo;I think I can be an effective defenseman,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I still have to take my (offensive) chances, but I try to get in and get out of the offensive zone as fast as I can.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a big player (he&rsquo;s 5-foot-10, 179 pounds) but I&rsquo;m stronger now than I ever was and it&rsquo;s not just a matter of moving people. It&rsquo;s often a matter of timing. When the shot comes in, you can still tie a bigger guy up, maybe get his stick out of the play.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not afraid to take the body, either (a criticism that he has heard before). 1&rsquo;11 take a guy out. Maybe not through the boards, I&rsquo;m not big enough to do that, but I&rsquo;ll get a piece of him and I&rsquo;ll do my job.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a minus player right now and that bothers me, but I know I can improve on that. I can play better.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0005-01

WOWIE!

NEWS AND VIEWS&hellip;News: The Canucks&rsquo; fine for hiring Pat Quinn while he was still coach of Los Angeles is reduced to $10,000 by the British Columbia Supreme Court, but the ban against his coaching in the NHL until 1990 is upheld.Views: What it amounts to is that Quinn did nothing wrong, only something that looked wrong. And that NHL president John Ziegler has to wag a finger publicly or it looks like the league has absolutely no integrity.Ziegler made his point, Quinn made his point. And turn out the lights please, because the whole thing is making me sleepy.News: Dave Brown gets into some high-shticking about his attack on Tomas Sandstrom, as a warmup act at a Philadelphia comedy club.Views: It takes a lot to offend me. And I understand the nothing-sacred context of a comedy club. But clubbing someone in the neck with a hockey stick and then telling jokes about it is not funny. Worse, it indicates a complete absence of remorse.News: The Devils are acting like a contender.Views: Enthusiasm counts for a lot more in the early going than talent. Nevertheless, I&rsquo;m impressed that a team which has been down so long and really hasn&rsquo;t added an impact player this year can be thinking like a winner.The Devils obviously are, and that says something for coach Doug Carpenter and the character of the players who have endured being a Devil for three or four years.But I&rsquo;m suspicious of a team that can go from last in goals against to near first without a big upgrade in personnel. It&rsquo;s also tough sledding to avoid those long skids when you don&rsquo;t have a star to carry you. There&rsquo;s a long way to go in this season.News: The Flyers have forgotten how to win.Views: Mind-boggling, at least at first glance. But think about it: Ron Hextail off to a bad start; no Tim Kerr; Mark Howe, Doug Crossman, Brian Propp and Rick Tocchet slumping; the absence of another star to keep the team&rsquo;s head above water until it regains its confidence; and panic that is fed from the players&rsquo; absolute disbelief that this can be happening.Of course Mike Keenan, in an unofficial survey by THN, has been voted the head you would most like to see separated from a neck. But owner Jay Snider thinks Keenan is a good coach and so does general manager Bob Clarke. Unless another month goes by without signs of life from this team, they are going to back the coach&mdash;and try to get the player he apparently needs.Someone like Paul Coffey would do. I think he&rsquo;s going to the Flyers because they have the most to offer Edmonton boss Glen Sather, without tearing up what they still have good reason to think is a good team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011416/5347683-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="337" height="464"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jay Greenberg</figcaption></div>News: The Sabres are on the rebound.Views: I&rsquo;ve been telling you for years they&rsquo;re good. They&rsquo;ve just been in a little slump, that&rsquo;s all.News: The Oilers roll along, feeling no pain without Coffey.Views: Look closer. Grant Fuhr has been unbelievable. Certainly he&rsquo;s capable of staying unbelievable if anybody is, but the lack of a guy to move the puck out of their own end is going to catch up with the Oilers.They won last year, but they weren&rsquo;t as overwhelming as in their previous two championships. This year, the Cup race is wide open.News: Montreal has been impressive in the early going.Views: If Stephane Richer keeps playing well, it fills a long-time void for a scorer. And if the goaltending holds up. it&rsquo;ll take an awful lot of axes to chop down these trees in a four-of-seven series.News: Quebec has more than held its own after making a lot of changes.Views: It turns out there wasn&rsquo;t really that much wrong last year that Peter Stastny couldn&rsquo;t fix. I&rsquo;m impressed. Maurice Filion has banked some draft choices, come up with the offensive defenseman he has long needed in Jeff Brown, and now has a team of some promise.News: The Capitals&rsquo; initial optimism slides as team slips back to.500 mark.Views: Everything David Poile does is right, but something always seems to be missing. With the Flyers floundering, a wonderful opportunity to pull away&mdash;and build up the confidence of a team that has never won anything&mdash;has been missed.You wonder why some teams, no matter how many good moves they appear to make, can&rsquo;t get over the hump. In the meantime, others carry over from year to year, from player to player, almost as if on attitude alone.News: As vets reach back and kids come on, the Islanders surge to the top of the Patrick Division.Views: See what I mean? &#9632;

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Columnists

Flyers Could Use Coffey; So Could Oilers

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN JOHNSTON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021013/5347714-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="176" height="136"></div>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;After the Quebec Nordiques lost all four games of a recent western road trip, the attacks began.Columnist Claude Bedard of the Journal de Quebec blasted coach Andre Savard, calling him the head of a team that didn&rsquo;t want to play for him. He also said the players hated the way Savard coached and that he was a very poor communicator.A shaken Savard explained that wasn&rsquo;t the first time he&rsquo;s been labelled a bad communicator.&ldquo;Sure,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I was even criticized when the team was winning. So I&rsquo;m not at all surprised at being the target after four losses in a row out west. And I readily admit that we played very poorly out there, allowing 27 goals. But such remarks are very hard to accept. Some of you guys were waiting for an occasion like this to kick me while I was down.&ldquo;I knew my first season in Quebec would be a tough one. It&rsquo;s a period of adjustment for everyone. The players find it a little strange because they are receiving orders from an ex-teammate.&ldquo;And their ex-teammate must sometimes make tough and controversial decisions.&rdquo;Savard said he was ready for any kind of treatment from the Quebec press&mdash;especially after hearing how his predecessor, Michel Bergeron, was handled. Bergeron, now the coach of the New York Rangers, told Savard a Nordique player once asked a team beat writer to help him get Bergeron out of Quebec.Savard recognizes, however, that personality clashes are inevitable.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t always share a coach&rsquo;s opinion on everything,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Sure, I myself had problems with a few of my coaches during my years as a player in the NHL.&rdquo;The coach&rsquo;s unsuccessful stint as boss of the Nordiques&rsquo; Fredericton Express farm team was also brought up in the column, but he took the remarks in stride.&ldquo;I knew someone would bring up Fredericton,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was there two years and never won anything. And as soon as I leave, the Express starts winning. But the situation isn&rsquo;t at all the same over there as it was last year. They have a lot more players, lots of quality players.&rdquo;General manager Maurice Filion was quick to give his coach a vote of confidence.&ldquo;I want to tell you guys now, so listen good&mdash;there won&rsquo;t be a coaching change here in the foreseeable future.&ldquo;The only thing I can say now is that Andre Savard is still our head coach. Why would I want to change coaches? You guys of the press have all the powers in the world. You can criticize someone until he cracks. You can destroy him in less than two months.&rdquo;But while pledging his full confidence to Savard, Filion admitted that something was nevertheless wrong.&ldquo;For us to have as many high and low points since the beginning of the season, something has to be wrong,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;But one thing is for sure&mdash;a couple of our players should look at themselves in the mirror before criticizing anybody else.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Center Peter Stastny was diagnosed as having a slight ligament strain in his lower back. He didn&rsquo;t play the Nords&rsquo; last three games on the road, but started skating again Nov. 21 in preparation for the Montreal game two nights later&hellip;Young centerman Marc Fortier, called up from Fredericton when Gord Donnelly was suspended, recorded his first NHL point Nov. 18 against the Oilers. He was returned to Fredericton four days later&hellip;Normand Rochefort (neck injury) started skating on Nov. 20. He&rsquo;s expected back in midDecember.<h2>NORDIQUES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 22: Marc Fortier, C, assigned to Fredericton (AHL).<h2>ROSTER</h2>C&mdash;Peter Stastny, Alan Haworth, Paul Gillis, Jason Lafreniere.LW&mdash;Gaetan Duchesne, Michel Goulet, Mike Eagles, Jeff Jackson.RW&mdash;Anton Stastny, Lane Lambert, Alain Cote, Gord Donnelly, Stu Kulak.LD&mdash;Steven Finn, Terry Carkner, Stephane Guerard.RD&mdash;Robert Picard, Tommy Albelin, Jeff Brown, Randy Moller.G&mdash;Mario Gosselin, Mario Brunetta, Richard Sevigny.<h2>INJURIES</h2>Normand Rochefort, D, neck, indefinite. &#9632;

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Nordiques Inconsistent, But Coach To Stay

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011264/5347745-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="178" height="137"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;How times have changed for Petr Svoboda.When he first walked into the Montreal Forum in June of 1984, he looked as bewildered as might be expected of someone who had defected from Czechoslovakia only a few months earlier.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know anybody and I wasn&rsquo;t speaking any English,&rdquo; recalled Svoboda, Montreal&rsquo;s first pick, fifth overall in the 1984 entry draft. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t exactly know what was going on in the draft. I knew I had been selected by Montreal and I was happy inside.&rdquo;Four seasons later, the Forum is home for Svoboda, who is enjoying his best season on the Montreal defense. At plus-19, Svoboda stood among the league-leaders in late November. After 23 games, Svoboda&rsquo;s totals were four goals, 10 assists and 31 penalty minutes.Larry Robinson&rsquo;s absence for the first 21 games, with a broken leg, thrust more responsibility&mdash;and ice time&mdash;on Svoboda. He responded well. Much better, in fact, than he did in his second season when he found himself watching from the press box on many occasions.&ldquo;In my first year, I came with two other young defensemen (Chris Chelios and Tom Kurvers) and I think we did a very good job. Everybody was happy with us.&ldquo;The year after, it was a difficult time for the three of us. I don&rsquo;t know why. Eventually Kurvers was traded.&ldquo;When I came back for the second year, maybe I was expecting too much from myself. I was disappointed at the beginning of the season when I was not getting enough ice time. I reacted against the coach (Jean Perron). I wouldn&rsquo;t say it was just my fault though.&rdquo;Svoboda has been described as headstrong and stubborn&mdash;and those are the printable descriptions. However, the fact is Svoboda&rsquo;s abundant talent needs to be channelled in the right direction.In his first year, he admits he had lots of fun both on and off the ice.&ldquo;I was playing well and no one was saying anything,&rdquo; Svoboda said. &ldquo;In my second year, I was staying in every second night and people were saying I was wild. That wasn&rsquo;t true.&rdquo;Svoboda, 22, has been married over a year now and has a baby daughter, Sarah, to keep him occupied during the non-hockey hours. He seems content.And he will remain so on the ice, even though Robinson&rsquo;s return means a reduction in ice time.&ldquo;There was an opportunity when Larry got hurt to play a lot,&rdquo; Svoboda said. &ldquo;I got chances to play on the power play. The coach had to give us the confidence.&ldquo;With Larry back, we have to accept the fact we aren&rsquo;t going to get as much ice time. We still have to try our best for the team.&rdquo;Svoboda is determined to put forth his best effort. He wants to prove he was a legitimate No. I draft choice and can be ranked among the NHL&rsquo;s top defensemen.It&rsquo;s a challenge, but a small one compared to that which Svoboda has lived since leaving his family behind in Czechoslovakia.Teams have often taken runs at him yet he has been able to hang in there, sometimes giving as much or more than he gets.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t back down from anybody,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Once you do that, you will be out of this league.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Defenseman Larry Robinson returned to the Canadiens&rsquo; lineup Nov. 18 against the Islanders and admitted he was as nervous as he was in his first NHL game&hellip;Defenseman Craig Ludwig played his 400th NHL game against the Nordiques in Quebec Nov. 23&hellip;Montreal&rsquo;s power play slipped into a 3-for-37 slump as November drew to a close&hellip;King Olav V of Norway sat behind the Canadiens&rsquo; bench and watched them defeat New Jersey 2-1 Nov. 21.<h2>CANADIENS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 19: Scott Sandelin, D, assigned to Sherbrooke (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Shayne Corson, Bobby Smith, Guy Carbonneau, Brian Skrudland.LW&mdash;Mats Naslund, Ryan Walter, Bob Gainey, Mike McPhee.RW&mdash;Stephane Richer, Claude Lemieux, Chris Nilan, Sergio Momesso, John Kordic.LD&mdash;Craig Ludwig, Petr Svoboda, Mike Lalor.RD&mdash;Chris Chelios, Larry Robinson, Rick Green.G&mdash;Patrick Roy, Brian Hayward.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Kjell Dahlin, RW, back injury, day today.Larry Trader, D, sprained right knee ligaments, Dec. 20-Jan. 4. &#9632;

f0007-01

Svoboda At Home On Montreal’s Defense

I SUPPORT READER Steve Flynn&rsquo;s claim that Dallas-Ft. Worth would and could support an NHL franchise.Columnist Jay Greenberg (THN, Oct. 16) forgets that the WHA&rsquo;s Houston Aeros did well both on the ice (two league titles) and in attendance. It was the tunnel-vision attitude of the NHL leadership&mdash;not the Texas people&mdash;that led to the Aeros&rsquo; dismissal as a viable expansion option.Franchises in Dallas, Seattle and Hamilton would round out the NHL at 24 teams. I suggest the following divisional alignment: Smythe&mdash;Vancouver, Seattle, Edmonton. Calgary, Los Angeles, Winnipeg. Norris&mdash;Chicago, Minnesota, St. Louis, Washington, Pittsburgh, Dallas. Adams&mdash;Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Hamilton, Buffalo, Detroit. Patrick&mdash;Islanders, Rangers, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Boston. Hartford.Such an alignment would enhance present rivalries, and allow all Canadian teams to be in two divisions. For Dallas, in particular, having U.S. opponents in the Norris would be an enormous advantage. For Canadians, this arrangement would permit new rivalries to develop in the Adams.Let&rsquo;s begin to phase in expansion.Bill LeGrand, Blind River, Ont.<h2>YOU PAY FOR IT, MARK</h2>I recently read some of Mark Messier&rsquo;s comments on the state of hockey today.Messier seems to feel that NHL rinks are too small for today&rsquo;s larger players. He recommends ice surfaces be enlarged by removing rinkside seats. When reminded that owners would be hard-pressed to okay this due to loss of revenue, Messier suggests that ticket prices could be raised to make up the difference.Give us a break!I have an alternative&mdash;which I&rsquo;m sure never entered Messier&rsquo;s mind. Messier could take a five per cent cut in his multi-million dollar contract, and convince other players to follow suit. That would leave more than enough money around to finance his idea, without bleeding the fans.Sure, look at alternatives to improve the game, such as removing the center red line and cutting down clutch-and-grab tactics. But please, no more price hikes.Maurice Rivard, Willowdale, Ont.<h2>NHL A BUSH LEAGUE</h2>I&rsquo;ve been a hockey fan as long as I can remember. I play it and watch it. It&rsquo;s in my blood.And while hockey has never had the mass appeal in my country that football and baseball have, I have always just smiled in the knowledge I am enjoying something everyone else is missing.I&rsquo;ve also tried hard to ignore all the &lsquo;NHL-is-a-minor league&rsquo; articles and arguments. I&rsquo;ve never believed them. Until now.NHL executive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s paltry brand of justice in the Dave Brown-Tomas Sandstrom incident is infuriating. Obviously, they are not serious about cleaning up the NHL. Fifteen games is a slap on the wrist for someone who attacks an opponent who has his back turned.If the NHL had any backbone, Brown would have received at least 40 games. I&rsquo;d have him banned from the the league.I still love hockey, and always will. But now I&rsquo;m forced to realize that the NHL is a minor league.Tim McEachern, Boston, Mass.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;

Expansion, Realignment A Good Move For NHL

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011349/5347800-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0008-01

Elston

THERE ARE LESSONS to be learned from this NHL season.Such as&hellip;&hellip;the New Jersey Devils are doing well because they resisted the temptation to trade away their future and held onto all those first-round draft picks who have now, finally, matured.&hellip;the St. Louis Blues have struggled because they failed to hold onto those precious first-round picks and are now growing old and weak without an infusion of top young players.Actually, your homework isn&rsquo;t complete until you run it by The Professor. Ron (The Professor) Caron, that is.&ldquo;Interesting theories,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I know if I had to do it (trade first-round picks) over again, I would.&ldquo;At the same time, if I had four or five shots at the top four or five players year after year&hellip;Muller, Cirella, Wolanin, Shanahan&hellip;I think I would have been like New Jersey. You can&rsquo;t compare the situations. Picking the top four or five players, like New Jersey has for so many years, is much different than picking in the middle of the first round, like St. Louis has.&rdquo;Point taken. End of discussion on the Devils.But what about the Blues? Scan their list of first-round draft picks since 1979, the year the NHL became a 21-team league, and no one has fared as poorly in quantity and, arguably, quality.Perry Turnbull (second overall in &rsquo;79), Rik Wilson (12th in &rsquo;80), Marty Ruff (20th in &rsquo;81), Jocelyn Lemieux (10th in &rsquo;86) and Keith Osborne (12th in &rsquo;87) are the sum total of the team&rsquo;s first-round involvement for the past nine years. Only Lemieux is a regular; it&rsquo;s too early to evaluate Osborne.As for quantity, the Blues were, unbelievably, without a first-round pick four straight years (&rsquo;82-85 inclusive). Getting Rob Ramage from Colorado cost them first-rounders in &rsquo;82 and &rsquo;83. Actually, there were no picks made in &rsquo;83 because team owner Ralston Purina suspended operations and didn&rsquo;t send a management group to the draft.Enter new owner Harry Omest, who called on The Professor, to help save hockey in St. Louis.In 1984, Caron traded his first- and second-round choices to Montreal in exchange for veteran netminder Rick Wamsley, two second-round choices and a third-round pick. The Canadiens ended up with Shayne Corson and Stephane Richer; the Blues with Wamsley, Brian Benning, Tony Hrkac and Robert Dirk.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021108/5347831-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="389" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie</figcaption></div>A year later, Caron went back to his old team again, this time for a combination of flesh and draft picks which, for our purposes, amounts to the Blues getting Mark Hunter, Mike Dark and Herb Raglan for a first-round pick that turned out to be Jose Charbonneau.Hunter, 26, is in his third season with the Blues. Wamsley, 28, in his fourth. Both are key members of the team and on this night, when The Professor is holding class, they are directly responsible for a 5-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.&ldquo;First-round picks are funny things,&rdquo; The Professor lectures. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t play with first-round picks and when those first-round picks become players, maybe you play with them, maybe you don&rsquo;t.&ldquo;My attitude is that if I trade a first-round pick, I&rsquo;ve got to get a good front-line player who can give me five very good years. Wamsley and Hunter, they fit.&ldquo;Plus, you look at our second-round picks. Benning, Hrkac, they are like first-round picks. Sometimes the best players are taken between No. 20 and 45. That was my experience in Montreal&hellip;Carbonneau (44th overall), Chelios (40th), Naslund (37th), Langway (36th).&rdquo;Of course, the pre-Caron Blues got lucky when they drafted a scrawny kid named Doug Gilmour 134th overall in 1982. In anybody&rsquo;s books, he&rsquo;s first-class, first-round honors.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like I desperately want to trade my draft choices every year,&rdquo; The Professor says. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t for the past two seasons. But I&rsquo;m flexible, maybe moreso than most. There&rsquo;s more than one way to build a team.&rdquo;School&rsquo;s out. &#9632;

f0008-02

‘The Professor’ Has A New School Of Thought

<div class="byline">COMPILED BY KARLO BERKOVICH Editorial Staff</div>A request by the Canadian federal goverment that the NHL work its schedule around the Calgary Olympics, met with resistance from league president John Ziegler, according to a report in the January, 1988, issue of Sport magazine.Otto Jelinek, Canada&rsquo;s minister of state for fitness and amateur sport, said he was rebuffed by Ziegler when he suggested adjustments be made to permit the NHL&rsquo;s best players to compete for their countries, the magazine said.&ldquo;The NHL should have been supportive in trying to adjust their schedule,&rdquo; Jelinek was quoted as saying. &ldquo;The response was very categorical&mdash;they would not consider that unless we paid them $10 million a week for doing it&hellip;The government has absolutely no intention of doing that.&rdquo;The NHL board of governors meets in West Palm Beach, Fla., Dec. 6-9, when it will vote on a proposal to allow the seven Canadian franchises to release one player each for the Canadian Olympic team. According to Sport, Jelinek said there was more support from individual teams than from the NHL itself.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the league, obviously, that says &lsquo;We don&rsquo;t give a goddamn about the Canadian team.&rsquo; I guess a dollar is worth more than national pride with Mr. Ziegler. If there&rsquo;s disappointment on my part it&rsquo;s with the NHL at the top&hellip;with Ziegler.&rdquo;Ziegler told Sport that Jelinek has &ldquo;a selective memory. He called me with a suggestion that the NHL shut down for four weeks. I said, &lsquo;Otto, do you realize what you&rsquo;re asking us to do? There&rsquo;s no way we can make up those games and just the gate receipts are $10 million a week. How are we going to do that.&rsquo; When I told him that kind of money, he was shocked.&rdquo;In an interview with THE HOCKEY NEWS, Ziegler said any suggestion that the NHL stop its schedule indicated a misunderstanding of league operations.&ldquo;There are contractual obligations, TV commitments, arena leases, season tickets&hellip;you can&rsquo;t put a price on it. We never asked for money because no price can be put on it,&rdquo; Ziegler said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s sort of an impossible situation. To say, &lsquo;Just shut down,&rsquo; indicates no comprehension as to the nature of our business. It&rsquo;s totally ludicrous.&rdquo;<h2>COLORFUL LINESMAN DIES</h2>George Hayes, a former linesman and one of the most colorful personalities in NHL history, died at his home in Beachville, Ont.,Nov. 19. He was 67.Hayes, known for his stubborness, refused to see a doctor for severe circulation problems in his left leg, which developed gangrene.Hayes worked 1,549 NHL regularseason, playoff and all-star games between 1946 and 1965 before being suspended by league president Clarence Campbell for refusing to take an eye examination.Hayes said he didn&rsquo;t need an eye test because he took one every night reading the labels of whiskey bottles. The firing, and the fact he was never elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, left Hayes a bitter man.&ldquo;George died the day he left the NHL,&rdquo; said Red Storey, a former referee and close friend. &ldquo;He passed away last week, but there&rsquo;s no doubt he reached the end of his life when he was let go.&rdquo;After leaving hockey, Hayes wrote a column for the Woodstock Daily Sentinel-Review but quit following a dispute over the editing of his stories. He is survived by his wife Judy, two sons and a daughter.<h2>BUBLA CONVICTED</h2>Former Vancouver Canuck defenseman Jiri Bubla was convicted in a Vienna court for playing a role in an international heroin smuggling ring.Bubla, a 37-year-old resident of North Vancouver, was remanded in custody for sentencing, which was expected Nov. 24.Bubla, who scored 17 goals and 101 assists in 256 games during five NHL seasons, ran an import/export business and was detained by Austrian authorities last April during the World Hockey Championships. His wife, Ivana, and two children remain at the family home in North Vancouver. Ivana maintains her husband&rsquo;s innocence.<h2>REF CRITIQUES PLAYERS</h2>Dave (Tiger) Williams, Denis Savard and Dale Hawerchuk are among the most disagreeable players in the NHL.That&rsquo;s the word from referee Don Koharski in a story published by the Burlington (Ont.) Spectator, Nov. 20.Leading Koharski&rsquo;s list of troublesome players is Hartford&rsquo;s Williams, the NHL&rsquo;s all-time penalty-minute leader.&ldquo;He is just one miserable cuss,&rdquo; said Koharski of Williams. &ldquo;He just has absolutely no respect for the officials in the NHL.&rdquo;And how does he deal with that type of player?&ldquo;I just tell them &lsquo;That&rsquo;s it, that&rsquo;s why you have two assistant captains because I&rsquo;m not talking to you. As far as I&rsquo;m concerned right now, I respect you and I treat you as a human being, you can&rsquo;t return the favor to me, I want nothing to do with you. I&rsquo;m sorry. I don&rsquo;t want you to look at me. I don&rsquo;t even want you to tell me the clock is wrong. You and I have no relationship whatsoever.&rsquo;&rdquo;Koharski has no time for Savard.&ldquo;The guy flips and flops like a fish out of water all night and then he expects to get (draw) a penalty every time. I just don&rsquo;t talk to him. He just doesn&rsquo;t listen and doesn&rsquo;t want to.&rdquo;Koharski says the nicest player to deal with is Philadelphia Flyer captain Dave Poulin. &ldquo;A real class guy,&rdquo; says Koharski.<h2>NUMBER CRUNCHING</h2>Richard Zemlak of the Minnesota North Stars was the NHL&rsquo;s busiest fighter as of Nov. 22, according to unofficial statistics compiled by THN statistician Murray Townsend.Zemlak had 11 fights in 15 games.Four players&mdash;Boston&rsquo;s Jay Miller, Minnesota&rsquo;s Basil McRae, Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Mark Kachowski and Quebec&rsquo;s Gord Donnelly&mdash;had fought seven times as of the third week of November.Perhaps the biggest surprise among the early fighting leaders was Philadelphia&rsquo;s Scott Mellanby, with six bouts.Boston led in team pugilism with 32 fights in 22 games, followed by Minnesota (24 in 21), Quebec (23 in 19), Detroit (22 in 19) and Chicago (22 in 22). Hartford was last in team fights, with nine in 19 games.<h2>BITS AND PIECES</h2>Quebec Nordique president Marcel Aubut announced Nov. 19 that a $100,000 donation was earmarked for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada for research purposes. The donation is part of proceeds from Rendezvous &rsquo;87&hellip;The New Jersey Devils&rsquo; 1987-88 media guide features a cover drawn by 11-year-old Carlos Cano of School No. 5 in Cliffside Park, N.J. Cano&rsquo;s entry beat over 500 entries in a contest run by the Devils. First prize was tickets to the Devils&rsquo; home game against Detroit Nov. 14&hellip;A series of Peanuts cartoons during November detailed Snoopy&rsquo;s recovery from a knee injury suffered when tripped by Wayne Gretzky&hellip;Duane Sutter plays for the Chicago Blackhawks, not the New York Islanders as erroneously reported in Hockey Notebook Nov. 20.<h2>OVERHEARD</h2>St. Louis Blues&rsquo; general manager Ron Caron, describing his club&rsquo;s slow start: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had some turbulence, and we&rsquo;re staying in turbulence right now. My responsibility is to make sure the plane doesn&rsquo;t go down.&rdquo; &#9632;

NHL Turned Down Sports Minister

COACH JOHN WALLIN called it the &ldquo;death penalty.&rdquo; The late Marc Laforge agreed.&ldquo;You live by the sword, you die by the sword,&rdquo; said the Sudbury Wolves&rsquo; defenseman who died Nov. 17, when Ontario League commissioner David Branch suspended him for this season and next, his overage year.It was the stiffest suspension ever handed an OHL player. And it was, by all accounts, deserved.Lafarge, 19, precipitated and prolonged a disgusting post-game brawl with the undermanned Guelph Platers on Nov. 6. Free to roam from incident to incident, Lafarge became involved with at least nine Platers&mdash;pummelling many of them into submission.He was, said his own agent. Rick Curran, &ldquo;like a shark in blood-infested waters.&rdquo;&ldquo;It was just a brawl, like any other brawl,&rdquo; said Lafarge. &ldquo;All hell broke loose and I kind of lost it a little bit&hellip;and I&rsquo;m paying for it now.&rdquo;Branch made sure of that with a courageous call.&ldquo;The actions of Marc Laforge were certainly nothing like I&rsquo;d ever seen before,&rdquo; said the commissioner. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re just so very fortunate that we didn&rsquo;t have any serious permanent injury to Guelph players.&rdquo;As it were, one player suffered a concussion and two others were believed to have suffered broken noses.&ldquo;It was,&rdquo; said Branch, &ldquo;very distasteful.&rdquo; The Hartford Whalers&rsquo; second-round draft choice in 1986 was summoned far a hearing. There was little he could say in his own defense. The evidence was damning. Yet. there seemed to be no contrition.&ldquo;He did not offer any.&rdquo; said Branch. &ldquo;I did not ask for any. Thore was no statement on his part that would suggest he was remorseful.&rdquo;The Sudbury native suggested there was remorse. but it came wrapped in resignation: &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing I can do about it. If I could take that day away I would. But I can&rsquo;t, so life goes on. You have to make the best of it. I wish that it had never happened.&rdquo;But it did. And his actions were not that far out of character.Last year. Lafarge was suspended eight games and warned to settle down after the third-year Kingston Canadian slammed an opponent into the boards and kneed the crumpled player in the head.In November, he established the Canadians&rsquo; career team mark for penalty minutes (686). He reacted with tongue in cheek.&ldquo;Who says you can&rsquo;t combine education and hockey.&rdquo; he told Tim Gordanier of the Kingston Whig-Standard. &ldquo;Just take your books into the penalty box with you. With the time I&rsquo;ve spent there. I could have finished a couple of correspondence courses.&rdquo;Wallin, the Wolves&rsquo; coach, insisted the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder had become a new man since his trade from Kingston to Sudbury this past summer.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011389/5347886-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="342" height="468"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Dryden</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He&rsquo;d made tremendous strides, but he reverted.&rdquo; said the coach, who blasted Branch for the suspension&mdash;terming it a &ldquo;brutal call.&rdquo;He deserved to be severely punished, said Wallin, &ldquo;but two years&hellip;&rdquo;Curran, too. is disappointed that Lafarge blew off the first few tentative steps of progress with a blow-up. He insisted that his client had improved even if the numbers indicated otherwise.In 14 games this year. Lafarge had 68 penalty minutes&mdash;more than enough to maintain a career average of four minutes per game.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s shown great progression because he&rsquo;s living at home,&rdquo; said Curran. &ldquo;The nature of the penalties are far less severe than they have been in the past.&rdquo;The Whalers wanted him to cut back this year. Prove that he could play hockey. Prove that he was worthy of a contract. They made an offer during the summer, which they had to in order to maintain his rights. It was turned down.&ldquo;What we wanted him to do was stick to his knitting.&rdquo; said Whaler general manager Emile Francis. &ldquo;That means. &lsquo;Play hockey.&rsquo; It&rsquo;s good to be aggressive but the fundamentals of the game are important, too.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s one of the messages Branch was trying to get through when, in addition to expelling Lafarge on Nov. 17, he suspended nine other players for periods ranging from 15 games to two.Another was every bit as important.&ldquo;We want.&rdquo; said Branch, &ldquo;to relieve our league of the stigma that is attached to junior hockey&mdash;that we promote violence, that we condone violence.&rdquo;So. the defenseman is now without a team. Francis has adopted a wait-and-see attitude, he&rsquo;ll wait until next fall&rsquo;s training camp to see if Lafarge can control himself and contribute in professional hockey.Lafarge is expected to continue practising with the Wolves and finish up Grade 13.The remainder of the season will be a time of regret for Laforge, who never did follow through on a vow he made in Kingston after setting the team badman mark. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been in a bad mood for three years,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now that I&rsquo;ve got the record. I guess I can lighten up a bit.&rdquo;Reminded of his words one year later, Laforge said wistfully, &ldquo;Those were the good old days when I could laugh about everything. But not any more.&rdquo;&lsquo; &#9632;

f0010-01

A Story Of Living And Dying By The Sword

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021064/5347917-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="179" height="132"></div>HARTFORD&mdash;For 353 days, Torrie Robertson did more than worry and wonder.He worked.Did the effort pay off?On the 354th day, he played&mdash;and fought.Robertson&rsquo;s left leg was so severely broken last Nov. 29 at the Montreal Forum in a wrestling match with Shayne Corson that it took three tries and a couple of metal rods to repair it.The rehabilitation period lasted almost one full year.&ldquo;There was a time there it was pretty scary,&rdquo; Robertson said. &ldquo;The doctors were talking about me not playing again, and maybe not being able to walk right.&rdquo;Showing the kind of determination off the ice that he often displays on it, Robertson ignored the initial scouting reports and embarked on a demanding, lonely and seemingly endless grind.&ldquo;You never know,&rdquo; Robertson said. &ldquo;Riding the bike and jumping rope is one thing. Skating is another.&rdquo;Robertson skated for the first time since his injury at training camp.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s when I really got my hopes up,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s when I knew.&rdquo;On Nov. 16 at the Forum, the scene of the crime, he returned. The Whalers rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the Canadiens, 3-3. Robertson fought Sergio Momesso and tangled with Stephane Richer, picking up seven penalty minutes to increase his all-time Whaler record to 998.&ldquo;I hadn&rsquo;t done that for a long time,&rdquo; Robertson said. &ldquo;Not even in practice. I&rsquo;ll tell you what. I&rsquo;m glad it was those two guys and not some of the others they have.&rdquo;At 26, Robertson has never looked better, at least not physically. The time off seems to have done him some good. Hey, he hadn&rsquo;t punched or been punched in almost a year.&ldquo;It feels good to play again,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Really good. I felt weird in the first period. It was like riding a bike after you haven&rsquo;t been on one for a year. The only difference was, this bike was going downhill real fast.&rdquo;Robertson knows all about bicycles. He was on one virtually every day for 11 months, vigorously working on his injured leg.&ldquo;Everybody around here knows how hard Torrie has worked to come back,&rdquo; general manager Emile Francis said. &ldquo;He wears the badge of courage. What he has gone through, what he has accomplished, well, those are things that rub off on all of us. I hope he never misses another day.&rdquo;In Robertson&rsquo;s second game back, he scored the ninth goal in a 9-1 thrashing of Buffalo in Hartford. When Robertson stepped on the ice early in the first period, the Civic Center faithful treated him to a warm round of applause. It was his 300th NHL game and the goal his 100th NHL point.&ldquo;That was really nice,&rdquo; said Robertson, who was voted the Favorite Whaler in a poll of fans in 1986.With Dave (Tiger) Williams temporarily sidelined with a bruised sternum and the Whalers reeling from a physical 4-1 whipping by the Bruins in Boston, coach Jack Evans signalled for Robertson.&ldquo;Everyone knows what Torrie means to this team,&rdquo; Evans said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;ll use him and Tiger together or not. It&rsquo;ll depend on injuries and the opposition.&rdquo;Robertson played alongside Brent Peterson and Paul MacDertnid, thereby giving the Whalers an intimidating checking line.&ldquo;I like the way that line has played,&rdquo; Evans said. &ldquo;They look good out there.&rdquo;In his third game back, Robertson&rdquo; picked up his 1,000th PIM with Hartford, high-sticking Dale Hunter of Washington.It took nearly one year of suffering and hard work, but as Robertson skated away from Hunter and to the penalty box. the circle somehow seemed complete.Like a stubborn and determined WWII general, Torrie Robertson had returned.NOTES&mdash;Brent Peterson suffered one cracked rib in a tangle with Dale Hunter and was expected to be out for 10 days. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s our best penalty-killer and our best faceoff man,&rdquo; Evans said&hellip;Peterson&rsquo;s injury may be Doug Jarvis&rsquo; ticket back into the lineup. Jarvis had sat out 17 straight games.<h2>WHALERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Ron Francis, Dean Evason, Ray Ferraro, Doug Jarvis.LW&mdash;SylvainTurgeon, Dave Tippett Dave Williams, Torrie Robertson.RW&mdash;Kevin Dineen, Stewart Gavin John Anderson, Paul MacDermid Mark Reeds.LD&mdash;Joel Quenneville, Dana Mur zyn, Randy Ladouceur.RD&mdash;Dave Babych, Ulf Samuelsson Sylvain Cote.G&mdash;Mike Liut, Steve Weeks.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Scot Kleinendorst, D, back, day-to-day.Paul Lawless, LW, bruised ribs, day-to-day.Brent Peterson, C, cracked rib, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0010-02

And On The 364th Day, Robertson Fought…

<div class="byline">BY JIM KELLEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011266/5347948-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="180" height="135"></div>BUFFALO&mdash;The most telling statistical difference between last year&rsquo;s Buffalo Sabres and this year&rsquo;s edition? At this time last year, the Sabres were getting ready to welcome their third coach of the season.The Sabres were growing restless with the team&rsquo;s slow progress under, first, Scott Bowman, then Craig Ramsay. Before the new year rang in, Ted Sator was hired to run the team.Sator is still here, and he&rsquo;s a big reason for the Sabres&rsquo; improvement this season (9-7-4 after 20 games, compared to a 4-13-4 first quarter last year). The former New York Ranger coach has brought stability to the team and has a hand in instilling a sense of purpose to the club.There are other factors, however.&ldquo;We have a lot of guys here who remember last year and didn&rsquo;t want to have to go through something like that again,&rsquo;&rsquo; said captain Lindy Ruff.&ldquo;I think everyone here is determined to not have to go through something like that again.&rdquo;Last season the club got off to the worst 20-game start in franchise history and, despite righting itself in time to make a run at the fourth and final Adams Division playoff berth, it wound up last overall.Attitude is a big part of the resurgence this time around. So, too, are the improved play of defenseman Phil Housley and infusion of new players.Housley, who had 13 goals and eight assists, established an NHL benchmark figure for defensemen with 10 goals in his first 15 games. He has emerged as an impact player.The new players represent a substantial makeover of the team that Bowman started out with and most of it has been successful. There is No. 1 overall draft choice Pierre Turgeon&mdash;who, after a nervous start, hit the 20-game mark with six goals and 10 assists. The total is significant in that Turgeon had just one point in his first five games.Rookie right winger Ray Sheppard, one of four players up from the organization&rsquo;s Calder Cup-winning team in Rochester a season ago, had seven goals and nine assists and picked up three game-winning goals in his last 15 starts. Adam Creighton, a first-round draft from 1983 who has seen limited action since, had five goals and nine assists in 17 games and was the team&rsquo;s plus-minus leader at plus-six.Second-year center Christian Ruuttu was also off to a respectable start, with seven goals and 11 assists. Dave Andreychuk, who struggled at the start of this season, had eight goals and 11 assists.The poor starts of veterans Andreychuk and Mike Foligno&mdash;and injuries to John Tucker and Clark Gillies, among others&mdash;have not been much of a factor, though the Sabres could certainly use their contributions.Foligno, traditionally a 30-plus goal-scorer, has shown signs of coming around. The veteran right winger scored the game-winning goal in a come-from-behind win against Washington in the 20th game. Andreychuk scored the game-tying goal in that game, and the winner in the dying seconds of an earlier game in Los Angeles.Despite the euphoria, however, problems remain.Offense from the left side has been almost non-existent. After Andreychuk, the second-leading scorer among left wingers was Gillies (four goals)&mdash;and he&rsquo;d been out of the lineup for over two weeks.Injuries haven&rsquo;t helped. The Sabres lost 95 man-games to injury over the first quarter; last season, the figure was 102 for the entire campaign.The defense, partly because of injuries but mostly because of youth (Calle Johansson is a rookie; Uwe Krupp, Shawn Anderson and Steve Dykstra have limited experience; and Ed Hospodar is new to the team), had struggled and given up more goals (82) than any other team in the Adams Division.Still, the general mood was upbeat. And why not? The Sabres had yet to lose two games in a row. That, in itself, was an achievement no one dared dreamed of last year.NOTES&mdash;The Sabres lost their 21 st game, 8-5 to the visiting Los Angeles Kings. The club also suffered a 9-1 drubbing at Hartford recently. After the Whaler game, Sabre general manager Gerry Meehan said radical surgery was not necessary, but that he did feel a need to improve scoring on the left side&hellip;Injured defenseman Shawn Anderson was set to return to Buffalo when he re-injured his left ankle, in a different place, in a rehab game with Rochester&hellip;Attendance was up slightly from a season ago, with an average of just over 13,000&hellip;Tom Barrasso, out since Nov. 11 with a left ankle problem, has been cleared to play&hellip;Paul Cyr, out since mid-October with a knee problem, returned to the lineup Nov. 18.<h2>SABRES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 18: Richie Dunn, D, recalled from Rochester (AHL).Nov. 20: Dunn assigned to Rochester.Nov. 21: Bob Logan, LW, assigned to Rochester.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Christian Ruuttu, Pierre Turgeon, Doug Smith, Adam Creighton.LW&mdash;Dave Andreychuk, Lindy Ruff, Paul Cyr, Mark Napier.RW&mdash;Mike Foligno, Ray Sheppard, Scot Arniel, Kevin Maguire.LD&mdash;Mike Ramsey, Steve Dykstra, Uwe Krupp.RD&mdash;Phil Housley, Calle Johansson, Ed Hospodar.G&mdash;Tom Barrasso, Jacques Cloutier, Daren Puppa.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shawn Anderson, D, ankle, day-to-day.Clark Gillies, LW, knee, indefinite.Jan Ludvig, RW, knee, indefinite.Joe Reekie, D, knee, indefinite.John Tucker, C, knee, indefinite. &#9632;

f0011-01

Sabres Stable Again, After ’86-87 Upheaval

Rick Williams comes by his love of hockey honestly.The 12-year-old center from Silver Bay, Minn., is the nephew of Tommy Williams who, for a period of time in the 1960s, was the only American-born player in the NHL.Rick aims to follow his uncle to the big leagues. Now a resident of Webster, Mass., Rick is an honor-roll student in Grade 7 classes at St. Joseph School. He plays for the Assabett Valley major peewee team in nearby Concord, under the guidance of coach Al Bosma.Rick started skating at age 2, and played on his first hockey team two years later. Last season, he played on a U.S.A, allstar team that toured West Germany and the Netherlands.The 5-foot-5, 130-pounder is a fan of the Edmonton Oilers, and his favorite player is the Oilers&rsquo; all-everything center, Wayne Gretzky.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02950/5347979-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="560" height="1117"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Williams</figcaption></div>You or someone you know can be part of the TITAN-JOFA Minor Hockey Showcase. Just send a photograph, along with biographical information (age, height, weight, team, coach&rsquo;s name, school and grade, as well as favorite NHL team and player) to: TITAN-JOFA SHOWCASE, C/O THE HOCKEY NEWS, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont. All entries submitted will be eligible for selection as THN/TITAN-JOFA Minor Hockey Player of the Year. &#9632;

f0011-02

PLAYER OF WEEK JOFA TITAN

FORGET DAVE BROWN and Tomas Sandstrom, the most vicious one-sided, one-on-one I&rsquo;ve ever seen happened at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 20, 1953.And when one considers the individuals involved&mdash;Bernie Geoffrion and Ron Murphy&mdash;it never should have happened.Geoffrion, now a Hall of Famer, had emerged as one of the hardest-shooting forwards in NHL history. Temperamental though he was, Geoffrion (alias Boom-Boom) normally battled with significant pests such as &lsquo;Terrible&rsquo; Ted Lindsay or &lsquo;Tough&rsquo; Tony Leswick.By contrast, Murphy was more lamb than louse. The playoff-starved Rangers had imported him from their Guelph (Ont.) Biltmores Jr. A team, but he was still too green for the bigs. Furthermore, he was a skinny kid with absolutely no reputation as a fighter.Alas, Murphy made one critical mistake&mdash;the kid found himself in the middle of a high-sticking melee along the boards after an offside was called.&ldquo;At the start,&rdquo; recalls ex-Ranger Aldo Guidolin, who was on the ice at the time, &ldquo;it was just like any other intense high-sticking clash. You figure it&rsquo;ll be broken up and there&rsquo;ll be some penalties.&rdquo;The 54-year-old Murphy, now living in Hagersville, Ont., remembers being an innocent bystander.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t even start it,&rdquo; Murphy recalls. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t involved in the first altercation but, then, I went in to help out my teammate Bobby Chrys-tal and that&rsquo;s when I got involved. I had no intentions of going in there and getting anything started. Bernie and I didn&rsquo;t want to start anything in the first place. Then it just broke out.&rdquo;Actually, three things happened to cause the explosion. First. Geoffrion lost his stick in the maelstrom of wood and leather. Second, Murphy&mdash;who found himself in the middle&mdash;retained his club and (in Geoffrion&rsquo;s mind) bruised Boom Boom&rsquo;s brow one time too many. Third. The Boomer plain and simply flipped out and sought instant revenge.&ldquo;I dropped my stick,&rdquo; Geoffrion explained, &ldquo;and Murphy speared me. I went after him and said, &lsquo;If you want to fight, drop your stick.&rsquo; Instead, he whacked me on the head and I could feel the blood running down my face. I picked up my stick, fenced for a minute and then socked him.&rdquo;This much I remember. Gripping his stick like Don Mattingly going for the fences, Geoffrion took a full cut at Murphy&rsquo;s head and missed.Having completed the follow-through, Geoffrion again wound up and, swinging with all his might, pulverized Murphy&rsquo;s head with his stick.Seconds later Murphy&rsquo;s head hit the ice, bleedly profusely. To many of us, the limp Murphy looked dead. Fans and players were numbed to the core. Geoffrion was lucky. Murphy very easily could have been killed or permanently injured. As it happened, he suffered a broken jaw and concussion. Geoffrion came away with a four-inch gash on the right side of the head.Referee Red Storey gave both players match penalties for &ldquo;deliberate intent to injure&rdquo; and then the Garden crowd, overcoming the collective trauma, attempted to deliberately injure Geoffrion.As The Boomer left the ice and headed for the dressing room, he was compelled to pass several rows of seats. One spectator hurled a bottle at him while another tried to punch him out. Suddenly, it seemed that a battalion of fans would invade but the Montreal players drew their sticks in fixed-bayonet fashion and held the crowd at bay until Geoffrion could complete an orderly retreat to the Habs&rsquo; dressing room.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011364/5348010-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="328" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stan Fischler</figcaption></div>One of those fans was professional drummer and author Paul Ringe, who was a college student at the time.&ldquo;It was the most shocking thing I had ever seen,&rdquo; Ringe recalls. &ldquo;What set it apart from the usual hockey fights was the way Murphy and Geoffrion moved away from the crowd of players and drifted alone to center ice. It was like they were the only ones on the ice, as if it was a Greek drama and the two were in the spotlight.&ldquo;The other thing I&rsquo;ll never forget was the pool of blood on the ice. Long after the incident was over and the workers tried to scrape the blood off the ice, it just stayed there. And for the rest of the game there was this big bloodstain at center ice.&rdquo;There was also a big bloodstain on the NHL. League president Clarence Campbell conducted a lengthy investigation and, to the Rangers&rsquo; dismay, indicted Murphy almost as much as he did Geoffrion. The beanpole winger was vilified by the president for not dropping his stick.&ldquo;High-sticking by two players occurs frequently,&rdquo; said Campbell, &ldquo;but it is contrary to every tradition of the game to hit another player with a stick when he has none. In failing to drop his stick, even when warned to do so by the referee, Murphy was, to that extent, the author of his own misfortune.&ldquo;But,&rdquo; the president added, &ldquo;no such provocation could possibly justify the vicious retaliation Geoffrion made.&rdquo;Boom Boom&rsquo;s punishment was a suspension. He was not permitted to play in the next eight games between the Canadiens and Rangers.Curiously, Murphy was suspended for five games beginning with the date of the headbashing. &ldquo;The penalties to me and Bernie were fair,&rdquo; says Murphy, &ldquo;and, despite what some people may have said, it didn&rsquo;t hurt my career. If anything, it helped it.&rdquo;What might interest&mdash;or possibly amuse&mdash;you is the deja-vu quality of Campbell&rsquo;s conclusion.&ldquo;Stick-swinging is the greatest single risk to the careers of players and jeopardizes the entire conduct of the sport&hellip;No right-thinking person could condone, much less approve, what happened in this instance.&rdquo;Not surprisingly, Murphy viewed with interest recent video replays of the Brown-Sandstrom incident and is well aware of Brown&rsquo;s 15-game suspension.&ldquo;I think he deserved what he got,&rdquo; Murphy says, &ldquo;no more, no less. But he&rsquo;d better watch himself when he comes back now that there are about 10 guys looking for him. I know if I was playing, I would be, too.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

An Incident That Will Live On In Infamy

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03765/5348041-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="593" height="1135"><figcaption class="caption-body">Left winger Geoff Courtnall has been playing a more consistent game this year.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021138/5348048-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="178" height="138"></div>BOSTON&mdash;If the Boston Bruins could bottle the best of Geoff Courtnail and spread it equally over 80 games, they might have themselves a superstar forward.The career of the 25-year-old left winger, who was signed by the Bruins as a free agent out of junior hockey in the summer of 1983, has been one of extremes.He was at his best during a late November road trip in which the Bruins won the first four games, running their winning streak to seven games.He had four goals and three assists in the four games, including two goals and two assists in a 4-3 victory over Winnipeg Nov. 18.&ldquo;If what he did in Winnipeg is any indication of what he can step up to, then he can be phenomenal,&rdquo; coach Terry O&rsquo;Reilly said.Courtnail&rsquo;s most impressive play was his assist on Steve Kasper&rsquo;s gamewinner with 2:05 remaining.He got the puck at the top of the circle, with what appeared to be a clear path to Daniel Berthiaume in the Jets&rsquo; net. Instead, he passed to Kasper, who had a better shot. Kasper drilled it home.&ldquo;The old Geoff Courtnall would have wound up and blasted,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Reilly.That&rsquo;s been the rap against Courtnall from the beginning&mdash;lots of talent, but a habit of doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.&ldquo;Get to the blue line and shoot, that&rsquo;s me,&rdquo; said Courtnall, who scored 21 goals for the Bruins in 1985-86, most of which came after he was placed on waivers and stunned to find no other team in the NHL was interested. Last year, he earned just 13 goals and 23 assists.This year, with nine goals in his first 21 games, he was well ahead of that pace. He credited John Cunniff, the quiet tactician who is O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;s assistant coach, and his occasional linemate, Ken Linseman.&ldquo;John has talked to me a lot about trying to concentrate on knowing where everybody is on the ice,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That part of my game has been weak. I never really paid much attention to what was happening around me.&ldquo;Now I find I&rsquo;m getting more opportunities by passing up the shot and hanging onto the puck until I see what&rsquo;s happening. I&rsquo;m taking time to look before I make my play. I&rsquo;m seeing more plays.&rdquo;Linseman&rsquo;s role in the rehabilitation of Courtnall has been ensuring that his teammate does what he&rsquo;s told to do.&ldquo;Kenny&rsquo;s always on my back,&rdquo; said Courtnall. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always telling me what I should do and what I didn&rsquo;t do. He never lets me up. I hate it, but he&rsquo;s helped me a lot.&rdquo;For the past four seasons, people have been predicting great things for the older brother of Toronto&rsquo;s Russ Courtnall. Last year coach Butch Goring said Geoff was a cinch to score 50 goals. O&rsquo;Reilly likes what he&rsquo;s seen, but is a little more circumspect.&ldquo;He has all the tools,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Reilly said. &ldquo;He has the size (6 feet, 185 pounds), the speed and the hockey ability to be an all-star.&ldquo;But the mental part wasn&rsquo;t there. The discipline wasn&rsquo;t there. He overstayed his shifts. He wasn&rsquo;t defense-minded enough. It was very much a mental thing.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve never seen him see so much of the ice and make so many good plays as he does now.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;General Manager Harry Sinden put to rest rumors that the Bruins were about to deal defenseman Reed Larson to the Minnesota North Stars for a forward, possibly Scott Bjugstad. &ldquo;Lou Nanne (Stars&rsquo; GM) asked me if I had any defensemen available and he mentioned Larson, among others,&rdquo; said Sinden. &ldquo;Me, I said nothing. Lou did all the talking. &ldquo;&hellip;Reggie Lemelin&rsquo;s winning streak in goal was up to five, after a 7-5 victory over Minnesota&hellip;The Bruins plan to honor current Ranger GM Phil Esposito, star of their Stanley Cup teams in 1970 and &rsquo;72, at a luncheon Dec. 3. They&rsquo;ll raise his name and number (7) to the Boston Garden rafters that night before the game with the Rangers, but Ray Bourque will continue to wear No. 7&hellip;Rick Middleton drew a five-minute penalty for high-sticking at 7:19 of the first period in Winnipeg. It was the former Lady Byng Trophy winner&rsquo;s first major penalty since the 1980-81 season.<h2>BRUINS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h2>ROSTER</h2>C&mdash;Ken Linseman, Steve Kasper, Bob Sweeney, Billy O&rsquo;Dwyer.LW&mdash;Rick Middleton, Geoff Courtnall, Randy Burridge, Jay Miller.RW&mdash;Cam Neely, Keith Crowder, Willi Plett, Lyndon Byers.LD&mdash;Gord Kluzak, Glen Wesley, Allen Pedersen, John Blum.RD&mdash;Ray Bourque, Michael Thelven, Frank Simonetti, Reed Larson.G&mdash;Reggie Lemelin, Doug Keans.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tommy Lehman, C, sprained left knee, Dec. 5.Nevin Markwart, RW, discloated left should, Feb. 14.Tom McCarthy, C, sprained right knee, Nov. 28.Kraig Nienhuis, LW, mononucleosis, indefinite. &#9632;

f0012-03

Courtnall “Can Be Phenomenal,’ Coach Says

<div class="byline">BY DAVE MOLINARI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021048/5348117-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="179" height="135"></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Perhaps this is the most revealing indication of Paul Coffey&rsquo;s extraordinary abilities: He had a pronounced impact on the Patrick Division, even while getting all of his ice time with a Jr. B team in Ontario.First. New York Ranger general manager Phil Esposito removed himself from the bidding for Coffey because the play of James Patrick and Tomas Sandstrom&mdash;both of whom were mentioned prominently in the discussions&mdash;began to suffer from the uncertainty about their immediate futures.Then, when a deal to send the holdout Edmonton Oiler defenseman to Pittsburgh seemed likely, the Penguins whose names were most often mentioned in the public prints&mdash;Craig Simpson. Chris Joseph and Doug Bodger&mdash;had to contend with the same sort of distress.At one point, a trade that would have sent Simpson and Joseph to Edmonton for Coffey appeared imminent, but disintegrated in the span of a few hours.Penguin general manager Eddie Johnston subsequently insisted he would not initiate any further negotiations with the Oilers, although he said he would be willing to talk if Edmonton&rsquo;s Glen Sather called him.For the players caught up in the firestorm of speculation, that development mostly meant their anxiety had been extended.&ldquo;I just wish they&rsquo;d get it over with.&rdquo; Bodger said. &ldquo;and clear the air around here.&rdquo;The trade rumors were particularly troublesome for Joseph, the Penguins&rsquo; first-round pick in the 1987 entry draft.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of unsettling to hear when you&rsquo;re only 18 years old and you&rsquo;ve only been in the league 16 games,&rdquo; Joseph said.He recognized being mentioned in the Coffey talks was. in reality, a compliment, however cruel.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going to hear of lesser players for a guy the caliber of Coffey.&rdquo; Johnston said.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Pittsburgh wants to get rid of me.&rsquo;&rsquo; Joseph said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty sure of that.&rdquo;The Penguins certainly are not looking to yank the welcome mat out from under Simpson, the third-year forward who has matured into a superb NHL player.He was their No. 2 scorer through 21 games with 13 goals and 13 assists, and was playing at&mdash;or above&mdash;the level the Penguins expected when they made him the second player taken in the 1985 draft.Still, he has been a fixture in trade speculation since the off-season, when he was routinely mentioned in discussions with Edmonton about free-agent goalie Andy Moog.He thus has become conditioned to hearing his time with the Penguins is in its final hours, and is not even slightly fazed by what he reads and hears.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard it so much, it&rsquo;s been going on for so long, I really don&rsquo;t think about it at all.&rdquo; Simpson said.&ldquo;I ve heard it all before and nothing&rsquo;s happened, so it really hasn&rsquo;t been on my mind. I&rsquo;ve just sort of blocked it all out.&rdquo;That is a most unusual trait, however, and one he does not share with most of his teammates.&ldquo;You try to say it doesn&rsquo;t hurt you at all. but it does,&rdquo; Bodger said. &ldquo;So many rumors have been flying around, and nobody knows what&rsquo;s going on.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The Penguins have shaved the heads of rookies Chris Joseph, Rob Brown and Dwight Mathiasen&hellip;Penguin winger Wilf Paiement was demoted to Muskegon after scoring just two goals and five assists in 17 games.<h2>PENGUINS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 19: Wilf Paiement, RW, demoted to Muskegon (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mario Lemieux, Dan Quinn, Dave McLIwain, Jock Callander, Rob Brown.LW&mdash;Randy Cunneyworth, Troy Loney, Dave Hannan, Charlie Simmer, Mark Kachowski.RW&mdash;Craig Simpson, Dan Frawley, Dwight Mathiasen, Chris Kontos.LD&mdash;Doug Bodger, Ville Siren, Jim Johnson, Chris Dalhquist.RD&mdash;Moe Mantha, Chris Joseph, Rod Buskas.G&mdash;Pat Riggin, Steve Guenette, Gilles Meloche.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Bob Errey, LW, broken wrist, indefinite.Randy Hillier, D, bruised heel, day-to-day.Jimmy Mann, RW, elbow surgery, indefinite.Norm Schmidt, D, back surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

f0014-02

Young Penguins Receive Cruel Compliments

<div class="byline">BY AL MORGANTI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03735/5348148-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="178" height="138"></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;This was supposed to be a story about how Philadelphia&rsquo;s reeling Flyers had turned back into the real Flyers.There they were at the Spectrum, with a 4-1 lead against the New York Islanders going into the third period. The Flyers didn&rsquo;t just have the Islanders on the ropes, they had them on the canvas.And they had them in that position without Mark Howe (sprained wrist), and with Wendell Young in goal, replacing struggling Ron Hextall.All the signs were there. This was the game that would bail the Flyers out of their slump&mdash;until the third period.Over that final 20 minutes, the walls came tumbling down. The Islanders scored five goals (one into an empty net), and the Flyers left their home ice to a chorus of boos.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t heard booing like that in a long, long time,&rdquo; said Brian Propp, a nine-year veteran. &ldquo;But we deserved it.&rdquo;The fans had seen enough. In a period of four days, the Flyers lost a third-period lead in a loss to the New Jersey Devils, recorded a sloppy 7-5 victory over the Los Angeles Kings and lost to the Islanders.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;We haven&rsquo;t heard booing like that in a long, long time. But we deserved it.&rsquo; &mdash;Propp</blockquote>Throughout the week, nearly every player on the roster was subject to some sort of trade rumor&mdash;the most intriguing involving Edmonton&rsquo;s suspended superstar defenseman Paul Coffey. Club president Jay Snider even admitted that the organization, which doesn&rsquo;t exactly throw around money, could sign Coffey &ldquo;within two days.&rdquo;However, general manager Bob Clarke indicated he wasn&rsquo;t going to rip apart his team to get Coffey and, to begin with, he didn&rsquo;t think Edmonton was going to trade the disgruntled defenseman.All the while, Clarke came under increasing criticism for his off-season trade of defenseman Brad McCrimmon to the Calgary Flames.&ldquo;Do I second guess myself (about that)?&rdquo; asked Clarke. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think any player makes that big a difference&hellip;unless it&rsquo;s a Guy Lafleur-type player.&ldquo;I traded Brad, and if that&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s screwing the team up, then that is my responsibility. I don&rsquo;t think it is what&rsquo;s screwing the team up.&rdquo;After the loss to the Islanders, Clarke met with coach Mike Keenan and club president Jay Snider (among others) for more than 90 minutes.&ldquo;If you think this meeting was about &lsquo;We&rsquo;re gonna trade this guy. or we&rsquo;re gonna trade that guy, you&rsquo;re wrong.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;The Flyers have lost three games which they&rsquo;ve led after two periods, in the three previous seasons under Mike Keenan, they were 119-4-5 in that situation. The Flyers had been outscored 35-21 in third periods&hellip;The Flyers&rsquo; goals-against average ballooned to 4.04, the highest ever under Keenan, except for the first-game total in 1985-86.<h2>FLYERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 16: Jeff Chychrun, D, and Don Nachbaur, C, recalled from Hershey (AHL).Nov. 17: Ron Hextail, G, signed longterm contract. No terms announced.Nov. 20: Jeff Chychrun, D, assigned to Hershey: John Stevens, D, recalled from Hershey.Nov. 23: Dave Brown, RW, serving 15-game suspension. Eligible to return Dec. 6.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Dave Poulin, Ron Sutter, Peter Zezel, Don Nachbaur.LW&mdash;Brian Propp, Derrick Smith, Lindsay Carson, Craig Berube.RW&mdash;Rick Tocchet, llkka Sinisalo, Scott Mellanby.LD&mdash;Mark Howe, Brad Marsh, Kerry Huffman, John Stevens.RD&mdash;Doug Crossman, Kjell Samuelsson, J.J. Daigneault.G&mdash;Ron Hextall, Wendell Young.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Murray Craven, LW, back spasms, Nov. 25-28.Mark Howe, D. sprained wrist, Nov. 25.Tim Kerr, RW, recovering from multiple shoulder surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

f0014-03

Flyers Still Not Out Of The Woods

THE INCIDENT WAS not unique but it was the type that, piled on a few others of the same nature over the years, inspires the hair of NHL general managers to take on a shade other than its original color.Winnipeg Jets and New Jersey Devils were tied 1-1 in the third period of a dandy game at the Meadowlands&mdash;tough, abrasive, laden with stick fouls, liberal applications of wood to bodies.Paul Stewart is a man who understands what comprises good pro hockey and it isn&rsquo;t all fancy skating and slick plays. Stewart had a bit of hell in him when he played in the old WHA. He could kick a little tail to stay employed and now, as one of the NHL&rsquo;s most promising young officials, Stewart seems to appreciate the not-so-finer things of hockey life.Stewart had called the Jet-Devil game by the book. Oh. not the rule book or the one the purists say should apply to the way a zebra works, but the one which the men who administrate and supervise the officials claim doesn&rsquo;t exist.Stewart called a fair number of penalties early in the match while determining what level of aggressiveness the two teams wished to conduct their business. When he had that figured out, Stewart set a level for the game. Both sides seemed to realize that if they stayed within the established boundaries, they would be permitted to play the game while the official minded his own business.There&rsquo;s always a large protest from the officiating brass when it&rsquo;s suggested that what&rsquo;s a penalty in the first period isn&rsquo;t a penalty in the third. The thinkers trying to give examples of why NHL officiating is inefficient point that out. too.But. of course, that&rsquo;s how it is. the way things work, and anyone who doesn&rsquo;t see it that way is kidding himself. While trying to find that level to which he can allow the players to go, the referee will call penalties for what seem like innocuous plays. When he does that, the ref is attempting to keep that level of permissiveness within reasonable limits.As the match progresses and the level is set, of course, what was a penalty during the search for the level isn&rsquo;t a penalty when it&rsquo;s in place.In the third period, that standard is there. To climb over it&mdash;or commit a foul that deprives an attacker of a good scoring chance&mdash;will eam a penalty. Stay below the ref&rsquo;s level, check the shooter fairly, and the zebra won&rsquo;t be involved.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011340/5348179-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="370" height="418"><figcaption class="caption-body">Frank Orr</figcaption></div>Stewart set liberal boundaries for the Jets and Devils that night. After calling coincidental minors early in the third period, he stayed out of it. The game was tough, often dirty, but both sides were involved equally and the official kept things under control because of what he had done earlier. That&rsquo;s the approach such great referees as John Ashley, Wally Harris and Frank Udvari took during all those games when you couldn&rsquo;t remember whether a referee had shown up.But halfway through a tough third period. Stewart seemed to decide that the hair of John Ferguson, the Jet GM. didn&rsquo;t have enough silver in it.There had been 23 murders, 45 cases of arson. 19 grand-theft auto offenses and six kneecappings, all unpunished by the ref. Then he handed out two sentences for stealing hubcaps to the Jets, back-to-back calls for harmless offenses that left Winnipeg two men short for more than a minute.An unusual little noise was emitted by Fergy in the press box. a cross between surprise and fury. But he kept his cool and watched the Jets kill off the double sentence.One of the good old refs once said that the most difficult thing about establishing a level and not calling anything that didn&rsquo;t go beyond it was to stay out of the game.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s bad stuff going on but none of it is beyond the level you&rsquo;ve set for that game.&rdquo; the man said. &ldquo;Both teams are doing it and you should mind your business. But doing that is a big test for the young ref. to simply ignore what&rsquo;s going on and not get involved.&ldquo;After you&rsquo;ve been around a while, you just stay out of it and the players settle it.&rdquo;Paul Stewart will master that art very quickly. &#9632;

f0014-01

Stewart Calls Them By That Non-Existent Book

<div class="byline">BY RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011254/5348210-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="178" height="136"></div>EAST RUTHERFORD&mdash;Kirk Muller has seen the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; high hopes go crashing through the ice in seasons past. The talk in the dressing room never matched the results on game night.But even the Devils&rsquo; quiet captain had trouble containing his excitement after a stunning 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 18.&ldquo;That was a big game for us. A game like that builds a lot of character,&rdquo; said Muller. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care what position the Flyers are in.&rdquo;&ldquo;It was a typical game that last year or the year before we would&rsquo;ve lost and maybe started a slump,&rdquo; added defenseman Bruce Driver.When the Devils do finally hit their first slump of the season it is not likely to come at the Meadowlands Arena, where they had compiled a sensational 10-1-1 record. No team has been as dominating in its own building this year.It was a sellout crowd of 19,040, the first of the season, which rocked the arena as Pat Verbeek scored his 15th goal (with 2:56 to play) on a power play set up by Flyer rookie Jeff Chychrun&rsquo;s penalty.&ldquo;Those fans helped me and no question they helped those kids on the bench,&rdquo; said president-GM Lou Lamoriello. &ldquo;When the Flyers got that penalty and the fans stood on their feet and the ceiling started shaking, if you don&rsquo;t think those players felt that and their adrenalin got going, then you were at the wrong game.&rdquo;&ldquo;That was a franchise-maker,&rdquo; noted owner John McMullen. &ldquo;It was important for us to beat the Flyers. They&rsquo;re bad for hockey. You can&rsquo;t play them without being brutalized. In the past when we played them we lost our next three or four games because we were so beaten up, but that&rsquo;s changing. Our kids are all grown up. They&rsquo;re not easy to push around any more.&rdquo;The Devils followed the triumph over Philly with a 5-2 victory over the Blackhawks before leaving for their longest road trip of the season (five games in nine days).Even a 2-1 loss in Montreal, dropping the team&rsquo;s road record to 2-5-1, could not dampen the Devils&rsquo; spirits.&ldquo;Everyone wonders how we&rsquo;ve turned it around all of a sudden.&rdquo; said Muller, one of the players greeted daily by TV cameras, radio microphones and magazine reporters. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really not so sudden. Last year we gave up the most goals in the league (368, 27 more than L.A.). This year we&rsquo;ve given up close to the fewest. We&rsquo;re maturing as a team and everything is clicking.&ldquo;I see three factors. First, everyone is playing every night. It&rsquo;s tough to beat a club with all 20 guys going all out. Second, our defense is so strong. Third, the guys are a lot more positive and it&rsquo;s rubbing off. They say winning is contagious.&rdquo;They also say winning in November is easier than winning in April.NOTES&mdash;Owner John McMullen on his fan mail: &ldquo;When we lose, I get letters from religious organizations. They say: &lsquo;Until you change the name from Devils to Angels, you&rsquo;ll keep losing.&rsquo; &ldquo;&hellip;Andy Brickley took a shot in the mouth against Chicago. He lost three teeth and required 30 stitches&hellip;After 12 home games last year the Devils were 8-3-1&hellip;Overall, N.J. was 10-8-2 and in fourth place at the quarter pole last season. While placing second with a 12-6-2 mark this year, Devils had a goal-differential of plus-13. That&rsquo;s an improvement of 27 over last seson&rsquo;s minus-14 at the same point&hellip;Devils&rsquo; paid (per-game average) home attendance of approximately 13,500 is an increase of 2,500 per game over last season.<h2>DEVILS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 19: Marc Laniel, D, returned to Oshawa (OHL) after 30-day tryout with Canadian Olympic team.Nov. 20: John MacLean, RW, and Brendan Shanahan, RW, served one-game suspensions for their part in an Oct. 21 brawl in Pittsburgh.Nov. 22: Anders Carlsson, C, recalled from Utica (AHL). David Maley, C, demoted to Utica.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Kirk Muller, Claude Loiselle, Patrik Sundstrom, Anders Carlsson.LW&mdash;Aaron Broten, Doug Sulliman, Perry Anderson, Jim Korn.RW&mdash;Pat Verbeek, John MacLean, Brendan Shanahan, Doug Brown, George McPhee.LD&mdash;Ken Daneyko, Bruce Driver, Jack O&rsquo;Callahan, Gord Mark.RD&mdash;Craig Wolanin, Joe Cirella, Randy Velischek.G&mdash;Alain Chevrier, Bob Sauve.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Andy Brickley, LW, cut mouth, day-to-day.Mark Johnson, C, arthroscopic surgery left knee, indefinite.Tom Kurvers, D, fractured left index finger, indefinite.Al Stewart, LW, hernia surgery, indefinite. &#9632;

f0015-01

Devils Look Like Aces In Their Full House

<div class="byline">BY BOB FACHET</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02903/5348241-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="183" height="139"></div>LANDOVER&mdash;Judging by the boos when the Detroit Red Wings scored a 1-0 victory at Capital Centre, the Washington Capitals were proving rather offensive to their fans. As far as showing any offense against NHL opponents, however, forget it.The Capitals&rsquo; individual point totals after the first 20 games read like pharmaceutical symbols for anemia and the team figure of 3.15 goals per game was the principal reason behind a disappointing 9-10-1 record.&ldquo;The bottom line is that we can&rsquo;t score,&rdquo; said coach Bryan Murray. &ldquo;We make every goaltender look like a million dollars. Our goaltenders look so good in practice, it&rsquo;s scary. But I really don&rsquo;t want to talk about it, because guys will press more and it will get even worse.&rdquo;It was possible to turn the statistics in just about any direction to prove a negative point. Sample: After nine November games, six of the team&rsquo;s 13 forwards were without a goal, while four others had one apiece. The few contributors were Mike Gartner with six, Mike Ridley with three and Kelly Miller with two.Over a 10-game stretch, the Capitals managed only nine equal-strength goals. Capital Centre fans may derive pleasure from booing the power play, but without the 15 extra-man goals during that period, the Capitals might have been in worse shape than the stock market.Following an unprecedented 5-2 start, Washington posted a 4-8-1 record to stumble past the quarter pole at a sub-500 pace. During the 13-game slide, all 13 forwards on the team recorded a total of 18 assists. Defensemen Scott Stevens and Larry Murphy combined for 21.&ldquo;That tells the story of why we&rsquo;re not winning,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have the forwards who should get the points getting points. They have to produce if we&rsquo;re going to be successful.&rdquo;Stevens and Murphy seemed almost embarrassed when asked to explain the burst of assists that left them tied for the lead in the team&rsquo;s scoring &ldquo;race.&rdquo; &ldquo;Everybody has these stretches during the season where goals are hard to come by,&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t let it go too long and I&rsquo;m sure we won&rsquo;t. It&rsquo;ll probably just be a few games before Gussie (Bengt Gustafs-son) and Garts (Mike Gartner) fly by us and lead the team in scoring the way they should.&rdquo;&ldquo;I like to contribute as much offensively as I can, but we win by playing good defense and I think that has to be the top priority,&rdquo; added Murphy. &ldquo;In the short term, it&rsquo;s okay for Scotty and me to get more points than the forwards, but if it stays that way over the season, we have a serious problem. Everybody&rsquo;s annual production usually is at a higher clip than it is this year and it should all average out at the end.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Seven of the Capitals&rsquo; 10 losses had been by one goal&hellip;Washington was 2-5 against Adams Division teams. Both victories came over Hartford. Mike Gartner collected five goals in five games for a total of 13&hellip;Lou Franceschetti remained without a goal after referee Paul Stewart ruled Franceschetti kicked the puck into the net in a game at Buffalo Nov. 20&hellip;When Clint Malar-chuk stopped 29 shots to beat Hartford Nov. 21, it marked his first victory in a month.<h2>CAPITALS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 19: David Jensen, LW, assigned to Binghamton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bengt Gustafsson, Dale Hunter, Mike Ridley, Michal Pivonka.LW&mdash;Peter Sundstrom, Greg Adams, Kelly Miller, Lou Franceschetti.RW&mdash;Dave Christian, Mike Gartner, Bob Gould, Craig Laughlin, Ed Kastelic.LD&mdash;Rod Langway, Scott Stevens, Paul Cavallini.RD&mdash;Kevin Hatcher, Larry Murphy, Greg Smith, Garry Galley.G&mdash;Clint Malarchuk, Pete Peeters.<h3>INJURIES</h3>John Barrett, D, fractured left kneecap, indefinite. &#9632;

f0015-02

Caps’ Bottom Line: Offense Broke

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011133/5348272-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="182" height="137"></div>CALGARY&mdash;The most challenging times of Terry Crisp&rsquo;s young National Hockey League coaching career may be the way he handles the last days of Lanny McDonald&rsquo;s illustrious, but fading playing career.McDonald, the Calgary Flames&rsquo; 34-year-old co-captain, missed a game for reasons other than injury or suspension for the first time in almost 15 years when Crisp scratched him from the team&rsquo;s Nov. 19 game against the Quebec Nordiques.The move wasn&rsquo;t exactly unexpected in the wake of McDonald&rsquo;s slow start&mdash;one goal, one assist in limited playing time over 18 games.Essentially, injuries to a number of key players&mdash;especially Joel Otto&mdash;plus Brett Hull&rsquo;s so-so training camp, kept McDonald in the lineup early in the year. As the team started getting healthy and Hull blossomed as a scorer, however, it appeared to be only a matter of time before McDonald drew the short straw.It happened in the Nordiques game and it said something about McDonald&rsquo;s stature in the Flames&rsquo; organization that his absence attracted as much attention as the team&rsquo;s easy 9-1 win.Clearly unhappy with the turn of events, McDonald tried&mdash;but didn&rsquo;t succeed&mdash;in putting on a happy face. As reporters converged on him following the game, he uttered a single, cryptic phrase:&ldquo;Tough times come and go,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Tough men are here to stay.&rdquo;Then he walked out.A day later, McDonald stayed mum on the matter, saying only: &ldquo;What can I say? I can only do my talking out on the ice&hellip;I can&rsquo;t believe how this whole thing has gotten out of hand.&rdquo;In explaining his decision to drop McDonald for the Quebec game, Crisp said: &ldquo;We talked today and we looked at our lineup. The surplus we have is on the right side. We said to him: &lsquo;We want to try these lines.&rsquo; He said: &lsquo;Fine coach.&rsquo; We discussed it. We asked if he&rsquo;d mind. He said no. He said: &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll sit out for you, whatever you think is right.&rsquo;&rdquo;Crisp said the decision to bench McDonald should not be interpreted as the end of the line for the veteran.&ldquo;When the time comes, Lanny will make his decision,&rdquo; said Crisp. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s earned that right. He&rsquo;s earned that respect. It will be up to him. He&rsquo;s still an important part of our hockey club. I watch him in practice.&ldquo;He works with the kids. He works with Nieuwendyk and Roberts and the others. I watch him in the dressing room. He&rsquo;s the first guy to go over to the kids when I chew their rear ends out. He&rsquo;ll go over and say: &lsquo;He means it, but tomorrow, he won&rsquo;t mean it.&rsquo; He&rsquo;s really done everything we&rsquo;ve asked of him.NOTES&mdash;Joe Nieuwendyk became the first Flames&rsquo; rookie to score four goals, when he turned the trick against Quebec. The last Flames&rsquo; player to score four in a game was Kent Nilsson.<h2>FLAMES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 16: Bob Bodak, LW, demoted to Salt Lake City (IHL).Nov. 21: Rick Kosti, G, recalled from Salt Lake City.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Mike Bullard, Joel Otto, Joe Nieuwendyk, Steve Bozek.LW&mdash;Jim Peplinski, John Tonelli, Gary Roberts, Carey Wilson.RW&mdash;loey Mullen, Hakan Loob, Brett Hull, Tim Hunter, Lanny McDonald.LD&mdash;Brian Glynn, Gary Suter, Ric Nattress.RD&mdash;Al Maclnnis, Brad McCrimmon, Neil Sheehy.G&mdash;Doug Dadswell, Rick Kosti.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Perry Berezan, C, pulled groin, day-to-day.Jamie Macoun, D, damaged nerves, arm and shoulder, indefinite.Colin Patterson, LW, pulled hamstring, day-to-day.Paul Reinhart, D, back spasms, indefinite. &#9632;

f0016-01

Cryptic McDonald Bides Time On Sidelines

IF THAT MOST traditional of sports can bring in rule changes as dramatic as the designated hitter, then hockey should at least consider the continuing calls to change the configuration of its rinks.First let&rsquo;s consider the most radical proposal: NHL rinks measuring 200 by 100 feet? That might happen in my grandson&rsquo;s lifetime, but not mine.Tailoring a rink to Olympic proportions would mean dramatically altering a style that suits most North American hockey fans. What&rsquo;s the point of overhauling something that isn&rsquo;t broken?It would mean installing a new refrigeration system. It would mean tearing out a couple of hundred choice seats (can&rsquo;t you just see the Montreal Forum pulling out five rows of reds?).Hey governors, smile and say&hellip;&rdquo;Millions.&rdquo;You won&rsquo;t do it? I don&rsquo;t blame you. Too costly.So forget about 200-by-100. Too geometrically sound, anyway. Too easy to remember. And it would change a well-designed game far too drastically.But alteration of the current 200-by-85 configuration is an idea worth considering. It&rsquo;s time the NHL got daring. Major League baseball lowered its mound in 1969. The National Football League pushed its goal posts back to the end lines in the 70s. The National Basketball Association designed retractable baskets a few years ago to keep Darryl Dawkins from declaring bankruptcy.It&rsquo;s time the NHL tinkered.Except in dinosaurs like Boston Garden and Buffalo&rsquo;s Memorial Auditorium, where the neutral zone is the size of your average living room, NHL rinks breaks down like this:End boards to goal line, 10 feet at each end.Goal line to blue line, 60 feet at each end.Blue line to red line, 30 feet at each end.Side boards to side boards, 85 feet.There&rsquo;s your 200-by-85.Now try this: Why not slice five feet out of each half of the neutral zone and squeeze it behind each net? Make it 15 feet between end boards and goal line, leave the same 60 feet from goal line to blue line, and shrink blue line to red line to 25 feet.It still adds up to 200, but it increases the size of the attacking zones without screwing up goalie angles and it decreases the neutral area, an area that nobody cares about anyway.Now let&rsquo;s consider the consequences.Wayne Gretzky would score 300 points every season and Edmonton would score more power-play goals than some teams score goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03700/5348303-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="389" height="462"><figcaption class="caption-body">Barry Meisel</figcaption></div>But so what? Handing Gretz five more feet to work with might entice him to play 10 more years. And that would be worth it.Fifteen feet behind the net would improve the demand for corner-working wingers and mobile defensemen without reducing a team&rsquo;s need for speed. With more room to work with, offensive creativity would be placed at a higher premium. Play along the boards would change from a rugby scrum to a better test of strength and stickhandling skill.Dump-and-chase and clutch-and-grab: Those two boring styles that invariably leave some team whining about the officiating, would become much more difficult to play with consistency. Hallelujah.I&rsquo;d also legalize two-line passes, from behind a team&rsquo;s own blue line over the red line. That would open the neutral zone that we&rsquo;ve just squeezed 10 feet (or 10 inches in Boston Garden&rsquo;s case).I wouldn&rsquo;t permit two-line passes over an opponent&rsquo;s blue line, for fear that too many goal-hungry forwards would hang even further up ice than they already do. But I wouldn&rsquo;t remove the red line, because then the Detroit Red Wings would dump the puck in from just over their blue line&mdash;and how much of that could we take?This poses potential problems, I admit. A larger attacking zone would increase power-play production leaguewide. Would refs call fewer penalties? Or would teams be less prone to committing fouls? And would scores run 7-6 and 8-7? And if they did, would that necessarily be bad?Would a smaller neutral zone adversely affect the flow of a well-played game between two fast teams? Would a quick team&rsquo;s quick transition game matter less?Who knows? Change is a wonderful concept when done within acceptable boundaries. It adds intrigue, interest and a fresh excitement. It answers unanswerable questions.The NHL needs it. &#9632;

f0016-03

Time To Tinker With Rink And Open Up Pro Hockey

<div class="byline">BY WALT MacPEEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02905/5348334-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="179" height="138"></div>NEW YORK&mdash;All the New York Rangers needed to break their slump was a trip to Winnipeg, with Ron Scott in net.Call it a coincidence, but the Rangers had won only two of their last 12 games (2-9-1) and both came against the same team&mdash;the Jets.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just one of those things you can&rsquo;t explain,&rdquo; Scott suggested, following a 4-3 Ranger triumph Nov. 20.Though Scott didn&rsquo;t start the first victory against Winnipeg&mdash;or any NHL game at all since October, 1986&mdash;he seems to have the Jets&rsquo; number. Two of his three career victories, including his last prior win, on Feb. 8, 1984, have come in Winnipeg.Coach Michel Bergeron said he&rsquo;s always had confidence in Scott.&ldquo;This guy is one of the best-kept secrets in the league,&rdquo; Bergeron said.Veteran center Marcel Dionne, who scored two goals against the Jets, praised Scott for providing just the right kind of effort at a time when the Rangers needed it most.&ldquo;It was a perfect situation,&rsquo;&rsquo; Dionne noted. &ldquo;Ron came in and gave us a great performance and we played a strong defensive game. When a guy comes in after not playing for a long time, his teammates try to give him a little extra help and maybe we learned a lesson with that kind of thinking.The Rangers, like it or not, can no longer approach games offensively. Without Pierre Larouche and Tomas Sandstrom in the lineup, they are not going to overhwhelm anybody.&ldquo;Defense,&rdquo; Bergeron stressed, &ldquo;is the only way we&rsquo;re going to straighten ourselves out now. It&rsquo;s got to be check, check, check&hellip;but we&rsquo;ve got to find some healthy bodies to do it.&rdquo;&ldquo;I thought I had seen bad injuries at Quebec last season,&rdquo; Bergeron groaned, &ldquo;but this is worse. We can&rsquo;t keep the same lineup for one period, let alone one game or one week.&rdquo;The Rangers will have to figure out something else to end future slumps. They don&rsquo;t face Winnipeg again until April 1.NOTES&mdash;After viewing a 4-3 loss at Minnesota on Nov. 19, Ranger GM Phil Esposito traded Curt Giles back to the North Stars and brought up Mark Tinordi, a 21-year-old free agent. &ldquo;If we&rsquo;re going to lose&mdash;and unfortunately, that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve been doing&mdash;we might as well do it with the kids that are going to be our future,&rdquo; Esposito said. Tinordi was injured in the first period of his first game. Ron Scott&rsquo;s career, which has included more than 100 minor-league games over the previous four seasons, was interrupted by a persistent problem with groin pulls, now under control&hellip;Esposito called the media together in Minnesota and, for the second time, officially dropped out of the bidding war for Paul Coffey. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sick of it, the distraction is hurting us,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;re hearing rumors over and over, from two months ago. He (Oiler coach-GM Glen Sather) just wants too much. I&rsquo;m not interested. It&rsquo;s finished.&rdquo;<h2>RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 16: Ulf Dahlen, C, assigned to Denver (IHL).Nov. 20: Curt Giles, D, traded to Minnesota for Byron Lomow, RW-C, and an undisclosed draft choice; UH Dahlen, C, and Mark Tinordi, D, recalled from Denver; Mike Siltala, C, and Ron Talakoski, RW, assigned to Denver; Paul Boutilier, D, assigned to New Haven (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Marcel Dionne, Walt Poddubny, Kelly Kisio, Ulf Dahlen.LW&mdash;John Ogrodnick, Don Maloney, Mike Donnelly, Jeff Brubaker.RW&mdash;Lucien DeBlois, Ron Duguay, Brian Mullen.LD&mdash;Jari Gronstrand, Ron Gres-chner.RD&mdash;James&rsquo; Patrick, David Shaw, Michel Petit.G&mdash;John Vanbiesbrouck, Ron Scott.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Jan Erixon, LW, bruised ribs, indefinite.Bob Froese, G, partially dislocated right shoulder, Nov. 25-29.Pierre Larouche, C, nerve damage, back, indefinite.Jim Pavese, D, infection, Nov. 25-29.Tomas Sandstrom, RW, fractured right index finger, Nov. 25-29.Mark Tinordi, D, bruised right hand, indefinite.Gordie Walker, LW, strained neck, indefinite. &#9632;

f0016-02

Trip To Winnipeg Tonic For Rangers

<div class="byline">BY DICK CHUBEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01993/5348365-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="181" height="136"></div>EDMONTON&mdash;Charlie Huddy&rsquo;s back on the popcorn circuit, but not for long.The Edmonton Oilers will welcome the veteran defenseman back into the lineup as soon as he recuperates from a minor hyperextension of his elbow.Less than a year ago, Huddy was a member of a not-so-elite group known as The Three Amigos. Together with Danny Gare and Lee Fogolin, Huddy spent most of his time grading popcorn in press boxes around the NHL.The supposition&mdash;two-thirds correct&mdash;was that their days with the Oilers were numbered.Gare was coaxed into an early retirement and found himself deprived of a shot at an elusive Stanley Cup ring. He now plays host to a between-periods cable TV show on Buffalo Sabre home games. Fogolin, meanwhile, left the Sabres, where he ended up last season. He has retired to go into construction in Edmonton, although the Sabres continued their attempts to persuade him to rejoin their defense.Huddy weathered the storm.He was one of six defensemen the Oilers employed regularly down the stretch, en route to their third Stanley Cup in four years. And with three of those rearguards&mdash;Randy Gregg, Reijo Ruotsalainen and Paul Coffey&mdash;not on the scene, the 28-year-old found himself once again firmly entrenched on the Oilers&rsquo; blue line.&ldquo;Is it ever crazy, eh?&rdquo; shrugged Huddy. &ldquo;One day to the next, and you don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going on.&ldquo;One year you go along for a stretch where you&rsquo;re hardly playing at all. Then the next thing you know, you&rsquo;re playing again. Next, you figure you&rsquo;re going to be traded. But instead, you wind up playing in the Stanley Cup finals. You never know, do you?&rdquo;Huddy was upset when the Oilers&rsquo; coaches experimented with a younger, bigger defensive crew last season. He didn&rsquo;t want to leave, but he also didn&rsquo;t cotton to the idea of gathering splinters.&ldquo;The last thing I wanted to do was leave Edmonton.&rdquo; said the native of Oshawa, Ont. &ldquo;I knew we had a chance to win again and there&rsquo;s a good bunch of guys on this team. But, if it happened, it happened.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say the thought didn&rsquo;t cross my mind. With the number of defensemen we had (eight at one point) and the fact I hadn&rsquo;t played for weeks&hellip;&ldquo;But, it&rsquo;s something over which I didn&rsquo;t have any control. I just tried to keep a good frame of mind.&rdquo;The test was to stay ready in a racket where the demands are to be good or be gone.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to play under those circumstances.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You go in and play one game here, one game there&hellip;They expect you to do everything perfect and not make any mistakes. Practice is fine, but there&rsquo;s no substitute for game conditions.&rdquo;Twenty-one games into the 1987-88 campaign, the same coaching staff that banished Huddy to the rafters last January looked to him to participate in all of the key situations. He plays the power play, kills penalties, and has been given the assignment of taking newcomer Jim Weimer under his experienced wing.Huddy led the defense with five goals (all on the road) and had the team&rsquo;s best plus-minus rating, at plus-16. Weimer also benefited, with a plus-eight.But, having viewed the business from the other side. Huddy&rsquo;s not too naive to know how quickly it could change again.He&rsquo;s in the option year of his contract and manager-coach Glen Sather has been otherwise preoccupied. In the meantime, though. Huddy decided to leave his agent&mdash;Gus Badali, who also handles Coffey.&ldquo;I did it before Paul&rsquo;s situation came about,&rdquo; Huddy said.NOTES&mdash;Charlie Huddy was slated to miss only a couple of games. After losing their first two games at home to Detroit and Calgary, the Oilers reeled off seven straight victories at the Northlands Coliseum. They&rsquo;d also gone close to 200 minutes (198:55) without giving up an even-strength goal at home. During that stretch, they surrendered three power-play markers.<h2>OILERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Craig MacTavish, Mike Krushelnyski.LW&mdash;Esa Tikkanen, Tom McMurchy, Dave Hunter, Steve Graves.RW&mdash;Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson, Normand Lacombe, Kevin McClelland.LD&mdash;Kevin Lowe, Steve Smith, Jim Weimer.RD&mdash;Craig Muni, Jeff Beukeboom, Ron Shudra.G&mdash;Grant Fuhr, Daryl Reaugh.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Charlie Huddy, D, hyper-extended elbow, day-to-day.Marty McSorley. RW, sprained knee, indefinite. &#9632;

f0017-01

Huddy Returns From Oblivion To Key Role

So, Danny Gallivan embellished things a bit. Somebody had to create excitement in the early days of expansion.&ldquo;There was a lot of dull hockey played just after the first expansion,&rdquo; Gallivan said in that familiar nasal voice. &ldquo;I made an effort to use different words to spice things up.&rdquo;Did he ever.There were: cannonading shots; pucks caught in players&rsquo; paraphernalia; forwards trying to negotiate contact with the puck; and Savardian spinar-amas. And on and on.&ldquo;Oh, it was absolutely premeditated,&rdquo; Gallivan admitted from his Montreal home.And some people didn&rsquo;t like it.&ldquo;I got a letter from a pseudoEnglish professor who was upset about &lsquo;cannonading shot,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Gallivan. &ldquo;He told me there was no such word as &lsquo;cannonading.&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;There is now.&rsquo;&rdquo;The word cannonade is in the dictionary. It is defined as a heavy fire of artillery, and may be used as a verb or noun. It cannot be used as an adjective&mdash;except in Gallivanese.The expression &lsquo;cannonading shot&rsquo; actually pre-dated expansion by at least a decade.&ldquo;The Canadiens were on a power play,&rdquo; recalled Gallivan. &ldquo;Boom Boom Geoffrion was on one point with Doug Harvey on the other. I looked at the Boomer and imagined that if he unleashed that big slapper, the puck would come out as if shot from a cannon. When he actually shot it, the word just came out.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011033/5348427-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="564" height="1280"><figcaption class="caption-body">Danny Gallivan</figcaption></div>Gallivan, a native of Sydney, N.S., made his debut on the Canadian broadcast scene on Thursday, Oct. 7, 1952. That was the date he called his first Canadiens&rsquo; game on CBC Radio, in the Montreal Forum against Chicago.&ldquo;I came in right when the Canadiens were at the point of their ascendancy,&rdquo; said Gallivan, who combined both radio and television once Hockey Night In Canada&rsquo;s English TV broadcasts began in Montreal for the 1953-54 season.Gallivan described 16 Montreal Stanley Cup victories before he put away the microphone at the end of the 198384 season to do public relations work for HNIC. He spent 32 memorable years describing a team he considered the most exciting in the world.&ldquo;If they had played a different type of hockey other than the fire-wagon style they did, I doubt I&rsquo;d have been as excited doing their games,&rdquo; Gallivan said. &ldquo;When a team has big stars, it&rsquo;s so much easier to become enthused.&rdquo;There were those who felt Gallivan was overzealous in his on-air praise of the Canadiens.&ldquo;Naturally, I wanted to see them win, because it meant more work for me,&rdquo; said Gallivan, now 70. &ldquo;But the partiality of the announcer is in the eye or ear of the beholder.&rdquo;It might come as a surprise that in Gallivan&rsquo;s early days calling Canadiens&rsquo; games, he had to fight the urge to cheer his childhood favorites&mdash;the Boston Bruins. &#9632;

f0018-01

Former Voice Of Canadiens Had His Own Unique Style

Recreational and oldtimers&rsquo; hockey teams looking to tour abroad might consider Finnair&rsquo;s Sportours, which include destinations in Finland, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union and Bangkok.Bangkok?Yes, the capital city of Thailand is included in the company&rsquo;s new &ldquo;Finnsling&rdquo; line of tours.&ldquo;I worked a number of years for the Can-Am Group,&rdquo; explained Finnair district sales manager Les Kovacs. &ldquo;I marketed oldtimers&rsquo; hockey, with tours to places like Florida. We found that they liked the sun, but didn&rsquo;t always like to keep playing other Canadian teams.&rdquo;So, the Finnsling tour was created, by Finnair&rsquo;s Canadian manager of special marketing, Fred Laphen. Teams play hockey in the European states, then take off on a side trip to Bangkok to warm up their bruised bodies.Typically, said Kovacs, a touring team spends five to eight days in Finland (all tour packages include this great hockeyplaying nation; other countries are optional), then stores its equipment in the Baltic land and heads for the far east.A week later, on their way back to Canada or the United States, tour planes stop in Finland again&mdash;it&rsquo;s the most direct route from Thailand to the east coast of North America&mdash;to pick up the cold-weather gear.Like all of the company&rsquo;s hockey team tours, everything is included in the base price of about $2,500 (Cdn.) per person for the 15-to-18-day package. Travel, accommodation, land transfers, sightseeing, tournament/exhibition game arrangements and meals (ranging from one to three a day) are all handled.&ldquo;Adult teams, in most cases, have gone over for exhibition games and tours,&rdquo; Kovacs said, &ldquo;not so much tournaments.&rdquo; One tournament that does draw well, however, is the annual Viking Cup, held in Helsinki in April.The most popular tour includes a side trip, and more hockey, in Sweden. A luxury cruise ship ferries team members from Helsinki to Stockholm every night from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m.Finnair Sportours handles mostly minor hockey tours, from peewee up. But Kovacs said the adult market is growing quickly, especially because it doesn&rsquo;t have to be structured around specific holiday periods (such as school Christmas break).For more information, call (212) 689-9300 in New York, (213) 216-5750 in Los Angeles, or (416) 927-7400 in Toronto. &#9632;

Adult Hockey Trip Takes In Bangkok

<div class="byline">BY RICK SADOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01961/5348482-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="184" height="134"></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;The word in Southern California is out: Shape up or ship out.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the same bleeping story every night,&rdquo; Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; general manager Rogie Vachon huffed. &ldquo;If some of these guys are afraid because there might be rumors they will be traded&hellip;then mark my words, they are not going to be rumors anymore.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting close, I tell you. I mean, this is absolutely ridiculous. We thought we had a lot of leaders on this team. Now, I&rsquo;m beginning to wonder how many leaders we have. I&rsquo;m really starting to question that now.&rdquo;Vachon had just watched in complete disbelief and utter disgust as the Kings blew 5-1 and 6-2 leads on the way to a 6-6 tie with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 21 at Maple Leaf Gardens.Two nights earlier, the Kings climbed back from 1-0, 2-1 and 4-2 deficits in Philadelphia to forge a 4-4 tie entering the third period of a game they eventually lost 7-5.Two nights before that, the Kings somehow managed to turn a 3-1 lead, with less than seven minutes to play on Long Island, into a 4-3 defeat.In the two previous games, the Kings were embarrassed by Calgary, 10-7, and barely hung on for an 8-7 win over Quebec.That&rsquo;s 34 goals against in five games, the type of defense that left the Kings resting comfortably in the Smythe Division basement.Vachon appeared intent on making the troops a bit uncomfortable.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s completely ridiculous to lose a point like this,&rdquo; he said after the unsatisfactory tie with the Maple Leafs. &ldquo;In the second period, you could see how we started to change the way we were playing. We didn&rsquo;t touch anybody. Then in the third it&rsquo;s 6-3 and we ought to be making safe plays. We start trying to make nifty little moves, be-tween-the-legs passes, instead of shooting the puck down and forechecking. They know that.&ldquo;How many times have we selfdestructed like this?&rdquo;Anybody got a calculator?Oh, yes. In three consecutive third periods, the Kings were burned for a combined 10 goals. Some teams don&rsquo;t give up that many in three games.&ldquo;I have no idea, no bleeping idea at all,&rdquo; Bobby Carpenter said when asked to explain the problem. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been happening for so many games. I wish we knew.&rdquo;Carpenter scored one goal and set up three others against the Leafs, running his scoring streak to eight games (4-913). He was playing with fire in his eyes.The ex-Washington Capital made it nine straight games, with three goals in an 8-5 win over Buffalo one night after the Leaf loss.Los Angeles outscored Buffalo 3-1 in the third and offered some relief&mdash;if only temporary&mdash;for coach Mike Murphy.Murphy held a unique practice session the day before the collapse in Toronto. Following a team meeting, Murphy watched from the stands as assistants Bryan Maxwell and Phil Myre put only 10 players through their paces.Murphy, it&rsquo;s believed, was unhappy with those who didn&rsquo;t practise, though neither he nor any players would say much about it.NOTES&mdash;Defenseman Craig Redmond said he agreed to waive his salary and was given permission to join the Canadian Olympic team for a tryout. Suspended Oct. 15 by the Kings for refusing to report to New Haven of the AHL, Redmond was to join the Olympic team Dec. 7&hellip;With 16 goals in 21 games, Jimmy Carson was on pace to score a club-record 60 goals. His idol, Marcel Dionne, had 59 in 1978-79, when Carson was 11 years old.<h2>KINGS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Bob Bourne, Jimmy Carson, Bernie Nicholls, Tim Tookey.LW&mdash;Bobby Carpenter, Paul Fenton, Luc Robitaille.RW&mdash;Bryan Erickson, Jim Fox, Bob Kudelski, Sean McKenna, Dave Taylor.LD&mdash;Ken Hammond, Wayne McBean, Larry Playfair, Jay Wells.RD&mdash;Steve Duchesne, Mark Hardy, Dean Kennedy, Grant Ledyard.G&mdash;Glenn Healy, Rollie Melanson.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Tom Laidlaw, D, sprained knee, indefinite.Joe Paterson, LW, strained groin, day-to-day.Phil Sykes, LW, partially torn groin muscle, indefinite. &#9632;

f0019-01

Vachon Threatens To Make Rumors Reality

TRADITION.Tevye understood. In Fiddler on the Roof, he tried to protect his Jewish heritage and the fate of his daughters against growing odds.Tradition.Red Auerbach understands. The Boston Celtics&rsquo; mastermind turned over Cousy for Russell for Havlicek for Cowens for Bird and never missed a beat.Tradition.The Yankees epitomized it until King George&rsquo;s ship sailed in, turning a rock-solid franchise into a volcanic guessing game.Tradition.It cannot be invented. It cannot be fabricated. It cannot be bought.You would think the NHL would understand that, but you&rsquo;d be wise to think again.Let&rsquo;s be fair here. In three NHL cities&mdash;Edmonton, Montreal and Philadelphia&mdash;people actually know how to keep score. The Oilers, the Canadiens and to a lesser extent, the Flyers, judge seasons the only way they should be judged, in terms of Cups won and Cups lost.Everywhere else in the NHL, there is a whole lot of public posturing going on and some flat-out pretending as well. Year after year, experienced GMs and coaches convince the local populace that their team really had a successful season, that the team&rsquo;s 19-54-7 record really wasn&rsquo;t nearly as bad as it looked, and that the future, regardless of what the numbers might indicate, is bright. That&rsquo;s one thing that all NHL personnel understands perfectly. The future is bright. Always.In the marketplace, this would be called staying in business. Or trying to. Amazingly, the strategy of these modern-day flim-flam men sometimes actually works. Well-intentioned fans swallow the company line and perpetuate it.Hence, win or lose, everything is always fine in the NHL.Except in Edmonton, Montreal and Philly.In other NHL cities, survival instincts far outweigh winning instincts. Take Emile Francis, for example. He&rsquo;s never won a Cup and he&rsquo;s never had a bad season. In 24 years. You figure it out.Someday the NHL will, but unfortunately, it won&rsquo;t be today.You can&rsquo;t tinker with tradition. You can&rsquo;t swap it for future considerations. You can&rsquo;t draft it in June. You must wait and let it happen.Unfortunately, many NHL franchises couldn&rsquo;t.Thirty-six numbers have been retired in the NHL. Montreal and Boston lead this dubious category with six apiece. Next come Philadelphia and Hartford with three. Five franchises have retired two numbers, while eight have retired one. Calgary, New Jersey, Winnipeg and the Islanders, to their everlasting credit, have retired none.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03493/5348513-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="416" height="477"><figcaption class="caption-body">Randy Smith</figcaption></div>Think of it. The Islanders have won four Cups and retired no numbers, although the Potvin-Trottier-Bossy crew is sure to have its day. On the other hand, the Whalers have qualifed for the playoffs just three times in eight NHL seasons and yet already have retired three numbers&mdash;Rick Ley&rsquo;s No. 2, Gordie Howe&rsquo;s No. 9 and Johnny McKenzie&rsquo;s No. 19.Tradition.&ldquo;Their sweaters aren&rsquo;t hanging from the roof because of their statistics,&rdquo; said Howard Baldwin, the Whalers&rsquo; chairman. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re up there because they were special people and because of the way they played the game. They played every night, every shift, every second. They had great, great spirit.&rdquo;Right.But Ley played in the WHA, Howe played in Detroit and McKenzie played in Boston. Heck, the people in Hartford never saw the real Howe or the real McKenzie.&ldquo;They should be perceived as heroes and remembered for being what some of today&rsquo;s athletes aren&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Baldwin said.Baldwin&rsquo;s point is well-taken, but never have those retired numbers looked so silly as the night that the Whalers raised their Adams Division regular-season championship flag at the start of this year. This flag was earned. This wasn&rsquo;t Shangri-La or a marketing director&rsquo;s coup or a handout from a grateful managing general partner. This was real.All tradition is. It must be established through achievement and only through achievement.You can&rsquo;t hurry love and you can&rsquo;t hurry tradition. You must wait and let it happen, fair and square, With the emphasis on fair and square. &#9632;

f0019-03

Tradition Must Be Earned, Not Bought And Paid For

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02714/5348544-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="179" height="134"></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;Survival in today&rsquo;s National Hockey League is usually predicated on ample speed, abundant strength or any reasonable combination of both.To his credit, or his misfortune, depending upon how you look at it, Dan Hodgson has none of the above.But when the Vancouver Canucks called out for help to their Fredericton Express farm team, the small, slow Hodgson was the best center there. Fact is, he was leading the American League in scoring.He didn&rsquo;t slack off in the NHL, bagging 10 points in his first three games.&ldquo;I know the book on him is that he&rsquo;s not big enough and not fast enough, but if he&rsquo;s getting points, what does it matter how big he is?&rdquo; says Canuck coach Bob McCammon.Hodgson is a master of the dump pass and movement of the puck. And if there were a statistic to measure hockey sense and on-ice vision, he&rsquo;d be among the NHL&rsquo;s eliteHe demonstrated those qualities while scoring one goal and four assists in a 6-4 Canucks&rsquo; win against the Pittsburgh Penguins Nov. 17. Three of the assists came on the power play.&ldquo;We had quite a few guys playing well down in Fredericton,&rdquo; says Hodgson, who scored 182 points in his last year at Prince Albert of the Western League. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s good to be back in the NHL. I just hope I can play well enough to stay here.&rdquo;Hodgson has been positioning himself near the boards on the power play, midway between the goal line and blue line. His ability to feather the puck is earning him assists.Originally acquired by the Canucks in a deal with Toronto, which included Jim Benning coming to Vancouver for defenseman Rick Lanz, Hodgson has had limited ice time during his stay.But now it seems he&rsquo;ll get another chance. How long it lasts depends on his productivity.The win over the Penguins also marked the return of Richard Brodeur in goal for the Canucks, who finally gave rookie netminder Kirk McLean a break. Brodeur, who has asked for a trade, was exceptional. He stopped 36 shots in what many speculated was an attempt to showcase him for Penguin GM Eddie Johnston.NOTES&mdash;Kirk McLean was essentially given the week off after Richard Brodeur played against Pittsburgh. Frank Caprice got his first start of the year, a 4-1 win in Detroit. Brodeur then played in a 4-1 loss in St. Louis before McLean returned in a 3-2 loss to Chicago&hellip;Craig Coxe took on Detroit&rsquo;s tough tandem of Joey Kocur and Bob Probert in separate fights in the same game&hellip;Coach Bob McCammon says he doesn&rsquo;t want to carry three goalies all season, but adds that he has no idea when he will dispatch one of them to the minors.<h2>CANUCKS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 17: Jean-Marc Lanthier, RW, recalled from Fredericton (AHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Barry Pederson, Greg Adams, Doug Wickenheiser, Dan Hodgson.LW&mdash;Steve Tambellini, Petri Skriko, Dave Saunders, Craig Coxe.RW&mdash;Rich Sutter, Stan Smyl, Tony Tanti.LD&mdash;J im Benning, Daryl Stanley, Randy Boyd.RD&mdash;Willie Huber, Garth Butcher, Doug Lidster.G&mdash;Kirk McLean, Richard Brodeur, Frank Caprice.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Bruce, RW, mononucleosis, indefinite.Larry Melnyk, LD, facial cut, concussion, indefinite.Dave Richter, RD, strained left knee, Nov. 30. &#9632;

f0019-02

Sneaky Hodgson Powers Canucks

<div class="byline">BY STEVE DRYDEN Associate Editor</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01822/5348575-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="179" height="147"></div>TORONTO&mdash;It took Al lafrate just 18 games to aceomplish what he did in 80 last year. Nineteen to surpass it. Twenty to continue his own game of one-upmanship.With goals in five of his last six games, lafrate increased to a career-high 11 his number of goals and trailed only Buffalo&rsquo;s Phil Housley (13) among NHL defensemen.Last year. lafrate scored nine times during the regular season and once more in 13 playoff contests. He didn&rsquo;t score over the final 18 regular-season games. Add it all up and you get one goal in 31 games.Just a minimal hint of things to come.&ldquo;It seems this year I&rsquo;m getting a lot more luck around the net and I&rsquo;ve got a lot more poise,&rdquo; said lafrate, after helping Toronto rally from a four-goal deficit to tie Los Angeles 6-6, Nov. 21. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s 90 per cent of it right there. I&rsquo;m not panicking with the puck.&rdquo;Instead, the fourth-year defenseman is moving it better than ever&mdash;both in rushing and passing situations, lafrate had eight assists to along with his 11 goals.&ldquo;Now you can see how good he is with the puck when he gets a little confidence,&rdquo; said Borje Salming, his long-time partner and roomie on the road.That&rsquo;s confidence both on and off the ice. Only 21 years old, lafrate struggled to find a comfort zone during his first three years. Shy and uncertain in group situations, especially among outsiders, he was equally uncertain in many game situations.Not since he was drafted sixth overall in 1984 has there been any doubts about his potential. It&rsquo;s just been a matter of realizing it.&ldquo;Now is the time most of the really good players start playing really well,&rdquo; said lafrate. &ldquo;I was the first defenseman chosen (in 1984). Since I&rsquo;ve been drafted no defenseman has really come into the league and tore it up. I feel I&rsquo;m playing as well as any of the young defensemen. I want to be the best one.&rdquo;He&rsquo;s not there yet. Assistant coach Gary Lariviere points out there is still much to learn offensively and defensively. But, Lariviere has seen enough good things to point out some similarities in lafrate&rsquo;s play and that of Paul Coffey.&ldquo;Both are big mobile men,&rdquo; said Lariviere, who was Coffey&rsquo;s mentor during the Norris Trophy-winning defenseman&rsquo;s early years in Edmonton. &ldquo;Both have great shots. lafrate is probably a bigger (threat) going down the boards. Coffey is probably a little bit smoother. But they both get there at the same time.&rdquo;Not even lafrate&rsquo;s strong play, however, helped the Leafs make much headway during an eight-game stretch that culminated with the home tie against the Kings.It only represented Toronto&rsquo;s fourth point, out of a possible 16, in a 1-5-2 stretch. Yet the Leafs remained among the Norris Division leaders.Los Angeles rocketed to a 5-1 first-period lead on the strength of four power-play goals.So bad were the Leafs, that the usual sellout crowd of 16,382 taunted Brophy&rsquo;s Boys with jeers. One week earlier, the coach complained, &ldquo;This is the most protected team I&rsquo;ve seen in my life. The fans don&rsquo;t even boo us&hellip;We get away with losing.&rdquo;Not this time, not against the league&rsquo;s worst defensive team.Tom Fergus, goal-less in six games, started the comeback, Gary Leeman made it 6-3 in the last minute of the second period, lafrate scored in the first minute of the third, Ed Olczyk brought the Leafs within one, and Mirko Frycer broke a 12-game scoring drought with the tying goal at 18:58.NOTES&mdash;Wendel Clark is out indefinitely with back spasms. He&rsquo;s not expected back for at least a month. Clark is on a rigid program, that takes six hours daily, to rehabilitate his back muscles. In 11 games, he had four goals and four assists. After 20 games, Toronto was a.500 club right down the line: 5-5-1 at home, 4-4-1 on the road.<h2>MAPLE LEAFS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Russ Courtnail, Tom Fergus, Vincent Damphousse, Peter Ihnacak, Dan Daoust.LW&mdash;Mark Osborne, Al Secord, Greg Terrion.RW&mdash;Ed Olczyk, Mirko Frycer, Gary Leeman, Derek Laxdal, Mike Allison.LD&mdash;Borje Salming, Luke Richardson.RD&mdash;Rick Lanz, Al lafrate, Dale DeGray.G&mdash;Ken Wregget, Allan Bester.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Wendel Clark, LW, back spasms, indefinite.Todd Gill, D, cracked bone in right foot, Nov. 24.Chris Kotsopolous, D, stretched groin muscle, indefinite. &#9632;

f0020-01

Iafrate On Roll With Slump-Ridden Leafs

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Bob Wagner</div>Four years ago, Kevin Willison of the Milwaukee Admirals won his second straight Governors&rsquo; Trophy as the International League&rsquo;s top defenseman.Now, as rookie coach of the same Admirals, Willison has been getting a baptism by fire. Though his team has been offensively sound, with 68 goals in 17 games, it had given up a league-leading 94 goals.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not worried about the offense,&rdquo; the ex-rearguard Admiral said. &ldquo;1 think it&rsquo;s fun playing offense. The work comes on defense. Our defensive zone coverage is what&rsquo;s killing us. It&rsquo;s mental errors.&rdquo;Still, the Admirals stood at a competitive 7-9-1, and Willison credited general manager Phil Wittliff, under whom he apprenticed as an assistant coach last year.&ldquo;I think Phil made the transition easy,&rdquo; said Willison.<h2>TURNBULL TURNS IT ON</h2>Left winger Perry Turnbull of the St. Louis Blues had his 10th season in the NHL interrupted by a trip to the Blues&rsquo; IHL affiliate, the Peoria Rivermen.He scored two goals, one shorthanded and one on the power play, in his debut Sunday, Nov. 15 against Milwaukee. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be down here for conditioning,&rdquo; said Peoria GM-coach Pat Kelly. &ldquo;They want him to play center.&rdquo;<h2>MESSIER PROMOTED</h2>Rookie right winger Mitch Messier of the Kalamazoo Wings scored a hat trick&mdash;his first as a pro&mdash;in a Nov. 13 game against Milwaukee. The opposition goalie was Norm Foster, his former teammate and roomie at Michigan State. The performance caught the attention of the parent Minnesota North Stars, who recalled Messier four days later to fill in for the injured Neal Broten. Messier had 17 points (9-8), tied for third on the club, at the time of his promotion to the NHL.Fort Wayne was dealt the first blemish on its road record Nov. 17 when it lost 6-2 at Colorado. The Komets went west with a 3-0 mark and were the only club without a loss on the road. Conversely, Salt Lake was winless on the road (0-6-1) through Nov. 7, then won three in a row at Peoria, Kalamazoo and Muskegon.Members of the Saginaw Hawks were taking part in a drive for blood by the local Red Cross. Or, as the club&rsquo;s promotional department trumpeted, &ldquo;The Hawks are out for blood.&rdquo;Finnish right winger Risto Kurkinen was dispatched by the Pittsburgh Penguins to Muskegon, to play his way into shape after arthroscopic surgery on his knee Oct. 22. Kurkinen led Finland&rsquo;s top league last season with 41 goals in 44 games&hellip;The Flint Spirits had won only one game of nine through Nov. 17. Second periods have been the Spirits&rsquo; downfall. They&rsquo;d been outscored 37-18 and outshot 222-176 in middle frames this year. &#9632;

Admirals’ Defense Not So Admirable

<div class="byline">BY BOB WAGNER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02504/5348630-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">A saint he&rsquo;s not, but current Flint Spirit left winger Val James played for Newmarket Saints of the American League last season.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01711/5348637-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="159" height="136"></div>When the International League picked up five new NHL affiliations over the off-season, enlightened league governors breathed a sigh of relief.Here was the chance to shed, once and for all, the IHL&rsquo;s reputation as a haven for hockey heavyweights, whose names were made not with finesse but with fists.And then came the Flint Spirits&rsquo; off-season recruitment drive.Three tough left wingers&mdash;Mel Hewitt, Marc Magnan and Rob Nichols&mdash;were brought aboard. Images of the old IHL, where games resembled casting calls for Slapshot, came racing back.Last season Nichols had 357 penalty minutes with the Kalamazoo Wings, Magnan 353 with the Indianapolis Checkers and Hewitt 307 with the Turner Cup-champion Salt Lake City Golden Eagles.That adds up to 1,016 minutes, or the equivalent of about 17 full games spent in the penalty box.But just as it appeared assault-and-battery would become Flint&rsquo;s bread-and-butter, the Spirits released Nichols, who later caught on with Adirondack of the American League. Then, a few games into the season, both Hewitt and Magnan became expendable. Both were placed on waivers, with no takers.Magnan has since been re-signed by the Spirits. Hewitt, plagued by a knee injury, still lives in the Saginaw-Flint area, waiting for a call from another team.But the Spirits did acquire tough guy Vai James, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound left winger who started his pro career with the old Erie Blades back in 1979-80. His penalty minutes weren&rsquo;t that high last season&mdash;71 in 74 games with Newmarket Saints of the AHL&mdash;but James will tell you, &ldquo;I try to stay away from the twos&mdash;slashing, holding, hooking.&rdquo;With 11 games of NHL experience&mdash;seven with Buffalo in 1981-82 and four with Toronto last year&mdash;James is the only American-born (Ocala, Fla.) black to play in the NHL.In defense of Flint, the team cannot come close to matching the IHL penalty leaders of recent years. The champion for 1986-87 was Kalamazoo, which set a single-season mark for penalty minutes with 2,896 (including 178 majors).Most of the K-Wings&rsquo; penalty problems were wrapped up in two players&mdash;Kevin Evans (who established a pro record of 648 minutes in 73 games) and Nichols. Evans is still with Kalamazoo, now a Minnesota farm club.This year, as of Nov. 15, Flint&rsquo;s 557 penalty minutes were third in the league, behind Salt Lake&rsquo;s 657 and Muskegon&rsquo;s 561.The Spirits don&rsquo;t have a lock on the recruitment of belligerent performers, either. Saginaw recently acquired the 6-foot-6, 216-pound Archie Henderson, twice-suspended during his AHL career. In his only previous season in the IHL, he harvested 419 penalty minutes as a member of the 1977-78 Port Huron Flags.Rick Dudley, now in his second season as general manager-coach in Flint, doesn&rsquo;t think he has a heavyweight hockey club.&ldquo;I would say, right now, we are far from a muscle team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t try to get anybody in here who couldn&rsquo;t play.&ldquo;We have a nice balance. Todd Hawkins and Ronnie Stern (both wingers) are by no means goons, but they show up. We were very fortunate to get (right winger) Darren Lowe from the Canadian Olympic team and he has been a great help to us.&rdquo;Hawkins had already made his presence feft&mdash;with a league-leading 106 penalty minutes, including 43 in a game Nov. 7 at Fort Wayne. He also drew a three-game suspension.Veteran sports writer Len Hoyes of the Flint Journal has been covering IHL hockey in Flint since the birth of the original Generals 19 years ago. In his opinion, the team reflects its coach.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s Dudley&rsquo;s style,&rdquo; Hoyes said. &ldquo;He just wants a tough team. He doesn&rsquo;t want gangbusters, he doesn&rsquo;t want a brawl. Dudley was a tough player, played both ends of the ice, but he wasn&rsquo;t a goon by any means.&rdquo;Dudley, a winger, played for the Generals before moving on to Buffalo and Winnipeg in the NHL, and Cincinnati in the WHA. He retired in 1981. Before returning to Flint as a coach, he guided the Carolina Thunderbirds to four consecutive regular-season championships and three post-season titles in the Atlantic Coast League.Dudley puts toughness and winning on the same plane. So do his players.James can fight&mdash;&rdquo;I had a pretty good go with Dave Brown of Philly when he was at Maine&rdquo;&mdash;but he has also played with winners.&ldquo;At Rochester in 1983 when Mike Keenan was the coach,&rdquo; he recalled, &ldquo;we won the league and we won the (Calder) Cup. I also played in the old &lsquo;E&rsquo; (Eastern League), and won it there three years with the Erie Blades when Nick Polano was the coach.&rdquo;The 25-year-old Magnan was suspended for three games last season when he was a member of the mothballed Indianapolis franchise. &ldquo;1 had an altercation with another player off the ice after I had been kicked out of the game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think it was under the stands.&rdquo;At 5-foot-1 I and 195 pounds, he is solidly-constructed and doesn&rsquo;t retreat.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m too small to be a heavyweight,&rdquo; said Magnan, who has four games with Toronto to his credit, &ldquo;but 1&rsquo;11 stand in there every time. I don&rsquo;t consider myself a dirty player. I&rsquo;ve always played that way. I won&rsquo;t back down, but I don&rsquo;t consider myself a goon.&rdquo;Just another snark igniting Flint. &#9632;

f0022-02

The Minors

FIGHTING SPIRITS?

<div class="byline">BY PAUL ABRAMOWITZ</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01641/5348668-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="180" height="137"></div>When Mike Milbury retired after 12 seasons as a Boston Bruin, his temper didn&rsquo;t retire with him.The first-year coach of the Bruins&rsquo; American League farm club, the Maine Mariners, found a unique way to make a statement about the officiating in his team&rsquo;s 7-1 loss to visiting Binghamton Nov. 13. Angered by a match penalty call on Mariner defenseman Bruce Shoebottom, which led to a Shane Churla power-play goal, Milbury emptied the bench&mdash;of equipment, that is.After Churla&rsquo;s goal made it 5-1 with 1:34 left in the second period, Milbury threw sticks, water bottles, helmets, rolls of tape&mdash;and anything else he could grab&mdash;on the ice. Referee Richard Trottier sent both teams to the dressing room and ejected Milbury from the game. Milbury faced an undetermined fine from AHL president Jack Butterfield.&ldquo;They weren&rsquo;t sharp, that&rsquo;s all,&rdquo; Milbury said about Trottier and linesmen Jim Tortorella and Brad Weeden.&ldquo;It was not going well for them and it wasn&rsquo;t going well for us, so I could afford to make a statement. I&rsquo;m not deranged and (with the score 5-1) I&rsquo;m not foolish enough to put my team in jeopardy.&rdquo;<h2>MAGIC TOUCH</h2>After going seven games without a goal, Sherbrooke rookie left winger Rob Bryden ended his slump in grand style Nov. 15, with five goals on five shots in an 11-1 pasting of the Moncton Hawks.&ldquo;It was funny because he only touched the puck seven times the whole night,&rdquo; said Sherbrooke coach Pat Burns. &ldquo;It was just one of those nights. He was firing them in from all over the place.&rdquo;At practice the next day, Bryden&rsquo;s teammates hung his home and road jerseys from the rafters at the Sherbrooke Sports Palace.<h2>CHAMPIONS&rsquo; REMATCH</h2>The Sherbrooke Canadiens played host to the Rochester Americans on Nov. 13, the Amerks&rsquo; first visit to Sherbrooke since winning game seven of the Calder Cup finals last May.The game also marked goalie Vincent Riendeau&rsquo;s first start since returning from Montreal, where he served as Brian Hayward&rsquo;s back-up during Patrick Roy&rsquo;s eight-game suspension.&ldquo;A year is gone,&rdquo; said Riendeau, the starter and loser in game seven. &ldquo;I never think about the year before, I just look ahead. If we win or lose, it won&rsquo;t change the result of last year.&rdquo;The Canadiens did win, 4-3.<h2>CZECHING IN</h2>Petr Prajsler, the highly-touted Czechoslovak defenseman signed this summer by the Los Angeles Kings, was sent to New Haven&hellip;At the same time, the Kings recalled defenseman Ken Hammond&hellip;Sherbrooke sent three more players to the Baltimore Skipjacks&mdash;defensemen Stephane Richer and Wayne Gagne, and left winger Scott Harlow. Vancouver recalled right winger Jean-Marc Lanthier from Fredericton. In 16 games, Lanthier had 13 goals, just two fewer than he had all last season in 78 games&hellip;Center Mark Lamb, claimed by Edmonton from Detroit in the waiver draft, was shipped to Nova Scotia. He made an instant impact on the offense, collecting two goals and five assists in his first four games. &#9632;

f0023-01

Maine Coach Milbury Let It All Hang Out

<div class="byline">BY MIKE KANE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02433/5348699-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="182" height="133"></div>Binghamton Whaler coach Larry Pleau is touting center Mike Richard as the find of the season.Richard, 21, has made an impressive debut with the Whalers. In 17 games, he stood second in American League scoring with 13 goals and 29 points.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s played very well,&rdquo; Pleau said. &ldquo;He came into the Washington camp on a tryout and they ended up signing him. He&rsquo;s played excellent, not just offensively but defensively, too.&rdquo;The 5-foot-10, 175-pounder spent last season as an overage player with the Toronto Marlboros. He led the team in scoring and was third overall in the Ontario League with 57 goals and 107 points in 66 games. At the conclusion of the OHL season, Richard played nine games for the Baltimore Skipjacks, scoring five goals and two assists.&ldquo;He does a lot of good things offensively and defensively,&rdquo; Pleau said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been using him on my penaltykilling, and on my 5-on-3 penaltykilling.&rdquo;<h2>CHARACTER PLAYER</h2>Rochester American coach John Van Boxmeer likes Jeff Parker.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a real character player, and Be&rsquo;s like Donny Lever was for us last year,&rdquo; said Van Boxmeer. &ldquo;In the room he&rsquo;s a leader and on the ice he works his butt off. You can use him in any situation and you can use him a ton. You need one of those guys.&rdquo;The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Minnesota-bom center produced four goals and 13 points in 12 games.But the proof of the 23-year-old&rsquo;s value is in the win-loss column: In the first 15 NHL and AHL games he appeared in this season, Parker&rsquo;s team compiled an 11-2-2 record. Moreover, while Parker was on recall to Buffalo, the Amerks were 1-3.<h2>MAKING THEIR POINT</h2>The Baltimore Skipjacks gained their first point of the season, snapping an 18-game losing streak with a 3-3 tie against Springfield Nov. 18&hellip;Newmarket center Marty Dallman was named AHL player of the week after scoring five goals, including both game-winners, in two games&hellip;Veteran center Mark Kirton returned to the Saints&rsquo; lineup after missing seven games with a bruised shoulder. Right winger Derek Laxdal was recalled by Toronto.Detroit recalled defenseman Doug Houda from Adirondack when injuries forced Jeff Sharpies and Gilbert Delorme out of the lineup. The Wings returned left winger Steve Martinson to Adirondack&hellip;Forward Mike Millar was promoted from Binghamton by Hartford after scoring a league-leading 19 goals in 17 games&hellip;Veteran goaltender Mark Laforest was assigned to Hershey and Wendell Young called up by the Flyers. Young was 7-2 with a 2.87 goals-against average with the Bears. &#9632;

f0023-02

Richard Unexpected Bonus For Binghamton’s Offense

<div class="byline">BY GREGG DRINNAN</div>The first time Darren Kwiatkowski was traded, he lost a night&rsquo;s sleep wondering about his future in junior hockey.But by the time the Western League player was dealt for the third time, he&rsquo;d come to accept the prevailing wisdom: In junior hockey, there are no guarantees.&ldquo;I think you just have to live with it,&rdquo; said the 19-year-old right winger, who was dealt from the Moose Jaw Warriors to the Regina Pats on Oct. 27. &ldquo;But I think for the young guys, for the ones under 18, they should maybe have a rule (providing) that once they&rsquo;re on a team after a certain date, they should stay there for the rest of the year. The young guys who go to school always have it hard, switching schools.&rdquo;The three major junior leagues are aware of the criticism.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll certainly go on record any time as saying I&rsquo;m very sensitive to the transfer of players,&rdquo; said Ontario League commissioner Dave Branch. &ldquo;We have to be very careful because we&rsquo;re talking about young people, and moving them, and the disruptive factor in terms of their schooling.&rdquo; To better accommodate OHL players, the trade deadline was moved back from Feb. 1 to Jan. 10. The Quebec League is more progressive&mdash;only allowing trades during three specific periods, geared to coincide with school semester breaks. If a trade wasn&rsquo;t made this year between Oct. 9-12 or Nov. 13-15, it won&rsquo;t be made now until the Christmas break, Dec. 18-Jan. 9.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01693/5348737-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="599" height="1078"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darren Kwiatkowski is on his fourth WHL team in only his second full season.</figcaption></div>The plan has worked &ldquo;very, very well,&rdquo; said QMJHL president Gilles Courteau, despite initial resistance from coaches.&ldquo;First of all, I just tell a coach, &lsquo;When you draft a player or when you sign a player, be sure to sign him to develop him for your team. Don&rsquo;t think you will sign him just to trade him some time during the season.&rsquo;&ldquo;It was a major fact before we brought this program into the league&mdash;some teams would sign a player just to trade him, like merchandise.&ldquo;Here in Quebec we are in big competition with (U.S.) college hockey and we have to make sure we have something good for the studentplayer.&rdquo;The WHL hasn&rsquo;t instituted specific trading periods, but it has cut back its trade deadline from Feb. 10 to Jan. 29.&ldquo;Generally, the school systems have their semester break the last week in January,&rdquo; said WHL vice president Richard Doerksen. &ldquo;As well, by making it on the Friday, this allows a player, should he be traded, to make the move over a weekend and start a new semester in school. We&rsquo;ve really tried to tie it in with the schooling aspect.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02487/5348730-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="605" height="1081"><figcaption class="caption-body">QMJHL president Gilles Courteau is satisfied with his league&rsquo;s trading restrictions.</figcaption></div>Not all trades are negative for the player. Kwiatkowski, who has moved from the Kamloops Blazers to the Seattle Thunderbirds to the Moose Jaw Warriors to the Pats since joining the league late in the 1985-86 season, said the last move was at his own request.&ldquo;This year, there was a new coach (Jim Harrison, in Moose Jaw) and it didn&rsquo;t seem that I fit into his plans at all,&rdquo; said the 6-foot-2, 180-pounder.&ldquo;A lot of times, for the older guys, a trade is good&mdash;to get to a different place, new environment, new coach, and to get turned around. You&rsquo;ll find a lot of times, a player will play a lot better once he&rsquo;s been traded and is with his new team.&rdquo;Added Doerksen: &ldquo;In a lot of cases, it&rsquo;s the player who has perhaps requested the trade, either for a lack of playing time or for whatever situation he doesn&rsquo;t like with a particular team. So he goes to the club and says, &lsquo;Look, I think I can get more ice time playing elsewhere. Will you deal me?&rsquo; That is probably the one area of trades people aren&rsquo;t aware of.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0024-01

The Juniors

Learning The Trade In Junior Hockey

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-05154/5348782-1-eng-US/f0024-052.jpg" title="f0024-05" width="396" height="479"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRAD HYATT Windsor</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>Defenseman Brad Hyatt, 19 of the Windsor Spitfires scored four goals and six assists to lead his team to four victories. Hyatt, the OHL&rsquo;s leading scorer among defenseman, increased his totals to seven goals and 23 assists in 23 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-06128/5348775-1-eng-US/f0024-062.jpg" title="f0024-06" width="384" height="475"><figcaption class="caption-body">RAYMOND SAUMIER T-Rivieres</figcaption></div><h2>QUEBEC LEAGUE</h2>Defenseman Raymond Saumier of the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs scored one goal and four assists to lead his team to a 9-8 overtime win over Shawinigan, one of three Draveur victories during the week. Saumier, 18, scored three goals and five assists during the three games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-07108/5348768-1-eng-US/f0024-072.jpg" title="f0024-07" width="380" height="471"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE MODANO Pr. Albert</figcaption></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>Pr. Albert center Mike Modano, 18, picked up his second player of the week award of the season, scoring four goals and three assists as the Raiders swept four games.Modano, a 6-foot-2, 180-pounder, was ninth in Western League scoring with 20 goals and 26 assists in 24 names.At the end of the current season. THE HOCKEY NEWS will select a Micron Junior Player of the Year. &#9632;

f0024-05

MICRON JUNIOR PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Gregg Drinnan</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04205/5348813-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="599" height="1142"><figcaption class="caption-body">Glen Goodall&rsquo;s three goals helped Seattle snap a 17-game losing streak.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03329/5348820-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="183" height="132"></div>Saskatoon city police are investigating a Nov. 4 incident in which the Saskatoon Blades&rsquo; Kevin Kaminski cross-checked Regina Pats&rsquo; center Mark Janssens.According to Saskatoon deputy police chief Ken Wagner, a report will be filed with the Saskatchewan crown prosecutor&rsquo;s office, which will determine whether assault charges are laid.&ldquo;We are trying to find out exactly what happened,&rdquo; said Wagner. &ldquo;We are investigating the entire game and there may be others charged, although no charges or arrests have been laid yet. We&rsquo;re not even at the summons stage.&rdquo;Kaminski was suspended 12 games by the WHL for hitting Janssens, who suffered a broken tooth and five-stitch cut to his mouth.<h2>SENT PACKING</h2>Brandon Wheat Kings&rsquo; coach Marc Pezzin sent right winger Curtis Bateman and center Kevin Yellowaga packing recently.&ldquo;They were both released because of an attitude that was contrary to the best interests of our hockey club,&rdquo; said Pezzin. &ldquo;It was too disruptive for the rest of the players.Bateman was traded to Portland for forward Chad Berezniuk, an Edmonton bantam-aged player. Yellowaga was dealt to Moose Jaw for future considerations.<h2>BABE IN MINORS</h2>An exception to the rule&mdash;that&rsquo;s what Warren Babe was.Ordinarily, NHL teams have the choice of keeping underage juniors or returning them to their junior teams. Rules agreed upon by the NHL and Canadian Hockey League stipulate underagers cannot be sent to the American or International League, until their junior eligibility is finished.That rule prevented the Boston Bruins from assigning Kamloops defenseman Greg Hawgood to their American League affiliate in Maine during training camp this season.However the 19-year-old Babe, whose WHL rights are also held by Kamloops, was sent to Kalamazoo of the IHL Nov. 6.The catch is that he was sent there for a two-week conditioning period, after returning from a seven-game absence&mdash;brought upon by an injury suffered when Montreal goalie Patrick Roy slashed him on the knee.Roy was suspended eight games.&ldquo;Babe is better off in the IHL because he really wouldn&rsquo;t be much good to us for two weeks,&rdquo; said Kamloops general manager Bob Brown.It&rsquo;s believed Babe, who was recalled by Minnesota Nov. 20, was the first player with junior eligibility and affiliation with a junior team, to play in either the IHL or AHL while his junior team was playing. A junior-eligible player can sign an amateur tryout contract provided his team is finished for the year.<h2>LOSING STREAK SNAPPED</h2>The Seattle Thunderbirds snapped their 17-game losing streak with a 4-2 win at Portland Nov. 14. Center Glen Goodall scored three times for Seattle, which fell eight games short of the WHL record for consecutive losses. The 1980-81 New Westminster Bruins lost 25 straight. &#9632;

f0024-04

Saskatoon Police Investigate Kaminski Cross-Check Affair

<div class="byline">BY RANDY RUSSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01606/5348851-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marc Laforge issued a public apology for his outburst against Guelph. He was later suspended for this year and next by the OHL.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02398/5348858-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="183" height="137"></div>Marc Laforge&rsquo;s Ontario League career is apparently over.The 19-year-old Sudbury Wolves&rsquo; defenseman has been suspended by OHL commissioner David Branch for the rest of the 1987-88 season as a result of his part in a brawl between the Wolves and Guelph Platers Nov. 6 in Sudbury.Branch also ruled Laforge ineligible for the 1988-89 season, his overage year. The commissioner said he &ldquo;fully expects&rdquo; the Quebec and Western lagues to honor the longest suspension in OHL history.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re saying Marc won&rsquo;t be allowed to play in our league again,&rdquo; Branch said. &ldquo;The altercations he was involved in were of a very vicious nature. I&rsquo;ve talked to people involved on both sides, and in reviewing the films, I&rsquo;ve come to the conclusion that because of his actions, there can no longer be any room for Marc Laforge in this league.&rdquo;A telex to member teams said that Laforge &ldquo;physically attacked at least eight different Guelph players during the melee. In several of the attacks, the Guelph players were completely defenseless and in one incident Laforge repeatedly slammed Guelph goalie Andy Helmuth&rsquo;s head on the ice.&rdquo;The brawl occurred at the end of a 5-4 Guelph victory.Laforge was a second-round pick, 32nd overall, of the Hartford Whalers in the 1986 NHL entry draft but has not signed with the pro club.The 6-foot-2 rearguard&rsquo;s forte has been more toughness than talent. In 184 games over four years, Laforge collected 754 penalty minutes&mdash;an average of more than four per game. He earned just 34 points on four goals and 30 assists.Sudbury coach John Wallin vehemently disagreed with the suspension.&ldquo;I thought it was a brutal call by the commissioner,&rdquo; said the first-year coach. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the death penalty and it&rsquo;s unfortunate because that stuff (the brawling) happens in this league every weekend. It&rsquo;s a dangerous precedent that he (Branch) set giving him (Laforge) the death penalty. They took away his livelihood. They kicked him out of the OHL. It&rsquo;s stupid.&rdquo;The Wolves had not yet decided whether to launch an appeal. (Formore on the Laforge suspension, see Steve Dryden&rsquo;s column on page 10.)Wolves&rsquo; defenseman Rob Wilson is suspended 10 games for physical-demeaning an official during the Fracas.Guelph forward Dave Thomas&mdash;who was already serving a two-game suspension for a gross misconduct penalty&mdash;was suspended five games for leaving the stands to join the brawl. Helmuth received a two-game sentence for inciting an opponent.Sudbury and Guelph were fined $1,000 each for failure to control their players.Last season, Branch suspended former London Knights&rsquo; left winger Matthew Smyth for the year after Smyth (now with Ottawa) struck an official during a 1986 playoff game.<h2>MORE SUSPENSIONS</h2>Altercations in two other OHL games also resulted in suspensions.Kitchener Rangers&rsquo; defenseman Kevin Grant received 15 games for deliberately attempting to injure North Bay Centennials&rsquo; rookie Joey McTamney during a game at Kitchener Nov. 6.Four other players&mdash;North Bay&rsquo;s Jason Corrigan and Sloan Torti, and Kitchener&rsquo;s Jeff Noble and Craig Booker&mdash;were suspended five games each for their part in an altercation behind the penalty bench in the same game.Oshawa Generals&rsquo; defenseman Todd Paterson received a 12-game suspension for cross-checking Peterborough Petes&rsquo; centre Ross Wilson in the face during a Nov. 5 game at Peterborough.,Branch said that while Paterson&rsquo;s actions were &ldquo;more of a reactionary move than an aggressive act, the fact is the stick was used and this type of action can&rsquo;t be condoned&hellip;it had the potential to lead to very serious injury.&rdquo;<h2>A NICE PROBLEM</h2>The Peterborough Petes were supposed to have goaltending problems this season due to the graduations of goalies Kay Whitmore and Ron Tugnutt.Some problem. Rookies John Tanner, 16, and Todd Bojcun, 17, combined for a 3.06 goals-against-average after 18 games, the OHL&rsquo;s best mark.Tanner had the best individual average in the league at 2.93 while Bojcun was third at 3.17.The Toronto Marlboros, meanwhile, were having goaltending problems. The Marlies allowed 21 goals in three games and rookie coach Terry Martin criticized goalies Piero Greco and Pat Tenpenny. Then he went out and acquired overage Mark Gowans on waivers from the Hamilton Steelhawks.<h2>ALL-STAR CHANGE</h2>The annual all-star series between the Quebec and Ontario Leagues becomes a one-game affair this season. It will be played Jan. 26 at Hamilton&rsquo;s Copps Coliseum. The last two seasons, the leagues have met in a two-game series split between Ottawa and Hull&hellip;Peterborough lost 16-year-old rookie scoring sensation Mike Ricci for four weeks with a broken collarbone&hellip;Oshawa Generals&rsquo; goalie Jeff Hackett was brought up by the NHL&rsquo;s New York Islanders Nov. 16 on an emergency basis. &#9632;

f0025-01

Sudbury’s Laforge Expelled From League

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-06118/5348910-1-eng-US/f0025-062.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03265/5348903-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="384" height="490"><figcaption class="caption-body">DERIK KARALOT Saskatchewan</figcaption></div><h2>CANADA WEST</h2>Senior center Derik Karalot was on top of his game in a pair of Saskatchewan victories over Lethbridge. Karalot scored a goal and an assist in a 4 2 win Nov. 21, then added three goals in a 10-2 win Nov. 22.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-04175/5348896-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="378" height="486"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE PURCELL St. Francis Xavier</figcaption></div><h2>ATLANTIC</h2>Dave Purcell raised his league-leading totals to 19 goals&rsquo; and 29 points, in a pair of St. FX victories. He twice scored two goals and two assists&mdash;in a 7-4 win over St. Mary&rsquo;s Nov. 21 and an 8-2 triumph over Acadia Nov. 22.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-05141/5348889-1-eng-US/f0025-052.jpg" title="f0025-05" width="383" height="489"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAUL BELLAMY Brock</figcaption></div><h2>ONTARIO</h2>Senior right winger Paul Bellamy of the Brock Badgers, a 6-foot-3, 190-pounder, took this week&rsquo;s Ontario award for scoring five goals and three assists in a series of four Brock victories.Performers of the week for the period Nov. 16-22.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Bauer FIT FOR PERFORMANCE</blockquote> &#9632;

f0025-06

Bauer’s university Performers OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY RICK MAYOH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01644/5348941-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="610" height="699"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jean-Maurice Cool has been named the new coach of the Verdun Jr. Canadiens.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02449/5348948-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="184" height="136"></div>Jean-Maurice Cool is the newest member of the Quebec League&rsquo;s coaching youth movement.Cool, 24, moved up from assistant coach to replace Richard Liboiron as bench boss of the Verdun Jr. Cana-diens. Liboiron was fired Nov. 14, a day after a 19-2 loss at Shawinigan left the Jr. Habs with a 9-13-2 record.Marcel Patenaude, also 24, recently took over the Laval Titan.Cool scored 149 points and captained the Jr. Canadiens to a berth in the 1983 Memorial Cup, and was the University of Ottawa Gee Gees&rsquo; most valuable player in 1984-85 before turning to coaching.He was an assistant to Pat Burns&mdash;now head coach of the American League&rsquo;s Sherbrooke Canadiens&mdash;with Hull of the QMJHL the last two years and helped guide the Olympiques to the championship game at the 1986 Memorial Cup. Hull lost that game 6-2 to the Guelph Platers.&ldquo;All of that (history) makes me feel old,&rdquo; said Cool, whose club lost 6-3 at home to Drummondville and 7-5 at Hull in his first two games.Cool was sweating about his own job security when Liboiron was fired. He was surprised when Verdun general manager Carol Vadnais named him head coach.&ldquo;When Richard was fired, I thought I was going to be fired, too,&rdquo; Cool said. &ldquo;But I was ready when they asked me if I wanted to coach.&rdquo;Liboiron saw the move coming.&ldquo;Two weeks earlier, I had a talk with Carol Vadnais and he said I had four games to do something with the team. We won two and lost two, but the last one was the 19-2 game.&rdquo;That game was played on Friday, Nov. 13. An unlucky day for the Jr. Habs, but a great day forShawinigan&rsquo;s Stephan Lebeau, who scored six goals and three assists.Liboiron said that during practice the day before the 19-2 loss, Vadnais and center Neil Carnes argued over line combinations. The confrontation developed into a locker-room meeting during which Vadnais explained the team&rsquo;s organizational chart to all concerned. Vadnais, who sits atop the chart, wasn&rsquo;t impressed by&ndash;the lack of discipline symbolized by Carnes&rsquo; attitude.Vadnais is counting on Cool to whip the Jr. Canadiens into shape. &ldquo;Jean-Maurice was the leader when he played, and the players respect him,&rdquo; Vadnais said.<h2>TRADING TIME</h2>Teams were busy dealing during the first of the QMJHL&rsquo;s five trading periods Nov. 9-14. Laval sent rugged defenseman Jacques Pinet, center Alex Delvecchio (no relation to the former NHLer) and left winger Martin Saurette to Chicoutimi for defenseman Carl Mantha, right winger Stephane Renaud and center Patrick Caron&hellip;In a three-way deal, Victoriaville traded left winger Eric Couvrette to the St-Jean Castors for a second-round pick in the 1988 midget draft and the rights to defenseman Martin Lauzon, currently playing collegiate AAA hockey with College Francais in Montreal. St-Jean then sent Lauzon&rsquo;s rights to Laval for a fifthround pick. Laval also dealt defenseman Eric Latreille to Shawinigan for left winger Christian Bertrand.Hull obtained goaltender Andre Racicot from Victoriaville in return for left winger Marc Labelle and defenseman Stephen McIntyre&hellip;The trading periods correspond with school semesters so players&rsquo; studies are not disrupted. The next period is Dec. 18-Jan. 9. &#9632;

f0026-01

New Verdun Coach A Very Cool Customer

<div class="byline">BY STEVE GILLILAND</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03366/5348979-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="582" height="142"></div>The Acadia Axemen have battled their way into uncharted territory&mdash;they are among the leading teams in the Atlantic Universities Athletic Association&rsquo;s Kelly Division.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re the new kids on the block,&rdquo; said Acadia coach Tom Coolen. &ldquo;And if we want to maintain our top-level position, we have to hold our own against the perennial top-echelon teams&mdash;the Prince Edward Island Panthers, Moncton Blue Eagles, Dalhousie Tigers and St. Francis Xavier X-Men.&ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t win our share of games against the top teams, we won&rsquo;t be here for long. Our players are learning very quickly that without sacrifices on their part, we can be also-rans very quickly.&rdquo;The Axemen owned a 6-2-1 record, tied for first overall in the AUAA with the MacAdam Division-leading Panthers. also 6-2-1. Acadia is in competition for the Kelly crown with the Tigers (6-2-0) and the X-Men (5-2-0). Moncton is in the thick of things in the MacAdam at 6-3-0.Acadia posted an 11-14 record last season and 9-16-0 the year before.&ldquo;The secret this year has been an overall improvement,&rdquo; said Coolen. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting good goaltending, our defense has matured and we&rsquo;ve got more depth up front.&rdquo;<h2>MOUNTIES OVERMATCHED</h2>The Mount Allison Mounties, meanwhile, have struggled. They had just one win in nine tries..&rdquo;Penalty-killing situations are our downfall,&rdquo; said veteran Mountie coach Jack Drover. &ldquo;The teams are just too powerful with a man advantage. They&rsquo;ve all got five or six players who have been around&mdash;major junior, Olympic team or professional tryouts&mdash;and our young team can&rsquo;t hold them off.&rdquo;<h2>HUSKIES VS. CAPERS</h2>A heated battle for the fourth and final playoff berth in the Kelly Division appeared to be shaping up between the St. Mary&rsquo;s Huskies (3-3) and new league entry Cape Breton Capers (4-5)&hellip;The veteran forward unit of Darren Gardiner, Bruce Campbell and John Hanna is the secret to the Capers&rsquo; start. All three were among the league&rsquo;s top 15 scorers&hellip;A playoff berth for St. Mary&rsquo;s would be quite an accomplishment, considering the team was winless two seasons ago.X-Men center Dave Purcell has dominated the scoring race. The 1986 AUAA player of the year had 14 goals and six assists in seven games. Other top performers for the X-Men have been goalie Paul Kenny and defenseman Blair Maclsaac&hellip;Acadia captain Darren Galley was expected to return to action in early December. The defenseman was sidelined in the seasonopener with a neck injury&hellip;SMU left winger Steve Brown was also expected back in early December. He broke his collarbone in the Huski&laquo; first exhibition game. &#9632;

f0026-03

The Colleges

Axemen Chop Path To Top Of Kelly

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Tom Boggie</div>Like father, like sons&hellip;and daughter&hellip;and nephew.Jack Riiey is patriarch of a truly all-American collegiate hockey family.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01598/5349069-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="183" height="129"></div>Riley, 66, coached at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., for 35 years, before retiring at the end of the 1984-85 season. During his colorful career, which included an Olympic gold medal as coach of the 1960 U.S. hockey team, Riley accumulated 540 victories and was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.But his legacy does not end there.All of Jack and Maureen Riley&rsquo;s five children&mdash;Jay, 37, Mark, 35, Rob, 32, Brian, 28, and Mary Beth. 24&mdash;played college hockey. Two, Rob and Brian, are now coaching. Add Jack Riley&rsquo;s nephew Bill, whose guiding hand took Lowell from Division II status to Hockey East, and you have a family that dominates college hockey the way Lester Patrick&rsquo;s clan dominated the NHL. Brian is an assistant to his cousin, Bill, at Lowell.Rob, now the head coach at West Point, remembers the early days when his father brought the kids along to skate while the Cadets practased.&ldquo;It was always something nice for us,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There was never any pressure to get involved. It was just something we all enjoyed. It was something that brought our family closer together.&rdquo;<h2>NEW IS OLD AT CORNELL</h2>The coach is new and so are many of the players, but the Cornell Big Red rolls on. Rookie coach Brian McCutcheon&rsquo;s team jumped to a 2-0 start with wins over Army (6-2) and Princeton (6-4). Freshman winger Trent Andison led the new-face brigade with three goals and three assists&hellip;Dartmouth, which defeated Yale 2-1 and Brown 4-3, matched its win total for the entire 1986-87 season. Senior Paul Rai had both game-winning goals, and added a third marker against Brown.Freshman center Joe Juneau figured in all five of RPI&rsquo;s goals, getting a goal and four assists in the Engineers&rsquo; 6-5 loss to Clarkson. Fellow frosh Bruce Coles, a right winger, scored his first hat trick in the game.Harvard freshman goalie Michael Francis got his first career start against Brown and re-orderd a shutout, stopping all 24 shots he faced in leading the Crimson to a 5-0 victory&hellip;Princeton opened by knocking off highly-regarded Colgate 4-1, behind a superb 29-save effort by freshman goalie Mark Salisbury. &#9632;

f0027-01

All In The Family

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Bill Crawford</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02390/5349100-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="185" height="138"></div>If college hockey teams traded players, a natural deal would see Michigan trade center Rob Brown to Michigan State for pivot Mark Hirth.Brown, who grew up just outside Lansing in Williamston, Mich., idolized the Spartans as a lad. He even served as MSU&rsquo;s stick boy.Hirth, who played hockey at Ann Arbor High School, always dreamed of playing for the Wolverines. So what happened?Though Hirth starred in high school, Michigan didn&rsquo;t show any interest in him. But at 6-foot-2 and 175 pounds, he figured to have a good shot as a Spartan walk-on because of his size.Brown&rsquo;s size, ironically, kept him from pursuing a career with the Spartans. Instead, he tried out at Michigan&rsquo;s camp, where he figured his 5-foot-8, 170-pound frame wouldn&rsquo;t be held against him.He was right. Now in his sophomore season, he led Michigan over the first 12 games, with nine goals and 16 points.Hirth, a freshman, had no goals and two assists in 10 games.<h2>FLAMES LICK FALCONS</h2>The U1C Flames won their first-ever game against Bowling Green, downing the Falcons 5-3 Nov. 14&hellip;Michigan coach Red Berenson didn&rsquo;t get too excited after his team topped MSU 6-4 for a split of their recent series. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see us as a better team than Michigan State right now,&rdquo; the former NHL star said, &ldquo;but we can play with them.&rdquo;Michigan lost top defenseman Myles O&rsquo;Connor with a bruised shoulder, but he was expected back for the Nov. 20-21 series against Western Michigan&hellip;Bowling Green took it on the chin against the U.S. Olympic team Nov. 17. The Olympians scored 11 goals in the second period, en route to a 14-2 pasting of the Falcons. Tony Granato scored four goals. &#9632;

f0027-02

Trading Dreams

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Larry Mahoney</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04171/5349131-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lowell coach Bill Riley is a member of college hockey&rsquo;s first family, and the nephew of Jack Riley (inset)&mdash;whose four sons and one daughter played college hockey.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03253/5349138-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="182" height="137"></div>Almost two years after they absorbed the worst drubbing in school history&mdash;16-2 at the hands of Minnesota on Jan. 4, 1986&mdash;the Maine Black Bears exacted their revenge.Maine was ranked No. 1 in the nation in all three major polls&mdash;the WMEB (Maine campus radio) media poll, the coaches&rsquo; poll, and the NCAA poll. Ironically, the team the Bears replaced atop the WMEB poll was Minnesota.While Maine maintained its best start in the program&rsquo;s 11-year history (5-0 overall, including wins over Boston University and Dalhousie from Halifax), Minnesota was getting swept on its eastern swing by Northeastern (3-1) and Providence (3-0).<h2>HUSKIES START WELL</h2>The Northeastern Huskies were on a roll. Victories over Minnesota (3-1) and Minnesota-Duluth (6-3) raised their Hockey East mark to 4-1-1. They were 4-2-1 overall&hellip;Providence goalie Matt Merten recorded a 35-save shutout of Minnesota in a 3-0 win, Nov. 14. It was Providence&rsquo;s first shutout since March 1, 1985, when Chris. Terreri blanked Northeastern 3-0 in a Hockey East quarter-final game&hellip;The New Hampshire Wildcats are vastly improved but have been snakebit in the third period. New Hampshire, winless through four games (0-31), held third-period leads in every game.UNH freshman goalie Pat Morrison made 41 saves in his college debut, a 2-2 tie with Providence&hellip;Due to a freak November snowstorm, it took the Boston College Eagles 24 hours to get to Marquette, Mich., where they lost to Northern Michigan 5-2. The Eagles lost to Michigan Tech 8-7 the next night&hellip;Lowell snapped a seven-game losing streak, dating back to last year, with a 7-4 win over New Hampshire. All-American senior center Jon Morris snapped a four-game scoring drought, the longest since his freshman year, with two assists. &#9632;

f0027-04

Maine No. 1

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Virg Foss</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-05120/5349169-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="707" height="140"></div>Wisconsin&rsquo;s Shaun Sabol is believed to be the first collegian ever to sign a professional contract and leave his team while the season is in progress.The 21-year-old sophomore defenseman signed with the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 11,&rsquo; 10 games into the Badgers&rsquo; season.Sabol, a 6-foot-3, 215-pounder, had three goals and four assists in eight games. He was a ninth-round choice of the Flyers in the 1986 NHL entry draft.After the Flyers signed Sabol, they sent him to Hershey of the American League.Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer was angry over the signing, saying Philadelphia gave him no advance warning.<h2>SORE SIOUX</h2>Colorado College, 0-9-1 through its first 10 games, rode Keith Hoppe&rsquo;s hat trick to its first win, a 5-1 victory over Division I independent Air Force.WCHA leader Minnesota, which averaged 4.7 goals pergame while going 9-1 in its first 10 outings, scored just one goal in losing 3-1 to Northeastern and 3-0 to Providence. Both losses came on the road. In those two games, Minnesota fired 68 shots on goal, connecting on just one&hellip;U.S. Olympians John Blue, Dave Snug-gerud and Tom Chorske all said they plan on returning to Minnesota next season to continue their college hockey careers. &#9632;

f0027-05

Sabol Defects

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01615/5349214-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01530/5349207-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="3143" height="3667"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01607/5349200-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="3139" height="3219"></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<h2>TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE&hellip;</h2>1. What was the given name of Hall of Famer &lsquo;Cyclone&rsquo; Taylor?2. What was the nickname of St. Louis&rsquo; first NHL team?3. Which of the Sutter brothers is nicknamed &lsquo;Dog&rsquo;?4. What was former Toronto Maple Leaf player and coach Clarence Day better known as?5. Who was hockey&rsquo;s &lsquo;Mr. Goalie&rsquo;?6. What was the nickname given Ralph Hollett, the first NHL defenseman to score 20 goals in a season?7. Listthe nicknames of the six Montreal teamsthat have won the Stanley Cup.8. Who was Boston&rsquo;s &lsquo;Turk&rsquo;?9. From whom did former Montreal goaltender Lome (Gump) Worsley acquire his nickname?10. What was the nickname of Vancouver&rsquo;s 1914-15 Stanley Cup winning team?<h2>ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ</h2>1. Fred. 2. Eagles. 3. Duane. 4. Hap. 5. Glenn Hall. 6. Flash. 7. Canadiens, Maroons, Wanderers, Amateur Athletic Association, Shamrocks, Victorias. 8. Derek Sanderson. 9. The comic strip character Andy Gump. 10. Millionaires. BONUS ANSWER: Mel (Sudden-Death) Hill.<h2>BONUS QUESTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-07117/5349402-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="571" height="964"><figcaption class="caption-body">BONUS: This long-ago NHLer was nicknamed in honor of his overtime scoring heroics.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0031-07

THN HOCKEY TRIVIA

<h2>Mon., Nov. 16</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01552/5349371-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="602" height="911"></div><h2>Tue., Nov. 17</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02387/5349364-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="608" height="1097"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03283/5349357-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="612" height="2088"></div><h2>Wed., Nov. 18</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04211/5349350-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="615" height="2054"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05167/5349343-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="620" height="1955"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06134/5349336-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="617" height="1923"></div><h2>Thu., Nov. 28</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01583/5349329-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="623" height="1977"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02427/5349322-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="607" height="2002"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03283/5349315-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="598" height="211"></div><h2>Fri., Nov. 20</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04173/5349308-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="613" height="1752"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05114/5349301-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="616" height="1648"></div><h2>Sat., Nov. 21</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0686/5349294-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="605" height="325"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0771/5349287-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="610" height="1995"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02367/5349280-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="608" height="1438"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03265/5349273-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="617" height="1443"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04206/5349266-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="612" height="962"></div><h2>Sun., Nov. 22</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05170/5349259-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="601" height="410"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06143/5349252-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="608" height="1434"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-07129/5349245-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="605" height="1449"></div> &#9632;

f0031-01

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01521/5349433-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

The Hockey News SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01596/5349464-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">Bauer&reg; FIT FOR PERFORMANCE</blockquote> &#9632;

f0034-01

Bauer COLLEGE ScoreBoard

<div class="byline">BY MIKE PERRICONE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01561/5349495-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="601" height="1084"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Vaive, above, shrugged off Harold Ballard&rsquo;s remarks to score a hat trick.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02446/5349502-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="185" height="141"></div>CHICAGO&mdash;Rick Vaive had the reputation of being a slow starter when he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he has laid that tag to rest with the Chicago Blackhawks.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t felt this good in a long time,&rdquo; Vaive said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s fun. I&rsquo;m enjoying it.&rdquo;He had plenty of reasons to enjoy it, with a streak of 11 goals in 12 games. That made it 17 goals in 21 games as a Blackhawk. Last year in Toronto, he had only two goals by early December.His eighth career hat trick&mdash;his first a Hawk&mdash;set up a 5-2 victory over the Minnesota North Stars on Nov. 18. It put the Blackhawks into first place in the Norris Division.Vaive came from Toronto on Sept. 3, in the five-player deal which sent Al Secord and Ed Olczyk to the Maple Leafs for Vaive, left winger Steve Thomas and defenseman Bob McGill. Vaive was a center of controversy during his eight years in Toronto, especially after falling off from three straight 50-goal seasons.Even with the Blackhawks, he can&rsquo;t escape the controversy of Leaf owner Harold Ballard, who recently said the Leafs &ldquo;robbed the Hawks blind&rdquo; in the trade; that &ldquo;Vaive is finished&rdquo;; and &ldquo;he&rsquo;ll bounce around the league now until nobody wants him.&rdquo;Vaive tried to shrug it off.&ldquo;What can you say?&rdquo; Vaive said. &ldquo;Harold has always said things like that. He&rsquo;s going to keep on saying things like that.&rdquo;But there was a little satisfaction, with the hat trick coming so soon after Ballard&rsquo;s blast.&ldquo;This doesn&rsquo;t make a season,&rdquo; said Vaive. &ldquo;I know I have to play consistently the rest of the way. Then, maybe he&rsquo;ll have to eat his words.&rdquo;Blackhawk coach Bob Murdoch would add the relish.&ldquo;I always knew Rick Vaive could score goals,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &ldquo;But in all the years I saw Rick Vaive play, I didn&rsquo;t know how strong he was. I knew he would take punishment and I knew he would go to the net. But I didn&rsquo;t know he was so good along the boards.&rdquo;Vaive was at it again Nov. 22 against Vancouver, scraping the boards and taking punishment in the slot for a late game-winning goal that put the Hawks alone in first place heading into a six-game road trip.NOTES&mdash;Left winger Curt Fraser returned to the lineup Nov. 20 in a loss at New Jersey, then assisted on Rick Vaive&rsquo;s game-winning goal Nov. 22 against Vancouver at Chicago Stadium. Fraser had been out with an intestinal infection that affected his diabetic condition. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been one of the most frustrating times of my life,&rdquo; Fraser said&hellip;The Blackhawks have a split personality. They had a five-game winning streak and nine-game unbeaten streak (8-0-1) at Chicago Stadium, but a five-game losing streak and an eight-game winless streak (0-71) on the road&hellip;Steve Larmer, a fixture on right wing for six years with Denis Savard, has been shifted to left wing with Rick Vaive on Savard&rsquo;s right wing. But coach Bob Murdoch often switches lines, and Larmer sometimes winds up playing both wings in the same game.<h2>BLACKHAWKS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 19: Mark LaVarre, RW, assigned to Saginaw (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Denis Savard, Troy Murray, Brian Noonan, Mike Stapleton, Steve Ludzik.LW&mdash;Curt Fraser, Dan Vincelette, Everett Sanipass.RW&mdash;Steve Larmer, Rick Vaive, Wayne Presley.LD&mdash;Doug Wilson, Behn Wilson, Gary Nylund, Dave Manson, Glen Cochrane.RD&mdash;Bob McGill, Bob Murray, Marc Bergevin.G&mdash;Bob Mason, Darren Pang.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Keith Brown, D, damaged left knee ligaments and cartilage, indefinite.Duane Sutter, RW, damaged right knee cartilage, day-to-daySteve Thomas, LW, pulled groin, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0035-01

Goal-Scorer Discovers His Touch Re-Vaived

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03354/5349533-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0035-03

The Hockey News Classified

<div class="byline">BY JERRY ZGODA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01536/5349564-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="185" height="138"></div>BLOOMINGTON, Minn.&mdash;If coach Herb Brooks is unable to change the same old Minnesota North Stars, it won&rsquo;t be for lack of trying.Brooks&rsquo; team won just a third of its first 21 games (7-11-3), was outscored by a wide margin (85-72) and sported a dismal (3-6-1) record at home. It has displayed the classic symptoms of past North Star teams&mdash;inconsistency and lazy play.Brooks laid into the Stars after they waltzed through a 4-3 win over the equally-inept New York Rangers, Nov. 19, in the 20th game of the season.&ldquo;I see the situation clearly,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Steps are going to be taken. If they won&rsquo;t move their legs, if they won&rsquo;t bear down, the next alternative is watching. I think we must be taking self-destruct pills. Enough is enough is enough. As my old friend John Mariucci used to say, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t get ulcers, I give them.&rsquo;&rdquo;The next day, the North Stars reacquired defenseman Curt Giles, a two-time Star MVP, from the New York Rangers for minor-league center Byron Lomow and an undisclosed middle-round draft pick. Brooks then missed a day of practice when he went to Kalamazoo, Mich., to scout the Stars&rsquo; IHL farm team.Brooks has been most upset with the number of &ldquo;lazy, undisciplined&rdquo; penalties taken by his players.The Stars, after 20 games, stood second-highest in penalty minutes per game (28.5), third in times shorthanded (130) and 18th in penaltykilling efficiency (99-130, 76.2 percent).Before the Ranger game, Brooks said patience and lectures had failed, adding it might be time to take a new approach.His method of punishment is to keep offenders on the bench and prescribe extra skating at practice&mdash;-especially for those defensemen he declared particularly guilty.Brooks began to put his new philosophy into effect in the Ranger game. Defensemen Gordie Roberts and Ron Wilson were benched in the third period after both took penalties that led to New York goals. The Stars, who lost leads of 2-0 and 3-2, won the game on Scott Bjugstad&rsquo;s goal with 7:27 remaining.Roberts and Wilson then were sent to the press box for the next game, a 7-5 loss to Boston, while Giles and playing assistant coach Pat Price got into the lineup.&ldquo;Speaking of the team as a whole,&rdquo; Brooks said, &ldquo;we take too many stupid penalties under pressure. I&rsquo;ve never seen people&mdash;who can&rsquo;t react&mdash;like that in my life. That&rsquo;s minor hockey. We&rsquo;re not thinking, we&rsquo;re not sharp enough. There&rsquo;s too much ofacomfort zone.&rdquo;The betting is that the Giles trade might be the first of many moves if things don&rsquo;t improve. Brooks and general manager Lou Nanne were looking for more depth on the right side of the defense and Giles, who was team MVP in 1981 and 1985 and best defenseman in &rsquo;85 and &rsquo;86, should provide that. His presence might allow the Stars to eventually move Bob Brooke back to right wing.Giles figured he would never return to the Stars after he asked for, and received, a trade in November, 1986. It was obvious then that he did not fit prominently into coach Lome Henning&rsquo;s plans. The Rangers decided to send him back to the Stars after coach Michel Bergeron decided the same thing.NOTES&mdash;Center Neal Broten returned in the Boston game, after missing a week because of a dislocated shoulder. He will play the rest of the season with a shoulder harness and is expected to undergo surgery to tighten the shoulder joint at the end of the season&hellip;Right winger Dirk Graham had missed six straight games because of wrist injury&hellip;Herb Brooks was most impressed with left winger George Servinis&rsquo; play during his one-game scouting trip to Kalamazoo. The Wings lost 5-1 to Milwaukee that night. Servinis was the team&rsquo;s leading scorer with 11 goals and 25 points in 14 games. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the most polished, most finished player there,&rdquo; Brooks said. The Stars already have recalled Paul Houck and Mitch Messier, both right wingers, but not Servinis.<h2>NORTH STARS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 16: Paul Houck, RW, and Larry DePalma, LW, assigned to Kalamazoo (IHL); Mitch Messier, RW, and Sean Chambers, D, recalled from Kalamazoo.Nov. 19: Mike Berger, D, assigned to Kalamazoo.Nov. 20: Byron Lomow, C, traded with an undisclosed middle-round draft pick to the New York Rangers for Curt Giles, D; Warren Babe, LW, recalled from Kalamazoo after a two-week conditioning stay.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Neal Broten, Brian Lawton, Dave Archibald, Keith Acton, Dave Gagner.LW&mdash;Brian MacLellan, Brian Bellows, Steve Payne, Basil McRae.RW&mdash;Dino Ciccarelli, Scott Bjugstad, Terry Ruskowski, Richard Zemlak.LD&mdash;Bob Rouse, Bob Brooke, Curt Giles, Ron Wilson, Pat Price.RD&mdash;Craig Hartsburg, Frantisek Musil, Gordie Roberts.G&mdash;Don Beaupre, Kari Takko.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Shawn Chambers, D, dislocated shoulder, indefinite.Dirk Graham, RW, wrist, day-to-day.Tom Hirsch, D, shoulder, indefinite.Dennis Maruk, C, foot tendons, indefinite.Mitch Messier, RW, bruised knee, day-to-day. &#9632;

f0036-01

Brooks Gets Tough On “Undisciplined’ Stars

<div class="byline">By Bruce Hood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02404/5349595-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="379" height="444"></div>Q: What&rsquo;s the ruling on a shorthanded team icing the puck just as a penalized player returns to the ice?Ted Thaell, Spokane, Wash.A: This rule was changed several years ago. It used to be that if the player returned any time before completion of the icing infraction&mdash;the puck being touched by the defending team&mdash;it would be called icing. Now, it is ruled that if the puck has been shot prior to the player&rsquo;s penalty time expiring, play will continue. It&rsquo;s a good rule since it helps keep play moving. Sometimes, it can be very exciting, since the shorthanded team can time icing the puck with its rested man jumping out of the penalty box and going on the attack.Q: I have noticed that NHL linesman Leon Stickle does not work as many games as others. Is there a reason for this?J.P. Klebara,&nbsp; Niles, III.A: Actually, Leon works just as many games as the other NHL linesmen. But you may not see him in games in the arena you attend or on television very often. The linesmen in the league are regionalized according to where they reside, which serves two purposes. It cuts down on their road trips, and reduces travel costs. However, linesmen still do games throughout the league. They may not, however, officiate in every rink during a season, while working often in cities close to their homes.Q: I recently attended a Hartford Whalers&rsquo; game in which Mike Cvik was the linesman. Was he ever drafted by the Boston Celtics or play for the Soviet national basketball team?Vince Barbell,&nbsp; Tewksbury, Mass.A: Well, I don&rsquo;t know about his ability as a basketball player, but he does a fine job as a hockey linesman. That was proven by the fact he worked five games in the 1986 Memorial Cup tournament. Mike also worked Canadian university hockey in his hometown of Calgary. He is believed to be the biggest official ever&mdash;6-foot-8 and 250 pounds. He&rsquo;s 25, and in his rookie season with the NHL&rsquo;s officiating staff.It you want your questions answered, write to:ASK THE REFEREE 16 Martin Street Milton, Ont. L9T 2P9All questions will be considered. but only those published will be answered. Personal responses are not possible. &#9632;

f0036-02

ASK THE REFEREE

<div class="byline">BY JEFF GORDON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04242/5349626-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="601" height="927"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Hunter helped get the Blues on track by scoring 10 goals in 11 games.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03326/5349633-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="182" height="135"></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;After the St. Louis Blues blew a 4-1 third-period lead over Edmonton and lost 6-5 to the Oilers in overtime Nov. 14, general manager Ron Caron had seen enough.During the debacle, he punched a hole in the wall of his private box. In the days that followed, Caron spelled out a simple challenge to his team&mdash;win or else.The Blues entered a two-week stretch with six of seven games within the division.&ldquo;That will make or break this team,&rdquo; Caron said. &ldquo;Something has to change or we will change the chemistry&mdash;it&rsquo;s that simple. Maybe we need a different chemistry. We&rsquo;re giving points away.&ldquo;If we&rsquo;re not good enough, I&rsquo;ll make moves. Don&rsquo;t worry about that. But I&rsquo;m anxious to get these players to perform.&rdquo;A week after giving coach Jacques Martin an unqualified vote of confidence, Caron turned up the heat on him. Caron became angry when Martin acknowleged the team could use a big checking center and rugged left defenseman.&ldquo;This is the best team we&rsquo;ve had since I&rsquo;ve been here,&rdquo; Caron said. &ldquo;This team is good enough to win. This is the team he (Martin) has to push to victory.&rdquo;The Blues responded to Caron&rsquo;s ultimatum by going 2-0-1 in the first three games of that critical seven-game stretch. They beat the Maple Leafs 6-3 at Toronto, tied them 3-3 at home and then stopped Vancouver 4-1 at home.With more intense defense, better concentration, fewer errors in their own ends and more diversified scoring, the Blues finally shook off the effects of their 1-7-1 exhibition season and 3-8-1 regular-season start.&ldquo;Everybody finally realized that this was a good time to start&mdash;if we were going to make a move, this was the time to start,&rdquo; goaltender Rick Wamsley said. &ldquo;Now we have to keep it going and not go back into the tank for a couple of games.&rdquo;Right winger Mark Hunter helped turn the Blues around, scoring 10 goals and five assists in an 11-game span. He scored four goals as the Blues took three of four points from Toronto in back-to-back games.&ldquo;It was looking pretty bleak there,&rdquo; Hunter said. &ldquo;But we can&rsquo;t look at the past now. I think we&rsquo;ve started to play better. I think we&rsquo;re playing better on the road than we did a year ago.&rdquo;Those victories eased the pressed on the Blues and tightened the Nome Division race&mdash;leaving the five teams just four points apart at the 20-game mark.&ldquo;The standings will not be determined at the 20-game mark,&rdquo; Martin said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t like to see your team down at the bottom of the standings, but at this point that is not a priority. You want to be playing well and you want to keep improving.&rdquo;NOTES&mdash;Right winger Greg Paslawski was set to return Nov. 25 at Minnesota. He missed 16 games with a pinched nerve affecting his left leg&hellip;Right winger Herb Raglan missed six games with strained knee ligaments, then scored his first goal of the season in his first game back, Nov. 21 against Vancouver&hellip;Rookie right winger Michael Dark was sent back to Peoria to make room for Paslawski.<h2>BLUES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 23: Michael Dark, RW, returned to Peoria (IHL).<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Doug Gilmour, Bernie Federko, Tony Hrkac, Doug Evans.LW&mdash;Brian Sutter, Gino Cavallini, Rick Meagher, Tony McKegney, Jocelyn Lemieux.RW&mdash;Mark Hunter, Greg Paslawski, Herb Raglan, Todd Ewen, Ron Flockhart.LD&mdash;Brian Benning, Tim Bothwell, Gaston Gingras.RD&mdash;Rob Ramage, Rob Whistle, Robert Nordmark, Bill Root.G&mdash;Rick Wamsley, Greg Millen.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Charlie Bourgeois, D, broken jaw, Nov. 28. &#9632;

f0036-04

St. Louis GM Gets Punchy, Blues Exhibit Signs Of Life

<div class="byline">BY MURRAY TOWNSEND</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01542/5349702-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Doug Wilson, left, quarterbacks Chicago&rsquo;s high-scoring power play from his post on the blue line.</figcaption></div>The NHL&rsquo;s crackdown on restraining fouls this season has increased the importance of power-play units.Since more penalties are being called, teams spend less time at full strength. Power-play situations are up by more than three per game&mdash;8.6 to 11.7&mdash;from last season and teams are taking advantage. As of Nov. 15, 441 power-play goals&mdash;32.1 percent of ail goals&mdash;had been scored. All of last season, power plays accounted for l, 516goals&mdash;24.6 per cent of the 6,165 goals scored in 840 NHL regular-season games.The increase in power-play chances means per-game goal totals were slightly higher (7.46) through Nov. 15 than all of last season (7.34).Teams can almost afford to lay back during even-strength situations and wait for power-play chances.As a result, some games become power-play contests. And the winner of that contest usually wins the game. Teams winning individual game man-advantage battles were 80-3515 after 130 games.At an NHL general managers&rsquo; meeting in Chicago Nov. 16, Edmonton&rsquo;s Glen Sather suggested referees were overzealous. Sather said the Oilers were forced to kill too many penalties.Sather must have glanced at the accompanying chart. It shows Edmonton would benefit if the NHL instructed referees to call fewer penalties. Power-play goals against the Oilers hurt the club more than its own power play helped. An increase in even-strength situations would be to the Oilers&rsquo; advantage.The chart reflects the impact of power-play goals on each team, both for (PF) and against (PA), as a percentage of total goals scored (G) and allowed (GA). The difference (Diff.) in percentages is noted. Negative values indicate a team is hurt more by opponents&rsquo; power plays than helped by its own. Positive values indicate teams are helped more by their own power play than hurt by those of opponents.Teams scoring a large percentage of their goals on the power play often have difficulty scoring at even strength. Usually, such teams are lower in the standings. It follows that if a team relies on its power play for scoring, reducing power-play frequency makes scoring more difficult.If power-play chances were reduced, Chicago, Hartford and St. Louis would theoretically be more affected than other teams. All three teams count on power plays for goalscoring. And all three have a less-than-average percentage of goals scored against them while shorthanded. This means that during even-strength situations, they are outplayed. If even-strength situations occurred more often, the Blackhawks, Whalers and Blues would be in deep trouble.<h2>POWER-PLAY GOALS, FOR AND AGAINST</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02427/5349695-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="1188" height="772"></div> &#9632;

f0038-01

Power Play More Important Than Ever

<div class="byline">BY LARRY HUMBER</div>&bull; Number of penalty minutes earned by Kent Nilsson during his eight seasons in the NHL, including playoffs: 130.Minutes earned by Philadelphia Flyer goaltender Ron Hextail during his rookie NHL season, including playoffs: 147.&bull; Amount of money collected by Philadelphia Flyer players for their efforts through 26 games during the 1987 Stanley Cup playoffs: $15,000.Based on that number, the amount each Flyer earned per game: $576.92.&bull; Number of games the Toronto Maple Leafs won in 1956-57, their one season under coach Howie Meeker, TV&rsquo;s noted hockey analyst: 21.&bull; According to Peter Stastny&rsquo;s Quebec Nordique teammate Randy Moller, the percentage of Stastny&rsquo;s breakaways likely to result in goals: 99.9.Percentage of penalty shots on which Stastny has been successful: 0 (0-for-1).&bull; Number of 50-goal seasons recorded by NHL players: 99.Number of 50th goals scored into empty nets: 2 (Reg Leach, 1980; Gretzky, 1981). &#9632;

A 21-Win Salute For Howie Meeker

<div class="byline">BY KEITH GAVE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03344/5349757-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="611" height="899"><figcaption class="caption-body">Red Wing captain Steve Yzerman was stopped on his first career penalty shot.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04263/5349764-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="184" height="135"></div>DETROIT&mdash;Coach Jacques Demers waited until most of the reporters had left the post-game news conference before saying what was really on his mind.&ldquo;God, I wish we had a right winger who could put the puck in the net,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got two guys (Bob Probert and Brent Ashton) over there playing the off-wing. We just can&rsquo;t get anything going.&rdquo;His words were born of frustration more than anger. His team had tried, really tried this night, he said, but it couldn&rsquo;t buy a goal. The Wings lost 1-0 to the Boston Bruins in front of another sellout crowd at Joe Louis Arena.&ldquo;What do we have to do to get a goal?&rdquo; Shawn Burr asked. &ldquo;We couldn&rsquo;t score in a whorehouse with a credit card.&rdquo;Not at even strength, not on the power play, not with a two-man advantage for nearly two minutes, not even on a penalty shot by Steve Yzerman could the Wings muster a single goal against Boston goalie Doug Keans, who registered his first shutout of the season and fourth of his career by stopping all 28 Detroit shots.His counterpart, Glen Hanlon, deserved better. Coming off a shutout of his own, the hard-luck Detroit goalie stopped 24 of 25 shots by the Bruins.&ldquo;I feel bad for Glennie,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;We tried everything tonight. We just couldn&rsquo;t put the puck in the net. The net looks like it&rsquo;s getting smaller on us. It&rsquo;s like it&rsquo;s two-by-two.&rdquo;The Wings entered the game with the fewest goals (56) in the NHL. When it ended, they had just two goals in three games, while allowing just five. Incredibly, they managed to win one of those games, a 1-0 shutout of Washington on the tail-end of a four-game road trip.Demers insists his team&rsquo;s scoring problems stem from the lack of a true sniper on the right side. After 19 games, the club&rsquo;s true right wingers&mdash;Joe Kocur, Dave Barr, Mark Kumpel and Tim Higgins had one goal (by Kocur) between them. Probert had seven goals, all on the right side, and rookie Joe Murphy, a natural center, had two goals playing right wing.The shift of bodies makes the left side more vulnerable.&ldquo;They (opponents) are checking the hell out of our left side,&rdquo; Demers said. That may have had something to do with reduced production from both Ashton&mdash;a 40-goal scorer last season who scored his six goals this season from the left before moving to the off-wing&mdash;and Gerard Gallant, who had just four goals in 18 games after scoring 38 last season. Only Petr Klima (10-1-11) was having any success.Before the game, general manager Jimmy Devellano insisted he had nothing &ldquo;even on the back burner&rdquo; as far as trade talks were concerned. After the game? Well, suffice to say Demers wants his right winger.Ashton&rsquo;s name is the one that surfaces most often when opposing teams inquire about Wings they&rsquo;re most interested in acquiring. Demers told Ashton late in the&rsquo; week to be in peace&hellip;that he would not be traded.NOTES&mdash;Steve Yzerman&rsquo;s first career penalty shot was awarded after he was hauled down by rookie Glen Wesley on a breakaway. Keans, guessing correctly that Yzerman would try for the &lsquo;five hole,&rsquo; made a sprawling pad save&hellip;The game was played before an announced crowd of 19,755, third-largest of the season, bringing the average attendance for eight home games to 19,510&mdash;235 above capacity&hellip;Adam Graves said all the right things when he was returned to the Windsor Spitfires, but Shawn Burr knew the rookie took it hard. &ldquo;He was a little shaken up, I could tell,&rdquo; Graves said. &ldquo;It was sort of like I was when it happened to me. I looked right into his eyes, and I know he had the same feeling. the same exact feeling, that I had.&rdquo; Burr said he felt a trace of bitterness and resentment when he was returned&mdash;twice&mdash;to juniors after the Wings made him their No. 1 draft pick in 1984. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s mad now, but just ask him next year. He&rsquo;ll tell you this was the best thing that ever happened to him.&rdquo;<h2>RED WINGS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>Nov. 16: Doug Houda, D, recalled from Adirondack (AHL).Nov. 19: Adam Graves, C-RW, assigned to Windsor (OHL), Houda and Steve Martinson, LW, to Adirondack.Nov. 22: Steve Chiasson, D, recalled from Adirondack.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C&mdash;Steve Yzerman, Adam Oates, Shawn Burr, John Chabot.LW&mdash;Gerard Gallant, Petr Klima, Brent Ashton, Mel Bridgman.RW&mdash;Joe Kocur, Tim Higgins Joe Murphy, Mark Kumpel.LD&mdash;Darren Veitch, Rick Zombo.RD&mdash;Doug Halward, Mike O&rsquo;Connell, Jeff Sharpies, Steve Chiasson.G&mdash;Greg Stefan, Glen Hanlon.<h3>INJURIES</h3>Dave Barr, RW, separated right shoulder, Dec. 1.Gilbert Delorme, D, abdominal muscle pull, day-to-day.Lee Norwood, D, groin, day-to-day.Harold Snepsts, D, shoulder surgery, Dec. 1. &#9632;

f0038-03

Red Wings Are Still Looking For Mr. Right

<div class="byline">BY LARRY HUMBER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01511/5349802-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"></div><h2>ACROSS:</h2>1. The first American city to capture the Stanley Cup (7).4. One of two numbers retired by the Nordiques and Blues (5). 7. Referee van Hellemond (4).8. He had a brief stint as Red Wing coach in 1985-86 (4,4).10. Jack Evans succeeded him as coach of the Whalers (5,5).12. He&rsquo;s averaged a fraction over 275 penalty minutes over the past two seasons, Dave (5).13. Wayne Gretzky appeared in ree games for this Peterborough club (5).14. He holds the NHL record for most goals in a season by a defenseman (4,6).18. Encourages (8).19. First name of the Jets&rsquo; general manager (4).20. First name of the second Conn Smythe Trophy-winner (5).21. Long steps (7).<h2>DOWN:</h2>1. One of four Jets to score at least 25 goals last season (5).2. He had his first of two 50-goal seasons in 1983-84 (8).3. Former Leaf Thompson (5).4. The second Bill Masterton Trophy winner, he&rsquo;s now the Blues&rsquo; director of scouting (3,7).5. Lemieux once with Los Angeles (4).6. Nickname of Edmonton&rsquo;s entry in the defunct Western Canada Hockey League (7).9. This Canadien previously captained the Capitals (4,6).11. Late son of Conn Smythe (8).12. Regina-born Canuck drafted 10th overall in 1981 (7).15. &lsquo;Punch,&rsquo; &lsquo;Production, &lsquo;French Connection,&rsquo; etc. (5).16. Pulls (5).17. Little Blackhawk goaltender, Darren&mdash;(4).<h2>CROSSWORD SOLUTION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04288/5349795-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="580" height="562"></div> &#9632;

f0039-01

CROSSWORD

<h2>15 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; The Buffalo Sabres lost only three of their first 16 games, thanks partly to a new physical fitness regimen implemented by former professional wrestler Fred Atkins. The program included running, stretching and weightlifting. Atkins made believers of the Sabres, who qualified for the playoffs for the first time with a 37-27-14 record.&bull; The Philadelphia Flyers threatened to fine center Bobby Clarke if he didn&rsquo;t Vow orders and skip practice. Clarke, a diabetic, insisted on practising despite a blood-sugar count. Flyer coach Fred Shero told him to get some rest for his own good. It paid off. Clarke scored two goals and two assists against California in his next game.<h2>25 YEARS AGO:</h2>&bull; Chicago left winger Bobby Hull was booed by Blackhawk fans in Chicago Stadium, who weren&rsquo;t pleased that the Golden Jet had just six goals in his first 17 games. Hull had raised expectations by scoring 50 goals the previous season, but finished 1962-63 with only 31.&bull; The Boston Bruins were last in the NHL but first in the number of Americans on their roster. Six Bruins&mdash;Charlie Bums, Wayne Hicks, Tommy Williams, Don McKenney, Warren Godfrey and Doug Mohns&mdash;were U.S. citizens, though the latter three were Canadian-born.&bull; Right winger Andy Bathgate tied Bill Cook as the New York Rangers&rsquo; all-time goal-scoring leader when he scored in a 7-1 win over Boston. Bathgate, who also played for Toronto, Detroit and Pittsburgh in a 17-year NHL career, scored 349 goals and 624 assists in 1,069 games. &#9632;

THIS WEEK…

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02356/5349857-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Earl (Dutch) Reibel, left, Ted Lindsay and Alex Delvecchio, right, celebrate another Detroit Red Wing victory during the mid-1950s. The Red Wings were the dominant team of the era, finishing first six straight times from 1950 to 1955 while winning four Stanley Cups.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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December 4, 1987

How Do Jets Spell Relief? OT Victory Against Oilers

BOOK LOCKER

Bauer’s COLLEGE ‘Performers OF THE WEEK

Dow Jones Would Love Quarter Like This